The League of Doorways (A Book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic) (The Doorways Trilogy - Book Two) (17 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

Willow and Wally stepped through the doorway and back into Endra. Wally had told Willow to step through frontways, and both now stood on the vast empty plains of Endra as their true selves – Noxas. Willow was glad to have her long braids of hair back, and they now swung from her face in the wind. She looked at her hands and was relieved to see that they were claws again, each of her long fingers capped with ivory-looking nails. The bright red nail polish had gone and so had the jeans, boots, and blouse. She stood and watched her long blue robes flap about her.

The door thundered shut, but didn’t disappear. Wally took a key from his pocket, and twisted it in the lock.

“What are you doing?” Willow asked him.

Wally turned to look at her with his bright yellow eyes and said, “My doorway is trapped
, remember? It doesn’t disappear or move away. I have to lock it or anyone might go through. I don’t want my cavern to be burgled.” Then smiling at Willow and placing the key safely back into the pocket of his dungarees, he added, “You can’t trust anyone these days.”

With his long, dark dreadlocks flowing beneath his chin and his claws swinging loosely by his sides, he set off across the desert.

“Where are we going?” Willow called out.

“To the station,” he grinned back over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, it’s not far.”

Willow hurried after him. “How long it will it take to get there?”

“Not long at all, if we run,” he said.

Willow looked down at her robes and said, “I’m not really dressed for it.”

“Oh
, go on, Willow,” Wally said, trying to contain his excitement. “I haven’t had a good run for ages. It’s not often that you can do it on the other side.”

Looking at his crazy grin, Willow smiled back and said, “It’s not too far you say?”

“No, I promise,” Wally said.

“Okay then,” she said,
dropping onto all fours and hitching up her robes.

“Excellent!” Wally beamed, hunkering down.

“How far is ‘not far’?” Willow asked glancing at him.

“About a hundred miles or so,” he laughed. Then he was gone, bounding away on all fours across the desert floor in a rush of flying dreadlocks and a shower of dust.

“Wally!”
Willowed howled as she set off after him.
And even though a small part of her was angry at being tricked by him, there was a bigger part that was happy. She had never had so much fun since meeting him.

Willow drew alongside Wally, and they bounded across the desert like two giant wolves. She had never felt so alive and free. She had spent her whole life living beneath the shadows of the Howling Forest like all female Noxas had. It was the men who went off and had adventures. But now she was free at last to have her own adventure
, and she was intent on enjoying every moment of it.

With his long, pink tongue lolling from the corner of his mouth, Willow glanced at Wally as he raced along beside her. Warden, her husband, had often spoken of his friend; the one who he believed had killed
himself while playing with inferno berries as a pup. Warden had always described his friend as having a dangerous streak which eventually got him killed. But Willow now wondered if Warden had not been right about his friend. She didn’t think Wally was dangerous – she thought he just craved excitement. He saw adventure in the ordinary and enjoyed every second of it. She had heard a lot about reflections and she wondered if she truly understood what that meant. Willow knew that deep down she was like Wally, she had always craved excitement and adventure, too. But unlike him, she hadn’t, until now, found the courage to go looking for it. So they were the same, weren’t they – just reflections of each other.

Willow looked front again and bounded across the desert next to her newfound friend – her partner in this adventure that was fast unfolding before them.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Throat was pleased. He looked up at the black particles of dust as it made a funnel shape above his head. Things were working out better than even he could have planned for. The Delf had managed to recapture the girl, Anna Black, and the meddling peacekeeper. But more than that, she had sucked the truth from Tanner and what secrets he had been hiding. The true cunning of the peacekeeper had finally been revealed. He would be punished for keeping such secrets. But they did reveal one thing; the peacekeeper’s secrets explained why the boy, Zachary Black, had become such a thorn in Throat’s side. The boy was a peacekeeper – Fandel had been right about that if nothing else. The boy would have to die now, despite his promise he had made to the other.

And it was the other’s voice that he could hear now, coming through the funnel of black dust which hovered over him.

“We are traveling through the Craggy Canyon,” the voice informed him.

“Good, good,” Throat cackled, rubbing his skeletal hands together with a feverish excitement. “There will be a reception party waiting for you at the other end of the canyon.”

“Who?” the voice asked. “You didn’t mention this.”

“There are many things that you do not need to know,” Throat rasped. “But you will be rewarded well.”

“My people?” the voice asked.

“Yes, yes,” Throat snapped, growing tired with the same old questions.

“And what about my friends?” the voice asked.

“Do you really think t
hey will want to be your friend once they discover your betrayal?” Throat laughed, the sound of it echoing like thunder off the walls and along the winding passageways of the Splinter.

“They will be set free
, won’t they?” the voice asked. “You promised.”

“Yes, yes,” Throat groaned.

“And Zachary Black?”

With a smile tugging at the corners of his misshapen mouth, Throat tried to hide his delight as he said, “It has come to my attention who and what the boy really is. He is a danger to me and my plans. So no – he will not leave the canyon with you and the others.”

“But that wasn’t part of the deal!” the voice barked angrily.

“Would you like to renegotiate?” Throat teased. “Perhaps I let the boy live and keep your people imprisoned. Perhaps I should send my Demonic Guardians to slaughter them all?”

There was an eerie silence from the other end of the funnel, which swished in the room at the top of the Splinter. The light from the candles flickered restlessly. “What will it be?” Throat teased, enjoying every moment.

“The boy,” the voice whispered through the funnel of dust.

“I’m sorry,” Throat grinned beneath his hood, “I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“The boy,” the voice came again, this time louder but still full of remorse and dread.

“You choose wisely,” Throat gagged, and with a flick of his hand, the dust dropped from the air and covered the floor like black grains of sand. With the spiderpedes scuttling all around him, Throat collapsed into his throne and shut his eyes. Rest, he thought, before he brought hell to Endra and the world on the other side of the doorways.

   But with his eyes shut, Throat failed to see the Queen open hers on the other side of the chamber.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Zach woke with a start as the Scorpion Steam juddered to a halt and let out an ear-piercing scream. He sat bolt upright to find Faraday standing beside him.

“How long have I been asleep?’” he asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“The whole day,” Faraday informed him.

Zach looked out of the window and could see that it was dusk again, the moon rising high between the tips of the Identical Peaks.

“Why have we stopped?” Zach asked. Neanna and William were no longer in their seats. 

“This is as far as we go by train,” Tamrus said, as he strode into the carriage.  Zach could see that he had a large pack on his back and was carrying his staff tightly in his hand. “Let’s get going. We have a long walk to make.”  Tamrus glanced at both Zach and Faraday, and then made his way down the carriage to the exit.

Zach got up from his seat and was about to go after Tamrus, when Faraday grabbed him by the arm. He glanced quickly about and then whispered, “Take this.”

Zach looked down and could see Faraday had handed him the little black book of notes, designs, and numbers, which he had taken from Cribbot’s farmhouse.

Confused, Zach asked, “What are you giving this to me for?”

“I’m a target and could be captured, especially if what Tamrus says is true about me. I think that book might contain the information we need to turn off the machines
if we need to. These creatures that Tamrus talks of might not be as good as he boasts. There’s a chance I have the information in that book buried in my memory somewhere, but if I don’t ever remember, best we keep the book and me apart.”

“What makes you think you are going to be captured?” Zach asked him.

“I’m not sure…I just get a feeling that everything isn’t quite right.”

“I thought you didn’t have feelings?” Zach said.

But before Faraday had a chance to answer, Tamrus had come back into the carriage.

“Are you ready?” he asked in his gravelly voice.

“We’re coming,” Faraday said back, then whispered to Zach, “Keep your wits about you.”  He winked at Zach, then began to head for the exit.

Zach climbed from the Scorpion Steam. The vast mountains stretched high above him, their peaks lost amongst a haze of pink cloud that reflected the fading sunlight. It was cold, so Zach pulled the collar of his long, black coat up about his neck. Neanna and William were already off the train and were standing a few yards from the Scorpion Steam. Bom was standing off to one side and reminiscing with one of Tamrus’s guards about some ancient battle.

“Welcome to the Craggy Canyon,” Tamrus croaked.

“You really live here?” Neanna asked breathlessly, surveying the arid and rocky surroundings.

“Indeed we do,” Tamrus grinned as he turned and started to walk away amid the canyon which ran between the two mountains.

Zach and his friends headed after him, followed by six of the guards they had first encountered in the cavern. The gradient of the canyon was steep, like they were climbing a hill. Tamrus and his guards thrust their staffs into the fractured ground and used these to propel themselves forward.

As they walked, the last of the daylight began to fade as night drew in all around them. With it came a chill wind that whipped up a blanket of rusty coloured dust. They
walked for what seemed like hours, and Zach’s stomach began to rumble with hunger. He couldn’t actually remember when he had last eaten anything, and he looked over his shoulder at Bom.

Zach wondered if he might have some rations on him, but seeing that glum look on his face once again, Zach thought better of asking. Perhaps they would find some Tep leaves for Bom to smoke – that would cheer him up, Zach thought. But looking at the rocky, red horizon, he doubted anything grew in such a place.

Like Zach, William and Neanna looked at the barren landscape and wondered how anyone or anything could survive in such a place. For as far as they could see, the land was awash with vast swathes of red rock. This was interspersed with huge craters and other vast canyons that stretched way off into the distance.

As Tamrus stopped and rested against his staff, he took the pack from his back and handed out clay bottles of water.
Zach and the others, apart from Faraday, drunk greedily from the bottles. The water washed into their mouths and over their tongues and ran off their chins. William howled with delight as he armed away the water that dripped from the hair swinging beneath his chin. 

Then taking the bottle from her lips, Neanna looked at Tamrus and said, “Do you not have any cities out here?”

“We live beneath the ground and the rocks mostly,” Tamrus told her. “Even though we are made of rock, we still like the cool of the shade. Like you Slath, we are more comfortable in the night.”

“How have you managed to stay undiscovered for so long?” Neanna asked, eyeing him. “All of our homes have either been cursed or overridden by Throat’s Demonic Guardians and dead peacekeepers.”

“Not all of the canyon has remained undiscovered,” Tamrus said.

“Aren’t you worried that Throat will destroy your home like he has ours?” Neanna pushed.

Tamrus caught her with his yellow stare and said thoughtfully, “I think I have discovered a way of keeping our home safe from Throat.”

Before Neanna had the chance to question him further, Tamrus had set off again.

For several more hours they walked in silence, their legs becoming heavier and heavier with each step that they made. Once Faraday tripped on the uneven surface and sprawled forward onto the ground. His mechanical arms automatically whizzed into life, forming a series of hooks and spikes that clawed into the earth to prevent him from falling flat on his face. Tamrus glanced back, looked at his arms, and said nothing.

Just before sunrise, the group reached the brow of a rocky knoll. Zach looked back and was surprised at how high they had
actually climbed. The first shots of sunlight were radiating behind them, and even though he wasn’t a Slath like Neanna, Zach didn’t like the thought of continuing in the blistering heat that he knew the sun would bring with it. Wondering where they might take shelter for the day and get some much needed rest, Zach noticed that Tamrus had brought them to a halt at a path which had been carved into the side of the rock that they now stood on.  It wound itself around the inside of a giant hole. Without saying a word, Tamrus led the group down the winding path and into the hole. He seemed eager to avoid the sun just as much as Neanna did. They followed the light from Tamrus’s staff which glowed fiercely in his fist. The smell of the air inside reminded Zach of bonfires. The hole smelt as if at some time it had been volcanic. They continued to spiral downwards into the dark.

At the bottom there was a door, but unlike the rough stone walls of the giant well they
were standing in, it was made of metal. On the ground near to the door was a rock. Tamrus lifted it to reveal what looked like a wooden cog. He turned it three times to the right and four to the left. There was a hissing sound and the door slid open.

Tamrus looked at the others and said, “What lies on the other side of this doorway should get you across the Outer-Rim.”