The Door Between Worlds Chapter 19

Count Sornione sat in council with Queen Lydia and her most trusted wizards.  There were five of them in all.  Queen Lydia sat at the head of the long stone table.  At her right, sat Count Sornionne, and then next to him sat the Witch-dog, Inganno.  He was a ruthless wizard.  It was said that he drank blood instead of water.  Across from the Count, sat the Necromancer, Ratto.  He was cunning as he was pale.  Next to him sat Ladro the sneaky.  He was a short, slight wizard that bent the darkness and shadows to his use.  And finally, beside Ladro, sat a nervous youth, who was a promising lad of some sixteen summers.  His name was Vigliacco.

All wizards of choice.

All wizards bent to shape the earth to their will.

All wizards determined to pick up the pieces of this earth that the Maker had left in shambles.

They called themselves the Healers.

Queen Lydia slammed her fist onto the table, bringing Sornione's musings to an end.  "We move through the Gap tonight.  We have to move before Jason has time to rally his soldiers there.  I didn't mind the plan of letting him go through, but I didn't think that it would take two weeks before we could actually get through."

Ratto spoke up, "But, my Queen, we aren't ready ye-"

Lydia cut through like ice, "I don't care.  We can still obtain the element of surprise.  We must muster our troops and begin our conquest of his world."

Vigliacco looked confused, "But, why don't we begin here in Alepp?"

Maybe not as promising as I thought, Sornione smirked at the confusion of his younger colleague.

Lydia glared at him, "Because the world Sterling is from has weapons that our world does not have right now.  And if we fail there, it won't hurt us.  We will merely have to retreat back through the portal."

Ladro and Sornione exchanged a worried glance and looked back.  But not before Lydia caught the glance.

"What?  What is it?"  She snarled.

"It's just-"

But once again they were interrupted.  But this time, it wasn't Lydia.  The council turned in unison toward the big double doors at the end of the chamber.

Abraham's voice reverberated through the room as he kicked open the doors, "Show yourself, queen!"

           

The Door Between Worlds Chapter 18

Lydia peered down the long dark shaft, half listening half ignoring her commander as he explained how they had found the Regina.  As planned, they had cut a piece off the amazing jewel and allowed Jason to capture it and head back into his world.  A test drive.  They weren't sure if it would work, and Lydia did not want to risk some of her men in a futile mission.  They could afford the life of so deadly an enemy.  If the jump into the other world didn't work, and the bearer of the jewel died, then good-riddance.  But if it did work.. Lydia grinned.  Her conquest could begin.

Lydia's thoughts of glory and Mathie's monologue were cut short as the make-shift pulley hauled up the most amazing sight either of them had ever seen.

A stone about the size of a large mammal, emitted a deep amber glow that bathed them in a warmth that made them feel.  Mathie felt a sudden urge to sing at the top of his lungs.  He just barely stifled the urge.  But, for Lydia, it made her feel cold.  A remorse that she hadn't felt in awhile, hit her in a sudden wave of emotion.  It made her want to weep at what the stone revealed in her. She resisted it.  But not before a single tear slid down her pale cheek.

Then they heard it.  A single note.  A rustle.  Subtle, but powerful.  Quiet yet loud enough that made Niagra Falls sound calm.  Roaring yet soothing.  A pitch, high and low at the same time.  An all encompassing note.  Frightening as a lion's roar yet peace-filling like the spring time sun.  The song fell then rose. It wove in and out.  It painted a picture.  It filled the two with an irresistible joy.  It sang of a time that was.  And was no longer.  It told a story of a fall and a rending.  An ending.  But then new life.  A new promise.  It was the story of life itself.   It thundered to be heard.  It made forgetting impossible.

It reminded Lydia of good.  And she despised it.  She screamed and covered her ears.  She rushed at it, and shoved it off the precipice, but it merely swung out over the chasm and swung back.  The rope that had hauled it up had held true.

Tears streaming she looked over at Mathie, who looked like he had just woken from a dream.  "That is the bewitching power of Him.  And this is what I am protecting you from.  I am protecting you from ignorance.  I offer you freedom.  Beware, lest you slip and slid backward to this ugly ignorance from whence I opened your eyes to.  His time is over.  it is the time for man to take his place as ruler of the worlds.

"Go, make ready the men and the work stations.  We have work to do."

Mathie saluted and marched away.

His head in turmoil.  And somewhere, deep inside him, something stirred.

The Door Between Worlds Chapter 20

The Door Between Worlds Chapter 17

Jason stood up from the table that the doctor had ordered him to sit down on, while he inspected his leg.  It hadn't looked good.  They had put him into a cast, but that wouldn't stop him from doing something about the situation they were in.  Jason quickly snatched the crutches that leaned in the corner of the small examination room and yanked the door open.  His dad, was who knows where in this hospital.  Obadiah was somewhere to the right of his examination room.  He knew this from the rumbling and bellowing that his ox-like comrade had been making.  Obadiah obviously disliked shots.

He peeked out the examination door.  All clear.  Jason soon acclimated to his odd step with the support of the crutch, This wasn't his first cast.  He passed the examination room to his left, listening intently.  Then he moved to the second one.  Nothing.  At the third, he heard low moans and groans.  Grinning, Jason slid the handle down and poked his head in.  Obadiah laid strapped down to a table similar to the one in Jason's room.  Apparently he had been struggling so much so that the nurses had to strap him down.

"How's is going, Obadiah?" Jason creaked into the room.

"I hate those needles.  Battle wounds I can take, but not those things that they just shove into you like they have nothing better to do."  He whimpered.

Jason snickered. 

"I blame you." Obadiah sighed.  And let his head drop back down onto the table.

"Good man.  I'm going to go look for my father.  They refused to answer me when I asked them.  I am hoping that he is okay.  Rest up." Slapping his comrades stomach, James moved out the door, ignoring the pitiful groans following him.

Jason swung down the hallway and around the corner.  Searching for the signs that pointed to the E.R.  The ambulance had gotten to his house quickly, but not quickly enough.  James' breathing had grown shallower and shallower.  It had been with immense relief when they had pulled up to the hospital.  

Turning the corner, he ran into a girl rushing in the opposite direction.  With a yelp of surprise both fell to the ground in a mix of limbs and crutches.  The girl stood up, helping him to his feet, breathing apologies.  

Jason grimaced, and waved off the apology, "Don't worry.  I'll be fine.  Thank-" He paused.  Stunned.  "Jenny, is that you?"  

His sister looked just as stunned.  "Jason?  How did you- how come- why are- I'm so glad you're alive!"  With this she thudded into his chest and gripped him in a bone-cracking hug.

He laughed as his fears and troubles seemed to melt away, so relieved was he that he finally came upon his sister.  "Why shouldn't I be alive?"

She looked up into his eyes, confused. "You don't remember the car accident?  The one that you and mom were in?"

Then he finally remembered it.  He had completely forgotten.  How could he have forgotten?  Did he really just assume that his mother was fine?  He felt sick with himself.  "I remember now.  Is mom okay?"  He asked anxiously. 

Jenny hugged him again, reassuringly, "Don't worry.  She'll make it.  She's.. she's been in a coma for two weeks.  And we don't know where dad is..  and where you were.  I didn't know where you were.  It's just been me.. by myself."

Jason hugged her back, trying to comfort her.  "Don't worry, Jenny.  I'm here now, and I've brought help.  But right now, we need to find Dad.  They probably put him in the E.R.?"

"Why is he in the E.R.?  Where was he?  Where were you?  And why is your leg in a cast?"

"That's a long story, one which we'll have to leave for another time.  Which way to the Emergency Room?" 

Jenny led the way, until they made it to a couple swinging doors that led to the Emergency wing, A couple nurses stood discussing in low tones outside of the doors.  When they saw the two siblings approach, one of them asked,"May I help you?"

Jason looked him in the eye, "Yes, our father in somewhere in there, and we would like to make sure he is okay."

The nurse looked him up and down, and noticed the patient badge, that had his name on it, that was clipped onto his shirt.  "What's your dad's name?"

"James.  James Sterling."  Jenny responded.

The nurse consulted a clip board, the nodded, "Come this way."  With that he swept through the double doors with the siblings trailing after him.  He led them down a long hallway that was lit by those lights you only find in hospitals and dentist offices.  Turning right, down a narrower passage, he stopped at a door, and opened it for them.  "I'll give you a few minutes."  And closed the door behind them.

Jason and Jenny looked at their still unconscious father in horror.  Despite having been given a shower, he looked just as battered and bruised.  Both of his legs suspended in the air, heavily wrapped.  His upper torso was bare, except for a broad strap of clean bandages that was wrapped around his rib cage.  His room was crowded with monitors, and filled the air with beeping.  Jason stepped up and grabbed his dad's only free hand, afraid that he might slip out of his grasp. "Hold on, Dad."  

The Door Between Worlds Chapter 16

Obadiah sprang to a crouched position onto the tiled floor.  Where were they?  Why'd it smell like bacon?  He looked up at a white-washed ceiling.  Then to his right, there was a long basin that was filled with bloodied human body parts. Obadiah cried out and leapt backward.  Then, one pile of limbs moved.

Jason moaned.  He lifted his head up and peered over the lip of his bathtub.. His bathtub?  He jolted upward.  He looked over at Obadiah, who was so besmirched with blood, the only recognizable feature was his beard.  He looked over at the lump of human being next to him.  His father was breathing, but barely.  Jason breathed a sigh of relief to know that they were momentarily safe.

Obadiah stood slowly and heaved a sigh of relief.  He wasn't too injured to live.  He walked over to the basin, and reached out and helped Jason to his feet.  When Jason nearly collapsed, Obadiah remembered his leg injury.  "How is it?  Where are we?"

Jason leaned back against the tiled wall.  "We're home."

"Home?"  Obadiah asked bewildered.

"The world I came from.  The world I was born in.  This is my home."  Jason grinned despite of everything else.

Obadiah pointed at his James.  "So that's your dad?"

"Yes.  We need to get him to a doctor, and fast."  Jason motioned to Obadiah to help him heft his father to a standing position.

Somehow, they managed to get to the bathroom door (Obadiah wanting to ask so many questions, but held his tongue for the time being.)  Opening the door, the trio were about to exit, when Jason suddenly stopped.  "We can't all go down there, I don't know who is home.  Mom or sister might be in with friends." Obadiah saw the wisdom in that and sat down on this odd porcelain thing, that Jason introduced as a "toilet."

Jason propped his unconscious dad up against the bathroom wall, and slid quietly out of the bathroom.  He peeked quietly around the corner and walked down the hall.  The whole house was dead quiet and dark.  Jason wandered the whole house.  Nothing stirred.  He walked from room to room.  Everything felt different, but nothing had changed.  Except for him.  He felt, that after every trip to Alepp, that he was older and more mature.  Responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders.  The fate of the world somehow seemed to be in the balance, as he thought about Lydia and her army she was gathering.  And then another thing dropped on to his shoulders, like an anvil.  He remember that his mother was probably in the hospital, after the crash.  And where was, Jenny, his sister?  He nearly collapsed.

Jason walked into the family room and picked up the home phone.  He punched in 9-1-1.  When he choked out that he needed an ambulance, ASAP, he put the phone back on the hook and dashed back down the hall, running away from his thoughts.

When Jason threw open the door to the bathroom, he told Obadiah that a doctor was on the way.  Hefting James Sterling between them, they sidled through the small doorway and camped out in the living room.  Jason hunted through the cabinets, and found some crackers and peanut butter that hadn't spoiled, and rifled through to find the first aid kit,  Jason handed out the rations and some bottled water he had tracked down.  He sat down next to his dad, who was slumped on the coach, and started administering simple first aid.  Obadiah was perched across the room on the lazyboy.

Obadiah blurted out, "Why does your bathroom smell like bacon?"

Jason laughed, once against, despite everything he had been through.  "My dad is a lover of bacon, So, he wanted the whole house to smell like it.  My mom only allowed the bathroom."

Obadiah nodded, thoughtful. "What now?  What will our next move be?"

Jason looked at Obadiah.  "I have no idea."

Door Between Worlds Chapter 15

Early morning sunlight filtered through the stretching arms of the crowded trees.  A little rabbit hopped over a root of the oak tree that squatted protectively over it's house.  The rabbit paused.  He sniffed.  He gobbled up the little worm that was wriggling through the damp earth.  This rabbit was an odd rabbit,  He snuffled.  Then he died.

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Abraham espied the little bunny just as it spotted the worm.  He quickly unsheathed his knife that hung at his belt.  As the bunny gulped it's moist food down, Abraham made his move.  The soft fury beast fell to the mighty hunter.  Abraham Johnson broke into a victory dance.

He laughed at his own antics and headed back to camp.  Since that fateful night that broke the company apart,they seemed no closer to the Fort that they had planned on meeting at.  They had made progress, yes, but the past week had been spent covering their tracks, and trying to locate the rest of their band.  Amos, Saul, and Thomas were still lost to them.  This would be the first time that they actually had fresh meat..  Their victuals were almost gone.  Abraham had to admit to himself, that wasting their time looking for their comrades probably wasn't the smartest thing.  The others had to be at the Fort already, waiting for them.

Abraham slipped back into the camp, as Silas and Emeric stirred.  Gideon was out gathering wood for the fire somewhere.  Abraham wondered vaguely what was taking him so long.  

"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!  I have breakfast!"  Abraham nudged his two comrades with his foot.

Emeric merely groaned and rolled over.  But Silas got up quickly. "Did you say breakfast?"

Abraham nodded.  "It'll take away to cook it thoroughly, but we can have this with some of the apples we found the other day.  But I'm afraid that's  it.  We only have a so much food left, so we'll have to ration more severely."

Silas nodded.  "I thought as much, what with how much Emeric is eating."  He winked at Abraham, and motioned him to keep quiet.  He knelt and grabbed a kettle of water that was left over from the dinner last night, which had turned cold in this altitude.  He gripped the handle and then crept over to Emeric rolled up in his cocoon of blankets.  He let out a whoop and dumped it on Emeric's head, then quickly handed it to Abraham.  Letting out a shout of surprise, Emeric lept to his feet in a surprising show of agility for one who was just asleep.

Emeric spun on the spot, seeing his two laughing companions, he rushed the one who was caught red-handed with the kettle.  Rabbit and kettle went flying as Emeric made contact with Abraham.  A wrestling match quickly ensued.  Silas laughed and egged them on.  

This was the scene that Gideon walked in on,  Beside him were four familiar faces.  They stood, amused, and watched from afar.  As the spectacle died down, the crowd that had gathered applauded appreciatively.  Abraham, Gideon, and Emeric whipped around at the sound, and all nearly fell over.  Stunned. 

"Is this possible?  Is that you, Earl Eric?  And you, Amos, Saul, and Thomas?"  Exclaimed Abraham.  

"Not even a greeting for me, eh?"  Gideon walked over and shoved Abraham playfully.  "I found them on the road..  the road that leads to the fort!"

The clearing was soon filled with sounds of greetings and rejoicing, for the majority of the band was reunited.  For now.

The Door Between Worlds Chapter Fourteen

Jason gritted his teeth, so much so that his teeth creaked, and glared at Lydia.  Just when he was about to open his mouth in retort, there was a loud scrapping noise and excited shouts.  Jason and Lydia both looked up to see what was going on.  A man had dashed into the room, holding something aloft in his hand.

"Queen Lydia!  We found it!  We found the Regina!" He cried aloud in emotion.

As Jason looked dumb-founded, Lydia leapt forward and grabbed it from the now kneeling man.  "Finally!  I have been patient.. but all good things to those who wait, right Sterling?"  Lydia smiled triumphantly.

"Define good things." Obadiah threw back.

Ignoring Obadiah, Lydia continued. "So, Jason, your time has come to decide.  What will you do?  Will you leave your father to die, and rot here under the mountain with your friend?  Or will you take the stone, go into your world, and try to keep your father alive?"

Jason looked at her, then at the stone, then to the "wall" where his father was steadily slowing down.  "Let my father come into the room, so that I know that he is alive.  Let me see him to know that this is not just an illusion!"

Lydia smiled graciously, "Of course.  That can easily be arranged."  Saying thus she motioned to one of the guards by a door.  He entered, then a few minutes later, he came back in dragging Jason's father.

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James Sterling moaned, battered and bruised, as he was thrown to the ground.  When the guard had told him to jump off the "treadmill" to the door, he could barely believe him.  James strove to sit up, but couldn't find the strength.  He coughed violently.  He heard the cold voice that he had heard right after he had been captured.  "Behold, Senior Sterling.  Old age doesn't look well on you, James."  Lydia laughed.

James heard Jason tried to struggle, "Now!  Obadiah, now!"

He heard the two thuds, followed by a scream, and then all of a sudden, the Hall was filled with shouting and yelling.  He felt an arm pass under his.  Then his son, his faithful son's voice whispered, "Can you walk, Dad?"

"I think I can.."  James gasped faintly.  Struggling to his feet he opened his eyes.  Jason's grey eyes peered into his.  James glanced down and saw a stone, grasped tightly in his son's hand.  It was deep magenta and glowed dully.  Looking around, He saw Obadiah fell two more men.  That made the body count eight.  The girl named Lydia had slunk back to the big stone doors, where a flood of men waited uncertainly.  No one seemed willing to come within Obadiah's reach.

                                                 *                              *                           *

Jason whirled in place, looking for an escape route.  Just as he was about to give up hope, he saw right behind the throne, a glowing doorway.  The stone in his hand simultaneously burned brightly.  He shouted back to Obadiah, "This way, Obadiah!  Help me with my father."

With the help of Obadiah, they made it quickly back to the door, behind the throne.  Surprised but pleased that no one dared follow, Jason saw what had been sheer stone, now looked more like quicksilver.  Having no choice, Jason dove for the door, headlong with his dad, and Obadiah in tow.

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Lydia smiled at her men.  "The bait has been taken.  The iron is hot.  Let us strike.  Like I said, all good things to those who wait."  The mob cheered.

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Obadiah Odin sat up and sniffed the air.  He smelled bacon.