‘It’s not going to be easy, though. Nerak is the most powerful being in this world, and his mission is to gather enough information to safely release his master. With evil’s origin free from its prison inside the Fold, nothing will ever be as it was. No one will survive except perhaps as slaves – and I for one would far rather die in the initial explosion of power and hatred than live to serve such a master.’
Steven interrupted him. ‘How can all evil be in one place?’ he asked.
‘It can’t. As I tried to explain earlier, small pieces, the tiniest spores, have broken free from the essence and slipped into our world over thousands of generations. The evil around us is a reality, it is one of the things we learn shortly after birth. There are terrifying and destructive things, hideous, black and frightening things in the world we all avoid, but they are always there.
‘The evil we seek to defeat came to Eldarn through the Fold when Nerak attempted to control the magic of Lessek’s spell table. Much of it scattered, in myriad directions: angry words, frightening thoughts and violent tendencies. But the minion Nerak freed was larger and more powerful than those tiny spores that have slipped across the Fold throughout time. The spores that make up this minion, perhaps driven by an edict from within the Fold, stayed together rather than scattering: a focused power that claimed Nerak, devoured his soul and gained what knowledge he had of Eldarn. It consumed the members of Eldarn’s royal family, hid Lessek’s Key and the more powerful portal in your bank, Steven, and then returned across the Fold to begin its reign of terror.’
He tossed a small log on the fire then added, ‘It kills for the sheer joy of feeling the fear in its victims’ hearts. It knows no reason. It will destroy all that is good and decent around it while it takes as long as necessary to study the magic of Lessek’s legacy, the Larion spell table.’
‘Wait one moment, Gilmour,’ Mark stopped him. ‘How did it get back from Idaho Springs if the far portal was closed and locked in Steven’s bank? I thought the portal had to be open for it to travel across the Fold.’
‘An excellent question,’ the old man answered. ‘For thousands of Twinmoons, the Larion Senate used far portals to conduct research and exploration in your world, and yes, we ensured both portals were always open. It was the only way we knew we could return home. The portal in your living room will pinpoint a position as long as it remains open. The portal in Malagon’s palace will find your world, but unless both portals are open, it will not pinpoint a destination.’
The implications were not lost on Steven. ‘So that means we might end up anywhere on Earth when we go back?’
‘Only if someone has gone into our house and closed the portal,’ Mark clarified. ‘If no one closes it, we’ll both get dropped right back in the living room, right?’
‘Oh, Jesus!’ Steven exclaimed. ‘With us gone, I’m sure someone will go in there – my parents maybe, or Howard.’ Steven’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Or even Hannah,’ he said, his voice stricken.
‘It’s a risk you cannot avoid,’ Gilmour interjected, ‘but I haven’t answered your question, Mark. Yes, Nerak can cross the Fold with only one portal open, but he is at the mercy of the weaker portal, just like the two of you will be. If he enters the portal in Malagon’s palace, he will be dropped anywhere in your world. Back when he hid Lessek’s Key, he simply entered your world, assessed the area where he arrived and decided on your bank as a reasonable temporary hiding place.’
‘So he didn’t choose Colorado?’ Brynne asked.
‘No. He landed there, most likely devoured several souls and used their knowledge to determine the safest hiding place for Lessek’s Key.’ Gilmour looked around for the wineskin and filled his goblet. ‘Coming back, he used what magic he had gleaned from previous trips across the Fold to find the open portal here in Eldarn.’
Steven summed up, as much for himself as anyone else, ‘So, if the portal in our house stays open, we can get back home, but Nerak can also get right into the room where Lessek’s Key lies unprotected. If the portal in our house is closed, Nerak can still get back to our world, but he will have to make a trip to Idaho Springs and then search for the key when he finds it missing from the bank.’
‘That is correct,’ Gilmour told him, ‘and to be honest with you, I must hope someone closes the portal in your house. If Nerak travels to your world and doesn’t find the key in your bank, I’m not certain he will deduce that it lies waiting in your home.’
‘What will he do if he doesn’t find the key where he hid it back in 1870?’ Mark feared the worst and Gilmour confirmed his suspicions.
‘He will take any available souls, glean what information he can from them and hopefully track down Lessek’s Key from their knowledge of you two.’ Somehow Gilmour’s pipe became lit and he blew a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke above the fire.
Steven looked at Mark, his eyes filled with terror. ‘Howard and Myrna.’
‘Oh God, you’re right.’ Mark was frightened as well. ‘But hopefully, they won’t have thought anything of a random rock sitting out in our house; maybe that will throw Nerak off our trail.’
‘Listen to what you’re saying,’ Steven implored. ‘Even to get to that point means Howard and Myrna will be dead.’
Mark didn’t respond immediately, but instead set his jaw with grim determination, an uncertain warrior preparing for an unavoidable battle. ‘Then we’ll just have to get there first.’
‘That is our best option,’ Gilmour agreed. ‘If we can get back through the far portal in Welstar Palace before Nerak, we will have control of both portals and Lessek’s Key.’
‘That’s it, then,’ Garec spoke up. ‘That’s how we’ll do it.’
Sallax was not as encouraged. ‘That means we have to get to Malakasia, survive long enough to enter the lion’s den, succeed in breaching Malagon’s- Nerak’s most powerful defences, find and steal the far portal, open it for long enough to get the three of you through, wait around for Gilmour to get back with the stone key and then close off our end for ever. Forgive me, my friends, but that plan does not fill me with confidence.’ Looking directly at Gilmour, Sallax asked, ‘Can you tell me how you expect us to survive such an assault?’
Garec watched Gilmour; for the second time since they had left Estrad his usually ebullient friend looked old and tired. He stared across the fire at the Ronan Resistance leader. ‘I’m not certain we will live through it. But I wouldn’t even consider this plan were it anything less than essential to the survival of our world… both our worlds.’ Then, surprising everyone, he added, ‘And, as luck would have it, we won’t be going in alone.’
‘Really?’ Garec asked. ‘Who’s coming with us?’
‘Kantu,’ Gilmour said.
The entire company looked bemused; the name was unknown to any of them. Garec raised his eyebrows in query.
‘Kantu is the only other surviving Larion Senator,’ Gilmour elucidated. ‘He’s in Praga.’
‘Only two survivors of that night at Sandcliff Palace?’ Mika asked, shocked. ‘How did you two live through it?’
‘Well, Kantu survived because he was on the opposite side of Eldarn at the time. My survival is another story.’
The river babbled by their small clearing, a watery highway leading through the forest, ignorant of and indifferent to the problems faced by the company of freedom fighters.
Steven was overwhelmed. The idea that the key to save the world from unimaginable evil was lying in a plain rosewood box on his desk was mind-blowing. He feared for Howard and Myrna, but all the same, he hoped against hope that the tapestry was still lying on the floor in their living room, so he, Mark and Gilmour could step through the Fold, retrieve Lessek’s Key and send Gilmour back with the rock in a matter of seconds.