Portals of Infinity: Book Two: The God Game Read online

  “Then a while you shall have, my adopted son. Stephanie sends her regards, be well.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said and smiled a little. I left the temple to the sounds of laughter in my mind.

  I spent the next three months with Darlene. I practiced my fighting, I learned a little more about running the inn, though at this point I admitted to myself that Darlene would be the one to run it, I’d just help when I could. I rode a few patrols with Sergeant Chaucer to get the lay of the land, and then I went out and cleaned up a few of the more problematic bandit nests that were out there. With my champion abilities, it wasn’t too much of a strain, though I had to shift into my champion form for one of them that proved difficult.

  Some of the bandits I brought in, though most of them I just buried. I didn’t want to attract too much attention to myself; just enough to make people think they had to respect Darlene and to make any con men decide to look for safer prey. Plus the bounties helped push my bank account deeper into the three-figure range.

  On the home front, things were nice and relaxing. Darlene was sweet and attentive as always. When she wasn’t working in the bar, she’d wait on me. When I’d come home from killing bandits, she’d give me a massage and then we’d make love. There really wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for me, and I only took advantage of it a little bit. I mean she was my wife after all, so I was entitled to all of the lovely submissive service right? Though when it was her ‘time of the month’ I didn’t sleep with one of the girls working there, even if she told me I could and she wouldn’t mind. I figured that as time went on I’d be lucky to be here even just half the time, so I might as well make the most of my time with her when I was here.

  By the end of the third month, I knew it was time to go try again. I said my goodbyes, knocked Darlene up with child number two, got the usual blessings, and rode off telling her I’d be back in the spring hopefully.

  Once I got a few hours out of town and was sure I wasn’t being followed, nor leaving a trail, I gated back to Saladin, then took a gate that went from the outside of Rachel’s city to outside of Hilshire’s capitol. It wasn’t a regular gate, Fel and Aryanna had to work together to open it, but I made it into Kingstown by nightfall.

  “Well, round one sucked, ready for round number two?” Joseph asked me as we met up in Ithaca. It had been decided to meet there, and filter in, in smaller numbers. Mainly so we could smuggle in some weapons.

  I shrugged, “This time, we’ll be ready for them. We’ve got armor, swords; we’ll take ‘em.”

  “It will not be easy, William,” Cenewyg said.

  “I don’t think it will be,” I agreed. “But we will win.”

  “We’ll meet in the morning,” Stephanie said. “For now, get a good night’s rest and check your gear.”

  “Spend the night with me and I’m sure it’ll be a good night,” Joseph said leering a little at her.

  “But it wouldn’t be restful now, would it?” She said leering back. “Now off with all of you, I want to sleep.”

  We all filed off to our rooms, Dezba took up with Cenewyg this time, but I didn’t mind, I was more than happy to curl up by myself, though I did switch to my champion form. When Stephanie joined me an hour later though, I was rather surprised.

  “Aryanna is a little concerned about your frame of mind, so I thought you could use a little companionship.” She whispered as we got comfortable.

  “I thought Joseph was the problem child?”

  “Yes, but I like you more,” she giggled.

  “Thanks.”

  “Plus, you’re nice and warm when you’re all furry like that.”

  “Yeah, the sheets on these beds are kind of thin.” I purred.

  We spooned and fell asleep fairly quickly without any further byplay.

  The next morning we moved our stuff to the gate, put our gear on, checked each other out, went over our game plan, and then charged into the gate.

  And of course got wiped out again, a second time.

  Oh, we weren’t a pushover, by any means. We lasted a good thirty minutes, I think, maybe even an hour. Cenewyg and I were the last two to be cut down, and I know I slew hundreds of them. The problem was, there were thousands of them there. You just couldn’t kill them fast enough. Swords were definitely out for the next time around, I was thinking maybe some man-portable mini-guns when I finally died.

  Then came the torture and the pain again. It was worse at first, but then I remembered what Fel had told me and I concentrated on him and the bar, and it got better. I was still a quivering mess when I finally ended up on the floor of his bar at his feet. But I recovered a lot faster this time. So much faster that, two months later, we were there ready to try it again, and this time we did have much heavier modern weapons. I even had a mini-gun.

  And we lasted a whole lot longer before we were again wiped out. I’m sure we went more than an hour.

  “This is getting rather frustrating,” I growled at Stephanie. We were all sitting in the same inn as before, and we’d all been complaining. “There were thousands of them out there. Maybe more. We can’t kill that many.”

  “Well, sooner or later they’re going to run out of men. They just have too.” She replied, equally upset.

  “One would certainly hope so!” Cenewyg laughed. Out of all of us, he seemed to be the one least affected by all the torture we’d seen thus far.

  “Why do we not just go at night?” Dezba said.

  “Why at night?” I asked.

  “Yes, why?” Echoed the others.

  She shrugged, “It would make us harder to see, and if we fight through them, it would make it easier for those that got through to hide.”

  “Yeah, hide. I like that idea!” Joseph said looking up rather angrily. He definitely had been having a harder time of it than even me. But he wasn’t quitting either.

  Stephanie sighed. “Okay, sure. Let’s try it tonight.”

  I looked around; everyone else was doing the same.

  “Well, let us get to it then,” Cenewyg said.

  We went up to the gate, geared ourselves up once more, and then, as a team, rushed through the gate again.

  “Hey, where is everyone?” I think it was Joseph talking. I looked around, it was dark, but my champion form’s eyes adjusted quickly. We were definitely at the place we had been before, all the landmarks were there. But there was no one around. Not a soul.

  “Okay, this is weird.” I said.

  “Weird or not,” I know where we have to go, let us be on our way quickly!” Stephanie said.

  We started off down the hill, and around the many battlements that had been constructed as cover for the defenders. Still we saw not a single sign of anyone.

  “What’s that over there?” I said as I noticed a small flickering glow to the southeast.

  “Looks like a fire,” Dezba said.

  “Let’s be careful,” Joseph warned.

  “Obviously,” I said and motioned to the others to spread out more. We did that and slowly flanked the spot, eventually it resolved to a small fire behind one of the battlements, with an old woman sitting by it.

  “Ah, come to plunder our fair city?” She cackled at us.

  “No, we’re just passing through,” Stephanie said moving in front of us, but not getting too close.

  “Pity that,” The old woman laughed.

  “Where is everyone? What has happened here?” Joseph blurted out before Stephanie could ask anything.

  “Night time belongs to the goddess; the god’s troops don’t venture out of the city once the sun comes down. That’s the old agreement; the god guards the gate during the day, the goddess during the night.”

  “So why aren’t there any troops here at night?” Stephanie asked.

  “Because the king drove all of the goddess’ priestesses out of the city and into the hills. There are no followers of the goddess here anymore, beyond me.”

  “Just why do they guard the gate so fanatically?” Cenewy
g asked.

  The old woman shrugged, “I have not any idea. I was told to watch the gate, and watch the gate I do.”

  “Well, I guess that’s that then,” Cenewyg said and Stephanie shrugged and headed off, leading the group.

  I paused a moment and tossed the old woman a silver.

  “What’s this?” She asked giving me the eye.

  “A donation for letting us pass,” I said.

  She cackled a little, “Afraid I might stop you?”

  “Just thought it was the polite thing to do....” I said and followed the others.

  “She following us at all?” Dezba asked.

  “Nope, just watched us walk off then went back to watching the gate,” I had been keeping an eye on the old woman until I lost sight of her.

  Dezba turned to Stephanie then. “So where are we going, Steph?”

  “To the next gate.”

  “You know where it is?”

  “Yes. It’s on the edge of the water.”

  “How far?”

  “A few miles. We should be there before the dawn.”

  “So this is the famous Ithaca,” I mumbled while looking around. There were ruins everywhere. Once it had been a thriving area, I guess we were heading through what was once their equivalent of suburbs.

  “Looks like a dump,” said Joseph.

  “Makes me wonder what their city looks like now.”

  “Who cares? Probably another dump.”

  “The gate was probably the main source of this city’s income,” Stephanie said as we walked. “When people stopped coming through it, the economy most likely collapsed.”

  “Do that many people have the ability to sense the gates?” I asked curiously.

  “Not really, no. But it is often inherited and odds are the royal family on one side or the other had the ability and over time it either stopped breeding true....”

  “Or someone killed off the royal family in an attack of some kind,” Dezba finished.

  “Exactly,” Stephanie finished.

  “Hey, you don’t think that old lady was the local goddesses’ champion, do you?” Joseph asked.

  “No. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t her. If I had to guess, I would guess that the goddess here really doesn’t care about that gate anymore. With the driving off of her followers, she’s probably lost all interest.”

  The conversation descended into idle chat and died off completely shortly after. The first signs of dawn were on the horizon when we reached the water’s edge.

  “Spread out, everyone, see if you can find it.”

  We grumbled a little, more out of habit I think than anything else. With the dawn, that meant the soldiers would probably show up soon, even if we were now a few miles from the city. So finding the gate and moving on was probably our best bet.

  “Found it!” Cenewyg called.

  We all hurried over to where he was and as we drew near, I could feel it myself.

  It was offshore, a good hundred yards or so.

  “I’d hoped to get a boat here,” Stephanie said. “The Ithacans were once great boat builders. Maybe they still are. But I think we’d be better served swimming out there and seeing what we can find on the other side.”

  “I’d rather look for a boat first, at least until the soldiers get here,” Cenewyg said looking out at the water. “There may not be any land anywhere near the other side.”

  “I agree,” Dezba added.

  Stephanie sighed but nodded her head. “You’re probably right. Okay, Dezba and Cen, you go north, Joseph, keep watch here. Come, Will.”

  We split up and didn’t really have all that far to go, when we rounded a dune on the beach we found a bunch of small fishing vessels pulled up on the beach. They looked sort of like outrigger canoes. We grabbed one that looked big enough and trotted back carrying it between us. Even in our champion forms it was heavy.

  When Joseph saw us, he called for the other two who came back fairly quickly.

  “Anyone know how to sail?” Stephanie asked looking around.

  “Yes,” I said. I had grown up on an island after all.

  “Some,” Cenewyg said.

  “Yes, actually,” Joseph said looking pleased for a change.

  “I can paddle, but that’s about it.” Dezba said.

  “Well, let’s shove off!” Cenewyg said and dragged the boat to the water where we all piled in and started to paddle for the gate.

  Two

  We had sailed in our small boat maybe an hour before the first ship came into sight. Stephanie had told us the locals we were looking for were called the 'Phaeacians' and that they were reputed to be amazing sailors who possessed amazing boats.

  "What the hell is that?" Cenewyg said pointing.

  I looked stunned at the huge monster of a ship as it turned a graceful arch and headed right for us, making rather amazing speed.

  "It's a hydrofoil," Stephanie said surprised.

  "A jet powered hydrofoil," I added wondering if we were going to have to dive over the side.

  "Heave to!" A voice called out over some sort of megaphone and the ship made a half circle around us, decelerating quickly and then sinking down until the main hull was in the water as it pulled up and rather smoothly stopped next to us with nearly no wake at all.

  "Be you Ithacans?" A man on the deck called out to us.

  "No, why do you ask?" Stephanie called back to him.

  "Because you have come from that direction in one of their boats."

  "Well, we did come from there," she admitted.

  "Ah good!" He said, "We have not heard word from Ithaca for many an age. But we still maintain the patrol on the way to and from. Are things well there?"

  "I could not say, they did not seem to take well to strangers so we avoided the city."

  "That's an understatement," Joseph muttered softly.

  "We're bound for Scherie," Stephanie continued, "could you point us the way?"

  "Come aboard and I'll take you there," he said and threw us a line so we could draw our small boat to his.

  "I'm called Halius," the man named himself shaking hands with Stephanie as she boarded the boat.

  "I'm Stephanie," she replied and then named each of us as we boarded.

  "Welcome to my most humble boat," Halius said. "Let us secure your boat and then we shall be on our way."

  We all watched rather interested as he took the line that was fastened to the fishing boat, and dragged it around to the stern of the boat, which had a ramp rather than a transom. He hooked the line to a cleat on the floor, which moved up the ramp and pulled the boat in, then a line looped down from the ceiling and two arms came up from the floor and a moment later the boat was secured.

  "Neat trick that," Cenewyg commented.

  "Anyone hungry?" Halius asked and led us into the ship; I could feel it starting to move forward, it was rather smooth. By the time we were seated at the table I could tell we were back up on the skis under the boat and moving rather fast. Food came up from the center of the table and he bid us to help ourselves to whatever we wanted.

  "So where is the rest of your crew?" Joseph asked looking around.

  "Crew? What would I need a crew for? This is a small vessel after all."

  "Small? This thing must be fifty meters!" Joseph said.

  "Fifty-two to be exact." Halius said looking proud. "Built it myself, took me four years, but they won't let you captain on the big ships if you haven't built at least one small boat on your own."

  "Small?" Dezba said looking around. "If this is small, what is big then?"

  "Oh, anything over five hundred meters is considered big. But the really large ships start at one thousand."

  "So if there is no crew, who is piloting the boat?" Joseph asked looking a little white faced.

  "Oh I am of course," Halius said. "So, what can you tell me of Ithaca?"

  "It would seem," Stephanie said, "that the followers of the Sun God and those of the Moon Goddess have had a falling out. T
raveling at night is safe, but during the day, the followers of the Sun God do not take well to strangers. We were advised to avoid the main city and only pass through at night. So we really don't know much."

  Halius nodded and sighed, "We used to do much trade through Ithaca, but it is rare now that anyone comes through the portal."

  "You know of the portals?" I said surprised and got an immediate kick in the shin from Stephanie under the table.

  "Oh yes, we know all about them. We ourselves can not pass through them, it is forbidden to us. But there are still several through which others come and trade with us."

  "I see," I said, even though I didn't.

  "So, what takes you to Scherie?"

  "We've been sent on a quest to find a rare herb that is needed to cure the prince, err, the prince of my country that is," Stephanie explained. She had told us when we started out that this would be our cover story if questioned. "I am a member of the king's army and have experience in matters such as these."

  "So you're in charge then?"

  "Yes. So what can you tell me about Scherie? It has been a long time since any from my country have come here. I thought Phaeacians were a shy people? Especially those that inhabit Scherie?"

  "Oh those days are long gone. When trade stopped coming from Ithaca, we were forced to find new lands and peoples to trade with. Scherie has become quite the trading hub."

  "Well that is good, we may be able to find what we need there and return quickly."

  "So, would anyone like a tour of my humble boat?" Halius asked looking around.

  "I certainly would," I said and both Cenewyg and Stephanie nodded in agreement.

  "I'm afraid I'm not much of a sailor," Dezba said. "So I'll just wait here with Joseph."

  "Fine, come, let me show you around."

  The next hour was interesting to say the least. There was no bridge or control room on the boat. There actually wasn't a single control anywhere on the ship for anything. Stephanie didn't seem surprised by it and Halius did tell us that he controlled it all with his mind. Whether or not that was true, it was evident that there was a huge amount of automation onboard. Halius was very proud of his creation and I personally couldn't fault him. It really was a nice boat.