Portals of Infinity: Book Five: Demigods and Deities Read online

  We walked out on to the street, and within moments we were getting a lot of attention. People were pulling out their phones and pointing them at us, I realized then that they probably worked as cameras too. Which probably explained how we'd ended up on those television things so quickly.

  I stopped Nikki, and we posed for a few of them, then walked about ten more steps, before people started coming up and asking if they could pose with us.

  "Wow! Nice costume!" One of the guys taking pictures commented, "Where did you get it?"

  "It's for a movie," Nikki said. "We're trying to raise money, so we thought we'd come out and let people see it."

  "Your costume isn't bad either," He said smiling, "You must be a weight lifter or something, you're really ripped!"

  Nikki blushed, "Thank you."

  "How much for the picture?" The woman posing with me asked.

  I held up one finger, and she smiled and handed me a few bills. "Keep the change!" She laughed and they went on their way.

  "Hey, we're working this side of the street!" The people at the lamp pole called out.

  "Sorry!" Nikki said and waves, "We're moving!"

  We spent the next hour moving slowly down the road, a lot of people took pictures, more than a few posed with us, and gave us money when they were done. Several folks wanted to talk and ask how it was all done, were we using animatronics? Muscle wire? What kind of micro kit were we using to drive the tail and the ears? How long did it take to put all that makeup on?

  I just mumbled "trade secret" and left it at that.

  When they asked Nikki where the website was for the movie we were making, she said it was being launched in the morning. Neither of us had any idea what a 'website' was, but that answer seemed to satisfy them.

  Eventually a police car pulled up and chirped his siren, which caused most of the people to back off, and two officers, one male, the other female, got out and walked over to us.

  "Yes, officers?" Nikki asked.

  "What's all this?" the female officer asked.

  "Costumes for a movie we're working on."

  "You look kind of familiar," the she said looking Nikki over.

  Nikki shrugged, "I used to compete in the body building circles before I took up acting, maybe you saw me there?"

  I watched as they looked her over, and one took a picture of her face. Nikki's face as a champion was similar to her native face here, but her features weren't exactly the same, so I hoped they wouldn't link her to it.

  "How long does it take to get into that?" The male officer asked stepping over to me.

  "Four hours," I said holding my tongue still, to try and make it sound like I was talking through a fake head.

  "Four hours? That's quite a bit."

  "Use to 'e six, 'ut lots of 'ractice," I said very slowly.

  "What, can't you talk right?"

  "Issa 'uzzle," I said and tapped my muzzle.

  "The muzzle?" He asked.

  "It's glued to his face," Nikki said. "If he talks too much, the glue starts to unbond, so he has to hold his mouth as still as possible."

  "Damn, must be hot in all that fur!"

  I nodded, "essss!"

  "She doesn't match up," the woman said and her partner looked at her. "She doesn't?"

  "No, she's close, but the eye ridges and nose are different. Not something you could hide with makeup. Besides, our perp didn't have a tall guy in a cat costume with her."

  The male officer laughed, "Yeah, but could you imagine the shocked faces down at central booking if we brought this guy in?" He said and nodded at me.

  "I can also imagine the civil rights lawsuit for interfering with a street performer." She said to him. "Have a good night, you two," she turned to her partner, "let's go."

  Nikki turned to me as they drove away. "Bronze ones, you have big bronze ones."

  "Yeah, this from the girl who pulled the 'Uncle Gatwick' act."

  "Well, I was a sergeant, sergeants are expected to be able to make shit up and lie with the best of them!"

  I sighed, "How much farther?"

  "Lots," she grimaced.

  The sun had come up, and had started to climb into the sky before we felt it, the next portal. When we finally got there, it was in a parking lot, behind what looked like a post office, but I wasn't quite sure.

  "So, what do we do?" Nikki asked looking around. There were quite a few people there, coming and going, as well as cars driving in and out.

  "Just walk through," I said.

  "But everyone will see us!" She said.

  "And after the night we've had, I really just don't give a damn," I said.

  "Look, free money!" I called out and threw all the cash we'd gotten for pictures that night into the air.

  Then I grabbed Nikki and sprinted for the portal as all the people either went and chased it down, or watched those that did.

  Twenty-Five

  Wasteland

  I stood there shocked; we were standing right on the edge of a town, or rather, what had once been a town. The entire place was destroyed, bombed out; it looked like something out of the apocalypse.

  "I thought this was supposed to be an even higher tech world?" I mumbled looking at all the wreckage, the twisted rusted hulks, and shells of burned out buildings.

  "Looks like they had a pretty serious war," Nikki said. "And it looks like they had it some time ago. This wreckage looks old."

  I looked around, "So, some sort of nuclear war?"

  "I'd guess. We don't have any food, not much water, and I'm pretty beat. How about we find a place to sleep, and then figure out what we're going to do next?"

  I nodded, I'd figured we'd just cash our gold in for food and supplies when we got here, I sure hadn't expected this. It had been a few days since we'd done anything beyond napping. Sleep was in order.

  We found a place nearby on the outskirts of town that wasn't too badly destroyed, the roof was mostly gone, and it was hard to get to the top floor, which meant anyone trying to get up there would wake us long before they got near.

  "Fel," I said, "Good to see you."

  "William," Fel nodded, "Cenewyg crossed into that park about three hours ago, in the morning."

  "So, we're what, twenty-four hours ahead of him?" I asked.

  "At least, it depends on how fast he travels, and when he thinks it's best to cross into the next sphere."

  "He could do it tonight, it's not that far a trip, then get a taxi and cross through to here within a few hours, and be here by morning," I said. "He does know the territory."

  "Did you see any children out last night?" Fel asked.

  I shook my head, "Come to mention it, no I didn't."

  "Child welfare laws would consider it child abuse. He has to go through there during the daytime, so he has to hit there tomorrow morning, at the soonest."

  "So you think he'll spend a day in the previous zone, come into the last one sometime early in the day, then come here?"

  Fel nodded, "So you've got about twenty-four hours until he catches up with you, at a minimum."

  "Okay, anything else?"

  "No, good luck."

  "Thanks," I said and fell deeper asleep.

  "William."

  I sat up and looked around, Nikki was also waking up, we were still in the spot we had laid down to sleep, the shadows hadn’t changed that much, so I suspected we’d only slept an hour, two at most.

  "William," I heard someone call again.

  I looked at Nikki, she looked at me and shrugged. So I carefully crawled away from her position, and looked over one of the ruined walls off towards where I had heard the sound.

  "William."

  I saw them; it was a man, an old man. He was carrying a staff with an ornate headpiece on it. With him was a young boy, and no one else. They were carrying slung rifles, but nothing else in the way of weapons that I could see.

  I watched as they slowly moved along, about once a minute the man would call my name.

 
"What?" I called back quietly after a minute.

  "The great and good goddess Stepheen has sent me here to find you, so that she might talk with you. She has told us that you are a great and powerful warrior, and a harbinger of the son, who will do great things for her people." He said, looking around to try and see where I was.

  "And you are?" I asked.

  "I am her high priest, her voice among her people."

  "Prove to me that you are here from her, and not a trap."

  "She says that you gave that which most would keep for themselves," he paused a moment, "and that you think with your dick too much."

  I heard Nikki snicker.

  "Yeah, that’s Steph," I sighed. "I’ll be right down.

  It took us a couple minutes to make our way down to him, by then he was sitting in the shade on an old ruined ledge. The boy gave a start when he saw me; I was still in my champion form, as I knew my loincloth wouldn’t fit my human version here and I really didn't feel like walking around naked. Nikki was still similarly attired of course, and drew a bit closer inspection from him, once he got over the shock of seeing me.

  "How did you know I was here?"

  "Why Stepheen told me," He said.

  "That was for her, not you," I said. "Gods and goddesses aren’t supposed to be able to track champions, yet, here you are."

  The old man nodded, "She says to me that when she learned of what the evil god Fuerston had done, and what his vile champion was trying to bring to the land, that she knew you would follow." He smiled at me, "She has much faith in you, William."

  "Please, no editorializing, okay?" I said and he nodded.

  "So you know Cenewyg is on his way here?"

  "Yes, William, of course she does."

  "Does she know when he’ll come out?"

  "No, the darkness spread by the…."

  I waved my hand and stopped him. "No editorializing, okay."

  "She was saying that."

  "Well, then ask her to stop as well, I have a lot of questions and I don’t think we have a lot of time, and I have no idea what the hell I’m going to do. First question, how many people do you have?"

  "It is just me, and my acolyte Jebediah."

  I was shocked by that! "Her entire following is just the two of you?"

  It was the old man’s turn to look shocked, "No, there are many that follow the Goddess Stepheen, we are the only ones that are here. Her warriors are engaging the forces of the evil Fuerston, to delay their arrival and capture of this holy ground.

  "Doesn’t feel very holy," Nikki commented.

  "That is because the blessed event has not yet occurred."

  "And what is that blessed event?" I asked.

  "Why the birth of the child of the Goddess Stepheen and your union, of course! You are the war leader of myth, the man with the ferocity of an animal, which shows in your temporal figure as you stand here ready to battle the forces of the evil Fuerston and his most vile champion, who come here to sully this blessed event."

  I sighed and rolled my eyes in my head, I wondered if Stephanie was talking to him like this, or if he was adding all these flourishes? Probably both.

  "So, we have an enemy army on the way, what do we have in the way of weapons?" Nikki asked, putting her hands on her hips.

  "Ah yes, many many years ago, the Goddess Stepheen in her…."

  "Stop, just tell us what you have, and where you have it," I said interrupting him again.

  "You are most abrupt, William."

  "Yes, but she loves me anyway. The weapons?"

  "Very well, follow me."

  He got up then and led us through the town, and into a building that looked totally demolished.

  "Pull the floor up there," He said, indicating with his staff.

  Nikki and I set to work quickly; under the rotten wooden floor were several heavy steel plates, which only someone with hydraulic equipment, or a couple of champions, could move.

  Once we got them cleared, we found quite the armory underneath.

  "Grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, mines," Nikki looked up at me and smiled. "I feel like a little girl on Christmas!"

  "Fel thinks that Cen won’t pass through into the previous sphere until morning, having a child in that place at night would probably land him in jail for child endangerment or something," I said to Nikki. "So I’m thinking we’ll see him not long after first light."

  Nikki shook her head, "Remember how crowded that place was in the morning? He’d want to wait until later in the day, less people, less problems."

  I thought about that and nodded.

  "I do not understand what you are talking of," the old man interrupted, "but the goddess says to say to you that tomorrow, as the sun is halfway down to the horizon, is when the appearance of the son will take place."

  "She’s positive?" Nikki asked.

  "She’s a goddess, Nikki," I sighed.

  "But Cen’s a champion, how can she tell."

  "Because it’s her and my child?"

  The old man coughed, "The goddess has instructed me to say ‘What he said’."

  "Damn, now I’m sorry we never met," Nikki laughed.

  "Oh, this is my sister, Nikki, recently of the U.S. Army, and Aryanna’s champion," I said and nodded. "Not sure if that made it through or not."

  The old man nodded.

  "So, just when do you expect the evil army to get here?" I asked the old man.

  "Tomorrow, when the sun is halfway down to the horizon," he said.

  "I thought you have an army delaying them?" Nikki asked.

  "Their army is many times the size of ours, the best we can do, is to delay them. Otherwise they would be here in the morning."

  "How big is your army?" I asked.

  "Five thousand strong!" He said proudly.

  "So the enemy is what? Twenty thousand? Thirty?" Nikki said.

  "The enemy has many soldiers in its army, but we believe they have sent only five times our number to this battle."

  "What kinds of weapons do they have?" I asked next.

  "They have rifles like the one I carry, and they have swords and bows. The bullets that you have in there," he nodded to the pit we had exposed, "probably equal that of their entire forces, bullets are expensive and hard to come by in this time."

  I looked at Nikki, "So, two against twenty-five thousand. Feel up to it?"

  Nikki grinned, "Not like I have any other plans for tomorrow!"

  I grinned back at her, "Finally, a chance to kill something! Let’s start hauling this stuff out of here, and get set up for the big reception."

  Yeah, we'd probably die horribly, but I was sure it would be worth it.

  # # # #

  We were sitting on the top of one of the higher ruined buildings, looking out across the wastelands. There were wrecks and ruined houses everywhere, and all the growth looked stunted. We'd spent all night and most of the morning rigging mines, setting up several machine gun nests, and placing weapons and ammo stores around the outskirts.

  Once they closed, we'd have to rely on our mobility, which meant constantly moving from spot to spot.

  I opened another can of rations, there had been quite a bit of food stashed with the weapons, and so Nikki and I were stocking up for the fight. We'd given the man and the kid some as well, and shown them where all the fallback positions were. They could lead whatever survivors of their army made it here, to those positions to back us up.

  "Okay," Nikki was talking to the kid, his name was Jeb, "this map shows where the mines are, and this number written under them, shows what controller activates those mines. Turn it to 'on' and they're armed. Turn it to 'det', and they explode. Got it?"

  He nodded.

  "Good, now say it back to me, and then point to where each group is on the map."

  I looked back out over the wastes as Nikki went over how she wanted him to use the minefield. She and I would be out there at the opening of the battle, so we didn't want the mines to be active until
after we'd retreated from the field.

  About half the mines had to be detonated manually, and just prior to when we expected Cenewyg to show up, we'd have him start firing those off as well.

  We'd moved a few of the wrecks littering the streets to the eastern side of the portal, that was the side away from the town, and from which we expected the enemy to arrive. I had to be down there waiting when Cenewyg came through, and I really didn't want to be standing in the open with the entire enemy army shooting at me while I did.

  I looked up at the sun, it was getting near time.

  "I'm going to move over to the rocket launchers," I told Nikki and she nodded.

  "Guess I'll do the same." She turned to Jeb, "Remember what I told you, and keep your head down and don't stand up, there's nothing to draw them to this position, and once all the mines have been fired, you go join the priest, okay?"

  He nodded.

  I ran out to the rocket launchers with Nikki, and we climbed up onto the platform. We had them set about three hundred yards outside of town, on top of some sort of one-story building. I checked the submachine gun slung on my back, my grenades, my ammo, and then picked up the binoculars and started to search the horizon.

  "There they are," Nikki said and pointed, I turned and looked; there was a column of dust rising in the distance.

  I nodded, "Well, might as well fire up the launchers."

  We unpacked the rockets, there were twelve of them, and they were fairly smart. I moved six of them to my launcher and turned it on, while Nikki did the same with hers.

  I fitted the first rocket in, and then looked through the eyepiece, and waited.

  Thirty minutes later their column came out on to the plain. There were a lot of them, and they were using some sort of truck to carry their solders.

  "Damn," I heard Nikki swear, "They got a tank."

  I scanned the line until I found it. "They sure do. Think that's the only one?"

  "Let's wait until they're all out on the field."

  "Okay," I said and started counting the other vehicles, they had about twenty of them, and they looked pretty backed with soldiers and supplies.

  Ten minutes later they were all out in the open, still advancing.