I stared in wonder at the image before me, and before I could say anything he was gone. I guess I must've scared him away. Story of my life, right? The opening of the portal seemed to be in a barn or something similar. I felt the breeze that must have been blowing somewhere beyond my vision. Unfortunately it was a barn as the smell was almost overpowering, my eyes watered with the intensity and then the wind died down suddenly and the relief to my eyes and olfactory senses were immediate. I could hear shouting in the distance and the sound of someone crying out. The noise grew closer and until it sounded as if it was right next to me, there was a sound like a solid punch landing and I saw the boy go flying into my field of vision and then land roughly on the ground about five feet in front of me. A huge man was in pursuit and was closing the distance rapidly. I yelled with out thinking, a strangled battle cry, and his head whipped around with sudden fear.
His eyes grew wide as he caught sight of me and for all his size, fainted dead away. The boy was on his knees looking at me wide eyed and fearful, babbling in a fluid silvery tongue that I couldn't understand. I began speaking calmly and evenly, holding my hands out palm up to show I meant no harm.
"It's ok, I won't hurt you. See? I don't have anything in my hands." I was seized with a goofy inspiration, "I come in peace," I said while raising my right hand and splaying the first two fingers into a 'v' shape, "Take me to your leader." I grinned.
He began to calm and seemed to realize that I wasn't going to kill him outright. He slowly got to his feet and approached me as one would a dog who appears friendly but is unknown, and could therefore be dangerous. I kept smiling, and who wouldn't? He moved with real grace and poise despite his fear, almost regal I would have said if it wasn't obvious he was a peasant. He smiled hesitantly, like he was learning to do it for the first time, and I felt my heart melt. Holy cow, I have never seen a smile like that! I felt in awe as he stopped and studied me, shy smile still in place as he tried to gauge me no doubt. I decided to make the first move.
"Aaron." I said, pointing to myself. He looked confused for a moment and I repeated myself. His face lit up with understanding and he pointed at me.
"Aaron." He said. It was my turn to smile. He opened his mouth to speak again.
Without warning the portal dimmed and went blank, showing me the surrounding walls again with their fantastical murals. No! I approached the portal examining it from every angle but try as I might I couldn't see how to start the portal again. I felt the silver pillars that were it's outer limits, I studied the floor and the circular area I had stood in, but to no avail. At last I walked slowly over to the mural on the wall again and studied the boy. It was definitely him, no question. I studied the clear brow and the open, innocence on his face. There was maturity in the eyes though, he had been forced to grow a bit I think. But what a difference between the mural and the boy, in this he appeared a Prince of some sort, in the view of the portal he was a stable boy. As I moved down the side of the wall I began to wonder about how I would get out of here. After considerable hunting I came upon a door cleverly concealed as...a door. Ok, so I had other things on my mind and missed it, ok? Sheesh!
I opened the door which groaned in protest and entered the semi-dark passageway. It was a combination of earth, stone and wooden supports. The odd root suddenly imposed itself through the wall every few feet, but the flagstones under my feet were clear enough. I realized that I had reached a dead end. No, wait, there was a door here I think. It was cleverly hidden, unlike the one in the main chamber which was hiding in plain sight. The door was intricately carved out of granite with a real craftsman's hand.
Ivy was carved from the door itself seemed to be so alive that you could almost see them shift in the breeze. I placed my hands on the door, feeling about the craftsmanship when I happened upon a stone leaf, which depressed into the surrounding granite foliage. The door ground open in protest and sunlight greeted me. I stepped into the sun, blinking at it's intensity. I turned as the door closed on the chamber and watched in awe as a section of the old keep's wall closed almost seamlessly.
I glanced at my watch and was shocked to find that only twenty minutes had passed. I walked back to the inside of the ruined tower and retrieved my book bag, and trekked back to the school in time to catch the van back to the boys home. As I rode I thought endlessly about the boy in the mural and the desire, no the need, to see him again. What was the language he had spoken that was so fluid and musical? How did the portal work? Could I get it to work again?
After dinner and the chore and homework hours had been completed, which seemed to me like it never would end, I got permission to go to the village library. I entered the brick structure, which had at one time been a railroad stop, but now housed a growing collection of books for this small village straining to become a town. Our reference and town history area was pretty heavily built up so I was confident I'd be able to find some information about the town's past.
I approached the librarian's desk and found an ancient man behind the counter in a large cardigan sweater, leaning to one side snoring loudly. He and I seemed to be the library's only occupants. I cleared my throat by way of trying to wake him politely. He inhaled and then snored loudly in response, breath ruffling the billows of hair that were created by his moustache which could easily have been a small woodland creature that had simply died on his upper lip for it's size. Another large inhalation and wall-shaking exhalation. I decided to look with out help.
I approached the reference section and began looking for indications of the library's village history section. After wandering for about ten minutes I stumbled on the leading edge of the section. I was dismayed at the amount of information available, there were literally millions of pages here, what the hell was so interesting about this area that you'd write so many goddamn books about it?
I traced my hands over the spines of the books as I scanned for a title that might indicate something about the town's medieval period. Many of the books were about the wildlife in the area, the pioneers that had settled and the geography. Who cares? I need igneous rocks like I need another gym period! Anyway, I was getting frustrated after about twenty minutes of fruitless searching I decided to head back in the direction of the snoring. I approached the old party none too silently as I figured he'd probably sleep through a thrash metal concert, and tried to politely wake him. I cleared my throat again, I spoke lowly so as not to jar him awake, I tried everything polite. Nothing doing, so I walked to the dictionary's on the wall behind me and brought it back with me. I accidentally dropped it on the floor. There! That did it!
He abruptly came back to life sitting up rapidly in his squeaky chair.
"Ah, oh! Yes, yes can I help you? Seem to have drifted off there, real quiet here you know. Too quiet for me, I just drift off, light sleeper though, yes sir wake at the drop of a pin I do." He rattled on.
"I would like to find out a few things about this area's history, specifically medieval time periods."
"Oh, well we have a few on that era, any thing in particular you'd like to concentrate on in that time?" He blew out on his bushy moustache.
"Actually, yes. I'd like to concentrate on anything to do with the old castle up behind the high school."
"Oh? You mean Asmodean's Keep do you? Well we have some information on it, it's a bit sketchy though. Did quite a bit of research on it myself you know."
"Really? Who is Asmodean?" I asked excitedly.
"Well yes, quite a bit of research actually. The keep was built about three hundred years ago by a warlord by the name of Colle. Unfortunately he was a better attacker than defender and the keep fell shortly after it was built. The Demetrallian's who ruled for some time in this area captured it. They had built a castle wall and fortified defenses around the Keep making it much harder to take. About ten years after the completion of the outer walls war descended on the region again."
He paused to wipe his glasses on his shirt and blow his moustache out again.
"The Orundians swept out of the east, and let me tell you what made that so interesting is that the Demetralli and Orundians were different factions of the same empire. In fact the High Lord encouraged infighting in order to keep the soldiers on their toes for expansion and to limit his expenses when border skirmishes with neighboring empires broke out." He paused in his narration as if to collect his thoughts.
"Turns out the leaders of the Demetralli and Orundians were brothers, and bitter rivals. The Orundians captured the Keep and held it because they threatened the life of a very important person, the Crown Prince Roland who had been at the Keep at the time of it's capture. Now while Roland was alive it held the Demetralli back because they knew he'd never live through an attack, the Orundians would kill him. So having him alive guaranteed them of retaining the Keep. However Orund, the leader of the Orundians, wanted more than anything to break his brothers spirit, and so word reached Demetral that his son had been murdered most horribly."
I stared in fascination at the story unfolding from this fossil. "How did he die?" I squeaked.
"They cut off the arms and legs and then cauterized the wounds, and let him die of shock. It was called the living death."
I thought of that boy having this horrible fate befall him and shuddered.
"The interesting part is that there was never any proof that Roland died. Rumor persisted that he had escaped, and that is where the name Asmodean comes in."
"Asmodean was the kings champion, a fighter like none other and a wizard of legendary proportions. Some say that Asmodean created a shelf or a room outside time and has hidden Roland and himself where Orund could not reach. And so it was rumored that one day someone would unlock the secret of Asmodean's Keep and release the Crown Prince and his loyal protector, Asmodean. Magic, it seems, was a funny thing even then. They say that Asmodean had no real time to prepare, such was the speed and ferocity of Orund's attack, and so the spell was incomplete. It requires someone to unlock it, to complete the spell."
"What is the key to completeing the spell?" I asked in spite of my rational mind screaming that this whole thing was a fairy tale of some sort. "What happened to the Demetralli?" I asked.
"Demetral was crushed at the news of his son's death and went mad with grief, he stormed the walls of the Keep and slaughtered all the occupants before dying of a broken heart later that year. Very sad really. And to think he had the very tools to release his son if he but knew."
"And what tools were they?" I asked
"Simple really. Love for Roland will unlock the portal and release them from their hiding place."
I rolled the story back and forth in my head as I walked through the quiet streets on my way to the home. As I entered I was checked for cigarettes and other stuff, but only a cursory inspection as I had never been into that stuff. I headed up to my room, which I shared with Kody. I really felt sorry for that guy.
His dad had abused him and his mother had been ruled incompetent to manage him, so the state had stepped in and taken custody of him, and promptly placed him in Homer House. He got in trouble quickly enough once he got here. Michael Talley had been his first roommate and he had bullied Kody endlessly, made him carry his cigarettes and stuff so that if they were ever found it'd go against Kody and not him. I had gone to the staff and asked to switch roommates since my old roommate Jason was big enough to fend off anything Michael might try, and besides, Kody was kinda cute. I mean cool. Anyway, I walked in a settled down on my bed to take my shoes off when Michael came in the room and shut the door. He gave me a threatening look and then proceeded to Kody, holding an object out to him.
"Hide this you little fuck, or I'll kill you." He said in a quiet, calculated voice. It was a knife and it seemed to have blood on it. Kody's eyes popped and he backed away from the knife. Michael leaned in threatening with the blade.
"I said...hide it before I use it on you." He then slapped Kody across the face with his unoccupied hand and Kody grabbed the knife, placing it under his mattress. Michael nodded and told him to keep it hidden until Michael asked for it again, then he left the room.
Looking back I think that was the last straw for me. Kody was almost in hysterics and I really couldn't blame him. So I immediately devised a plan to get us out of trouble, for the last time. Michael had obviously gotten into something way too big and was going to stick Kody with it under the threat of killing him. And you know what? I didn't have anyone and neither did Kody so...
I comforted him then told him the only way out was for us to go, that I would leave a note for Scott Case, the staff member I trusted most, and then we'd disappear. Michael would just be too unpredictable in that situation. So after lights out I snuck down to the kitchen and swiped some canned goods, a can opener and some noodles figuring that they'd be easy to make if nothing else. I set my pack on the back stairs and went back to my room. I wrote the note in the moonlight, detailing all we knew. I then grabbed a few changes of clothes for both of us, then I roused Kody.
He blinked at me owlishly. I explained to him that I thought it would be best if we both disappeared for a few days to get away from anything that Michael might try to pull, and he readily agreed. He got dressed quietly and we headed down the back flight of stairs back into the kitchen, and silently out the back door after depositing the envelope on the kitchen counter.
We headed out to the front of the house and then over to Scott's car. He had proudly told me once that he kept a nine millimeter pistol in his car for emergencies, and I had actually seen it. Of course I was told about it for three reasons. One, I wouldn't say anything. Two, I'd never take it. And three, Scott wanted to impress someone. Well, I broke reason two as I opened the door and reached under the seat.
"What are you doing?" Kody whispered behind me.
"Uh, Scott keeps some change under the seat dude, just borrowing some." I lied.
"Oh, good thinking." He replied nervously. Poor Kody, I was the only one he trusted and I just lied to him. Well, if I had told him I was reaching for a gun he'd have freaked. Success! I found the gun and it's holster and extracted it, with one clip in the slot. I checked the safety, blocking Kody's view of the pistol with my body, and then tucked it into the waistband of my pants.
We walked in silence for about ten minutes, heading towards the school, the moon providing enough light for us to make our way on these unlit small town roads.
"Aaron I.."Kody began.
"What's up, commander Kody?" I asked him, smiling and using my personal nickname for him. He blushed scarlet in the moonlight, his dark straight hair hanging down in his eyes, framing his face.
"I just wanted to say thank you. I know everyone thinks I'm a pussy cause I take all of Michael's shit, but he'd kill me. I really think he would, and he's a lot stronger than I am and. Well. I just wanted to say thanks for never...never putting me down." He finished softly.
"S'ok, Kode. We pussies have to stick together y'know." I smiled, and he returned my smile in the moonlight.
"So, um, where are we going to go anyway?" He asked hesitantly.
"Someplace special." I said non-commitally.
We walked in silence and approached the school, curving around it to approach the Keep.
"Fucking stop, right there you assholes!" Michael yelled from behind us. How the hell did he get here? I went on auto pilot.
"Run!" I yelled to Kody and grabbed his sleeve to spur him on. We got to the Keep's ruined tower and I pulled the gun out from my waistband. In one swift motion I had spun on my heel and aimed the gun in Michael's direction.
"Freeze asshole!" I screamed, "Don't fuck with me, I'll do it!"
Michael pulled up short at the glint of metal in the moonlight. He didn't look happy, but he did stop. I nudged Kody out of view and then kneeled down out of Michael's sight.
"Go back to the house and get rid of the knife, Michael. We don't have it. Just don't come any closer or I'll shoot." I had knelt down and he was out of my sight, and I was out of his as well. I searched for the chipped flagstone frantically. I heard also his approaching footsteps, cautious but hardly undetectable on the gravel he stepped on.
At last! The stone moved and the doorway swung open filled with the faint glow I had noticed before. I pushed Kody at the door, and he pulled our packs with him. I was heading for the door when Michael struck me from behind and we began to struggle, I heard the safety switch click to the off position and then a deafening crack as the gun went off. Michael yelled in surprise and ducked away from me, and as he did I lost my grip on the pistol which hit the flagstone, dry fired and then skittered to a stop. I had to make a choice, get through he door without the gun, or get the gun and then try to open he door again. I didn't think Michael would let me work in peace to open the door, and besides the gun had dry fired so maybe it only had one good round in it? I broke for the door and the safety of he soft glowing light in the passageway. The door was closing and all of a sudden I was falling, tripped. The door was only inches from me and closing, I reached for the gun in a fake, and he went for it allowing him to beat me to the gun.
When Michael turned around there was no one to aim the gun at.
And there it is. I hope it was worth the wait. Comments are welcome at the_asmodean@hotmail.com