Portal: A Nina Decker Novel Part 13

I lay there without my helmet, exposed for all to see. I hurt too much to move any other part of my body. I was too out of breath to even speak.

J'Tara glared down at me, her fury turning to confusion. "Who the h.e.l.l are you?"

Gazing upward, I caught my own reflection in the polished metal of her breast plate. I saw yellow hair. I s.n.a.t.c.hed a gaze at the metal covering on my forearms. They were straighter and provided a better reflection. I didn't recognize the girl who stared back at me.

I was clearly me but my straight raven hair had been replaced by blonde curls. The shape of my face was different. It was less oval and more round and lumpy. Though I hated to sound vain I looked a lot less attractive than normal.

"Who are you?" J'Tara demanded again.

I kept silent. It wasn't hard because I was still too exhausted to do much more than grunt.

A glamor, I thought. Someone had put a glamor on me. No, not me. It was on the armor.

Simeon had waddled over to the fuming J'Tara. "What is the matter, captain?" he asked.

J'Tara stabbed a finger in my direction. "You saw what she did? How could she have summoned such power? She's a n.o.body."

"True enough." Simeon gave me only a cursory glance. "But you saw how quickly her power faded. Obviously she gave her herself a boost of manna before coming here. It wore off during the joust and that was why you won."

I knew the reason was because I hadn't paced myself. But again I stayed silent.

J'Tara snorted, "So she's nothing but a fraud then."

I relaxed a little bit. My ident.i.ty was safe for now.

But then J'Tara grabbed me by the armored collar and dragged my carca.s.s across the square. "Let's see how much I can get for your fraudulent hide," she hissed at me.

Panic rose back up. I had forgotten about the slave auction. I tried to resist but all I could muster was to weakly flail my limbs. Two guards seized me and held me down by the arms. J'Tara addressed the crowd.

"This one is a cheater," she said. "I don't expect too much but who will start me off?"

I heard a familiar voice yell out, "One hundred gold pieces."

I looked across the crowd and saw my cruel handmaidens. R'Agan had put in the bid.

Please no, I thought. I didn't want to be her personal slave.

"Two hundred," yelled another. This looked like a shopkeeper.

I saw the green skinned Eric Greatstone stride through the crowd. He was still wearing his biker jacket. He raised his hand. "Three hundred," he said.

I had a bad feeling Greatstone could see through my glamor. I didn't know what he wanted with me and I wasn't keen to find out.

Then I spotted Dashrael's white hair. The chancellor held up his hand. "One thousand gold pieces."

"Bidding rather aggressively, chancellor, for this worthless piece of meat," said J'Tara.

"I have trouble finding good servants. You air breathers are so fragile. This one looks like she might last a few weeks."

Cruel laughter came from the crowd. I remembered the swimming pool. My insides grew cold. I was going to speak out but something made me hold my tongue. There was something different about Dashrael now. He looked concerned though tried to hide it. When no other offers came and J'Tara announced him the winner I could swear he looked relieved.

He handed J'Tara her money then lifted me by the collar. He dragged me along the street. People jeered as I went by.

We came to a pool near the town center. Before I could yell we dove in together. Cold water rushed over me. I held my breath.

"Don't struggle." His voice was as clear underwater as it was on dry land.

When we surfaced, I scrambled for sh.o.r.e. It was rock. I looked around. We were inside a large cave. The walls looked like they were made of melted wax. Yellow light came from some source hidden in the alcoves.

Dashrael waded towards me. "Are you all right N'Lina?"

I scrambled back and back into the deep water. My armor was light but it wasn't made for swimming. I instantly sank. Dashrael grabbed me and pulled me back to the edge.

"You're safe. You can trust me," he said.

His whole manner was different now. He wasn't the powerful, strutting figure he was at court. He sounded gentle and his touch was too. He helped me out of the water. I gazed back at my strange reflection.

"You can take off the rest of that armor," Dashrael said. "We're safe from prying eyes down here."

I noticed then the cave was a home. There were tables and chairs nearby. And there were chests, vases, and sculptures. There were paintings, frescoes mostly of a beautiful white haired woman. Dashrael opened a chest and pulled out a dry dress.

"This is for you," he said.

I removed the armor. After the last piece was gone I saw my reflection change back to normal. I slipped the dress over my head. I was still sore from the joust and now wet and shivering. What I wouldn't give for one of Dani's towels.

"The armor, you left it for me," I said to Dashrael.

Dashrael nodded. "Please forgive me for what I did earlier at the pool. I hope I didn't scare you."

"Why did you do that?"

"It was necessary. Now this will be the last place J'Tara searches for you. By now they will be aware you are not where you are supposed to be," he explained.

Then it dawned on me. "All of this was to get me out of the palace."

"Yes. "

"Nice plan. What if I had won?"

"We would have dealt with that problem when we came to it."

We? I wondered. Something still wasn't making sense.

"But why help me now. That was you back in my garden. You really did try to kill me before."

Dashrael said, "I was under orders from Lord Wolfstriker. I didn't want to but I couldn't disobey. My heart wasn't in it though. That's the only reason why you survived."

I glanced at his right hand and saw discolored scars running the length of his forearm. That was where I had gouged him with the iron hand rake.

"But that still doesn't explain why you're helping me now."

I heard a splash, then saw my mother's head bob up in the pool of water. Dashrael gave her a hand out. Her long elegant dress was plastered to her body.

"I wouldn't have helped you if not for her," Dashrael told me. "This was her idea all along."

My mother hugged me in a wet embrace. "Oh my darling girl."

Emotion welled up in my throat. Years ago I promised myself I'd never feel this way about her. I always thought she had abandoned us. I'd spent twenty years hating her. But there was always love in my heart. There was always love for my mother. I just pushed it aside all that time. Now there was no more pushing it aside. It came flooding back and I let it this time. It came out as a wave of tears. And my mother cried along with me.

"Where's Da?" I asked when I was done.

"You'll see him soon," she promised.

We sat down to a meal. It was raw fish but at least Dashrael had sliced them up. This was the freshest sashimi I'd ever eaten. As we ate my mother and Dashrael told me about the time before I was born. They told me Dashrael had been sent to kill my mother while she was still pregnant with me. Dashrael refused and that decision had cost his mate her life.

My mother said, "We wanted a new dawning, a new understanding between the races, all the races."

I glanced at the frescoes of the white haired women. Dashrael had paid a lot for that vision.

Dashrael explained, "After I found my beloved dead I headed straight for the palace. I intended to take my revenge. But I found the then chancellor slain by Lord Wolfstriker himself. He told me the chancellor had acted without his knowledge."

My mother scoffed at this. Apparently ours wasn't the only strained relationship.

"He offered me the position of chancellor," Dashrael went on. "I thought about how it could help my people and how it could bring about a new era for us all. But since then things were difficult. I had to keep weighing my conscience against the greater good. I fear my conscience lost out most of the time. Like when Lord Wolfstriker told me about the prophecy. He convinced me the only way to remove the threat to our realm was to remove you. "

I swallowed a piece of raw snapper. Since I had arrived the king had rarely treated me like a granddaughter. That's because I wasn't a granddaughter to him, I was a threat, I was a problem.

"After that attack I knew something had to be done," said my mother. "I had to return to court and speak out against any more attempts on your life. And despite the danger I took your father with me. I hope you can forgive me one day. For everything."

I know she wanted me to say "I forgive you." She needed to hear me say it. But I couldn't just yet. I promised myself I would say it after we were all safe and out of Nightfall.

"What happens now?" I asked.

"We'll leave tonight," my mother said. "We'll collect your father and pa.s.s through the portal back to your house. Then we'll cover the portal with iron. We can find a place on Earth where they will never find us."

"What about Severin?" I asked.

"Severin," Dashrael snorted. "You're better off without him. If he hadn't broken the peace you wouldn't be in half the danger you're in now."

"But he didn't," I protested.

I told them what Severin had told me.

When I was done my mother said to Dashrael, "If this is true, then there are people on both sides who want war and they're working together. If Severin dies that might leave his pack under the leadership of our enemies."

"If he's telling the truth," said Dashrael.

"Then I'll make this easy for you, I'm not leaving Nightfall without Severin."

Chapter 19.

We worked on a plan the rest of the night, me, my mother and Dashrael. When we were finally done my mother left first, diving back into the pool. Dashrael and I packed my armor into a sack and then followed.

"There are several pa.s.sages down here. One leads to the lake, the others are portals," Dashrael said as we swam. It was weird hearing him talk so clearly. All I could do was shake my head and maybe blow some bubbles.

"The portals are pretty quick. The lake pa.s.sage takes some time. Unfortunately that's the route we have to take," he explained. "Hold your breath as long as you can. I promise you'll be okay."

I just wanted him to get on with it. Listening to him made my lungs ache. He took my hand and then we took off like a torpedo. The water quickly turned bitter. It was being squeezed by a giant hand made of ice. I closed my eyes. Water went up my nose and into my ears. My insides burned.

"We're almost there," Dashrael promised.

Then there was light above and then I was thrust to the surface.

"Are you all right?"

This was the third time I'd felt like a drowned rat. "No offense," I told him. "But when I get back I'm moving to the desert."

We swam to sh.o.r.e then hiked a short distance to a brownie village. We were greeted and showed to a house. I was given dry clothes and a warm fire. Dashrael stood guard while I waited.

It was agony to wait. I had an easier time on the swim out of the cave. After far too long for my taste the door opened and in walked Jason Decker, my father.

"Da!" I tackled him in a hug.

"Nina," he said with a child's joy. "Nina, my dear, look brownies."

"I see them, Da," I said. I choked up. I'd almost given up hope of seeing him again.

"Oh look." He pointed at Dashrael. "It's one of the merfolk. You have to be careful. They're fierce warriors. Most people don't know this," my dad went on. He stuck out his hand for the chancellor of Nightfall. "Me and my daughter mean you no harm, n.o.ble one. My name is Jason Decker."

"I know," said a fl.u.s.tered Dashrael. "I've seen you before, years ago. We've never met though."

I took my father gently by the hand and led him away. "What did you do today?"

"I met a brownie today. Then another brownie. And then a pixie. And then another brownie. Oh Nina it was wonderful."

He went on like that for hours. These last few days had been heaven for him. For that I was grateful. He asked me about the hospital. He thought we were still in Vancouver. I told him about stuff that had happened weeks ago and he nodded and smiled.

We kept talking until Dashrael came to fetch me. "N'Lina, it's time for us to go."

I hugged my father and told him I'd be right back. He waved good bye.