Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) (21 page)

‘Make it the Lower Dining Hall and it’s a deal,’ said Stix.

‘Done.’

The Delightful Brothers fixed Charlie with their squinting, cat-like eyes.

Stix held up the Isiris Ring and slowly put it on to his finger. ‘Follow us.’

Charlie, her will bound by the bracelets, did as she was instructed.

The three of them trekked back along the corridors and through a rather plain-looking door into a large dining room. Long tables and benches formed two lines down the length of the room and large white banners showing Lady Narcissa’s heron and rose lined the walls. Stix stopped Charlie right in front of a huge polished mirror that hung from floor to ceiling.

‘Right, then, girlie, open a door to … to New York.’

‘Hold on,’ said Stones. ‘I thought we agreed that if we were crossing over to Earth we would go to Paris.’

‘Paris, Paris, Paris!’ snapped Stix. ‘What is it with you and Paris? Everyone that’s ever crossed over said Paris was the place to go and see … two centuries ago! New York is supposed to be the place with the flavour these days.’

‘Paris or nothing,’ growled Stones.

‘New York!’

‘Paris!’

‘New Yor– OK, look, this is getting stupid,’ reasoned Stix. ‘Let’s pick another city. We both want excitement, a chance to terrorize and the opportunity to steal something spectacular, so how about –’

‘London!’ exclaimed Stones.

Stix grinned in agreement. ‘London, then. It’s a deal.’ He snapped his fingers at Charlie. ‘Girlie, open the Portal.’

The Delightful Brothers looked at Charlie expectantly. The torch held in Stix’s hand cast a sickening glow over both their faces. Already hard and unpleasant, they now appeared more brutish than normal.

‘Portal? What Portal?’

‘Use the mirror, you silly girl!’ hissed Stix.

‘You’re joking, right?’

‘Don’t play dumb with us,’ growled Stones. ‘You are a Keeper. Everyone knows that Keepers can open doors and paths, so don’t try and be coy with us. If you muck around, I’ll break all your fingers … Just open the blasted doorway!’

‘How on earth am I supposed to do that?’ asked Charlie in disbelief.

Stix kicked her painfully on her already bruised shin. ‘Stop stalling. We aren’t known for our patience. Now hurry up and open it before we do something unforgivable.’

Charlie looked from one brother to another. They weren’t joking. They seriously expected her to snap her fingers and magically open some sort of ‘doorway’ back to London. She knew she couldn’t do it, just as she knew she couldn’t jump
over a skyscraper or walk on water … yet for some reason they thought she could.

Strange.

Charlie could sense the threat that now hung in the air. Stones opened and closed his fists with a murderous look in his eyes and Stix stroked his sword hilts in a most unnatural manner. They obviously expected a result … and soon.

‘Um … if this is something a Keeper is supposed to be able to do, you’re going to have to remember I haven’t grown up with my parents or anyone else who might have taught me how to open a “Portal”. So please, please, please believe me when I say I can’t do it.’ She eyed the brothers some more, then added, ‘And please, please don’t hurt me. I honestly don’t know how to do whatever it is that you want me to do. And believe me, I would do it if I could. C’mon, don’t you guys think I want to see London as much as you?’ Charlie, realizing she was gabbling, shut her mouth. Standing with her shoulders hunched protectively forward, she waited to see what would happen.

‘Hhmpf … maybe she’s telling the truth,’ said Stones. ‘Remember we heard the Jade Circle discussing her parents’ fate.’ He rubbed his chin speculatively and stared at Charlie.

‘Hhmm, she could be,’ agreed Stix. ‘But that doesn’t matter, does it? If she’s never been shown how to open a Portal she should still be able to do it, right? She’s a Keeper – the ability is inbuilt. So all we’ve got to do is teach her how to do it.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Stones in his massive, rumbling voice. ‘Are you joking? Show a Keeper how to open a Portal? How are we going to do that? Killing is one thing, torturing
another … Those are all areas that we have expertise in. Doorways and Portals … that’s another ball game altogether. Let’s just forget it, get some food and throw the girlie back into the pens.’

‘Pah, where’s your sense of adventure, brother? We’ve got the Isiris Bracelets and she’s got the ability. All we have to do is put them together and BLAM! Come on, where’s the harm in trying?’

Stones cocked his head to one side. After some thought he said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’

‘Great!’ Stix fixed Charlie beneath his gaze. ‘All right, girlie. I am going to teach you, to the best of my abilities, about the theory of opening Portals, so make sure you listen up and listen up good. I’m not the sort of Treman who likes to repeat himself.’

Charlie didn’t need telling twice. And even though she would have preferred to learn such knowledge from her parents or perhaps from Jensen or Azariah this was still going to benefit her. She was going to learn something new, something about herself and her heritage.

‘I’m sure even you must have learned by now, girlie, that Earth and Bellania were many thousands of years ago the same place, but since the events of the Great Cataclysm they now exist on almost two separate and different plains of existence, right?’

‘Er … right,’ muttered Charlie.

‘Wrong,’ grinned Stix nastily. ‘They both exist in the same place, but one on top of the other. Like a coin – it has two different sides, heads and tails, but together they make the whole. Right?’

‘Er … right?’

‘Correct, little girlie. Now then, because Earth and Bellania are seen as different sides of the same coin it should therefore be impossible for the two sides to meet. After all, with a coin you cannot bend the head side round to touch the tail side, can you?’

‘Er … no?’ said Charlie, and although she was slightly confused she thought that she did have a basic grasp of what Stix was telling her. Perhaps she would have found it easier if he didn’t glare at her every five seconds like he wanted to skin, bone and slowly cook her.

‘Right again … but this is where things get confusing. Now we head into the more bizarre world of Keepers. All Bellanian children, be they Stoman, Human or Treman, are taught what I have just told you. However, what I am about to explain to you is something that I and Stones can only guess at, as this is a field normally taught exclusively to the Keepers.’

Charlie felt herself buzzing with excitement. As much as she loathed Stix and Stones, this was one of the most fascinating things she had learned since her fateful escape from home.

‘Somehow the two realms, Earth and Bellania, do connect. The Cataclysm was so powerful, so mighty, that it tore the very fabric and laws of the universe. One of the results of this is that the two opposite sides of the coin do, against all rules of logic, touch. These points where Earth and Bellania touch are special and quite rare. It is in these locations, girlie, that the two realities collide and overlap. And it is in these strange places that you will find the homes of Keepers. It is
their job, their duty and their obligation, to guard these sites and keep them hidden, particularly from the uneducated Human idiots back on your side. Also, they must ensure that foolhardy or ignorant people do not unwillingly or mistakenly cross over. In fact, none may cross over unless they have the Winged Ones’ permission. Your house, I believe, is one of these points.’

‘Oh!’ uttered Charlie.

So that explains …

‘Don’t interrupt me, brat!’ snarled Stix. Gathering his thoughts, he continued, ‘Where was I? Right, so your house sits on a point where paths between Bellania and Earth merge. The name for the exact opening point of a path is a “doorway”. These doorways are stationary and cannot be moved. However – and this is what makes your family so annoyingly powerful – Keepers can also forge their own pathways between the sides. These pathways, unlike doorways, can be opened anywhere on Earth or Bellania. These movable paths are known as “Portals”. Do you follow me, girlie?’

‘Yes … well, at least I think so,’ said Charlie, ticking off the points on her fingers. ‘A doorway cannot be moved, is quite rare and occurs naturally and can be used by anyone, so long as they have permission from the Winged Ones. But a Portal is an artificial doorway that can be opened only by a Keeper, right?’

‘And can be opened anywhere, unlike a doorway, which occurs only at points where the Cataclysm tore reality apart … Are you still following me, brat?’

‘Er … I think so,’ said Charlie.

Stix nodded. ‘You’d better understand, because if you mess this up Stones and I are going to …’

‘Yeah, I know.’ Charlie sighed. ‘Hurt me like I’ve never been hurt before and blah, blah, blah. I get the message. I’m really not as dumb as you like to think.’

‘Yeah, well, if you were so bright perhaps you wouldn’t be in this situation, would you, you cheeky little brat?’ rumbled Stones.

Charlie grimaced. He had a point. ‘OK, I’m sorry I opened my mouth. Please continue.’

‘What I
want
you to open is a Portal from here to London,’ snarled Stix, who was getting fed up with all the interruptions.

‘And how am I going to do that?’ asked Charlie.

‘By using your Will.’

‘My “Will”?’

‘Yes, your Will!’ snapped Stix. ‘This is what makes Keepers stand out from the rest of you foolish Humans. Your Will! Stomen can stonesing. Tremen, treesing. Keepers can manifest powers through concentrating their Will.’

‘Wow … magic!’ breathed Charlie, a huge smile erupting across her face. She couldn’t help it. Here she was stuck in a strange land, in a strange city, in some horrible witch’s tower with two terrible brothers who enjoyed inflicting pain. And tomorrow she was to be traded like meat to an evil, flesh-eating giant, but she didn’t care. She had just been told she could do magic!

‘What is it with you Humans? Why do you always insist on calling simple, day-to-day things magic?’ hissed Stix. ‘Are you all dumb animals living in the Dark Ages? It is not – and
I’ll say it again, because I can see how stupid you are – it is not magic! This is a skill, a focusing of Will, nothing more, nothing less!’

‘Magic!’ smirked Charlie, who wasn’t listening to a word that Stix was saying. She was too busy off daydreaming in a world of her own.

‘Bah!’ snarled Stix in disgust as he stared at the young girl.

27

A Glimpse of Trafalgar Square

‘OK, brat, snap out of it,’ commanded Stix. ‘I want you to focus your Will on this mirror. Look at it, feel it, try to do whatever comes naturally to you as a Keeper. Now then, be aware of where we are, in Mother’s tower, in Sylvaris, in Bellania. Good, now focus on where we want to be, which is London. I want you to think of … Trafalgar Square. Picture it in your mind: Nelson’s Column, the lions, the National Gallery, the fountains, the pesky pigeons and the sheep-like milling tourists. Good … you’re doing well … Now then, Will us to be there,’ he said.

His face was wrinkled in concentration as he stared from Charlie to the mirror. The Isiris Ring on his finger glinted in the torchlight.

‘Focus your Will. You must want more than anything to be in London.’

Charlie didn’t need the Isiris Bracelets to force her to do this. She would have been more than willing to try it at any time. Grimacing, squinting her eyes and frowning hard, she concentrated like never before. She squeezed her fists into
tight balls, her tummy muscles cramped up and she began to shake.

She ignored it all. She forgot who she was with, disregarded her sticky predicament. All her attention was focused on the mirror in front of her. Her reflection stared back at her and she could see Stix and Stones standing behind her, with the dining room disappearing into the darkness behind them. Then something began to change. The image wavered and grew hazy, as if she was seeing it beneath a fast-moving river, or in a desert through a wall of shimmering heat.

She focused even harder. London, Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Column, the lions, the National Gallery. Thick golden light, similar to what had come from Azariah’s hands, lit the room. With a giddy sense of wonder, Charlie realized that the light was coming from her.
Focus
, she thought,
I must focus.

And suddenly it was there. The reflection and the mirror had disappeared, leaving behind just the wooden frame, and through this, a short distance in front of her, was Trafalgar Square. Rich afternoon sunlight streamed into the dining room. The hustle and bustle of London traffic could be heard: the roar of large trucks, the grating noise of double-decker buses, the horn of some annoyed cab driver. She could see tourists, lots of them, with their brightly coloured backpacks and cameras. Some of them turned and pointed right at Charlie in amazement. Just as she could see them, they could see her!

A thick jet of water shot through the mirror and splashed both her and the Delightful Brothers. She had opened the Portal right in the middle of one of the fountains! Water,
unleashed by the complete opening of the Portal, was now rushing into the dining room. It gushed everywhere, bringing Coke cans, mangy pigeon feathers and old plastic shopping bags with it. The sheer rush and power of the small wave knocked Charlie off her feet.