The Kings of Eternity (17 page)

We were perhaps five yards from the portal now, and edging closer like children playing dare with the waves of the ocean. I expected the strange beings to appear at any second and accost us.

Odd to relate, but although we were cautious, I was surprised at how we had accommodated ourselves to the fact of the wonder before us. Perhaps it was because, from the very start, the manifestation of the marvellous had been an incremental thing. We had become inured to the fantastic by degrees, so that now even this privileged glimpse of another realm failed to faze us.

The closer we came to the portal, the wider our view of the strange land became. By the light of the double moons I made out a range of hills to the right, dotted with lights that I took to be dwellings. I wondered what manner of being might inhabit this place.

Jasper Carnegie was closest to the portal. He stood on tip-toe and peered over its lower lip, which hung at the height of his head. “I see the ground,” he reported. “Some kind of dark, coarse sand.”

I joined him and looked over the lip. What appeared to be a beach shelved down to the water; on the black sand sprouted many-headed silver blooms, which glowed in the light of the moons.

More than anything I wanted to suggest that we climb through for a closer investigation, but at the same time a more cautious part of me recalled Vaughan’s words. The portal had been opened for a purpose...

“Look,” Vaughan said. “There, in the sky.”

We looked up. Something passed before the double moons, some kind of small flying machine. As we watched, it turned and headed towards the bay. It was like a plane without wings, a graceful tear-drop shape that moved with alarming speed. Indeed, hardly had I observed this than I realised that it was heading directly for the portal.

It swooped low over the bay, skimming the surface, and at speed approached the interface. Charles gave a cry and dived to pull his brother out of the way, lest he be decapitated by the hurtling craft.

I ducked along with Vaughan, but not before witnessing yet another remarkable sight. Along the beach, two tall, attenuated figures appeared from the darkness and ran towards the portal.

Seconds later, with an eerie drone, the tear-drop craft flashed overhead and into our world. It side-swiped the trunk of the first tree in its path, caromed off a second and gouged a great furrow in the undergrowth mere feet from the log behind which my friends and I had earlier taken refuge.

No sooner had it come to rest than a segment of its upper integument flipped open and a being struggled out, no doubt dazed from its crashlanding.

I had no time to register the appearance of this creature before I made out sounds behind me and, on turning, saw the appearance of the two tall creatures above the lip of the portal. I felt rough hands grab me, and thought for a second that a third member of their party had waylaid me, until I heard Vaughan hiss into my ear, “Hide yourself, man!” and so saying he pulled me to the ground and dragged me to where Jasper and Charles were cowering beneath the great hovering ellipse of the portal.

From this relative sanctuary, we watched the drama enact itself before us.

The being from the craft had managed to jump free and hide behind the fallen tree trunk: it was an ugly little brute, a dwarfish manikin with a great domed head, no neck worth mentioning, and a thick torso. No sooner had I made this inventory than it disappeared from sight, evidently attempting to conceal itself from the two elongated beings in pursuit.

For here they came now, swarming over the lip of the portal and landing - mere feet from where we cowered - with a sinuous, lizard-like agility. It was all I could do not to shout aloud in terror, for if the first manikin had possessed all the hallmarks of ugliness, then these creatures were a match and more besides.

Their legs were long and thin, but bent as if in readiness to spring: they reminded me of the legs of lizards, scaled and oleaginous - as was the rest of their anatomy. They stepped forward, and walked with a cautious, bobbing gait, heads flicking this way and that. They carried what I assumed were weapons, silver, stylised things like futuristic rifles. Their headpieces were encased in globular helmets, so that it was impossible to make out their faces, but if the rest of their bodies were any indication, then I imagined the elongated jaws and snouts of the saurian genus.

By some method of detection unknown to me, the leading saurian aimed its weapon at the fallen trunk and fired.

A beam of white light sprang from the nozzle of the weapon and made short work of the trunk, which vanished in a blinding glow. I caught a quick glimpse of the stunted being as it rolled from its now non-existent cover and took refuge behind its flying machine.

Another white beam sprang forth, this time from the dwarfish manikin. It connected with the leading lizard, which hardly had time to issue a guttural cry before it vanished in an inferno of blinding light.

Its mate ran to the edge of the clearing and fired again, and I heard a cry from behind the flying machine as its erstwhile pilot received a hit - but not before loosing an almost simultaneous beam of light which found its target: the second saurian flashed before us and vanished in an instant, and seconds later I made out the charcoal reek of cooked flesh pervading the air of the clearing.

All was still, quiet, in the aftermath of the extraordinary battle played out before our disbelieving eyes.

I was lying on the ground, face down, with Vaughan and Charles beside me, and Jasper to my rear. My pulse was racing and I was trembling with fear and exhilaration. My mouth was so dry that words would not come, and my mind was in a whirl as it sought to explain the nature of the events we had witnessed.

Jasper was the first to move. Slowly he crawled forward, past us and beneath the lip of the portal. He stood cautiously and looked around him. He walked towards where the first lizard-like beast had met its end, and bent to inspect what little remained, a mere scattering of ashes upon the ground.

As I watched him, I made out a movement beyond the clearing. I opened my mouth to call a warning, but no words came. As I stared, pointing, I saw the stunted manikin crawl out from behind its tear-drop craft. It was on all fours, in evident distress, and hauled after it a weapon not dissimilar to the lizards’ silver rifles.

It collapsed onto its stomach, facing us, then raised its rifle and aimed.

“Watch out!” Vaughan cried to Jasper, who stood oblivious to the danger he was in.

But the manikin did not intend Jasper as its target. It fired, aiming high, and above us the interface detonated with an explosion of blue light, then vanished.

We cowered with our arms about our heads as intense heat and sparks rained all around us.

Then a preternatural silence reigned, and only the dim light of the stars provided meagre illumination. Jasper fell to the ground and scrambled back to us.

“It still lives!” he hissed. “For all we know it might be a berserk mercenary bent on slaughter!”

“It would have wiped us out by now, if that were the case,” Vaughan pointed out. “We were sitting ducks.”

I noticed, not ten feet from where I lay, a paraffin lamp which had fallen and extinguished itself in the melée. Cautiously I crawled across to it, found matches in my pocket and set about providing a light.

My friends joined me and, huddling together within the orange glow of the lamp, we peered into the darkness in the direction of the injured manikin.

Presently my vision adjusted and I made out the small figure lying face down beside its craft.

Only then did I hear its cries. They were in a tongue wholly incomprehensible to the human ear, and yet heartrendingly pitiful. They sounded like the hopeless yowls of an injured animal, and yet with a sense of structure suggesting language.

“
Eeee, ah orguk... Canak-ha.”

Charles took my elbow in a vice-like grip. “What should we do, for pity’s sake!”

Vaughan said, “Let us approach, but slowly. Raise our arms in the air, to signal that we mean no harm. Then we might get close enough to assess the degree of its injuries and determine whether it might be saved.”

We nodded encouragement to each other, and yet each of us was reluctant to make the first move. After perhaps half a minute of vacillation, first Jasper and then Vaughan stepped forward and slowly approached the manikin. Charles and I followed cautiously, myself ready to flee at the first sign of hostile intent from the creature.

I stared at the manikin in the light of the lamp. It looked up, regarding us with great round, seemingly lidless, eyes.

It still held its rifle, and as we drew near the manikin moved. It lifted the weapon, and we froze, fully expecting to be reduced to ashes. Then the being flung the rifle with all its feeble strength into the undergrowth, and with that simple gesture signalled its lack of hostility.

We hurried forward. Jasper took the lamp and held it high while Vaughan and Charles with painstaking care examined the manikin, and then eased it onto its back.

Evidently the beam of light had not scored a direct hit - otherwise the being would have been annihilated like its opponents - but had caught the manikin a glancing blow. The flesh of its right hip and upper torso was a flash-burned mess, with pale spars of broken bones projecting through the wound.

Charles produced a pen-knife and proceeded to cut away, ever so gently, the creature’s jerkin. “
Orguk... Vee-ha
,” it mewled in pain.

I turned away, unable to watch any more. I was standing beside the tear-drop shaped craft, its open fuselage inviting inspection. I peered inside, noting many strange devices and implements fore and aft of what looked like a narrow sling or seat.

As I peered within, I happened to touch the skin of the craft, and to my surprise the entire thing rocked. I pushed it again. Sure enough, the craft was astonishingly light. And yet, as I stood back and stared at it, it looked as substantial as anything of its equivalent dimensions on Earth.

My friends were conferring. “I can do nothing for it out here,” Charles was saying. “If we can get it back to the Grange without causing it greater trauma...”

“But if we try to carry it back,” Vaughan said, glancing at the doctor, “do you think it will survive the journey?”

“It’s our only hope,” Charles said.

“One second,” I said. “What if we replace the creature in the craft?”

Charles interrupted. “It’s barely conscious. I doubt if it could control-”

“No need for that,” I said. “We could carry the craft to the Grange.”

“Carry it?” Jasper echoed.

“Look,” I said, taking the vehicle in two hands and lifting it over my head.

“Good God!” Vaughan said. “Whatever next?”

I positioned the craft next to the alien. Charles knelt and attempted to gesture our intentions to the manikin. “
Hah ro
,” it said, which we chose to interpret as assent.

Fortunately the being was as small and light as a child. With Vaughan taking its shoulders, and Charles its legs, while I hoisted the lamp aloft and Jasper held open the cover of the fuselage, we managed to transfer the manikin from the ground and into the sling of its craft with maximum care and minimum delay.

I recalled the creature’s weapon, and gingerly retrieved it from the undergrowth and stowed it in the craft beside the manikin.

I took the nose of the vessel, Vaughan the rear. At a nod from my friend, I lifted, and proceeded to walk forwards with the ludicrously lightweight craft held at my back, Charles and Jasper bearing the lamps fore and aft.

Like this, carrying the creature in its craft as if it were some injured dignitary in a sedan-chair, we made our way through Hopton Wood.

The going was difficult, mindful as we were of making the ride for the manikin as smooth as possible. We proceeded slowly, choosing our steps with care; the dancing shadows cast by the lamps did not help: the path seemed like an obstacle course with hummocks and protruding roots I had failed to notice when walking unburdened. Nevertheless we walked for twenty minutes without mishap, and then at a call from Jasper slowly lowered the craft to the ground. Charles and his brother took up the burden, while Vaughan and I carried the lamps.

Twenty minutes later we emerged from the wood and paused before the snowfield that extended away from us, almost violet in the light of the stars. The Grange was a distant irregularity against the whiteness, the lighted French windows of the library promising warmth and comfort at journey’s end.

Again Vaughan and I took up the burden. We stepped forward, but the depth of the snow impeded a smooth ride for our injured guest. We lurched about like drunken men, the craft rocking perilously to and fro.

“Halt!” Vaughan cried. “I have a better idea. Lower the vehicle.”

We did so, and it sat upon the snow like a sledge - which was precisely Vaughan’s intention.

“Now, Charles and Jasper - you stand at the front and make sure it doesn’t get away from us. Jonathon, we’ll guide it from the rear.”

In just such a fashion did we begin the journey down the gentle hillside. The craft skated over the snow like the finest toboggan, the ride far smoother now. We galumphed through the deep snow alongside, merely having to touch the vessel from time to time in order to keep it on course.

“I’ve been considering what we saw back there,” I said at one point. “Have you any idea as to what took place?”

Vaughan peered at me over the curved top of the vehicle. “It might be explained in a number of ways,” he said. “Perhaps what we saw was simply a case of cops and robbers, our friend here being the fugitive. Then again, the reptilian beasts might have been the antagonists, and the homunculus some unfortunate hero.”

“Or perhaps,” I said, quoting Vaughan himself, “it might be a mistake to impute human motivations to alien beings.”

Vaughan laughed at this and called out, “Touché!”

I marvelled at the cavalier fashion with which we were discussing that which, in the cold light of day, we would come to see as momentous.

“And what about the portal?” Charles said over his shoulder. “What was happening when it was in its blue phase, and who or what were those shadow creatures we beheld?”