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The Elemental Portals

Book I – Terra

Chapter VII – Hell comes to Terra

Rory felt the portable portal vibrate in his pocket during a Board meeting of his trading company at its headquarters in Darwin, Australia. Swaddled in his voluminous black robes like the Emperor from those space battle movies he rose and excused himself, asking Mister Ross to step in and continue the meeting for him. He used the door that led to his private suite of rooms, where the only staff allowed already knew that the boss was a walking, talking fox and removed the robes to let the cool air dry out his fur.

He opened the case containing the tiny portal and said “Report" into the glowing hole. Then he held it to his ear as the porcine assassin, Wart, confirmed that they had killed the young red-haired human.

“Did he have a ring on him? An iron ring?"

“Sevade is searching the body now … no, no ring. He is collecting the hair you requested from the victim as we speak, though."

The fox was just about to request that they thrust a few strands of hair through the small opening in the miniature portal when the boar added, “Wait, there are armed villagers coming this way. Sevade is heading for the woods and I have to hide. I'll report back as soon as it's safe."

Rory waited a few minutes then tried tapping on the inside of the other container with a stylus but got no response. Either the Boar was still hiding or the villagers had gotten him, he supposed. Rory would regret the loss of the other end of his only portable portal if the pig was captured; it would have been nice to have DNA confirmation of Jimmy's death, but the risk was necessary to coordinate the next step in his revenge on Arthur Douglas. Maybe he could send someone to Dougs-ur-Mark to re-acquire the other half of the portal later.

Before going back to the meeting Rory picked up a cellular phone that was not registered to him and which had never been used before. He punched in a number with a North American international dialing code and a Canadian area code. His call was answered with only a grunt.

“Operation Fireball is a go." He said and received another grunt of confirmation in return.

Smiling to himself, Rory donned his cloak and headed back to the meeting.

* * * * * * * *

Chris Cinereo, the journeyman assassin, ran madly through the small streets and laneways of Dougs-ur-Mark, becoming more desperate with every twist and turn.

He had memorized the layout of the village from the vantage points where they had hidden to watch for their target, but the speed and organization of the citizens' response to the alarm was unexpected. They had managed to barricade every road leading in or out of Dougs-ur-Mark and man them with armed villagers who appeared to know which end of a blade was the pointy one. Obviously, they had practiced this form of civil defence and many of them appeared to have military training, unusual for such a small place, he mused as he ran.

How was he to know that the village that had grown up beside the portal had been sustained not by the excess population from the farming community that surrounded it but by the drifters, deserters and rouges that the Douglas's had welcomed over the centuries?

Portals were valuable assets, and back in Scotland the Douglas's had learned that the best way to protect them was to have a well-trained armed force ready, on both sides. Peace and stability had made the need for a militia on the Earth side unnecessary, but Terra was still susceptible to armed insurrection and upheaval, thus the need to recruit trained soldiers and employ them in the village.

Chris mentally tallied each blocked exit and once the total equaled the number of possible getaways and then he knew he was in trouble. He tried to approach a couple of the ones that looked to be lightly defended only to find that citizens with swords and spears were lurking in the shadows to each side. He had to expend all his pocket crossbow bolts just to force them back as he retreated.

He didn't think that he had killed any of them wiyh his bolts; he hadn't been trying to do so. Killing civilians was frowned upon and only acceptable if they stood between you and escape. As he could not have overwhelmed the barricades with his small crossbow Chris had been reluctant to kill for no reason. But now he armed himself with two long daggers, and if anyone was foolish enough to stand in his way them it would be too bad for them.

There was a temple on the edge of town, he recalled. A place for those who believed to celebrate the works of the Maker. It was large stone building that backed onto a fenced cemetery. There must be an exit in the back to access the cemetery and he could easily jump the fence there and be away. He headed for the temple, avoiding the places where he had already encountered villagers.

Paul Collieman, Gael Tholkes and Ruth Pawstone were late to respond to the alarm. Paul and Ruth because they had been locked together after sex and Gael because he was burdened with bags of steel sand and charcoal when the alarm went up. He had to set them down and retrieve his old sword before he could join the defense.

Finding the barricades already erected and hearing reports of an assassin loose in the village the three took it upon themselves to form a hunting party. They circled the village, following the assassin's sightings, drawing closer as the barricade leaders pointed the way.

They had been told at the first barricade, the one closest to the warehouse, that there were at least two assassins, maybe three. “Sending two assassins would be unusual." Paul had said at the time. “Three means that the client is desperate." The similarity of the descriptions convinced him that there was only one trapped in the village though.

“He's heading for the Temple." Gael guessed when the latest witness pointed toward the back of the village.

“If he thinks it'll provide him sanctuary, he has another think coming." Ruth said as she tested the edge of her great cleaver with a thumb scarred from many such tests. “I'm an atheist when my daughter is in danger."

They had not seen the young tigress, but she may have gotten out of the village before the exits were sealed.

“Don't kill him if we don't have to." Paul told her.

“Why not?"

“We need to question him, to find out who the target was and who sent them."

Ruth reluctantly agreed. The chances that the ones outside the village would be captured was slim and this could be their best chance to get some answers.

Chris had beat then to the Temple by a full minute, but he was frustrated again when he found the exit secured with a pair of old, rusty locks.

“Doesn't anyone get buried anymore?" He swore as he looked for an alternate exit, but there were no widows on the back wall and the few that were on the sides had bars with gaps too narrow to slip through.

He sheathed his daggers, pulled his lockpicks out of an interior pocket and began to work on the topmost lock. The rust had gotten into the mechanism and he had to pause to retrieve a small flask of penetrating oil and pour a few drops inside before he could get the mechanism to move.

With the first lock open he poured the oil into the second before attempting to pick it, but as he put the flask away the big doors at the front of the Temple were thrown open flooding the interior with light.

“There he is!"

Shit. Chris forgot about the picks and grabbed his daggers. He turned, hoping to find a couple of small timid creatures with pitchforks that he could chase off long enough to pick the remaining lock, but the three figures advancing on him looked anything but fearful.

On the left was a large, muscular horse who was carrying a broadsword with the ease and familiarity of an experienced soldier. On the right was a collie, a naked collie, Chris noted. His narrowed eyes and the way he carried the large butcher knife indicated that he too would be a formidable opponent. But it was the rabbit doe in the centre, who was also naked, that worried him the most. She had a crazed look as she slashed the air in front of her with a shiny steel cleaver almost as large as her while her pendulous breasts swung back and forth behind it.

Chris faked right saw the collie tense, and then faked a lunge down the middle, which made the rabbit swing wildly and cackle with glee, but he went left, across the front of the horse because no one could swing a sword that big in time to stop him ... or so he thought.

Gael's mind worked as fast as the assassin's and when the killer did not go to the right, one of the only two viable options, he immediately got his sword in position to block the left. By the time that the grey fox leapt the path was blocked by Gael's blade, which he drove into a chink in the stonework in his enthusiasm.

Chris saw the blade just in time and realized that he would not escape, not without killing all three of them. The thought drove him wild. His normally cheery facade had fled in the desperate flight from the villagers but now he became frenzied, calling on all his training and instinct in a fight for survival.

The assassin stopped his lunge and spun in mid air, surprising the three hunters. A foot shot out of the ball of clothes and fur and struck the broadside of Gael's sword near the hilt. Normally it would have knocked it from his grip but because the tip was wedged into the stone it broke the blade, leaving Gael with nothing but the hilt for a weapon.

A dagger flashed from the other side of the dervish and Ruth snatched at her wrist as the cleaver fell to the floor with a clatter. A second swipe drew a line of blood across the top of her chest, but she refused to back away.

Paul, who had fought hand-to-hand on many a desperate battlefield, knew that the only way this would end was in close contact. He threw the butcher knife to make the assassin duck and then dove at the crouching figure, wrapping his arms around the thrashing body and driving it against the back wall of the Temple. He felt fur and flesh separate as pinned arms tried to slash at him, but he held on, disregarding of his own life as he struggled to keep a hold in the crazed assassin.

Gael ended the contest before Paul could suffer more than superficial wounds by driving the metal ball on the pommel of his broken sword's hilt down on the head of the assassin. The fox went limp.

Paul stood up, placing his hands on his sides to feel the wounds and stretching to see if any real damage had been done. Gael picked up the limp fox and began to strip it, tossing the weapons and tools of the trade he found to one side. Ruth picked up her cleaver and began slicing bandages from the assassin's cloak to bind her and Paul's wounds.

“Cut a few lengths to bind his arms and legs with." Paul told her. “We'll take him to the warehouse where we have a secure room for the really valuable goods. We'll question him later, after we find out how much trouble he and his cohorts have caused."

Squinting at the prone body, Ruth ran the edge of her cleaver across the callous of her thumb again, drawing blood this time. “I'm looking forward to it."

* * * * * * * *

Mike eased his tractor-trailer along the twisty gravel road until he came to a fenced compound in the woods at the approximate location indicated on the map the boss had supplied. There was a pair of black SUVs already inside and the gate was open so he drove right in, honking the air horn to announce his arrival. If they were able to unload the ANFO quickly he might have time to grab a bite at the Pembroke Truckstop before heading back to the depot.

Two large men with shaved heads dressed in loose fleece jackets came out of the warehouse. One began to open the big double doors while the other indicated that Mike should back the rig in. Mike obliged, following their instructions through the mirrors until the trailer was right up against another set of doors on an interior wall. Mike shut off the engine, set the brakes and grabbed the paperwork for the load of explosives.

As he stepped down from the tractor he noticed something amiss. The alarm box inside the entry door was open and the control panel had been removed. Wires attached to the interior workings by alligator clips were hanging down.

Mike turned at the sound of one of the men walking up alongside the trailer. He had time to register the thick black tube of a suppressed pistol and even pee himself a little before two slugs fired in quick succession tore into his chest.

The hired operative put a third bullet into Mike's head just for good measure and kicked the scattered papers the driver had been holding aside.

“How's the load look?" He called to his partner, who had snipped the seal of the trailer and opened the rear doors.

“Perfect, not a barrel out of place. The guy was a true professional."

“Good. Let's start rigging it."

He opened a duffle bag containing receivers, detonation cord and primers and began carrying them to the back of the trailer.

He did not know why his employer had ordered a giant rolling shaped charge or why he wanted it pointing at some old log cabin hidden inside a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like a little bit of overkill, in his opinion, but he and his partner were paid not to care, or to question, and the pay was substantial enough to kill any and all curiosity.

While they were still placing the detonators the burner phone his employer had sent him went off. He grunted into it, loath to speak least his voice be recorded.

He heard, “Operation Fireball is a go", and he grunted acknowledgement, they could light it up as soon as they were ready.

He put the phone away. “We're good to go," he told his partner, “but let's take our time. We only get one shot at this and besides, I want to see this sucker go up after dark."

“From a good distance."

“Oh, for sure."

* * * * * * * *

Jimmy tried to shake off the lethargy that had taken over his body after he shot the boar that had killed his father. The best he could do was to drop the pistol and let Annie lead him by the hand towards the open doors of the barn-like structure.

Jimmy tried not to look at the body of the assassin, or the spreading pool of blood, as they eased around it. Annie quickly looked around for signs of the other assassins before they broke into a run, headed to where Arthur lay on the road.

First aid had been another skill that Arthur had insisted that Jimmy master, but it only took a glance to know that his father was far beyond the help of even the best trauma surgeon now. His neck wound was wide and gaping, but no more blood was coming out of it because his heart had ceased beating.

Jimmy staggered to the side of the road and threw up while Annie took off the sweater she had tied around her waist after the day warmed up and used it to cover Arthur's face.

While Jimmy was still retching he heard the voice of Aurora scream out “Arthur!" followed by instructions for the twins to lock themselves inside the house. A minute later she was on her knees beside the corpse, hugging it as if her love and warmth would bring him back.

He stood there awkwardly beside her. Down in the village cheers of triumph rose up, and he supposed that the third assassin, the one the workers chased back into the village, had been killed or captured.

With no sign of the red fox with the knife or the group that had gone after him Annie wandered back to the compound and began searching the body of the boar.

Jimmy was not sure how much time had passed when Paul Collieman, fresh bandages on his arms and sides, climbed the hill to join them. A small crowd of his father's workers and villagers gathered a respectful distance away.

Paul put his hand on the vixen's shoulder. “Aurora, lets take Arthur down to the cottage and clean him up."

Arthur's mate stood up, wiped a tear from her eye and nodded. Paul waved some of the workers forward and they lifted Arthur's body slowly and carefully. Jimmy took his mother's hand and they followed the body down the hill to the cottage.

Paul had the presence of mind to send one of the female villagers ahead to gather the twins and hustle them out of the way until they had Arthur's body settled on a pair of planks between two barrels in the front room. Aurora and some other females set to removing the arrows and cleaning the body while Annie and Jimmy went to break the bad news to Mikki and Vikki.

Although they had hardly met him the first time he was on Terra they clung to him as they wailed in grief. Annie knelt down to their height and did her best to help sooth them.

It was some time before Aurora came and took them to see their father. He had been wrapped in a clean white sheet that came up under his chin so that the kits would not have to see that his neck had been sewn back together. The room had been scrubbed of all traces of blood and fresh flowers had been brought in to disguise the smell of death.

While the three vixens cried over the body Paul pulled Jimmy aside and questioned him about the events on the hill.

“The workers following the one you say delivered the killing blow have returned empty handed. They are fairly certain that the assassin has fled the territory, although there is always a chance he might return if you were the real target, or one of them. Best take this."

He held out Arthur's katana, a modern one made to order by his father some years before. He had promised to take Jimmy to Japan to have one made for him once he was proficient enough, but that would never happen now. Jimmy took the sword and hugged it to his chest, fingering the large red stone on the hilt that he had always assumed was glass or crystal.

“Gael and Ruth Pawstone have talked to the villagers and put together a picture of what happened down there." Paul told him. “After they see that the prisoner is treated for the cracked skull Gael gave him and properly secured they will come here to compare notes. Maybe between us we can figure out who's behind this."

“Obviously Rory Douglas is to blame." Aurora injected from across the room.

Jimmy recalled seeing that name on the spell his father had added him to. It had been crossed out. Before he could ask who this Rory Douglas was Paul pulled him into the kitchen, indicating that he should hold his questions for later. Through the door they heard a friend of the family offer to take the twins to sleep at her place for the night.

There was some movement and sobbing as Aurora gathered the kits' things and saw them off. Then she and Annie joined Paul and Jimmy in the kitchen.

They sat down around the big table where Jimmy had once enjoyed a meal with his new-found family. Jimmy waited while the red-eyed vixen composed herself before asking “Who is Rory Douglas?"

She buried her face in her arms. “He's a shit of a red fox, and your Uncle."

“An uncle? Your brother?"

Paul answered for her. “No, Jimmy. He's your father's brother."

“I don't understand. Dad told me that that his mother died giving birth to him, and that it was her first pregnancy."

Aurora raised her head and wiped her tears away. “They were twins, fraternal twins, from two separate eggs. Your blood grandmother was a vixen, like me, and with inter-species births it's always a fifty-fifty chance as to which parent the baby will be like. In this case Arthur was born human and Rory was born a fox. But Arthur grew up on both worlds, while Rory was forced to stay on Terra and learn about Earth second hand. Arthur turned out to be a good businessman and manager, both fair and firm, and your grandfather favoured him to take over the family business with the portal. Rory resented being relegated to managing the warehouse here in Dougs-ur-Mark. He appealed to the clan heads in Scotland to give him control of one of their other portals, connecting to some other place, but they refused."

Paul took up the story. “I started here as an assistant before you were born, when Rory was still holding out hope to inherit the portal some day. He was greedy, and he had a cruel streak, but he was patient too … until you were born, that is. Once you appeared his chances of gaining control of Dougs-ur-mark became virtually nil, but he still ached to become a big name in the inter-world trading business and show your Grandfather, Arthur and the rest of the Douglas clan that they were wrong. He moved away and went on to lie, cheat and murder his way into the business, acquiring several portals and access to others along the way."

Jimmy frowned. “Dad never told me."

Annie caught his hurt expression. “Can you blame him, Jimmy? 'Hey son, did I ever tell you about my evil twin, the fox?' You would have called for the rubber buggy boys to take him away in a straight jacket."

“Yeah, I guess."

“There's more reason than that." Aurora said as she placed a warm hand on his arm. “Rory always swore that one day he would kill Arthur, or his son if Arthur ever told him the truth of his heritage, and that if he couldn't have control of the Dougs-ur-Mark portal then no one would. Your father did not want to put you in danger if you decided on another path in life when you came of age. But something happened that set this all in motion."

Jimmy's face went as red as his hair. “Oh, uh, dad told you about that, did he?"

“No, not that. Something else that Rory must have found out about to make him move against you now."

“I don't know. The decision to bring me here was pretty spontaneous. Do you think he had someone spying on us in Kingston?"

Paul scratched his chin in thought. “Hard to say. You father was very good at reading someone's character. And as far as we know Rory didn't do any business in Canada, except for that DNA heritage scam."

Annie's head jerked up. “DNA Heritage?"

“Yes, you pay a few hundred dollars and postage to spit in a tube and they send you a print out after a DNA test that your father said must have cost them five dollars at most, showing your possible ethnic heritage and linking you to other clients who submitted spit."

“Do you know which one?"

“A 'Jean cleany', or something like that."

“Gene Gennie?"

“Sound about right. Besides the money from the suckers looking to discover their heritage he uses the data to find folks like you and your father, Jimmy."

“Folks like us how?"

“Those with off-world DNA. Arthur's mother was a vixen, so he had some Terran fox blood in him. You more so because both your mother and grandmother were vixens. If you were to accidentally mate with another human with some fox in their ancestry there's a small chance you may sire a fox."

“And this happens?"

“Not so much anymore. In the old days, when travel between the worlds was more common, it happened more often, and the offspring were often regarded as special. But as the power of the one-god religions grew they were more and more often killed as spawn of the devil. A few generations of mating with humans will breed most of it out but occasionally two people who did not know they had some Terran genes from way back will marry and produce a wolf boy or a cat girl. If people like your father find out about them they usually arrange for the child to be moved to Terra to be adopted before they end up displayed as freaks in a circus."

“Gene Genie! That's how he knew I was getting curious about my heritage." Jimmy concluded. “But what would he want with the others?"

“Recruiting and Breeding. Some off-world species have magical potential, others are gifted in other ways, or so I've heard. Arthur suspected that Rory was monitoring those with the potential to produce children with off-world abilities so he could adopt, buy or steal the babies and raise them to serve his enterprise. A natural magician who is loyal can be a tremendous asset when you want to seal, or unseal, portals."

“Like ours? I still have the ring." Jimmy said, fishing it out of his pocket. “So, he can't stop us from using it even if he can overcome the spell he was removed from, can he?"

“No, he can't. He might be able to eliminate the spell if he had a powerful enough wizard working for him, but without your father's artifact he can't prevent us from using it. But I'd be cautious all the same, Rory always did have a trick or two up his sleeve."

Jimmy was about to ask what Paul meant by that when they were interrupted by the arrival of several villagers, including Gael, Ruth and her daughter at the front door. Jimmy moved toward Junafir but the young ingress held out a paw and shook her head to stop him, pointing at her mother, who had gone to pay her respects to Arthur, as the reason. Jimmy went to stand beside his mother while the rest took turns standing over Arthurs body and then coming over to mumble a few words of condolence to the son and widow.

“You'll have business to attend to tomorrow." Aurora whispered to Jimmy between mourners.

“How so?"

“Your father left papers here with instructions to his managers and lawyers should he die on this side. You will have to take them back and deliver them as soon as possible before Rory can move on the company. You'll also have to notify the clan seniors of your claim to the inheritance. There's contact information to do that in a letter meant for you. Arthur was supposed to revise it and notify them himself, but ...." She had to stop as silent sobs wracked her frame. Jimmy put a comforting arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him as the guests stood by uncomfortably.

Jimmy gazed around the room and saw pity from some, concern from others. His eyes lingered on Junafir but she was keeping hers cast down as she stood dutiful beside her mother.

I really do need time to think about where this thing between us is going, Jimmy thought, and time to grieve my father.

He decided then that he and Annie would take the papers back as soon as they were done here. Then he would deliver them himself, and perhaps spend a few days by himself in the Kingston house to grieve and get his head straight before returning to this land that he had barely been introduced to. He wondered if he could be back in time for his father's funeral given the time difference though.

The guests were beginning to leave so Jimmy asked his mother for the papers. Meanwhile, Paul stopped Ruth and Gael and suggested that they stay to compare notes with Jimmy and Annie before the humans returned to Earth. They went to the kitchen, where there were almost enough chairs for almost everyone to sit around the big table, but they were one short. Junafir stood behind her mother and glanced at Jimmy whenever she thought no one was looking.

Paul and Ruth began with the first sighting of the assassins in and around town.

“That got us suspicious, given what Rory Douglas always said about killing you or Arthur". Paul told them. “Everybody started going around armed and we dusted off the defence plans."

Ruth added, “Everybody was on edge for days, just waiting for something to happen. My stomached was in knots."

“Something was knotted." Junafir mumbled behind her, earning a dirty look from her mother and the closest thing to a blush that the collie Paul could manage.

Paul continued. “We saw the red fox and the grey fox before they went into hiding, but with the boar that makes three. Very unusual, but Rory knew we would be prepared and if, as you say, the boar wanted to kill you too then three against two would even the odds in his favour."

Ruth and Paul had not managed to get much from the grey fox locked up in the warehouse. “He'll talk soon enough though." Ruth said with a wink, patting the handle of the cleaver that she still wore at her side.

“He was dressed like the assassins from Norumbega though." Paul added, describing the way he wore his cloak and tunic.

“The red fox was dressed differently." Jimmy, who had burned the image of the Asian into his brain, reported. He described the manner in which the other was dressed.

“Hmmm." Paul mused. “Could be from Rory's city of Dainis. What about the third, Annie? The boar?"

“He was dressed similar to the one you captured." She informed them. But I'll bet he smelled a lot worse. Oh, I found this on him, if it helps." She passed over the clamshell case she had found in the inside pocket of the dead assassin's cloak.

Paul opened it carefully, wary of booby traps. Everyone gasped when he placed it open on the table.

“It's a tiny portal!" Jimmy exclaimed.

“Yes," the Collie agreed, “it is. And it explains a lot."

“How so?"

“A small portal like this can serve as communications devices. Like the larger ones they come in pairs, with one leading only to the other. But because they are so small anyone who can find both ends can keep one while someone else takes the other to a remote location and still report and receive new instructions in real time."

“But how did the boar know I would be here? You told me that Norumbega was a week's journey away and I was gone back to Earth long before they got here."

“Maybe they have a spy in Dougs-ur-Mark". Ruth said ominously.

“More likely one on Earth that saw you and your father heading for the Earth-side warehouse." Paul countered.

“They would have to already been on their way to have arrived three days ago."

“That's possible." Gael injected. “A coyote I knew who has studied in Cognitionis told me that the Wanderers had mapped portals that circle back in time between worlds. Some take one back only a few days, but that might be enough to set this up, provided this fox could coordinate things from his base and that," he pointed to the portable portal, “gives him the means."

Paul chewed his lip in worry. “These things are awfully rare, and valuable. I can't see Rory risking losing one just to get a report on the mission. He must have something else in the works."

“You're paranoid." Ruth told him.

“Yes, and it's kept me alive so far."

Jimmy picked up the case and poked at the portal with the end of a skewer that had been left on the table. He felt it make contact on the other side and poked the obstacle several times.

“Is the other end in a case also?" He asked as he squinted into the tiny whirling cloud. He drew back in shock as the blackness receded and the view was filled with a deep blue eyeball, one very similar to his own, but this one was rimmed with red fur.

“Jesus." He said. “It's him!"

* * * * * * * *

Rory Douglas had ended the meeting shortly after receiving the message from the assassin Wart and retired to his rooms to wait for him to reconnect so he could ask them to poke a few of Jimmy Douglas's hairs through. He could have them tested and verified against the sample of DNA that the foolish lad had sent into his company in just over an hour. Not that he had any doubts, how many red-headed human teenagers could there be running around Arthur's little pet village?

He felt the light taps on the inside of the portal's case and opened it eagerly. He put his eye to the hole through space and time, expecting to see the boar's ugly face smiling back at him, but he would not have been surprised to see either of the other assassins; killing the boar and taking the prize would increase their payout, and that red fox Sevade did not look particularly like the sharing type. He would not have been shocked though to see the grizzled furry face of some vigilante villager whose posse had tracked down and killed the assassins after the murder of their patron's son.

But the blue eye that retreated to reveal the equally shocked face of Jimmy Douglas took him totally unawares.

Idiots, he swore to himself, they must have killed the wrong Douglas, and now the whelp has my mini-portal. And if the son had his father's ring he also had control of the Dougs-ur-mark portal.

While he cursed the stupidity of the assassins, never once thinking that his instructions might have been too vague for hose who were not as familiar with humans as he, another part of his brain was racing along, examining contingencies and discarding them just as fast. Then it stopped, and Rory realized that there may still be a way to salvage the situation.

Less than a second had passed, but Rory was already reaching under his desk for the automatic he kept there while he watched the boy frozen in confusion on the other side of the portal. He glanced away to make sure that the gun was loaded and cocked, then, as fast as he could, he brought the muzzle up to the portal and pulled the trigger.

* * * * * * * *

“What?" Paul cried. “Rory Douglas?"

Junafir leaned over her seated mother. “Let me see."

“No!" Gael shouted. “Drop it!"

But he was too late. Jimmy had already turned the case around when it seemed to explode with a flash, a bang and a lot of smoke. Jimmy threw it across the room and it produced two more explosions before coming to rest in the porcelain sink.

He looked around wildly. No one had moved from their chairs, and Junafir was still standing behind her mother.

“Is everyone okay?"

“urrk"

“Mother!" Junafir screamed as she saw the blood oozing from around the paw clutched to her chest.

* * * * * * * *

After firing three rounds through the portal Rory had crammed his eye against it again, pushing it so hard against it that he could see most of the room for an instant before the ceiling and the sides of a deep sink filled the view. He was not happy with his brief glance. He had seen a dog, a tigress and a rabbit that was clutching its chest in pain before the case had turned in the air and revealed his unharmed nephew and some female human.

Obviously, he had missed the boy, and the chances that he would put the portal near his face again were slim. Not even a kid of Arthur's would be stupid enough to try that again. But the boy was stupid, he believed, and inexperienced, yet he now had control of one of the portals with the most potential for exploitation on Earth and Terra, and it might not be too difficult to con, connive or steal it away from him.

If it doesn't get blown up first, he remembered.

Rory dropped the gun and grabbed his untraceable phone. He punched in the number of the burner phone he had sent to the two mercenaries hired to destroy Arthur's portal, sealing Arthur on Terra with no means of income after killing the son Rory had warned him not to bring into the business. It would have been a fitting revenge, but things were different now.

“Come on," he muttered as the ring tone continued to sound in his ear. “Pick up, pick up, pick up."

The ringing stopped, replaced by a synthetic female voice which told him, “I'm sorry, but the number you are attempting to reach appears to be out of service. Please hang up and try again later."

“Arrrrghhh!"

* * * * * * * *

Just before they activated the receivers the senior of the two operatives turned off the phone he had been sent and removed the battery for good measure. Stray signals from a cell phone could set off the explosives while they were still in the trailer and that would be bad. He would reassemble it to report mission complete and immediately after that he would dispose of it.

They found a suitable viewpoint a kilometer away and in the opposite direction from where the charge was pointed.

“Fire in the hole"

The explosion was truly spectacular. It obliterated the trailer and everything behind it for several hundred meters leaving a dozen small fires in its wake, except for a narrow cone where the old cabin had been. He wondered briefly what could cause that but having had his curiosity dulled by copious amounts of money it was only a fleeting thought.

“Good job." He said as he slid the phone's battery back in and waited for it to boot up. His partner grunted in agreement.

Before he could call the client the phone began to vibrate in his hand. He pressed the green circle to answer the call and placed the receiver to his ear.

“Yes sir. It's done."

He listened for another minute, pulling the phone away from his ear due to the volume of the curses coming over the airwaves. When they subsided into normal speaking tones he pulled it back and listened for another minute. Before turning to his partner to convey their client's critique in one word.

“Shit."

* * * * * * * *

There was pandemonium in Aurora's kitchen, with Junafir screaming over her mother's body, Gael rushing around to see if anyone else had been hurt, Paul piling iron pots and pans on top of the mini-portal in the sink and Aurora trying desperately to pound life back into the still form of the rabbit. The only two not rushing around were Annie, who was in shock at the unexpected shooting and Jimmy, who was wondering how things could have gone so bad in such a short period of time.

Jimmy recovered first and he stepped forward to put a hand on Junafir's shoulder. But instead of being comforted she turned on him with a snarl and lunged, claws extended. Gael and Aurora tackled her before she could slice Jimmy open.

“This is your fault!" The tigress spat from behind the two creatures holding her back. “All of this is your fault! You should never have come to Terra." Having said that her anger turned back to grief and she sank down to her knees beside her mother's corpse.

“Junafir, I ... I didn't mean ..."

Paul stepped in front of Jimmy and pushed him back with surprising strength. Form his expression he agreed with some if not all of what Junafir had said.

“You should make yourself scarce." He advised jimmy.

By now Annie had snapped back into the present. She took Jimmy's arm in one hand and picked up the heavy pile of papers with the other.

“Let's go upside." She told her friend as she gently guided him toward the door.

It was clear and warm outside. Terra had no moon to judge the passage of time at night, but a constellation that looked like the number eight had moved halfway around the horizon since they had convened in Aurora's cottage. Jimmy guessed that it would be dawn soon. Given the slower passage of time on Earth that meant it would just be getting dark at the Renfrew warehouse.

He and Annie stood in the lane looking back and forth between the cottage, where Junafir's wails could still be heard, and the dark silhouette of the compound on the hill. Several minutes passed without either saying anything.

Jimmy suddenly announced. “I'm not going."

Annie was taken aback. “What? Not going back to Earth? Look, Jimmy, you don't need to stay here and atone for anything. This is not your fault, it's your uncle's. He's the one who hired the assassins and the one who fired a gun randomly through the small portal. None of use except Gael thought there was any danger in examining it, and he only thought of it because I told him about your trick with the pistol. He was very impressed with your ingenuity and it was still on top of his mind when he saw you look into the portal. No one else thought he would be so desperate as to fire randomly through it."

“It wasn't random. He was trying to kill me, and I think that I was real target of the assassins. Somehow our sending in that vial of spit set this in motion, I'm sure of it."

“That was my idea, not yours. Blame me if you need to blame anyone."

“No, I don't blame you. I don't blame the others either. I don't even blame Junafir for hating me, because if I had stayed here and faced the music instead of slinking off to hide on Earth my father and her mother would still be alive."

“But you would be dead."

“Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? Anyway, I'm not going back into hiding on Earth while others clean up my mess … or bury my father."

She waved the sheath of paperwork at him and pointed to the top of the hill with the other hand. “You are the heir to his business and that portal. You have to go back and get to work settling his affairs as he wished, before his brother can somehow wrestle it away from you."

“According to these he's given his lawyer power of attorney in his absence and designated his managers as the governing board until ownership is in my name. It will take some time, years even, before they can declare him dead and turn everything over to me. Even registering these papers will take weeks. They don't need me to get things started, and meanwhile I can settle things here ..." he looked back to where Junafir's sobs could still be heard through the open window “ ... one way or another."

He turned back to his friend. “Can you deliver the papers for me Annie? You said you needed to go back to tell your parents something, anyway."

Annie had told him that after Gael left with his lead of steel and charcoal. At the time she meant that she was going to tell them that she was turning down the scholarship offer and attend collage in Toronto instead. That way she would be close enough to take the occasional holiday to Terra to see Jimmy ... and Gael, she admitted to herself. But after the events of the evening she had changed her mind. Maybe a few years on her own would help wipe the bloody images from her mind.

“Yes, I'll take them."

“Thanks, Annie. You're the best."

They turned and headed up the road towards the compound together. “Here are the keys to the SUV." He passed the fob over, along with a paper he had written he warehouse lock combinations on. “Don't worry about setting the alarm. It's just a precaution. No one has tried to get in there in decades. I'll let you have the ring too, so you can come back whenever you're ready."

Annie put her hand out, but she pushed the ring back toward him. “Jimmy, I don't think that I'll be coming back."

He was confused. “Why not, Annie?"

It would have taken too long to explain, so she just said, “I've been offered a full scholarship to the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver. I'm going to take it."

Jimmy was silent for a moment. “That's the good one, isn't it?"

She nodded in the dim light.

Jimmy put his hands on her shoulders. “Congratulations, Annie, you earned it. I'm happy for you."

Despite the darkness she could see that his face was telling a different story, but she didn't contradict him.

“Here," he said, pressing the ring to her palm, “this way you'll have to come back to say goodbye properly before you go."

“Alright." She conceded. “I'll take care of both our business back home and come back to say goodbye to you, and Gael."

She turned, papers tucked under her arm, and headed up the road to the compound. Jimmy stood at the end of the cottage lane and watched her for ads long as he could make her out. Then he turned, swallowed, and prepared himself for the confrontation his returning to the kitchen would surely ignite.

As he reached for the latch the shy above him lit up so brightly that the buildings of the village cast long shadows across the farmland. The white light turned red as the sound of a thousand freight trains threatened to deafen him. Next came a shock wave, one powerful enough to drive him against the door and rip shingles from the cottage roof.

Fighting a hot wind, Jimmy turned and saw that the light and the wind and the noise were all emanating from a point at the top of the hill, the point where the portal would be. It made a beam of fire that extended for several hundred meters above him. By its light he could see that the front of the barn and the wall of the compound on this side were completely gone, as were the tops of the trees in the path of destruction. Even the farmers fences on either side of the road were gone … the road that Annie had been climbing to get to the compound, he suddenly realized.

Jimmy raced toward the road as the cottage emptied behind him. The air grew hotter as he reached it, but the light had faded as the eruption from the portal had ceased almost as soon as it had begun. Now the only light was from the fires that it had ignited among the stacks of hay and on the village rooftops, where the alarm was already going up.

Jimmy turned toward the compound, feeling the heat of the gravel through the soles of his trainers as he ran, but he came to a skidding halt as something burning came rolling down the hill straight at him. Whatever it was, it was loose and longer than it was thick, and it was giving off bits of burning material and smoke as it tumbled down the hill toward him.

It took him a second to realize what the flaming mass was.

“Annie! No!"

Paul Collieman © Collifan

Gael Tholkes © MarcusXLight

Junafir Pawstone © Frostlupus

Ruth Pawstone © Bunners

Chris Cinereo © Kyroo Echos

Sevade © Frostlupus