Chapter 15
“So, let me get this straight,” Liri looked at Daxx, “now that you’ve all been here, you can just close your eyes, picture here, and then port?”
Daxx nodded, “it’s weird, but it saves a lot of time, and I hate riding the bus or subway.”
Liri pushed the door open and walked into the room with the tapestry. She liked seeing it and knowing all the realms were once friendly and comingled. She looked around for the men that had been in there. They were gone. “They must be taking a break. Emil’s son was in here helping them.”
“Abe, he’s good with the electronics.” Paisley pulled out her phone and took a picture of the tapestry. “Mitz will want to see this.”
Liri studied it, wondering how long something like that would have taken to stitch. “Abe, what’s he like?”
“Our nephew,” Daxx said abruptly.
“Oh, I suppose he is.” She hadn’t seen him since the first moment they had found her, but something about him felt—she scowled at the floor, familiar, and she had no idea why. He was Alterealm and human mixed, which intrigued her. He was quite good-looking as well, with colorful blue eyes. The part that intrigued her more than any of the rest was that she was interested in him. That was new. Usually, she was utterly indifferent to all males.
“These used to be used in all the realms?” Autumn looked from Daxx to Paisley. “There’s one in our realm.”
“I was thrilled to find out our realm had a name instead of just human’s realm.” Kara walked around the edge of the port platform. “This one is pretty old.”
Liri went over and looked at the control panel. When she did manage to sneak into the control room in Solrelm, she was never allowed near any controls. Of course, the only one that would let her be in there was Bas, but he still wouldn’t let her do anything. There were many switches, a large dial, and buttons.
“This looks like one of those toys to help kids with memory.” Paisley stood on the platform, looking down at the pedestal that stuck out of the middle.
“A what?” Daxx went over and looked at it, “Oh right, it plays a pattern, and you have to remember and hit the right one.”
Liri looked at the door, checking it was closed, and the men weren’t back. She stabbed a few of the buttons on the panel, flicked a switch, and quickly backed away. She smirked and went over to see what they were talking about. The platform in Solrelm didn’t have a control pedestal on the platform.
Autumn squatted beside it, “like a fight sequence, jab, jab, kick, duck.”
“Yes,” Paisley nodded. “You know it would flash, and you’d have to remember the pattern.”
“Red, red, blue, green, green,” Daxx tapped the buttons.
“There’s a switch here.” Autumn glanced up at them.
“The panel is completely off,” Liri motioned to it, “I guess they have it powered off because no one was using it.”
“Yeah, flicking this switch does nothing,” Autumn stood up.
“What did you do?” Paisley went over and tapped the buttons, “Red, red,” she paused, “Blue, green—”
Everything dimmed, and then Liri’s stomach bottomed out, and her knees almost buckled.
“Oh dear,” Paisley was leaning over her knees, “better call…”
“On it,” Autumn pulled out her phone.
Liri looked around, this was a completely different room. The walls weren’t made of stone but were painted in light grey. What had they done? She bit her lip and looked over to see Kara had her bow and arrow drawn back and was aiming.
Daxx pulled one of the blades off her back.
That was enough for Liri to pull her dusack from its scabbard and turn around. Across the room, behind a large control desk, were two men. It didn’t take more than a glance to know they were Veiltide residents; she could see their soul’s aura, and the blueish hue screamed Veiltide.
One picked up a phone, “We have interlopers in the porting room.”
“Interlopers?” Daxx growled. “I’ll show you an interloper.”
Paisley rushed to cut off Daxx, leaving the platform, holding her hands in front of her, “Your majesty, I think we should…”
Liri looked around them, there was water surrounding the platform—definitely Veiltide.
“You are royalty?” One of the men stepped around the desk. “From what realm?”
“Alterealm,” Kara still had an arrow aimed at him.
“Prince, they are women from Alterealm—” he nodded, “yes, my prince, right away.” He hung up the phone.
“Prince, who?” Daxx demanded her weapon still in her hand.
“Prince Artesiam.” The man said, looking confused.
“Oh good.” Paisley lowered her hands. “We’re in Veiltide.”
One of the men started forward, stopped, and stepped back. “You didn’t mean to land here?”
Kara chuckled, “We didn’t even know the platform worked. We were in…”
“Kara,” Daxx lowered her arms but didn’t put the weapons away, “the less shared, the better.”
“Right.” Kara nodded and relaxed her hold on her bow, and then she put the arrow back in the quiver on her back. Liri watched her press a button on the bracelet on her wrist.
“I’m not kidding, Iceman, Veiltide,” Autumn looked around, “with a water floor.” She nodded. “Art is on his way.” More nodding. “Okay.” She hung up and tucked the phone into her jacket. “The guys aren’t happy with us.”
Daxx snorted, “how is that new?”
Paisley pulled out her phone, “how were we supposed to know it still worked.” She was typing with vicious motions on her phone.
Liri put her dusack away and then froze, “My insides. I’m not mush.”
“What?” Daxx gave her a quick glance and then looked back at the men.
“I was told after the phaser I couldn’t port or anything for two days or my insides would be mush.” She put her hand over her stomach and assessed if anything felt different.
“How do you feel?” Paisley came over and looked her up and down.
“I feel fine.”
“Maybe it doesn’t affect those from Solrelm.”
“Solrelm?” The men looked at one another, “I thought you said Alterealm.”
Daxx nodded, “Liri is from the royal family of Solrelm.”
“How—” the one that hadn’t moved at all looked from Daxx to Liri, “how are you together?” His expression wasn’t confusion but instead was fear.
“Be—cause we’re friends,” Daxx said slowly.
The door swung open, and Prince Artesiam walked in. Behind him was a scary man with dirty blond hair and brown eyes. She studied his soul’s aura, and although it was blueish as the prince’s was, there was also something dark about it.
“Ladies.” The prince bowed briefly and then motioned to the man with him, “I’m sure some of you remember my sorcerer, Elgar.”
Sorcerer, that explained the darkness. Liri had been told they were more powerful than mages and weren’t afraid to cross the lines of light and dark, but they lost pieces of their soul over time. That was sad, burning up one’s own soul.
“We do.” Daxx put her hands on her hips and then looked at the other two men.
The prince glanced at them, “Were you expecting someone to port here?”
“Uh,” the one shook his head, “no, my prince, we were just making our rounds.” He gave the other one a shove.
“Carry on.” Prince Art put his hands on his hips and waited until they left the room before looking back at Daxx and grinning. “Was I expecting you to drop in?” He quirked one eyebrow.
Daxx smirked. “No, neither were we.” She motioned to the platform, and then, as if she realized she was still on it, she got off. It looked like she was walking on the water. “We were mucking with the platform at the Interealm headquarters, and I guess it still works…”
“The headquarters? You were at the Interealm headquarters?”
Daxx nodded, “yeah,” she motioned to Liri, “we had to go get her,” shaking her head, she flicked one hand, “Long story, but yes, we now know where they have been.”
Paisley got off the platform, so Liri decided she should as well. “They’re still operating as they always have.” Paisley glanced at her phone, “and the other realms just stopped coming.”
“Yes. I had gotten some information and was going to give one of your Kings a call.” He looked at Elgar, “There are a lot of secrets lurking around.”
Kara touched the bracelet and nodded, “those two that were here weren’t being truthful, but I couldn’t find out what they were hiding.”
Prince Art looked at Elgar and nodded. The sorcerer bowed his head and then quickly left the room. “I think I’ll station a guard or two I trust to monitor this room.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Daxx blew out a breath. “So, how do we get back to the Interealm headquarters?”
“Should Liri port again?” Kara looked concerned.
“Crap, we better get a group call happening and talk to that Bohdi and see what his thoughts are.” Daxx pulled out her phone, “I know nothing about phasers and that stuff.”
“Bohdi?” The prince looked from one to the other.
“Oh,” Liri smiled, “the great-great-grandson of Hiram Clement.”
“Really?” Art smiled, “I think more pieces have been found.”
“Yup,” Daxx tapped the phone screen and held it out, “and we’re going to fit them all together. If we have any leftover pieces, we’re going to burn them.”