Gate Ways

“How are we going to get rid of him?” Justin asked using sign language to speak to Dominic, who rolled his eyes and stood up. The sleeper was standing up and straightening out his shirt after being awakened and without warning, he thrust his claw-shaped hand into the guy's back, tearing his heart out as he pulled it back. The sleeper didn’t even have a chance to make a sound that would have alerted anyone else that might have been nearby.

He shot Justin an annoyed look and dropped the heart as the corpse crumbled to dust. It was only a matter of seconds before the heart did the same.

“Like that.” He quietly smirked and stepped around the waste high bolder to proceed further into the cave system. Justin shot his back a dirty look as he followed suit.

“I could have done that,” Justin grumbled falling into step next to his companion.

“Sure, you could of…” Dominic quietly countered in annoyance. Justin was an exceptional human, but he was human, nonetheless.

“You can just turn around and leave, I can handle it from here. I will get my sister without you. So, take your salty attitude and run back home with your tail tucked between your legs, or shut the f*** up and help me get my sister.” Justin angrily stated, not caring who heard them.

“Hey, shut that pie hole you call a mouth. We are deep in enemy territory right now you fool.” Dominic growled trying to press the necessity for silence. “Or you just turn around and leave, so I can get your sister” He pointed in the direction he had just come from.

“Halt!” One of the night stalker guards shouted in surprise at seeing them arguing. He wasn’t sure what was going on. Only that he turned the corner and there they were arguing.

“Now look at what you did.” Dominic furrowed his brow and motioned toward the night stalker. Justin’s expression remained impassive as he raised the crossbow he was carrying and fired off a silver-tipped bolt, that went straight into the night stalker’s heart, causing him to crumble to dust. His gaze never shifted off Dominic’s face though.

“Yeah, look what I did.” Justin coldly countered. Dominic looked at the pile of dust a little surprised by the fact that the guy had turned to dust with the silver-tipped bolt.

“What kind of silver is that Night Stalkers aren’t allergic to silver,” Dominic questioned narrowing his eyes at his old friend.

“The tips may be silver, but the shaft is still wood.” Justin pointed out then continued further into the caves, as he tossed the crossbow from his right hand to his left hand.

“I am starting to hate that guy,” Dominic said under his about Justin as he fell into step behind him. The kid was smug and arrogant, but he wasn’t mad about that. He was irritated because the guy has shown he has a right to be arrogant at every turn. The smug part was most likely his way to annoy him for his family sedating him.

The tunnels seemed oddly empty, considering the number of troops that had entered the cave system, to begin with. Justin’s steps began to turn more couscous as he stared intensely into the darkness with narrowed eyes. He could make out shifting shadows here and there, but nothing substantial. Dominic walked close to him and was a bit on edge as well.

“Do you think that the rumors of the bugbears living in these, caves are true?” Dominic asked in a hushed tone. The extremely large bears were talked about in legends, but as far as he knew nobody alive had ever seen one. He was fairly sure that the creatures were just myths. However, at this moment in time, he found himself questioning the validity of his belief system.

“They're not rumors, they do exist. My father and I came across one some time back. We ran. Fighting them is foolish. They could bite you in half and my father had picked me up and ran away. I have never seen him run so fast, before that time or after. These cave systems run the span of the land and you never know where you’ll end up when you exit them.” Justin whispered gripping his crossbow handle tightly. He wasn’t messing with Dominic. Everything he just said was true and that had been the scariest time in his life.

“You’re messing with me.” Dominic suspiciously stated. He was sure that Justin was just trying to make him nervous as some sort of revenge.

“Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought.” Justin shrugged masking his face. “You’re right on point, there, big guy.” He added and continued his slow silent steps into the darkness.

“I’m onto your antics, man, so you should just give it up.” Dominic sternly replied.

“Are you?” Justin challenged, and he saw a glimmer of doubt cross Dominic’s face, and smugly smiled a wicked glint in his eyes. “You don’t seem too sure.”

“What would you know?” Dominic grumbled and gave him a shove forward. Justin stumbled a few steps but kept his balance easy enough.

(I know more than you think.) Justin thought to himself as they came to a split in the tunnel. He silently cussed and weighed up the options. He could go down one side and send Dominic down the other, or they could choose one to travel down together, but they might get lost and it might be the wrong way. He suddenly dropped down into a crouch and rested his elbows on his knees as his eyes shifted from one tunnel to the other trying to figure out what was the best form of action here? Dominic must have realized what he was doing because he began to sniff the air for Jane’s scent. It was faint, but he finally found it coming in from the right tunnel.

“Go right.” He told Justin as he headed in that direction.

“How do you know?” Justin growled; he knew the answer to that question though. His friend was a wolf shift-er (AKA. A werewolf) and their sense of smell was far keener than the average humans.

“I can smell her,” Dominic answered sniffing the air once again.

“What the hell are you doing smelling my fake sister?” Justin growled and suddenly slammed Dominic against the stone wall. “You have no right to smell her.” He hissed.

“Get off me and save your aggression for the enemy.” Dominic shoved him away from him and straightened out his soft leather clothing. “What the heck is wrong with you?”

“She had better be to the right, or I’ll end, you right on the spot,” Justin growled pointing his crossbow at Dominic’s heart, with a silver-tipped bolt knocked in place and ready to be fired. Then he quickly turned on his heels and headed to the right.

He knew that Dominic couldn’t help the fact that he could smell different senses, but that still didn’t sit well with him. Jane’s reputation needed to be protected as well as her life needing to be saved and it wouldn’t look good for a wolf to know her scent before marriage.

Dominic rolled his eyes and took a deep breath before he fell into step behind Justin. Still, the tunnels were oddly empty, and they had to be getting close to the heart of the night stalker camp, which meant that there should be far more troops patrolling than before. So, where were they all and why weren’t they having to fight them? These questions weighed heavy on his mind replacing the slight conflict that was between him and his companion.

“Something isn’t right,” Justin whispered more to himself than anyone else. The hair on the back of his neck was beginning to stand straight up creating a tingling sensation down his spine.

“You’re just now realizing that.” Dominic hissed and prepared to fight.

“Shut up nobody asked you for your two, sense,” Justin growled and took the safety off from his weapon. They definitely should have come across the enemy troops by now.

Jane

Jane tugged on the chain that she was bound with. Her host had decided to rest and chose to pin her to the wall instead of him. She figured that he just didn’t want her to witness what he was doing with the female he had drug into the shadows with him. The woman seemed all for the interaction and even cast her a gloating sort of look. Jane simply rolled her eyes; she didn’t care what he did or who he did it with. She was starting to believe that the women of this realm were loose with their assets and had very little self-respect when it came to men. Surely there were more important things for a woman to have than a nice body and the skill to physically please a man. Like, intelligence that would aid the man in his everyday business, so that he wasn’t too stressed out. Perhaps even higher education and a classy sort of way about her. After all, wasn’t it the mystery that held a man spellbound to a woman? If they got to see everything right away, she was sure they would become bored with it.

She pushed it out of her thoughts and started to figure out how to get free, she wouldn’t get another chance like this. The troops were sent out of the area, and she was currently alone. She wasn't so stupid to believe that they weren’t placed on watch though. The first thing that she needed to do was try to get free and then she would go from there. They still believed that she would stay willingly, even though she had not promised to do that.

She heard the sound of claws scraping across the stone floor of the cave coming from the less used tunnel in the room, and she paused in what she was trying to do. What the heck was coming in her direction? She stared into the darkness of that tunnel with wide fearful eyes. Her heart raced rapidly against her chest, and she found herself holding her breath. She didn’t dare blink her eyes as she waited to see what was coming for her.

Suddenly there was a roar and the sound of bodies hitting the tunnel walls. Troops came running out of the area for their lives and completely forgot about her. She panicked and began struggling against the chain as hard as she could.

“Hey,” She called after the fleeing men. “Wait! Wait! What about me? Come back please, just free me please.” She frantically begged the fleeing men, but they didn’t hear her cries, or they ignored them, she wasn’t entirely sure. “Oh, God.” She quietly cursed and tried to pull her hands out of the iron cuffs. She could feel the rough edges cutting into her skin and warm blood started seeping out. She ignored the pain, thinking that the blood might help her slip her hands out.

Her eyes grew wide, and she gasped as a large bear, nearly the size of the tunnel opening started inching out of the darker shadows. She began struggling even harder as it slowly inched towards her, just when she thought that she was done for, her hands slipped free and she was able to dive out of the way, of the bear’s claw swipe. Its claws cut into the stone, sending sparks out around her and she curled up into a ball for a moment, before she scrambled to her feet and bolted down a random tunnel. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, only that she needed to get away from the charging bear that was hot on her tail. Screaming she ducked another swipe that sped over her head. She could feel the wind off from it, as she crawled a couple of paces and then scrambled back to her feet once again. There was a split just up ahead and she hoped that she would be able to make the sharp turn.

She dove to the side as she came up to the split and the massive bear slammed into the stone wall that had been in front of her. It shook its head and batted at his snout with its paws, as it shook its head to clear the stars away. She rolled onto her back and started spider walking backward trying to get her senses back on track, as well as put some distance between them. She fought against the urge to faint as she moved back down the new tunnel.

“Jane.” Justin suddenly called, pulling her attention away from the massive bear that had turned down the tunnel after her once again. “Duck!” He ordered raising his crossbow. She threw her arms around her head and curled up on the floor once again. He let loose the bolt and it pierced the hide of the bear, but it only seemed to enrage it more, as it knocked it out of its hide and shot toward her once again. She screamed curling up into a fetal position on the floor hoping that it would lessen the shredding of her body.

Suddenly, the man who had fought the night stalkers turned a corner at full speed and leaped into the air over her shifting into a massive wolf in mid-air. Justin raced toward her and pulled her to her feet as the large wolf’s fang clamped down on the bear’s throat in a deadly vice-like grip. Even the wolf seemed small compared to the bear, as it thrashed around trying to dislodge it. The wolf held on despite the gashes that the bear's claws managed to make across his silver fur.

It took her a minute to wrap her head around what was going on, as Justin pulled her around the corner and pressed her back against the stone.

“Stay here.” He told her pulling out a sword and racing back out to help the wolf fight the bugbear. She nearly protested as she looked around the corner to see what was going on. The wolf was suddenly thrown off the bear landing in her direction as her fake brother rushed in with his sword, to plunge it into the heart of the bear. The creature roared in pain and instinctively tried to stand on its hind legs, only to hit its head on the top of the tunnel breaking a hole in the stone above it.

“Justin, watch out!” She shouted out a warning as the murderous creature shook its head and swiped at her brother, who was far more agile than she had given him credit for. He danced out of the way and pulled the blade free, only to plunge it into the creature again. Jane shot out the safety that her brother had put her in and dropped to her knees near the wolf that was once again a man. He was groaning and coughing up blood.

The gashes across his chest were bleeding profusely and she quickly pushed all other thoughts out of her mind, as she started to work on getting the bleeding to stop. Again, the tunnel rumbled from the force of the bear hitting the stone, breaking some rocks free. She quickly shielded the wounded man’s head, placing her hands on the back of her own.

“Use the ointment,” Justin shouted as he pushed off a wall that he had been slammed against.

“What ointment?” She called back once the rubble stopped falling around them. Justin was once again swinging his blade, verily holding the bear at bay. It had learned his blade stung and was trying to keep from being cut by it again. She was almost certain the creature had some sense of intelligence in it, as it slightly moved back and forth, sizing Justin up.

“In the pouch on his waist, there is a salve, use it on the wounds it’ll stop the bleeding long enough to get him out of here,” Justin instructed as his blade clashed with the claws of the bear.

Jane rapidly went through the man’s pouches until she finally found what Justin was talking about and clumsily opened the leather casing it was held in. She gasped as the tunnel quaked again and more rubble fell around her. But this time she didn’t wait too long to start smearing the stuff over the gashes in the man’s chest. Justin was being forced back a step at a time as if he was only trying to buy them the time needed to do what needed to be done.

Suddenly troops came running down the tunnel across from them with their weapons drawn. Their leader looked furious and determined, causing her to work faster.

“Get the Star Seed!” He demanded when his troops came to a stop. The large bear was blocking the path to her and with Justin fighting it, they couldn’t find an opening around it.

“Justin, we got to go.” She screamed as she tried to help the wolf up. He was verily conscious, and she wasn’t sure if he could even walk, but something had to be done. They couldn’t stay here to kill the bear only to be retaken by the Night Stalkers.

“I would love to oblige you in the matter, but if you hadn’t noticed the bugbear isn’t letting up,” Justin shouted back in frustration.

“How?” One of the troops asked his leader, “The bear is in the way.”

“Kill the bear and bring me, my bride,” The leader commanded, and the troops rushed in to fight the large beast. Sensing the new threat, the bear whipped around and started fighting them, instead of Justin.

Thankful for the sudden distraction, Justin shot back towards Jane and Dominic stopping only long enough to pull the wounded guy, up onto his back, so he could carry him out of danger. Jane glanced at the night stalkers for only a second before she quickly followed Justin. She felt bad about leaving them to die by the bear, but it was the night stalkers or them and she chose them. She would probably feel guilty for her decision later, but right now it was the best possible decision that she could make.

Justin, Jane, and Dominic

Jane had no idea where Justin was leading her and the man on his back was slipping in and out of consciousness. She was beginning to think that they were lost when the entire cave system began to quake and collapse

“Run!” Justin told her, as he began running as fast as he could with his burden. He knew that it would be easier to just drop Dominic and go, but he was a man of honor, and he would never do that to his childhood friend. Even though the guy had his family sedate him not that long ago. They were mere steps ahead of the collapsing tunnels when they spotted the exit. The sun was still shining outside and there for a moment they believed they wouldn’t make it. Right before they reached the exit, Justin shoved Jane through it and then dove out it himself, still carrying his friend on his back. They curled up into fetal position and covered their heads as the entire opening sealed itself off.

“That was too close.” Jane breathed holding her stomach once the rubble settled and nothing else was coming down on them.

“You are more trouble than you are worth,” Justin growled at her as he rolled his friend off his back and checked on him.

“I don’t recall asking for your help.” She countered, as she stood up and dusted off her nightgown. “If memories serve me, it was you who got us into this in the first place. So, it’s only fitting that you get us out of it.”

“You shouldn’t have followed me and then none of this would have happened." Justin hissed glaring up at her.

“You should have been more forthcoming with your ventures, and then I wouldn’t have had the urge to follow you.” She argued folding her arms and snubbing him.

“It is none of your business, what I do.” Justin scowled standing up to point his finger at her in frustration.

“It doesn’t matter, what are we going to do now?” She sighed pressing her fingertips to her forehead in exasperation.

“We put some of that salve on your, wrist and then we head to a previously determined location to see to getting him treatment.” Justin relented his voice quiet and calm as he went through his pouches to pull out some salves and bandages. She held her wrist out and averted her eyes. She hated this world. It was never safe, and she felt like she was always having to figure things out. Tears began to fill her eyes and escape down her cheeks.

“Look, I will make sure you survive, but you have got to trust me.” Justin softly said as he finished wrapping up her wrist. She looked at him not caring if he saw her cry. This was far too much for her and she didn’t want to deal with it anymore.

“We’re family.” He softly said wiping her tears away and pulling her into his arms, as a loving big brother would. She couldn’t help but cry into his shirt as she raised her hands to rest them on his shoulder. Sure, they fought a lot, but he had come to save her despite their differences, and he was looking out for her in the way he knew how. “Come on we need to go.” He pulled away and reached down to help his friend stand up. The guy wasn’t completely conscious, but he was conscious enough to attempt to walk.

Jane quickly rushed forward and got on his other side to help support his weight, as Justin led them. She had no idea where they were going, but judging by the sun, it was mid-afternoon, and they wouldn’t have much time before the Night Stalkers were able to pursue them.

“Justin, what are we going to do about our tracks?” She boldly asked glancing at the tracks they were making in the snow.

“We have time.” Justin tiredly said, he hadn’t slept much since he started on this adventure, and he wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do. He did understand her reasons for asking though and he was already trying to figure that out. They weren’t going to be able to get far, before nightfall, with Dominic in the condition that he was in. At night the pass’s temperature would drop fast and far. He needed to figure out how to keep them warm for the night since they wouldn’t make it to their destination until late afternoon the next day. “They will have to dig themselves out of the tunnels and that might take a day or two. Given their supernatural abilities, they will only have to make a small opening to travel through in mist form.”

“Then what?” She asked looking at him.

“Then they will hunt, us, but if luck is on our side, we’ll be out of their territory before they find us and well into Elvin territory. The elves hate them just as much as the wolf and they won’t take kindly to their trespassing. Which of course won't stop them, but it will buy us some time.” Justin calculated, without even realizing it.

“What do we do about him?” She asked nodding towards the man that they were currently helping.

“We’ll find a place to camp for the night, start a fire and then I’ll bandage him up. He should heal quickly.” Justin shrugged and started scanning the area. They had a couple of hours to find a place that was safe enough for them as humans to camp in. Somewhere, where they could have a fire for warmth, and it will be enough. He wasn’t sure where a place like that would be, but there had to be something out here in the wilderness. Humans had survived this area for countless centuries and that meant that there were places, he just needed to find them.

“Look over there.” Jane pointed out an overhang sheltered by thick bushes. The sun was nearly set, and she was shivering from the temperature drop. “It’s not much but, with a fire, it can keep us warm enough.” She explained. This wasn’t the first time that she had been forced to sleep out in the cold during the winter and places like the one she was pointing out proved efficient enough.

To her surprise Justin didn’t argue, instead, he started toward the area. When they got there, he carefully laid, Dominic down and got up to gather wood. He would have to get a fire started before tending to their wounded companion. It wouldn’t do them any good to freeze before he got the chance to do it.

“Wait, what do you want me to do?” Jane called after him.

“We can’t do anything until we get a fire going. If we try to treat the wounds now, his blood will cool too much, and it will take longer for him to heal.” Justin told her as he walked into the deepening shadows. She rubbed her arms and looked around. This area seemed a bit scary with the deepening shadows. Not to mention she wasn’t a fighter, like Justin and this guy. What if someone attacked? How would she fend them off?

She was working herself up into fright as the minutes slowly ticked by and nearly jumped out of her skin when Justin suddenly dropped a large armload of wood near her. Closing her eyes, she placed her hand over her beating heart and hung her head, to clear her overactive imagination. Justin immediately started to build the fire in silence and all she could do was look at him for a moment before she turned her attention to their wounded companion.

With the fire going, Justin moved to kneel by Dominic and started to wash the old salve off the wounds to put fresh on. Once he was done with that, he carefully wrapped bandages around the man, who seemed to be breathing easier. Jane noticed that the coloring in the man’s face began to return in the dim glow of the firelight. Her fake brother moved to sit near the fire to keep it going and seemed very focused on the dancing flames. She could tell that he was really worried about their companion, but she chose not to bother him with questions concerning the nature of his attachment to the guy.

“I am going to get some sleep.” She quietly said and laid down next to the wounded man, so that she could share her body heat with him. Even with the fire, it was still considerably cold. They wouldn’t freeze as long as the fire kept going but being cold could still hurt a person’s muscles. To her surprise, the heat that radiated off the guy felt like a furnace against her back, and she quickly fell asleep cuddled up next to him.

Justin sat in silence for a while before he looked at his companions. He knew that Dominic’s wolf blood would keep him warm, and he was okay with it, keeping Jane warm too. He, on the other hand, sat close enough to the fire that he was just a little cool, but it wasn’t too bad. He tossed some more wood on the fire and started thinking about Lewis and his father. He hoped they were still safe. He also had to think about where to go from here. People would keep coming after Jane, and with Dominic in the condition he was in, he had to find a way to keep the three of them safe until they reached the abandoned barn, where he had sent two of his companions. They would be able to rest there until Dominic was completely healed, but then they would have to move on. At that point, he would have six people to look after. The question was, should they continue towards the seat and seek sanctuary under the Dwarven empire, or should he take them somewhere, where they could disappear. Neither decision appealed to him at the moment.

If he went ahead and lead to the seat of power, there was no guarantee that the emperor would keep them safe, without demanding Jane in return. If he led them into disappearance they would be watching over their shoulders for the rest of their lives. He ran his hands through his hair, not knowing what the best course of action would be.

“We continue to the seat of power, place your sister on it and let her choose who the next ruler will be.” Dominic’s voice was, but a mere whisper in the night, and Justin turned to look at him.

“You finally decided to wake up huh?” Justin coldly stated.

“Well, it’s not all that easy to sleep with a female pressed against your bruised ribs.” Dominic countered, thinking about sitting up but choosing to remain laying down instead. If he stood up then he would be taking his body heat away from the sleeping girl, and she would freeze. He had wondered about how he was going to keep her warm in this pass, but it seemed that she and Justin had figured that out.

A week amused smile crossed his lips at the thought of the two. Despite how much they disliked each other, they were a great team. He finally realized that despite the conflict between the two they cared about each other as real family and he couldn’t help but find that pleasing to his morals on familial bonds. You didn’t need to be blood to be a family and his two companions showed that in spades.

“You better not be smiling because my sister is pressed against you.” Justin narrowed his eyes dangerously at him, and Dominic laughed, grunting in pain right afterward.

“Why the hell would I be smiling about that?” Dominic coughed as he stopped his laughing to ease the pain. “She’s as bad as you.”

“Keep that in mind, as we venture forth. If I sense that you are changing your mind about her, I’ll neuter you.” Justin warned tossing another piece of wood on the fire.

“Your cruel man, that sort of thing should never be considered.” Dominic softly joked as he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep. Justin smiled to himself and turned his attention back to the fire.

He had to admit that Dominic’s plan was a valid one. It would keep Jane from being pursued by all the different races, and it would also give her the power to determine her future. If they succeeded in putting her on the throne, she would rule and the realm would have to obey, whether they liked it or not. A little bit of added security would be to shut down all twelve of the gates to different dimensions as well. They would need to bring forth a different way to determine the future rulers of the realm. Maybe a lineage assent to the throne would be best. The Star Seed blood would be in whatever children Jane might have, and if he had her figured out, right, then she would press some sort of freedom, for all the races.

He sighed and laid out on the frozen ground close to the fire and used his arms as a pillow as he stared up at the stars in the winter sky. They sparkled brilliantly and it brought him a small measure of peace.