Gatekeepers Page 25

  The gargoyle with the hole in his chest leapt out at me, gliding the last several yards on its wings and screaming as it came in close for the attack. I brought my sword up and sliced at one of the wings as I spun out of the monster’s path. The blade ate through the bone and tore the leathery wing apart as easily as stretched paper. The gargoyle crashed to the ground and winced away from me as its severed wing hit the ground and turned to stone.

  The second monster took the opportunity to strike. I only narrowly avoided becoming its next meal by leaping behind a polished set of armor set on a pedestal near the wall. The armor crashed and clanged, echoing through the open room as the gargoyle smashed its head into the wall.

  “You like hitting things with your head, don’t you?” I teased.

  The beast hissed and turned its blood-red eyes on me. It swiped out with a clawed hand and raked me across the chest. Fortunately, I was almost out of reach so the cuts were shallow, but they still stung as if someone had poured molten metal into my body. I had no chance to rest though. The gargoyle stalked toward me quickly, swiping and clawing at me as I backpedaled as quickly as I could.

  The third gargoyle launched into the air and then angled down to dive at me. At the same time, the maimed gargoyle was circling around quickly on all fours. I didn’t need a sword. I needed a frickin mini-gun, or maybe a howitzer! I leapt backward and closed my eyes, doing the only thing I could think of. Running away.

  I flew through a far wall and then changed trajectory and headed up for the roof. I had to get out of the building. If I could do that, then I could outrun the gargoyles. I went up through rooms filled with artifacts and books, but I didn’t look too closely. I could hear the monsters tearing at the walls and floors to follow me. I exploded from the roof like a missile headed for the clouds. Something was different though. The bright sunny day was now dark and filled with shadows. I looked around and saw a massive swarm of gargoyles circling the mansion.

  There were scores of them.

  My heart skipped a beat and my eyes shot wide as I saw several of them turn and dive toward me.

  Instinct kicked in just a few seconds before it was too late and I dodged out of the way of the first two gargoyles. I then dropped down fifteen feet and let the next group of three crash into each other. Wood and tile exploded from below as the first three gargoyles shot upward. I couldn’t see my way out of the mess, but I was never one to give up easily.

  I shot out to the side and then dove down for the mansion once more. The swarm of gargoyles was hot on my heels. I passed through the roof, the next floor, and then the next, putting just a bit more distance between myself and the monsters with each passing floor or wall as they would have to spend the time and energy busting through the barriers. I dropped down into the first floor of the basement and then hooked outward. I couldn’t escape them in the air, but if my theory about the dream world was correct, I wouldn’t need the air. I passed through a couple of billiard halls and theaters stocked with full bars, and then I went right through the foundation and out into the ground itself.

  It was dark, and nearly impossible for me to know where I was, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was that the gargoyle would have to tunnel through the dirt to find me. I was at least eight feet down and shooting outward as fast as they could fly. With any luck, I’d be able to finally escape, which wasn’t to say it wasn’t unnerving to fly through the ground. I had to concentrate on keeping my focus to avoid slowing down and getting stuck. Any time I let my mind acknowledge the earthy, damp smell or the thickness of an underground root, the ground started to materialize enough to tug at my skin and clothing.

  Being buried alive in a nightmare was not an ideal way to die, but risking that seemed smarter than facing a hundred raging gargoyles.

  My unfettered escape was brought to a sudden halt when I exited the ground and found myself in the deep end of an outdoor pool. Ever since I had been a small boy, I had a fear of drowning. I had once jumped into a friend’s pool not realizing what would happen if you jump in without taking the thick plastic covering off first. As I saw the water around me now, my fear disrupted my focus and a mouthful of water poured into my nose and lungs. My inertia was stopped and I slowly spun in the depths of the pool. The water burned my airways and stung my eyes. Pressure built in my lungs, trying to force the water back out while at the same time they yearned to suck in a breath.

  I struggled to push off the bottom of the pool and claw my way to the surface. I gasped and choked, and then I fell below the surface once more. I frantically reached out for the edge of the pool, but it was several feet out of reach. It took me a while to remember that I needed to kick with my legs. I had never been a good swimmer. In fact, I had always compared myself to a rock when it came to swimming prowess. If you needed someone to float, or even just tread water, I was no good, but, if you wanted someone to dive in and sink to the bottom, I was your man.

  Only when I heard the angry cries of the gargoyles did I remember that I wasn’t in the real world. I willed myself to the edge, but still had to struggle to pull myself up and over the edge of the pool. I choked and then coughed up a few bouts of chlorinated water and then collapsed on the ground. My strength was entirely gone. Now all I had to do was figure out how to exit the dream. I closed my eyes and imagined myself sitting on the cot back at the safe house. I even tried clicking my heels. Nothing worked.

  “Where’s Mack’s little electrocution machine when you need it?” I asked.

  “Come, I will show you the way back, brother,” a voice said.

  I smiled and sat up, expecting to see the old man from my other dreams. Instead, I saw the warrior with the rifle. “Wait, you speak English?” I asked.

  “Come, can’t stay here. They’re coming.”

  I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, about thirty gargoyles were sailing toward us at that moment. I had never gotten to my feet so fast in my life. I followed my fellow dream walker as he ran across the grounds and then jumped through a bright opening. There was no tunnel like with the harbinger wolf’s portal in Dallas. Instead, we just jumped through like a doorway. We landed in the safe house, in my bedroom in fact. Indyrith was still sitting at the table, watching me carefully. I turned around to see the warrior close the portal with a wave of his hand. He then smiled to me and pointed to my body on the cot.

  “Go, walk back to your body and sit into it. That will end the dream.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “There is much evil you have yet to face. Be strong, brother.” With that, he disappeared.

  I walked to my body, turned and sat into it like a chair. A warm feeling caressed me and then I opened my true eyes. My legs were stiff and my feet were well beyond the point of falling asleep. I groaned as I straightened out my knees and pushed up to my feet.

  “You have returned,” Indyrith said happily. “Did you find the engine?”

  I held out my hand and gave him a wobbly gesture that meant “sort of” and then shook my head. “I found a tunnel leading to a room where Rathison said it would be, but I never saw the engine itself.”

  “Then why are you back?” Indyrith pressed. “You must try again, and find the engine.”

  “No, I really can’t,” I said emphatically. “We need to get the others. I have a lot to tell you guys.”

  CHAPTER 18

  When I finished telling them everything that happened during my botched mission to find the engine, none of them were happy. Katya said a few choice Russian curses and then spat on the floor, and Mack just went off on a tirade.

  “See, this is why religion is crap,” Mack said to everyone. “Gargoyles are put on churches to ward off evil spirits, and guess what? They are the evil spirits! I mean come on, it’s so obvious.”

  “That’s enough, Mack,” Dan said curtly.

  Mack quieted down, but was still muttering under his breath for a few more seconds before he finally stopped.

  “This is troubling, but there ha
s to be a way around our problem,” Indyrith said after a few moments.

  “We attack from the front and kill everything inside,” Rolf said eagerly. Arne and Bjorn quickly voiced their agreement.

  “I think this calls for a more delicate approach,” Indyrith said.

  “Ah, hell, I don’t see why,” Flint cut in. “I’m with Rolf. We roll up on the mansion and burn the place down. In the past several weeks we have had more attacks than I have ever heard of. We have an engine capable of destroying the world, and the only thing standing between us and it are a bunch of stone gargoyles and a vampire clan. If we roll up, guns blazing, and take it out, then we’re golden.”

  “Assaulting a fortress filled with vampires is no easy feat. Inside the confines of their own home, they do not have to hide from the light of the sun. They will be free to fight.”

  “What about the gargoyles?” Mack asked. “Do they fight in the real world too, or just in the dream world?”

  Indyrith shrugged. “I have to admit that I am uncertain. What I can say, is sending Joshua Mills back through the dream world will not work. The metal you found in the lower level sounds as though it is a sheet of mithril.”

  “Mithril?” Mack asked. “As in, Frodo Baggins’ shirt of mail kind of mithril?”

  Indyrith nodded. “In addition to being exceptionally strong, it prevents the kind of travel that Joshua Mills uses while in the dream world. If the engine is still there, then it is hidden by that barrier. Furthermore, mithril prevents portals, so if they have a room encased in the material, neither the harbinger wolves nor the drakkul could get in without physically assaulting the mansion.”

  “Well, we’d stand a better chance in the real world than in the dream world, then,” I said. “I mean, I’m good, but I can’t fight off a swarm of gargoyles by myself.”

  “What about your council friends?” Dan asked. “Can they help you in the dream world?”

  I sighed. “I’m not sure how it works yet, but it appears that they are fairly limited in the help they can offer. I don’t think I can summon them to go in with me if that’s what you’re thinking. Even if I could, I’m not sure that would make much difference. Only one uses a rifle, and it’s an old muzzle-loader.”

  “Well, either way, they know we’re coming now,” Flint said. “I still think it’s better to hit them now, while they’re still on our soil.”

  “We don’t have enough evidence to go to Section Four for help, do we?”

  “Why not?” I asked. “Just show him the footage from Moscow, tell him about the cruise ship, and then let them know that Rathison has the engine that the drakkul are looking for.”

  “Section Four will want to take the engine,” Flint said sourly. “Briggs won’t let something like that go without a fight. He might roll up with us with all sorts of firepower, but then he’ll turn it on us as soon as we have the engine.”

  “You are forgetting something important,” Indyrith said. All the others quieted down and waited for the elf king to speak. “Rathison comes from a family rich not only in wealth, but in power. They have purchased loyalty from many others to ensure their survival. I would not be surprised if Section Four had a few agents that would rather fight to keep the Rathison family safe. Their influence runs deep.”

  “I have a stupid idea,” I said. “What if the drakkul I met wasn’t lying? What if he was telling the truth about wanting to help us reach the engine? If he could help us get through the barrier, and assault the mansion, then we might be able to keep Briggs from getting his hands on the engine as well.”

  “Trust a drakkul?” Dan scoffed. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “A drakkul is not without honor, that’s what Katya told me,” I replied. “What if he tells the truth?”

  “I will not permit the drakkul to enter our world,” Rolf said. “They shall find me waiting at any portal they open.”

  Indyrith held up a hand and silenced the others. “You met a drakkul who wished to ally himself with us?”

  I nodded. “I told the others about it, but you were on the cruise ship.”

  Indyrith looked to his daughter and then gave a slight nod of his head. She stood up and moved to the door. “I wish to speak with Joshua Mills alone,” Indyrith said. His daughter opened the door.

  Rolf and the other Vikings were the first to obey. Their obedience to Indyrith was nearly absolute. Flint and Dan moved to follow, but not without a bit of grumbling. Katya and the others left after that. When everyone was gone, Indyrith’s daughter stepped outside and closed the door.

  “Tell me of this meeting you had with the drakkul,” Indyrith said.

  “I thought you would prefer to see it,” I replied with a smile.

  Indyrith tilted his head to the side. “For now, tell me. If I deem it necessary, then I will ask to look into your mind.”

  I relayed to him all that had happened in the nightmare with the alp. It took me a little while to recall all of the smaller details, but the elf king saw no need to peer into my memories after I had finished.

  “The harbinger wolf on the ship had a red sword,” Indyrith noted.

  I nodded. “Yeah, he said the alp had only used illusions in the dream. He said he and his brothers were still ready to fulfill their oaths.”

  Indyrith frowned. “Then you must make a choice, Joshua Mills,” he said. “There was only one harbinger wolf on the ship. All the others were werewolves. This would suggest that the other two will be ready to go after your family.”

  I slapped my forehead and spun around to kick the wall. How could I have missed that? Susan and Tommy were going to be easy pickings now that the cruise was over, and we weren’t likely to get them onto another ship to try the same ploy to keep them from being found either. “Indyrith, I can’t let that happen,” I said.

  The elf king nodded. “We are not in an enviable position. Brant Rathison will move the engine, but if we go after him, then you may not have enough time to save your family.”

  I looked down to my watch. It was nearly five p.m. My heart jumped into my throat as I realized that sometimes Tommy took late naps. It was something we had always hated, because it meant he’d be up until late at night, but it was a habit we could never break him of. I turned to the elf king. “I have to go back into the dream world,” I said. “I have to find Tommy.”

  Indyrith sighed. “I will not be able to contact the drakkul you spoke of without you.”

  “I know, but it would make sense to me that they would attack tonight, through the dream world. I have to go to them.”

  “Your will is your own, as it always has been,” Indyrith said with a nod. “But, before you go, allow me to suggest that while you try and protect them from dreams, allow the teams to take care of them during the day. I never left them unprotected. There are two teams that work in shifts to make sure nothing gets to them in the real world.”

  “But I am the only one who can protect them from the harbinger wolves.”

  Indyrith smiled gently. “Then fight well, my friend, and try to be back in enough time to join the fight against Rathison. I will continue planning in your absence. Just as you are obligated to return to your family, I must remain here, and focus my efforts on obtaining the engine.”

  I nodded and went for the door. I ran to my room, right past everyone else in the hall. Flint and Dan called out after me, but I didn’t have the time to wait. Tommy could be asleep even now. I ran into my bedroom and slammed the door just as Indyrith called everyone back into the other room with him.

  I jumped onto the cot and thought of home.

  No, not home. Susan’s mother’s house. That’s where they’ll be. I closed my eyes. This time opening the dream world was much easier. I fell into a dark void. Gray fog swirled up around my body and whisked me across the immeasurable distance in mere seconds. The light opened and grew bigger and bigger as I soared toward the opening. The bright sun lit up the sky with a heat that was stifling at first, but I brushed the feeling aside,
knowing that I was traveling as the dream walker. The mountains of the Wasatch Front towered into the clouds as I tore through the sky along their ridges, flying faster than anything in the real world could. I veered toward the west and spied the open front yard at my former mother-in-law’s home. I crashed down to the ground and pulled my sword. I looked around to see Carter and Susan sitting upon a blanket in the yard, talking while Susan stroked Tommy’s hair. To my relief, his eyes were still open, but even from a few yards away I could see that his lids were growing heavy and his breathing was becoming deeper with each breath.

  I looked around, half expecting the harbinger wolves to be waiting in the yard, but there was nothing to be seen. Susan laughed when Tommy’s left leg jerked with a spasm and then his eyes closed.

  “He’s a beautiful boy,” Carter said.

  Blow it out your shorts, Carter. I walked up to them and knelt in front of Tommy. I was a little confused. I had supposed that he would start to walk around outside of his body like I was doing, but then I realized my error. It wasn’t enough to be in the dream world, I had to enter Tommy’s dreams! I almost started to worry, but I pushed the fear aside, knowing it wouldn’t help me keep my boy safe.

  “Have you thought anymore about my proposal?” Carter asked.

  I stopped and froze. For a moment, I hung on a cliff of hope. It was like Schrödinger’s Cat. Until she answered, she was both engaged, and not engaged. I was pulling for the not engaged version, but was more than a little apprehensive to see which she would choose.

  “Carter…” she began.

  I smiled. I knew that tone of voice. She was going to say no.

  “Listen, it has been fun catching up with you over the past few weeks but…”