Tag Archive: portal
In the Company of Angels, Episode 14.2 – Smoke and Mirrors (cont.)
“He’s the only one who can do that sort of thing, you know,” Luke said, turning to Jill. Brother Azarias had just stepped through the Renderer’s sketch of The Gallery.
“Do what sort of thing, Mr. Luke?” asked Jill.
“Just framerun a sketch of mine like it was his own. Even Sam can’t do that. I wonder sometimes just who and what Azarias — er, Brother Azarias — really is. It doesn’t seem like he follows the same rules as the rest of us mere mortals. And Charles and Brother Aran have both been very dodgy when it comes to answering questions about him — you know, where he came from, how long he has been with the Order, etc. Whenever such issues are brought up, they can both be quite irritating on the subject: they’ll just change the subject.
“But, that is neither here nor there. Azarias told us to get back to our portal, so that is precisely what we shall do.” Luke walked over toward the edge of the Plaza and looked into the seething darkness of the chasm below them once more. Then he walked back to the monolith, stepped over to the unmarked side opposite the sketch he had made for Azarias, and began sketching anew.
“What do you think, Jill?” he asked after about a half hour. “Were the buildings this tall when we were down there?”
Jill had again watched him sketch with wonder. It was a gift she could not imagine having. “Yes, I think so,” she said, somewhat uncertainly.
“And was this how things looked to you when we first came through the painting?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Then, we should have all that we need here,” said Luke. “I know I can framerun this sketch, but I may need to help you with it. The key is for us to keep in constant contact, and to go slowly. Are you willing to try it?”
“Sure!” said Jill, although she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she tried to sound.
“Then grasp your crystal,” said Mr. Luke. Jill did so.
“Oh, wait, Mr. Luke! We can’t leave the raven behind!” Jill said, pointing to the basket near where she had been sleeping.
“Right you are! I’ll get the fellow! Now, I’m going to hold onto your hand as we go through the sketch. This may be more disorienting than you’re used to, but I promise you we’ll arrive safe and sound. Ready?”
“Ready!” said Jill.
Stepping through the sketch was much more gut-wrenching than had been the trip from the Gallery or either of her trips to Oxford and back, but Jill clenched her eyes shut, and before she knew it, she found herself once more aware of being at the foot of the buildings and the cliffs — the ones that she had first glimpsed in the painting of Orbaratus in the Gallery.
“The Gallery!” Jill thought, even as she realized that she was confused and disoriented by the jump through the sketch. “Oh, how I wish we were back there again, with Sam, and Mr. Luke, and…and Polly…” She knew the wish was futile, and that she was not thinking clearly.
But when at last she began to more fully recollect where she was, she realized that the wind was not as brisk down here at the base of the buildings. And it was darker. Light trickled down from far, far above them, and pale cyan and purple hues flitted up and down the buildings as high clouds passed overhead. It then dawned upon Jill that she was chewing on something. It was a piece of bittersweet chocolate. She looked up. Sam was there, smiling at her.
“I think you may be even worse than Mr. Luke!” he said, grinning. “Although, truth to tell, I’ve sometimes felt nearly as bad when I’ve had to framerun a Renderer’s sketch. No one should have to do that unless under extreme duress!”
Jill smiled. Sam sometimes trotted out thousand-dollar phrases that he had heard and liked and decided to make his own, and ‘extreme duress’ was clearly a new one that he had adopted recently.
“I think Mr. Luke would say the same thing about mazerunning with you, Sam. My impression is that it makes him feel even worse than I do now,” she said. “Although, frankly, I feel as if I’ve been on the roller-coaster of all roller-coasters, at the same time that I had a bad case of the stomach flu!”
“Well, someday I’ll take you into the Maze, and then you can tell me if that’s better or worse.”
“No time soon, OK?”
Sam smiled. “Yeah, OK. But, even if it makes you feel bad, mazerunning ‘has its privileges’ as the saying goes. Why, it can sometimes allow one to do things that are little short of miraculous, if I do say so myself,” he said, with a gleam in his eyes. He blew on his fingernails and pretended to polish them against his lapel.
“Miraculous?! What on earth have you done that would qualify as miraculous?!” asked Jill.
“Well, first, I must point out that we happen not to be on earth, but, for that, I’ll forgive you. Now, with regard to the question of miracles, see for yourself!” With that, Sam swept his arm out past them both and bowed deeply.
In the direction he was indicating, Jill saw two figures; both of whom looked familiar. The first she soon recognized as Mr. Luke. But he was bending over the second person, who appeared to be on the ground sleeping. Jill was still a bit disoriented, so it took her some time to realize that the person on the ground didn’t look quite right. Whoever it was, he or she appeared to be made entirely out of metal, almost like a robot or a statue….
Jill gasped. “It…it can’t be! Can it, Sam?!”
Sam smiled broadly. “Well, yes it can, and it is! It is Polydora herself, brought back from the very land of the…er…the living dead!”
Jill was dumbfounded. “But…but…she went into the passageway! She was locked in the caves with the Masters! How could she…?”
“It was Azarias,” Sam said, “not me, really. We went into the Maze together. He seemed to know things about the caves that I certainly didn’t, and although he wasn’t sure, he hoped that we would be able to find a way into the caverns and a way out again for both us and for Polly. He was pretty sure there were mirrored panels in the chamber somewhere, and once we started looking, we were able to find them!
“Polly was bound by the guarding stones, just as the Masters themselves were, and she was unconscious, and Azarias’ staff kept the Masters from harming her. We were able to pull her back with us into the Maze and bring her down here to the base of the cliffs. We also made sure not to leave the staff behind; without that, Polly never would have been able to drive the Masters back!
“She’s still pretty dopey, but Azarias seemed to think she’d be alright once we got her beyond the influence of the guarding stones.”
Jill, despite her weakness, managed to pull herself to her feet and, with Sam’s help, walked over to Poldyora’s side.
“Hello, little one,” said a familiar voice in Jill’s head. “Did you miss me?”
In the Company of Angels, Episode 6.2 – Parting Company (cont.)
“I can see that there are wooden beams that come down to the floor”, said Luke, “and they meet somewhere above the portal: atop a wall, probably, or perhaps at the peak of the roof. I can also see other shapes scattered about: maybe they’re odds and ends, like you’d find in a storage space…? Some of them do, in fact, appear to be covered with cloth, and everything has a thick layer of dust on it.”
Sam beamed at Jill and nudged her. “Mr. Luke can see stuff better than anybody. I think it comes from his being a Renderer. I remember one time my trying to draw a frog, and he was coaching me. He kept shaking his head and saying ‘You’re not looking properly, Samuel!’” Sam had altered his voice to mimic Mr. Luke’s.
Jill giggled. “You do that very well!” she said under her breath.
Sam grinned. “Yeah, but I never could get the frog to look right, Honestly, I couldn’t draw my way out of a paper bag! But I’ll bet if you showed Mr. Luke anything, he could draw it, and so life-like it’d scare the heck out of you!”
“So, is that the main thing Renderers can do? Draw?” asked Jill.
“It’s a lot more than that. They can sketch the simplest thing and framerun it…even better than I can, because they’re the ones that drew it! You’ll see for yourself if Mr. Luke goes to find Azarias. You would already have seen it if there’d been a surface for him to draw on down in the street; up here, it would be easy, ‘cause he could use any of these stones as a canvas.”
“Alright,” said Mr. Luke, “If you two will be so kind as to stop chattering, I think I have a plan. I can see nothing immediately dangerous through this portal, and I would definitely like to know what we can learn about that bird. It was a raven, by the way; did any of you notice?”
Sam winked at Jill but said nothing. Polly remained silent.
Luke looked around at everyone. “Here’s how I suspect we ought to proceed, but I’m open to suggestions. I believe that I ought to consult with Azarias, provided I can find him. So, I will attempt to framerun back to London. I’ll explain the situation to him and see if he can shed any light on what might be happening here. If he deems it necessary, I’ll bring him back to help us.
“Sam, if you and Jill are willing, I’d like for you both to explore this frame and learn what you can about what’s on the other side. Most importantly, I’d like you to see where the raven came from. There’s something very peculiar about a bird that can framerun! My suspicion is that the creature may have stolen the third crystal, but perhaps you’ll find that out once you’ve caught up with it.”
“How much exploring do you want us to do, Mr. Luke?” asked Sam. “I mean, yeah, we may find ourselves in an attic or a crawlspace or something, but if we see no signs of the raven, what then? Do you want us to snoop around a bit?”
“Only if it seems safe. We have no idea which of the Iconic Realms may be on the other side of that frame, so there may be dangers that we’re not expecting,” said Mr. Luke.
“You mean like wild boars in Narnai?” Sam was grinning.
“Ahem! That, Samuel, was not my fault. And, for our purposes here, it is ancient history! No, I mean that we don’t even know if what looks like an attic means that there will be human beings there that built it! Aside from that, remember that the portal could also lead you back to earth, but at a different time than our own. If that appears to be the case, you need to touch nothing and return immediately; we can’t risk meddling in a time-tethered realm.”
“A what?” asked Jill.
“Sam will explain it to you. But, Sam, remember: prudence first! And although she’s just learning to use her abilities, have Jill help you to find the bird; she may be able to track it down even if you can’t. For that matter, she may be able to alert you to the presence of people or dangerous creatures before you would even know they’re there.”
Sam nodded. “We’ll be careful.” Jill looked at Sam and swallowed.
“Polly,” said Mr. Luke. “If you don’t mind, I’d like for you to remain here so that you can keep an eye on this new frame and on the stone gateway and its crystals. I don’t know if you could get through the portal to help Sam and Jill if they needed it in any event, but you can watch their progress as long as they are within sight. And you can also help them sense what’s in the space before they jump in blindly…you may be able to tell them who or what is near the picture on the other side before they framerun it. Also, if anything happens to them or to the doorway, you should try to follow me back to London through the sketch I’m going to draw.”
Polly nodded. “I shall stay here. This is still my home, and I fear nothing on Orbaratus, even if some danger lurks behind the doorway.”
“So, does this plan suit everyone?”
“Works for me,” said Sam.
“Me too,” said Jill, “although I still think that portal’s kinda small….”
Polydora simply nodded.
“Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll be off first…” Mr. Luke walked toward one of the monoliths that littered the plaza, drew a piece of chalk from a pocket in his drover coat, and then quickly and expertly sketched a rectangular doorway through which could be seen a sofa and a window beyond it. It was a very simple sketch, and one that only took him a minute or two to draw onto the stone surface. But, once he was satisfied, he bowed to the others.
“I shall return as soon as possible. If anything goes seriously amiss, Polly, please come after me. And you two,” he said, turning to Sam and Jill, “remember: caution! No heroics! Jill, do your best to rein Sam in if he threatens to do anything rash!”
With that, Mr. Luke turned his ring around on his finger and stepped into his drawing.
Despite Sam’s comment about Renderers, Jill was still astonished and gasped when he disappeared. She had seen the bluish glow on the sketch even as it was being created, but this was the simplest of images: nothing like the painting that they had traveled through to reach Orbaratus, nor any of the pictures in her library that she now knew had been framerun by Mr. Luke and Sam…and Rusty.
“Wow!” she said. “That’s really amazing! So, can he do that to go anywhere? At any time?”
“Yeah, pretty much,” said Sam. “‘Course, he can’t Mazerun, so I guess that’s something I can do that he can’t. But who wouldn’t like to be able to step through their own drawing and go to the North Pole, or to Wonderland, or to Lothlorien?
“That said, I never got around to asking you,” said Sam. “Can you draw anything yourself? Ever taken any of Ms. Craig’s art classes at school?“
“Yes, once, and it was a total disaster,” said Jill. “I was lucky to get a ‘B’, which she gave me just because she felt sorry for me. It’s definitely not my thing. I doubt if I did any better than you did with your frog sketch for Mr. Luke. I mean, I can draw really simple things, like stick figures or smiley faces, but nothing like Mr. Luke.”
“Yeah, Mr. Luke’s pretty spectacular. I think Azarias can draw, too, but I’ve never seen him do it. But, enough talking: we have a job to do!”
“Yes, we do!” said Jill. “So just how should we proceed with this?”
“I should look first,” said Polly aloud. “I wish to make sure that all appears safe on the other side of the raven’s frame.”
From within her head, just after Polly had finished speaking aloud, Jill heard Polly speak to her separately. “Go slowly with Sam, little one. He doesn’t sense things well, nor the way we do. You should trust what your feelings tell you is happening, and slow him down if the need arises.”
“But how can I slow him down?” thought Jill back to Polly.
“Just tell him what you feel, and remind him that Mr. Luke told him to trust you. He will listen to you; perhaps even more so than to Mr. Luke.”
“Why would he listen to me?!” asked Jill.
In her head, she “heard” Polly laughing softly at the question. “He will listen. Trust me, little one,” came the response. Jill looked up at Polly questioningly, but the Ferrumari betrayed no emotion on her serene, metallic countenance. Instead, she stepped toward the raven’s frame. Grasping her crystal tightly in hand, she stooped and thrust her head into the dark portal. She stood there, as still as a statue, peering into the darkness.
Nearly a minute passed before Polly pulled her head back out of the frame. “I cannot tell for certain, but I believe that the world on the other side of this frame may be your planet, the Earth. I cannot say if it is your own time or some other. But, there are at least two people in the house, for that is what the structure appears to be. I think that this portal, in fact, leads into a crawlspace or side attic of the house. I can detect no sign of the raven, but perhaps he has simply flown from the attic space; that you will have to determine for yourselves.”
“Can you tell us any more about the people that are in the house?” asked Sam.
“Very little. They are both on the same floor as the attic space, and in fact appear to be quite near to the portal, just on the other side of a wall.”
“So this space is on an upper story of the house?”
“I believe so,” said Polly. “I cannot tell you much about the floor below, but there are living things surrounding it; plants, birds, trees. The attic is most likely on the first floor of the house, and the main part of the house is below.”
“You mean it’s on the second floor of the house then, not the first….”
Jill thought for a moment. “No, Sam, I think she means the first floor in the British sense. That is, the floor above ground level. Is that what you mean, Polly?”
Polly nodded.
“OK, then. We’re going into a crawlspace with folks around, So, let’s be as quiet as mice!” said Sam.
Jill had never experienced such a thing before, but she received the psychic equivalent of a nudge from Polly, and looking up at her, she saw that the Ferrumari was smiling. “Yes, be as quiet as can be,” Polly said to Sam.
The bottom of the frame was just about at waist height, or a little above. Grasping the sapphire on the pendant around his neck tightly, Sam bent down and squeezed through the opening.
Jill watched him disappear, gave Polly one last glance, and then followed him into the darkness.
Polydora watched them both enter the portal, and then bent down and looked through it to make sure that she could see them on the other side. She saw Jill stand upright, dust herself off, and then turn back and wave.
Polly waved back. Then she stood back up straight and looked around at her home — at Orbaratus. The wind was still whistling around the empty stone monuments. Otherwise, it was quiet; as quiet as she always remembered it. She was once again alone in her world; in a world filled with ghosts and even perhaps with dangers that she had never known before. But it was still her home.
Polly breathed deeply of the air of Cenurbus. It smelled as it always had: flinty. It was a smell that she only noticed consciously when she returned with Luke, Jill and Sam. When she had lived here for those many hundreds of earth years, it was just part of the background — she had had no other world with which to compare it. But now she recognized the smell of her home. She could detect nothing obviously amiss now, either in the smells or the sights of Cenurbus.
That was when the rumblings began again, and Polydora knew that another earthquake was coming. But there was something else, past the seismic sounds, that she sensed. For the first time ever, Polly thought she could detect the slightest presence of other living creatures: creatures that belonged to this world, just like her. And Polly sensed that these beings must be awakening somewhere deep, deep beneath her: under the very stones at her feet….
