Chapter Eight
“This would be easier if your Map Keeper told us where the portal was,” Morrigan said.
The small shuttle that carried Margot and her portal guardians had been waiting in space about two hours away from Oipra, far enough away not to be identified as a threat, but close enough to monitor communications on the planet.
Margot shook her head. “The people down there are oppressed enough. At the moment the Abnobians have to use ships for transport and transporting their minerals from this world. If they had access to a network of portals from here, it would make them richer and their plans for realm-wide control a reality.”
“I understand.” Morrigan sat herself down on her seat.
Jhosa turned around to face Morrigan. “Why did you stay around on Gaia, when our ancestors left? The Danu monks ordered everyone back.”
“They call it Earth now, but we didn’t all leave,” Morrigan said.
“Your brother, for example,” Margot said.
“I liked the people, and there wasn’t a good reason to come home. My mother and I don’t see eye to eye, so I did come back, just not to Vetia.”
“Really?” Thane said with disdain.
“The people of Earth are not to be underestimated. Given that the human population raced so far forward in technology so quickly, and the paranormals there are descendants of our realm, I think it was always likely our peoples would come running towards each other, even after the Tuatha De Danann hid the portal to their world.”
“We need to find them,” Margot said. “This wolf will be more trusting if you are there.”
“Trust a trickster? She must be insane,” Thane said.
Morrigan was furious. “I’ve had enough of your constant backbiting.”
Thane stood and went toe to toe with her. “What are you going to do about it, trickster?”
“Enough!” Margo shouted.
Jhosa stood, and the towering man pushed them both down on their seats.
Margot nodded. “Thank you, Jhosa. Now, we need to scan every bit of space we can for unusual readings. Portals usually give out dark matter, but it’s so hard to trace. Let’s get to it.”
Camber and Brogan headed to the safe place Camber was trying to get to. It was a small moon, far enough away from anyone looking for them.
Camber walked from the back of the ship and placed some pouches in front of her. “Drazani ration packs. Water and food.”
Brogan rubbed her wrist. The silver was starting to inflame the skin on her forearms. Camber took the small black box she’d used down on Oipra earlier and unlocked the cuffs.
“Ah, thank you.” Brogan rubbed the red welts on her wrists. “Is this for good now? Does that mean you trust me?”
Camber nodded. She was never a hundred percent sure about people, except the ones she grew up with, but Brogan had passed every test. She’d had every opportunity to raise the alarm and hand her in to the Abnobians, right in the middle of their territory.
“Well, you did help me out of a few scrapes.”
“Scrapes? I saved your life,” Brogan said.
“You’re so dramatic. Once if at all.” Camber sighed. “Can I get you something for your wrists? There’ll be a med pack around here somewhere.”
“It’s okay. It’ll heal when I shift to pelt. So, what’s this food you brought?” Brogan took a swig of water from the liquid pouch.
“Taste it, and you’ll find out,” Camber said.
Brogan sniffed the opening of the pouch. Disturbingly, it smelled of nothing at all.
“How can food have no smell?” Brogan said.
“Go on. Be brave, like the dominant wolf you are.”
Camber heard the deep rumble of a growl that sent a shiver across her body.
Brogan took a taste of the food from the pouch, then screwed up her face and gulped the water down quickly. Camber laughed.
“You knew it would be bad,” Brogan said.
“I did, but it wasn’t as bad as you’re making out,” Camber said.
Brogan paced up and down the ship, as if it would help take the taste away. “I’m a wolf, I eat meat the majority of the time.”
“Sit down. You’ll be very grateful of these pouches, believe me.”
Brogan smacked her mouth together a few times. “Is there a fish taste to that disgusting food? I mean, not nice fish. Fish that has been rotting for a few hundred years?”
“I have heard people say that. The Drazani like it.”
Brogan looked out the side window with awe. “My nieces and nephews would love this. It’s like I’ve walked into a movie.”
“What’s a movie?” Camber asked.
“You don’t have movies? Films? TV?”
Camber shook her head.
“It’s like a story that plays out in front of you,” Brogan said.
“Oh…reality recreation rooms, or RRs. You choose which story you would like to play out, and programmable matter creates the adventure or relaxation scene.”
“That sounds much better than a movie,” Brogan said.
“They are fun. I don’t have much time to have fun, though.”
“It must be exhausting, doing this your whole life.”
Camber took a sip of water and shrugged. “It’s all I know. I’ve got good friends in the resistance, and I do have a great purpose. To protect the portals.”
Brogan’s wolf was antsy. She hadn’t shifted since she fell into this strange world. She had to keep talking to help cope with the urge to shift.
“How do these portals work—and I’m just interested, I’m not trying to get secret intelligence,” Brogan promised.
Camber tapped her fingers on the console.
“The Abnobians know this anyway. In the beginning, long before any of the races in this part of space had come to be, a race we call the First Ones lived all around this area. These people reached out far and wide, trying to find some intelligent life.”
Brogan listened with fascination.
“They knew that worlds and races had lived and gone out with a whimper around them. So they collected DNA from those worlds, in the hope of seeding other planets.”
“They must have been around for millions of years if they found nothing. Life seems to be abundant around here,” Brogan said.
Camber nodded. “It was said that they were lonely. They seeded planets, giving them the DNA they needed, and evolution took its course.”
“And the portals?” Brogan asked.
“It was their way of travelling. The leader of the First Ones was the Goddess Danu.”
Brogan smiled and thought of her friend, the warrior Bhal. Her people worshipped Danu. “She was worshipped at one time on Earth. Some of my friends told me about her.”
“The Tuatha De Danann worship her on Danus, where her temple is,” Camber said. “They had to keep me in hiding. Danu created this map bag, and it has passed down to me from other Map Keepers.”
Brogan’s throat and chest were tightening by the second. She stood up and started to pace.
“What’s wrong?”
“My wolf is feeling claustrophobic. I’ve been cooped up too long. Keep talking. Tell me how the portals work.”
“I can’t tell you everything, but let me think of how to explain what I can…What kind of transport does your world have?” Camber asked.
“We’ve been to the moon on rockets, but that’s just for science. Regular people use planes and cars.”
“Planes?” Camber asked.
“For travel in the air. Cars are ground transport.”
Camber clapped her hands together. “Perfect. I’ve been to worlds with ground transport. You have roads for them, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, there are main roads that take you from city to city. They are like the main portals. They go from world to world. Then there are smaller roads within each city, a little less known, but I keep them on the map. Then there are the secret turn-offs that take you quickly to places off the beaten track.”
“Just like this one?” Brogan asked.
Camber nodded. “This is one of my little hideaways, and there are a few others that I have on my map.”
“That’s amazing.”
“The map only responds to me, so the Abnobians have to find me as well as the map.”
Brogan sat down again. “That’s a lot. Do they know about the portal at Oipra?”
Camber shook her head. “No. That’s why it’s important to keep these things secret. Oipra is close to Abnobia, but they still have a fair way to go to distribute the minerals they mine. If transport was instantaneous, they would gain even more power.”
Brogan’s foot was tapping, as well as her fingers now. Camber could sense the tension.
“Can we get out of here soon?”
“I’m waiting on a signal, to make sure it’s safe,” Camber said.
“I thought no one knew we were going to your safe moon.”
“I sent a signal to a trusted contact before we left. They will let me know when it’s safe to arrive. I know it’s hard for a wolf to be stuck in a small space with nowhere to go.”
“How do you know that about us?” Brogan said.
“It’s why the GallowGlas wolves rarely leave their planet if they can avoid it. They like to be near their Great Forest.”
“The Great Forest?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Camber said.
“On Earth, all the packs believe that when our life’s journey comes to an end, we go to run with our elders in the Great Forest.”
“If the wolves on your planet were seeded from this realm, then it may have become mythology.”
Brogan looked crestfallen.
“It doesn’t mean there isn’t an afterlife. Maybe that’s just the way your ancestors could express it.”
Brogan nodded, but Camber felt like she wanted to be alone with her thoughts. “I’m just going to have a rest back there.”
“You trust me enough to close your eyes?” Brogan asked.
“I suppose I have to, since I’m not going to cuff you again, and I need to sleep.” Camber patted her satchel and put it under her head as a pillow. “You don’t know what I’ve got in here to protect me.”
“I know. Don’t worry.”
“Tell me if you hear a beep. It might be my message.”
Brogan gave her a quick salute and a small smile. “Aye, aye, Map Keeper.”
Camber did feel sad for Brogan. She was clearly out of her own realm and lonely for her own kind. There was no badness in Brogan, she was now sure of it, and Camber’s intuition always had served her before.
There was one thing that was making her feel guilty. She believed she could find the portal to take Brogan home, in time and with work. But she still planned to hand her over to the GallowGlas wolves and let them figure out how to get her home.