Portal 3 for SampleSunday
This weekend, as a special New years treat I am offering you a scene from my current work in progress, Child of The Portal – otherwise known as Portal 3. I hope it doesn't give too much away.
Drummer felt it as he walked at the side of the pool that sat at the base of the waterfall, and he turned away and ran back towards the settlement. The Naiad watched him go.
Elder felt it and strode from her yurt to see. Healer felt it and appeared at the door to the yurt where Midnight and Dusk still lay slowly healing. Heads turned around the fire and they waited, some with their hands resting on sheathed weapons, some not, but all wary and alert.
Drummer pounded across the grass and into the heart of the settlement as the light forming a portal began to build. He skidded to a sliding halt beside Elder and stood there, chest heaving and a hand on the hilt of his sword, but he did not draw it.
A solitary figure walked from the light with arms held out to the sides, hands clearly empty. Drummer blinked and looked closer. Dove's hair was a mess, blown by wind and unkempt, but she looked well, uninjured. But alone? No, more figures were emerging.
Drummer leapt past her with his blade singing from the sheath as he bore Hiann to the ground in a single rush.
Gentian screamed beside him, words but formless in his ears as blood thundered through his anger. She laid her hands on his back, gripping his clothing and trying to pull him off but he hunkered down and stayed steady with his knees holding Hiann's arms to the ground and the flat of his blade pressed against his brother's throat. Gentians hands hit Drummer over and over and her voice melted into the cacophony that was building around him and he couldn't make out individual words through the rage thundering through his blood and that thundered in his ears. Jaw set and eyes blazing, Drummer leaned over his brother and his arm flexed, pushing the blade of his sword into the softly yielding skin of Hiann's throat. He twisted the sword so the newly sharpened edge rested there and his nostrils flared, chest heaving and his arm was a tight and hard as the bark of an oak.
Drummer's whole body was tensed and ready, but Hiann just lay on his back on the ground and didn't struggle, didn't fight back. Drummer was lighter, and although burning with his surge of rage he shouldn't have been able to hold Hiann as easily as this.
Gentian stopped hitting him and threads of doubt wormed their way into Drummer's head as a hand leaned heavily on his shoulder and another slipped round to grip his sword. The noise died and the silence wrapped around them. Warmth flooded through him and he felt his grip slacken.
"Let go." Lily murmured in his ear as she pulled the blade away from Hiann's throat and out of Drummer's hand, leaving the thinnest line of blood where the edge of the sharp blade slid against the dark skin. She passed the blade behind her, out of sight, and Drummer didn't know if someone took it or if she laid it on the grass, but it was out of his reach. "Let him go, Drummer." Lily leaned on his back to get back up to her feet again and as her hand slipped from his shoulder he let his arm fly forwards and his tightly clenched fist hit Hiann on the same cheek that Kate had slapped, feeling the satisfying crack of bone. He pulled back and hit him again, splitting skin and spraying blood, before Lily could turn and stop him. The noise rose around them again, people shouting, screaming at him to stop but he didn't listen, blinded and driven by white hot rage. His fist flew a third time, splintering Hiann's jaw, and then she managed to catch his hand and there were other hands on his clothing, heaving at him and dragging him backwards. Tracker and his brother each pinned one of Drummer's arms while Runner held him round the waist and tried to avoid his flailing legs as he struggled to break free.
Lily knelt on one side of Hiann, a hand resting on his cheek. "He'll live." She spoke sharply and Gentian, kneeling on his other side, flinched. A soft glow eased from Lily's fingers and soaked into his cheek. "The bones are knitted and the skin sealed; the rest can heal on its own." She rocked back on her heels, glanced at Gentian, and then stood easily, and turned with the grace of someone in complete control. Hiann stirred on the ground behind her.
"Drummer!" Lily snapped. He glared at her and pushed at those holding him before allowing himself to relax and even then the hands on him didn't slacken their grip. Drummer forced his eyes to lower and as he did she nodded to Tracker and they let go but didn't move away, ready to grab Drummer again if needed. Drummer eased up to sitting, folded his long legs underneath him and slowly rose to his feet. Dove held his sword and Drummer reached for it but Lily shook her head and Dove moved it away.
"Your brother will not die at your hand." Lily spoke loud and clear so everybody heard. "I brought him here so your fight is with me and not with him." She paused and let that sink in. "Will you stand against me Drummer?" She waited, reining in the temptation to let her awareness find his reaction, knowing he would feel it and that could trigger his anger again.
Drummer stood taller than Lily but he kept his eyes down, staring unseeing at the grass at his feet. Anger warred with anguish and he trembled with his arms folded tight against his chest, which heaved with each steadying breath he dragged in and forced out. A muscle in his cheek twitched and his teeth were clenched so hard it must have made his jaw ache. Dove moved away from him to stand with Kate and Susan, but Tracker and his brother flanked him with their arms held loosely at their sides.
"How?" He managed.
"Lilith?" Elder spoke from behind her at the same time and Lily turned her head a fraction but didn't take her eyes off Drummer.
"Elder." She acknowledged in a voice carefully controlled, her attention split between Drummer in front of her and Hiann behind her. Lily could hear Elder behind her but dared not turn or listen until she was sure that Drummer wouldn't harm his brother.
"Drummer," Elder barked, "Leave it, let it go." His head came up to look past Lily and at his mother. The tension didn't drain out of him but he did shudder and force an easing of his arms, letting his arms drop to hang at his sides and relaxing fists into open hands. His eyes slid to look directly at Lily and he nodded, a brief jerk of his head but an agreement. Then he turned his back on her and walked away, brushing past Kate and Susan and out of the settlement with determined, long, measured strides.
Lily's mouth pressed into a thin line and she glared after him. "Damn." She muttered.
"What did you expect?" Elder was still just behind her and now Lily could turn and see the mix of emotion on Elder's face and in her stance. Shoulders shook with relief and shock, eyes glistened with tears and a hand was raised to lay against her breast, which shuddered as she breathed in shallow gasps. "I am glad to see you, but, how? First you fall and we couldn't find you, and then the child vanishes? We thought you dead. I couldn't grieve for you, I couldn't let myself." Tears spilled then, flowed freely down Elder's seamed cheeks and tore at Lily's soul as Elder reached out to touch her arm, slowly, tentatively as if reaching for mist, or a ghost. "You're alive?"
