The Portal: Book 2 of the Pegasi Chronicles (2nd Edition)

By Allan McCarville

They had tried to kill him three times.

He not only survived but destroyed the demon that was hunting him. Not bad for a kid still a few weeks shy of his twelfth birthday. Now all Jason wants is to have a normal life, a desire shared by his uncle Richard, his guardian.

Richard Carver soon learns that helping Jason deal with the school bully is the least of their problems.

The forces of evil have not given up. The Rewera have discovered that sacrificing Jason is the key to opening a portal through which the evil hordes can pour through and destroy humanity. They’ve already chosen their assassin and have begun the killer’s indoctrination: a young boy who is willing to die as long as Jason Carver dies with him.

When Jason is abducted Richard is plunged into a race against time to save his nephew.

This time it’s not only Jason’s life at stake, but the fate of all humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allan McCarville
• Release date: Aug 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781999018382

Allan McCarville

Allan McCarville is an author and researcher who has a number of titles published in the genres of fantasy, crime thrillers and historical fiction. He and his family reside in Stittsville, Ontario where he does his best to make people think that he's normal. Apparently it's not working.

Book preview

Prologue - The Arrival

Yucatan Peninsula - Nine Hundred Years Ago

Impossible! They could not just vanish! Yet, it seemed they had.

Robert Kingston carefully surveyed the empty clearing. He had just stepped through the interdimensional portal between the two worlds, leading the squad of Pegasi soldiers armed with swords and crossbows, obsidian tipped quarrels already fitted and drawn. The small band was vigilant and tense, weapons at the ready. Pursuing the Rewera, demons in human form, was extremely dangerous. They were hunting six of them who had crossed from Pegasus to this world, a world ill-prepared to deal with the evil they posed.

The Pegasi and the Rewera were sworn enemies. The Pegasi were human, indistinguishable from the humans who inhabited the world they had just entered. They were servants of the Light and had been battling the forces of the Dark Lord since the beginning of time when there had been a confrontation between Light and Dark, between good and evil. The forces of Light prevailed, and those who served the dark were banished from the realm of the light. Unlike the Rewera, however, the Pegasi were not immortal, although their life span typically exceeded a hundred and twenty years, and their recuperative powers were extraordinary.

After the banishment, the Dark Lord dispatched his underlings to wreak havoc throughout the creation of the Lord of the Light. One of those underlings was a major demon named, Maltzar, who, along with untold numbers of minor demons, ended up in the Pegasi world, The World of the Five Kingdoms. The minor demons existed as spirits only, lacking physical forms, hence they needed to possess a body, either human or animal, in order to interact with the physical world.

The Rewera used to be human, but had their humanity ripped from them when they were possessed by minor demons. The possession ritual changed them physically; their ears became pointed, their facial features became elongated, with a protruding mouth because of enlarged teeth, and their nose flattened.

The most profound change, however, was that the Rewera no longer possessed, nor were they capable of experiencing human emotions such as love, compassion, or kindness. They did, however, retain the human emotion of hate, and they thrived on the pain and fear they inflicted on their victims.

They were also indestructible, immortal – well, almost. There were two ways to destroy them; either by decapitation or by piercing their heart with obsidian that had been exposed to the power of a special stone, the blue sphere. While decapitation was effective, the Rewera tended to be uncooperative and were inclined to violently resist being beheaded. Therefore, the Pegasi’s preferred weapon was the crossbow with the special obsidian-tipped bolts.

The blue sphere was a large blue coloured stone that according to legend was located somewhere in the earth under the throne room in the palace of the Pegasi king. No one knew if it was actually there, or where the stone had originated, or why it conferred the powers that it did. Somehow it imbued all Pegasi with the power to remove pain, to some others the power to heal, and it transferred the power to destroy the Rewera to obsidian.

It could also transfer to special scrolls the power to open doors between worlds. It was one of those scrolls that Kingston had used to open a portal between his world and this one.

Kingston glanced at a man who held a dog on a leash and nodded tersely. Obeying the unspoken command, the man released the dog, and the animal immediately bounded off into the trees at the edge of the clearing. Kingston listened carefully but heard no barking or growling. After a few minutes the dog returned and sat obediently next to his master.

Kingston relaxed slightly. There were no Rewera in the immediate area, but they were out there somewhere. He turned to a man standing next to him and said, Okay, Thomas. Go fetch the others.

The man, Thomas, responded, Yes, my Lord, and turned to walk to the rear of the small group and approached an area where the air looked deformed, the shimmering bluish distortion being circular in shape, about ten meters in diameter. He stepped into the centre of the distortion and promptly disappeared.

Thomas reappeared several minutes later, accompanied by more soldiers as well as women and children, some cattle and a few horse-drawn carts. The last person to step through the portal surprised Kingston.

Your Majesty, he stammered going down on one knee.

Rise, Sir Robert, commanded King Geoffrey, it is I who should kneel to you. This is a very brave deed you are undertaking.

Kingston was unsure of how he should respond to his king’s praise. Someone had to go after the six Rewera who would terrorize this unsuspecting world; hundreds if not thousands of innocents would be sacrificed to the Dark Lord.

King Geoffrey noticed Kingston’s discomfort and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. From this day forward, the name 'Kingston’ shall hold a place of honour in the kingdom. Henceforth, the Royal Guard shall be commanded by a member of your family.

Kingston bowed slightly, humbled by the honour being bestowed.

King Geoffrey was holding a scroll under his arm and he now passed it to Kingston. Using this scroll, he said, a portal between this world and the palace will be opened. As you know, it can only be used once, so I don’t need to tell you it should only be used as a last resort.

Kingston nodded, understanding that what the king was really saying, was that it would only be used if their mission failed. It was a means to inform the king that this world was still in danger.

Kingston looked around and observed that his entire party had now passed through the interdimensional gate. The Pegasi who accompanied him were all volunteers; they all knew it was a one-way journey.

The portal, the doorway back to their world, was going to be destroyed to prevent more Rewera from crossing. It was time to go. He shook hands with King Geoffrey and watched as the man stepped back through the portal and disappeared into the other world–their world.

They watched in silence as the portal vanished in a flash of blue light. They then set off in search of the six demons, and towards an uncertain future.

***

Four days after crossing to this world, the Pegasi still had not seen any sign of the Rewera.

Moving slowly so as not to appear threatening, they approached a picturesque village nestled along a meandering river, their weapons sheathed, cross bows set at half cock. They had come across individual indigenous humans and a few farms, and although curious about the strangers, those humans did not display any hostility towards the Pegasi. None of the indigenous humans they questioned indicated they had seen any creatures that resembled the Rewera.

Kingston led his party towards a small group of men standing on the dirt road at the village’s entrance, the first permanent settlement the Pegasi had come across since they had crossed to this world. The unarmed villagers regarded them curiously, but Kingston sensed no danger. He stopped a few feet in front of a man who appeared to be the leader and raised his right arm in greeting. The man smiled at Kingston and nodded.

Then they were attacked.

Suddenly, dozens of armed men rushed out from behind adobe structures, and from the trees surrounding the village. By the time the Pegasi could react, several of their number were dead or wounded.

Although caught by surprise, the Pegasi were well trained and quickly formed a defensive ring around the women and children, ushering them behind the wagons.

Fall back! Head for the river! shouted Kingston as he slashed at a man who lunged at him with a spear.

The attack was ferocious but not well coordinated. The villagers had underestimated the Pegasi’s ability to react, and once the initial surprise was past, their attack was less effective. The Pegasi fell back towards the river, slowly but deliberately yielding ground, inflicting heavy casualties.

They reached the river where Kingston ordered the wagons to be arranged in a small semi-circle with the river at their back. The attack stalled, giving Kingston time to assess their situation. Kingston knew it was only a temporary reprieve, as he could see the villagers preparing for another assault.

They were outnumbered three to one, but that didn’t worry Kingston as much as the question as to why they had been attacked. The few indigenous humans they had met so far had shown them no open hostility. What had provoked the villagers to violence?

Shrieking like banshees, the villagers stormed across the small clearing in front of the wagons, the air filled with arrows and spears. The Pegasi waited until the villagers were halfway across the clearing before they launched their quarrels. The villagers were mowed down, dropping like shafts of wheat falling to the reaper’s scythe.

They kept coming despite their losses. This isn’t logical, thought Kingston. Something’s not right here. The villagers were not trained soldiers, but they were almost fanatical in their desire to reach the Pegasi barricaded behind the wagons.

One of them, the man who Kingston had first approached, jumped up on the wagon next to him, gaining additional height he could use this to his advantage over Kingston. Kingston jabbed upwards, thrusting his sword blade into the man’s chest. The villager looked at the sword and pulled off the blade, emitting an inhuman laugh.

Your weapons cannot harm me, declared the man, his voice eerily inhuman. Then the villager leapt from the wagon, brandishing his spear in front of him, forcing Kingston to back away. The man lunged at Kingston who parried the spear aside before stepping towards the man, then swinging his sword, decapitated the man.

Even as the man’s body was falling, a black form poured out of it, and hovered before lunging towards another villager who had shouted, Take me! Take me!

Kingston clambered onto the wagon, mind was racing, processing what he was seeing while at the same time desperately attempting to stay alive. This man must have been possessed, yet he did not resemble a Rewera.

Two more villagers attacked Kingston, obviously recognizing him as the Pegasi’s leader. Kingston had the scroll slung over his back and he felt a tug that threw him off balance. He stumbled as the scroll came free, the strap cut by a villager wielding a knife. The man gave a triumphant cry and jumped up onto a wagon. Kingston managed to cut down one of his attackers, which gave him the opportunity to leap up behind the man and tackle him.

Kingston managed to grab the scroll, but the villager kept a firm grasp on one of the handles. Kingston kicked out and connected with the man’s legs, who gasped in pain and fell off the wagon. While Kingston managed to hold onto the scroll itself, the handle pulled out of the end of the scroll, revealing that the handle was part of a knife with an obsidian blade.

Kingston jumped off the wagon, landing on top of the man who was trying to escape with the knife. Kingston raised his sword and brought it down, thrusting the blade into the man’s chest, ending his attempt to flee. Obviously not possessed, thought Kingston coldly as the man died.

Before he could recover, yet another villager came at him, swinging a sword. Kingston rolled clear just as the sword struck the ground where he had been lying. The man came at him again, the sword raised above his head. Kingston took advantage of the opening provided and thrust upwards with his own sword, the blade entering the man’s chest. This villager also died, no black clouds exiting the body.

Kingston scrambled to his feet and frantically searched around. The knife and scroll had both disappeared in the brief but ferocious scuffle. The newly possessed villager had also disappeared.

As suddenly as the attack began, it was over. As the fighting petered out, Kingston quickly took stock of their situation. The clearing in front of the wagons was littered with dead and dying villagers. And some Pegasi as well.

It was evident that there was no fight left in the villagers as they stumbled around, dazed and uncomprehending.

Why? asked one of the villagers, speaking to no one in particular.

Kingston coldly responded, We had to protect ourselves.

The villager dully looked at Kingston, as if seeing him for the first time, and shook his head. "No. I mean, why did we attack you?"

I would like to know the answer to that as well, thought Kingston.

The man wandered away, shaking his head as he surveyed the bodies of his friends and neighbours.

Watching him leave, Kingston mentally reviewed what had transpired. The man who he had first spoke to had obviously been possessed by a demon. He had beheaded the man, but although the host was destroyed, the demon was not. That meant that for some reason in this world, decapitation would not destroy the Rewera, as the demon had merely transferred to another body. Neither did the possessed human resemble a Rewera, they retained their human face.

He recalled the villager who had called out to the blackness to take him. It was inconceivable to Kingston that any human would volunteer to be possessed but, apparently, the possession he witnessed was voluntary. There was no ritual, the demonic blackness merely entered the man’s body, and there was no physical change. Was it because the possession was voluntary?

Charlie Daniels, Kingston’s second in command, approached.

How bad? asked Kingston.

Daniels sighed before answering. Six dead, five wounded but they should recover. None of the women and children were injured…

Kingston knew there was more. Tell me, he said flatly.

We only have about half of our special quarrels left, replied Daniels. He paused before continuing, The scroll and the knife are both missing. We couldn’t find them, no one knows where they went. In the confusion, anyone could have taken them.

Kingston shoulders slumped with a sense of failure. He had lost the scroll, the only means they had to communicate with their own world. Also, the knife was made with an obsidian blade that had been exposed to the power of the blue sphere. It was a knife capable of destroying the Rewera and was the only such knife they had.

The Rewera were now free, looking like any other human, so finding and identifying them would be extremely difficult. Their ability to destroy them was now limited to the few remaining special bolts. Decapitation was obviously not effective in this world.

He had been sent to stop the Rewera from spreading their evil to this world. He looked at the carnage in the clearing.

It was already too late.

Chapter 1

New London, PEI - Present Day

The young boy anxiously paced back and forth across the end of the long tree-lined driveway, stopping occasionally to listen for noise signalling the approach of the school bus. The sky was a cloudless blue, and a gentle breeze blew across the bay, bringing with it the ever-present smell of the sea.

This was his first day of school and he was nervous. New country, new school, new friends – hopefully.

Maybe they forgot that I was supposed to be picked up, thought the boy; then he shook his head, No. Mrs. Davies, their housekeeper, personally knew the bus driver and had spoken to him the day before. The driver confirmed he had Jason on his list and would be picking him up.

Jason Carver was eleven years old, twelve in two months, and what he wanted more than anything was to have a normal life again, to have regular friends like any other kid.

He had a normal life up until six months ago; that was before a psychopathic fanatic had murdered his parents and nearly succeeded in killing him as well. He ended up living with his uncle in a large historic mansion, which was where he met another boy, Eric. Together, he and Eric had succeeded in killing the maniac, a man named George Avery.

Except Avery wasn’t really human.

Jason still suffered sporadic nightmares about that night when Avery had abducted him from the mansion and had tried to kill him.

Making friends when you have an insane freak trying to kill you is difficult, as normal kids have an aversion to being shot at. Of course, Eric was not a regular kid. Eric had died over a hundred and sixty years earlier and his spirit had been haunting the Manor.

Jason did not know why he could communicate with the dead, but he was certain if he shared that particular talent, his popularity would be on par with Brussels sprouts. He decided it would be in his best interests not to mention that noteworthy ability.

He missed Eric, who was now finally at peace, having finally crossed over, or moved on – whatever happens after you finally depart this world.

He sighed heavily which caught the attention of the large Rottweiler sitting beside him. The dog, full name Hammerstein Johan Bach – Stein for short –was a full-grown male and weighed almost ninety pounds. Small for his age and on the thin side, Jason was three inches under five feet and weighed slightly over seventy-five pounds. When Jason was first introduced to the dog, he was certain that the large animal regarded him as merely an appetizer.

The Rottweiler, a well-trained attack dog, only obeyed commands delivered in German. This minimized the chance of someone accidently ordering the large dog to attack and devour a house guest by mistake.

Jason looked himself over as he shifted his backpack. He was wearing a red T-shirt, with Property of UPEI stenciled across the front, khaki short pants, white socks, and red trainers matching his tee shirt. Their housekeeper had appraised him when he came down for breakfast, and had pinched his cheeks declaring, Aren’t you just the cutest thing!

Cute?? It took all his self-control not to gag and bolt back to his room to change into something different. He flexed his right leg, wondering what the other kids would say about the vicious scars around his knee, a souvenir from the accident that killed his parents and almost claimed him.

He no longer felt any pain, but occasionally the joint got stiff and he still walked with a limp. He was a little self-conscious about the scarring, and had considered wearing jeans; however, although early in September, the days were quite warm, and most kids still wore shorts.

He wanted to be normal. He looked at the dog and asked, Do you think I look normal?

The dog cocked his head and regarded his master intently but offered no opinion.

Big help you are, said Jason. The dog reacted by lowering his big head and emitting a whine that was out of place for such a big dog. Jason couldn’t help but laugh and wrapped his arms around the animal, which responded by licking Jason’s face, almost knocking him over.

The dog’s ears perked up and went into an aggressive protective stance as it looked up the road emitting a low growl.

Jason looked in the same direction, and after a few seconds a yellow school bus crested a hill and pulled up to the driveway, stopping in front of him. He quickly scanned the curious faces peering out at him from the windows and for a moment regretted not accepting his uncle’s offer of a drive to school.

He turned to the dog and commanded, "Geh nach Hause, Junge–go home, boy". Then, taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the bus.

Once his master had boarded the bus, the dog turned and walked majestically back to the manor as ordered.

***

Richard Carver peeked through the kitchen window and watched his nephew climb onto the bus. He had offered to drive the boy to school but Jason had said, Thanks Uncle Richard but, no. Kids around here take the bus, right?

Edith Davies placed two cups of coffee on the kitchen table and, taking Richard by the elbow, led him away from the window. Sit and have a coffee. Stop fretting.

I’m not fretting, retorted Richard. Edith gave him a look and he conceded, Well, maybe just a little.

Richard was Jason’s legal guardian, a role thrust upon him when his brother and sister-in-law were murdered. The fanatic who had killed the boy’s parents had continued to try to kill Jason, but eventually Jason and his friend, Eric, had found a way to stop Avery.

Richard shuddered slightly at the memories. It was challenging enough to become a parent – a reluctant one at that – to a traumatized young boy, but also having to deal with the supernatural nearly drove him into a state of permanent inebriation. If Richard himself had not seen and heard Eric, he would likely have shipped Jason off to an institution, convinced his nephew suffered some form of psychosis.

A deep growl and scratching at the door pulled Richard away from thinking about those unsettling events. He got up from the table and opened the door to let the huge dog in.

Two weeks earlier, Mike Cassidy and Larry Robinson, colleagues from his previous life, had arrived unexpectedly at the manor. When his two friends had arrived, Richard had been thrilled, until he noticed the monster passing itself off as a dog.

A present for Jason, said Larry. The boy should have a dog.

Richard had briefly debated who he should shoot first, the dog or his two friends.

Richard sputtered, We can’t have a dog. He’s too big and will make a mess in the house. I don’t think it’s fair for Edith to have to clean up after this animal.

Richard was astonished when Edith, their housekeeper, had said, I agree with Mike and Larry. Jason needs a dog. Richard was a little suspicious as to how unexpected his friends’ visit really was.

But the dog is to stay outside, he commanded. By the fourth night, the dog was sleeping in Jason’s room.

Richard was gradually