Keepers of the Gate Stone

It was all Jake’s fault. At least that was Bruce’s opinion. Everyone else thought that Bruce was the culprit. It all began with a simple invitation to play a game at Bruce’s house. After everyone had arrived the chips were opened and the sodas poured and the game began in earnest. After the first turn was completed Jake decided he wanted to take a break and warm up some cold pizza that had survived the earlier ravages of the O'Malley family.
Jake placed several slices of the pepperoni pizza in the microwave. He set the time for two minutes and depressed the start button. There was a sudden flash and thundering explosion and the screams and shouts of the assembled men was the last thing that Jake could hear as everything faded to black.

*****

The buzzing was loud in Jakes ears and he slowly opened his eyes. The sun was high in the sky and the fragrance of freshly bloomed flowers wafted on the breeze. He immediately realized that something was definitely wrong, he experienced a profound feeling of disorientation and his head was reeling. He could tell he was laying in grass and he hesitated to move for fear of discovering that various parts of his body were broken or hurt.
The buzzing was louder and wouldn’t go away. Suddenly a bee appeared above him and hovered. The buzzing seemed like a roar, and it should because the bee hovering over Jake was the size of a large puppy.
Jake swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them the large bee continued to hover several feet above him. The large head of the bee twisted quickly left and right and the large stinger protruding from its abdomen twitched nervously. Obviously the large insect didn’t know what to make of Jake. Jake thought that the best thing to do was lie still and play dead. The insect darted up and it brought its stinger into striking position. Jake yelled and started to roll as a blur above him merged with the bee and passed through it. There was a screeching scream from the insect as both halves of its severed body fell two the ground.
Jake screamed and leapt to his feet, wiping the gory remains from his clothing. He suddenly stopped and stared at his clothes. He was wearing a forest green shirt that was loosely tucked into a broad beige sash that held a water skin, short sword and pouch. His pants were of the same forest green material as his shirt and he had on a pair of rugged boots.
“What is going on? I freakin’ look like Peter Pan!” He asked bewildered.
“That was close.”
Jake spun around and saw Sly standing behind him. “Geeezz!! Don’t do that you scared the heck out of me!”
“Sorry. Nice duds.” said Sly as he looked Jake over. “But you better get those bee guts off of you before you start to stink.”

Jake looked in amazement at Sly’s attire. Sly looked broader in the shoulders than ever and he wore the large skin of what appeared to be a Mountain lion. Thick leather armor covered his chest. Sly hefted a huge double bladed battle ax and swung it over his head in a sweeping arc like it was a toy.
“Pretty neat huh?” smiled Sly.
Jake involuntarily ducked. “Watch it!!” Sly slid the Ax over his shoulder and refastened it to its scabbard, the broad bloody blade still visible behind his massive shoulders. “Where are we? What happened?”
“I don’t know. I woke up and heard this loud buzzing sound. I turned my head and saw two very large Bees. The first one saw me. Before I even knew what was going on I reached behind myself, drew my ax and swung. End of Bee. The funny thing was, I didn’t even know I had an ax. It was all reflex, like I’ve been doing it for years. The second Bee was after you.”
Jake saw Ryan sitting on the grass holding his leg. He was dressed just like Sly but a huge double edged Halberd lay on the ground. Loren Montano was tending to the large welt on Ryan’s leg. Loren was wearing a dark Burgundy-Maroon robe with a wide banded belt at his waist. Several pouches hung from the belt and Loren was smearing a yellow paste on Ryan’s leg. A long wooden staff was lying by Loren and Jake could see what appeared to be Insect guts along the gnarled blunt end.
Jake took a deep breath and looked around carefully. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and his head didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it had a few minutes before.
Off to his left Michael was kneeling and examining one of the many insect carcasses that lay about. There were approximately twelve of them. Michael was wearing a complete set of chain mail armor, including a helmet. There was a small shield on his left arm and he was still holding a magnificent long sword in his right hand. It reminded Jake of the pictures he had seen of the English Crusaders of long ago, all that was missing was the Red Cross on Michael’s white under garment.
Gerson was squatting and watching Loren minister to Ryan. Gerson wore a dark set of pants and shirt that almost appeared to blend with his surroundings. There was a scabbard on his brownish belt that held either a very large knife or a short sword. The jeweled handle glittered in the sun light as he shifted position and muttered suggestions to Loren.
Chris stood talking to Bruce. Chris wore a solid black, single piece suit that fit tightly on his body, a thin black belt with a large gem buckle held several pouches and he was leisurely working a pair of Nun-Chuks around his body.
Bruce wore a flowing blue white robe that covered his considerable girth. It did not appear that he had any weapons. Bruce motioned toward the distant horizon and Chris shook his head pointing in the opposite direction.
Slowly Jake turned and looked over the territory around him. The party was on a slight knoll overlooking a vast plain. In the distance he could see a large mountain range. At the foot of the mountains was a large forest and possibly a lake, it was hard to tell. Behind them was a small stand of trees. There also appeared to be a structure within the trees but again, he could not tell.

“Ryan was stung. You were the last to awake.” said Sly.
“Looks like you guys took care of it pretty good.” Jake turned and started to walk toward Bruce and Chris.
“Hey!” Called Sly, “Don’t forget this.”
Jake turned and saw Sly picking up a quiver of arrows and a beautiful long bow. “Where did you get that?”
“It was lying beside you.”
Jake took the bow and tested its strength. It pulled back easy and smooth. It almost felt as if the bow were a part of him.
“About time you were up.” growled a voice behind him.
Jake spun around and stared into the glowering face of Bruce. “What’s going on?”
“The next time you want a piece of pizza I’m going to boot you so hard you’ll land sometime next Thursday!” roared Bruce ignoring Jake, “This is your fault!”
“Whooaa! Calm down.” Interrupted Chris quickly, putting up both of his hands to put some room between them. “This is nobody’s fault.”
“We wouldn’t be here if Jakey would have eaten before we started to play. I can’t think of anyone else to blame.” replied Bruce regaining his composure.
“The microwave!” said Jake angrily, “It was your stupid microwave!”
“Children!!” yelled Loren authoritivly. “You are acting like children! Get a grip. We need to figure out what’s going on. Not who to blame.”
Gerson stood and crossed his arms as if he suddenly had gotten cold. “This is weird. I want to go home.”
“Anybody want to guess where we are?” asked Michael as he walked up to the group.
“It’s definitely not Kansas.” said Loren with a smile. “These clothes and weapons are not your standard Wal-Mart purchase.”
“If I didn’t know better,” said Michael looking at Bruce. “I’d say we ended up in one of those stupid stories you’re always writing.”
“What do you mean stupid?” asked Bruce. “I write good stories.”
“Well, we better do something. Those Bees have a hive and several got away. They may be back with reinforcements so we don’t want to be here when they come back.” said Chris as he looked around warily.
“Okay. Does anyone know exactly were here is?” The blank looks by everyone told Bruce all he needed to know. “Chris and I were talking about what to do. I vote we start for the forest over there.” said Bruce as he motioned to the vast forest in the distance. “Chris wants to go through these trees and examine whatever’s in there.”
“That’s a long walk.” said Sly, looking toward the far horizon.
“I’ll need help walking.” added Ryan as he stood and gingerly put weight on his hurt leg.”
“How bad is it?” Inquired Gerson.
“Sore. But I’ll get by.”
“The Bee sting was through and through the meaty part of his calf. Luckily the poison didn’t penetrate. It’ll hurt like the dickens but should heal properly.” Added Loren.
“If we seek cover in the woods, we can assess our situation and it would at least get us out of the open.” said Michael.
“Okay. Let’s go for the immediate cover and find somewhere safe to hold up until Ryan can walk.” Bruce motioned to Sly and Jake, “You two take lead. Loren, you follow in the gap. I’ll be behind you with Ryan and Gerson. Chris you scout ahead, shout if you see anything. Michael you’re our rear guard, let’s move out.”

The group rapidly formed and followed the orders from Bruce without hesitation. Chris jogged ahead and vanished into the trees and underbrush. Sly drew his ax and carried it lightly in front of him. Jake notched an arrow and stood ready to draw. Loren walked quietly with his large wooden staff.
The smell of pine filled their nostrils and the odor of freshly bloomed flowers filled their senses. A light breeze picked up and cooled them from the hot sun. They reached the edge of the forest and paused. The trees towered above them and various clumps of thick underbrush were scattered throughout the forest floor. Birds sang and other small unknown sounds filtered through the trees.
“How big is this grove of trees anyway?” asked Ryan quietly.
“Judging by the size of the hill, probably about two or three football fields wide by just as many across.” replied Bruce as he motioned for them to continue. Michael looked at Jake and sighed.
“This is going to be a looooong day.”
Jake nodded in reply and put his bow away. He drew his sword and slowly picked his way through the underbrush.
After walking for half an hour they stopped and rested. Sly and Jake automatically positioning themselves as guards while the rest of the party rested. They sat in silence, thoughts of home and family running through their minds.
“You know, this could be a dream.” Said Gerson suddenly, “I mean, what if we are just dreaming, waiting to come out of a coma or something?”
Loren rapped Gerson square on the top of his head with his staff. “Ow!” exclaimed Gerson ducking in case there was another blow, “What are you doing?!?”
“Dreams don’t get knots on their head.” said Loren with a smile.
“Knock it off.” said Michael seriously. “If we want out of here we better work together. So...” said Michael turning to Bruce, “Just how much are you not telling us?”
“What do you mean?” replied Bruce, guiltily looking away.
“You know a lot more then you are telling us.”
“Okay. It’s going to be difficult.” said Bruce reluctantly.
“We have nothing but time.” replied Loren as he drew a piece of dried meat from a pouch and began chewing.
“We are in the Plain of GrusLan. This knoll we sit upon is called “Kleftruis Droi ” It is the largest land mark on the GrusLan. There to the north is the Dark Wood ‘Hurre ‘. Behind them the Dragons Keep Mountains. In the Hurre, there is a city called ‘Plinser’. It is in this city were we must go and find a way home.” Bruce picked up a stick and began to draw in the soft ground. “In the middle of the Kleftruis Droi is the remains of a keep.”

“Kleftruis Droi, “, said Jake suddenly, “I know what that means! It means ‘Gate of the Cursed!”.
Bruce nodded. “Gate of the cursed, the Keep is a dangerous place. It was rumored that a wicked sorcerer lived there and he held the secret to the gates.”
“What gates?” asked Gerson.
“We did not end up here because of a whim of some insane author, we are here because Jake happened to activate the microwave at a critical time when a ‘gate’ apparently was present in our dimension.”
“How do you know all of this?” asked Loren.
“How did you know how to treat Ryan’s wound with that yellow paste?” Bruce shot back.
“I...I...well, I just knew.”
“And what about the rest of you? How do you wield your weapons with unpracticed skill and know the names of these foreign places? It is a property of the gates I think. We do things out of reflex for what we represent. Warriors, Healers or whatever. When the bees attacked you reacted.”
“He’s right,” said Sly. “I drew my ax and swung it like it was a part of me.”
“So what now?” asked Michael? “What do we do now?”
There was a rustling of bushes and Sly hefted his huge Ax, beginning to swing when Chris bolted into the clearing. Sly held his swing as everyone else jumped to their feet, Ryan stood slowly.
“We survive.” said Chris casually. “There is an awesome pile of rubble in a clearing through there.” Chris motioned through the trees he had just come from.
“Gate of the cursed.” whispered Jake.
“The main hive is also near there. There is probably sixty to a hundred of those large Bees. I think we can survey the ruins if we’re quiet. The hive seems pretty calm.”
“Do we have to go through the ruins?” queried Gerson, “Why not go to the City directly.”
Michael shook his head. “No, there has to be a reason why we ended up here.”
“Random chance?” Loren motioned around him. “It’s not all that improbable.”
“No, we need to find a shelter. If the Bees sortie we would have a hard time fighting them, even in the thickest part of these woods. We need to hole up somewhere until we can get Ryan in condition to travel.” Michael pointed toward the remains of the keep. “We need to go there.”
“Okay, same order. Chris you hop into lead with those two. Let’s get there before dark.” Ordered Bruce as he nervously fingered a large ring on his right hand.
They moved quickly through the trees as Chris showed the way. Jake noticed how Chris slid through the forest without making a sound. Chris held a pair of Nun-Chucks and casually swung them from hand to hand as he maneuvered around trees. Suddenly he stopped and his hand shot up in warning.
A Buzzing sound could be heard drawing nearer. Before them was a small clearing with a ruined well in the center. There was debris around and a fallen tree lay directly across the clearing. Suddenly a large Bee dipped into the clearing, hovered and looked completely around before settling on the well.

The Bee buzzed periodically and hopped from brick to brick as it tried to suck water out of the well. It froze for a moment as if pondering a difficult question, then shot into the air with a loud roar. It quickly vanished above their line of sight and the loud buzzing receded into a quite drone.
Chris motioned for them to continue and the whole party skirted the clearing as quietly as possible. It was twenty minutes later that Jake could hear a steady droning as if some heavy machinery were operating nearby. They stepped around a large tree stump and Chris again motioned for a stop.
Jake saw through a break in the heavy bushes a low brick wall. Lichen and Algae had formed and covered most of it and some vines had a strangle hold on much of the lower half. Part of the wall had been knocked down. Chris motioned everyone around and squatted in the middle of a quick huddle.
“Okay, there is the outer wall.” said Chris drawing in the dirt. “Once we approach it, there is a massive clearing. Any Bees in the air may see us so move slow. After the first wall is a stretch of about twenty feet of rubble and then a main wall and gate. The gate is broken down, and there appears to be the foundation and at least two stories of a Tower. That’s all that I saw when I scouted earlier. There doesn’t appear to be any other structures. Over to the side and right on the edge of the east side of the forest is the hive.”
“Will they see us when we leave cover?” asked Bruce.
“No. They will only see us if one flies over or near this side.”
“Will they swarm?”
“Only if the bee that sees us makes it back to the Hive.” said Loren with assurance. “These are not regular bees. When I thumped that one back in the clearing it was definitely communicating with the others. That’s when those other two took off. I just can’t figure out why they never came back.”
“Well, let’s not give them the opportunity to get at us again. Let’s go get some shelter.” Bruce stood and waited for the party to form. “If we get separated meet at the tower.”
They carefully made their way to the edge of the woods and paused before the clearing. The ruins were spread out and debris and rocks were piled and scattered all about. Time and an apparent explosion had taken its toll. Jake saw a flash of black and Chris was in the rubble. Jake could barely make him out as he worked his way through the rubble.
Sly and Loren ran toward the rubble and Jake hurried to catch up. The heat was thick in the air and a pungent odor of decay was in the air. Jake wiped sweat from his face restrung his bow. Bruce was helping Gerson and Ryan when a sudden blur of yellow and black roared from the sky. Without thinking, an arrow was in his hands of Jake and went flying through the air, the hum of the vibrating bow string loud in his ears.
There was a loud ‘Thud’ and the Bee slammed into the ground with a sickening thud. Bruce was hurrying Ryan, when Michael ran into the clearing. Gerson had drawn his sword and was sprinting for the nearest pile of rubble. There was a loud roar and Jake looked up and saw three more bees in formation arcing for those still in the clearing. He notched another arrow and took aim.


Michael stood over Ryan who had fallen when Bruce dropped him and stepped forward several steps looking toward the three rapidly approaching bees. Raising his hands as if he were signaling for a touchdown he faced the Bees. Suddenly he brought his hands together and a wave of blue energy lanced from his hands and struck all three bees, blowing them from the sky in a small clap of thunder.
Michael grabbed Ryan while Bruce looked at his hands in shock. “How did I do that...” he muttered.
A loud roar could be heard building in at the other side of the clearing.
“Run!!” screamed Michael over the increasing noise, “They’re swarming.”
Sly, Chris and Loren had already entered the inner courtyard and ran toward the towers gaping doorway. Jake sprinted after them spinning around and searching the sky for a target. Bruce passed Jake at a dead run arms pumping, huffing heavily at the exertion. Michael practically drug Ryan over the rubble and through the gate.”
At a sudden motion out of the corner of his eye Jake spun and drew his bow to his chin.
Gerson vaulted over the high wall screaming, “Beeeeeeessss!!!!” Immediately after him came a swarm of the largest bees Jake had ever seen. He let loose with an arrow that arced over Gerson’s head completely passing through the closest bee and sticking into another, dropping them both.
Gerson passed Jake and he let fly with a second arrow. Suddenly Sly was at his side swinging his huge ax over his head so fast that the roaring hum of bees was briefly drowned out by the steady ‘whuffing’ and singing of the blade.
“Run!” bellowed Sly, “Run you fool!!”
Jake turned and ran the remaining ten feet as the Bees swarmed about the clearing. He turned and saw Sly slowly walking backwards toward them swinging his ax and screaming at the top of his lungs. “Huuuraaaagh!! Huuuuraaaaaagh!!”
The Bees tried to dart in at him but any that tried were sliced and cut by the twirling blade. Loren ran to help Sly and Michael soon joined him. The warrior’s blades sang and the screeches of dying bees filled the clearing and summoned more from the hive. Loren swung his staff mightily blasting Bees out of the sky with heavy blows.
Jake slowly notched an arrow and took careful aim. He let his arrow fly and again took down two bees with one shot. Chris stood in the doorway watching the battle, “Come on, come on.... There are more bees coming... get in here-” A bee suddenly darted in at Chris. Chris kicked out with his right leg striking the bee with his foot and knocking it to the ground, rocking slightly on his feet he waited for the bee to stagger up and just as it was taking to the air he twirled in a quick spinning kick that caved in the bee’s skull. The Bee dropped to the ground and twitched twice then became still.
“Here they come again!” yelled Gerson as a larger swarm appeared on the horizon. There were only half a dozen Bees left flying around the warriors in the clearing when they to saw the massive wave of bees coming. As one, they struck at the nearest bees and ran toward the Keeps opening. Gerson and Jake already were working at closing the massive Oak doors. Bruce helped Ryan to move deeper into the entry way.

Sly yelled “Move!!”, and hit the massive door running. The door groaned and sweat poured from Sly’s forehead. The door suddenly came free and began to close.
Everyone was inside as the door closed. The furious roaring of the Bees could be heard all around them. Gerson looked up and saw a window about thirty feet above them.
“I hope they don’t see that.” said Gerson pointing.
“We need to get out of here and get somewhere safer in the interior.” said Michael
They looked around the antechamber and saw a closed wooden door on the west wall. There were no furnishings and tattered tapestries covered the north and south walls. Gerson went and tried to see what the tapestries were about. Michael motioned for Jake to watch the single window that was allowing light in. Jake understood when the light suddenly dimmed as a Bee passed by the window. Sooner or later one of those bees would figure out how to get in. He notched an arrow and waited.
Loren was feeling Ryan’s forehead and shaking his head. “He’s feverish. He needs to rest.”
Chris was listening at the west door. “It’s quiet. We need to go through here.” He tried the door knob and it turned, but the door would not budge. “Sly, give me a hand here.”
“Torches!” said Bruce excitedly as he brought over four torches he found in their holders. “There are a couple more on the floor, but these are the best.”
There was a thrum and everyone looked up in time to see a Bee with an arrow in its body flutter to the ground.
“Let’s move Kiddies! Parties over!” said Jake as he notched another arrow, never turning away from the open window.
There was a loud creaking as Chris and Sly forced the west door open. Michael peered into the darkness and sighed. “It goes down, looks like about thirty or forty feet...couple doors at the end.”
Gerson removed a flint kit and set about lighting the torches. They formed up again and walked quickly into the hallway, closing the heavy door behind them. There was a thump at the door behind them that startled Bruce and a low buzzing could be heard.
“They’ve found the window. It won’t be safe going that way for a while.” said Loren. “They’ll undoubtedly try for several more hours to get in. I’d even bet that those suckers will post a guard.”
“Let’s go.” said Bruce. “Might as well see what’s here.”
“Light those other torches on the wall.” said Chris, “We’ll need to save these torches.”
“Sly, Guard the two doors down at the end.” ordered Bruce. “Let’s not get surprised.”
Ryan sat slumped against one wall while Loren forced him to drink a syrupy liquid from a glass vial. Gerson motioned Bruce over to him.
“Look, this tapestry shows a small floor plan. I think it may be this keep.” said Gerson holding a piece of the rotting tapestry to the light.

“Some of its faded. Where are we?”
“Somewhere in this rotting area. It’s faded. Look, here’s that curve in the wall I jumped over. That means these parts showing here and here are somewhere to the west of us.”
“Can you tell what the rooms are?” asked Bruce.
“No, but there is some kind of script here. It looks familiar but I can’t make it out.” Murmured Gerson as he slowly cut the tapestry with his knife. Bruce turned and walked toward Chris.
“What do you think?”
“We need to find another way out. We can’t go back that way.” Chris smiled. “You better get us out of this, or my wife is gonna kill you.”
“Yeah. Some of this seems so familiar, but there is so much that’s alien.” Bruce sighed. “We rely on reflexes we’re not familiar with in a world that shouldn’t be.”
“Guy’s, look at this!” said Gerson as he brought over another fragment of tapestry. “There is an ancient script on this one. It clearly reads ‘...of the Gate is the Stone, the Stone is Time...’ now what that means I don’t know.”
“Maybe the key to these gates is here.” said Michael as he walked up to them. “That would explain our proximity to this keep.”
Loren walked up and put his hand on Michael’s back, “Maybe there is a gate here. And maybe we can get home this way.”
(To be continued)

CC 25,734
WC 4583