The Portal (Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Darkons could use.
    So this is it. This is how my life ends. Stuck on a wreck floating through outer space and about to be obliterated by a bomb . She hoped Bansell and the others had managed to evade the patrol cruiser; that they were safe.
    Her limbs shook as she stared at the wall, her heart stuttering in shock.
    “Hurry little thief.” The patroller gripped her upper arm and hustled her over to the commander’s personal chute.
    They crammed inside, Janni so close she could have been his second skin.
    The chute hurtled deeper into the depths of the ship. The door whooshed open and immediately the stench of sulphur singed her nostrils and mouth. She clapped a hand over her face and through watering eyes she squinted, wishing she had never removed her suit. Why was the patroller insisting on her presence? Did he require her skills as a thief?
    The chute door whooshed shut enclosing them inside an illuminated small compartment, bare save for a metal arch dead centre in the room. She wiped her streaming eyes. Were there precious stones inset into its intricate design?
    Something large clanged against the closed hatch on the far side.
    The metal wrinkled and puckered. Janni’s heart jolted, then pounded a deafening chorus of beats inside her head. Any minute now and whatever lay behind the door would be in the room.
    With them.
    She spun round to find the patroller standing legs apart and with his palms braced against either side of the arch. Red and green lights flashed once, twice then joined in a glowing link over the humming arch. No longer could she see the opposite wall. A black void now pulsed with a rhythmic beat in the centre of the arch.
    “I didn’t steal anything from you,” muttered Janni in a small voice.
    “Harumph,” grunted the patroller busy checking his personal compu, before turning to look at her. Perhaps he hadn’t heard her? He stood there staring at her. She stood there staring at the floor. Waiting for that moment when once again, she would be alone.
    Three long beats later, he said, “Only Darkons can use the portal.”
    Right, so this was going to be her punishment for some crime she never committed. Janni nodded, wishing he’d just leave and get it over and done with. She clenched her hands into fists and the familiar pain of abandonment squeezed her heart.
    “I do not wish to leave you behind, little thief. My dreams have oft been invaded with thoughts of you ever since we met. I have held the memories of those few precious rones we spent together, close to my heart. Every station we docked, I sought you. Every ship we came into contact with, I hoped you would be on board.”
    A wistful smile curled his lips and his dark eyes glowed with the warmth of a hearth fire in the cool depths of evening. He ignored the sound of buckling metal coming from the door and held out his hand. “What you stole was my heart. Come with me. I promise to keep you safe and guard you with my life.”
    Her cold bones heated from the promise of life and the tenderness she read in his eyes. Did he really mean it? Hope lightened her heart chasing away the shadows of years of loneliness. She said gruffly, “I don’t understand. How? I’m not a Darkon, the Portal won’t work for me.”
    He unclasped an amulet from around his wrist, which had been hidden from view by his protective armour and slipped it over her hand. Red and green garnets flashed and glowed from the reflected light of the arch.
    “A gift from the goddess, Cercis, when our world was young. The gems keep safe any travellers through the portals and I choose to give you this gift. Without the stones, you would never make the other side.”
    “The other side to where?”
    A cheeky grin split his dark face, like the rays of the sun after a thunderstorm. “Does it matter?”
    “Hell, no!” She intertwined her fingers with his and smiled, feeling energy sizzle through her veins, revitalising her with new life.
    With hope.
    With love.
    “My name