The Veil Between Worlds

The wind blew in from the north and it was a brutally cold wind. It carried with it several inches of snow that was blowing into his face. Eric Coran drew the laces tighter on his hood, trying to keep the cold wind and the snow from getting into his coat and contributing to his already cold interior. He had been on the trail for several hours and he was getting to the point of exhaustion. Finding some form of shelter and soon was his only immediate goal, or he would end up as frozen as the ground he was walking on.

He tried to look around, but found that there was little to see. The wind and blowing snow cut visibility down to less than five feet. He trudged on hoping to find something soon. Then he heard the dogs in the distance. It had to be close. Sound doesn't travel far in the blowing snow. Terror was creeping up on him and he started to run and thought better of it. He had to preserve his strength as long as he could. His gait was slow and steady as he knew that the dogs and their owners were making sure they were not going to lose him.

As he took another step, he fell into a small crevice of sorts. He rolled about ten feet before coming to a stop. Slowly he opened his eyes and saw only white snow. Reaching out in front of him he found an empty space. AIR. He dug his way through to the spot ahead and found it dark and slightly warmer than the outside air. He crawled into the spot and just sat for several seconds gathering his thoughts. Maybe this would keep him from being found. He could only hope that that was the case, but he had to do something to ensure his safety.

Eric opened his pack and pulled out a flashlight. When he turned the light on, he saw that it was a cave entrance he was sitting in. crawling into the opening was the only logical choice he could make. It was tight at first. He had to really force his way through the opening. When he was completely into the cave he found that it opened up considerably. He actually had enough headroom to stand up straight.

Eric turned the light on to see where the tunnel led and saw that it was heading down into the depths of the mountain. There was a clear well travelled path that led down. The Flashlight was enough to see that the way was clear, so he started down. Slowly, but surely, he made his way deeper into the cave. He saw several offshoots but none travelled more than a few feet in. He kept his pace sure and continued down the tunnel. The deeper he travelled the louder the cave sounds grew. Dripping water, the sounds of rodents skittering around and the slight sound of air moving past him in the direction he was travelling.

He wasn't sure just how long he had been exploring the cave, but it must have been close to an hour when the cave started to narrow. Just as he thought it would continue to shrink it ended in a large rcavern about the size of a small apartment. The air was not dank as he expected. The air moved freely, however he could see no way for the air to move. It was clearly a dead end. Yet he could feel the air moving.

He sat down and started to think that they were going to pass him by when he heard the sound of a dog barking. then men yelling orders to others to move ahead. He was frantic and he was trapped. With wild eyes he looked for somewhere to go. The only thing that came to mind was a small offshoot, just a few paces back. He gathered his pack and started back toward the small hole he remembered seeing. The flashlight died, just his luck. It was always this way. His luck always died away at the most inopportune times. He reached into his pack and found a small can of cooking fuel. He lit the can with his bic lighter and hoped he had enough fuel to find a place to hide.

After a few steps he found the hole that offered his only refuge. But how was he going to fool the dogs? How was he to disguise his scent? He crawled into the small passageway and smothered out the cooking flame. The only thing he could think of, was to spread some of the jellied fuel around the hole and hope for the best. He doubted the ploy would work, but there were precious few things he could do. Actually there was nothing else he could do. He grabbed a large flat rock and forced it onto the opening to cover it and hopefully hide it from view. He sat with his back against the rock to make sure that it held firmly in place and sat as quietly as he could. He had only the tiniest of hope that his plans would fool the dogs. Stranger things have happened in his life that was true enough. His entire life was full of odd happenstances.

He sat quietly listening as someone passed by his hiding spot. He could hear their breathing, but he did not hear any sign of the dogs. They must be behind the guy who passed by. Another person passed followed by several more. He could not hear the entire conversation, but he did make out some. They had found the dead end. They questioned each other trying to figure out where their quarry had gone, or if he had entered the cave at all. They had no answer. The last order was for one of them to remain in the end room and hope that they had not been mistaken. They too, were not keen on wasting precious time exploring the cave. The group went back the way they had come. The last man left behind could be heard to complain loudly, as he paced the large dead-end area.

Eric carefully pulled the rock away from the hidey hole as quietly as he could. Slowly with as little sound as he could make, he crept out. Eric glanced up the tunnel to see if anyone other than the man in the dead-end was present. The tunnel was empty. He crept along and as he got to the point where the tunnel narrowed and stopped. He heard the man still complaining. He had to do something. He waited for several minutes then decided to call out.

"Hey there! Come on out." he said loudly

The man in the cavern, was silent

"Come out man, we've caught up with his trail again. Let's go!" Eric shouted out, and then turned away. "Hurry! Or you'll get lost out there!"

Eric waited just out of sight, hoping the man would fall for such a simple ploy. For a few seconds there was not even a peep. Then he heard the sound of someone crawling through the thin passageway. Eric grabbed a rock and waited for the hunter to pass him, so he could knock him out and switch clothes with him. Maybe, just maybe they would be more interested watching for their prey rather than watching the tunnel. As the man passed, Eric hit him over the head. He dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He grabbed the man's arms and started to drag him back into the dead-end cavern. It took several strenuous minutes to get him fully through the narrow passage, but he completed the job. With the man out cold on the floor he was starting to undress himself, when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

He turned to focus directly on what he saw. There was nothing visible. As he turned to complete his task, he saw it again, just a glimpse. It was some kind of distortion that he could just glance at, but could not see directly. He knew from his training in the military that it was sometimes best to not look directly in the direction you wanted to search. It was often better to look indirectly in order to see something in a dark environment. Eric focused his vision about 15 degrees to the left. Again he could see the shimmer, slight as it was.

It was at that moment he heard the voices coming from the rest of the search party. They were heading back. He grabbed the unconscious man by the arms and started to drag him to the rear of the room. That way they would not see there friend right away and maybe he would have a chance to catch them unaware. He was dragging the form when he felt a tingling sensation in his body. Suddenly he found himself empty of hand and off balance. Eric fell to the ground, because he was no longer dragging 200 pounds of limp man. He did not move in case he might be heard. Glancing at the form lying on the ground he was astounded to see that he could only see a portion of the man. The rest was not in sight. This was bazaar because the man was directly in front of his field of vision. He could only see the man's legs.

His mind reeled in confusion. What was happening? Where had the rest of his unconscious friend? The upper half was nowhere to be seen, yet it had to be in front of him. It had to be. Eric had run out of time and he stood straight up, ready to give himself up as another of the search party etered the crawlspace. The man stood up and looked at the injured man on the ground. He bent down and started to wake up his buddy. Eric saw it all and was confused that the third man who entered looked directly in his direction, yet showed no sign that he could see Eric. The man made no move to apprehend his prey, but only asked what had happened.

"I have no idea," The man responded as he was checking to see if his friend was not hurt too bad. "I just got here ahead of you and all I see is Jimmy lying on the ground out cold. No one was here with him. He was alone."

"Then what the hell happened?"

"Let's just wake him up. See what he remembers?" The second man responded as he splashed some water onto the unconscious victim, "Come on Jimmy wake up. Wake up man."

Slowly Jimmy regained consciousness. He rubbed the back of his head and asked what happened. The two men heard Jimmy explain that someone had called out for him to return to the group. Someone must have knocked him out, but he told them that there was no one in the tunnel. He saw no one come in or go out. He told them that he just heard someone tell him to go back to the group on the trail. Then he just woke up this minute. The three men looked around the cave, but saw nothing other than the walls of the cave.

Eric watched the whole conversation, not making a sound. He watched as one of them walked toward him, and then disappear as he passed the shimmering. He saw the man reappear and look at Jimmy's head to see if there were any cuts or other damage. In stunned silence he watched and heard everything, yet they acted as if he was not anywhere in the vicinity. He was right in the same room, breathing the same air, yet they were totally unaware he was near. It was just then that one of them saw the knapsack sitting in the corner.

"He was here alright. There's the bag he was carrying with him. Fred you were at the front entrance, did anyone go in or out of the cave?"

"Not a single soul. No one entered or left." He said.

"Then who the hell did this to Jimmy. We have been through here and there isn't anywhere for that asshole to hide. He could not have gotten out without anyone seeing him." said Chase.

"I haven't a clue what happened, but I know that he was here at some time and he must have assaulted you Jim." Fred responded, "You were right out cold on the ground. You said someone asked you to return?"

"Yes, there was someone, but I figured something was wrong." Jimmy answered, "You guys returned to fast for my liking. Not that I wanted to be left here."

"Well he has to be here somewhere... He's close I know it. Let's get out of here and catch that sum bitch!"

The three of them crawled out of the cavern. They left Eric in the room, though they had no idea he was there. Eric stood amazed that something like this happened. By all rights he should be in handcuffs and led back to jail to face his accusers. Yet here he was free and uncuffed. For a long time he just stared at the small tunnel leading back to the men who were out to capture him. The world did not seem as small as it had just minutes before. He gathered his wits and saw that they had left his knapsack in the cave. Yet another stroke of good luck. He opened his sack and realized that the cave was not pitch black. There was some sort of glow coming from the center of the room. The light was coming from the same source as the shimmering. It was just enough to see the cave walls.

Eric found the can of sterno and lit it again. For the first time he truly saw what was in the cave`s room. To the left and close to the ceiling he saw a small tunnel leading in the opposite direction from where he had entered. He boosted himself up to the edge of the tunnel and he again felt the breeze flowing past him. Crawling through the bowels of the earth was a whole lot better than sitting in a 6 by 6 foot cell. He managed to crawl forward 20 or so feet when he was struck by a strong feeling of exhaustion. He had to put off the need for sleep, just in case those creeps returned. He hoped that his luck would hold out enough so that he could get out of the dark cave and into the wide open spaces of the mountain pass he was travelling through. After about another ten feet he could not go any further and stopped again to rest. Sleep was quick to hit and as powerful as a sledgehammer. His sleep was full of strange dreams.

For some reason he could not understand, he dreamt of an old friend that he had grown up with. When he came awake he just lay on the tunnel floor drifting in thought. Dailan Sherriden and Eric grew up together and were inseparable for 25 years, and then they just drifted apart. The two families were as close as two families can be without being related. Their parents were always watching out for Eric and Dailan often came to his defence. He loved Dailan so much and as he got older he realized that she was the only person he would do anything to help. He thought it strange that after 10 years he dreamt of her.

He finally cleared his head of all the cobwebs his sleep had left. He listened for a few minutes to see if there was any sign of pursuit. No sign at all, none, not a single sound other than the ordinary cave sounds and the constant rush of air. Eric started to creep along the floor of the cave and came to a widening in the tunnel. Again he could stand up full. His body ached from all the creeping and crawling. He was 37 years old and his body was in excellent shape and until all the trouble had started, he was in the habit of working out and training in martial arts.

He thought about the girl he was trying to help. She was desperate to get away from her abusive husband when he met her. She was a very attractive young woman and the scars that the monster had inflicted on her were all too visible to him. Even the emotional scarring was obvious to him. It was not long before she had opened up to him and told him exactly how cruel the monster was. She was his punching bag, his ashtray and he kept her in a state of drug induced idiocy.

She was starting to get off of the drugs. When he found out that she was no longer using,he was furious. He thought that if she was straight, he would lose his control on her. He beat her almost to death. Eric was in the hospital for a minor operation when he first met Angela.

They met in the TV room and he saw her with all the bruises and cuts. He saw all the old wounds and he felt sorry for her. She sat quietly and did not speak or even look at anyone else in the room. Eric watched for some time before he decided to approach her. He got up and went over to the chair that was sitting beside the woman. As he sat down he asked her if she wanted some company. Those words brought on a stream of tears. He watched her as she shook her head and looked around. He was later told that she always watched out for her husband. She refused to talk to anyone in case he decided that she was saying something he might get angry at. She was also afraid that he might hurt anyone that she talked to. He had threatened such action more than once. The whole time the two of them were together he controlled every aspect of her life.

Angela had no friends and her family stopped trying to help her out of frustration. They wrote her of as a failure. Eric, however was undaunted by any threat that her husband may pose. The next day he sat beside her and just sat quietly until she said something. He told her that he would not leave until she knew that she had an opportunity to have his friendship. For a week he comforted her and listened as she finally opened up to him. After she was finished he had vowed to her, that he would not let anything happen to her again. This scared her and at the same time she wanted it more than anything. She gave in and let him be her only friend. When she was released he met her at the door and told her that he would take her home and get her clothes by himself.

Angela wouldn`t let him go to get her belongings alone and she went with him. While they were packing the husband came in. The fight was quick and Eric had the guy on the floor crying for mercy. While he watched to ensure that the man would not be any trouble, she packed the rest of her stuff. They left without any trouble. The next day as Eric was leaving the house he was attacked. Three men hit him from behind. Though he was taken by surprise, he managed to get the upper hand. His training kicked in and he managed to scare off two of the man's friends. The police caught him beating the man up. He was being charged for assault, so he decided to run rather than explain. As had happened in the past, he knew that the police were seldom open to hearing the truth. So he ran.

He gave Angela enough money to get her out of town and a way to start a new life without the terror. He had a warrant out for his arrest, so he tried to escape to the mountains in the hopes that he could get away and lay low. But he was recognized and that was why he was running away now. He was trying to help someone and he managed to get himself wanted by the law. The husband probably lied to the cops and was safely at home while he was running.

As he rounded the corner of the tunnel he saw the light. He was less than 20 feet from the entrance. He ran. As he exited the tunnel he saw that everything had changed. The brutal winter storm was replaced by a warm afternoon sun. The valley below was full of green trees and a very blue sky above. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could not have slept the winter out. Yet here it was late spring.

He looked at some of the trees that were close enough to distinguish their species. There were a couple that he recognised, but a majority he did not. One tree had leaves bigger than any he had ever seen, coupled with the colour he knew that he was not in Rodgers pass. For that matter he knew that he was no longer in any Canadian province. They almost looked like something that grew in a tropical climate. Everything about that tree was off. The colour looked almost black. As he got closer to the forest, he had the sneaking suspicion that he was being watched. He stopped to examine the area. No sign at all that there was anyone but himself. He was just about to take another step when he heard the swish of something going by very quickly. A second later he saw four arrows enter the ground two feet in front of him. That was reason enough to stop his forward movement.

Eric turned to start back toward the cave when he saw two figures stand up 20 or 30 feet in front of him. He held up his hands in surrender. The voice was deep and it spoke with a great deal of authority.

"If you take another step, one step and you will be dropped dead where you stand." The voice from the trees spoke. Eric turned to face the voice. A single man was standing at the edge of the trees.

"Look I don't want any trouble here. I surrender to you." he said. "I don't need an arrow in my chest!"

"Who are you?" The man said.

The man stood about 6 feet tall. His hair was shoulder length. He wore a long leather coat and he had a bow and arrow aimed directly at his chest. There was no denying the fact that he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. He knelt down before anything else happened.

"I ask again, who are you?"

"My name is Eric Coran." Eric answered.

"Where did you come from?"

"I came from the other side of the mountain. I came through the cave up there."

"The cave is a dead end, you could not have come through there." the man said, "You have many weapons pointed at you, and so I suggest that you answer truthfully. Now, where did you come from?"

"I am not lying to you. I came through the cave. If you have been watching then you know that I am telling you the truth. The cave does not dead end. I crawled through that tunnel from the other side." Eric spoke and his voice carried a worried tone. "I know that I came through there. I'm not lying."

"Walk slowly towards me. Keep your arms above your head..."

Eric rose to his feet and slowly walked towards the man. As he got closer he started to examine what his captor looked like. He wanted to see every detail. His face was thin and his jaw was squared. The hair went well below the shoulders and it was dark blond. But it was the eyes that caught his attention. There were no whites. Absolutely no white in his eyes. Must be some sort of contact lenses. Something like that would put a person off guard. Maybe even frighten a weaker type person.

"Stop there." The commanding voice said. "Take off your coat and show me your arms."

Eric took off the coat and tossed it toward his opponent. He then rolled up his sleeves to uncover the tattoos. He was proud of the Dragon on his right arm. He was equally proud of his family coat of arms that sat squarely on the back of his hand. It was a tattoo that his father had insisted he put on his left hand. He had the tattoo drawn and tattooed to his hand on his 16^th birthday. His father had explained that it was something that all the male members of his family had to have. It was an absolute definite that they had it tattooed there. It was a matter of family pride.

The man examined the tattoo on his hand very closely. He then beckoned for someone else to come forward and look as well. Eric waited for the other person to appear. Quickly and quietly the other figure stood up. She also had a bow and arrow in hand and a vicious, very long and very sharp looking knife in a sheath at her hip. She approached Eric and she too examined the Tattoo. She too had no whites in her eyes and the same shade of dark blond. Eric could also see a family resemblance to the man standing beside her.

"It is the mark, Airn. He has the mark." She had a very melodic voice and he was very attracted to her. She went on, "You said your name is Coran? You are of the blood?"

"I don't underst..."

``He is of the blood!"

Eric's jaw dropped. He knew that voice. He was well acquainted with it. He should know the voice. He had not heard it for ten years, but there was no mistaking that tone and timber. Dailan Sherriden approached her childhood friend. There was no smile, no hello. No sign that she was surprised to see her friend after so many years. Eric however was in shock. This was the last person he expected to see. He had to admit, that he was glad to see her now. He was actually overjoyed to see her now, especially if she could come to his aid, because he really needed someone to help him.

"Dailan am I glad too..." he started to say.

The look she gave him said it all. Be quiet for now. So he returned his focus on the two people who stood before him. His mind was turning at light speed trying to figure things out. How did she know he was here, wherever here was?

"He is of the blood and he is the sovereign. I am his watcher." She spoke with an authority he had never heard from her before.

The two figures dropped to their knees and bowed their heads. At once over a dozen figures dropped out of the trees and went immediately to their knees as well. At that moment Eric would not have been able to speak, even if he was ordered to. He had no idea what was going on. He had even less idea what he had gotten himself into. These people were on their knees in supplication to Dailan. He felt the need to follow these strangers' actions and get down on his knees in case they were to take insult by his not showing her proper respect. It was the words she had said. He is the sovereign she had said. How could he be a sovereign? He was just Eric Coran. A petty wanted criminal maybe, but a sovereign? Yet when he glanced at his friend she nodded her head in affirmation as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Get up. Please rise. We are out in the open and we may be watched at this moment. Take us to your camp." She said as an order. "Take ten men and spread them out ahead. Makes sure the way is clear. Cover all sides and have four cover the rear. The rest will take the lead. I must speak to the sovereign."

As ordered the two signalled the others and they started to do as they were ordered. Dailan prompted Eric to follow the two ahead. They walked into the woods.