 
# A Backdoor in Time

Kram Scavok

### A Backdoor in Time

### Kram Scavok

### Published by Kram Scavok at Smashwords

### Copyright 2020 Kram Scavok

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

### Dedication

To brothers and sisters everywhere – real and imagined

### Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1. Our Story Begins

Chapter 2. Travel to Pinsor

Chapter 3. Occassius

Chapter 4. Silva

Chapter 5. Silexa

Chapter 6. Things Change

Chapter 7. Back to Silexa

Chapter 8. Going Back in Time

Chapter 9. Back to the Present

Chapter 10. The Past

Chapter 11. Wake-Up Call

Chapter 12. Trouble

Chapter 13. Return to Occassius

Chapter 14. Home Again?

About the Author

Other Books by Kram Scavok

# Prologue

The prison guard slid the cover of the portal aside and looked in on the prisoner. The prisoner, totally engrossed in his writing, did not look up. The prisoner sat at the small table in his very small cell, writing in his notebook. From the guard's viewpoint, looking through the portal, everything in the cell was visible: a bed, a sink, a toilet, a chair and a small table, each bolted to the stone floor. A single shelf of books over the table was also bolted to the stone wall. The guard looked down into her hand-held monitor to ensure that the view in real-time matched the view on her monitor. It did.

The prison guard closed the metal cover over the portal and slid the bolt closed, securing the cover. _This is a very secure prison_ , she thought to herself. _But there is a good reason to come down here to look into the observation window_.

The prisoner was monitored continuously from the central guard room, which received images remotely from several monitoring devices located in the prisoner's cell. Even though the prisoner's considerable powers were counteracted by several magical charms that were placed on his cell, no one was one hundred percent certain that the prisoner was not able to fool the sensors. If someone could fool the sensors, the logic went, then perhaps the prisoner would have time to work on an escape. Hence the orders: continuous monitoring from the central guard room and checks every 30 minutes via visual inspection.

The guard returned to the central guard room. Her partner was sitting in front of the bank of monitors each showing several views of each prisoner's cell. He glanced up as she came into the room.

"No change?" he asked, slightly bored.

"No change," she confirmed.

Both guards again glanced at the monitor for their most notorious prisoner, showing him from all sides as well as the ceiling. The split screens of the prisoner's cell showed crystal clear views of the prisoner sitting at the table. Then, without a flicker or a flash, all views showed the same thing. An empty cell.

"Kayla in heaven," the guards exclaimed simultaneously as they bolted for the door. The third guard working in the room looked up, startled.

"Stay here," the first guard shouted over her shoulder.

Both guards ran back down the corridor, heading for the prisoner's cell. As quickly as they could, they undid the physical locks that secured first one door then another leading to the hallway in front of the prisoner's cell. The first guard threw open the cover over window into the cell and looked inside. Nothing. The cell was empty. The second guard communicated with the central guard room. Breathless from the run down the corridor, he toggled his communication device, "Request access to prisoner Blackthorne's room. Open the door."

Bolts in the wall slid back. One guard waved a wand to counteract the charms that secured the door. Both guards pulled on the heavy stone door and swung it open. The guards rushed in, their eyes sweeping every inch of the small cell. Just as it appeared on the surveillance system, the room was empty.

# Chapter 1. Our Story Begins

It was early morning just before sunrise as Will entered the lobby of the hotel, tired and a bit sleepy from his most recent efforts. He and his twin sister Alia had been out most of the night looking for the thief. Oh sure, they had recovered the emerald necklace. As partners in Recovery, Inc. that's what they did. When they weren't working for the Watchers on other worlds, on this world they made a reasonably good living stealing back valuables from highly skilled thieves. But they would have been happier to have caught this particular thief and turned him over to the police.

Crispus Farnum was an especially odious burglar. Besides being very good at stealing, he had a mean streak. During a robbery, he would damage or destroy other artworks in a museum even when he was there for a specific piece. And he took particular offense to anyone who got in his way. On his last job, a museum guard stumbled upon Crispus as he was doing his work. The guard would be in the hospital for weeks. So, even though the insurance company had hired them to recover the jewels, it would have been nice to catch Crispus Farnum as part of the deal.

Will sighed as he walked down the heavily carpeted hotel corridor to his room. Alia had one more idea about capturing the thief. They had laid out the bait. For now, the necklace was safely resting in the small safe in their hotel room. Will flashed his key card at the electronic door lock and the green light lit. He was so tired, he almost missed that the small thread he had left stuck in the door corner just above the hinge was not there.

Will slipped into the room without turning on the light. The full moon outside cast a soft light partially illuminating the sofa, chairs and working desk in the room while leaving most of the room deep in shadows. The door to the bedroom was partially closed. Will's heart sped up. He had left the bedroom door wide open after locking the necklace in the room safe in the bedroom closet. Will sensed the stillness of a presence in that room. He glided silently toward the door, moving to the wall next to the sofa while reaching to his inside pocket for his wand.

Hard steel pressed against his back, right between his shoulder blades.

"Do not move a muscle," warned the gravel voice of the man who had risen up quickly from behind the couch. "Got him," he announced loudly.

A light came on in the bedroom. The door opened and Crispus Farnum emerged from the bedroom chuckling.

"Not many people are aware, but yes, I have a partner. And oh, are you worried about this?" His right hand came from behind his back and held the emerald necklace high, its jewels sparkling in the room light. "This will go back where it came from \- the safe in my house. Jack and I spent a month casing that museum. We earned this necklace. Besides, we have an anxious buyer waiting. You and your sister thought you were quite clever stealing it from my safe. And that makes me angry. Where is she by the way? I am going to teach you both a lesson."

"She was visiting the guard you put in the hospital," replied Will.

"I clocked him just to knock him out. But when he came to, he mouthed off. Told me I shouldn't be doing damage to the other art, just take the jewels. He criticized my methods. Had to teach him a lesson."

Crispus Farnum's partner, Jack, took a step back from Will, lowering the gun slightly to point directly at Will's chest. "So, we teach this one a lesson. Do we wait for the girl?" he asked.

A wicked grin formed on Crispus Farnum's face as he contemplated the fun to be had.

"You can tie and gag him, then we'll grab the sister when she gets here."

"You won't have long to wait," Will spoke calmly. "I think she's here. Should be anyway."

Both men look a bit confused. Crispus glanced toward the door. Jack tightened his grip on the gun pointed directly at Will.

And then, as is want to happen when Will and Alia are involved, several things occurred almost at once.

The gun that was firmly in Jack's hand snapped up, then flew to the ceiling. So firmly was Jack holding the gun that both his feet were a foot off the floor before he lost his grip. He dropped, lost his balance and landed awkwardly to the floor, falling on his knees. Will's hand, having never left his jacket pocket, emerged holding his wand, which he pointed at Crispus Farnum while reciting the charm " _Lapidoro tempro_."

Farnum's body was instantly paralyzed. Will repeated the charm, aiming this time at Jack who was struggling to stand up. He too froze instantly only, because he had been in the process of standing, his body was completely unbalanced and he fell with a clunk onto the floor, knees and elbows bent as if in some sort of frozen crouch.

"I think you want this," Alia's voice came from a corner of the room as the emerald necklace floated over to Will. The gun slowly came down from the ceiling, then moved over to a nearby table.

"I've got my charms, but I do like what you manage to accomplish with levitation," said Will approvingly. "Where are you?"

"Coming," said Alia.

Will could see her footprints in the plush carpet as she made her way to his side.

He aimed his wand in her direction and recited the charm to reverse the invisibility he placed on her earlier in the hotel hallway.

Alia appeared at his side. She was the same height as her brother, her short cut brown hair just slightly longer than his. She was smiling.

"It worked. Talking about stealing back the necklace while we were in the restaurant and the market did the trick. I was pretty sure Crispus had spies out in one or both of those places." Alia looked at Crispus. "And thinking we thought you were a solo act. Please! You may be a talented crook, but it's been obvious on all of your jobs that there was an outside man."

"Oh, sorry," said Will, not really meaning it. He aimed his wand, then recited a charm. Ropes appeared, binding both Crispus and Jack tightly. Then Will reversed the paralysis charm.

Looking dazed and confused, Crispus sputtered. "Invisible? Magic? I'll tell everyone your secret!"

"Yes, good luck with that," replied Will, placing the emerald necklace on the floor between the two bound men. "By the way, there may be a charge for the room. It's in your name."

He tucked the room key into Crispus Farnum's shirt pocket, giving it a pat."

"The police are on their way," said Alia, putting down her cell phone. "Time for us to go."

Alia held the hotel room door open for her brother. "Worked like a charm," Alia said, winking at the two thieves bound securely on the floor.

Closing the door, the twins moved into the carpeted hallway and headed for the elevator. "I love it when a plan comes together," said Will. "Nice work sis."

They caught the elevator on their floor and took it to the lobby. Exiting the elevator, they walked through the lobby where early risers were beginning to check out as they departed from the hotel.

A half day of travel brought them back home. Having traveled light, they were each pulling a small wheeled suitcase. Alia was also toting a pack that contained various tools that they needed for their latest job. Will no longer needed one, having discovered a charm to convert his pants pockets to holdalls that could contain all the small and not-so-small things that were his share of the necessary equipment.

Cautious about having anyone follow them to their home, they took public transport from the airport and the bus let them off a few blocks from their house. Even from some distance down the block, it was hard to miss the fact that there was a guest waiting on their porch.

They passed through the gate in the white picket fence that led to their gray Craftsman style house. The man, who was sitting on one of the Adirondack chairs on their porch, rose. Even sitting he had been obviously large, but standing he was quite formidable. He was practically the same size as the substantial front door of their house.

Alia smiled. "Saydon Nemscally! What are you doing here? We seldom see you outside of The Gallery."

The soft-voiced reply belied the heft of the man who spoke. "It is nice to see you again, Miss Alia and Mr. Will. I would normally wait and greet you at The Gallery, but we are in somewhat of a hurry. Mr. Weldon has another task for his Retrievers."

"Ah, Watcher business," replied Will, excitement creeping into his voice.

"Another adventure," Alia said, eyes lighting up.

"You two are so much like your parents," mused Saydon. "It's as if, rather than being orphaned before you were a year old, you grew up under their influence. They too were always enthusiastic to be sent on Watcher business."

"They were Retrievers, like us, weren't they?" asked Alia.

"Oh yes, they were quite good."

"But being skilled didn't protect them from whatever got them killed," said Will matter-of-factly.

Saydon was quite good at hiding any emotion, but Will could see a wave of sadness cross Saydon's rugged face.

"To this day, we still do not know exactly how they were lost," Saydon said, shaking his head. "As you were told, they were on a mission on another world and they disappeared in an avalanche. We know they went to a certain mountainous area in search of a clue that would help them with their retrieval. When they did not show up at their next appointed meeting, we backtracked to that world, but there was no sign of them. The avalanche shifted snow into a very deep crevasse in the midst of a glacier high in the mountains. We lost two very talented and dedicated Watchers when we lost your parents. We owed it to them that their children would be taken care of. That is why you were taken to Farmstead Academy to be educated and cared for. But enough memories. Mr. Weldon has urgent need of your talents, an adventure as Miss Alia so aptly puts it. I will take you to him at once."

"Ok," replied Will. "The Gallery is just a short bus ride away."

"No time for that now," responded Saydon. "Please follow me."

He let them into their back yard to a small shed that stood next to the garage. He paused before opening the door.

"I suppose you have had some time to visit this shed?"

"Of course," replied Will. "We haven't been here long, but once we were given the house and told it belonged to our parents, we were eager to explore. It's an empty shed."

"We were talking about making it into a chicken coop," piped up Alia. "But we've been busy."

Saydon looked at the twins as he opened the door. "Actually, we asked the dwarfs to convert it. They've just finished. It will get us to The Gallery downtown quickly."

"Cool beans," said Alia. "Let's do it."

Saydon opened the door and stepped into the shed with Alia and Will just behind him. He moved to one end and opened the door to a large metal cabinet that occupied most of the wall. They found themselves looking at a dark opening the size of a doorway that appeared to be the entrance to a tunnel, with stone walls and lighted globes imbedded in the walls that illuminated the beginning of passage that quickly curved out of sight. Saydon moved to the opening.

"Dwarfs have built tunnel systems on several worlds that make quick work of travel. It only takes a few steps, but it will cover the distance to The Gallery. I have no idea how they manage this, but it appears to work. Please follow me."

They followed Saydon through the tunnel. Spaced several feet apart, the globes cast a cool light illuminating the smooth stone path ahead of them. In a few minutes, they found that they had arrived at a dark-stained wooden door. Opening the door, they found that they were stepping into a room at The Gallery; a room full of paintings, furniture, antique weapons, jewels, every sort of artifact that you can think of, all destined for a specific person or mystical creature on a specific world.

"I kind of enjoyed the bus rides from our place to here," said Alia as they stepped into the room. "But that tunnel works just fine for me."

"Mr. Weldon is expecting us," said Saydon as he exited the room. "Please close the door behind you."

Will and Alia followed Saydon into the hallway and toward the back of the building to Mr. Weldon's office.

As they walked down the main hallway of The Gallery, Will could not help but glance into the rooms they passed. He never tired of seeing the variety and beauty of the different objects that were kept at least temporarily at The Gallery.

The door at the end of the hallway, the one that opened to Mr. Weldon's office, was ajar and light from the office illuminated the polished wood of the floor just outside. Saydon knocked briefly, then opened the door and gestured for Will and Alia to enter. He followed them in and pulled the door closed.

The bespectacled white-haired man with a full white beard sitting behind the great wooden desk looked up and smiled at them as they came in.

"Miss Alia and Mr. Will, so good to see you. Please sit down," he said, gesturing at the two plush red cushioned chairs in front of his desk.

Will and Alia sank into the comfortable chairs. Behind Mr. Weldon, the bookshelves in the dark wood-paneled office were filled floor-to-ceiling with leather-bound volumes, all well used. The single desk lamp illuminated Mr. Weldon as well as Will and Alia, but much of the room was in deep shadows. Will could see a hooded figure in the shadows, sitting quietly in a chair in the corner of the room behind Mr. Weldon. Will glanced at Alia. She too had noticed the presence of the visitor.

Will detected the lines of concern around Amadeus Weldon's eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something has come up quite suddenly," replied Mr. Weldon, looking at them over the spectacles sitting low on his nose.

"In order to understand this assignment, I must give you a brief history lesson. This all started a little more than 25 years ago. The Foundation originated on a world called Zorn. The world of Zorn was occupied by a highly intelligent, somewhat aggressive and decidedly avaricious people where the only reason the people did not fight themselves into nonexistence was three very intelligent leaders who called themselves Founders formed a pact and joined forces to organize the entire world under their rule as the Foundation. Trouble arose when one of the Founders stumbled upon a portal.

As you well know, portals allowed passage of helpful creatures between worlds. Creatures like elves, fairies, leprechauns, nymphs, gnomes, and such inhabit worlds almost unnoticed and bring positive energies to each world. Occasionally, other not so helpful creatures gain access to portals. Sometimes they are evil creatures that seek to conquer, enslave, and destroy. Although today, our group, the Watchers, monitor the portals and the creatures that move through them, there was no such group at that time

Zorn, the homeworld of the Founders, is what is known as a terminal world. There is only one portal that connects it to anywhere, and that is the portal to Najora. When they discovered the portal, the Founders realized that their world was not alone, but at least one other world, Najora, was connected to it via a portal. The Founders decided that the people of Najora would essentially be their slaves and proceeded to send their forces into Najora, sacrifice their leaders and set up the Foundation to take over that world. This was all observed by the magical creatures who travel via portals, previously a secret kept from most humans. The magical creatures especially fairies, elves and dwarfs decided to bring their concerns to specific humans, people of many talents, who were mostly male and female wizards working with the magical creatures on each world. These wizards existed, each on their own world but were unaware of the existence of portals. These talented humans were introduced to one another by the magical creatures who were asking for help. This was the beginning of the Watchers as an organization.

About this time, things went from bad to worse. The Founders, having discovered the portal to Najora, began to wonder if there were other portals. Having thoroughly scoured their own world, Zorn, they began to look around Najora. As it turns out, Najora is a nexus world, a world containing several portals to other worlds. They managed to capture a faun and tortured him until he revealed the presence of two more portals. Once they learned from the faun of the existence of portals and that the portals formed a secret connection between many worlds, they began to send small Foundation groups into the newly discovered worlds to try to determine how they might take over.

By this time, the Watchers were organized and, in collaboration with other magical creatures, they began to look into the actions of the Founders. They discovered that small Foundation teams had set up trading companies on two worlds connected via portals to Najora. These worlds were much less advanced than either Zorn or Najora and were rather small, consisting of only a few major cities but many small interdependent towns. The Founder's idea was to set up a trading company and learn everything they could about the governance and industries of the worlds. The Watchers learned that once enough information was gathered, the Founders planned to move a small army to each world, imprison the leaders of government and establish a military rule, utilizing those worlds as colonies of the Foundation, subjugating their resources and people for the benefit of the Foundation.

The Foundation had two armies on Zorn ready to go and were having a gathering of the Founders and their army leaders on Zorn to finalize their plans. Since they had already taken over Najora, once they exited Zorn, they would be able to quickly move to the two other worlds and take over.

The Watchers got wind of the meeting on Zorn. A small group of Watchers slipped into Najora and, working with the Resistance that was already established on Najora, sealed the portal from Najora, thereby trapping the Foundation leaders and their armies back on their homeworld. The portal was sealed permanently with a powerful charm. Any Foundation members not trapped on Zorn were rounded up and sent to various prisons.

One of the important members of the Foundation was Malvo Blackthorne. Malvo was a powerful young warlock and a close advisor to the Founders. He was on his way to the meeting and was on Najora when the portal was sealed. The elves and fairies captured him the same day that the portal was sealed and imprisoned him in a highly secure prison on a very small world called Pinsor. For the last twenty years, the warlock has been securely held captive on Pinsor.

This morning, I received word that Malvo Blackthorne has disappeared from his cell on Pinsor. One minute he was there and a few minutes later his cell was empty."

Alia had been listening intently and was the first to respond. "What happened? Was it a prison break? Did he do it himself or have outside help?"

Mr. Weldon held up his hands palms up and shrugged. "We don't have a clue. His cell door was still locked and nothing appeared disturbed. He just disappeared. This task is somewhat different, but it is a recovery of sorts, a very important recovery. Malvo Blackthorne is a powerful warlock in his own right. But he was fundamental in the rise in power of the Foundation. It is he who was primarily responsible for the torture of the faun that helped the Founders find portals. He was also instrumental in setting up the forces that took over Najora. I am sending you to Pinsor to investigate his disappearance, find him and return him to prison. We have no idea what he is up to but, whatever it is, it is not good. He must be found before he can set whatever plans he has in motion.

Watchers on other worlds have been alerted, but we need you to find Malvo Blackthorne. You two have been very successful in recovery assignments. You have exceeded our expectations in every task you have been set, but you are not so familiar with the portal system that connects the different worlds, so I have arranged for some help."

Will noticed the visitor in the corner stirring.

"The fairies were instrumental in the capture of Malvo Blackthorne," continued Mr. Weldon. "In addition, they have abilities that may be helpful in figuring out where the warlock has gone."

Amadeus Weldon rose from his chair and gestured in the direction of the person seated behind him to his left. The figure rose and stepped forward.

"Will and Alia, I am pleased to introduce you to Oriane from the fairy homeworld of Glymr."

The tall slim figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light, reaching up and pulling the hood back from her head.

Before them stood a young woman slightly taller than either of them. Short brown hair framed a tanned oval face with the hint of a smile, while her ears, almost buried in her hair, were slightly pointed at the top. But her magnetic feature was her eyes. Clear, bright, emerald green eyes sparkled at them as she stepped forward and offered her hand. First to Alia, then to Will.

"Miss Alia, Mr. Will, your reputation precedes you. I am pleased to offer my services."

Will, slightly bedazzled, could only nod. Alia, of course, had questions.

"Well, I've never met a fairy, but I thought they were much smaller. And what about wings? Do you have wings?"

Oriane smiled a calm smile. "Yes, to both of your questions. This is only one of my forms. Mr. Weldon thought it might be easier if you first met me in my more substantial construct."

There was a slight pop and flash and the tall, beautiful woman disappeared. A sparkling glow illuminated the perfectly formed figure suspended in the air before them, her wings making a soft buzz as she held herself aloft.

"This is also me," she said.

Despite her tiny size, Will and Alia could hear Oriane's voice the same as when she had been standing before them.

Alia beamed, "That is way cool. You can fly!"

Oriane resumed her larger form. "Much of the time, I will need my fairy form. As we investigate, I can reach places and see things without being noticed. But for now, I will lead us to Pinsor."

"Oriane has vast experience in traveling between worlds," Amadeus Weldon commented. "She can get you where you need to go the fastest way possible."

Oriane turned and bowed slightly to Amadeus Weldon, then to Saydon Nemscally. "Gentlemen, goodbye for now."

Amadeus Weldon smiled. "Be safe. Please let me know what you find."

Saydon opened the door and ushered them out. Will and Alia followed Oriane down the hall and into one of the many smaller storage rooms associated with The Gallery. Inside the room were a few pieces of furniture: a large chair in the midst of obvious repair with its seat cushion removed, an ornately carved dining table with an unfinished panel, and a large wardrobe, its double doors polished to a warm brown luster, started just a half step above the floor and reached almost to the ceiling. Oriane opened the left-side door.

"Pinsor is a few worlds away so we have a few portals to travel through."

# Chapter 2. Travel to Pinsor

Oriane disappeared into the wardrobe with Alia and Will following close behind. Will enjoyed the cool feeling, like stepping into a cave, as he passed through the portal. Even as he exited what appeared to be the base of a tree, he could see Oriane and Alia stepping onto a path in a clearing in the woods. He noticed that their clothing had changed only slightly. Like their previous travel through portals, their clothing was altered to match the clothing of the native population. Except for a slight difference in tailoring, it was much the same as they wore in their own world, jeans and casual tops with comfortable walking shoes.

They were on a trail running across a meadow in woods with little underbrush, the green leafy boughs of the trees starting just above head height. Behind them, the woods continued in a series of hills as far as they could see. Down the slope in front of them, the forest gave way in the distance to the flat expanse of a large city that extended until, several miles away, mountains rose to meet a cobalt blue sky. They could see several roads leading into the city, with cars and trucks moving busily in and out.

"That is Castleton, the capital of Najora," Oriane said. "It is populated by humans and just a few years behind your world in its development"

Alia was scanning the city. "There's a castle!" she cried, pointing off to the left perhaps a mile away. There, just at the edge of the forest was a castle complete with a central keep four stories high built into the back wall and surrounded by a green courtyard on three sides which, in turn, was surrounded by a two-story wall with smaller buildings built into its interior and facing the castle keep.

"The castle remains from medieval times, and is now open as a museum. It was renovated and preserved as a nod to the not-so-peaceful past. It also contains the portal to Zorn. We will be visiting the castle to check on the portal, but right now we need to go to the prison on Pinsor. Remember that Najora is a nexus for several portals. Although the portals are scattered about, they are all located in the woods at various distances from the castle. There is an easy way to get to the portals, I just have to find the entrance."

And, with a slight pop and flash of light, she reverted to her winged form.

The twinkle of light and soft buzz of her wings faded as she darted away, following the trail that led into the woods.

"I guess I can get used to that," said Alia. "Poof, she's gone! I was right about them being tiny and being able to fly. What else do we know about fairies?"

Will thought a minute. "I am pretty sure they are good with magic. Besides being able to fly, they use fairy dust for a few things. I have heard that fairies are wood folk, so their homeworld is mostly forest. Good with fashion, not much for weapons. Seem pleasant enough if Oriane is any indication. But they were involved in tracking and capturing the warlock, so they must be pretty formidable if they need to be."

The twins sat quietly waiting for Oriane to return. A small bird with brilliant red and black coloration flitted in the tree above them, stopping to sing a short song celebrating the day. Will spied a sort of deer, blue in color grazing in the meadow below them, but as he silently pointed it out to Alia, the deer faded then disappeared before their eyes with only its black hooves showing as its coloration matched the yellow-green of the meadow.

In a short time, Will heard a soft buzz as Oriane's twinkling figure appeared in the air just in front of them.

"The entrance is just down the trail a few hundred yards."

She led them down the trail and popped into her human form next to a large crystalline pink rock sitting just next to the trail.

"In this world, the dwarfs have done a lot of work making passages that let us get where we want to go faster than taking the above-ground trails and roadways. It keeps magical folks from bumping into the regular inhabitants as much as possible as well as letting them travel much faster between portals."

Alia was busy looking down at the pink hunk of rock, tilting her head as she would to look for a hidden portal opening.

"I don't see a passage," she remarked.

"Nor I," said Will, also squinting and turning his head as he looked at the boulder.

"Sorry," replied Oriane, "It's not like that." She reached down to the base of the boulder and pressed on something just under one of the edges that jutted out slightly above the ground. The boulder slid to one side, revealing a stone stairway that descended below the ground. "This way."

Alia looked at Will and shrugged. "Of course. Should have known. Simple as that."

Will just grinned and waved his hand at the stairway. "Sisters first."

They descended about 20 feet below ground to a what appeared to be a platform. A few small orbs implanted in the wall flickered on, illuminating the platform that stood a foot above what appeared to be a track of some kind emanating from a tunnel at one end and disappearing into another tunnel at the other end of the platform. Oriane looked expectantly one way into the darkness. In a minute, they could hear a light rumbling sound quickly growing louder and, with a soft whoosh, a small chamber appeared, moving along the track and coming to a stop in front of them. It very much resembled a subway car, but it was just large enough for the three of them. A door slid open expectantly and a small interior light came on. There were three curved seats inside.

Oriane, looking amused at the rather dumfounded expression on both Will's and Alia's faces remarked. "Yes, the dwarfs are quite good, aren't they? Go ahead, climb in."

They entered the subterranean transport and sat. The door closed and the car light flicked off.

The orbs on the cave walls flickered then extinguished, leaving the area outside of the car pitch black. There was a slight bump and Will could feel that they were moving again. They started slowly but soon were moving along at a good clip. Will could feel the cool, slightly damp darkness of the cave air as their car traveled smoothly along the underground track. Will could feel rather than see the sides of the tunnel that they were in.

In a short time, they began to slow. They entered into another cave, this one already lit. The car stopped at another platform, the car door slid open and Oriane led them out onto the platform as the car door whispered shut.

Will marveled. "So magical creatures have their own subway system?"

"On Najora and Pinsor anyway," acknowledged Oriane. "Of course, the dwarfs have an extensive system on their homeworld, Silexa."

Oriane moved to one end of the platform past a sign reading Pinsor which had an arrow pointing to a walkway that ended at a stone stairway. The top of the stairway appeared to end abruptly in a stone wall. As she reached the top, Oriane pressed her hand in the middle of the stone wall and it slid aside, revealing daylight and more woods.

As they exited the underground subway system, Will and Alia looked around. Across from the brown mold-covered stone that slid back to conceal the entrance to the dwarf subway, there were several large gray boulders protruding from the forest floor. They could see a single dark cleft in one of the rocks that they both recognized as a portal.

As they moved toward the portal, Oriane commented. "The portal opens some distance from the prison, but the dwarfs have built a subway system there too. The population on Pinsor is small and concentrated mostly in a few towns. The rest of the world is wild – mostly forest, and the prison is deep within the forest far from the towns. Near the prison there is a small village where the elves who run the prison live."

Oriane took the few steps to the entrance of the portal and entered closely followed by Will then Alia.

Once again, Will felt the cool breeze of the cave-like air as he stepped through the portal and out the other side.

They emerged from a large boulder that was a smooth crystalline white with tiny veins of black swirling throughout. The boulder was one of several that were in the middle of a small meadow surrounded by tall bluish-green trees with soft needle-like leaves that waved in the breeze. Their sweet, crisp scent was distinct and not unpleasant, but was unlike anything they had ever encountered. The meadow itself was full of short blue-green grass that looked like it had been grazed. Will noticed that their clothing had changed to bright yellow shirts with black pants and boots.

At the edge of the meadow, a path led out of the clearing and into the forest. Alia started toward the path, but stopped when she realized that Oriane was not headed in that direction.

"That's a huskar trail," noted Oriane. "They are deer-like creatures that inhabit forest. We could go that way, but the subway is faster. I just need to find it . . ." She scanned the edge of the meadow, her eyes following the border where the grass stopped and the forest began. "Ah, there," she said, pointing at a large knee-high boulder of the same black veined white crystalline rock that held the portal. She led them over to the boulder.

She looked at Alia. "Do you want to try?"

"Sure," said Alia. She reached down to the base of the boulder and felt under an edge that jutted out a just above the ground. Her hand stopped and she pressed. The boulder slid to one side, revealing a stone stairway that descended into the ground.

Alia looked at Will and smiled. "Simple as that."

Will just grinned and waved his hand at the stairway in the opening. "Once again, sisters first."

Even as they descended the 20 feet below ground to a small platform, the orbs that were embedded in the wall flickered on and they heard a light rumbling, then a soft whoosh, as a small car slid up to the platform. A door slid open and a small interior light came on.

No sooner were they seated than the door closed and the car began to move, plunging into the darkness of the tunnel system.

Will could hear the low whistle of the wind as the car accelerated in the cool darkness of the tunnel.

After ten minutes, he could feel the car starting to slow. Soon it entered another lit area and stopped. This area also appeared to have been cut out of the rock. There was a large shiny metal door at one end of the platform with a sign overhead that read Prison.

"We're here," said Oriane as the car door whispered open. The three stepped out onto the platform and proceeded to the door. Oriane pushed a small button on the side of the door that read UP.

"Nothing elaborate about dwarf signs," remarked Alia.

The door in front of them slid sideways, disappearing into the stone wall of the cave, revealing a small chamber.

"An elevator!" remarked Will. He looked around inside the chamber for a button to push to select a floor. "But no button," he said, shaking his head. "How do we . . ."

"There's only one place for it to go, the receiving room," answered Oriane before Will could complete his question. "Once the system senses we are in, it will move."

Even before she finished speaking, the door to the chamber slid closed and the chamber began to move up, as the sign indicated. In a very short time, the chamber came to a stop and the door whisked open. This time, it opened into a larger, brightly lit room.

"Welcome," a voice greeted them. "I am Elora, the warden."

In front of them stood a tall woman with short coal black hair. Her eyes were a deep brown and the smoothness of her skin made it hard to determine her age. She was dressed in the same bright yellow shirt and black pants that Will, Alia and Oriane wore.

Alia noticed that her ears were more sharply pointed than Oriane's.

"You're an elf!" she blurted.

Elora moved to Oriane and the two hugged. Then she turned to Alia.

"Yes," she replied. "Elves and fairies share the responsibility for the prisons that hold wayward magical creatures. And you are Alia and Will Barclay, the Watchers notified me that they were sending two Retrievers."

"How long has the prison been here?" asked Will.

"More than 50 years," replied Elora. "In fact, although I come from another world, these guards were born in the elven community that resides on Pinsor."

Will looked around. They were in a medium-sized room that had no windows. The walls were polished gray stone, cut in rectangular blocks smoothly fit together with almost no mortar lines. Smoky whorls of white flowed through the rocks, making it almost seem alive. Besides the elevator door through which they had come, there was a single door on each of the side walls. The wall opposite the elevator held three rows of what appeared to be framed pictures. Will could see figures moving around within the confines of the frames. Three elves sat in front of the pictures, closely watching the moving figures.

"As you can see, this is our monitoring room. Elves monitor the prisoners continuously. From here we can always see our prisoners," commented Elora.

Will and Alia moved closer to the pictures which were indeed monitors. Each picture was split in two or four sections, each depicting a different view of a single prisoner who was always in view. The scene in each picture was distinctly different. On one monitor, they watched as the prisoner walked around a room full of plants that crowded the room. In another, they watched as a prisoner walked from what appeared to be one room full of paintings to another. In a few monitors, the prisoner was clearly outside, sometimes in a dry desert, sometimes deep in a jungle. In several monitors, the prisoners were sleeping in a sparse cell.

"Inside, outside, all different environments. How can this be?" asked Alia, her face scrunching in puzzlement as moved her face close to the pictures examining them in detail.

Will stared intently at the pictures. Then his face lit up. "Some sort of charm?"

"Yes," replied Elora. "We have found that the best way to prevent escape, besides confinement charms, is to have a desire elixir in the air. Whatever place is in the mind of the prisoner appears. It is not just in their mind, but is created in front of them and we can see it too. The added benefit is that the energy for maintaining the environment comes from the prisoner, not from us, so the prisoners tire quickly. They spend much of their time sleeping to recharge."

"Tell us what happened on the day that the prisoner Malvo Blackthorne disappeared," Will said.

"As you are aware, Malvo Blackthorne was a warlock. He was the one prisoner who appeared to be uninfluenced by the desire elixir, and he always appeared to be in his cell, not in a place of his dreams. Besides the monitors that you see here, the prison guards monitor each cell every 30 minutes by viewing it through a small window in the door of the cell. On the day in question, one guard observed Malvo Blackthorne in his cell sitting and writing. There were also two guards in this room watching the monitors with a view of all prisoners. Shortly after the guard returned from her rounds, Malvo Blackthorne disappeared from his cell. Two guards quickly returned to the cell and it appeared empty. They had the cell locks opened and reversed the charms sealing the cell, then entered the cell and confirmed it was empty. The prisoner had completely disappeared."

"Why do you have guards monitor cells in person if you have a view of the prisoners from here?" Will asked.

"With someone with the skills of Malvo Blackthorne, we were not sure if he could somehow fool our observation system and be working on a means of escape."

"How long was it from the time the guard viewed the cell until she returned to the observation room?" asked Alia.

"There were a few other cells to monitor, but it was only about fifteen minutes," replied Elora. "But the guard in this room scans the screens every few minutes. He insisted that until right after her roving guard returned to this room, Malvo Blackthorne was in his cell. Both guards saw Malvo in his cell, then he vanished."

"What did you do after you were convinced that the prisoner had escaped?" asked Will.

"At that time, I was off world on another matter. The guards sent me a message which I received within two hours, whereupon I immediately ordered a search of the prison and sent guards to the two portals on Pinsor to cut off his escape to other worlds. And I sent word to Amadeus Weldon and to the fairy capital on Glymr. Since then, we have contacted other magical creatures on this world and, so as not to disturb the population on Pinsor, as quietly as possible we have undertaken a search of this world. Pinsor is a rather small world. We have not found any trace of him.

"We will start with the exits," said Oriane. "I will pick up his trail here and see where it leads."

Elora nodded. "Ah yes, the trace material."

"Trace material?" questioned Alia.

"Prisoners are secretly doused with trace material that is invisible except in the presence of a detection dust. The trace material is shed from the prisoner until it is depleted. It allows us to track a prisoner for at least a few days."

"Besides the elevator door through which we entered, is there another way out of the prison?" asked Oriane.

"That is the main way in or out," replied Elora. Everyone and everything comes only through the elevator and the underground system that the dwarfs have constructed. There are also ventilation ducts and one exit door to allow workers to access the outside of the prison for maintenance; however, these are all locked and protected by charms. She pointed to one of the pictures on the wall. It appeared to be split in two, showing a view of a door from the outside of the building and one from a hallway inside.

"We keep an eye on the exit at all times."

"How do the workers exit through the door?" inquired Oriane.

"The locks are opened only from this room. I am the only one who knows the charms that bind the locks and I must be at the door to open it."

"Let's start at the exit door," suggested Oriane. "Can you show us?"

"Certainly," replied Elora. She let them through one of the side doors and down a well-lit hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large metal door. Another hallway led off to the right.

Elora stopped at the door. "Here it is."

"Where does that hallway go?" asked Will.

"To the prisoners' cells."

Oriane sprinkled a little powder at the base of the door. A small area of the floor sparkled.

"He's been here," said Oriane matter-of-factly. "Can we go through?"

Elora turned and faced back down the hall peering at one of the monitors on the wall, "Unlock please."

There was a rumbling sound, then a click. Elora stood before the door and recited a rather long complicated charm. The door slid open.

Oriane stepped through and dusted the earth on the outside of the door.

They all could see a few spots of glitter.

"I don't see how this is possible," exclaimed Elora. "That door lock is a powerful charm. Blackthorne is not powerful enough to overcome it."

"So, he either overheard it, or had help. In any case, this is the way he left," said Oriane. 'We will follow the trace."

"I can send guards to assist you," said Elora.

"No need, I understand these two are quite capable," Oriane replied, nodding at Will and Alia with a small smile.

Periodically sprinkling small amounts of dust on the ground in front of her, Oriane followed the trail of glitter away from the prison and into the surrounding forest. The trail led away from the nearest town and farther into the forest. It appeared to follow game trails, switching from one to another as they intersected, continuing to move uphill and deeper into the forest. In about an hour, Oriane looked around.

"Curious, I think I know where this is heading. This is the overland pathway back to the portal to Najora. I think I understand how he escaped. It's about time."

"About time for what?" asked Alia.

"No, the escape. It involves time."

Oriane stopped and moved off the path. Moving a little faster, she cut through the woods and began following another pathway.

"Where are we going?" asked Will.

"In a few minutes, I will show you."

About 15 minutes later, they left the forest as the path moved through a small clearing.

"Here we are," said Oriane.

"What's special about a meadow in the woods?" asked Alia

Oriane left the trail, walking to the middle of the clearing. Then she reached into her pouch and took a handful of fairy dust and flung it into the air in front of her.

As the dust settled, the air in front of them shimmered and a cottage appeared. It was a small cottage, certainly no more than a few rooms, Will thought. A covered porch ran the length of the shingled front of the cottage and it had a grey thatched roof. The front door was slightly ajar.

"What is this?" exclaimed Alia.

"This is a timekeeper's cottage," explained Oriane. "It is kept invisible to keep anyone except timekeepers from using it."

Something was odd, Will thought. He began to walk around toward the side of the cottage. He was startled by what he saw. Or more correctly, what he didn't see.

"It has no sides!" It is just a front!"

"Not exactly," a voice answered from within the cottage.

The three looked in the direction of the door. A small, rotund, bearded man cloaked in a leather apron was wiping his hands with an oily rag as he came through the door.

"The rest of the cottage is in another time," he said by way of explanation.

"Mr. Dunstable," interrupted Oriane. "It is a pleasure to see you again."

"Ah, Oriane," replied the man. "The pleasure is mine. I thought you might be coming this way. And you've brought Watchers."

"Word travels fast," said Oriane. "This is Will and Alia Barclay, who are Retrievers. The three of us are here to investigate an escape at the prison."

Mr. Dunstable's eyes lit up. "Ah, I had not heard of the escape from the prison. That may have something to do with what I found."

Oriane addressed Will and Alia. "Mr. Dunstable is involved with maintaining the equipment in this cottage."

"Yes," agreed Mr. Dunstable. "I am responsible for cottages on several worlds. I visit each one on a regular basis to make sure the equipment is operating properly."

Will was still thinking about Mr. Dunstable's introductory remark. He spoke up, "The rest of the cottage is in another time?"

They are new to the concepts of timekeeping," Oriane said. "Would you explain to them how it works."

"Of course. Please come in. I will explain why time cottages exist as well as our newest conundrum." He motioned for the three to follow him and went back into the cottage.

Will, Alia and Oriane stepped up on the porch, their footsteps echoing across its wooden floor, and followed Mr. Dunstable into the cottage. Inside, the cottage was one large room with windows at the front looking out over the porch. On the right was another door partially open. Will could see that it led to a bedroom. The wall opposite the door through which they had come was windowless and held some shelves.

The room in which they stood obviously served many purposes. Off to one side was a small kitchen. There was a hand pump for water, a sink, and a small pot-bellied wood stove, its black chimney extending up through the cottage roof. There was also a hewn wooden table and several chairs. The most noticeable thing, however, was the large object rising up through the floor that occupied the center of the room. It was about four feet tall and seven feet wide and was cut in the shape of a hexagon with a slightly rounded top. It appeared to be made mostly out of some sort of rose-colored translucent crystalline material. There were two parallel silvery smooth metal bands running up one side, across the top and down the other side. The entire machine (for that is what it was) emitted a soft rosy glow while making a deep low humming sound. There was a toolbox sitting open next to it.

"That is the timepiece for Pinsor," explained Mr. Dunstable. "As you can see, I have been working on it. I recently discovered that there was a problem with . . ."

Oriane interrupted, "Mr. Dunstable. Start at the beginning. Please. Why is there a timepiece on Pinsor?"

Mr. Dunstable glanced at Will and Alia who were staring jaws open at the beautiful but mysterious machine.

"Right, sorry. Each world has a timepiece. It keeps the time on each world."

"A bit farther back, if you please, Mr. Dunstable," Oriane prompted.

"Ah, yes. The beginning," said Mr. Dunstable. "Perhaps you should sit," he said, indicating the nearby chairs. Oriane, Alia and Will moved to the chairs by the table and sat down.

"A very long time ago, all of my people, now called timekeepers, lived on the world of Occassius. They were few in number, mostly living in small tribes foraging for food – a simple daily existence. But as the population grew and people started to settle down, they began to discover and explore. They always felt that there was something irregular about their daily existence, but they had no idea what it was. In a few 100 years, they began to keep time, first with crude devices but later with more accurate ones. And they came to a realization. Time existed, but it jumped in fits and starts. At first they thought it was their devices. But it wasn't. It was time itself. Sometimes it went quickly, sometimes it went slowly. It was quite irregular and unpredictable and, as a consequence, life was irregular and unpredictable. It was difficult to organize plantings and harvest, much less any sort of organized schedule for practically anything. Days or even parts of days would speed up or slow down unpredictably. Some days were short while others were long. Once in a while, time even backed up – only a day or two – but what the people had done was undone! So the people of Occassius decided to do something. They paid attention, investigated and studied the world around them. They discovered that the dimension of time and space are not separate, that the geology was not completely separated from time and that there was a place where time and space intersected on Occassius. A place where time could be anchored to space. There they built a machine to smooth out time – to make each second and minute the same and keep time moving in one direction. Now the people of Occassius were not magical or mystical, they just had very good mechanical and engineering skills and had learned a lot about time and space. And that is exactly what was needed to regulate time.

At that time, the people of Occassius had no idea that their world was connected to other worlds via portals. Shortly after they had time under control, a group of magical creatures made themselves known to the leaders of Occassius. They explained that time was not under control in any of the other worlds connected via portals and asked if the Occassians could help. The long and the short of it is that the people of Occassius could and did. They found the time-space intersection on each world and built a timepiece, like this one, to smooth out time. The Occassians built timekeeper's cottages around the center of time on each world. On all worlds, it is a secret, hidden place. The reason for that is to keep time flowing smoothly with no one able to meddle with the timepieces. Only timekeepers have access to timekeeper's cottages. Cottages are all locked and, through the assistance of our magical friends, are also hidden from view to everyone except timekeepers."

Oriane spoke. "You said that you had a problem here. Did someone tamper with the timepiece?"

"Yes, someone fiddled with the timepiece," replied Mr. Dunstable. "But nothing changed. Nothing has been affected that I can tell."

"How do you know that someone tampered with the timepiece?" asked Oriane.

"When I arrived to do my monthly maintenance, I did not notice any evidence that the door to the cottage had been opened. We take our responsibility seriously. Besides relying on the key that we carry and the invisibility charms provided, when we lock up, we put tracers on the cottage door; a spider web here or a small twig there. If these are moved or disturbed, we know that someone or something has entered the cottage. I found nothing. But when I was working on the timepiece, I found that it had been opened." He moved over next to the pulsating timepiece and pointed to the bolts securing one of the metal bands. "These bolts were manipulated. Undoing these bolts gives one access to the inner workings of the timepiece. I'll show you."

Mr. Dunstable removed a wrench-like object from his toolbox. He fit one end over the bolt and loosened it. Then he moved to the other side of the timepiece and loosened the bolt that secured the other side of the band. Placing the palm of his hand on the metal band, he pushed down and moved the band only about an inch. There was an audible click and a door slid open on the surface of the timepiece, revealing what appeared to be a nest of different colored glowing crystals. He pointed to a ruby colored crystal.

"Someone removed this crystal from the timepiece and then replaced it," he said.

"How do you know that?" asked Will.

"Once I knew the timepiece had been opened, I examined the base of each crystal. We use a special tool to remove the crystal. Our tools are made out of bone. Something made of leather, perhaps a gloved hand, was used to remove the crystal. There was a tiny bit of residue left on the base of the crystal."

"What happens when you pull out the crystal?" asked Will.

"Time stops."

"What!" Will and Alia's voices sounded in unison.

"Time stops," repeated Mr. Dunstable.

"What does that mean?" asked Will. "How can time stop?"

"The timepiece modulates time, evening out the ebbs and flows. If the timepiece is interrupted, time ceases to flow. Everything stops, all motion, all activity ceases. Wind doesn't blow, birds are suspended in air and people do not move. Nothing happens. Everything becomes suspended in time. It's as if water was flowing over a dam and the dam was suddenly raised and stops all the flow. After a few hours, time would begin again in its normal old way, back to stops and starts of irregular flow."

"And nothing happened," said Oriane. "At least, nobody saw anything."

"Except your prisoner disappeared. More likely simply walked away from the prison. Of course, he had help; at least to stop the timepiece, which he could not have done from his cell. He may also have had assistance in overcoming the charms that kept him in his cell."

"But if time stopped, wouldn't the prisoner be frozen in time too?" asked Will.

"Was the prisoner from this world?" asked Mr. Dunstable.

"No," replied Oriane.

"Then the prisoner could move through a frozen world. One's origin governs one's sensitivity to time on that world. People or creatures born on another world would be subject to the timepiece on their world and would not be frozen."

Will looked at Alia and Oriane. "That's it then, Oriane's hunch was right. With one or more accomplices, he managed to stop time and overcome the charms that held him. Then he simply walked out. And probably left Pinsor."

Alia spoke up. "One last question before we go. How do you think it was possible for someone to gain access to the timekeeper's cottage on Pinsor to stop time so that the prisoner could escape?"

"That is a good question," said Mr. Dunstable. "It is not easy to access the timekeeper's cottage since most creatures cannot see them and they are locked." His brow wrinkled in thought for a moment, then looked up.

"Six months ago, something very odd happened to me. I was on my way to the timepiece on Najora for which I am also responsible. I came upon a young woman in the meadow outside the cottage. She told me she was lost, so I pointed the way back to town and she left thanking me. But something just didn't feel right about the encounter. She seemed too sure of herself for someone who was lost. I wondered if I encountered a sorceress who was trying to gain access to the cottage for some reason. But nothing had happened. So, in a few weeks, I forgot about the incident. Several weeks later, I woke up in a daze just on the edge of the forest where it meets the meadow. I remember I was on my way through the woods to the cottage, and then I was waking up. When I awoke, for some reason, I again thought of the encounter with the young woman. But I kept a close eye on the cottage and never found evidence that someone had entered. So I just dismissed it as unexplainable."

"Some weeks ago, you found yourself waking up from some sort of encounter on Najora," remarked Will. "Then someone figured out how to get into the cottage on Pinsor and stopped time."

"Where are the keys to the cottage doors kept?" asked Alia.

"I carry it in my pocket," replied Mr. Dunstable. "The same key opens all of the timekeeper's cottages. We often service several timepieces, so there is a common key. But I never set it down." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a large ornate black metal key.

"Can it be copied?" Alia questioned.

"I suppose so," replied Mr. Dunstable. "But it never leaves my possession. No one ever handles it but me."

Alia looked at Oriane. "Do you have any fairy powder that could help us tell if this key has been copied?

"Fingerprints?" suggested Will.

"Given what Mr. Dunstable has told us, perhaps something much simpler," replied Oriane, reaching into a pouch and retrieving a pinch of her fairy dust.

"Please hold the key out flat on your hand, Mr. Dunstable."

Mr. Dunstable offered the key laid flat across his outstretched palm.

Oriane sprinkled the dust gently along the length of the key.

Will, Alia and Oriane all leaned over Mr. Dunstable's outstretched hand, peering at the key.

"Red sparkles," remarked Alia. "What does that mean?"

"The powder tells male from female," answered Oriane. "Blue for male, red for female."

"You had an unusual encounter with a woman and now we know a woman has handled the key," Will exclaimed.

"And, no doubt made a copy of the key," said Alia. "That's how someone could gain access to the cottage without detection."

"Making the cottage itself appear is easy for anyone with the right abilities in magic," added Oriane. "It appears that Malvo Blackthorne's accomplice was a woman, perhaps a young sorceress."

"They may or may not still be together," said Will. "In any case, Malvo Blackthorne is the one we are most interested in."

"The escaped prisoner was Malvo Blackthorne?" asked Mr. Dunstable frowning?

"Yes," answered Oriane.

Wrinkles creased his forehead and his eye squinted as a look of gloom crept over his face. Mr. Dunstable looked from Oriane to Will and Alia. "There is another possibility that you need to consider."

"What is it?" asked Will.

"It is a secret that is kept by the timekeepers of Occassius," replied Mr. Dunstable shaking his head. "You must go to Occassius and explain what has happened to the chief timekeeper. Only he can decide whether to reveal the secret and what can be done. And please, I think you should go as soon as possible."

"I have never been to Occassius," said Oriane. "No one resides there but the people of Occassius and the only business is timepieces. How do we get there?"

"Yes, well, the portal to Occassius is a well-kept secret, however it is a short trip to the world that leads to the portal to Occassius," replied Mr. Dunstable. "I will take you there."

Mr. Dunstable closed the timepiece back up and put away his tools. Then he led Oriane, Will and Alia out of the timekeeper's cottage pausing to lock the door behind him.

Mr. Dunstable led the way through the meadow. As they were entering the woods, Alia looked back to where they had been. She saw the cottage shimmer then disappear.

Mr. Dunstable set a fast pace through the woods. He led the trio to the base of a huge tree and, grabbing a low branch pulled himself up, disappearing one-third of the way up into the foliage. "Up here he said."

Will and Alia were both experienced at climbing rocks and trees. Alia grabbed a low branch and hoisted herself up with Will following closely behind her. Oriane changed herself to fairy form and buzzed up.

"In here," Mr. Dunstable said, melting into the center of the tree.

Will, catching a glance over Alia's shoulder said, "He went into the tree."

Alia just slightly above him said, "There's a doorway of some kind.

Sure enough, there was a large hole cut into the hollowed-out center of the tree. A rope hung down.

"Climb down," they heard.

Alia slithered down the rope quickly followed by Will. She could tell they were descending below ground level as the wood of the tree gave way to dirt then stone. The slight buzz of Oriane's wings echoed in the hollow tree. The buzz stopped as they saw her return to her human form below. Will and Alia descended to the floor of a dimly lit cave to where Mr. Dunstable and Oriane stood waiting. There were no signs, but a single track was visible between a pitch-dark opening on either side.

"We're back in the tunnel system again," noted Alia. "Do we have a car coming?"

"Should be just a minute," replied Mr. Dunstable who moved to one end of the platform and pulled a small lever imbedded in the wall.

In a few minutes, they could hear the sound of a car approaching. It shushed to a stop and its door slid open. All four clambered in and the door closed smoothly behind them, the car briskly moving to the tunnel entrance and plunging them into complete darkness.

As they rode in the cool dampness of the tunnel, they could hear the air whooshing past the outside of the car.

"Those dwarfs really know what they are doing," exclaimed Alia. Will smiled in the darkness nodding in agreement. "Way cool."

In only minutes, they began to feel the car slowing. Soon it arrived at another dimly lit cavern and glided to a stop, its door opening with a swish. This cavern was lit well enough for all to see a sign on the wall with an arrow pointing left. It read _Portal Two_.

"Almost there," said Mr. Dunstable. He led them around a corner to a steel ladder and immediately began to climb. Will counted fifty rungs before the ladder ended at ground level in a small opening in the middle of a cluster of large boulders. Directly opposite them a portal opening shimmered. Without hesitation, Mr. Dunstable stepped through followed by the other three.

# Chapter 3. Occassius

This time the portal opened into a desert. They exited from the base of a dune and, as far as they could see, there were dunes of white sand with occasional clumps of greenish brown vegetation. Overhead the pale blue sky was filled with fluffy white clouds only slightly whiter than the sand below. The air was still and comfortably warm.

"Is this Occassius?" asked Alia.

Mr. Dunstable replied, "This is Ordinare, this entire small world is what you see, it is literally the doorstep to Occassius."

Mr. Dunstable pointed to something shimmering in the distance.

Will saw it too. "Mirage?" he asked.

Mr. Dunstable shook his head, "Not this time. It's a small oasis and the location of the portal to Occassius."

With Mr. Dunstable in the lead, they made their way toward the shimmering apparition. Soon they could detect the green leaves of a large palm-like tree with a small pool of water located near its base and another small clump of trees with umbrella-like shimmering silver leaves nearby. Mr. Dunstable approached the pool of water and sat on the ground, facing away from the water and looking toward the clump of trees.

Alia looked toward the trees, following Mr. Dunstable's gaze. "I don't see the portal."

"Me neither," said Will, cocking his head from side to side and staring at the trees.

"We must wait," said Mr. Dunstable.

A breeze arose, coming from the copse of trees.

Alia spoke, "I see it. It just appeared. It's part of the tall tree on the left."

Will focused. Sure enough, he could just see the dark slit of a portal in the trunk of one of the trees.

If a few minutes, the dark slit that was the portal shimmered ever so slightly.

"Someone's coming?" guessed Alia.

"Yes."

Will watched as a creature emerged from the portal; at first wispy and ill-defined, but quickly it solidified. The color of gray driftwood with smooth lumps and bumps and cracks and limbs like a tree that had been blown to the beach and sat in sun and wind and sand for a hundred years. But this tree stood erect on two thin stumps. And wore a red baseball cap? Not a tree, but a man! A very old, very thin, very gray man with a long full beard and tufts of gray hair springing out from under the baseball cap. Dressed in a gray robe, its color so matching his body that it was difficult to see where the sleeves of his garment stopped and his bony hands and fingers began. He looked from Oriane to Alia to Will. Ice-blue eyes twinkled from his wrinkled face.

"Welcome," the old man said, his soft smooth voice belying his craggy appearance. "I am Shadrach the chief timekeeper. Mr. Dunstable, what can I do for you?"

Mr. Dunstable stood and moved forward. Sir, may I present Oriane, whom you no doubt have heard of, and these two are Watchers, Miss Alia and Mr. Will." Then he began whispering into the chief timekeeper's ear. The chief timekeeper nodded while listening carefully. He gave a final nod, murmuring something to Mr. Dunstable that the others could not hear.

"I have explained your predicament to the chief timekeeper," Mr. Dunstable said. "I have other business I must attend to, so I will leave you with him." He turned and moved away, starting on the path back across the desert to the portal they had only recently come through. "Good Luck."

The chief timekeeper's blue eyes moved from Oriane to Will and Alia, his warm gaze evaluating each in turn. "It appears that you do need my help. Please, follow me."

He turned slowly and disappeared into the portal.

Oriane stepped aside and motioned for Alia to go first, followed by Will.

They stepped through the portal into what appeared to be a medium sized furnished living room. The walls were beige-colored stucco and the furnishings were deep cushioned chairs covered in a smooth brown fabric. The furniture was formed in a half circle facing the portal through which they had come. Will turned and noticed that, from this side, they had exited from what appeared to be a stone fireplace.

"Please make yourselves comfortable," the chief timekeeper said as he sat in one of the chairs and gestured to the others. "Mr. Dunstable has explained what has happened and who you are looking for. I must tell you that there is something else for you to consider.

"There is a second aspect to time that is more secret and more potentially perilous than the maintenance of time. Many years after time was regulated, unusual disturbances began to happen in the ground very near to timekeeper's cottages. First there were disturbances – like mini earthquakes. Shortly after a disturbance, the timekeeper would discover some unusual formation very near to their cottage. Invariably found as rock protuberance that led to some sort of cave underground, these formations were such that one could enter the cave and exit at a second point but, instead of being a back door to the cave, it seemed that he had come back out the same entrance. However, on further exploration, the timekeeper would discover that things were not the same. Trees were not as tall. Rocks were not as weathered. If there were buildings nearby, they might have disappeared. And finally, people had changed. They were younger! Anywhere from 5 to 25 years younger. It was clear that these structures were openings into the past. These disturbances happened irregularly and over many years. As they occurred, the timekeepers reported them back to the timekeeper's council on Occassius. Our wisest men investigated. Considering that the timekeeper's cottages are at the nexus of time and space, they reasoned that the formations were due to the effect of regulating time. Like damming a river will cause changes in the river upstream of the dam, so too, regulating time had caused backstream pressure resulting in holes in space-time. Timekeeper's cottages were reconfigured to conceal the entrance to these backdoors in time. Hence the appearance of the timekeeper's cottage. The front, as it were, sits in the present, but the rest sits at the intersection of times."

He pointed to the far wall across from the front door. "The opening to the backdoor is hidden in that wall. Backdoors are sealed off and hidden in the construction of the timekeeper's cottages."

"Why are all of the doors sealed and hidden?" asked Alia.

"Initially they were carefully explored by Occassians, timekeepers and our engineers and scholars alike. A few unexpected occurrences from these initial explorations back in time caused everyone to agree that the tunnels should be sealed."

"What happened?" asked Will.

"In many cases, nothing or nothing of importance, but in a few cases, small changes in the past caused larger changes in the present. Objects disappeared, buildings simply vanished, a few people were lost," replied Shadrach. "Remember these are pathways from the present to a specific time in the past. One end is always anchored in the present and the other is always anchored in a relatively specific time in the past. If you stay too long in the past, the door would be closed from that end because time moves on.

"We learned that it is almost impossible to predict the ripple effects of even a single change caused by going back in time and there was a very real possibility of being trapped back in the past. The potential for unpredictable harm was deemed too great, so the backdoors were sealed off."

"What about the future?" Oriane asked. "Are there backdoors into the future?"

"None have ever been found," replied Shadrach. "But they are conceivable. Perhaps all times exist as different dimensions and can be connected by doors just as the worlds exist as dimensions and are connected by portals. We are still very far from understanding the complexities of time and space."

Will and Alia were dumbfounded. There was so much to absorb and understand about what they had been told. Time was much more complicated than they thought.

Will, processing the idea of backdoors in time, was trying to understand what that fact had to do with their investigation of Malvo Blackthorne and the sealed portal to Zorn.

Oriane asked. "How far back does the backdoor on Najora go?"

"Twenty years," replied Shadrach.

Alia's eyes lit with understanding. "That was about the time the portal to Zorn was sealed. Does the backdoor open to the time before or after the portal was sealed?"

"We are not exactly certain of the timing, but a few days before," Shadrach replied.

Will was stunned. He found he had been holding his breath, waiting for the answer to Alia's question. He exhaled sharply and asked, "Is it possible for Malvo Blackthorne to know about the backdoor on Najora?"

Shadrach nodded sadly. "When Malvo was young, he was friendly with a timekeeper who was overly fond of drink. We had to retire him because he was not careful about who he discussed timekeeper business with. Malvo was quite curious and was always looking to learn new things and to get ahead. It is possible that Malvo learned about the existence of the backdoor in time from him. He could have also learned what it would take to open that backdoor. He was captured the day the portal was sealed so he was prevented from getting what he needed to go back in time and warn the Founders. But now he is free and with the knowledge to cause great harm."

"Would it be possible for him to go back in time and prevent the sealing of the portal from Najora to Zorn thereby unleashing the armies of the Foundation?" Will asked.

Shadrach frowned. "Is it possible for someone to go back in time and do something as simple as preventing a portal from being sealed? The answer is yes. Whether preventing the portal from being sealed can significantly change history, the answer is not known. Once we understood what they were, all backdoors were sealed before anyone could go back and make any significant changes. However, it is not inconceivable that significant changes can occur. As for the backdoor on Najora, when we realized that it opened at a time near when the portal was sealed, we contacted three magical folk to help to apply a charm that would seal the backdoor with extra security."

"Who helped you?" asked Alia.

"The elven prince, the king of the dwarfs and the queen of the fairies," replied Shadrach. "Each contributed to the security of the backdoor on Najora and each was sworn to secrecy."

"How secure is the back door in time on Najora?" Oriane asked. "If it cannot be breached, then there is no possibility that Malvo can go back."

"It is secured in three ways. The backdoor on Najora was made invisible by the elven prince. It is visible only via elven fire. Elven fire has illumination capabilities that enable its user to see past charms and spells. It is used by elves during exploration or investigation to find their way in enchanted places. Its use is restricted and the supply is closely guarded. Even if one can see it, the backdoor can only be opened by inserting a jewel from the dwarf king's sword in the lock mechanism and reciting a charm placed by the fairy queen."

"Very secure, but not unbreakable," Oriane said. "Can you tell us anything else you have learned in your investigations of the backdoors in time?"

"We have learned to talk about time not only as when but where on the timeline something takes place. There is one great flow of time and each person has a pathway in that time. Each person's pathway is their timeline. You are born at the beginning of your timeline, you travel within it and, when you reach the end, you are done. You die. When you are born, your timeline is established. That is, when you are born, the time that you will cease to exist is established. If you travel outside of your timeline, your progress on your timeline is temporarily suspended. If are out of your timeline and something happens that causes you to cease to exist in that time, that is, you die; you will wake up in your original timeline where you left it. You cannot die outside of your timeline."

"What happens if someone goes back in time and does something that changes your timeline?" Will asked.

Shadrach answered, "You have only one timeline because there is only one you. Your timeline would not split into the present timeline and the altered timeline. If someone goes back in time and does something that changes the path that you yourself are on then the environment or circumstances of your present will change. Your existing timeline ceases to exist from the time of the change forward and the new, altered timeline takes over. It is as if the story of everything you did during your old timeline is rewritten starting at the time of the change. And your memories of the old timeline would evaporate. There may be a period of confusion when memories from your new timeline compete with memories from your old timeline but, we think in a week or so, memories from your old timeline would fade and recollections of your new past would take over. However, your replaced past may be available to you in your dreams. For example, let's say that you are a sailor in a certain country. If someone went into your past and took you as a child to a new country where there were no oceans, your timeline and your life would develop in that new country. Perhaps you would become a blacksmith. In the present, over a short time, you would forget about your life and experiences as a sailor. But you may have dreams about being a sailor. Note however that these conclusions are from very few instances. As I said earlier, no one has ever gone back in time and done something so significant that it has changed the lives of more than one or two people. Once we discovered the disruptions that could be caused by going back in time, we sealed off all backdoors in time that were found.

"What happens if you go back to a time within your own timeline?" asked Alia. "Can you meet yourself?"

Shadrach shook his head. "As I indicated, there is only one timeline. There is only one you. If you go back to a previous spot on your own timeline, you would find that you are inhabiting your younger body from that timeline, but have all of the memories of your oldest lifetime."

"What happens if you go back in time in one world and take a portal to another world?" asked Oriane. "Are you in the past or the present?"

"The worlds are linked. If you go back in time on one world, you go back in all worlds. But the space-time link is slippery. As Mr. Dunstable explained, timepieces regulate time on each world and part of what they do is to keep time regular and flowing in one direction. Having portals between different worlds each with their own timepiece adds a bit of slipperiness to the system. Space-time refuses to be perfectly aligned. A day spent on one world may be a week lost on another. You might even go to another world for a short time and come back slightly before you left. The portals link worlds and the timepieces make time flow uniformly on each world, but the space-time relationship between worlds is slightly fluid. You may notice that you go to a different world and spend what seems to be a good amount of time but, on returning to your world, only a few minutes have passed. Or the other way around.

Both Alia and Will nodded. On their trips to Alderwood and Tarda, what seemed to be weeks had only been hours when they returned to their homeworld.

Oriane spoke. "So if Malvo Blackthorne can get into the time-tunnel on Najora, and if he can prevent the portal to Zorn from being sealed, the past twenty years would be re-set and the armies of the Foundation and their leaders would be able to go out and conquer the worlds, changing history."

"That is correct," replied Shadrach

"But we could go back through the time-tunnel on Najora and stop Malvo if we had to," said Will.

"You two could, but Oriane should not," Shadrach said. "Both, elves and fairies should not go back. At least the few who have tried have become very ill almost immediately after having passed through the backdoor. But they recovered quickly when they turned around and came back. No one knows why. It would be best to avoid anyone going back in time. The fewer people who go back, the less chance of anyone causing a disturbance that will ripple through time. If it is Malvo Blackthorne's intention is to go back and prevent the portal from being sealed and you can prevent him from opening the backdoor on Najora, you would not need to travel into the past."

"You said that the present is linked to a specific time in the past. If we had to go back in time, how long would we have before we cannot get back to the present?" Will asked.

"At least a few days, a week at most," Shadrach responded.

"We need to get back to Najora and check on the backdoor in the timekeeper's cottage," said Will. "If Malvo has not yet gone back in time, then we can head him off before he has access to elven fire, the dwarf king's jewel or the fairy charm."

"Agreed," said Oriane with Alia nodding in agreement.

"From here, we will need to go back to Pinsor then to Najora," Oriane said. "On Najora, there are portals to both the elf world and the dwarf world. Hopefully we can intercept him."

Shadrach stood. "I have something for you." He reached into a pocket of his robe and took out a black key. It looked like a key to an old door lock; with an ornate circular bow on one end, and a stem with an intricate end with a pattern of cuts and shapes to fit the lock mechanism itself.

"This is a master key that fits the timekeeper's cottages. I hope that you will not need it, but it will give you access to the cottage in case you find that you need to get inside to access the backdoor."

He held out the key. Will looked at Oriane who nodded, motioning for him to take the key which he slipped into his pocket.

Will, Alia and Oriane thanked Shadrach. With Oriane in the lead, they moved to the fireplace and stepped into the portal. Stepping through, they felt a dry breeze as they stepped into the copse of trees in the small oasis in the desert of Ordinare. Oriane led them about a quarter of a mile across the desert, back to the portal in the dune and back to Pinsor. In a very short time, they were able to descend below ground and found themselves back in the dwarf subway on Pinsor.

There were a few cars waiting at the long globe-lit platform that was part of the dwarf subway. Will spied a car underneath an arrow with a sign that read _Portal_.

"This must be the way," he said, looking back at Oriane for confirmation.

Oriane nodded. "You're getting the hang of this."

As soon as they all clambered in, the car began to move into the unlit tunnel system, building up speed as the cool wind of the cavern whistled past. Before long, the car began to slow. It entered into a small cavern lit by orbs protruding from the cave wall and stopped at the platform. At the end of the platform, Will recognized the stone stairway they had used to descend from the surface.

The trio scrambled out of the car and up the stairs with Will in the lead.

"Just push," Oriane directed Will, who had paused where the stairway ended at the crystalline white rock. Will pushed and the rock slid soundlessly out of the way. Will scrambled up, followed by Alia and Oriane. They were on the edge of the meadow, the smooth white rocks that held the portal to Najora were easily visible at the center of the blue-green grass meadow. They walked the short distance to the rocks and stepped through the portal to Najora.

# Chapter 4. Silva

They found themselves coming out of the gray clump of boulders directly across from the mold-covered stone wall that concealed the stairway to the dwarf subway on Najora. Oriane pushed on the stone wall and it slid aside, allowing them access to the stairway and the platform below. This time, there were several small cars at different places along the platform.

Alia turned and addressed her brother and Oriane, "Should we go to the timekeeper's cottage and see if Malvo has already gone back in time or at least tried to open the backdoor or should we just go to Silva, Silexa or Glymr and try to head him off?"

"I think we should check the backdoor at the timekeeper's cottage, to see if he's gone through. If he hasn't, maybe we can catch him before he gets the three things that will allow him to open the door," Will said.

"Agreed," said Oriane. "Once we know he hasn't gone back in time, we should scoot over to Silva. The portal to Silva and the timekeeper's cottage are in the woods near the old castle, so we can get from the cottage to the portal pretty quickly."

"How do we know which car will take us near the timekeeper's cottage," asked Alia, waving at the cars spaced out along the platform and looking for a sign on the wall of the cavern.

"It should be the first one," said Oriane. She led them to the first car in the row and pointed to the small figure of a castle etched into the stone of the platform. "This one will take us to where we first got on when we arrived in Najora. It is the one nearest the castle. Hop in."

As soon as they were in, just as before, the lights in their car blinked off and the car plunged into the darkness of the tunnel system. After several minutes, the car began to slow, then emerged into a cavern, cavern lights blinking on as the car stopped next to a platform.

Will spied the stone stairway leading to the surface and climbed up, leading his sister and Oriane. At the top of the steps, Will reached up and tapped the base of the pink rock over the opening, which slid aside, allowing them to climb up onto the trail in the woods. They were not far from a main road and could hear the passing of cars and trucks below them.

"There's public transportation to the town nearby," said Oriane. "This way."

She led them down the path, the sounds from the traffic on the road growing louder. The trail took a sharper pitch down, then led to a small parking lot just beyond the end of the forest.

Oriane pointed to the small covered shelter at one end of the parking lot. "Bus stop." She said leading the way.

"Do we need to purchase tokens to ride the bus?" asked Alia.

"Public transportation is free to citizens of Najora and, since we look like everyone else, we should be fine," remarked Oriane, placing a knit cap on her head and pulling it down to conceal her pointed ears.

In a few minutes, a bus stopped at the platform. As they boarded the bus, the driver smiled at Will and said, "Najapt."

Will looking puzzled, froze and glanced at Oriane directly behind him.

Oriane reached into her pocket and pulled out a pinch of dust, which she sprinkled on his neck, pretending to straighten his collar. She then turned and did the same to Alia.

The bus driver looked at Will and again said, "Najapt," this time Will heard, "Good-day."

Will smiled and said, "Yes it is, thank you, good-day to you." From the grin he received from the driver, he took to mean that somehow his response had been translated into a language that the driver understood.

Relieved, he made his way to a relatively isolated bench seat at the back of the bus and was joined by Oriane and Alia.

"What was that?" Will said to Oriane.

"My fault," replied Oriane. "On so many of these worlds, we all understand each other. I forgot that Najora is one of those rare worlds that have a distinctly different language."

"So the fairy dust works as a translator. What else does fairy dust do that we might want to know?" said a surprised Alia.

"The list is too long," replied Oriane, nonchalantly looking out the window of the bus.

Will nudged his sister and raised his eyebrows. "We have our magical abilities and Oriane has fairy dust. What else could we need?" he said, grinning.

The bus made its way through the outskirts of town, stopping twice to let passengers on and off, making its way around the edge of the city. Both Alia and Will noticed that most of the people were dressed in loose-fitting clothing in muted colors similar to what they wore on their own world.

They passed through the edge of the downtown business district. Here the buildings were taller and the shops larger with showcase windows displaying whatever was the specialty of the store. Soon they could see the castle coming up on their left, the parapets of its towers silhouetted against the blue sky. As it pulled into a stop in front of the castle, Oriane whispered, "The timekeeper's cottage is in the woods just behind the castle. We should get off here."

After disembarking from the bus, Will and Alia followed Oriane as she led them directly toward the castle.

"I thought we needed to get to the woods behind the castle," said Alia.

"There's a shortcut from inside the castle," explained Oriane. "Besides, I want to take a quick look at the portal to Zorn."

The three walked out of the paved parking lot in front of the castle and onto the wide cobblestone walkway that led to the gatehouse. At the gatehouse, they were greeted by helmeted men dressed in colorful garb, decoratively stitched doublets overshirts with long pants and knee-length boots.

"Welcome to castle Najor. Please feel free to take the self-guided tour," one of the men said as he handed each of them a brochure.

The three walked through the arched gatehouse under the portcullis and into a large courtyard. Some people were strolling in and out of the main part of the castle, the central keep across the courtyard from where they had entered while they could see others peeking down from the parapets in the battlements on the high walls that surrounded the keep.

Oriane pointed to a tower in the far corner of the outer wall. "There's a portal to Silexa, the dwarf homeworld, located in the basement of that tower," she said.

They followed the path that led across the grassy courtyard between the gatehouse and the castle keep. In the center of the courtyard was a giant pedestal made up of rectangular marble slabs rising above head height. A statue of a crowned figure on a horse stood atop the pedestal facing toward the gatehouse. An inscribed metal plaque in the shape of a shield was bolted to the middle of the marble base.

"Beloved King Zedekiah," said Oriane, reading the inscription on the plaque. "He conquered all and brought peace and prosperity to this world."

"Every other portal we have encountered is at a distance from the population," commented Alia. "How did this one get to be in the middle of a castle?"

"Long ago, this was far from anywhere," Oriane replied. "It was a boulder field. But one of the first kings needed a castle far from his enemies. And he needed stones to build the castle walls. So he had his workmen build the castle here. It took 10 years. As you know, most humans cannot see portals. They could not see the portal to Zorn either. It was located in a huge boulder in the middle of the boulder field. In fact, the boulder was so large, the workmen could not budge it, so they built a monument around it. That same monument was later used to honor King Zedekiah – the rider of the horse you see on top of the stone slabs."

"So, the portal is in the base of the monument?" asked Alia.

"Yes, but it's sealed with a charm. It appears not to have been tampered with," replied Oriane, examining the pedestal carefully as they walked around it.

"So Malvo has not even tried to access the portal," Will concluded.

"Agreed," said Oriane. "Let's get to the timekeeper's cottage."

Will and Alia followed Oriane as she led them around the pedestal, across the courtyard and through the massive wooden double doors that served as the entrance to the castle keep. The doors opened immediately into a great hall that extended two stories tall with arched doorways along both sides opening into other rooms. There were several people slowly walking along the periphery of the hall, admiring the tapestries and paintings that hung from the walls as well as the suits of armor on display spaced around the room. Oriane led them in a slow walk along the hallway almost to the end and turned through the last arched doorway into what appeared to be a large dining room complete with a long central table able to sit 50 or so people. Here there were fewer people admiring the intricately carved chairs and side tables and reading the historical descriptions on plaques fixed to the walls. Still moving like casual tourists, Oriane led them through a smaller door off of the dining room into what appeared to be a large kitchen, complete with two clay ovens and several fireplaces. At one end of the room was a large stone fireplace with a spit long enough for a whole pig or cow. Next to the fireplace was a latched wooden door with a neatly lettered sign, Staff only. Do not Enter.

Oriane looked around. No one else was in the room.

"Here we go," she said as she quickly opened the door, motioning for Alia and Will to move through, then following them and shutting the door behind her. They were in a dimly lit hallway that continued toward the back of the castle. On either side of the hallway, doorways opened into empty rooms.

"This was the working corridor," Oriane informed them. "It leads from a delivery doorway at the back of the keep so deliverymen could deliver supplies to the castle. When the castle was functioning, these rooms would be full of whole halves of animal carcasses hanging from the ceiling or fruits and vegetables stored in bins, basic supplies for cooking, or even table linens and cutlery. But we are looking for a hidden doorway almost at the end of this hallway."

Alia led as they made their way down the long hallway, eventually ending up where the hallway met the wall of the back of the keep. On their left was an archway that opened into a delivery room, complete with a large wooden door on the back wall. Built into a single large stone on the wall on their right was a dry fountain with the head of a lion against a background of blue tiles, the lion's tongue forming a spout which would have deposited water into a large basin built into the floor.

"That was once spring-fed," said Oriane. "But it's been diverted." She counted the tiles behind the lion's head and, arriving at one particular tile, she placed her palm on the tile and pushed. With a very slight scraping sound, the whole fountain pivoted from the wall on one side, revealing an opening coming up to the height of Oriane's chin.

"The residents were smaller then," she remarked as she ducked through the opening.

As soon as Will and Alia were through the opening, Oriane pointed to a small lever hidden in the wall. "Pull that."

Will pulled the lever and the stone closed, plunging them into total darkness, but only for a second as Will murmured a charm, while at the same time Oriane pulled some glowing fairy dust from her pocket. Will held a flashlight, and the glow from Oriane's upturned palm illuminated the surrounding area. Oriane looked at Will and shrugged. She closed her palm, dousing the fairy dust and leaving Will's flashlight as their source for illumination.

"I'm keeping track," remarked Alia. "That's one more thing she can do with fairy dust."

Will pointed the light away from the opening through which they had just come. Now they could see the rough-cut walls of a tunnel, its stone pathway leading slightly downward, its walls glistening as tiny mineral flecks in the stone reflected the light. With Will in the lead, they moved downward, following the tunnel, feeling its cool air and detecting a faintly musty smell.

"What is this tunnel, a secret entrance?" asked Alia.

"Entrance and exit," said Oriane. "It was mostly used by the various wizards attached to the castle. Besides this way in and out, there are a whole series of passages within the castle walls with spy holes into almost every room of the castle. That way the wizards would always know what was going on in the castle and could leave the castle without anyone knowing they were gone. It opens in the woods behind the castle. From there, it's just a short walk to the timekeeper's cottage."

The tunnel was wide enough for Oriane and Alia to see the illumination from the flashlight even though they were walking behind Will, but they all had to travel hunched over as the height of the passage never changed. After traveling downward for a hundred yards, the pathway leveled off, then began to rise.

"We're under the back wall of the castle," remarked Oriane. "Just a hundred more yards and we will be out."

They continued on, the tunnel floor rising a bit more steeply as they made their way along the cool, slightly damp passageway. At last they arrived at the end as the tunnel opened into a small round room. There was a small latched half-door built into one of the curved walls of the room. Oriane popped the latch and opened the door, revealing a finely woven thatch blocking the opening. She pushed out and the block of thatch moved as a unit, allowing sunlight to stream in through a curtain of green vines hanging over the opening.

Will and Alia followed Oriane out, watching as she closed the door and replaced the block of thatching, then rearranged the vines over the thatching completely hiding the doorway.

Will and Alia looked around. They had come out through a rocky outcropping several yards from the outer wall of the castle and near the beginning of the woods. Will pointed to a large tree growing nearby, its step-like arrangement of branches and its distinctive peeling gray bark giving it a distinctive appearance.

"That should help us remember the location of the secret entrance," he said as Alia nodded in acknowledgement.

"This way to the timekeeper's cottage," said Oriane, moving down a trail that led into the woods. Alia and Will concentrated on not tripping on the numerous tree roots crisscrossing the trail.

They hadn't gone far when Alia noticed that Oriane had slowed slightly. She noticed that Oriane was occasionally peeking back at her and her brother. Alia gazed around at the woods surrounding them on all sides. She felt something, she just couldn't quite tell what it was. Then she realized.

"It's there isn't it?" she said, pointing to the area just ahead to the left of the trail.

Will looked to where Alia was pointing at large boulders and a scattering of bushes strewn about a small meadow.

"What's there?" Will asked. Then he noticed that Oriane was nodding and smiling.

"The timekeeper's cottage," Oriane and Alia answered in unison.

Oriane moved up the trail. Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out some dust, and continued, moving several yards off of the trail around several of the larger boulders. Finally, she stopped and sprinkled the dust around her. A few of the bushes disappeared and, in their place, stood the front porch of the timekeeper's cottage.

"How did you know?" asked Will, looking at his sister.

"I'm not sure, I just felt it," she said.

Will stepped onto the porch of the cottage and knocked on the door, paused, then knocked again. There was no answer, nor did he hear anyone moving inside. Will reached into his hold-all pocket and brought out the key that Shadrach, the chief timekeeper, had given them, fitting it into the keyhole below the burnished door knob and turning it. With a click, the door unlocked, and Will turned the knob, opening the door and peeking inside.

"No one's home," he said, opening the door wider and going inside, followed by Alia and Oriane.

The three looked around. The inside of the cottage was neat and clean with furniture dusted and kitchen utensils hanging near the sink by one wall. The timepiece hummed quietly in the center of the room. Someone was maintaining the cottage, but it did not appear as though anyone had been there recently.

All three stared at the far wall, the wall that they understood held the backdoor to time. It appeared undisturbed.

Oriane took a pinch of dust and flung it at the wall. Jagged black scorch marks appeared.

"He's been here," said Oriane. "It looks like he tried to do something but the backdoor isn't even visible. He failed."

"Which means that we still have a chance to head him off," said Will. "We have to assume that he knows what he needs to crack that door." He looked at Oriane. "You said there was a portal to the elven homeworld nearby. Which way do we go?"

Before Will even finished his question, Oriane was back out the door. Will and Alia followed as Oriane resumed walking on the path they had been following, her long strides leading them quickly deeper into the woods. In about a mile, she slowed slightly, looking more closely at the surrounding forest.

"Ah," she said, moving off the path and leading them to a stout tree, its wide trunk covered with green fungus over a peeling brown bark. She moved around the tree and motioned for Will and Alia to follow. As they neared the back of the tree, the twins could see the opening of the portal.

"Please, step through," Oriane said standing aside and motioning for Alia to go first followed by Will.

They found themselves coming out of the corner of a wall into a small room with white stone walls. Three of the walls were hung with tapestries while the bulk of the room was taken up by a large wooden table with ornately carved legs and four chairs on a red rug that covered almost the entire floor. To their left was a heavy wooden door on black metal hinges.

Will noticed that Alia and Oriane were now dressed in green shirts with brown pants and boots. He glanced down. He too had undergone the transition traveling through the portal and was in clothing suitable for hiking in a forest.

"We are in a lower room in the elven castle on Silva," Oriane told them.

"What do we need to do to find the elves?" asked Alia.

"They know we are here," replied Oriane. "We just wait."

They waited only a few minutes. The lever that secured the door moved, and the door opened. In front of them stood a tall, slim man dressed in garb similar to theirs. His however was tailored to fit his form and its colors were just a tad brighter and the cloth was finer. He had short close-cut brown hair, was tan and clean shaven, with ears just slightly more pointed than Oriane's. He turned to look at them and a smile spread across his face.

"Oriane! I was told it was you." He approached the group in two strides and hugged Oriane, lifting her off her feet and setting her down carefully. They were of the same height. He held her at arm's length and looked into her eyes, his eyes sparkling. "How long has it been?"

"It has been three years," Oriane replied calmly. It was the kandrakes.

"Kandrakes! That's right. Nasty beasts. They had wandered through the portal into another world. They could have wreaked havoc on that population if we had not interceded. You found them and we captured them. Once returned to their own world, they settled down and were fine." He turned and focused on Will and Alia.

"I apologize. I am not ignoring you. But this woman and I have worked together on a couple of issues and I do miss her company. I am Elan, elf soldier and troubleshooter. And you are the Watchers, Retrievers to be more exact. Will and Alia, I presume." He bowed slightly in their direction.

Will and Alia were taken aback. Both at the speed with which Elan had swept in and the fact that he knew of them.

Alia was the first to recover. She stepped forward and offered her hand, which Elan grasped and shook.

"How do you know who we are?" she asked.

"Oh, Mr. Weldon sent word that you might be headed this way," replied Elan as he stepped over to Will and shook the hand that Will offered.

"What have you learned about the escape of Malvo Blackthorne?" Elan asked.

Oriane filled him in on what they had discovered about the escape and the possibilities outlined by the chief timekeeper.

"But he needs elven fire to access the lock on the time-tunnel," Elan said after listening carefully. "Then we are in luck. The elven fire is well guarded and we have not had any disturbances."

"We need to visit your timekeeper's cottage," said Oriane matter-of-factly. "Can you take us there?"

"Certainly," replied Elan. "It is a day's walk deep into the woods." He smiled. "But I suspect that you do not have that kind of time. Please follow me."

He led them out of the room into a long corridor and up three flights of stairs to what Will figured must be the main floor of the castle. They passed ornately furnished rooms hung with tapestries depicting various forest scenes. some with unrecognizable and unusually colored wildlife, some with scenes of elves battling various armed beasts and some with elves in tiaras and crowns in poses of serene majesty. Their passing was noted by elves, some in soldiers' uniforms, others in very fine clothing, but many dressed in outdoor-colored browns and greens similar to what Elan wore. The elves glanced at them as they passed but paid them little attention, simply smiling a greeting to Elan and nodding at his guests. They exited through a huge double door, down a cascade of stone steps onto a spacious grassy courtyard. The high exterior walls of the castle were over 50 yards away.

Elan took out a small silver whistle, put it to his lips and blew.

Will heard a tiny, faint melodic sound.

They waited in silence. Only a minute. Elan looked at Oriane and winked. A little breeze began to blow. Will followed Elan's gaze, looking up into the sky beyond the castle walls. Tiny dots, maybe a small flock of birds in the distance. Coming their way. Four birds. But not small - they were getting larger as they approached. Will could make out wings flapping. White. NOT birds. Horses! Winged horses! Down they swooped out of the sky and landed on the grassy courtyard in front of them. Four beautiful winged white horses.

One horse stepped forward and looked at Elan. "You called?" A female voice sounded in Will's head. Just as the dragon Ramador had spoken to them in Alderwood, the horse's lips did not move but, a soft voice sounded in Will's head.

Will was stunned. "Horses, with feathered wings. It can't be."

"And yet here they are," said Elan, grinning while he grasped the mane of the nearest horse and threw himself up between the mare's wings.

Alia mounted without hesitation, as did Oriane.

Grabbing the silver reins on the neck of her horse, Alia looked down at her brother. "Hard time believing in a horse with wings but it didn't bother you that she talked. Let's go brother."

Elan whispered in his mare's ear, and she leaped into the sky with a powerful surge of her white wings. "Hold on," he called back.

Will mounted and flattened himself on his horse's back, gripping her tightly as she vaulted upward, her powerful wings carrying him above the castle walls, its tall spires and crenelated parapets flashing in the sun as they flew above them and toward the forest.

As they flew high over the forest canopy, the woods below seemed endless, but Will could see breaks in the canopy where sharply peaked roofs of houses appeared in clusters of small villages.

The horses banked, flying over fewer and fewer villages as the land began to rise and mountain peaks appeared. Will notice that they were headed toward what seemed to be a clearing in the woods at the base of one of the peaks. In unison, the mares swooped down and landed at one edge of the clearing.

Elan and Oriane bounded off of their mares while Alia and Will, a little less practiced at dismounting from winged horses, scrambled down.

"How long do you need here?" asked Elan.

"Only a few minutes," replied Oriane and strode toward the middle of the clearing.

Will and Alia followed. Elan spoke to the horses, then he too followed.

Oriane stopped in the middle of the clearing and once again she repeated the process she had performed on Pinsor, reaching into her pouch, taking a handful of fairy dust and flinging it into the air in front of her.

The air shimmered and a timekeeper's cottage appeared. Oriane turned to Will palm out and said, "Will, the key please."

Will reached into his hold-all pocket and produced the key, placing it on Oriane's upturned palm. She strode directly to the front door and inserted the key into the lock under the burnished brass knob, unlocking the door, opening it and moving inside. Will, Alia and Elan followed her as she moved to the middle of the room and stopped at the timepiece. Here she removed some more dust from her pouch and sprinkled it on the floor around the timepiece.

"What are you looking for?" asked Elan.

"There," said Oriane, pointing to a spot on the floor.

Will and Alia saw the tiny amount of glitter on the floor where Oriane was pointing.

"The tracking powder has almost exhausted its useful time, but Malvo has been here," said Oriane, shaking her head.

"What does that mean?" asked Elan.

"It means that he has most probably stopped time and used that to steal a small portion of elven fire without being detected."

"Is that possible?" asked Elan, frowning.

Will answered. "Someone did the same thing on Pinsor to free Malvo. Now it looks like Malvo is using the same trick."

"We must go to the place where the elven fire is kept," said Oriane. "If he was there, we will still see some sign."

The four ran back to the horses, who were waiting calmly. They mounted swiftly and, with Elan in the lead, were quickly airborne.

Flying back in the direction they had come, the castle soon appeared on the horizon and the horses turned and headed directly toward it. The castle loomed larger and larger as its four turreted white stone towers rose above the green forest that surrounded it, its central keep capped by a tower with a flag snapping in the breeze and several large courtyards within the walls.

In almost no time, they were swooping down, landing in the courtyard in front of the main doors to the castle keep. The four dismounted and Elan spoke briefly to the horses, thanking them and telling they were no longer needed. The mares nodded good-by to Will, Alia and Oriane then turned and leaped into the sky, their powerful wings pushing them quickly high in the sky. In only a minute, they were tiny dots against the blue sky.

Elan turned and led his companions up the stone stairs and through the doors to the castle. They walked down the main hallway, then turned and descended a long stairway. They followed him deeper and deeper down the stairway, heading to the bowels of the castle. Finally, they reached another large wooden door hung on iron hinges with an ornate burnished metal lock. Guards stood on either side of the door.

Elan spoke to the guards. "We need to enter."

One guard removed a large silver key from a pouch at his side, entered it in the lock and, with two hands, twisted it to unlock the door.

Elan pushed the door open and, followed by Oriane, Will and Alia, entered a high-ceilinged room that was approximately 20 feet on a side. Rough cut stone walls gave a clear indication that the room had been carved from the bedrock beneath the castle. Even with dark gray stone walls, the room was brightly lit with the source coming from the center of the room where a circular firepit knee high and six feet in diameter rose from the floor. Several tongues of flames burned softly, emitting a blue edged white light. A heavy oak table was placed against one wall. On the table were several rows of unlit lanterns of different sizes. Despite the flames burning in the fire pit, the air in the room was cool.

"There's no heat," noted Will. "What is the fuel for the fire?"

"The energy from elven fire is almost completely light," Elan said. "The fuel is a secret formula that is compounded in the workshop in the next room."

"If the fire is used to see things hidden through charms and spells, how is it transported to where it is needed?" asked Will.

Elan moved to a table on one side of the room and picked up a goblet. He moved to the fire and scooped into its base, partially filling the lantern. He raised the lantern up and lifted the shield that covered its globe turning to face his associates.

The fire within the lantern cast a bright light in whichever direction it was pointed.

"It's that simple," he said.

Oriane approached the fire pit, took out some dust and sprinkled it on the floor as she circled the pit. She walked slowly, examining the floor closely. Then she stopped. She pointed to a spot on the floor and looked at Alia and Will.

Will and Alia came over and looked where Oriane was pointing. They could see a tiny trace of glitter.

"He's been here," Alia exclaimed. "We've missed him and he's got the fire."

"But how could he have gotten past the guards, plus the door is always locked."

"Quite simple, I'm afraid," answered Oriane. "If he stopped time, he could have walked to the guards, removed the key from the guard's pouch, used it to enter the room, then simply replaced it on his way out. The tracer is almost extinguished, but it clearly indicates that he has been here recently."

"What now?" asked Will.

"We have two chances left; we need to prevent Malvo from obtaining the fairy charm to the backdoor in time on Najora and the dwarf king's sword that holds the jewel that is needed to access the door," replied Oriane. "The charm is written in the fairy Book of Knowledge held in the castle on Glymr and the dwarf king, with his sword, is somewhere on Silexa, the dwarf homeworld; probably in or near his castle. I suggest that we split up. I will go to Glymr to make sure the fairy Book of Knowledge is secure and extra guards are put in place and you two will go to Silexa to confer with the dwarf king. We can meet up at the castle on Najora and decide on how best to recapture Malvo once we have prevented him from acquiring what he needs to go back in time."

"There is a portal to Silexa in a room in the basement of the castle down the hall from the one which brought you from Najora," said Elan. "I will show Alia and Will where it is. Then I must alert the Council of Elders as to what has happened. They will surely want to help with the search for Malvo Blackthorne."

Oriane said. "If somehow, he obtains the charm and the jewel, hopefully we can stop him from using them to unlock the door. We don't know how far ahead of us he is, so we must plan for the worst. Please alert the Council that we may need the use of elven fire. If we fail to stop Malvo from going back in time, we will need to follow him back and stop him from alerting the Founders that the portal is going to be sealed."

"I hope it will not come to that," said Elan.

"But we have to be ready to do whatever it takes to stop Malvo Blackthorne," noted Alia.

Will and Oriane nodded in agreement.

Elan escorted the others out of the room and back up the main hallway. The main doors were open and they could see the green grass of the castle courtyard. Oriane popped into her fairy form and disappeared out the doorway on her way back to Glymr.

Elan led Alia and Will down another set of stairways and down a corridor and opened a door into a small room lit by globes embedded in the walls and furnished with a few tapestries and plush sofa flanked by two end tables with a large mirror attached to the wall at one end.

"The portal is there," Elan said, pointing to the mirror on the wall. "I will leave to go address the Council. Success to you." He turned and disappeared back down the corridor.

Alia and Will looked, turning their heads slightly and squinting in the way they had been taught to look for portals. The dark oval portal opening showed in the middle of the mirror.

Will and Alia walked past the sofa and chairs, making their way to the portal.

"Here goes," said Will as he stepped through.

# Chapter 5. Silexa

Passing through the portal, they exited into a small room with roughhewn brown stone walls lit by flaming torches protruding at an angle from each of the four walls. There was a single doorway cut in the wall to their right, and directly in front of them stood a short, stout man with a weathered complexion, his lower face covered with a full brown beard, his dark brown hair falling below his ears. He was clad in leather armor, complete with knee-high leather boots. One hand rested calmly on the broad sword hanging from his side as he looked directly at them.

"State your business and who you are."

"I am Will Barclay and this is my sister Alia. We come as members of the Watchers. We urgently need to talk to the king."

"You have come to the right place," the man replied. "I am Gharth of the king's guards. You are in the lower reaches of the king's castle, having come from the elf world. Not many know of this portal."

"Are there other portals on Silexa?" asked Alia.

"Besides this one, there are three other portals to other worlds," replied Gharth.

"It is important that we see the king right away," Will said.

"That would be difficult," Gharth answered. "The king is out on a hunt, but he should return in a few hours. I can escort you to the main hall where you can wait for him."

"A prisoner has escaped from Pinsor," explained Will, urgency creeping into his voice. "We think he may try to steal a jewel from the king's sword."

"The king always has his sword at his side," replied Gharth. "But stealing it would be difficult. The king is a master swordsman and a stout fighter. I pity the thief who tries to take it from him."

"Even if the thief is Malvo Blackthorne?" Alia asked.

Gharth stiffened notably and frowned. "Malvo Blackthorne! The escaped prisoner is Malvo Blackthorn! The king is in danger. Follow me," he said, turning and running out through the open doorway.

Alia sped past Will and through the doorway as she moved to follow Gharth already several yards ahead in the hallway.

"I guess that got his attention."

Will followed his sister out of the room and down the hallway. Despite the fact that their legs were substantially longer than those of Gharth, they were able to gain only slightly on the speedy dwarf. They managed to keep him in sight as he led them down a series of corridors and up several stairways. They caught up to him when he slowed on entering a large, well-lit room occupied by several dwarfs sitting at tables and eating.

"Darek," Gharth cried. "Where did the king go to hunt today and who is with him?"

All the seated dwarfs looked up, alerted at the entrance of their colleague followed by two strangers. One of them spoke. "He went to the south woods in hopes of bringing home a stag. He has Harrek and Flakki with him."

"Grab weapons and follow me," Gharth said addressing the seated dwarfs. "The king may be in danger." He turned and ran from the room, grabbing a sword from the wall as he ran past. Several of the men grabbed swords or crossbows and ran to catch up.

Will and Alia followed the dwarfs as they dashed down one long corridor and into a large open room with several openings spaced around the room. They saw all of the dwarfs disappear into one opening.

"Tunnels to somewhere," remarked Will, ducking his head as he darted in front of Alia through the opening.

After a short dash through a globe-lit tunnel, they exited into a small clearing in a forest surrounded by tall stout evergreens. The dwarfs had split up and were examining each of the paths that led from the clearing. Suddenly, one of them bent low then stood up and cried "This way." He jumped onto the path and disappeared into the woods closely followed by the others.

"This leads to a meadow where the king has his shooting blind," said Gharth over his shoulder to Alia and Will jogging behind him.

They rounded a corner as the trail opened onto the large meadow. At the edge of the meadow, they could see a shooting blind – a medium-sized tree house with firing ports for bows and crossbows 20 feet off of the ground, partially concealed by the boughs of the large tree. Part of the tree obscuring the blind had a large blackened area of singed leaves and burned wood. A large hole had been blown in the blind's wall overlooking the meadow. Two figures could be seen standing in the blind.

"Hallow the king," called Gharth hailing the king and his men.

Silence. There was no response from the shooting blind.

Gharth's forehead wrinkled in concern as he jogged toward the base of the large tree that held the blind. As they pushed through the tall brush, the base of the tree came into view. Gharth gasped.

"Flakki!".

Will looked over Gharth's shoulder. A dwarf clothed in camouflage hunting garb stood at the base of the tree facing them. His raised arm held a sword. But his eyes were glazed in a blank stare.

"He's been turned to stone!" cried Gharth, moving to the stiff dwarf and touching his solid figure.

He looked at Alia and Will. "I have heard that Watchers have certain skills. Can you help here?"

"I think so," said Will. He did not need to look into his charms book, which he always had handy in his pack or pocket. He could use the first charm he had ever learned from the book, the reversal charm. He reached out and touched the stone figure. " _Ramal versus exclamador_ ," he recited.

The figure of the petrified dwarf slowly softened. His eyes focused briefly, then he slumped to the ground in a heap, dropping his sword as he fell.

Alia reached over and felt his neck for a pulse.

"He's alive," she said as Gharth and his companions huddled around the fallen figure, looking concerned.

The prone figure began to snore.

Relief passed across the faces of the other dwarfs.

"Now that's the Flakki we know," said Gharth, smiling. "Should we wake him up?"

"We can try," answered Alia.

Gharth reached down and poked Flakki's substantial belly.

Flakki's eyes flew open. He looked up at the faces surrounding him.

"The king!" he said jumping to his feet. He looked at his empty hand, then cast around. Seeing his sword on the ground, he picked it up. "The king!" he repeated. "We must defend the king!"

Gharth moved to Flakki's side and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Steady, man. Tell us what happened."

We were all in the blind in the tree watching a truly magnificent stag enter the meadow. The king was prepared to take the first shot with his bow, but wanted to let the stag get closer. The stag walked closer and closer to us. Suddenly it changed to a man! He looked directly up to us and spoke saying, "King Rorek of Silexa, you have something I need."

The king asked the man what it was that he needed. The reply was, "Your sword."

The king laughed and dared the man to come and get it. The man pointed at us and a bolt of light flew from his hand. The tree was struck with such force that I was knocked down. I drew my sword and headed for the man, but something struck me from behind. That is all I remember."

"Where is the king?" asked Gharth.

"The last time I saw him, he was in the blind," Flakki answered.

Gharth darted over to the base of the tree and ascended the ladder that led up through a hole in the bottom of the blind.

"He's here!" he cried. "Will, please come."

Will climbed the ladder. Poking his head through the hole in the floor of the blind, he saw Gharth standing next to two dwarfs also dressed in camouflage hunting clothes, both turned to stone. Will scrambled up into the blind, followed by Alia. The larger dwarf had a full black beard and long black hair flowing from under a helmet plated in gold. Gharth was staring into his clouded unseeing eyes, scowling.

"He's turned the king to stone and Harrek too," he said, glancing at his other friend standing stiffly beside the king.

Will reached over and touched the king's elbow, reciting the reversing charm. Moving quickly, he did the same for the other dwarf. The features of both men softened as their eyes cleared. Eased down by Gharth, Will and Alia, both dwarfs slumped to the floor of the blind.

Alia reached over and picked up a broad sword that was on the floor at the king's feet. The pommel was decorated with several large rough-cut jewels, but at the very end was a void where the largest of the stones had clearly been removed.

"He took the jewel from the dwarf king's sword," she said, frowning. "He now has two of the three things he needs."

The king and Harrek appeared to be waking, but were scarcely able to sit up. By this time, a couple of the other dwarfs had also climbed up to the blind. Gharth had them find some rope and began to make a harness that they could use to lower the men from the blind.

Alia interrupted him. "I can help here," she said. "All Watchers have special skills. I can use mine for this. Help me move them onto this rug."

The dwarfs picked up the king and Harrek by the elbows and placed them side by side on a rug on the floor.

Alia pointed at the rug and raised her arm. The other dwarfs stepped back as the rug with its two passengers rose a few inches off of the floor of the blind. Alia directed the rug out through the hole in the blind's wall and lowered it and its two dazed passengers onto the ground below where they were surrounded by the other dwarfs on the ground. Alia scrambled back down the ladder, leaving the dwarfs looking from one to the other, marveling at what they had just seen.

"The next time we have boulders to shift, we will know who to call," Gharth said smiling as he too clambered back down to the ground.

By the time Will and the other dwarfs had made it back down, both the king and Harrek were up and walking around. Neither could remember anything except seeing a bolt of light hurtling toward them. Alia returned the king's sword. Noting the missing jewel, he placed it back in its scabbard at his side. The dwarfs offered to carry king Rorek back to the castle, but he refused. Walking slowly at first, the group hiked back down the trail to the tunnel system that served as a shortcut to and from the castle. They entered the tunnel and soon they were back in the great room of the castle. The king, looking more alert by the minute, sat on his chair at the head of a long table while Will, seated nearby, filled him in on what had transpired.

"So Malvo Blackthorne has escaped and you think he will try to go back in time and prevent the Watchers from sealing the portal from Najora to Zorn?" the king said to Will and Alia.

Will nodded. "We found out that there is a backdoor in time on Najora which goes back to the time just before the portal was sealed. If Malvo can alert the Foundation troops on Zorn, they can move to defend the portal. The original team of Watchers that sealed the portal was quite small. They would not be able to overcome the Foundation army."

"Malvo is a powerful wizard," said the king. "But how did he escape from Pinsor after all this time?"

"We don't know exactly," replied Alia. "But we know he had help. Someone interfered with the timepiece on Pinsor and caused time to stop and somehow helped him to escape without anyone knowing."

"I think he had help here too," Flakki said.

"What do you mean?" asked Will.

"I was not frozen by the first bolt of light, I was knocked out of the blind and onto the ground, but as I drew my sword to attack Malvo, something hit me from behind. It was not Malvo who turned me to stone."

"Remember that the key was copied by a woman," said Alia. "So there is a woman with some magical ability – at least enough to knock Flakki unconscious. A witch. Malvo has at least one witch helping him. And she must still be with him. All the more reason for us to hurry."

"What is next?" asked the king.

"We agreed to meet Oriane back at the castle in the capital city of Castleton. Hopefully, she has placed the fairy Book of Knowledge in a secure place," replied Will. "Once we know that it is safe, we can put together a plan to recapture Malvo. He seems to be always one step ahead of us, so we need to hurry."

"Then I will not keep you," replied the king. "But I want to thank you and Alia for what you have done both in your quest to stop Malvo and reversing the charm on my men and myself. Please let me know if there is anything that we can do. Dwarfs will do whatever it takes to prevent the return of the Foundation," intoned the king.

"For now, we're returning to Najora," said Alia. "It's going to take some time given that we came from Occassius through Silva and had the use of winged horses to travel between portals. Is there a faster way?"

"Of course," King Rorek answered. "We have another portal that will bring you directly to a room below one tower of the castle in Castleton. Our tunnel system leads from here to the portal. Gharth will show you."

And, with that, escorted by Gharth, they left the great room and made their way back down into the bowels of the castle. They passed the doorway to the room with the portal to the elf homeworld. This time Gharth led them to a room that had a few arched openings.

"On Silexa, there are portals to a few other worlds besides yours. Dwarfs have built a tunnel car system that connects to those portals."

"Tunnel cars. We used a system like this on Pinsor," said Alia. "A dwarf subway."

"Yes, you could say that," replied Gharth. "But ours are much more efficient than those on your world. Smaller cars, but faster." He led them to one opening.

"This one will take you to the portal to the castle on Najora. Step down to the platform and wait for the car."

"We appreciate all of the help you have given us," Will said. "Thank you."

"Hopefully we can visit some other time when things are less hectic," Alia said.

"You are always welcome here," Gharth said, stepping aside.

Will and Alia moved past Gharth and through the opening. There was a short, well-lit stone stairway leading to a small platform. In less than a minute, the globes illuminating the platform began to blink. They could hear the soft swish of a car moving through the tunnel just before the car came into view, slowing to a stop just in front of them and its door sliding open as a light came on inside. They hopped inside and the door slid shut as the car sped up, leaving the station and moving into the blackness of the tunnel system while rocking them back slightly as its speed continued to increase. The car moved slightly side-to-side as it was buffeted by the wind created by its swift travel in the darkness. No sooner had they been thrust back as the car accelerated than they found themselves tilt forward as the car began to slow and then stop as it pulled into a lit station. They clambered out of the car and onto a platform. From there, they could see a stone stairway leading to an opening to outside. They passed through the opening into a small clearing with a slab of jagged gray rocks that formed the base of the mountain, starting just a few feet away from their exit. They could see the portal in the cleft in the stone.

Alia turned and looked at her brother, "King Rorek said this portal leads into a room at the base of one of the towers in the castle. Where was Oriane going to meet us?"

"She said that her trip to Glymr would probably take less time than ours, so she would periodically check on the portal exit to see if we arrived at the castle. If we get there first, we should meet by the statue in the courtyard where the portal to Zorn is located. The room in the base of the tower is below where the public can tour, so we shouldn't have to worry about popping in on anyone. You first. I'm right behind you."

# Chapter 6. Things Change

Alia disappeared into the portal. Will was just stepping into the portal when he heard his sister's sharp cry from up ahead.

"Will!"

Even as he stepped through, Will was uttering his disappearing charm.

He stepped into a medium-sized circular room with walls of stone. Behind him, he noted that he had stepped out of a tall wardrobe set against the wall. A circle was painted around the portal with the sign Portal on a placard over the circle. Now everyone knows where it is, he thought to himself. Turning, he faced into the room. In front of him, his sister was slumped, with eyes closed and appeared unconscious, being held by two women in crisp white uniforms and caps, while a third was pulling over a chair. They sat her down and quickly bound her to the chair with several ties. Off to one side on a stand was a metal bird cage. But what was fluttering angrily inside was no bird. Oriane in her fairy form buzzed back and forth, striking the bars of the cage. Will watched in silence as Alia's eyelids flickered open.

"It is forbidden to use this portal without prior permission," said one woman, leaning over and speaking a few inches from Alia's face. "You must be part of the Resistance. Who else is with you?"

Alia, rapidly regaining her senses, looked at her captor. "Hmm. I must have gotten lost. I was visiting some dwarf friends; then suddenly I am here. Who are you?"

"We are Foundation police. Here to guard this portal." The guard motioned toward the cage holding Oriane. "We caught that one in this room and now you show up. Resistance nonbelievers always work in twos and threes. Now, who are your associates?"

"That would be me," said Will, making himself visible. The guard speaking to Alia stood up and turned to look at Will while drawing a stun device from a holster at her side. Her associates were also quick to pull out their weapons. Three arms raised as their owners moved to sight in on Will.

But Will was prepared by Alia's warning. He had his wand out when he made himself visible. Speaking the paralysis charm while using his wand to cast it at all three at once, he froze the Foundation police where they stood.

Will pointed the wand at Alia's bindings pronouncing " _Evanesco_ " and the bindings dissolved.

"I see you got my message," said Alia, rising from the chair and brushing the residue of the bindings from her wrists. She moved over to the cage where Oriane had stopped thumping against the bars and was hovering just inside the door of the cage. Alia reached up and tried to open the door.

"It's frozen shut," she said. "Must be charmed."

Will waved his wand in the direction of the door while speaking the reversing charm. The door glowed briefly, a light green. "Now try it."

Alia tried the door again and it opened easily, releasing Oriane who buzzed around the room, then settled and materialized to her human form.

"Thanks guys," she said. "It all happened so quickly, I had no time to warn you."

"What exactly happened?" asked Alia.

"I'm not sure," Oriane answered. "I arrived at the capital city on Glymr to find that the day before, the fairy Book of Knowledge had suddenly disappeared. No one knew how or why. But I knew. I explained to the fairy council about Malvo Blackthorne and how he escaped by stopping time. I knew I needed to get back and meet you two so we could make a plan. I arrived on Najora and things here had changed. Men and women in Foundation uniforms were everywhere. I tried to sneak down here and was surprised by these three guards. They stunned me before I could react."

"It has been less than 4 hours since we left here," said Will. "Malvo Blackthorne must have gone back in time and prevented the Watchers from sealing the portal."

"And in the blink of an eye, twenty years of history has changed," said Alia. "Since then, it appears that the Foundation has taken over this world and maybe more,"

Oriane pointed to the sign over the portal that Will had noticed, "They've marked the portal to Silva, so they may have taken over there too."

"The Gallery!" exclaimed Alia. "We should go back and see if they've taken over our world."

"Shadrach said that people impacted by the time change forget their original past and remember the new past; but I don't have memories of the Foundation being in charge," Will said.

He looked questioningly at Alia. She shook her head. "Me neither."

"That's interesting," replied Oriane. "I have not experienced any new memories. I do not remember the Foundation being around for the last 20 years."

"Maybe it takes a while to sink in," said Will, thinking out loud. "Or neither of our worlds has been taken by the Foundation. In any case, it's more important that we go back in time and reverse the changes. Unless he left the door wide open, we will need elven fire, the jewel from the dwarf king's sword and the charm from the fairy Book of Knowledge to open it. And the jewel and the book have been taken."

"The book was stolen, but I visited with one of the keepers of the book who kept copies of all of the charms. I have memorized the charm," said Oriane. "It must be spoken by one who has the power of spoken charms. That would be Will and not me."

"I am sure that Elan will lend us some elven fire once he knows how important it is," said Alia. "But the jewel to the dwarf king's sword has been stolen. What can we do?"

"Shadrach, the chief timekeeper, said a jewel from the dwarf king's sword, not the jewel," Will said. "Maybe another jewel will work. We will ask king Rorek to give us one of the jewels he has left and hope it works."

"I think we should get elven fire first," Oriane suggested. "Perhaps the Foundation has not overtaken Silva. We can see if the way out through the back of the castle is still available. Once we're out of the castle, we can hike to the portal to Silva. Then we can go Silva and get elven fire"

"Will can make us invisible, but it will be slow going shuffling through the castle for any distance and trying to stay together," said Alia.

"We need to blend in," said Will. "Oriane, can you pop into fairy mode and take a run around the castle to figure out how we need to look to blend in? I'm sure I can find a charm that will work."

"Great idea," said Oriane. "Make me invisible."

Will touched her on the sleeve while reciting the charm and Oriane disappeared.

Alia opened the door to the room a crack and peeked out. "All clear."

Will and Alia heard a slight pop and a light buzz that disappeared out the door.

"I need something to take care of these guards," Will muttered as he consulted his book of charms.

"Perfect," he said, reading a page. "This one is just what we need."

thi

He felt Oriane alight on his palm. "Now make me visible."

Will pronounced the charm and Oriane became visible, fluttering just above his palm. A small pop and she returned to her human form standing in front of him.

"It looks like the easiest way for us to blend in is to have uniforms like those," Oriane said, pointing to the sleeping guards. "And I can take care of that."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out some dust, sprinkling it over Will and Alia, then herself. Their clothing shimmered, then changed. Now they were all wearing clothes cut similar to the white uniforms of the Foundation guards, except theirs were a uniform beige color with the letter "F" in script emblazoned on a patch on each shoulder.

"There," said Oriane. "We are not dressed as guards, but we look like many of the Foundation people walking around outside."

Will panicked for a second, "My hold-all pocket . . . it is charmed and holds a ton of stuff."

"Check," said Oriane calmly.

Will dug his hand into his pocket, rummaging around. He could feel the stuff he kept there all intact. He smiled in relief.

"Fairy dust," exclaimed Alia. "I've got to have that recipe."

"Ok, through the castle and off to Silva," Will said.

Oriane pulled her cap over her pointed ears, "This way." She opened the door and walked out into the hallway. They found the stairway up to the ground floor of the tower and exited through a door into the courtyard at the far end of the castle grounds. People in Foundation uniforms, mostly the same color as the ones they wore, moved around the grounds of the castle. There were almost no natives of Najora to be seen except a few working quietly, heads down on landscaping chores.

Alia looked across the courtyard and gasped. "Well, I guess that answers that question," she said, pointing at the spot where the king's statue used to stand.

Will looked to where Alia was pointing. Where the statue of the king used to stand on the marble block that hid the portal to Zorn, now there was a large hexagonal shaped pavilion with an ornate roof supported by columns. At the center of the pavilion, clearly visible, was the portal through which a steady stream of people in uniforms were moving in and out.

"Not only is the portal open, but they've figured out a way to make it visible," remarked Will.

"Quite a bit has changed," whispered Oriane. She turned, leading them toward the doors leading into the castle keep.

This time, Will gasped. Over the doors were two huge posters depicting the faces of a man and a woman. The man had close-cropped gray hair and a short gray beard with dark eyes and a prominent nose. Even though he was smiling, his face gave off a no-nonsense air. The woman was significantly younger and was stunningly beautiful with long jet-black hair and a turned-up nose, sparkling emerald eyes, red lips and flawless white skin. Under the faces was a sign that read Our Leaders Malvo and Saldana.

"At least now we know what Malvo Blackthorne looks like and where he fits in all of this, but who is Saldana?" said Alia.

"Perhaps Elan can tell us when we get to Silva," said Oriane. "For now, let's get through the castle and out to the portal to Silva."

She led the way through the large doors that opened into the great hallway of the castle. Just inside the main doors was a display with large head and shoulder portraits labeled Our Leaders Malvo and Saldana – Saving the Foundation. Most of the men and women in Foundation uniforms passed the display only casually glancing at the portraits and the writing below; however, a few people were reading the writing and carrying on conversations.

Oriane, Will and Alia walked casually over to the display and read the writing below the pictures. The Foundation was saved when our leader Malvo Blackthorne fought courageously to prevent evil forces from trapping the Founders, their generals, and much of the Foundation armies on the Zorn homeworld. It is through his valiant effort and self-sacrifice that the Foundation nations have become what they are today.

The trio walked away, moving down the great hallway where men and women in Foundation uniforms, many the same beige color as those that the trio wore, bustled around moving across the great hallway from room to room. Most carried documents of some sort. The few people not in uniform wore plain clothes and were watering plants, emptying trash and doing various custodial chores.

"This looks to be some sort of administrative office," commented Will. "Not a place to visit for historical tours anymore. I'll bet those people not in Foundation uniforms are native Najorans. They all look like they would rather be somewhere else."

"We need to keep moving and look busy, or we'll stand out," said Oriane. She led them down the main hallway almost to its end and turned through the last archway into what used to be the dining room. The large table that they had seen before was gone, and the room was full of desks arranged in clusters of four or six, with people busily typing at computer terminals or shuffling papers at each desk. Moving like they had a purpose, Oriane led them through the smaller door off of the dining room to where the kitchen had been located. Here there were several machines with various foods and beverages available. People were scanning some sort of card in front of the machines, then making selections which were then dispensed from the machines. At the end of the room where the latched wooden door marked Staff Only had been, there was no door, just an opening. They saw one person not in a Foundation uniform moving through the opening and down the corridor.

"This is the corridor that goes all the way to a delivery dock at the back of the castle," Oriane reminded them. She led them down the long hallway following some distance behind the man who had preceded them and watched as he entered the delivery room on the left at the end of the hallway. As they approached the end of the hallway, they could see that the old fountain with the lion-head spigot and blue tiles was still there. Oriane stopped and began lecturing Will and Alia, pointing to the fountain and describing its construction and the history of its use. In a few minutes, the man exited the delivery room pushing a cart full of supplies. He walked past them, head down, without even acknowledging their presence, a behavior similar to the other non-uniformed people that they had seen working in the castle.

Oriane waited until the man left the hallway then, looked quickly up and down the corridor. No one else had entered the hallway. She counted down and over, then pushed the blue tile to access the secret door. The door slid open with only a slight scraping sound. As soon as the door opened wide enough, Alia, Will and Oriane scooted through, with Alia pulling the lever to close the door behind them and Will producing a flashlight from his hold-all pocket to illuminate their surroundings. With no hesitation, Oriane moved down the rough-cut stone tunnel toward the exit out of the castle.

"It appears that the Foundation has not learned all of the secrets of this castle," she said.

A hundred yards and the floor of the tunnel leveled off, then began to rise as they walked through the cool passageway, the light from Will's flashlight illuminating the smooth stone floor and the rough-cut walls. They arrived at the end of the tunnel and found the door built into the wall. Alia clicked the latch, opening the door, exposing the woven thatch blocking the opening. Alia peered through the thatch.

"No one is out there," she said. "I guess they haven't found this exit."

Will, Alia and Oriane exited the tunnel system and carefully replaced the thatch over the doorway, pulling down the green vines growing from the rocky opening and completely hiding the doorway. They moved to the trail which was now wider and smoother than it had been previously.

"The timekeeper's cottage is just ahead and, I would not be surprised if it is guarded," noted Oriane. "I'll check."

She popped into her fairy form and disappeared down the trail, moving higher to fly at the upper level of the trees.

In a minute she was back, popping into her human form.

"As I suspected," she said. "It is guarded. It's invisible, but there are three guards posted at a guardhouse located just off of the trail near the clearing that holds the cottage."

"We can go invisible," said Alia.

"Yes," agreed Oriane. "It will be easier to move with just the two of you. The portal to Silva is a little way past it, the tree with the green mold on the trunk. It is unguarded. I will meet you there."

She again popped into her fairy form and disappeared in the trees following the trail ahead.

Alia moved behind Will and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Ready when you are."

Will recited the disappearing charm and moved down the pathway. The trail wound a short way through the forest before straightening as it ran by the small meadow on their left. They could see a guard house with two guards, armed with some sort of weapons, moving around in front of the house and a third standing in the doorway.

Will paused briefly, watching the movements of the guards. After they got the jewel and elven fire, they would need to get into the timekeeper's cottage. He needed to work on a plan.

Careful not to make any noise, they moved past the guardhouse and down the trail. Just a short while later, the stout brown tree with the green mold covering its trunk came into view. They moved to the tree and Will pronounced the reversal charm making them re-appear. There was a slight buzz as Oriane descended from above, then a small pop as she returned to her human form.

"I think we need to be cautious on going through this portal," she said as she led them around to the side of the tree opposite the trail where the dark oval of the portal was visible. "There are no guards on this side, so it looks like the Foundation hasn't discovered this portal and there should be no guards on the other side. In fact, we don't even know if the Foundation is occupying Silva. But, if they are, they could be moving around the castle itself. I think it's best if we move through the portal invisible. At least until we see what's on the other side."

"Agreed," said Will and Alia simultaneously.

Alia placed her hand on Oriane's shoulder, then Will placed his hand on hers and pronounced the invisibility charm.

With Oriane in the lead, they shuffled through the portal.

They emerged from the corner of the small room with white stone walls in the elf castle. Instead of tapestry covered walls and a room with a table and chairs, the room was cluttered with pieces of furniture stacked up and covered with protective cloths.

"There's no one here," remarked Alia.

Will took his still invisible hand from his sister's shoulder. "I am going to have a look," he said.

He moved to the door of the storeroom and opened it a crack, peering into the hallway outside. He spotted uniformed Foundation guards at each end of the hallway.

"Foundation guards," he whispered. "One at each end of the hallway. How do we get to elven fire?

"Leave that to me," said Oriane. "I know where we are and where the room that holds the source for elven fire is located."

Will heard a soft pop.

"She's not here," said Alia. "I don't feel her shoulder."

They could hear a faint buzz as it moved across the room, then disappeared.

"She's changed to fairy form," said Will.

"That should work," said Alia. "See that small opening in the ceiling. I think she's flown into the ventilation system for the castle."

In a few minutes, the buzz returned.

"Make us visible," Will heard Oriane say.

The three became visible to each other just as Oriane returned to her human form.

"Did you get elven fire?" asked Alia, looking closely for signs of the glowing fire on Oriane.

"I found Elan and whispered in his ear," said Oriane. "He is bringing it to us."

In a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. Will muttered the invisibility charm, quickly waving his wand in the direction of Alia and Oriane. Then unlatched the door and let it creak open as he stepped back.

Elan stepped quickly into the room holding a small covered lantern containing elven fire. He looked around the room, peering carefully at the stacks of furniture, looking for his friends.

Will whispered the reappearing charm and Elan's sharp elf ears picked it up causing him to turn his head slightly in Wills direction just as Will and the others popped into view.

"A neat trick," said Elan.

"We saw the Foundation guards stationed at the ends of the hall," said Will.

"It is a very strange world that we find ourselves in," said Elan, frowning. "It seems like only yesterday; it was only yesterday that there was no Foundation. Now suddenly they are everywhere and it is like they have been here for decades. Elves have surrendered to the Foundation, and Silva is occupied by Foundation troops. On the one hand, I remember, at least I think I remember that they were not here when last we met, but then I am not sure that we have ever met." He shook his head. "Most confusing."

"Malvo Blackthorne has gone back in time and warned the Founders. It appears that their army managed to prevent the portal from Zorn to Najora from being sealed, and their armies have marched on other worlds wherever they could find portals," said Oriane.

"Malvo Blackthorne, yes!" exclaimed Elan. "The story is that he discovered a plot by the Resistance to seal off the portal to Zorn and warned the Founders saving the Foundation. Now he is in charge of the Foundation armies. With his power as a warlock, the Foundation armies have been undefeated. He also seems to be able to find portals. The Foundation has conquered at least a dozen worlds and is still expanding."

"We saw a poster of him at the castle on Najora. But there was also a woman praised as one of the leaders. Who is Saldana?" asked Oriane.

"Saldana Navez. She is the daughter of one of the original Founders," replied Elan. "Malvo Blackthorne took her as his bride during the Foundation take over. Malvo is the face of the Foundation now, but it is rumored that the true power is Saldana. She's a witch with remarkable powers of her own."

"We are going back in time to stop Malvo from warning the Foundation," said Will. "If we prevent him from warning the Foundation, the Watchers will seal the portal and all of these changes will be reversed."

"The final part of the charm to open the backdoor in time is a jewel from the dwarf king's sword," said Oriane. "We must travel to Silexa next."

"What can I do to assist you?" asked Elan

Can you get a message to Occassius? asked Will. "The timekeeper's cottage on Najora is now guarded. It would be helpful for a timekeeper to meet us near the timekeeper's cottage. We can use all the assistance we can get to access the time backdoor in the cottage.

"It will be done," said Elan. He handed the container of elven fire to Oriane, who in turn passed it to Will.

"With your magic, this is safer with you," she told him.

Will put the elven fire into one of his deep trouser pockets. It disappeared without showing even the slightest bump on the outside of his pants.

Oriane and Elan stared, a look of disbelief forming on their faces, having seen a not insignificant lantern of elven fire disappear into Will's trouser pocket.

Alia noticed their puzzled expressions. "He has a charm for that."

Will smiled.

"Now to get to Silexa," said Alia. She looked at Elan. "Is the portal to Silexa guarded."

"I am afraid so," replied Elan. "The room containing the portal is just down the hall, but there is a guard outside of the door."

"We will need to be invisible," said Oriane.

"Let's go," said Alia.

Elan waited until Will, Alia and Oriane were set up with hands-on-shoulders and Will made all three of them invisible. Then Elan opened the door and exited into the hallway. The Foundation guard at the door further down the hallway scarcely paid attention to Elan as he exited the room, then walked past the guard and ascended the stairway at the end of the hallway.

Will, invisible and leading his sister and Oriane, was following closely behind Elan but stopped when they reached the guard in front of the doorway. He murmured the petrifying charm closely followed by the sleep charm while briefly touching the guard's sleeve resulting in a fully erect but stiff and snoring guard. Will knocked on the door. There was no answer. Looking quickly up and down the hall, he saw no one, so he opened the door and peeked in. The room was empty. Will followed by Oriane and Alia moved inside, then closed the door.

"I'm pretty sure I got the timing right on those charms," Will said. "He should wake up and become un-stiff at about the same time – 15 minutes or so."

"Look at the portal."

Will heard Alia, still invisible. He looked at the mirror where the portal was located. A large black oval was painted around the edge of the mirror, and a sign with the word _Portal_ was tacked to the top of the mirror.

"They don't have to be able to see them to use them," commented Alia. "Just step through the oval."

"This confirms what Elan told us," said Oriane. "There will be guards on the other side."

"Well then, what are we waiting for," said Will as he led them to the clearly marked portal. "Here goes."

# Chapter 7. Back to Silexa

Passing through the portal, they exited into the small room with roughhewn brown stone walls lit by flaming torches protruding at an angle from each of the four walls. There was a single door on the wall to their right, and a guard in a white Foundation uniform and cap sitting at a table in the middle of the room. Will aimed his wand at the guard and whispered the sleep charm, watching as she slumped over on the table and began to snore.

"That will keep her for a while," said Will.

Cracking the doorway slightly open while peeking into the hallway and finding no one, Will led them out the doorway, down a short hallway, through a kitchen prep area with several fireplaces and enclosed ovens. Staying close to the wall, they moved through a large dining area where a few dwarfs sat eating. Every so often, they passed pairs of white-uniformed Foundation guards. They noticed that the few dwarfs that passed appeared to ignore the guards, though the smiling faces and pleasant atmosphere they had found on their previous visit were notably absent.

"The main receiving room of the castle is two levels up," Oriane whispered. "The king may be there."

Slowly, carefully, Will led them down more corridors and up two more flights of stone steps, taking caution to move out of the way of the increasing number of dwarfs that passed them moving down the stone hallways. At the top of the stairs to the main floor, the reached a long corridor. As they moved down the corridor, most of the dwarfs were turning into another passage on the right. As they came even with the passage, they could see it was a wide hallway intersected by several other passages. In the middle of the wide hallway was an arched opening in one wall through which dwarfs were moving.

"That's the main hallway to the receiving room," whispered Oriane. "Keep going straight and we can find the king's entrance."

Will continued down the passage. Now the hallway was almost empty.

"Turn here," Oriane whispered at the next intersection.

Will turned down an even narrower corridor. Up ahead on the right was a door.

"That's the king's entrance to where he sits to receive visitors," whispered Oriane. "He has daily sessions where he settles grievances, and sorts out issues between his people."

Will put his ear against the door and listened carefully.

"He's there," Will said, keeping his voice low. "I can hear him."

"You go," instructed Oriane. "Get him to come back here. And bring his sword with him."

Will opened the door just wide enough to move through the opening. Except for Alia and Oriane, still invisible, there was no one else in the narrow corridor to be surprised at the small door apparently opening and closing itself.

Will found himself on a stout wooden platform that ran the width of the room and was raised about six inches off of the floor at one end of a large, high-ceilinged room. Directly in front of him was the back of a wide chair with an intricately carved back that reached from the floor to a few feet above Will's head. He could hear, but not see, King Rorek who, Will deduced, must be seated in the chair facing the various dwarfs who had come to see him. Will took a step into the room. Now he could see the king sitting on the cushions and addressing a dwarf standing several feet in front of him next to a table that stood just to one side of the aisle leading to where the king was seated. There was a man in a beige-colored uniform seated at the table taking notes. Will noticed the distinctive Foundation badges on the man's shoulders. There was a line of dwarfs waiting to speak to the king. The line stretched all the way back to the doorway at which there were two more men in Foundation uniforms seated at another table, who appeared to be checking some documents each entering dwarf presented and making notes on some papers in front of them. Will knew that the Foundation men were checking identification. No one looked happy.

Now, how do I do this? Will thought. I need to get his attention without alarming him.

Will noticed a small table holding a large goblet just to the right of King Rorek's chair. Will ducked behind the chair and consulted his book of charms. It opened to a page that described magic writing. Will was puzzled; what did magic writing have to do with this predicament? Then he focused on what he had just seen. His book of charms had come through again. Taking out his wand, he peeked around the chair and pointed at the goblet as he murmured the charm written in his book and added his message.

Will smiled as the writing appeared on the goblet facing away from the occupants of the room but directly at the king. The tiny words glowed ever so slightly.

Will watched. The king stopped talking and reached to pick up the goblet. He gave a slight start as he noticed the glowing writing on the cup. Then, perfectly calm, he held the goblet in front of his face, pausing for a second before he took a drink. And read the words: _King Rorek, Will and Alia are here. Make an excuse to come to the rear corridor. Bring your sword._

Rorek put down the goblet and stood up. "I neglected to bring my favorite talisman. I must go to my chambers for a few minutes." He turned and exited through the door in the wall behind his chair.

Will waved his wand and the message on the goblet disappeared. Then he scrambled to follow the king. He was three steps behind the king as Rorek exited into the corridor. The king paused and looked around, peering both ways down the corridor.

Will murmured the reappearing charm and materialized a few steps from the king who jumped, startled at his sudden appearance.

"I see you are a Watcher of many talents," the king said. "But what of your sister, is she here too?"

"And the fairy Oriane," said Will, murmuring the charm and waving his wand where he had left Oriane and Alia. They too materialized.

"Oriane! It has been too long." Rorek moved over and grabbed Oriane, lifting her off her feet in a hug.

Oriane smiled and bowed slightly. "Rorek, king now? You have accomplished much since we played together as children."

Alia and Will, a look puzzled surprise on their faces, looked from the king to their fairy friend.

"Ah, a tale for another time," Rorek said, seeing the looks. "Our world has changed significantly since you were last here. I have not forgotten it but it appears that Malvo Blackthorne has successfully altered history since, while it seems that the Foundation has just arrived, they have in reality been on Silexa for at least 10 years."

"What do you know?" asked Oriane.

"It is all very confusing," the king replied. "It was only yesterday or the day before that we found ourselves with Foundation troops popping up and in control. And although I am certain this was new, something in my mind was telling me that this was normal. In our written documents were copies of a treaty – a surrender really – made with the Foundation over 10 years ago. We now pay taxes to the Foundation homeworld and are supervised by a few of their people, but otherwise we are left to ourselves. I don't know how we got to this point, but even as this day progresses, memories are popping into my head. Now, how do we reverse this?"

"We are going back in time to stop Malvo Blackthorne from warning the Foundation armies that the portal from Najora is about to be sealed." Oriane said. "To access the time-tunnel, we need a jewel from your sword. We are hoping one of the jewels that remain will work as well as the one that was stolen."

The king reached to his side and tapped the hilt of his sword, which protruded from the scabbard fixed to his side.

"It could very well work," he said. "All the gems for this sword are from the same mine. The power from the jewel comes not from its size or shape but from its source."

He pulled a dagger from his side and pried loose one of the deep blue gems from the pommel.

"This one most closely resembles the one that was stolen," he said, handing it to Oriane. "Let us hope that it suffices."

"Thank you, Rorek," Oriane said. "We will know soon enough."

"Time for us to go," said Alia.

"Goodbye and may the Dwarf-Father guide you and watch over you," Rorek intoned as he turned and moved back through the door to the receiving room.

"I can get us to the room where the doorway to the dwarf subway system is located," said Will. "That will take us to the portal to Najora."

Becoming invisible once again, he led Alia and Oriane back down into the bowels of the castle, being careful to pause as Foundation personnel passed and dodging any dwarfs that moved unhappily down the corridors. Still invisible, at last they arrived in the room that Will remembered housed the doorways to the dwarf subway system. The room was empty. There were no guards and there were no doorways.

Will looked around the room. "I am certain that this is the room where the doorways to the subway system were located." He noticed that only one wall appeared to be constructed of the rough brown stone that made up the castle, while the other walls were a smooth plaster. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the wall that he remembered held the doorway they had used. " _Patefilio foramina_ ," he recited, hoping that the charm to reveal an opening would help them. Sure enough, now they could see the opening behind the plaster of the wall.

" _Evanesco_ ," he whispered, and the plaster over the doorway disappeared. Will led them through the doorway and onto the stone steps leading to the platform below. He turned and, waving his wand, replaced the plaster over the doorway, then made his sister and Oriane visible.

The trio scampered down the steps and onto the subway platform. The only light at the platform was from one flickering globe in the wall. Several cars, covered with dust and cobwebs, were clustered together at the platform.

"Whoa, nobody's used these in a while," said Alia. "Hope they still work."

She touched the top of the car and a light flickered on, then became steadily bright as the little car began to hum.

"Those dwarfs _really_ know what they're doing," remarked Alia. "Looks like we're good to go."

The trio hopped in. In just a few seconds they were in darkness as the car plunged into the tunnel system, speeding up quickly. In a very short time, the car slowed.

They got out when the car stopped at the next station. Here too, the platform was covered with dust and cobwebs, but the single orb glowing on the cave wall was enough to illuminate the stone steps that led to above ground. As they ascended the stairs with Will in the lead, he paused. In front of them was the opening to outside, but it had been boarded up. Will peeked through the space between two of the boards. Directly across from where they stood was the small clearing at the base of the mountain that held the jagged gray pile of rocks containing the portal to Najora. Will could see a single guard walking around in front of the portal, which was marked with a circle of black paint and a sign.

"One guard," he whispered.

He aimed his wand at the guard and whispered the sleep charm, watching as the guard slumped to the ground.

"Let's go," Will said as he dissolved the barricade in front of them and the three hurried over to stand in front of the portal.

Will pronounced a charm to reassemble the barricade over the entrance to the dwarf subway, then turned to face the portal.

"We know there are guards on the other side, so we need to be invisible," he said.

He felt Alia's hand on his shoulder and waited just a few seconds for Oriane to place her hand on Alia, then recited the disappearing charm.

"Back to Najora," he said as he led them through the portal.

Even though they were invisible, Will led them out of the portal slowly with his wand already in his hand. As before, there were three guards, though Will's sleep charm appeared to have erased their memories since they were no more alert than the last time the trio dealt with them. All the three guards, seated at a table, were thoroughly engrossed in some game that involved throwing wooden cubes from a cup and being encouraged or discouraged by the results.

Will whispered the sleep charm and the three guards slumped over, heads and shoulders reclined on the table.

Will spoke the invisibility reversal charm and the three could see each other again.

Alia spoke to Oriane, "If you can change these clothes to uniforms, then we can go out through the castle and get to the timekeeper's cottage.

Oriane pulled fairy dust out of her pouch and dusted them with it. Once again, the three were wearing beige Foundation uniforms and caps. With no trouble, they made their way up the nearby stairs, out of the tower and across the courtyard, again marveling at the pavilion organized around the elaborately constructed portal to Zorn and the huge posters depicting Malvo and Saldana hanging over the entrance to the castle. Accessing the secret tunnel out of the castle was also uneventful. Acting like they had business in the castle, the three marched into the main hallway of the castle, then down to the former dining room, now full of desks and Foundation personnel busily working. From there they moved through the former kitchen, down the hallway leading to the loading dock, and were out through the unused lion-head fountain and into the secret tunnel with no one the wiser. In a very short time, they traversed the secret tunnel and were carefully exiting through the thatch-camouflaged door onto the now well-used trail in the woods. As they moved along the trail toward the timekeeper's cottage, Will noticed that there were other people on the trail, usually in pairs, in the uniforms of Foundation Security.

"Because the guards are wearing Foundation uniforms, we can get close enough to them that I can put them to sleep," Will said. "But If some other Foundation Security people notice slumbering guards, they might go on full alert, so it would be better to sneak into the timekeeper's cottage without having to do that."

"Let's get closer and see what the situation is at the timekeeper's cottage," said Oriane.

They moved down the trail through the forest for a few more minutes, then Oriane stopped.

"The timekeeper's cottage is just around the bend in the trail," she said.

"Psssst,"

Will, Alia and Oriane startled at the sound. Will reached for his wand.

"Pssssssstt," The sound came from up above and in front of them.

Alia was the first to see him.

"It's Mr. Dunstable!" she cried, pointing to the little man perched high in a tree next to the trail ahead.

Mr. Dunstable waved, then climbed down the tree and onto the trail, trundling a bit as his short steps brought him back to them.

"I almost missed you in your Foundation uniform disguises," he said. "The chief timekeeper sent me. Since I saw you on Pinsor, he figured I would recognize you again. So, you're really going back, eh?"

"We have to," Alia replied earnestly. "Malvo Blackthorne has gone back and warned the Founders. They've already taken over several worlds."

"I noticed things have suddenly changed on Najora and several other worlds," Mr. Dunstable replied. "There have been perturbations in time, and we have had to spend extra time on maintenance of timepieces."

"All the more reason for us to go back in time, block Malvo and restore the timeline to what it was," said Will. "With your help, I think we can get past the guards without them noticing anything."

Will explained his plan to the others. Mr. Dunstable would lead.

Mr. Dunstable rounded the corner of the trail, coming into view of the guards pacing back and forth just off of the trail ahead. He continued walking, coming to a stop in front of one of the Foundation guards.

"State your business," the guard said.

"I am Mr. Dunstable, the timekeeper assigned to the maintenance of the timepiece on Najora which, as you know, is invisible, but located in the meadow that you are guarding. I am here to do maintenance on the timepiece."

"You were just here last month," the guard replied. "The timepieces receive regular maintenance only every three months."

"Yes, well, apparently you have not been informed that we have been having issues with time and we have to check up on our timepieces more frequently," Mr. Dunstable said.

"Hold on," the guard replied curtly. She moved over to the small guard building and picking up a communication device began talking. In a few minutes she put down the device and returned to where Mr. Dunstable was standing.

"Ok, go ahead," she told him.

Mr. Dunstable moved past the guards and the guard building and into the boulder-strewn meadow, watched closely by all three guards. They did not see the timekeeper's cottage, but briefly saw the inside of the cottage after Mr. Dunstable unlocked the door, opened it wide, then moved inside. The inside of the cottage disappeared as Mr. Dunstable closed the door.

What they failed to see were the three other people who, under the influence of Will's invisibility charm, crept past them then scooted through the doorway as Mr. Dunstable opened it wide and went inside.

Once inside the cottage, with the door closed, Will made the trio visible once again.

"That went well," commented Oriane. "Now for the back door. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and, sitting down at the table, began to write."

Will pulled the lantern holding elven fire from his hold-all pocket, lifted the shield and turning the lantern so that the fire illuminated the back wall, he set it down on the floor.

They could see the jagged black marks from Malvo's first attempt to open the door without the charms, but now they could also see the simple wooden door that covered the opening back in time.

There was a lever on one side of the door set in an ornately carved rectangular plate that protruded just slightly from the surface of the door.

Will and Alia examined the lever and the plate. She pulled down on the lever. Nothing happened.

"This plate covers the mechanism that moves the bolt inside and opens the door," Alia said. "But I can't see any screws holding the plate . . .Oh, I see." She pointed to one corner of the plate. Hidden in the ornate scrollwork was a small indentation shaped like a hexagon, so integral to the pattern of scrollwork etched into the plate that it was almost invisible. Alia noted that there were four, one in each corner of the plate.

"I found them," she said. "They are similar to the screws on the timepiece, but smaller. Mr. Dunstable, do you have a tool that will fit these screws?"

Mr. Dunstable brought his toolbox over and, after having a look at what Alia pointed out to him, reached into his toolbox and brought out a small leather case. From the case, he extracted a small screwdriver.

"Try this," he said.

Alia took the screwdriver and used it to unscrew the four screws that held the plate in place. She removed the plate and looked at the mechanism inside.

"It's clear where the jewel goes," she said. "There is a small void right in the center of the mechanism."

Will reached into his pocket and retrieved the small pouch that held the jewel from the dwarf king's sword. "Try this," he said. "Let's hope it works."

Alia took the jewel from the pouch. She turned it a few times, trying for the best fit in the mechanism.

"I think that's it," she said as she fitted the jewel snugly into the mechanism.

There was an audible click and she watched as the jewel disappeared into the mechanism.

"That's definitely it," she said. "The jewel has been incorporated into the middle of the mechanism. She screwed the plate back over the mechanism and stepped back.

"You're up Will," she said to her brother.

Oriane finished writing. She brought the piece of paper over to Will.

"Here's the charm," she said.

Will read the charm. It was longer than his usual charms, but only about a sentence. He reviewed the charm, deciding how to best pronounce the words. In a few cases, he asked Oriane how they would sound in the primitive fairy language.

"Here goes," he said. He placed his right hand on the lever. " _On me tacit fetrimas grandua hostala mesalta forte messastium per porta unarmorfa tutupatrius_ "

The plate over the mechanism glowed briefly. Will applied pressure on the lever and pushed lightly against the door. The lever moved downward, while at the same time, there was an audible click as the lock released and the door popped open just a crack.

"It worked," whispered Will breathlessly.

Will turned to Mr. Dunstable. "Does this open at exactly the same time in the past? Will Malvo Blackthorne be on the other side of this door?"

"Remember what Shadrach told us about people who go back to a time where they already exist," Oriane said, "The moment he stepped through the door, Malvo existed in his younger body. Wherever that body is on Najora, Malvo will be there. You will need to look for him probably near the castle or in the city."

"Now that we know that you can go through, we need to discuss what you will find," said Oriane, sitting back down at the table and inviting Will and Alia to do the same. They sat.

Pulling some dust from her pouch, Oriane moved over to Will and Alia, sprinkling the dust over them. Their clothes changed from Foundation uniforms to what they wore on Najora, though Will noted that those worn by himself and Alia looked somehow out of style for the present.

Oriane explained, "We know from history that, by this time, the Foundation had only taken over Najora. Founders and their commanders along with their armies are meeting on Zorn. They will have control over Najora, but the city will be fairly uncomfortable with a mix of unhappy natives and Foundation occupiers. You should go in dressed as natives rather than soldiers. You will be less noticeable and able to mix with the population. We would not want you to be accidently hurt by someone from the Resistance who are, no doubt, working in the city. But you will have to play it by ear and, above all, be careful. Remember that, although he is quite young, Malvo is a skilled warlock. Try to catch him by surprise."

"Now the real work starts," said Alia, getting up from the table, shrugging on her pack and walking toward the door.

"Wait a minute," said Will, rising and grabbing his sister's arm. He turned to Mr. Dunstable. "Once we go through, do we close the door behind us? We don't want to get locked back in time."

The doors are keyed and locked with a charm on the other side," Mr. Dunstable said. "Just knock and we will let you through."

"What if one of the guards comes here to check on you?" asked Alia. "They will see the door."

"Once you close the door, we will hide the elven fire," said Oriane. "They will not be able to see the door. I will wait for your return. In my fairy form, even if they do come to check, they will not find me."

"Well then, I guess we are off," said Will.

"Goodbye and good luck to both of you," Oriane replied.

"Yes, good luck," said Mr. Dunstable. "The sooner you can stop him, the better. Please be careful."

"Right, got it, see you soon," said Will.

# Chapter 8. Going Back in Time

Will and Alia stepped through the door. They were looking at the inside of the cottage. The timepiece was humming pleasantly in the middle of the cottage, though Oriane and Mr. Dunstable were not present and everything looked a bit less worn. Will and Alia moved to the front door and looked out. It was late afternoon and there was no sign of Malvo Blackthorne. They were looking at the same scene viewable from the front porch of the timekeeper's cottage, except there were no guards or guardhouse at the head of the meadow near the trail.

Will and Alia walked off the porch and made their way through the boulder-strewn clearing to the trail that led into the woods and back to the city.

"There's no telling exactly where he is," said Alia. "We need to search the castle and the city without alerting the Foundation or Malvo himself."

Will pulled his book of charms out of his pocket. "Maybe there's something here that can help us. So far it's never let me down." He opened the book and began paging through. Something stopped him as he got to one page. The following pages appeared to be stuck together, as if the book was telling him he had gone far enough.

"Hmm," he murmured. "I don't get it. It stopped me on a charm for maps."

"There was a map on the brochure we got when we first visited the castle," Alia said. She reached into her pack and pulled out the brochure opening it up to display a map of the castle and part of the surrounding city. The woods around the castle were depicted by drawings of trees.

"That's it!" exclaimed Will, reading his book. "This charm shows movement of people on maps."

He opened the map up and holding it on the ground in front of him, he recited the charm adding " _Malvo Blackthorne_ " at the end. The map came alive with a set of tiny black footprints moving through the city heading toward the castle.

"That's _got_ to be him," said Alia, looking over her brother's shoulder. "He's heading toward the castle. If we take the secret entrance through the back of the castle, we can catch up with him in the city. Let's go." She shouldered her pack and hurried toward the trail leaving Will hastily folding up the map and lengthening his stride to catch up to his sister already disappearing down the trail into the woods.

With Alia in the lead, they walked the short distance through the woods approaching the back of the castle. Alia spied it first, pointing to the large tree with its step-like arrangement of branches and its distinctive peeling gray bark. The rocky outcropping with the thatching hiding the doorway to the tunnel that led to the castle was nearby. They pulled aside the vines hanging over the thatching, and displaced the thatching exposing the doorway. They opened the doorway and moved inside pulling the thatching back over the opening before closing the door. Will turned on his flashlight and led them along the stony path through the rough-hewn walls of the tunnel right up to where they were behind the lion-head fountain.

We need to see whether someone is in the corridor on the other side before we use the fountain doorway," said Will. "I think I have a charm to see through walls." He began paging through his charm book.

"Use the map," said Alia.

"Oh, right," said Will, pulling out the brochure from the castle. Will recited the charm, this time adding " _people_." They examined the map. All of the rooms of the castle were clearly depicted. There were a number of footprints moving about the castle but none in the hallway on the other side of the fountain.

"All clear," said Will.

Alia pulled the lever at the back of the fountain and the wall pivoted open. They moved through the doorway, Alia turned and pressed the blue tile that closed the secret opening behind them. They moved down the long hallway moving away from the delivery dock. At the end of the hallway, Will opened the door and poked his head into the next room. This was the unused kitchen they had first seen on their tour and it too was unoccupied. Moving past the large corner fireplace and through the kitchen, Will peeked into the large dining hall full of tables organized in clusters. This room was occupied by men and women in Foundation uniforms working on stacks of paper or having discussions with people in civilian clothes while a few people in plainer clothes were sweeping the floors and dusting furniture.

Will picked up a few pieces of paper that were in a wastebasket nearby and whispered a charm. In a second he was holding a broom and a bucket. Passing the bucket to Alia, he whispered. "Act like you belong here."

As they walked by one group, they overheard part of the conversation. "We will need that lumber delivered by no later than the end of the week," the person in a Foundation uniform said, speaking to the civilian who was busily writing in a small notebook.

"It looks like this is where the Foundation is meeting with local vendors," said Alia.

Keeping their eyes on the floor, Will and Alia moved slowly through the dining room.

They were three-fourths of the way through the long dining room and were passing a group of three people in Foundation uniforms when one man looked up from his work and called. "Hey, you. What are you doing?"

Will and Alia froze and turned to look at the man.

"Aren't you supposed to be picking up trash?" he said, glaring at Alia.

Alia, kept her eyes on the floor. "Yes," she replied.

"Well you missed some," he said, pointing to the half-full waste basket next to his chair. "If you can't do the job, we can find someone who can."

_I wonder what he would do if I levitated that trash can and dumped it on his head_ , Alia thought as, mustering all of her control, she quietly walked back, dumped the trash into her bucket then returned to where Will was standing. They turned and continued their slow walk out of the room and into the great hallway that spanned the castle from back to front. The hallway appeared much the same as it was when they had first seen it with brightly colored tapestries on the walls and shining coats of armor on display at various intervals. Here there was a moderate amount of pedestrian traffic with men and women in Foundation uniforms moving in and out of the great hallway from adjacent rooms accompanying people in nicely cut civilian clothes as well as few people in plainer clothes doing different cleaning and maintenance tasks.

As they exited into the main hallway, Will made their broom and bucket disappear. They walked toward the outer doors of the castle leading to the courtyard, this time walking more as if they knew what they were doing. Halfway down the hall a man in an all-white uniform of Foundation security stepped suddenly in front of them.

"You there, where is your Associate?" he said, blocking the way and putting his face inches from Will's. "You know citizens are not allowed unless they are escorted by Foundation Associates or are major vendors and you two are much too young to be major vendors."

"Ah, er," was all that Will could manage as he slipped his hand into his pocket reaching for his wand.

"Oh, _there_ you are, you two," an older man, heavy set with dark hair peppered with gray strode up next to them. "Officer, please forgive my apprentices, they are new to the business and must have wandered off while I was taking orders."

"Very well, Mr. Stroud," replied the security guard. "But keep an eye on them. We can't have citizens just wandering around in these times."

"Oh, I shall, I shall," the older man replied. "You two, follow me, we're going back to the warehouse," he turned beckoning for Will and Alia to follow him, leading them the rest of the way down the hallway and out the main doors of the castle into the courtyard. As they walked on the path toward the castle gatehouse, the man turned to them.

"I don't know who you are or what you're up to and I don't want to know, but the Resistance needs to train you better if you are to keep from getting captured and thrown into the prison. There are enough of us already behind bars and we can't afford to lose any more."

"We were sent from another, ah er, town where there are only a few Foundation people," Will replied, thinking quickly. "We have an assignment that involves finding someone in the castle or maybe in the city."

"Do you have identification badges?" the man said, pulling out a laminated badge and slipping the lanyard around his neck so that the ID badge hung in front of his shirt. They must be shown to get into anywhere that serves as a Foundation center of business and worn at all times in the city."

Will looked closely at the badge hanging in front of the man's shirt. It had the man's name _Thaddeus Stroud_ , in large letters along with the name of his company _Stroud Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers_ , a picture and a Foundation seal with a signature scrawled below it.

"Ah, oh yes, we have ID," Will said. "Sis, where did you put our IDs?"

"Maybe you put them in your _notebook_ ," Alia replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yea, maybe," Will said, reaching in his pocket for his book of charms. He began paging. Then stopped, pausing to read quickly. "Nope not here, let's try your pack, Alia. Mr. Stroud, can I see your ID again?"

Will studied the ID while Alia took the small pack from her shoulder, laying it onto the grass of the courtyard and began to rummage through it. "I'm not finding them," she said, pausing to look up at Will.

"Here, let me see if I can find them, I know what they look like," Will said kneeling down beside her while, at the same time plucking a few blades of grass before plunging both hands into her pack, then murmuring the charm he had just gleaned from his book.

"Here they are," he said pulling two laminated ID badges from her backpack each identical to the one worn by Mr. Stroud except that each had their names, pictures and _Barclay Electrical Contractors_ inscribed on them.

He showed the newly created identification cards to Mr. Stroud, who remonstrated "You will have to show those on entering and leaving the castle and wear them when moving around the city. Please be careful. And good luck. You'll need it." Mr. Stroud walked away, shaking his head.

"So, we need ID badges, now we know," said Will, slipping the lanyard over his head and adjusting the badge to hang at the front of his shirt and handing the other to Alia. "Now let's see if we can spot Malvo Blackthorne."

The twins walked toward the castle gatehouse. Crossing the courtyard, they passed the location of the portal to Zorn. Although not as large as the pavilion they had most recently seen when the time changes took place, the portal was clearly identified with a sign and a steady stream of people in Foundation uniforms were moving in and out of the awning-covered portal entrance. A pair of guards with some sort of weapons stood on either side of the entrance.

"It looks like the people are traveling back and forth to Zorn regularly," noted Alia. "We should try to take Malvo Blackthorne somewhere else so as not to cause any alarm. There must be Watchers somewhere nearby preparing to seal the portal."

"According to the chief timekeeper, the backdoor deposited us and Malvo a few days before the backdoor was sealed. We don't know if coming back in time changes that timeline, but the sooner we can secure Malvo back in prison, the better," commented Will.

The two joined a short queue forming at the gatehouse as people lined up to show their identification and exit the castle. The line was mostly people in civilian clothes, apparently people from Najora having business to do with the occupying Foundation. No one looked particularly happy. A few people looked closely at Will and Alia, but as soon as either Will or Alia returned the looks, their gazes fell back to the ground.

As the line shortened and Will and Alia approached the guard checking identification, Will noticed that occasionally he would glance at a clipboard he held in one hand. They were not close enough for Will to make out what was on the clipboard. Will was ahead of Alia and, when his turn came, he held up his badge for the guard to see. The guard frowned and glanced at his clipboard flipping through the pages.

"What's the trouble, officer?" Will asked.

"You're not on my list," the officer replied, holding up the list and showing it to Will.

"Oh, our usual representatives called in sick today," Will replied, keeping his voice calm and friendly. He waived his hand over the clipboard, "We're part of the family that runs the business and we usually work in the office. We did call it in. Please check the end of your list. I am sure we are on there. I'm Will and she's Alia."

The guard did not notice the pages on the clipboard riffling a bit as Will waved his hand over them. He flipped the pages on his board, running his finger down the list on the last page.

"Ok, it is there. I must have missed it," he said, looking a little confused. "You two are good to go."

Will and Alia exited past the guard.

A few steps past the gatehouse, Alia turned to him. "Charm?"

Will nodded. "Charm."

The castle was on the edge of the city with a busy street running next to the parking lot in front of the castle grounds. Perpendicular to that street was another two-way street marked _Main Street_ , which ran directly into the city. Dual pedestrian bridges arched from the parking lot over the street in front of them, leading to the sidewalks and shops on either side of Main Street. The line of people dispersed after coming through the gatehouse, some people getting into cars parked nearby or waiting at covered bus stops, but many crossing via the pedestrian bridges and walking directly into the city. Will and Alia stayed with the crowd and took the pedestrian bridge on the right side into the city. Both sidewalks were fairly busy as people appeared to be doing some shopping before making their way home. There was also some bus and auto traffic on the two-lane street that ran between the stores.

"This looks like the main business street," said Will as they noticed the variety of stores on either side of the street and the presence of paired Foundation security on each corner. He pulled out the map, whispering the charm to find Malvo Blackthorne.

"There he is," he said pointing to a spot on Main Street. "Main Street splits at a park just a few blocks ahead. It goes around the park, then meets again on the other side. Malvo is three blocks on the other side of the park."

They moved through the crowded sidewalk, stopping where the street split and eyed the park. It was a few blocks long with a wide walkway down the middle. Only a few people were on the walkway, most were following the sidewalks around the periphery of the park. The park itself was a scattering of trees, bushes and grass with a few large sculptures placed randomly around the park.

Will consulted the map. "Malvo is two blocks on the other side of the park. We can cut through the park and find him on the other side."

They crossed the street into the park, staying on the wide walkway and making good time moving through the park. When they reached the end of the park, Will again consulted the map.

"He's on that side still a block and a half away," he said, pointing to the left where traffic was moving toward the park. "We should keep on the right side then circle around behind him."

They moved together, slowing their pace to match the other people walking on the sidewalk on their side of the street, snatching glimpses of the pedestrians walking on the other side of the street.

"Got him!" whispered Will. "Don't look but he is at about 10 o'clock."

"Plain as day," agreed Alia. "But he looks younger than the big poster we saw from our time, no gray hair."

"Yes, twenty years younger," replied Will.

"Right, so he's twenty years younger but a warlock with twenty years more experience. We need to be very careful," Alia said.

"We can cross over at the next street corner, then catch up a bit and follow him until he gets someplace where we can grab him with a minimum of commotion," Will said.

They strolled to the end of the block as quickly as they thought they could without attracting attention, then crossed the street and picked up their pace ever so slightly until they had Malvo Blackthorn in sight. He was just crossing the road where it split around the park, staying in the crowd on the shop side of the street. They paused on the corner to let him get partway down the block before crossing themselves.

Alia was just getting ready to cross the street, looking side to side, checking for traffic, when out of the corner of her eye she saw something that tickled a tiny corner of her mind. She thought she had seen someone in the crowd. A man and a woman? Familiar? She turned and looked back more closely, this time scanning people's faces. Nothing.

They crossed the street now traveling in the crowd, keeping several people between themselves and Malvo Blackthorn, keeping sight of the short black hair on his head that stood taller than most of the others in the crowd.

In the middle of the block was an alleyway that crossed the sidewalk. Just after Malvo passed the alleyway, a large truck moved from the alleyway, making its way back to Main Street. The crowd stopped and bunched, and the height of the truck blocked their view of Malvo. The truck moved out onto Main Street and the crowd surged forward.

"Do you see him?" asked Will. "I lost him."

"Me too," said Alia, scanning the crowd in front of them down the block.

They moved forward, arriving at the alleyway from which the truck had exited.

"Do you think he took the alleyway after the truck blocked our line of sight?" asked Alia.

"Maybe," said Will, peering down the alleyway. It ran between buildings and intersected with the alley that ran the length of the block behind the buildings. "Let's just have a quick peek in the alley."

They walked into the alleyway, leaving the crowded sidewalk behind them. There were a few trash bins in the short alleyway. Will stopped at the corner of the building just before the long alley that ran at the back of the buildings. He peeked down one way, then the other. Nothing.

"He hasn't gone this way," he said. "He must have gotten further along the block or gone into one of the stores. Let's go back and catch up to him."

They turned to retrace their path down the short alleyway and back to the sidewalk that ran along Main Street.

The way back was blocked. A solid-looking brick wall now appeared between the buildings and blocking the alleyway.

"That can't be real," said Alia. "I wasn't there a minute ago."

The twins rushed forward, both reaching the wall at the same time. Will tapped the wall. Solid. Alia placed her hand on the wall and pushed. It didn't budge.

Alia looked up. The wall rose into the sky as high as she could see. She shook her head, closing her eyes and looked again. Still there. "This can't be," she murmured.

"It isn't really," A voice sounded behind them from the intersection with the long alley from which they had just come.

The twins whirled. Standing about thirty feet from them were a man and a woman, where no one had been only a few seconds before.

Will pulled out his wand, preparing to freeze the two in their tracks.

But the woman was faster, a wand appearing in her hand and with a flick of her wrist, Will's wand went flying. Will didn't need a wand to cast a spell. He pointed at the two and just as he began the charm for paralyzing, the woman again flicked her wrist and Will's tongue was frozen in his mouth. As was the rest of him.

At almost the same time, Alia pointed at a nearby trash bin and attempted to levitate it, knocking the man and woman aside. But the man pointed his palm at the bin and Alia felt resistance, then she too was frozen by the woman's charm.

Will struggled. He could move nothing but his eyeballs. He saw that Alia's predicament was the same.

The man and woman approached. They were dressed in clothes similar to those that Will and Alia wore, which matched what the civilian population on Najora wore. They both had brown hair, the same color as Will and Alia, the woman's being longer but pulled back in a ponytail, while the man's was cut short. They had youthful features appearing just a few years older than Will and Alia.

"Please do not be alarmed, we mean you no harm. We just need to talk to you," the woman said.

Her voice was firm but friendly.

"Can we talk?" the woman said. "I will unfreeze you if you both give me your word not to use any magic."

Will felt his tongue loosen. "No magic," he said.

"Same here," promised Alia.

Will felt the paralysis leave him. He looked at his sister. She was flexing her hands and moving her feet.

The man pointed at Will's wand on the ground. He raised his hand and the wand floated back to Will.

"We need to warn you that you are following a very dangerous man," the woman said.

"How do you know that we are following someone?" asked Will.

"The short answer is that we are here doing a job and part of that job knowing who this man is and notifying certain people if we see him," answered the woman.

"Sorry about the freezing," said the man. "But you both went for your magic. You're pretty quick too."

Something stirred in Will. Those voices sounded vaguely familiar. And the faces, something about the faces . . .

"It's a good thing that Rhian is just a bit quicker," the man said.

Rhian! It hit Will like a bolt of lightning. He looked at his sister. He could see in her eyes that she knew too.

The woman noticed the looks between Will and Alia.

Will thought, _how can I tell them_? How do I convince them?

"You are Alvar and Rhian Barclay!" blurted Alia.

A look of puzzlement swept across the faces of the man and the woman.

"Yes, but how could you know?" the man said.

"Because you are our parents," replied Will.

The woman laughed. "That's impossible, we have no children."

"How old are you?" asked Alia.

"We are twenty-five," replied the man.

Will looked at Alia. He could see that she was doing the calculation. In a day or so, the portal to Zorn would be sealed. From speaking with Mr. Weldon, they knew the date that the portal to Zorn was sealed and how long after that they were born. They both turned to the man and woman. "We will be born next year," they said simultaneously.

The man was looking at Will and Alia closely. He turned to his wife, "I can see the resemblance, Rhian."

"But that's impossible," the woman said. "Unless . . ."

Will and Alia again spoke simultaneously, "We're from the future."

"Mr. Weldon sent us to find Malvo Blackthorne, capture him and put him back in prison where he belongs," said Will.

"Well, you've found him," replied Rhian. "But why do you need to put him in prison?"

Alia explained, "The portal to Zorn gets closed sometime in the next few days, but they do not trap Malvo Blackthorne on Zorn when it happens. After the portal is sealed, he is captured by the fairies and elves and sent to prison on Pinsor. In our time, just a few days ago, someone helps him escape and he goes through a backdoor in time and prevents the portal from being sealed. History changes. Now in our time, on several worlds including Najora, Silva and Silexa, the Foundation rules."

"What is a backdoor in time?" asked Rhian. "I've never heard of that."

"A well-kept secret, though not well-kept enough," said Will. He explained what he and Alia had learned on Occassius from Shadrach, the chief timekeeper.

"What's happening on earth, our homeworld and I presume yours?" asked their father, Alvar.

"We don't know, we haven't had time to go back," said Alia.

"We were trying to catch Malvo before he could gain the three things he needed to open the seal on the backdoor in time on Najora," said Will. "We failed. Now we are here to grab him so the Watchers can seal the portal."

"Which, in fact, is why we are here," said Alvar. "We are on our way to meet Amadeus Weldon who is bringing the last thing needed to set the charm that will seal the portal for good."

"We were cautioned to interfere as little as possible with what is happening at this time," said Will. "Meeting Mr. Weldon in this time before we are even born could be the sort of thing that would turn things upside down. We should grab Malvo Blackthorne as soon as possible and get him back to prison."

"We know the team that is assigned to rounding up Foundation members who are not trapped on Zorn," said Rhian. If you bring him to the book shop on Main Street just across from the park, they can take him to Pinsor. That way you will be involved as little as possible."

"That's great, but we lost him," said Alia.

"You didn't lose him," said Alvar. "He ducked into the clothing store on the right just past the alleyway. It looks like he spotted the wife of one of the Founders who was shopping with her daughter."

"We might be too late, if he is warning them about the portal closure," said Alia.

"The Founders wives and children are not usually involved in running the Foundation," said Rhian. "Malvo is always looking to get ahead in the organization. He is probably just stopping to flatter the Founder's wife. My guess is that he is on his way to alert Foundation people at the castle and have one of them go to Zorn via the portal to alert the Founders and the other leaders."

"Then we need to catch up to him and take him before he reaches the castle," said Alia looking at Will. "We need to leave now."

"Right," said Will. He eyed his parents reluctantly. "We have questions . . ."

"As do we," said Rhian. "But anything you share with us or we share with you may influence the future. Seeing you both as you now are, we would not want to do anything to change that. Go now. And be careful."

Rhian waved her wand at the brick wall that had appeared blocking Will and Alia's exit. The twins turned and saw the wall dissolve revealing the pedestrians traveling on the sidewalk on Main Street.

Will turned to say goodbye but the alley was empty. His parents had disappeared.

Alia too had turned for one last word. As soon as she saw her parents had disappeared, she said, "Let's go."

Will and Alia returned to the sidewalk that ran along Main Street, setting an unhurried pace and casually looking in store windows as they walked along. They stopped at the corner of the clothing store. Inside they could see Malvo Blackthorne bending over to shake the hand of the dark-haired little girl who was standing next to a beautiful woman with the same dark hair. Malvo then shook the hand of the woman and turned to leave bidding them goodbye.

Will and Alia reversed directions and moved away from the clothing store doorway as Malvo exited and crossed the street.

"He's in the park," whispered Alia. Will was facing Alia, his back to the park. Alia looked over his shoulder. She could see Malvo Blackthorne had moved to the main walkway and was now casually looking around but occasionally looking back at the store from which he had recently exited.

"It looks like he's waiting for someone," Alia said.

"Let's take him now," said Will. If we can catch him before he leaves the park, we can avoid the crowd. Will concealed his wand up his sleeve so that just the tip stuck out beyond his closed fist. He and Alia moved to the curb to cross the street into the park. Just as they were stepping down into the street, Will saw Malvo Blackthorne staring directly at them. Alia reacted, using her power of levitation, she rocked a statue that was only a few feet away from Malvo distracting him just as Malvo's hand was reaching inside his jacket. Will raised his arm pointing directly at Malvo Blackthorne and whispered the paralysis charm then quickly recited the sleep charm.

Will and Alia crossed the street, hurrying over to stand beside the figure of Malvo Blackthorne, stiff but with eyes closed. Will pulled out his book of charms and turned a page. He picked up a stick and murmured the charm. The stick changed into a wheelchair. Will reversed the paralysis charm and he and Alia guided Malvo's slumping body into the chair before Will again spoke the paralysis charm.

"I'm not taking any chances, I'm keeping him sleeping and stiff," Will remarked, grabbing the handles of the wheelchair. He noted the Foundation security stationed at each street corner had yet to look in their direction.

"I'm not sure how recognizable he is, but I think he gets a hat." Will picked up a small stone from the park and said a few words, producing a white panama hat with a wide black band. He placed the hat on Malvo's head, pulling the brim down in front to obscure most of his features.

Alia looked back across the street at the shops that lined the sidewalk across from the park.

"There," she said, pointing. "The bookstore. Our parents said, if we deliver him to the bookstore, someone will take him to Pinsor."

With Alia in the lead, Will rolled the wheelchair to the corner of the street, then crossed from the park to the sidewalk that ran in front of the stores. The Foundation security woman standing on the corner glanced briefly at Will and the wheelchair as they gained the curb and moved onto the sidewalk, but turned her attention to scanning the rest of the crowd.

They walked slowly, Alia opening a path in the pedestrian traffic for Will and the wheelchair, and in a few minutes, they reached the bookstore. Alia opened the door and Will wheeled Malvo inside. There was a central isle leading to a counter about halfway back in the store. From the time they entered the store, they had the attention of the tall slim man standing behind the counter. As they approached, Will could see that the man, after seeing the wheelchair, was looking from Alia to Will, studying them intently.

"How can I help you?" the man said.

Will noticed that the man's hair was long enough to hide the tops of his ears. To Will, his features were unmistakable. _Elf_ , he thought. Will reached down and moved the panama hat, revealing Malvo Blackthorne's face.

"We were told it we brought him here, you would know what to do with him," he said.

A look of recognition crossed the man's face as he glanced at Malvo Blackthorne.

"Ah, Watchers," he said, "Getting a little jump on the event of tomorrow, I see.".

The man looked from Alia to Will and back, again studying their faces. A puzzled look crossed his face. "You know, you two look vaguely familiar. Do you have older siblings?"

"Alvar and Rhian Barclay, our parents," said Alia.

Now the man looked very confused.

"It's a long story," said Will. "And we have somewhere we need to be. Can you take him?"

"Yes, yes, of course," said the man. He reached under the counter and pushed a button, then came around the counter and took the handles of the wheelchair.

"What have you done to him, and how long will it last?" the man asked.

"Sleep and paralysis charms," replied Will. "They will last about 15 more minutes. Do you need something else?"

"Thank you, that will not be necessary," the voice came from a woman standing in a curtained doorway toward the back of the store. She was tall with long black hair and fair skin and moved with a fluid grace as she pulled the curtains aside.

"Bring him through here, Braer."

As the man wheeled Malvo Blackthorne past her, she reached into a small pouch at her side, then sprinkled some fine dust over Malvo Blackthorne's head.

"That will do," she said, smiling. "We can take it from here." The man and the woman disappeared into the back room.

"Fairy dust," said Alia matter-of-factly, looking at Will. "That's one more thing it's good for."

As the twins exited the store, Will turned to Alia. "I think we should look at the map. We probably don't need to go back to the castle to find the trail back to the timekeeper's cottage. Let's find a bench in the park where we can look at the map away from the crowd."

They crossed the road and moved into the park, finding a bench right next to the main walkway through the park. They sat down and Will pulled the map from his pocket and spread it out in front of them. "

"It looks like we can go down this next street and get to the forest in just a couple of blocks. If we cut through the forest, we can find the trail," he said, tracing the path that they should follow.

"Looks good," said Alia.

With Will in the lead, they crossed out of the park and joined the pedestrian traffic moving past the stores. They turned on the street at the next intersection and headed away from Main Street. In a few blocks, they were in a section that appeared to hold factories and warehouses. The Foundation logo was on most of them. Soon they could see the forest at the end of the street. The road dead ended at a tall metal fence fairly new and, from the angled top, meant to keep people out of the forest.

Will simply touched the fence and murmured a charm and a portion of the fence disappeared, leaving an opening for them to climb through. After they went through, Will restored the fence.

The forest on the other side of the fence was light at first, but soon became denser. Nonetheless, there was scant underbrush, and they moved quickly up the slight incline, rapidly losing sight of the city. In no time at all, they intersected the path that traveled from the castle to the timekeeper's cottage. Will pulled out the map of the area and scanned it. There were no other people on the trail except themselves.

They walked for several minutes until they recognized the brushy clearing that held the cottage, turning into the meadow they walked until they thought they had reached the location of the timekeeper's cottage

Will took out his wand and waved it in the area in front of him. " _Patefilio res_ ," he recited.

The cottage materialized in front of them. Will and Alia moved across the porch to the front door where Will pulled the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Turning the knob, they opened the door and entered the timekeeper's cottage. Moving across the room, Will knocked on the door to the present.

# Chapter 9. Back to the Present

Mr. Dunstable answered the door. "Welcome back," he said.

Will heard a familiar buzz. Looking up, he saw the slight sparkle of Oriane in fairy form. She fluttered down until she was visible hovering just in front of him. There was a slight pop and she appeared in her human form.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"It took a while to find him, but we managed to catch Malvo Blackthorne," said Alia.

"Took a while?" said Oriane frowning. "You've only been gone five minutes."

"How long would you think it would take before we see changes in this time?" Alia asked.

Mr. Dunstable thought for a minute. "I don't really know," he said. "It won't be instantaneous, but I think it should happen in a fairly short time. It seemed like when Malvo went back, changes happened fairly rapidly. You must be tired. Have a meal and a rest, then we will see what we see."

Mr. Dunstable returned to the stove where he filled four bowls with a hearty stew and placed some bread on the table. Oriane filled four glasses with sweet Najoran tea and the four sat down and ate. Afterwards, both Will and Alia each found a soft chair and curled up for a nap.

Will awoke with a start. He could see that it was beginning to get dark outside.

"How long have I been asleep," he asked.

"About two hours," replied Mr. Dunstable. "We've been keeping an eye on things outside.

Alia awoke rubbing her eyes. "Are the guards gone?"

Oriane moved to one of the windows at the front of the cottage and, moving the curtain aside slightly, she peeked out.

"That's odd," she said. "With the time difference, I expected something to happen by now. Nothing's changed, the guard building is still there as are the guards."

"Perhaps the timing got changed a little in the past," Mr. Dunstable mused. "It is almost dark. Why don't we all get a good night's sleep and see how things are in the morning?"

Mr. Dunstable insisted that his guests take the bedroom. Will used a charm to rearrange the bedroom with beds for both himself and Alia and a tiny house on the shelf for Oriane in her fairy form. Soon they were fast asleep.

It was barely light when Will awoke, the glow of the rising sun casting a sliver of light through the small space between the bedroom window curtains and additional light coming through the partially open bedroom door. He glanced over to his sister's bed and saw that it was empty. Alia was sitting on the floor putting on her shoes, then she stood and left the room. Will could hear voices of Oriane and Mr. Dunstable.

"Something's not right," Oriane said. "The guards are still outside. In fact, there are more of them. And here they come!"

Will dressed quickly as Alia came back through the door, closing it behind her. They heard the slight pop as Oriane assumed her fairy form. Will made himself and Alia disappear.

First, they heard boots on the porch then a sharp knock on the door.

They heard Mr. Dunstable open the door and say, "Yes."

"It is time for inspection," the voice of the Foundation guard transmitted all the way to the bedroom where Will and Alia stood invisible.

"Ah, er, what do you mean?" said Mr. Dunstable.

"Now, old man, you know that we do random inspections whenever you are here to make sure that you are not up to any mischief. We have an agreement that, when you are here you keep the cottage visible and we are allowed random inspections. That has been Foundation law for the last 20 years."

"Oh, uh, yes, of course. I was napping, pardon me, come in please," Mr. Dunstable replied.

They could hear footsteps of more than one person walking around the small cottage. The bedroom door swung open and a man wearing a white Foundation Security uniform walked around the room. Will and Alia scrunched in the corner of the room as the man walked past them. The man got down on his knees and looked under the bed, then back on his feet and exited the room.

"Nothing here," they heard him say. They heard more footsteps, then the sound of the door closing.

"All clear," said Mr. Dunstable. "They've gone back to the guardhouse."

Will made them visible and they walked into the main room of the cottage just as Oriane popped back into human form.

"Well, _something_ has changed," she said. "Though it appears not like we had hoped."

"We need to go to the city and have a look around," said Will. "I heard them say they've been doing inspections for 20 years. They weren't even doing that _before_ we went back and captured Malvo Blackthorne. Something has gone terribly wrong."

"There's no need for you two to go," said Oriane. "I can fly there and back and find out what went wrong. Will, make me invisible, just in case."

Will pronounced the invisibility charm. There was a slight pop but no sparkle as Oriane disappeared. Mr. Dunstable opened the door and the slight buzz of Oriane in flight faded away.

"I do not understand it," said Will sitting down in one of the chairs and shaking his head. "How could this happen?"

"Well, the obvious," said Alia. "Despite us putting Malvo out of action, the portal to Zorn did not get sealed."

Will nodded in agreement, "And the Foundation was warned and took over just like before, but somehow, they also became alerted to the fact that we came back in time, so now they are guarding the timekeeper's cottage even closer."

"We will just have to wait until Oriane returns," said Alia. "Hopefully she will find out something."

In an hour, they heard a slight buzzing at the door. Mr. Dunstable opened the door just a crack.

"Will, I am here," they heard Oriane's voice

Will waved his wand in the direction of the voice and said the reappearance charm.

Oriane popped into view in her human form.

"Well??" Mr. Dunstable, Will and Alia spoke in unison.

Oriane shook her head frowning, "Just as we feared. Everything is almost the same. The Foundation still controls everything and apparently, they have taken over all of the worlds that they previously took over. One change. Remember the large poster with the portraits of Malvo Blackthorne and Saldana Navez proclaiming them as Foundation leaders and the history of how Malvo sounded the warning that saved the Foundation?"

Will and Alia nodded.

"The portraits are still there but the history has changed. Now it says that Saldana Navez, realizing that her teacher Malvo had disappeared, single handedly found him and freed him from where he was trussed up by the Resistance. Malvo had learned of the plot to seal the portal and together they arranged for the defense of the portal and notification of the Founders and the leaders of the armies. Eventually the two married and became the leaders of the Foundation!"

"Twenty years ago, Saldana would have been a little girl," Will said.

"The little girl!" Alia exclaimed.

Will and Alia were stunned as they realized what had happened.

"The chief timekeeper told us when you go back in your own timeline, you assume the age that you were in that part of your timeline but you bring along the knowledge you have acquired from your whole timeline," Alia said.

"What girl?" questioned Oriane.

"Right before we captured Malvo, we saw him talking to a couple of people." Alia replied. "It was the wife of one of the Founders and her daughter. That little girl must have been Saldana. Malvo looked like he was waiting for someone in the park. She must have gone to meet him and, when he wasn't there, she realized something was wrong. With her powers, she could have easily found him and freed him.

Something clicked in Will's head as another part of the puzzle fell into place.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. "That's how Malvo got freed from the prison. When the portal was originally sealed, Saldana was a little girl. Somehow she managed to avoid being rounded up with most of the Foundation members. She had 20 years to acquire powers and skills. Remember that Mr. Dunstable had an encounter with a mysterious woman and his master key had been handled by a woman. She copied the master key to the timekeeper's cottage. She is the one who freed Malvo Blackthorne. She broke him out of prison and she helped him acquire the keys to the backdoor in time. Then they _both_ went back in time."

Alia agreed. "It would have been easier to convince the Founders of the plot to seal the portal coming from Malvo rather than a little girl and she needed Malvo's knowledge to open the backdoor in time and his help to acquire the three things, but she's the one who has been the leader of this plan all along, not Malvo."

Oriane nodded in agreement. The three stood for a moment in stunned silence. They were up against more than a powerful warlock. In addition, there was a cunning and powerful witch involved.

"We need to go back," said Will with Alia nodding in agreement. "This time we need to stop Malvo _and_ Saldana. Let's talk about how we're going to do that."

If you can take them both at once, that should minimize any disruptions in time," said Mr. Dunstable.

"Since Malvo and Saldana arrived back in time shortly before we got there, that meeting we saw between them may have been the first time they reconnected," said Alia. "I had the feeling Malvo was waiting for someone in the park. Maybe he was waiting for Saldana to lose her mother then they were going to do whatever they needed to do."

"Right," said Will. "Then we need to hang back a little longer and wait until they meet up. Then we can surprise them both at once."

"I'm ready when you are," Alia said again shouldering her pack.

Oriane walked over to the shelves and retrieved the lantern holding the elven fire. She lifted the shield over the globe illuminating the wall.

"The jewel is still in the lock mechanism," Mr. Dunstable said.

Will moved to the door and recited the charm. " _On me tacit fetrimas grandua hostala mesalta forte messastium per porta unarmorfa tutupatrius_."

The lock mechanism glowed briefly. Will reached out, pressed on the door lever and opened the door.

# Chapter 10. The Past

Without hesitation, Will and Alia moved through the door, again arriving at the inside of the cottage. The timepiece was humming pleasantly in the middle of the cottage, Oriane and Mr. Dunstable were not present and everything looked newer, just as it had the last time they had arrived in the past. Will and Alia exited out the front door of the cottage, making their way through the boulder-strewn clearing and onto the trail toward the castle. They retraced their steps through the secret entrance into the back of the castle. This time, before they entered the long hallway leading from the dock, Will retrieved their identification badges from his hold-all pocket, gave Alia hers, then hung his on its lanyard around his neck.

Will pulled out the map and after checking to make sure no one was in the hallway outside, he picked up a few pebbles from the floor of the passageway and, using a charm, made two clipboards.

"Ready?" he said handing Alia one of the clipboards. "Barclay Electrical Contractors, back for more business."

He pulled the lever, opening the lion-head fountain doorway and they moved down the hallway.

They walked with assurance down the hallway, through the unused kitchen and past the dining hall that was converted to an administrative office of some sort, men and women in Foundation uniforms sitting at tables doing paperwork and meeting with local vendors identifiable by their badges and civilian clothes similar to what Will and Alia were wearing. From the large dining room, they moved to the great hallway that ran from the back of the castle to the large doors that led outside. They stopped at the display near the great doors. Here too were portraits of Saldana and Malvo; however, as Oriane had indicated, the history of the rise of the Foundation was attributed to Saldana's freeing of Malvo Blackthorne followed by her rallying of Foundation forces to defend the portal while the Founders and their generals were warned and mustered their armies to defeat the Watchers and their associates. Malvo Blackthorne was praised for his achievements in helping the Founders early on in their initial conquest of Najora and his leadership after being rescued by Saldana.

"It looks like history _can_ be changed," Will whispered as they made their way through the great doors and into the courtyard.

"And we need to take care that it gets changed for good this time," Alia replied.

They were stopped only briefly at the gatehouse where their identifications were examined by Foundation security. Exiting the gatehouse, they crossed the parking lot and moved onto the pedestrian walkway that led into the city of Castleton, passing over the street that ran in front of the castle.

Stopping at the top of the archway, Will pulled out the map and whispered the charm that would show Malvo's whereabouts. Alia, standing beside him, looked at the map.

"It looks like he is a few blocks on the other side of the park," she said. "Right where he was last time."

They crossed over the street and moved to the sidewalk on the opposite side from which Malvo would be approaching. Maintaining a casual pace to blend in with the other people, they made their way to the park then crossed the street and walked down the wide walkway that ran through the center of the park. Leaving the park, they crossed the street staying on the right side. After another block and a half, Will whispered.

"He should be coming up on the other side. There. Same time same place."

Alia caught a glimpse of Malvo's young face about a head taller than most of the people around him as they moved to the end of the block then crossed over to the other side of the street and began following him.

Alia and Will kept a half block distance between themselves and Malvo. As they moved back to where the road split and paralleled the park, Alia did not look around. She knew they were being watched by their parents.

"Yep, there it is," Will said, nodding as Malvo Blackthorne crossed the alleyway that opened onto Main Street at mid-block and a delivery truck blocked their view. They arrived at the alleyway just after the truck pulled onto Main Street. Malvo Blackthorne was no longer in view.

Alia looked at Will. "Do we follow the alleyway to the alley behind the buildings? You-know-who will be there."

"Yes, let's keep it the same," said Will nodding.

They moved down the short alleyway to where it met the alley that ran between the buildings. Will peeked around the corner looking down the alley that ran between the buildings and, as expected saw no one. Will and Alia turned to look down the short alleyway that led back to Main Street and now there was a wall blocking their retreat.

This time neither twin panicked. They slowly turned around facing the man and woman who had appeared out of nowhere. Nor did Will reach for his wand but held both arms out, palms up.

"Hello, Alvar and Rhian Barclay," Will said.

Rhian's wand was out expecting some resistance and Alvar was also prepared, but a look of puzzlement overtook both of them as they heard their names spoken by the young man in front of them.

"How do you know us?" said Alvar.

"You are Alvar and Rhian Barclay, Watchers sent to meet Amadeus Weldon tomorrow to seal the portal to Zorn with a charm," said Alia.

"That is correct," said Rhian looking even more puzzled but, again, how could you know?"

"In a nutshell, because we are Will and Alia Barclay, your children born next year. We have been sent by Mr. Weldon to stop Malvo Blackthorne from warning the Foundation about your plan to seal the portal. Malvo has returned from the future along with Saldana Navez to make sure that you do not succeed. You were going to warn us that Malvo Blackthorne is a bad actor and we need to be careful."

Alvar and Rhian were stunned. They stood looking from Will to Alia and back, processing the remarkable news they had just received.

Rhian was the first to speak, "How exactly did you get here?"

"It turns out that there are backdoors in time associated with some timekeeper's cottages. The backdoors go back to a specific point in time. Unfortunately, the one on Najora goes back to the day before the Watchers seal the portal to Zorn."

"So, we succeeded?" questioned Alvar.

"Very much so," answered Will. "And all the worlds went on with relatively little fuss until Saldana Navez, daughter of one of the Founders, grew up, gained the skills necessary to become a first-rate witch and freed Malvo Blackthorne from prison so he could help her go back in time and reverse the whole process."

"You are twins," said Rhian completely changing the subject.

"Yes," replied Alia. "Like my father, I can do this – she pointed at a nearby trash bin and made it rise slowly in the air then carefully returned it to the ground. And brother Will inherited your skill with charms. Like you, we are Retrievers. By the way, what are you retrieving?"

Alvar Barclay reached into his pocket. He pulled out a goose egg sized sky-blue sphere; a brilliant white star glowed from within its depth.

"This is an aminstar sapphire," Alvar said holding up the glowing sphere. "It wasn't really a recovery as much as a find and fetch. These are made by a very ancient gnome who has a secret mine on Najora deep in the woods. It will be incorporated into the lock on the portal that will make it irreversible. Our job was to convince the old gnome to part with this and to meet Amadeus Weldon, who is bringing the other items necessary to complete the lock."

"Which reminds me, we are late for our rendezvous," said Rhian.

"And we need to catch up with Malvo," said Will.

"Until next time," said Alvar. "Or, at least, we will see you in a year, I guess."

Rhian waved her wand and the wall between the alley and Main Street vanished as did Rhian and Alvar.

"I think she can transport," said Will looking at the spot from which Alvar and Rhian had just vanished. I need to learn how to do that."

"In the meantime, we have a plan," Alia reminded him. "Let's catch up to Malvo. His next stop was the clothing store around the corner from the alley."

Will and Alia moved back to the sidewalk on Main Street and turned toward the clothing shop. They walked slowly, examining the display in the windows of the shop next door. When they reached the window of the clothing store, they again pretended to be eying the display while casting glances deeper into the store.

"I see him," Alia said. "He just shook Saldana's hand then bent down and said something to her. She's with her mother. Now, it looks like he's getting ready to leave."

The twins reversed direction, re-crossing the alleyway and only stopping when they were two stores farther away. Here too they pretended to be gazing at the display in the window while casting glances back down the sidewalk at the entrance to the clothing store.

"He's out and crossing the street," Will said. "Let's wait and see what happens."

They waited for more than half an hour, keeping an eye out as people moved in and out of the clothing store and Malvo Blackthorne paced in the park, occasionally looking across the street at the clothing store entrance.

The door to the clothing store opened and Saldana exited alone. She looked for traffic and immediately crossed the street to where Malvo was standing. Malvo said something and the two made their way past the walkway in the middle of the park continuing through the park to the other side.

"We can't lose them," Will said, checking traffic and crossing the street into the park, closely followed by his sister.

Just as they were getting to the middle walkway, they could see Malvo and Saldana crossing out of the park to the busy sidewalk on the other side of the street and turning toward the castle.

"They're heading toward the castle," said Will. "We can pick them up where the street lanes come together at the end of the park."

The twins stayed on the main walkway bisecting the park headed toward the castle walking slowly. Just as they reached the end of the park, they saw Malvo and Saldana turning the corner where the two lanes of the street rejoined, and heading toward the castle.

"Let's let them get a half a block ahead before we cross the street," said Alia.

The twins waited. Pedestrian traffic had lightened a little but there were still plenty of people out and about in the two blocks between the park and the castle. Once Malvo and Saldana had gotten sufficiently ahead, Alia and Will crossed the street and followed. They traversed the two blocks to where Main Street ended in the street that ran in front of the castle. They saw Malvo and Saldana mounting the left pedestrian arch that crossed over the street to the castle parking lot. Will and Alia followed carefully at distance.

As Will and Alia were at the top of the pedestrian arch crossing over the street, they saw Malvo and Saldana heading toward the gatehouse where a steady stream of people almost all in civilian clothes were exiting. Will consulted the pamphlet they had picked up at the castle containing the map.

"Closes at 5:00 pm," he said. "It's closing. The vendors are leaving."

They could see that some people in Foundation uniforms were also leaving but a few were entering through the gatehouse. They saw Malvo and Saldana cross the parking lot and head toward the gatehouse but, instead of moving through the gatehouse, turned left walking on the sidewalk in front of the castle wall. There were fewer people walking on the sidewalk in front of the castle than there were in the city though the car traffic on the road was as busy as ever.

"Hmm, not into the castle, I wonder where they're going," Will mused.

They watched as Malvo and Saldana stayed on the sidewalk that followed the castle wall. Where the wall turned the corner, the sidewalk continued straight passing through an archway. Behind the archway they could see the sidewalk beginning to curve, disappearing into a large grove of trees. It was starting to get dark but the sidewalk was well lit with post lamps that continued past the arch. They saw Malvo and Saldana continue along the walkway passing under the arch.

Will pulled out the map of the castle grounds.

"There's a large park on that side of the castle," he said. "We need to follow them and see what they're up to."

"Carefully," said Alia. "There's almost no one going into the park.

Will and Alia continued across the pedestrian archway crossing the parking lot to the sidewalk then turning left at the gatehouse and heading toward the arch and the park.

"Can you use the map to see where they are?" Alia asked.

Will pulled out the map and said the charm using Malvo's name. A set of footprints appeared.

"They're practically in the middle of the park," he said. "There's a large fountain there. Look here, there's a secondary walk around the edges of the park. Let's take that route. Maybe we cut across the grounds with trees for cover and sneak up on them."

Will took out his wand as they passed through the arch and they took a smaller paved path heading away from the main walkway and following closer to the castle wall at the edge of the park. After a bit, they could hear the water and see a glow coming from the direction of the fountain.

"Let's cut through here," Will said moving from the path onto the softer mulch that ran between the trees and bushes. Keeping trees between themselves and a view of the fountain, the twins carefully made their way toward the fountain. They reached a point where they could see the fountain. Still in the trees, perhaps 25 yards from the fountain they stopped. They could not see Malvo or Saldana anywhere.

"Where did they go?" whispered Alia.

"Why we're right here!" a voice boomed from the trees above.

Will raised his wand holding it over them while reciting the shielding charm. Twin bolts of lightning splattered on the shield just above them. Will held the shield as Alia hurled a boulder into the trees in the direction of the voice. A laugh.

"Amateurs," This time a different voice, female, came from above and behind them. Will turned uttering a second shielding charm.

Too late. He saw the flash of a bolt of lightning, a searing pain ran from his head all the way to his toes, then everything went dark.

# Chapter 11. Wake-Up Call

Will ached all over. Eyes closed, he could feel that he was lying flat on his back on a hard surface. He heard footsteps on a wood floor approaching him. He opened one eye. Above him he could see wood rafters crossing a wood-paneled ceiling. A face came into view. Oriel frowning with concern, looking down at him.

"Will? How do you feel?"

"Like I've been stomped by an elephant," Will replied groggily. He sat up. He could see Alia on the floor next to him, eyes blinking. She moved and groaned.

"What _was_ that?" she said.

"I dunno," Will said holding his head. "I saw a flash then felt a pain, then we're here."

"What happened?" Oriel said moving over to look at Alia, touching her forehead, feeling her arms and legs.

Alia sat up. "We followed Malvo and Saldana into the park that's next to the castle. We used the map and saw that they were at the fountain, so we went on a different path to sneak up on them through the woods. When we got to where we could see the fountain, they weren't there. Next thing I know there's a voice from above saying something then there were twin bolts of lightning. Will shielded us but then we heard another voice, this time from behind, and we got zapped."

"Sounds like you died," said Mr. Dunstable. He held two cups of steaming liquid. "Here, drink this," he said handing a cup to each of them.

"We died?" questioned Will.

"If you get killed out of your timeline, you get returned to the last place you were in your own timeline," explained Mr. Dunstable. "Didn't Shadrack explain that to you?"

Will thought. "Yes, I guess he mentioned that."

"And the lightning bolt was enough to do that," Alia said, getting to her feet as Will did the same. They walked over to the table and sat down again.

"Somehow they must have seen us following them," said Will.

"They set a trap for us and we walked right into it," Alia said.

"Well, we've got to get back," said Will standing up, wobbling unsteadily and sitting back down with a thump.

"You both need to rest," Oriane said. "You just died. It might take a little while to recover. Besides, you need to figure out a different plan."

"We need to figure out what went wrong," said Will head-in hands, thinking."

"The first time we got him, he saw us when we went to cross the street," said Alia. "But you froze him before he could do anything. So sometime between the time he crossed the street and the time they led us into the park by the castle, they saw us."

"I bet they were going to the castle but diverted to the park because they detected us following them," said Will.

"Maybe we need a disguise. We could be in Foundation uniforms and follow them onto the castle grounds," said Alia. "There should be fewer people inside and they'd be less likely to spot us."

"It would be better if we didn't have to follow them at all," said Will. "Their target must be the castle, most likely someone is there that they can warn to send a message to the Founders on Zorn while, at the same time organizing a defense of the portal to prevent the Watchers from sealing it."

"Why don't we wait for them?" said Alia. "We could wear Foundation uniforms to get through the gatehouse or just be invisible and sneak in, then catch them when they enter the castle grounds. Remember it was close to closing, there will be few people."

"I like it," agreed Will. "We wait for them and surprise them in the castle grounds. Fewer people to see what's going on, less chance of interfering with anyone's timeline."

"What about our parents? Will we see them again?" asked Alia.

"As much as I would like to see them again, the less we involve them, the better chance of not interfering with the timeline. Theirs or ours."

Mr. Dunstable spoke up. "I agree. I remind you that the more people you involve, the greater the possibility of changing the future. If anyone were to be hurt or killed in the past, that would have a ripple effect through time, unplanned-for and unwanted consequences. You are trying to restore the present to how it was before Malvo interfered. The fewer people involved besides yourselves, the better."

Will and Alia were silent for a moment.

"You're right," said Will.

"Just us," agreed Alia nodding.

The four continued talking, working out the details of the plan. When they were satisfied, Will summarized.

"After we contact the Resistance, we will go to the castle. We will be invisible and waiting in the upper gatehouse - the room over the main gate. We can see on the map that the room stretches front to back and we will have a view both of the courtyard and the walkway to the gatehouse. Once Malvo and Saldana get to the pedestrian bridge, Alia will keep an eye on them and I will go to the window that overlooks the courtyard. She will tell me when they pass into the gatehouse and I will be ready to stun them as soon as I see them. There should be almost no one in the courtyard at that time but, anyone who is there will see them collapse. We will become visible and will be in Foundation aid workers uniforms. We'll put them on a wheeled stretcher and move them to the loading dock. We can make sure no security guards accompany us. I will make it look like an ambulance is arriving and departing but we'll put them in a trash bin and stay there until they are collected in the morning by the Resistance."

"Ok, we've got a plan," said Alia standing up, pushing back her chair, taking a wobbly step then turning and sitting back down.

"First, you need to rest," admonished Oriane. "Put your feet up and try to sleep."

Will and Alia made their way to the bedroom and flopped down on the beds they had used not so long before. In a minute, they were fast asleep.

In a few hours, Will opened his eyes. Alia was sitting on the bed across the way, stretching. Savory smells wafted in from the other side of the door.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Not bad," she said standing and stretching. "Ready to go back, I think."

Will hopped out of bed. He had fallen asleep so quickly his shoes were still on. He followed his sister into the main room of the cottage. Mr. Dunstable was at the stove stirring a pot of whatever it was that was making the room smell good.

"Bean soup," he said in response to Alia's glance into the pot. "My secret recipe."

He filled two bowls and placed them on the table along with bread and two cups of sweet tea.

Oriane had been resting on a shelf in her fairy form. She fluttered down and popped into her human form.

"Better?" she asked.

Will nodded. "Much better, and ready to go back again,"

"We are good to go," Alia said, finishing her meal, rising from the table and rinsing her dishes in the sink. Will followed his sister rinsing his dishes in the sink then checking his hold-all pockets for his wand and charm book. Alia went over to the shelf and took down the lantern of elven fire and set it on the floor, raising the shield and positioning the lantern so that the fire illuminated the area where the door was located. As the door came into view, Will placed his hand on the lock mechanism and recited the charm, " _On me tacit fetrimas grandua hostala mesalta forte messastium per porta unarmorfa tutupatrius_."

The lock clicked and Will opened the door.

Alia turned to Oriane and Mr. Dunstable. "Hopefully, the next time we see you, things will be back to the way they were. Goodbye for now."

The twins moved through the door, closing it firmly after hearing Oriane and Mr. Dunstable's goodbyes and wishes for success. They decided to go through the secret entrance of the castle posing as vendors and, on their way out, catch a glimpse of the room over the gatehouse.

They moved through the newer-looking timekeeper's cottage, pausing only briefly to look through a window to ensure that there was no one outside. The boulder-strewn field looked clear all the way to the woods. After checking the map and seeing no one on the path to the castle, they walked down to the woods and on to the trail, moving quickly through the woods to the tree with the distinctive gray bark and the rocky outcropping with the thatching hiding the doorway to the tunnel through the castle. After pulling aside the vines and moving the thatching, they opened the door, then carefully replaced the vines and the thatching before closing the door. Using Will's flashlight, they moved through the tunnel to the lion-head fountain doorway. Will checked map, whispering the charm that activated the people tracker.

"No one is in the hallway," he said. "It looks like most people are gone or leaving." He reached into the stonework and pulled the lever causing the lion-head fountain to pivot, so they could move through the opening and into the hallway.

Will and Alia pulled out their badges, the ones with _Barclay Electrical Contractors_ and their names inscribed on them, and hung them on the lanyards around their necks so that the badges dangled in front of them. Will manufactured a couple of clipboards and the twins proceeded down the hallway, through the unused kitchen and into what used to be the large dining hall which was converted to an administrative headquarters with chairs and filing cabinets grouped around several tables. Alia and Will headed for the doorway on the far side of the room passing a man in a white Foundation security uniform who was keeping an eye on a few people in civilian clothes and badges, emptying trash and cleaning up for the day.

Will and Alia left the dining hall and walked into the main hallway running from the back of the castle to the front. Here there were men and women in Foundation security uniforms moving up and down the hallway watching the people and nodding to those vendors who had packed up and were leaving for the evening. The twins exited through the grand doorways and walked down the stone stairs into the courtyard. The pavilion over the portal was well lit and did not appear to be more guarded than the last time they had seen it.

"It doesn't look like they are on the alert yet," said Alia. She scanned the gatehouse. "I think we are right, the gatehouse would make the best hiding spot," she said, pointing to some unlit windows in the room that overlooked the courtyard.

They moved through the gatehouse stopping to let the security guard check their badges, then exiting through the front. Pausing on the sidewalk outside of the castle, Will looked back up at the darkened windows on the second floor of the gatehouse.

"It looks good. There are windows overlooking the front so we'll be able to see them coming. When they get to the courtyard, I can freeze them and make them invisible, then we'll come down and collect them. Now we just have to connect with the Resistance."

The twins used the arched walkway to cross over the road that ran in front of the castle. The first time they had come to the past, their parents had told them about the Resistance people in the bookstore, the people they had asked to transport Malvo to Pinsor when they had so easily subdued him. Now they were on their way to enlist the Resistance again.

The sidewalks on both sides of Main Street were crowded with people doing after-work shopping, mostly Najorans in civilian clothing with a few people in Foundation uniforms and white uniformed Foundation security police in pairs on almost every corner. Will pulled out the map and recited the charm to check on Malvo's location.

"He's still a couple of blocks on the other side of the park," he said.

Will and Alia walked to the bookstore located on one side of the block of stores that surrounded the park. As they entered, the same tall slim man with the long hair covering his ears who had met them before looked up from behind the counter halfway back in the middle of the store.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

Will was straightforward. "We are Watchers. We are on a mission from Amadeus Weldon. We know that you are part of the team that will close the portal to Zorn and capture any Foundation members left on this side. We are related to Alvar and Rhian Barclay and were told you can help us."

The man's expression never changed. He continued to look at Will with a calm stillness on his face, while reaching under the counter and pressing a button. Curtains parted in a doorway toward the back of the store and the same woman with long black hair they had met before, moved to stand next to the man. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"What's up Braer?"

"Please repeat what you just told me," the man said to Will.

Will repeated his story.

"I see the resemblance to Alvar and Rhian," said the woman. "I am Daera and you are?"

"Will and Alia," replied Alia.

"What can we do for you?" asked Daera.

"We will be capturing two members of the Foundation tonight at the castle. We would like to turn them over to you so they can be taken to the prison on Pinsor."

"I assume that one or both of you can use magic to keep them subdued," Daera said.

"Yes," said Will.

"Trash pickup is at dawn tomorrow morning at the loading dock at the back of the castle. Do your thing then put them in one of the large trash bins on the loading dock. Stay with them until the truck comes. We will take it from there," Daera said.

Will nodded. "Works for us," he said.

Will and Alia left the book store walking back toward the castle. After using the pedestrian arch to cross the street running in front of the castle, they turned left moving along the sidewalk in front of the castle, followed the sidewalk, and passed under the arches into Castle Park. There was no one else in view when Will pronounced the disappearing charm. A squirrel in a nearby tree, who was keeping a wary eye on the two people who had come into his park, suddenly started as they disappeared. Will and Alia decided to make their way separately past the guards in the gatehouse.

"I'll give you a 5-minute head start and meet you upstairs," Will told his sister. "Remember the stairway is on the right after you pass the guards."

The sun was beginning to set as Will waited in the park, giving his sister time to move into the castle, past the guards then up the stairway to the darkened room above. They had not been upstairs in the gatehouse, but Oriane had previously explored it in her fairy form and had given them a detailed description of what to expect and drawn them a map. The upstairs rooms in the gatehouse were not used anymore. When the castle was functional, it contained a room where the sentries slept and a small weapons room. Now the rooms were bare and were kept locked.

_Time to go_ , Will thought. He moved out of the park keeping to one side of the sidewalk, careful to move aside as the few people moving along the sidewalk approached him.

The guards in the gatehouse were not busy. A few people were having their identifications checked as they left for the day, but no one was entering. A raised counter ran between entrance and exit walkways so that Foundation guards could deal with people both entering and leaving. There were two guards who were taking turns dealing with people departing for the day. Will simply walked past the counter and into the gatehouse. Finding the stairs on the right, he carefully placed his feet on the stone steps making no sound. As he approached the top of the steps, he whispered. "Alia."

"Here."

Will saw a small stone moving side to side in the air near the locked door that led to the room they were planning to enter.

"I'm standing aside," Alia whispered.

Will moved to the door and used an unlocking charm. The door opened and he moved into the room standing to one side of the door. Once he sensed Alia moving past him, he shut and re-locked the door then moved to the window with a view of the pedestrian walkway and Main Street leading into the city. He pulled out the map and recited the charm to locate Malvo. He felt Alia move next to him.

They could see footprints indicating that Malvo was in the area designated as the downtown stores. In a little while, the footsteps moved to the park, remaining there for a bit then began to move up Main Street toward the castle.

"Is Saldana with him?" Alia asked.

Will murmured the charm adding Saldana. Now they could see two sets of footprints heading their way.

"They're coming," Will said, feeling his heart beating just a little faster.

Staying invisible, Will knelt down spreading the map on the floor and watching the footprints advance toward the castle. When they saw the footprints arrive at the far side of the arched pedestrian walkway, Will folded up the map and put it in his pocket. Alia, also invisible, moved to the window overlooking the front of the castle and Will, taking out his wand, moved across the room to the window overlooking the courtyard.

"They're approaching the gatehouse," Alia whispered, "and going into the gatehouse, _now_. They should be coming out your side in a minute or two."

The gatehouse was built of stone so Alia could not hear conversations from the guards below.

Will peeked out into the courtyard. The walkways were lit, but, with evening coming on, there were deep shadows cast by the castle walls. He looked below where the wide walkway led from the gatehouse. Nothing. Then he saw Malvo Blackthorne step out from the gatehouse.

"Saldana's not with him," he whispered.

"She went in right with him," replied Alia. "Give it a minute."

As Will watched Malvo Blackthorne took several steps from the gatehouse, then turned arm raised and holding a wand, looking directly up at the window.

Will felt a chill run down his spine. "He's looking at me!" he said. "He can't see me, I'm invisible."

"Not any more, sweetie, _Somnoro_!"

Will turned at the voice of the little girl. Standing in the wide-open doorway, was the little girl, Saldana, wand raised and a thin smile on her lips. He could see that both he and Alia were no longer invisible. And, in that split second when he realized that they were in trouble, he felt his limbs growing heavy and sleep overtaking him even as he saw his sister slump to the floor of the room.

# Chapter 12. Trouble

Slowly, Will regained consciousness. He sensed the cool dampness of his surroundings and the fact that he was unable to move before he opened his eyes. Opening one eye he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a chair against one wall in a room with stone walls and a stone floor. _Somewhere in the castle_ , he thought. Alia was in a chair right next to him, sitting upright, eyes open and looking at him but encased in some web-like material, a cocoon that held her upper torso to the back of the chair, arms pinned straight against her sides with just her hands protruding, a second web running from her abdomen to the tops of her feet pinning her to the seat and legs of the chair. Will could see that the same material held him to his chair.

"Ah, you're awake, how nice," a man's voice said.

A youthful-looking Malvo Blackthorne stood together with the child, Saldana Navez several feet in front of them, just inside the doorway in the room lit by a single overhead bulb.

"How did you know?" asked Alia, her voice unafraid and combative.

_Careful sis_ , thought Will.

Malvo looked at Saldana.

"I saw it in a dream," Saldana replied, her smile widening.

"You dreamed it," said Will, the disbelief showing in his voice.

"More like a premonition actually," said Saldana, "we knew someone had been following us trying to prevent us from obtaining what we needed to open the backdoor. The minute we stepped into the past, I had the feeling somebody would try to stop us. Then when we walked into the gatehouse, I was absolutely tingling. Alarm bells were going off. I sent Malvo ahead to cast the reappearing spell on anyone in this room and I was waiting to see what would appear. And you did. And now you are here."

"Where's here?" asked Will.

You are in one of the old dungeons beneath the castle," replied Malvo. "And you will stay here until we figure out what to do with you.

"Why don't you just kill us?" said Alia defiantly.

"Oh, that would be too easy," replied Saldana slyly. "Besides, you would just come back."

She saw Will blink.

"Oh yes, I _know_ you are from the future. The flashlight and several other things you were carrying in your pockets gave it away." She pointed to the large pile of items on the floor that had come from Will's hold-all pockets. "While Malvo warns the Founders and organizes increased security for the portal, what I am going to do is go to the timekeeper's cottage and destroy the backdoor. That way, you will be stuck here for about a year until you are born. Then you will be in your own timeline. THEN I can kill you. In the meantime, I'll find something fun to do with you."

Will frowned. It was hard for Will to equate the coldness of the speech with the innocent appearance of the little girl in front of him.

The little girl that was Saldana threw back her head and laughed. "You young Watchers are so naïve," she said mockingly. "There are powers far beyond what you possess. And with my skills acquired over more than 30 years and Malvo's many talents and years of experience, we will utilize the armies of the Federation, to slowly but surely take over _all_ the worlds connected by portals. The people will bend to the will of the Foundation. The animals will bend to the will of the Foundation. Even the magical creatures will bend to the will of the Foundation. Nothing can stop us."

"I must check on how the increased security for the portal is getting on," said Malvo. "Then I will be off to speak with the Founders to alert them of the danger. Please do not tarry too long here, Saldana. The sooner you destroy the backdoor and get back to help defend the portal, the safer things will be. I will send Security to keep an eye on these two."

Malvo turned and left, disappearing from the doorway. They could hear his footsteps fading down the corridor outside.

Saldana watched him go then turned to face Will and Alia. "I needed him because he knew what it would take to open the backdoor in time. I still need him." She pointed at herself. "Who is going to take orders from this child? But there is a woman inside! And soon I will look like the woman inside me. And my knowledge will increase even more and with it so will my power. I am the daughter of a Founder, and I will lead the Foundation to greatness!"

Will jerked at his restraints reciting his dissolving charm.

"Go ahead, try your little charms," laughed Saldana. "Together Malvo and I cast a neutralizing charm on this room. Your magic will not work here. And now, I must go. I have a backdoor to destroy."

She laughed again then turned and disappeared from the doorway, scarcely making a sound as she glided away.

In a few minutes, two men in Foundation security uniforms appeared and stood in the doorway, one facing in and the other facing out, both wearing holstered stun weapons.

"Please, what time is it?" asked Will.

"It is 8 am," replied one of the guards.

Alia looked at Will and frowned. "We've been here all night! We need a new plan."

"Give me a minute," Will replied. "Have you tried levitation?"

"Yes," replied Alia. "Saldana was right, I can't lift anything."

"So, our _magical_ abilities don't work," said Alia, winking at her twin.

Will saw Alia's hands pinned to her sides by the webbing disappear under the webbing and understood.

He started rocking side-to-side in his chair.

"Hey there, none of that," said the guard facing into the room.

Will continued to rock moving the chair on two legs as he increased the arc from side to side.

"I said none of that," the guard repeated, raising his voice. Now the second guard turned to face into the room and was watching Will.

With a final surge, Will leaned away from Alia and he and the chair toppled over with a thud as Will took the fall on his shoulder.

Both guards rushed to Will.

That will get you nowhere," said one guard bending over and grabbing Will by the shoulders and lifting him back up while the other kept the chair legs from sliding as Will was set back upright.

That was enough of a distraction for Alia. Though Will's pockets had been emptied and her backpack taken, they hadn't searched her small pockets. The blade on her multi-tool moved quickly through the web material that held her to the chair. One slice and she freed her upper body with a second slice freeing her legs and torso. Two more steps and she was behind one guard and wrenching the stun gun from his holster.

Alerted by her presence as she yanked the stun gun from his holster, the guard turned to face her. Alia was a quick study. _There's a trigger, no safety_ , she thought as she took a quick look at the weapon in her hand. _Aim and pull_.

As the guard reached for her, a set of tiny metal prongs attached to wires flew from the gun sticking to his chest where, in an instant, a charge traveled through the wires and the guard fell twitching to the floor. The second guard turned his attention from Will to Alia letting go of the back of Will's chair. Will's chair teetered on two legs then began to topple back to the floor. As the chair descended, Will leaned his body causing his chair to crash between Alia and the guard.

"Alia, GO!" Will shouted.

Alia dropped the stun gun and dashed for the doorway and into the hallway. Just two steps behind her, the guard jumped over Will and followed her through the doorway. Pulling his gun from his holster, he raised his arm, aiming at Alia's back. And froze.

Lying on his side, Will could see the guard standing stiffened in place, arm outstretched. He could not hear Alia but heard her footsteps continue down the hall then stop.

"Will, you are not going to believe this," he heard Alia say.

Alia came back into view standing in the doorway, She gestured with her thumb over her shoulder. "Look who's here."

Will saw the slender hand holding the wand first then the face. Rhian appeared in the doorway followed by Alvar. She aimed the wand at the guard lying on the floor no longer twitching from the stun gun and he too froze in place.

Alia bent over and cut the webbing from Will, who rose from the floor brushing the web from his body. He looked at Alvar and Rhian still standing in the doorway. "What are you two doing here?"

"When Malvo and Saldana were not in the trash this morning, the Resistance notified us that some Watchers had come with a plan to capture them and something must have gone wrong. Do I know you? You act like you know us?"

_That's right_ , Will thought. They've never met us even though we've already met them. Twice.

Alia, grinning from ear to ear, had the story down, so she summarized. "As you were told, we are Watchers. Sent by Amadeus Weldon to detain Malvo Blackstone and Saldana Navez. What you were not told is that they returned from the future to warn the Foundation that the Watchers are about to seal the portal to Zorn. You have not met us. Yet. We, however have met you. This is our third try at this. You will meet us in about a year when we are born. We are Alia and Will Barclay, your children."

Rhian and Alvar stared at the twins.

"I see the resemblance, Rhian," Alvar said.

"From the future?" said Rhian looking puzzled. "How does that work?"

"She _is_ more like you, Will," Alia said. "She's got the skills with charms and she just wants to know about _everything_."

Will smiled and answered his mother's question. "A not-so-well-kept secret is that there are doors to the past at most of the timekeeper's cottages. The one on Najora goes back to a day or so before the portal was sealed. Malvo was imprisoned during the sweep that followed the portal sealing; however, apparently Saldana was never captured. She grew up and freed Malvo, then they both used the backdoor to return to warn the Founders that you guys are here to seal the port trapping the Foundation on Zorn."

"Malvo is on his way to warn the Founders and Saldana is on her way to destroy the backdoor, preventing us from returning to the future and trapping us in the past," said Alia.

"It sounds like we have more work to do," said Alvar. "Our primary concern must be with the portal. We are planning to seal it today and Amadeus should be here soon with the final item needed to complete the charm for the seal. It will take both Rhian and me to overcome the increased security and temporarily seal the portal until Amadeus arrives. You two will have to stop Saldana."

"I'm not sure how to do that," said Will. "She beat us three times already. Growing up on Zorn with Malvo as a teacher, she has become quite powerful."

"She may have had Malvo as a teacher, but she did not grow up on Zorn," said Rhian. "Although she is the daughter of a Founder, her mother is Najoran. She was born and raised mostly on Najora."

An idea flashed in Will's head. He could see his sister knew too. "Then we know how to stop her," he said. "We just need to get to the timekeeper's cottage before she destroys the backdoor." He began scooping up the heap of things that had been removed from his hold-all pockets and stuffing them back in.

"Go down the hallway and up two flights of stairs" said Rhian. "It comes out very near to the delivery dock by the secret lion-head fountain exit. Be careful."

"Don't be concerned if everything stops," Alia blurted to Rhian and Alvar as the twins disappeared from the room.

Will and Alia dashed through the doorway to the hallway and up the stairs taking them two at a time. They reached the landing and Will poked his head into the narrow hallway. A worker moving a hand truck loaded with supplies veered sharply to one side, startled by their presence but continued moving down the hallway toward the kitchen. The lion-head fountain was across the hall to the left ten feet from where they stood.

Will dashed out and, counting tiles down and over, pressed the one that released the doorway, which rumbled slightly as it pivoted revealing the opening. Will and Alia scrambled through the opening pulling the lever and closing the doorway behind them as Will flicked on his flashlight and they made their way quickly through the tunnel, taking care not to slip on the hard stone floor of the passage.

Arriving at the exit, they opened the doorway and lifted the thatching cover just enough to view the trail. There was no one in sight. They moved the thatching, and replaced it quickly, pulling the nearby vines over it.

They jumped onto the trail and began jogging the short distance toward the boulder-strewn clearing that held the timekeeper's cottage. Suddenly they felt a tremor in the ground accompanied by sharp crackling sounds coming from up ahead.

"Something is happening at the cottage," Will said, as the ground shook again followed by a sharp electrical crack. The clearing that held the cottage was just ahead around the bend in the trail. Will moved behind a tree to sneak a look at what was happening. He saw Saldana mounting the porch of the already visible cottage. The cottage was tilted, some of its scorched siding had fallen off and its open door was hanging from one hinge.

Saldana felt the presence of the twins. She turned and peering back towards the trail spied Will's head as it darted back behind the tree. "You're too late," she shouted. "I forgot my key, so it took a few minutes to get in, but now I can destroy the backdoor."

Will sent a lightning bolt straight for her but she waved her hand and it fizzled against an invisible shield in front of her. Saldana disappeared inside and they heard more crackling and popping.

Saldana stepped back out onto the porch. "I don't know how you escaped, but now you're mine!" she shouted as she strode off the porch heading directly for Will and Alia.

Will shot a bolt of lightning straight at the witch, which she smoothly deflected shooting her own lightning back and burning a cleft in the tree just above his head

Will turned to his sister, "You heard her, we may be too late, but we still have a chance to stop her from preventing the portal from being sealed. Do you have your multi-tool?"

Alia patted her pocket. "Yes."

"Then I will distract her. You go pull the crystal."

He recited the invisibility charm, touching his sister lightly on the shoulder. Alia disappeared.

Will felt in his pocket and pulled out a small piece of candle. He hurled it into some bushes off toward his right then recited, " _Cera maniquo_."

A life-size wax model of Alia bloomed in the bushes. Then Will picked up a small stone and recited," " _Scutare_." The stone blossomed into a clear shield. Will moved behind a tree peering around it to see the cottage and Saldana while holding the shield in front of him. The air sizzled as a bolt of electricity shot at him deflecting off of the shield but knocking him down.

"I know what you're trying to do and I will not kill you," shouted Saldana. "But you're both going to feel some pain for the inconvenience you're causing me."

Will saw that Saldana was moving through the boulder field, now only 50 yards from him. He waved his wand at a boulder near her, making it roll quickly toward her.

Saldana saw the boulder and shattered it to dust.

Will shrugged. _It was worth a try_ , he thought. He fired three smaller rocks directly at Saldana, which Saldana again vaporized.

Saldana was amused. She peered back toward the forest only to see two more rocks coming straight at her. She whipped out her wand and shattered the rocks into dust.

"More on the way," Will shouted making boulders pop from the ground and arc toward where Saldana was standing. But magic takes energy and Will was beginning to feel the strain. He saw that Saldana was standing calmly. She stood still while boulders simply bounced off of the invisible protective field she had formed around herself.

Will aimed his wand at the resemblance of Alia he had made in the bushes off to his right, making the mannequin move up and down. Saldana shot a bolt of electricity vaporizing the bushes and melting the waxy figure.

Now Saldana looked annoyed. "I am going to teach you two a lesson," Saldana said raising her wand and muttering a spell.

Will saw the tree in front of him disappear. He dove to the ground as a bolt of fire passed over his head. Will raised his head seeing that Saldana, wand raised, was casually walking down toward where he was laying. Now there was nothing between himself and the witch.

Suddenly, Saldana began flailing around her head as though swatting an insect.

Will saw the twinkle of fairy dust fall over Saldana and a brown syrup form on the witch's hair, running into her eyes, causing her to sputter and swear.

Meanwhile, once her brother made her invisible, Alia made her way swiftly through the boulder-filled clearing, keeping far to one side and out of the line of fire of the assorted projectiles passing between her brother and Saldana

She slipped through the open door of the cottage and saw the scorch marks that had obliterated the backdoor in time. She moved directly to the timepiece, which was humming softly as it sat in the middle of the floor. Alia removed the screws from the cover of the as she heard Saldana vaporize a series of rocks that Will hurled.

_Almost there_ , Alia thought to herself as she removed the cover from the timepiece.

Through the partially opened door Alia saw the little girl that was Saldana vaporize the tree where her brother was hiding and hurl a flame at that area. Then she saw the fairy dust and the syrup.

_Oriane!_ Alia realized that despite being warned that traveling back in time was not healthy for elves and fairies, somehow their friend made it through the backdoor and had come to assist them.

She watched Saldana wave her wand and clear the syrup from her face, then sent a bolt of electricity at a spot in the air. There was a loud pop and she saw a twinkle above Saldana's head fall to the ground.

Saldana now standing 25 feet from where Will was crouched behind his shield, raised her wand and screamed "Very well, have it..."

Alia pulled the crystal freezing Saldana in mid-sentence. In fact, everything froze on Najora as time stopped. Alia ran out of the cottage searching for the spot where she last saw the twinkle. Will rushed past Saldana searching the ground with Alia.

They found the tiny form of their friend Oriane, crumpled and singed, lying on a tuft of grass.

Oriane opened her eyes and smiled weakly, "Thought you might need some help," she said letting out a long breath, and closing her eyes.

Will and Alia saw their friend disappear.

Alia blinked back tears. "I know she's not dead. She should go back to her own timeline, but it's still tough to watch." She turned and looked at the stiff little girl that was Saldana. "That ought to hold her for now."

Brushing debris from his clothes, Will let out a sigh of relief. "Yes, but what am I going to do?" He pulled out his book of charms. "I'm not sure I have anything strong enough to hold her."

There was a sound behind them. Footsteps on the wooden porch of the cottage. With a sharp intake of breath, the twins whirled, Alia levitating a boulder and Will raising his wand as they turned.

Rhian stepped off of the porch. "I came as soon as I could. It appears that you two have managed nicely."

Alia dropped the boulder and Will lowered his wand both letting out a sigh of relief.

"Yes, but now what do we do?" said Will. "This is one nasty witch. I'm not sure if I have anything to keep her restrained." He began paging through his book of charms again.

Rhian moved over next to Will reading over his shoulder. She placed her finger on a page pointing. "That should work," she said.

Will read. "You think?" he said looking questioningly at Rhian.

"It will do nicely," she replied.

Will recited the charm. In front of them, Rhian's features became subtly smoother and her complexion and even her clothes became white with tiny swirls of gray as she turned into a marble statue.

"Now," said Rhian looking at Alia "Whatever _you_ did, can you undo it?"

"Sure," said Alia. She trotted back to the cottage bouncing across the porch and into the cottage. She pulled the crystal from her pocket and carefully placed it back in the timepiece.

The longer grasses in the field began to sway slightly as a breeze returned and they could hear birds singing in the nearby forest as time started back up on Najora.

Alia looked at Saldana still frozen as a statue of a child.

"Now what?" said Alia looking at her mother.

"Amadeus Weldon has arrived and he and Alvar are in control of the portal, while the Resistance is gathering up Foundation members. We are going to offer them the choice of prison or returning to Zorn. Malvo is already trapped on Zorn as we saw him enter the portal shortly before we overcame the guards." She pointed at the statue of Saldana. "I think it is best if this one is placed on Zorn too. I can reverse the statue charm after she is passed through the portal."

"We have so much we would like to ask and there is much you could teach us," said Will. But we have been warned that the less we interact with people in the past the better."

"Alvar and I understand," said Rhian. "We will have time with you in the future. In the meantime, I will return with this one." She turned and waved her wand at the statue.

Alia came back out of the cottage after replacing the cover on the timepiece. "See you in a year," she said wistfully as Rhian and the statue disappeared.

Will turned and faced the cottage. "This won't do," he said. He waved his wand reciting " _Restituero villa_ ", and the front of the cottage was restored to its original form.

The twins mounted the porch and walked into the cottage staring at the scorched wall where the backdoor in time had been. Will recited a few charms attempting to see if he could make the door reappear. Nothing.

"It's gone," said Alia. "What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea," said Will.

# Chapter 13. Return to Occassius

Will pulled up a chair at the table in the timekeeper's cottage.

"We need to talk about this," he said as Alia took a seat.

"I think we should go back to Occassius. Shadrach, the chief timekeeper, said that there are backdoors on each world that lead to a specific time in the past, but they all are rooted in the present. If the timekeepers will let us use the backdoor from another world, maybe we can get to the present from somewhere where there is an open door.

"I can see the problem," Alia said. "We only met Shadrach 20 years from now. He will be in _his_ present. In this time, he won't know us and we need to convince him that we're from the future and he needs to let two people he has never met before use a backdoor in time, which is supposed to be a secret, and travel into the future. Essentially a backdoor into the future which they are not sure exists."

"Well, when you put it that way, I am less optimistic," Will replied. "The alternative is that, in a year we would be born. We would grow up again using what we now know. Like what Saldana did. Or did until we undid it. Do we want to have a chance to change the future?"

"Maybe we could prevent our parents from disappearing," said Alia.

"They disappeared before our first birthday," replied Will. "Would we be able to talk?"

"That would be unlikely," Alia said.

"What would we do for a year until we are born," Will mused. "Anything we did might interfere with the future."

Alia said, "If we grew up as orphans at Farmstead Academy, like we did in our past, I am thinking of the time we were exploring and I slipped, but you grabbed me at the last second. The fall would have been 30 feet onto pavement. Would the outcome be the same?"

"Or the time I chased that ball and was just ready to step out in the street in front of that truck when the headmaster, Sirus Colby, who just happened to be running an errand, grabbed me. What if . . . ?"

"There are a lot of those what ifs," mused Alia.

"Should we even try to change the future?" asked Will.

"How would we know what to do to change it for the better?" asked Alia

The twins were silent for several minutes.

Finally, Alia spoke. "My head hurts from thinking about it."

"Mine too," said Will.

"Here's what I feel," said Alia. "I am happy with my life for the last 20 years. I would rather return to the future and take my chances with whatever minor changes we might have caused than relive my last 20 years again.

"I agree," said Will. "Let's go to Occassius."

"We know the way back to Occassius," Will said. "We need to access the dwarf subway, go to Pinsor and from there to Ordinare and Occassius. We only did it once, but I think I can remember where the portals are."

"Me too," agreed Alia.

Will pulled the map of the castle and the surrounding area from his pocket and unfolded it on the table. He pointed to the path through the woods leading to the castle. "We can take the path to the front of the castle instead of jumping off at the secret entrance," he said. "Then we can take a bus to the bottom of the hill then climb the hill to the doorway that leads to the dwarf subway."

"That's a start," said Alia. "Let's go."

They left the repaired timekeeper's cottage with Will leading the way back through the much disrupted but still boulder-strewn field and back onto the trail. From there, they made their way to the bus stop in front of the castle. Busses were running but much had already changed. The few people they saw in Foundation uniforms were being marched through the gatehouse onto castle grounds. All the Najorans looked happier if not yet quite believing in their good fortune.

Will and Alia boarded the bus and got off at the stop on the outskirts of the city at the small parking lot, then onto the trail through the woods until they found the pink rock on the side of the trail, which slid aside to reveal the stone steps descending to the platform of the subway system built by dwarfs. Once on the platform, they waited under the sign for Pinsor until a car arrived, then hopped in and traveled in the cool darkness to the stop that led to another stairway up and out directly across from the portal to Pinsor visible in the gray clump of boulders. Traveling through the portal to Pinsor, they found the stairs to the dwarf subway under the white crystalline rock and from there to the platform below. Once on the platform, they found the sign that said _Portal Two_ and hopped in the nearest car. The door closed on the car and it whooshed into darkness arriving at the small platform that lead to the long ladder up to the next portal leading them to the desert world of Ordinaire.

Coming out of the portal at the base of the sand dune they found there was a slight breeze, and the air was comfortably warm. As far as they could see, there were dunes of white sand with occasional clumps of green vegetation and overhead the pale blue sky was filled with fluffy white clouds.

"Mr. Dunstable called this the doorstep to Occassius," Will said recalling out loud.

"Somewhere in the distance there should be what looks like a mirage, but it's the oasis where the portal to Occassius is located," said Alia scanning the horizon.

"There," said Will pointing off to their right.

The twins moved across desert leaving footprints in the warm sand. In a few minutes, they could see the green leaves of the palm-like tree with a small pool of water at its base and the nearby clump of smaller trees with umbrella-like silver leaves. They approached the large tree, and sat on the ground at its base facing the clump of smaller trees. They waited, watching the clump of trees.

Alia spoke, "I see it. It just appeared. It's part of the taller tree on the left." The dark slit of a portal in the trunk of the tree came into view.

They rose and dusted the sand from their clothes, moving closer to stand just in front of the portal.

If a few minutes, the dark slit that was the portal began to shimmer ever so slightly. They watched as a creature emerged from the portal, the color of gray driftwood with smooth lumps and bumps and cracks and slim limbs like a tree that had been blown to the beach and sat in sun and wind and sand for 100 years. But standing erect on two thin legs, wearing a red baseball cap, the features of Shadrach, the chief timekeeper crystallized into view.

"Welcome back, Miss Alia and Mr. Will," he said, his blue eyes contrasting with the gray driftwood color of his skin. "Congratulations on the success of your quest to restore the natural timeline."

"How could you know?" asked Alia. "In fact, we are here 20-some years before you met us. How do you even know us.?

"I came back," Shadrach replied. "Although the changes caused by Malvo and Saldana did not extend to Occassius, we felt it there. Sort of like a minor earthquake in the time-space continuum. And our timekeepers reported the changes on those worlds where the Foundation interfered. Then there was another minor quake and the timekeepers report that things are pretty much as they were. Except for the destruction of the backdoor in time on Najora. Which, by the way will probably restore itself at some point."

"What do you mean restore itself?" asked Will.

"Well, you remember that backdoors appeared spontaneously, we think in response to our regulating time with our timepieces. Since the timepiece is still regulating time on Najora, some pressure will eventually build up. We think the response will be another backdoor to relieve that pressure."

"How long will it take and will it be from the present back 20 years like it was?" asked Alia.

"The answer to both questions is we just don't know," Shadrach replied, shaking his head. "But your real question is, can I help you get back to the present."

"Can you?" the twins replied simultaneously.

"You know the answer," replied Shadrach smiling. "Think for a moment."

"Of course!" replied Will excitedly. "You came back from the present to meet us here. There MUST be a way back!"

"Precisely," Shadrach responded. "There are many worlds in the portal system. Each has at least one backdoor back in time. As they were discovered, the timekeepers mapped them all and, as it so happens, there is a door that will be available soon on the small world of Pandro just a few portals away."

Shadrach gave them instructions on how to get to the portal on Pandro and from Pandro to their world. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal key similar to the one he had given them to open the doors to timekeeper's cottages. He also handed Will a small slip of paper.

"The backdoor on Pandro is locked with a simple key. The charm that goes with it is written on the paper. Please memorize it now."

Will looked at the paper repeating the charm to himself several times, then handed it back to Shadrach.

"What about you?" asked Alia. "Are you returning with us to the present."

"I rather enjoy peeking into the past to see how things are going then seeing how they turn out in the present," replied Shadrach. "It has been quite an education. I have a few more times to visit before I return." He reached back into his pocket and pulled out a small pocket watch handing it to Alia.

"This watch is synched with the time and date on Pandro. It will tell you when it is possible to open the door. Remember that the space-time continuum is a bit slippery. You may arrive a few hours before or after you left your world. Good luck."

Shadrach turned and walked, slowly disappearing into the portal to Occassius.

The twins followed his instructions with care. They avoided people and met no one as they passed through two portals to get to what turned out to be a small island on the world of Pandro. As the chief timekeeper had promised, the timekeeper's cottage was visible on a rocky outcropping overlooking a small bay of blue water.

Will and Alia crossed the porch and knocked on the door of the cottage. No one appeared to be home. Will felt in his pocket and retrieved the master key to the cottages and inserted it into the lock. The lock clicked open and the door opened smoothly. The inside of the cottage was similar to the two cottages on Pinsor and Najora, a small bedroom, kitchen and living space as well as a bench and tools along with the timepiece humming quietly in the center of the room. Directly across from the door through which they entered was another door. Will pulled the pocket watch out and examined it.

"According to this, the door will be accessible tomorrow," he said.

"That's ok, I am beat," said Alia sitting in a chair and taking off her shoes. Will went outside and returned with a few sticks. He had a charm to make food, so he created a meal, bread, stew and a fruity tea that he remembered from one of their other adventures. The two ate in silence and were soon fast asleep on the bunks in the bedroom.

# Chapter 14. Home Again?

Will woke just as the sun came streaming through the bedroom window. Alia was already up doing some stretches in the main room. Will dressed and joined her.

"Want breakfast?" he asked.

"She pointed to a small pile of sticks and stones she had gathered from outside.

"Shadrach said the trip home will take the good part of the day, so we should have a good breakfast."

Will made pancakes from the sticks and stones. He had a charm for that. After they ate, they shared in the cleanup. At last they were ready. Together, the twins walked across the room and stood in front of the door.

Will pulled out the key he had been given and looked at his sister. "Ready?"

She nodded.

Will inserted the key and recited the charm he had memorized. The lock glowed for a second and then clicked. Will opened the door. The outside was a mirror image of the front of the cottage they had entered the previous day.

Retracing their steps, they left the island via the portal they had come through to get there. Shadrach had given them instructions on how to get home the quickest way. It took almost a full day hiking on trails sometimes on rocky cliffs, more often through forests, seeing some plants and animals they had never seen before. A few times they saw people at a distance, sometimes towns or cities on the horizon. On the other worlds, it was impossible to tell the time. Each had a single sun in the sky, but in neither case was it near a horizon, so they thought it was sometime in the middle of the day. Finally, they arrived at the portal back to their homeworld.

Will looked at his sister. "Nervous?" he asked.

"Shadrach said if we get back after we left, the portal will deliver us a few states over from where we live, but if we get back before we left, we will just pop back to where we were at that time," Alia said. "Wouldn't that be weird?"

"We'll see," replied Will as he took a deep breath and marched through the portal opening.

Alia was right behind him.

Will felt the usual cool cave-like feeling of traveling through a portal with just a split second of darkness. He felt a slight tremor. That's never happened before, he thought in the brief second of travel through the portal.

Will and Alia found themselves in a city walking along the sidewalk. Halfway down the block ahead was a gray Craftsman-style house surrounded by a white picket fence. Even from some distance down the block, it was hard to miss the fact that there was a guest waiting on their porch.

"We're home and that's Saydon sitting on our front porch exactly like he was before we got our latest assignment. I bet we arrived slightly early," Alia said.

They passed through the gate in the white picket fence and walked along the walk to the porch. The man who was sitting on one of the Adirondack chairs on their porch rose. Even sitting he had been obviously large, but standing he was quite formidable. His size was almost the same as the substantial front door of their house.

Alia smiled. "Saydon Nemscally! What are you doing here? We seldom see you outside of The Gallery."

The soft-voiced reply belied the heft of the man who spoke. "It is nice to see you again, Miss Alia and Mr. Will. I would normally wait and greet you at The Gallery, but we are in somewhat of a hurry. Mr. Weldon has another task for his Retrievers."

"Ah, Watcher business," replied Will, putting a little excitement in his voice.

"Another adventure," Alia said, doing her best to appear interested and surprised.

"You two are so much like your parents," mused Saydon. "It's as if, rather than being orphaned before you were a year old, you grew up under their influence. They too were always enthusiastic to be sent on Watcher business."

"They were Retrievers, like us, weren't they?" asked Alia.

"Oh yes, they were quite good."

"Ok then, let's go," replied Will. "The Gallery is just a short bus ride away."

"No time for that now," responded Saydon. "Please follow me."

He let them into their back yard to a small shed that stood next to the garage. He paused before opening the door.

"I suppose you have had some time to visit this shed?"

"Of course," replied Will, pretending not to know what was coming. "We haven't been here long, but once we were given the house and told it belonged to our parents, we were eager to explore. It's an empty shed."

"We were talking about making it into a chicken coop," piped up Alia following Will's lead. "But we've been busy."

Saydon looked at the twins as he opened the door. "Actually, we asked the dwarfs to convert it They've just finished. It will get us to The Gallery downtown quickly."

"Cool beans," said Alia winking at Will. "Let's try it."

Saydon opened the door and stepped into the shed with Alia and Will just behind him. He moved to one end and opened the door to a large metal cabinet that occupied most of the wall. They found themselves looking at a dark opening the size of a doorway that appeared to be the entrance to a tunnel, with stone walls and lighted globes imbedded in the walls that illuminated the beginning of passage that quickly curved out of sight. Saydon moved to the opening.

"Dwarfs have built tunnel systems on several worlds that make quick work of travel. It only takes a few steps, but it will cover the distance to the Gallery. I have no idea how they manage this, but it appears to work. Please follow me."

They followed Saydon through the short tunnel, globes spaced several feet apart, casting a cool light illuminating the smooth stone path ahead of them. In a few minutes, they found that they had arrived at a dark-stained wooden door. Opening the door, they found that they were stepping into a room at The Gallery; a room full of paintings, furniture, weapons, jewels, every sort of artifact that you can think of all destined for some specific person on some specific world.

"I kind of enjoy the bus rides from our place to here," said Alia as they stepped into the room. "But that tunnel works just fine for me."

"Mr. Weldon is expecting us," said Saydon as he exited the room. "Please close the door behind you."

Will and Alia followed Saydon into the hallway and toward the back of the building to Mr. Weldon's office.

The door at the end of the hallway, the one that opened to Mr. Weldon's office was ajar and light from the office illuminated the polished wood of the floor just outside. Saydon knocked briefly, then opened the door and gestured for Will and Alia to enter. He followed them in and pulled the door closed.

The bespectacled white-haired man with a full white beard sitting behind the great wooden desk looked up and smiled at them as they came in.

"Miss Alia and Mr. Will, so good to see you. Please sit down," he said, gesturing at the two plush red cushioned chairs in front of his desk.

Will and Alia sank into the comfortable chairs. Behind Mr. Weldon, the bookshelves in the dark wood paneled office were filled floor-to-ceiling with leather-bound volumes, all well used. The single desk lamp illuminated Mr. Weldon as well as Will and Alia, but much of the room was in deep shadows. Despite the lack of light, Will could see a hooded figure sitting quietly in a chair in the corner of the room behind Mr. Weldon. Will glanced at Alia. She too had noticed the presence of the visitor.

Mr. Weldon shuffled a few papers on his desk, looking perplexed. "I'm a bit embarrassed," he said, looking at them over the spectacles sitting low on his nose. "Something had come up quite suddenly, a rather serious problem, but between the time I sent Saydon to get you and your arrival here, the issue has evaporated. It somehow solved itself."

The figure in the darkened corner of Mr. Weldon's office stirred slightly.

Amadeus Weldon turned to the visitor. "But since she is already here, I would like to introduce you to a woman who you may be working with sometime in the future.

"Will and Alia, I am pleased to introduce you to Oriane from the fairy homeworld of Glymr."

The tall slim figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light, reaching up and pulling the hood back from her head.

Before them stood a young woman slightly taller than either of them. Short brown hair framed a tanned oval face with the hint of a smile while her ears, almost buried in her hair, were slightly pointed at the top. But her magnetic feature was her eyes. Clear, bright, emerald green eyes sparkled at them as she stepped forward and offered her hand to Alia.

Alia could not contain herself any longer. She encircled Oriane with her arms in a tight hug.

Oriane returned the hug and looking over Alia's shoulder at Will, she winked. Releasing Alia, she offered her hand to Will. "Miss Alia, Mr. Will, your reputation precedes you, perhaps you have a few minutes to talk. I am certain you have stories to tell."

Will could not settle for a handshake. He too hugged Oriane, happy to see their companion alive and well in the present.

"Since Mr. Weldon has nothing for us, maybe you would like to come to our home to visit," said Alia. "I'm sure we could share stories."

"I'd like that," said Oriane.

The three bid Mr. Weldon and Saydon goodbye and left the office.

Amadeus Weldon looked at Saydon Nemscally and raised his eyebrows. "Most unusual. Those two are usually not that friendly with strangers . . . but she didn't seem to mind."

Saydon shrugged.

Will, Alia and Oriane heard the comment through the open office door as they walked down the corridor of The Gallery. They looked at each other and laughed.

Will put an arm around Alia and squeezed gently. They were going home.

### ####

About the Author

Kram Scavok is a pseudonym for the author. The author was born in the USA and has lived in several cities all across the US including the East Coast, Midwest, Mountain States, and West Coast. Interested in animals from an early age, he studied biological sciences as an undergraduate, earned a master's degree in physiology, then went on to receive a degree in veterinary medicine and became a practicing veterinarian. On the way to becoming a veterinarian, the author held a variety of jobs including: work on a dairy farm, a cattle ranch, an animal shelter, as a short order cook and service in the hospital corps of the US Army. Reading favorites include Science Fiction and Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Mysteries and, of course, Harry Potter.

Other Books by Kram Scavok

### There Might Be Dragons

### The Return of the Phoenix

