The Portal Soldiers

Chapter XXVI

XXVI

Lost Horses

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"Can't Lance make a portal?" William grilled.

Lance looked down to hide his pale face. Amy widened her eyes and showed the whole of her blue iris, to see almost everything at her front. While breathing heavily, Amy and Lance looked up at each other's faces.

"Tell them," Lance whispered and it surprised Amy he was still able to speak. He covertly eyed at his other four teammates. Amy locked her vision on the wall of the structure beside them as she spoke.

"Lance has been in that place—in Garing-free, and he can't make a portal to go there," Amy said. "He needs me to go with him in order to get to Garing-free."

"Amy," Sally reassured her. "It will be okay whatever the truth is. Just get it straight."

"Thank you," Lance smiled then exhaled. "I am sorry. I hid—"

"Guys!" Tom cried out. "Please don't tell the truth in a dramatic way."

"Let me say it," Amy convoked the five people's attentions. "I grew up in Garing-free for the first eleven years of my life. Lance is my childhood friend, and Mom and I invited Lance as our visitor of the palace. Unintentionally, he stayed here as a member of the Juniors and as a citizen of Portland Goldens. Today, he wanted to go back to Garing-free for his family."

"Will he leave us?" Tom asked while dropping his jaw.

"Yes, I will," Lance abruptly responded. "And I will live my life normally with my family. Yes, I need a a portal soldier to go back to my home in an instant, but I will not come back here."

Amy, Elise, Sally, William, and Tom nodded with different speeds and styles. Tom looked at everything below his eyes and beamed.

"Hey," Tom called Lance, and Lance stared at him as a quick reaction. "If you want to come back to your home, you will let us come with you in Gay... Garing—Garing-free."

Lance nodded and grumbled, "as long as you will make a portal to Garing-free for me."

"I suggest that we should go to Garing-free instead of riding a sleigh," Amy said with alacrity.

Everyone's eyes searched for a better view of Amy's face. With things racing on their minds, everyone agreed pokily.

"That's a brilliant idea," William noted and broke the silence of understanding.

"As long as you will make a portal to Garing-free," Lance reiterated his previous line.

"I've never been there," Tom said as his excitement faded.

"Where is that place?" Sally asked, completely with inquisitiveness of Elise.

"I'm just going to make a portal to Garing-free, and we will go through it," Amy explained in a simple way.

"And what about the portal plate thing?" Elise asked.

"We're going to bring it," Amy said. "It's not that delicate and fragile, anyway. We just have to make sure we won't touch it's sensory circle, or else, we will have a teammate transported back to this world."

"Let's go," Tom excitedly said.

"Wait," Amy said, and by doing this, she terminated any word from any of her teammates. "We need to bring our horses."

"That's what I'm about to say," Elise grinned as she whispered this.

"Let's disperse and go to where the your horses are," Amy ordered. "Let's meet outside the Generals' Base. Don't forget to bring your weapons, okay?"

All of them nodded without any hesitation.

"Come on!"

---

"I don't know how to thank you for welcoming us in your palace."

Ellen looked at the mother and child at her front. She held her own hands at the front of her waist, which emphasizes her slightly plain white and blue gown.

"It's a pleasure to be in this palace with my son," Joan lachrymosely said. "Where is he, your Majesty?"

Through the part of the palace where the hall meets the lobby, the figure of a man and a woman walked toward Ellen, Joan, and Lance's brother—Drew.

"Turn around, Joan," Ellen, who is being a classy-talker, said. Joan and Drew moved their bodies to the right and carefully turned clockwise. Lance have opened his arms widely, and he caught his mother and brother in his arms.

"Mom, I am sorry to bring a bad news," Amy looked down at the well-patterned and unique-styled tiles of the lobby. "Lance and I have our horses missing. I can't even determine how come our horses were missing. I mean, our horses were locked with the royal horses, and the stables are placed near the gardens of our palace."

"Mom," Lance said and tried to apologize in pulling away. "I promise to be back. I still have things to do, and I'm sorry."

Lance and Amy excused themselves in the lobby to get their weapons from their bedrooms.

---

"How can it be, General?" Elise stressfully asked. "Only our team's horses are lost."

"I don't even have a hint, Elise," Phillip said and looked down. "I'm sorry... but I can borrow horses from some idle teams."

The Juniors and Phillip were near the stables of the horses, and like what Elise said, all of the Juniors' horses are lost.

"You have to let us, General," Amy fearlessly demanded. "You have to let us go on a search for our horses on our own. We don't want to lose those horses, because the Portal Soldiers need them."

Phillip exhaled like he had no choice—but he has, and whispered, "do what's right, children. If you want me to come with you on the search, I will agree and—"

"Thanks, but no, General." Lance exhaled and smiled. "The Juniors can do this."

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