Changeling

Chapter 7

Ariton landed softly on the forest floor. With my arms still circling his neck, I peered over his shoulder back into the portal we just passed through. There was my hospital room, like an image on a television screen. And there was Goldin in his true form rushing towards the opening.

"Ariton. Ariton!" I hit his back with my good hand to get his attention. "Behind you!"

He swung around and saw Goldin closing in on the portal then rushed to set me down on the ground near a tree.

"We may have waited too long to come through," Ariton said. I was struck by a wave of guilt. It took too long for me to decide to place my trust in him and that allowed Goldin to finish his transformation and pursue us.

"What will happen if he makes it through?"

"Nothing good," Ariton replied as he stepped away from me. He raised his hands, palms flat, facing the magical doorway. He chanted some sort of incantation in a language I didn't understand. In the hospital room, Goldin halted in his tracks as if a wall had been erected in front of him and the portal began shrinking in size, its edges folded in on itself.

Goldin persisted however, and defiantly pushed against Ariton's magic managing to inch closer and closer to the portal. If it didn't close faster, he would make it through. Ariton's chant grew louder and louder. He leaned forward forcing everything he had into maintaining the invisible barrier. Sweat dripped from his face. Every muscle in his body strained to keep Goldin at bay giving the portal a chance to close.

Whatever Ariton was doing, it was working. The portal finally shrunk to such a size I couldn't imagine Goldin fitting through. My hospital room was no longer visible only Goldin's face, and that ugly taunting smile.

"You think you've gotten away, but you haven't. I always get what I come for. I will see you soon Princess. I will take you to where you rightfully belong." Princess? He was either patronizing me or had me confused with someone else.

The portal pinched closed then Ariton collapsed in a heap to the ground. I crawled over to him on my hands and knees. "Ariton...Ariton, are you okay?"

He didn't answer. He wasn't conscious but his chest rose and fell with breaths. Thank goodness for that- he wasn't allowed to be dead but whatever he had just done to keep Goldin from pursuing us took a terrible toll. Laying on the ground next to him, I clasped my hands on either side of his face and brushed his cheeks with my thumbs. He was beautiful and it was hard not to admire him even in this state. But there were more pressing things to think about at this moment. He needed to wake up.

"Ariton, are you okay?" I asked again, loudly this time, hoping it would stir him and he would answer. Nothing. "Please Ariton, wakeup." I slapped his cheek gently hoping it would rouse him. It didn't.

What was I supposed to do if he didn't wake up? I pulled myself into a seated position, rested his head gently in my lap and brushed his sweat soaked hair from his forehead. I looked around at my surroundings; we sat in a clearing at the edge of a pine forest. This must be Eden, I thought. I didn't have much of a biblical background but I'd always pictured Eden as a more tropical place than what this place appeared to be. One thing I knew for certain-- we couldn't stay here out in the open, like sitting ducks, waiting for Goldin to find us. For all I knew he would come bounding through a portal of his own at any moment. We needed to seek shelter somewhere, even if it was just inside the tree line. I really hoped Ariton would wake soon.

I don't know how long we sat there but darkness had begun creeping into the edges of the sky turning it from blue to grey. With it came colder air and the sounds of animals deep in the forest I couldn't identify.