CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Mr. Chambers had gathered them all back to the Round Table Pub.

"My Friends, all of you have performed masterfully. Our first goal of saving this this time period from destruction has succeeded. Now by extension all fantasy time periods are safe as well. Now the battle moves to Wingate,"

 Mr. Chambers waved his hand, and all but Sir Galahad, Neville, Kattie, Conner, Mr. Chambers himself disappeared

 "Mr. Chambers, where is the Planet Wingate?"

"Well, my dear, Wingate is not so much a place, as it is a time. Let me see if I can put this in a way you can understand. For eons, my species served as universal overseers of peace for both large planets full of all types of species, as well as small, isolated groups. We used various kinds of magic to help keep the peace. It was always our aim to not harm anyone on either side, and it was always the hard fast rule that we were to never cause the death of anyone. This arrangement went well for an exceptionally long time. However, one day, at one of our gatherings, a debate arose. Some felt that we were interfering too much, and some felt we needed to do more. The debate grew hotter and hotter. It was finally decided that the way it would be settled was to have a contest on Wingate. Wingate was chosen. That was the only smart thing. Wingate is a time that only our species can access.”

He paused for several moments

“The contest got way out of hand. More and more joined in to try to help support the cause they believed in. The results were horrible. All of the younger ones who were less powerful, lost all there powers and were almost made slaves. The battle raged on. In time, we had changed from champions of peace to ones obsessed with fighting with each other. That is why the universe got so out of hand.”

He paused again and hung his head.

“Charlie and I are the only ones left. She had her powers taken away, and she believes I did also. She continues her cause of being more involved, now to the point that she wants full control and power of whoever she is involved with, because she believes she knows what is best for everyone…especially herself. I on the other hand only involve myself when Charlie makes too much trouble for someone. When we were at the height of out battles, I began using a blend of technology and magic, so that when I was finally able to strip Charlie of almost all her powers, she would believe I had lost mine also. However, I made two big mistakes at that point. I did not put her into what humans call jail. I was naive and believed she had learned her lesson. The fact of the matter was she only became more determined to get revenge. My second mistake was to see how resourceful she is. Not only in gaining technology, but also, her means of influencing other species to obey her. Anyway, I way I see it, I now need to do what I should have done a long time ago.” Mr. Chambers said, and bowed his head,

“All by yourself? I don’t think so!” Kattie stated.

Mr. Chamber chuckled.

“I like your spirit young lady, but it is one thing to do what you did here on earth under my protection, but you have no idea what the conditions are on Wingate, and as I said, only my species can enter.” Mr. Chambers stated.

“That is not entirely true,” Conners said.

“You stay out of this!” Mr. Chambers said sharply.

“Look, you involved us in the first place! If you lose, this Charlie person is likely just going to come back and destroy both our world and those of the folk heroes. As you know, we humans, now as well as in times past, are not just going to sit around and let someone else determine their fate.” Neville stated boldly, which made Kattie smile.

“I also well know their lack of patience, their ignorance, and their arrogance. Conner, do you remember what happened the last time I took you there?” Mr. Chambers asked.

I was young and foolish, I well know now that only the masters have control powers there. We will strictly follow your directions.” Conner stated.

Mr. Chambers was quiet for a bit.

“It is against my better judgement, which I rarely use.” He added under his breath.

“Very well, Conner, ready all the equipment and I will be back for all of you soon.”

With that Mr. Chambers waved his hand and disappeared.

“Come you two, we have much to prepare.”

The three of them spent much time “packing up” all the equipment in the warehouse. During that time there was much discussion on what Neville and Katie should do to try to prepare themselves for the transfer that would take place and tried his best to let them know what to expect when they arrive in Wingate. As you can imagine there was a bunch of questions, and Neville and Kattie’s nerves were on edge. However, they surprise Conner in the way they seemed to move forward.

“I have to warn you again, as Mr. Chambers stated, he will not be able to protect any of us when we are on Wingate. It will take every bit of his focus to defeat Charlie.

The phenomenon known as Wingate was divided into three levels or realms. The entrance was a large portal that from space appeared as a massive black hole, except the outline of the portal was illuminated with brilliant bright colored light. This would allure ships in investigate. It was only after eons of all the varieties of the species that are scattered around the universe losing numerous ships in this trap, that they decided to guard the entrance by means of a mutual military force.

 What was not known to any of these species, because of not being able to get far into the entrance before being vaporized, was the first level of Wingate was quiet calm and peaceful. The history of Wingate is not clear. It is rumored to have been built by the Masters of the arts as a training ground for their apprentices. It had been said that this first level was where everything was explained to the apprentices and also served as a resting place between training sessions. The second level was an illusion/ creative weapons level. Some of what the apprentices would face was generated by the level itself, and some by the Master that was doing the training would create, A third factor would be an automatic reaction to what the apprentice would use. The third level was unknown to all except the very highest of the Masters of the arts What had been made clear was that only worthy ones were able to gain entrance.

The message that the Captain had sent to the Commander that was in charge of guarding the entrance to Wingate was received and acknowledged. Charlie was sure that Chambers would use some of his “parlor tricks” to scare away those guarding the entrance, and she wanted to know the second that occurred. Her hopes were to arrive first, but if she did not, she wanted to know if Chambers had already entered,

The code that the Captain of Charlie’s ship had added was an old code dealing with being aware of your known enemy, and betrayer. Charlie’s reputation for using whoever or whatever she needed, then discharging them, was widely known.

Wally, who had been forced into finding Mr. Chambers location on earth was the latest in a long line of examples of being “discharged” by Charlie.

Mr. Chambers indeed did arrive first, for obvious reason, He then transferred Conner, Neville, and Kattie along with all their equipment to that first level of Wingate. As conner warned, it took several minutes for Neville and Kattie to recover. Once they did, what they saw, smelled, and felt, was like nothing they had ever experienced before.

“I would like to allow you the time to take in all the wonders of this level of Wingate, however, I have a battle to prepare for. Conner set everything up in the art section and set up a small screen.” Mr. Chambers instructed

He the looked at Neville and Kattie.

“I do appreciate your willingness to come and help. My advise to you is to listen carefully to all of conners instructions. This will be a lot more intense then what you were doing on earth. Good luck to us all!” With that he vanished.

“Okay kiddies, as the Master said, we also have a battle to prepare for.”

Conner closed his eyes and instantly they were in another part of the first level, with all the equipment arranged in a perfect circle, with the three of them in the middle of them.

“You have the power to do all this too?” Neville said in amazement.

Conner smiled and shook his head.

“I am but a humble apprentice, My abilities are completely dependent on what the master grants me at the time. Now, our job is the same as it was on earth. We are to help Mr. Chambers to convince Charlie that a majority of his powers is derived from technology. However, because we are in a place that is full of energy of the arts, it will be more difficult for us to mask Mr. Chambers actions. I will put what I need from you into your screens We have about two hours before Charlie arrives.”

Neville and Katie walked over to their screens. What they pulled up both excited and frightened them at the same time.

Charlie was concerned that Mr. Chambers had done nothing as far as to scaring the military away from the front of the entrance to Wingate. She ran through in her mind a number of reasons that nothing had happened yet.

“Maybe, he is laying in wait just outside their range, until I get closer. No, he is not that smart. Maybe, he has snuck past them, without being detected, No, he would not want to show his hand that he had that ability. Maybe, the little coward set me up with this challenge, just so he could run and hide from me again.”

Charlie laughed heartily at that idea.

“I will find out soon enough if that is the case. If it is, I promise there will be no more bargains, no more deals, I will find you and destroy you!”

Charlie then called to the Captain of the ship.

“What is our E.T.A. at Wingate?”

“Less than an hour.” was the response.

“Make sure your weapons, and defenses are on full. If that little coward is anywhere within range, he will cheat where ever he can,” Charlie ordered, then shut off her devise.

“It takes a cheat to know a cheat,” the Captain mumbled under his breath.