Gatewright (17 page)

After
I stepped through, I saw Riven running toward us, his eyes alight with
happiness.  He dropped his lunch beside him as soon as saw the gate,
gazing at it in wonder.  “You did it,” he told me in awe as Jack stepped
through.  “You actually did it.”

Jack
and I exchanged a look.  I couldn’t take all the credit.  I prayed
I’d never need to do it again.  Either way, DIDA would have my hide if
they ever realized I’d opened two extra gates.  I wondered what had
happened to the one in the woods.  A shiver of fear: if the fey had
discovered it, going back to Azry was a terrible idea.

Riven
walked up to the gate, admiring it.  “I see what you mean, Jan.  It
is
beautiful.”

I
chanted Jack’s advice in my head. 
Kusay Vaal, not Riven. 
I
distracted myself by picking up his abandoned lunch while Jack hastily gathered
our things.

“Come
on, let’s go.” Jack practically dived back through the portal as soon as he was
confident we had left nothing behind, but Riven hesitated, oddly silent, before
he followed.

Two
steps after we reappeared in Anowir,
Riven
charged up
a small fireball and exploded an offending bush.  I winced against the
blast of heat.  “Oh, that’s so much better,” he sighed in his native
tongue, the same way I did when I got into a hot tub.  His head suddenly
snapped towards Jack, who seemed slightly stunned.  “Don’t try that on
me.  I know even listening to you gives you an edge into my brain.”

Listening
to him gave Jack an edge?  I made a mental note to ask Riven how to ignore
a voice in one’s head.  Or, I could ask a psychiatric patient.  They
might have some good ideas too.

“Oh,
but it’s so much fun to poke your brain.  I do apologize, it’s been eleven
years without getting to eavesdrop on anyone’s thoughts.”  Jack didn’t
seem
that apologetic, despite his words.

 “Well,
mine are off limits,” Riven shot back, and I wondered if he was going to become
an asshole again.

“Shall
we go?”  I tried to distract them.

“As
much as I’d like to accompany you, there’s a slight issue,” Jack wavered. 
“Your car is still parked over there.  If we’re to keep up the guise that
you’re a perfectly normal human, I need to return the car to your home.”

“And
more importantly, an Exile can’t suddenly reappear in the fey realm without all
hell breaking loose,” Riven pointed out.  He was technically correct, but
I was sure that Jack didn’t appreciate it.

Jack
planted his feet.  “And a fey can’t reappear with the traits of an Exile
without ‘all hell breaking loose’,
either
.”

Riven’s
hands glowed faintly, and Jack’s eyes were ever-so-dark.  I sighed loudly
at them and resisted the urge to bash their heads together.  “Fine. 
I’ll wander up to Peregare by myself.”

“That
won’t be necessary,” Jack relented, without breaking eye contact with
Riven.  “I’m willing to make a deal with you, Kusay.”

“What
is that?” he asked suspiciously.

“I
can place a binding on you that will conceal your recent changes that will last
for at least two weeks.”

My
eyebrows shot up at Jack’s confidence.  That was a level of psychic I did
not
expect.  Impressive.

Riven’s
eyes narrowed.  “Why not disguise yourself?”

Jack
sighed in frustration.  “It’s a hell of a lot harder to hide a person’s
whole identity than just an aspect of their appearance.  And Jan’s car is
here.  And, if I disappear suddenly, it might bring suspicion.
 Believe me, I’ve thought this one out.  You think I
want
to
go back to Earth?  Find out where my wife is.  Jan will bring me
there.  Safer to travel on the human side of the universe, for now.”

Well,
I hadn’t
volunteered
to take him back, especially after what he just
said to me to get me to make a gate.  Dammit.  I couldn’t tell him
no
,
either.  Still, I felt he hadn’t told me the whole story about why he was
staying.  Which wasn’t exactly out of character for him, either.

“And
in return?”  Riven was saying.

Jack
struggled to speak.  The words came slowly, as if dredged from some secret
place deep within.  “Find my family and ensure they are safe.  Tell
them I love them, I’ve never forgotten them, and I will see them soon.” 
His eyes grew darker, literally, his pupil swallowing the brown of his iris
whole.  He switched to speak in Anowir.  “You have had what is truly
a unique experience.  No fey has understood Exile and returned in a
thousand years.  Exile has never been an appropriate punishment, and never
will
be, but no fey has been willing to accept that.”  He barely
restrained his frustration.

Riven
frowned.  “I’m not sure what you expect
me
to do about this. 
We have a new system.”

Jack
wavered before he continued.  “What you do not know is that many those of
us who are exiled are instigators who made the mistake of appearing stronger
than the Queens or questioning their rule.  The judges force the innocent
to confess to crimes they never committed.”

I
covered my mouth in shock.  “That’s horrible!”

Jack
turned to me.  “I was a judge,” he spoke softly, and for the first time, I
saw his pain clear as day.  He hadn’t forgiven himself.  He might
never
forgive himself.  Jack forced himself to continue.  “I was a judge
for perhaps a month in that special court before I couldn’t stomach it any
longer.  Of course, I was exiled in an illegal, closed trial because they
knew they couldn’t break my mind.”  He paused, collecting his thoughts.
“When I became a judge, I swore an oath: to reveal the truth and administer
justice.  All the years I’ve been trapped on
Earth,
I’ve never had the chance to change anything.  Riven, you have that
chance.”

I
exchanged a brief glance with Riven, chilled.

Jack
continued.  “By Anowir law, every trial that resulted in Exile deserves an
appeal. Those that attempted to falsify the truth before the Great Mage, and
those who were complicit in the act, must face an impartial trial of their
own.”  Jack’s eyes grew dark again, and I didn’t doubt his resolve.

Riven
was very, very still.  “You are not simply a
nagali
, but a
nagayos
,”
he observed.

“Yes. 
And I will stand trial for it.”

Silence
fell.  I burned with the desire to ask what a
nagayos
was, but knew
to ask would be horribly inappropriate.

Riven
broke the quiet indecision.  “My mother insisted, from when I was very
young, that I learn to resist
nagali
because of how easily a careless
mind can break a clan.  My aunt, as you deduced when you met me, is one of
the reigning Queens of Anowir, and oversees that same special court.” 
Riven shook his head slowly.  “Blood would demand that I defend her honor,
but honor would demand her blood if this is indeed true.”

“You
must
intervene!” Jack protested.

“No,”
Riven snapped.  “I don’t.  I will ensure your wife and child are
safe, and I will pass them your message. 
My
oath is to Jan. 
Your
oath is to justice.”

“Fuck
you,” Jack snarled.

Neither
moved.

“Jack,
if Riven doesn’t take me to Peregare, it’s game over,” I emphasized.

Jack
swore again, then placed a hand high on his chest, almost at his neck, giving a
tiny bow.  “I will help you, Kusay.  For Jan’s sake.”

Riven
returned the gesture.  “For Jan’s sake,” he repeated, and met my eyes for
a brief moment, expression inscrutable.

Moment
over, Jack walked over to carefully place his hands on Riven’s head. 
After a long minute of concentration, he leaned back and squinted, pleased with
whatever he had done.

“Is
he supposed to look different?”  I asked nervously.

“Not
to you.  It’s not an illusion, it’s a…” Jack failed to find the
word.  “I’ve tied the magic around him so that no one will notice
something they do not expect.  You expect to see him as he is; thus, that
is how he appears.  No one will expect him to have human features; thus, they
will not see.”

“You
do not see because you do not
wish
to see,” I quoted
Prince of Egypt
with
a smile.

Riven
stared at me in confusion.

“Try
not to test it too much,” Jack advised.  “It’s going to be freshest for
the next few days, so I highly suggest you find fey clothes before then.” 
He winked.  “And don’t take it personally if others ignore you now and
then.  I know that’ll be the hardest part for you.”

Riven
scowled as Jack reached over and squeezed my hand.  “And I’ll see you
soon, troublesome little wright.”  And without any more ado, he turned and
disappeared back through the gate.

The
wake of his exit left an oppressive silence.  Mood dampened, Riven and I
hiked north and shortly encountered the Roanoke River, more of a large stream
than an actual waterway.  Riven jerked his head for me to keep up, and we
marched alongside the sparkling water, following it upstream.

“Do
you feel it?” he asked.  “The magic?”

I
shrugged.  “No more than the last time I was here.  Going through the
gate is always unpleasant, but other than that, I can’t sense a thing.”

“Bizarre,”
he murmured.  We crossed the river where it flattened out to mere inches
and just managed to keep our shoes dry.  The foliage here was as barren as
back on Earth, except for tiny splashes of color, small flowers that fought
back against winter, or tiny birds that disappeared as soon as we spotted them.

Until
now, I had been mostly concerned with surviving.  Now, I couldn’t help but
wonder if our attackers were connected to what might be a broken justice
system.  When we met the fey, they had told us the clans selected Queens
by unanimous decision, which represented popular opinion.  They said that
free speech was available to all, regardless of rank or lineage.  Oh, the
lies they told, disguised as truths, those fair folk.  We should have
listened to our legends.

“How
are gates usually made?” I asked at last. The question of the century, and the
one I’d wished I could have written a thesis on.  No one I’d spoken to
ever had the slightest clue.  I’d been holding on to my curiosity,
carrying it close to my chest, and this was likely the best chance I would ever
have at getting it answered.  “What are hellstones?”

Riven
thought for a long minute before answering. “Once, this was a secret of the
royal families.”  I waited for him to continue; a strategy I’d learned
from Jack.  He
finally
spoke, right before I burst with
impatience.  “I have determined that it does not violate my vow to conceal
this from humans, as you are a gatewright.”  I was
not
going to
argue with him on that point.  Maybe in every other situation, but for
once, my new abilities had given me an advantage.  “The Queens activate
hellstones to create the portals.  I don’t know the mechanics, other than
that it
does
require a very powerful mage.”  He grinned a
little.  “I’d love to test myself against one, some day.”

Hellstones
sounded distinctly unpleasant.  “Have you seen them?  What do they
look like?”

“Pocked,
uneven,” he mused.  “A mix of strange metals.  An
elohi
could
give you a better description.”

“Where
do you find them?”  I pressed.  Did these stones exist, undiscovered,
in our world?

“I
would tell you if I knew,” he smiled wanly at me.  “And the same as to why
the gates have remained open… no one seems to understand it.  Some suspect
that the Great Mage cursed us for our carelessness.  Some say the Queens
are not strong enough to close them.  Some say that the humans or an Exile
did something to the stones.”

“Thank
you for sharing this with me,” I told him earnestly.  His trust in me
buoyed my flagging spirits. 

I
saw something twitch in his brain, as it had when we were training in the
clearing, and his face shuttered.  Whatever distracted him continued to
preoccupy his thoughts.  Occasionally, he asked questions about my life,
prompting explanations of our school system, religions, and economy.  Our
conversations were short but congenial, and the silence between us comfortable. 
I decided, in the abundant time I had inside my own head, that I preferred
Riven’s attitude toward hiking, versus someone like Rose who would have had us
both singing show tunes. 

His
ears had grown back to their normal length, and the angles of his face seemed
sharper.  Now and then, as he led the way, I gave in to my own boredom and
simply let myself admire him.  It was strictly for entertainment purposes,
of course. He was handsome, especially now with those human features, but he
was fey, and a jerk, and nobility, and that was the end of the story. 
Kusay
Vaal, not Riven. 
It almost became a chant in my head.  I was
sure I would convince myself sooner or later.

Unanswered
questions hung in the air.  How was it that he spoke English so
well?  Did he know who wanted to kill us?  What did mean when he said
Jack was the one ‘exiled without witness’?  What was a
nagayos? 
I
finally got up the courage to ask the question that haunted me the most.

“Riven,
who attacked us?”

He
didn’t slow, and refused to meet my eyes. I knew he’d heard me. 
Eventually, he sighed.  “They were hired.”

“You
know that’s not what I meant.  Why was their hair so short?”

He
shook his head.  “That’s not something I’m at liberty to share. 
Suffice to say, stay far away from them.”

I
almost lost my temper then.  “Riven, they almost killed me.  Killed
us.  I
deserve
to know.  On your oath, who
are they?
”

That
got his attention.  His eyes flashed and he practically hissed at
me.  “Criminals, Jan.  Thanks to your kind – sorry,
human
kind
– guarding the gate, we can no longer exile them.  Thus, they are outcast,
all rank, family, and holdings stripped from them, and their head shaved so
that all will know.”

I’d
known in my gut it was something like that, I just hadn’t wanted to contemplate
it.  At least Exiles generally were able to rebuild their lives in on
earth, so long as they didn’t succumb to madness.  “So are they just
mercenaries then?  Where do they live?  How do they survive?”

Riven’s
eyes narrowed even further as I kept asking questions, but he didn’t seem to be
in any hurry for me to invoke his oath again.  “They are
supposed
to
be in the care of the temples, who see to their rehabilitation.  Those fit
to rejoin society are allowed to grow their hair back as a sign they have atoned. 
Others do not have that hope.  I suspect the mercenaries we saw are
runaways.  I would believe my own clan tried to kill me before I believe
that the temple is hiring out their charges as assassins.”

I
let that process for a moment.  At least here in Anowir, they’d found an
alternate punishment system, although it didn’t seem to work very well. 
Perhaps in concept, but when the rubber hit the road, the outcasts escaped the
temple and created a new criminal underclass.

“Fuck. 
That means we have no idea
who
hired them,” I realized.

Riven
muttered the Anowir equivalent of “No shit, Sherlock,” and we lapsed into
silence again.

Once
he started to recognize landmarks,
Riven
toasted
everything we’d brought with us from the human realm with a slight smile of
pleasure.  Was he a pyromaniac?  How did the fey handle
atsili
who got overexcited?  We picked up our pace, since it was already late
afternoon and we had more miles to cover.

I
had no idea what to expect when Riven and Jack had spoken about his holdings. 
I’d imagined a middle-ages fiefdom, with a castle, moat, and poor
villagers.  Or perhaps like a manor out of Jane Austen.

I
was wrong on both counts.  The closest I could compare it to was
Versaille, the French center of power for hundreds of years and an extravagant
show of wealth.  Carefully manicured gardens with strategically-placed
fountains stretched as far as my eye could see.  We followed an
elohi-
made
road toward a massive marble building, perhaps half a mile wide, late afternoon
sun casting long shadows across our path as we approached.  Tall windows
arched every few feet across the front, carved doors punctuating the façade at
regular intervals. Intricate inlaid silver and gold filigree decorated the
doorposts.

“The
fountains serve a dual purpose.”  Riven explained in Anowir as I took in
the estate with wide eyes.  “Readily accessible water is a requirement for
our
amayi
for defense.  The house itself is entirely made of stone,
and extremely hard for
atsili
to scar. 
Kawoli
can blow
around tumbleweeds and perhaps break some windows, but other than a high-level
kawoli
who has the time to whip up a tornado, the house is strong.”

“So
Hazel was strong?”

“Yes. 
Not one of the best, but a force to be reckoned with.  She was training to
become an
adail
.  I’m still baffled why they only sent 5
assassins.  They had no margin for error… no margin for a human with a
knife.  You realized you saved both our lives?”  He slowed a
little.  Now that we were so close, I could tell he wasn’t in any rush to
dive back in to his fey life.  “We make a good team,” he smiled at me.

I
needed to change the subject before my brain starting dancing to its own
music.  “Has there been a lot of conflict here?”  I asked, and
started moving toward the house again, prompting Riven to fall in beside
me.  Before the First Queen’s leadership birthed Anowir, the clans had
fought each other enough to make much of Virginia a bloodbath.

“Long
ago.  Now, we keep vigilant against Toran and Becot.  Occasionally,
the Oradim send down a raiding party from their lands to the north.  They
feel that since the majority of their population are
atsili
, unlike
ours, we should be easy to conquer.” He shook his head. “Jack has ruined my
concept of fighting.  I see so many more opportunities now to secure
Peregare.”

“Who
owns all this?”

“Clan
Kusay, strong in the power of water.”  His voice changed as he started to
tell the story, speaking not about himself but as of people he had never
met.  “My grandfather, the Great Mage hold him in honor, had two daughters
and no sons.  His daughters, Essint and Irvad, both were ambitious and
wanted many things from life.  Essint, the elder, focused on her magical
powers and became the best
amayi
of all of the Kusay and was rewarded
when she won the title of Queen.  She has two sons who bring honor to the
Kusay name.  Irvad, quieter than her sister, never married, since her
heart had been captured by an Oradim
atsili
and the Kusay line must be
protected at all costs.”  We began to close on the doors.  “Thus, my
mother holds this land for her sister and for her sister’s children.  When
they come of age, I, my cousins, and our spouses will all live here
together.”  He hesitated before knocking against the pale wood door, and
added, almost too quietly for me to hear, “As long as my cousins see it fit
that I number among them.”

We
must have been spotted approaching.  The door opened immediately and a
young fey welcomed us in.  “Master Vaal, we are
so
pleased you have
returned.  We had dreadful news that the humans were massacred and
yourself nowhere to be found.  We feared the worst.”  Pure relief
filled her voice.

I
gaped at the hall that stretched before me.  Fine carpet covered white
marble floors, and dark wood walls arched up for twenty feet to meet in a
peak.  Bright pottery sat on stone pedestals at regular
intervals 
It
reminded me of a cathedral, and this was just their hallway.

“Yes,
it has been an exhausting journey.”  Riven affirmed.  “Have the
bodies of our attackers been identified?”

“Bodies
of the attackers?”  She shook her head.  “The letter told of much
blood spilled, but no bodies to be found other than your companions.”

“And
nothing else?” he pressed, and I realized, there was no news of a gate. 
Had they simply missed the gate?  Was this some kind of test?

The
servant shook her head again. “No, truly, it was almost as if…”

“Go
on.”

“In
my opinion, though I am but a servant, from the news it sounded as if the
attackers had already been to the site and removed any evidence.”

“That
is unfortunate,” Riven replied gravely.  “But we have come far, and must
rest.  For, as I was sworn to defend this human’s life, I was honor-bound
to flee with her.  Julip, please see to my companion’s comfort on my
behalf.  Jan Leeman has endured much.  I must find my mother.”

And
just like that, he took off like I was that much luggage, leaving me with
Julip. 
Thanks, dude.