I needed to distract myself from that thought. It was making my legs wobbly. My mind went back to the Ashling’s question. “Why did you climb the tree without assistance from your ability?” What did he mean? I didn’t have any abilities. Well, besides opening and closing the gateway. Did he mean I could have created a gateway from the bottom of the tree to the branch? If I could have done that, I probably would have been able to make a gateway back up the mountain to help Elder Narit. Cue image of her exploding to fiery bits. If I could do that, surely Seanna would have told me so we could go back to help the Elder. I didn’t want to consider her purposely keeping that from me.
What else could he have meant? I thought of when the Ashlings surrounded us. One had flown off into the bushes when I stuck my hand out at it in surprise, an instinctive reaction to ward off what I thought was an attack. And he just flew away, just like that. It nagged at me. Something similar had happened before, but I had a hard time putting my finger on it. Then it hit me, making me stutter a step. The eioshu attack. I was blinded by the blood in my eyes, but I could have sworn when I stuck my hand between us, it flew off me without even pushing. I looked at my hands as we passed one of the light plants. They were normal hands. My hands.
I held one up, palm facing out. I pointed it toward a rinair as we passed. Nothing happened. I squeezed my hand shut. This is ridiculous , I thought. Still, I held it out again as we passed another lighted plant. I concentrated, willing the plant to move. I didn’t think anything more specific than that. Just move. I imagined it like shutting a door without touching it. Just move.
It did. I felt my heart skip a beat, for a moment doubting what I thought I saw, but it moved. It bent about a half foot away from me. When I snapped my hand closed, it wobbled back into place, causing the light to teeter.
“Whoa,” I breathed. I looked around to see if anybody had noticed. None of the Ashlings paid me any attention, but Aoife’s golden eyes shone in the night.
***
The trees we passed were massive. Stupid big. But they were all dwarfed by the behemoth we approached. I craned my neck up, trying to see the top. Lights glittered all the way up until they were lost in the canopy high overhead. It was alive with Ashling activity. They bustled in and out of it, standing on balconies that jutted out of the trunk, or moving along the numerous walkways that hung like spider webs. This tree had to be the hub of Ashling life like the center hive of a bee colony.
The lead Ashling stopped outside an opening into the tree. He turned to Seanna. “Nashashir ,” he said, bowing at the waist.
She inclined her head and walked past him, entering into the tree. Aoife and I followed. We stepped directly into a hallway lit by rinair strung about five feet apart, hanging from the ceiling. Vines clung to the wood, running between them like electrical cord. The light gleamed off the walls. The hallway ran in one solid, unbroken piece, carved out of the inside of the tree like an underground tunnel. I reached out a hand, sliding my fingertips along the smooth, red-hued wood. It felt like the high-gloss wooden furniture my grandparents had when I was a kid. Not the cheap pressed-wood stuff on sale at Wally World. The real stuff that had to be cleaned and polished with a special spray cleaner. I used to love running my hands over the highly polished surface, sometimes creating a fart-like squeak, and watching my little handprints smudge and fade. Well, mostly fade. I don’t know how they put up with me.
“Our ancestors carved this tree many millennia ago,” Seanna said from behind me, a touch of pride in her voice. “A lot of magic went into it during its shaping to keep it alive. It lives on.” She fell silent for a few moments, looking at the polished wood glistening in the light with no small amount of reverence. “We were such a small clan back then. This tree was intended to hold the entire clan. We’ve since thrived and spread out. Almost too much. We’re reaching the point where these trees aren’t suitable for habitation. That’s why we’re looking to merge clans with our neighboring Ashling forest.” Her voice trailed off awkwardly and she fell silent again.
“Do all the lights come from here?” I asked as we started down the hall again, the glowing leaves passing overhead. “This tree, I mean.”
“It does now, but not originally,” she said. “When my ancestors carved the tree for our home, they planted a rinair at the very center and combine it with the tree so it became one living plant. All the vines reach out from here, manipulated to stretch and grow leaves where they’re needed by the Attenders.” She turned to walk. “We must go.”
The hallway curved up and around, following the outer curve of the tree. I was fascinated by the wood, peering at every swirl of dark knots as we passed. Each one was different like the stars that had been missing from this planet so far. Here and there, squares had been cut out of the walls, providing glimpses of amazing views of the city with its twinkling lights. On the left, we passed several large rooms. They were empty except for a scattering of furniture, mostly chairs that looked like they were carved out of a single piece of wood. They were the same red-tinted wood as the tree. I guessed they were fashioned using the leftover material when the Ashlings made this tree their home.
“These used to be the living areas for Ashlings long ago.” Seanna indicated the rooms as we passed as if she had read my mind. Which, with the way things were going, I didn’t rule out. “Now this tree is much like what you would call the city hall back in Gate City. It holds the offices for everything from the councils, guilds, and lawmakers. It also holds the court and royal apartments.”
“So, the Ashlings have a whole royal family and stuff? Like a king and queen. And a princess,” I added pointedly.
“No.” She shook her head. “Well, yes but no.”
“That clears things up,” Aoife commented.
Seanna ignored her. “It’s not a royal family like you know on Earth. They don’t rule as much as—”
“You can go ahead and say we , you know,” Aoife said.
“They lead more than anything,” Seanna went on. “They oversee the health of the clan, mediate meetings, and speak to the Tree Mother on behalf of the entire clan.”
“Tree Mother?” I asked. “What’s that?”
“It is the tree that feeds life into this forest, into the Ashling clan that inhabits it. Without the Tree Mother, the forest would begin to fade until it was nothing but a wasteland. Obviously, the clan would follow that same fate unless they found an uninhabited forest and was accepted by its Tree Mother or were assimilated into another Ashling clan. It doesn’t happen that often, thank the Leaves and Roots. Moving forests is very hard on a clan. Many die just from the sorrow of losing their forest.”
Thank the Leaves and Roots? That was the first thing I had heard Seanna say that was really out of the ordinary. Well, besides telling me that I was some kind of mystical gatekeeper and on another world. I wondered if being with her people was starting to loosen her up to revealing her true self. If not physically, then in the way she spoke and acted.
“And we’re in the Tree Mother?” I asked.
“No,” she said with a touch of indignation in her voice. “The Ashlings would never carve the Tree Mother like this. To even touch her is a sacred act. Only the royal family and the highest of Attenders are allowed. No, she is off in another protected and secret part of the forest.”
“There are no doors,” Aoife said abruptly.
“Observant,” Seanna remarked. When Aoife and I both looked at her expectantly, she went on. “We are an open society. No business is done in private when it involves the clan as a whole. Any member of our clan is free and welcome to attend any meeting held here. We keep no secrets except for the location of our Tree Mother, as I said.”
“Seems to me like there’s plenty of secrets being kept,” Aoife said. Her eyes flashed gold for a second. If I had blinked at that moment, I would have missed it.
“We’re here,” Seanna said as she stopped outside a doorway, disregarding Aoife’s comment.
The room she indicated was much li
ke the others we had passed, except larger and packed with more furniture that included three large tables surrounded by chairs. Two Ashlings, who looked no different from any other I had seen, sat at one of the tables. One stood when he saw us step in and stretched his arms out in greeting. He said something to Seanna in their language.
She bent at the waist before saying, “English, please.”
“Of course,” the Ashling said. “This must be our Gatekeeper. Come, come.” He waved his long arms and fingers, beckoning us into the room. “We were notified of your arrival tonight.”
Aoife and I followed Seanna into the room, gaping around like a couple tourists. No decorations adorned the polished walls. Besides its size, it could have been any room in the tree.
The sitting Ashling smiled warmly at us. This one confirmed my earlier assumption I had yet to see a female Ashling. She not only wore the woven plant material around her waist, but also around her chest.
“I trust you had an uneventful journey,” the standing Ashling said.
Aoife snorted.
“Here we are, Father,” Seanna replied.
Father? I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my jeans. This was Seanna’s father. King of the Ashlings. That must mean the other was her mother. I’d yet to experience the “meet her parents” scenario, but I figured this was as close as I could get without the hassle of finding a girlfriend.
“Who do we have here?” Seanna’s father asked, his deep brown eyes on Aoife.
“This is the Gatekeeper’s…friend,” Seanna said.
“Indeed. Welcome. Welcome to the both of you. Our forest is open to you both for your help,” he said expansively. He kind of sounded like a politician to me. A politician is a politician no matter what world you’re on, right? “Are you hungry? Sit! We’ll have food brought and we can talk.”
Oh yeah, food. I had almost forgotten what that was. My stomach long ago had given up trying to remind me that I should probably eat something. It definitely perked up at the mention of food. I felt the beginnings of the familiar rumblings.
The table was rectangular with three chairs on each side. Seanna’s father sat down next to the female Ashling and Seanna sat across from him. Aoife took the far seat like we were playing musical chairs, leaving me with the middle chair between her and Seanna. I sat across from her mother, acutely aware of my extreme lack of grace. She smiled at me warmly.
“Where are my manners?” Seanna’s father blurted out. “We have not properly introduced ourselves.” He stood, as did Seanna.
I figured I was supposed to as well. The chair scraped loudly across the floor as I did. A long moment later, Aoife stood, too. Only Seanna’s mother remained sitting.
“I am Dario, Clan Father, and this is my mate and Clan Mother, Kystyna. You know our daughter, of course.” He gestured at Seanna.
I nodded and forced a smile I hoped came across as personable. I was about to sit when I caught a telling glance from Seanna. “Oh, yeah. Um. I’m Gaige Porter, um, Gatekeeper?” I mentally winced at putting that in the form of a question. I pushed on quickly. “This is Aoife Connelly. Um. Empath.”
Aoife shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Welcome!” Dario flashed a wide smile.
Flashed was a relative term there. Every time somebody repeated the myth that George Washington had wooden dentures, I pictured a set of teeth made of polished wood, brown, textured and, well, looking like wood. Not accurate for our first president at all, but very much so for the Ashling.
I don’t know what it is about me that makes adults chatter on at me like squirrels giddy on a newly found cache of nuts, but they do. It’s not like I have that open and honest face they like in a teen. In fact, I’ve been told I brood a lot. Of course, it was Aoife who told me that. There was no telling if she was yanking my chain or if I really didn’t smile as much as I thought. Dario talked nearly nonstop and it seemed like it was all directed at me. He especially seemed to have an affinity for numbers and the Ashlings apparently kept meticulous records. He rattled them off so fast I had a hard time keeping track. One number I did catch was the population of around eighty thousand in their clan. I was close in my guess. Other than that, he knew the number of dwellings within their tree city. He knew exactly how many lived within the city and how many lived on the outer edges and out in the forest as scouts. He even knew the exact number of rinair light plants in use.
I opened my mouth a few times to respond but shut it when he went on with his numbers. Seanna looked increasingly embarrassed by his unending prater. A teen was a teen no matter what world she was on. The whole time her husband went on, Kystyna smiled and nodded. Aoife didn’t bother to hide her yawn, which earned a hard look from Seanna even though her parents didn’t seem to notice.
Although nobody had left the room nor verbalized any orders, food arrived on huge wooden platters, carried by two smaller Ashlings. They set the trays on the table and tried to hide their stares at Aoife and me, but without much success as the left the room.
I looked the trays over and the excitement that had jumped inside me quickly diminished at the sight of the spread. It consisted of nuts, leaves, and berries, none of which I recognized other than a mound of chadim nuts. My stomach protested loudly at the sight.
“Our guests get first choice,” Dario said.
Aoife didn’t hesitate to start grabbing off the trays.
I reluctantly picked out a few nuts and berries and smiled at Dario. “Thank you.”
Although the tray of food was disappointing, at least it brought to an end to Dario’s numbers. I stacked three chadims in my hand and squeezed, cracking them all. It was an easier and quicker method than Seanna’s twist and pull. I unenthusiastically picked through the shell pieces for the nut. I couldn’t think of anything I wouldn’t have done for a bacon cheeseburger at that moment. Even the gray meatloaf I passed on in the cafeteria sounded really good. I wondered if there were any squirrels on this world, the thought of Brian’s squirreloaf running through my head. Thanks, Brian .
I picked up a big, white berry that had purple streaks running through it like zebra stripes. It was delicate. Too delicate. It squished between my fingers even though I barely put any pressure on it. I caught myself before I sighed out loud, preferring to keep the dramatic sound in my head. I dropped the smashed berry back onto the tray, hidden behind some other fruit, hoping nobody, especially Seanna’s parents, saw.
Kystyna picked a small, round berry with pits that made it look like a miniature blue golf ball from the tray. She paused before putting it in her mouth. “You look troubled, Gatekeeper.”
It was the first time she had spoken since we’d arrived. Her voice surprised me. It differed from that of the male Ashlings. Theirs were rough like the sound of bark scraping together; hers was soft and gentle like wind blowing through leaves.
“Oh, um, I guess it’s just been a lot to take in. All of this,” I fumbled.
“You are a young one,” she said.
Dario nodded his head vigorously as he ate, his rough hair waving around his shoulders.
“To tell the truth,” I said, “I never even heard of a Gatekeeper until a couple days ago.”
“I’m sure it is all quite shocking for you. For your companion as well?” She directed the question at Aoife.
“I’m just along for the ride,” she replied around a leaf that looked like spinach with tiny spikes on it. I guessed the spikes weren’t as wicked as they appeared.
“Your sacrifice will be remembered among our clan, of course. Both of you,” Kystyna said.
Seanna’s back stiffened.
“Sacrifice?” I asked.
As I watched the Clan Mother, her eyes slid from brown to green and back fluidly.
“Of course. It is very brave of you to—”
“Seanna!”
Seanna looked like she was about to say something, but the voice from behind made Aoife and I start.
We turned to find another Ashling bustling
into the room. He stopped at the table to bow before Dario and Kystyna. He started to say something to Seanna, but she interrupted him.
“English, please. Forming words in our language with this tongue is difficult.”
“Of course.” The Ashling smiled as if the request was a silly thing, but I got the feeling he was less than thrilled to have to speak in English. “I heard you were back and rushed over to make sure you were okay. I’m sure traveling to that place was dreadful. The Leaves and Roots know why you volunteered. You made it there and back safely? Of course you did! Here you are!” He laughed. It sounded like a cat digging its claws into a scratching post. “And with the Gatekeeper, too! Well done. Not much, is he?” he said like a bad actor addressing the audience in an aside. He glanced at Aoife. “And with…you!” He laughed again. “Why are you still in that hideous form, Seanna? It’s positively revolting, actually. So ugly. Is that the right word in English? How do you stand it?”
I caught Seanna’s eyes and saw something in them. Murder maybe? If I were that dude, I would have shut up. He didn’t.
“How silly of me. I didn’t properly introduce myself. I am Jae, Seanna’s betrothed.”
Aoife choked on whatever she was chewing.
He stuck out his hand toward me. “This is how you Earth people greet each other, correct?”
I stared dumbly at his outstretched hand. Betrothed? Granted I didn’t really know Seanna, but every time I was around her, I got that weird feeling in my gut. That fluttery feeling like when I started dating my first girlfriend, Heather something. Except Seanna made it a hundred times worse. I had recognized it when it happened, but I didn’t quite realize how attracted to her I really was until right at that moment. My stomach dropped like a bomb, and jealousy raged up like a rogue wave at sea, bearing down on my little boat, ready to smash it and take it under. I hated this guy. All I wanted was to shove his wagging hand down his own throat until I could pull it out his backend.
And I wanted Aoife to stop looking at me with those damn golden eyes.
The Gatekeeper Trilogy Page 17
