The Gatekeeper Trilogy

by Scott Ferrell

  Once back inside the room with the four defense chambers, Seanna turned to the man. “What was the point of that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Aoife asked.

  “He’s right, Seanna,” I put in. “We can’t go now. They’re everywhere.”

  The Ashling worked her jaw. Stubbornness and worry waged a war with acquiesce in her eyes. I didn’t blame her. I shouldn’t have really cared about the people who gave me up to Daresh, but I still wanted to rush out the door to try to stop that man’s Tree Killer.

  “Why the rush to run out there right into Daresh’s open arms?” Tias asked.

  I glanced at Seanna who remained quiet but shrugged. I looked to Aoife.

  She nodded. “You can trust him.”

  I thought about telling him the whole story, but I didn’t think we’d gain anything with it. He already knew I was the Gatekeeper and Seanna was an Ashling, but that didn’t matter to him. He was already willing to help us based solely on the principal of sticking it to Daresh. I figured I could leave out ninety percent of the details, glossing over my raging stupidity that led Aoife and me here.

  So, as we moved into the Underground’s waiting room, I told him how Daresh had means to kill Seanna’s clan and had dispatched his men the previous day. Even in that, I was vague. I didn’t know if the Ashlings cared who knew about their Mother Trees. I figured it was safer to leave out exactly how Daresh could kill off an entire clan. The terrifying thing was Tias didn’t question it. He took that bit of information without blinking an eye like he expected it from Daresh.

  Tias looked at Seanna with sympathy. He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

  “Yeah, I know,” the Ashling said. “We have to wait or we’ll be caught.”

  Tias closed his mouth and nodded. He smiled when his daughter crossed the room to them and pulled her into a one-armed hug against his leg.

  “I get it,” Seanna said to nobody in particular. “We have to wait.”

  ***

  And we waited. Tias pulled a few bedrolls from a trunk and pointed out a corner where we could try to catch some sleep. I laid out Aoife’s roll before setting up mine next to hers. Seanna didn’t bother. She sat with her back against the wall a few feet away from us. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t sleep. Her fingers twitched and intertwined together in her lap.

  I settled on my bedroll with my back to her, facing Aoife lying on her back. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  She turned her head my way briefly before going back to staring at the stone ceiling. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she said. The statement was sarcastic, of course, but it lacked the normal bite of her sarcasm wielded like a weapon. Instead of coming out sharp, it just sounded weary.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “What did they do to you?” she asked so quick, she spoke over me. “I mean when they took you out of your cell. I felt so much coming from you. It drowned everything else out. I thought I caught snatches of Daresh’s blackness at some point, but you just overpowered everything. Even before they took you from your cell. I could tell, you know? What I was feeling changed so drastically.”

  I rolled to my back, too. I was afraid she would look my way and see something in my eyes I didn’t want anybody seeing. I guess I shouldn’t have bothered. If she wanted to, she could see it in my colors no matter how hard I tried to hide it.

  “You were very brave,” she said.

  I snorted. “Brave. Right.”

  “You were.” She rolled to face me. I kept my eyes up. “I felt it when they came for you. You went from scared to defiant after you dreamed about your mother.” She fell silent and turned away.

  The sudden silence should have been a clue, but it took a while to sink in. “How do you know I dreamed about her?”

  She remained quiet for a long time. At first, I thought she was ignoring me and then I started to wonder if she had fallen asleep. After about five minutes, she turned to me so suddenly I looked her way and was taken in by her eyes. The thing was they weren’t even golden. They were their normal hazel color, but so filled with some emotion deep inside that I couldn’t make myself look away.

  “I saw your dream,” she said. She went on before that statement could sink in enough for me to formulate a reply. “I don’t know how. It’s never happened to me before. I was sitting in my cell and I was sort of pulled in or something. I know I didn’t fall asleep, so it wasn’t my dream. I was awake the whole time down there.”

  “How do you know it was mine?” I asked softly.

  “You dreamed about your dad’s funeral, right?”

  I didn’t reply.

  “You were there but curled up on your bed right beside his grave.”

  My heart stuttered and thumped to life.

  “I…” She hesitated. “I was your mother. I saw everything through her eyes.”

  Tears welled up, but I continued to stare into her eyes.

  “Everything was so hazy. It was like looking at everything through a long, smoke filled tube.”

  I swallowed hard and clutched at the bedroll beneath me to keep the room from spinning.

  “I couldn’t think clearly. When I tried to speak to you, it felt like I had a gag in my mouth. It kept my words stuck in my throat.”

  Tears slipped down my cheek, but I dared not let go of the bedroll to wipe them away.

  “It’s not the first time I felt that. Do you remember when we were twelve and I was at your house? Brian was there. It wasn’t long after your parents’ accident. You two were playing Frisbee in the back yard and I sat with your mom while she watched you. When you tried to get me to come play, you found me crying and unable to talk. I just got up and ran home. That’s what happened. I felt what Grace was going through. I’d felt weird feelings before, but I always chalked it up to all the crap people tell girls about getting their period. That day was different.”

  She had tears in her eyes, too.

  “I hurried home and the further I ran from your house, the more the feeling faded. I was so confused, but it didn’t take long after that to figure out what was going on. I started feeling everything. I believe my empathy was present before then but connecting with Grace like that activated them in earnest. Remember I missed a few days of school after that? You thought you had done something. You didn’t. I just couldn’t get a grip of my abilities.”

  She swiped at her cheeks.

  “I’ve never seen somebody’s dreams like last night. I’d felt what people feel while dreaming, but I never experienced it firsthand like that.”

  She fell silent for a moment. She looked deep into my eyes, holding mine on hers.

  “Gaige. After Richard’s funeral, did you know I—”

  A chair scrapped across the floor. Its screech made Aoife jump and we broke eye contact. We looked up at man standing by a table with a chair in his hand.

  “Sawrree,” he said with a thick accent and rueful look.

  “Gaige—” Aoife started again.

  “We should try to get some sleep,” I said. The spell was broken. I had hung on her every word, but the interruption gave me the ability to roll away from her. “I’m really tired.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”

  There was a soft rustle as she settled into her bedroll. I had stopped crying but the room continued to spin around me.

  10

  FLYING GARBAGE CANS

  This is how we’re supposed to get out of Delicia?” I asked Tias sometime early the next morning after a night of trying, and mostly failing, to get some sleep.

  “Of course!” A proud grin spread across his face, the gaps in his teeth on full display.

  “I’m not getting in that thing,” Aoife stated. “I’d rather be dragged to one of your silly football games than get in that death trap.”

  “Hey,” I said, a bit hurt.

  “Is this really what I think it is?” Seanna asked, staring at the contraption.

  “I think so,”
I said.

  “No way am I getting in that!” Aoife repeated.

  “I had no idea technology here had advanced so far,” Seanna said to herself.

  After only a few restless hours of sleep, Tias had woken us and led us down another underground tunnel. I stumbled wearily in the dark only half awake, struggling with a sleep deprived tension headache that worked its way up the back of my skull. There had been no way of telling how much time passed, so we could have traveled down that tunnel for fifteen minutes or an hour. All I knew was I could have lain down at any point and passed out again for a few more hours of sleep. Or days. Maybe years.

  After traveling for however long, we found ourselves in another underground room. This one was much larger than the others. Lamps spaced throughout had flared to life when we had come in, flickering light around the room and revealing Tias’ plan to help us escape Delicia.

  “I would seriously rather go back and let them torture you some more than get on that thing,” Aoife said.

  “Thanks a lot,” I replied. “Just so we’re clear, when I didn’t give them what they wanted, Daresh said you’d be next. Something about if I wouldn’t do it for me, then I’d do it to save you or something.”

  “Wait, what?” Aoife’s face went paler than usual.

  “Does it even fly?” Seanna asked.

  “Of course, it does!” Tias said, but a small frown creased his worn face. “At least that’s what we were told when we traded for the plans.”

  We stood in front of what could have been labeled a plane, though there were plenty of arguments against that classification. It was one of the ugliest things I had ever seen. It looked a lot like an extremely tall metal garbage can tipped on its side with wings and a propeller. It was long and rounded with an exposed engine at the front. The wings were some kind of stretched fabric that looked flimsy at best. There was an open-air cockpit with three rows of single seats. The whole thing was held together by bolts that were placed too far apart from my comfort.

  “You built this?” I asked.

  “With a little help.”

  “And you can fly it?” Seanna asked.

  “I’ve read the instructions many times.”

  “Whoa, you’ve read the instructions? You haven’t flown it?” Aoife said, color returning to her face. Unfortunately, that color was a little greenish. “Do you even know if it flies?” She asked, a note of hysteria in her voice.

  “Of course, I do. We were given the utmost assurance that if the building plans were followed exactly, it would fly like a charm.” He smiled again. “I spent many days constructing it to specifications. Time is wasting, though. We must prepare.”

  “I’m not getting in that thing,” Aoife muttered. “We’re going to die. We’re going to die.”

  “No, we’ll be grand!” He stopped a moment and grinned. “The plans came from your world, you know? Just like the planes you have back home, eh?”

  Tias walked a few paces away, stopped, and shifted his weight in several spots before stooping to lift a loose floor board. He grabbed a flat rock from the hole under the board and returned to the plane. The stone reminded me of marble-smooth and cream colored. It was square and about six inches on all sides. He produced another rock from his pocket, this one a three-inch cylinder. He scratched it across the flat one from corner to corner, repeating the motion with the other corners. He returned the cylinder rock to his pocket and slid the flat one into a slot at the front of the plane.

  “What’s that?” Seanna asked.

  “Is this the only way out of the city?” I said over her.

  “This is the only way guaranteed to get you over the walls. Daresh doesn’t have one of these,” he explained. “As far as we know, anyways.”

  The plane sat on wooden rails that sloped up to point towards the ceiling at the far end of the room. There was a rope attached to the front of the plane that ran up the rails before disappearing through a hole. At the other end of the rails was a large crank with a rope wound around it. I assumed it was the same one. Tias grabbed the lever and started pulling it back and forth.

  “There’s got to be another way,” I said, trying to keep the desperation out of my voice.

  Tias stopped cranking and stood straight. “Do you want to get out of the city or not?”

  “Well, yeah. Of course. But, I don’t think—”

  “Did you see the wall when you came into Delicia?” he asked. “I assume you didn’t just pop in out of thin air.”

  “Uh, yeah,” I stammered, taken aback by his sudden intensity.

  “You saw how massive it is? The nigh impenetrable doors? There are only four of those. Did you know that? Out of this whole city, there’s only four ways in and out. They’re heavily guarded with men who won’t hesitate to put a ball in somebody then go home to his family and eat breakfast without a care in the world.”

  “A ball?” I asked.

  “And that’s just from what I’m sure you saw. There’s so much more you didn’t see. Trust me.”

  “You keep saying that,” I said.

  “Besides,” he grinned and all traces of seriousness fled, “it’ll be fun.”

  He went back to cranking the rope tighter. Metal clicked on metal and the whole thing started to groan.

  Aoife’s spun to face the door we had come through. “Somebody’s coming. Something’s wrong.”

  Boots on hard, stone floor preceded a man just before he burst through the door, making us all jump. “The tunnels have been discovered,” he said. His words were simple, level, and precise like they all knew their discovering was inevitable.

  “Awar?” Tias asked the man.

  “Escaped,” was the reply.

  Tias blew out a relieved breath and nodded. He turned back to the crank and continued with renewed effort. “Thank you, Fabin.”

  “We’re still going in that?” Aoife asked.

  “Of course. This little beauty just went from your best option to your only option,” Tias said with a smile.

  “What about everybody else? You’re people? The underground? Your daughter?”

  “We are not unprepared for this day.” Tias grunted as he pulled the tight crank one last time. “Okay, everybody in.”

  “I shall go back and delay the scums’ approach,” Fabin said.

  “No.” Tias stepped to the taller man and lay a hand on his shoulder. “Our fight isn’t today. It is coming quickly, but not this day. Escape with the others.”

  Fabin nodded and stepped to the side of the room. Almost like magic, he disappeared through another hidden door. It was so well concealed, even though I had watched him pass through it, I couldn’t see it after it had closed behind him.

  Tias hurried to an opposite wall where a little lever stuck out. “When I pull this, we must hurry. There’s no turning back.”

  He didn’t give us a chance to argue or reply in any way. He grabbed the lever and pulled it down and to the right. The whole room groaned. There was a rush of tepid morning air as the walls at the end of the rails cracked open, showering the floor with dust.

  My stomach dropped. I felt like throwing up. I had flown before, but on planes made with the best modern technology. This thing looked like a cheap amusement park ride assembled in somebody’s garage.

  “I’m not getting in that,” Aoife said again.

  Tias climbed up the rails to the plane’s open cockpit. He hesitated as if he just realized something. “There are only three seats so two are going to have to double up. I’d say the girls since they’re the smallest of you three.”

  “I’m not getting in that,” Aoife repeated.

  “What other choice do we have?” I swallowed, trying to sound more confident than I actually felt.

  “That thing is sitting on a giant slingshot,” she pointed out.

  “At least we know it’ll get into the air,” I said helpfully.

  “Yeah, before it crashes back to the ground with us in it!”

  Tias flipped a few sw
itches at the front of the plane. It hissed, expelling a shot of steam. He grabbed the propeller and gave it a hard yank down. The engine came to life. Tias stepped back as the propeller spun. It was surprisingly quiet. There was only a hum and occasional release of air.

  “They’re coming,” Seanna said, her attention on the tunnel.

  Tias glanced at the dark tunnel. “All right, everybody in!” He climbed into the front of the cockpit.

  Seanna scrambled up to climb in the back seat.

  “Come on, Aoife. It’s our only choice,” I said.

  “We can get out like he did.” She pointed to the hidden door. “We can still get away.”

  “Aoife,” I said, drawing her attention to me. “That won’t get us out of the city. I want to go home.” I held my hand out to her. “It’ll be okay. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. Trust me.”

  She stared at me, gold creeping into her hazel eyes. She glanced down to my out-stretched hand, then back. She nodded once and took my hand. I helped her up the rails and into the plane. She squeezed in beside Seanna and they tried to figure out the straps that served as seat belts. I climbed into the middle seat. Leather stretched over the metal seat, providing bare minimum padding. The straps were nothing more than strips of leather fitted through slots in the seat.

  As I tried to get them tied off, shouts came from the tunnel. I lifted a little and turned to see Daresh’s soldiers pouring into the room.

  “Uh oh,” Tias said.

  “What?”

  “I forgot about the lever.”

  “The what?”

  He spun and pointed at a small latch that held the crank in place. “The release lever. Somebody has to trip it to release it. Never thought about needing to trip it while in the plane.”

  “Just get ready,” I yelled louder than necessary.

  I reached down into the well of energy, pulling up a bit of power. I focused it on the lever and gave a little push. It clicked and we rocketed forward. Metal scraped on wood. Aoife’s scream from behind me cut through the noise.