by Janean Worth
“No,” Kara whispered.
But it was too late. Otto had already allowed himself to become surrounded by the Fidgets.
“Kill…” the lead Fidget said again.
At once, the vicious creatures struck, their sharp claws scrabbling against the metal man as he entered the structure. The horde followed Otto inside the structure, and in a moment the darkness inside swallowed them whole, cloaking them from sight, and Mathew could not see what happened next.
But he could hear, and it sounded terrible. Hundreds of sets of claws struck against the metal man. Fidgets hissed nastily, and then jabbered in that unrecognizable dialect that they had.
At his side, Kara began to pray.
Chapter Five
Kara held her breath and waited for Otto’s return. The metal man might seem invincible, but she had seen first hand what just a small group of Fidgets could do, and he had entered the structure with hundreds of them intent on killing him.
“Do you think he’ll make it?” she asked Mathew. “Perhaps we should go in and help him?”
“No, we shouldn’t,” Mathew said, his voice sounding harsh and almost angry.
Kara took a step back from him, surprised at the vehemence of his response.
Mathew immediately looked contrite. “I’m sorry, Kara, I just don’t want you to be hurt. That’s all. I didn’t mean to sound so severe.”
Kara squinted at his features in the bright sunshine, then nodded. “I understand. You’re worried. But so am I. What will we do if Otto doesn’t come out? We can’t just leave him here, and the sunlight is almost gone. If you don’t want to go in after him, then what choice do we have? You know that the Fidgets will come out after us as soon as shadow falls across this place.”
“He’ll make it,” Mathew said. “I’m sure of it. We haven’t seen anything yet that can beat Otto, have we?”
Kara shook her head. No. She had to admit that they hadn’t. Otto seemed to be equipped to handle virtually any situation. His Creator had been brilliant indeed. Kara was particularly amazed when she thought of what Otto had said about his Creator creating him simply as a guide to others who entered the city. His Creator had wanted visitors to learn of the Book, and to have safe passage. And for that, he’d created Otto.
“Then let’s scout around to the rear of the structure, and see what the Narrow Road looks like behind it. It will be good to know the best way away from the structure, especially since the Fidgets will most likely follow us,” Mathew said.
Without waiting for her to answer, he started off down the path. The tracken padded along silently behind him.
Kara shivered at the thought of the horde of Fidgets chasing after them as shadow once again claimed the Narrow Road, then followed Mathew along the unbroken walkway that circled the structure. She had to admit, if only to herself, that the Fidgets had done a very good job of preserving the structure and the surrounding grounds, but she was still having trouble thinking of them as intelligent creatures.
The Fidgets she’s seen in the forest had been filthy creatures who lived underground, burrowing deep into the earth each night to avoid the sun. And now she knew why. The touch of the sun physically hurt them. But the forest dwelling Fidgets had not seemed to be capable of higher thought at all, which made it doubly odd that the Fidgets that lived here, in this structure, obviously were. It was a mystery that she simply couldn’t solve. Why would these Fidgets behave with thought and understanding while the forest Fidgets seemed nothing more than dumb animals?
As they rounded the structure together, the stretch of Narrow Road leading away from it came into view and all thoughts of the intelligent Fidgets fled her mind. Kara felt her heart wrench in fear at what she saw ahead.
The Narrow Road beyond the round building was completely hidden from view. An enormous swath of what looked to be dense fog stretched from one side of the road to the other. Its depth was immeasurable, since it was so thick that she couldn’t see even a single foot inside of it.
“We can’t see what’s ahead. What if the road is completely gone?” Mathew whispered, sounding afraid.
“And we can’t go back the way we’ve come, either. The Enforcers know where we are. Surely, they’re following along behind us if they have been tracking us with the invisible signal from the chips all this time.”
“And we will never reach the Narrow Gate if we turn back now,” Mathew said.
“And we won’t find our fathers, either.” Kara felt her heart wrench at the thought. For so long now, she’d been desperate to find her father, and the place of safely called the Narrow Gate. She looked ahead at the impenetrable white blanket that hid the Narrow Road ahead, and felt despair shroud her much as the fog shrouded the road. Doubt rushed in with the despair and if she hadn’t been standing on the Narrow Road at that moment, she might well have dismissed the whole idea of the existence of the Narrow Gate. So many in GateWide had said that it was a myth that she could almost believe it now. Almost. Except that she stood upon the crumbling surface of the Narrow Road itself, the only path that led to the Narrow Gate.
She forcefully reminded herself that those in GateWide had lied. She’d discovered falsehood after falsehood after she’d escaped the Enforcers when she’d first become a hated Stray. Many of these truths had astounded her, as had the most recent one regarding the tracken. She could not believe what she’d learned of the Narrow Gate in GateWide. She could not. She must believe that it was real and not a myth at all. She must not loose faith in the Word.
She and Mathew stood there in silence for a moment, just staring at the cloaking fog that blocked their way.
Why was the Narrow Road so utterly difficult to traverse? Why was it so hard? Kara wondered. Surely, since they’d both been striving to do the right thing as it said in the Word, their way should be somewhat easier?
Kara stared at the dense fog, feeling as if she was missing some important detail. A thought niggled at the edge of her consciousness, but try as she might, she could not bring it into focus. Something was not right. She felt as if she had made some error. As if she’d been striving to do the right thing, but she’d missed some important step.
She just didn’t know what it could be.
“Maybe Otto will know of something that will help?” Mathew finally said as he turned to go back the way they’d come.
“If he survives the Fidgets,” Kara whispered as she followed quickly after him, not daring to think of what would happen to them if Otto did not come back out of the building again very soon.
But, to Kara’s surprise, when they rounded the front of the structure, Otto stood waiting for them beside Gallant. Unharmed and gleaming in the sun’s fading rays.
Relief swam through her so strongly that it caused butterflies to form in her stomach.
She and Mathew quickly joined the metal giant beside the horse, the tracken padding along silently behind them as it had done since Mathew had realized its secret.
“Don’t be frightened,” Kara whispered to the animal as she saw that Otto had recovered the device that he had sought.
Otto was stroking the horse’s shoulder, gently pressing the small flat object that he held in his massive hand against the horse’s flesh. The device beeped softly, and a small green light flashed on the side.
Gallant didn’t even twitch.
“He cannot feel that?” Kara asked.
“No, there is no pain involved,” Otto said. “It is done.”
The metal man turned to the tracken then, holding the device out for the beast’s inspection. The tracken leaned forward to sniff at the device delicately.
“Since Kara speaks to you and knows that you understand, it seems that your secret has been discovered. I feel safe to address you directly now,” Otto said to the animal. “May I use this to deactivate the tracking chip that was placed inside you?”
Kara watched in dumbfounded amazement as the tracken nodded its ascent.
“You knew?” she asked, feeling slig
htly betrayed.
“Yes, and I am sorry for not telling you, but the secret was not mine to tell,” Otto answered.
Kara supposed that he was right. And perhaps she wouldn’t have believed Otto if he had told her.
Otto stepped forward and quickly ran the device over the tracken’s shoulder, in the same manner as he’d done with Gallant. The device chirped and blinked again, and Otto stepped back.
“It is done. Those who were tracking you with the signal will no longer be able to do so,” Otto said. “Let us resume our journey before the shadows consume the sunlight again. The Fidgets were not happy with my visit. They do not like that which they have stolen from others to be taken back again. It would be best to be gone from this place before they are able to leave the structure.”
Kara nodded in wholehearted assent. “But, the way ahead is shrouded in fog, and we cannot see the road. What should we do, Otto?”
“This I cannot tell you. The journey upon the Narrow Road is yours alone to choose. Your Creator has gifted you with free will, so it says in the Book, and I cannot make the choice for you. I can only help you along the way while the Narrow Road traverses the city. At the city’s edge, you will continue on without me. My task lies here, as my Creator intended, and I do not have free will like you. I must obey.”
Kara’s heart wrenched with fear. She hadn’t considered that Otto would not, could not, complete the journey to the Narrow Gate with them, though the metal man had plainly stated his purpose when they’d first found him. She realized then that she had allowed herself to imagine that he would protect them and make their way safe, forever. But she now realized that only she could choose her own path, just as he’d said. Others could join her, but only she could choose her own way. Only she could determine what was the right thing for her to do. The knowledge of this was like a cloud lifting from her consciousness. She now knew what she should do.
“But, Otto, the way ahead is thick with fog. We don’t know what is on the other side. We cannot safely continue,” Mathew said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kara told them. “I cannot continue on anyway. I must go back.”
She had suddenly realized what had she had been missing. It was not the right thing to continue on to the Narrow Gate as others, the fatherless Strays, the destitute widows and the gentle tracken, suffered so horribly in GateWide. It was not the right thing to do to seek her own happiness in a reunion with her father, while other fatherless orphans endured horrifying conditions in the Sovereign’s House, tortured and enslaved and abused.
Kara knew that she could not reach the Narrow Gate with that burden of suffering bearing down upon her. It was not the right thing to do.
There was complete silence for a moment, and then Otto quoted from the Book, “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.”
Chapter Six
For a moment, Mathew could not believe his ears. Only moments ago, Kara had been as determined as he to find their fathers and the Narrow Gate. What had happened to her resolve? Why was she now giving up? And what did Otto mean, randomly quoting the Book about, of all things, the fatherless, at a time like this? Of course they knew they were fatherless and needy! That was exactly why they sought to find their father and the Narrow Gate!
Mathew felt as if the ground had dropped out from under him. He could not believe that Kara had given up. He hadn’t realized how much he’d depended upon her solid faith in their purpose and destination to bolster his own determination. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d needed her steady resolve. And now, since she’d lost it, he felt as if they’d both lost something utterly priceless.
“You can’t just give up now, Kara,” Mathew said, struggling to keep the whine out of his voice. “We have travelled the Narrow Road! It leads to the Narrow Gate!”
He knew he was being selfish again, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He needed Kara. He didn’t think he’d make it on his own, even if the tracken and Otto continued on with him. And, even if they chose to go with him, he couldn’t really allow it because that would leave Kara with only Gallant and her little fox, Jax, as protection. Which wasn’t much protection at all. It was true that she’d survived years being a Stray on her own, but things were different now. The Enforcers knew she was alive now, and they were determined to find the Strays that had escaped from the House. And, he suddenly realized that he didn’t even want her to try to survive on her own any longer. He didn’t want to leave her.
“I will help you, Kara. We can make it!” Mathew said. He’d just have to have enough determination and hope for the both of them. It was time he stepped up anyway, he realized. It was time that he started to help Kara as she had helped him. It was the right thing to do.
Kara gave him a sad smile. “I have not wavered in my determination to reach the Narrow Gate, or to find our fathers. Instead, I have realized that I cannot continue my journey until I have helped the other Strays, and even the tracken, that the Sovereign has enslaved in the House. I will not make it to the Narrow Gate knowing that, in the case of the Stays and tracken in the House, I did not do the right thing. I must go back.”
Mathew was speechless. He stared at Kara for long, silent seconds as what she’d just said sank in. And when he realized that she was right, he felt the blood drain from his face. It would almost be better to stay and face the Fidgets than what she had planned for them.
“You want to go back? Back through the Old Forest? Back to GateWide? To the House?” His voice broke embarrassingly on the word House. He cleared his throat and continued. “Kara, we will not survive.”
“That is why I have not asked you to come with me. I know that this is the right thing for me to do, Mathew. I cannot make that decision for you. As Otto said, our Creator gifted us with free will, which is at once both one of His greatest blessings but also one of the most heavy burdens,” Kara gave him that gentle smile of hers, and patted his arm. “I will go alone. In this, I cannot decide even for Jax. You are correct, I might well die trying to free the other Strays and the tracken.”
The tracken mewled loudly at this, then left Otto’s side to go stand beside Kara, scooting up close to her side in a gesture of what Mathew could only believe was solidarity. The tracken was stating its intention to make the journey with Kara.
“Are you sure?” Kara asked the beast, as if was every day that she talked to animals and expected an answer.
Mathew didn’t know how she’d accepted the knowledge that the tracken could understand and respond to their speech so easily. He was still struggling to wrap his own mind around it. Perhaps it was because Kara had spent so many months with only her beloved Jax for companionship.
The tracken nodded once, slowly, emphatically.
Mathew felt torn. He knew that what Kara said was correct. It felt like the right thing to do. But he was afraid. So very afraid. The Sovereign was an evil man. How could they possibly think that they could triumph over someone so powerful? The Sovereign had many Old Tech devices, and many more Enforcers, at his command.
“If I go with you, how can we hope to survive? With only Otto, Gallant and the tracken? Perhaps we could use my father’s Old Tech, since it is quite powerful, if we could remove it from Otto. But, even then, the Sovereign has us outmatched. He has much more powerful things than we do.”
“You forget, Mathew, that I cannot accompany you back to GateWide. I must stay in the city,” Otto said, and though his voice was mechanical and metallic, he still managed to sound regretful.
Mathew’s heart sank even further. Without Otto, they had absolutely no chance at all.
“I don’t know how we will survive, Mathew, but it must be possible. You just have to have faith. It is the right thing to do,” Kara insisted.
“I know,” Mathew agreed. “I know.’
“You must make your decision soon,” Otto said. “The sunlight will not shine much longer in this place.”
As if to emphasize that fact, the Fidgets o
n the portico hissed loudly.
Mathew glanced at them, and then looked at Kara’s face. He could see the conviction shining in her eyes now. How had he missed that just moments ago? Of course Kara would not give up on the enslaved Strays or the other tracken. Of course she would not give up on finding the Narrow Gate and their fathers. How could he have thought that she would?
He looked the tracken, standing beside Kara, and thought again how the tracken had risked its own life to save his. And how it had defended them from the Fidgets. And the realization that this was something that he must do washed over him like a tide.
“Yes, I will go back with you. You’re right, Kara, it is the right thing to do.”
Chapter Seven
With Mathew’s decision made, Kara turned away from the structure and gathered Gallant’s reins.
“You should ride, Mathew. Your leg must be hurting badly by now. The snake’s fangs went deep,” she said.
Mathew looked down at his leg, where the snakebite was hidden beneath the bandage that she’d made for him, almost as if he were surprised to be reminded of the injury.
“It doesn’t hurt at all, actually,” he said. “You should ride.”
“Are you sure?” Kara asked. “Maybe we’d make better time if we both rode?”
“Yes,” Otto said. “Let us make haste.”
Kara nodded and waited for Mathew to mount up before climbing into the saddle behind him.
“Your leg really doesn’t hurt anymore?” she asked.
“No,” Mathew said. “Not at all. It’s fine.”
Kara didn’t want to tell him that it probably wasn’t. It wasn’t natural that his leg would no longer hurt. She’d seen the snakebite. It had been very serious; the snake’s large fangs had torn the muscle to the bone in several places. Mathew should still be feeling the pain. She was glad that he wasn’t suffering, but at the same time, she knew that the lack of pain wasn’t normal.
