Gatebreaker: Book One

by Michelle Wilson

  “Reynard, what is the meaning of this?” King Bleddyn demanded. He was breathing heavily and had a large cut bleeding down one of his arms.

  “Your time is at an end, King,” Reynard said. “Too long have my people been hunted and forced to live in hiding. You say you accept all Magic Wielders as citizens, yet there are still those who hunt us down and brand us in your name. We are the ones that possess the magic, and we are the ones that possess the power. We are using that power now to take the kingdom for ourselves and live in prosperity and freedom.”

  There was a gust of wind that blew so hard through the clearing it knocked everyone down. I stood after it subsided and looked around but everyone except Erin, Murphy, and myself were still held to the ground, unable to stand up. Aidric and the king were struggling. I looked at my friends and then up at Reynard.

  “What’s going on?” I demanded. Someone else walked their horse up alongside Reynard. John lowered his hood and looked at the three of us.

  “Lydia, Reynard knows. He knows about your magic. He knows about where we came from. Come with us now and he can help us get back home.”

  “John, what are you talking about?” Erin asked, looking desperately from John to me and back. Murphy was holding onto her shoulder. His other hand was pressed onto his side. I could see blood seeping through his fingers.

  “We don’t have much time,” John said. “Guys, come with us. Reynard told me about the kingdom and the king. We can’t trust them. We need to leave now so we can get back home.”

  I couldn’t understand what was happening. The world underneath my feet felt like it was spinning out of control.

  “What’s going to happen to everyone else?” I asked. I looked at John, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “They’ll be killed, of course,” Reynard responded. He was staring at me with desire, like I was a gold watch in the window of a store he was so close to getting. “You have no idea the power you truly possess, child. Come with me and together we can start a new world here in Thavell. Set things right before I send the four of you back where you came from. But my goodwill does not last forever. John has vouched for you and proven his loyalty. Because of him I will ask you all one more time. Come with us.”

  The spinning got faster. I fell to my knees and dug my hands into the golden grass. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t understand what was going on. But I knew one thing, if I didn’t do something soon, Aidric was going to die.

  “No,” I heard Erin say. “John, we can’t let these people die. This is not how we are going to get back home.” I looked at my friend and could see she was close to tears.

  John looked shocked at her answer, but before he could reply Reynard said, “So be it.” He flicked his finger and Erin and Murphy fell to their knees, gripping at their throats. I heard gasping sounds and could see Aidric and the king were doing the same. They couldn’t breathe. They were going to die.

  “What are you doing?” John screamed at Reynard. “This is not what we agreed to.”

  “Things change,” Reynard said.

  Trust the magic, it knows what to do. The voice echoed in my head again. But what did it mean? I could feel my own breath coming in quick gasps, not from magic but from my own panic. My friends were going to die.

  “You don’t get a choice,” I could hear Reynard saying. I knew he was talking to me. “You are coming with us whether you like it or not.” On the edge of my vision I could see people in dark cloaks returning to the clearing. They were coming for me. I had to do something. And I had to do it now.

  I closed my eyes and grasped desperately for my magic. All that was left was a little pool. In desperation I threw it out around me like an invisible cloak. When I opened my eyes, I gasped. I could see magic everywhere. I could see gold laced throughout my own hands and body. I looked up at Reynard and could see he was surrounded by an almost transparent gray. Air magic, and a lot of it. That’s what was holding everyone down. He was using it to take the air from the lungs of Erin, Murphy, Aidric, and the king. I looked down and could see that every blade of grass and piece of dirt was glowing with gold magic. Just like mine.

  “Stop,” I heard Reynard say. The people who were closing in on me paused. Reynard knew something was happening. “Don’t bother fighting, Lydia. I’m sure your store of magic is almost gone. If you keep trying, you will kill yourself.”

  I knew he was right. My magic was flickering out, and soon my own life force would begin to power it if I didn’t stop. But I couldn’t, I had to save my friends. Something I had read one night in the library came back to me. The Golden Forest was made of magic. I buried my hands into the dirt in front of me. There was a reason my magic felt so powerful here in the forest. The forest helped me power it. I took a deep breath and opened myself up. I pulled the magic of the forest up into me and replenished myself. When I felt like I was full to bursting, I pulled my hands out and looked up.

  Reynard was staring at me wide-eyed. Erin, Murphy, Aidric, and the king had all gone still. I could see Aidric, mere feet from me. He had one arm on his neck but the other was reached out toward me. He was staring at me. I knew I didn’t have much time. I looked at Aidric again and he gave me the tiniest nod. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and then yelled out, pushing my magic across the whole clearing like a blanket. My magic hit Reynard’s and there was a spark of light visible to everyone in the clearing. The gold and the gray pushed against each other. I stood and held my hands up, willing my magic to push Reynard’s away. There was a popping noise and Reynard’s air magic exploded and dissipated. Immediately, everyone could move and breathe again.

  Reynard looked panicked. He wheeled his horse around and took off into the trees. John gave Erin one last longing look and did the same. The other rebels still in the clearing tried to make a break for it, but people in our company were on their feet and managed to capture three before they could get away.

  “Go after them!” the king was yelling. I stood and started to make my way to Aidric who was coughing as he tried to catch his breath, but a yell stopped me in my tracks.

  47

  “Murphy!” Erin yelled again. I sprinted over to Erin’s side, my heart growing cold. She was leaned over Murphy and shaking him. Murphy was lying on the ground, unconscious. He was breathing, but just barely. The wound in his side was still bleeding. I knelt down beside Erin. Tears were streaming down her face. She looked over at me and jumped back.

  “Lydia, you—you’re glowing.” Her face was pale as she looked at me. I looked down at my hands and arms. She was right. There was a golden light shining through the threads of magic that were a part of me.

  “Your eyes, they’re just gold light. Lydia, is it you?”

  “Yes,” I told her. I touched Murphy’s side where he was injured. All my senses were supercharged. When I touched Murphy, I could feel his pain and the sick feeling of death creeping into the edges.

  I placed both my hands on Murphy, closed my eyes, and gave myself over to the magic. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know what type or piece of magic I was using, but I could hear the voice in my head telling me to trust the magic. I could feel it rush through me and into Murphy closing the wound and restoring life as it went. But I didn’t stop there. People were hurt and dying because someone had tried to overthrow the king and get to me. It was unacceptable. I pushed my magic out through everyone in the clearing. I was taking more in through the forest and pushing it out into anyone I touched.

  Wounds and even death were not going to stop me. I was so tired of not being able to do the things I needed. I couldn’t get my friends home but no one was going to get hurt because of it on my watch. The magic flowed up from the forest and through me, into the people in the clearing, healing them, restoring them. The feeling was wonderful and overwhelming all at once. I felt like I was becoming part of the forest, like it was opening its magic and taking me into it. The magic I could feel within the forest was infinite. I wanted to be part of it. To s
hed myself and become nothing but my power and might. I could hear voices somewhere in the distance, but they didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was this feeling of magic rushing through me and out into the world. All that mattered was the power and the strength I could possess.

  “Lydia! Lydia, you need to stop this right now.” I could feel the power slow as one voice shot through the magic that surrounded me. There was something about that voice. I liked it. I wanted to hear it again.

  “Lydia, you need to listen to me. You need to cut it off. It’s going to kill you. Please, Lydia. Come back.”

  Aidric. His name flashed across my mind like a beacon. Aidric. The human part of myself began to come back to me. My magic usually dwelled inside me. But now it had overtaken me, and I had to fight to find myself again. I thought of Aidric, Erin, Murphy, and John. I thought of my parents back home, probably looking for me. I thought of the people I had met here: Nadine, Val, Rose, and Gabrielle.

  Slowly, I was able to pull my magic back inside me. Bit by bit I pulled it. When I thought I had it under control, I cut off my ties with the forest. It felt like severing a limb. I cried out. I felt like I was in a fog, but I pushed through and willed myself to not lose consciousness. Eventually the fog began to clear. I could feel the roughness of the grass beneath my hands, the coolness of the earth beneath my knees. I felt hollow. More hollow than I had ever felt before. Like a part of me was missing, never to return. I felt melancholy

  Finally, I was myself again. I opened my eyes. The grass around me was pushed flat. I looked up. Aidric was there, staring at me with a worried gaze. I attempted to give him a smile. Relief washed over his face and he smiled back. The look in his eyes changed from worry to something like awe. I looked around. All the grass and plants around me were pushed flat. I tried to stand but wobbled, so Aidric grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. Erin and Murphy stood just a few feet from me, but they stood back, the oddest looks on their faces. I turned in a circle. The flatness of the plants continued in all directions all the way to the edge of the clearing. It looked like there had been an explosion and with a jolt I realized I was at the center.

  Then I noticed that everyone in our company was on their feet. No one was moving, no one saying a word. They were all staring. At me. I looked at Aidric and back at the ground. What was going on? A few people started whispering. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. But then the whispering grew louder.

  “Gatebreaker, Gatebreaker.” Everyone was repeating the same word. The sound rose until it was a chant. “Gatebreaker, Gatebreaker.” They got louder until almost everyone in the company was chanting at me. “Gatebreaker, Gatebreaker.”

  Then people began to bend their knees and bow. It was like a wave as everyone sat on one knee and bowed their heads in my direction. I spun in a circle, not sure what to do. Erin and Murphy glanced at each other and bowed too. Finally, the only people standing were me, Aidric, and the king. King Bleddyn was leaning on his axe, the cut on his arm had vanished. He was regarding me with a look of respect and something else I couldn’t place.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, turning back toward Aidric. He smiled and took both of my hands in his and bowed too.

  “Welcome, Gatebreaker,” was all he said.

  48

  By the time dawn arrived I was sitting in a tent that had hastily been pitched after the battle. I was staring at a cup of tea in front of me, trying to will myself to drink it. Just a couple of hours ago Nadine and Weston’s company had ridden into the clearing, weapons drawn. Word had reached her that there had been an attempted coup at the castle. Some of the nobles had risen up, but those loyal to King Bleddyn had managed to fight the rebels back. A Wielder in their company who could scry had looked up our company and saw us in trouble. Nadine and Weston wasted no time coming to the king’s aid. Now everyone was in the process of cleaning up the campsite and trying to track any of the rebels.

  The king, Nadine, and Aidric were all standing around the tent. Nadine and Aidric had just finished telling the king about the disturbance Nadine had sensed in the Golden Forest the night of our arrival and how Aidric had found me. He also told the king the truth about the attack, finding out I had magic, and helping me learn how to use it. Thankfully, he left out the part about our romance.

  “But I still don’t understand. What was your friend, John, talking about? What did he mean about getting you four home? And how did your magic go undetected this long? Especially if you have that much power?” the king was asking. Everyone looked at me. I took another drink of my tea. I was so tired I could have dropped off right then without a thought. It was a bone aching type of tired. But I knew I had to get through this conversation before I could rest.

  “Lydia,” Aidric said softly. “There’s no use keeping anything secret anymore. We need to know what’s going on.” I nodded at him. He was right.

  So, I told them. I told them everything. I started with the morning of my sixteenth birthday, the hiking trip, the strange dream, and the earthquake. I told them about getting transported here. Finding ourselves in the Golden Forest and my finding Aidric. I told them about the strange things that started happening to me. The only things I left out were meeting the strange woman and the stone Aidric had given me to hide my magic. I made it sound like we had stolen some supplies and that my magic stayed hidden on its own. Aidric didn’t correct me. When I was done, everyone looked astonished.

  “You’re from an entirely different world?” Aidric asked.

  “I know it sounds crazy,” I told him. “But it’s true. Erin, Murphy, John, and I, we aren’t from here. Our world is very different. Very different. There is no magic. We have cars, and telephones, and the internet. Your world is similar to how ours was centuries ago.”

  “And you don’t know how you got here?” the king asked.

  “No, Your Majesty. I truly don’t. Since I’m the only one of my friends with magic, I assume I brought us here somehow. But magic doesn’t exist in my world, so I don’t even know how I was able to use it in the first place. And I don’t know how I did it. And what I really don’t know is how to do it again so we can all go back.” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second, composing myself.

  “Who is the Gatebreaker?” I asked.

  “You are,” King Bleddyn said. “After your performance out there in the clearing I suspected, as did everyone else. But after your description of how you and your friends were transported here, I have no doubt. You, my lady, are the Gatebreaker.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly. “Then what is the Gatebreaker?”

  “There’s a prophecy,” Aidric started. “I can’t remember the whole thing, but I’m sure it’s written down in the library somewhere. But basically, it says that magic was locked behind gates all those years ago and that our world would never know peace and would never know balance until the Gatebreaker comes and puts magic back where it belongs.”

  “So, no pressure, right?” I asked him, forgetting for a moment that he was the prince and his father, the king, was standing just a few feet from us. He smiled at me.

  “We don’t know what it means exactly. Most people thought it was a myth, but, here you are,” he said.

  “Here I am,” I repeated.

  “Lydia,” the king began. He sat down in front of me and took my hands in his. “Your coming during my reign is an honor. You will know the highest honors I can bestow upon you, and you will have access to the greatest magical knowledge I and the Scholars can provide. If you will stay here in Thavell and help us figure out what the prophecy means and restore everything to balance, I promise I will help you and your friends find a way home. Would you stay and help me?”

  “What about John?” I asked. The king paused for a moment.

  Finally he said, “He tried to stage a coup, so I cannot let that go unchecked. However, I can see now his actions were those of someone desperate to find their way home and Reynard manipulated that desire. If he is found and comes wi
thout a fight or killing any of my subjects, he will be under arrest until we find you all a way home. And then, I think banishment back to your world is an appropriate punishment.”

  I nodded. I didn’t love the idea of John in a dungeon somewhere, but I understood the king couldn’t just let him go. It was fair.

  “What about Erin and Murphy? Will they ‘know the highest honors’ as well?” I asked.

  “Erin and Murphy are great assets to our kingdom. Since they are not technically my subjects, I will give them a choice as to whether they wish to stay in the army or not. If not, I will set them up with a small stipend and a place in Windburn and then of course they will be invited to the castle when we have a way to get you home.”

  “They can’t stay in the castle with me?” I asked.

  “My dear, you are the one that possesses the power. Unfortunately, I think your friends happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I will make sure they are safe, but they have no standing in this country so I cannot let them live in the castle. You will need some guards, though, so if they elect to remain a part of the army, then I can see to it they are assigned to guard you,” he paused and waited for my response.

  The king’s words about my friends hurt a bit. He voiced what I had been feeling all along. It was my fault they were here. And now my fault that John was off by himself and that Murphy had almost died. I again remembered the strange lady’s warning about the king when we first arrived here in Thavell. She had clearly not trusted him. But Aidric trusted his father and I had only ever heard good things about him. His subjects loved him, and I had to admit that, while I didn’t always like his ideas, he had always treated us fairly. I looked up at him and nodded.