The Threshold Child

by Callie Kanno

  Kendan pointed to a raised tower that overlooked the entire obstacle course. “I will be watching you from there.”

  He walked away, leaving Adesina to her exercise. She entered the maze on velvet feet, making no noise even though the ground was covered in gravel. The first obstacle was a wall of wooden boards. There was enough room at the bottom for her to squeeze under it, but it also was a height that Adesina could climb over. She crouched by the wall, closing her eyes and focusing on what was on the other side.

  Adesina could hear two guards breathing. They were standing stationary, and there was a third guard patrolling.

  She pursed her lips thoughtfully. It would be tricky getting all three at once. She reached into her belt and detached three darts, which were coated with a special compound that Adesina had invented during her sixth year of training. The result of the mixture was almost immediate unconsciousness.

  She jumped lightly and grabbed hold of the top of the wall, raising herself up slowly and silently. Peering over the edge, she verified the positions of all three guards. Then, gathering her energy, she vaulted over the wall. While in midair she threw a dart at the patrolling guard with pinpoint accuracy, then she landed between the stationary guards, jabbing both of them in the shoulder with the remaining darts.

  Not one of the three guards had time to react before the drug on the darts took effect. Adesina gathered the darts and immediately turned her mind to the next obstacle.

  Just beyond the fallen third guard were a series of moving targets and a small servant girl standing on the path that led out of the enclosure. The girl looked to be about seven or eight, and was holding a bundle of various weapons. Adesina walked over and took the bundle from the girl. As she did so, the girl looked up at her with undisguised admiration glowing in her young eyes.

  Children who were brought to the fortress between the ages of five and nine were put to work as servants. If they were younger, they were taken to the nursery. The fortress rarely accepted children over the age of nine because at least one year of service was required before training began. Being that Adesina had begun her training so early, she never went through that particular process. This was yet another part of what engendered the feelings of hostility between Adesina and the other Shi. All of them had paid their dues, except for her.

  Adesina rummaged through the bundle of weapons and picked out a bow. The girl smiled and handed Adesina five arrows—one for each target.

  Adesina stood and faced the targets. They were small, round wooden shields painted with a red circle and an X through the middle. Their movements were reasonably paced, but it was also clear that their course was random. Adesina knew that this would take a bit more time and skill than if they had had a clear pattern.

  She drew the bow and took careful aim. The arrow was released with a soft twang. Adesina didn’t need to look to know that she had hit her mark, but she checked just in case. The arrow stood quivering in the center of the red painted X.

  Adesina drew her bow again, and dealt with the other four targets in a similar manner. A brief smirk crossed her face, but she quickly banished it. The course was far from done.

  The young girl took the bow from Adesina and stepped aside to let her pass to the next section of the challenge.

  The path led to an open area that looked a lot like part of the final test of her fifth year of training. The ground was spread with a yellow substance that showed clearly on any clothing. The objective was to cross the area without touching the ground. Adesina studied the course, mapping out a path in her mind. When she decided on the best strategy, she began.

  The entrance where Adesina stood was in the corner of the open area. High up on the outer wall that ran away from the entrance hung a sturdy draping fabric. Adesina braced herself in the doorframe and climbed up slowly in order to reach it.

  There was still quite a bit of distance between Adesina and the fabric when she reached the top of the doorframe. Focusing all of her energy in her legs and feet, Adesina jumped toward the fabric with all the force she could muster.

  She hit the wall much harder than she anticipated. Her slender fingers automatically clutched at the fabric, even though her breath had been knocked from her body. It took several moments for Adesina to steady herself. Her hands were beginning to ache by the time she was able to breathe normally again.

  There was a trick that Adesina had learned when she was very young. If she focused hard enough, she found she could trick her mind into thinking her body was incredibly light. Adesina closed her eyes and did so now. Years of practice made it fairly easy. She immediately felt the pressure on her hands ease.

  She began climbing along the wall, careful to control her momentum so as not to lose her grip. The fabric ended after about fifteen feet, leaving her no direction to go but out into the open area.

  Ten feet away from the wall stood a series of tall wooden poles. Adesina pushed off the wall with her feet, leaping to grab the closest rod. From there she jumped to another, and then to another. The fourth pillar had a tiny platform nailed to the top. Adesina climbed onto this platform and paused to reorient herself. There was a rope strung tautly from the small platform to another on a pillar twenty feet away. Adesina balanced herself expertly and slowly crossed the rope.

  From there, there was a section of many thick wooden rods that varied in height and size and were placed fairly close together. Adesina found herself jumping and climbing from pole to pole with relative ease.

  At the end of this section was a platform and a rope hung from a rod high above. There were about half a dozen ropes hanging at intervals that led across to another platform, but the first one was the only one that touched the ground. She would have to climb straight up the first one, and then swing to reach the next rope. As soon as Adesina began to do this, three young Shi appeared on the far wall with bows in their hands. They immediately drew their bows and began shooting at Adesina as she climbed.

  The tips of the arrows were dull, but they were coated with the same yellow substance that covered the ground. Although a hit would not be physically harmful, it would be clear that she had been careless.

  Adesina quickly began to swing the rope as she climbed, making sure she never was stationary. Luckily, the archers were still fairly inexperienced and also a good distance away, giving her a split second longer to move out of the way.

  Arrows whizzed past her ominously. As soon as she was high enough, she leaped to the second rope. Adesina had just enough momentum to get her hands around the rope. She knew she would have to swing harder to reach the next one safely.

  Adesina soon discovered that each rope was further away than the last. Each one took a little more time and strength to reach, all the while dodging the arrows that flew past. In spite of this, she landed on the platform as gracefully as if she had been doing nothing more than a dance. One last arrow shot in her direction, which she dodged with an expression of contempt.

  The platform led out of the open area and into a small room. As soon as she entered, the door slammed shut behind her. It was completely dark, and Adesina was not equipped with anything to produce light. The soft sound of falling sand led her to the right side of the room. She searched the wall with her sensitive fingertips, finally coming across the shape of an hourglass.

  She was being timed.

  Adesina’s mind kicked into high gear. Based on the size of the hourglass, she only had about ten minutes to solve this problem.

  Before the door had closed behind her she had seen that there was a door on the opposite side. She made her way over there and began examining the door by touch. There were a number of knobs on the door of various shapes and sizes. Some had carvings in them, others had bumps in different patterns, and some were smooth. Some of the knobs turned with a soft clicking noise, others had notches that allowed them to be pulled out to different lengths, and some were set in a slot and could be moved to different positions.

  As Adesina began experimenting wi
th the different knobs, she discovered that certain knobs would lock into place according to how she positioned other knobs. She also found that some knobs would lock some in place while releasing others that had previously been locked. Adesina turned the puzzle over in her mind, looking for patterns and trying out various sequences. She also listened carefully for the sand in the hourglass, using the tone of the falling sand to judge how much time she had left.

  Six minutes.

  There were so many knobs, and several that refused to lock into place no matter what Adesina did. She knew what she had to do to solve the puzzle, and her mind raced over the fastest way to find the correct series of motions.

  Four minutes.

  Some of the knobs could only be locked in place by a single one of the others, but the movement of any other knob would unlock them again.

  Two minutes.

  Almost there. Adesina was fairly certain she knew the sequence needed to lock all of the knobs in place.

  One minute.

  The last knob locked into place and the door swung open. Adesina took a deep breath to slow her heart rate. That had been much closer than she liked. A Shi was usually given more time for a puzzle of that complexity, which was probably why Kendan had given her less.

  It took Adesina’s eyes a moment to adjust to the light before she stepped out to the last section of the obstacle course. The door from which she emerged was obscured from the rest of the open area. In the center of that arena stood a pedestal, on which rested a small wooden chest. Patrolling around the chest were four guards.

  Adesina ducked out of sight and mulled over the problem. She only had two unused darts in her belt. That left two more to be neutralized without being harmed. Adesina muttered darkly under her breath as she peered around the corner to check the guards’ positions. After marking the two on which she felt it would be the most advantageous to use her darts, she took a steadying breath and moved into action. The darts flashed out of her hand, flying straight and true. Adesina launched herself from her hiding spot, sprinting across the uneven ground to the two remaining guards.

  She misjudged her footing as she ran and stumbled slightly. It wasn’t enough to throw off her attack, but the pain in her ankle hindered her agility. She did her best to push her discomfort to the back of her mind as she came to her human targets.

  The first one received a sharp blow to the side of his head, rendering him unconscious before he had finished drawing his weapon. The second guard proved to be harder.

  Adesina had to move quickly to evade the sword wielded by the remaining guard, clenching her teeth against the pain of her twisted ankle. They circled each other slowly, each assessing their opponent. Almost as if by luck or fate, the guard’s footing on the gravel gave ever so slightly. Adesina was moving before he could blink. She took advantage of this momentary loss of balance to sweep the guard from his feet entirely. Another sharp blow rendered him unconscious as well.

  Once again, Adesina had to repress her smile. The triumph she felt didn’t last very long, as her throbbing ankle brought her back to reality. She retrieved her darts, limped over to the chest and picked it up. It was quite a bit heavier than she expected. Curious as to what it held, Adesina undid the latch and looked inside.

  There were two crystal-like stones, each about the size of her fist. When the light fell upon them, they slowly turned from a soft pink to a deep red. Adesina furrowed her brow thoughtfully as she closed the lid to the chest.

  She turned and walked back to the puzzle room, expecting the door to close behind her again. This time, however, it did not. On the opposite door there was a small plaque with four words engraved on it next to a set of four dials. Each of the dials was numbered to one hundred.

  Adesina’s eyes quickly scanned the words in front of her. They were written in one of the more obscure dialects of the far south. Her knowledge of those dialects was limited, but she did recognize the words: moon, child, anagallis, butterfly.

  The moon has a twenty-eight day cycle. She spun the first dial, and stopped on the number twenty-eight. There was a faint click as it settled into place. Adesina felt a bit disappointed at how easy this door would be.

  It took nine months for a child to be born. She turned the second dial to nine, but nothing happened. She thought about what she had learned in her anatomy classes. Technically a woman was pregnant for approximately forty weeks. She tried again, this time stopping on the number forty. There was another faint click.

  Anagallis was a flower with five petals. Adesina turned the third dial and heard it click on the number five.

  A butterfly’s life span was six weeks. Adesina tried the number six on the fourth dial, but to no avail. Six weeks was forty-two days. She tried again with the number forty-two.

  The door swung open. Adesina walked through and continued onward. The way back through the rest of the obstacle course was more difficult with the chest in hand and with her injury. She had a couple of close calls with the arrows as she crossed the first area. Clutching the chest between her legs, she swung carefully from rope to rope, all the while trying to keep her motion random enough to avoid getting shot.

  The closely set poles were easy to get across, as was the tight rope strung between the two platforms. The individual poles and the draping fabric, however, were very difficult to manage. Adesina had to do them one-handed, using the other to hold tightly to the chest.

  The last area seemed empty, but Adesina had the feeling that something was amiss. The three unconscious guards lay where they had fallen, but the small servant girl was nowhere to be seen. As soon as Adesina stepped into the open, three guards sprung from their hiding places with their weapons drawn.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Adesina hurled the chest at the head of the nearest guard. It struck him with a sickening thud and he dropped to the ground. Undaunted by this, the first guard tried to come up behind Adesina while the other slashed with his sword from the front.

  Adesina dodged the stroke, and the sword cut into the first guard instead. While the guard was distracted by this unexpected wound, Adesina roundhouse-kicked her, sending her crashing into the wall. The agony in Adesina’s ankle resulting from this attack, however, was enough to mar her focus momentarily.

  The final guard lunged again, bringing a heavy fist across her face. Lights exploded in Adesina’s eyes, disorienting her with pain and dizziness. She staggered for several steps before she was able to catch herself and reel back with a counterattack.

  He was bringing his sword around, and didn’t expect her to recover so quickly. She grabbed his hands and spun, disarming him and bringing his own sword to his throat.

  He spoke in a deep, rumbling voice. “I yield.”

  Adesina nodded and returned his sword to him. She limped over to where the chest lay and picked it up. It seemed to be undamaged, so Adesina tucked it under her arm and walked out of the maze. Due to the pain and fatigue she felt, Adesina decided to go under the fence instead of over it. After nonchalantly dusting herself off, she handed the chest to Kendan, who was waiting for her on the other side.

  Adesina recognized the expression in his eyes and braced herself for the verbal fencing that was sure to come.

  “You were told not to harm the guards.” “Nor did I, Shar.”

  Kendan raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

  She hated when he did that. She took a breath and reminded herself to stay calm and unemotional. “No lasting damage was inflicted.”

  “Blood was drawn.”

  Adesina raised her chin defiantly and said in a cold voice, “I am not responsible for the carelessness of other Shimat.”

  He smiled, and there was a brief pause as he looked at her admiringly. “Very well, then.”

  Her breath caught in her throat when he smiled like that. She quickly lowered her eyes to compose herself. Kendan had a knack for reading her thoughts through the subtle expressions in her eyes.

  He held up the chest. “Did you open this?”
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  Adesina frowned slightly. “Were you not watching?”

  Kendan didn’t answer, but looked at her expectantly.

  “Yes, I did open it.”

  “And what did you find?”

  She was confused by this line of questioning. “Two stones, Shar.”

  Kendan seemed satisfied by this answer. He nodded and set the chest down. “Come. Your weaponry could use some work.”

  Adesina stifled her feelings of indignation at this slight on her skill. Sometimes it felt like he was incapable of letting her have a single moment of triumph. It was not enough that she had overcome the obstacle course he devised; it was not enough that she was pushing herself to exhaustion. None of it was enough.

  She swallowed back the tears she suddenly felt forming and lifted her chin in a gesture of confidence she didn’t feel. “Yes, Shar Kendan.”

  They practiced first with the spetum, then daggers, then axes. None of which were really favored by Adesina, but were still wielded with great amounts of skill. After he was satisfied, Kendan made Adesina run at full speed until she was gasping for breath and her eyes were filled with tears from the pain in her ankle.

  When all of this was done, Kendan surveyed Adesina with a passive look on his face. “You may go to your room now. Finish preparing for your journey and get what rest you can. You will be summoned when it is time.”

  Adesina nodded, not trusting her voice. All of the physical exertion as well as the lack of sleep were catching up with her. While walking back to her room she went over her mental checklist. By the time she reached her door she was reassured that she had taken care of all of her preparations. The time was hers to get some sleep.

  Adesina wrapped her injured ankle tightly, and assessed that no lasting damage had been sustained. She washed herself thoroughly before laying down on her cool, welcoming cot. She blew her breath out in an audible sigh and closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep.

  ***

  High in the Sharifal’s tower, Signe gazed out the window at the training students below. She felt a wave of satisfaction as she watched the sixth year Shi going through their maneuvers. These were the students who were halfway through their education. There was much that they had learned, and even more that they would learn in time. So much talent. So much potential.