by Janean Worth
Kara gasped, “A city? You think there might be one left?”
“I hope so. I’ve never seen a road like this before. And from what I read, all roads like this led to a city, so there might just be one ahead at the end of the road. Besides, even if there isn’t, the road is easier for the horse to walk on. I think he’s tired after walking in the river.”
“I would like to see a city, but my tutor said that they are all gone. If one still existed, why have we not heard about it?”
“I’m starting to think there are a lot of things we don’t know, Kara. A lot of things they didn’t tell us in GateWide. Why are our fathers alive? Why does the Old Tech still work? Why do the Enforcers use Old Tech, but confiscate it from anyone else who has it? Why is it illegal?”
“It is illegal because it caused The Fall, Mathew,” Kara told him.
“I know that’s what we have been told, and it made sense until now. The Old Tech that we have has helped us so far.”
“Yes, but the Old Tech is too powerful. You know what it did to us all back there. It caused us all to sleep. And this light,” she jiggled the device around and the beam of light bobbed on the old road. “It has stayed on for all this time. How? It must have some power we don’t know about.”
“My father said that the one I have needs time in the sun to work, so maybe the light also uses the sun somehow. Maybe it captures the sun and saves it for later? I don’t know, but I think that what we were told in GateWide about Old Tech is wrong. It is powerful, but I think that people are what caused The Fall, not Old Tech.”
He felt Kara’s hair swing against his chest as she shook her head, “No, people used the Old Tech to bring about The Fall, but it would never have been so bad if they hadn’t used the Old Tech to do it. We need to be careful with the Old Tech, Mathew. It is too strong.”
Mathew opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. She was right. It was too strong. And neither of them understood it. And he had seen what it had done back in the forest. “You’re right. We will be careful.
Kara was quiet for a moment. “Why do you think they did it? Why do you think they made the clouds toxic and killed each other? Surely they knew they would be killing themselves and their children if they did that?”
“I don’t know why they did it. But not all of them were bad. What about the ones who wrote The Book? And the ones who released The Cure?”
“I know they weren’t all bad. Maybe they were just not doing the right thing? And that’s what happened? I know that the ones who wrote The Book weren’t bad, but that is because they walked in the Way for the One True God.”
Yesterday, Mathew would have scoffed at her, but not now. He had seen many things in the last day that had caused him to question his own beliefs.
“And the ones who released The Cure? What about them?”
Kara’s voice was small, “I think they were trying to do the right thing. But it was too late…”
He felt her shiver against him and wondered if she was cold, or if she was just thinking about all of the people who had died before The Cure had cleansed the toxic clouds and purified the ground and water again. From what he had read, it had taken almost eighty years before The Cure had worked completely. But, if The Cure hadn’t been released, no one would have survived at all. There would be no people, no plants, no animals. Nothing. From what he’d read, the toxic clouds would have destroyed their world and all that was in it.
“Are you cold?” he asked her.
“No. But I am hungry. Do we have anything to eat?”
“Yes, there’s a little dried meat left.”
“Can we stop at dawn and eat?”
“Why don’t you eat now? And I’ll eat what’s left at dawn?” Mathew couldn’t help but remember how frail her body had felt when he’d lifted her into the saddle. She needed to eat more now. Not wait.
“Ok,” she answered.
He thought he heard a bit of amazement in her voice, and wondered at what she must think of him. It was true, he hadn’t given much thought to her comfort since he’d met her. He wondered now how he’d been so selfish. An apology came quickly to his lips, but pride kept it behind his teeth. He still felt awkward admitting to her when he’d been wrong.
“The meat is in my bag, which is hanging from the saddle horn.”
He felt her move as she rummaged around for the bag, and a moment later he heard her chewing quietly in the darkness.
She turned slightly so she was looking at his face, “Here, there’s no reason why you should wait either.”
She offered him a hunk of meat, and he took it from her. “Give Jax a little nibble too, if you don’t mind,” she said before turning back around.
They ate in silence as the horse plodded on. Mathew knew the animal had to be getting fatigued, so he kept the horse to a leisurely walk. Dawn wasn’t far away. In the eastern sky, he could now clearly see bulbous grey clouds with their bellies tickled by the first faint pink light of the rising sun. As soon as the sun rose fully, they would stop and rest.
Mathew had just swallowed his last bite of meat when the horse shied violently, almost throwing him to the ground.
Kara squealed in surprise, but was able to keep her seat in the saddle as well.
“Easy, boy,” she soothed immediately, reaching forward to pat the horse’s neck. As she did so, the beam of light from the Old Tech settled on a form in the road.
The thing clomped out of the darkness with a sound much like the horse’s hooves had made when they rang upon the road. The creature had glowing red lights for eyes and an oddly human-shaped metal body.
Chapter Thirteen
Gabert sat up on the forest floor and cradled his aching head in his hands. He looked around groggily as the others in the group slowly awakened from whatever stupor the Old Tech had visited upon them. The tracken and horses scrambled to their feet as they regained consciousness, looking as disoriented as the other Enforcers seemed to feel.
“Your horse is gone, Gabert,” Truchen announced.
Gabert saw that the younger Enforcer had gathered the reins of two of the horses that had already struggled to their feet, and the man was standing beside the others that were slowly showing signs of life again. Truchen must have been the first to awaken.
“How long have you been on your feet, Truchen?” Gabert clambered to his own feet as a sense of creeping horror closed in upon him. The Old Tech and two Strays were gone. And they had taken his horse and used it to facilitate their escape. The Sovereign had killed other Enforces for much, much less. Gabert tried to hold back a shudder at the thought of death at the Sovereign’s hands, but he wasn’t able to completely conceal it. Death dished out by the Sovereign could be quick and bloody, or slow and bloody, but it was always a horrible death. The Sovereign seemed to enjoy the suffering of others, and cruelty came naturally to him.
“Not long, mere moments before you, yourself, awoke,” Truchen watched as the last two horses lumbered to their feet and then he gathered their reins as well.
Gabert saw no reason for Truchen’s actions. It was highly unlikely that the horses were going to try to run off on their own. If they felt as he did, with the aftereffects of the Old Tech pounding in his head and making his legs and arms feel sluggish and disconnected from his body, then the poor beasts probably entertained no thoughts of running any time soon.
“No need to worry, Sir. I will not tell the Sovereign of the theft of the horse, and I know that our fellows won’t either. As you well know, the Sovereign does not like a talebearer.”
Truchen looked a bit sick as he said this last part, though the young Enforcer had turned slightly away and seemed to be incredibly engrossed in patting one of the horses on its neck, Gabert still saw his expression. Gabert immediately remembered that the young Enforcer had once had a sister who worked in the Sovereign’s kitchens, helping to prepare the Sovereign’s meals. Accused of bearing a tale to the Sovereign, when she had just simply suggested that he might lik
e some salt with his leg of lamb because she had heard tell that others liked it that way, Truchen’s sister’s tongue had been ripped from her mouth by one of the Sovereign’s Old Tech hands. The removal had been done with such inhuman force that the poor girl had not survived, although she had lingered for several days. As Gabert had heard it, the Sovereign had let the girl lay on the cold marble floor in his throne room until she had breathed her last, not allowing anyone to help her or even offer her the comfort of a human touch in her last moments.
“That’s right, Sir. None of us will tell what happened here today. The Sovereign need not know,” Hedert spoke up as he slowly swatted moldering leaves from the seat of his pants. “And you and I can ride double on my horse. He’s part Draft and accustomed to carrying his share and then some. He’s a good beast, Sir.”
Gabert shook his head as he slowly made his way nearer to Truchen and the horses, “Thank you, Hedert, but the Sovereign knows many things that others do not tell him. He likely already knows that the Strays have not been apprehended, that they have my horse and an Old Tech light, and we are, at this very moment, standing in the Old Forest.”
“Surely that is but part of his image that he has nurtured, so that others will be more afraid to cross him,” Hedert said.
Gabert shook his head again, this time feeling resignation steal over him. There was no doubt in his mind the Sovereign already possessed this knowledge. “The Old Tech far-seeing device gives him a certain advantage. Each of us, and each of our horses, and yes, even the tracken, have implanted inside us something called a ‘chip’. This ‘chip’ acts as a sort of beacon to the far-seeing device, allowing him to know our location at all times if he so wishes to have this information. I have seen him use the far-seeing device very effectively against others. It is not just rumor, it is truth.”
Hedert looked frightened. “A ‘chip’, Sir? Inside us? He knows where I am at all times?”
The poor man pulled back his sleeve and began inspecting his forearm for any signs of a ‘chip’.
“Yes, Hedert. But there’s no use looking for it. I’ve known about them for quite some time, and I have never found the one implanted in me, though I know that there is one there. This is why you four must leave me here to the Fidgets and go on without me. The Fidgets should return as soon as the scent of the tracken fades away. As you know, the Sovereign accepts no failure, so I am dead if I return. And since he knows where I am, it won’t be long before he sets a tracken team upon my trail. You will be better off without me.”
“But, Sir, the Fidgets will strip the flesh from your bones while you live! Surely, death meted out by the Sovereign would be less painful? Perhaps he will make it quick?” Truchen looked sick again, as if he knew that probably wasn’t the case. “We cannot simply leave you here.”
“You must,” Gabert insisted. They must leave him, or suffer themselves for their error. He reached deep into the pocket of his jacket and withdrew a thin, dark square of Old Tech, a bag heavy with coins and a locket. “Please take this back to my wife. Tell her to use the coin to keep our children fed and clothed, and to hide the Old Tech. The locket was a gift I intended to give her for her birthday, please give it to her and tell her that I loved her and our children very much.”
He held the items out to Truchen, just as Hedert lumbered to his side. The bearish man looked as if he might cry, but all that Hedert did was slap him on the shoulder a few times in manly commiseration.
Truchen’s voice was rough with emotion as he took the items and said, “I will, Sir, and I’ll look after ‘em as best I can too.”
Gabert nodded in thanks, unsure his voice would not betray his own emotion with a tremor if he spoke. He raised his hand in a silent farewell, and headed off into the gloom of the breaking dawn, wondering just how long it would take to be eaten alive by a Fidget.
Chapter Fourteen
Mathew stared at the creature that rose out of the darkness in horror. If possible, the quiet night had seemed to get even quieter when the creature appeared, as if all of the forest had hushed in expectation of what would come next.
“What is that?” Kara asked, the same horror he felt reflected in her voice. A shudder ran through her slight body.
The horse shied violently again as the creature took several more steps in their direction, and Mathew barely avoided falling off again. He tightened his hold on the saddle with his legs, and threw an arm around Kara again to steady them both.
Kara tried to soothe the agitated equine by patting its neck and whispering encouragement, but the horse was not comforted. Mathew didn’t blame it. He was just as frightened of the thing in the road as the horse seemed to be – maybe more.
“I don’t know what it is,” Mathew whispered back to Kara.
The horse took several quick steps backwards, its hooves clacking like gun shots on the road in the complete silence that had descended upon the forest.
The creature in front of them advanced again. Only a single step, this time. For something that was clearly inhuman, it moved with the grace and fluidity that only the best of human athletes possessed. This fact sent a chill of gooseflesh up Mathew’s spine. They were obviously outmatched in strength and speed by the creature. Even the horse seemed to know the peril they were in.
“Is it dangerous?” Kara asked. “Or is it merely curious? It has not attacked us yet. What is it waiting for?”
Mathew had no idea, and didn’t bother with an answer. Her questions seemed rhetorical anyway, as if Kara was merely talking aloud to herself. He couldn’t tell if the metal creature was going to leap and tear them apart at any moment, or if it had advanced upon them just to get a better look at them with its odd red-lit eyes. The metal creature was just a bit taller than Gabert’s horse, able to stare at them easily over the top of the horse’s head with those glowing eyes. As the beam of the light Kara held slipped lower, illuminating the shoulders and neck of the thing, Mathew thought that he saw something that looked like very old skin clinging in patches to the metal body. This skin-like material was rubbery and weathered, hanging off of the metal skeleton in huge patches like giant scales on a long dead fish.
Mathew felt his stomach clench in revulsion. He was glad when Kara sat up a little straighter in the saddle, directed the beam of light once more to the creature’s face, where no hint of the scaly skin could be seen, and looked straight into the creature’s glowing red eyes. “What do you want?”
Mathew marveled again at the girl’s bravery. Or was it, this time, foolishness? He couldn’t help but question whether she should really be confronting the creature at all.
The creature’s jaw opened with a squeal of metal on metal, as if from long disuse, and a raspy, metallic sound issued forth. The sound was garbled and unintelligible, yet vaguely resembled the cadence of human speech.
The creature flexed its jaw several times, producing more screeching of metal on metal, the sound loud enough to hurt Mathew’s ears. The horse shied again and took several more steps backward.
Mathew could feel the poor beast trembling beneath him, as if the animal wanted to run for its life, but was too well-behaved to do it before it was given the instruction to flee. He was again grateful that the animal was such a good beast.
After what seemed like an eternity of screeching metal, the creature raised its hands to its face and forcibly adjusted its own jaw. The screeching of metal stopped and the creature lowed its hands.
“I want nothing,” the creature said in its metallic voice. It did not advance again, and Mathew could hear no clue as to its intentions in the inhuman, emotionless voice.
They stood silently staring at each other for several seconds, the poor horse trembling with pent-up energy beneath them. Kara patted the horse’s neck again and then gently took the reins from Mathew’s clenched fingers. She relaxed the tension on the reins that he had unknowingly been exerting in his fear, and Mathew felt the horse’s stance relax a bit as well.
“There now, that’s bet
ter. Easy boy,” Kara cooed soothingly to the horse, all the while keeping her eyes on the creature in the road.
After several more seconds when the creature neither moved nor spoke, Kara directed another question toward the metallic skeleton.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
The creature remained silent for another few seconds, as if analyzing her question from all angles, then its emotionless voice cut the silence once more, “I am here because I was made by my Creator.”
Mathew felt Kara sit a bit straighter, as if the creature’s answer had been somehow more enlightening that its words had suggested. To Mathew, it made perfect sense, yet was, somehow, not really the answer to the question that Kara had asked.
“Who created you?” Mathew asked at the same time that Kara said, “Do you mean to harm us?”
The metal skeleton did not seem confused by their dual questions, and since it had only smooth metal joints and a variety of wires for a face, Mathew could not detect even a hint of what it might be thinking. If, in fact, the creature could think at all.
“I do not know the name of my Creator, but He is the one who made me what I am, and He is the reason why I am here now. I do not mean to harm you. It is my purpose to greet visitors. I must greet all who wish to enter the city and offer assistance to those who need it.”
Mathew felt himself relax at the creature’s admission that it meant them no harm, but Kara did not seem convinced.
“Can you tell a lie?” she asked.
“I can not say that which is not true,” the creature answered.
“Why can you not say that which is not true?” Kara asked.
The creature was silent a moment, “Because I cannot.”
“What is your name?” Kara asked.
“I am named One Two Two One, but my Creator called me O.T.T.O.,” the creature answered.
