The Gate Thief

by Orson Scott Card

  “She’s at the beach,” said Danny. “I’ll be right back.” And in a moment he was. Veevee was dripping and furious. “I can’t believe that little Greek bitch would betray us all like that.”

  “Family,” said Leslie.

  “That doesn’t excuse being a traitorous bitch,” said Veevee.

  “But it explains it,” said Marion. “Besides which, I think the way they see it is, she’s finally stopped being a traitorous bitch and now she’s a loyal Family member again.”

  “Or they held her dog hostage,” said Leslie.

  “What’s happening?” asked Enopp.

  “Join hands and at the next place, they’ll explain it to you,” said Danny.

  He took them to DC, to Stone’s house. “Hermia’s been sending people through the Wild Gate. Turns out that passing to Westil and back gave her the power to move other people’s gates. Specifically, the Mittlegard end of the Wild Gate.”

  “And you didn’t stop her?”

  “I didn’t know what I was feeling until she was already sending people through,” said Danny. “I didn’t know you could move a Great Gate.”

  Stone bowed his head. “Have you gathered up all the gates she knows about?”

  “All of hers. All the ones that connect our houses. That was practically a reflex. Like clenching your sphincter muscles when you’re scared,” said Danny.

  “What an ill-raised child you are, Danny,” said Leslie. “We don’t talk about sphincter muscles in front of impressionable children.”

  “They’re going to attack all the other Families,” said Danny. “Mine first, I’m sure. But at this point, the only thing I can do is make a Great Gate and send everybody through. Or the Illyrians will kill everybody else and rule the world. Am I not right?”

  “Oh, if history teaches us anything,” said Stone, “it’s that gods with a sudden increase in power instantly remember how much they hate their enemies.”

  “We’re all so good at grudges,” said Leslie.

  “What are you going to do to Hermia?” asked Marion.

  “Nothing yet,” said Danny. “Unless she forces me. Where do you want to go?”

  “Hermia doesn’t know about my place in Maine,” said Stone.

  “Neither did I,” said Veevee.

  Stone ignored her. “There isn’t even running water, but it’s between two very cold lakes, clean water, plenty of firewood, and an outhouse. These boys aren’t used to indoor plumbing anyway, am I right?”

  “I am,” said Veevee.

  Leslie smiled sweetly. “Does a mage poop in the woods? I think so.”

  “Any mages in residence here?” asked Danny.

  “I’ll call them,” said Stone.

  There were three, all women, one in her fifties and a pair of twenty-year-old twins. No time for introductions. Danny made a public gate, made it open and obvious, and they all passed through. Danny didn’t go with them—they’d all get acquainted at the lake and Danny would join them later. He took back the gate and then headed for the North Family compound.

  He arrived in Mook’s and Lummy’s kitchen. They weren’t there.

  He found them on the front porch. “Bring everybody,” he said.

  “What is it?” said Aunt Lummy, looking scared.

  “The Greeks got into a Great Gate that I thought was safe. They’re passing through it now and you know they’ll come here first.”

  Uncle Mook was already running to the old house.

  “I’m taking us all to a safe place,” said Danny.

  “How long do you think we can hide from them?” asked Lummy.

  “Long enough for me to make a Great Gate and pass you all through it.”

  She burst into tears and embraced him. “I knew you’d forgive us.”

  “You and Uncle Mook never did anything that needed forgiving,” said Danny. “And I haven’t forgiven anybody. I’m just not going to let the Greeks rule the world.”

  “It was that Greek girl, wasn’t it?” asked Aunt Lummy. “You can’t trust a Greek. Homer said so and he was right.”

  “It was Laocoon who said it. Homer was just quoting him,” said Danny.

  “Actually, what Laocoon said wasn’t printable. Homer cleaned it up for him,” said Lummy.

  The bell was ringing. It was never rung except when there was war. Danny took Lummy’s hand and gated to the gathering place.

  “You!” shouted Great-uncle Zog, looking furious.

  Danny gated him to the kitchen of the big house. “I don’t have time for any shit,” he said. “I was betrayed and the Greeks are going to Westil and back right now.”

  All the adults knew what that meant, and they kept the children silent.

  “I’m gating you to a place where I can make a Great Gate. But I’m telling you right now. I’m letting everybody use it. Not just the North Family. Anybody has a problem with that, then that’s a person who isn’t going through. Is that clear?”

  “What do you mean by ‘everybody’?” asked Auntie Uck. “I’m not disagreeing, I just want to know.”

  “Everybody who isn’t Greek,” said Danny. “Families and Orphans. And there’s a truce at the new Great Gate. Do you understand me? A total truce. As soon as I make the gate, Hermia will know where it is and they’ll head for it.”

  “Then as soon as we get through it, we’ll head for them,” said Grandpa Gyish. He actually looked happy. Thrilled, even. Also evil. Definitely he looked evil. Danny remembered why he hated some of these people.

  “You’ve never been through a Great Gate,” said Danny. “It takes time to figure out what you can do. So no, I’m not sending you off to war. I’m going to gate off anyone who approaches. I can do it. When they see that everybody else has gone through a Great Gate, too, and they have no advantage, then I think we can work out a truce.”

  “Don’t be absurd,” said Uncle Poot. “You weren’t here for the last war. There’ll be no truce.”

  “I don’t expect it to hold,” said Danny. “Where’s my father?”

  Thor answered. “In town. Your mother and your brother and sister, too.”

  “A family outing,” said Danny. “How sweet. I’ll come back for them. The place we’re going to belongs to a good friend of mine. My friend, do you understand me? Everyone there is my friend, but it’s Stone’s house and in that place he rules.”

  At that moment Zog rejoined the group, even angrier than before. “You filthy little drekka, I’m not going to—”

  This time Danny gated him to the parking lot of the Lexington Walmart.

  “He’s horrible, Danny,” said Aunt Lummy, “but you can’t leave him out. They’ll kill him. They hate him most of all.”

  “I’m not going to leave him out,” said Danny. “I just don’t have time to deal with his assholery. I’ll gate him through and you all can tame him.” Danny made a public gate, a big one. “Before you step through this gate,” he said to everybody, “you look me in the eye and tell me that you’ll obey Stone and harm no one.”

  “That’ll take too much time,” said Uncle Mook.

  “Look me in the eye and say yes,” said Danny. “Because if you don’t keep your word, I will be ruthless. Do you understand me?”

  They all said yes as they passed through the gate.

  Danny followed, and took back the gate behind him.

  Stone’s cabin was too small for everyone to sleep there, and it was bitterly cold on this November night, but it wouldn’t matter. They wouldn’t be there long. Danny ignored everybody’s questions and headed for the narrow isthmus between two jewel-like lakes.

  No rope this time. He began turning around and around. Immediately he spun out gates—his own gates, not the ones Loki had given him, and definitely not the captive gates. He took his time and wove it strong and true.

  By himself, Danny would have had no idea how to build it so it wouldn’t lead to the same circle of stones on Westil where his previous two Great Gates had led. But Loki had known many good places
on Westil for a Great Gate to lead, ancient places, secret places that only Loki knew.

  So at Danny’s urging, the gates that Loki had given him used their kinetic memory to guide him as he threw the thick-woven gates upward.

  He felt the approval of Loki’s outself: a ten-thousand-year gate, they told him. Danny wasn’t sure he was thrilled to know that the gate would outlast him by hundreds of lifetimes, but … it meant that it was well-made, and it would do the job.

  Then he wove another gate, just as strong, leading back to a spot on the other side of the cabin. “Stone,” said Danny. “You and Veevee first.”

  “We’ve already been through a Great Gate,” said Veevee.

  “Not this one,” said Danny. “So go and come back again. Veevee can show you the return entrance. And Veevee, I need you there to shepherd everybody through—and so you can lock the gate if somebody on Westil tries to interfere or use the thing. And if Loki shows up, explain it to him. Though maybe he knows. Maybe he knows whatever his gates know.”

  Danny could feel that the Greeks had stopped going through the Wild Gate. “They’re done,” he said. “That means they’re coming. Hermia knows where this gate is. She may try to interfere. I have to concentrate on watching for her and protecting this place. So when you get back, Stone, you’re in charge of this end.”

  With that, Danny went off by himself, into the cabin, up into the loft.

  The two Westilian boys went up the ladder after him. “You can watch,” said Danny. “But do not speak to me.” Not that the older boy needed the warning. And if the younger boy was really a gatemage, maybe he’d be able to follow what Danny was doing.

  Danny looked for Hermia, though not with his eyes. She was easy to find. She only had a few divisions of her outself, her ba, but since her passage through the Wild Gate she glowed so brightly that she could not escape his notice.

  She was trying to lock the Wild Gate.

  Fool, thought Danny. The time to lock it was before you sent your entire Family through it.

  Danny began unweaving his own gates from the Wild Gate. He knew what would happen—the former captives would remain, and he would no longer be able to feel when people passed through it.

  But it would be a far weaker Great Gate without his ba woven through it. And the return gate was entirely his. That one he simply took back. There was no return now, if anyone used the Wild Gate. Hermia would know what he was doing. Let her watch.

  He had thought of doing this while they were still passing through the Wild Gate. But he didn’t know what half-unweaving the outbound gate would do to anyone using it at the time. Danny wasn’t prepared to do murder, and for all he knew, that’s what it would be.

  As for the return gate, yes, he could have closed that at any time. Removed it and brought it back. But that would have left Illyrian mages on Westil, stranded and angry—and far more powerful than any mages on Westil. It would be irresponsible to send such an affliction to the other world. Better to let them all come back here and then weaken the outbound gate and close off the return permanently.

  Hermia was angry, no doubt. Poor dear. What did you think would happen? Did you think I’d be understanding? That I’d do nothing?

  Yes, angry indeed. For now he felt her trying to take hold of the end of the outbound gate that the Norths were all passing through.

  Danny didn’t even bother fighting her. He could have overpowered her easily. But then he would have had to do it again and again, whenever she felt like making another try.

  So he took her gates.

  As a Lockfriend, she had only three divisions of her outself. But she had to send them out in order to manipulate his gate. Without passing through a Great Gate, she would never have had power to reach this far. But now two of her three gates were here, trying to move his Great Gate.

  Danny ate them.

  Then he followed them back to her gatehoard and ate the last one, too. All three now, everything she had, was inside his hearthoard. He could feel their terror. But no anger. Hermia was not angry. She was afraid, but she knew she deserved this. She knew that he could easily kill her, gate her to the bottom of the ocean and have done with her. Her treachery deserved no less. It had been the opening salvo in a war she could not win.

  But he wouldn’t kill her. She must have known that about him, though clearly he did not know her at all. However, she would understand that rendering her blind and crippled to gates was actually a mild punishment, compared to the rules of war. Now he would not have to stay awake, waiting for her next move.

  Indeed, this attempt to move his new Great Gate might have been intended as an offering. She must have known he would detect the attempt and block it. She was giving him the chance to punish her in this lesser way. Still terrible, but there was always the chance he might give her gates back to her.

  The chance, perhaps. But he could not think what she might say or do to win back his trust.

  There were nowhere near as many Norths as there were Illyrians. They were already done, and all the Orphans, too.

  “I want you to go through the Great Gate, too,” said Danny. “And come right back. This is a better gate. It will make you stronger than you are. Will you do that?”

  “Yes,” said Enopp. “Who was it that you ate up?”

  “A friend who betrayed me,” said Danny.

  “But you didn’t gate her anywhere,” said Enopp. “Wad gates people places. He kept me in prison for more than a year.”

  “I’m not … Wad,” said Danny. “I’m a different man and I use my magery a different way.”

  “Are you a weakling?” asked Enopp. “Eluik thinks you are weak, to be afraid to hurt people.”

  “When someone is dead I can’t bring them back,” said Danny. “And if I hurt them too terribly, I can never win their trust.”

  “Weak,” said Enopp. “That’s what Eluik says.”

  “When he takes back his own body and speaks for himself I’ll take notice of what he says,” said Danny. “Meanwhile, are you willing to go through the gate and come back?”

  “Yes,” said Enopp.

  And Eluik nodded.

  Danny gated them down to the isthmus where the outbound gate was. Stone would send them through.

  Then Danny gated himself to Lexington and found Zog. He was still full of rage, but he spoke politely. Fawningly. “The Lord Danny has subdued this vile old bird,” said Zog. “I know who holds the power here.”

  “There is to be no violence at the place where I’ve made the Great Gate,” said Danny coldly. “My friend Stone owns the house. You will obey him while you’re there, or I’ll make you pay.”

  “I understand the Lord Danny’s mercy.”

  “I am Loki to you,” said Danny.

  Zog looked stricken. “You would use that vile name?”

  “I have met the Loki who took the gates. He acted with wisdom and courage, and I share his purpose. It’s a far higher purpose and far more terrible war than any you have ever fought.”

  “What do you know of war?” asked Zog contemptuously.

  “I know that you lost every one you fought in,” said Danny. “I know that by obeying me and treating me with respect, you will earn the right to have your powers greatly increased. You’ve already had all your body’s pains and weaknesses healed, haven’t you?”

  Zog nodded.

  “That was a gift I gave you, even as I gated you away so you didn’t waste my time with your petty hatred.”

  “The Lord Loki is generous.” He said “Loki” as if he were spitting out a cockroach.

  Danny gated him to Maine.

  He found his parents in the upstairs room of a sandwich restaurant in a fine old house. With them were their children from their first marriages—Father’s son Pipo, nine years older than Danny, and Mother’s daughter Leonora, who had just turned twenty. Pipo’s mother and Leonora’s father had both been killed in the last war, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once it was decided to let Father
and Mother mate in order to try to make Danny, the old marriages wouldn’t have mattered. Families made their decisions, and people obeyed. Even the heads of the Families obeyed.

  Mother looked happy to see him. It was her first response and it touched him a little. Father, however, knew that he would not be there if there were not something terribly wrong, so his response was dread. Dread, but not fear of Danny himself. They knew him well enough not to fear that he was there to attack them.

  As for Pipo and Leonora, they had never been awful to him, but they had also never protected or helped him in any way. They were nothing to him, and he was nothing to them. But that meant they had a better relationship than the one Danny had with most of the Family.

  Danny sat beside them and crisply told them what they needed to know. “I’ll pay the bill,” he said, and then gated them to Maine.

  When the waiter came back, Danny asked for the check. There was no reason for a drowther waiter to have a bad night just because the gods were starting a war.

  With the bill paid, and a good tip given, Danny went outside, stepped into the gap between two buildings, and gated himself away.

  Family by Family, he spent that night going through the world, gating everyone to Maine, leaving them for Stone and Veevee to guide them through the gates, and then going on to the next Family.

  The land around the cabin was getting crowded and people were cold, though a couple of fire mages had warmed the house, and windmages were keeping the air still. At one point Father tried to talk to him. Danny interrupted him. “Stone keeps a pickup truck on the other side of the lake,” he said. “Now that you’ve been to Westil, see what you and Mother can do with the machinery and electronics. With all the Families fairly evenly balanced, and the Norths outnumbered, the only possible advantage is your abilities with machines. Drowther machinery. Who knows how you might be able to use it now?”

  Father nodded. “Does this mean you’re with us now?” he asked.

  “No,” said Danny. “But if you have any brains, you’ll forget about this Loki and set out trying to create an alliance with the Orphan mages. There aren’t enough Norths to fight this war, and they, too, will have to survive in a world dominated once again by powerful gods.”