Chapter 10. The Gatekeeper
The day before the women were due to leave, Nar’Allia and Jonas were set at sparring once more. Minervar found herself going back up the stairs to Serinae’s old rooms. She had not been back up there since that day weeks before when Jonas had first shown both her and Nar’Allia the old empty suite of rooms. She felt she needed to see them once more before she left the house. She felt a little sad that she had not seen the rooms when Serinae was living here, seen them as they would have been full of Serinae’s belongings. She would have liked to have seen something more of her old friend, a more personal side perhaps. Seen the intimate things, the little things that Serinae liked to surround herself with, what she liked as a T’Iea woman rather than the efficient fighter and tracker, the expert archer. Minervar felt cheated the time they did have together as friends, was far too short. She didn’t really feel she got to know the real person.
As she was thinking all these things, Minervar pushed open the double doors at the top of the spiral stairs and walked into the old living room. It was still quite dusty and untouched apart from footprints where they had explored days earlier. She thought about asking Jonas to have the rooms cleaned at some time, she didn’t know why. Certainly she had thought about using the rooms herself for when she visited, but something about these rooms was special, they weren’t hers they still somehow belonged to Serinae. She was now sure that Solin felt the same and that was why she had them emptied, so that they and all those things, could not be used by anyone again. She thought of Serinae for what she knew her to be, a great friend and ally, someone she had great respect for, someone who had saved her from many dangers long ago. She sighed and slowly made her way to the bedroom beyond; old memories were still flooding her mind. Good memories of great friendship and exciting discovery, but she couldn’t deny, represented here were perhaps also some of the saddest memories of her life.
The sun shone bright through the window of the bedroom, its beams shone through the dust that she had kicked into the air just by walking into the room. Tiny flecks and particles glinted as they hung there suspended. It reminded Minervar of ice particles afloat in the cold air in the dead of winter. But here the windows were closed and no breeze blew through the room, so the particles just floated, slowly moving with her breath and her movement, for a minute she found it mesmerising.
She followed the beams of light on their passage through the room and onto the far wall. Something caught her eye. Something else shone as did the dust but this was larger and not moving. She walked forward and bent down. She caused a shadow and whatever was shining moments before disappeared. She moved to one side allowing the sunlight to again shine upon the section of wall. Nothing could be seen at first, but then slowly as if soaking in the sunlight a little circular hole could be seen. It was as if the sunlight shone through the hole and whatever was on the other side drew on the light and reflected it back through. But there was something else about this hole, its shape, by the Maker it looked like a key hole!
Minervar almost fell down the spiral stairs, her legs felt like jelly, the excitement in her belly reminded her of being on the deck of a swaying vessel, a slight feeling of nausea. She shot out through the door at the bottom of the stairs shouting at the top of her voice.
“Nar’Allia, Nar’Allia, Jonas, come quickly!”
Nar’Allia opened the door of her room a towel wrapped around her wet hair and stuck her head out into the corridor. “What, what is it momma?”
“I think I have found the lock, there is a lock in Serinae’s old rooms. I sure the key fits this lock, come quickly I think we should try it.”
Jonas appeared running around the corner from the stair well concern etched on his face. He ran up to them and stood there panting slightly. “What my ladies, whatever can be the matter?”
After retrieving the key from her room Minervar beckoned. The three of them climbed back up the stair. They made their way to the old bedroom at the back. Minervar was relieved to see that the key hole was still glowing in the sunlight, it was so bright now that there was no way anyone could miss it.
As she entered the room Nar’Allia felt something she couldn’t immediately explain, it felt like a warmness as if she had walked into a ray of sunshine in a dark wood, it made her falter in her step, she felt it would be nice just to stand where she was, bathed in this welcoming warmth. She stood still and a something came into her mind, just for what seemed like a fleeting moment she seemed not to be in the room at all, she saw a dark tunnel, a figure walked forward out of the tunnel, it was bathed in a bright light, so bright she could not see any details of the figure, what it wore, what its features were like, whether man or women she could not say. But the figure strode on, it looked like each step the figure took in length, was the equivalent of five or six that a normal person took, Nar’Allia gasped as the figure strode right up to her, then holding out one hand towards her as if to stop her, walked into her, or even through her. As this happened Nar’Allia felt a presence, as if someone had walked into a quiet room unseen but could still be felt in the room.
“Nar’Allia?”
Someone was calling; she staggered forward as if tripping and felt arms hold her. The room and the world about her returned to her conscious mind and she was face to face, held close in Minervar’s arms.
“I’m sorry momma I….I…. must have tripped, I felt strange for a bit,” she shook her head as she disengaged herself from Minervar’s. She looked around the room, no one else was there apart from the three. Minervar looked at her with some concern and Jonas who had knelt down and was inspecting the lock illuminated on the wall. Both women walked forward to join him.
He rubbed his chin as he starred at the spot on the wall. “I have never seen this before my ladies. It certainly looks like a key hole, but it seems to be emitting light, yet when it is covered by shadow the light also stops. How strange is that?”
Minervar crouched down; she excused herself as she pushed past Jonas who stood to allow Minervar access to the wall. Minervar’s hand trembled as she offered the key up to the key hole, she almost didn’t want to try the key just in case it didn’t fit and she would be overwhelmed with disappointment. But suddenly something or someone in her mind said, “you have the key my friend, try it, for adventure awaits.” She withdrew her hand, that voice it sounded like, but that couldn’t be, it was Serinae, her voice, she could picture the smiling face, Serinae’s face, how the ranger used to look when she was faced with a decision, how she always grasped an opportunity for adventure, how she fearlessly pursued her life. Then she heard a giggle, Serinae’s giggle and her hand was moved forward gently, but not by Minervar’s will by something, someone else’s. She had a vision of Serinae, standing in the room, garbed as she always was in her chain mail, her short swords and quiver by her sides, that black bow hooked across her shoulder her hair falling down her back tied in intricate ways along with small flowers and other things she liked to fashion into it. She tried to cry out to her friend, Serinae turned and looked at her, then she winked her eye and Minervar found herself plunging the key into the hole in the wall.
Nar’Allia and Jonas stood behind Minervar; they both saw the hesitation as Minervar’s hand came to a halt, the end of the key the merest couple of centimetres away from the hole. Nar’Allia was about to ask why the hesitation when she saw Minervar’s hand begin to move again and the key was inserted into the keyhole, at the same time she heard Minervar say questioningly, “Serinae?”
Almost immediately there was a blinding light, both Nar’Allia and Jonas were forced to look away, their hands held over their eyes in protection. When the light faded they felt it safe to look back, Nar’Allia gave a cry of alarm, Minervar was nowhere to be seen, she had gone, disappeared from the room entirely. Jonas had a shocked expression on his face as they looked at each other questioningly and with some alarm.
After the key was pushed into the key hole. Minervar lost sight of Serinae, now she stood
in front of the wall where moments before Serinae had stood a smile on her lips. In Serinae’s place a dark shadow was standing, she heard the sound of laughter. Minervar knew immediately she had been fooled. Although it had the shape of a man, no features could be seen, it was like an outline, a shadow on a sunny day, she felt she should know who it was, felt she had seen this person before, been in his presence. She had heard that awful laughter before, close behind her as she felt the exhaled breathing on the side of her face and the point of a dagger held close against the skin of her neck. She became fearful, for the presence was not that of a friend, but that of an enemy, that was most apparent. She returned her attention to the key, she found it had been inserted into the hole; it had gone in without any resistance. Nothing had happened at first, she tried to twist the key as you would normally do, but it would not twist either way. Then suddenly, time seemed to slow, the keyhole grew in size until it appeared to be so big that she could walk through herself, or perhaps she had shrunk. She looked through the gapping space, it seemed to stretch out before her like a long tunnel. She looked behind; the tunnel seemed to stretch out in that direction to. Then she perceived that she was moving rapidly down the tunnel, yet she felt nothing.
The tunnel itself was filled with light, it started to duck and dive as if it led around unseen things. Each sharp movement left, right and up, down should have given her some queasy feeling in her stomach, but she felt no sense of movement. Then in the distance a dark patch began to grow rapidly. It looked like she was catching up with something else that was travelling down the tunnel. She was closing on it rapidly! She was not slowing down! She was going to hit this dark thing! She closed her eyes and flung her arms protectively in front of her face. But no impact came, no bone crushing, flesh splitting impact. She looked in front, nothing was there, she turned and looked behind, the dark thing, it was a figure, now the figure’s face could be seen. A dark dread came upon Minervar, she knew that face, knew that laugh, how could she forget?
The T’Iea man winked at her and said, “Welcome Seri I am glad you chose to come, it means a lot to me. We will have so much fun you and I, mark my words. Make yourself at home,” At this the figure gestured to his left. “I will re-join you as soon as the welcome ceremony is complete.” He then laughed once more before he turned and went back the way she had come.
Minervar stood there in confusion, Seri? He had said Seri? She had been here? But she turned the other way, she was not going to follow that figure, there was no way she was going to follow him. She did not want to meet Tezrin again; their last encounter had caused her much pain and torture, her hand went up to her ear and she caressed the lobe as she thought. She knew him to be dead, shot by Serinae in the entrance way to the great machine. Everything seemed to fade, to disappear, she found was kneeling on the ground. She waited a few seconds more before lowering her hands to touch the solid rock on which she knelt. She looked slowly around her aghast. By the Maker where was she? She stood slowly, trembling.
She was standing in a small area enclosed by cliffs of red rock. The cliffs went up higher than she could see, but they weren’t lost in the clouds or the blue of the sky. They were lost in a boiling black mass interspersed with red streaks. It almost looked liquid to her eyes, yet the area around her was illuminated by something that resembled the sunshine, but the light was tinged with red, she supposed from the clouds, or whatever it was that twisted and turned high above her. Some plants grew here, no trees at all but some kind of low shrub grew in clumps around the place, it looked a bit like heather and gorse, but it wasn’t healthy looking, lack of sunshine she thought to herself. The earth was red, a deep red colour, she bent down to touch it. It was moist soil, almost like a peat bog in consistency, quite firm yet with a higher than normal water content. Yet it did not smell of mould and old rotted things. She strode forward and was surprised to see that her feet did not sink or stick to the ground. But instead the soil seemed to flow around her foot falls like watery mud, it looked oily, slick with that rainbow colour, like lamp oil spilt on the surface of water, but it did not leave any stain upon her boots or stick to her soles. She felt something in her hand and looking down saw she still held the key. Suddenly she felt panic rising within her, she had the key and she had passed through some kind of, some kind of what? What did all this have to do with Solin’s house? Where in the name of the Maker was she? Her panic now stronger she looked around trying to find a way back, perhaps she could use the key to travel back, but no keyhole could be found.
She turned swiftly as a sound from behind her made her start. She almost screamed. Coming towards her was an armour clad warrior of some form. The figure was very tall, about the same size as an Ognod and carried a long spear like weapon with what looked like a curved blade mounted onto either end. But it was the creature’s face that made her start, for it looked just like the face upon the handle of the key, the Dolan. The slit eyes and mouth were identical. Perhaps then this was not a face, but a depiction of a face mask, being part of the armour of some Ognod clan. It obviously saw her for it increased its pace towards her and started to swing the great double bladed weapon around its head coming down at an angle towards its front. Minervar walked away from the thing. Her foot caught on something and she fell backwards. The creature was upon her, it swung the double bladed spear over its head and prepared to bring the weapon down onto Minervar’s prone form, it would cut her in two. She cried out and raised both hands in a reflex action to ward off the blow. Closed her eyes and waited for the crushing weight of the spear that would surely slice her right down the middle. But no blow came. She opened an eye and looked up; the creature had turned and was retreating back down the path where it had come from but minutes before. Then she noticed that she held the key up high in front of her. By the maker the creature must have seen the key recognised it as a symbol of friendship or of passage and relented in its attack.
She rose somewhat unsteadily onto her feet and grasping the key in front of her as if she was warding herself from something, looked about her. She watched the creature go down the path, it went round a bend and she couldn’t see any further.
She looked in the opposite direction; the path went for twenty metres or so then ended at a shear face of rock. As she looked she felt a faint pull in that direction as if something or someone was trying to tell her to go that way. She squinted trying to see if someone stood there, she somehow expected that to be the case, yet she could see no one. She shrugged, she had been there, she was sure there was no way to go that way.
She frowned and turning proceeded to follow the creature down the path up which it had come. She was wary and kept a respectable distance between them. Eventually the creature entered an alcove in the cliff. It turned to face out of the alcove and positioned the weapon it held in front of itself vertically. Then it dipped its head and moved no more. Minervar went over to it slowly, holding the key in front of her. The creature did not acknowledge her presence. She ventured to touch the creature, it did not move. It was as if it had gone to sleep standing there leaning on its great spear. She decided to keep going down the path, after all there was nowhere else to go, she certainly did not feel like trying to scale the cliffs either side of her. Yet still something slight and faint told her to go the other way, return to where the rock wall barred her passage. She shook her head, trying to convince herself that the only way was this way. But then she gasped and almost fell, for there in the opposite wall was alcove upon alcove of these armoured soldiers, many of them, all immobile and standing like the one she had seen just now. They looked like an army waiting to be called to action.
She stood frozen to the ground unable to move a muscle, but encouraged by the inaction of the one now behind her she walked slowly on down the path past the warriors. These creatures now stood sentinel, shoulder to shoulder in their individual alcoves. Something reminded her of coffins or sarcophaguses set into the rock wall in which the creatures stood as if asleep.
Minervar became aware that she was getting hungry and thirsty. She did not know how far she had walked but in terms of time it felt like many hours. She felt miserable that no end could be seen to this pathway, or roadway, lined by hundreds and hundreds of identical looking soldiers. But eventually on coming around a final bend she came to a great wall, many tens of metres high stretching off to the left and to the right. The wall seemed built of enormous blocks of red stone identical in colour to the soil beneath her feet. Occasional square blocks could be clearly seen in the rock face. Directly in front of her a great gate stood closed either side a turret rose vertically high into the air. The gate itself was immense. As she approached it she could see it was made of cast iron, or some other heavy metal, it looked foreboding and impenetrable. But as she got closer a great clanking noise started, the sound of many mechanical devices crying out in stress at being forced to move. Screeches of tortured metal, the bang and clank of rocks being crushed into dust. A gap appeared in the centre of the great gate, well clearly two great gates for they were opening outwards slowly and laboriously, as if they had not been opened in many years. Red dust rose high into the air and floated about. A bright light shone forth from the interior of the gates. A warm glow illuminating the dust that hung in the air, it seemed inviting especially after the pathway down which she had come. So Minervar stepped forward slowly at first but faster as she perceived attractive architecture within, gardens and fountains. The dark red soil gave way to clean paved streets. She passed through and saw that either side of the boulevard she now looked down were attractive facades. There was a familiarity in the architecture to, they looked T’Iea, or close to it, as if someone had copied T’Iea architecture yet added something of their own into the mix. The buildings rose up to a great height, plants hung from the balconies and trees, big trees grew in great courtyards although they were not a species that she recognised.
Three figures stepped out to one side of her vision; she looked and saw that they had stepped out of an entrance at the base of one of the gate towers. Two of the figures, obviously soldiers in dark coloured armour and bedecked with weapons similar but smaller than the double bladed spear the warrior in armour she had come across on the pathway had carried. They stopped either side of the entrance. The other figure, not a soldier for he wore a long robe with no visible weapons or armour, he removed the hood from over his head. Minervar smiled for he was a T’Iea, a handsome man, he stepped out into the road on which Minervar stood and stopped directly in front of her. He stood barring her progress into the city, for city she supposed it was. His arms folded, hands now inserted into the sleeves of the robe he wore. He was only slightly taller than her; he seemed to be regarding her with interest. She walked forward and when she approached closer the figure bowed low and spoke in a perfect but rather ancient T’Iea dialect.
“Welcome Gatekeeper. You have been gone for a long time and in your absence you have been sorely missed.” At this the figure stood to one side and with a flourish of one arm and a further bow, he then said, “but we have waited patiently in anticipation and now welcome your return.”
Minervar looked at him blankly, he spoke in riddles, she had not been here before, had she? But the T’Iea gestured once more and proceeded to enter the boulevard in front of them. She was not going back to that horrid pathway so she followed. They walked through the beautiful city. T’Iea People bustled about not taking any notice of him or her. She saw markets and fine houses, everyone seemed to be finely dressed. She began to feel at ease and she pondered over and over where she might be, which of the fine T’Iea cities she may have found herself in.
They came out into a wide open area, a rock bridge could be seen in front of them. It seemed to go over a deep rend in the earth. The hairs on her head and arm moved as if attracted towards the chasm. There was a lot of free arcane energy flowing around here, chaotic and without any control. They climbed the span and eventually they stood upon the centre of the bridge above a chasm. Minervar reached out with her senses, she could detect the arcane flow as it pulsed. Suddenly power engulfed her, she screeched in shock. She had to quickly retract her probing for it would have engulfed her. She stepped backwards, a shocked look upon her features, but she also felt a little curious. She had felt, just for a brief moment the signatures of many people, not just any people but her people. It was as if the arcane signatures of thousands of her fellow T’Iea resided within that pulse of energy.
A chuckle sounded behind her. She turned to see the T’Iea mage was gesturing with a smile, he wanted her to walk forward. She could now clearly see a column of swirling oily mass shooting up from the vast rend in the earth, it shot into the sky high above where it spread out and formed the dark swirling clouds high above the city. She was being encouraged to move again towards a vast square block that stood at the apex of the bridge. The block was jet black and smooth as glass. It reminded her of the small pebbles that the Keepers used to store portal energy, the key stones. But this was many times larger, far larger than any key stone she had ever seen. She stopped, she knew that the key stones could remember a signature, perhaps this one had many stored within the energy flowing in and around it.
She now stood right before the black block, it was taller than she and she would have had to take three or four steps to reach either end. She felt someone grab hold of her arm; she looked and the T’Iea mage was forcing her arm and hand forward. He was strong, she could not resist. Her hand was thrust forward until she felt the smoothness of the black block beneath her fingertips. Almost immediately something struck her mind and body, pain filled her being. She felt she was no longer on the bridge, had she ported again? She rolled into a ball arms across her stomach the pain was growing steadily. Through the pain she saw a face, a laughing face. The red coals that were its eyes shone forth, the hairs upon its cheeks blew about even when there was no breeze. The horns upon its head shone like polished steel. It grinned. It laughed. It relished this moment. “So, we meet again Minervar. I said we would. I have long waited for this moment. You will forgive me if I savour your pain.”
She remembered something, a dream, long ago in the machine hall annex. The place where she had almost died, but with the help of the spirits had managed to heal herself, even grow back her severed ear. But then all thought was gone, all she could think of was an intense pain like her body was being torn apart, but the worst part was the laughter.
“Yes, I am touched you remember. But here you are in my domain, here I am in command. Give in to me Minervar and I can cure you of this pain. My pain. But please, not too soon.” Laughter filled her ears as the pain increased yet again.