Gatewright (14 page)

He
chuckled sadly.  “Well, that’s probably not going to happen until I can
set things on fire again.”  His hands flexed in vain, cuffs glinting in
the light, the amber helpless against my world.  “Being without magic
feels like… suffocating.  Slowly.”

I
shuddered.  “I’m sorry.”  I meant it.

He
hesitantly placed his own hand on my arm, a mirror of the gesture I’d just used,
and I slowly let go of the tension I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.  As
he saw the strain lift from my shoulders, his warm grip tightened on my
forearm.  A companionable silence settled.  I’d never thought
someone’s simple presence could be so comforting.  My reality had been
turned upside down, but despite everything, I wasn’t facing it alone.

Loud
knocking at the door jerked me out of my reverie.  Riven leaped to his
feet, flexing his hands desperately.   “It’s probably my mom,” I
reassured him as I hauled myself to my feet to answer the door.  It
already felt like a long day, although it must not have been much past five in
the afternoon.  I wasn’t sure if I was up to kicking her out again.

I
opened the door, and beamed as soon as I realized it was Jack, not my
mother.  No doubt she’d called him as soon as she’d left my apartment.

And
was almost immediately shoved to the side as Riven put himself between
us.  “He’s an Exile,” he hissed.

“Yeah,
that’s the Exile that saved my life.”  I yelled at him in Anowir for extra
emphasis.

Jack
pushed past both of us.  “Close the door, you idiots.  And speak in
English.”  He wore his usual outfit, but a large, bright blue stone I
didn’t recognize hung around his neck.  It didn’t look cheap.

I
bristled at his tone, but did what he said.  Jack’s eyes darted over me,
quickly assessing.  He nodded slightly, as if in approval, when he
registered my tiger’s eye necklace, but frowned at my bandaged feet.

Assured
that I wasn’t bleeding out, Jack turned his attention to Riven, puzzled. 
Then his eyes widened in recognition. “I’ll be damned.  Kusay Vaal. 
Your mother’s face is written all over you.  And yes, I know it’s you,
because there’s only one
atsili
in that lineage.  What the fuck are
you doing
here
?”

Kusay
Vaal?  I could see how that could translate vaguely to the unfortunate
name of Riven Mist.  The fey in question didn’t flinch at Jack’s
assessment.  “I’m oath-bound to protect her,” Riven muttered, glaring at Jack
harshly.  “No thanks to you, Exile.  Who are you?  How do you
know my mother?”

“You
got a Kusay to swear to protect you?”  Jack raised his eyebrows at
me.  “And not just any old Kusay.  Good work.”

Riven
took a step closer to Jack, visibly angry.  He was slightly shorter, and
Jack had a much wider frame.  Riven was certainly trying his best to
intimidate Jack, with reasonable success considering his emaciated figure and
yellow sweatpants.  “Who are you?” he demanded.

Jack
met his eyes.  “Becot Ashad,” he told him, and waited for Riven’s
reaction.  My eyebrows shot up: Becot was one of the three ruling clans of
Anowir.
He certainly failed to mention that before.

Riven
blinked.  “The one exiled without witness?” he inquired softly. 

Jack
breathed out slowly, old anger flickering under the surface.  “Yes. 
For now, Kusay, concentrate on fulfilling your oath.  Jan, what happened?”

I
hesitated before I answered.  “You were right; fey attacked us while we
were on the road.”

Jack
growled.  “Who?”  His intense green eyes promised murder to our
foes.  I’d never seen him like this.  Any trace of humor had been
wiped from his face.

“I
don’t know,” I lamented.

Riven
interrupted.  “I attempted to capture the remaining assassin, but he let
his fire consume his flesh before I had a chance to contain it.”

Jack
waved at him in irritation, dismissing his comment.  “How did you end up
on this side?  Were you carrying a Hellstone?  That seems unlikely.”

Riven
would lie for me, I knew that.  But I trusted Jack.  “I’m a
gatewright.”  It was almost a whisper. 

Jack
jerked back as if I’d slapped him.  Stunned silence followed, and I
squirmed.

“You
never told me,” Jack accused at last.

“I
didn’t know what a gatewright even
was
until after I accidentally made a
gate in the middle of the woods,” I protested.

Jack
literally turned from us, braced himself against the wall, and thunked his head
against the drywall.  “The Great Mage save us. Do you have
any
idea
how much danger you blundering morons got yourselves into?”

“I
trust you, I would have told you if I even suspected,” I pleaded, although a
small part of me felt vindicated for all the secrets Jack kept from me.

He
waived for me to calm myself.  “You’re awful at keeping secrets, Jan. 
Hell, you couldn’t even keep my birthday present a secret.”

Impulsively,
I hugged him.  “Thank you for trusting me.”  Jack was warm, and
solid.  I wished he’d been with me in Azry; I had the feeling he could
have dealt some serious damage.

He
ruffled my hair affectionately.  “All the trust in the world isn’t going
to save your little gatewright skin if we don’t get you back to where you’re
supposed to be,” he teased.  “Jan Leeman doesn’t make gates.”

“I
don’t even know
how
to make a gate,” I lamented, letting him go. 
Right now, the last thing I wanted to do was leave the comfort of my home yet
again for an adventure.

“Well,
hate to break it to you, but your life depends on you learning rather quickly,”
Jack observed.  “Your mother would have my hide if anything happened to
you.  On the other hand, I could do an entire series of artworks just
about your untimely demise.  I think those would sell rather well, don’t
you think?” 
Trust Jack to make a joke out of it.

Riven
wasn’t amused.  “You
will
find her an instructor,” he commanded,
and I knew it wasn’t just for my sake.  He needed to get home, ASAP. 
Before Earth started to take its toll on him.

“Watch
your tone, Kusay.” Jack growled at him.  “Or else I’ll cut your precious
braids right off.”

“Chill
out, both of you!” I exclaimed in exasperation.  “Sit your butts down and
let’s figure this out.”

So
much for sleeping.

We
settled around the kitchen table to brainstorm, Riven and Jack sitting opposite
each other.  The cheap table was shoved against one wall so I had room to
open the oven.  Not that I used it, mind.  Each kept the other in his
field of vision, never turning his back. Now and then I had to remind Riven to
mind his manners so he didn’t use the last of his magic to set Jack on fire, or
had to kick Jack under the table when he started taunting Riven.  The
sweatpants were not going unremarked.

Riven
and I tried to share an old bag of wasabi peas.  I had three before Riven
practically inhaled the rest of the bag.  Jack didn’t say anything about
it, but grimaced when Riven tossed the bag to replace it with a can of
pineapple chunks.  “Not a good sign,” I thought I heard him whisper, but
wasn’t sure if it was meant for my ears or not.

Not
a good sign is that boy’s rib cage right now, buddy
. 
Out loud, I suggested we order pizza.

Riven
perked up immediately.  “You said this pizza was an example of the appeal
of your world?”

As
Jack ordered three different pies from the local pizza joint, I prayed they’d
live up to the high bar I’d set for them.  Jack ordered pickup, and I
peered at him quizzically.  He gave me an irritated look as he rattled off
his credit card information.  Right.  Jack + my address was not a
connection we wanted to make.  I needed to be more careful before I made
an irreversible mistake.

Jack
left shortly afterward to get our food, not without casting a warning glare at
Riven.  As soon as the door shut behind him,
Riven
let out a long sigh.  “Dealing with Becot is always a challenge.”

“I
didn’t think you knew him.”

“Any
Becot.  I’ve dealt with his kin.  Irritating, all of them.” 
Riven relaxed slowly.  “How do you know him, anyway?”

“We
met years ago when I was in school.  He noticed my keen interest in Azry
and liked to listen to my ideas.  Eventually, when he corrected me one too
many times, I figured out that he had to be an Exile.  He didn’t tell me
himself until much later.  Maybe his neighbors and a few of his clients
might suspect, but he’s kept a really low profile.”

“Do
many Exiles live here?”

“No. 
Jack thinks the temptation of the gate drives them nuts.”  I sucked in my
breath.  Was I supposed to say that?  Shit!

 “Interesting,”
was all Riven shared in return.  “So tell me, how do you study the fey
without talking to them?”

We
easily filled the next thirty minutes bickering about whether inductive
reasoning could be expected to produce accurate knowledge regarding the fey.

“As
I was saying,” I argued, “Anowir fey may be the
exception
to the rule,
as demonstrated by the Indian and Greek figures of Gaia and Gau and the Yaka
Azry figure of Gaiu.  Please, if there’s a compendium of
international
Azry
history, point me to it!”

Riven’s
reply was cut short as we heard Jack’s heavy footsteps coming up the
stairs.  Riven rudely snapped at me to stay put and opened the door a
crack to confirm who it was before opening it the rest of the way.  His
bad attitude melted as he caught a whiff of what Jack was carrying.

“Keep
busy while I was gone?”  Jack inquired.

“What
does ‘compendium’ mean?” Riven asked him.

Jack
raised his eyebrow at me.  “What did you do to piss her off?  She
only brings out the big words when she’s trying to beat you over the head with
an argument.”

“Where’s
the pepperoni?” I evaded, and Jack laughed outright.

Luckily
(or unluckily, depending on who you asked), Riven’s taste in pizza mirrored
Jack’s.  The veggie delight lay forgotten to the side while I munched
slowly on my very own pepperoni pizza.  Jack and Riven lay into the
chicken teriyaki.  Riven’s eyes practically rolled back in his head as he
had his very first bite of American pizza.  “I admit, I think you have a
point about the pizza,” he grinned at me.

“You’ll
find I’m right about a lot of things,” I challenged him playfully.

“Try
the veggie one next,” Jack suggested, watching his favorite pizza disappearing
to Riven’s voracious appetite.

When
we managed to focus on our predicament, we made some decent headway.  “Do
we have any clue to who might know how to teach her?”  Riven popped the
last piece of one of the pepperoni slices into his mouth.

Jack
tapped his fingers thoughtfully against his tall mug of post-pizza
coffee.  “Jan, do you know where your father is?”

I
knew he didn’t mean Nick.  “Nope.  Burning in hell maybe?  Mom’s
cursed him enough that’s a likely possibility.  You think he’s a
gatewright?”

“Most
likely.  I know your mother.
” 
He looked pointedly at me.

“Yeah,
yeah, I know you had to find me like, what, five times in grad school because I
wouldn’t pick up my phone?”  I rolled my eyes dramatically.

“Exactly. 
You think she’d ‘forget’ to tell you?  If you mother had the slightest
inkling you could accidentally fall into Azry, she’d have slapped a radio
collar on you and possibly a baby monitor.”

He
was right.  “Fucking worthless piece of shit for a father,” I muttered,
getting up to make more coffee.

“
Anyone
else that might be of help?” Riven pressed.

Jack
hesitated one moment too long before changing the subject. “Riven,” Jack asked,
“where are your holdings?”  Dammit.  He was hiding something again.

“Peregare.” 
Riven recognized my expression and clarified.  “Southwest of here, near
the end of the vast valley between the mountains.”

“Isn’t
Peregare the house of the royal family?”  Jack challenged him.

“Yes
and no,” Riven corrected him through gritted teeth.  “
And,
Queen
Kusay Essint moved the royal family to the Citadel of Fountains about ten years
ago, shortly after the Emor gate opened.”

“That’s
interesting,” Jack mused, sipping his coffee.

“Essint
left Peregare in the care of my mother and me.  Eventually, I assume one
of my cousins will come to claim it.  So it’s ours only in trust.” 
Bitterness clouded his face.  “Thus I have no true holdings.”

A
flicker of sympathy from Jack. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re
atsili
.” 
Jack cocked his head slightly, the sympathy gone as quickly as it had
appeared.  “Is this why you studied English so much?  Because you’re
landless?”

“No.” 
Riven almost dared him to ask more, and I couldn’t help but grin.  Oh, it
was
so good
to watch Jack get a taste of his own medicine.

Jack
grunted, the same noise my mother made when I’d told her an obvious lie. 
He turned his attention to me.  “Can we take a look on Google Earth?”

I
nodded and went to grab my laptop as I heard Riven ask what Google was. I
grinned and looked forward to introducing him to the Internet.

My
Dell was originally a gift from Nicholas before I went to grad school, and two
years of heavy wear had taken its toll.  While it booted up (processing a
lengthy update, of course), Riven tried to explain where his homestead was, in
relation to fey landmarks, magical hotspots, and other Anowir holdings. 
He kept getting distracted, fascinated by the computer (“How does this
work?  How is this not magic?”).  Jack listened patiently, politely,
but I knew him well enough that most of what Riven was describing (when he did
manage to stay on topic) was not that helpful.

It
took us perhaps an hour to determine where the equivalent location to Peregare
was in our world.  Our best guess was Roanoke, but choosing the best place
to try to launch us back into Azry was difficult.  We needed enough
privacy that passersby had no chance of stumbling over a wide-open gate, but
close enough to Peregare so that we wouldn’t have to walk for days.  Anything
too close to human construction wasn’t a great bet, since humans changed the
terrain when they built cities.  I wouldn’t want to create a gate and fall
into a river or fall off a cliff or find myself buried in a hill.

Explore
Park was just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, 1,200 acres of green hills, wildlife,
and streams.  Riven confidently declared that if we landed within 10 miles
of Peregare, he’d be able to find it based on magic ley lines in relationship
to the Roanoke River.  More than likely, however, -if we got through-, it
would be a long hike.  I wasn’t particularly fond of the concept, but at
least this time we’d prepared.

There
was one issue that didn’t present an easy answer: we didn’t have much
money.  Jack was an artist, and a successful one at that.  But even
with that success, he had just enough to pay his rent and keep food on the
table.

Which
meant one thing.

“Hi
Mom.”  I used Jack’s cell.  I didn’t want to alert the phone company
that I was up and about, beyond what could reasonably be blamed on Thomas.

“Hi
sweetie, is everything ok?”

“Pretty
much.  Have you told anyone that I’m back yet?”

“Jack
hasn’t showed up yet?” she answered in alarm, and I sighed.

“No,
Jack’s here.  I mean people other than Jack.”

“I
haven’t.  I wanted to make sure you were ok before your friends bothered
you.  I told Jack because there is that other fey with you and I wanted to
make sure you were safe.  I looked up what color fey blood is, Jan. 
You were covered in it.”

“Yeah.”
 This was the last thing I wanted to talk about. I glanced at Jack, who
sat across the table from me.  “Don’t worry, Jack’s got my back. 
Speaking of which, apparently there are issues with Riven’s
emergency-gate-making.  I need to make sure that you and Thomas and Nick
don’t tell anyone.  It’s super important, it could get me in serious
trouble.”

Mom
muttered something incomprehensible before she spoke up again. “Okay,
hun.  I’ll talk to them.”

“Even
if the authorities say I’m dead, you can’t tell them you know better.” I
emphasized.

“I
don’t like the way that sounds.”

“There’s
another thing,” I continued.  “We’re going to try to get back to the fey
world to make it look like we didn’t break their rules.” 

“No. 
You aren’t going back there.  Especially after what happened.”

“Mom,
if I don’t go back there, it’s going to put my life in danger
here,
forever. 
And it might even cause trouble with Azry, a type of trouble we haven’t seen
yet.  People will die.”

My
mother was silent for a long minute.  “How much do you need?” She asked,
fear and defeat warring in her voice.

I
glanced at the hastily assembled checklist of what we would need.  “About
$400 in cash,” I ventured.  “I can’t withdraw it from my account without
leaving a trail, and I’ll pay you back as soon I get home again.”  Four
hundred was the entirety of my savings account.  I’d paid November’s rent
before I left for Azry, but I refused to consider how I would be paying
December’s.

This
time her silence was not as friendly.  “You owe me an explanation, young
lady.”

Perhaps
I should have just spoken to Nicholas, but Mom would have just called anyway
when she found out.  “I can’t use my credit cards or run to the bank
without tipping off the wrong people.  We’ll probably need to stay at a
hotel for a few days to lay low before we’re able to make the jump back. 
And a little money for gas and food.  Riven doesn’t have a penny to his
name
-“ I
saw him stiffen and I shrugged
apologetically, “And Jack… hell, this wasn’t even his mess to start with.”
Yeah,
Mom, you’re the one who dragged him into this.

She
acquiesced, and said she would stop over first thing in the morning.  I
could hear the worry in her voice.

Jack
headed home, promising to be back in the morning as well with some non-fey
clothes for Riven.  I packed once again, mourning the loss of my suitcase,
backpack, and most of my favorite travel items.  I also took the chance to
change my sheets with a slight shudder.  They stank like a teen who’d
forgotten deodorant for several days.

I
came out with a stuffed old duffel bag, and found Riven eating… again. 
His attention was focused wholly on the laptop, as he carefully maneuvered the
mouse and clicked hesitantly.  He’d been ravenous all day, and I’d put it
down to the whole starving-in-the-forest thing.  I watched him for a
moment, as I realized that he looked… different.  His slight frame was…
thicker.  He’d barely had time to digest, much less put on weight. 
Even his cheekbones were less pronounced, and the half-moon c’s of his ears
were shorter.  He was turning into a human, just like an Exile, I realized
with a pang.  If he was putting on mass, he had to get it from
somewhere.  I quietly poked my nose into the fridge to see the damage and
my eyes widened.  He’d eaten the rest of the pizza, half a loaf of bread,
an entire block of cheddar cheese, and most of a jar of peanut butter. 
Impressive!