The Gatekeeper Trilogy

by Scott Ferrell

  That ruled out “cutting off the head” mentality. If I popped back out into the army, found Lortmore, and somehow defeated him, I doubted the Balataurs would just turn away. They just didn’t work like that. He had wound them up and set them loose. They would continue on until either dead or Delicia lay in ruins. The latter was the more likely scenario.

  I shook my head and turned back to the city. My eyes travelled up the road to the Circle of Atlas. What were they thinking when they built it? A few dozen yards away, there was a huge gap in the wall from the last dragon blast that nearly took Aoife with it. That breach was all the Balataur needed. These roads were like a red carpet to the city center. Without the threat of air attacks, the citizens pour toward the Circle of Atlas. The Balataur would just follow all the way up and it would only be a matter of time before they stormed Daresh’s fortified home, too.

  It all seemed useless. I could only hope Brande and the others were getting as many people as possible safely into the underground tunnels. If they could escape onto the plains, maybe they could live.

  “They’re heading for the breach,” Seanna said.

  I turned back to the army. They had veered toward the section of wall with a big hole in it. The sight of an easy way in and blood lust fueled their charge. They nearly stampeded over each other to be among the first into the city.

  “We have to slow them down somehow,” I said.

  “How?” Aoife asked.

  “I have no idea,” I muttered. “Maybe we can knock some of the bigger rocks loose from the wall to block the hole at least partially.”

  Minotaur shook his massive head. “I don’t think there are enough loose sections to make a difference.”

  I made a frustrated noise.

  “I think I know a way,” Seanna said. “To slow them at least.”

  “How?” I asked.

  She clutched her bag. “It’s about time to use my tricks.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “Well, Jae, but I have summoned him.”

  “Jae?”

  “He will be able to help me.”

  A few minutes later, we stood just inside the massive hole in the wall. Jae came trotting up, his eyes widening as he saw the Balataur running straight for us.

  “What are—”

  “No time,” Seanna cut in. She held up the bag of magical pieces of wood. “I need your help.”

  He stared for a moment before nodding as if he knew what she planned. “These forms will inhibit the use of that magic.”

  “I know. We will need to transform back into our true forms.”

  “Thank the Leaves and Roots,” Jae exclaimed. His body began to elongate, stretching even thinner. His skin hardened and turned brown as bark protruded and covered him from head to toe. His brown hair thickened and tangled into vines that hung loosely down his back. In seconds, a moving tree with a long face stood before us. “Ah, that’s so much better.”

  Seanna hesitated. She glanced at me, her eyes never quite meeting mine before her face hardened. She squared her shoulders and began her own transformation. In some ways it was more shocking than Jae’s. I had already seen him in his Ashling form, but there was also a huge difference in Seanna’s two forms.

  Her light blonde hair darkened to the color of mud and twisted into vines like Jae’s had. Her skin hardened, too. I had felt it in this bark-like but had never seen it. Her extremely pale skin deepened and grayed. Her slight frame stretched even further until she stood as tall as me whereas she barely came to my shoulders in human form. In moments, she too stood beside Jae in her Ashling form.

  Her brown eyes met mine for the first time and I nodded. I don’t know what I meant by it, but I hoped it let her know I knew what it meant for her that I had seen her in her true form. I hoped it was a comforting gesture.

  “What now,” Aoife asked, not one to let things linger just because somebody felt uncomfortable.

  “Step back,” Seanna said. Even her normally soft voice had hardened with the slight sound of tree branches rubbed together.

  Aoife, Minotaur, and I stepped back as Seanna and Jae positioned themselves in front of the hall in the wall. Seanna emptied the contents of her bag into her hand, wrapping long fingers over the wood.

  “All of it?” Jae asked.

  She nodded. “It’s the only way.”

  He shrugged and took her hand in his, the magically endowed wood clasped between their palms. Jae blew out a breath that sounded like rustling leaves and began to hum. It was a haunting sound. Wind through the hollow of a long dead tree. Low, deep, and soul stirring. Seanna lifted her head high and both stood as still as if they had rooted and became real trees.

  Nothing happened. The Balataur quickly closed the gap. I grabbed Aoife’s hand, ready to shift her out of danger, but the ground rumbled. At first, I thought it was a mini earthquake caused by thousands of hooves pounding the ground. It quickly became apparent that wasn’t the case.

  Purple light poured from the Ashlings’ clasped hands. It arced and dove into the ground. Dirt and dust shifted and danced across the hard plains, centering at their feet before rippling out through the hole in the wall.

  I jumped in surprise as a tree shot from the ground. It started as a sapling no bigger than a couple inches thick but grew tall and thick in a matter of seconds. Another joined it. Then another. And another. So many trees sprang from the ground that I lost count. They kept growing, covering the hole in the wall and extending out into the plains. The trees grew so thick and close together that the Balataur would have to pick their way through them, the advantage of a rushing attack gone in an instant.

  From the other side of the newly formed forest, the Balataurs raised the voices in frustration of their easy prey stolen away from them. The bleated and grunted into the sky.

  Seanna pulled her hand from Jae’s as his humming fell silent. She let the spent and useless wood pieces fall to the ground. “This will only slow them. I will stay here to fight them as they come through. Hopefully it will give the Delicians time to get to the Circle of Atlas or the tunnels.”

  “I will stay with you,” Minotaur grunted, unfazed by the magical display.

  “Me, too,” I offered. “Jae, can you take Aoife to the tunnels?”

  “What makes you think I’m leaving?” she protested.

  I turned to her and looked her in the eyes. I half expect for them to turn gold as she tried to read me, but they remained hazel. “Don’t think I’m trying to pull some ‘but you’re a woman’ card here,” I said. “Your abilities don’t work on the Balataur. You’ve done all you can to help these people. Jae can take you to the gateway.”

  Her brows drew together and she opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself. Her face quickly went from set in stubbornness to confusion. The gold crept into her eyes finally as she turned to the brand-new forest. “Something’s happening out there.”

  I shifted to the top of the wall and my heart sank. I stared out at a large army joining the Balataur on the horizon.

  35

  DEATH FROM THE GROUND

  I swallowed hard and squinted out at the dark mass pouring over the horizon. I leaned against the parapet, ignoring the sounds of grunts and wood chopping below. There was something different about the new army approaching Delicia. While the Balataur army was a lumbering mass, the newcomers moved swiftly, eating up the distance with heart-stopping speed.

  A tink a few yards to my right drew my attention. A hook hung from the edge of the parapet. I leaned over to find a taunt rope hanging from it with a Balataur laboriously climbing up it. I swore and shifted back to the ground.

  “What’s going on?” Aoife asked.

  “Can I have your knife?” I asked Seanna, ignoring the question. “Hurry.”

  The Ashling hesitated before retrieving the small blade from a pouch at her side. Not only had she changed, but her clothes did, too. They, along with the pouches, were made of leaf materials.

&nbs
p; I took it from her outstretched hand, careful not to brush her bark-crusted skin, and shifted back to the wall. I blinked at the row of hooks on the wall. They ran all along the city’s only defense. More flew up and lodged themselves as the Balataur scaled their way into Delicia.

  I slashed at the closest rope. The Balataur climbing it fell with a satisfying thump, but there were too many for me to cut before they poured over the top. I cut three more before the first beast appeared at the top of the wall ten yards to my left, his massive hands gripping the thick parapet like it was a child’s toy.

  I shifted next to him and kicked him in the snout. His head jerked back. He lost his grip and fell. I shifted off the wall.

  “They’re coming over the wall,” I told the others.

  Aoife looked stunned. Seanna and Jae looked, well, tree-like. Minotaur huffed and turned to face the wall.

  “I will fight them.”

  Aoife grabbed his wrist. “You will die.”

  “So be it,” he grunted. “I will buy the time needed.

  I turned to look down the street. Far off at the center of the city, the crowds grew as people tried to push their way up the hill to the Circle of Atlas. They’d be cut down before they all made it into the momentary safety of Daresh’s keep.

  “It’s not enough,” I whispered, more to myself than to the group.

  “Maybe it’s time for you and Aoife to go.” Seanna’s voice still sounded like her but held an extra quality like an entire forest sighing. “This is not your world—not your fight.”

  I glanced at Aoife. She didn’t have to say anything. I knew her feelings on that idea even without projecting them.

  “You know,” I said, “I think it is. These people never asked for the life they’ve been given. Daresh held them under his thumb for so long I don’t think they even know how to fight back. The Underground tried, but they built themselves to fight a tyrant and his men, not an invading army with only death and destruction on their minds.”

  “I don’t see how that makes it your responsibility,” Seanna said.

  “I think many of Daresh’s qualities can be found in me,” I said.

  “That’s stupid,” Aoife grunted.

  “No, think about it,” I insisted. “We all have demons inside that can eat away at us if we let them. Daresh and I both battled with the guilt of responsibility and belonging.”

  Aoife caught on first. “Your parents’ accident wasn’t your fault.”

  “I know.” I put a hand on her arm in way of thanking her for the reassurance. “But I struggled with it for so long, it became a part of me, shaping me into who I was becoming. Daresh had thousands of years to let that feeling fester. Imagine that guilt multiplied by thousands.”

  “I don’t see how you sacrificing yourself will help these people, Gaige,” Seanna said. “And by the Leaves and Roots, that’s what this is—a sacrifice.”

  I shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

  “You have a plan?” Jae asked.

  “Not really,” I admitted, “but I am very good at somehow surviving on dumb luck.”

  “Emphasis on the ‘dumb’,” Aoife muttered.

  “They are coming over,” Minotaur grunted. His monstrous muscles flexed in anticipation under the black fur. “Has the time for talking ended?”

  One industrious Balataur who had climbed faster than the others dropped from the wall, his hooves kicking up dust inside Delicia’s city walls. He charged at us without waiting for his fellows. For all his gusto, he earned Minotaur’s ax in his skull.

  “Don’t you see?” I asked Seanna. “Daresh scarred this world almost to the edge of no return. If we allow Lortmore to continue to pick at the wound, it will never heal.” I pointed toward the city center at the people trying to force their way into the Circle of Atlas. “The healing begins in this scab of a city.”

  She turned her amber-like eyes toward the Delicians. The screams of panic floated down the road, a faint ghost of desperation. She looked at the city walls, but I doubted her eyes saw the rock structure. They focused beyond.

  “So now what?” Aoife asked.

  More Balataur gathered on the top of the wall. They saw the body of their comrade lying on the ground with his head split open and thought better of charging at us until their numbers were sufficient enough to overpower us.

  “We buy more time,” Seanna said, turning from the wall.

  “Seanna,” Jae started, but she held up a hand to stop him.

  “We will buy you more time,” she said.

  “How? You don’t have any more magic.” I trailed off as realization hit me. “Do you?”

  “There is still a bit left in this world,” Seanna said.

  “I don’t think—” Jae said.

  “It is Her will,” she cut in.

  “No,” I said, knowing exactly what she meant. “I won’t let it.”

  “You think you would deny Her?”

  “Let me talk to her,” I demanded.

  The slit in her bark that made up her mouth curled into a sad smile. Even in Ashling form, Seanna still held a few human mannerisms. “It has been decided and started.”

  She turned toward the city. Dirt and rocks hopped around as the ground began to rumble.

  “What’s going on?” Aoife asked.

  Before anybody could answer, a crack rang out in the street as a vertical slash appeared at the base of a building a block away. The apartment build shook violently, dropping pieces to the ground below. The back side of it pitched up and it hung in the air a moment before toppling over with an earsplitting crash on the road. Large chunks rolled and joined other pieces of buildings falling over. Trees rose, bullying their way into the place of the fallen buildings. The rumbling crashes continued as the trees formed a second protective wall made of ruined buildings.

  I turned from the destruction. “Seanna, the Mother Tree…”

  “Now is not the time.” Her voice was low and soft like a mournful wind through leaves.

  “Now we fight,” Minotaur said.

  The Balataur had apparently built a number they were comfortable with. They dropped from the wall by the dozens and rushed forward.

  I put a hand on Aoife’s shoulder. In a blink we stood outside the crowd of Delicians trying to get into Daresh’s keep.

  She looked around confused for a moment before turning to me. “Don’t you dare leave me here.”

  “What good will you be down there?” I asked gently.

  “I’ve learned a few things here.”

  “I’m sure you have, but you’re needed here. Look around.” I nodded toward the people panicking to the point of madness. “They need you. They’re going to kill each other to live.”

  Aoife scanned the crowd. There was a lot of pushing and shoving. A few had been knocked to the ground and struggled to get up in the press of people.

  “Gaige, I can’t let you—”

  “You’re not letting me do anything,” I said. “I’m making the choice. The only one I have, really. If you want to help, send us reinforcements.” I pointed at the knot of soldiers among the crowd.

  She looked around for a moment, her jaw set in a hard line, before nodding once. “Gaige, I—”

  I wrapped my arms around her before she could finish and pulled her against me, careful not to bump her head with the escrima I still held in a hand. “It’s time for me to go be a hero.”

  She slipped her arms around me and a wave of calm hit me, laced with determination. “Come find me when you’re done with that, okay.”

  I chuckled and shifted.

  ***

  The battle had already started when I reappeared. The real surprise was the appearance of others fighting the Balataur. Brande, Joost, and Izaak were there, but so were others I didn’t know. Members of the Underground protecting their city.

  I scanned the fight, trying to make sense of it all—trying to figure out where I could help. Seanna and Jae were missing. I turned and found them with hands flat agains
t a newly formed tree.

  A Balataur squealed as a tree erupted from the ground underneath him. It pushed high into the air, carrying the beast with it, before cracking at the base and falling over. The Balataur hit the ground with legs bent at an awkward angle. The tree fell on top of it, as well as a few of its comrades.

  Everybody fought the beasts hard, but it seemed a hopeless cause, though. The beast poured over the wall like a waterfall.

  “Fall back!” I yelled. Being as outnumbered as we were, our only chance was to thin out the herd.

  Minotaur finished off a Balataur before sliding back, swinging the ax in great arcs. The Delicians turn and ran.

  A tree fell between the two groups, giving us a momentary lapse in fighting to retreat.

  “We have to fight them in the rocks,” I said. “The trees and fallen buildings will funnel them and limit their number advantage.”

  Minotaur nodded as he jogged past and climbed over a piece of building. The others made their way a little further back into the debris and the Ashlings moved to a different tree.

  The Balataur began climbing over the thick tree trunk.

  I hopped over a chunk of hardened brick wall to crouch beside Minotaur. “You sure you want to do this? It’s not like us humans have ever done anything for your people.”

  “I am not standing for them,” he said. “I stand in revenge of my people who were slain.”

  I looked at him. For once, he didn’t roll his round eyes at me. I got the feeling that statement wasn’t exactly the full truth. I patted his arm. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I’m glad you finally learned how to use those sticks.”

  I laughed and held up the escrima. “They just feel right in my hands. Thank you for introducing them to me.”

  “Just don’t accidently hit me with one of them.” His eyes finally rolled my way. “It looks like they might actually hurt.”

  “What do you say we hurt a few of them, huh?” I asked.

  He bared his square teeth in a smile as a Balataur jumped to the top of the piece of building we hid behind. Minotaur took his hooves off at the ankles with one swipe of his ax. The thing screamed and fell out of sight.