by T J Trapp
“Mother, I am guarding this gate. It leads to the fields. Are you sure you are at your intended location?”
“I am where I intend to be,” Erin answered in her best mother-voice.
“I do not question your intentions, but mothers in formal dress do not usually go to the fields. You will get your clothes dirty.”
“We desire to go to the fields. Open the gate.”
The clutchman looked at her ruefully.
“Mother, the entire city has been locked down. Some unlikely story about escaping drones and elf imposters trying to take over the city. We hear that thousands of drones have been released from the Domestication Facility and some of the mothers’ residences and are running loose through the streets, some with weapons. I know that it is probably a false alarm, but we have to follow directions. No one can leave New Haven until the patrol mothers have come and cleared each drone. And they are not yet here.”
“I am aware of the rumors,” Erin said haughtily. “Why do you think I am here? I must get these drones back to the fields with … with their special supplies for the field masters! To fight off the escaped drones! It is very urgent! I did not even have time to change before I came. I will clear these drones.” She waved her hand in the direction of the drones. “There. They are cleared. Now open the gate.”
The tone of Erin’s voice and her confidence was enough. The clutchman went to the gate and unlocked the bars holding the portcullis. The two clutchmen swung the bars out of the way and opened the first door through the wall. One clutchman walked through a narrow passage in the wall and unbolted the heavy door on the other side. Then he came back inside and stepped out of Erin’s path. Alec, the ‘clutchman,’ motioned to the first of the straplines, which included the Theland riders, and they started through the gate. Alec directed the first two straplines of the cull captives to advance through the gate in an orderly procession; as soon as they entered the gateway he herded the remainder in an uneven flow of naked bodies before the two guarding clutchmen had time to think about the propriety of his actions.
As they progressed, a long shadow floated over the street. The clutchman looked up. In the sky overhead was the dragon. Alec overheard the clutchman say to the other clutchman, “First time I have seen the dragon flying in weeks. They say it is tougher and meaner than it used to be. I wouldn’t want to encounter that bi...” Then he remembered that a mother was present and became silent.
As soon as all the straplines of culled captives were moving towards the passage, Alec motioned the waiting straplines of field hands to join the throng and they started forward, blindly obeying. Alec and Erin watched as the flow of hundreds of drones pressed forward and through the gate.
Good. There will be enough activity on the path from the city that our people won’t be obvious. Now we just have to go and turn off the obscuring field and rejoin our riders. The hard part is done.
20 – Through the City Wall
The field drones on the last strapline started through the gate leading to the fields. Over the muffled cadence of shuffling bare feet, Erin called to the clutchman, “When the last of these field drones have passed, close the gate.”
“Yes, Mother,” the clutchman said, and prepared to drop the portcullis. Then Erin heard shouting coming from the side alleyway.
“What are you doing! Why are you releasing the drones? Those drones have not been cleared! Bring them back! All of them! Bring them back!” An irate mother with her three clutchmen stormed towards the gate.
The mother’s clutchman yelled, even more loudly than the mother, “Bring them all back! They need to be checked!” The clutchman at the gate looked at the approaching mother and then looked at Erin.
The mother noticed Erin. “You! You let them pass?”
Erin stopped, uncertain how to answer.
“That is my task! Not yours!” The mother scowled, then started to twist the lines towards Erin.
Fight time, Alec warned.
Erin twisted the lines back towards the mother.
We need to get out of here, Alec thought. Focus! He let dark energy consolidate around the three arriving clutchmen; one by one they dropped to their knees, then sprawled on the ground. The mother and Erin were both intensely concentrating on each other. Alec turned towards the two clutchmen at the gate. One of them picked up his spear, but looked indecisively back and forth at the two women. Just then the mother grabbed for her throat and also dropped, bested by Erin.
Watch out! Alec warned.
Erin turned just in time to see one of the clutchmen guarding the gate throw his spear at her. Alec’s alert allowed her to move just enough to avoid the spear; it slashed through her flowing robes and tore a gash in one of the long trailing sleeves. Focus – and the offending clutchman dropped dead. Forewarned by the commotion, the other gate clutchman emerged from the passageway, looked at his fallen comrade in surprise, and started to draw his sword. Erin picked up the spear that had landed near her feet and threw it at the clutchman, impaling him.
“Well, that certainly didn’t go well,” said Alec, surveying the bodies lying in the alleyway and near the gate. “Any chance of exiting New Haven quietly is gone. Our people have escaped the city, but I am afraid they won’t be able to make it very far. Other guards will discover this little incident long before our riders reach the obscuring field, and will alert everyone about the escape.”
“I agree. Our people have a lead on any pursuit, but the elves can use the dragon to chase down our people and devour them,” Erin said.
“Or worse – bring them back here to be drones,” Alec said.
“What do we do now, Great Wizard? What is our … ‘contingency?’”
Alec looked at the scene. “It won’t take long before another patrol comes checking on the gate. With all of these dead clutchmen and that dead mother, they would be stupid if they didn’t figure out that someone escaped out the gate.”
“The elves are not stupid,” Erin replied.
“Sherlock Holmes once said something wise. It was that ‘the barking of the dog was the clue, because no dog was barking.’ That is what we will do.”
“Was Sherlock Holmes a Great Wizard? And how will a ‘barking dog that doesn’t bark’ stop the elves and the dragon? The dragon is not afraid of a dog, even a big one! And besides, there are no dogs here,” asked Erin, perplexed and exasperated by her Wizard.
Alec smiled. “That just means: ‘Maybe we can make them think the opposite.’ Maybe we can make the elves think that a force is breaking into the city from the outside – then they will try to keep people from entering the city, not from leaving it, and will keep the dragon here to defend the city, instead of sending out to chase our riders. By the time the elves figure out the truth, our people will be across the obscuring field and into the forest where the dragon will have a hard time attacking them.”
“This doesn’t sound like a well-thought-out plan, but I trust my Great Wizard. You always come through for me.” She looked at him expectantly.
Focus – and the stout outer door to the city wall failed with a crunch. Then Alec focused again and the metal bars of the portcullis warped as if battered from the outside; the area around the gate erupted in flames.
“Wizard, I sense the dragon.” Erin closed her eyes.
“The dragon?” he said, looking at the sky.
“No, not up there! I don’t see it, but I fear that the coercer mothers have loosed it to look for our riders as its prey. It has not yet come back here to protect the city from the barking dogs.”
“I thought Suva’s friend was in charge of that beast.”
“Well, she would have been, but any coercer who has the controller stone could be directing its actions.”
“Then I guess we need to divert it,” Alec said. “We will be the bait.”
“The ‘bait’?”
“Yes, we will make it seem as though we are the greater threat, so that the mothers will steer the big guy over our way.”
> She’s not a ‘guy,’ thought Erin petulantly. She’s a girl. A big girl. A big dragon girl.
“So. For the ‘grand finale!’” Alec occasionally created fireworks back in Theland for celebrations and found that the spectacle invariably awed the crowds. Now, by the city gate, a loud boom! echoed in the sky, then another, and the sky above the gate lit up with a bright red flash followed by a set of bright white streamers. A third boom! was followed by a shower of green sparkles.
“That’s enough,” Erin said, covering her ears. “More than enough. I can sense the fear coming from everyone around here, inside and outside of the city walls. Along with their hearing. They will be deaf by now.” She closed her eyes to sense. “The dragon is coming back towards the city.”
Alec sighed. “Well, that got the dragon away from following our riders. Time to head to the control building. We need to get the obscuring field turned off.”
“Are we walking?”
“Sorry, I am not going to carry you in a chair. We are going to have to take a portal and then walk. We need to find an appropriate drone along the way and I need to take its clothes. I need to look like a drone, instead of a clutchman, to inconspicuously enter the control building without arousing suspicion.”
What kind of an inept clutchman are you, forcing your poor mother to walk, Erin thought to him, half in jest. Her feet hurt.
Alec ignored the thought and continued on, “We will need to find some travel clothes for you before we leave the city, but you need to continue to wear that ripped nightgown and look like a typical mother until after we have disabled the obscuring field.”
Erin concealed the torn sleeve in the voluminous folds of her gown and the two of them hurried along the street towards the nearest portal. They passed groups of armed clutchmen and an occasional mother. All were moving quickly toward the back gate and did not pay any attention to the two of them. You have stirred them up. They are all running to fight off the imaginary intruders and barking dogs that you invented, Erin observed.
Good, Alec answered.
✽✽✽
It took two portal transits before they reached the area of New Haven where the obscuring field control building stood. Finding a drone and borrowing its clothes had not been a problem – the drone was more than willing to do anything the ‘mother’ desired. Alec was now attired as a working drone, with his fake band back around his neck.
They moved towards the control building, but when they were still a block away they could see that things were different than they had been early that morning when they had investigated the location. Ahead of them was a checkpoint station with a clutchman.
“That wasn’t here before. What do you sense?” Alec whispered.
“I think we stirred up trouble. There are several mothers, and many clutchmen and drones, around here. We need to use caution.”
They approached the checkpoint as if they had routine business. The clutchman stood up and blocked their way. “I am sorry, Mother, no one is allowed past this point until the emergency is over.”
“I need to proceed,” Erin said imperiously.
“I am sorry, Mother, but we are under a Blue Alert.”
The rod glowed slightly, and a memory stored in the rod flashed in Erin’s brain. ‘Blue Alert.’ That is the highest level of concern. It is used if the elves fear an attack by other elves. The Great Wizard has awoken the elves’ nest of vipers with his noisy flares.
“Yes, of course, Blue Alert,” Erin said. “But I must proceed.”
“My assignment is the defense of this area. No one is allowed into the area during the alert.”
“What is so special about this area that you would deny me access?” Erin asked.
“That building up ahead is the control building for the obscuring field,” the man explained. “Perhaps you did not know this, but the obscuring field is one of our key defenses to protect New Haven from outside marauders. We at this station are responsible for keeping the building secure. Others are responsible for repelling the intruders. No one is allowed into this area without authorization from the Disca. Mother, I don’t want to intrude on your business, but I thought all mothers had an assigned station in a Blue Alert?”
“Yes, I do, of course – and I will be going to it shortly. I do not need to go to your ‘obscure building,’ but I need to go into this area to get things for my assignment.”
“I am sorry, Mother, you will have to find what you need elsewhere.”
Erin thought about pushing harder, but could sense the determination in the clutchman. He will not let us pass. Alec and Erin turned and walked away from the checkpoint.
“Our plan is not going to work,” Alec said. “We will not be able to just walk into the building to turn the obscuring field off, like I thought we could. If we try to fight our way in, that will alert them that someone is trying to disable the field and penetrate the zone. Then they will use the dragon to check and find our riders.”
“Does this mean the Great Wizard Holmes’ plan with his fierce dog that didn’t bark did not work?” Erin asked innocently.
Alec stopped and thought for a bit. “Maybe the Great Wizard Holmes’ dog can still help us. I have a different idea. We must turn off the obscuring field. If we don’t, our riders won’t have a chance. So – we must turn off the field without the elves knowing that we are turning off the field.”
“Great Wizard, you are talking in circles!” Erin snapped. “But I suppose I must trust you.” She stopped and scowled. “However, I do not know your Great Wizard Holmes, so I do not trust him.”
✽✽✽
The two continued walking down the street, circling the area. “We should cause a little more furor to keep them focused on defending the city,” Alec mused. “Can you sense the dragon? Do you know where it is?”
Erin sensed. The rod around her neck glowed slightly and memories flowed to her aid. “Yes. I can sense the dragon. She used a lot of energy flying over the city; now she has landed to save her remaining energy.”
“We want to exhaust your dragon’s dark energy so it cannot fly out to attack our people on their way to the obscuring field. We don’t want it to be able to fly around until after they have crossed out of the area.
“And we still need to figure out how to get our people across the obscuring field. We couldn’t get into the control building to turn off the obscuring field, so we need to shut it down in another way. We’ll just turn off the power to the whole city! The power is generated in the consolidator building, so – first, we need to get close to the consolidator building.”
“What is that? It sounds vaguely familiar,” said Erin.
“It is the building we visited when we were here before. Remember before, how I had to stabilize the main power crystal in the consolidator building to keep it from exploding and destroying us all? The power crystal provides dark energy to the entire city, and runs all their stuff – their fancy hot baths and lanterns and everything else. If we can turn off the power in the consolidator building all of the power in the city will stop.”
“How will that help our riders?”
“Without power, the obscuring field will stop making illusions, and our guys can get across the field,” Alec explained. “Only thing is, everything else in the city will stop as well. Then the elves will have so many issues to fix that they won’t notice that the obscuring field is turned off – or that it is the one thing we are really interested in.” Alec struck his fist into his other palm. “Boom! The Great Wizard Holmes comes through! The obscuring zone will not be barking, but they won’t notice it is not barking.”
“I have never heard the zone bark. Maybe the elves have better ears than me.”
“No, it won’t really be barking …” Alec trailed off.
“But tell me, Great Wizard, after our people get through the barking field that doesn’t bark, how will we get out?”
Alec sighed. “That is a part of the plan I haven’t figured out yet. There are a fe
w minor open details in my plan.”
“My Great Wizard is good at details. I have faith in you.”
Is she trying to reassure me, or reassure herself? Alec wondered.
“This way.” Alec motioned towards a side street. “They do not realize that I can operate the portals.”
Alec led them to a portal. It was not droned. Alec focused. The world dimmed, went black, and returned. They were on the other side. “One more portal transit and we will be close to the consolidator,” said Alec. They walked the short distance to the next portal; again, there was no drone present. Alec focused, the world dimmed, went black, and returned. They were in a different place.
21 – Consolidator
“It is about a half an el from here to the consolidator. What can you sense ahead of us?” Alec asked.
Erin sensed. “There is an intersection of two roads about three blocks ahead, with people collecting at that point. I suspect the elves have set up a checkpoint. Is there any other way to get to the consolidator building?”
“No,” said Alec, “we will have to go through the checkpoint. If we have to fight, we need to make the fight quick so that we can make it to the consolidator before they can bring in reinforcements.”
Erin sighed. “I wish I had my good sword.”
Alec led the way until they reached a cluster of people, then he assumed his ‘drone’ position behind Erin. There was a line waiting to pass through a monitoring station. Two mothers were running the station. Armed clutchmen wearing rings and dark energy diffuser amulets were standing behind the mothers.
Erin looked at the line in head of her. Everyone in the line was a drone. Erin snapped loudly. “Do you drones think you are better than a mother? Out of my way.”
The drones compliantly moved over and tried to make room for the two of them, but the resulting milling about and pushing to move out of the mother’s way created confusion.
Erin thought to Alec, Time to take the initiative. Can you distract the clutchmen?