by Janean Worth
He stared hard at her, wondering if he should argue with her. Then he decided she needed to know the truth, “My tutor showed me a book about the Narrow Gate. Kara, it really is nothing but a myth. No such place exists.”
“It does so exist! Another book, the true Book of the Word, says that it does. And I’m going to go there,” she turned her head away a bit, and he thought he saw hope, and a tiny tear, shining in her eye. Then she added more softly, “My father is there.”
He felt the pinch in the region of his heart again as understanding hit him hard. He sighed, trying not to think of his own father while realizing that Kara’s father must be gone too. She must be a Believer as well as a Stray.
She’d turned away from him, scooting a bit farther along on the moss-covered log in the opposite direction of where he sat, and he saw her surreptitiously blot at her eyes with one of the rags that hung from her arm. If he knew how, he would try to comfort her, but he was at a loss. Again. He’d always received comfort from others, never giving it himself.
“Kara, I’m sorry,” he muttered. “Is your father dead?”
She turned back to him, and her eyes were huge in her thin face. For a moment, he thought that she would be angry that he’d asked the question, but then her shoulders slumped, “I don’t know if he is still alive, but I don’t want to believe that he might be dead. It has been so long. I had Old Tech too, once, and he sent a message to me through it. A moving picture message much like the one from your father. He said he would wait for me at the Narrow Gate.”
She wrung her hands, tears gathering in her eyes again, “Don’t you see? I have to find it! He’s waiting for me there!”
“How long has it been?”
“I don’t know, weeks, months, perhaps a year. I haven’t kept track of time very well since the Old Tech was broken.” She looked as if she might start crying outright when she made the admission, as if she had committed some great offense.
Mathew stood and dusted off the seat of his pants, uncomfortable with the thought that she might start sobbing. He’d never tried to soothe a girl’s tears and he realized that there was only one thing he knew he could say to prevent her from crying, even if he did not believe that the Narrow Gate was anything other than the myth he’d been told it was.
“Well, let’s not sit here then,” he said with forced cheer. “We have to keep moving, and we might as well look for the Narrow Gate as we put some distance between us and the Enforcers.”
She smiled a pitiful smile, as if she were grateful that he’d even entertained the thought of looking for the Narrow Gate. “Thank you. But you should know that I’m injured. I hurt my leg some weeks back.”
He nodded. He’d already noticed her limp. Funny how, after she’d saved him from the tracken, he now didn’t mind the thought of looking after her and helping her along. If it was only for a little while.
“I will try to keep up,” Kara told him earnestly. “Would you mind trying to get your moving picture to work again as we walk? I would like to know if your message is the same as the one from my father.”
Mathew shrugged, “I don’t think it will be. My father knew the Narrow Gate was just a myth.”
At his words, she looked as if he’d kicked her. He was immediately sorry he’d said them, especially after he’d given her that line about looking for the Narrow Gate. Now she knew he was a fraud. He suddenly felt ashamed of himself. Which was strange, because he couldn’t remember ever feeling that way before. In order to make it up to her, he pulled the Old Tech from his pocket and touched its shiny surface again, trying to bring forth the image.
To his surprise, it worked immediately. His father’s image appeared in front of him and spoke. The image was clear, but the words were garbled and choppy. Mathew gave the Old Tech a hard shake in frustration. He wanted to hear what his father’s image was saying.
The picture flickered on the Old Tech, then went blank again. Mathew sighed, wishing he knew how the thing worked.
Kara’s shoulders slumped in despair.
Mathew thumped the thin device against his palm in frustration, and the vivid picture flickered into motion again. Mathew caught fragments of what his father was saying this time. It sounded like wait for you. Then, to Mathew’s complete surprise, he heard his father say Narrow Gate. You know what you must do.
Mathew stopped walking and stared at the device. Had his father really said that? But his father had known that the Narrow Gate was a myth, a tale made up by Believers in the One True God. It was not real. His tutor had said so. Even the Sovereign had decreed it was so.
Kara stopped walking too, and moved closer in order to see the Old Tech clearly. “Can you see anything in the background that would tell us where he is? I didn’t think to look for that while my Old Tech was still working.”
Mathew stared at the tiny screen. The image had stilled, but there was nothing to see behind his father except for a few blurry trees and some grass.
“But I don’t know what I must do to get there,” Mathew said, not knowing if he was talking to his father’s image or to Kara. His grip tightened on the device. What had his father meant?
The device flickered, then the shiny face of it turned to blackness again.
“Of course you do. You said you’d studied the myth,” Kara reminded him. “You have to be able to do the right thing before you can find the Narrow Gate.”
Mathew sighed heavily, feeling dejected. “I’ve never been good at that.”
Chapter Seven
Jax yipped and stuck his furry head out of Kara’s too-full bag. Kara chuckled at the small animal, then removed him carefully from the bag and set him down on the ground. In a blur of red fur, the fox darted off into the trees, his tiny paws making no sound at all against the thick carpet of fallen leaves.
As they’d continued their trek, the almost impenetrable undergrowth had thinned as they’d entered part of the Old Forest. The ancient trees of the Old Forest towered overhead, their thick canopy filtering out most of the light and depriving the forest floor of life-giving sun. Few saplings and scarcely any brush grew beneath them. The ever-moving shadows cast by the masses of leaves above and the heavily shaded forest floor should have been frightening, but Mathew found it comforting and peaceful. And he liked the way that the layers of years and years worth of fallen leaves compressed softly beneath their feet, feeling spongy and supple against his tired soles as they walked, muffling their footsteps.
“Aren’t you afraid he won’t come back?” Mathew asked as he saw the fox’s bright tail round the trunk of an enormous tree and disappear from view.
“No, Jax always finds me. He has an excellent sense of smell. If he can, he will bring back something he’s caught for food, too.”
“Do you think it is safe to build a fire when we stop?” Mathew asked, hoping that it was. His mouth watered at the thought of freshly roasted meat, caught by Jax and roasted into crispy goodness by them. And the thought of a warm, bright fire sounded really good to him when he thought of all of the animals and other unmentionable things that the Old Forest was supposedly home to. He might like the forest now, but at night, he had a feeling that it would become something other than peaceful.
Kara nodded, “Yes, I think it is. I haven’t heard any signs of the Enforcers for hours. It should be safe to build a very small fire.”
“Shouldn’t we stop nearer to the river?” Mathew was worried that they would run out of water again, even though his water skin was full since they’d filled it at the river no more than two hours ago. Despite the security offered by the full skin, still he worried. His bought with extreme thirst had left him feeling paranoid about their supply of water. He never wanted to feel such incredible thirst again.
Kara shook her head at him. “No, I don’t think so. The river is the first place they will look for us if they travel this way. It is better to stay away from it when we stop for the night. And besides, the river attracts the Fidgets at night.”
Mathew snorted, “Fidgets? Come on! That’s a myth too!”
Kara shook her head. “I’ve seen them. They’re real.”
“So, you’re saying that the things that I read about myths, the things that my tutor taught me about them – they’re all wrong?” Mathew hadn’t been one for studying, but he did like to think he knew what was what. And he was sure he knew more than a Stray like Kara.
“I’m not saying that everything was wrong, because I don’t know what you’ve been taught, but I am telling you that Fidgets are real. And they’re everywhere.”
“Well, I’ve never seen one of the thieving little things. Ever.” Mathew didn’t want to believe that Fidgets could be real, because then he’d have to doubt what he knew about the Narrow Gate. And if the Narrow Gate was not a myth, then he’d never, ever find it, because he had never even tried to do the right thing. In fact, he’d always made a point to try to do whatever he wanted, whether it was right or not.
“I’ve seen them at the river,” Kara insisted. “But, if you don’t believe me, you can sleep near the river if you want, and see if you don’t wake up with a Fidget gnawing on your foot – right before he steals everything you own.”
Mathew thought about it. He did want to be near the river, but the thought of a Fidget’s sharp teeth biting through his skin to crunch on his bones – which is what the myth had said that they liked to do to their victims – was enough to change his mind. Better safe than sorry – it was something his mother had said to him, and lately he’d realized the truth of that adage. It really was better to be safe than sorry. Lately he’d been sorry a lot and not very safe.
“Fine. We will stay away from the river.”
“Good. I’m glad you see the sense of it,” Kara had stopped walking and was glaring at him. “How do you feel about right here?”
She tugged her bag from her shoulder and let it slide to the ground, then sat down beside it.
“This is fine.” Mathew looked around. It was as good a place as any. The carpet of leaves was very thick, and would provide a nice layer of softness under their blankets when they slept.
Mathew dropped his bag on the ground beside Kara’s and plopped down on the ground next to her. His legs ached with exhaustion, and it felt so good to sit down that he groaned. Then he let himself fall back into the leaves, stretching out on the spongy ground.
The leaves high above his head danced in a gentle breeze, forming a flickering green canopy that almost mesmerized his tired eyes. If he hadn’t been so hungry, he could have easily fallen asleep right then.
“At least the ground will be soft to sleep on tonight,” he sighed, trying to talk himself into sitting back up so that he could dig through his pack and get himself something to eat before he spread out his blankets for the night.
Kara chuckled, “We can’t sleep on the ground here in the Old Forest.”
He glanced at her. She was smiling down at him, her expression rather derisive, as if he should know why they couldn’t sleep on the ground in the Old Forest.
He wracked his brain for a reason, unwilling to admit that she might know something that he didn’t. “Fidgets?”
She nodded. “They normally stick around the river near GateWide, but in the Old Forest, there are a lot of them, so they’ll be everywhere after dark.”
“Well, where are we supposed to sleep then?” He heard the whine in his own voice, and felt a little disgusted with himself. He didn’t mean to whine at Kara, he was just so tired that the thought of having to do one more thing before he slept was very disheartening.
“In the trees,” Kara said, gesturing to the towering giants above their heads.
Mathew looked up at the trees. Most of them were so enormous that their lowest branches were nowhere near ground level. They’d have to climb the thick trunks to reach a perch. He wasn’t sure he could do it.
“Fidgets can’t climb,” she told him.
That, at least, Mathew had known from the myth. Or at least what he’d thought was a myth. His tutor had said that a Fidget was another mutated creature that had been caused by the toxic clouds that had been released in the Time of Old Tech. The creatures were said to be flesh-eaters, especially enjoying feasting on the flesh of children. At the time, Mathew had thought that it was just another story to scare him into behaving.
“Their arms are supposed to be too short, right?” he asked, wondering if that part of the story was right at least.
Kara nodded, “Everything about them is too short – except for their teeth and claws.”
“How will we get up there?” Mathew didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t sure he could do it. Climbing a tree with branches sticking out all over was one thing. Climbing a tree trunk with no branches was quite another.
She grinned at him, “Don’t worry, I have a way. We can rest a while until Jax comes back. I can’t leave him down here for the Fidgets to get. And besides, it won’t be dark for a while yet and you can help me gather some twigs for a small fire, just in case Jax brings back a rabbit.”
Mathew wasn’t sure he wanted to wait for the fox. If Fidgets were real, he’d rather be in a tree before darkness fell. But, apparently, he had little say in the matter. Although he was a little annoyed that she was always taking charge of everything, he was also beginning to realize that he was lucky to be with Kara. The little Stray knew much more than he’d given her credit for. And he had to admit, she’d done a good job of keeping them alive so far.
Mathew flopped back down onto his back to wait for the fox. He took the Old Tech from his pocket. It was blank again. He pressed the same symbol that he had before, but nothing happened.
He couldn’t help but marvel at the thing. It was not much thicker than the blade of a good knife, yet it was rigid and inflexible. The front slick part was a wonder to him. How could it show his father’s moving, speaking image to him like it had? The back part of the Old Tech was odd as well. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. The black surface was shiny, with tiny golden lines and flecks of some mysterious shiny substance just under the surface. He sighed, laying the object on his stomach as he closed his eyes to rest. If his father was alive, he wanted so badly to find him.
“May I see it?” Kara asked.
He opened his eyes and nodded.
She picked up the Old Tech and stroked its shiny surface with a grimy fingertip. “Mine wasn’t like this. This one is much bigger, longer and wider, but thinner than mine. And mine did not have this shiny substance on the back.”
She held the object in a beam of sunlight, turning it side to side so that the flecks on the back caught the light and glimmered like tiny pieces of gold and silver.
As she held it in the sunlight, Mathew noticed a change.
“Look,” he pointed to the tiny green light that had lit in the thin side of the object. “You’ve made a light come on.”
“I did?” Kara removed it from the sunbeam and held it closer to her face to see.
The light went off.
Mathew sat up and scooted closer, suddenly excited. “It is the sun! The Old Tech likes the sun! Hold it in the light again.”
Kara held the Old Tech in the fading beam of sunlight, and again the light came on. She smiled at him. “It does! It does like the sun.”
“I wonder why?” Mathew said aloud, turning the new development over in his mind. What could it mean? What object liked the sun? Animals, people and plants needed the sun to thrive, but he’d never seen an object that liked the sun too.
Kara shrugged, “Who knows with Old Tech? I’ve heard that Old Tech objects have been found that do all sorts of odd things.”
At her own words, Kara sobered a little. “Some of them even make poison clouds.”
She handed the object back to him. “We should probably be more careful with this. If it likes the sun, though, I say you should let it have some.”
Mathew nodded, setting the object on the ground where a faint sunbeam shone on the leaves. “That’s why Ga
teWide allowed no Old Tech within the walls. It is dangerous.”
Kara shook her head. “I don’t think that’s why.”
“Then why?” Mathew asked. What did she know of GateWide? She was only a Stray.
“I heard it was because some of the Old Tech objects contain stories, about how things used to be. And the Sovereign doesn’t want anyone to know some of those things, so he keeps all of the Old Tech for himself in the House. I also heard that the Old Tech objects can do lots of powerful things. Like magic.”
Mathew felt gooseflesh rise on his arms when he thought about the House. “Like what things?”
“I don’t know. Just things,” Kara shrugged. “I’m glad I don’t really know. If the Sovereign doesn’t want anyone to know, then it is better that I don’t. ”
Mathew shivered. Even Kara was afraid of the Sovereign and the House.
Chapter Eight
“We must not let them reach the Narrow Gate. You know the cost of that as well as I do. And you must retrieve the boy’s Old Tech,” the raspy voice of the current Sovereign was the only sound in the massive room. It whispered across the tall marble walls and echoed back from the high ornate ceiling.
“Yes, Sovereign,” Enforcer Dormet replied in his meekest, most subservient voice, head down, eyes staring at the heavily-veined black marble floor beneath him. Even through the thick cloth of his breeches, he could feel the chill of the cold marble against his knees as he knelt before the Sovereign’s throne. There were no fires lit in the massive fireplaces lining the walls. The Sovereign liked it cold. He said it made them all more alert. Dormet had always thought it was because the man was not completely human.
“Which one does he have?” the Sovereign asked.
Dormet dared a glance at the Sovereign at the question, unwilling to admit that he did not know which Old Tech device the boy had. He immediately regretted looking at the man. The current Sovereign was not a pretty sight. Years of disapproval had etched deep lines into his pale, unhealthy skin. One pale blue eye, the iris appearing almost white in the dimness of the room, stared back at him from a long thin face. An Old Tech far-seeing device was embedded in his other eye. It had the faint sheen and color of metal and covered the entire white of the Sovereign’s eye. Dormet had heard it said that with the far-seeing device, the Sovereign could see into other worlds, but he didn’t know if that was true. He’d also heard it said that the implantation of the device had been horribly painful and had caused the Sovereign to suffer attacks of excruciating pain and frequent hallucinations periodically ever since he’d begun to wear it. This Dormet believed, since he had been unfortunate enough to be present once when the Sovereign had suffered such an attack. It had been a memorable occasion. People had a tendency to die when the Sovereign began hallucinating.