Through the Gate

          The next magic lesson was the Shield of Invisibility, a spell that both hides and defends. Ciaran explained it to me in detail: how the spell worked, the thought process that the caster had to go through step by step, and the fabric of the shield that was woven by the mind. He had to nudge me awake several times during the lecture because his soothing voice was lulling me to sleep.

           “Ashlyn, this is important.” he was telling me.

           “I was listening!” At least I thought I had been, but since my eyes were closed, it’s debatable.

           “Look, you’re really cute when you’re sleepy, but you need to learn this before we go through the gate.”

           I shook my head, trying to clear the sweet, coaxing fog that was filling it. “Okay! What do I need to do?”

           “Hold out your arm again,” Ciaran began. I held out my left one, and its muscles were unhappy. “Now, draw an outline for your shield. Just make it a small one for now. Next, draw horizontal lines inside the outline, and then vertical, like threads in a piece of cloth.”

           This was difficult to do while being jostled on the back of a horse. It’s like doing math in your head, when you finish solving the problem, but forget what the other numbers were -- and then add being on a horse. I was getting frustrated, but Donal gave me some tips from the side, and eventually I was able to keep all those lines drawn in the air straight.

“There you go! I can only see your head and foot now.” Donal brought his horse closer, and poked my shield. I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “It’s a bit... mushy.”

            “Better than nothing.” Ciaran admitted. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it.” Frowning, I lowered my arm, dissolved the shield, and tried again. And again.

            “Where did we want to go from the gate?” Donal asked Jinge.

            “We should decide before we get there, shouldn’t we?” Ciaran agreed.

            “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go straight to the castle.” Jinge said. “We don’t want to make it look like we plan on attacking. But since we can count on Brand waiting for us, anywhere might work.”

“So, not too close. Let’s go to the forest. We’ll have more cover that way.” Donal pulled out his map and tried to look at in in the dark.

            “What happens then?” I asked, my stomach starting to flip-flop.

            “This is what we’ll do.” Jinge announced, in a low voice. “We make an ‘accidental’ appearance near the forest, and while Ashlyn is being caught, we scry for Brand’s location, and then teleport there. While he is distracted with capturing her, and when he isn’t surrounded by an army.”

           “What if he is constantly surrounded while he makes his move?” Ciaran pointed out.

            “Well, let’s determine where he is first, then.”

            “Can we do that before we go through the gate?” I asked.

            “No. The Faery world is off-the-radar from here, I’m afraid.” Ciaran replied. “We’ll have to wait until we get inside again.” I leaned my cheek against his back and held on.

            Soon we came to a fence. It looked like the property line for a landowner, because no house was in sight. The horses jumped over it with ease, and we dismounted and snuck through the trees until we were walking over mowed grass. I still don’t know whose yard that was, but the landscaping was lovely. There was an arbor, a gravel path leading to a wishing well, and fountain nearby.

Donal began rummaging around in his saddlebag and found his slingshot and magic ball. The last time he used them I wondered if he had a baseball-sized keyhole for every single gate, but I found out that he only needed one. The bracelet has a sort of link to his head, and knows which gate he means to lock or unlock when he uses it. Pretty awesome, don’t you think? That’s how he was able to lock all of them at once so Brand would be unable to follow us into the human world.

The ball started glowing as we got closer to the gate. Along the back of the fountain was an old rock wall, which we followed until finding an archway. Jinge walked up to it and touched one of the stones.

            “This is it,” he said. “It’s faint, but the trace is still there.” His finger brushed a a dark spot. “It’s a keyhole. This is one of the old ones.”

            “A gate with a keyhole still intact? That’s amazing!” Ciaran was shushed in his over-excitement. “Those are really rare.” he whispered. It made me smile.

            “Okay! So we’ll come out in the east side of the forest, there’s a village here...” Donal said, pulling up a key from his bracelet. He and Ciaran consulted the map for a second. Jinge took me aside and repeated my part of the plan to me, which was actually pretty simple: try to run, give up, and don’t get hurt.

            “Be as scared as you like-- looking stupid will be good.” he told me. “We won’t be far behind. But in case something goes wrong, take this.” he plopped a ring into my palm, which looked like it was made out of obsidian. “It’s a goblin ring, so if you twist it, it’ll help you hide in the shadows.”

It fit on my thumb, but loosely. I felt my eyes get a bit misty. “Thank you.”

Jinge shrugged, looking irritated. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I was against bringing you along in the first place. We had no time, and I thought it was foolish. But you’re braver than I expected, and... I was wrong, so, good luck, Ashlyn.”

          To have the approval-- even the grudging approval-- of a big, scary guy like Jinge is a good feeling. This feeling was topped off by Ciaran putting his arms around me and asking if I was okay. I nodded.

          My faery smiled faintly and tucked a lock of wisping hair behind my ear. “That’s good. Personally, I’m still scared out of my wits, but that’s good.”

           It’s hard for me to describe just how much a single, distressed facial expression of his could physically hurt me. I leaned forward and kissed him with every ounce of feeling I had, because it was unbearable to think of him being scared. It made me think of the last time we'd faced death together-- when we’d almost been killed by goblins. I buried my head in his shoulder. “Can’t you just turn him into a fly?”

            That made him laugh. “I will if I get the chance.”

            An awkward cough reminded us that the others were waiting a few yards away. We let go of each other quickly.

“Ready when you are.” Donal said politely.

“Sorry, sorry. We’re ready now.” I apologized, straightening my clothes and pulling my hood up.

“That was another reason I didn’t want you to bring her along,” Jinge told Ciaran. “All that gross, lovey-dovey stuff.”

            “You’re just jealous.” Ciaran retorted, still holding my hand tightly.

            “Well, here goes.” Donal unlocked the magic ball and shot it through the gate with his slingshot. The opening of the gate flashed, looking like the wall of a bubble for an instant.

            I tightened my grip on Ciaran’s hand, and we walked through the gate together, maybe for the last time.