Orson Card - The Gate Thief

When Danny and Stone returned to the cabin, it was late afternoon. The day had warmed up a little. Danny saw that Father was making an effort-he and Mother were talking with several of the Orphans, and others were paired up with Norths, practicing magery in some rather spectacular ways. The waters of one lake were churning. Large stones were falling from a nearby cliff, then stopping and sliding back up to resume their place. There were whirlwinds underfoot. But everyone was being careful and polite. Zog and Gyish were nowhere to be seen.

Danny found Thor. “How many of your informants are Mithermages?” asked Danny.

“All the ones who are mages, you’ve already brought here. The others are drowthers.”

“Is there any chance of the Family surviving this war?” asked Danny.

“Oh, a very good one,” said Thor. “If we have the greatest Gatefather in history fighting beside us.”

“Don’t count on it,” said Danny.

“Well, then, our chances aren’t so good,” said Thor.

“See what Father and Mother can do with the machinery of war,” said Danny.

Thor seemed puzzled.

“Tanks and fighter planes, Thor,” said Danny. “I don’t think any other mages know how to deal with them. What Father can do with machines, what Mother can do with electricity-that’s where you put your money, Thor. The Norths get there first, and if you play it right, the others won’t have any hope of catching up.”

Thor grinned. “You care about us after all,” he said.

“You’re my damn family,” said Danny. “Even if you never made me glad of it for a moment.” Danny turned away.

“What will you be doing, Danny?”

“I’m creating a public gate to take you back to the farm. But it’s a one-way gate. Once you leave here, you aren’t coming back, at least not by gate. There will be no gates leading to this Great Gate. But for anyone who tries to come here without my permission, there’ll be plenty of gates. They just won’t go to desirable places. Understand?”

“Danny, do you know what war means?” asked Thor. “Do you understand that someday you’re going to have to kill somebody?”

“I’ve had a man killed before,” said Danny, “and I’ve seen death.”

“When?” asked Thor.

“I’ve had a busy time since I ran away from home.” He paused. “Here’s the gate back to the compound. Get people back there before they eat up everything Stone has.”

Then Danny went back to Buena Vista. He had missed a whole day of school. He was exhausted. But he had to make sure that Hermia, who knew all his friends, was not arranging some kind of mischief. The Mithermages could take care of themselves, now that they had passed through a Great Gate. But Danny’s friends would be easy targets for his enemies. So far they were safe-he had checked on them several times through the night and day just passed.

Now, though, Danny had to sleep. He would be safer if he slept here at the cabin, and the Great Gate would be better protected. But if Danny was in Buena Vista, alone, then any attack would probably come against him personally. That’s what he wanted. He could take care of himself. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Pat. Or any of them.

“In so many ways the boy is the opposite of me,” said Wad.

Anonoei was brushing her hair in front of the mirror. “You mean he’s tall? Or he’s a terrible lover?”

“Taller than I am,” said Wad, “but we may never know what kind of lover he’d be, since he seems grimly determined never to give or get pleasure of that kind.”

“You’re spying on him?”

“Yes,” said Wad. “I could hardly believe he didn’t realize that by giving him my gates-which he already had-I was given a window into his mind. Well, his perceptions, anyway.”

“Taking advantage of an untrained child. Shame on you.”

“He even knows that he can use my gates to access my memories. Yet it seems not to have occurred to him that I can use those gates to access his present actions.”

“Maybe he has nothing to hide,” said Anonoei.

“Nobody has nothing to hide,” said Wad. Then he thought better of it. “No, I think you’re right. This Danny North really is exactly what he seems.”

“Unlike Wad the kitchen boy,” said Anonoei.

“Equally unlike Anonoei, King Prayard’s drowther mistress,” said Wad.

“Manmages have to hide what we can do,” said Anonoei. “Fortunately, our magery makes it fairly easy to do. That’s one of the main reasons for the drastic penalty. If you manage to recognize manmagery, you rarely get a second chance to strike.”

“Quite the contrary,” said Wad. “I think the death penalty for manmages was created as an all-purpose excuse for murder. ‘I had strange compulsions whenever I was near him, so I knew he was a manmage, so I killed him.’”

“I have strange compulsions when I’m near you ,” said Anonoei.

“Those are normal compulsions,” said Wad. “Everybody has them.”

“But few would feel them toward you .”

“But you know what I am,” said Wad. “Godlike powers are such an aphrodisiac.”

“You’re not half the mage you used to be.”

“Still mage enough to port you around from place to place,” said Wad. “What I’m wondering is, how much of my eagerness to serve you in this way comes from my natural generosity and how much from the arcane influence of your magery.”

Anonoei paused in mid-stroke. “Now, now. We’ve had this conversation before, and we agreed that it’s circular. No matter what you desire or think, you can always say, ‘I wonder why she’s making me feel this desire.’ Or ‘this revulsion,’ or ‘this compulsion,’ or whatever comes to mind.”

“It’s in the nature of circular arguments that you can never quite escape them. You didn’t have to charm me into helping you seek vengeance on Bexoi. I have reasons enough of my own.”

“And don’t forget your powerful guilt over imprisoning me and my sons,” said Anonoei.

“I know that didn’t come from you,” said Wad. “I felt it long before you knew who your captor was.”

“Even if I had known, my abilities at that time depended on being present with the person I was influencing.”

“And now that you’ve been through a Great Gate?”

“I can divide my outself, rather the way you can. Perhaps I always could and didn’t know it. But now I can leave a bit of myself inside my clients, to keep my influence fresh and strong, and to see what they’re experiencing.”

“Sounds distracting. I actually have to pay close attention to see what’s going on with Danny North.”

“You’re not a manmage,” said Anonoei. “They all float in the back of my mind. Or rather, the back of my mind floats in them .”

“And have you given me a piece of your mind?” asked Wad.

“If I had, would I tell you?” asked Anonoei.

“It depends on your motive,” said Wad. “What if you’re so devoted to my happiness and well-being that you leave a bit of your ba inside me so you can be sure that everything you do pleases me?”

Anonoei got up from her chair and went to the window. “Why shouldn’t I use my abilities while I’m making love?”

“I’m not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with it,” said Wad. “But you are far, far too aware of exactly what pleases me from moment to moment for me to believe that you’re not using your magery.”

“Am I hearing a complaint?”

“You’re hearing a question,” said Wad. “When the lovemaking is finished, my lovely one, how much of you remains inside me?”

“More of you is inside me right now than there is of me inside you,” she said.