The Gate Thief (Mither Mages) (37 page)

Then he wove another gate, just as strong, leading back to a spot on the other side of the cabin. “Stone,” said Danny. “You and Veevee first.”

“We’ve already been through a Great Gate,” said Veevee.

“Not this one,” said Danny. “So go and come back again. Veevee can show you the return entrance. And Veevee, I need you there to shepherd everybody through—and so you can lock the gate if somebody on Westil tries to interfere or use the thing. And if Loki shows up, explain it to him. Though maybe he knows. Maybe he knows whatever his gates know.”

Danny could feel that the Greeks had stopped going through the Wild Gate. “They’re done,” he said. “That means they’re coming. Hermia knows where this gate is. She may try to interfere. I have to concentrate on watching for her and protecting this place. So when you get back, Stone, you’re in charge of this end.”

With that, Danny went off by himself, into the cabin, up into the loft.

The two Westilian boys went up the ladder after him. “You can watch,” said Danny. “But do not speak to me.” Not that the older boy needed the warning. And if the younger boy was really a gatemage, maybe he’d be able to follow what Danny was doing.

Danny looked for Hermia, though not with his eyes. She was easy to find. She only had a few divisions of her outself, her ba, but since her passage through the Wild Gate she glowed so brightly that she could not escape his notice.

She was trying to lock the Wild Gate.

Fool, thought Danny. The time to lock it was before you sent your entire Family through it.

Danny began unweaving his own gates from the Wild Gate. He knew what would happen—the former captives would remain, and he would no longer be able to feel when people passed through it.

But it would be a far weaker Great Gate without his ba woven through it. And the return gate was entirely his. That one he simply took back. There was no return now, if anyone used the Wild Gate. Hermia would know what he was doing. Let her watch.

He had thought of doing this while they were still passing through the Wild Gate. But he didn’t know what half-unweaving the outbound gate would do to anyone using it at the time. Danny wasn’t prepared to do murder, and for all he knew, that’s what it would be.

As for the return gate, yes, he could have closed that at any time. Removed it and brought it back. But that would have left Illyrian mages on Westil, stranded and angry—and far more powerful than any mages on Westil. It would be irresponsible to send such an affliction to the other world. Better to let them all come back here and
then
weaken the outbound gate and close off the return permanently.

Hermia was angry, no doubt. Poor dear. What did you think would happen? Did you think I’d be understanding? That I’d do nothing?

Yes, angry indeed. For now he felt her trying to take hold of the end of the outbound gate that the Norths were all passing through.

Danny didn’t even bother fighting her. He could have overpowered her easily. But then he would have had to do it again and again, whenever she felt like making another try.

So he took her gates.

As a Lockfriend, she had only three divisions of her outself. But she had to send them out in order to manipulate his gate. Without passing through a Great Gate, she would never have had power to reach this far. But now two of her three gates were here, trying to move his Great Gate.

Danny ate them.

Then he followed them back to her gatehoard and ate the last one, too. All three now, everything she had, was inside his hearthoard. He could feel their terror. But no anger. Hermia was not angry. She was afraid, but she knew she deserved this. She knew that he could easily kill her, gate her to the bottom of the ocean and have done with her. Her treachery deserved no less. It had been the opening salvo in a war she could not win.

But he wouldn’t kill her. She must have known that about him, though clearly he did not know
her
at all. However, she would understand that rendering her blind and crippled to gates was actually a mild punishment, compared to the rules of war. Now he would not have to stay awake, waiting for her next move.

Indeed, this attempt to move his new Great Gate might have been intended as an offering. She must have known he would detect the attempt and block it. She was giving him the chance to punish her in this lesser way. Still terrible, but there was always the chance he might give her gates back to her.

The chance, perhaps. But he could not think what she might say or do to win back his trust.

There were nowhere near as many Norths as there were Illyrians. They were already done, and all the Orphans, too.

“I want you to go through the Great Gate, too,” said Danny. “And come right back. This is a better gate. It will make you stronger than you are. Will you do that?”

“Yes,” said Enopp. “Who was it that you ate up?”

“A friend who betrayed me,” said Danny.

“But you didn’t gate her anywhere,” said Enopp. “Wad gates people places. He kept me in prison for more than a year.”

“I’m not … Wad,” said Danny. “I’m a different man and I use my magery a different way.”

“Are you a weakling?” asked Enopp. “Eluik thinks you are weak, to be afraid to hurt people.”

“When someone is dead I can’t bring them back,” said Danny. “And if I hurt them too terribly, I can never win their trust.”

“Weak,” said Enopp. “That’s what Eluik says.”

“When he takes back his own body and speaks for himself I’ll take notice of what he says,” said Danny. “Meanwhile, are you willing to go through the gate and come back?”

“Yes,” said Enopp.

And Eluik nodded.

Danny gated them down to the isthmus where the outbound gate was. Stone would send them through.

Then Danny gated himself to Lexington and found Zog. He was still full of rage, but he spoke politely. Fawningly. “The Lord Danny has subdued this vile old bird,” said Zog. “I know who holds the power here.”

“There is to be no violence at the place where I’ve made the Great Gate,” said Danny coldly. “My friend Stone owns the house. You will obey him while you’re there, or I’ll make you pay.”

“I understand the Lord Danny’s mercy.”

“I am Loki to you,” said Danny.

Zog looked stricken. “You would
use
that vile name?”

“I have met the Loki who took the gates. He acted with wisdom and courage, and I share his purpose. It’s a far higher purpose and far more terrible war than any
you
have ever fought.”

“What do you know of war?” asked Zog contemptuously.

“I know that you lost every one you fought in,” said Danny. “I know that by obeying me and treating me with respect, you will earn the right to have your powers greatly increased. You’ve already had all your body’s pains and weaknesses healed, haven’t you?”

Zog nodded.

“That was a gift I gave you, even as I gated you away so you didn’t waste my time with your petty hatred.”

“The Lord Loki is generous.” He said “Loki” as if he were spitting out a cockroach.

Danny gated him to Maine.

He found his parents in the upstairs room of a sandwich restaurant in a fine old house. With them were their children from their first marriages—Father’s son Pipo, nine years older than Danny, and Mother’s daughter Leonora, who had just turned twenty. Pipo’s mother and Leonora’s father had both been killed in the last war, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once it was decided to let Father and Mother mate in order to try to make Danny, the old marriages wouldn’t have mattered. Families made their decisions, and people obeyed. Even the heads of the Families obeyed.

Mother looked happy to see him. It was her first response and it touched him a little. Father, however, knew that he would not be there if there were not something terribly wrong, so his response was dread. Dread, but
not
fear of Danny himself. They knew him well enough not to fear that he was there to attack them.

As for Pipo and Leonora, they had never been awful to him, but they had also never protected or helped him in any way. They were nothing to him, and he was nothing to them. But that meant they had a better relationship than the one Danny had with most of the Family.

Danny sat beside them and crisply told them what they needed to know. “I’ll pay the bill,” he said, and then gated them to Maine.

When the waiter came back, Danny asked for the check. There was no reason for a drowther waiter to have a bad night just because the gods were starting a war.

With the bill paid, and a good tip given, Danny went outside, stepped into the gap between two buildings, and gated himself away.

Family by Family, he spent that night going through the world, gating everyone to Maine, leaving them for Stone and Veevee to guide them through the gates, and then going on to the next Family.

The land around the cabin was getting crowded and people were cold, though a couple of fire mages had warmed the house, and windmages were keeping the air still. At one point Father tried to talk to him. Danny interrupted him. “Stone keeps a pickup truck on the other side of the lake,” he said. “Now that you’ve been to Westil, see what you and Mother can do with the machinery and electronics. With all the Families fairly evenly balanced, and the Norths outnumbered, the only possible advantage is your abilities with machines. Drowther machinery. Who knows how you might be able to use it now?”

Father nodded. “Does this mean you’re with us now?” he asked.

“No,” said Danny. “But if you have any brains, you’ll forget about this Loki and set out trying to create an alliance with the Orphan mages. There aren’t enough Norths to fight this war, and they, too, will have to survive in a world dominated once again by powerful gods.”

“That’s wise counsel,” said Father.

“No, Father,” said Danny. “It’s a demand. I’m going out now to find all the Orphans I can and bring them back. Stone has to go with me because I don’t know who and where they are. So I’m setting you to greet them and send them through the Great Gate. Thor can prepare defenses, if they come against us after all. I’m beginning to think Hermia
didn’t
tell them where I made this gate, but I might be wrong. Use this opportunity to treat them decently and
as equals
. That means keep Zog and Gyish away from them.”

Father nodded. “Your plan is a good one. I see that it’s our best chance to survive the coming war. I will bring all the Orphans into our Family and—”

“No,” said Danny. “They are not to be adopted. They are not to be put under your authority. You’re going to have to do something much harder. Treat them as allies. As equals. Let them
agree
to accept North leadership in battle, but
not
North hegemony. Is that clear? They remain independent.”

“I didn’t mean to rule over them,” Father protested. “I just—I assumed they would want—”

“Assume nothing,” said Danny. “Treat them as equals. Now I have work to do.”

“Will you ever stop hating us?” asked Father.

“At this moment, I hate nobody except one, and he’s not a North.”

“Who is it? That Greek girl?”

“It’s the Dragon. Set. You haven’t heard of him.”

Father looked blank.

“That’s the war that matters. This thing among you gods—it will be terrible and I’m afraid of how you’ll make the drowthers suffer with all your arrogance. But I have to find Set and figure out a way to keep both worlds safe from him, and even Loki doesn’t know how to do that.”

“Zog said that we have to call
you
Loki now,” said Father.

“No,
Zog
has to call me Loki. I’m Danny North to everyone else. ‘Loki’ still means the Gate Thief, though he uses another name on Westil.”

“I thought the Gate Thief was the enemy of all gatemages.”

“We all thought that, but it isn’t true. The Gate Thief has kept Westil safe for centuries, and by closing all the gates he has sharply limited the power of Set here in Mittlegard. But now there are Great Gates again, and the danger is terrible, and all of your magery is useless against him. Now get to work, please, Odin, and send Stone to me. I wish you well with your war.”

Father went away.

Stone joined him and together they spent the entire day going to every Orphan that Stone knew, or knew about. A dozen or so refused to go with them. Two score of them agreed to go to Westil and back, but insisted that they would then go home and fend for themselves. The rest, though, agreed to try, at least, to work with the Norths, to train with them, to cooperate if it really came to war with the Greeks.

None of the other Families even considered allying with the Norths. But they all kept the truce while they were at Stone’s cabin; then Danny gated them all back to their homelands to prepare for war. They knew that war would come. And by the time he had met them all, Danny had lost all hope that it might be avoided. They would all bide their time while they mastered their greatly increased powers. But the espionage would start at once, and the collisions would follow, sooner rather than later. They would escalate into combat. People would die.

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.