Behind the Iron Gates

Open the gates. Eva took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Ceron placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You okay, captain?” he asked.

“Let’s be ready for anything,” Eva said.

Ceron nodded. “You heard the captain. Be ready for anything, everyone.”

The other Keepers surrounded her, and she pulled out a small knife. She pricked her wrist with the point of the blade and a large drop of blood rolled down her wrist and onto her hand. She placed her hand against the lock; the blood swirled and worked its way into the markings. The gears adjusted, and the same chill ran through her as before. It was as if hands of ice gripped her and turned her blood cold. She shivered. Ceron gripped her shoulder tighter, and one after the other, the Keepers linked their energy together. Eva murdered an incantation under her breath, just a whisper, and the lock squealed as its parts moved for the first time in centuries. The gate trembled, and the hollowed out space between the gate and the corridor scattered dust around them. The lock snapped in her hand, and the door swung inward revealing darkness that was pitch black. Ceron quickly incanted an ellamp into range and sent it hurtling past the gates. It illuminated the tall, damp passageway. That familiar heaviness gripped Eva’s chest again. Go beyond the gates, look around, then retreat. Go beyond the gates, she thought to herself. Eva drew her sword and stepped in side, and one by one her company followed.

They were inside the mountain, and it was cold. Cold and empty. The sound of air moving through uneven clefts and scratches on the wall stirred the silence. The entire passageway was made of eitrium and sloped downward. Eva’s heart was beating fast. Be ready for anything, she thought. “Ceron, dim the ellamp. Ilona, can you map the passageway?”

Ilona nodded, closed her eyes, and incanted a searchlight, small and blue. It moved fast and disappeared down the dark passageway. They waited for Ilona to finish. The searchlight was quick, and Ilona’s eyes snapped open. “There’s another gate at the bottom. I can’t quite tell how far, and I can’t see past it. The rest of the passage is just empty.”

“Down we go,” Ceron said.

“One of us should wait here,” said Agim.

Eva turned on him. “No, we stay together. Let’s move.” And she looked back at the Kevah, who was still standing just beyond the gate.

“Will you be alright?” the Kevah asked.

“Yes, we’ll be fine,” Eva said. “But you should close the gate.”

“I’ll be here,” the Kevah said and pulled the gate closed, so they were cut off from the main hall.

Silence echoed through the small troop, and they started their descent.

* * *

Each step they took was just like the next, twisting, turning, and dark, until about thirty minutes later, when they could finally see the glow from Ilona’s searchlight around the next bend. They rounded the corner, and the searchlight flickered and stood still. It was bright against the darkness, and behind it was the second gate, as tall as the outer city gates leading into Levasir. Eva’s heart beat faster against her ribcage, and she stepped forward. Ilona swallowed anxiously behind her. Eva pulled her sword out of its sheath and spoke an invocation for another ellamp and sent it to over in the space between them and the gate. The soft, warm light washed against a staircase that was easily seven door frames wide.

“We’re not going to open that, are we?” Agim asked.

Open the gate. “Yes, we are,” Eva said. “We’ll open it just long enough to look inside and then retreat. That should satisfy Councilor Samel.”

“Captain,” Agim said from behind her, “We can say we tried to open it but couldn’t.”

Eva turned around. “And then if Councilor Samel sends someone else to do it and finds out that we lied? Then what? No, we open it.”

“I have a younger sister to take care of,” Agim said.

“If you were so worried about your sister,” Eva said, “then why become a Guardian? For all we know, there is nothing behind that gate. And do I need to remind you we don’t have a choice? We have our orders. And if there is something, then we handle it together. Everyone understand?”

Words of agreement rose from the group, and Eva faced the gate. It was further down than it looked, and the gate slowly loomed higher. There were markings and letters etched roughly into the surface, and dust gathered in the cracks. Like the first gate, there was nowhere for a key. And it didn’t have a lock or hinges anywhere to be seen. They descended the steps, and as they got closer, they could see markings etched into the floor in front of the gate.

“It looks like there are six standing points,” Ceron pointed to repetitive markings on the floor.

“Yes,” Ilona said, “but there are only four of us.”

“The guards back at the first gate,” Eva said, “they’re within range.”

“Within range?” Ilona asked and shifted nervously to look at her.

Ceron didn’t lift his eyes from studying the gate, but nodded.

“We’re going to take the life-force from those guards?” Ilona asked. “That’s forbidden.”

“All of this is forbidden,” Agim said, “but I guess rules don’t apply if your name is Councilor Samel or if you’re the Kevah because you can get rid of anyone who disobeys you, anyway.”

Eva clenched and unclenched her fists. Breathe Eva. Get in, get out. She walked straight to the first standing point and put a hand on the gate. “Everyone, get in line.”

Ceron moved to stand next to her and leaned in close. “Bind it to me too, Eva,” he said quietly, “before you go after the guards.”

“I’ll bind it to all of us before I try to reach them,” she said, and once everyone was in position, she took out her knife.

“And toss me the knife,” Ceron said and tilted his head to the side, “when you’re done, of course. We’ll need more blood for a gate this large, and I volunteer.” He smiled at her.

Eva smiled back. “Good, you’d better.” Then, she made a small cut on her wrist, drawing more blood than the first time. A few drops trickled from the wound and she shuddered.

“Because you know,” Ceron continued under his breath, “if you get exiled, or would it be re-exiled? I can’t let you go without me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Eva said and tossed him the knife.

He flipped it over in his hand and cut a slight wound on his wrist.

Ilona cleared her throat from her standing point on the other side of Ceron. “When was the last time any of us said any of the Old Eron Prayers?” she asked.

“If you start incanting ancient prayers,” Agim said, “just make sure you bind it to yourself and not me. I don’t want you sapping my energy.”

“You’re absurd,” Ilona said, “And we all have people waiting for us, Agim, not just you.”

“Ilona,” Eva said, “say a prayer if you’d like, then we’ll start.”

Ilona cleared her throat again, focused on the gate in front of her, and let one of the Old Eron Prayers flow from her lips. While Ilona recited, Eva looked down at her blood covered hand, and then placed it on the gate once again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ceron do the same. They would get in, get out, and go home. She took a deep breath. Ilona was finished, and Eva closed her eyes. She focused on her team, since they were easy to find with her mind, and she saw a small light for each of them start to outline their figures until she had a clear picture of each of them.

She murmured a few words and bound her life-force to each of theirs. They didn’t resist. So, she expanded her range, and drifted back up the staircase, through that winding passageway, and past the gate that led to the Kevah and his guards. She could see them sitting there, next to the gate, and she reached out. She saw her hand move forward, towards the guards, and she let out a few words travel past her lips. One guard turned in her direction, and she paused. No, he couldn’t see her. She completed the incantation for the first guard, now onto the second, Bisera. She felt a waft of heat hit her entire body and heard Ceron’s distant voice say her name. I don’t have them yet. Her own voice echoed in her mind. I’m almost done. Ceron urged her to hurry. She extended her reach again and grabbed a hold of the guard’s life-force and bound him to the incantation. Done.

Another wave of heat hit her body, and she opened her eyes to liquid fire. It was filling the cracks and crevices of each symbol, running along the walls, and into the markings of the standing points where they stood.

“Done!” Eva said, “Recite epitaph 7.”

Epitaph 7, for opening gates and other doors, but they’d never used it with blood before.