They walked
on as two separate parties: Lucius on
one side of the guards, the Ethian scholars on the other. Bitter words had been
exchanged and they were taking Lucius’s route only because they had no other
choice. Kath and Fred had already decided, between themselves, that once they
had got through the Wall, that they would go no further with Lucius. Exactly
how that would work, though, neither of them knew.
They had been walking alongside the Wall northwards for about four
hours when its shape changed slightly; it began to bend inwards as if to form a
mouth. At the end of that mouth was a
huge iron gate, taking up more than half of the height of the wall, but wide
enough only to allow at most five elves abreast to march through, it wouldn’t
have sufficed for a proper army. There was no keyhole or any other obvious
method of opening it. They stopped a few yards in front of it.
Lucius removed the gate key from his pocket with a flourish; Kath saw
it for just a second, but she’d have liked to have had a better look. Lucius
gestured to Maxilius and the Lieutenant organised his troops into a protective
shield around their self-appointed leader. In this rather unwieldy formation,
Lucius and the guards shuffled up to the gate. When they were in touching
distance of the entrance the guards stood to one side. Lucius unwrapped the key and held it up to
the wall. The scholars looked on with an equal mixture of contempt and
fascination. The key was indistinguishable from a small, dark green, pebble.
‘Gather round me, ignorant human scholars’ Lucius shouted, ‘you will
finally learn something of real value! I shall make a way for us!’
As he spoke the key began to glow bright red, and then it flashed. A
low hum now came from the wall. Lucius’s face was flushed with excitement.
‘Now you will see something of the might of the Empire!’ he declaimed,
‘behold the mysteries of the Wall of Juvian!’
The Gate shimmered and then abruptly disappeared. There was a faint
plopping noise, and Lucius was quite suddenly sucked inside, his cloak
streaming out behind him. He gave a short loud gasp, and then he was gone. The
others briefly saw a floating dark green globe behind the gate and then the
gate surface reformed. On the ground lay the gate key, where Lucius had dropped
it.
***
No-one moved
for a long time. The first to approach the key was Kath, as curiosity was
stronger in her than fear. She took a wooden spoon out her backpack and prodded
the key. It did nothing. She did nothing. It was a stand-off. She stared at the
key for several minutes and then considered the end of the spoon.
Maxilius came up behind her and picked the key up.
‘What on earth was that?’ he asked, ‘what happened?’ He looked stony
faced. Sweat glistened on his brow.
Kath went up to examine the gate. She shook her head.
‘I have no idea what happened – some sort of force pulled him in, I
think’ she said, her voice full of awe, ‘this gate is very strange indeed. It
seems to be made of some astonishingly thin metal’
‘We need to get inside as quickly as possible’ said Maxilius, ‘Lucius
may be in grave danger’
No-one moved very fast.
‘Probably a goner’ muttered Fred.
‘Well, perhaps that’s meant to happen? Perhaps that’s how you get
inside?’ suggested Potentilla. ‘I don’t mind having a go’. Her eyes were bright
with excitement.
Kath considered this for no more than a second and then shook her head.
‘It didn’t look like that should have happened. Lucius’s trajectory
looked worryingly like something being dragged into the cogs of a machine…’
‘Too much talk’ said Maxilius ‘I have to rescue Lucius, and we know how
to get in…’
He held the key up and carried it to the gate. It began to glow again.
‘No!’ shouted Kath. Fred, and most of the guards, descended rapidly
upon Maxilius, trying to pull him backwards. As they formed a scrum the gate
began to melt again. There was another plop, and a force, which felt like a
huge hand plucking up a small bird, dragged them in towards the Wall.
‘Hold on! shouted Kath, and those at the back of the chain, whose feet
were still on the ground, dug their heels in. For a moment the forces were
balanced, and as if in response to their immobility, a green sphere floated out
from the wall towards them. It was about ten feet in diameter and was clearly
the origin of the strange pulling force. The sphere was entirely featureless,
but Kath still thought that it looked rather angry.
The sphere hovered a few feet away from them, and began to rotate
slowly. It started to emit a hum, just as they had heard before. The force
pulling them in became stronger. As a group they began to rise into the air, as
if suspended on an invisible rope extending from the sphere.
Potentilla, some way back and not part of the struggling group, picked
up her bow. She readied it and then sent an arrow flying into the centre of the
sphere. This seemed to distract it momentarily and for a split second the force
stopped. Everyone in the big pile dropped to the floor. They scattered and ran
as fast as they could in all directions away from the wall. Potentilla ducked
and ran too. No-one looked back for several seconds. When they did, the sphere
was gone and the gate was closed again.
Kath forced herself to stop running. She turned, panting very hard, and
stared despondently at the gate.
‘I think we need another plan’ she said.
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