The Gate - Book 1 (Chapter 5)
If you’re new to The Gates, start here at Chapter 1.
Chapter 5
Elrik came crashing into Simmy's room and immediately grabbed his sons backpack out of the cupboard waking him up from his slumber. 'What are you doing father? what’s wrong?’ Simmy sat up and asked, before noticing that the sun was just starting to peak through the shutter showing it was not even morning yet. He could also hear the Dwells warning bell ringing, a bell that is only ever rung when bad weather is approaching or if something bad has happened in the dwell itself.
‘There has been an incident, Simmy’ Elrik said without stopping. ‘It’s the librarian. He’s dead Simmy, looks like he has been killed and witnesses say the last person they saw leaving the Library was you. And as always with the Elders they have already jumped to the wrong conclusion of this situation. They already want you caught and taken to the stocks. The stupid old fools’ He finished packing the bag and carried it back out of Simmy’s room. ‘Hurry boy. Get up!’ he demanded as he left. It is not uncommon for the Elders to jump to conclusions about incidences. Just because your and Elder does not mean you are smart. This is a lesson Elrik taught Simmy from a young age. After all there is not a diverse pool of families to choose from. The Elders spent more time drinking and with the pleasure of women much to Elriks annoyance, so anytime any real work was needed, it was common for them to do the smallest amount of work possible. This time was no different. It is clearly quicker for them to immediatly jump to Simmys guilt even knowing him for his whole life and how against his character this would be.
Simmy stumbled around the room looking for different clothing and got dressed. Then followed Elrik into the other room. ‘What am I going to do? you know I would never touch Eloi’ Elrik was stuffing more stuff into his backpack from the cupboards and shelves ‘Simmy, come here and listen, I always thought that Eloi was mad and been huffing too much of that damn weed pipe of his. But with what you told me last night I have to assume that whatever killed him will now come for you. And of course I know you would never do such a thing. But right now we have to get you out of here and to safety with no more delay. I have put in here enough food and clothes for a few weeks.’ Elrik walked over to Simmy and for the first time since his mother had died, his father hugged him. It was brief but he knew this was the most his father would allow emotion to show.
Elrik shoved the backpack into Simmys chest and reached into his own pocket pulling out some gold coins. 'Had to the south of the dwell. Do not head to the port at the north. I have arrange for a boat to be waiting for you. Just give the man waiting there two of these coins and head off to where Eloi told you to go. I will tell the council when I arrived home this evening you were already gone. I will then try follow when I can' and with that he ushered Simmy to the front door on pushed him through it closing the door switfly behind him. Simmy could hear crashing and shouting coming from inside. Was this really going to be how he left his father without even saying a proper good bye. He was just about to go back when he started to hear some commotion approaching this row of huts and realised it was the Elders coming to get him. He just looked at the door and said goodbye.
He could not head towards them and his hut is at the end of this row, he turned around and looked out to the sea because Simmy’s hut also was at the edge of the dwell. He thought for a moment and decided that he would need to do is jump in from here and float around the edge to the next alleyway.With that and a massive splash Simmy landed in the water and started to swim. The guards burst round the corner just as he vanished from the edge, then pounded on Elriks door before finally kicking it in, but Elrik greeted them sitting in his chair as always with his pipe. He had made the place look as if Simmy had messed it all up looking for something and told them his ruse. They walked back out and grabbed their whistles from their pockets and started to blow as they ran towards the harbor, the only place the could think of someone would head to if trying to leave.
The residents of the dwell who had up to this point sat patiently in their shacks now started to gather in their doorways hoping to catch a glimpse of the notorious murderer that had now if the rumors were true had killed two people. Somehow even stuck in there shacks rumours could magically make its way around.
All those years of exploring the seas around the dwell had made Simmy a great swimmer. He decided it was safer to keep heading to the south of the dwell by swimming and not get back out. It was cold but no more than he was use to and at this temperature he knew that it was possible to reach the meeting point before the cold would inhibit him from doing so. He also knew that with how quickly news can get around the dwell that if he chanced even getting caught by just the glance of an onlooker, the elders would know instantly where he is.
For the next five minutes he swam before finally reaching the small extending fishing pontoon his father had told him to head to and as promised, there floating next to it was a small boat and a man in fishing clothing and equipment. Simmy wondered if he was a fisherman of if this was a great disquise if he was stopped and asked what he was doing down here with a ship. Although as he looked closer Simmy noticed the ship's main mast was at least 5 meters tall and the vessel looked like it should be manned by at least 3 people crew. Elrik must have spent a lot of money getting this ship. Simmy reached the pontoon, pulled himself onto the ship and gave the man the gold from his pockets. The man simply took them without a word, nooded at Simmy and proceeded to jump of the boat and walk away whistling. Strangely in such a small Dwell, Simmy had never seen this man before and wondered how his father knew him.
He untied the ropes holding the boat to the pontoon and set off into the wind just as the guards arrived screaming and shouting. How he knew that he was there he did not know. No one but the ship hand had seen him. They stopped just short at the edge and continued to shout at Simmy to stop and come back. He of course did not comply with there orders which made them even more angry. One of them started to make commands as the others which he could not hear and they ran off to only return shortly after with spear guns.
One of them was even holding the spear gun that was used for whale hunting during the winter festivals; its a big metal ceremonial spear that can easily penetrate and hold a whale the size of 6 huts. They ran to the edge of the water and aimed the gun at the side of Simmy’s ship. He immediately started to turn the boat east trying to gain as much speed with the wind as he could while trying to gain as much distance between him and the spear as possible which was not easy on a ship that usually needed three to manage, he was stumbling around as he tried to control everything.
There was a massive crack in the air and Simmy was surprised as they had indeed fired and the spear pierced the hull, It even came through the deck next to his feet. He stumbled back and fell onto the deck of the ship. Another crack and another spear appeared next to his head. Then both the spears retracted taking half the deck with them. The boat started to crack and the hull was starting to split in all directions and began to take in water. Simmy looked around the boat for anything that he could use. Near the portside edge sat a diving tank of air that the fisherman sometimes uses to go fishing for crabs along the sea edge. He grabbed the tank and fell overboard just as the boat started to sink. He dropped deep into the blue enough that he could swim without the bubbles from the tank being visible to the surface and headed underneath the dwell.
The guards stood watching as the boat slowly sank into the sea waiting for im to surface. They sat and waited for ten minuutes until they decided that Simmy must have drowned when the boat sank. They closed off the area for the night and left a two-man guard. The Elders were happy with this outcome. Now they could shut down the rumours, blame everything on Simmy and get back to drinking.
While all this commotion was going on, there was someone else watching the scene unfold, the stranger from the library stood by hidden in the shadows of a hut, and watched as Simmy’s boat slowly sank into the sea. He stood anchored to the spot waiting for any sign that the little lad had survived. The stranger’s core was telling him that the boy had indeed survived the ship’s descent into the blue sea. His core had never been wrong before, even in the early development of his powers when they had first appeared to him and his parents he would always be able to know what was going to happen like a sixth sense of sorts. Then during his training, he was always told by his peers that he was the strongest they had ever known and would be capable of such great and also dangerous things if he did not learn to control it. However, the boy did not resurface from the sea and there was no sign of a floating body.
He decided that he must be mistaken and the boy must have died because no one could survive underwater that long. The stranger walked up to a nearby fisherman and bartered a trade for an old fisherboat and some fresh catch for some stuff he had in his bag and a few gold coins. The stranger’s previous boat was destroyed by the storm that brought him here and was now happily at the bottom of the sea not far from where Simmy now lied. He then walked back into the middle of the dwells market that was now in full swing, a young lady barely 19 years old approached the man and enquired into his clothes. He stared deeply into her eyes, A smile went from ear to ear and said only one sentence. 'In a moment all you know will end' the girl opened her mouth to scream but he grabbed her by the throat stopping her breathing and with it the scream. He dragged the barely conscious lady into an alley behind some stalls and ripped her clothes off. It has been ages since the stranger has his own way with a woman and when he was finished, the stranger was finished he kissed the girl on the cheek. Her face was bruised and the life the girl had left was leaving her eyes. He pulled out a knife from his sheaf and sliced a line across her face.
The stranger stood, pulled up his trousers and tightened up his belt. As the stranger left the alleyway he took one look back and had one last comment but this time no one was there to hear. 'Now everyone else will join you!' The stranger spent the next few hours walking around the market place trading stuff he needed for his journey back home. He traded what he had taken from the dead lady and the remainder of gold he had after he had got everything he needed, he walked to his newly acquired boat and looked at the tiny dwell. It sat there floating with no care in the world, all the dwellers ran about attending their meager existence. No one seemed to have any idea of the world around them and how it was changing. A new breed of power was rising and the stranger was one of them and the one thing that the stranger could not stand was happiness and this place was full to the rafters with it. He stood there looking until hatred had filled his core. He reached deep within him and drew upon that anger. He looked into the dwell and then it exploded. The huts and buildings all exploded into flames which leaped from one wooden structure to the next devouring all life in its wake. The dwell was in an immediate state of chaos. Peace keepers were running everywhere to try and battle the fires with buckets of water but the fire was too fierce and the water barely able to tickling it. The fire was out of control and it was now a case of getting everyone to the safety of the sea. The stranger watched from the safety of his boat as the whole dwell went into free-fall and started to collapse under its own weight. The simple dwellers were not prepared for a fire; especially a magical fire. They were now all heading to the harbor and scrambling for boats. This just made the stranger laugh even more and with another draw from his core all the boats that were starting to get away also exploded and with it the families on board. The carnage and screaming was feeding the anger inside the stranger’s core, the anger grew so strong that the stranger reached in one last time and drew all the power he had left and attacked the dwell with one final blow. He called upon the sea itself. The one thing that the dwellers respected was the sea, it was there home, food and way of life and yet here they all stood staring with the jaws hitting the floor as the sea rose around them in a perfect circle. It grew higher and higher before there was nothing but shadow covering the dwell. Then the stranger took one last smile and the walls of water crashed into the dwell dragging it and all of the dwellers to a dark grave at the bottom of the sea.