Rufus & The Gate
“Is that him?”
“It can’t be – he’s so young!”
“And scrawny.”
“Lord Odin certainly has a sense of humour.”
Rufus ignored the whispering in the crowd around him and stalked beside Arlen Zachary, his brothering apprentice chaperoning him through the crowd.
“You’re attracting quite the audience.” Zachary murmured beneath his breath, his voice light with mischief. Rufus rolled his eyes, glancing around the crowd who were pointing and gawking at him.
“Am I such a spectacle?” he asked wearily, shading his eyes from the blaring sun above. The cooler morning sky had ripened into the fullness of day, and the afternoon heat beat down almost unbearably onto the yellow-stoned city.
“The youngest Magi in history, first low-born and the only man to have ever been apprenticed without formal training…My, sweet, sweet little brother – of course you are a spectacle.” Zachary snapped out his arm and drew Rufus in as they passed through a narrow part of the street. They were easily recognisable through the throng of people in their distinctive black robes and Magi uniforms, not to the mention the sashes they wore which identified them as the apprentices of Lord Belphegore Odin, the King’s first General and Leader of the Magi. Zachary pushed Rufus ahead of him protectively and Rufus stumbled on the cobbles, almost falling flat. He heard Zachary snigger behind him.
“Pick up your feet, Merle – you’d have thought with legs that long it wouldn’t be such a problem.”
“You shoved me.”
“Oh, I am sorry.” Zachary slung a casual arm about his shoulder as they emerged into the next street, where even more people were gathered. Everybody seemed to want to get a look at Belphegore’s new apprentice. Rufus was almost sick of it. “So, you know what this is, I trust?” Zachary interrupted.
Rufus thought on that question. Earlier in the day, he had been attending to his new duties when a message had come for him from the engineers down at the wall. The Eastern Gate had been growing stiffer and stiffer and now would not open for love of money. They had asked for his specific assistance in fixing the antiquated mechanisms once and for all.
“A test.” Rufus finally decided.
“Oh, he is quick.” Zachary congratulated, the people ahead of them parting as the older magi cast his eyes over them. Zachary was a frightening sort, with his severe brow and even severer skills. As the Leader of the Magi’s first apprentice, Zachary had made quite a reputation for himself and was rapidly being acknowledged as one of the finest and most dangerous warriors in Harmatia. However below the naturally frightening cut of his face, Rufus was quickly discovering that Zachary was more playful than menacing, though he did a good job of being both.
“Did they test you?” Rufus asked. He knew he was an unobvious choice of apprentice, for the leader of the Magi no less, but by all accounts so had Zachary been initially. “Try to measure your worth?”
“Every day, Merle – but you will be the worse off, at least for a few years. There is only so many times a man can raise his sword against me before growing weary…But with a mind likes yours…” Zachary whistled and then swore loudly to a group up ahead, shooing them away impatiently. Rufus felt like a swaddled child being taken outside for the first time.
“Today isn’t about the gate, Merle.” Zachary continued as they moved on, “they want to look at you, see if you’re as clever as people say.”
“Well what do I do, if not fix the gate?”
“Just make sure they know that Master Odin wasn’t completely drunk when he apprenticed you. Show off a little, prove your brilliance.”
“By fixing the gate?”
“Forget the damn gate, Merle!” Zachary rolled his eyes, “The stupid thing can’t be fixed.”
“Anything can be fixed.” Rufus replied stubbornly to himself.
They continued on until they finally came upon the wall, more of a crowd gathered. Rufus looked up at the gate and shook his head. It was a truly archaic piece of architecture, and the miracle that it had functioned even rarely up to that moment was only shadowed by the fact that it was still standing.
“They should just tear it down,” Zachary agreed to his wordless thought, “They’ve been saying they will for years, but they want to keep the gates themselves and no one can find a mechanism design which will work with it. Three times now they’ve merely copied the old skeleton and replaced the parts. It doesn’t take long for it to cease functioning again.”
“What do they expect,” Rufus thought aloud, “if we do not strive to constantly improve, everything will cease.”
“Which book did you read that in?”
“That is the wisdom of common sense.”
“I know many traditionalists who would disagree.”
“That is because improvement threatens their comfort. With a name like Zachary, you should understand that.”
Zachary shortened his stride, “What are you implying?” He asked, but he sounded more curious than affronted.
“You’re not old blood. Otherwise I’d have heard it, or there would be a ‘Du’ or a ‘of the’ in your title somewhere…”
“I have two parents, Merle. Last I checked.”
“And children take the title of the greater family.”
Zachary gave a lopsided shrug. “Maybe the parent of the greater family doesn’t love me very much.”
“That would explain a great deal.” Rufus bowed as one of the engineers approached, his eyes already scrutinising Rufus’ long, lean form.
“Lord Lucas.” Zachary greeted.
“Lord Zachary.” Lucas replied, his eyes still expectantly on Rufus. “So you’re the famous Rufus Merle. You’re taller than I expected,” he informed, “And younger too.”
“He has the face of a child.” Zachary assured, lightly, “But he is seventeen.”
“Can he not speak for himself?” The engineer asked. Rufus stared openly back, his body stiffening. A nervousness began to trickle through him, and not for the first time he began to feel fraudulent. As if, at any moment, someone would realise he didn’t belong in that uniform. That he was too young to be a Magi, and worse that he was not of the correct class.
And then he looked past Lucas, where the wall had been opened to the mechanisms concealed within, and his mind grew peaceful with a familiar noise of thought.
He understood why they had decided to recreate the same structure over the years, it was a truly monstrously complex piece of work, and as he looked over it he could see the pulleys and ropes and weights that operated a gate that would otherwise be far too heavy to lift.
“Ah, we’ve lost him.” Zachary noted distantly, as Rufus pushed passed the pair of them toward the open wall, his eyes darting along each connection, as he watched the gate functioning in his mind’s eye. Yes, he could see how the parts would work, could see each moving piece and he gave a short snort, shaking his head.
“You have quite a task on your hands.” He said aloud to Lucas, who had followed him, Zachary skulking behind, arms folded like a proud parent watching his child at work.
“This gate was built with the wall. It is as much a part of it as each stone – every piece we do threatens the integrity of its function and history. But unless we can get it working, it will become nothing but an antiquated relic.” Lucas agreed.
“The gears are too small and too few. The weight puts too much strain on them.” Rufus gestured toward a table where plans of the gate had been laid out, “May I?”
“Oh, does the new apprentice of Lord Odin think he has an answer to our century long problem?” Lucas goaded.
“I would like to look at the mechanisms in their entirety.” was all Rufus said and pushed on uninvited to the table. Lucas stalking behind him as Rufus sat, taking out a pencil and looking over the sketches thoughtfully. Around, an audience had once again gathered, and Rufus pushed the sound of their chatter and curiosity from his mind. Instead he looked over the sketches intently, watching them move behind his eyes as he followed the path of motion. It was wondrous, a beautiful theory, a truly excellent piece of engineering which seemed to echo the movement of the human body. Yes, Rufus could see the ligaments, the rolling bone, but it was so large, so heavy…It was no wonder that over time, the gears stopped, the chains snapped and the gate ceased again to move.
Rufus turned over the plans to the blank side and traced his pencil over the empty page thoughtfully, looking up at what he could see of the wall. Lucas laughed.
“So even the great mind of Belphegore’s new apprentice is threatened by our conundrum?”
“He doesn’t exactly have the training of an engineer.” Zachary reminded.
“Oh, and what is he going to pursue then? Certainly not the path of a warrior.”
“I think that unlikely,” Zachary agreed, and Rufus could feel him close behind the chair, blocking him from the view of the vultures. “He is a theorist, though he has displayed an interest in healing.”
“Many people display an interest…” Lucas snubbed dismissively and Rufus put his pencil down and stood suddenly, the chair scrapping as he picked up the sketch and held it out for Lucas.
“Done.” He announced.
“It’s barely been a minute.” Lucas snorted and then grew quiet as he scanned Rufus’ proposition, his eyes growing serious.
“You have been approaching this gate as if it were an old piece of technology. It is the opposite.” Rufus explained, “The concept was far beyond it’s time, but it lacked our current understanding of mathematics. I understand you are limited for space, but I think you will find that with these small changes,” he brushed a hand over the adjustments he had suggested, “you will find the gate will function for much longer without the same wear. You may even find it functions better.” He handed the proposition over to Lucas. “You thought it needed to be kept exactly the same, or changed entirely. You were wrong on both accounts. All it required was that you look at it through the architects’ eyes and saw his vision. Zachary,” he turned to his brother who was beaming, “It is growing late. Lord Odin will expect us back.”
“Yes, he will.” Zachary agreed, “Lord Lucas, a pleasure as always. I hope you’ll find my little brother’s insights to be…helpful.”
Lucas didn’t respond, his eyes still on the sketch, mouth parted in a horrified and yet inspired way. Rufus did not wait for him to return from his stupor, but turning, starting back up toward the palace, Zachary once more in his wake.
“Did you really figured it out?” he asked in a soft whisper as they walked.
“Yes.” Rufus was confused by the question, “I wouldn’t suggest changes if I didn’t think they would work.”
“You know,” Zachary laughed, his lip caught almost excitedly in his teeth, “With a brain like that, you are going to make a great deal of enemies, my friend.”
“Does that include you?” Rufus asked worriedly, for he could feel the pride emulating from Zachary, but also something else. Something darker.
“Oh, I am and will no doubt become even more wildly jealous over time,” Zachary informed truthfully, but put a reassuring hand on Rufus’ shoulder. “But I will never be your enemy.” he promised. “You are my brother after all.”
Rufus was comforted. “I hope so,” he bowed his head thankfully, “I would not like you as an enemy.”
-
Thank you for reading. This is one of a series of HarmatiaShorts promoting my upcoming book The Sons of Thestian being published this November. The stories are designed to give slices of life, introducing setting and characters.
For more on the books, check out the book website at http://www.harmatiacycle.com
If you enjoyed this story, please like, share or leave a comment, and look out for the next one which will be published soon under the hashtag #HarmatiaShorts
