gesture of frustration. “What the hell is a gateway? Why would they want it?”
She tucked her folded jeans into the duffel bag and then straightened. “It has long been speculated in some quarters that ever since our worlds were separated, some form of connection remained between them. It’s always been an obscure theory, though.”
Alex eyed her suspiciously. “So what does this obscure theory say?”
“Well, do you remember me telling you how the Lord Rahl banished all those people to this world to end the war?”
“Yes. You said that they didn’t come here the way you did, that it was thought that the worlds were for an instant joined at the same place and time and when they separated the people who wanted to live without magic were left in this world and your people in that one.”
“That’s right. That’s why it’s called the separation event. Not a lot is known about what happened back then, but it’s thought that Lord Rahl somehow bridged the void between our worlds, brought them together for a spark in time in order to send the people who didn’t want to live with magic here.”
“You mean he sent them through a gateway?”
“No, but according to this theory, there had to be an actual place of connection, a small breach in the void of nothingness between the worlds, an opening through time and space, that allowed everything to remain in balance while the worlds were brought together and then the separation was taking place. The fact that we can come here and return is claimed to be proof that the connection still exists; otherwise, they say, we couldn’t cross the void between our worlds.
“The gateway, some theorized, was a side effect of the separation event, an anomaly, an artifact, that remains to this day.
“Other believers in this gateway say that it had to be created by Lord Rahl to balance what he was doing, or the separation event could not have taken place.”
“Seems to me to be a pretty important event. Why is this all just speculation? Why isn’t more known?”
“At one time there were records, but the long period of the Golden Age ended in wars that resulted in the destruction of many of our most treasured records. It was a dark time. After it ended, we were left without much of our history.”
Alex sighed. “So you think this separation event left a conduit between the two worlds? A wormhole of some kind?”
Jax shrugged. “I don’t know what a wormhole is. A conduit is a little simplistic, but I guess you could look at it that way. A better way to think of it is as a kind of vent, a balance needed between the profound forces on each side.”
“Do you think this connection, this gateway, is a fact, or is this simply people making wild guesses about things that may or may not have once happened?”
“It’s been inferred by some from what little is known about the separation event. At least, it’s inferred by the few people who actually subscribe to this ‘Gateway Theory.’ ”
“Why didn’t you ever bring this up before? Why is it such a surprise? This whole gateway thing sounds pretty important.”
“It may seem so now, but it’s actually an obscure, fringe theory. To be quite frank, Gateway Theory has always been considered a crackpot notion. It never entered my mind that this whole thing with Radell Cain could have anything to do with such a crazy idea until I heard your mother say the word ‘gateway.’
“That they would use that specific word to your mother suddenly made everything that’s been happening all come together for me. It suddenly all made sense.”
“But even if this gateway once existed, in the beginning, do you think it still exists?”
“I don’t know. But Radell Cain apparently thinks so. His people kept questioning your mother about it, didn’t they? They asked me about it. I’m sure they must have asked you, too.”
“They did,” Alex admitted. “In fact it was the only thing they wanted me to talk about.”
“Your mother gave me the answer I’ve been looking for, the answer to why they’re coming here and what they want. Radell Cain wants the gateway.”
Realization dawned on him. “The land I’m inheriting. The gateway must be somewhere on the land that was left to me.”
Jax was nodding. “You were right from the beginning. All along it’s been about the land.”
“But why would they need my mother? Or me? If they suspect the gateway is located there on that land, then why not simply go there? The place is primitive and remote. They could have the gateway to themselves and no one would likely even know that they were there or what they were up to.”
“Maybe they already went there and found it, but they couldn’t use it for some reason. Maybe that was when they became interested in the Rahl line here in this world.”
Alex hadn’t thought of that. He paced to the window and back as he thought about it. He wondered what part the Daggett Trust played in the whole thing.
“If they did go there and couldn’t make the gateway work, what makes them think that I could?”
“A Rahl separated the worlds. If in so doing he also created this gateway between worlds, and it still exists, then maybe it has fail-safes and it takes a Rahl to open it again.”
“But that was him, not me. Even if I am a descendant of this Rahl line from your world, I don’t have those kinds of abilities. How the hell am I supposed to open a gateway between worlds? I never even knew another world existed. I’m the last person on earth to go to for answers about a gateway.”
“Not really,” Jax said as she shrugged. “The Law of Nines names you as central to it all. You would be the very person to go to.”
“The Law of Nines? How can that have anything to do with a gateway?”
“I don’t know, but Radell Cain wants the gateway, and the Law of Nines leads him directly to you as being central to the whole thing. He sent Sedrick Vendis here, his most trusted man, to secure both the gateway and you.”
Alex paced as he thought. “But like you just said, they’re coming to this world. They can already come here and go back. What more is the gateway going to do for them that they can’t already do?”
Alex paused in midstride as the answer to his own question suddenly became clear. “Except that when they come here they can’t take anything back with them.” He met her gaze. “Could they take things back through a gateway?”
She was smiling in an unsettling way. “According to the theory, a lifeline isn’t needed in the gateway, so objects could be taken back through it.”
“What would they want to take back through the gateway?”
“What’s the weapon they’re using to conquer and control people in my world?”
“The ability your world has but this one doesn’t, weapons of magic.”
“Right. And what is it Cain wants to eliminate from our world?”
“Magic.”
“So, what happens if they succeed?”
Alex felt the hair on his arms stand on end. “Dictators always seek to take weapons away from people so that there can be no effective opposition to their rule. If they eliminate magic, they will eliminate the weapon that people could use to resist tyranny.
“But in taking it away from the people who might oppose them, they will also be eliminating it for their own use. So, if they eliminate the weapon everyone on both sides is using now, they will need some other kind of weapon to replace it.”
“That’s right,” she said. “There is a kind of balance of power now. Both sides have access to the same kinds of weapons. If they eliminate magic, that would leave the balance of power static — neither side would have it. So, if they want to seize rule they will need to replace their lost weapons with some other kind of weapon. That would tip the balance their way.”
“Technology,” Alex whispered. “They could use radios to communicate, drugs to control people, and guns to kill anyone who tries to resist them.”
Jax was nodding again. “And who knows what else. For all practical purposes, technology is interchangeable with what we can do with our abilities — they do the same kinds of things. When the tools created with the use of magic are suddenly gone, people will be helpless.”
