Dark clouds filled the sky. The valley was in the shadows. Everything was dark and mysterious; a perfect headquarters for the Moiety.
Cho opened his eyes, but he still felt drowsy from the dart. He felt like he was drifting; perhaps he was in a boat or raft on water. The splashing sound of a paddle was in front of him and behind him. He saw the Moiety maintenance worker in front rowing, so he guessed that the armed rebel was rowing behind him. And also in front of him, he saw what looked like a still dummy, dressed in brown robes, which also began to stir. The stranger, he presumed?
But the people surrounding him wasn't the only peculiar thing he saw. He glanced upwards at a gigantic pod-like thing that the boat was drifting towards. It was large, with branches that twisted in the shape of an enormous ball. It reminded Cho of the Great Tree in Riven, except a bit creepier.
The maintenance Moiety pointed towards the peculiar pod-thing, and said, "Are we entering Tay?" And then he looked away. Perhaps the armed rebel nodded as an answer, because the boat was still headed towards the tree. Tay, he called it? But Cho did not have any time to think about it, because he was getting drowsier by the second.
Cho awoke again, but this time with full consciousness. Where was he? He was standing in a rounded room, entirely made of very hard wood. But this didn't look man-made. In fact, it looked like everything naturally went into place, except a shelf carved out of the wall, a window carved on the side, and a wooden door on the opposite side of window, which also had a window-like space in it.
The shelf wasn't interesting; all it had was a bowl of food and a glass of water, which Cho wasn't eager to eat in case the Moiety had poisoned it with a drug of some sort. Neither was the window on the bare wall: all Cho could see was the sinisterly dark waters and a valley wall. The only thing that caught Cho's eye was window in the wooden door.
The door was locked, but Cho didn't feel like exiting, anyway. There were strange, dark pod-like huts as far as the eye could see, that vaguely looked like Rivenese huts, except scarier-looking and more clustered. Was this the gigantic tree thing that Cho saw from the boat? Was this Tay?
A woman was walking down a wooden bridge to the pod next to him. Nelah. She was a friend of his from school, and always criticized Gehn under her breath. He should have known she had entered the ranks of the Moiety. Nelah was carrying two books - a little red one, perhaps another diary, and a blue one the size of a Linking Book - covered by a red cloth. He heard a creak from a door next to his pod. She had entered another room.
Cho pressed his right ear on the wall to listen to what Nelah said. She said softly in Rivenese tongue, "Greetings to you, messenger of Lord Atrus ('Messenger of Lord Atrus,' thought Cho, 'this must be the stranger!). I am Nelah, a friend of Lady Katran, who is now in the hand of our loathsome enemy, held in the dying Age of our fathers with our friends and families who must be saved. You come on ill tidings. Now that Gehn has broken through the walls of his own prison, he could now destroy countless civilizations to produce the shadow of his memories that he has always dreamed of. So many innocents will be tortured in the same way that our people of Riven have. But we will not let them."
"Destroying lives and civilizations," thought Cho, "I never thought of it that way. But once she finishes, I'll signal Gehn and finally ruin the Moiety. I hope."
"Here," continued Nelah, "Is the diary of our beloved savior ('Savior? More like a former classmate who complains too much!'). We cannot understand it ('At least I am not alone!'), but you probably could. And here is the Book that was taken from you upon your arrival ('The Book to D'ni! Mine!'). We're sorry for taking it from you. It was only to lure you here, and for a better understanding of what that villain Gehn has been doing to our people. But we know this Book's secret. We know that it is a Trap Book, designed by the mysterious wonders of Atrus for the sole purpose to contain Gehn in a more secure prison of darkness.
"I'll be right back. I will fetch the passage back to Riven. It will only take a moment." And Nelah rushed out the pod. Cho's mind was racing. A Trap Book! He had never heard of it before, but it sounded dangerous. A "more secure prison of darkness?" That sounded horrible! He must warn Gehn. But then, Nelah's voice returned in the other room.
"Now," she began, "Here is the Book back to our dying homeland. You shall trap Gehn, and free our beloved Katran. Then go to Allepo and open the Fissure, and Atrus shall come. Now please," her voice seemed to beg now, "Do not fail us. You are our only hope. The lives of all our kinsmen and all of the civilizations yet to be discovered - hopefully not by Gehn - depend on your actions. Good luck."
A sound of a creaking door followed, and then the sound of linking. Cho immediately took out the portable imager that Gehn had given him, and pressed a button on it. Thank Kerath the Moiety didn't take it upon his arrival.
"Gehn! Gehn, come in!" Gehn's face immediately emerged on the imager. He roared, "What is it now, servant? Do you see the stranger?" Cho softly said, "No sir, but I have great news. I..."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM, YOU GOODFORNOTHINGMISERABLEBAHROWHODOESNTEVENDESERVETOWORKFORME?!" Cho had never seen Gehn this ferociously angry. Gehn's mouth was wide open, as if it was a hatch opening wide enough to make room for an explosive power-marble. His whole face turned blood red, and he looked like he was ready to rip apart the next person he saw. It was a good thing that they were communicating only via imager!
"I can explain. I found the Moi..."
"YOU CAN'T WORM YOU'RE WAY OUT OF THIS ONE, YOU LITTLE DISGRACE! First, you greedily ask for a promotion..."
"B-b-but sir, I was only..."
"Then," Gehn's voice became increasingly loud and menacing with each sentence, "You lose Katran, the first ever occupant of the Cage."
"It was a..."
"And after that, you lose a stranger, as well as my token out of this hell-hole!"
"It wasn't a Linking Book! Master, please..."
"Master," said Gehn in a mocking way, "Please do. Master, please don't. Master, I'm sorry. Master, forgive me. Oh, GET A LIFE, CHO," his voice returned to loud and horrible, "I AM SICK OF YOU. YOU DID ALL THESE INEXCUSABLE ERRORS, AND NOW YOU LOST THAT WHO-KNOWS-WHO! YOU FAILED EVERY MISSION I'VE ASSIGNED YOU! THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO GO BACK TO AGE 233, AND DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT DISTURBING ME UNLESS YOU'VE FOUND THE BOOK, OR HAVE THE STRANGER'S HEAD!"
"Wait!"
Too late. Gehn's head had retreated back into the imager, and vanished. Well, THAT was a lot of help. What was Cho going to do now? Then, he looked out the window, and had an idea. There was a window where the stranger was, right? And Cho was very experienced in tree climbing, and what was this place but a gigantic, surreal tree?
Gehn entered his office from the outside. Summon had been summoning him. Who? Hopefully not Cho. God, not Cho! If Cho was dangling like a flag from a mine car, he wouldn't care. If Cho was captured by the Moiety, he wouldn't care. If Cho was hanging by a thread from falling off a gigantic tree, he really, really, wouldn't care!
But no, it wasn't Cho - thank Kerath! Instead, a man was standing there, who looked neither D'ni and Rivenese. Actually, he reminded him of Keta's people, the Amad. But he was wearing robes - brown robes - D'ni robes - Atrus's robes! This was that stranger!
Gehn began, "I apologize for the cage. I'm afraid this situation has often required of me a more primitive code of conduct that I might otherwise have chosen." The stranger just nodded. He was quiet. Way too quiet. Gehn could not trust him, but he had something that he wanted. Something that would finally get him away from this house of savages and into a palace.
"I am Gehn. I assume you're heard of me. Yes. Well, I expect you have acquired some false information of who I am now. Not that my son would have lied to you about me. No, not Atrus. It's just that... well, I'm sure he believes me to still be the depraved father I once was. Yes. I even tried to kill him once. God, if I had accomplished that, who knows what I would have become. Great father indeed who tries to murder his own son." The stranger nodded again. Is that all he could do? Was he a mute? Apparently, the fact that Gehn tried to kill Atrus wasn't a surprise.
"Thankfully he trapped me on Age Five, a prison of my own creation. No books. No precious inks. No Ages to link to. Nothing but my own foolish ambitions. That was thirty years ago. Thirty years, thirty lifetimes, what does it matter? No sentence could be too harsh for the man I was. But I have changed. To be sure the deeds of my past can never be completely atoned for, but my mission was an honorable one." Thankfully?! All this was Atrus's fault! All his fault! And these thirty years were the worst of his life! He didn't deserve this at all. Not after what happened to his people, his father, and his wife; his beloved Keta!
"...Which brings me to the point of all of this (yes, finally! The point of all this). The linking book you brought with you. You're very fortunate to have recovered it. If I may."
And the stranger handed him the Book with a grin on his face. Too wide of a grin to be trusted. Gehn flipped through the Book. At last. D'ni. Home.
No. This can't be. This was all too perfect. There must be a catch. A trap, that's what. Think, Gehn, think! What did those ancient kings have? Food testers. Yes, food testers. To protect them from harm if anything was fishy. Let's see if this stranger thinks its okay for linking.
Gehn held it up to the stranger and said, "Perhaps it would be best if you went through first." The stranger seemed shocked by the request, as if afraid. But slowly, he extended his hand toward the gateway image, and vanished. Gehn smiled. If the stranger went through, then he could, right? But the shocked image of the stranger's face implied that he was afraid of something... something in the Book, but what?
Perhaps this would take a time to decide.
"One... two... three! Ughhhh!" Cho successfully heaved himself through the window of the other pod. He only had to congratulate himself on finally getting to the other room after straining both arms, almost getting caught by the Moiety twice, and almost falling off five times. Yes! And right in front of him was the price he sought: the Book back to Riven.
But then, Cho heard a youthful voice, perhaps a younger rebel, from behind the other side of the door say, "Rayam, where is the stranger who was inside this cell?" It was quite a good thing that Cho was crouched down so he couldn't be seen through the door.
"Do not, worry," said the voice of an older rebel, "He was that messenger of Atrus whom we have talked about. He is on his quest to defeat that demon of a man, Gehn, and rescue our Lady Katran and the rest of our brethren."
"Will he succeed, sir?" asked the younger rebel.
The older voice, whose name was probably Rayam, laughed, "Of course he will! You worry too much, Alatan!"
The sound of this name hit Cho like a rock. Alatan! Rifih's son! At least he wasn't dead. But he didn't sound like he was suffering either. It sounded like he respected the Moiety; perhaps even admired the Moiety! Should he tell this to Rifih?
"But what about the stranger in here, sir? Was he a friend of Atrus, too?"
"No. He is a Maintainer of the vile one."
"But were is he?"
"What do you - MAKER PRESERVE US! SOUND THE ALARM!"
Cho gasped. He quickly touched the Gateway Image, and once he did, he ran as fast as he could to the Village Island Fire-marble dome. Perhaps he could still prove to Gehn that he was faithful.
Gehn thought and thought. It was a trap. A trap for sure. But how could it be? What did Atrus know about the Art? His writings were barely D'ni material, so how could he organize a trap that Gehn couldn't get out of?
And the Books. The precious Books inside D'ni. Gehn needed them, lest they would be used by unworthy writers like his unworthy son. Yes. He would risk his life for those Books. Those last bits of D'ni pride he needed.
He put on his gloves, gripped his gun, and opened the Book. Was he sure? Yes, yes he was. He slowly extended his hand towards the Book, and touched the Image. Little did he know that it might be the last he could do freely. To sacrifice freedom for pure greed.
To be continued...
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