J.B.’s wire-framed spectacles glinted in the firelight as they ate, and Ryan could tell from the slow rhythm of the reflections that the Armorer was also casting an appraising eye around the camp. These people were their allies for now, but to know their strength as allies or foes was equally important.
When they had eaten their fill, Gloria turned to Jak.
“You feel safer now, sweetie?” she asked him in a gentle voice.
The albino shrugged. “Never feel safe. Safe means chilled.”
“That’s one way of looking at things. I guess we don’t quite see it that way. We’re safe in here because we have trust in our scouts. We have to have trust in one another, because our community lives and dies by that. That’s the way we’ve always lived.”
“We trust one another,” Ryan said softly. “We’ve been through a lot. But we don’t know you, which is why mebbe Jak doesn’t trust you.”
“Do you?” the warrior queen asked him.
“Would you?” Ryan countered. Gloria’s icy blue eyes, matching the piercing blue gaze of the one-eyed warrior, sparkled in the firelight. “I’d be pretty stupe if I did, so that’s okay. Mebbe I should tell you something about us. You already know what we’re looking for, but you don’t know how we got this far. Then you tell us about you. Deal?”
Ryan nodded. “Deal.”
Gloria raised her head, staring into the night sky, beyond the glow of the campfire and out into an infinity only she could see. Her nostrils quivered as she began to breathe in a rhythm that took her into a trance state, her eyes misting over as she began to speak in a singsong tone.
“Long before the time of the great darkness, when the old ways became too complex for those that had created them, and the moment of ultimate truth came, the Illuminated Ones spoke from within the great shelter and told of the disaster to come. There were few who listened to them, but among them were our forebears. A small community we had always been, living in the hill countries and living by our wits and our beliefs. The end times were coming and so we were ready. We had food and water, and the power necessary to survive the long, dark winter.
“Our people went into hibernation for generations, only reentering the world when the air was once again clean, and the waters flowed like spring. Then we found that much had changed, and yet much had stayed the same. There were people as before, and people that were new. And there were still those who wanted the return of the old ways. They would guard their secret sites with jealousy, keeping us at bay with the rays of light. They were more colorful than the drabness that had enveloped the land, and yet their very brightness was a mark of the hope to come. For they would lead us to the promised land, the gateway to the future.
“For generations we have traveled the Deathlands in search of the gateway. It has been a long path, but one which is forever fulfilling, for each step of the way we learn more about ourselves, preparing ourselves for the first step into the gateway and the world of wonders that lie beyond.”
She paused, breathing heavily, her mind switched into oratory mode, the words handed down to her coming from her mouth with a perfect inflection.
While they waited for her to continue, all the companions dwelled on what she had said. Mildred had spent most of the meal prior to Gloria’s recitation observing the way the warrior queen had been looking at Jak. It was obvious that the woman was fascinated by the albino, both for his appearance and also for the reticence with which he had approached the whole meeting. It was obvious that Jak was holding back something, and this fascinated Gloria. Mildred was still worried that whatever was worrying Jak would make him reject even the most innocuous of advances from the warrior queen. If that happened, how would she react, and what would this mean for the rest of the companions?
But, like the others, Mildred had been jolted from her reverie by the mention of the Illuminated Ones. The secret society from predark who had prepared for the Apocalypse and built its own redoubts was a force that they had only obliquely crossed, but enough so to realize that it could hold the key to both what the Gate was looking for, and to what Ryan and his people were searching for.