Gate: Prince of Spades or Prince of Swords
I stepped through the vision gate and stood upon a plain looking up at an ivory tower set high upon a cliff. Badger appeared beside me and he began digging in the soil so I also knelt down and began shifting aside the dirt with my hands.
After a moment, we unearthed the top of a wall made of solid gold, then the earth gave a rumble and the wall pushed itself up from the ground. It was attached to a myriad of other walls and a maze made completely of gold now stood on the plain.
“Hello, Badger,” I said, as we entered the maze together. “What have you been up to, my friend?” I ran my hands along the golden walls and noticed that interconnected ivy leaves were etched deeply into its surface.
“Digging and biting, fighting and scruffling,” he answered.
I laughed at his cleverness. “What’s scruffling?” I asked.
“When you open your mouth as wide as you can,” Badger said. “And swallow your enemies whole.”
“What enemies would you have, my dear Badger,” I said.
“Not my enemies,” he replied. “Yours.”
“I have no enemies,” I said, continuing through the golden maze. “And anyone who says otherwise is either lying or stealing someone else’s voice.”
“You have a recurring dream of a monster who steals your wallet,” said Badger.
I looked at him in some surprise, pausing my progress through the maze. “I do,” I replied. “How did you know that?”
Badger grinned at me, revealing his pointed teeth. “Because I scruffle him when you wake up,” he said. “No need to thank me.”
“Thank you anyway, I think,” I said. “Question: Do badgers dream?”
“I dream of a woman who works in a library,” he said. “I look through her eyes as she walks through her day and race through her mind at night.”
I patted his striped head, marveling in the softness of his fur. “You dream of me,” I said. “For that’s what I do and where I work. I would never have guessed it.”
The open-air maze took a turn downwards and led into the ground, so instead of being able to see the sky, an additional wall created a ceiling and we wandered into darkness and shadow. Torches set in the wall appeared and sent their guttering light upon the golden walls with their ivy decorations. Then, from farther down the tunnel, I heard a drum beating and a crowd chanting along.
Badger and I reached the end of the maze and stood in a vast, underground cavern. A bonfire filled the central space and ogres, dressed in furs with their bodies painted in red ivy leaves, cavorted together.
In front of the fire, there sat an altar and an enormous creature stood in front of it with a wickedly pointed knife raised above his head. Upon the altar, lay a distressed baby who wailed while the evil ogres danced, oblivious to his plight.
“The lair of the flesh eaters,” growled my badger. “The child stealers, the blood drinkers.”
My eyes widened in rage at the obscene party and I raised my hands above my head. A crash of thunder sounded and, for a moment, the tableau was lit by a flash of lightning. The ogres froze where they stood and time stopped in that dark cave. The nightmare of a high priest remained with his sacrificial dagger poised above his head and the child continued to cry in the unnatural stillness. I ran to the baby and picked him up.
“We haven’t much time,” said Badger and ripped his long claws through the air next to the altar. A gap in the reality of the cave appeared and we ran through it. I cradled the baby’s head in the crook of my elbow and wrapped his filthy covering more tightly about him, trying to comfort him in our flight. Badger and I found ourselves standing again on the plain with the ivory tower above us.
“I will take the baby to the castle,” I said, when a roar came from the gap in the air. The ogres were freed from their timelessness and a clawed hand reached through the doorway towards us. Badger waved his claws once more and the gap closed. The ogre’s hand was cut off at the wrist and flopped ineffectually at our feet.
“That won’t hold them forever,” he said and already the sounds of pursuit came from the golden maze as the beasts made their way up from the cavern below. “Fly to the tower, Heidi,” Badger said. “I will stay here and fight them tooth and claw.”
“There are too many, Badger, and I would not risk harm coming to you,” I said. “Come with me. They can’t fly like we can and they’ll be stuck on the plain.”
“You have many allies in these worlds,” he said. “Call some to my aid and take the babe to safety.”
I closed my eyes, asking for help from anyone who could hear me, and a whirlwind swirled up from the ground. Wherever its twirling end touched, a tree burst from the soil and soon a living, moving forest army of trees stood with my Badger.
I tried to fly to the white tower, but my feet seemed rooted to the ground. “Odd,” I thought and instead of flying, imagined myself standing directly in front of the tower gate. I blinked and teleported there, then I turned and gazed down upon my friends fighting the ogres on the plain.
The first of the red painted ogres flung themselves out of the maze and slashed at the animated trees with uncontained violence. Leaves swirled over the scene, obscuring my vision, until I could no longer see the black and white shape of Badger barreling under the branches, bringing destruction in his wake.
I banged on the castle gate in a rising panic. “Let me in! Let me in, please!” I cried. “There are monsters in the trees and I have your baby.” There was no answer so I battered the entrance again. “Please, they are coming for the child and we need sanctuary.”
A grinding sound came from the gate and I stepped back, prepared for the door to open. Instead, an additional metal portcullis slid out of the castle and the entrance was more heavily armored than before. I kicked the gate in my frustration.
Then, I took a calming breath and said to the babe in my arms, “Perhaps there is another way in.” His large brown eyes looked calmly back into my own. I gazed up the castle walls and saw, high above where I stood, a balcony set into the circular tower.
I teleported myself up and entered an open room at the very top of the ivory tower. The ivy pattern that had decorated the maze was painted in green upon the walls and floor and, as I stepped upon it, it changed from inanimate etchings into real ivy, which wove itself about my legs. The tower shook and a voice came from the vines.
“You disturb me,” he said and the ivy grew up and ripped the child from my arms. A monstrous Venus flytrap came out of the growth and swallowed the baby whole but, before I could utter a word, the flytrap opened again and a man covered in ivy from head to toe stepped out. I knew somehow that he was the child, grown in a heartbeat from baby to man.
“Who is this, who is so bold,” he said. “To climb my ivory tower. Warnings aside, you should have known that now you’re in my power.”
I struggled against the ivy. “Who are you?” I asked, pushing a vine from my face.
He laughed and the ivy grew over his hair and shadowed his eyes. “No one knows my true name to bind or else control me,” he said in a sing-song voice. “I am Fae. I am Jack. I am ivy growing.”
For a moment, a Jack-o-lantern appeared in place of his head, its empty pumpkin smile mimicking his perfectly. “You stopped my pets from waking me, silly little wanderer,” he said. “I will eat your face, and mark your skin then give them the corpse to ponder.”
Sharp fangs grew from his mouth and his fingernails stretched into long claws with pure gold at their tips.
“I am not afraid of you, Pumpkin man,” I said, “Love herself protects me.”
The creature laughed again. “Love comes fast. Love has her way,” he sneered at me. “Love leaves fast. Love hates the Fae.” Ivy filled the room and Jack pushed it aside to come closer.
“That’s not true,” I said. “Love is the only thing worth living for.” Jack stood right in front of me now, his wild hair wound with ivy and his skin covered in a changing, moving tattoo of the same.
“Love is dust. Love is not gain,” he said, waving a finger in my face. “You force my hand to bring you pain.” He reared back his head to bite and Badger burst into the room.
“One more move towards Heidi and I’ll scruffle you, so help me,” Badger said, cutting my ivy chains. The thing called Jack looked curiously at my friend.
“What is this? It moves, it speaks,” he whispered. “Jack will have this tasty treat.” He slid through the ivy like a serpent through water and darted towards Badger who slashed out with his claws, drawing a thin line of blood on Jack’s cheek.
Now, the ivy Fae was angry. “Wanderer, solve my riddle and I may let you live,” he said, a single drop of blood sliding down his cheek like a tear. “But if you do not answer true, your animal will die for you.” Jack waved his hands and a staircase leading down appeared amidst the ivy. He gestured for me to follow and went down the winding steps into shadow.
“We can’t trust this Jack,” whispered Badger as he and I traversed the steps through the vines. “Fae are creatures of unbounded emotions and pure magic- we are in very grave danger.”
I sighed because I knew my friend spoke true. “When are we not in grave danger?” I said. And, with those words, we reached a room at the bottom of the stairs.
In the center of the space, there sat a well, wound all about with ivy vines and leaves. On the opposite side of the room, a woman was bound against the wall with ivy covering everything except her eyes. She struggled to cry out but was muffled by the leaves and I watched a large tear like a diamond fall from the corner of her eye.
Jack stood next to the well with his hand upon the stone of the wall and began an incantation: “Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill went tumbling after,” he said, the ivy of the well coming alive and writhing beneath his hand like snakes. “Down into the leaves, down into the dark, she fell with ivy binding. ‘Til someone came and spoke a name and broke the spell of blinding.”
The Fae prince threw a bent crown at me and I caught it, studying the dusty gold and dull jewels studding it. “Answer my riddle or die,” he said. “It makes no matter to me either way.”
Badger began to growl and circle the fairy who glanced at him in mere annoyance. I looked at the bound woman, the broken crown in my hands, and the ivy well.
“Listen well, Jack,” I said. “For I will answer your riddle. The well is Wisdom, your woman is Love, and the ivy is what tripped you on the hill. You are the owner of this castle and I name you, the King of Spades, the King of Pentacles, or the King of Abundance himself, the fabled Midas of the golden touch of legend.”
The Fae ignored me completely and struck out at Badger with gold tipped claws as I ran to fetch a pail of water from the well. The ivy clung to my feet and ankles as I hurried, tripping me in its profusion.
“You will not take my tower from me,” Jack screeched in an inhuman wail but, in my turn, I ignored him and drew up the rope from the well as fast as I could, hand over hand, the water spilling down the sides because of my haste. When I finally pulled a bucket of liquid from the ivy screened depths, it smoked and bubbled more like acid than water.
I threw the broken crown into the froth and Jack screamed, a gray mist exploding out of his mouth and taking the shape of a babe crowned in ivy with eyes that glowed like fire. My badger pounced on the shadow and swallowed it in one gulp, then Jack collapsed like a dead man as the ivy vanished and the perpetually shifting tattoos disappeared from his skin.
The lady pulled away from the wall as her bindings disappeared and she was revealed to be hugely pregnant. She threw herself onto the Fae on the ground, weeping in relief.
I put my hand into the pail and drew out a restored crown with its false jewels melted by the Well of Wisdom. Then, I gave it to the woman who gently placed it onto the prince’s head, whereupon he took a deep breath, and came back to life.
“My lady?” he said, momentarily confused from his ordeal. “Did I fetch the water to quench your thirst? It seems to me that I did, but all I can remember is scaling a wall of ivy.”
“You did,” she said and cried, holding him close. “It may have taken years, but you brought me water enough for two.” Now, drying her tears, the Queen smiled at me as Badger helped the two of them stand tall in the ivory tower. “And this young lady cut through the ivy to bring you back to me.”
The newly crowned King offered me his ringed hand and I bowed my head over it. “My lady is my life,” he said. “Since you have done her a favor, then I will give you anything that I own, anything that you wish. For, as you can see, I am the King of Spades and this entire tower is filled with gold and treasures beyond measure. Name your price.”
“I come not for gold nor earthly treasure, but for a lesson of universal truth,” I replied. “Please, teach me what knowledge you have so that any debt that may be between us will be repaid with interest.”
“Share with her, but quickly, my love,” said the Queen, placing a hand upon her swollen belly. “This child will not wait a moment longer.” She called out and attendants rushed into the room, helping her ease her tired frame onto a bed with a sumptuous red covering in the corner of the room.
The King offered me his arm and we climbed back up the stairs to the top of the tower, where he led me to the open balcony. “Tell me what you see,” he said, sweeping his arm across the vista.
I gazed from the tower and saw the sun rising across the plain and shining down upon a world filled with mist as an army of living trees succumbed to the axes of angry ogres. The King waved his hand once more and turned all of the ogres into statues made of pure gold. The light of the sun touched the mist and changed everything else into multi-hued, gossamer brilliance.
“I see this world in its perfection and beauty,” I said. “What do you see, oh King of Spades?”
“I see that all abundance may be yours, but if there is no love in your heart, then it is as nothing for love cannot be bought,” he said. “I confess: I was afraid this babe in my wife’s womb would take her love from me and I was ruminating on that as I went to draw water for her from the well. But now I see that fear was false, like the imagined strength of ivy clinging to rock, for I have beheld Love’s true strength in you.”
The King gestured once more and gold filigree in the shape of ivy vines covered his tower in its beauty.
“Here is a gift worthy of you, my satchel of gold that never empties,” Jack said. “Take this purse and remember the lesson of the King of Spades: Love and Abundance walk hand in hand and grow when shared.”
The gift of Midas floated towards me and sank into my chest, becoming one with my heart. In the rooms below, his lady fair gave a cry as the pains of childbirth came upon her, so the King squeezed my shoulder in farewell, and went back into his gold ivy tower to attend to her.
There, my vision ended.
The Light Congress 