Chaos and Entropy

Author’s Note: In BG2, Haer’Dalis and others seem to use the term ‘berk’ as a neutral form of address but the planar cant dictionaries I’ve seen define it closer to ‘fool’. This is the definition I use here—hope that’s not confusing.

Chapter 7…The Planar Gem

I stormed into the Five Flagons and let the door swing shut behind me with a slam. Ignoring the barman’s bellow, I flew up the stairs two at a time and burst into the actors’ sitting room. Empty, damn it, except for Biff, the moronic understudy.

“Raelis Shai,” I growled. “Where is she?”

He gave me a sleepy blink. I suppressed the urge to rattle his brains into action.

“Dunno,” he finally said. “Just got up.” He blinked again and rubbed his eyes like a child. “Didcha try downstairs?”

Argh. I stomped back to the bar. Samuel, with a grimace at my expression, silently pointed to the stairs that led down to the playhouse.

Raelis walked along the stage with some fellow I didn’t recognize. From their conversation, I gathered he was a scene painter. Raelis gave me a friendly smile. Not a trace of shame or embarrassment could I see. Actors! She finished her low-voiced instructions, and then turned to me.

“What an unexpected pleasure,” she said.

“Is it?” Her eyes widened at my tone. She took my arm and steered me to one of the dressing rooms.

“Why, what troubles you, sweet child?”

“You hired the Thieves Guild to steal Mekrath’s gem,” I said. Her eyes widened in earnest this time. “You’ve put me in a bad situation here. Mekrath’s already furious with me and now this. What do you expect me to do?”

“But my dear, I don’t expect you to do anything. Coming up with the fee for the guild was difficult but Haer’Dalis persuaded me this was for the best. It was selfish of me to expect you to betray your master to help us.”

My mouth opened and shut like that of a fish thrown up on the river bank. I grabbed my own head by the hair before it could wobble off.

“How did you find out?” she asked. “My sparrow assured me he would leave you out of our sordid affairs.”

“Surely you were aware Renal Bloodscalp would assign this task to me. Even if he didn’t, Mekrath will still hold me responsible for not warning him that he’s been targeted by my own guild.”

The stunned look on her face said it all. If this was acting, it was superb.

“You…didn’t know I was a thief? You didn’t know I ran one of Bloodscalp’s guild houses?”

Surely the gods must be laughing.

“My dear, I had no idea. I thought you were a mage. Haer’Dalis told me you had become Mekrath’s apprentice.”

Of course she didn’t know. How could either of them have known? I didn’t exactly go about advertising that I was a Shadow Thief after all.

“How can I make this right? If I withdraw my contract, I will lose my initial payment, and it was substantial,” she said. “At the rate our resources are dwindling…”

“No, that won’t help,” I said. “I’m having something of a resource problem myself.” I paced back and forth, chewing my lip. “No, I have to steal the gem. And you have to pay the guild for it. And then…then you have to give it back to me. If Mekrath discovers that it is missing…well, I am not sure what he will do.”

Who would I rather antagonize—Mekrath or the guild? With all the other problems the guild was facing, I didn’t think Renal would bother to come up with a creative punishment. I figured he’d handle me like he’d handled Mae’Var: send some fool to kill me. Even if he didn’t, I needed the guild to find Imoen, and that meant staying on their good side.

Mekrath I wasn’t so sure about. I had thought he had a certain fondness for me but I certainly didn’t want to make him an enemy. He might not kill me but I wouldn’t put him above doing something horrid.

“Give it back?” Raelis asked. “Why would I do that if I’ve paid for it?”

“Because it’s not yours?” Yikes, that sounded pretty damned ironic, coming from me. “You told me you just wanted to borrow the gem. Very well, I’ll help you borrow it but we’ve got to do this quickly. Are you and your troupe prepared to move on little notice?”
“We can be.” Her eyes sparkled. “There are only four of us returning to Sigil.”

“Then I will let you know when I’ve got the gem.”

She grasped my hand and pressed it to her lips.

xxx

There was no sign of Mekrath when I returned to his keep. He’d left me no note and I saw no clues as to where he might have gone. That made me uneasy but I guessed I should count my blessings. I knew where the gem was kept, of course. I hadn’t needed Haer’Dalis’s directions or warnings. I’d already thoroughly snooped through Mekrath’s domain, especially the places he’d told me to leave alone, like the ruined chapel behind his bedchamber. The altar had been dedicated to one of the old forgotten gods and he hadn’t had the nerve to tear it down when he’d taken the place over. Even dead gods have ways of making their displeasure felt, he’d said. He’d left the dirt and rubble to hide his traps.

The first two were mechanical and pathetically easy to disarm. I’d have to give Mekrath lessons on trap-setting sometime. It was the spell-trap on the altar I was worried about. This was the petrification trap that had caught Haer’Dalis, and if I got caught in it too, Mekrath would never let me live it down. Damned elf, he might find it amusing to leave me petrified for a decade or two to teach me a lesson.

I’d studied the trap three or four times already over the time I’d worked for Mekrath, trying to understand how the trigger worked. Every time, I’d been mystified. This time I sat cross-legged on the floor, leaned back against a pillar, and let my thoughts wander. I knew Mekrath better now. I knew more about how his twisty mind worked. I needed to approach this problem as a mage, not as a thief.

And of course, the solution was obvious, once I thought of it. Mekrath might study alchemy and the tantric arts, but he was first and foremost a conjurer. Unless I could walk on the ceiling, I couldn’t pass his wards—but a flying creature like an imp or a mephit could do so easily. And while Mekrath had been coy about teaching me any of his custom spells, during my ill-fated partnership with Edwin Odesseiron, I’d managed a peek or two at his spell book. I ran back to my room for my own spell book. Yes, I had just the thing. In less time than I’d spent scratching my head over the problem, I’d cast my conjuration, had the gem in my hand, and banished my little beastie.

The planar gem was a shimmering blue stone almost as big as both my thumbs put together. If it had been a sapphire, a stone so large would have been a rare treasure in itself. It was tourmaline; not so rare but still a very nice gem. Of course, it was the enchantments that made it spectacular. The gem almost buzzed in my hand with the power stored inside.

I found myself mesmerized by the stone’s depths and had to blink and look away. Now I had an inkling why Mekrath prized it so. If he ever found out I’d borrowed it—that would be bad. I was more worried about Renal Bloodscalp’s reaction when he got a good look at this beauty. He might just decide to up his price for Raelis…or double-cross her and keep it for himself. What would one of the Cowled Wizards be willing to pay for such a fabulous artifact?

I wrapped the gem in my handkerchief and tucked it away in my hidden vest pocket, where it wouldn’t be found by a casual search. Still, I felt as conspicuous as a tanar’ri at a paladin’s wedding with that gem radiating its power to anyone with the Sight to see it. I rushed out the door.

And in my abstraction, I ran (almost literally) into Draug Fea’s lookout.

“Whoa there, girly,” he called, loud enough to get the attention of his lowlife pals. “Come back for more?” And he made a suggestive thrust with his hips.

I snarled, almost as angry at myself as at this fool rubbing his crotch.

“Lay a finger on me and you’d better hope your friends can afford the priest!”

He held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Don’t get your knickers twisted, your ladyship,” he told me. “The mage has made his wishes known loud and clear.”

“Well, all right then.” Humph. I didn’t have time for a fight but I felt cheated anyway. I walked the gauntlet of the outlaws’ stares, ignoring their catcalls and lewd comments. Not a one of them so much as patted my ass. They were afraid of Mekrath but not of me. That pissed me off.

“Come back and see us anytime,” Draug Fea sang. Oh, yeah, I’d be sure to do so when I had a half dozen spare fireball scrolls or a freshly charged wand. I’d already memorized a couple of web spells in anticipation of webbing them into their bedrolls one night.

I was breathless from running up the stairs to the actors’ rooms. Raelis and Haer’Dalis were waiting for me. Raelis stared at me and her face brightened with a smile.

“You have the gem!” She could sense it, which was interesting, but there was hardly time to question her.

“I’ve got to get it to Renal. As soon as you pay off the guild, he’ll hand it over,” I said. “Then you can use it and give it back to me. But be discreet, please. I’m not supposed to know who placed the contract, you see. I’ll take him the gem, but you need to be prepared to press him for it.”

Raelis gave me a puzzled look but Haer’Dalis understood.

“You think he might be tempted to keep it for himself?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t realized how potent the gem was until I picked it up. But then I’m a mage. Perhaps it will not seem so special and rare to him.”

“Now that we have the gem, why is there any need to involve ourselves any further with this thief?” Raelis asked. “Let him keep my advance. Surely that will satisfy him.”

Argh.

“No, no, that won’t do. Renal must be paid or I’m in big trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m in debt to Renal,” I explained with as much patience as I could muster. “I have to fulfill this contract to square myself with him.”

“If Miss Raelis gives you the payment intended for the Thieves, would that be enough to clear your debt?” Haer’Dalis asked.

I smiled at Haer’Dalis. What a practical suggestion! I was sure Renal was gouging the actors for far more than what I owed him. But Raelis frowned.

“I don’t have the coin.”

“What?!” Haer’Dalis and I spoke in unison.

“I thought we would have more time so I could raise it!”

Hells, what now? If I turned the gem over to Renal and Raelis didn’t pay him, he would find another buyer. No one likes to hold a wizard’s property any longer than necessary, in case he comes looking for it.

This wasn’t going to work.

“I’m going to have to put the gem back before Mekrath misses it. I can steal it again when you get the coin.”

“No!” Raelis cried. She gave Haer’Dalis a panicky look which he returned with no expression at all. The suspicion that she expected him to wrest the gem from my suddenly sweaty hands popped into my head.

“How much are you short?” I asked.

Raelis called in all her actors and crew; had everyone turn out their pockets. Raelis threw in her jewelry and Haer’Dalis chipped in a small stash of unset gemstones.

“Will that be enough?” Raelis asked anxiously. I hated to strip them of all they had, when they were going to still be on the run once they hit the Planes. Still, chances were they’d all held a little back in reserve. (I would have.) It was hard to know exactly what I’d get for fencing the jewelry but even an optimistic estimate left me short. I frowned. Haer’Dalis gave my neck a quick squeeze and left the room. He came back a few minutes later with a handful of coins, gold and silver mixed together. Raelis raised her brows.

“Borrowed from the innkeeper,” he said. Amazing. Anyone who could cajole gold out of an innkeeper (and a halfling innkeeper at that) had talents that were wasted on the stage. I’d never had much luck even running a tab at this inn.

He grinned at me.

“I pledged your credit to repay him,” he said.

Oh. Great.

“Very well,” I said. If it wasn’t enough, I’d sell some of my gear. “Ladies, gentlemen, let’s get moving.”

xxx

Besides Raelis and Haer’Dalis, there were only two other actors planning on returning to the planes. They were all that was left of the original company. They ran to their rooms to pack their gear, except for Raelis, who went down to the playhouse to prepare the portal. She decided the open area of the stage was the best place for the summoning, since she couldn’t predict exactly where the gate would open. Nor could she predict how long it would remain open, so the tieflings had to be prepared to move quickly.

She chalked out an empty space and began to trace symbols round the edges of the rough circle. She worked quickly, with the gem in one hand as if it guided her. What she made looked like no summoning circle I’d ever seen.

When the other tieflings clattered down the stairs, they were in travel clothes. Haer’Dalis wore leather armor and a sword at each hip, an arrangement which seemed natural to him.

“Are you expecting a fight?” I asked.

“Walking the planes is always perilous,” he said. “Sometimes creatures get drawn through the young conduits as they’re forming. It may take Miss Raelis several attempts until she finds one to take us where we wish to go.”

Oh, wonderful. All I had was my leather vest, and it was soft, for comfort, not hardened for protection.

“Minette, I am ready for the summoning,” Raelis said. She smiled at me.

“My dear, you have been our savior indeed. Words are not thanks enough and yet they are all I have to offer you.” She took me in her arms, kissed both my cheeks and then my mouth. “It will take me a few moments to prepare the stone but I will say my farewells now.” She kissed me again. Then strong hands turned me around and I found myself in Haer’Dalis’s embrace. He looked down into my eyes, his own dark and serious.

“Farewell, my dove,” he said. For a long moment, he just held me. Then he lowered his head and I rose up on my toes so he could kiss me. He did so quite thoroughly. He seemed in no hurry to release me either. “Twice you’ve saved me and I’ve repaid you how? By heaping more troubles onto your sweet head.”

“I’m used to troubles. They flock around me like those birds you’re always talking about.”

“I can see that chaos clings to you like a lover.”

“Now you sound like Mekrath, except he doesn’t say that like it’s a good thing.”

“Yet chaos is the fate for us all, whether we embrace her or turn away.”

His lips parted as if he would speak further but then one corner of his mouth turned down. Self-mockery, perhaps? Raelis’s excited voice called out and I felt the breath catch in my throat. Power ran up my arms. It felt like Raelis had squeezed the Weave out like a wet dishrag, splashing the wash water all around.

“Gather around, my friends.”

Something moved within her circle, something bright yet shadowy, like a shining ghost.

“The conduit seeks an outlet,” she said.

“The conduit whips across the planes like a snake, seeking a viable junction,” Haer’Dalis said in my ear. “Raelis charms the serpent to bend to our will, yet it may take several attempts until we reach a locus suitable for our needs.”

My arms prickled with gooseflesh. A long atonal note began to wail in my head. The sound ran up my spine, painful and unpleasant. Clamping my hands over my ears didn’t mute it. The note rose to an almost unbearable pitch and then the intensity dropped off.

“That is our cue,” Haer’Dalis said. He stepped away from me and in a showy cross-draw, unsheathed both his blades.

“Expecting trouble?”

“Always.”

A ghastly glare lit Raelis’s face and a dark portal, limned with phosphorescence, formed before her.

“No!” she cried. “This will not do.” There was a rending screech and the portal winked and was gone. The surge in the Weave knocked my legs out from under me; I caught myself and fell to one knee. As Raelis wrestled with the power of the conduit, something dark flowed across her chalked markings. They weren’t truly wards, I realized, as the creature crossed them. Haer’Dalis, whose quick reactions startled me, ran between the shadow and Raelis before I could even draw my blade.

Moving in a fluid whirl, the tiefling sliced first one blade then the other through the shadow’s amorphous form. Plain steel has no effect on shadows but his blades were enchanted. They tore through the creature. I called fire from my hands and finished it off.

After another ill-fated connection, this time to the Plane of Fire, Raelis’s voice finally called in triumph.

“Here, friends.” When she brushed her forehead with the back of her hand, I could see that her hair was damp with sweat. Whatever she was doing took a lot out of her, so much was plain. “I think—aiaee!”

The backlash of power slammed me backwards. I hit the floor on my ass, hard, yet I had been shielded from the worst of it. Raelis dropped with a thud like one of her huge curtain weights. The planar gem fell from her hand and rolled across the floor. I sprang up and dashed for the gem. Haer’Dalis faced the portal as it brightened. Three figures stepped through. The first was slight and slim—an elf? Were there elves walking the planes? Well, why not? The second man was human height. Behind them slithered a tall menacing yuan-ti.

I snarled. I’d learned to hate yuan-ti when we cleaned out Nalia’s keep. I stepped back towards the curtain at the front of the stage and silently unsheathed my sword. The yuan-ti’s skin was an unnatural dull color—great, a stoneskinned mage—but my blade’s flame enchantment would burn through it. There wasn’t much cover on the stage but the strangers’ attention was on Haer’Dalis, who stood in a relaxed swordsman’s stance.

The elf, if that’s what he was, held out his hand in warning. Something in the cast of his face made me think he was half-blooded like me, although I wasn’t convinced his other half was human. He wore a gaudy chain shirt that sparkled with enchantment. The rings chimed like tiny, tiny bells when he moved. He had a sword sheathed at his side. The other fellow was horned like a goat and—was that a tail? My goodness! He pulled out a club and took a step towards Haer’Dalis. Haer’Dalis’s face was a mask of calmness but his eyes had the twitchy look of a cat unsure which way to jump.

Raelis groaned and sat up. She looked at the three strangers. She was milky pale.

“Who are you?” she asked. The yuan-ti moved closer. She shrank away from him, towards the planar gem.

“Our names are unimportant,” the man in mail said. “My employer’s name you know well enough, Raelis Shai. Next time you decide to satirize a factol, pick one with a sense of humor.”

“We had no intention…we chose that play unknowing it had any relation to current events.” Her voice was pleading but she moved yet closer to the gem. It was almost within her reach.

The half-elf laughed.

“Save your excuses for the duke. I’m paid to bring you in and that’s all I’m interested in. You’ve led me quite a chase but now you’re scragged.” His head swiveled towards Haer’Dalis. “Put those chivs away, Sinker, before something bad happens to the lady” he said. He jerked his head at the snake-man, who was close enough to lean over Raelis. I wasn’t sure what a Sinker was but it didn’t sound like a compliment. “It doesn’t matter to me if you’re conscious or not when I drag you through that gate but I fancy it will matter to you. Round them up,” he said to his horned friend.

The yuan-ti’s tail came down on Raelis’s wrist when she snatched for the gem. With one fluid dip, he scooped it up.

“Hey!” I yelled. “That’s mine!”

Three sets of hostile eyes turned my way.

“Who is this berk?” the leader asked.

“A resident, a Prime. She has nothing to do with the Sigil Troupe or our problems,” Haer’Dalis said.

“Yeah?” He pointed at me. “Well, listen up, outsider. Mind your own business or I’m going to be seriously piked off. And you don’t want that.”

Well, hells, the odds didn’t look that bad. Three of them against five of us. They were all bigger than me but I’m used to that. Of course the other two actors—the little guy and the girl who had played Lunisia—were hunkered down in fear. I didn’t expect much from them. And Raelis looked like the morning after an ale drinking contest. I was hoping this was an act to lull their suspicions (although it was pretty damned convincing).

“Feel free to pike yourself off and take Goat-boy there with you,” I said. Haer’Dalis hissed something at me but I was on a roll. “And you. Leg-less!” I yelled at the yuan-ti. Turning on its muscular tail, it gaped its mouth at me to show me its fangs. “Hand over my gem before I get seriously piked off.”

“Come get it, berk.”

I took two running steps and then dodged the yuan-ti’s tail. Something snapped through the Weave. I heard Haer’Dalis grunt in pain. Was the half-elf a spell-caster too? Wished I’d known but it was too late to worry about him. My body was moving quicker than my thoughts and I was focused on the snake man.

He threw itself back from the thrust of my sword. Still, I managed to knock a chip out of his stoneskin, right in the face, too. That had to hurt. Next thing I knew, the back of my head exploded. I staggered. Goat-boy had clubbed me. Before I could recover, someone grabbed me by one arm and the back of my vest and threw me to the floor. A heavy boot in the middle of my back stomped me flat. Moaning, I turned my head sideways and looked up.

The half-elf grinned down at me.

“I ought to kick your ass, clueless,” he said. I was under the impression he just had. What was he? No one should have been able to move that fast.

The horned tiefling had Haer’Dalis in a come-along hold. The other two actors supported Raelis between them while the yuan-ti motioned them to go through the portal. The half-elf pressed his foot harder and crushed the breath out of me.

“But this gate will close in a tick or two so I can’t stay to wigwag. Bye, sod.”
With a last contemptuous look, he was gone.

I gave a groan of pain and frustration. Gods, my head. I could feel the lump already. I stared at the portal which winked enigmatically. The actors taken, the gem—gone. Mekrath was going to kill me.

“I ought to kick your ass.”

I squeaked in pure fright as Mekrath stepped out of nothingness before me.

“Bhaal’s mossy stones, what’s the matter with you?” he asked. I was too busy gaping to speak. Where did he come from? How long had he been there? “If you could have kept your mouth shut, I’d have been able to snatch my gem and be gone before anyone knew I was there. But no, you just had to taunt those bounty hunters. Fool! I ought to send you in there after them with nothing but that big yap of yours as a weapon.”

“Unh—I didn’t think…”

“No, you didn’t think. You might try it some time.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Keeping an eye on my gem, of course. Let me tell you, that pole-axed look is not at all becoming, Minette. Did you really think you could steal from me so easily?” He shook his head. “I knew that cursed tiefling had you wrapped around his thumb, you damned fool.”

“It was nothing like that!” I said indignantly.

“Oh?” he asked. His voice was frosty. “Well, no matter. We must work quickly if we’re going to recover my gem.”

“We’re going—through there?” I stared at the portal. I fancied it stared back with something of the same contempt I’d seen on the bounty hunter’s face.

“Of course. Oh, not just this moment, idiot. I have no intention of stepping off into the planes unprepared. Use your brain, hero, or the gem is lost to us no matter how quickly we move.”

“That half-elf said the gate was about to close.”

“Yes, I’ll have to do something about that. Sit over there and be quiet, will you?”

He pulled something shiny out of one of his belt pouches. At first I thought it was another gem but it had a metallic sheen. I crept closer to get a better look. It looked like an egg-shaped puzzle box. Mekrath pushed a couple of tiny buttons set in its side and then set it down gingerly within arm’s reach of the portal.

“There,” he said and then frowned at me. “That should hold it—for awhile.”

“What is that thing?”

“Magic,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “Well, come on then.” He put his arm on my shoulder and, before I realized what he planned, he yanked me through his dimension door.

“Ack!” We swung into blackness. There was no up, no down, and my stomach heaved in a most alarming manner. And then I stumbled—Mekrath jerked me upright by my sleeve—and we were back in his keep.

“Run get whatever gear and weapons you think you need and be quick about it,” he said. “Meet me in the storeroom.”

I already had my sword. I decided against my leather armor but I did change into better boots and made sure I had all my hideout weapons. I still had Roger’s invisibility potion and a handful of healing potions I’d brought over from the Copper Coronet. On reflection, I chugged one down to fix my aching head. Did I want a pack? No, it would be better to stuff everything into my pockets and not have to keep up with anything else.

Mekrath had laid out an array of supplies on the storeroom table, including scrolls, wands and a tidy little padded case packed with potions. He had changed robes and he had a silver chain around his neck that I would have liked a better look at. He handed me a few more healing potions.

“Use these sparingly,” he said. “We have no more, thanks to your disaster in my workroom. Take this fire wand. Do you know how to use it?”

“Sure. Point it and say the control word. Boom.”

“I see you are an expert,” he said drily. “Well, don’t point it at me. Or yourself,” he added, wincing when he saw me thrust the wand through my belt. “Be careful with that.” He handed me a ring. “Twist the stone and you’ll go invisible. Save it for emergencies. There’s only a charge or two left.”

He packed his gear into a worn bag and pulled it over his shoulder. He had a staff in one hand. He held his other hand out to me.

“Ready?”

The dimension shift wasn’t quite so sickening when I knew to expect it, but I still had to blink aside a moment’s dizziness when we arrived back at the Five Flagons playhouse.

“We’ll go in invisible. In and out, that’s the plan. I’ve got a tracking spell on the gem. For the gods’ sake, keep quiet and try not to antagonize any more planars. Understood?”

“What about Haer’Dalis and the others?”

“What about them?” he asked coolly.

“Can’t we…”

“No! No heroics. Whatever trouble they’re in, it’s their own doing. Not mine. Not yours, for that matter. The chase was over, anyway, and your friends fairly caught. Your Doomguard knew it—did you see him lift a finger to defend himself? Everyone knew it but you.”

“Raelis told me they were in deadly peril.”

“What, you think they’ll be killed over a play? Forgive me, but does that not seem just a trifle over-dramatic?”

“How would I know how things work out there? It may seem trivial to us but…”

“No buts. Oh, I daresay they’ll be facing some unpleasant repercussions but use your head. You and I are taking the greater risk here. You think they’d have been captured instead of assassinated if they didn’t have high-placed friends? The Sigil Troupe is famous. Sooner or later, someone will bail them out of their mess. Who’s going to bail us out?”

Firmly in lecture mode, he didn’t wait for an answer.

“We’re just a couple of unknown outsiders and if someone decides to make us disappear, no one will lift a finger to help. I will not run myself afoul of any duke or factol and neither, if you have any sense, will you.” I opened my mouth. He glared at me. “Do you think I will hesitate to leave you behind if you become a liability?”

I gulped. No, I didn’t think he would.

He stooped to take a look at his mechanical contraption.

“Run upstairs and tell Thunderburp to keep everyone out of the playhouse,” he said. “This gate’s our back door out and I don’t want anyone stumbling through it or worse, monkeying with the parameters I set.”

When I returned, I barred the theater door as an extra precaution. The innkeeper’s look of wild curiosity had not assured me he wouldn’t come snooping himself.

“On the other side, the gate will be invisible to anyone but me,” he told me. “So stick close and try not to get lost. Are you ready for this?”

I took a breath and nodded. He cast a spell of invisibility over us both. The world turned ghostly. He reached for my hand as if he had no problem seeing me (and I wondered how he pulled that off) and dragged me through the gate.