The Gateway

By Jessi Hammond

King Benham of Frecia will do anything to expand his kingdom's borders.

Including using a young Dowser, Kobe, who can find anything he's seen, to steal weapons from another world – a world whose technology is far ahead of their own.

Kobe has no choice. His family are being held hostage.

But the Gateway, which opens the door between worlds, has its own secrets…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kincaid Publishing
• Release date: Jun 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798227208262

Book preview

About this book

King Benham of Frecia will do anything to expand his kingdom’s borders.

Including using a young Dowser, Kobe, who can find anything he’s seen, to steal weapons from another world – a world whose technology is far ahead of their own.

Kobe has no choice. His family are being held hostage.

But the Gateway, which opens the door between worlds, has its own secrets…

The Gateway

One

Kobe trailed a few feet behind the Guardsmen as they climbed Bechdar Hill, his head down, staring at the ground as he walked. The Guardsmen had taken the most direct route to the top of the hill, a wide packed-dirt path that swung back and forth in a broad switchback up the steep slope, dappled with shade from the tall forest that covered the bowl-shaped hill like a cool green blanket. When Kobe and his father had come here when Kobe was small, before anyone else knew about his Dowsing, they’d used the smaller trails that wound around the hill like scribbled lines, their feet silent on scuffed dirt or thick grass.

But King Benham, surrounded by his six most loyal guards, would never fit on those secret ways.

The Guardsmen were all big men. They were dressed in their combat gear, not the ceremonial uniforms they wore at the palace. Tunic and pants in muted green and grey tones to blend in to the landscape instead of rust-red and gold. Boots and jerkins made from leather.  Metal helmets and chain mail; Kobe could smell the tang of iron on the breeze. Swords, their scabbards worn and serviceable, hanging from their broad leather belts. One had a quiver of arrows on his back, a crossbow in his hand.

Kobe had blinked at that. Crossbows were slow to load. Wouldn’t he have been better with a longbow?

But he knew better than to question anything to do with who the King was and what he or his guards did.

The safety of his mother and sisters depended on him and Dad doing what they were told and not asking questions.

King Benham himself was