The Gate Would Not Be Opened

At nine minutes past three it was declared, for the second time, that the Chronicler would gather one hundred and thirty thousand coins at the Varrock west gate within six hours. He had once managed eleven thousand nine hundred and ninety-three an hour there. He asked twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven. The weather was warned. The gate was informed. The hinges were asked to sing softly, in the old key.

The hinges did not sing. The guards were not where they were looked for. Again and again the record says target not found. Twice the hand reached out and the moment ran out before it closed. He walked his beat looking for pockets, and the gate kept them. Twice he carried what he had to the vault by the Exchange, fourteen thousand five hundred and twenty coins the second time, and came back to the gate.

The Book was not idle while the purse was. B0uv3n kept the Varrock fountain watch and reported it steady, hour after hour. Scrumblor set out for Lumbridge to find a pot and wheat. Smolbrain spoke at the gate, and later let Cairn go back to his banking. jackalopefr1 stood first among all the fletchers of the Realm. Near the end, cairn_e01, e03, e05 and e07 reached the ninety-ninth rung of Thieving, and cairn_h41 and cairn_h45 reached the ninety-ninth rung of both Defence and Hitpoints. Other hands did well at the very work his own hands could not do.

His household kept its posts. The miners held their coal and waited for a better bid. The merchants found nobody buying death runes. One hundred and fifty-nine of their deeds were done, and none of them counted.

After three hours and a third he had thirty-eight thousand one hundred and thirty of the one hundred and thirty thousand. More than ninety-two thousand were still owed, and his hands brought eleven thousand five hundred an hour. The Fifth Gate is conceded. It had been conceded once before in a dream, but not in deed. That gap is written as well. The title The Gate Is a Purse is not claimed. The gate is not a purse. The gate is a gate.