Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (11 page)

“So what now
?” I asked while reaching out with all fours to climb the rough mountain terrain.

“What do you mean what now?” Preston asked abruptly. “You know exactly what we have to do. Carry the flags and get down to--”

“Yes yes, I know that part,” I said, quickly waving him off. “I meant what happens after all of this? Preston paused, before turning around and sitting on a sandy looking rock.

             
“I don’t know,” he confessed. I knew he was telling the truth from the way he held his shoulders. Preston never sat up straight unless he was perfectly sure of himself.

“Will they let me into the school?” I wondered nervously.

              Preston laughed. “Are you kidding?” he asked. “They’ll have to after all of the shit that you’ve pulled off.

              His voice caught on the word ‘shit,’ causing me to start laughing uncontrollably. I never thought Preston would say a word like that, and I guessed that neither had he. Although he looked highly embarrassed at first, Preston eventually joined in giggling until we were in tears.

              “I’m in the middle of the forest and I’m dying of laughter,” I thought suddenly, causing me to spiral out of control once again. After a long while, we settled down and fell into a comfortable silence where we both looked out at the view in front of us, sighing every so often. “Why are we climbing this mountain again?” I asked ironically.

Preston smiled, obviously appreciating the humor but being too weary to laugh any more.  “You think there’s a reason?” he asked after a while. “The Grimlars told us to. That’s all the reason they think we need.”

I nodded in agreement. “Preston,” I began slowly. “Do you ever think that the Grimlars will stop?”

“Stop?” he said nervously.

“Yeah. Stop,” I said, louder this time. “Stop all of the killing and stop all of the mage hunting and just... Stop.”

“They’ve been going for a thousand years,” Preston said solemnly. “I don’t think they’ll ever stop.” Preston opened his mouth like he wanted to add something, but ended up lamely closing it.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said after a while. “Everything stops,”

Preston gazed at me mournfully, as if I somehow didn’t understand. He shook his head and continued walking, leaving me to braise in my own thoughts. The Grimlars would have to stop somehow. “How can something everyone hates go on forever?” I asked Preston after another few steps.

“I don’t know Jacob,” He replied with an impatient little sigh. “Can’t we just talk about something else?”

“No!” I trumpeted suddenly. “We’re going to talk about this now. You want the Grimlars gone right? What are we going to do about it?”

Preston turned his head and stared at me. His throat bobbed like he was trying not to laugh, yet there was deadly fear in his eyes. “You want to stop the Grimlars,” he stated in disbelief.

I swallowed hard and looked back at him, suddenly feeling as though someone was listening in on us. What Preston said had never crossed my mind before because it was just
so stupid
. “Me, stop the Grimlars?” I thought to myself. Absurd! Yet I realized it was exactly what I wanted to do. I folded my filthy hair back over my head and began to breath a bit quicker as I considered this.

“Someone has to,” I said in an older sounding voice. Preston shook his head and turned around again, probably thinking I was crazy. I didn’t notice though, because my head was spinning with excitement. I did want to escape, I did want to rebel, and I did want to be the one person who stopped the Grimlars from going any further. I froze, now aware of my pulse which I could hear pounding against my eardrums. As much as I liked the idea, I knew I wouldn’t be possible. I was Jacob and Jacob was an ickle-bit until just recently. Why should I bother when it was so much easier to only care about me?

I couldn’t answer that question, but it made me think. The Grimlars hate people who think.

***

             
We summited the podium, both breathless and awestruck. From this height, the world looked like a giant bubble, prime to pop. In the middle of everything was a beautiful circular mural, carved into the ground with shattered green tiles. As I slowly circled the perimeter, I realized that I was looking at an army being strangled to death by a bunch of blackened vines which erupted from the center of the illustration. The flags all stood surrounding the mural, and were held in place by a sheath with a complex looking lock on it. There was a name engraved just below where the key would go.

I went to each individually, and saw that nine of the sixteen sheaths had the word ‘deceased,’ where the name should have been. By chance, the last sheath that I approached was mine. To my amazement, the name read.

“Deceas-ob Ofpacis.”

I blinked hard and looked even closer while my mouth hung open in shock. Somebody (or something) had begun to rub my name out, thinking that I was dead. I kicked the engraving a little, quietly hoping that my real name would suddenly reappear. It didn’t.

I looked away from the flags, feeling suddenly disturbed and saw the opposite wall of the forest with a single arched opening in it. “This is the exit,” I realized suddenly. “It’s not even an hour’s walk away.”

“Preston!” I hissed
, prodding him excitedly.
“
Preston
Look! Off in the distance
!
Right ov
er there, look! Can you see it?” I asked, excitedly pushing him forward. As his gaze focused I noticed the hungry look in his eye, and the way in which his open mouth almost seemed to twitch into a toothless smile. “We’re here Preston!” I bellowed while shaking him as I did so. “That’s all that’s left.”

“Is it
now
?”
a cold voice from behind me asked, sending a sharp shiver down my spine. As I turned, I found myself suddenly surrounded by the crowd of the five remaining survivors. Leading the pack was a thick chested brute, who had his hefty tree trunk arms folded carelessly in front of him. His face stretched towards the floor, but abruptly ended at the stump of his square chin, outlining his coarse stubble. His thickly braided black hair that stuck to his scalp was arguably the best groomed out of the lot despite still looking like a mop that had been left out for days on end.

              “Hello again Gregor,” I said coldly.

He chuckled loudly in response to this greeting. “This little idiot just won’t give up now will he?” he said to either side of him from all to hear. The group around him laughed in exaggerated amusement.

My fists balled as anger flushed into my cheeks.

“Last time I saw this one, he was lying comatose in the middle of a field,” he continued, still grinning.

              “Say what you want, but I’m pretty sure my fever saved you all from certain death,” I responded quickly. A collective series of sniggers shot through the air. Gregor shook his head, smiling like he knew more than me

              “I understand you want to feel important,” he said, jabbing a pointed finger into my chest. “However I assure you that we could have done fine without you. Taking you with us was only a matter of convenient heat.”

              “I’d watch what you’d say if I were you Gregor.” I said, now holding up the remaining himathor.” The eyes of all the boys widened.

              “We outnumber you five to two! You may as well just hand it over while you're thinking about it,” a weedy looking kid said with a funny accent. The boys surrounding him cheered in agreement. They advanced on us like a wave, however Gregor held a hand up, stopping them dead in their tracks.

              “You seem to be under the assumption that I’m not capable of finding my own food Jacob,” he simpered while examining his fingernails. “In case you don’t know who you’re dealing with, let me reintroduce myself.” With a flourish, Gregor brought himself even higher. “Gregor Tyrannus: Soon to be fourth tier Grimlar, and prefect in kinetic anti-magic.

              “Gregor, when did you get food?” one of the hardier trainees in the back whined. “We’ve never seen you eat!” Without so much as a drawing breath, Gregor flicked around and drew two fingers to the forehead behind him. Gregor’s eyes suddenly began to glow a deep sickly green. The larger one let rip with a mortifying scream before going on to scratch his pale face violently. Looking hardly impressed, Gregor drew his attention back to me before bowing slightly. As he did so, his eyes repossessed their original hazel colour.

              “It’s funny how quickly it takes to convince someone their eyes are being sucked out of their skull. As a kinetic Grimlar I am capable of warping minds at will. Any questions?” In one terrifying moment, It seemed as though no one knew what to do. “Any questions over here? Gregor asked towards the crowd examining the sniveling trainee on the ground “No chief Gregor!” they all shouted together.

“Chief?” I asked in disbelif. Clearly Gregor had taken things too far.

“Considering I am their senior, it seems only fitting they should address me as such.” Gregor said, unwrapping a wrinkled smile. He began to pace around me, arms tucked behind his back as he did so. “Tell me Jacob, how is it that an Ickle-Bit like yourself has made it this far? Dumb luck? Or cheating perhaps?” he inquired, wringing his hands together.” Much to my surprise it was Preston that spoke up:

“He can use anti-magic.” As quickly as Preston said this, everything stopped. The shuffling of feet stopped. The hushed murmuring of the people surrounding the large boy stopped. Gregor’s eyebrows shot up into an expression of doubt, as he examined me from a different angle.

“Prove it,” he commanded after a sustained silence.

My skin prickled over in a cold sweat, yet I didn’t move.

“You heard me,” Gregor said, sneering. “I want to see some anti-magic. Right here, right now.”

I licked my lips fervently. Preston stared. Gregor stared. Everyone was looking at me to see what  I could do, while I had frozen almost completely. Eventually I lifted my hands away from my body, trembling as I did so. I clenched my teeth, diverting all of my focus onto the area just in front of me, yet no flood of heat welled up into my arms. Nothing at all happened. After twenty painful seconds, Gregor began to laugh. He started out with a wheezy chuckle before going on to something much more sinister. The trainees surrounding him began to laugh as well until I was smothered in a thick bath of jeering noises. Tapid shame surged through me, yet the heat never came.

              Suddenly, skin hit skin, followed by the dull thump of a body that had fallen to the ground. I didn’t see it happen, because I just couldn’t understand what
had
happened. Preston was standing with his fist outstretched and Gregor was on the ground with a bleeding nose. Preston had just punched Gregor. The arrogant trainee slowly stood up, examining his bloody hands briefly. With quicker speed than I could have anticipated, Gregor took Preston by the throat while glaring at him with those glowing green eyes of his. Preston’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he began to quiver in violent agitation. He tried to scream, but only a thick gurgling noise came from his throat.

“No!” I threw myself forward, but was instantly grabbed by three of the trainees. Gregor’s grip tightened. “Don’t touch him!” I shrieked before throwing aside one of the boys. I raised a hand and was instantly swamped by the overwhelming energy of my fear. The earth began to stretch out in all direction like the ripples on a pond. Those trying to grab me were flung out of proximity as if they were only frail little ragdolls. Preston was let go from Gregor’s grip as he effortlessly dodged the vicious assault. Suddenly, it was all over.

My life depleted, I fell into a fetal position and hurriedly tried to take more breaths than was possible. I moaned weakly as Preston flipped me to one side and forced me upright into a sitting position. Preston, although looking shaken, seemed to be uninjured much to my relief.  Gregor approached, slowly applauded as If I had just done a cute trick.

“Distortion anti-magic,” he stated simply. “Jacob I’m impressed.” The genuine quality in Gregor’s tone surprised me. “To think after all these years you’ve been holding out on me.” Gregor almost seemed to smile. “Well done Jacob. You’ve earned my respect.” Wiping his bloodied hands clean, he held out his right hand and looked at me expectantly. I considered spitting on it briefly.