Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (12 page)

“I don’t want to,” I said softly. The subtle warmth in Gregor’s eyes froze over.

“Take it,” he repeated calmly.

“No,” I said, now backing away.

“Take my god-damned hand,” he hissed. “Or else I’ll kill your little friend over here.”

I hurriedly looked to Preston, who now looked more frail and helpless then I ever remembered seeing him. “You think I’m joking Sunshine?” Gregor asked in a painfully high voice. “You think I don’t have the balls to do it?”

The other trainees surrounding Gregor began to anxiously fidget despite not being involved. I licked my lips and looked back at Preston one more time. He looked like he might faint at any moment.

“I could kill a whole town with these balls alone,” Gregor said, now pointing downward. “I could kill you and your friend, and still sleep easy at night because it’d be your damn fault for not shaking my hand. Now what do you say? Wanna see your friend tomorrow? Wanna live to see another day?” Gregor held out his hand again, which was now slightly shiny from fresh sweat and blood.

I lightly took Gregor’s hand in resignation but didn’t look him in the eye. His fingernails dug into my wrist as he firmly tried to squeeze all of the blood out of my arm. After a painful second, he let go and took a satisfied step back.  “Bring the himathor,” Gregor said sharply. “We eat now.”

              “Who said we?” I asked, grappling the remaining meat. Gregor scowled.

              “Obviously you’re not aware of my reasoning,” he said, gesturing stiffly past the flags just in front of us. “You may have wondered why we haven’t left yet.” Motioning aimlessly around us, he leaned in closely and began to whisper. “What would you say if you knew that there’s a gigantic creature just beneath our feet? What would you say if the only reason for this thing to exist would be to stop us from going past that wall?” Without waiting for an answer he continued. “This lifeform is a series of interlocking spiked roots buried deep beneath the earth. Although plant, the Grimlars claim to have made it themselves. They call it the Gauntlet.”

              “You mean to tell me this ‘gauntlet’ will attack the second a flag comes off the pedestal?” I asked in disbelief. Gregor nodded and my stomach sank as if a large lead ball had suddenly been sewn into it. There never seemed to be an easy way out with the Grimlars.

“The gauntlet’s roots will rise to the surface and begin to attack the moment one of those flags leaves the pedestal,” Gregor continued, still looking grim. “I’ve had the privilege of battling it once yesterday and the day before that. I can easily say it’s impossible on your own.” Gregor sniffed and looked me over as if disappointed in what he saw. “The best way to get past it is to have one person carry all the flags while the others defend. As much as it pains me to say it, we need as many people fighting as possible.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with me giving you our food,” I said, gripping the himathor tighter still.

“You’re going to help us get past that wall tomorrow. We can’t fight the gauntlet and carry the flags if we’re hungry and that’s where your surplus comes in.” Gregor beamed and placed a firm hand on the skewered himathor.

“What makes us think we can trust you?” I asked taking another step back. “If you take our food, you could just as easily leave without us knowing the next day.” Gregor stepped forward while shaking his head slowly.

“As wild as your imagination is
sunshine
, I’m afraid you’re still wrong.”

“Why do you keep calling me sunshine?” I asked angrily.

Gregor ignored this. “While I cannot guarantee the survival of everyone, I can certainly say that the more fighters we have the more likely it would be that we all could survive.” Gregor paused in consideration. “Even if some of the fighters are lackluster.” I began to protest despite not knowing what ‘lackluster’ meant, and was immediately cut off.
“Easy, easy
,
”
h
e
purred
. “Feeding us
is
the smart thing to do.
W
hen we try again tomorrow, we'll all be well reste
d and
ready.
”

              “How long can it possibly take for you to get the
flags
over there?” I asked in angry
disbelief
.

              “Longer than you'd expect.” He said dropping the false sympathy. “Hours. And we
’ve
failed every time, exhausted and injured. The point is sunshine, like it or not, we're vital to your survival, and if we fail
once more
...
T
h
ose
flags will
explode or something,
l
eaving us here to starve.” He glared at
the both of us
,
as if it was somehow our fault
.
A
s much as I didn
’t want to admit it: Gregor
was right.
Seven
people
were
far better
than
the alternative.

              “Will you give us a moment to talk?” I asked, looking to Preston. Gregor looked sour, but immediately put on a sickly sweet smile.

              “Of course,” He growled, before backing up a respectable distance. His gang did likewise before I rounded on Preston.

              “We don’t have a choice you know,” Preston whispered slowly. “We have to give him some food.” I shook my head.

“After what he’s done to you Preston I don’t think we should,” I countered quickly.

Preston frowned and laced his arms together. “You can’t think of it like that Jacob. Gregor’s dangerous yeah, but he’s a good ally to have for now. For the record I’m fine. Just a little shaken,” he assured me quietly.

I chuckled. “I still can’t believe you threw such a solid punch,” I appraised while patting him on the back.

Preston bashfully turned his head although still managed a slight smile. “The point is, if even Gregor couldn’t make it past the Gauntlet with the rest of the trainees, there’s little reason to believe that we could do the same. Feeding him and his gang is our only hope for survival.”

Eventually, I nodded my head in hesitant agreement. After calling Gregor and the rest of the trainees back, I told them all what happened. The crowd behind Gregor cheered, yet Gregor himself smiled only slightly as if he had expected this to happen.

“Lets eat shall we?” he asked as a dry smile spread across his lips. Walking a short way’s away from the podium pinnacle, we were welcomed by a small camp of quickly made shelters, centered by a burnt out campfire. The wiry trainee scrambled forward and began to assemble sticks for the fire. Watching curiously, I recoiled slightly as a quick jet of flames shot from his fingertips. After I uncertaintly placed myself by the roaring hearth, I silently watched the himathor cook.

Gregor quickly demolished the first piece out of the fire, before gnawing at the remaining fat. Only after his second large chunk did everyone else slowly creep in to steal some of the meat. We wordlessly ate, and as I did so, watched as Umber peacefully drifted across the fire.

              “Big day tomorrow,” I said to him, silently diverting my attention the stars spread across the cold night sky. “Could be our last,”

              “You mortals and your ‘could be’s,” Umber said, scoffing slightly. “You worry so much about what could happen that it’s a wonder you even wake up in the mornings.”

              “So you’re not scared then?” I asked, looking into his gaze.

              “I am confident that I’ll find a way to survive,” he responded dryly. “You, I’m not so sure,”

              “Oh funny,” I mumbled before swatting him out of sight for a moment. “I suppose if I die, you’ll just go back to being a thick pool of syrup until some other fool swallows you up.”

              “Let’s hope the next fool to do so will at least have a stronger body than yours,” Umber said, snickering slightly. “Do you know how irritating it is to watch you weakly trudge through all of that forest when a dragon could have flown that distance in mere minutes?”

              “So you remember being a dragon then?” I asked, suddenly curious. Umber shied away a little, as if trying to hide his embarrassment.

              “There are flashes, yes,” he said defensively. “Certain recollections of once being stronger and once being
whole
. Not that you would understand, but at times I feel like there was once more of me than just a body and a mind.”

              “See, now you’re being stupid again,” I sighed, brushing him off once more. “Whoever found you probably recovered all he could. You think there’s still more of you out there today?”

              Umber didn’t answer. I suspected that he didn’t know, but telling him so would have made him more furious than he already was.
More than a body and a mind
, his voice repeated in my head. The thought scared me, although I didn’t know why. What else could there be besides a body and a mind?

“How about we just not think any of this exam stuff until tomorrow?” I suggested. “Let’s just enjoy tonight and worry about it when the time comes.”

“You were the one that brought it up,” Umber responded grouchily.

“I mean it Umber,” I told him sternly.

He sighed impatiently. “So be it mortal,” Umber said before diving out of the flames and quietly fading out of view.

I quietly left the campfire, bidding good-night to only Preston. I climbed into a nearby tent and welcomed sleep like an old friend.

             
Chapter
five

             
Escape

             
He’s a friend. But a friend

             
Who has never seen the sea

Yet he walks on

              He walks on

             
Deftly walking to be free

              He’s a boy, but a boy

             
Clinging to his innocence

             
Yet he walks on

             
He walks on

             
Deftly walking out to me

              I deceive. I deceive

             
And it causes me to grieve

             
Yet I walk on

             
I walk on

             
Hoping he will forgive me.

             
“Rise and shine you stupid
git
.”
Gregor’s voice sept in through the outside world like how uncomfortably cold water seeps through clothing. I frowned and flopped over to one side, my muscles screaming in weary agony. There was no possible way it was morning already.

              “Five more minutes
,
” I groane
d, trying burying myself deeper in the enclosure.

              “The early bird saves our only way out of here. Get up, or I will turn this tent upside down.”
I sh
oo
k Preston awake and
scrambled out of
the tent as fast as I c
ould
, just
barely avoiding an encounter
with Gregor's hard leather boots
, which furiously tried to kick me.

              A disturbed silence held the camp in place, with the only sounds present being the strange scraping of rocks against metal. Approaching the campfire, I watched as the trainees frantically tried pound out the imperfections in their swords with stones. A few tried holding their swords over the fire for a while, however even with heat, the metal seemed unworkable. Through the wordless commotion a few minutes later, I noticed that Gregor was nowhere to be seen. Quietly excusing myself, I left the perimeter of the camp in search of him. Scanning the area, I found him perched on a lofty rock examining something with childish delight. Quietly edging closer, an involuntary gasp left my lips as he a sword to the light.