Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (52 page)

I cracked a single eye open and found myself seated at the very front of the chapel, with the two thousand odd faces of everyone in the camp all staring at me. I shifted my gaze to the left and found Gregor picking at his own chair and looking immensely bored while the chaplin droned on at the podium a couple of paces away.

“
--For these trainees have gone through trial after trial with nothing in mind but their desire to support the order of the Grimlars, who in their ultimate wisdom decided--”

“It’s the final address to us,” I remembered wearily. “I’m the guest at my own funeral huh?” I yawned discreetly and turned to look up at Umber. “Out of the two, who do you think will kill me first? Orthonus, or this one?” I asked, looking back at Gregor.

Umber rolled his eyes. “I don’t care what you think of him, you still have to work together.”

I scoffed and sat up. “You want me to make nice with Gregor?” I asked, trying not to feel disgusted. I suddenly darkened and clenched my fists in anger. “He’s used me as a furnace, mentally abused me and just yesterday tried to kill me before making me sleep on the ground.”

“Okay, so he isn’t the perfect little angel that your friend Preston is.” Umber simpered. “Even still, you need to co-operate if you want to find and kill Orhonus.”

“I’ve already got everything I need,” I protested angrily. “I never asked for this Grimlar loving sadist!” Just as I was about to say more, a painful moan sounded out from somewhere beside me. “Ugh. It’s the chaplin trying to sing again,” I realized, quickly leaning in and plugging my ears. After a few more minutes the chaplin bowed slightly before motioning to both Gregor and I

“Are there any final words our champions would like to say before their departure?”

Gregor shook his head slightly and looked away with disinterest.

Thinking of Preston, I bit my lower lip and carefully stood up.

“Mortal, what are you doing? You’re going to embarrass yourself.”

“Too late,” I said after hearing a couple of hushed snickers from the back rows. The chaplin flinched at my willingness to stand up but brought me up to the podium. My heels clicked loudly on the floor as I crossed the stage and made my way up the little stone steps.

“Um,” I began after a long breath. “As an Ickle-Bit... I really liked to sleep.” I paused to clear my throat and as I did so, I could hear some more laughter from the audience. I looked up to the ceiling in desperation, suddenly at a loss for words. “All I really wanted to do was lie in bed and forget about all those bad things we did in the day. I wanted to get away from it all and the only way to do that was by sleeping.” Some of the younger trainees  in the front row blinked in comprehension. “Sometimes I’d be sleeping and I’d get a couple of little dreams. Dreams like running through mountains or swimming in gold.” I coughed a little and strained to raise my voice.

“I don’t know what the other people dream of. Maybe they also see themselves outside or something, or maybe they see themselves pushing other people around.” I glanced briefly at Gregor however his eyes had been fastened to the ground. “These past few months though, I’ve been having dreams where all of us here are in a field somewhere. Maybe it’s a field where we can all talk and where we don’t have to worry about mining coal or iron. Maybe it’s a field where we can do whatever we want. Whatever kind of dream it is, I’d like to see it happen in real life.” From my place behind the podium, I could see a couple of mouths fall open in amazement. “I say this because danger is a field of coal and safety is a nice warm bed. My name is Jacob Ofpacis, and I’d to be a hero someday.”

Nobody applauded as I resumed my seat. Nobody dared move after I had made my speech, but I didn’t care. I had said what I wanted to say and for me that was enough. Just as I was about to look away, I heard a loud whoop from the somewhere off in the distance. I realized in amazement that it was Sebastian, followed by the other members of the Montrose. From one of the front rows I could see that Preston had begun to applaud as well.

“Stop that!” The Chaplin leapt to his feet and suddenly turned bright purple. “You filthy mutts know better than to clap in a place of worship!” However as he said this, the majority of the younger kids joined in, screaming and cheering and clapping as quickly as they could. “STOP AT ONCE!” the Chaplin roared suddenly, however this was the worst possible thing he could have done. Now everyone wanted to clap to see what he would do next. I smiled and proudly displayed all my crooked teeth just as the cheer of the audience engulfed everyone in the room. “You two, out!” The chaplain croaked over the din of the crowd. I took one last glance at the faces of the trainees, before strolling out to meet with the man who looked to be frothing at the mouth slightly.

              “Now
,” he said before straightening himself up. “If the champions could please take their belongings and follow me.”

After throwing our rucksack over our backs, the two of us silently followed in his footsteps. We entered through the gates of Castle Lambalatrate and climbed upward through its many floors. Even seeing the inside for a second time, I was still completely blown away. I looked over to Gregor and noticed that same starved look in his eyes.

              We stepped around corners and passageways I didn’t even know existed, passing elders and servants who stared open-mouthed. We made one final turn and suddenly found ourselves facing a sturdy wooden door opposite a small window which overlooked the entire area. From here I noted, we were on the highest point of the concentration camp.
I was shaking from head to toe
, not at all
knowing what to expect. Where would we be? What would the outside world look like? Question after question shot straight into my mind, in turn making me worry even further about wha
t could happen
.

              My hand gripped the iron door handle which gently creaked beneath my weight
as I slowly opened it. Inside
was a
crude
stone hallway, with torches lighting every couple of steps. At the end of the passage, was a very tired looking
,
muscular man. Although whip marks were visible on his bare chest, he had an impish sort of smile on his face.
Strangely enough it seemed as though
he was genuinely pleased to see me. There were heavy chains strapped to both legs, restricting his movement to the wooden platform he was standing on.

              Beside him was a massive two handed crank with a sturdy rope running from the base of the apparatus to the top of the shaft, where I
imagined
the platform would eventually stop.

“Halt
,
” he began in a gentle voice.

I wondered why such a friendly looking man was in such
scary looking
chains.

“Only one at a time. The
elevator
cannot take all your weight at once.” He pointed to me. Lets have the skinny man first. He patted me onto the platform with a reassuring hand and slowly began to crank. The
gears
made hardly a sound as the
y spun
, leading me to believe
the whole machine
was kept in good maintenance. The man cranking smiled a shockingly white smile.
“Make no mistake skinny man. Until you beat Orthunus, you are still tied to this place. Much like me.” He jangled the metal, painfully strapped to his
legs
and sighed.

              “What did you do to get here?” I asked
innocently
“To be here of all places?”

The man shook his head.
“
This is a
good question you ask
. I got here for trying to escape and nearly succeeding.
”
He closed his eyes, and frowned as if remembering something painful. “The
Grimlar
s
f
ound this a fitting punishment. Hard labor for the rest of my days, escorting people like you to the freedom I never got.

              “Oh.” A wave of nausea crept over me, as I found myself sud
denly
unsure of what to say. In the end, it was the man who spoke next.

              “What do you hope to find in the outside world?
”

              “I don't
know
.”

              “You must want something. Skinny man what do you want?”

I thought of all the power
and
all the riches in the world that I could have.
I thought about nice furniture and hot baths and books and toys. Then I thought about the people. Preston, Professor Wenchenberg and Sebastian, all smiling up at me. I remembered talking to a bird made out of metal.

              “I want love
,
”
I said boldly.

The man nodded in deep agreement.

“
That is a
good
thing to want skinny man.
”
He smiled brightly. “I was once loved you know.” I looked up
and found myself
slightly startled.

              “You were?”
 

             
“Mhm
,
”
h
e replied
, looking away for a moment.
“Until I was ten, I had a brother that loved me very much.”

              “Until?”
The man made eye contact with me and gave a bittersweet smile.

“He died because
he was mistaken for someone the Grimlars were hunting
.
They killed him and b
ecause he was my guardian, I had no one else to turn to. So the
Grimlar
s took me in.

              “I'm sorry to hear that
,
” I sai
d quietly.
I meant it with all my
heart.

“Would you like to hear a song about love?”
h
e aske
d
with a
playful
sort of smile in his eyes.

I
nodded,
a
nd a man who I
’d
only met five minutes ago began singing
to me
.
H
e sang
in a language
I
didn’t know and as he did so, a
fire blossomed in my chest
.
The song was dynamic in tune
and
slow in pace
.
Even though
I couldn’t understand a single word of it,
I felt like I knew what it was about
. It was a song about
people and freedom. It was song about love.

              The
tune
ended on a high note,
which
hung in the
air for a moment
before slowly
falling
flat
.
I
patted
my face and
felt tears of pure joy.
I had never been this happy in my entire life
and
I had never been this alive.
The platform
cracked
slightly and our sudden elevation stopped.
“Thank you
,
” I said in my kindest voice to the man. “You will be freed one day. I know it.”

His grin faltered.
“The point is skinny man, you are the one that’s free now
,”
h
e said
,
gesturing to the naturally lit staircase in front of me.
With these parting words, he began to crank in the opposite direction,
causing
the platform to slowly descend back into the gloom.

I a
dvanced slowly
and tried to control my
breathing
as I approached the blinding light. My climb finished rather unexpectedly as I
stepped into a small, clustered
room filled with nothing but the odds and ends of leather hides and metal tools
.
The air, which reeked of mildew and cow, was thick enough to cut with a knife and fork.