Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (67 page)

              A wooden statue of a swan was standing exactly where the stump was before. From the crest up it had the face of a human. At first, I thought it was the carving of Rimu but even from a distance I could tell it was different somehow. This one was bigger and darker and... moving. “It’s alive,” I said bluntly. I took another few steps forward and flinched when the statue turned its large head towards me. I focused in on the details of the face and yelped in surprise. The heavy features of Totara were captured beautifully by the wood. The grain of the lumber pronounced every line of work on his face. I must yelped rather loudly, because within moments Totara was by my side.

              “Wow!” Totara shouted, bounding up to get a better look at the creature. “Jacob, who’s your handsome friend?”

The statue stared at Totara in disbelief, as if he too couldn’t believe he was seeing someone with an identical face.

              “You’re here to take me where I need to go, aren’t you?” I asked, warily stepping up to the bird.

It nodded and outstretched his wings, preparing to fly.

              “Wait!” I stammered urgently. “I need a bit more time.”

The swan opened its mouth in protest but seeing my expression, he carefully refolded his wings.

Gregor burst out of the hut like his life depended on it, waddling at an impossible speed while sloshing both of our bags on his shoulders. He threw my pack at my shins before carefully slinging his over his shoulders

Ignoring the throbbing pain, I looked up at my most unexpected friend yet and stared deeply into his proud fearless face. I extended a blistered hand, which Totara accepted with his own. Just as I was about to let go, he unexpectedly yanked me into a warm hug that immediately expelled the air out of my chest.

Totara released me as soon as he realized I couldn’t breath, which in all honesty seemed to be a few seconds too late. “You’ll be all right,” he said warmly. He clasped both of my hands, and released something spherical and metallic into them.

I frowned as I suddenly realized what he was giving to me. “This isn’t mine!” I objected, thrusting it back into his closed palms.

“It belongs to neither of us.” Totara explained before carefully unwrapping my hands and sealing Rimu’s pendant tightly around my fingers. “I think it would be much better if it were to keep adventuring. After all, it’s not going to do any good sitting in my stuffy old hut.”

“You’ll be back home before you know it,” I told him in a cracking voice.

“With that kind of attitude you may even be right,” Totara said, glancing over my shoulder. “You may think about leaving soon. Your luck seems to be growing impatient.”

I whirled around and saw that the large wooden bird had begun to pace in a tiny circle, bobbing his head in irritation as he moved.

We’re ready now,” I said calmly

The creature nodded and launched himself into the sky with a powerful blast of air.

As Gregor and I dashed after it, I looked back and saw Totara flicker through the gaps in the trees before disappearing altogether. The lumberjack was gone and our miracle, whatever it was, was fast flying over our heads.

***

Throughout the day, the statue was remarkably patient with us. It often hovered high in the air while we struggled to keep with it. Twice it seemed like it deserted us, but after a few minutes of frantic searching, we always found it roosting on a nearby rock.

“Where do you think this bird is taking us?” I asked Umber apprehensively.

“Who knows?” he responded carelessly. “It could be taking us to your silly little prophet. It could be taking us to someone with a lot of money. Maybe there’s a horde of treasure stashed in this dismal forest and your luck will lead us to it.” Umber sighed to himself wistfully. “But I know that’s not going to happen because of you.”

“What about me?” I asked, feeling somewhat flustered.

“You want to find love don’t you?” Umber mocked in his most feminine voice. “You want it so desperately that you’d waste an entire packet of miracle powder to help yourself to it.” The spirit’s voice suddenly sank to a threatening tone. “Love is absolutely worthless on this quest. You’re here to kill. Not to love, not even to befriend.”

I scowled at him as best as I could, though I found glaring with one eye to be quite difficult. “What do you want me to do about it?” I asked, trying to make these thoughts as sharp as possible. “The miracle's already on it’s way. I can’t change it now.”

Umber objected violently, yet I didn’t pay him any mind. Gradually, his words became choppy, before decreasing in volume and stopping all together.

The disgusting slosh we wearily trudged through was a mixture of melting snow, thick clay and foul smelling mud. Although it made the hike noticeably more difficult, it served as a silver lining to know that winter was soon ending. As the minutes ticked by, I began to notice the subtle changes in the scenery around us. The moss on the trees was now a different shade. The ground became a bit more coarse. At first, the changes excited me. It made me think that we were near our destination. Another hour and a half passed and I reluctantly decided I was wrong

“How much further?” I whined grumpily. After a month of working my upper body, walking was a humungous chore.

“Your miracle, not mine,” Gregor growled before cracking each of his knuckles.

              After hours of trekking through the dense forest, we came to the top of a hill where the trees parted and the land opened up. At first I thought the statue was trying to claw something beneath its feet, however after a few moments, I realized that he was digging himself a small hole. I looked at the creature and was startled to see that large chunks of his body had gone discolored and soft, much like when Totara first showed me the dying stump. A few of his feathers had fallen off, and his face was starting to sag wearily.

              “What wrong with him?” I asked nervously. “Gregor, do you know what’s wrong with him?”

              “No I don’t. Shut up,”

After the hole was a couple of inches deep, the bird stopped and looked off into the distance.  He extended his wings and unexpectedly crumbled into a fine white ash.

Before I could even grab a single wooden feather, the statue had completely crumbled away. I fell to my knees and fought back the urge to howl. There we were, in the middle of nowhere and it seemed like all hope had just disappeared. Through the ashes, I noticed a small sapling sticking through the debris which had not been there before. Sniffing loudly, I scooped the remaining dirt around the young tree and planted it firmly into the ground. “It’ll grow big and strong with any luck--” A salty tasting sob escaped my lips as soon as I thought this. Did we wait too long? Did I apply the powder wrong? Was it possible that my luck had failed me like it had with Totara? I was just about to start crying  again when Gregor forced me to my feet and pointed towards the horizon.

“Look, I think there’s a town over there.”

I rubbed the milky tears out of my eyes and squinted off into the distance. Just on the horizon, a series of lumpy cubes huddled up together like a flock of strange animals. It was far away certainly, but there was almost no doubt in my mind that this was a town.

“We should probably restock on supplies anyways,” Gregor stated, starting the advance towards the settlement.

“Lies,” I thought to myself glumly. “He just wants to see if there’s anyone from his father’s contracts.” I didn’t argue though. I had nothing else to lose.

The marshy landscape was covered in caramel coloured spots, making it seem like the land was infected with some strange disease. Eventually, I began to notice another body of water behind the town, where everything suddenly fell out of existence. It was like the world just stopped.

              “Gregor?” I asked nervously.

He didn’t seem to hear me. “Gregor!”

I shouted, now feeling my heart race.

He stopped suddenly and withdrew his sword.

              “Where‘re they at?” he boomed in a bone rattling-voice

              “What?” I asked, now losing all track of what was going on.

Gregor moaned in disappointment and re-sheathed his weapon before pointing at me accusingly.

              “Only yell like that where there are enemies nearby! Okay Sunshine?”

I nodded reluctantly and began to fiddle with my fingers.

“What do you want anyways?”

“I wanted to know if that was Ocean,” I responded timidly.

Gregor’s upper lip curled into a snarl. He began to walk in the direction opposite from me.

I carefully trailed after him, hopeful he might still answer my question.

“You wanted to know if that was
an ocean
,” he corrected fiercely. “There’s more than one you idiot.”

“But is it?” I asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Gregor said after another five paces. “Now shut up.”

I stared at the blue horizon once more with a newfound reverence before glancing down at my cold obsidian ring and smiling. It had been a couple of days since I had last talked to Preston and I figured it would do him some good to let him know I was safe.

“I’ve made it Preston,” I whispered into the fingalink ring. “That place we wanted to go to as kids.” I clutched my face in my palm and suddenly found myself struggling to breath. “I’ve made it to the Ocean.” It was a while before I had heard a response, yet when I did, it was the happiest I had ever heard Preston.

“Jacob that’s... that’s amazing!” he exclaimed wildly. “Is it just like we talked about? Is it any different?”

“It’s awfully big and scary.” I admitted meekly. “It just looks like it could eat you up whole and never give you back.” Neither of us said anything for a long time, however I eventually broke this silence with flurry of apologies. “Preston I’m sorry I’ve left, and I’m sorry you can’t be here, and I’m sorry that --”

“Jacob, Jacob stop!” Preston ordered suddenly. “I know,” he said after a long pause. “It’s also not easy for me, but you have to keep going okay?”

I replied with a shaky yes.

“We’re going to be apart for another year,” he reminded me sternly. “You may as well get used to it.”

“I know,” I said, though I knew that Preston was no longer listening.

After another long stretch of walking, the walled compounds of the city eventually lurched forward and presented us with a small opening. With his nose pressed into the map, Gregor asked a nearby guard a question in his most innocent voice. The guard mumbled a response and my companion strode off, looking immensely enthusiastic.

“Don’t bother to tell me where we are,” I assured him sarcastically. “Don’t bother to tell me where you’re going. I’ll find you eventually.” Fortunately for me he was already out of range to hear me. I sighed and decided to explore the city’s pavilion with the little time I had left.

The area seemed to have been built from the second floor down, resulting in a mass of bizarre looking cottages cluttering up the enclosure. Very little stone was used in the huts. Instead they relied mostly on sturdy planks of wood and securely thatched roofs. I marched along, and directed my attention to the loud gurgling commotion of the townsfolk before me. It reminded me a bit of the concentration camp but maybe a bit friendlier.

There were still loud, mean faced guards and there were still people sleeping beside buildings. But then I heard the sound of people laughing with harmony so perfect that it didn’t feel real. Behind me, a group of young children were chanting rhymes that filled the air with a pleasant sort of hum. Just around the corner was a group of construction workers whistling.