Rollalong Hill part 4
The moonlight from the two great masses in the night sky provided so much light reflecting off Hallow lake that everything glowed firey blue. Sparkling and still, the lake was known to produce an anti-magic within close proximity. No one had ever drawn energy from the water, the depths below it or anywhere near it’s shore.
Allen’s great uncle had chosen this lake for that very reason. He would have built the work shop in the lake had he been able to find a way to keep the water ferrets from attacking the lumber he placed as support beams into the soft gewy ground. Water ferrets were not aggressive, and avoided humans at all cost, but in this lake, just as in any other parcel of land that bore no magic, the creatures of the earth held their territory at any cost. Out of the ground and silently approaching the large shack, Allen could see the orange glow of fire from torches on the other side. Men were conversing, soldiers.
A loud voice roused the soldiers into silence. “We rest, and head to Roll-Along. One guard every hour needs to patrol the barriers border.” Allen snuck through the open back door of the workshop nearly knocking over a bench full of tools. There were hammers and strange turning devices. Some of the metal that Allen had sensed from underground was spilled like dust out of a glass jar. He did not need magic to smell the potency in those small granules. Without the magic he could not determine their use, but knowing his uncle it was something dangerous.
The leader of the small band held a small device in his hand. Allen looked in the small crowd for Stewart. If his uncle had been captured, it was not willingly or without a tussle. The large wrinkled old man was tied to the great Yellow maple that grew by his forge. Stewart had taught Allen to blacksmith as a young man, but Allen could not see the purpose in working so hard without magic at that age. Now he thanked his uncles teaching on a daily basis, and started to feel guilty that he had never shown him proper appreciation. The Unitary soldiers had his uncle bound and stretched onto the tree as if they had been torturing him.
Allen felt rage well inside him. He was too close to the lake to do any damaging magic, and seven men was more then even he could take on without the earth’s help. He needed something sharp.
The moons shimmered through a cloud sending streams of light into the room. Allen recognized the mirror like reflection of swords in a large rack in the corner. He would have to remember to ask his uncle why he was creating so many weapons. As far as Allen knew only a bandits nest would need so much un-magiced force. When Allen pulled a long light blade from the metal rack, he noticed that it was not only the racks filled with swords, but chain mail hanging from the beams, and some kind of mechanized bow, twenty of them at least hanging on pegs on the adjacent wall. He grabbed two of those for good measure, along with a sack of tiny arrows that belonged with them.
He needed to release his uncle quickly, but he wanted to avoid unitary. He needed a distraction. Without use of their powers, the soldiers would find a Gnat a very big distraction. He had to find Jinx and Nattalie.
Jinx held Nattalie back. She protested silently kicking gently at the massive paw set down in front of her.
“But Jinx!” She pointed to the old man tied to the tree. “That has to be him, and they are going to kill him!” Jinx sniffed at the air. “Allen is there, we wait for him.”
“I’m sick of being left out.” Nattalie walked back into the curtain of trees where Jax landed with an awkward thud from out of the sky. “Are you all right Jax?” Nattalie helped him up as he brushed off the pine needles sticking into his silk pants.
“I’m fine… that damned lake and it’s anti-magic.” Jax could feel Jinx staring disapprovingly at him from the shadows of the large trees barely disguising his mass.
Jax smiled at Nattalie. She didn’t use magic, she used her own powers to survive. He tumbled and fumbled whenever he was around her, not just because he couldn’t use the air to steady himself, but because he could see a beauty in her nature. Beauty was only a magiced disquise in the woman he had met at Unitary.
Nattalie felt herself blushing. She had grown up in a town where her tomboy attitude and non-use of magic was revolting to most of the boys in town. She had few friends, and never a boy that smiled at her that way. Her heart echoed softly against her insides.
“Jax, do be more careful.” He snickered at her, and she shook her finger at him. “A sky glider indeed. More like a ground thumper.”
A soldier was sent out to patrol, and Jinx watched him with his lids fully drawn. Gnats had two sets of eyelids. One was for sleep, the other was for protecting the eye from daylight. With both drawn he could see far more distance than that of almost any creature alive. His brown pools now shimmered a deep blue. His sisters would claw his ear off for what he was about to do, but he could see Allen on the other side of the lake searching for them. The soldiers would discover Allen if they looked out from their small camp.
Jinx had glided over to Jax and Nattalie. “You two will have to do your mating strategies later.”
Jax about choked, and Nattalie looked like she wanted to faint. Jinx pointed out to the lake. “A soldier is coming, and I have to help your father. Make her stay here Jax,”
Nattalie started to whine, but Jinx pulled out his long thumb claw. “Jax,” Jinx waited for him to look into his eyes. “No human knows the true extent of our ability to kill.”
Jinx’s fluffy dog like tail seemed to extend and grow a large scorpion stinger on the end. The Gnat swung it onto the ground in front of the two. “Don’t make me show you how it works.” Jinx could see that Nattalie was once again angry, and Jax a bit terrified, but the young human would not let Nattalie come to harm.
After Jinx snuck off into the woods, Nattalie plopped to the ground annoyed. “Why are there so many secrets!” Jax took up Jinx’s spot at the trees, starting to wonder if he really would find out why Allen had kept so many secrets.
Allen knew Jinx had seen him. The glimmering blue flashes of his eyes reflected the light of the moonlight like two gigantic fireflys behind the trees. It was the only clue any man would ever see when a Gnat stalked at night. Jinx swept up behind him. Allen whispered, “I need a distraction. A big fierce hairy one.”
Jinx snorted a little. “Did you know Allen,” Jinx was glad he did not have to pretend he was feeble at speaking anymore. “My sisters would love to eat you.”
Allen nodded in the dark. He was not Jinx’s master, and he could not pretend to be anymore, especially in these wood. “I’m sorry friend. Please forgive me.”
Jinx snorted again. “Is the old man the one you need free?” Allen nodded.
Jinx grumbled as he strode up to the soldiers, hackles raised. “Another damn human…Good thing I love your pup Allen.”
The soldiers were quite surprised when Jinx’s growl turned into a screaming howl. Standing and clawing at the air, there was only high pitched yelling and dust left when the men escaped as quickly as possible. Only Allen’s uncle remained, passed out and hanging from thick sailing ropes tied to the tree.
Jinx stomped into the dirt, a bull ready to charge and left to make sure the men did not venture back.
Cutting the ropes with the sword he had taken from the workshop Allen caught his large muscular uncles limp body before his head cracked against the ground. Allen gathered up an old tent cloth and some spears. Stewart woke long enough to say “I’m so sorry Nattalie.” and was back asleep being dragged on a make-shift gurney to where Nattalie and Jax were supposed to be.
[[[[ Dilema… do I want Natt to be captured by Unitary and make this story longer then I intended, or do I want to keep it within the 5 days so that I can actually finish it without making it another unending project?]]]]]]
When Allen arrived at the site, his uncle in tow, Natt was no where to be seen. He hurried and set the gurney down when he realized Jax was laying in the shadows twisted and still. Allen scooped him up and carried him away from the barrier of the lake to heal him. Jax had to know where she had gone. Once the energy had seeped from Allen’s own flesh to tell Jax’s bones to mend, he finished cooling and soothing the knot on the boys head to wake him. Someone had thrown the boy against the tree and cracked his skull.
Jax woke in a sudden startled, “Nattalie!” but quickly realized he was alive thanks to the Admiral once again. “The Gnats took her Admiral!”
Allen shook his head. “You amaze me sergeant.” He was not sure why the gnats had taken her under their protection, but there was no one safer then someone welcomed into a Gnats litter.
Jax just looked at him perplexed. “The gnats! We have to get her.”
Allen wondered suddenly how attached this young Unitary soldier really was to his daughter. “She will be fine Jax.” His big arms scooped Jax up into the air pocket that Jax had instinctively created. “You are one lucky kid, those gnats would have definitely loved your taste.” Jinx had always said that humans rarely tasted good, but a human male wasn’t too bad when the hunger took over, and a human sky-glider was irresistible. Female of any species was very indigestible to Gnats, but in a pinch would be better then nothing.
Allen felt the earth for Jinx. He had been using his magic long enough now that it didn’t sweep over him from static build. It was like filling a cup of water, once you got used to it, there was no effort. It simply flowed now. Allen could feel Natt and Jinx’s sisters moving quickly, and even further north. Jinx was coming from the south dragging his uncle.
He walked up too them, dropped the gurney and licked a small wound on his hind leg. Jinx sighed. He coughed like he had a hairball and spit out a soldiers belt. “They taste better cooked.” Jinx coughed another piece of clothing up and sniffed loudly at the breeze. He knew Natt was with his sisters. She would be safe for now, and he motioned at the old man lay snoring in the contraption he dragged from the lake side.
Allen lay his hands to the earth below Stewart, tucking one firmly below his head, and the other firmly under his back. Like someone had poured ice cold water over him, the man sat up fists swinging.
He almost clocked Allen in the jaw before Jax had time to make an air wall to protect him. The old man’s fist pulled out of the invisible shield like a stick from deep bubbly tar.
“Allen!” the old man threw his hands down to the ground and sprung up like a jumping horned beetle. Stewart paid no attention to the Gnat staring quizitively at him from the end of the gurney. The old man’s joy turned dark quickly. He spit in anger at the Admiral, “The Unitary is planning on attacking the peaceful tribes of the north! They want to wipe them out!”
Stewart had pulled a dagger from inside his boot and held it accusingly in Allen’s face. Jinx stood and growled. Stewart waved his hand dismissingly at Jinx. “You’re not going to scare me any more then your litter tried to Gnat.” Jinx’s head shot sideways and he sat loudly grumbling under his snorting.
“Tell me you don’t have anything to do with this Allen!” The old man was stronger then Jax’s air shield. It couldn’t be possible… The knife steadily, and slowly cut through the air toward Allen as he protested.
“Uncle Stewart!” Allen reached up but was having more difficulty pushing through the shield then his 40 years elder uncle. “They kicked me out before Nattalie was born, I have no love for Unitary, only for my family.”
Stewart pulled the knife out of the shield effortlessly and dropped it into the boot. The strange little family had now become even more deadly. “An Admiral, A gnat, and a sky glider…” Stewart picked himself up and whipped up air and water wisking away the dried blood and dirt that covered his cloths. Stewart didn’t hate magic, he just believed that wasting it needlessly was abuse of the world that provided anything a man needed without magic.
Stewart pulled out a wet stone and some small knives. “Why are they off to kill my best customers, and why are they after Maria?” Stewart stood sharpening his daggers as Allen explained. He pulled them from many different cubbyholes of his leather overalls. Jinx still pondered the many ways he could barbecue the tender thick meat dripping from the old mans bones.
Allen seemed a bit worried when he heard Jinx utter “Delicious.”
His stomach and lack of sleep where getting in the way. Jinx was worried about Nattalie. He knew she would be protected, but they were taking her to the Relic Beasts. Jax was smelling awfully tasty too.
Ignoring Jinx Allen explained as he set out the weapons into a pool of the moonlight shining through the trees. “Necromancer Leon has told me that Unitary wanted Maria and I to have a child.” Jax gasped.
“Leon?” Stewart pulled out a larger crossbow from the pile and a handful of arrows, giving no sign he cared one way or another about Leon.
“Did you know he was Maria’s father?” Allen couldn’t accept it, but it was still there nagging.
“Leon has been fighting with the Rebels of the deadland Relic tribe ever since Unitary sent me to assassinate him when Maria was three.” Stewart had been in Unitary for a very short time, and dropped off their records as ever have existing. Allen joined Unitary to spite his Mother for rejecting magic knowing that she hated her brother for having joined. She only forgave her brother on her deathbed shortly after she received word that Allen was disbanded and returning home. He never made it home to tell her that she had been right. He never got to tell her he was sorry.
Stewart suddenly stopped and put a oversized hand on Allen, “I’m sorry Allen, they had a device that pulled the truth from me no matter how I tried to lie. They know about Nattalie.”
Jinx had spit out a large compass like device coated in gold and soft carved wood. Stewart looked down at it disgusted. “I had no power over it,” Stewart kicked it in front of Jax. “Unitary scum bags.”
Jax gasped again. “But those can only mask the truth.”
Allen picked it up admiring its detail. “Uncle…” He put the device into his cloak pocket. “They know about Nattalie?”
Stewart hung his head nodding. Allen knew that his uncle would never have told them willingly.
Jinx was already standing and ready to snapp a nice chunk of dinner from the mans arms. Allen had to think, but he had to rest. They were no good to anyone without sleep. “Jinx, do you know a safe place to rest before we head out to find Natt?”
“Not far north.” Jinx looked up at the second smaller moon and yawned ferociously. “Sky glider can show you, at the base of the mountains.” Jinx stuck his big wet nose into Jax’s face. “You’re lucky it was my sisters who have her.”
Allen and Stewart gathered up their things and prepared for the long walk up to the mountains. Unitary would know soon what was happening, and they had to find Nattalie. Selfishly Allen only wanted her to know the truth before she found out anymore of it from strangers. The Relic beasts never lied, and they were incapable of deception. Nattalie would dig the truth out just by asking the right questions.
Jinx had run off into the woods and came back with a dangling leg still sticking out from his massive mouth. He gulped it down like a bird would a fish, and spit the boot from between his teeth. He stopped briefly in front of Allen licking the blood from his chin as he spoke. “I need to be with Natt.”
Allen reached up patting his old friend tightly in the chest. “I know. I won’t be far behind.”
Jinx had turned to leave but stopped to say, “That boy loves her.” And then he ran off into the wood. He would clear the valley and catch up to his sisters very quickly. Female gnats were more dangerous, but male gnats could outrun even a glider if they needed to.
Allen watched Jax gather up his wind and steady himself. He floated in the air just as any man would stand sturdy on the ground. “I’ll be rate back.” Jax waited for Allen to nod and shot off into the sky.
Stewart was ready to go, and pointed back at the workshop. “We need to go get some things from the shop, I have an order to fill with the Relic tribe.”
Allen went with him, knowing that the men would not come back to the lake, he could hope that Jinx had eaten all of them, but Jinx would have told him if he had. Among the things Stewart collected in a large wagon his old stallion was pulling were three small caskets of the deadly powder, a huge pile of swords, two suits of oversized chain mail, and a shining copper chain net. It was a giant web of thinly stranded metal wires. “What is that?” Allen’s curiosity had overwhelmed him. As a child he never could resist asking his uncle what the odd items were that hung in the workshop. He felt like a kid again, amazed at the craftsmanship and artistry his uncle was capable of.
“Do you remember the fable of the farie fire?” Allen couldn’t remember all the details, but his mother had told him the tale any time he wanted to protest her ban of magic in their home. He wished he had not forgotten it. Nattalie would have loved the tale as a child.
Stewart finished loading the cart and began shutting down his forge fires. “The faries are extinct now, but they could have saved themselves.” Stewart pulled some magic from the air and began creating a large ball of flames from the dieing fire inside the furnace. “We humans, just like the faries think that magic is a singular ability. We think that the fire I am creating is only for me, and that I alone control it. The faries believed that they only need protect their own fire to be safe.” Stewarts flames where turning slowly as they grew. “ The fable said that each farie in the tribe had created a fire that made them immortal. As long as their fire glowed safely, they couldn’t be harmed.” Stewart pointed at the furnace “Make your own flame Allen.”
Allen obeyed. It was the size of Stewarts when he continued, Allen listened intently. “That is not your fire…” Stewarts flame came slowly closer to Allen’s. “This is not my fire.” Stewart grabbed a bucket of water he used for cooling the blades. The flames were licking in the air at each other violently. “Let go of the fire Allen.”
Allen did not know what was going to happen. He watched and released. The two flaming balls expanded and consumed each other. They wisped and stuck long ravenous tongues to the table beneath them. Stewart had already released his magic. “The faries selfishness destroyed them. They never realized they could work together and so died.” The fire swelled even more and cascaded down onto the table in a frenzied freedom. Stewart threw the water over it and smoke was quickly swept away by a strong wind. Jax had found them from the sky and was landing close behind. “If their tribes had worked together, their fires could have glowed for eternity.” Stewart held out a small copper web. “Just touch it.”
Allen poked at it and felt a zap. Stewart let out a small laugh. “Ok now grab it.” Allen wondered if the old man would kill a Unitary Admiral, nephew or not. “It won’t zap you if you hold it.” Stewart continued knowing the Unitary soldier now listened closely. “If just two had found a way to share their flame, they might not have been wiped out by a breeze.” No one knew how the faries had all died, but many speculated their immortal fires had extinguished in a war.
Allen grabbed hold of the copper web. Suddenly Allen could feel not only his energy drawing toward him, but the energy that surrounded Stewart like a massive pulsating fog. “Now we both draw the flame.”
It was so simple, like rowing a boat, the two energys combined in a current that massed the flames in front of them. It was as if the two of them weren’t using separate energies. Stewart answered his unasked question. “Maria would have told you… It’s just energy and form. One man can give it purpose, mankind can give it a greater purpose.” The fire started to grow too large to control. Stewart slapped the copper web out of Allen’s confused hand.
Stewart put a finger up to his lips and motioned at Jax to come closer. The flame ball had burst onto the ground and been quickly snuffed out by the shield Allen created around it. “It is never separate, it all belongs to this world.” Allen was surprised by his own ignorance once again. He did not know the magic could overpower his control and gain it’s own will to expand.
Jax stepped into the faint light of the embers glowing in the forge furnace. He sounded sad as he said, “At Unitary they teach that the faries died out because disease had corrupted their fire. Disease snuck into their magic because they would not help Unitary bring peace to the world.”
Stewart sighed. “Do you know why you can fly and others can not young soldier?” There was clearly distaste for Jax’s uniform in Stewarts tone. Jax shrugged. He just could. Gather up the air like a wall and let it carry him away, that’s what he did. Stewart poked at Jax’s chest with the dagger he had silently drawn from yet another hiding place. No one but those close to Stewart would know he was once Unitaries deadliest assassin. Not because of magic, but because of his skill with a blade. “You fly soldier, because the earth lets you.” Stewart stomped his foot on the ground. “My place is here, and your place is up there.”
Stewart sliced at the air around Jax. If he had never met Allen, Nattalie and Jinx, the old man would have seemed a cruel crazy joke, but he stood respectfully as the man sliced his rank badges from the uniform and then the ruby beads from his front dreadlocks. Stewart could have sliced him to pieces with or without the air shield. Jax watch him slip the knife back into a secret poket of his overalls. “You fly because Unitary has not decided you are enemy and poisoned your soul.”
They traveled silently for rest of the dark night up into the caverns that Jax had found. There was an anti-magic well deeper in the caves, a place safe from magician and unitary alike. Jinx had said it was safe by leaving his saddle at the entrance way when he ran under Jax to point it out. He only looked up once to acknowledge that Jax had seen him then he headed north to find Nattalie. Jax had debated following Jinx from the sky, to leave the Admiral and his uncle to fend for themselves. The two old ox’s could probably take out two troops of unitary single handedly without magic.
In a land a few hours flight away, the vice general of Unitary council sat listening to his sky-gliders report. She was the only other sky-glider left in Unitaries army. The rest had been shot down while spying on the Relic tribes gathering in the mountains. She wore stretched silk bottoms and fine Rubies hanging from her braided hair. She waited patiently for instructions. As he had just found out, the other sky-glider was about to go into enemy camps.
The General walked to a locked ornate box that stood by the fireplace of his acquired accommodations. The family in the home had been glad to stay at a relatives house when the Vice had told them he would be staying with his army in their town. People this far away from the capitol had more respect for Unitary. Those that could smell the decaying land close to the great temple, were growing rebellious. The fires of rebellion had to be extinguished. The Vice General had his orders, and the uprising had to be annihilated at any cost. He handed a small vile of green sparkling vapor to Renice. She would obey, like a good soldier.
“You must open this under Sergeant Jax’s nose.”
She did not ask why or what. “You will be rewarded greatly if you bring back the girl.”
Renice smiled. Her thick long blonde braids dangling as she saluted. “Yes sir.” She was off the balcony and headed back to follow the Gnats.
Vice bellowed down to the guard at the front door. “Bring me the Aunt.” He twirled a small parchment in his hand as he sat. The magic that hid the secret message had been easily deteriorated by poison, and he could see the exact gathering place for the mighty Relic Beasts and their human tribe.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Rollalong Hill ( Part 3 of 6 )-edited
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ROLLALONG HILL DAY 3
Allen moved quickly underground. Surrounded by the soil, he was also surrounded by the energy that forced itself into his very body. Most men had aptitudes for earth, and most women had aptitudes for air, but like Maria Allan had the ability to tap all four elements, but the one that was drawn to him and most powerful was earth. Maria would scoff at this explanation. She believed that there were no elemental divides. She always tried to tell Allen that there was only energy and form. What people claimed were elemental draws, where simply the energy that would draw in the quickest and easiest for a that particular person. Some energy was easier to tap than others, and those that could not understand the power could not give it true purpose.
Allen understood what she tried to teach him. He even could feel it in his draws now and then, but as he tried to explain to her, he did not have to ask for the energy from earth, it simply swept into him without cause constantly. After Maria introduced Allen to Ramelda for the first time over spirits and humble cakes, Ramelda divulged to Allen how to block the powers from coming into him on their own. She had taught Maria to block other peoples magic, but Allen had been a hopeless cause. It took far more skill then strength.
The stench of evil seeping down through the earth became stronger as he took the next fork. He would be upon the magician soon. Dark magicians were not all bad people, but this one had commited murder at least once. To enchant a dagger with that much disease, he had to take a human life.
Allen hoped that he could find the magician and from underneath bind him as Maria had taught him. He could feel her whispering in his ear even now as he thought about the teachings. She had told him it was easier to teach a man while naked in bed, and it certainly worked better for him.
Allen felt the darkness from above growing very strong and spoke to the earth around him. “I will protect her Maria, at any cost.” Allen was struck by thick green vapors and haulted. A large burrowing beetle popped out of the tunnel to his left. “He knows your coming Allen of Rollalong.” and the beetle flopped out and ran away down the dark passage. Who sent that enchanted beetle? He was relieved and curious. The vapors were probably a trap. More murder. The wizard above had to be relinquished to the land, if for no other reason then knowing his Nattalie existed. Allen summoned up water from the ground. A deep underground river ran close. He did not want to draw too much or too quickly. The mole worms had let him use their tunnels, but he doubted they ever would again if he destroyed them. The water puddled up under the green vapors.
Allen pulled the air into small swirls grabbing up the poison and pushing it into the tiny lake. He knew partly his daughters frustration. Air had always struggled against his pull, and the tiny whirlwinds could have been large tornados if it had been Maria.
Before the green gases had been swept away Allen recognized the figure of a tall thin man standing at the far end of the cave. Not really a man, this necromancer had been banned from Unitary lands long ago. Before even Allen had filled his first cup of water. The first thing all students were taught at Unitary was the figure, shape, smell, and evil of this man.
Allen did not have time to put up a binding. The man had him paralyzed and shut off from the energy pulsing around him.
His voice was soft and full of tenor. Allen had always imagined a hissing snake, but now it sounded just like his grandfather. “Allen, at last we meet.” The man stepped forward creating a luminescent ball to light up the cave.
Allen stood quietly, waiting and feeling for the pulse of the Earth to creep closer. Besides teaching him how to create the shield that now cut him off from magic Maria had also taught him how to break the shield someone else created. It wouldn’t take long. Allen had years of practice breaking and creating shields. A little more then seventeen of them.
“Oh,” the man sounded disappointed. “Maria is gone, how sad.” He put a long fingered hand down toward the puddle that had sucked away the poisoned air. “Do they still teach about me at the Unitary? What an evil bastard I am?”
Allen did not have to nod. “Great Necromancer Leon. I think that is what they called me.” Allen could feel the static building outside of the shield. He only needed one spark to make it through. The wrinkled up old wizard waved his hands in the air. “You are strong Allen, but if you break that shield, I will only recreate it stronger.” Allen knew that the stronger a shield was the more likely it would be to suffocate the one inside.
Allen stared the raven haired old man in the eyes, velvety red and glimmering from the faint green light. “What do you want with my daughter.”
The wizard was truly shocked that Allen knew anything of his plan. There was more to this ‘Admiral’, the sky glider had called him then he was led to believe. “You mean my grand-daughter.” Allen coughed and then let the static seep through. A little more and he would have enough energy inside the sheild to throw it over the dark wizard and suffocate the truth out of him.
“My Maria was NO relation to you old man.”
“Don’t you ever wonder why Unitary treasured her so? Do you question why the Unitary you served let you render the land desolate in sacrifice for their causes… Their wars?”
Allen hissed at him. “Murderer.”
The Necromancer sighed and swept away Allen’s shield. “Kill me then.”
Allen had already drawn so much hot energy from below his feet that there was no way for the dark wizard to shield him. It would only take a thought to render him ashes. “What?” was all Allen could muster.
“Tell me Allen,” The wizard sat upon his knees holding himself up with a thick ivory wand. “How many did you kill for Unitary?”
Allen could not answer, there were entire armies enslaved by him and his troops, and more killed by his magic then by the weapons on the battlefield.
“Why doesn’t the poison seep through your viens from the deaths you caused?”
“Tell me Necromancer, before I kill you too.”
“You thought you were righteous.” the old man dropped his cane. “Guilt is the disease that runs through my magic, just as evil runs through the Tyrant of the South. It is not always truth that determines how our magic flows.” Allen felt nauseous. It had to be a trick.
It was then that Allen separated his forces and applied anti magic to the man.
“Tell me why you seek my daughter, and I will release you from your guilt.”
“ The Unitary has taken everything from me. First they took my wife, killed her in war. Then they took my daughter, and used her to drive me out of the land. And now they have taken my grand daughter. I am not as powerful as I used to be when I was their Admiral, the poisons of guilt have destroyed my body.” The necromancer did not fight the sheild, and was no longer threatening.
“The dagger and the sky glider?” Allen tightened the shield, thickening it as the old man started to wheeze.
“Once you have the disease, it only gets stronger if no one will heal you.” He referred to what Allen had thought was murder to create poison. “I was there, waiting incase he did not make it to you. I could have saved him if you could not.”
Allen’s head started to swarm with thousands of nagging questions, doubts about what Unitary had done in war, what he had done for them. “Why? I could kill you with a thought old man for coming for my daughter that way.”
“Unitary can not be trusted. You are a unitary admiral, the boy was a unitary sergeant… and let me tell you how hard it is to drag a sky-glider from the sky, it was all the power I had left to subdue him for you.”
Allen started to see the truth in it, but could not shake the teachings of Unitary. “You’re telling me that everything they taught… The war against Necromancers, the battle to ensure freedom from dark magic, all of it is lies?” Allen was confused by what he should focus on, his daughter was safe for now, and his whole life was coming into question. Everything he had done was all for poloticians?
“They call us Necromancers because they want you to believe we are evil. They have placed this poison into us, they created the tainted energy that loops into the enemy wizards. Between guilt and their poison, there is no way to make it pure again” His eyes began to water. “My Maria thought I was an evil man because of their lies!” wheezing the wizard spat onto the ground.
Allen released his hold, letting the old man breath, but did not allow any sparks to seep through the shield.
“Leon,” He hated using a name for what he was raised believing was the most evil war lord of all time, but Nattalie was more important. “Do you know why Unitary is after Maria?”
The old man’s face was covered in concern. “They want your children. They want her to bear your child, and then they want that child to be raised the most powerful wizard of war to ever be created… and in their name conquer…. Everything.” Leon actually began to sob. The Great Necromancer was nothing more then a poisoned old man who had lost everything to Unitary.
“I have to find Nattalie, do not follow me old man.” Allen sunk into the earth below him in a whirl of cascading dust. He did not believe this man was Maria’s father, or his story about Unitary. One of them would have seen the lies, Maria would have seen the lies, she would have told him about her father… Allen could not concentrate and ran head on into a low hanging tree root. He was unconscious for hours.
Nattalie climbed off from Jinx and onto the floor of an old abandoned storage shed. Jinx had spotted a barrell of rain water and hurried to gulp it all down. Instead of lapping it up, he had done what he saw his humans do. He picked it up like a giant cup and began to drench his hot throat. Water dribbled in streams down the thick mane of fur.
Nattalie opened her bag and pulled out a fresh shirt and pants. She would have to wash her cloths whenever they could find fresh water. Unlike most people, Nattalie learned to do everything without magic. Anyone else could wisk up some water and air to clean their cloths. Weavers could fabricate clothing from the fibers around them. She had loved watching the town weaver create dresses for the other girls.
“Why won’t he teach me.” She wondered aloud to herself, but Jinx had strolled silently back to her and answered.
Nattalie had never heard Jinx speak words so clearly and precise. “Magic does not belong to man.”
Nattalie must have given away her shock, and tried to speak, but could only say, “what?”
Jinx sighed and motioned for Nattalie to sit. “What man uses for himself…” Jinx struggled a bit and then with his gums pulled up, looking ferocious his words came out even better then they had before. “The energy of this earth does not belong to one person.” He sniffed the air and paused. “It belongs to every alive thing.” Jinx growled then and sniffed some more at the air. “Wait here.”
Nattalie was tierd of being thrown about and left out of the secrets. She new she was in terrible danger and no one was explaining any of it to her. She pulled from the saddle that Jinx had removed a bow and arrows. Her Aunt Hannah had taught her how to hunt when she found out Nattalie could not use magic. Hannah had told her it was pure joy to provide for your family good food naturally, and admitted it was the only thing she loved more then doing magic. Hannah’s great uncle had taught her how to make the bow and arrows just as he had taught her father to tend land. Nattalie bet that her great uncle would tell her what was going on. She had never met him, but they were only three days from his farm.
Jinx walked through the large door carrying a very frightened and trembling man in his jaws. He spat him out on the ground and placed a very powerful paw on his chest and neck.
Nattalie had to be careful not to give away Jinx’s secret. “That’s the man from the fields!” Nattalie pulled the arrow back and aimed it at his belly. Magic would not stop a Gnat, and the bow was probably unnecessary but Natt did not want to take a chance. “Why are you here, and what kind of trouble did you get me into!”
Jinx winked in approval. He tapped his large thumb claw on the hard floor behind Jax’s ear. Jax could feel the deadly swiftness with which it would tear his face from his skull. “Your father sent me North, and when I sensed the Gnat, and saw you in here, I thought it was going to hurt you.” Jax looked up at the beasts head nodding at Nattalie.
“Let him loose Jinx, he does not mean us harm.” Natt knew that Jinx would not let him go if she was incorrect, but had to pretend he could not talk to her.
Jax did not move rate away. He tried to tell her what was going on as quickly as possible so that he would not be killed, some drool dripped down onto his sleeves as the gnat lowered his head and stared into his eyes. It was almost as frightening as watching the Admiral unleash his magic.
“ The Unitary Council is about to wage a long terrible war, and they wanted your mother and father back to fight it for them. They sent me to get them, but along the way I was pulled down.” He heard Nattalie gasp, she had heard of sky-gliders and was almost giddy with excitement.
“You fly?” The danger had lept straight out of her mind, and now she wanted to know everything about the handsome stranger. Jinx had not growled yet, so she knew so far, it was the truth.
“My name is Jax, and I must say Nattalie you are more beautiful then your father described.” Jinx growled.
“You’re lieing about something Jax.” She pulled the bow back tight against her shoulder. Jax realized that she like her father could not be lied to. He had not realized that she was creating an anti-magic barrier, under the circumstances a Gnat could make anyone forget about magic.
“I’m sorry. I’m a seer.” It was only the second time in his life he had divulged that secret to someone other then his mother. This family certainly was the most unique bunch he had ever met, and a Gnat as a pet! The Unitary was never going to believe him. He must have sighed a little too much, because the Gnat’s breath was blowing the dreadlocks away from his face. Jinx nodded again to Nattalie.
“The great beast who is very hungry and drooling on you is named Jinx.” Nattalie lowered her bow again.
Jax stuttered. “Ni.. Nice to meet you Jinx.” Jinx took his paw from the mans chest but settled it in swiping distance.
“How did you get diseased Jax?” Nattalie pulled another cookie from the saddle and offered it to Jinx. The long fat tongue snatched it up from in front of Jax’s nose. The Gnat didn’t seem as repulsive and terrible as he was taught in Unitary, but definitely more frightenening.
“The Necromancer Leon pulled me down and told me I had to bring him Maria,” He did not want the girl to be in any more danger, he had rethought wishing to have never been assigned as he looked upon Nattalie. “He was really after you.”
Jinx sniffed the air again and motioned to Natt that he had to go scout. Nattalie nodded back to him and encouraged Jax to continue. They talked for a while, much longer then Nattalie had expected to. He explained to her how sky-gliding worked but would not demonstrate. He asked a couple of questions about her and Jinx, but Nattalie only wanted to hear about Unitary and the dark wizard once he refused to show her how he flew.
The day was growing dim. Nattalie realized that Jinx would never be gone so long without a good reason and started packing up the saddle and bag. Jax looked around expecting the walls to fall down around them unsure of why Nattalie suddenly seemed so paniced.
“Jinx has been gone too long.” Nattalie helped Jax off from the floor. He felt the strength in her arms when she practically tossed him onto his feet single handedly. Nattalie let out a quick laugh, “It’s amazing how strong a person can be when they can’t use magic.”
Jax didn’t ask. She could use magic… and from what he could see from the large distance it took to be out of her anti-magic barrier, maybe more then her father and mother combined. A great static wall had blocked it from view before, but now he knew what it meant. He wanted to know everything, and at the same time he had an intense desire to protect her, not only because a Gnat might eat him up and shit out his bones, or because her father could literally rip his limbs off and use them to pound stakes into the ground, but because he had never wanted to be with someone this much in his life.
The old wizard did not follow Allen until he was far from sensing him. Leon knew his daughter would have never mated with a man that could not see truth, or that was evil in any form. His wife had been the same way. Right was right, and wrong was wrong. After he healed Allen’s concussion from running into the tree leg, his slipped silently away. He regretted now approaching Allen in the way he had. It was not as it seemed. The Unitary spys had given him very bad information. But as it is with Unitary, lies and truth hold no great account in their capitol.
“Some great Admiral.“ Allen rubbed at his temple and hoped he had not lost too much time. Allen knew that the necromancer would follow. There was truth in what Allen had heard, but he refused to believe that some of it was not personal truth. He had killed so many for Unitary, and now they would find his daughter, and make her a murderer. If only he could have told her the truth, his lies had set her up to be the perfect soldier for them, and he must stop her before the sky-glider told her about the static shell. She had to know the truth before she hated him as Maria hated Leon. It only drove him faster.
The knot on his head kept him from loosing concentration. Leon had made sure not to heal it completely so that Allen would be more careful. Soon the caves were not quick enough and Allen shot up out of the earth. He whistled to a grazing Centimount standing by a fruit tree. It was almost night, and he had some traveling to catch up to Jinx.
Being so tied to the earthen powers did not only grant him access to the energy coursing through it’s viens, but the ability to communicate basic needs to the sentient living things around him. He would have been eaten by Jinx and his entire litter of sisters had he not been able to ask for forgiveness. The centimounts long slender legs bent to the ground so that Allen could ride. It gave him a disapproving look at not being more polite about the ride.
Allen patted the large spotted neck, saying “forgive me, my young one is in terrible danger.” The strider, snorted and stood a towering mass of speed. They would be able to avoid the Yellow forest and head directly for where Jinx had sent word he would secure Nattalie. Allen hoped she would not be too frightened when she met Jinx’s family.
Before Nattalie and Jax had a chance to step outside of the shed, Jinx popped his head around the doorframe and halted her. He looked perplexed, something Nattalie was not sure she was reading correctly. She would think it was fear, but Jinx had never been afraid of anything. Nattalie’s jaw dropped when he spoke in front of Jax. “My sisters would like me to bring you…” Natt looked at Jax who was far more confused. Only mad Terry in town had ever shown that much confusion in a single gaze, but he had been staring at an invisible purple elf that burped the alphebet at the time. At least that is what Terry had told Natt.
Jinx snorted at Jax. “Not you… they will eat you.” Jinx tried to be appologetic. “Fwiend.. Fly away and find somewhere safe to hide, we will come get you if Allen says it is ok.” Nattalie felt her heart race.
“My dad is there?”
Jinx shook his head sadly, “Not yet and we don’t have much time.”
Nattalie went to grab the saddle but Jinx growled at her. “No, they would kill you for even owning it.”
“ok.” Natt felt like a timid mouse trapped by a bunch of cats. She grabbed the cookies for safe keeping and placed them in her bag along with the fire starter.
When she went to follow him out she saw Jax frozen in fear, but ready to follow. “Jax, go hide already! I doubt talking is what makes Gnats deadly.” Jax did not want to die, but he did not want to explain that he let the Admiral’s daughter walk into a den of female Gnats. A male gnat was one thing, but a female gnat was bigger, stronger, uglier and deadlier.
Jinx turned to give him one last chance to fly away. Now that the anti-magic barrier had left with Natt he could gather up the air and set himself in a very tall very far away tree. He hoped that being close enough to see the static wall around Nattalie would not be close enough to be smelled.
Natt watched Jax float away up into the trees of the Yellow Valley. He headed toward the Yellow forest when she turned back to Jinx. “My father has told me nothing Jinx, and now your hiding things from me too!” Jinx still looked rather anxious. He was scared. Nattalie realized then that maybe some things she didn’t want to know. Jinx did not have to tell her to be silent as they approached the five gigantic gnats laying by a shallow pond. Each gnat had spotted brown and white fur, much more corse then Jinx had. Their horns were longer and twisted down like a ram in front of their sunken saucer like eyes. Natt had always thought Jinx must be attractive for a Gnat, and now she could see he was a beautiful gnat, and also very small.
Jinx whispered down to her, “They will not speak human, do not talk to them.”
The smaller of the five stood and growled at Jinx, its shadow casting over Nattalie like a bad omen.
There was a lot of growling and snorting as Jinx went from one to the next. He bowed in front of each, and then lay flat nose to the ground in front of the largest. After Natt was finally through shaking she waited patiently for Jinx to come back to her. Instead the largest one that Jinx lay in front of walked passed him nipping at his head. It floated gracefully, powerfully toward her. Her fear had been renewed. She had never doubted Jinx as a protector, until now.
The grumbling was low and gutteral as it stuck it’s great black eye into her face. The horn wrapped around it like a shield, Spiraling down like a funnel into that deep unblinking eye. Nattalie was fascinated by the emptiness inside the darkness. She was always told Gnats could not use magic, but now it seemed, looking into that horrible pit of black that they might be part of the magic itself.
The Gnat backed away suddenly and beckoned Jinx. He seemed to crawl on his belly to Nattalies side. Natt decided she should be kneeling or doing something other then standing. She knelt down next to Jinx and hoped that she wasn’t about to be devoured.
Jinx meowed softly a few times as the large gnat bellowed a fierce roar into Jinx’s ears. Nattalie did not know what to do but she could not watch Jinx be hurt when all her life she had been under his gracious care. Nattalie threw herself between the large gnat and Jinx. She started pleading, knowing that they could understand her. “Please don’t hurt him!” She felt herself ready to puke at the prospect of getting chomped in half by the beast. “Please… don’t hurt him.”
Jinx shuttered beneath her. She could not tell if it was relief, or release. The large gnat then spoke. It wasn’t as grumbly as Jinx, and almost sounded harmonic. “Child, I don’t hurt anyone I don’t eat.” The thing snorted at the two of them and walked back to her perch amongst the others. “Jinx,” she motioned for him to get up with a nonchalant wave of her massive paw. “Protect her, guide her, but do nothing for the father.” Jinx seemed to protest with a large awful cry.
“Dad?” Jinx would not look at her.
“Child,” the beast could have been a singing choir of faries, the voice was entrancing. “We protect only our own, and Jinx has chosen to claim you as his. He will never be able to choose a mate. He will be banned from our circles, and he most certainly will never be allowed in our presence again, but for that,”
She walked back to him, nuzzled his neck affectionately and turned her massive back to them. “he and you will always be under our protection, and never in our presence.”
Nattalie could feel her heart breaking. All of this was for her, he had given up everything from the day she was born, for her. “Jinx no… you can’t.”
“You are my human Nattalie,” he smiled sadly at her, “my greatest fwiend.” The five Gnats howled into the trees sending loose leaves, dead branches and birds of every kind skittering away.
Jinx pushed at her to walk away. It was not far that Natt could see her father and he waited for Jinx to trot toward him before he would come any closer to the den of gnats. Jinx hurriedly told him, “They will kill you Allen, you must go quickly and meet us at the Hallow lake.”
Again without explanation or any aknowledgement that she was there, her father sunk into the earth like the sky had pushed him under, and Jinx tossed her onto his back like a skinned carcass. Nattallie waited until Jinx stopped running before she lept down to get answers. Jax was not far behind in the sky stopping just short of her static shield and landing.
He had seen it all, and felt it all. Being a seer was a curse more then a gift. With beasts of such ties to the earth there was more intensity in the sight than there ever was in humans. The creatures that lived in the north were said to be deadly to seers because of the overwhelming power of their emotional projection.
Nattalie was glad to see Jax. He approached in the middle of Jinx trying to tell Nattalie that she should be grateful she has not had to bear the burden of such horrible secrets.
“Oh Jinx, I love you but father has been completely unfair!” She even stomped her foot like a kid having a tantrum. Jinx looked like he was laughing at her.
Jax said, “You mean, you really didn’t know about the barrier? Those gnats could have…” Jinx lunged at him grasping his neck in a sharp quick grip.
“Say nothing.” Jinx looked down into the seer with his brown pools, they glimmered and shined with a need to eat. “Can’t I just eat him Nattalie?”
Nattalie had not realized what had been said had anything to do with her. “No, you can’t Jinx, but father is full of aged tender muscle.”
Jinx dropped Jax to the ground and did not take his eyes from him. “You’ll know soon enough why Allen has done all he has done.” Jinx was telling Jax to keep quiet, no seer needed to be present to figure it out.
Jinx nodded and snorted at the boy and went back to Nattalie. “Hallow Lake?” Nattalie had never heard of any of the lands other then Yellow forest and Hallow Lake. Her Aunt lived at the end of Hallow Lake, and her great Uncle had a tool shop at the lake. “We get to see uncle?” Nattalie smiled unable to contain the excitement of finally meeting the man who her father had so much admired.
Allen had traveled very quickly by dividing the soil underground. He could sense something was wrong up ahead. He stopped and listened to the flows of energy coursing through the earth. Soldiers footsteps, and blood. Not a lot of it, and sulfur… and another one, metal he did not know. Allen backed away feeling for his way to Jinx and Nattalie.
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ROLLALONG HILL DAY 3
Allen moved quickly underground. Surrounded by the soil, he was also surrounded by the energy that forced itself into his very body. Most men had aptitudes for earth, and most women had aptitudes for air, but like Maria Allan had the ability to tap all four elements, but the one that was drawn to him and most powerful was earth. Maria would scoff at this explanation. She believed that there were no elemental divides. She always tried to tell Allen that there was only energy and form. What people claimed were elemental draws, where simply the energy that would draw in the quickest and easiest for a that particular person. Some energy was easier to tap than others, and those that could not understand the power could not give it true purpose.
Allen understood what she tried to teach him. He even could feel it in his draws now and then, but as he tried to explain to her, he did not have to ask for the energy from earth, it simply swept into him without cause constantly. After Maria introduced Allen to Ramelda for the first time over spirits and humble cakes, Ramelda divulged to Allen how to block the powers from coming into him on their own. She had taught Maria to block other peoples magic, but Allen had been a hopeless cause. It took far more skill then strength.
The stench of evil seeping down through the earth became stronger as he took the next fork. He would be upon the magician soon. Dark magicians were not all bad people, but this one had commited murder at least once. To enchant a dagger with that much disease, he had to take a human life.
Allen hoped that he could find the magician and from underneath bind him as Maria had taught him. He could feel her whispering in his ear even now as he thought about the teachings. She had told him it was easier to teach a man while naked in bed, and it certainly worked better for him.
Allen felt the darkness from above growing very strong and spoke to the earth around him. “I will protect her Maria, at any cost.” Allen was struck by thick green vapors and haulted. A large burrowing beetle popped out of the tunnel to his left. “He knows your coming Allen of Rollalong.” and the beetle flopped out and ran away down the dark passage. Who sent that enchanted beetle? He was relieved and curious. The vapors were probably a trap. More murder. The wizard above had to be relinquished to the land, if for no other reason then knowing his Nattalie existed. Allen summoned up water from the ground. A deep underground river ran close. He did not want to draw too much or too quickly. The mole worms had let him use their tunnels, but he doubted they ever would again if he destroyed them. The water puddled up under the green vapors.
Allen pulled the air into small swirls grabbing up the poison and pushing it into the tiny lake. He knew partly his daughters frustration. Air had always struggled against his pull, and the tiny whirlwinds could have been large tornados if it had been Maria.
Before the green gases had been swept away Allen recognized the figure of a tall thin man standing at the far end of the cave. Not really a man, this necromancer had been banned from Unitary lands long ago. Before even Allen had filled his first cup of water. The first thing all students were taught at Unitary was the figure, shape, smell, and evil of this man.
Allen did not have time to put up a binding. The man had him paralyzed and shut off from the energy pulsing around him.
His voice was soft and full of tenor. Allen had always imagined a hissing snake, but now it sounded just like his grandfather. “Allen, at last we meet.” The man stepped forward creating a luminescent ball to light up the cave.
Allen stood quietly, waiting and feeling for the pulse of the Earth to creep closer. Besides teaching him how to create the shield that now cut him off from magic Maria had also taught him how to break the shield someone else created. It wouldn’t take long. Allen had years of practice breaking and creating shields. A little more then seventeen of them.
“Oh,” the man sounded disappointed. “Maria is gone, how sad.” He put a long fingered hand down toward the puddle that had sucked away the poisoned air. “Do they still teach about me at the Unitary? What an evil bastard I am?”
Allen did not have to nod. “Great Necromancer Leon. I think that is what they called me.” Allen could feel the static building outside of the shield. He only needed one spark to make it through. The wrinkled up old wizard waved his hands in the air. “You are strong Allen, but if you break that shield, I will only recreate it stronger.” Allen knew that the stronger a shield was the more likely it would be to suffocate the one inside.
Allen stared the raven haired old man in the eyes, velvety red and glimmering from the faint green light. “What do you want with my daughter.”
The wizard was truly shocked that Allen knew anything of his plan. There was more to this ‘Admiral’, the sky glider had called him then he was led to believe. “You mean my grand-daughter.” Allen coughed and then let the static seep through. A little more and he would have enough energy inside the sheild to throw it over the dark wizard and suffocate the truth out of him.
“My Maria was NO relation to you old man.”
“Don’t you ever wonder why Unitary treasured her so? Do you question why the Unitary you served let you render the land desolate in sacrifice for their causes… Their wars?”
Allen hissed at him. “Murderer.”
The Necromancer sighed and swept away Allen’s shield. “Kill me then.”
Allen had already drawn so much hot energy from below his feet that there was no way for the dark wizard to shield him. It would only take a thought to render him ashes. “What?” was all Allen could muster.
“Tell me Allen,” The wizard sat upon his knees holding himself up with a thick ivory wand. “How many did you kill for Unitary?”
Allen could not answer, there were entire armies enslaved by him and his troops, and more killed by his magic then by the weapons on the battlefield.
“Why doesn’t the poison seep through your viens from the deaths you caused?”
“Tell me Necromancer, before I kill you too.”
“You thought you were righteous.” the old man dropped his cane. “Guilt is the disease that runs through my magic, just as evil runs through the Tyrant of the South. It is not always truth that determines how our magic flows.” Allen felt nauseous. It had to be a trick.
It was then that Allen separated his forces and applied anti magic to the man.
“Tell me why you seek my daughter, and I will release you from your guilt.”
“ The Unitary has taken everything from me. First they took my wife, killed her in war. Then they took my daughter, and used her to drive me out of the land. And now they have taken my grand daughter. I am not as powerful as I used to be when I was their Admiral, the poisons of guilt have destroyed my body.” The necromancer did not fight the sheild, and was no longer threatening.
“The dagger and the sky glider?” Allen tightened the shield, thickening it as the old man started to wheeze.
“Once you have the disease, it only gets stronger if no one will heal you.” He referred to what Allen had thought was murder to create poison. “I was there, waiting incase he did not make it to you. I could have saved him if you could not.”
Allen’s head started to swarm with thousands of nagging questions, doubts about what Unitary had done in war, what he had done for them. “Why? I could kill you with a thought old man for coming for my daughter that way.”
“Unitary can not be trusted. You are a unitary admiral, the boy was a unitary sergeant… and let me tell you how hard it is to drag a sky-glider from the sky, it was all the power I had left to subdue him for you.”
Allen started to see the truth in it, but could not shake the teachings of Unitary. “You’re telling me that everything they taught… The war against Necromancers, the battle to ensure freedom from dark magic, all of it is lies?” Allen was confused by what he should focus on, his daughter was safe for now, and his whole life was coming into question. Everything he had done was all for poloticians?
“They call us Necromancers because they want you to believe we are evil. They have placed this poison into us, they created the tainted energy that loops into the enemy wizards. Between guilt and their poison, there is no way to make it pure again” His eyes began to water. “My Maria thought I was an evil man because of their lies!” wheezing the wizard spat onto the ground.
Allen released his hold, letting the old man breath, but did not allow any sparks to seep through the shield.
“Leon,” He hated using a name for what he was raised believing was the most evil war lord of all time, but Nattalie was more important. “Do you know why Unitary is after Maria?”
The old man’s face was covered in concern. “They want your children. They want her to bear your child, and then they want that child to be raised the most powerful wizard of war to ever be created… and in their name conquer…. Everything.” Leon actually began to sob. The Great Necromancer was nothing more then a poisoned old man who had lost everything to Unitary.
“I have to find Nattalie, do not follow me old man.” Allen sunk into the earth below him in a whirl of cascading dust. He did not believe this man was Maria’s father, or his story about Unitary. One of them would have seen the lies, Maria would have seen the lies, she would have told him about her father… Allen could not concentrate and ran head on into a low hanging tree root. He was unconscious for hours.
Nattalie climbed off from Jinx and onto the floor of an old abandoned storage shed. Jinx had spotted a barrell of rain water and hurried to gulp it all down. Instead of lapping it up, he had done what he saw his humans do. He picked it up like a giant cup and began to drench his hot throat. Water dribbled in streams down the thick mane of fur.
Nattalie opened her bag and pulled out a fresh shirt and pants. She would have to wash her cloths whenever they could find fresh water. Unlike most people, Nattalie learned to do everything without magic. Anyone else could wisk up some water and air to clean their cloths. Weavers could fabricate clothing from the fibers around them. She had loved watching the town weaver create dresses for the other girls.
“Why won’t he teach me.” She wondered aloud to herself, but Jinx had strolled silently back to her and answered.
Nattalie had never heard Jinx speak words so clearly and precise. “Magic does not belong to man.”
Nattalie must have given away her shock, and tried to speak, but could only say, “what?”
Jinx sighed and motioned for Nattalie to sit. “What man uses for himself…” Jinx struggled a bit and then with his gums pulled up, looking ferocious his words came out even better then they had before. “The energy of this earth does not belong to one person.” He sniffed the air and paused. “It belongs to every alive thing.” Jinx growled then and sniffed some more at the air. “Wait here.”
Nattalie was tierd of being thrown about and left out of the secrets. She new she was in terrible danger and no one was explaining any of it to her. She pulled from the saddle that Jinx had removed a bow and arrows. Her Aunt Hannah had taught her how to hunt when she found out Nattalie could not use magic. Hannah had told her it was pure joy to provide for your family good food naturally, and admitted it was the only thing she loved more then doing magic. Hannah’s great uncle had taught her how to make the bow and arrows just as he had taught her father to tend land. Nattalie bet that her great uncle would tell her what was going on. She had never met him, but they were only three days from his farm.
Jinx walked through the large door carrying a very frightened and trembling man in his jaws. He spat him out on the ground and placed a very powerful paw on his chest and neck.
Nattalie had to be careful not to give away Jinx’s secret. “That’s the man from the fields!” Nattalie pulled the arrow back and aimed it at his belly. Magic would not stop a Gnat, and the bow was probably unnecessary but Natt did not want to take a chance. “Why are you here, and what kind of trouble did you get me into!”
Jinx winked in approval. He tapped his large thumb claw on the hard floor behind Jax’s ear. Jax could feel the deadly swiftness with which it would tear his face from his skull. “Your father sent me North, and when I sensed the Gnat, and saw you in here, I thought it was going to hurt you.” Jax looked up at the beasts head nodding at Nattalie.
“Let him loose Jinx, he does not mean us harm.” Natt knew that Jinx would not let him go if she was incorrect, but had to pretend he could not talk to her.
Jax did not move rate away. He tried to tell her what was going on as quickly as possible so that he would not be killed, some drool dripped down onto his sleeves as the gnat lowered his head and stared into his eyes. It was almost as frightening as watching the Admiral unleash his magic.
“ The Unitary Council is about to wage a long terrible war, and they wanted your mother and father back to fight it for them. They sent me to get them, but along the way I was pulled down.” He heard Nattalie gasp, she had heard of sky-gliders and was almost giddy with excitement.
“You fly?” The danger had lept straight out of her mind, and now she wanted to know everything about the handsome stranger. Jinx had not growled yet, so she knew so far, it was the truth.
“My name is Jax, and I must say Nattalie you are more beautiful then your father described.” Jinx growled.
“You’re lieing about something Jax.” She pulled the bow back tight against her shoulder. Jax realized that she like her father could not be lied to. He had not realized that she was creating an anti-magic barrier, under the circumstances a Gnat could make anyone forget about magic.
“I’m sorry. I’m a seer.” It was only the second time in his life he had divulged that secret to someone other then his mother. This family certainly was the most unique bunch he had ever met, and a Gnat as a pet! The Unitary was never going to believe him. He must have sighed a little too much, because the Gnat’s breath was blowing the dreadlocks away from his face. Jinx nodded again to Nattalie.
“The great beast who is very hungry and drooling on you is named Jinx.” Nattalie lowered her bow again.
Jax stuttered. “Ni.. Nice to meet you Jinx.” Jinx took his paw from the mans chest but settled it in swiping distance.
“How did you get diseased Jax?” Nattalie pulled another cookie from the saddle and offered it to Jinx. The long fat tongue snatched it up from in front of Jax’s nose. The Gnat didn’t seem as repulsive and terrible as he was taught in Unitary, but definitely more frightenening.
“The Necromancer Leon pulled me down and told me I had to bring him Maria,” He did not want the girl to be in any more danger, he had rethought wishing to have never been assigned as he looked upon Nattalie. “He was really after you.”
Jinx sniffed the air again and motioned to Natt that he had to go scout. Nattalie nodded back to him and encouraged Jax to continue. They talked for a while, much longer then Nattalie had expected to. He explained to her how sky-gliding worked but would not demonstrate. He asked a couple of questions about her and Jinx, but Nattalie only wanted to hear about Unitary and the dark wizard once he refused to show her how he flew.
The day was growing dim. Nattalie realized that Jinx would never be gone so long without a good reason and started packing up the saddle and bag. Jax looked around expecting the walls to fall down around them unsure of why Nattalie suddenly seemed so paniced.
“Jinx has been gone too long.” Nattalie helped Jax off from the floor. He felt the strength in her arms when she practically tossed him onto his feet single handedly. Nattalie let out a quick laugh, “It’s amazing how strong a person can be when they can’t use magic.”
Jax didn’t ask. She could use magic… and from what he could see from the large distance it took to be out of her anti-magic barrier, maybe more then her father and mother combined. A great static wall had blocked it from view before, but now he knew what it meant. He wanted to know everything, and at the same time he had an intense desire to protect her, not only because a Gnat might eat him up and shit out his bones, or because her father could literally rip his limbs off and use them to pound stakes into the ground, but because he had never wanted to be with someone this much in his life.
The old wizard did not follow Allen until he was far from sensing him. Leon knew his daughter would have never mated with a man that could not see truth, or that was evil in any form. His wife had been the same way. Right was right, and wrong was wrong. After he healed Allen’s concussion from running into the tree leg, his slipped silently away. He regretted now approaching Allen in the way he had. It was not as it seemed. The Unitary spys had given him very bad information. But as it is with Unitary, lies and truth hold no great account in their capitol.
“Some great Admiral.“ Allen rubbed at his temple and hoped he had not lost too much time. Allen knew that the necromancer would follow. There was truth in what Allen had heard, but he refused to believe that some of it was not personal truth. He had killed so many for Unitary, and now they would find his daughter, and make her a murderer. If only he could have told her the truth, his lies had set her up to be the perfect soldier for them, and he must stop her before the sky-glider told her about the static shell. She had to know the truth before she hated him as Maria hated Leon. It only drove him faster.
The knot on his head kept him from loosing concentration. Leon had made sure not to heal it completely so that Allen would be more careful. Soon the caves were not quick enough and Allen shot up out of the earth. He whistled to a grazing Centimount standing by a fruit tree. It was almost night, and he had some traveling to catch up to Jinx.
Being so tied to the earthen powers did not only grant him access to the energy coursing through it’s viens, but the ability to communicate basic needs to the sentient living things around him. He would have been eaten by Jinx and his entire litter of sisters had he not been able to ask for forgiveness. The centimounts long slender legs bent to the ground so that Allen could ride. It gave him a disapproving look at not being more polite about the ride.
Allen patted the large spotted neck, saying “forgive me, my young one is in terrible danger.” The strider, snorted and stood a towering mass of speed. They would be able to avoid the Yellow forest and head directly for where Jinx had sent word he would secure Nattalie. Allen hoped she would not be too frightened when she met Jinx’s family.
Before Nattalie and Jax had a chance to step outside of the shed, Jinx popped his head around the doorframe and halted her. He looked perplexed, something Nattalie was not sure she was reading correctly. She would think it was fear, but Jinx had never been afraid of anything. Nattalie’s jaw dropped when he spoke in front of Jax. “My sisters would like me to bring you…” Natt looked at Jax who was far more confused. Only mad Terry in town had ever shown that much confusion in a single gaze, but he had been staring at an invisible purple elf that burped the alphebet at the time. At least that is what Terry had told Natt.
Jinx snorted at Jax. “Not you… they will eat you.” Jinx tried to be appologetic. “Fwiend.. Fly away and find somewhere safe to hide, we will come get you if Allen says it is ok.” Nattalie felt her heart race.
“My dad is there?”
Jinx shook his head sadly, “Not yet and we don’t have much time.”
Nattalie went to grab the saddle but Jinx growled at her. “No, they would kill you for even owning it.”
“ok.” Natt felt like a timid mouse trapped by a bunch of cats. She grabbed the cookies for safe keeping and placed them in her bag along with the fire starter.
When she went to follow him out she saw Jax frozen in fear, but ready to follow. “Jax, go hide already! I doubt talking is what makes Gnats deadly.” Jax did not want to die, but he did not want to explain that he let the Admiral’s daughter walk into a den of female Gnats. A male gnat was one thing, but a female gnat was bigger, stronger, uglier and deadlier.
Jinx turned to give him one last chance to fly away. Now that the anti-magic barrier had left with Natt he could gather up the air and set himself in a very tall very far away tree. He hoped that being close enough to see the static wall around Nattalie would not be close enough to be smelled.
Natt watched Jax float away up into the trees of the Yellow Valley. He headed toward the Yellow forest when she turned back to Jinx. “My father has told me nothing Jinx, and now your hiding things from me too!” Jinx still looked rather anxious. He was scared. Nattalie realized then that maybe some things she didn’t want to know. Jinx did not have to tell her to be silent as they approached the five gigantic gnats laying by a shallow pond. Each gnat had spotted brown and white fur, much more corse then Jinx had. Their horns were longer and twisted down like a ram in front of their sunken saucer like eyes. Natt had always thought Jinx must be attractive for a Gnat, and now she could see he was a beautiful gnat, and also very small.
Jinx whispered down to her, “They will not speak human, do not talk to them.”
The smaller of the five stood and growled at Jinx, its shadow casting over Nattalie like a bad omen.
There was a lot of growling and snorting as Jinx went from one to the next. He bowed in front of each, and then lay flat nose to the ground in front of the largest. After Natt was finally through shaking she waited patiently for Jinx to come back to her. Instead the largest one that Jinx lay in front of walked passed him nipping at his head. It floated gracefully, powerfully toward her. Her fear had been renewed. She had never doubted Jinx as a protector, until now.
The grumbling was low and gutteral as it stuck it’s great black eye into her face. The horn wrapped around it like a shield, Spiraling down like a funnel into that deep unblinking eye. Nattalie was fascinated by the emptiness inside the darkness. She was always told Gnats could not use magic, but now it seemed, looking into that horrible pit of black that they might be part of the magic itself.
The Gnat backed away suddenly and beckoned Jinx. He seemed to crawl on his belly to Nattalies side. Natt decided she should be kneeling or doing something other then standing. She knelt down next to Jinx and hoped that she wasn’t about to be devoured.
Jinx meowed softly a few times as the large gnat bellowed a fierce roar into Jinx’s ears. Nattalie did not know what to do but she could not watch Jinx be hurt when all her life she had been under his gracious care. Nattalie threw herself between the large gnat and Jinx. She started pleading, knowing that they could understand her. “Please don’t hurt him!” She felt herself ready to puke at the prospect of getting chomped in half by the beast. “Please… don’t hurt him.”
Jinx shuttered beneath her. She could not tell if it was relief, or release. The large gnat then spoke. It wasn’t as grumbly as Jinx, and almost sounded harmonic. “Child, I don’t hurt anyone I don’t eat.” The thing snorted at the two of them and walked back to her perch amongst the others. “Jinx,” she motioned for him to get up with a nonchalant wave of her massive paw. “Protect her, guide her, but do nothing for the father.” Jinx seemed to protest with a large awful cry.
“Dad?” Jinx would not look at her.
“Child,” the beast could have been a singing choir of faries, the voice was entrancing. “We protect only our own, and Jinx has chosen to claim you as his. He will never be able to choose a mate. He will be banned from our circles, and he most certainly will never be allowed in our presence again, but for that,”
She walked back to him, nuzzled his neck affectionately and turned her massive back to them. “he and you will always be under our protection, and never in our presence.”
Nattalie could feel her heart breaking. All of this was for her, he had given up everything from the day she was born, for her. “Jinx no… you can’t.”
“You are my human Nattalie,” he smiled sadly at her, “my greatest fwiend.” The five Gnats howled into the trees sending loose leaves, dead branches and birds of every kind skittering away.
Jinx pushed at her to walk away. It was not far that Natt could see her father and he waited for Jinx to trot toward him before he would come any closer to the den of gnats. Jinx hurriedly told him, “They will kill you Allen, you must go quickly and meet us at the Hallow lake.”
Again without explanation or any aknowledgement that she was there, her father sunk into the earth like the sky had pushed him under, and Jinx tossed her onto his back like a skinned carcass. Nattallie waited until Jinx stopped running before she lept down to get answers. Jax was not far behind in the sky stopping just short of her static shield and landing.
He had seen it all, and felt it all. Being a seer was a curse more then a gift. With beasts of such ties to the earth there was more intensity in the sight than there ever was in humans. The creatures that lived in the north were said to be deadly to seers because of the overwhelming power of their emotional projection.
Nattalie was glad to see Jax. He approached in the middle of Jinx trying to tell Nattalie that she should be grateful she has not had to bear the burden of such horrible secrets.
“Oh Jinx, I love you but father has been completely unfair!” She even stomped her foot like a kid having a tantrum. Jinx looked like he was laughing at her.
Jax said, “You mean, you really didn’t know about the barrier? Those gnats could have…” Jinx lunged at him grasping his neck in a sharp quick grip.
“Say nothing.” Jinx looked down into the seer with his brown pools, they glimmered and shined with a need to eat. “Can’t I just eat him Nattalie?”
Nattalie had not realized what had been said had anything to do with her. “No, you can’t Jinx, but father is full of aged tender muscle.”
Jinx dropped Jax to the ground and did not take his eyes from him. “You’ll know soon enough why Allen has done all he has done.” Jinx was telling Jax to keep quiet, no seer needed to be present to figure it out.
Jinx nodded and snorted at the boy and went back to Nattalie. “Hallow Lake?” Nattalie had never heard of any of the lands other then Yellow forest and Hallow Lake. Her Aunt lived at the end of Hallow Lake, and her great Uncle had a tool shop at the lake. “We get to see uncle?” Nattalie smiled unable to contain the excitement of finally meeting the man who her father had so much admired.
Allen had traveled very quickly by dividing the soil underground. He could sense something was wrong up ahead. He stopped and listened to the flows of energy coursing through the earth. Soldiers footsteps, and blood. Not a lot of it, and sulfur… and another one, metal he did not know. Allen backed away feeling for his way to Jinx and Nattalie.
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
BAH
So my laptop has some thing wrong with the power supply, battery crap to the motherboard. I called Dell, and they figured out what was wrong over the phone, and (cool of all cool) they are sending someone out to fix it for me free of charge. They said I shouldn't lose any of my pictures, video's, or my story, *which was the scariest part-not losing the computer* but now I can't work on Rollalong Hill for a bit. The part 3 is sitting safely in my laptop's hard drive. I can't just retype something I've already written. It's like painting a duplicate. It just isn't the same, and I'm disappointed with a duplicate. It'll have to wait. Not that anyone is waiting, but I'd like to think there is.
My boy turned 3 today, so I'm hoping that means the terrible twos will leave soon. He is one strong willed little man and LOVES to test his boundaries. I'm proud that he is so much his own person already, but its' scary to think of handling such a strong willed teenager... Hopefully I can just install the right moral compass. Parenthood is scary! But I can't wait for Christmas. I'm hired in, I'll have money, I might even be able to buy presents early this year. Woot! I'm ready for snow and Christmas music. Summer can Get Get. Ok I have to go to bed. Work work.
My boy turned 3 today, so I'm hoping that means the terrible twos will leave soon. He is one strong willed little man and LOVES to test his boundaries. I'm proud that he is so much his own person already, but its' scary to think of handling such a strong willed teenager... Hopefully I can just install the right moral compass. Parenthood is scary! But I can't wait for Christmas. I'm hired in, I'll have money, I might even be able to buy presents early this year. Woot! I'm ready for snow and Christmas music. Summer can Get Get. Ok I have to go to bed. Work work.
Friday, August 13, 2010
the Rollalong Hill {part 2 of 6} Edited
THE ROLLALONG HILL DAY 2
Jinx sniffed at the air as Allen was trying hard not to look frightened by the cup in his hand. Nattalie tried so hard to fit in, and the more he tried to forbid her from magic, the more she snuck dangerously behind his back to try. She had no idea what the consequences might be if she actually drew the magic, and he planned to keep it that way. Allen gulped the last bit of water and held the glass out to Nattalie. His face became stone and his eyebrows became dark curtains over his eyes. “Someone dangerous is coming to our house.”
Natt felt Jinx’s hackles rise. The opposable claws that usually sat double jointed and tucked up into his thick brown fur slid out. He stood on his back legs, and now towering over her like the great fierce beast everyone knew as a Gnat, Jinx moved between her and the house ten feet tall and looking nothing like a friend.
Allen picked his axe up and grabbed Jinx’s neck slowly. “Make sure she stays here.”
Natt could feel static discharging in the air all around her father. All though her father did not draw the energy from the air too him intentionally, the ground sent it to him like a grounded circuit ready to discharge. The further he moved away from her the stronger it became.
Natt watched him go, never speaking a word. She had never seen her father as a wizard, but at the moment she braced herself for the ground to split open and flood the entire valley where the small town sat.
Allen knew that Jinx would not let anything happen to Natt, but the presence of decay and corruption was so strong in the fields to the south of his house he dared not take a chance. He could smell it moving closer, He could hear it searching for their home, and he could feel the ground ready to erupt at any moment at his call.
The Unitary council had been good for something, An old witch among them had shown him how to read the earth around him. She was not banned from the council as he was, but she had been moved to the lower ranks for merely suggesting the world had wishes if they would only listen to the very magic they used.
He had not built this house by hand, but his darling Maria had picked it out when they moved to Rollalong Hill after she had found out she was with child. He had memorized every breath the land took around them before Nattalie was even born.
It breathed a warning, strong and persistent. A stranger was coming and he had to meet it before it met Natt. Allen, like a quick stalking cheetah had gone through the long grasses and through the uncut trees before he began to doubt the message he was getting. He could have stumbled upon the fallen man if not for the stench that overrode his earth senses when he was five feet from him.
Dark magic leaked off from him like a vile smoke. It came up from his back in thick small plumes almost disguising the dagger from Allen’s sight. It was then that he realized the corruption was not from this stranger but the magical weapon stuck in his lower back. He could feel the energy in the ground seeping toward the man. The air sucked at the thick smoke, pulling at the darkness. All the power of the Earth that a man used to convenience himself was just the ability to give it purpose, the energy gave itself purpose and was trying to save this man, something he had never in all his travels witnessed. The land itself, without being asked, was trying to destroy the poison. Allen had to break his barrier. He had been holding it all away, and it was dangerous after so long disconnect from the energy to suddenly let it back in. Like a magnetic force all the accumulated bits would come rushing in once the gates were opened. The earth wanted this man alive. Allen had to help. He knew what to do, and the earth itself was asking of him.
From a long distance Jinx could see what was happening, felt it. He turned his head, much like an owl and looked down to Nattalie. “We go.” Natt hesitated and then in terror followed Jinx to her Father.
Before they had moved three steps, Jinx suddenly plopped down in front of her and put his large furry arms to the ground around her as if bowing. “Down friend Down!” Jinx did not have to tell her, she was already bracing herself in his giant grasp. Like a concussive explosion a blast of cold ran against Jinx and over Natt’s head. It felt like Jinx might be pushed over by it squashing her into a furry beast pie. She watched the wave ripple the ground. It formed a perfect crescent two feet in front of Jinx.
“Dad!” Natt leaped away from Jinx and ran. She did not care what was happening. She thought she heard Jinx mutter a curse at her father as she escaped, but he was more important to her then her own breath. Her father was all she had. Allen could hear Natt's body approaching and quickly created a sinkhole for the dagger to go into. He watched it fall and the hole seal back up. “From earth, to earth depart from death.” Allen turned to tell Natt everything was ok but was practically knocked over by her hug. She squealed when she realized there was a man laying on the ground. “Is he… is he…?”
Allen hushed her sternly. “No, he isn’t dead.” He hefted the body over his shoulders, and looked at Jinx sternly. "Try to keep her away next time friend."
Jinx growled playfully, and trodded ahead of them to the house. Strength in this land was not commonplace, in fact down right rare, and her father had been doing everything on their farm since she was born without magic. The townspeople would have a field day watching him pick the stranger up like a baby and carry him back to his house. Natt watched in awe, as she always did when her father did such feets of strength. Natt looked at the man's face as he lay limp in her fathers arms being carried up to their home. He was more handsome then anyone she had ever seen, even under the ghostly pale aura that washed over his features.
His nose was large and pointed, his jaw strong and thick. A few days of stubble showed where the form of his beard would grow. His dark hair flopped in short dreadlocks decorated in jeweled beads. It was almost feminine, but not on this man. Other then his ragged cloths stinking of the late summer heat he looked stately almost royal.
Nattalie ran ahead and opened the back porch door for her dad. She wondered if this was what her father called a ‘polotician’. If it was though, she doubted he would be helping him. “What is wrong with him?”
Allen sat the man on the homemade hammock. She had spun and woven the basket for it herself and was painfully pleased that something she had made could be of such important use for once. Allen hushed her , "step back to the door Natt." The air began to move around them. She had rarely seen him do magic, and was struck by the effortlessness. It simply happened, by mere thought her father was creating some kind of barrier around the stranger.
Allen hated to do it all in front of Natt, but there was no choice. If she had not been so strong willed, he would have kept magic from her for the rest of her life, and in this instance barred her from entering the house. The world wanted this man to survive, at least part of the world did, and he was not going to disobey. “He has a fever from the disease that struck him down.” Allen finished creating the cool air sphere that would surround his patient and put his hands over the mans chest. He was one of two living sorcerers that could create the self sustaining spheres. The other was a Relic Beast. “Nattalie, you must stay away from him until I find out who and why he is here. I’m going to have Jinx take you away.” Allen could feel Natt’s fear and disappointment even from within the magical barrier.
“No!” She begged, “I am seventeen father, I can help.”
Allen struggled to be stern with her. “No Natt, there is no time for this, you can not be here when he wakes. You must go.”
Natt stared at the her fathers crouched body. If she could just use magic she wouldn’t be so helpless. “This is all your fault!” She held back angry tears. Allen could not be sure she was yelling at him as she ran to her bedroom to pack.
Allen checked the barrier and the man one last time and stood. He had to put his block against the magic back on before the intoxicating power crept too much further into his veins. Every time he had let it loose it got harder to block it back out. The floors creaked and the walls almost seemed to expand as he forced it all away and out. It was like pushing against a hurricane wind. Allen cringed at the thought that he might have to do this again some day soon.
Nattalie stood at her door watching, her pack and saddle made specifically for Jinx with his feeble guidance sat on her shoulder too heavy to bear. The sting of the straps practically cutting into her soft shoulders was welcomed when she saw her father struggle to push away the gift she so much wanted to have. She could always feel the magic in the air and earth disappear when she was close to him, and now she knew what she had always suspected. He was forcing it away. It was not a choice to be away from it like he led her to believe. Her father was pushing the power away, constantly every day. Nattalie wanted to feel sorry for him but refused to give him pity when he kept so much from her. “I’m ready, where is Jinx?”
Allen steadied himself, sure she had seen him. “Go find him. Tell him what has happened, he can take you to your Aunt’s house, she is safe enough.” He did not want to look at her. When she was angry all he could think of was her mother. Maria would be scolding him for being so cold. She would tell him to stop being a statesman and be a father. But he could not afford to. He had seventeen wonderful years of being a father, and he felt blessed by the Earth for giving him such a long time without the war, but it was time to go back, and this man was going to tell him why.
Natt still stood with the door in her hand watching her father pull up a chair to sit next to his prisoner. She did not want to leave. The thought crossed her mind that she could talk Jinx into hiding with her in the barn, but she knew Jinx could pick lies out of a massive crowd of thieves as easily as she could separate a basket of blue and red berries. She saw Jinx heading up from the north field, it struck her as odd since they had been in the south, but Jinx did many things she could never understand. She quickly looked back inside where her father stared sadly at her from his perch. “I love you Dad.” and she ran off before she could hear him say “I’m so sorry baby.” With that he finished his most difficult layer of spheres.
Jinx galloped even more happily when he caught sight of the saddle. They would not be taking the main roads because after all, a young lady riding a Gnat around like a horse would most definitely cause trouble for everyone in the family. As she looped and buckled the seat onto his solid frame Jinx asked with his ears pricked almost higher then his twisty horns, “Where?”
Nattalie sighed once more before she climbed easily onto the gnat, “Aunt Hannah’s.” Jinx took a few steps toward the house sniffing the breeze before trotting off into the fields toward the Great Yellow Forest.
Allen waited two days for the man to stirr. The fever had broken hours after Allen had removed the dagger, but his brain had taken a bit longer to shrink back down from the swelling. The natural course of things always healed better then when magic forced it, another thing the Unitary Council had scolded the witch Ramelda for, but she still taught Allen. It had saved their daughter from a rather infectious case of Gumble Bumps when she was a child. When Maria was pregnant she had caught the disease and only allowed for comforting magic to sooth the blister like sores all over her body. She wanted her baby to never have to get the disease and because she had been a medical skills magician she knew that by fighting it off instead of forcing it away her unborn daughter would be protected.
Maria was more gifted in her skill with the magic. Allen had always been able to overpower anyone, but on the first day of his tenth level sparring class at Unitary he was put up against a beautifully raven haired woman with sun drenched skin and short almost minature frame. It did not take long before Maria had him blinded, bound and struggling for air under her gorgeous hold. It was love from then on, and only two years of war before Allen was kicked out of Unitary, and Maria quit to go with him.
For a soldier of this rank to make it as far as the Yellow forest carrying that weapon lodged in his back had to be a message. A message of war. Jinx would have seen an army when he scouted at night, so this man had to be alone. There was no way for him to travel through that many territories with that injury without a timed barrier. Allen would soon find out how and why.
The man woke suddenly nearly flipping out of the hammock. He caught himself with a quick gesture to the ground trying to use magic. To the mans terror the magic did not come when summoned and he had to roll back with grace to keep off from the pine hardwoods. He looked at Allen next, not in fear but with gratitude. “I made it.” His accent was eastern and Allen was struck by his informal posture. Allen had been dismissed from Unitary, but not stripped of his rank. “You are the Admiral?” The man steadied himself and set his feet firmly down. Allen waited patiently.
“It is a long story Admiral but your family is in terrible danger.” Allen sensed no deception, even without his magic Jinx had shown him many ways to see lies without it.
“I knew that much. What I want to know is why they sent you, and why you tried to bring disease into my home.” The soldier hesitated then, picking out his words carefully. “You will not lie to me.” The young sergeant still paused. “It may be plenty heard amongst the men that I don’t use magic, but don’t be stupid. I haven’t lost any aptitude or ability.”
It then came gushing out of the man like a release valve on one of Allen’s great uncle’s inventions. His uncle too had tended the earth and found no use for magic unless his own two hands were incapable. “Sir, they wouldn’t tell me why, I tried to find out. They threatened to kick me out if I didn’t come here as quickly as the wind would carry me and tell you to bring your family back to headquarters.” Allen took a deep slow breath trying not to panic and run straight out of the house to find Nattalie. “Then this dark stranger pulled me rate out of the sky!”
Allan stopped him, “You’re a sky glider?” It was a very hard skill to learn and teach. The soldier sent to him was probably more valuable to the Unitary then three admirals.
“Yes sir!” What now Allan could tell was a kid not much older then Nattalie beemed proudly. No wonder he was a sergeant. “Sir the man that stabbed me with that diseased dagger, he said….” The boy swallowed a thick breath of air.
Allen prodded him on. “Tell me.”
“He said you had three days to give them Maria or everyone in this town would die, and then he stuck that diseased thing in me and said that if I could not find you in two sunstrokes the spell of holding on it would release.”
Allan smiled relieved. It must of startled the sky glider to see it. “Maria…”
“S…. ssir?” The sky glider looked as if he wanted to get as far away as possible, maybe even back to the man that stabbed him rather then sit in the room with the crazy Admiral and his anti-magic field.
“It’s ok sergeant, you can stay here until you’re a bit more rested for your journey back. I however have a dark magician to kill.”
The boy quickly began to protest. “I can’t go back without you and your family, they’ll strip me of rank!”
“Give me your name sky glider, they won’t touch your rank when I’m done with them.” Allen was still trying to hold up his barriers though he knew soon enough he would have to ask the earth for forgiveness and unleash it.
“It’s Jax sir, Jax RiShad.” Jax wanted to ask more questions, but with all that had happened began feeling weak and ready to fall over in the hammock.
“Jax, just stay here for at least a week.” Allen stood and walked toward the fireplace. He reached down and found a hidden latch below the floor boards in front of it. The boy rested back down into his daughters hammock and lay quietly while Allen pulled out a large folded package. “If the townspeople try to stop in, don’t answer the door, and don’t speak to them. They are nosey cutt-throtes and would have you trapped here under civil arrest for months.”
Allen unwrapped a dark green cloak trimmed in gold, a dull dagger with priceless metals lining the hilt, and a small sack of divided herbs Ramelda had given him when he departed the Unitary capitol. The herbs he shoved deep into his cloak pocket before he put his running boots and brace belt on.
“Sir, I’m a seer too…” Jax was told never to divulge this to anyone. What good was a spy if anyone knew that he had the power to see through deception. “The dark man knows about your daughter.”
Allan practically dropped into the cubbyhole turning to Jax. “You are sure. I have to know.” Allan grabbed the boy shaking him, “You’re brains be bashed against your skull if you are holding anything back!”
“No sir!” He grabbed Allan’s forearms to brace from the shaking. “The Unitary Council doesn’t even know, they thought it was just you and Maria.” Jax became frightened, even without magic the Admiral really could pull him limb from limb with little effort. “Sir, just that dark man I fear for your daughter, he even knows what she looks like.” Jax had stored that image especially safe inside. She was so beautiful and the aura that glowed about her was so pure of earth and water that he knew she was far more special than even Maria was to the council, and somehow to him.
“I have to go sky-glider… One day is all that is safe for you here… Please warn the town if you can get it through their thick skulls. I have to get to my girl.”
Jax nodded, “Yes sir!” Allan heaved a bag of dry goods over his shoulder and put his hand to the earth outside of his door, Jax hollered from inside now trying to stand and free of Allans anti-magic. “Is he really going to destroy this town?” Jax saw now, not just with his seer ability, but with every fiber of himself that the man calling to the earth in front of him was the most dangerous man he had ever met.
The house shook off seventeen years of dust and clutter from anything attached to it’s body when Allan released his power again. Jax had fixed the air beneath him out of instinct and watch the ground, and even trees off in the field threaten to jump from the bindings that held them. Allan looked back at him and simply said , “As long as I’m breathing, he will have no air.” It was an old military promise that was reserved for the order to commit to war. Jax kneeled on the floor now done shaking.
Allan had not taken his hand from the Earth. Up from the ground had come a large armored head, the mole worms up here had known Allen was tending the earth and had agreed amongst themselves to keep an eye out for his family. They too knew of the Admirals great power, and unwillingness to harm the earth using it. Allan addressed the mole worm quickly, “I need to use the tunnels. A very evil man is after my family and ready to start war, I can not track him above soil.” The Mole worm looked like he was nodding and vanished beneath the surface. Allan said only one more thing before jumping down the hole. “One day Jax, then fly north.”
Jax was in a daze still wondering what had just happened. North wasn’t the direction of the unitary capitol. This Admiral was not as tame as the council had led him to believe. Jax really wished there was a way to disarm the devices that blocked seers. Almost every high council had one hidden on their person, and he would have been able to gladly give up his rank and never have left the capital in the first place if he could have seen through them.
Nattalie and Jinx traveled comfortably most of the day. Jinx was so pleased to be out running the woods free that he glided over any obstacle the woods could throw at him. Natt held on and tried not to let the anger at her father ruin the most amazing gift the Gnat was giving her. Riding a Gnat was not like riding a horse or a carriage. This was a feared untamable creature between her legs that was bringing her closer to the glory of earths power then she would ever be able to touch. She was sky-gliding. Nattalie put her arms up in the air as they lept over a riverbank fifty feet to the other side. Jinx landed smoothly and slowed to a halt sniffing the air.
“Down.” Jinx shook her off gently and pointed with his front paws at the cave ahead.
“Why are we stopping? Aunt Hannah’s house is still a whole day away!” Jinx stood and smelled at the air. “What is it Jinx?”
Jinx stuck his big wet nose to her back and pushed her toward the cave. Then he turned suddenly and pounced into the thick brush on the other end of the cavern. He came back through in a huge racket carrying a large six legged doe from the wood. The things neck was unnaturally bent backwards in his jaw.
Jinx seemed to smile mischievously through the blood on his long razor sharp teeth. “Hungry!”
Nattalie nodded and started looking for dry wood to build a fire with. She started to feel mad at her dad again. “Any four year old.” She heard herself shout, “I can’t make fire because he won’t show me!” Natt still picked and stacked firewood. He had given her a device to create fire with. He told her that a great uncle of hers could make anything, without magic and this was to travel with her if she had to go anywhere outside of town. She already had it in her pocket that morning when she started the stove up for breakfast.
Jinx was right, it was time to eat.
After the giant claws stripped the kill of it’s knatted fur, the opposable claw came back out and swiftly made small chunks of steak out of the under belly for Nattalie. Jinx growled playfully at her and threw the meat from the tip of his claw when she turned. Blood splattered on her fine brown shirt and down to her grey slacks. “Jinx!” Nattalie tried to remember that the gnat’s sense of humor was much different then her own. “Thank you Jinx.”
Jinx proudly nodded, and then clamped down with a great sucking noise into the belly he had just cut the steaks from.
Nattalie ate, and waited for Jinx to finish grooming before she climbed into his long relaxed belly for a nap. Jinx was clearly purring and ready to take one himself. After looking once more around and sticking his long wagging tongue out into dirt to grab a last porcel of flesh, he lay his head down and closed his eyes for sleep.
The two woke shortly before dawn approached and decided to keep going for the night and rest again in the day. Jinx was more of a nocturnal creature and did not have to speak for Natt to know his preference toward night travel. He glided smoothly enough that she dozed for hours by strapping her hands under the saddle. The sun cascading through the tree tops strobed over her eyelids as Jinx ran. It woke her from a steady doze and she soon realized that Jinx was not merely dashing, but on a high speed run. His heaving and panting had not disturbed her as she slept but now she became concerned. “Jinx,” She struggle to move her hands out of the wrist straps, “Jinx why are you going so fast, we can stop Jinx.” Jinx ignored her and looked quickly to his left and then fatigued turned in a jerk to the north.
Nattalie could not fathom what would make Jinx run till exhaustion, but she now felt dreadful fear creeping under her skin. “Jinx, what is going on?”
Jinx grabbed a small rabbit up in one gulp as he jumped a small crick. Gnats had fast metabolisms and if they had been running all night the rabbit wouldn’t be nearly enough to keep him running for much longer.
“Danger.” was all Jinx would say.
“But Aunt Hannah’s house is the other way Jinx.” Natt braced herself for another jump.
“Al say move north. Danger.” Jinx snapped at another critter, what could have been a large squirell, and missed. Nattalie thought she heard him snorting at himself.
Nattalie remembered her father had shoved some dried winter dust bread in the saddle when they had stored it. Made with the small yellow flowers that popped out of the snow under elder trees, the bread was extremely full of nutrients and remained preserved for years. She carefully hung on to the handle that latched around Jinx’s front and reached back into the oversized pocket for the food.
Gnat reached back his long tongue as he ran to scoop it out of her hand. Nattalie tried to form a water globe for him to drink, but was unable to sustain even a drop in movement. Jinx tried to comfort her. “Not far. Rest not far.”
Jinx sniffed at the air as Allen was trying hard not to look frightened by the cup in his hand. Nattalie tried so hard to fit in, and the more he tried to forbid her from magic, the more she snuck dangerously behind his back to try. She had no idea what the consequences might be if she actually drew the magic, and he planned to keep it that way. Allen gulped the last bit of water and held the glass out to Nattalie. His face became stone and his eyebrows became dark curtains over his eyes. “Someone dangerous is coming to our house.”
Natt felt Jinx’s hackles rise. The opposable claws that usually sat double jointed and tucked up into his thick brown fur slid out. He stood on his back legs, and now towering over her like the great fierce beast everyone knew as a Gnat, Jinx moved between her and the house ten feet tall and looking nothing like a friend.
Allen picked his axe up and grabbed Jinx’s neck slowly. “Make sure she stays here.”
Natt could feel static discharging in the air all around her father. All though her father did not draw the energy from the air too him intentionally, the ground sent it to him like a grounded circuit ready to discharge. The further he moved away from her the stronger it became.
Natt watched him go, never speaking a word. She had never seen her father as a wizard, but at the moment she braced herself for the ground to split open and flood the entire valley where the small town sat.
Allen knew that Jinx would not let anything happen to Natt, but the presence of decay and corruption was so strong in the fields to the south of his house he dared not take a chance. He could smell it moving closer, He could hear it searching for their home, and he could feel the ground ready to erupt at any moment at his call.
The Unitary council had been good for something, An old witch among them had shown him how to read the earth around him. She was not banned from the council as he was, but she had been moved to the lower ranks for merely suggesting the world had wishes if they would only listen to the very magic they used.
He had not built this house by hand, but his darling Maria had picked it out when they moved to Rollalong Hill after she had found out she was with child. He had memorized every breath the land took around them before Nattalie was even born.
It breathed a warning, strong and persistent. A stranger was coming and he had to meet it before it met Natt. Allen, like a quick stalking cheetah had gone through the long grasses and through the uncut trees before he began to doubt the message he was getting. He could have stumbled upon the fallen man if not for the stench that overrode his earth senses when he was five feet from him.
Dark magic leaked off from him like a vile smoke. It came up from his back in thick small plumes almost disguising the dagger from Allen’s sight. It was then that he realized the corruption was not from this stranger but the magical weapon stuck in his lower back. He could feel the energy in the ground seeping toward the man. The air sucked at the thick smoke, pulling at the darkness. All the power of the Earth that a man used to convenience himself was just the ability to give it purpose, the energy gave itself purpose and was trying to save this man, something he had never in all his travels witnessed. The land itself, without being asked, was trying to destroy the poison. Allen had to break his barrier. He had been holding it all away, and it was dangerous after so long disconnect from the energy to suddenly let it back in. Like a magnetic force all the accumulated bits would come rushing in once the gates were opened. The earth wanted this man alive. Allen had to help. He knew what to do, and the earth itself was asking of him.
From a long distance Jinx could see what was happening, felt it. He turned his head, much like an owl and looked down to Nattalie. “We go.” Natt hesitated and then in terror followed Jinx to her Father.
Before they had moved three steps, Jinx suddenly plopped down in front of her and put his large furry arms to the ground around her as if bowing. “Down friend Down!” Jinx did not have to tell her, she was already bracing herself in his giant grasp. Like a concussive explosion a blast of cold ran against Jinx and over Natt’s head. It felt like Jinx might be pushed over by it squashing her into a furry beast pie. She watched the wave ripple the ground. It formed a perfect crescent two feet in front of Jinx.
“Dad!” Natt leaped away from Jinx and ran. She did not care what was happening. She thought she heard Jinx mutter a curse at her father as she escaped, but he was more important to her then her own breath. Her father was all she had. Allen could hear Natt's body approaching and quickly created a sinkhole for the dagger to go into. He watched it fall and the hole seal back up. “From earth, to earth depart from death.” Allen turned to tell Natt everything was ok but was practically knocked over by her hug. She squealed when she realized there was a man laying on the ground. “Is he… is he…?”
Allen hushed her sternly. “No, he isn’t dead.” He hefted the body over his shoulders, and looked at Jinx sternly. "Try to keep her away next time friend."
Jinx growled playfully, and trodded ahead of them to the house. Strength in this land was not commonplace, in fact down right rare, and her father had been doing everything on their farm since she was born without magic. The townspeople would have a field day watching him pick the stranger up like a baby and carry him back to his house. Natt watched in awe, as she always did when her father did such feets of strength. Natt looked at the man's face as he lay limp in her fathers arms being carried up to their home. He was more handsome then anyone she had ever seen, even under the ghostly pale aura that washed over his features.
His nose was large and pointed, his jaw strong and thick. A few days of stubble showed where the form of his beard would grow. His dark hair flopped in short dreadlocks decorated in jeweled beads. It was almost feminine, but not on this man. Other then his ragged cloths stinking of the late summer heat he looked stately almost royal.
Nattalie ran ahead and opened the back porch door for her dad. She wondered if this was what her father called a ‘polotician’. If it was though, she doubted he would be helping him. “What is wrong with him?”
Allen sat the man on the homemade hammock. She had spun and woven the basket for it herself and was painfully pleased that something she had made could be of such important use for once. Allen hushed her , "step back to the door Natt." The air began to move around them. She had rarely seen him do magic, and was struck by the effortlessness. It simply happened, by mere thought her father was creating some kind of barrier around the stranger.
Allen hated to do it all in front of Natt, but there was no choice. If she had not been so strong willed, he would have kept magic from her for the rest of her life, and in this instance barred her from entering the house. The world wanted this man to survive, at least part of the world did, and he was not going to disobey. “He has a fever from the disease that struck him down.” Allen finished creating the cool air sphere that would surround his patient and put his hands over the mans chest. He was one of two living sorcerers that could create the self sustaining spheres. The other was a Relic Beast. “Nattalie, you must stay away from him until I find out who and why he is here. I’m going to have Jinx take you away.” Allen could feel Natt’s fear and disappointment even from within the magical barrier.
“No!” She begged, “I am seventeen father, I can help.”
Allen struggled to be stern with her. “No Natt, there is no time for this, you can not be here when he wakes. You must go.”
Natt stared at the her fathers crouched body. If she could just use magic she wouldn’t be so helpless. “This is all your fault!” She held back angry tears. Allen could not be sure she was yelling at him as she ran to her bedroom to pack.
Allen checked the barrier and the man one last time and stood. He had to put his block against the magic back on before the intoxicating power crept too much further into his veins. Every time he had let it loose it got harder to block it back out. The floors creaked and the walls almost seemed to expand as he forced it all away and out. It was like pushing against a hurricane wind. Allen cringed at the thought that he might have to do this again some day soon.
Nattalie stood at her door watching, her pack and saddle made specifically for Jinx with his feeble guidance sat on her shoulder too heavy to bear. The sting of the straps practically cutting into her soft shoulders was welcomed when she saw her father struggle to push away the gift she so much wanted to have. She could always feel the magic in the air and earth disappear when she was close to him, and now she knew what she had always suspected. He was forcing it away. It was not a choice to be away from it like he led her to believe. Her father was pushing the power away, constantly every day. Nattalie wanted to feel sorry for him but refused to give him pity when he kept so much from her. “I’m ready, where is Jinx?”
Allen steadied himself, sure she had seen him. “Go find him. Tell him what has happened, he can take you to your Aunt’s house, she is safe enough.” He did not want to look at her. When she was angry all he could think of was her mother. Maria would be scolding him for being so cold. She would tell him to stop being a statesman and be a father. But he could not afford to. He had seventeen wonderful years of being a father, and he felt blessed by the Earth for giving him such a long time without the war, but it was time to go back, and this man was going to tell him why.
Natt still stood with the door in her hand watching her father pull up a chair to sit next to his prisoner. She did not want to leave. The thought crossed her mind that she could talk Jinx into hiding with her in the barn, but she knew Jinx could pick lies out of a massive crowd of thieves as easily as she could separate a basket of blue and red berries. She saw Jinx heading up from the north field, it struck her as odd since they had been in the south, but Jinx did many things she could never understand. She quickly looked back inside where her father stared sadly at her from his perch. “I love you Dad.” and she ran off before she could hear him say “I’m so sorry baby.” With that he finished his most difficult layer of spheres.
Jinx galloped even more happily when he caught sight of the saddle. They would not be taking the main roads because after all, a young lady riding a Gnat around like a horse would most definitely cause trouble for everyone in the family. As she looped and buckled the seat onto his solid frame Jinx asked with his ears pricked almost higher then his twisty horns, “Where?”
Nattalie sighed once more before she climbed easily onto the gnat, “Aunt Hannah’s.” Jinx took a few steps toward the house sniffing the breeze before trotting off into the fields toward the Great Yellow Forest.
Allen waited two days for the man to stirr. The fever had broken hours after Allen had removed the dagger, but his brain had taken a bit longer to shrink back down from the swelling. The natural course of things always healed better then when magic forced it, another thing the Unitary Council had scolded the witch Ramelda for, but she still taught Allen. It had saved their daughter from a rather infectious case of Gumble Bumps when she was a child. When Maria was pregnant she had caught the disease and only allowed for comforting magic to sooth the blister like sores all over her body. She wanted her baby to never have to get the disease and because she had been a medical skills magician she knew that by fighting it off instead of forcing it away her unborn daughter would be protected.
Maria was more gifted in her skill with the magic. Allen had always been able to overpower anyone, but on the first day of his tenth level sparring class at Unitary he was put up against a beautifully raven haired woman with sun drenched skin and short almost minature frame. It did not take long before Maria had him blinded, bound and struggling for air under her gorgeous hold. It was love from then on, and only two years of war before Allen was kicked out of Unitary, and Maria quit to go with him.
For a soldier of this rank to make it as far as the Yellow forest carrying that weapon lodged in his back had to be a message. A message of war. Jinx would have seen an army when he scouted at night, so this man had to be alone. There was no way for him to travel through that many territories with that injury without a timed barrier. Allen would soon find out how and why.
The man woke suddenly nearly flipping out of the hammock. He caught himself with a quick gesture to the ground trying to use magic. To the mans terror the magic did not come when summoned and he had to roll back with grace to keep off from the pine hardwoods. He looked at Allen next, not in fear but with gratitude. “I made it.” His accent was eastern and Allen was struck by his informal posture. Allen had been dismissed from Unitary, but not stripped of his rank. “You are the Admiral?” The man steadied himself and set his feet firmly down. Allen waited patiently.
“It is a long story Admiral but your family is in terrible danger.” Allen sensed no deception, even without his magic Jinx had shown him many ways to see lies without it.
“I knew that much. What I want to know is why they sent you, and why you tried to bring disease into my home.” The soldier hesitated then, picking out his words carefully. “You will not lie to me.” The young sergeant still paused. “It may be plenty heard amongst the men that I don’t use magic, but don’t be stupid. I haven’t lost any aptitude or ability.”
It then came gushing out of the man like a release valve on one of Allen’s great uncle’s inventions. His uncle too had tended the earth and found no use for magic unless his own two hands were incapable. “Sir, they wouldn’t tell me why, I tried to find out. They threatened to kick me out if I didn’t come here as quickly as the wind would carry me and tell you to bring your family back to headquarters.” Allen took a deep slow breath trying not to panic and run straight out of the house to find Nattalie. “Then this dark stranger pulled me rate out of the sky!”
Allan stopped him, “You’re a sky glider?” It was a very hard skill to learn and teach. The soldier sent to him was probably more valuable to the Unitary then three admirals.
“Yes sir!” What now Allan could tell was a kid not much older then Nattalie beemed proudly. No wonder he was a sergeant. “Sir the man that stabbed me with that diseased dagger, he said….” The boy swallowed a thick breath of air.
Allen prodded him on. “Tell me.”
“He said you had three days to give them Maria or everyone in this town would die, and then he stuck that diseased thing in me and said that if I could not find you in two sunstrokes the spell of holding on it would release.”
Allan smiled relieved. It must of startled the sky glider to see it. “Maria…”
“S…. ssir?” The sky glider looked as if he wanted to get as far away as possible, maybe even back to the man that stabbed him rather then sit in the room with the crazy Admiral and his anti-magic field.
“It’s ok sergeant, you can stay here until you’re a bit more rested for your journey back. I however have a dark magician to kill.”
The boy quickly began to protest. “I can’t go back without you and your family, they’ll strip me of rank!”
“Give me your name sky glider, they won’t touch your rank when I’m done with them.” Allen was still trying to hold up his barriers though he knew soon enough he would have to ask the earth for forgiveness and unleash it.
“It’s Jax sir, Jax RiShad.” Jax wanted to ask more questions, but with all that had happened began feeling weak and ready to fall over in the hammock.
“Jax, just stay here for at least a week.” Allen stood and walked toward the fireplace. He reached down and found a hidden latch below the floor boards in front of it. The boy rested back down into his daughters hammock and lay quietly while Allen pulled out a large folded package. “If the townspeople try to stop in, don’t answer the door, and don’t speak to them. They are nosey cutt-throtes and would have you trapped here under civil arrest for months.”
Allen unwrapped a dark green cloak trimmed in gold, a dull dagger with priceless metals lining the hilt, and a small sack of divided herbs Ramelda had given him when he departed the Unitary capitol. The herbs he shoved deep into his cloak pocket before he put his running boots and brace belt on.
“Sir, I’m a seer too…” Jax was told never to divulge this to anyone. What good was a spy if anyone knew that he had the power to see through deception. “The dark man knows about your daughter.”
Allan practically dropped into the cubbyhole turning to Jax. “You are sure. I have to know.” Allan grabbed the boy shaking him, “You’re brains be bashed against your skull if you are holding anything back!”
“No sir!” He grabbed Allan’s forearms to brace from the shaking. “The Unitary Council doesn’t even know, they thought it was just you and Maria.” Jax became frightened, even without magic the Admiral really could pull him limb from limb with little effort. “Sir, just that dark man I fear for your daughter, he even knows what she looks like.” Jax had stored that image especially safe inside. She was so beautiful and the aura that glowed about her was so pure of earth and water that he knew she was far more special than even Maria was to the council, and somehow to him.
“I have to go sky-glider… One day is all that is safe for you here… Please warn the town if you can get it through their thick skulls. I have to get to my girl.”
Jax nodded, “Yes sir!” Allan heaved a bag of dry goods over his shoulder and put his hand to the earth outside of his door, Jax hollered from inside now trying to stand and free of Allans anti-magic. “Is he really going to destroy this town?” Jax saw now, not just with his seer ability, but with every fiber of himself that the man calling to the earth in front of him was the most dangerous man he had ever met.
The house shook off seventeen years of dust and clutter from anything attached to it’s body when Allan released his power again. Jax had fixed the air beneath him out of instinct and watch the ground, and even trees off in the field threaten to jump from the bindings that held them. Allan looked back at him and simply said , “As long as I’m breathing, he will have no air.” It was an old military promise that was reserved for the order to commit to war. Jax kneeled on the floor now done shaking.
Allan had not taken his hand from the Earth. Up from the ground had come a large armored head, the mole worms up here had known Allen was tending the earth and had agreed amongst themselves to keep an eye out for his family. They too knew of the Admirals great power, and unwillingness to harm the earth using it. Allan addressed the mole worm quickly, “I need to use the tunnels. A very evil man is after my family and ready to start war, I can not track him above soil.” The Mole worm looked like he was nodding and vanished beneath the surface. Allan said only one more thing before jumping down the hole. “One day Jax, then fly north.”
Jax was in a daze still wondering what had just happened. North wasn’t the direction of the unitary capitol. This Admiral was not as tame as the council had led him to believe. Jax really wished there was a way to disarm the devices that blocked seers. Almost every high council had one hidden on their person, and he would have been able to gladly give up his rank and never have left the capital in the first place if he could have seen through them.
Nattalie and Jinx traveled comfortably most of the day. Jinx was so pleased to be out running the woods free that he glided over any obstacle the woods could throw at him. Natt held on and tried not to let the anger at her father ruin the most amazing gift the Gnat was giving her. Riding a Gnat was not like riding a horse or a carriage. This was a feared untamable creature between her legs that was bringing her closer to the glory of earths power then she would ever be able to touch. She was sky-gliding. Nattalie put her arms up in the air as they lept over a riverbank fifty feet to the other side. Jinx landed smoothly and slowed to a halt sniffing the air.
“Down.” Jinx shook her off gently and pointed with his front paws at the cave ahead.
“Why are we stopping? Aunt Hannah’s house is still a whole day away!” Jinx stood and smelled at the air. “What is it Jinx?”
Jinx stuck his big wet nose to her back and pushed her toward the cave. Then he turned suddenly and pounced into the thick brush on the other end of the cavern. He came back through in a huge racket carrying a large six legged doe from the wood. The things neck was unnaturally bent backwards in his jaw.
Jinx seemed to smile mischievously through the blood on his long razor sharp teeth. “Hungry!”
Nattalie nodded and started looking for dry wood to build a fire with. She started to feel mad at her dad again. “Any four year old.” She heard herself shout, “I can’t make fire because he won’t show me!” Natt still picked and stacked firewood. He had given her a device to create fire with. He told her that a great uncle of hers could make anything, without magic and this was to travel with her if she had to go anywhere outside of town. She already had it in her pocket that morning when she started the stove up for breakfast.
Jinx was right, it was time to eat.
After the giant claws stripped the kill of it’s knatted fur, the opposable claw came back out and swiftly made small chunks of steak out of the under belly for Nattalie. Jinx growled playfully at her and threw the meat from the tip of his claw when she turned. Blood splattered on her fine brown shirt and down to her grey slacks. “Jinx!” Nattalie tried to remember that the gnat’s sense of humor was much different then her own. “Thank you Jinx.”
Jinx proudly nodded, and then clamped down with a great sucking noise into the belly he had just cut the steaks from.
Nattalie ate, and waited for Jinx to finish grooming before she climbed into his long relaxed belly for a nap. Jinx was clearly purring and ready to take one himself. After looking once more around and sticking his long wagging tongue out into dirt to grab a last porcel of flesh, he lay his head down and closed his eyes for sleep.
The two woke shortly before dawn approached and decided to keep going for the night and rest again in the day. Jinx was more of a nocturnal creature and did not have to speak for Natt to know his preference toward night travel. He glided smoothly enough that she dozed for hours by strapping her hands under the saddle. The sun cascading through the tree tops strobed over her eyelids as Jinx ran. It woke her from a steady doze and she soon realized that Jinx was not merely dashing, but on a high speed run. His heaving and panting had not disturbed her as she slept but now she became concerned. “Jinx,” She struggle to move her hands out of the wrist straps, “Jinx why are you going so fast, we can stop Jinx.” Jinx ignored her and looked quickly to his left and then fatigued turned in a jerk to the north.
Nattalie could not fathom what would make Jinx run till exhaustion, but she now felt dreadful fear creeping under her skin. “Jinx, what is going on?”
Jinx grabbed a small rabbit up in one gulp as he jumped a small crick. Gnats had fast metabolisms and if they had been running all night the rabbit wouldn’t be nearly enough to keep him running for much longer.
“Danger.” was all Jinx would say.
“But Aunt Hannah’s house is the other way Jinx.” Natt braced herself for another jump.
“Al say move north. Danger.” Jinx snapped at another critter, what could have been a large squirell, and missed. Nattalie thought she heard him snorting at himself.
Nattalie remembered her father had shoved some dried winter dust bread in the saddle when they had stored it. Made with the small yellow flowers that popped out of the snow under elder trees, the bread was extremely full of nutrients and remained preserved for years. She carefully hung on to the handle that latched around Jinx’s front and reached back into the oversized pocket for the food.
Gnat reached back his long tongue as he ran to scoop it out of her hand. Nattalie tried to form a water globe for him to drink, but was unable to sustain even a drop in movement. Jinx tried to comfort her. “Not far. Rest not far.”
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Rollalong Hill Part 1 of 6
Rollalong Hill
Nattalie took deep breaths and asked the humid air to gather. Drawing water was something any three year old could do when they were thirsty. At seventeen it took great concentration and effort for her, and most times all she did was break a sweat. It was like the other kids just smiled and water sprouted into a spinning sphere in their palms. Nattalie felt like she was trying to pull water from the bottom of a sealed well, a drid up sealed well.
It was common in her town for the younger children to run up to her and show her every new thing they discovered of their ability. They weren't being malicious, but they were trying make her one of them. She would enthusiastically accept thier offer to demonstrate. Try as she might though she could not do easily what the children would try to show her. For ordinary children, they were born with the ability to need something and summon it from their surroundings. Nattalie had not been able to perform simple summoning skills until she had turned five. And they were just like the water.... Exhausting and miniscule. She had managed to pull a spoon across the table a whole inch at 6, and her father was so startled that he nearly dropped his plate of food on the floor. He was not pleased with magic, or those who used it. So she was his perfect daughter.
Nattalie was had finally filled the bowl with enough water to drink. In her world, electricity didn't get invented, because no one needed it when they could create light and fire from ashes and wood. In her world people didn't need cars, or to work laboriously to get anything they wanted. They just traded and gifted to each other their magical makings. Thinking no more about her peculiar inability to draw or summon, and her fathers peculiar need to push away anything that resembled magic Nattalie proudly carried the water to her dad. Babies had produced more liquid by accident. .
In their world, everyone used magic... except for Nattalie
Nattalie had given up talking her father into teaching her any of the great magic he could do. Some said he was one of the rarest wizards, able to draw not only from the land around him but from within his own body as well. You see, it was not rare because others could not do it, but rare because many had died trying, and others were left terminally incapacitated at the attempt.
Now she merely did small things the children taught her, and was satisfied with it. Her father would not explain why he had given it all up, but she suspected her mothers death had some big part in the story that he could not tell. Before she rounded the corner of the fence her father had made by hand and tool, she dropped her heat shield and stopped drawing from around her. Although she did not agree with her fathers wishes to use no magic, she would not disobey him in his presence.
In the lands where trees were sacred not because of their life giving air, or their ability to provide shelter and food for those about them, Allen chopped away at a young pine sitting in the way of his new plowing field. A few of the more nosey neighbors would wander by with their shimmering cloaks and scowl at him as their field of energy protected them from the heat. Allen dripped large pores of sweat down from his thick eyebrows smiling at them as they hurried passed his gaze.
Allen refused to touch the very thing that was ripping the land apart. For that he was kicked out of the Unitary Council for his lack of… they put it as “cooperation”. What they really wanted of him was his power and his presence as a wizard, and without the use of magic he was useless to them.
Allen could hear the sweet giggle of his Natt standing close, she sounded much like her mother but without the weight of sadness that burdened a heart. She held out the water for him and looked at the tree cleanly fallen over from the brute strength of her Dad. “The town council is going to fine us for that.”
Allen smiled and sat on the small stump as he grabbed the glass from her hand. “You didn’t use magic for this did you?” He sounded upset and glared at the liquid as if he could see very well that she had brought it out from the air.
“Awe Dad. You have to let me do a little, I’ll wither up and die if one more kid tries to show me how it is done.” Her father sighed, not with disappointment with her, but with the world around him.
“Natt, one day you will know why I do this and you’ll understand that magic means nothing if you can’t tend to the earth below you.” Legend stated that a single tree had granted mankind his magic, so to chop down a tree without pomp and circumstance was blasphemy. Nattalie's father had lost all love for Unitary ways when he left the military... Sometimes Nattalie thought he derived pleasure from blatently disregarding the traditions.
Nattalie sat down and turned suddenly to greet the family gnat. It was a pet that no other family had ever kept, not because of it’s ferocious facade (much like a small bear with a goat face and the temperament of a wolf) but because Gnat’s did not claim people, they avoided them and would not be tamed into any household, even if it meant death. That too was a story that her father had refused to tell. It had come to him on the day of her birth, and that was all she was ever told.
“Hello Jinx!” The large mass of fur shook happily and squeaked out the words “Hi-o friend!” Apparently no one knew that a gnat could be taught to speak and it was a well guarded secret in their tiny family.
Nattalie took deep breaths and asked the humid air to gather. Drawing water was something any three year old could do when they were thirsty. At seventeen it took great concentration and effort for her, and most times all she did was break a sweat. It was like the other kids just smiled and water sprouted into a spinning sphere in their palms. Nattalie felt like she was trying to pull water from the bottom of a sealed well, a drid up sealed well.
It was common in her town for the younger children to run up to her and show her every new thing they discovered of their ability. They weren't being malicious, but they were trying make her one of them. She would enthusiastically accept thier offer to demonstrate. Try as she might though she could not do easily what the children would try to show her. For ordinary children, they were born with the ability to need something and summon it from their surroundings. Nattalie had not been able to perform simple summoning skills until she had turned five. And they were just like the water.... Exhausting and miniscule. She had managed to pull a spoon across the table a whole inch at 6, and her father was so startled that he nearly dropped his plate of food on the floor. He was not pleased with magic, or those who used it. So she was his perfect daughter.
Nattalie was had finally filled the bowl with enough water to drink. In her world, electricity didn't get invented, because no one needed it when they could create light and fire from ashes and wood. In her world people didn't need cars, or to work laboriously to get anything they wanted. They just traded and gifted to each other their magical makings. Thinking no more about her peculiar inability to draw or summon, and her fathers peculiar need to push away anything that resembled magic Nattalie proudly carried the water to her dad. Babies had produced more liquid by accident. .
In their world, everyone used magic... except for Nattalie
Nattalie had given up talking her father into teaching her any of the great magic he could do. Some said he was one of the rarest wizards, able to draw not only from the land around him but from within his own body as well. You see, it was not rare because others could not do it, but rare because many had died trying, and others were left terminally incapacitated at the attempt.
Now she merely did small things the children taught her, and was satisfied with it. Her father would not explain why he had given it all up, but she suspected her mothers death had some big part in the story that he could not tell. Before she rounded the corner of the fence her father had made by hand and tool, she dropped her heat shield and stopped drawing from around her. Although she did not agree with her fathers wishes to use no magic, she would not disobey him in his presence.
In the lands where trees were sacred not because of their life giving air, or their ability to provide shelter and food for those about them, Allen chopped away at a young pine sitting in the way of his new plowing field. A few of the more nosey neighbors would wander by with their shimmering cloaks and scowl at him as their field of energy protected them from the heat. Allen dripped large pores of sweat down from his thick eyebrows smiling at them as they hurried passed his gaze.
Allen refused to touch the very thing that was ripping the land apart. For that he was kicked out of the Unitary Council for his lack of… they put it as “cooperation”. What they really wanted of him was his power and his presence as a wizard, and without the use of magic he was useless to them.
Allen could hear the sweet giggle of his Natt standing close, she sounded much like her mother but without the weight of sadness that burdened a heart. She held out the water for him and looked at the tree cleanly fallen over from the brute strength of her Dad. “The town council is going to fine us for that.”
Allen smiled and sat on the small stump as he grabbed the glass from her hand. “You didn’t use magic for this did you?” He sounded upset and glared at the liquid as if he could see very well that she had brought it out from the air.
“Awe Dad. You have to let me do a little, I’ll wither up and die if one more kid tries to show me how it is done.” Her father sighed, not with disappointment with her, but with the world around him.
“Natt, one day you will know why I do this and you’ll understand that magic means nothing if you can’t tend to the earth below you.” Legend stated that a single tree had granted mankind his magic, so to chop down a tree without pomp and circumstance was blasphemy. Nattalie's father had lost all love for Unitary ways when he left the military... Sometimes Nattalie thought he derived pleasure from blatently disregarding the traditions.
Nattalie sat down and turned suddenly to greet the family gnat. It was a pet that no other family had ever kept, not because of it’s ferocious facade (much like a small bear with a goat face and the temperament of a wolf) but because Gnat’s did not claim people, they avoided them and would not be tamed into any household, even if it meant death. That too was a story that her father had refused to tell. It had come to him on the day of her birth, and that was all she was ever told.
“Hello Jinx!” The large mass of fur shook happily and squeaked out the words “Hi-o friend!” Apparently no one knew that a gnat could be taught to speak and it was a well guarded secret in their tiny family.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The cat came back
The late blooming daisies salted the yard at midnight. As the cars drove passed they seemed to wave into the drawing light and then wimper away as it left. Inside the abandoned house a cat slipped through a broken dog door and warily stepped over a heap of wet cloths and after carefully observing the dusty kitchen strutted down the hallway to see what was breathing in the room at the far end.
The black and grey on it’s coat blended into the old worn flowery wall paper as it rubbed it’s scent on the trimmed floor border. When the soft rhythmic weezing of the bedroom came into view the cat happily pounced on to the carpet and then with a silent leap it cradled itself into the feet of what smelled like a gentle human under freshly washed linen sheets.
In the morning, when Tabitha woke with an abrupt scream, the cat scurried off as quickly and as quietly as it had come. Tabitha looked around the room unsure if she could remember where she was. Last night flooded back in, and she exhaled in relief. It was the last time she would be able to sleep in the house that she had made into her temporary home.
As the 42 year old woman gathered the cloths she had found in the closet into her brother’s old marine duffle bag she hummed to herself. Her mother had often sang ‘que sara sara’ to her as a child, and the words seemed to hard to say aloud as she walked to the backdoor. When she opened the door, about the only thing left in the house that worked properly, a grey and black cat stood startled at the steps. It let down it’s hackles and loudly Meewed at her.
Tabitha smiled, reached down and skillfully lifted it up into her arms. “You can’t stay here much longer buddy, the city is going to tear it down soon.” When she tried to put it down, the cat protested harshly digging it’s claws into her shoulder purring. “Well then!”
She adjusted her duffle and sat down to talk to the animal. “I can’t take you with me stranger, although I would love the company.” She brushed her fingers through the clean soft fur. “I guess we could both use for a friend.” The cat Meewed once more and lept down without clawing her. “I’m going to call you Prote.” Tabitha’s favorite movie had a character with that name, and somehow it fit the cat more then any other she could come up with. Prote walked toward the gate to the back yard, stopped at the latch and waited for Tabitha to open it.
Tabitha was not sure where she would go next, but following a cat seemed no more insane then running against the wind. Prote led the way for a long while down the dusty alleyways until they reached a choice between the national forest bike path and a paved curvey road. Prote sniffed the air, perked it’s ears west and then east. The duffle needed to be shifted to the other side, and it seemed like a fine time to take a break. Prote sat, licked it’s hind leg, then as if lighting had struck inches behind it’s tail ran screaming across the road and down the wooded path. The road was empty, and the territory had it’s fair share of critters that could kill and maim her. Tabitha threw her bag over the other shoulder and quickly walked to find the cat.
Once the fright of the cat running off wildly had worn off Tabitha started calling out, “here kitty kitty!”
Not long after she had called out once more, she could hear a soft Meewing behind some moss covered logs fallen long ago around the next curve. When she got near the logs her legs became weak. A small body lay curled up as Prote nuzzled at the small hand sticking out of oversized sleeves of a men’s fleece camping jacket. The boy made a sad giggle and began to sit up awkwardly.
Tabitha hurried over to him, stretching her long legs gracefully over the bark of the trees. “Are you allright?”
The boy, startled scooped up the cat and began sobbing into it’s fur. “Oh Kevin, I knew you’d find someone!” The cat meowed and licked at his chin.
Tabitha reached out her hand to help him up. “That is one smart cat you have there child.” The boy accepted her hand and Kevin lept down happily his tail gliding through the boy’s hands on the way.
“Can you take me home?” The boy now smiled eagerly.
“Yes, lets get you and Kevin back to the campground” Tabitha had walked the path many times when she was a child and knew exactly which forks to take back to the ranger station. She stopped the boy before the search team by the green building could see her. “I’m glad you’re ok child, but I can’t go up there.” The boy nodded and with a “Thank you!” He ran toward the throng of people. Dogs barked as he approached and Tabitha hurried back from where she came. Prote had followed her and jumped sternly in front of her path.
“Go back to your boy Kevin.” The cat stepped once more into her path as she tried to go around him.
“I’m not going back!” The cat hissed at her and stood like a mama cougar ready to pounce. “You’re crazy cat!” Tabitha felt herself welling up with sadness. The cat sat now, defiant in front of her. She knelt down running her hands under his fat cheeks. “It isn’t over Prote… I still have one more to save, Your boy isn’t the last one.”
The cat stared steadily into her eyes. A voice sternly addressed her from behind. “Ma’am. Please, I want to thank you.” Tabitha cringed. She had spent four years avoiding human contact and now… She had no choice. It crossed her mind to run into the woods, but something froze her legs, and the cat lay sprawled in front of her toes stretching out his legs and neck as he rolled.
Tabitha turned slowly and the man embraced her fiercely. She had not had time to see his face. “Tabitha!” She could feel his arms locking around her. “I thought you were dead!” Her brother twirled her around and sat her down hastily. “Why? Where have you…”
Tabitha began crying, gutteral heaving sobs. “I had to save seven… “
Her brother Russell pulled her face up, “Seven? Tabitha what are you talking about?”
“The fire… I had to save seven.” She hid her face into his broad hot chest. Her face felt so cold.
“Oh honey….” Russell put his hand on her head brushing the stray tendrils down. “That fire wasn’t your fault, the fire chief said that a gas line had fractured by the dryer another apartment was using and leaked into the stairwell.”
Tabitha stopped, her body fell limp and she held on to him in joy. “Oh Russell, I’m so sorry!”
The cat had finally run back to the boy and led him back to the two standing together at the fork in the path. “Dad?” the boy tugged at his pant leg.
“Tabitha meet your nephew Tony.” The boy cocked his head to the side and looked up at her in confusion.
She smiled down at the cat looking quite satisfied with himself as she introduced herself. “I’m your Aunt Tabitha, it is my utmost pleasure to meet you young man.” She reached down to shake his hand and he, like that strange cat lept up into her arms for a hug.
Tony looked up at his father. He beemed down at the two as if capturing the moment in every detail in his mind. Tony proudly exclaimed, “I told you Kevin was the best cat ever!”
Tabitha smiled, “He saved you and me kiddo.” She grabbed her duffle bag where it had fallen and smiled at Russell. “I’m starving, think you could make your favorite sister some of those barbecue burgers?”
Kevin the cat Meewed, Tony jumped shouting “Ya! Me too!” and Russell smiled leading them both back to the ranger station nodding and happily hushing the two, “Yes already! Lets go home.”
The black and grey on it’s coat blended into the old worn flowery wall paper as it rubbed it’s scent on the trimmed floor border. When the soft rhythmic weezing of the bedroom came into view the cat happily pounced on to the carpet and then with a silent leap it cradled itself into the feet of what smelled like a gentle human under freshly washed linen sheets.
In the morning, when Tabitha woke with an abrupt scream, the cat scurried off as quickly and as quietly as it had come. Tabitha looked around the room unsure if she could remember where she was. Last night flooded back in, and she exhaled in relief. It was the last time she would be able to sleep in the house that she had made into her temporary home.
As the 42 year old woman gathered the cloths she had found in the closet into her brother’s old marine duffle bag she hummed to herself. Her mother had often sang ‘que sara sara’ to her as a child, and the words seemed to hard to say aloud as she walked to the backdoor. When she opened the door, about the only thing left in the house that worked properly, a grey and black cat stood startled at the steps. It let down it’s hackles and loudly Meewed at her.
Tabitha smiled, reached down and skillfully lifted it up into her arms. “You can’t stay here much longer buddy, the city is going to tear it down soon.” When she tried to put it down, the cat protested harshly digging it’s claws into her shoulder purring. “Well then!”
She adjusted her duffle and sat down to talk to the animal. “I can’t take you with me stranger, although I would love the company.” She brushed her fingers through the clean soft fur. “I guess we could both use for a friend.” The cat Meewed once more and lept down without clawing her. “I’m going to call you Prote.” Tabitha’s favorite movie had a character with that name, and somehow it fit the cat more then any other she could come up with. Prote walked toward the gate to the back yard, stopped at the latch and waited for Tabitha to open it.
Tabitha was not sure where she would go next, but following a cat seemed no more insane then running against the wind. Prote led the way for a long while down the dusty alleyways until they reached a choice between the national forest bike path and a paved curvey road. Prote sniffed the air, perked it’s ears west and then east. The duffle needed to be shifted to the other side, and it seemed like a fine time to take a break. Prote sat, licked it’s hind leg, then as if lighting had struck inches behind it’s tail ran screaming across the road and down the wooded path. The road was empty, and the territory had it’s fair share of critters that could kill and maim her. Tabitha threw her bag over the other shoulder and quickly walked to find the cat.
Once the fright of the cat running off wildly had worn off Tabitha started calling out, “here kitty kitty!”
Not long after she had called out once more, she could hear a soft Meewing behind some moss covered logs fallen long ago around the next curve. When she got near the logs her legs became weak. A small body lay curled up as Prote nuzzled at the small hand sticking out of oversized sleeves of a men’s fleece camping jacket. The boy made a sad giggle and began to sit up awkwardly.
Tabitha hurried over to him, stretching her long legs gracefully over the bark of the trees. “Are you allright?”
The boy, startled scooped up the cat and began sobbing into it’s fur. “Oh Kevin, I knew you’d find someone!” The cat meowed and licked at his chin.
Tabitha reached out her hand to help him up. “That is one smart cat you have there child.” The boy accepted her hand and Kevin lept down happily his tail gliding through the boy’s hands on the way.
“Can you take me home?” The boy now smiled eagerly.
“Yes, lets get you and Kevin back to the campground” Tabitha had walked the path many times when she was a child and knew exactly which forks to take back to the ranger station. She stopped the boy before the search team by the green building could see her. “I’m glad you’re ok child, but I can’t go up there.” The boy nodded and with a “Thank you!” He ran toward the throng of people. Dogs barked as he approached and Tabitha hurried back from where she came. Prote had followed her and jumped sternly in front of her path.
“Go back to your boy Kevin.” The cat stepped once more into her path as she tried to go around him.
“I’m not going back!” The cat hissed at her and stood like a mama cougar ready to pounce. “You’re crazy cat!” Tabitha felt herself welling up with sadness. The cat sat now, defiant in front of her. She knelt down running her hands under his fat cheeks. “It isn’t over Prote… I still have one more to save, Your boy isn’t the last one.”
The cat stared steadily into her eyes. A voice sternly addressed her from behind. “Ma’am. Please, I want to thank you.” Tabitha cringed. She had spent four years avoiding human contact and now… She had no choice. It crossed her mind to run into the woods, but something froze her legs, and the cat lay sprawled in front of her toes stretching out his legs and neck as he rolled.
Tabitha turned slowly and the man embraced her fiercely. She had not had time to see his face. “Tabitha!” She could feel his arms locking around her. “I thought you were dead!” Her brother twirled her around and sat her down hastily. “Why? Where have you…”
Tabitha began crying, gutteral heaving sobs. “I had to save seven… “
Her brother Russell pulled her face up, “Seven? Tabitha what are you talking about?”
“The fire… I had to save seven.” She hid her face into his broad hot chest. Her face felt so cold.
“Oh honey….” Russell put his hand on her head brushing the stray tendrils down. “That fire wasn’t your fault, the fire chief said that a gas line had fractured by the dryer another apartment was using and leaked into the stairwell.”
Tabitha stopped, her body fell limp and she held on to him in joy. “Oh Russell, I’m so sorry!”
The cat had finally run back to the boy and led him back to the two standing together at the fork in the path. “Dad?” the boy tugged at his pant leg.
“Tabitha meet your nephew Tony.” The boy cocked his head to the side and looked up at her in confusion.
She smiled down at the cat looking quite satisfied with himself as she introduced herself. “I’m your Aunt Tabitha, it is my utmost pleasure to meet you young man.” She reached down to shake his hand and he, like that strange cat lept up into her arms for a hug.
Tony looked up at his father. He beemed down at the two as if capturing the moment in every detail in his mind. Tony proudly exclaimed, “I told you Kevin was the best cat ever!”
Tabitha smiled, “He saved you and me kiddo.” She grabbed her duffle bag where it had fallen and smiled at Russell. “I’m starving, think you could make your favorite sister some of those barbecue burgers?”
Kevin the cat Meewed, Tony jumped shouting “Ya! Me too!” and Russell smiled leading them both back to the ranger station nodding and happily hushing the two, “Yes already! Lets go home.”
Monday, August 2, 2010
Intentions
So there is this saying, 'The best of intentions can cause the most harm.' I guess it gets hard to determine sometimes when the intentions can cause more harm then good. I still can not hear out of my left ear, and the boss at work kept having to repeat himself to me today. I wonder if I should just tell him my ear infection has rendered one ear useless, but then it just sounds like an excuse.
All well. I have a friend that I believe is having some serious life issues, and I just don't know if the right thing to do is stand by her even if it is disasterous or walk away to protect my family. When does the good of one individual out way the good for another? When it comes to my kid though it is easy. I'm responsible for him, everything about him. Whether it be from a tornado of which I have no control, or the father which refuses to change his life and brags about prison life like a badge of honor.
I could just decide that I can protect my son from things if I am careful enough, but is that a risk a responsible parent would make? Well I guess that is something I need to figure out. It's hard to make choices like this about people you love. Life was definately simpler before the absolute love of my life was born. I'm just rambling and I need to go to sleep. Hopefully I've run enough of the crap out of my head... Oh wait.
So the other night my ear was all plugged and throbbing, my throte hurt, and I couldn't sleep because all I could think about was what if there is a maggot from work that fell in there and is eating it's way out down through my throte!!! Then I had to get that idea completely wiped before I could shut my eyes. Good thing I've learned to tell myself I'm just being crazy and know when to believe it.
All well. I have a friend that I believe is having some serious life issues, and I just don't know if the right thing to do is stand by her even if it is disasterous or walk away to protect my family. When does the good of one individual out way the good for another? When it comes to my kid though it is easy. I'm responsible for him, everything about him. Whether it be from a tornado of which I have no control, or the father which refuses to change his life and brags about prison life like a badge of honor.
I could just decide that I can protect my son from things if I am careful enough, but is that a risk a responsible parent would make? Well I guess that is something I need to figure out. It's hard to make choices like this about people you love. Life was definately simpler before the absolute love of my life was born. I'm just rambling and I need to go to sleep. Hopefully I've run enough of the crap out of my head... Oh wait.
So the other night my ear was all plugged and throbbing, my throte hurt, and I couldn't sleep because all I could think about was what if there is a maggot from work that fell in there and is eating it's way out down through my throte!!! Then I had to get that idea completely wiped before I could shut my eyes. Good thing I've learned to tell myself I'm just being crazy and know when to believe it.
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