Anyway, when the guy ran up to tell me what happened, he looked pretty amazed. He said a couple things I didn’t understand about The Surge and crazy demon-wolves. He also said Garrett had killed a few things and that he may or may not survive. At this, I stopped him. “Wait, what? Where is he?”
“The mess hall! But I wouldn’t—” He was cut off when I shoved him out of the way and jogged in the direction of the mess hall. The street was practically empty for no apparent reason, so I reached the door handle in record time. I stepped through the door and turned towards the only occupied table.
Nyka turned to me and held up a hand in a silencing gesture. I froze and gave her a what the heck look. She mouthed that I could come over, but slowly. Feeling like an idiot, I snuck over to the table to see what was going on. As I walked, I noticed a few things.
First and foremost, Garrett was on his third package of food. By the time I sat down, he was on to his fourth. Seriously, was he breathing? Two, his calf was bleeding pretty badly. His pants were torn around it and it didn’t appear that anyone had tried to bandage it. And lastly, Nyka’s hands were clasped and there were beads of sweat on her forehead. She looked like she was diffusing a bomb.
All of these thoughts ran around my brain as I sat down and whispered, “What in the world is going on?”
Without even looking at me, she said, “The spirit gave him a burst of power and energy. We call it The Surge because it feels like getting injected with a surge of adrenaline. It is a last resort mechanism that they only use if their warrior is about to die. It drains the spirit completely of all of its energy and gives it to the warrior. The effects are really unpredictable though. You have to be really careful with them until they come out of it. So far he has just been hungry and tired, which is a classic symptom from using so much energy.”
“What usually happens to people who use it?” I asked. Here I was, back to old questioning habits.
“Well, like I said, it is really unpredictable. The last one to use it died within an hour from a heart attack. The one before that just slept for a few hours, then continued his day like nothing happened. I think it depends on how much energy they used. I am hoping that the hunger and sleep will be the extent of it, but I am just not sure.”
We sat there for a few minutes, completely quiet except for Garrett’s munching. I guess everyone else had gotten the message not to come in here because the door never opened. I started to feel a little bit uncomfortable, like I should be doing something.
“I think I will go check on Paxton. Be back soon.” I got up from the table, walking to the door. I looked back one more time before leaving and gave Nyka a smile of encouragement. With that, I started towards the infirmary.
I could hear some commotion before I even got over there. The door was standing wide open and there were a few people gathered around. Albert was among them, talking to a couple of other guys from the Fide barracks who I recognized.
“What’s going on?” I asked Albert.
“It’s something with Donovan. Vienna went in a couple minutes ago looking really, really mad. All I know is Donovan did something he wasn’t supposed to, but he isn’t conscious yet.”
I remembered what that crazy looking humanoid thing said: Your assassination attempt failed. I quickly explained everything to Albert and noticed a couple of other people around us leaning in to hear out conversation. When I mentioned the assassination, there was an audible release of breath from the whole group.
When I was done, Albert whistled appreciatively. “I feel bad for him. When he wakes up, he is gonna wish he was still a prisoner of the Acephali.”
Acephali? Before I could ask, an angry voice echoed out of the room, “Someone get Nyka or one of the Kipler brothers in here NOW! I want a report this INSTANT!” The force of the order pulled a very unmasculine squeak out of my mouth.
Vienna came to the door, looking absolutely furious. Simultaneously, as if they had been practicing, all eyes turned towards me and everyone took a step back. I was left standing in the middle of a circle of people with Vienna giving me a look that made me want to crawl into myself and disappear.
Uh oh, I thought to myself, my day just got a whole lot worse. The spirit tried to encourage me in a not-very-encouraging way, It’s gotta get worse before it gets better, right? Or, is it you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet? Break a leg? I can never keep these 21st century idioms straight.
Albert gave me a shove from behind and I stepped into the room. I did a quick look around as I stepped through the door. Paxton was in the far corner and appeared to be resting. The medic was nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t blame him. Vienna stood by Donovan’s bed, which was the closest one to the door. Donovan wasn’t moving, but I could see his chest going up and down. I made eye contact with Vienna for the first time and saw stone.
“Close the door,” Vienna said. I did as she asked and tried not to cower. “Now would be a really good time for you to start explaining what exactly happened. Donovan has a lot of explaining to do, and I want to get your story straight before I hear his.”
She is wise, the spirit mused in my head. She believes that he may be a traitor, so she is going to use your account of what happened to test him. I mentally sighed in relief. Glad you caught that because I thought it was ME who was in trouble. Sucks to be Donovan. And with that, I told her the story of what happened, up until I left with Paxton.
“I don’t know exactly what happened with Garrett after I left; from what I understand, he fended off some, um, wolves. Anyway, he had to—”
“I am not concerned with that part of the story,” Vienna said sharply, cutting me off. Then, with a little bit of a softer tone, she said, “It’s a good thing that you and your brother arrived when you did. Apparently, we needed the extra help. I will make sure that there are more guards on the gate so that next time it won’t be necessary. Now, if you would be so kind, allow me some time with my own thoughts. Come see me later with your brother after he has recovered.”
I nodded and headed for the door. I pulled it open in time to witness a couple of people jump back. They had apparently been trying to catch snatches of the conversation through the door. I heard Albert in the back of the crowd say, “Come on guys. Let’s give Vienna and Donovan some space.”
The crowd dispersed and I went to find Nyka and my brother. As I walked, I wondered if this was what the rest of my life was going to be like: New, interesting, and dangerous stuff everywhere, most of which I either didn’t understand or didn’t know existed. It wasn’t all bad, but it would definitely take some getting used to.
11
Sorry, I Did What?
GARRETT
Just to be clear, I was not at all surprised by the fact that I was able to single-handedly defeat four super dangerous creatures. I am amazing, so this should come as no surprise at all. I was, however, very surprised to discover how much I had eaten! According to Nyka, it was a lot. We don’t need to get into exactly how much it was, but let’s just say I gained a little bit of weight.
When I woke up from the food coma I was in, I was still sitting in the mess hall. The plate in front of me was empty, but there was a considerable amount of empty brown bags stacked around it. I definitely did not feel like eating any more though. In fact, I fought down the urge to run the nearest trash can and empty my stomach.
I did a quick look around and discovered Nyka, who was leaning back in her chair, fast asleep. My first thought, on recollecting my previous memories from right after the fight, was: Oh man, I hope I didn’t say anything stupid. Those thoughts better not have escaped! My second thought was: What in the world happened?
I remembered everything up to killing the last wolf. After that, it’s all kind of foggy. I know Nyka talked to me immediately after the fight (and let us hope that I didn’t talk back). After that, all of the memories are just too murky. I suppose Nyka brought me here to get a bite to eat, but she didn’t eat any food and the rest of the mess hall w
as empty.
I got up from my chair as silently as possible so that I didn’t disturb Nyka. Once I was standing, I thought about what it was I was going to do. Kam! I’ll go find Kam. I have to make sure he didn’t get into more trouble than I did. It would be just like him to top my adventure with one of his own. Just as I started towards the door, it opened, and Kam walked through. The voice in my head said, Yep, you are definitely brothers. Forget the DNA test. Sarcasm is just your default setting, isn’t it? I replied.
“You’re up! How are you feeling?” The surprise on his face and in his voice bewildered me, as if he was surprised that I had woken up.
“Fine, I think. Definitely not hungry. You?”
“Oh yeah, just fine. I imagine you aren’t after how much you ate. Honestly, I am surprised you didn’t pass out from lack of breathing.” I laughed, then realized that he really wasn’t kidding.
A cheerful voice came from behind me, “Garrett! You’re up! That is excellent! I am so glad that you made it!” I turned to see Nyka beaming at me, like I had just done something quite amazing. Just like Kam, she seemed surprised that I had “made it.” Also, this was probably the first time that I had seen Nyka so cheerful. I guess we are finally past the Arena awkwardness.
Unable to resist any longer, I said, “Okay, what happened? You guys keep acting like it’s a miracle I survived. Those wolves really didn’t do that much damage, other than—.” My calf and recently broken ribs gave me a sudden jab of pain, just to make sure I didn’t forget about them. My sentence ended in a little gasp, which I hoped went unnoticed.
“Oh yeah! Your calf! Here, sit down while I bandage it up for you. While I am doing that, Kam, please explain to your brother what happened while he was, um… out.”
And so, while a pretty girl bandaged my leg, I got the full and somewhat embarrassing story from my brother. When they both finished, my response was, “Sorry, I did what?”
“Well,” Kam explained, “You killed a bunch of… things. They are wolves of some sort, but I still have no idea what in the world they are. That wasn’t something that Animal Planet ever talked about.”
“No, no, no,” I protested. “Past that part. I am talking about the whole Surge and eating food thing.”
Nyka picked up the story, explaining to me what The Surge was. She finished with, “And one of the side effects often times is extreme hunger and sleepiness. Luckily that was the only thing you experienced. And you may want to skip the next couple of meals too.”
I shook my head, still trying to understand what happened. Bione was giving me a very detailed and unhelpful lecture in my head about The Surge, which I was doing my best to ignore. I finally just decided to simply accept it and move on. “Okay then. Moving on, how long have I been out? Did I miss guard duty?”
Kam’s eyebrows went up and his mouth opened in an O shape, which meant that he had forgotten. Classic Kam. I was about to make a burning comment about that, but Nyka saved him. “I can’t believe you remembered that with all of the craziness going on. I guess I should go find Vienna and see what our next move is. The Acephali are probably planning an attack, and we need a game plan.”
Before Kam or I could say anything, Nyka ran out the door in a rush. I made eye contact with Kam and we had one of those rare brother moments. He voiced the thought that both of us were having, “There is always stuff happening here! We have only been here for two days and we have already killed monsters, seen people nearly get killed, and almost died ourselves!”
After a moment of silence, the tension broke and we both laughed. It was a crazy laugh, without any reason other than we were just too overwhelmed and confused to know how else to react. It felt so good to laugh, neither of us could stop. I doubled over, laughing so hard that my ribs started to quake, which hurt, but it was worth it. When I finally got ahold of myself, I stood up and wiped my eyes. “We almost died today and here we are laughing like fools. We should probably go figure out what is going on before we miss any other excitement.”
We walked out of the mess hall together, still wiping tears from our eyes and smiling like crazy people. The looks that we achieved from the grim people around us made me smile even more. Me and my brother may not have the best relationship (sometimes he can be a real pain in the butt), but right now, it felt really good to be around him. It helped me to accept all of the insane stuff that was going on because he was here with me.
We checked the infirmary first because that’s where Kam said Vienna would be. For the record, he was wrong. We did see Donovan though, who happened to be awake, but only just barely. He definitely didn’t look up to a conversation, so we moved on.
The next place we checked was the house we were brought to when we were first kidnapped. As we walked in that direction, I thought to myself, Each of the barracks has a title. The house doesn’t really have a title, but I feel like it needs one. How about the Palatine? It’s where rulers stayed during Roman times. The sudden helpful suggestion caught me off guard. “Okay, Palentine it is. Thanks, Bione.”
“Huh?” Kam, who was walking next to me, looked at me like I might have lost it.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. The spirit says we should call this place the Palentine, which is apparently where Roman rulers lived in ancient times.” While I was saying this, Bione was lecturing for pronouncing it wrong. It's Palatine! If you’re not going to pronounce it correctly—.
“Wait, you call your spirit Bione?” Kam interrupted.
“Well, yeah,” I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. “That’s what he told me to call him. Why, doesn’t yours have a name?”
It was Kam’s turn to look uncomfortable, “Well, uh… I haven’t asked. He doesn’t really talk about himself that much. It never even occurred to me that he had a name.”
Before we could continue this conversation further, we reached our destination. We walked up the steps of the Palatine and heard loud voices inside, obviously arguing. Kam and I shared a nervous look before stepping into the lion’s den.
12
The Lion’s Den
KAMARON
Picking up right where Garrett left off, we stepped through the front door and were instantly assaulted by the shouting match that was going on in there. Gathered around the table, Nyka, Vienna, and Hector were “discussing” our options.
“What do you mean this is my fault?! I had nothing to do with it! All Donovan told me was that he was going to be gone for a while and I needed to cover for him! He never told me about what he was doing!” Nyka yelled defensively.
“You should have known something was up!” Hector exploded. “If you had actually done something, we wouldn’t be in this situation! Your lack of action has put us all in danger! And, for all we know, maybe you are a traitor too.” That last part came out as a quiet, cold suggestion.
Nyka got up from her chair so suddenly that it fell over backward, slamming against the floor. “Donovan is my friend! He would NEVER betray us! If you accuse him of being a traitor again, you will pay for it!”
Hector burst out of his chair and put his finger right in Nyka’s face. His voice was steely quiet when he spoke, “I am no longer concerned about him being a traitor. Maybe it is you that is the master planner here. For all we know, you are training up that pair of brothers to be your minions! Maybe they helped you stage that whole incident on the bridge!”
Finally, Vienna broke in by standing up and slamming her hands down on the table. “That is ENOUGH!”
It suddenly got quiet. Garrett and I had been standing just inside the door, completely frozen in shock. All three of them noticed us at the same time and stared at us. If looks could kill, you would be dead three times over, said the voice in my head. Always so encouraging.
After a few moments of tense silence, I spoke up. “We can come back later if now isn’t…” My voice died on me, but the tension broke.
Vienna sat back down and the other two followed her lead. Nyka had to pick up her chair befo
re she could sit down. Vienna said, “Nonsense. You were just the two people I was hoping to see. I am glad you are feeling better, Garrett.” To my surprise, there was no anger in her voice and she sounded sincere. “Come over here and take a seat.” She gestured to two empty seats opposite of her.
Garrett and I came over and sat down at the table between Nyka and Hector. They were still glaring at each other, daring the other to speak up.
Vienna looked at us, took a deep breath and began, “You two probably have no idea what is going on, huh? Well, here it is. The Acephali are a clan of humanoids that have been around since before there was recorded history. They have played major roles, good and bad, in the lives of a few Argonauts throughout history. What the one on the bridge said was true; they have never been our enemies, but that does not make them allies.”
She sighed loudly and rubbed her eyes before continuing. “Though we have never truly had a war against them, there has always been a certain level of conflict between us. In recent years, we have been able to avoid such conflict. I even had hopes that we might be able to ally with them against the Dark Legion. Those hopes are long gone now. We are at war. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is; what matters now is solving the problem. I am open to suggestions.”
Nyka and Hector leaned back in their seats, thinking. While they thought about it, I listened to the spirit in my head. This is a bigger problem than I realized. Battling with the Acephali and the Dark Legion will be like fighting a war on two fronts. The Argonauts are barely strong enough to keep the Dark Legion at bay as it is! They won’t be able to stand up to both groups for very long. Comforting words…
“Well,” began Hector, “We could try to get the Acephali to fight the Dark Legion. Those two have always disliked each other. If we could get them to fight each other as well as us, we might stand a chance.”
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