“Grandpa! He’s not waking up!” the girl cried. Kyle’s face grew pale and his body grew tense, and then heavy, then numb. He looked at his sister’s face, and he knew she wasn’t joking around. He pushed her out of the way with sudden movement, quickly moving through the door and entering Ben’s room. Kyle grabbed the man like he was about to fight with him. He had already noticed that he wasn’t breathing.
“Bengushi! Grandfather! Get up!” he yelled, shaking him roughly, but the lifeless body could not move more than Kyle could force it to. “You can’t die now, old man!” the boy raved, his teeth clenched, tears crawling down from his wide eyes. “You’re all we have…” he cried, kneeling and resting his forehead on his grandfather’s chest. “… Foolish old man,” the boy cried, grabbing the damped shirt, a thick tone of rue and sorrow in his voice. Kyle wiped his tears in his grandfather’s shirt, then stood up and turned, looking at Lex with a fierce sternness on his face. His eyes were still glistening, but no more tears were running down his face. “Lex, take care of my sister ‘til I return. I’m going to the village chief,” Kyle told him in a voice Lex wouldn’t think of disobeying. The boy walked past Lex, grabbing his grandfather’s brown coat that hung from a rusty nail, flinging it over his back as he left the room.
Lex left the old man’s room and went to where Clover was. She was kneeling at her bedside sobbing. Lex knelt with her and put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. “So… When’s your birthday?” Lex asked, trying to distract her from the tragedy. Her crying calmed a bit.
“Too weeks from now… I’m sorry yours turned out like this.”
“Yeah, me too… We’ll be alright, you know… Once we’re the three of us, we won’t have much to worry about.”
“Grandpa is gone, Lex,” Clover whispered. Her voice was almost completely gone.
“But we’re still here… We have to make him proud now and put all that he had taught us to good use… The only way to keep him alive in some sense is to do his biddings.”
“… I’m glad you’re here, Lex,” the girl said softly, her voice a little muffled from all her crying. She looked over at him, and smiled a little, but enough that made Lex smile back at least slightly.
“We’re leaving,” Kyle’s imposing voice entered. Lex got up, helping the still faint Clover to stand. “Village officials will soon be here. They will take care of grandfather. If we’re here when they arrive, heaven knows what they’ll try to do with us. Pack your things. We’re leaving the village immediately.”
“We’re running away?” Clover asked, wiping tears from her face.
“…No, we’re pursuing the mission grandfather left us, his legacy— it’s all we have left of him.” It struck Clover how similar her brother sounded to Lex. “We will begin our journeys, and become strong, and until Trium returns, we will defend whatever good we can while staying alive.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Lex agreed.
Clover offered a slight nod of approval. Her insides were still hollow, and everything was a blurring dizziness to her.
After thorough searching, Kyle found a little brown bag with stashed-away gold coins in one of Bengushi’s drawers. Never before had he held so much money in his hands – it was quite weighty. He stuffed the bag deep down in the pale blue knapsack he carried, along with his best clothes. He carefully rolled up as many of Ben’s scrolls as he could fit in a roll and stuffed them in an old casing Ben had made decades ago. He tossed the bundle to Lex. He had no interest in reading them himself, but he knew Ben would never have wanted such rare treasures to be left behind at the mercy of the ignorant villagers.
The boy flung the tight golden-brown strap of his scabbard over himself, and his sword lay comfortably across his back, the handle jutting over his right shoulder. Clover too had packed her bag with her favourite clothes and shoes. She’d also ransacked the house for the best and most durable food she could find.
Lex noticed Kyle inspecting his strange-looking clothes— pale blue jeans pants and white shirt. “Don’t fret, there’s enough for us here,” he said, patting his load.
Lex nodded with a little chuckle, wondering how he would look in Kyle’s ancient-looking apparel, which would certainly swallow him up.
“And we’re out,” Kyle said.
***
Silver Town, capital of Metal City, was, on Kyle’s call, the first checkpoint. Kyle claimed he remembered the route from ‘many’ years aback when Ben had taken him and his sister to a business trip into the town. Yakima Village, probably the calmest place they would ever come across, was already two hours behind them. As Kyle led the little group, the scenes slowly transitioned from a deep rural, almost woodland setting to slight semi-urbanization. They were on a defined road, though it wasn’t paved, and houses were on either sides of it, not very clustered, but much less distanced apart than the ones in Yakima Village. People were walking to and fro, and little clusters of playing children became a common sight. With crawling brows, Kyle took out the old torn-up map and looked at it again, turning it to read it from every possible angle.
“Where y’all youngsters head’d?” a kind-faced gentleman questioned before he could reach for his compass, walking toward them with the aid of his varnished stick.
“Silver Town, Metal City,” Kyle answered, coming to a halt at the elderly man. Lex and Clover stopped behind him, panting and sweating in exhaustion.
“So you plan to walk the whole way with all that load?” the man asked, making the idea sound even more ridiculous than it actually was.
“Well, if it’s the only way to--”
“Well it ain’t! For a tiny fee I could take you ‘cross that dread’l road.”
“You have horses?” Kyle asked.
“Better! A chariot fit for a princess!” the man advertised, eyeing Clover with a slight wink. The girl’s eyes lit up. She had never ridden in a chariot before. She had ridden a horse once, and that was too far back for her to remember vividly.
“How much we talkin’ here?” Kyle asked, hoping bargaining with the man’s offer would make him a great deal.
“You’re only kids so ten gold coins should do it. Twelve is the—”
“Make it eight, then!” Kyle countered. Kyle dug deep in his satchel and brandished eight of the fourteen gold coins he had tucked away. The old man’s eyes lit up, and his heart raced in excitement. “I’ll pay when we get there.”
“Oh, good! Good! Come! Foll’ me! I am Rich… ard… at your service!” the man caught himself, lowering his raised fist of joy into a steady handshake. He shook each of their hands very sturdily, with a wide smile he tried to tame even slightly. His flat joke of a ten-gold-coin ride was actually going to pay him almost as much this time.
A moment later, brown, thirsty horses dragged the three weary travellers along the dusty road to Silver Town. Lex and Clover peered through the windows with kiddish excitement, laughing uncontrollably whenever the carriage would make an occasionally hard bump, flinging them up wildly. Kyle’s mind was set on far less trivial things though. He was contemplating what he would do on reaching Silver Town. After a while, the chariot reached on a paved roadway, and the thrilling bouncing had stopped. The three ate bread and jam from the food they carried, feeding even the merry carrier. It was well into evening; the sun had cooled down and the tense midday heat had subsided, leaving behind a refreshing breeze that they couldn’t get enough of. There was yawning and there were tired sighs. Kyle, his head on the carpeted carriage wall, quickly dozed away. Clover moved over to the other side of the carriage, where the boys were, sitting between Kyle and Lex. She rested her head on her brother’s shoulder, already easing her tiredness. Lex rested his head on Clover’s lap. She made a slight, weary giggle, quickly drifting into sleep.
***
Lex was enjoying very pleasant dreams, rubbing Clover’s thighs in his sleep, gripping them at sporadic intervals, drooling on her lap. It was probably the most blissful rest he had ever gotten. Then
suddenly. He woke. Dreams forgotten instantly as usual.
“Finally, you’re awake,” he heard a woman’s voice. He got up quickly, looking down at the strange small bed he was lying on, with light-blue sheets. While looking at the woman before him, he saw a number of beds like the one he was on, neatly lined up in the room, but they were empty. “Hello, Lex. My name is Zoe,” the woman greeted him, her friendly tone and smile having a strange fakery about them. “I am a nurse.” He somehow just noticed her unmistakable uniform. “You’re in a hospital, Lex,” the woman told him.
“I can see that,” the boy replied, a very slight but audible tone of annoyance in his voice as he tried to sort things through in his head. “How long… How long have I been asleep?”
“You’ve been asleep from three Sundays ago!” the nurse informed him, looking like she could hardly believe it herself. “Your heartbeat and breathing were perfect, but no matter what we did, you just wouldn’t wake up!” Lex’s face wrinkled itself. He wondered if he could really have been sleeping for that incredible length of time.
“My mother! Where’s my mother?!” the boy asked.
“I’ll go get her,” the woman replied calmly, and slowly walked from the bedside toward the massive transparent double-doors.
“No…” Lex told himself. He felt a heavy sleepiness overtaking him, which he was certain was a dangerous feeling, like he was being pulled away into a dark vacuum. He heard the footsteps of his mother, and somehow recognized them instantly. “Dammit!” the boy muttered, his body being pulled back toward the bed by a strange and eerie force. His efforts to keep his eyes open seemed not to be nearly enough. His vision grew dim, and he saw a figure through the glass doors approaching. He was even sure he saw a hand reach the door and begin to push on it. Finally, the sleepiness overcame him, and he uttered a sigh, falling asleep on the small bed.
***
Lex opened his eyes suddenly again. He rose out of Clover’s lap with a speedy heartbeat. “Mother,” he found himself whispering. He looked across at his sleeping companions, then looked down at Clover’s lap. It was all wet. I drooled that much? He sighed, annoyed with himself. He had just noticed that the chariot wasn’t moving, and that his face felt too damp and heavy for drooling alone to be blamed. He knew by then that he had been crying in his sleep, and wiped the tears from his face, and rubbed his eyes. He looked outside up at the black sky. The moon was covered by dark-grey clouds. He turned his attention to the door as they were opened. He looked down at the carrier.
“Thought you were all asleep back here,” he greeted.
“Well, I was, but… What time is it?”
“It might soon be the first hour of the day.”
“Where are we?”
“Thirty miles from where we’re headed. Just done rest’n the horses and giv’n them a drink.”
“When will we reach the city?”
“Well… I won’t get my horses movin’ too fast this hour o’ th’ night, but you should be there by early morn’n.”
“Sounds good to me,” Lex said, trying to end the conversation.
“Well, we’ll be on’r way, then,” the man said, and quickly walked around to the horses.
The carriage moved rather slowly and smoothly compared to how it was bumping and speeding during the day. Lex sat up for an hour, maybe two, thinking about his mother, then he dozed off on Clover’s shoulder, not dreaming of anything. When his eyes were open again, it was already daybreak, and his friends were still asleep. “Kyle… Clover! Kyle!” After some shaking, the tired souls finally woke.
“Are we there yet?” Clover asked drowsily.
“That’s right, fellas!” Richard shouted, waking them to full consciousness, giving them a hand out of the carriage. Clover jumped out gleefully, leaving behind her portion of the load, stretching and spinning around in the warm rays of morning sun. Lex grabbed her stuff and his and headed out. Kyle walked out slowly, yawning and taking out the bag of coins. Richard grinned as Kyle paid him the promised amount. Richard shook his hand firmly.
“I do hope to do more business with you,” he said, grinning. Richard, maybe fearing that the morning sun would somehow bring Kyle to the sense that he was grossly overcharged, jumped on his horse and sped off into the distance.
The three turned and stared at the huge metal city gates. About a dozen guards were lurking around there. Two of them had already made their way up to the three pilgrims. “And what business do you children have in my city?” the fatter of the two overweight men asked with a rough, hairy voice. He was in a full khaki suit that looked quite natty on the other guards, but his was distractingly untidy. “Planning to run off, eh?” he presumed, “Well I have some bad n—”
“We’re just passing through,” Kyle interrupted, the guard’s voice irritating him.
“Mhm now? And where’re you head’n?”
“Magma Town.”
The guard made a hiss, then started laughing. The slightly less obese guard joined in the laughter, further getting on Kyle’s nerves. “Hey roaches, these kids are heading through to the big city, Magma Town!” the first guard shouted back, obviously in a tone of jeer. A few more of the guards walked up to the three, looking curious.
“Hey, whacha got here, kid?” One of the lanky guards with sleek tight trousers grabbed at Kyle’s scabbard. He jumped back quickly, uncasing his sword in aggravation, pointing it at the handful of guards. The standing guards drew their swords quickly, instantly surrounding the kids, wily and menacing looks on their faces. The remaining guards at the gate just sat there watching keenly. Kyle looked around at them in confusion and panic.
“Listen, kid, if you wish to live through this grave mistake of yours, hand over your weapon,” one of the more serious-looking men warned.
Lex quickly assumed the stance that his master had taught him, forming that hollow space between his palms. In just a moment, ice energy sped through his veins, and the thick, cold mist began to gather in his hands.
“Look!” One of them exclaimed in alarm, slowly backing away from Lex and the others. The slowly retreating guards stared at Lex in astonishment. By now, a well-dense iceball was formed in the boy’s palms.
“You idiots!” One of the guards from back at the gates broke the silence of awe and wonder, “You stand in awe at a bit of juvenile magic?” The man stood, and three others stood with him, and there was no look of fear or wonder in their eyes. One of the just now rising men dashed at Lex, swinging his sword at him without mercy. Lex raised his right hand at the incoming blade in reflex and fear, and the sword clashed into the orb of ice energy Lex was now holding in his right hand. Instantly, thick ice ran its way along the length of the sword, soon grabbing the guard’s grasping hand. It moved quickly along its victim, and like a hungry parasite, had completely encased the man. Thick, solid ice had coated his entire body. The ice ball was gone from his hand, and the boy, almost as frightened as the watching guards, stared at the frozen lawman.
One of the shaking guards dropped his sword in fright. Clover looked about, and the pathetic look of fear and desperation on the men’s faces was all she needed to get her going. “Y’all wanna see some real magic?!” she blasted in a swaggering tone, a devious grin on her face.
“The girl! Her hands! They’re glowing!” the fat guard cried, toppling over as he stumbled against one of his peers. The guards stepped back until they were upon the gates. Kyle, Lex and Clover walked past the frozen swinger with poise and confidence, Kyle holding his sword firmly, Clover sporting mana, and Lex condensing another icy mist. The guards, almost in complete unison, dropped their swords and raised their hands up high in defeat. The pungent scent of urine drew everyone’s eyes to the fat guard. His pants were dripping wet. One of the guards could barely stifle his snickering.
The three wanderers roamed though the busy city. To the surprise of Clover and Lex, the buildings there were not made of metal; as a matter of fact, for such a named place, there were hardly any metallic structur
es at all. The city crowd seemed to grow denser as they progressed aimlessly. They’d never before seen so many bodies packed in one place. Kyle dragged the whining, almost crying girl by her arm so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. Lex lagged behind, struggling to keep up with them.
“Where the hell are we going?!” Clover enquired, shouting over the noise of the busy street. The place was just chaotic. People were everywhere walking in every direction. Vendors of all sorts walked about, shouting in advertisement. There were buildings of all sorts; the plazas and shops were very many, and it was clear that they were in a commercial area, as there were no houses around.
“Just follow!” Kyle declared, leading them through streets, where the crowd seemed to grow less and less dense, till the sweaty heat and chaos seemed to be behind them.
“We’re still in the capital, but here’s much calmer,” Kyle said, “we seem to be entering a housing scheme – there might just be a grand sword master here I can pay to teach me some real advanced—”
“What?! It’d be more useful if we found a witch instead!” Clover argued.
“Or an Icemaker!”
They walked through the community – the road was paved and the houses were spaced at regular distances; they were all white and fancy-looking, but much smaller than the house they had left back in Yakima village. Clover gazed about, admiring the yards and picket fences and flower gardens.
“Wow, this place sure is grand!” she finally gave out, but Kyle wasn’t feeling as easy as she was. He felt edgy, seeing people looking at them with strange expressions, even peeping through windows.
“So are we just gonna walk about all day? Shouldn’t we be asking around for—”
“Children!” A call came from behind them, interrupting Lex. They turned around, seeing an aged woman with fluffy white hair and notably white teeth briskly walk out from her veranda. She was youthful, but definitely not young.
“G’day, ma’am,” Kyle greeted her as they walked up to her on her front yard. She seemed to be interested in Clover in particular, looking at her in a rather critical manner, like she was inspecting her.
The Seventh Spirit Page 6