by J. C. Fiske
“Very well, the time is come for you both to journey into the forest and discover for yourself your own personal Boon. They are both out there, waiting for you. What they are I cannot say, but you will recognize them the moment you see them, just as they will recognize you. Once discovered, they will constantly remain by your sides during the term as you raise them personally. Upon your Renegara training and after gaining your Boon’s friendship within the first term, we will begin teaching you how to unlock the secrets within them. Rolce should be able to help you get acquainted with yours, Gisbo, should he quit slacking in his Naforian duties and learn to understand his animal friends,” said Moordin as he eyed Rolce. The boy gulped a little, trepidation lingering from Moordin’s cold gaze. Falcon shook his head and let out a sigh at his friend’s seriousness.
“I just can’t remember if you were always like this or if it was Martha that quelled the fun in you,” Falcon gibed. Moordin shot him a dirty look and then turned back to the boys.
“I wish you both best of luck. The barrier is now active. You will not be able to return to your hut for the night until you find your Boon. Believe me, you will need your rest come the first day of the week,” Moordin said, wearing the same smirk as before.
“Barrier? Are you serio . . .” Gisbo couldn’t finish the sentence as he walked towards Moordin. He slammed his face against the barrier and the air flashed yellow, emitting a wooing noise. It was then Gisbo saw Foxblade appear out of nothingness in his usual fashion and flash a wink. It was obvious now to Gisbo who had contrived the barrier.
“Don’t even think you will be able to sprint parallel to it and escape this barrier. It will constantly lay right here, following your every movement along this invisible plane. Hurry up now. Come nightfall is the animals feeding time and should you not have a Boon to tell them off, they may mistake you for food,” Foxblade said in his scary tone.
“What? Oh come on, this is crazy! We just got here and we could be lion food on the first night? Stupid, stupid . . .” Gisbo said, as he kicked the barrier over and over again. Foxblade just shook his head. Falcon gave him a wink and with that the class masters walked away without another word.
“Wait! I . . . I didn’t mean that! Come back! What if we don’t make it in time?” He turned to Rolce. “Well Nafawhatever boy, looks like you're gonna have to tell off those animals if we don’t make it,” Gisbo said, rather perturbed.
“Didn’t you just hear him? Animals can understand us, Naforian or not. It’s just I can understand them and translate, nothing more. I doubt they’d listen to us anyway if they were hungry enough and . . . what are you doing?” Rolce asked, a little annoyed as Gisbo continued to run back and forth along the barrier wall, jumping forward, left and right, trying to escape and constantly slamming himself into the barrier. Gisbo cursed over and over as he kept falling to the ground.
“Did you not just hear Foxblade? He said the barrier will FOLLOW you! Do you know what follow means?” Rolce muttered, as if talking to himself. Sure enough Gisbo continued, now walking very slowly away, then spinning around to jump, as if to catch the barrier by surprise. He only fell to the ground once more with a slew of fresh curses. Rolce walked over and grabbed Gisbo by his scarf to drag him along.
“Come on, stupid, we're wasting time!” Rolce said, sounding a little worried himself as a bear stared at him through some bushes.
“They didn’t even give us any weapons! Gah, I really don’t like that Foxblade guy.” Gisbo sounded irritated as he rubbed his painful forehead. The boys made their way through the woods silently until they came across a small field where cows, bulls and a variety of antelope grazed in peace.
“Man, I sure hope I don’t get some lame animal like a cow,” Gisbo thought aloud as they kept walking.
“I think it’s the perfect choice actually. I read they have seven stomachs, just like you,” Rolce smiled, laughing at his own joke.
“My life’s complete with that stupid fact. What page was . . .”
“Page 73, paragraph four of Animals and Facts, Volume Six,” Rolce interrupted.
“Holy . . .” Gisbo stated, wide-eyed.
“Cow?” Rolce finished with an amused grin.
“I think you should be quiet for a while,” Gisbo said as they continued to walk out of the clearing. They made their way towards a swamp in which they saw various alligators sunning themselves while trying to snap at the monkeys swaying above them. Rolce suddenly stopped.
“I swear I just heard that monkey say something. He was making fun of the alligator below him! He said some . . . pretty awful swear words,” Rolce said, as he stared at more monkeys swinging back and forth.
“Really? What did he say? Talk to it! Maybe it's your Boon!” Gisbo said with excitement. Rolce cleared his throat.
“Ummm excuse me . . . are, are any of you my Boon?” Rolce asked the monkeys, pointing at them. The primates squeaked and squawked, made some obscene gestures, then swung through the branches and were gone, leaving Rolce looking quite embarrassed.
“Well? What did they say?” Gisbo asked.
“One of those monkeys told me of a certain place I could put my finger if he were my Boon…” Rolce said, a little offended.
Gisbo doubled over in laughter.
“Shut up! Still, wow, my first conversation with an animal,” Rolce was so amazed he almost forgot his embarrassment.
“Yeah and he told you off big time!” Gisbo reminded him, laughing once again. Rolce looked unamused.
“Come on, let's keep going, they have to be here somewhere!” Rolce asserted as they continued their walk. They had traveled a good ways ahead when suddenly Rolce froze once more. Gisbo stopped and looked at him with curiosity.
“What's up?” Gisbo asked. Rolce looked at him blankly, constantly turning his head left and right as if looking for something.
“I hear . . . no, I feel something. It’s like my stomach has butterflies. I’m getting goose bumps . . . I . . . WAIT! I HEAR IT! I hear her! She’s, she’s in trouble! She needs my help!” Rolce yelled frantically, running around, shouting, and looking all about.
“Rolce, give it a rest! What do you hear? What is it? I don’t hear anything,” Gisbo said, looking around as well.
“My Boon, Gisbo! I hear her! She’s calling out to me! She’s in trouble!” Rolce said. He then gasped, put his hand over his mouth and pointed upward. Before them was a huge oak tree and perched at the top of it was a large nest. A massive snake was spiraling up the trunk with ease, its clear aim the snack within the nest.
“That snake! It’s going to the nest! I know my Boon is in there! Come on, Gisbo, you got to help me! Gisbo?” Rolce said, but Gisbo was backing away from the tree with his eyes upon the snake.
“Yeah, you go do that, go help her,” Gisbo muttered, his voice trembling. Rolce looked at the snake, then looked back at Gisbo.
“You’re afraid of snakes? Oh come on! My Boon’s in trouble!” Rolce had rushed over to the tree and was leaping onto the first branch when he suddenly froze, looking pale.
“Well! Go get him, Captain Righteous! You don’t need me! He’s your stupid Boon! Climb up and get 'em!” Gisbo said, not taking his eyes off the huge snake. Rolce however looked terrified, but not because of the snake.
“Heights . . .” Rolce said shaking, looking upward and gripping the trunk of the tree in a bear hug.
“Oh, this is just fantastic! Snakes and heights! Really, if your Boon is gonna put us into situations like this all the time, I don’t want it around!” Gisbo yelled, folding his arms in defiance. Rolce shot a glance up at the nest as the snake was getting nearer, almost halfway. Tears began welling up in the big boy’s eyes as he looked at Gisbo.
“You’re crying? Damn it all, Rolce. You’re not seriously crying!” Gisbo spurned as Rolce still gripped the tree in utter fear. “Freakin' Boon . . . figures, just figures, gotta be yours who decides to pull crap like this. You watch, mine won’t be any trouble at all!” Gisbo muttered as he r
an to the tree, jumped and climbed to where Rolce sat.
“Come on, water works, just don’t look down and you’ll be fine. If this is your Boon, we have to get it or we aren’t getting back. Come on! Quit your damn sniffling and . . .” It was then the snake hissed above him as the great reptile realized he had company. Gisbo squirmed down the trunk a little bit, unable to finish his sentence. Both sat for a moment, immobile, Gisbo looking down due to fear of the snake, Rolce looking upward for fear of falling.
“Well, this sucks . . .” Gisbo grunted.
“We're getting nowhere fast! It’s crying! I can’t take it! Gisbo, how is it you do what you do? Tell me!” Rolce asked in panic.
“The hell do you mean?” Gisbo responded, bewildered.
“I mean, how is it you can do all those crazy things? Taking on the entire clash team, challenge Thomson and his gang head on, skeet like it was your job, go up against the Chieftain's son? How do you get the courage to do those things? I need to know now!” Rolce stammered.
“To think I did all those things within a few days, jeesh, I think I’m gonna die young. Well, I think our brains just work differently, Rolce, and mine . . . well, I’m pretty sure it just stopped working at those times, that’s all. I get mad, everything goes red and I dive without even really knowing why,” Gisbo said.
“Mad! I gotta get angry! I’m too technical, too in control of myself. I need to lose control! I need to let go or I’ll never save her. But . . . what makes me angry?” Rolce interrupted, trying to think. Then Gisbo had an idea.
“One plus one is three, right?” Gisbo stated plainly. Rolce looked at him with a rude glance.
“What? Come on, quit being stupid! We don’t have time for jokes,” Rolce said.
“The sum of twenty is five with a piece of pi,” Gisbo said. Rolce looked at him, disgusted.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? You don’t even . . . GAH!” Gisbo had cut Rolce short with a quick punch to his face. The punch landed square between his eyes. Gisbo started climbing the tree.
“No, no, get back here!” Rolce yelled, as he abandoned his post and climbed toward Gisbo. They clambered up the tree so fast that Gisbo did not even comprehend how close they were to the slithering snake. Without realizing it, Gisbo planted his hand on its dry, scaly exterior and screamed as the snake came face to face with him. Hissing, its fangs bared, the snake looked ready to strike when a huge hand reached upward.
Rolce grabbed the snake by the head and squeezed with all his might. The snake thrashed wildly, trying to escape from his iron grip, but it was too late. Rolce’s freakish strength crushed the snake’s head with a loud crack. The reptile draped downward, unraveling from the tree, and fell into a bush below them, dead. Gisbo looked at Rolce in shock.
“Uh, remind me never to tick you off again,” Gisbo said. Rolce was breathing hard, staring at the snake blood flowing down his hand in grisly lines.
“I scare myself when I lose control like that. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does . . . bad things tend to happen. Now you know why it is so important for me to keep control. Why I never react in anger,” Rolce stammered out, breathing heavily.
“Still, I figured a few wrong math statements would really tick you off . . . and it worked!” Gisbo smiled to himself.
“No, the fact that you were being stupid in a desperate situation ticked me off. Then the whole punching me in the face! You’re lucky, I’m telling you that right now,” Rolce stated, pointing at Gisbo.
“Now, now, that is such a bad habit of yours, always pointing! I’ll have to call that monkey back to give you a finger of his own! Come on, let’s go get your Boon! After all that mess, the height can’t be so bad, now can it?” Gisbo encouraged. Rolce smiled as they both climbed to the nest and looked down inside it. Tears of joy dripped down Rolce’s dirty face at the baby bald eagle nestled all alone in its nest. Upon seeing Rolce, it moved with quick little skips toward him and began nuzzling his face, squawking and cooing.
The first Boon was found.
Chapter Eight: Battle for the Boon
With their first Boon recovered, Gisbo and Rolce continued their trek through the woods, heads held high in confidence. Rolce cradled his little eagle in one arm and rocked it back and forth.
“Harpie wants to tell you thanks, Gisbo, she saw the whole thing down there,” Rolce said beaming, refusing to tear his eyes away from his little eagle.
“The squirt's already got a name, huh?” Gisbo said.
“Of course it does! She told me her name. And it’s not a “squirt.” It’s my Boon and her name is Harpie!” Rolce retorted.
“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time,” Gisbo said.
“It’s weird . . . I mean, how quickly I picked this skill up. I guess I had it in me all along, I just never even thought it was possible. As soon as I opened my mind to the possibility of it, boom! I can do it no problem now! I think I rather like being a Naforian,” Rolce said, rattling on without Gisbo listening.
The boys walked a little ways and came to an abrupt stop. It seemed they had reached the outer bubble for they could see a wintry landscape on the other side of it, as if looking through a fuzzy window. Gisbo stopped for a moment, thinking hard, or at least as hard as he was capable of.
“Rolce, what is it that you felt when you knew that your Boon was close?” Gisbo asked.
“I kinda felt butterflies in my stomach. It was like a pull, something was telling me to go forward, and then I heard little Harpie here calling out for help,” Rolce said. Gisbo turned, looked at the barrier in front of them, then back at Rolce.
“Yeah, I’m starting to feel it too. Something feels like I need to keep going, out of the barrier. I think my Boon is out in the snow somewhere. It’s more like a gut feeling than anything, it’s strange,” Gisbo said, lost in thought.
“That's exactly how I felt. If you feel we need to go out there, then let's go,” Rolce said. Gisbo nodded and they both made their way out of the barrier with the same familiar WOOP noise as before.
Before them now lay an entire new country, covered in white and extremely cold. They both turned around, only to see more snow-capped trees. It was as if there was no barrier at all. Rolce stretched out his hand where the barrier had been and it instantly disappeared. He pulled his hand back and stared at it in awe.
“Fascinating . . .” Rolce said in wonder.
“Rolce, who the hell says fascinating? Come on, just say it’s cool or neat or something. Jeesh, I hate people that try to use complicated words for no reason. Talk normal,” Gisbo spouted.
“Hey! That’s just how I talk!” Rolce argued.
“Whatever, let’s just find my Boon before we both freeze. Open up those ears of yours and listen for anything calling out for help,” Gisbo suggested and they set off through the crunchy snow. They saw many woodland animals as they trekked onward: rabbits, foxes and a wide variety of owls and snow birds.
“Any of these feel right to you, Gisbo? They are all very friendly it seems, asking if we are looking for something and if they could be of help,” Rolce translated as he shook his head, telling the small animals around them that they were fine on their own.
“Nope, nothing,” Gisbo said.
“I was just thinking, Moordin said that the Boon was a reflection of self, a guide for us inwardly as we are a guide for it outwardly. I think the outward part meant the Boons would be in trouble and we needed to save them. Then the next part would possibly be the training. I mean, I haven’t a clue how Moordin and Falcon summoned their Boons like they did,” Rolce said.
“Reflection of self, huh? Well the eagle makes sense for you, Rolce. Eagles are very smart, very big and very reserved for birds of prey, but they are still hunters. I think that fits you quite nicely if ya ask me,” Gisbo spoke in a very encouraging way. Rolce was taken aback by his sudden articulate reasoning.
“Wow, that’s impressive. Maybe you're not so dumb after all. You’ve got a point there. Hmmm . . . well, maybe
this notion can help us find what your animal might be. Gonna be kind of hard to find a stupid, crazy, bottomless stomach sort of animal,” Rolce said with a grin.
“Screw you, man! This is what I get for throwing out compliments! But you're not really far off. I mean, there are many animals like that. Believe me, I was called some sort of new animal name every day back in Oak County,” Gisbo recalled, a little angry toward the end. Just the name Oak County brought up fury inside Gisbo. A similar effect befell Rolce, who tightened his grip on the little eagle, as if making sure it was real.
“Something tells me your animal is going to be not very nice. What kind of fierce animals live in this kind of cold?” Rolce asked, without expecting an answer.
“Wolves . . .” Gisbo stated. It was then Rolce noticed what Gisbo was looking at. All around them yellow eyes were beginning to form out of the bushes and a pack of twelve black wolves had them completely surrounded. Rolce looked beside himself, but Gisbo felt like he had been in this situation before.
“Gisbo, they aren’t here for us. They just told me,” Rolce said to him as they stood back to back, facing the wolves.
“What are you talking about?” Gisbo asked, but then he noticed something move by his feet and understood immediately why he didn’t notice it at first. There, right in front of him, stood a pure white wolf, so white that it blended in with the untarnished snow. Calling it a wolf however may have been giving it too much credit. It was but a pup, only coming up just above Gisbo’s knee.
When Gisbo’s eyes met the little white wolf, something seemed to click within his very soul, like a metal joint snapping into place. Gisbo felt a sudden rush of warmth within him and around him as a deep connection was forged between himself and the animal before him. The wolf looked up at him with dewy sky blue eyes and gave out a little pleading whine, beckoning to Gisbo.