by Matt Wilk
My bladder woke me before the sun could. Kru dug into the pillow of needles to hide from the open air. I thought hanging my clothes out would help them dry. They were frozen stiff. I knocked the snow off the top of the shell and laid out the pants and vest on its dark surface. We went back to sleep to wait until first light. The ferryman walked past on his way to the outhouse and did not see us sleeping under the tree. We quickly made ready to move after the close call. I was dressed and crouching with Kru when the ferryman sped back to his house.
“Gotta grab those pearls ‘for them damned sanitation boys get ‘em.”
The fool was either planning on extorting the price of a crossing, or worse, somehow convincing his son to loot my squished corpse. He already had Major Bloodaxe’s gigantic beaver’s tail cloak strung up on a drying line. Just as with the lords of Ulfbar, I decided to exact my revenge without violence. He burst out through the front door and I dove under the tree line into the back yard. The lady called after him, but he whistled loudly to block out her voice. Their noise covered my advance into the yard. The cloak made for a very large roll and I even grabbed some fish they had left out to dry. They kept arguing louder as I made the high road and the dirty ferryman would have seen me clearly if he were not turned away, purposely ignoring his wife.
“The poor lady eh? Oh well, breakfast?”
Kru snatched a frozen filet out of my hand with such a force that it broke into pieces. I picked up what was dropped, fit it back on the line with the rest, and threw the icy treats over my shoulder to thaw. We were trotting in the wheel marks while the sun rose into full view. The power excited me to run faster. Not long after that, the tracks ended short. I came upon everyone still yawning and stretching. Kru barked and ran for his mother and he even received a few cheers from the big dogs. The snow must have convinced Lazarus of a delayed spring, because he had wrapped his body so completely that only his eyes and fingertips were left exposed. I thought he ran at me shaking from the cold, however, he was preparing to angrily shake the life out of my body.
“Matthius, you idiot. Can you not think? Is your head filled with stones?”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“You give him exactly what he wants from you every time. When are you going to grow up and think about the mess you always make- always?”
“I see you brought my pup back safe boy-o. And you had time to steal some pearls.”
“Well, Sinner no longer needed them, and I couldn’t just let those dirty sanitation boys get ahold of them. Also, sir, I believe you dropped this.”
Lazarus ripped the cloak out from under my arm and shook it out. He was huffing and looking away on purpose so I shrugged it off as the typical morning grumps, amplified by the loss of his sister. I was cautious about touching him in such a state, so I only tapped on his shoulder.
“Those pearls are yours now brother.”
“That one is mine. I do pick them well. Now, prepare my cart for departure boy. The convoy sets in at the training center this day!”
With Major Swiftblade making noise so early, I was confident the mood would hold all day. I quickly got his tent in order, and also turned over the fire pit out of habit. I found Senjay making a mess of Major Talon’s equipment. He was so frustrated he tried to shoo me away.
“Hey, it’s real swell to see you too brother.”
“I knew you would make it fine. I’m just sick is all. You gotta back away.”
“Come now Senjay, you know Swillians are immune.”
When I jumped into the cart he turned away, but, he was holding his stomach - not covering his mouth. I raised a brow, certain that his sickness stemmed from consuming tainted foods.
“Your face is as green as your eyes. You didn’t get the fire burning hot enough, did you?”
He wanted to tell me off so I made retching noises, and he vomited over the short wall of the cart. I got the equipment tidied up and tucked away neat for him. The fish had a small chance of being tainted by whatever made Senjay sick, and it was enough to keep me from taking that risk. I kept the thin fishing line for myself and tossed the filets into the trees for the birds. Major Talon again approached me while still getting dressed so I nervously asked the first question I had.
“Ma’am, why are you the only Slorrick woman I’ve ever seen without the burn scars?”
“I knew you were lying. Exactly how many girls have you seen boy?”
I looked even further away and felt my face turn bright red.
“Why not ask the brother of your friend, the Sheriff.”
“Ma’am, I don’t understand. Sheriff Wellings has no brother ma’am.”
I shrugged my shoulders at her and she mimicked me with her own look of surprise and holding her hands up. When I blinked she grabbed the two fore-fingers of both of my hands and bent them backwards with a twist. I slowly knelt before her and she leaned in very close.
“Not anymore!”
She squeezed harder as her face twisted into the smile of evil pleasures. Thankfully, Major Bloodaxe laughed, so did everyone else, and so did she. She let go before my wrists could break, but she was not finished making her point.
“Why you look on me pervert? Make a turtle soup. And you. You laugh but you have no shell. Turtle has no shell! Turtle has no shell!”
The dogs recognized the order and Senjay was pounced on over and over until he retrieved his shell from the cart. While we waited for him, Kru ran over to me and jumped on top of my shell. He managed to balance up there and howled as if he had conquered a great enemy. We howled back at him, doing more pushups while Major Bloodaxe joined us, and continuing until he was fully warmed up for the morning run.
“You’re all lucky it snowed in the night. Mount up. We’ll be headed off road and I don’t want any of you’s breaking an ankle in some hidden snake hole.”
“Sir yes sir!”
Major Bloodaxe led us down the road several miles and proved to have accurately memorized the hidden path. We made a left turn as the paved road turned right. The steeds were only slightly slowed on the gravel trail, as the deep snow helped provide traction under their hooves. When the trail ended, the Bloodaxe flourished his fire cannon and delighted in blazing a new path through a patch of frozen saplings. The ball of lightning rolled atop the snow and left a path of hot mist in its wake, before bursting into flames some fifty feet away. The steeds passed through easily and lined up the carts in a row on a hidden plateau. The Bloodaxe hurried us out of the carts and chased us up a serpentine stair case that had been dug out and filled with gravel long ago. We slipped and tripped many times, sprinting as fast as was possible given the ice and the incline. Eventually, we spilled out onto another plateau at the top of a very high peak. We were more than one hundred yards above and beside the high road, and could see it rolling clearly across the valley for many miles. It ended at a waterfall many times larger than the Moser, and circled back with the mountain that separated our flood plain from the next valley.
“Sir, where are we?”
“Well boy-o, this is Red Heart Run. West across the gorge there, that’s Embraun.”
“What? Can’t hardly see it through the trees.”
“That’s the whole point. That whole mountainside is the city and they even got a whole port on the Lokah side of the ice. It’s all hidden from view.”
“Did the Lokah allow them to cut into their glaciers?”
“You know how they got permission? That twin peak rising up out of the plains is New Lantya. The Lantos have no power left anywhere else in the world but this one city. That’s how Embraun became the capitol of all the Unified Nations.”
“You meant, because it is the richest city in the union.”
“That’s right son, and they protect it thusly. That observatory aint always pointed up. So, you’s best act like it’s watching, even when it’s not. Is that understood?”
“Sir yes sir!”
The high road led to a bridge across a dammed section of the mounta
in that had split long ago. A small village of houses were dug into the rock and lifted up by stilts on both sides. Above the damn, the Lokah had built a series of high-arched bridges across the water from which guards in bright white uniforms were inspecting ships headed into and out of the Lantos territory. Through that one window cut into the mountain, we could see the Lokah plains for many miles. To my surprise, the lands that led up to the first blank faced step of the giant’s stairway were not the barren tundra and frozen lakes I had imagined. It seemed the high altitude landscape was only bordered by the ice, and they had preserved a lush forest of the same gigantic scarlet pines that grew on the western slopes. It was much more impressive than the farms and ranches below us.
The valley floor was almost entirely cleared out to be a grassy plain, except for small patches of trees that were too uniformly spaced to have any purpose other than dividing boundaries. The steeds from our convoy had made their way down another hidden serpentine on the southern face of our little mountain and galloped freely out in the endless fields. They conquered every hilltop, digging for green grass and eating to their fill.
“They’ve got the right idea now haven’t they? Tell you boys what, you wanna go run around in the snow as well?”
“Yes sir.”
“Of course, sire.”
“Good, go fetch Rosalien. I need her to take me into town.”
“But sir, the steeds will be miles away before we can reach them.”
“Well then, you had better get your arses down there already!”
We ran back down the serpentine, slipping just as much, and moving twice as fast. When we reached the plateau, I saw the Majors had unlocked two sliding doors- twice the height of the carts- and I was entranced while they pushed them apart.
“C’mon Matthius.”
There was an entire compound carved into the back of the lonely little mountain, but, staring into the dark chasm offered me nothing. Senjay and Lazarus were racing down the next serpentine, and I was already too far behind catch them. I wanted to slide down through the middle. Even with that, the steeds were already racing north to play in the warm streams. The northern slope seemed designed for travel by way of back shell, given the way I slid down so quickly. When we had finally rounded his steed, Major Bloodaxe even used his cloak as a sled and shot through the trail I left with the widest grin.
“I’ve gotta turn in this loot for whoever was robbed, because that’s what an honorable man does. You lot prepare yourselves to begin a regimen of basic training. We start tomorrow and go ‘til someone dies, or the spring melt- whichever happens first. I won’t be babying none of you either, that’s the corporal’s job.”
“Sir yes sir.”
He left us there, out of breathe and at the bottom of the mountain. Our eyes shifted between the three of us as we wondered who would be chosen as corporal. I did not know if the rank held after our training but I needed the chance to prove my worth. Before too long, Major Bloodaxe let out a series of ear piercing whistles that sent the steeds on a trot back up the hill.
“Oi matey, tell you what. That was a neat trick sliding down and all, but I’m betting I make the summit before you’s two’s.”
“Is that so, Master Pirate?”
“Make turtle soup!”
Lazarus barked at the back of Senjay’s head so convincingly that he dropped down without hesitation. Before we understood the ruse, Lazarus circled round and jumped off Senjay’s back. He landed on a passing steed and grabbed two fistfuls of mane, laughing crazily from the nerves.
“All that for a rush? You could have been impaled! Did you not think about that mess?”
He turned back, pulling down his face cover to stick out his tongue. I thought Senjay would have agreed that it was not fair. He simply rushed past me up the slope. Major Bloodaxe was so massive that his passing had plowed the snow clear to the grass line. We all raced up the hill laughing and calling out taunts to one another as if training had already begun. Majors Talon and Swiftblade were watching from above, wringing their hands and discussing how best to fill the training curriculum with as much misery as possible. By then, it was already too late to break us down. Compared to losing our home, the lives we had built, and Leiza herself, training for a war sounded like a blessing.
After a few necessary chores, we were free to do what we wished for the remainder of the day. The dogs founds their own rabbit. They split it amongst themselves and were unwilling to share- except with Kru. After sweeping the stables clean, the Majors were inspired to have us tidy the entire compound. They joked about using us as bait for the deadly traps, but, the trip line always seemed to be just around the next bend of the spiral staircase. Above the stables were two more stories, each with plated metal windows looking west that were frozen shut. The walls were made of columnar basalt laid perfectly into place, just as the gravel covered trails and the flat plateaus.
“I don’t understand these people. This fortress could house an entire squadron.”
“Yes, they should have given us more boys to mold the hard way.”
“No thank you ma’am. We’re all filled up as it is.”
Lazarus interjected from across the room just as he finished grunting to open the last window.
“You don’t find this place odd Senjay? Even the stables could hold double the steeds. There could easily be four of us to a cart.”
“And a corporal in the front seat. The way Major Bloodaxe tells it, we could be the only trained soldiers in some makeshift army. The entire country seems fresh out of military age boys. We may very well be the last ones.”
“Well then, my little turtles, that makes me General.”
The room was illuminated to show a small office with a desk, chair, and empty bookshelf. Major Talon crossed the room and flopped down on the huge wooden chair with a deep smile.
“You do this. You go there. You kill this man. Ha, and you, rub my feet.”
Major Swiftblade was the only one whom did not laugh.
“I hate these black blocks. They are always mortared with blood.”
He knocked on the door frame, sucked his teeth, and leapt down the stairs in only a few pounces. Major Talon threw one of the brooms across the room and stormed out. Senjay and Lazarus jumped to the chair and fought for dominance. They had fun while I swept in the corners, and they even found some papers with an ink bottle and pen.
“Oh my, I know just the thing for you to draw Senjay. It’s been stuck just behind my eyes since I first saw it.”
“Na mate, it wouldn’t be right pinning’ up the lady Major like that.”
Lazarus beat on the arms of the chair laughing while Senjay turned red holding it back. His pirate voice was ridiculous, but he caught Senjay by surprise.
“That’s not what I meant at all.”
“Sure thing Matthius. We believe you.”
“Ugh, I’m getting a fire lit before the sun goes down.”
They joined me outside and foraged around the base of our hidden mountainside outpost. Once the fire was burning, Senjay and I swept the snow from both of the plateaus. After he suffered a lengthy description of the great turtle map, he was finally convinced to draw my interpretation. The sun went down and we barely noticed Lazarus had made us dinner. When the masterpiece was completed, I used the extra steed’s trough as a wash basin for the dishes. With the last bit of soap powder, I washed my smelly goat hide vest. Senjay asked that his outfit be washed as payment for his artistic feat and we both ended up using our bedrolls as clothes for the night. When asked, Lazarus made it clear he would wash his own, but only after asking Major Bloodaxe permission to use more soap. We all wondered at what he was still doing in town. I decided to instead make the best impression upon his return. The steed’s had clean stalls and tall grasses to munch on. Both troughs were scrubbed and filled with freshly boiled water, as well as, the water jugs for each cart. Major Swiftblade had two of them, in order to keep his water supply separate from that of the trainees. I dumpe
d the old weaved basket covers and moved them all in the open stable area, moving the puppy basket into the corner so the growing dogs could spread out. From all directions the moon’s glow reflected off the snow and everyone quieted down for an early bedtime.
We were in bed early enough to watch the moon slowly fade to black, as if the sun was getting revenge for the recent eclipse. The warm valley air swirled up to the high road and across the tip of the icy outcrop. In the hundreds of feet of distance between us and the rushing winds, the harsh crashing rumble turned to a soft and constant purr that kept the fire’s smoke rolling southeast.
“I don’t get the big fuss about Embraun. I mean, honestly, the whole thing’s pink as a damn fairy. Not even Mother Moon is impressed.”
Senjay was not happy about being taken from Ulfbar south, as his grandparents had kept it alive for so many years. And, he was right, the city in the distance was indeed glowing pink. We were all speaking between yawns just to stay awake, but, when he made us look towards the city, we finally saw a rider approaching. He was so massive that he made a horned mega steed appear the size of a messenger's pony.
“About time, I’m ready to hear what kept him waiting. That loot report was some tidy work too. A feat worthy of corporal status.”
“Ha, you try harder than Matthius did with all that cleaning.”
“Oh yea, wait ‘til he lays eyes on my over map of the world.”
“Hey, I’m the one who actually saw the thing.”
“And you did well reporting it to your superior.”
“Ha!”
We scanned over each other with shifty eyes, escalating the competition. Major Bloodaxe ran the Rosalien straight up the gravel hill along the trail he had made earlier. The poor thing bucked and whinnied from a hard ride, so she received the very last apple for dessert.
“Why are you lot out here blocking my serpentine? There’s to be no fires on the flat blocks. And why aint my convoy geared for a quick reaction patrol?”