The Boy and His Curse

by Michael P Mordenga

  Recruiters for the Warrior Guild will be present.

  – An Invitation to see the Greatest Army on Magi

  VI: With Friends Like These...

  With a powerful grunt, the figure raised his long black sword. His sword’s thick blade was wider than Ethan’s head and longer than his legs. He wore a tough leather vest that hugged a beefy chest and exposed arms that were bulbous and veiny. His face could have been carved from stone, except for the hedge of facial hair around his lips and long auburn locks falling like curtains around his ears.

  “Jeruda Kommi heya tawn,” a faint voice yelled from the woods.

  The figure stopped immediately and looked to his right.

  Caitilin ran in and grabbed the man’s arms while pointing to Ethan.

  “Verossi ha ma Ethan,” she reprimanded the warrior.

  “Fana Fana illreto Kalhari,” the stranger shot back.

  She pointed to the boy, “Grio ma asiagi.”

  The beastly stranger gasped.

  Ethan’s eyes darted back and forth as Caitilin chatted with the man who had slain the beast. It seemed she was arguing her case, while the angry man was defending himself; although, he couldn’t tell. While Ethan listened to their banter, he realized the words Caitilin spoke were very light on the tongue. It was the kind of language a flower would speak compared to the harshness of the stranger’s tone.

  Ethan watched intently as the two volleyed foreign words. He wondered if following the strange blonde into a mystical forest had been a good idea. The animals here had the same desire to harm him as on Earth, and now he could add beefy men with swords to his list of fears.

  Caitilin bent down and took Ethan’s hand, “What happened to you?”

  Ethan painfully got up, “Well, I fell in a hole and was chased by a pig thing until this guy found me.”

  The stranger grunted at him and spit on the ground. His eyes were sharp like spears and just as piercing.

  “Ethan,” Caitilin tried to form a smile and squeezed between the two, “this is my good friend, Mollet. He is a warrior.”

  Mollet wrinkled his nose and snorted. “The only reason you are alive is because of her, worthless one.” His voice was thick and throaty, but his English was perfect.

  Ethan stared at the rugged man in terror.

  Another voice burst the forest’s awkward silence.

  “Cait’ln, Cait’ln.”

  Caitilin’s eyes lit up as another Phaenix jumped into her arms. She was similar to Caitilin’s height and build, but her fiery hair didn’t flow like Caitilin’s unruly mane.

  “Mara!”

  Caitilin and Mara exchanged a few words and Caitilin pointed to Ethan a few times. Immediately, Mara put her hand over her mouth in shock. She looked over at him.

  “Bad, bad, bad,” Mara said to Ethan, pointing and making sure her words were clear.

  Mara grabbed Caitilin and dragged her behind a tree, leaving Ethan alone with Mollet. He dared to give the hulking creature eye contact.

  “If your hand burns in my presence, I will cut it off. Test me in this, worthless one,” the warrior stated plainly.

  Ethan sank down to the ravine floor where he felt safer. Sighing to himself, he began to miss the teenagers at school who refused to talk to him.

  “I’ll be down here with the rotting pig,” he said sheepishly. “Don’t you worry about me. I am a low maintenance guest. I’ll just sit here and think about my dwindling mortality.”

  Mollet spit again.

  “What did we do to deserve this?” Mara said, angrily pointing in the direction of the boy, her eyebrows rising sharply at Caitilin.

  Caitilin retreated; she had never seen Mara this angry and upset before, even while they were growing up together in the same Readying House.

  “I brought in a sick Earthian according to our code. Isn’t that good?” she asked desperately.

  “This is the last thing the homeland needs!” Mara said lowering her eyes. Her words began to fade away as if she was lost in the looming tragedy. She turned pale and choked up, tears welling in her eyes.

  “You don’t know! The East, it was taken over by the Kalhari. Everything is burned down. They killed everyone who lingered.”

  Caitilin’s mouth dropped open and her senses went numb. “But, but….”

  “They are marching, Caitilin. The Kalhari are no longer afraid of us; they have only wrath in their spirits. They have generals and warriors and they are taking us out. Everyone who lived in the East is beyond life’s breath.” The words came out as a ghastly haunt.

  Caitilin instinctively dropped to her knees, buried her face in the ground and started weeping. She began to say every prayer that she had ever been taught.

  “Save your breath,” Mara sniffled. “Daysun hasn’t responded in days. If a voice booms from the Heavens it does not speak to Phaenix. The Queen does not know what to do. My Mollet is restless, waiting for the command to fight.”

  Mara patted her coldly on the shoulder. “I think you know what to do with the worthless one. Return him to an earthly adventure; we have enough curses in this land already.”

  Caitilin felt a horrible rumble in her stomach and it evolved into a sense of doom. The East—obliterated. All the neighbors she had helped to grow gardens with, all the friends that shared food with her, and all the children that played with sticks in the vast forests, burned! How could this happen?

  “The Daysun has always saved us from annihilation!” she cried into the gloomy forest.

  What is going to save me from annihilation? Ethan thought. He put some of the stream’s water over his hand. It sizzled angrily.

  He glared at his cursed hand. What did I ever do to you? You used to be such a good hand for making sandwiches and writing math equations. I have to say, I am disappointed in your behavior.

  “Caitilin, you know that I care about you,” Mara remarked almost too casually. “And I want what is healthy. But I think you’ve gone too far with bringing an Earthian here.”

  “He’ll die!” Caitilin exclaimed. “Who do you know who has survived the Dredinato? If the fates have protected his small life thus far, I must know why! Every Kalhari who has cursed anyone with the Dredinato has died instantly in the most painful fashion. You remember the Phaenix who got caught in the Bangor border and was attacked by Kalhari artists? That Phaenix died when his insides melted!”

  Mara retreated. “Just solve his problem with rapid wings. Having him here makes me uncomfortable, and it might be a danger to us all.”

  Caitilin came over to Ethan. Her eyes were bloodshot, her expression blank. The thought of the merciless trolls stealing the life of Phaenix still played in the back of her mind. She had never seen a troll from Bangor, but the stories held true. A troll was made for thoughtless murder and licentious behavior.

  “What happened to you?” Ethan asked.

  “Nothing,” she shrugged it off. “You wouldn’t comprehend.”

  “Try me,” Ethan persisted, realizing that Caitilin was his only friend in the world right then. Any conversation would be good at this point.

  She sighed as if Ethan had just asked the world of her. “My home has been invaded by an army from a neighboring land called the Kalhari. They always spited us, but they never did anything about it. Now they are in our eastern land.”

  She went blank again and trailed off. “Burned everything…burned.”

  “Hello, Caitilin, are you there?” Ethan asked, snapping his fingers.

  Mollet abruptly buried his sword deep into the ground next to Ethan. “I have decided about the worthless one. He needs to leave immediately. I am not aware of deaconess customs, but you cannot bring this here. Especially not in these times. Take it back and repent, Caitilin. Perhaps this boy is the reason our homeland is being destroyed.”

  Mara nodded and gripped Mollet’s arm.

  Caitilin bit her lower lip as she felt her gentleness tested. “Helping others is what is in our lifeblood. It is what we deaconesses do.
Mara, you should know this from the Readying House. I can’t ask this boy to leave until he has seen Gibbs.”

  Mollet rolled his eyes and put his hand over his face. “You take one trip to Earth and bring back the most cursed human you could find. There is no hope for any of us if he stays in our land.”

  “Plus,” Mara said pushing her hair back, “you have no idea what the Kalhari are going to do! We could lose our home at any day. Right now they are in the east, but who knows when they will find our forest.”

  Caitilin pounded her foot on the ground. She stuck out a finger right at Mollet. “Listen, warrior, never has the enemy kept me from doing my duties. Not yesterday and not today! If the Kalhari come storming through our land, let them see that in my last breath I was faithful.”

  She was not sure why she was so adamant about finishing her mission. Surely, the protection of her homeland and her duties summoning Daysun for help in this time of darkness far outweighed a silly Earthian. Yet, there was something about the mission of Ethan that made her feel like life was not falling into chaos. If she could get one soul fixed by the High Priest, maybe her current situation wasn’t so bleak.

  Mollet cursed.

  Mara looked on the verge of tears again.

  Then Mollet stretched out his mammoth wings. As they towered over Ethan, Mollet’s shadow covered him in darkness. Intimidation.

  “Fine! Keep the earth twig far from me and my betrothed. May fortune find you, Caitilin. When this is over, we will deal with your insubordination.”

  Caitilin followed Mara and Mollet as they led the group to a particular sycamore tree of great size. At the base of the tree was a large wooden box with a door. Behind the tree stood a wooden rack, holding all sorts of metal swords and sabers. Beside the sabers was a well next to a small garden with stringy white roots sticking out of the ground. On another nearby tree hung a helmet, a wooden chest plate, and a square shield that could attach to a glove. They each had the Phaenix insignia carved into them—the same insignia inscribed on Mollet’s axe.

  Ethan was told to stay thirty paces from Mollet at all times and he figured that was the best idea for both of them. During the walk to Mollet’s house, the warrior twice threatened to cut off Ethan’s hand.

  Ethan found a twisted log and took a seat on it. Staring down at his walking shoes, he noticed they didn’t resist exotic grass stains very well. In the eight months since he’d bought them, this was the first time they had gotten dirty.

  He ended up watching Mollet chop logs for the greater part of the day. His muscles popped with viney veins when he lifted a chunk of wood. Mollet brought the pig that he had killed and gutted it right where Ethan could see everything. Pig entrails fell sloppily to the floor. The hog smelled like a high school bathroom after a food poisoning outbreak. Ethan was suddenly glad he hadn’t eaten. Every so often, Mollet would give Ethan a glare of disapproval and shake his head.

  As night fell Caitilin walked out of the root house to find Ethan still sitting on the log outside. She brought him a bowl of fresh green beans. She wasn’t sure if he liked them, but he accepted them with a smile.

  “I guess I should be thankful that you are nice to me,” he spoke.

  She sat down next to him on the log. “It must be hard to lose everything in a day.”

  He looked down at his shoes. “But it will come back, right, once the high priest hears me out?”

  She nodded slightly and changed the subject. “Look at the sky. It is filled with such pretty colors. Is there anything like that on Earth? Can Earth’s majesty compare?”

  He looked up to see the dark night scattered with colorful little dots. They were every color of the rainbow. One thing was true about Faeria: it was richer in reverence, beauty and purity.

  “Not where I live, our colored lights are put in trees during Christmas time.”

  “Really?” she said, perplexed. “I’ve studied your floral and I don’t know of any luminescent trees.”

  “That’s okay,” Ethan snickered. “They only grow in homes.” A silence invaded their conversation as Ethan stared at his feet and Caitilin twiddled her wings.

  “Caitilin?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why did you bother with an Earthian carrying a curse? Of all the people, why did you choose an Earthian?”

  She didn’t have to think very long. “A deaconess loves all creatures like the Daysun loves all creatures. I was gifted with the power to heal and I intend to use it on anyone who comes into my path. It was the Daysun’s chosen path for me that led me to you.”

  He seemed to understand what she was saying and it sunk deep inside him.

  “Look,” she said, holding out her hand.

  There was a leaf on the ground and it started to move on its own. It floated in the air and streamed toward Caitilin on the airwaves she was creating. She navigated the leaf to her hand and suddenly lit it on fire, crumpling it into ashes.

  Ethan’s eyes opened. “How did you do that?”

  “It’s called art; every Phaenix has it. Mostly the clergy hone it and sharpen the skill. Every kind who live in the Magi worlds were given the gifts of either wind, fire, or water. Phaenix were given the gifts of the wind and fire. Water is a more difficult art to harness.”

  “Anyone here can do that?”

  “Phaenix use it for cooking, construction and self defense, but the other tribes, the Elfin, the Kalhari, the Darken, the Perkians, and the Wolfians use it for whatever reason they choose. It’s usually for selfishness and greed, not for service.”

  Ethan remembered himself flying backwards when the truck was going to topple over him. It felt like something was grabbing him.

  “That was you. You saved me when the truck was going to crush me.”

  She looked satisfied. “Just being a deaconess.”

  Caitilin brought him out a blanket and a ball of fur for a pillow and promised him that tomorrow they would travel to Gibbs’ place. Ethan rested against the log uneasily. He looked squarely into the dark forest of infinite blackness. Though the night was beautiful, a dread took over him. When he did fall asleep he was stuck inside a bad dream.

  He could remember darkness, but in his mind he couldn’t help but think of it as shadows that were alive. He stood in the darkest part of the shadows and they circled around him, swallowing him. A blur went for Ethan’s neck, grabbing at him, choking him. He wasn’t breathing as it took him down. It covered his face in its blackness, making sure to embed itself in every inch of his frame.

  Suddenly, as if none of that was happening, he looked down at his cursed hand. It glowed a vicious red. The red blinked at him until it went back to its normal blackened color.

  The shadow around him rose again and slithered around his body until it found his hand. Taking the hand, the shadow disappeared inside. The “X” glowed again.

  Ethan’s face was the perfect portrait of pain, but he was paralyzed. His mind kept spinning. He could somehow feel the darkness was hungry for the curse in the wound. It searched for the curse inside of him, chanting a crooning call inside his head,

  We found you, Ethan, we found you, Ethan, we found you, Ethan.

  “Can you pull in the Octaflaught with a spear hook or tie down its tentacle with a rope? Can you pierce its wings with a hook? Will it choose not to devour you? Will it not shriek in bitter terror? Can you keep it as a pet?”

  Poem of the Ancient Archive of Werk

  VII: Through Being Safe

  “Ethan, Ethan, Ethan!”

  He felt the darkness shaking him, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Caitilin over him with light streaming behind her. He blinked a few times as if he could make this world go away. But instead he still was deep into a mystical forest he didn’t understand.

  “Make wings. It’s time to go.”

  He was up and stretched his sore back from sleeping on the log. Caitilin handed him a gunny sack.

  “This is your rations; all the food you will need for our journey.
I would check yours, I think Mollet poisoned it.”

  Ethan looked inside and found a skinned baby pig and some odd-looking blue radishes. He was still not hungry.

  “I hope you like yellow mushrooms because Mara cooked some.”

  Caitilin held out a bright yellow mushroom. “These yellow mushrooms are a root food. From their roots, fruits and vegetables grow.”

  Ethan took the yellow mushroom and popped it into his mouth. It tasted meaty and hearty, not bad for a foreign food. He smiled, but the smile deteriorated and quickly changed to confusion, and dizziness. Ethan crashed to the grass and started coughing. Suddenly his eyes started to see a dancing spectrum of colors. The colors rolled over his eyelids, spinning faster and faster.

  “I see colors,” he said, flailing around.

  Caitilin started rubbing his back, but Ethan started rolling on the ground sporadically. “I can see numbers in the sky!”

  She crouched over and began to wrap her arms around him. Ethan’s eyes were rolling into his head. “My face feels like bacon! All the trees have elected me to governor!” he yelled cryptically.

  After a moment of hacking up the mushroom, he had to wash himself in the ravine. Caitilin came over to him with an embarrassed grin on her face. She carefully explained that some foods have a psychotropic effect on non-Phaenix. He removed the remaining bits of the yellow mushroom from his mouth and made her promise to be careful choosing the next food she gave him.

  “Are you ready to go?” she said.

  They were walking deeper into the West Forest and the trees grew thicker and thicker. Fewer shafts of sunlight could be seen dappling the air between the trees. Ethan recognized some of the plants as horsetails or kalanchoe. If he had to guess at what part of Earth this looked like he would say he was in the deep forests of Saskatchewan. He learned all about that province in fifth grade. Caitilin was lecturing him on the importance of kalanchoe shrubbery on a Phaenix ecosystem when Ethan had a flashback from his dream. He saw the darkness reaching his hand and invading the "X".