Blaze (The High-Born Epic)

by Jason Woodham

  He looked around, carefully. Henry was the only person in sight, and his back was to Harold.

  “Yahh, mule, yahh!” Harold said as he popped her with the bridle.

  Harold pressed hard on the plow as he broke into a light jog. He couldn’t believe it. The ground was splitting like he was pushing a stick through water. He bumped the mule with the plow, and she flinched and began running. Harold smiled as he began chasing her, dirt, grass and the occasional stone flying all around him. He ran to the end of the row, and pulled back on the reins. The mule stopped just as suddenly as he did.

  He looked around.

  Henry’s back was still turned. He popped the mule again, and took off, this time he bumped the mule twice. When he got to the end of the row, she was breathing fiercely, and he was even winded slightly. After just a few breaths, he was ready to go again, but the mule was still breathing fiercely. He looked around and saw some children across the way pointing at him, but they were quite a distance away. He saw what looked like a woman coming out of the back door of the house. The young ‘uns were pointing toward him, and the woman shielded her eyes from the sun and looked at him. Harold just began slowly plowing, and in just a few seconds, he glanced in that direction.

  She was nowhere to be seen and Jim’s back was still turned.

  “Yahhh, mule,” Harold said, laughing.

  Harold practically sprinted this time.

  The mule could barely stay ahead of him. He bumped her five or six times before he finished the row. He quickly made the turn, and ran the full length of the field again. He checked the young ‘uns who had been looking at him. They were jumping up and down pointing at him. The woman came out of the back door, shielded her eyes from the sun, and looked toward him again. She looked back at the children and pointed at them, and then popped the biggest one on her butt twice, and walked back in the house. He looked at Henry to see that he had turned his mule and was now in a position that he could easily see him.

  Harold thought there was too much risk to run now. He smiled and pushed a pace that no man he knew could’ve maintained. He quickly found the medium that both he and the mule could maintain and not be exhausted. Between his newfound strength and the mule, he finished Jim’s field before lunch.

  Harold wiped the sweat from his brow and he looked at the mule. It was panting furiously. He started walking to Jim’s house and he noticed a cool draft. He grimaced as he felt his rear because he had ripped his undersized overalls. He didn’t have to look to know that most of his butt was probably visible. There was some old burlap on the handles of the plow. He quickly rigged up a way to make himself modest, and managed to get the burlap tied around his waist.

  Jim was probably already on the way back from the morning’s work at the lumber mill and would be home at any moment. Tammy was nearly finished with lunch when he walked up to the door. To his surprise, Jim was walking up about the same time he was.

  “You breaking for lunch, Harold?” Jim asked.

  “Yes, sir,” he replied. “Ummm... I’m finished, Mr. Jim.”

  Jim looked surprised, “Surely not.”

  “Yes, sir. And I would like to change the deal slightly, if I could, sir,” Harold said.

  “Well, I’ve got to look at the field first, son,” Jim said.

  “Yes, sir. Please do.”

  Ten minutes later Harold and Jim were standing in Jim’s house and Jim was still scratching his head.

  “I don’t know how you did that, Harold. But I’m impressed.” Jim said.

  “That old mule is something else,” Harold answered.

  ‘I’d always heard that nobody could do nothing with her,” Jim said, still clearly dumbfounded. “Anyways, what part of the deal do you want to talk about?”

  “Well, I was thinkin’ that since I finished so fast that I’d rather have a pair of your old overalls than a sack of corn meal.”

  “Well,” Jim rubbed his beard. “A pair of overalls is worth more than a sack of corn meal, bein’ that it lasts longer.”

  Harold thought a moment, “Well, sir. I did finish well ahead of schedule, and what about if I trade you a bucket of nails too? They should last a real long time.”

  Jim thought a moment, “Tell you what, Harold. That’s a deal. Bring me the nails and I’ll give you the overalls.”

  “Be back in a few minutes,” Harold said.

  The mule did give Harold a little trouble on the way home, but he just dragged her a few steps and she began trotting again. He put the mule in the barn, fed and watered her, and grabbed a bucket of nails and went back out of the door. As he jogged across the yard, he could hear Aunt Nean, Cooper, and Ollie in the house, but he just kept on running back to Jim’s house.

  Harold knocked on the door.

  Jim answered it, clearly surprised that he’d made it back so quickly.

  “I think you got about as much get-up and go as my old blue healer, Gus,” Jim said and pointed at the tied dog in the yard. It was running back and forth on its leash, jumping up and down barking playfully.

  Harold shook his head and laughed.

  Jim quickly came back to the door and gave Harold a pair of overalls. Harold was pleased with them because they were in real good shape. They were barely faded, and only had one small hole in the left knee. Aunt Nean could fix that without any problem.

  Harold hurried back home and changed in the barn. They fitted him well enough and were real comfortable, especially after having worn those tight overalls for nearly a day. Then he walked toward the house with his torn overalls dangling in his hand.

  As he neared the house, Scape met him at the edge of the yard. His cat-like tail always puzzled Harold at the way it managed to wag like a dog’s. He cocked his head and his ears went from floppy to standing straight up on the top of his head, and he almost seemed to smile. Harold could see feathers of some sort in his mouth.

  “I guess you didn’t go with them, did you? You catch yourself another bird, Scape?” Harold asked as he rubbed his head.

  Scape half-growled, half-purred as he pushed his body into Harold’s leg. After a few moments, he left Scape standing there and made his way to the back door. Harold smiled and his mouth watered when he smelled the beans and biscuits before he even opened the back door.

  “I sure hope Aunt Nean cooked some of that ham,” he said to himself.

  He raised his nose to the air and smiled because he could smell the meat. When he walked in, Ollie jumped and ran towards the hall squealing. He caught a glimpse of something blue in her hands as she darted around the corner. Aunt Nean was at the stove stirring in her pot.

  “Go ahead and give it to him, kids,” Aunt Nean said loud enough that they could hear. “They wanted to get you something,” she said only to him.

  Harold looked at her puzzled.

  Ollie peeked around the corner. Then Cooper’s head came around the corner too. Harold smiled.

  “Come on, you two,” Harold said. “Get on with it.”

  Cooper slowly rounded the corner, thumbs hooked in the pockets of his little overalls. He shuffled slightly, and looked at the ground. Ollie leaped from behind the corner land on both of her feet, but kept her hands behind her back. Cooper looked up with a wide grin on his face, and Ollie giggled as she rose up on her tiptoes and quickly back down again.

  “We got you something today in town,” Cooper said with a wide smile.

  “We wanted you to have these,” Ollie said as her hands came around to the front.

  She was holding a pair of new overalls. Harold looked at Aunt Nean, stunned.

  “Aunt Nean,” he said. “You shouldn’t ha-”

  Nean held up a finger and shook her head. Harold could see that she was barely able to contain her emotions when he saw her eyes water slightly.

  “They wanted to go trade today. So, they took all of the extra canned goods and toys they got last night,” Aunt Nean paused and gulped. Then, she put her hand over her mouth and cleared her throat.

&nb
sp; She composed herself.

  “And they traded it all for these. I couldn’t tell them no. You needed a new pair anyway.”

  Harold was so touched that his eyes watered up too, and his nose started running. Harold wiped his eyes as he walked to them, and knelt down and took the overalls from them. Ollie squealed a little as she hopped up and down, while Cooper shuffled back and forth, his thumbs in his pockets, and his chest sticking out like a rooster. Harold then hugged them both and kissed them each on their forehead.

  “Thank you both, so much,” Harold said. “Do you know that this is the very first pair of brand new overalls I’ve ever had?”

  Cooper looked even prouder than he already did, and Ollie bounced in glee a few times.

  “Go put ‘em on,” Ollie said. “I think you’ll look so nice in them.”

  “I think I’ll do just that,” Harold said, and walked to his room.

  When he returned to the kitchen, everyone was sitting at the table waiting on him.

  “Oh, Harold,” Ollie said. “You’re so handsome.”

  Cooper just gave him a thumb’s up.

  “Between those things, and those muscles of yours, we’ll have to beat the women in town with a stick to keep them off you,” Aunt Nean smiled.

  “Thank you, all. I love them and I love all of you.”

  “I love you too, Harold,” Ollie said.

  “Me too,” Cooper chimed.

  “All right, y’all,” Aunt Nean said. “Let’s eat.” As she began spooning out the portions, she said, “So, you had laid your overalls out to dry, and they just disappeared, huh?”

  The children shuffled uneasily.

  “Um,” Harold nearly stammered. “Yes, ma’am. I reckon somebody run off with ‘em.”

  “So...” Aunt Nean eyed him closely. “What were you wearing while they dried?”

  “Sarah’s towel,” Harold replied.

  “Oh,” Aunt Nean said. “I guess Sarah was there with you?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Harold said looking down at his plate and feeling caught.

  “Oh, my,” Aunt Nean seemed embarrassed as she took a bite of cornbread.

  “Uh, huh,” Ollie said. “And Sarah kissed him on the lips too. Then they walked around the river bend where we couldn’t see ‘em.”

  Aunt Nean started coughing, and Harold dropped his fork while Cooper giggled. Aunt Nean coughed several times and then took a drink of water.

  “These beans and turnips are great, Aunt Nean,” Harold said. His face felt very warm, and he was afraid that he was on fire again.

  Aunt Nean nodded and fanned her face, “Well...” she said as she fixed her hair, “I’m glad you like them.”

  Chapter 8

  When Harold was finished with lunch, he walked down his road, toward the town circle. He noticed that a few people looked closely at him because new overalls in Foxx Hole wasn’t a regular sight. Sure, some people had them, but no one as young as Harold. It made him feel a little funny. As he strolled down the road, he looked at a woman sweeping off her porch. She noticed Harold and put a hand on her hip and winked at him. He didn’t know exactly what to do, so he just waved and smiled and kept walking. She looked at him strangely as he walked by.

  It didn’t take him very long to get to the town circle and he moved across it toward the blacksmith shop. As Colonel Foxx’s image slowly rotated at the top of the pyramid, he saw a few people pointing at his new overalls. The bell chimed as he walked in and he saw Mr. Willie. Willie was bearded, had grayish brown hair, and was slightly bald. Years of swinging a blacksmith hammer had put a lot of stringy muscle on him.

  “Howdy, Harold,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Well, Mr. Willie. I was wonderin’ if Sarah was around?”

  “She weren’t feelin’ too good this mornin’, Harold,” Willie said. “So, I let her stay at the house today.”

  “Oh, okay,” Harold said, and turned to leave.

  Harold stopped at the door and turned back to Willie.

  “Reckon she’s well enough for me to stop by y’all’s house?”

  “Harold, I don’t know what happened yesterday at the river, but she’s been acting real funny,” Willie replied and looked very harshly at Harold. “I hope you didn’t do nothin’ to hurt her.”

  “Oh, no sir, Mr. Willie,” Harold said, stammering. “I could never do that.”

  Willie looked at him very closely, and it seemed to Harold that he eventually believed that he hadn’t hurt her.

  Willie wrinkled his brow, “Well, sometimes women just act funny, son. They get all emotional and what not. Come by to see her in a couple of days, she’ll be fine by then.”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Willie,” Harold said as he opened the door. “You have a good day, sir.”

  “You too, son,” Willie waved.

  She’s scared of me. Harold thought. She knew I was coming by, and she’s just pulling her pa’s leg so she doesn’t have to see me. Harold looked up at the sky, took a deep breath and shook his head. As he looked over the circle and loitering townsfolk, his irritation at the situation gave him a surge of energy. In spite of plowing the field that morning, Harold felt vigorous.

  He was a little upset at Sarah.

  He couldn’t help what had happened yesterday, and if it hadn’t happened Ollie would’ve been dead and he probably would’ve gotten hurt really bad if not died himself. Harold thought that she was being loose-headed about it, and unfair to him. But if she didn’t want to see him, he wasn’t going to bother her.

  Harold jogged home, and didn’t pay attention to the people looking at him.

  When he arrived at home, he ran into his room and changed into the overalls he got from Jim. Then, he took off for the woods before anyone had a chance to talk to him.

  Harold felt very energetic as he moved across the field and into the forest. He walked quite a ways into the woods, and found a relatively open spot. The trees around him were pine and oak and there were even a couple of cedar saplings. The foliage was thick in all directions and there was even a decent canopy above him to shield him from above as well. Harold looked around, and listened for a moment. After a few glances, he decided that he was alone.

  “Okay,” Harold said to himself. “Let’s see what I can do.”

  He took a quick step and jumped as hard as he could. He rocketed into the air, much faster and higher than he had expected, and he let out a surprised yelp. He felt something hit him in the head and he heard a loud crack. Whatever had hit him knocked him off balance and he lost his sense of direction. He plummeted back to the ground, landing flat on his back, spewing out air as he hit. He didn’t know why, but a large, thick pine limb crashed down beside him; the outer branches whipped down onto him and broke all around him.

  He sat up, pushing and knocking the limb away. He rubbed his head, and grimaced. He looked up. The limb hadn’t hit him. He had hit it. Not only had he hit it, but he also had enough momentum to break it too. The part of the limb that had broken was as big as his arm, and it wasn’t rotten either.

  “I really come off the ground hard,” Harold said. “That’s got to be two or three times as high as I stand.”

  Harold had seen High-Born jump before, and even they would’ve had trouble making that leap. Harold smiled, he didn’t know what had happened to him, but he liked it.

  This is going to be fun, Harold thought.

  He began looking for other branches that were about the same height, but a little larger than the one he had broken. After several candidates, he found the right one. It looked strong enough to hold him without snapping. Harold rubbed his hands together and slightly widened his feet. He brought his arms back, and leapt for it. As he was flying toward it, he yelped. He flew completely over it, and hit the branch above it like a child running into a clothesline. He began tumbling backwards, and he heard a loud thud and felt a blow on the back of his head and his momentum was suddenly slung forward. He was completely off balance, falling head first. It
all flashed through his mind so quickly, he was afraid he would break his neck if he hit the ground like he was falling. He felt extremely hot as he threw his hands in front of his face.

  He heard thunder, and saw a flash of fire. Suddenly, he was about twenty or thirty feet above the treetops and falling. He yelped again, and then he was crashing through tree tops. Harold hit branch after branch as he tumbled head over heels through the trees. He had time to notice that he was on fire again as another limb caught his legs and sent him flipping, and then he crashed into the ground.

  Everything went black.

  He looked around, and all he could see was darkness. As he turned, he could see the stars of the night sky around him. He realized that he was moving very fast, and the stars zoomed by him. He looked ahead and he could see the moon, and he turned again. He saw rolling storm clouds full of flickering lightning. Then, fire was blazing around him. He could hear a baby crying, and the scenery of the forest sped by him. He immediately came to a stop, and he could see himself lying on the ground.

  Harold slowly opened his eyes, and he lay on the ground for a moment. He expected massive pain. The fall had knocked the breath out of him, and it did hurt, but no more than if Cooper had accidentally walloped him while sword-fighting with sticks. Every bone in his body should’ve been broken, but they weren’t. He quickly jumped to his feet when he noticed that he was on fire. Blue fire was near the skin and red fire farther away from him. He started blowing on his hands, trying to put them out.

  It didn’t work.

  He noticed that the leaves at his feet were starting to catch fire, and the tree he had fallen through had several small fires up and down it. To make things worse, his overalls were also in ashes at his feet. He didn’t know what to do, and he was afraid that he was going to burn all of Foxx Hole down by accident if he didn’t do something quick.

  A sudden calm came over him, and he saw the stars and moon again. Lightning and fire flashed in his mind, and the image of the burning pytheel forced its way into his thoughts. He staggered backwards, and shook his head.