“Sarah,” he said. “I’m sorry that I scared you, but I’m still me. I didn’t do anything wrong, and if it hadn’t happened Ollie and I both would probably be dead. Please, know that I would never hurt you. I know it’s weird, but, come on, the High-Born have pets that are half-python and half-eels... And they fly around in invisible ships.”
She giggled and he saw her mood lighten, “Harold... It’s really me who should be apologizing to you for avoiding you like I have. It’s just all so crazy, I don’t know what to think.”
“Me neither,” he answered. “That’s why I need your help getting through this. You should see the things I can do. But none of it matters without you.”
She took a deep breath and touched his face as she pushed back his hair.
“Okay,” she said as her hand went back down to her side. “What do you want me to do?”
“Will you come to the woods with me tomorrow afternoon?” he asked.
She nodded her head, “Sure, just meet me here tomorrow after we close.”
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then excitedly walked back to the door, “See you tomorrow.”
She waved as he walked out of the door. Then she stepped to the window and watched him walk back across the town circle.
Chapter 14
Harold awoke in a very good mood. He was ready to start the day. It had rained last night while Aunt Nean had taught him chapters three and four of Algebra II, and the verbals they had covered in his grammar lesson were now a cinch to him. Once again, he had not missed any of the questions she had asked him at the end of the night.
But most importantly, he was going to get to see Sarah this afternoon. He smiled just thinking about it.
He looked outside, and it would be about another hour before the sun was up. He found some leftover cornbread from supper and drank a jar of water. Then he hurried to the barn because he wanted to get as much work done before daylight as possible. He thought a moment, and decided to just let the mule pin her head against the side of the barn.
He picked up the plow and walked outside with it. It was still too dark to see very well, and he squinted, wishing he could see more clearly. To his amazement, the world suddenly became very bright. He could feel the fire within him pouring itself into his eyes.
I can see in the dark! he thought.
While completely unexpected, it was great. He leveled the plow at the ground, and pushed down on it. He looked around. No one was even outside. So, he took off jogging. As the dirt split with ease, he was careful to keep an eye open for anyone, but it was still too dark for anyone to see him. At the end of the first row, he quickly turned, and all but sprinted the entire length of the second row. Then, the third row. He ran through row after row, but by the end of the eighth row, he had to take a breather.
It did not take him long to catch his breath, and he took off again. After several more rows, he saw the electricity of Foxx Hole flickering to life. The kitchen lights in the various houses began sparkling here and there. It would still be another twenty to thirty minutes before they would be able to see him well, but even at his current progress he still wouldn’t be finished by then. He wanted to be done with this chore, and he thought about his fire strengthening his eyes. Another thought occurred to him.
Maybe it can make me long winded? he thought.
He focused on his fire, but not so much that it covered him, and pulled it into his legs. Then he took off running again. He quickly finished eight more rows, and noticed that he was not nearly as tired as he had been a moment ago. He was able to plow another eight rows before he began to notice muscle fatigue. Not only could the fire make him stronger, but it also could give him incredible endurance. He focused his full attention on the field, and though he was breathing heavily by the time he finished, it was still dark enough to have kept him hidden. He had to admit that his mule-less plowing session was impressive. However, it did take him quite a while to catch his breath, and he was very thirsty when he finished.
He walked back into the house to find Aunt Nean and the kids just sitting down to eat breakfast.
“Good morning, Harold,” Aunt Nean said. “I thought you were still in bed.”
“I had trouble sleeping, so I went ahead and started plowing, so I can get finished with planting by the end of the day,” he replied.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered.
Cooper and Ollie both just smiled at him as he sat down. They still looked sleepy as they began eating their biscuits. Ollie got up and walked over to him, and crawled up in his lap and sat with her head laid against his shoulder as she absently chewed her biscuit. Aunt Nean smiled as she looked at her hug Harold, and he ate his biscuit while cradling her in his arms.
“So how much have you plowed?” Aunt Nean asked.
Harold hesitated before he answered, “The whole field.”
Aunt Nean looked at him strangely. She started to say something, and then looked as if she had seen a ghost. She lightly took a bite of her biscuit and even though she was not looking at him, Harold could see that she knew he was not telling the truth. There was something to her look that struck something in Harold, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Then they all just sat silently, eating biscuits and drinking the powdered milk that Cooper had gotten from the High-Born the week before. It was actually one of the few things that the High-Born made sure that Low-Born people had adequate amounts of, and Harold was mildly thankful for that small mercy. But deep down, he knew that they did it just to make sure their slaves were strong enough to perform labor—it was not out of kindness.
After about fifteen minutes Harold heard a snort coming from his shoulder and he looked down at Ollie. She had fallen back to sleep. Harold looked at Aunt Nean and she smiled and motioned with her head for him to take her back to her room.
When he returned to the kitchen, Cooper was standing at the door looking outside.
“I’m gonna’ help you today,” he said. “I’d rather work in the field than read.”
“Alrighty, then,” Harold smiled. “Let’s go get that seed and get started.”
Soon, the two of them were in the field planting. They planted in silence for a few minutes with Harold laying the seed and Cooper covering it up. Cooper looked around and was satisfied that no one could hear him.
“I wonder where Scape is?” Cooper asked.
“Probably off hunting birds,” Harold answered.
Cooper shrugged, “I haven’t seen him much lately.”
“He’s probably just been wondering around the woods,” Harold answered.
“Have you been able to catch yourself on fire anymore?” he smiled, wide-eyed and excited. “It’s all me and Scott talk about.”
“I hope no one can hear y’all talking,” Harold answered.
“Can’t nobody hear nothin’,” Cooper smiled. “Scott’s got a secret base, and that’s the only place we’re allowed to talk about how Fire-Man, Wolf-Man, and Tiger-Man will set all of us free one day.”
Harold smiled at him, “Where’s Scott’s secret base?”
“You got to swear you won’t tell,” Cooper suddenly looked serious.
“I swear I won’t say anything,” Harold whispered as he dropped another seed.
“He was out playin’ in the woods one day and he stepped in a hole. And he found this really old staircase,” Cooper said.
“Are you serious, Coop?” Harold asked as he stood up and put his hands on his hips.
“Uh, huh,” Cooper nodded with wide eyes.
“Y’all haven’t told anybody, have you?” Harold asked.
“Nahh, uhh,” Cooper shook his head. “We know better than that. ‘Cause if the High-Born saw this place, we could get in trouble.”
“You’re gonna’ have to show me this secret base,” Harold said as he dropped a seed.
“Okay,” Cooper said. “We always hide it real good before we leave. We pull a piece of wood ov
er it, and cover it up with leaves. But, that ain’t all, Harold. Scott’s got books there too.”
“Really?” Harold asked. “What kind of books does he have?”
Cooper looked around secretively, “There are some books with no pictures and then there are some picture books, but they have writing in them too. I don’t look much at the books that don’t have pictures. I think the ones with pictures are called comic books, but anyways, my favorite one is about the Golden Samurai and the Emerald Knight.”
“That sounds good,” Harold answered as a seed fell from his hand. “What’s it about?”
“One of them is from a place called Japan and the other one is from somewhere called England,” he said. “You see, there’s this evil dragon flying around burnin’ up everything. But he don’t know that the Golden Samurai left Japan and has been huntin’ him down ‘cause he burned up his house and kilt his family. Anyways, the Golden Samurai finds the Emerald Knight when he finds the dragon in England. The Emerald Knight’s village has been destroyed, and him and the Golden Samurai team up ‘cause they both can do magic. But you wanna’ know the best thing?”
Harold looked at Cooper’s wide eyes, and said, “What’s that?”
“They can both set their swords on fire,” Cooper looked intently at Harold. “Then, they say that they’re gonna’ fight fire with fire. They find the dragon and fight him together.”
“That sounds like a neat picture book,” Harold said, shaking his head and laughing. “Reckon I can read it?”
“You gotta’ be part of the secret-base club to do that,” Cooper smiled as he covered another seed.
“Okay,” Harold said. “Well, how many people are in this club?”
“Well,” Cooper looked around, “Right now, there’s two of us.”
“Okay,” Harold smiled. “Well, how can I get in the club?”
“Well,” Cooper looked at Harold seriously. “Me and Scott will have to vote on it. So I think you’ll be okay, but they ain’t no girls allowed. ‘Cause we already decided that Sarah and Ollie can’t be in it.”
Harold began laughing and managed to say, “Alrighty, then.”
As Harold laughed, he and Cooper dropped several more seeds. In a few minutes, Cooper suddenly looked up at Harold.
“Can you do it, Harold?” Cooper asked.
“Do what?” Harold asked as he dropped another seed.
“Make some fire?” Cooper replied.
Harold snapped his fingers and flames blinked into existence above his fingertips. He held it there for several seconds and then let it extinguish. Cooper smiled excitedly.
“Are you gonna’ do it, Harold?” Cooper asked as he covered a seed.
“Do what?” Harold replied.
“Stop the High-Born?” Cooper said.
“Cooper,” Harold grimaced. “There are millions of High-Born, and who knows how many tanks and gunships they have? And I bet they have other kinds of weapons too. And we don’t have any. They made sure of that years ago.”
“Everyone told the Golden Samurai and the Emerald Knight that they couldn’t win either,” Cooper said, eyes wide and full of belief. “And you’re a Knight. If you can’t do it, nobody else can.”
“But there was only one dragon, Coop,” Harold said. “And there were two of them.”
Cooper looked down as he pushed dirt over another seed. Then, he smiled and looked at Harold, “I think you need to read it.”
Harold shot a quick glance at Cooper’s sly grin as he covered another seed.
As they continued planting, the morning became noon and they went inside for lunch. They ate beans, rice, and cheese biscuits and some canned ham that the High-Born had given them, while they talked about nothing in particular.
After lunch was over, Harold and Cooper returned to the field. They were a good team and Harold pushed a fast pace, and soon they were finished. They were both thirsty and tired. After they drank some water, they went in the house, and Harold checked the clock. It was just after 2:30 and he decided to lie down for a little while before he went to see Sarah.
Chapter 15
Harold managed to sleep for a little over two hours. After he used the outhouse, he went to the well and pumped himself some water and bathed himself as best as he could. He got his bag of shorts and then headed toward town. He was so excited about seeing Sarah that he barely noticed anyone as he made his way down the road. When he rounded the corner, he could see her waiting on the porch. As he walked across the circle full of townsfolk, he saw someone waving out of the corner of his eye. Passing just beneath the Kristall and Colonel Foxx’s visage was Phil and Maggie. He returned their wave as he walked to Sarah.
“Daddy let me off early today,” she said as he walked up.
“Good, let’s go,” he said as he reached for her hand.
She grabbed it and then they walked down road number nine talking until they exited the town and headed for the woods. Just before they went into the trees, they walked across an open patch of ground. Sarah let out a squeal as she ran to a rock sticking up out of the dirt. She picked it up.
“Look,” she said. “It’s an arrowhead.”
“It sure is,” he replied as he looked at it. “That’s a good one, it’s almost perfect.”
“Yeah, it’s only missing part of the bottom,” she said as she held it up. “The point is in really good shape.”
Sarah slid it into her pocket as they moved into the forest.
“Sarah,” Harold said as he looked at her. “I’ve been practicing this fire stuff, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but I keep missing something.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Well, I don’t know,” he replied. “That’s what I need your help with.”
“How should I know?” she asked.
“Well,” he rubbed his chin. “I reckon that you being a blacksmith and all. I figure you know something about fire, since you work with it all the time.”
Sarah’s eyebrows raised in thoughtful regard. They walked for another few minutes and came to a secluded spot that seemed safe enough.
“Wait right here,” he said and smiled. “Now don’t be peeking.”
She raised her eyebrows as he walked behind a tree. He stayed out of sight for several moments. Sarah thought she heard a light pop, and then she noticed movement some distance to her right. Harold was walking out from behind another tree in a pair of burlap shorts. Sarah was slightly startled and her eyes nervously flitted up and down Harold.
“You look different,” she said, clearly having difficulty focusing on anything but him. “You’ve always had muscle, but you look a lot stronger.”
“I am,” he said. “I’m stronger than the High-Born.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
Harold found a tree a little thicker than his arm, and about three times as tall as him, and walked to it. He put his hands around it and with a quick tug, he uprooted it. After another pull, all of the clinging roots came loose. Harold lifted it above his head with only one arm as if it were a small stick. He grabbed it with his other hand, and whisked it down to his knee where it snapped with a loud pop.
Sarah’s eyes got very big.
“That wasn’t even hard to do,” he said as he walked to her.
She took a step away from him, but then stopped herself.
“Sarah,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know,” she said. “This is just completely crazy.”
“But it’s very neat,” he smiled.
After a moment, she smiled too.
“Watch this,” he said.
He took off running, and began tumbling head over heels and flung himself high into the air, flipping and twisting so many times that Sarah lost count. He landed with near perfect results.
“Ever seen a High-Born do that?” he asked with smile.
“I’ve seen them jump before, and they can jump really high. But I’ve never seen anything like that before,” she s
aid.
Harold then took a couple of quick steps and leaped into a tree branch nearly thirty feet high. He waved at her and then air-burned to stand a few steps in front of her.
“That is so awesome,” she smiled.
Harold could see in her eyes that she actually meant it, and he saw her fear being replaced with excitement.
“What else can you do?” she asked.
He stepped back and began twisting and twirling his arms, and fire began popping and crackling in between the palms of his hands. The fireball began growing as he concentrated. Then he stepped forward, flinging his hands outward. A runnel of billowing fire shot out from him, consuming several trees as it continued outward for about fifty or so yards. Many of the trees were on fire now, and Sarah looked at him in a panic. But he just smiled, and reached for them. The individual jets of fire twisted and wound their way back to his palm in a beautiful and intricate pattern. He held the fire there in the palm of his hand for a moment, then he let it extinguish.
It had all happened so quickly that the smoke probably wouldn’t have even been visible to someone in town.
“I could’ve made it go a lot farther, but I didn’t want to make a big mess,” he said. “I’ve made a few messes already.”
“It looks to me like you’ve got it figured out,” Sarah couldn’t keep herself from looking at his physique.
“Not hardly,” he said. “I can cover myself with fire, but I always burn my clothes off.”
“I’d like to see that,” she said as she regarded him more closely.
“Sarah Smithee,” Harold blushed.
“The fire all over you is what I meant,” she said with a wry gasp.
“I’ve been practicing on a stick,” he said with a wry smile. “You know, trying to keep it from burning up.”
“Show me,” she replied.
He found a stick on the ground and picked it up. The flames sputtered around it. He held the flames above it as he showed it to her.
“It doesn’t burn you?” she asked.
“It’s strange,” he said. “I can feel the heat, and I can feel it get hotter and hotter, but it doesn’t burn, and it doesn’t make me sweat.”
Blaze (The High-Born Epic) Page 11