Blaze (The High-Born Epic)

by Jason Woodham

  It was faint, but he could discern the outline of a gunship barely more than ten feet above the treetops coming towards him. He watched as it deactivated its cloak and came into full view. He heard a loud click.

  “Alright, hottie,” a voice called over the speaker. “Start bringing them up, there’s nowhere to land around here.”

  “Cooper! Scott!” Harold called to the ground. “Round everyone up into a group.”

  Harold flashed from the treetop to the ground, and grabbed two children. He appeared in the gunship and ushered the children to the back wall.

  “Stay here and don’t move,” he told them. “You will get hurt if you accidentally get in my way, okay?”

  The boy and girl nodded with bright smiles.

  “Hey, hottie,” Gabby called from the front. “We’ve only got about fifteen minutes before the reinforcements get here.”

  “How many?” Harold asked.

  “Hard to tell,” she answered. “But I’ve heard them over these speakers saying that two dozen gunships are on the way. I don’t think they know that we have this gunship, so we have some advantage.”

  Harold nodded and flashed from sight.

  In less than two minutes, he had somehow jammed nearly forty children into the gunship. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and were tremendously uncomfortable and some even began crying. Gabby activated the cloak and turned the gunship towards the lake.

  “How long before you get back?” Harold asked.

  “Ten minutes or so,” she answered.

  “I’ll try to cut that down,” he replied. “I’ll move them closer.”

  “I hear you,” she said as she pushed the control stick forward.

  Harold then disappeared.

  And he was back on the ground. He reorganized the lines as best as he could, and began herding them towards the direction that Gabby flew. He banged in and out of sight, moving the children rapidly. He settled into a rhythm and they made good time. Before long, he heard Gabby returning, and they quickly refilled the gunship.

  “I’m not going to be able to turn off the cloak next time,” Gabby said as she turned the gunship. “They will be close enough to see me by then. Thankfully, they’re approaching from the north, so they won’t pass us. Also, I don’t think they know that we’re moving the children.”

  “I’ll keep them moving, so we may be able to get another load or two,” Harold said. “If it comes down to it, I’ll fight them, just to give y’all time.”

  As they moved towards the lake, Harold flashed from sight. When he landed back on the ground, he began running with the children. He was so focused on his task that he scarcely noticed anything else. Soon, Gabby had returned and was hovering invisibly above them.

  “They’ll be at the prison in less than three minutes,” Gabby said as he flashed into the cargo hold with two children.

  “How far are we from the lake?” Harold asked.

  “About thirty miles,” she replied.

  Harold banged from sight, and quickly returned with two more children.

  “Have they seen us yet?” he asked and then disappeared.

  “No,” she replied as he reappeared with two more. “With the tracking device disabled and us being invisible, they can’t see us.”

  Harold flashed and returned with two more kids, “Can you see them?”

  “Yes,” she replied as he reappeared with another set of children and then she pointed at something in front of her. “Or at least I can see them on this screen.”

  He quickly flashed out of view and returned with more kids and Gabby said, “There are more coming, and they’ll be here within an hour.”

  “Have the kids dig holes to hide in at the lake,” he said.

  “Already told them to do it,” she smiled.

  Soon, he brought in the last group that the gunship was capable of holding.

  “I’m going back to draw them away,” he said and she nodded in agreement. “I’ll cause enough commotion for you to get the rest of them, but I’m going to tell them to hide here, okay?”

  “We don’t have much choice,” she replied as she turned the gunship. “It’s all we can do.”

  Harold appeared on the ground.

  “Cooper! Scott! Round everyone up. Dig holes to hide in and get everyone to cover up with leaves,” Harold shouted. “She will be back to get y’all soon.”

  “Where are you going?” Cooper asked.

  “I’ve got to go back and fight them,” Harold said. “Remember when the Golden Samurai and Emerald Knight tricked the dragon and saved the fair maiden’s village?”

  Cooper and Scott both nodded.

  “That’s what I’ve got to do,” he said.

  Then, Harold blasted from sight.

  Chapter 30

  After his third air-burn, The Blazing Knight appeared on the edge of the clearing that surrounded the burning compound. He glanced in the sky with his enhanced vision and could see the outlines of several gunships. Several of them were only about 150 yards from the building. On the landing pads below them, High-Born grunts were running around, apparently setting up some sort of formation to protect it.

  From the ripples in the sky, other soldiers were seemingly falling out of mid-air. They were wearing some kind of bright metallic armor that Harold had never seen. They quickly organized themselves into teams, and began running into what remained of the burning compound.

  As the flames seemed to absorb them, Harold noticed that the gunships began moving away from the building in a circular formation. It wouldn’t take them long to find the children if he didn’t give them something to fight, or chase. Harold focused his thoughts on what he had to do.

  Suddenly, the knight appeared from the air behind a particularly large High-Born. His flaming sword flashed and the High-Born fell. He lingered for only a moment and gave the soldiers time to turn, and their rail guns began booming. The knight vanished, and all of the High-Born looked around, guns tucked tight to their shoulders.

  One of the cloaked gunships that had started to the east lurched out of control. As it spun, the other gunships turned to aid it and many of the ground forces all turned their attention toward it. It half-exploded from the inside, and a fireball fell from it, landing with a thud. The fireball ran towards the High-Born, eyes glowing. Rail spikes began streaking in from every direction, but it vanished from sight.

  The knight appeared on top of a gunship northeast of the compound. He raised his flaming sword high in air, and plunged it into the top. The gunship faded into existence and he began hacking and slashing ferociously at its hull. It rattled with each blow and after several blows he thundered from sight…

  …And flamed into being on top of the nearest gunship, and spun and twirled his hands. The flames on his body swirled into the pocket of his palms as other gunships turned to face him. A blast of fire soared from him towards another gunship. The cloak of the gunship on which he stood fell in ashes to the ground as his flame blast washed over the other gunship. It rocked into sight and momentarily lost control as the knight air-burned towards a group of High-Born grunts.

  Several claps of thunder resounded as he bounced from soldier to soldier, sword slashing, flames lancing, and fists pounding. High-Born fell left and right while the knight burst from the air all around them. As he air-burned, he flipped and twisted, almost always appearing behind one of them and cutting them down before they could turn. Their rail guns boomed without results, as he was simply too fast for them to hit. After a score of grunts lay defeated, the gunships began pounding the area with rail spikes, but he then appeared outside of the ring of gunships at the northeast of their perimeter.

  The gunships turned on him and he appeared some distance away to the north. A runnel of fire streaked from him toward one of the gunships and it rattled into view, and he turned and ran. He sprinted with all of his speed towards the northeast forest, making sure to leave a trail of fire behind him. As he entered the wood line, he could hear spik
es tearing the trees and ground around him. He air-burned a little farther into the forest, and pulled his fire into his vision. The remaining grunts from the northern perimeter were all sprinting towards him and all of the gunships were advancing on his position.

  From within the confines of his helmet, he smiled.

  Then, he turned and ran with about half of his speed towards the north, being careful to leave patches of flame here and there. As he jogged, he would occasionally air-burn just far enough ahead to remain a tempting target, but just far enough away to still be capable of defending himself. He also did his best to feign an injury, and for the next hour he led them through the forest away from the children.

  As the pursuit wore on, he could feel himself beginning to fatigue, and he doused his flames. He concentrated and air-burned several hundred yards to the east. As he looked around, he took slow, deep breaths. He pulled fire into his ears and listened. At the moment, he was fine, but they would find him soon, and he knew it.

  Now, he could hear gunships coming from in front of him.

  More reinforcements from the north had arrived, and were coordinating with the High-Born already tracking him. His breathing was nearly back to normal and he rested for another minute, and then pulled fire into his muscles. He felt strength return to him and he looked to the east and air-burned as far as he could without calling to the fire. He stopped and listened and could hear much activity, so he rapidly air-burned a dozen more times to the east. He eventually found a spot where he could not hear any evidence of the High-Born pursuit. He stood there for a moment, allowing himself a brief reprieve. He air-burned back to the south, and listened…

  …He still couldn’t hear anything.

  On his third air-burn to the south, he caught the sound of High-Born activity some distance to his right. He adjusted his path to compensate and he soon found a course that kept him out of their nets. Without his flames, he couldn’t air-burn as far, but he didn’t want to give them a heat source to track, so he never roused his flames as he made his way back through the forest on a general path to the southwest.

  Over the next three hours, he moved with stealth and precision through the woods always being careful to listen before each air-burn. Several times he thought he was lost, but he would find the eastern edge of the High-Born pursuit path and used it to get himself back on track for the lake.

  Just after nightfall, he saw a large body of water in the distance, and he aimed for the shoreline. When he appeared, he listened for High-Born activity, and then knelt down by the water. He took off his helmet and plunged his head beneath the surface, and took several large gulps. After a few seconds he pulled his head out and stood up.

  He found a tree and sat down, leaning against it to rest his tired and aching muscles. As he relaxed, he looked around. The stars sparkled in the still waters of the lake, and the night was alive with the activity of various animals. Off to his left he could hear an owl hooting and the chirps of cricket abounded in the mugginess. A half-moon hung in the sky, and Harold just closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing the gravity of the events that had taken place since the children had been taken.

  His world would be a much different place now.

  He would always be on edge... he would never feel safe... and there would be nothing in his life except the next fight. The High-Born would not rest until they found him, and there were so many of them. He was thankful that he had encountered Aireon, because if it had only been him, he would have never been able to save the children.

  He listened to the sounds of the muggy night for a few minutes, just relaxing. Despite all of the exertion since Colonel Foxx had taken the children, he felt fairly good. He didn’t know how, but Aunt Nean’s bag of food was still inside his armor. He fumbled and felt around in it and found a piece of cornbread and meat. As he chewed, he felt a strange feeling creeping up on him.

  He was already missing Sarah.

  He could almost feel the touch of her hair across his face, and hear her laugh. He wanted to look into her eyes while holding her close. He just wanted to walk down by the river with her and hold her hand and he could almost feel the touch of her lips against his. It was almost painful to be apart from her.

  Then the thought cross his mind about how happy Aunt Nean, Annie-Jane, and Willie were going to be when they saw the kids. In a strange sort of way, he couldn’t wait to return to Foxx Hole and show the people there what he had done. He was Harold, The Blazing Knight, and he had taken on the High-Born and won.

  As he stood up, he dusted off his hands and began walking. He pulled fire into his eyes and ears. Then he peered through the darkness while listening. After several moments, he decided that Gabby and the children were not near this part of the lake. He picked a spot some distance away and air-burned to it.

  After a few more moments, he realized that they were nowhere near this section of the lake either. So he just settled into a groove, air-burning, then looking and listening. The lake was much larger than he had expected, and the banks of it were full of life. All around it were frogs and lizards of various kinds and many other small animals. As the night wore on, he saw several raccoons and opossums. There were some other animals he saw as well, and though he felt like he should know what they were, he had just never seen any of them in the confines of Foxx Hole.

  Some of the animals seemed familiar, and he eventually figured out that one of them was a deer. He’d heard the old folks talk about how their grandparents used to hunt them before the Forgotten Nations fell. On one particular air-burn, he startled a large cat with a short tail. As it ran off, he realized it was what folks used to call a bobcat. After it scurried away, he looked down at the water.

  He could see several sets of eyes looking at him. A slight chill crawled up his spine as he watched them move around. He had only heard about them, but they were obviously alligators. Most of them were as large as him, and many of them were twice his size. He saw two that could’ve been three times as large as him. In the back of his mind, he wondered if any pytheels or similar creatures were lurking beneath the surface of the water.

  After about two hours of steady air-burning and searching, he heard something at the edge of the water. He squatted and enhanced his vision. It was a boy about Cooper and Scott’s age wearing dirty overalls. He was oblivious to Harold and was just calmly washing off his arms. Harold slowly looked around. All up and down the bank and throughout the trees he could see children everywhere.

  Gabby had picked a good spot.

  The trees were fairly thick and provided a great deal of cover from any eyes that could be watching in the sky. As he walked towards the children, Harold could also feel something in the air, but he could not figure out exactly what it was. He walked lightly, and silently, trying not to scare the children. Along with his night vision and enhanced senses, he moved quickly and unseen through the children. Even though the leaves were dry, he understood how to move through them with little noise.

  He moved along the outskirts of the perimeter that the children had naturally created, and after a couple hundred yards, he found what he felt like was the center. He could see the faint shimmer in the air that a cloaked gunship made, and he began scanning the area and the children. Most of them were huddled in groups of ten or twelve and many of them were asleep.

  “Hey there, hottie,” a voice whispered from behind him.

  Harold spun to see Gabby stepping out from behind a tree just a few steps behind him.

  “You’ve got to be quieter than that if you’re going to be any use,” she smiled.

  “I was plenty useful earlier today,” Harold replied and took off his helmet. “Have you been able to find any food. I’m starving.”

  “There was a little bit of food in a container in the back of the gunship,” she said and threw him a small bar-shaped piece of plastic.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “They call it a battlefield bar,” she answered. “They say it has a full day’s wort
h of nutrition in it. It says on the packaging that its nutrients are released according to metabolic activity to maintain peak performance for longer periods of time.”

  “Meta-what activity?” Harold asked.

  “Metabolic,” she replied. “I’m not sure what it means, but I think it has to do with how we absorb and use food. Anyways, I ate one about an hour ago, and I already feel better. So, why don’t you eat it, and get some rest. I’ll watch out for us and the children for the time being.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Harold answered as he peeled off the wrapping. “Did you do something to the air?”

  “You can feel that, huh?” Gabby asked.

  “I can’t quite put my finger on it,” he replied. “But, yeah, I can tell that something is different.”

  “I’ve created a large pocket in the air that is camouflaging us from their heat sensors,” she answered. “The High-Born patrols will have a hard time finding us now.”

  Harold raised his eyebrows, “That’s pretty smart, Gabby.”

  She nodded and smiled.

  Harold found a tree and sat down, leaning against it. As he took his first small bite, he read the back of the packaging:

  For optimum results, eat slowly.

  He smiled to himself as he thought about Aunt Nean.

  Chapter 31

  Harold opened his eyes and could see a sparkling ocean in front of him. He looked for the sun, but he could not find it, yet everything around was bright. The water began rising in the distance, and it slowly grew into a dome. The dome swelled and grew until the head of a gigantic man popped from beneath it. As his bearded face and lightly glowing eyes rose into the heavens, Harold saw that he was shirtless and wearing only an animal-skin loin cloth.

  His hands reached for the sky and he caught it in his palms. He glowered toward Harold and looked around. His head went from side to side as he looked for something beyond Harold. He began walking toward the land, and Harold found it strange, but the ocean barely made any sound as he moved through it.