The Spark

by Taylor Gibson

  “Why should we believe you will help us, then, hmmm?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “Please, you have no choice! Kill me and you’ll never find out. Just follow me to Shimbia and we’ll discuss this over a drink. I’ll even put down my daggers so you won’t have to worry about them entering your back.”

  “How do we know you won’t trick us, Spike?”

  “I value my life, though most goblins don’t. I surrender at the feet of my enemy. I am afraid to die, I’ll admit it. I am a shameful goblin, and by permitting myself to assist you, I am betraying the very principles and values of my race. I am also forsaking my master in order to assist you in catching him. Traitor is a title I am willing to bear for the rest of my life if it means I’ll live another day.”

  I still didn’t trust his word. Something about his sudden shift from a pathetic coward to a well-spoken negotiator put me on edge. All of a sudden, Sui lowered her weapon from the goblin’s neck and looked sympathetic. For all the things goblins have done to countless people in the past, Sui would be mad if she were to let him live. I crossed my fingers and hoped she wouldn’t consider his so-called assistance. She looked at me to see what I thought, and I immediately shook my head and lightly worded, “No,” She shook her head with a sigh and rolled her eyes. She turned to the goblin and said in a firm tone, “I’m going to bind your hands, and if I see that they’re unbound at any moment, you’ll not be trusted any further. Do I make myself clear?”

  I just had to take a stand against this, but no matter what I was to say to try and coerce her decision, she wouldn’t listen.

  “Sui, if I may object, this thing might be trying to-”

  “Whether or not he is or isn’t putting us into a trap remains to be seen, George. Now, either you get used to his company and follow him, or you can go back home with my parents. The choice is up to you; either way, I’m going to follow him to get to Jobik and kill him before his full wrath is unleashed. Are you in or out?”

  Having no further input on the matter that would aid my case, I rolled my eyes in exasperation and blew out a heavy sigh. With a reluctant nod, I told the little bugger to lead the way, crossing my arms. Sui then tied his wrists behind his back and let him lead us to Shimbia. We first showed him the way to the Eastern Stairs and began our journey through the merciless jungle. We had no sleep at all that night, just like the night before. Staying awake was a constant struggle, as we walked through the jungle not long after we left it. It would be a hell of a hike, and then we would eventually reach the city of Shi Shii, Shimbia. The thought of Jobik’s wrath and power ran through my mind as we walked the stone stairs to the north. I wanted to tell Sui just how bad of an idea it was to trust this fiendish trash, but I didn’t bother, as I knew it was stamped and sealed into her mindset that Jobik was vulnerable and now was the time to strike.

  Jobik may not have been at the pinnacle point of his power, but what if he didn’t have to be in order to take us down. I mean, face it, our magick was weak compared to what Jobik was probably capable of. Perhaps his full power was only for the destruction of the Fancore. Not only did I have misgivings about Spike, but I had no legitimate way of proving to Sui that he was misleading us. If I did have a way of exposing Spike’s intentions, the nasty little bugger would have met her blade below the cliff. I don’t know how to describe the feeling I had about the goblin, but it was as though I had seen him before.

  As we strode across the dense vegetation, Sui seemed to grow much more like her sister. She was the boss and nobody else was worth more than a speck of dirt. She was focused on her one and only goal at the moment. I had no say in anything, so my best bet was to keep my mouth shut. The way she had spoken to me earlier was very upsetting to me. Hours passed as we walked under the green umbrellas, trekking along the muddy soil, root clusters, and various short plants. I had to scratch my head several times, not to get the mosquitoes off, but to ask myself why she was being so arrogant all of a sudden. Is that goblin controlling her mind or something? No, that couldn’t be, could it?

  ***

  The gods fashioned women as a means to keep men in check. Men should realize this, as the evidence is all around them. Besides, without women, where would life be? Of course, without men, there could be no seeds to plant said life, and women are the fertile soil.

  ~Sellina Jane Ozborn

  As I lay sleeping in a bed, with new clothes on my body, I could smell the burly odor of smoke and fire. In a haze of black flames and dark smoke, I woke up to find the house was burning to the ground all around me! I got out of bed as quickly as I could and fell to the floor, face first. The ground was blazing hot, and what was worse, I could not move a muscle. I had been paralyzed from the waist down; there seemed to be a magickal force surrounding the entire area where I suffered the pains and stings of the crackling wood, emitting heat like an oven.

  The magickal energy was not like any sort of matter I had ever felt before. It started to weigh down on me like a hammer slamming more and more pressure with every blow upon the nail. I was trapped in oblivion, the hellfire surrounding me, all but charred me to a crisp, yet I was still alive. I screamed as loud as my voice could carry, but no help came to me that night.

  I awoke; screaming in pain, realizing what I had experienced was just a tragic nightmare. I looked to my left and found my husband shushing me and coming in for a comforting embrace. I could barely breathe as the horrid burns of the fire still lingered in my nerves, yet gradually fading. Jon rubbed my back and kissed my cheek as I was hyperventilating, eventually getting me to calm down. I breathed slowly and told Jon about what I had just experienced. By the look of the room around me, it was clear that he had been taking great care of my wounds and treating me like a goddess with sweet-scented candles and rose petals encircling the bed.

  “Jon, I had an awful dream that the house was ablaze with flames and I was burning. Is Sui alright?”

  “I don’t know, dear. But a couple hours ago in your sleep, you said she was. The funny thing is that Molli did too. Do you remember dreaming about her before the nightmare?”

  “I- I can’t remember. The nightmare seemed so real. I can’t even recall what started the fire.”

  He shook his head and politely asked, “Please, dear, let Molli Su care for you while I see what’s going on out there. We need to see that the assassin is dead. I can help them if they need it.”

  “No, Jon, you don’t know what that monster is capable of.” I denied his reckless idea, “He took control over us, don’t you remember? I’m sure that Forefather has it all under control, if Sui or George were to be bested by that golem.”

  “But, Sellina, please-”

  “No, Jon! You’re not going out there! Now I appreciate the care you’ve given me, but if you’ve forgotten already, a good healer stays with his patient until she’s fully healed. What if some other servant of Jobik’s was to show up? I wouldn’t be able to defend myself in this condition. Surely Molli couldn’t do anything either. Jon, I need you to stay with me.”

  It was clear that Jon was not satisfied with my resolve; I had to put it to him bluntly.

  “You’re going to stay here with me, or else I am leaving you alone as soon as I can walk! It’s not as though you truly care.”

  Right then and there I saw the mar of our marriage beginning to loom over us. I could see the severe blow I had made to his heart, through his shaking eyes, as they stared deep into my soul. The shudder through both of our spines proved that we had a major issue. My words had stricken him down like a sword through the chest. He was wounded by my tongue; a sharper sword than any other. I couldn‘t believe my own words. Standing up and backing away from the bed, Jon slowly turned his head away from me. The pain I inflicted on him was reverting itself back on me. The ailing glance he gave made me regret every time I ever spoke sorely of him. I sunk into the mattress, with the weight of my own words.

&nbs
p; “Jon, I didn’t mean-”

  “Yes you did, Sellina! I’m going out for a drink! Leave me if you want to!”

  I firmly swallowed my spit and grabbed the sheets with my fists, as my body was tense. Looking up to the ceiling, I bit my tongue to hold back the calamity of words that would have caused us to part indefinitely. I stood and realized that I was barely strong enough to pull my own weight. It blew my mind as to how my husband didn’t realize this earlier, since he had been taking care of me for all that time. I could hear him clanking glasses in the kitchen, slamming cupboards, and cursing under his breath. I knew he wasn’t going to leave to find Sui and George just yet. He walked out on the porch where he could drunkenly stare into the horizon.

  Vowing to uphold my duties as a wife, I left him to the thought of his decision. A Rïdeneeran woman had to state her opinion to her disagreeing husband, and then leave him to judge what the best course of action was to take. As I rolled out of bed and dragged myself into the dark living room, using what little strength I had left in my arms, I prayed to the goddess of love that Jon would come to his senses and keep his intoxicated body on the porch. I climbed on the couch, with all my decorations surrounding me, for the rest of the early morning. Just before I fell asleep, outside the window, I saw the man I loved galumphing with a bottle of rum in his left hand and a sword in his right.

  Knowing right away what was going on in his foggy head, I healed myself enough to at least be able to limp, as I didn’t have enough power to heal myself completely. I slowly made my way to the door he had slammed behind him an hour ago. In my current state I knew I couldn’t keep up with him. I went back in the house and took a mage’s staff out of the corner of the living room, shuffled back to the porch, and cast a charm on him with the crystal tip’s magick. He looked behind him and hiccupped, with a squint.

  “What you doin’ out ‘ere ‘lil girl?” he asked, with a belch.

  I made him see me as Sui, when she was as young as Molli Su. Back when she was twelve, Jon would stargaze and Sui would follow him out there late at night. He would always ask her what she was doing with a frivolous face. It always made her laugh, and it never seemed to get old for her. I said to him in the voice of his daughter, “Mum wants you inside now.”

  “Bu- oh, alright.”

  Sui used to have a very powerful relationship with her father when she was younger. I think it was the increase of his drinking habit that made things between them sort of fade. Sui was very intolerant of alcohol abuse; and because the tragic events of Jon’s childhood constantly replayed in his head when he thought of Jobik, he felt the need to pick up the bottle every now and then to drown it out of his mind. You see, when my husband was very little, he experienced the same turmoil that I had to face with Jobik around the same age. His whole family was killed by the Black Beast and he was left as an orphan to fend for himself until he grew up and moved to Rïdeneer years later.

  I held the door open for him, as he walked through, with a biter expression on his sweaty face. I took his sword and the half-empty rum bottle from him. “Hey!” he exclaimed, crossing his eyes at me and wiping the drops of liquor off his beard, with his sleeve. That man was out of his mind to be walking around drunk with a sword in his hand. I steered him by the shoulders and set him on the couch as tenderly as I could. Right away, he curled up on it and drifted away into a deep drunken slumber.

  Even though he stayed with me and Molli Su, my demands were not fulfilled. Jon could not do battle and protect his family, while in a drunken stupor. I used the staff as a cane and prayed to the gods that we would be safe from any harm, and protected if evil was to bombard our home again. I thought to myself about Sui, George, and Äbaka with woe. When were they coming home?

  ***

  Do anything you can to stay on target.

  ~Sui Bane Ozborn

  It took more than the entire morning to make it through the Jungles of Matta Shimbib. We were only at the edge of the north trees, and already it was midday. The goblin seemed to be leading us in the right direction, though, because he had a look of fear in his eye. He wasn’t going to let us down because he knew what we would do if he ran off or tricked us. I still didn’t believe I could fully trust him, but if I was going to kill Jobik, then finishing him off while he was still developing his power would be my only choice. I couldn’t take the chance of missing this opportunity.

  The little menace seemed to be bothering George. I looked back at George and saw that he was staring at Spike with overflowing hatred. When I looked back at Spike, I saw him staring at George with a devious smirk. He turned around when he realized that I had caught him.

  “Did you see that, Sui? That’s exactly why I don’t trust him! He’s leading us into a trap, I know it!”

  “Hush, George!” I shouted. “You know as well as I do that we haven’t a choice but to trust his word. He knows where Jobik is and he’s going to lead us there. That is that!”

  “No, Sui! Jobik is far too dangerous to be taken on. I suggest we kill this rat and be done with it!”

  “George! Hush!”

  In an instant, everything went quiet. The voice of the mage was a power I used to get others to stop arguing with me. It amplified my voice to a level that made one’s ears itch. Äbaka taught it to me and, frankly, George didn’t much fancy my using it against him, based on the sour expression he gave me. I felt as though I had to because he would not stop insisting on turning back. Despite my compelling desire to find Jobik, somehow in my belly, I felt I shouldn’t be doing this. After I lashed out at him, he was silenced, and I turned forward to continue our campaign. George, and even I, had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. With a small giggle, Spike sneered at George right in front of me. Understanding the irritation it was causing him, I kicked the pest in the backside to convert some of George’s tension into satisfaction. Spike never gave us anymore nasty expressions.

  Early evening soon came upon us; the air was thick with scents of fruits and vegetables. Taking a deep breath through my nose, I knew exactly where we were, remembering a passage from one of my books at home. There was a place in the northern trees of Matta Shimbib called Fripenlond. It was an ancient agricultural section of the forest where farmers plowed their crops among the trees. We were without sleep for far too long. I knew that it would be in our best interest to rent a room in one of the taverns. A cage, to lock this ally of Jobik’s in for the night wasn’t such a bad idea either.

  When our feet made contact with something other than murky mud and oily sand, George and I sighed in delight. Our feet could finally feel rich soil, where many crops of melons, pears, apples, and leaf vegetables were growing for the many mouths of the city, just visible in the distance, over the steep hill of Fripenlond. George went after a bright, blue, pear-shaped fruit growing on a small tree and picked it off, giving me one as well.

  “These are gusher pears, Sui. One bite of this and you’ll swear there’s nothing better than a sweet, sweet gusher pear. It is said that they are magickal and bring good fortune to those who eat its flesh and ingest the sap within.”

  Feeling adventurous, I took a bite out of it and rather than the gooey substance entering my mouth, it splattered all over and slowly oozed down my chin. It was as messy as it was sweet; indeed, there was nothing sweeter I had ever tasted before this ripe blue pear. Laughing at the azure mess I had made on my face, George smiled and kindly assured me, “It takes practice to eat one of these without a mess.”

  I giggled and wiped the blue, candy-sweet sap from my face. I took a couple more bites of the flesh and pointed to the outlying city. It looked like an enchanted fortress with all of the dazzling architecture and detailed illustrations decorating the walls. From the outside, it seemed like a luxurious palace. What it might have looked like within, only entering would answer my curiosity.

  “So, Spike,” I said with my head held high, “that’s the place
you want to get a drink? So be it, then. But we didn’t come all this way to just wet our throats. You have to help us find Jobik, once you have a mug or two.”

  “Yes, just be careful in here,” Spike uttered. “Shi Shii is well known for its, uh, confrontations.”

  “Something a neko would know all about when he stayed here,” George remarked.

  His expression was that of bravery, but deep inside his body, I could feel the pain that had once owned him. Hell is an inescapable thing when you have to face it alone. But if you do, you must be prepared for worse things to come. That was what Äbaka always told me as we trained. I laid my hand on George’s shoulder and looked deep into his radiant blue eyes.

  “We’ll face this together. I will protect you from whatever malevolent essence threatens you.”

  I leaned in to kiss him, but before our lips could make contact, I heard the sounds of airships in the distance, two of them to be exact. I recognized them as the Gemini twin ships of the northern city of Shimbia, scouting the area for any suspicious activity. George told me about them. By law, they’re not supposed to enter any land other than Bonitheraj and Synical, of the western continent, or their own territory. But with all the happenings back in Rïdoranna, that law was overlooked.

  The airship hovered high above the southern city and stayed there, in one spot. I knew what had to be done with the goblin if we were to enter that city with him. In order for us to avoid raising suspicion, I was going to have to wrap the wrinkled retch in a towel or cloth of some sort and carry him as though he were our child. The only cloth available to us was George’s torn shirt. I told him the idea and, with agreement, George handed over his shirt and Spike allowed me to wrap him in it like an infant.

  Like parents, George and I made our way on the road to the city with our “child” lying calmly in my arms. For all the trouble he put us through down in Crosscc, Spike was making up for it by helping us. The whole time we walked through the Shimbian grass, I honestly began to question my decision about letting the goblin live. It had gone beyond a gut feeling at this point and buried itself deep into my tired head. Something about a goblin with such power to summon specters, who runs away from his master’s loyalty to help the enemy, was extremely out of place. I was only beginning to realize this when we approached the city’s main gate. I couldn’t understand how I didn’t realize it before, but we had come too far, I wasn’t about to turn back without at least getting a lead on Jobik’s whereabouts, whether it was from Spike or someone else.