The crowd cheered. Shouts of ‘long live, Eveneye’ were heard.
“I give to you your searchers. Whiteclaw, Riverpaw and Evercloud.”
The frenzy of the crowd continued as the three walked to the podium. There was no waiting for perfect silence anymore. Whiteclaw began speaking over small bursts of jubilation.
“Thank you, my King and thank you, my Kingdom. We shall not return to you without an answer.”
The crowd roared and it was Riverpaw’s turn.
“Thank you, King Eveneye and thank you, King- er- thank you my Kingdom.”
Riverpaw shuffled aside as the crowd continued to roar, but the roaring didn’t last long. As Evercloud took the podium, the arena went dead quiet. Evercloud’s heart jumped into his throat and he looked at his father.
“Speak from your heart.”
Evercloud took a deep breath.
“It has been some time now that I have lived among you. So long, that I know nothing outside of this kingdom. You have taken me in and protected me and accepted me. For this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. My only wish is to be able to repay each and every one of you. I am proud to serve you, in any way that I can. This Kingdom is the most important thing in the world to me. For in my heart, I am a bear.”
At this, the crowd began to cheer and a smile broke across Evercloud’s face. They were cheering him. They had accepted him.
“And I will find the Ancients for you!” shouted Evercloud. The crowd cheered even louder, becoming more and more excited. “And I will regain the ancient powers that were once given to Man!”
And the arena went silent. Evercloud had gone too far. He knew the bears feared this and what it might bring for their future. He said the only thing that he could to win them back. He raised a fist into the air and yelled:
“For the Kingdom!”
It seemed as though the roof of the arena might come crumbling down. This was the loudest it had gotten all night and some in the crowd began chanting: E-ver-cloud, E-ver-cloud. The King, seeing his opportunity, edged Evercloud away from the podium before he could say anything else and Evercloud took his seat next to Riverpaw.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Riverpaw said, slack jawed.
“Me either.” Evercloud looked around and his eyes met the gaze of Firerock. The large bear nodded in approval and Evercloud nodded back in gratitude. My father was right, thought Evercloud. I will never forget this night. The King stood at the podium with his arms in the air, trying to calm the crowd.
“Please. Please. Just one more thing.” The crowd quieted. “Tomorrow brings the beginning of the Protection League and with that comes a great deal of work. Tomorrow also brings the departure of our searchers. So please, let’s make this night the greatest celebration any of us have ever seen. Let us honor those who will serve us. I give you music and I give you drink.” A band entered through the arena gate and through other gates, kegs of ale were rolled in. Eveneye raised a paw into the air and shouted.
“For the Kingdom!”
“For the Kingdom!” returned the crowd.
The merriment began and Eveneye turned to smile at his son. Evercloud smiled back. Goldenheart and Autumnbreeze joined their families on the arena floor with embraces.
The band played into the night and the bears danced and danced. Evercloud received more compliments on his words than he had thought possible. Most importantly though, he hadn’t seen his parents this happy in quite some time. Riverpaw must have danced, at least once, with every female of his age. Evercloud thought that Riverpaw might have had a little too much ale. The young man was feeling much better now. He wasn’t as worried now that he had the support of the entire kingdom behind him.
As the night wound down, the bears prepared to retire to their caves. It had been a very long day for Evercloud and he welcomed the thought of a soft mattress. His father found him sitting amongst a group of older bears, each telling him that he was the most well mannered human they had ever seen.
“Can I speak to you for a moment, Evercloud?” Evercloud thanked the bears for their company and joined his father. “How are you feeling?” Eveneye asked the boy as he put a paw on his shoulder.
“I feel good. Tired, but good.”
“No more concerns?”
“No. Not really.”
“Not concerned with how you might defend yourself, as you were before?”
“Well. I’ll have two bears on my side, won’t I?”
“Yes, you will,” said Eveneye, nodding his head. “Still, I think I may have something to ease your mind even more. Follow me.”
Evercloud looked at his father curiously, but heeded his words and followed him as he walked out of the arena.
“What about mother?”
“She’s going to meet us at home,” said Eveneye. Evercloud followed his father along an upward sloping path, away from the arena and back to the castle. They didn’t say much to each other on the walk, mostly because Evercloud was tired and because Eveneye didn’t want to give away his secret. Eveneye led his son into the castle and then down the hallway that led to the courtroom.
“We’re going to the courtroom?” asked Evercloud.
“We are,” replied Eveneye.
Once they were in the room, Evercloud noticed a chest at the room’s center.
“There’s something I want to give you.” Eveneye walked over to the chest and unlocked it. He took something out of it and made to hand it to Evercloud. “I had our finest metal-smiths make it for you. It should make defending yourself much easier.” Evercloud’s eyes widened as his father handed him the weapon. “Now, you too, have a claw.”
The weapon Eveneye had given to his son looked like it was made of pure gold, yet it was hard as steel and light as a feather. It was a long piece of metal that extended from his elbow to his hand and coming out of the end at the hand, were three eight inch blades that extended like a claw.
“Go ahead and put it on.”
Evercloud saw that there were leather straps to secure it to his arm. He strapped it on and gazed at it in wonder.
“I had the metal extended down to your elbow so that you could use that part as a shield, but it ties to your arm so that your hand is still free. Do you like it?”
“It’s incredible,” said Evercloud, still in amazement. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I know that men usually fight with swords, but–”
“I’m not a usual man, father. I don’t know what usual men do. I know what bears do, and that’s as it should be.”
Eveneye smiled at his son.
“I just wanted to give you something to show you what you mean to me, Evercloud. You’ll never know how important you are to me. I owe you so much.”
“It is I who owe you, father. You saved my life and you made a kingdom of bears accept me. You owe me nothing.”
“No, Evercloud, you don’t understand. You are my only son. The only son I will ever have. The only one that I can ever have.” Evercloud looked at his father, uncomprehending. “I and your mother are unable to have offspring, Evercloud. We tried for many years, unsuccessfully, and then you came into our lives and we didn’t need to worry anymore. You filled the void in our hearts that would have never gone away, had you not come along. You were a miracle for your mother and I. You saved us from sadness.” Evercloud still looked at his father as though he did not completely understand. “I tell you this now, Evercloud, so that you can see my motives for saving you were selfish. It was not for the greater good. It was what I wanted. It was a decision for me. I see you worry yourself everyday with what others want of you and how others will perceive you. Wanting to do good for this kingdom is noble, but it is not all there is to life. Don’t forget about you. Don’t ever lose yourself, my son.” Eveneye embraced his son. “I love you, Evercloud.”
“Thank you, father. I love you too.”
• • •
When Evercloud woke up the next morning, it was as if he
had woken up a different person. He felt surer of himself, less awkward. He wondered when he would leave. Evercloud crawled out of bed and made his way toward the kitchen where he found his mother and father eating breakfast. There was a plate, already made for him and he sat down, said good morning, and began eating.
“How did you sleep?” asked Goldenheart.
“Well,” said Evercloud with a stuffed mouth.
“You’re not nervous about leaving?”
“No,” Evercloud swallowed, “why would I be?”
Goldenheart didn’t respond. Eveneye spoke for her.
“Your mother cares for you, Evercloud. She worries.”
“I’ll be all right. Uncle Whiteclaw will be there and Riverpaw too. Nothing bad will happen.”
A call came from the entrance to the King’s cave and in walked Whiteclaw, Riverpaw and Autumnbreeze. Autumnbreeze had a pack with her, full of all of her things.
“Is Aunt Autumn staying here?” asked Evercloud.
“Yes,” answered Eveneye. “She’ll be staying here until the three of you return.”
“Almost ready to go, Evercloud?” asked Whiteclaw.
“Yeah. Let me just grab my claw.” Evercloud ran back to his bed. He had left his claw lying next to his mattress. He grabbed it, fastened it to his belt, and returned to the others. “All right. I’m ready now.”
“What is that?” asked Riverpaw, gawking at the weapon that hung from Evercloud’s belt.
“That’s my claw.”
Riverpaw looked at his own claw, then back at Evercloud’s and shrugged. Evercloud turned to his mother and gave her a hug.
“Don’t worry about me, mom. I’ll be fine and I’ll be back soon.”
“Just be careful, Evercloud, and remember that I love you.” She kissed him on the cheek and he replied:
“I love you too.” Then he turned to his father and gave him a hug. “Don’t you worry either, okay? I’m gonna make you two proud.”
“I know you will, son.”
Autumnbreeze gave her goodbyes to her husband and son and then all six of them walked out of the cave to the main road, heading down the mountain.
“Where are we headed first, dad?” asked Riverpaw.
“Well, there are rumors of Tenturo to the west. So we’re going to start west. Evercloud, you’d better ride on Riverpaw’s back, otherwise I don’t think that you could keep up.”
Evercloud jumped onto his cousin’s back.
“You ready for this?” asked Riverpaw. Evercloud smiled.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for something like this.”
“Then we’re off,” said Whiteclaw and he and his son went barreling down the mountain.
Eveneye, Goldenheart and Autumnbreeze watched them go, all the way down the mountain, until they disappeared into the forest.
“Oh Even, he’ll come back to us, won’t he?”
“Of course he will, Goldie. Of course he will.”
FIRE
Regret
The world is cracking apart. It can’t exist this way much longer. I feel guilty. I feel like this is my fault. I never should have let this happen. I should have fought. I could have found a way. I know that I could have. But now… It’s too late.
This world has run its course, or at least it doesn’t have much longer. Humans are a failure. My failure. I have failed them… Am I wrong? I wish that I were. I wish we had seen this coming. How could we have been so blind to forget about it? Forget that it might care. That it might wish to be involved. That it was more powerful than the rest of us combined. We were so naive, so self-assured and so wrong. So wrong to ignore it… and so wrong to discard him.
If I could start it all over, I would have kept him. How could we have thrown him away like so much trash? He was ours, our creation, we owed him so much more and now…
Everything will die.
I will die.
For myself, it will be just, as it is my fault. But as for the rest? This is not justice. This is as wrong as I was. Alas, what hope is there?
Men are dead.
They just don’t know it yet.
Need
Edgar hated when his mother had him run errands. He would purposefully try to make himself scarce when he could see that supplies were low. It wasn’t that Edgar Shein was a lazy child. It was simply that Edgar Shein was an unpopular child and the bullies would always find him when he went into the village alone. Especially Pritchard Barton. Pritchard Barton had already bloodied Edgar's nose on three occasions, as well as stolen money from him and even embarrassed him by taking his clothing, forcing him to run home nude. Edgar's mother, Rachael, felt horrible about how her son was tormented, but with Edgar's father gone so often on long trips, she had little choice but to send Edgar on errands.
Edgar’s black locks hung past his eyes as he walked into the village of Hammlin. Gazing down at his feet as he walked, the small, pale boy looked miserable. He knew he had to help his mother. He didn’t blame her at all. It was his father he blamed. Edgar's father, Joe, worked for the Holy. He was a missionary and he had been gone for more of Edgar’s life than he had been present for. The boy resented him for it. He felt Joe should be at home, taking care of him and his mother, not off in other lands. Edgar didn’t even feel right calling him father.
As Edgar started passing houses in the village, he changed his posture. He couldn’t afford to hang his head now. He had to be on the lookout at all times. As his eyes surveyed his surroundings, he wished that his father were there. But as Pritchard Barton’s yellow teeth came sneering around the corner of the blacksmith’s shop, Edgar’s sentiment changed and he cursed his father’s name.
“You know, I would have thought by now you’d just stop showing your ugly face around here, Shein.”
Edgar reacted the same way that he always did when he saw Pritchard Barton. He kept his head straight, walked as fast as he could and prayed to the Holy that this would be the time that Barton let him go. Unfortunately, as they always did, Edgar’s prayers went unanswered.
“I’m talkin’ to you, you little insect,” shouted Barton as he picked up a stone along the side of the road and hurled it at Edgar, hitting him on the shoulder. Pain shot through Edgar’s shoulder and arm but he didn’t stop walking. Please make him stop. Please make him stop, thought Edgar. However, Pritchard Barton wasn’t alone today. His crony, Joe Stockton, was with him and Pritchard loved to show off.
“I think the little girl’s gone deaf,” laughed Stockton.
“He ain’t deaf…yet,” sneered Barton as he picked up another stone.
“Put that stone down, you little bastard!” Murray the Blacksmith came rumbling out of his shop and grabbed Pritchard Barton by his ear. “If I catch either of you little hooligans terrorizing people again, you’ll get the back of my hand. Got it?”
Murray released Prichard’s ear and the boy almost tripped over himself in retreat. Scuffling in the street and kicking up dust, the two bullies ran away as fast as they could. Edgar couldn’t help but grin due to the shocked and embarrassed look on Pritchard’s pimpled face, the bully’s fat cheeks turning scarlet. The smith walked over to where Edgar stood and put his big hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“You all right, boy?”
“I’m fine, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Edgar looked up into the big man’s bearded face. Murray was an intimidating man and although he had just helped Edgar, the boy wasn’t exactly comfortable in his presence.
“You running errands for your mum again?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well,” and Murray extended his hand down the road, “let’s get em done then, shall we?”
Edgar couldn’t believe his luck. The blacksmith had stopped Pritchard Barton and now he was escorting him through the village, just like his own personal guard.
“What do you need to get today, Edgar?”
“Mum asked for salt, sugar, and bread,” answered the boy.
“Where’s your da
d gone off to this time, eh?”
“Don’t know, sir… He never says.”
Murray grumbled to himself. It was obvious to Edgar that the blacksmith felt the same way that he did about his father’s absence. Edgar had begun to feel much better, but with the topic of his father back in his mind, he was falling back into a depression.
“How’s your mum doing up at the farm?” asked Murray.
“She’s all right, sir. Busy, but doing fine.”
“Now that’s enough of that sir stuff. I appreciate the manners and it goes to show your mum’s doing a good job with you, but you can call me Murray. Sound good?”
“Yes, s- I mean, Murray.”
Murray smiled down at the boy as they entered the bakery and Edgar smiled back. Once Edgar had purchased what he needed and he and Murray had returned to where the blacksmith’s shop was located, Murray stopped and looked down at Edgar.
“I got something inside the shop I wanna show you before you go back to your mum.”
Edgar nodded his head and the two of them left the cobblestone road and walked into the shop. Sunlight came through the windows of the blacksmith’s shop, revealing a good amount of dust in the air. The shop was rather dingy and it seemed obvious to Edgar that Murray didn’t clean things very often.
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