June wiped away her tears and her face suddenly became serious, more serious than he had ever seen. “Don’t you ever come back here,” she said in a voice so stern that it startled Hyroc. “There’s nothing left for you here. This place stopped being your home a long time ago. I don’t want you to come back for Marcus, Thomas, and definitely not for me, you got that. Forget you ever knew us or that we ever existed. Get as far away from this place as you can. Once you step foot out that door, I want you to keep walking and I don’t want you to turn back.” Tears were reappearing in her eyes and her whole body trembled as she spoke. “I need you to promise you will do this.”
“I promise,” Hyroc said, though a part of him screamed for him not to. It was what she wanted. She nodded, struggling to maintain her composure. “Thank you for everything June.” In a reluctant movement, he turned away and walked through the door out into the garden. He stopped at the gate as he heard June weeping. He was just about to turn back toward the house when he heard June yell out, “NEVER TURN BACK.” He wanted to turn around and defy her words but he forced himself to take a step through the gate, followed by another and another. The road was his home now.
CHAPTER 14
Keller and the two men under his command rode there horses hard down the dirt path in front of them. The day he had been expecting had arrived. The Hyroc creature had injured one of the students at the school. No amount of past value from the association with a dead man or bias could keep him from his goal. He was going to kill that creature and it would never again pose a danger to another person.
The men slowed their horses as they came up to a house. Quickly dismounting, all three drew swords. Spreading out, they darted around the house in search of their target. The creature knew this house and this was the likeliest place it would take refuge. Keller moved around the back of the house toward what looked to be a garden. He felt a surge of excitement when he saw the shape of a person within. Disappointment immediately followed when he realized it wasn’t the creature, it was a normal person and a woman. The woman rose to her feet in a startled fashion dropping a hand spade as she took notice of him.
“Who are you, what are you doing here?” she demanded.
Keller raised his hand in a placating fashion and lowered his blade. Just then the other men came around the building. In the same fashion, he indicated that the woman was not their target.
“The creature’s not around the house,” one man said.
Keller suddenly recognized the woman. Her name was June, Marcus’ sister and she worked at the school. But she also was the last remaining person caring for the Hyroc creature. As disturbing as that thought was.
“Your name is June if I’m not mistaken,” Keller said calmly.
“Yes, but who –” she trailed off as recognition entered her expression. “Keller. You are not welcome here. Get out! All of you!”
“I’m sorry Miss Burk we can’t do that. We have orders to find it.” He turned his attention to the two men. “Search the house.” The two men nodded and moved inside the house. He returned his attention to June. “And this is the likeliest place it would’ve gone.”
June folded her arms. “If you’re looking for Hyroc I haven’t seen him and I suggest you look at the school. He’s probably heading for his class right now.”
Keller shook his head dismissively. He could tell she wasn’t being entirely truthful. She knew something about where it had gone. “I have witnesses that suggest otherwise. And they say he broke a boy’s leg and then fled.” Even under the best of circumstances a broken leg was a seriously debilitating injury. Even she would have a hard time rationalizing such an occurrence.
She sighed, her façade melting away. “I’m sure it was an accident; he would never do something like that intentionally.”
“He broke a student’s leg! The boy he harmed will be in a lot of pain until it heals and he won’t be able to walk for some time. That’s hardly something that could be chalked up as an accident. And if he’s capable of doing that who knows what else he could do?”
“You have not changed one bit Keller. You are still as blind as you were when we first found him. Even after all of those tests, you refused to believe you had made a mistake. Why can you not understand he is not so different from the rest of us. All he has ever wanted was to do good.”
“Because he should not have even been allowed to exist!” Keller retorted. “You think that by giving it books to read and teaching it how to put on a polite face you have mastered its evil tendencies. When all you have done is trick yourself into thinking you are safe around it. And then when the blackness of its heart manifests you are unable to accept the truth about what you have done.”
June laughed humorlessly. “If you were interested in truth you would not have been haunting his steps all these years; you would have understood by now what existed in his heart was nothing to be feared.”
“And what of the reports of him fighting with the other students at the school. None have been definitively confirmed, but we both know they occurred. That should be proof enough that it is in his nature to do harm to others.”
“It was not his choices that led to those fights. Those boys chose to go after him and to harm him. You didn’t see the pain in his eyes and the confusion as he tried to understand why. And I did the only thing I knew would help him. I told him to fight, to cause them pain, to make them never want to do anything to him ever again.”
“You did what!” Keller said, his voice laced with disbelief. It seemed absurd someone in charge of the safety of children could rationalize such actions. Was she truly so naïve to think she had made the correct decision? She was far more dangerous than he had ever suspected. “You mean to tell me you wanted it to do those things?”
“I never wanted him to do that, no, but the only other option I had was to sit there and let him suffer. And I know of no parent that – ”
Just then the two men exited the house.
“It’s not here,” one man said.
“This debate can serve no purpose any longer,” Keller said in an icy tone. He had heard enough of her madness, “Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“I know your lying to me; I can have you arrested for that.”
“Then go right ahead, but I wonder how your superiors would look upon such an action. Not too kindly I would suspect.”
Keller glowered at her. She was right, beyond empty threats, there wasn’t much he could do to her without damaging his position in The Ministry. Even if she was completely without reason.
“I’ll ask you once more, where is it?”
“I told you I don’t know, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”
Keller shook his head in disbelief. This had been a complete waste of time. He wasn’t going to get anything useful out of her.
“Let’s go,” Keller snapped.
When the three men reached the main road, they stopped. Keller reached into his saddlebag and retrieved a map. He began a thorough examination of the area around the school and the house. The main road ran between both structures. The surrounding area was rough enough to slow the creature’s progress, so it would have stuck to the road wherever possible. Since it wouldn’t have gone toward town, it’s course seemed pretty obvious. It was on foot so it couldn’t have gotten far even with a head start.
“Okay, I want you two to follow the main road west all the way to Rivermark,” Keller said. “Kill the thing on sight if you see it, and be careful, we don’t know how dangerous it is. I’ll head back into town to assemble a search party.”
“Yes sir,” the two men said in unison. They snapped the reins of their horses and charged off down the road.
Keller turned his horse in the opposite direction. That creature’s days were now numbered. It was only a matter of time before he found it and it breathed its last breath.
• • •
CHAPTER 15
The Lonely Road
Hyroc
pushed aside the spindly branches of a bush in front of him to peer at the trail beyond. He swept his eyes up and down the path to see if there was anyone within sight. Finding nobody, he walked through the underbrush. Farther to his right up the trail, he saw the distant roofs of the boarding school. He knew venturing so close to it wasn’t the smartest thing for him to do, but he had to do it regardless. There was one last thing he needed to do. Pulling his eyes from the structure that had been his home mere hours ago, he headed in the opposite direction down the trail. The murmur of a stream whispered through the air as he approached a pile of rocks marking his mother’s grave. Crouching down, he brushed away an accumulation of dead leaves from the stones. He felt a pang of sadness as he looked upon them. She was his mother and he didn’t even know the sound of her voice or her name. All he knew was she loved him and had died to protect him.
And even with her sacrifice his story had nearly ended along with hers. He was very fortunate a man such as Marcus had stumbled upon him. If it had been anyone else, he would have been killed immediately and that would’ve been it. And even with Marcus possessing such a demeanor, his life would have been snuffed out by The Ministry once they found out about his existence. Luckily Marcus was favored by The Ministry through long years of service with them and his reputation offered him protection. Because of this, The Ministry was reluctant to take any actions against him. So long as no one got hurt. But one punch had nullified the stipulation. Now, none of that mattered.
Wiping away a tear, he rose to his feet. He walked over to a rose bush and used his knife to cut off a flower. Reverently, he deposited the red flower upon his mother’s grave.
“I have to go now,” Hyroc whispered to the stones. “And I won’t be coming back.” He paused a long moment. “I just wanted to say thank you, for everything you did for me. I know you loved me. I just – I just wish I knew what you were running from.” He took a breath to subdue an upwelling of emotions. “But I know one day, I’ll find out.” He took a deep breath. “Goodbye and I love you, mother.” He stood and walked across the stone bridge spanning the stream, heading into the trees beyond.
Staying far enough within the thicket to remain out of sight but still close enough for him to see the trail in front of him, he followed it. The path gently curved through the trees before running onto a wide area of open ground. Toward the middle of this, the trail connected to the road leading to and from Forna. As the road led west away from town, it arced off toward the thicket Hyroc stood in and disappeared from view behind it. Past the road intersection, at the end of the open area, grew another thicket. Hyroc couldn’t see its end, but it led east away from Forna and it seemed he could follow it for the rest of the day without encountering another opening. There was just the problem of getting to it. There was a lot of open ground for him to cover. Other than grass and some knee-high shrubs, he would be exposed if he tried to cross over to it. He could continue following the thicket he stood in, though he would be following the road if he did so and that was exactly what June had warned him against. Then if he happened to run into an even worse spot, he would have to turn back. By now, The Ministry was aware of what he had done and was organizing to find him. Coming back would be more dangerous and by then it might be impossible for him to cross through this opening unnoticed. The safest option was to do it now.
Taking a step out of the thicket, he glanced around. Nobody was in sight. He took a breath and started across. He froze three steps later when he thought he heard the sound of a horse snorting. Listening closely, he could hear the sound of hooves and it was getting louder. Someone was coming! He bolted back into the thicket. He ran as far as he dared before getting behind a tree. Slowly, he looked around it. The shapes of two men on horses came into view at the tree line. Hyroc yanked his head back behind the trunk.
“I thought I saw something,” one of the men said.
There was a long pause before the second man spoke. “You sure, I’m not seeing anything,” he said skeptically.
There was another pause. “I don’t know, maybe I just saw what I wanted to see,” the first man said.
“I would assume that thing isn’t stupid enough to stick this close to town. It would’ve ran straight for the wilderness and it’s got a few hours start on us.” The man paused. “The road would be quicker, just like what Keller said, so I say if we ride hard along it, we’ll catch him before sundown.”
“Alright.”
With a snap of the reins, the men rode off. Hyroc breathed a sigh of relief. He waited until the sound of the horses had died away before venturing out to the tree line. Tentatively, he stepped into the opening to have a look. The area was clear. Working up his courage, he started running toward the thicket as fast as he could. Every second spent out in the open felt like he was one second closer to being discovered. His legs seemed to move agonizingly slow as if he were running through mud. Hours seemed to pass before he reached his destination. He stopped just beyond the trees concealment to catch his breath. Stealing a glance across the opening, he was relieved to see there still wasn’t anybody there. He had done it. When his breathing returned to normal, he took one final farewell glance at the school and toward his home before continuing on his way.
As the fading orange light of dusk shone through the trees, he had yet to spot the end of the thicket. It was what he had hoped for. He didn’t stop walking until he was fully enveloped by the night. He slipped off his pack and settled down into the crook of a tree with his back against its trunk. Reaching into his pack, he felt around inside until he found what felt like a loaf of bread. After having his fill, he put the loaf back. He covered himself with his cloak and closed his eyes to sleep.
Everything seemed fine at first, but he quickly became aware of how uncomfortable the tree and ground beneath him felt. Keeping his eyes closed, he repositioned. No matter what position he tried to sleep in, there always seemed to be a rock or something hard in one inconvenient place or another. It didn’t take long before he yearned for the plush comfort of his bunk. An aggravating length of time passed, before he found a position comfortable enough for him to ignore it. Then the night seemed to close in around him when he closed his eyes. He felt a tremendous sense of vulnerability as if there was something unseen in the darkness creeping up on him. Listening closely to his surroundings for a few long minutes, all he heard was the distant hoot of an owl.
He sighed irritably. He needed to get some sleep and he was too busy being scared of the dark. Only children were scared of the dark. In all of the stories he had read, none of those characters were ever scared of the dark. It seemed ridiculous he should either, he could see better at night than anybody else. If anything, that should make it bother him less not more! How was he going to get anywhere if he couldn’t sleep at night? He might be able to make it through the next day without being too fatigued, but not much longer. He needed to find a way through this!
He reached into his pocket, withdrawing the green courage stone. He ran his thumb over its cool smooth surface and onto the etching at its center. The memory of his escape from the tree he had been hung from flowed through his mind. He had been scared then; more scared than he ever remembered being and he had gotten through it. In comparison, this was nothing; all he had to do was fall asleep. He smiled, nodding determinedly down at the stone. There wasn’t anything out there for him to be afraid of. It was just him, the trees, an owl, and probably some squirrels. He closed his eyes and eventually floated off to sleep.
As he ate his breakfast, he removed the map from one of his pack’s side pockets. He frowned when he rolled it open; discovering the thicket he had entered wasn’t even shown nor were any of the familiar landmarks around the town. Thankfully, the road leading into Forna was. All he had to do was figure out where he had crossed it and then he would know about where he was in relation to it. He put his finger on Forna and ran it north how far he guessed the boarding school was from town. From the boarding school he continued north where his m
other grave should be, out to the road. When his finger found the road, he moved it east to where he should be within the thicket. Looking to the southeast of his presumed location, he spotted a river. And if he remembered correctly, to his north lay plains. On the plains, he would be as exposed as he was on the road crossing. Barely a day away from Forna, he was still uncomfortable with the idea of going where there wasn’t anything to hide behind. If he followed the river, there seemed a higher chance of things to conceal him. It wasn’t ideal, but he knew he really didn’t have a choice in the matter. He had to get away from the town as fast as he could no matter what he encountered. Once he was a day or two out, just as June had said, he should be safe. Maybe then, he would have time to figure out an actual destination.
Nodding to himself, he rolled up the map and packed everything up. He resumed his easterly march through the trees. The trees began to thin as the coolness of morning burned away into the warmth of noon. Then he arrived at the edge of the thicket. Beyond, to the north and east, was the expected plain and it stretched all the way to the horizon. Following the edge of the thicket, he turned south. The thicket terminated not long afterward and the river came into view. At the tree line, Hyroc swept his eyes through his surroundings before making for the river. The ground dropped a little near the shore and as he had hoped, the plants here were high enough for him to crouch down into and have a decent chance of being hidden from any onlookers.
For the rest of the day: the river maintained a relatively straight easterly course as it meandered across the flat plain. When night arrived, Hyroc settled down to sleep away from the river at a small angular bolder. The darkness would keep him hidden until morning. He put his back against the flattest part of the bolder and attempted to sleep. In place of the disconcerting sensation of vulnerability, appeared an empty lonely feeling. This was the farthest he had ever been from home. He suddenly missed everything about it. He missed the woody scent of his room, sleeping beneath warm wool covers, crackling of fresh wood in the fireplace, the relaxing murmur of the stream where he caught fish, but most of all, he missed June. She was someone he could go to with his problems. Her words were often the only source of comfort he could find. She always seemed to have a solution. Then whenever a situation arose she couldn’t help with, she got frustrated. For some reason, seeing her being frustrated always made him feel a little better. It reminded him someone wasn’t happy with how he was being treated; that someone cared about him. Now, he had left it all behind.
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