Child of Thunder (Chapter Five)

Child of Thunder

Chapter Five: Low Voices, Low Times

I awoke in motion.

It was a gentle rocking, placid enough that I had the feeling I’d been there for a long time. I opened my eyes and carefully began to stir. I was sprawled across Daale’s back. We were back in the infinite green, the prairie that never ended. I was stiff and groggy. As tired as I’d been, I must have slept for a long time. Gryndor walked at our side.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he told me dryly. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Where are we going?” I mumbled sleepily.

Daale twisted his head back towards me. “We were too close to my father’s city for my comfort. I wanted to get underway as quickly as possible. You were so out of it we couldn’t wake you.” His voice was filled with concern. “I hope you’re all right.”

“I… I think I’m fine,” I replied. “How long have I been asleep?”

Gryndor replied. “A day. You slept through the night. It’s midmorning now… on April the fourth, if you were wondering.”

I shook my head numbly. Despite being a bit out of it, I felt good. No more headache, and none of my wounds were throbbing. I slid down from Daale’s back, wanting to feel some nice, solid earth beneath my feet. The sky looked clear and cheerful as I glanced around, without a cloud to be seen.

“I wonder what they’re saying about all this in Uryn,” Daale said. “I’m sure our escapades are the talk of the town.” His voice was wistful, spiced with a hint of regret.

“We are revolutionaries now,” Gryndor replied. “We can’t worry about that kind of thing anymore.”

“You’re right, of course, my friend.” Daale’s voice was a whisper that seemed too small for such a large creature, in such an expansive landscape. Low words for low times, perhaps.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Curiosity burned in me like a lost lantern, flaming away untended on a forgotten street corner. “I want to find Needha.” Though we hadn’t known each other long, she was my only tether to my world, the only other being I knew of to have made such a wild crossing. The bison was kin to me in a way no one else could be.

“We are going to see what we can do about that. We make for the very labor camp where she is being held captive.” Daale explained. “You see, my intentions are twofold. One, to deliver a blow to imperial forces by reducing their access to food and goods. Two…” the prince hesitated. “A rebellion is only as good as its rebels. We will need all the help we can muster. The more willing hands we can recruit, the more successful we are likely to be.”

I nodded, unsure of what to say. I knew I liked this world, knew I would follow the prince and the wizard wherever asked, but I did not know what words could articulate how I felt. “Is the labor camp far?” I asked. As we’d been talking, the land had risen into a hill. When we rounded the top, the blackened husks of a devastated village sprawled before us.

“No, not… terribly,” Gryndor had begun to reply. His voice trailed off when he saw the burned buildings. Words fled from all our hearts as we took in the bleached white bones and rotting meat. I could see antlers poking up here and there. This was a deer village.

Or had been, rather.

“Shall we go around?” Daale asked softly. Low words for low times.

“No.” Gryndor said firmly. “We cannot afford the delay.” His voice was steady until the end, when it nearly cracked over ‘delay’. It was a point that could not be denied. The village seemed somewhat large, and a river flowed our right. The river was particularly troubling. It was quite large, and would make matters considerably more difficult if we tried to cross it.

So we walked on, ash churning beneath our feet. No matter how carefully we walked, we could not avoid stepping over something that crunched beneath our feet. The sound of brittle bones snapping was perhaps one of the most unsettling sounds I had ever experienced in my short thirteen years.

Through it all, we remained silent. Gryndor kept his eyes focused ahead, not looking at anything. I on the other hand, could not keep my head from swiveling in all directions, taking it all in. I couldn’t seem to help gawking open-mouthed like a stunned fish at the visceral destruction that surrounded me. It wasn’t until I stumbled over a body that I broke the quiet, crying out as I fell to the earth.

I’d tripped over the body of a little deer in a green dress. A girl. A young girl. It was a little fawn with white spots on the exposed fur, her voice frozen into a pained expression.

“Must have died from smoke inhalation,” Daale murmured as he helped me up, then he seemed to regret the words. He glanced at Gryndor, who was just standing there staring mutely.

“Why would they do this?” I asked. “Why destroy this village?” I could hold my questions no longer. There was no doubt in my mind the bears had done this, I just didn’t understand why.

“This is the edge of the Ursyne’s massive empire. They did it to send a message, that what’s left of the free world isn’t safe.” The bear sighed. “It’s also retaliation for the defeat he was handed in the battle I believe you witnessed. He wanted to affirm his power to the world. I was… set up to fail by my father. He hoped that I would die there. Either way, he was going to destroy this place. It’s all he understands, power, and destruction.”

The last two sentences were a bitter snarl. The bear’s teeth had ground together, his hands clenching and unclenching.

Gryndor glanced at us, then nodded towards the northern horizon.

“Come on. We’ve tarried here long enough.”

----

Our spirits began to lift the moment we escaped the oppressing, ash-choked air of the ruined village. We cleaned ourselves off in the river and the warmth of the day dried us off. Soon it almost seemed as though it had never happened. It was a dark memory I wanted to lock away forever.

My clothes wouldn’t let me forget anything, though. My pants were ragged and bloodstained and my cloak had its rim stained with grit that had refused to come out no matter how hard I’d scrubbed it. Though my situation in the area of clothing was uncomfortable, I was fairly happy. This new world, so like my own yet so different, was all that I’d been looking for. All I’d longed for, perched atop that wagon, bored with life.

I was a revolutionary, traveling with a royal and a magician to liberate my friend. It was going to be utterly deadly, but far from being afraid, I relished the opportunity to throw myself even further into the events unfolding around me.

We followed the meandering path of the stream, through the plains. It grew wider and swifter as traveled on, the world around us beginning to change, growing a bit rockier. Soon the little river was cutting through a canyon far, far below us. A heavy, pallid mist enwrapped the earth like a thick woolen blanket, wetly stifling the sun.

I quickly grew bored of walking.

After three days, it grew almost unbearable.

It was an especially foggy day when Gryndor offered to teach me the secrets of the universe. All the details of the world were hidden away by the miasma around us. Growing increasingly restless, I had taken to walking in meandering patterns, weaving behind my companions, sometimes even walking backwards.

Gryndor seemed to notice my agitation. “Would you like me to teach you a little… something?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The deer, walking on my left, looked down at me as though I’d lost my mind. “I would like to teach you magic, of course,” he said, as though it should have been obvious.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Daale put in, padding along quietly on my other side.

“Is it dangerous?” I asked worriedly. “Not that I’d mind,” I added quickly, afraid he’d change his mind.

“No, it’s not. It’s perfectly safe.” Gryndor replied forcefully. “And it should be fairly easy, too.”

Once it became clear that Daale’s objections weren’t going to change my mind, Gryndor went to work at once. “Now, the first spell you’re going to learn is how to create a fireball. This is very important, because you need something to defend yourself.”

I had to agree. Everything in this land seemed to be bigger, stronger, faster, and meaner than me.

“Now… close your eyes and think about fire. Don’t let any other thoughts intervene.” I closed my eyes and kept walking, stilling my wildest thoughts until all I could sense was the rocky earth beneath my bare feet.

I pictured a bonfire, like the kind the men in my father’s rodeo used to build at night. A massive, roaring inferno fed by a small forest of logs, a tower of heat and light reaching into the sky. I imagined it crackling and popping, endlessly hungry. “Now picture that fire in the palms of your hands.” Gryndor whispered quietly. “Picturing it transforming into the shape of a globe, a compact little ball, floating just above your hands. It kisses your hands with warmth but it does not burn your flesh.”

I did so, holding out both of my arms without realizing. My palms began to grow increasingly warm. I felt lightheaded, giddy. “Now picture that fireball flying forward, on a trajectory of your choosing,” Once again I followed orders. I pictured the ball flying up into the sky and was rewarded with a loud fwoooosh. I opened my eyes and saw a little orb of fire hurling away through the mist toward the veiled sun above.

I felt a strange sort of pull from my feet, as if they’d been frozen to the ground for a second. “Quickly! Quickly! Name your new spell. Once trapped with a name, you won’t have to think for so long to summon it again.”

“Ghoma Ignio.” I didn’t know what the words met, I spoke them without thinking. A strange pattern of interlocking black circles snaked its way up my arm for a moment before vanishing. Suddenly I felt woozy, my eyelids heavier than lead. I stumbled, and Gryndor had to catch me before I plummeted to the earth.

“There.” He said. “It is done. Now you must be careful, for magic will consume energy from within your body. I can teach you techniques to offset this, but until then you must be very, very careful.” I nodded, feeling sleep overtaking me. The last thing I felt was my body being draped over Daale’s back once again. “Don’t worry,” the wizard said, his voice sounding far away. “It’ll get easier with time…”

The last thing I heard was Daale’s voice. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” The sorcerer said something sharp in reply, but I fell asleep before I heard it.

I awoke more suddenly than I expected, my feet cold. I was not as groggy as I’d been before. As I looked around, I saw the mist was releasing its grip ever so slightly. We were still on an incline, the world still rising and growing rockier.

The grasses were losing their grip here, receding like spent ocean waves. There was still plenty of green, but it was all in scrubby grass and scraggly bushes now. The trees, however, were becoming more dominant. A line of them, a pine forest, spread ahead of us. Further out, mountains loomed. We’d gone in a big half circle of sorts, meaning Uryn wasn’t too terribly far to the south.

We were deep in bear territory once again.

“Take care, child. We are in dangerous country now,” Daale told me as I took to walking again, almost as if to affirm my suspicions. I couldn’t believe how much energy I’d drained creating that fireball. How much of my time in this world had I spent unconscious? By my count I’d fallen to prey to unwanted sleep nearly half a dozen times.

“The labor camp is yet a day off still,” Gryndor told me. I tried to suppress a groan. I didn’t know if horses existed here, but I couldn’t help wishing for one, though I had to suppose they wouldn’t let me have a ride even if they did. “This forest is a common haunt for thieves and vagabonds, so keep your wits about you.”

“Bring them on,” I declared boldly.

“Do not make light the danger we rush toward,” Gryndor told me severely. “From here on, it only grows.”

I nodded, doing my best to sound solemn, in spite of the thrill the word ‘marauder’ had put into me. I didn’t know what a vagabond was, but I felt certain I wanted to meet one. I wouldn’t learn what it meant that day, but I wouldn’t have to wait long for marauders.

A harsh voice burst from the treeline. “Halt there, scamps. This forest is not for traveling. Be on your way.” I could see shadows scattered around the fir trees, but I couldn’t make out what sort of creatures were hidden there. I could only see that they looked large and menacing.

“We mean no harm,” the prince said firmly. “Delay us at your peril.”

“The peril is yours alone,” a different voice replied. Behind us. We whirled to find ourselves surrounded. A half dozen panthers dressed in leather tunics stood there, weapons at the ready. The black cats were enormous, standing taller than both my companions, and easily towering over me. I could hardly believe they’d managed to slip behind us undetected.

I looked to Daale. Would he cave now that we were badly outnumbered?

He snarled and drew his weapon. Gryndor began to reach for something in one of the little satchels strapped to his waist. “It’s unwise to pick a fight with a grizzly and a sorcerer,” he muttered. It would be a fight then.

I readied the only weapon I had at my disposal, the solitary bit of magic I’d been taught. I mentally prepared myself, ready to watch for the right moment. From that moment on, everything seemed to begin happening at once. The watchers from the wood began to launch arrows at the same instant that the six sneaks charged forward to attack.

Gryndor threw up a hand, summoning a brick wall that blocked off all the projectiles. Meanwhile, Daale moved to intercept the brunt of the onslaught coming our way. Before he could do a thing, I held up both my hands and cried “Ghoma Ignio!” at the top of my lungs. An interlacing web of black circles crawled up my arm, and my whole body began to feel strange.

This time, instead of a petty little think not much bigger than my head, an enormous orb of fire appeared. It was not only bigger than my body, it was bigger than Daale. Once it grew too big to keep between my arms, I stepped back in disbelief and the thing flew off. It spun like a miniature sun flung from its orbit and smacked right into the marauders.

The beasts didn’t even slow it down.

The fireball rolled across the ground, burning a rift in the earth. I could still hear it even as the world curved out of sight. It sizzled on until it hit the canyon, now far to the southeast. In its wake all that remained was the burned out path that had been forged, and the bones of its victims.

I clenched my teeth, fighting against the exhaustion I knew was coming. A silence seemed to reign in the wake of what I’d just done. I knew it was monumental beyond reckoning, impossibly herculean, and I couldn’t help feeling a little proud.

But mostly I just didn’t want to fall asleep again.

“Well that makes things easier,” Daale muttered, lowering his weapon with an air of disappointment.

I turned back to find that Gryndor’s brick wall was melting. The stone looked more like a marshmallow losing its shape than any sort of sturdy structure now. It seemed his conjurations came with limits.

I was prepared to duck, but no assault was forthcoming. “Our attackers have fled,” I observed. The words came out heavy as molasses, my exhaustion threatening not to let me speak at all.

“Yes.” Gryndor replied impatiently. “Did you think they were going to stick around and ask us to brunch? Stop fighting it. You need to go to sleep.”

I shook my head. “No,” I insisted stubbornly.

The wizard acted as though he hadn’t heard. “When next you wake, we might need you to play along. From here on, the danger only grows.” He tapped his hand against my forehead. I saw thick black fingernails like hooves pressed into my skin, and just like that, I collapsed to the earth. I was out so quickly, I couldn’t even tell you if someone caught me, or if I simply hit the ground.

Once again Daale had something less than pleased to say about this, but I couldn’t make out what was said this time. If Gryndor replied, I certainly never heard it.

Low voices. Low times.

Perhaps I was the only one who didn’t see it that way.