Sky Child

by Brenner, T. M.

  I realize that it actually could be my last meal. I don't know if I will be able to make breakfast in the morning, before the trials start. So my last meal is old stew. That makes me sad.

  I can feel Sickle and Scythe staring at me, and I know that they too hope I die tomorrow. I wish they were the ones going through the trials.

  I look up and see that Flot has finally come to eat. I watch as he gets food then sits next to one of his friends.

  I wish I could eat with Flot and Jet, but I have to do what is expected of me now. I liked things better when people didn't expect anything from me. All I had to do was hunt and stay alive. They let me keep to myself, and they definitely didn't make me go through any trials.

  But if I wasn't going through this, if they didn't think I was the Sky Child, I never would have made friends with Ebb. I don't know her very well yet, but I am still glad that she is my friend. So I keep that thought in my head, that what I'm going through will all be worth it. Worth it if I survive.

  I don't want to talk to Mast or Helm, because I'm angry at them. I know they aren't the ones that created the trials, but they are the people that are making me go through them.

  I finish my meal and head toward our room. I decide to take a side-tunnel that is shorter than using the big circle of the Crag. As I pass by rooms I look inside, not really paying attention to them. All of them are lit except one. When I reach the dark room, I hear a noise coming from inside. It is very quiet, but I recognize the sound of breathing. I turn and look into the darkness.

  That is when it looks back at me. I see a pair of eyes, but they are hard to make out. Without warning, the shadow attacks me. They kick me in the stomach and I fall to the ground. I wait for them to move closer, and I punch the shadow in its groin.

  The shadow groans in pain, clutching itself. I get up off the ground and put my fists up, the way that Ebb taught me to. Even in the darkness I can see the sharp metal object that the shadow is holding. The shadow reaches out with its arm and tries to stab me. I step away from the arm and send my right fist flying as hard as I can, right where I can see the shadow's eyes.

  I am very lucky, because my punch hits exactly where I'd hoped. The shadow falls to the ground, and I can tell that they will be asleep for a while. I hear the clank of the knife hitting the ground. I also hear footsteps running up to me. I hold up my hands again, ready to fight my new attacker. Only it isn't a new attacker, it is Ebb.

  "Are you okay Sam?"

  "Yes, I am fine," I say.

  "Why didn't you wait for me?" asks Ebb.

  "I wasn't thinking. I am sorry. I'm just so worried about dying in the trials that I forgot people may still be trying to kill me," I say.

  "You will never beat the trials if you don't pay attention to your surroundings," says Ebb.

  "At least I heard them and then saw them before they attacked," I say.

  "But you could have been killed!" says Ebb.

  "I know. I'm sorry," is all I can manage.

  I reach down and pick up the knife then drag the attacker into the light. It looks like they have taken a dark shirt and wrapped it around their face to cover it. I remove the shirt, and stare at my attacker.

  I do not know who this person is.

  "Ebb, do you know him?" I ask.

  "No."

  It is a man who looks closer to being a gray one than a new one. There is nothing really different or interesting about his face. He just looks like a person. Someone that maybe wouldn't be noticed. His hair does not cover much of his head, and his stomach sticks out.

  "What are you going to do with him, Sam?" asks Ebb.

  "He tried to kill me, but I don't know why. I don't think he is a hunter, because I have never seen him, and he doesn't look like he's been outside much. To be safe, I should probably kill him, but I don't think that I can. Not when he can't defend himself. Killing him right now would be something a coward would do," I say.

  "I agree. But if you don't kill him, then he might try to kill you again."

  "That is true as well."

  I try to think of a different, better way.

  "What if we have him thrown out of the Crag?" I ask.

  "We might be able to do that."

  "Can you help me drag his body?"

  "Yes," says Ebb.

  I hold the knife between my teeth, with the sharp edge aimed away from my mouth. We each grab an arm and drag his body to the Great Fire.

  There are many people there, praying to the Sky Gods for a safe night. For good dreams and a better tomorrow. Most seem very surprised to see Ebb and I dragging a man's body to the Great Fire.

  I take off the man's other shirt and tie his feet together, while Ebb uses the shirt he had on his face to tie his hands together. I pull him into a sitting position and rest him against a large rock.

  "Ebb, can you go and get Mast and Helm, and anyone else you think should be here for this decision?" I ask.

  "Yes, I will do that," she says.

  I watch Ebb run down one of the connecting tunnels. I notice that a pair of the people that were praying have left. I do not worry, for I have a knife in my hand now. I will be safe. I look back at the attacker, and it seems like he is waking up.

  "If you try to get up, or attack me again, I will kill you," I say.

  The man just stares at me through his evil, dark eyes.

  Eventually Ebb shows up with Mast, Helm, Vault and Crook.

  "Why is that man tied up?" asks Vault.

  "He was hiding in the shadows and tried to kill me," I say.

  "Why didn't you kill him back?" asks Crook.

  "Because I didn't want to kill him. What I want to do is throw him out of the Crag," I say.

  "No!" comes a voice from a side-tunnel.

  It is Chaff. One of the people praying must have found him and brought him here.

  "He is of my blood," says Chaff, as he nears the Great Fire. "He is my cousin. A harvester."

  "Did you send him to kill me?" I ask.

  "I would never do such a thing!" says Chaff, faking disbelief.

  I stare into Chaff's eyes, and it takes all of my strength not to attack him with the knife.

  "This man must leave the Crag forever," I say.

  "No, I will talk to him, and make sure that this never happens again," says Chaff. "He really is a good person. This is probably just a misunderstanding."

  "How is attacking someone in the dark, with a knife, a misunderstanding?" I ask.

  "He isn't very smart. He was probably just confused. Maybe he was at the feast, thought he needed his knife to eat with, and came back for it. Then he accidentally scared you."

  "He kicked me in the stomach and tried to cut me with the knife," I say.

  "Maybe he was afraid you were going to attack him. It was self-defense. You have killed a dragon, haven't you, so you must be very dangerous," says Chaff. "In fact, did you have any weapons?"

  "No."

  "Yet you were able to hit him so hard that he was no longer awake. And you don't have a scratch on you."

  My grip on the knife tightens. I look over at Vault. He shakes his head 'no', telling me that I shouldn't kill Chaff. Crook stares at Chaff, and looks like she wants to kill him herself. But she doesn't. She knows, just like me, that we can't kill Chaff. It would doom us all.

  "If anyone else attacks me, I will kill them," I say. "I will not control my blade the way I am controlling it now. So for your sake Chaff, make sure that your family does not 'accidentally' attack me again."

  "I am sure that no harm will come to you now that this unfortunate situation has been cleared up," says Chaff. "Oh, and may my cousin have his knife back?"

  "Yes," I say.

  "Good," says Chaff.

  "When he pries it from my cold, dead fingers."

  "I hope it does not come to that," says Chaff. "But however you would like things to be."

  Chaff helps his cousin up, and unties his hands and feet. They walk off together, down the same tunnel C
haff came from.

  "You handled that well," says Vault.

  I just shake my head. I toss the knife in the Great Fire and start walking back to my room. I hear Ebb running to catch up to me.

  "Vault was right, you did the right thing," says Ebb.

  "Did I? Chaff thinks he has even more power now, since I didn't kill his cousin. He thinks he can send people to attack me and I won't fight back. If anything, I showed him I was weak," I say.

  "Not weak, smart."

  "Sometimes the smart thing is the weak thing. I don't want to be weak."

  "You aren't. It would have been easy to kill Chaff, but you didn't. You controlled yourself."

  "I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd stabbed him. Made him realize that he's not as powerful as he thinks," I say.

  "But then everyone in the Crag would have suffered for it."

  "Maybe it would be worth it."

  "You know that isn't true."

  I don't respond to her. I just keep walking back to my room. I go inside, and both Flot and Jet are already asleep. I put out the glowing stick, curl up with my blanket, and try to forget that when I wake up, it may be to my last sunrise.

  18

  The next morning I wake up tired. I had a hard time sleeping, because I kept thinking about the man who attacked me, and the trials I haven't yet faced.

  As I move around, I hear footsteps. They seem to be walking away from our room. I wonder if it's Ebb, who was standing watch over us. She may have left, now that I am awake. I was not kind to her last night, and I hope I can apologize. If I die today, I don't want my last thought to be sad, because I never told her I was sorry.

  I walk to the mouth of the Crag and I see that it's still dark out. I head back into the tunnels, until I reach the loud waters. No one else is there. I take off my clothes and leave them in a pile on the ground. The water is colder than normal, and it shocks me awake.

  I get out of the water as quickly as I can, pick up my clothes and walk to the Great Fire. I can feel bumps on my skin, telling me that I'm cold.

  The warmth of the Great Fire is better. It takes me a while to break the chill. As I dry off, I heat my clothes, which will help keep me warm when I collect breakfast.

  I pick up one of the pans and carry it with me. It is not normal to take a pan with you outside the Crag, but I wanted a weapon in case I am attacked again.

  The sun is starting to rise, just enough to turn the sky from black to dark blue. I can barely see, but my eyes adjust as I make my way to the chickens. I collect some eggs then make my way back to the Crag.

  Normally, I make breakfast and eat it with Flot and Jet. Today, though, I make breakfast at the Great Fire, and eat there too. The eggs have little flavor, but with my stomach already aching, it is nice to eat something that won't make it worse.

  I take what is left of my breakfast and return to our room. Flot and Jet are still both asleep. All that I care about is that they are still safe. I set the pan down on the ground between them. It has cooled enough that I'm not worried they will burn themselves on it.

  I leave my sleeping brothers and head toward Ebb's room. I have a hard time remembering where it is, because I have only been there once. It is not far from our room though, which makes it easier.

  Some of the rooms I pass by have glowing sticks that are burning brightly. Ebb's room is dark. I stand just outside of it, and I can smell the wildflowers inside. I whisper into the darkness, so that I do not wake Ebb if she is already asleep.

  "I'm sorry Ebb. I wish you peace and happiness."

  I turn away from her room, and start my walk back to the mouth of the Crag. As I leave, I think I can hear someone whisper back, but I cannot tell what they said. I wait a moment, listening for another sound, but it does not come. I'm sure that if it was important they would have said it louder.

  When I get outside, Helm and Mast are already waiting for me. They are both wearing their armor, although I do not see why. They are not the ones who will be fighting for their lives.

  I am wearing my normal clothes, and I start to wonder if that was a mistake. I guess it's too late now. If I'm attacked by another hunter, the armor would do little to protect me anyway.

  "Follow us," says Helm.

  We walk back into the Crag. Helm and Mast bring me down some tunnels I have never seen before. The walls are smooth, and there are no other rooms that connect to it. It looks as if something dug into the walls, carving out this new tunnel. I can tell from the dust and crawler webs that it was done a long time ago.

  At the end of the tunnel is a wooden door. It is odd, because I don't remember seeing any other wooden doors in the Crag. Many people hang cloth across their entrances to prevent people from looking in. This is different, and it worries me. Mast opens up the door and waves me inside.

  There isn't much in this room, although it appears that another room is connected to it. The walls have been carved, just like the tunnel. There is only one dim torch lighting the room, and it makes it difficult to see.

  "What is back there?" I ask, pointing to the other room.

  "That is not for you to worry about. Worry about your first trial. It will begin now," says Helm.

  A small, very old looking man comes out from the other room carrying a stack of metal buckets. He also carries a pair of glowing sticks that aren't burning, and another stick that is. He sits down on the smooth floor and motions me to sit down too.

  The old man sets the glowing sticks apart from each other, with the burning one in the middle. He then places the buckets upside-down, one on top of each of the glowing sticks. Before I realize what he is doing, he moves the buckets around. I get confused, and I cannot remember which one contains the glowing stick that is on fire. The old man stops moving the buckets then looks up at me.

  "Choose," says the old man, in a voice that comes from my nightmares.

  "Choose what?" I ask.

  "CHOOOOOOSE."

  "Do you want me to choose which one is still on fire?" I ask.

  "Yesssss."

  I look at the buckets then I look around. I realize that Mast is aiming a spear at me. I reach my hand out to touch the buckets. If I can feel which bucket is warm, then I will know which one contains the fire.

  "NO," warns the old man.

  Mast moves his spear close to my head. I pull my hand away from the buckets. I wish there was some way to tell which bucket had the burning stick inside. I look for smoke, but there is none.

  I start to panic. I try to remember how the buckets were moved. No matter how hard I try, I cannot remember. I take in a deep breath and think. How can I figure out which one has the fire inside of it?

  "Chooooooooose."

  I look at the old man, hoping that I can tell by what he is looking at which bucket has the fire in it. But he is just looking straight at me.

  Come on, Sam. Think!

  After a long moment, I think I've it figured out.

  I smile at the old man.

  "Chooooooooose."

  I just keep smiling. The old man looks angry.

  "CHOOOOOOOSE."

  He startles me, but I won't choose.

  "CHOOSE NOOOOOW."

  I don't choose.

  "CHOOSE NOW OR DIE."

  Mast raises the spear until the point just touches my head.

  "None of them," I say.

  The old man looks puzzled by my response. Then he looks at me and smiles. He lifts the bucket to my right. The glowing stick is not on fire.

  The old man grows angry. His thin lips twist into an evil line of rage. He lifts another bucket, and again the glowing stick is not on fire. He throws both buckets away, and lifts the last bucket. No fire.

  The old man throws the bucket at me. I put my arms up, and it bounces off.

  "You cheated!" says the old man.

  Mast lowers the spear. I look up at him, and he stares back at me. I look over at Helm, and he looks surprised, but relieved. I have passed the first test.

  The old man
stands up, spits on me, then goes back into the other room.

  "How did you do that?" asks Helm. "Can you control fire?"

  "No. It is something I figured out on my own. When I put out glowing sticks, instead of smashing them into the floor, or soaking them in a bucket of water, I set a bowl on top of them. After a while they go out on their own. I am not sure why. If I were to guess, I would say that fire is like people. It needs to breathe. If it can't breathe, it dies."

  "That was supposed to be a test of your ability to focus," says Mast.

  "Well, Sam passed, which is all that matters. Sam, you will be given time to rest outside before we begin the next trial," says Helm.

  "Before we go, who is the old man?" I ask.

  "It does not matter," says Mast.

  "It matters to me," I say.

  "Yes, but your knowing does not matter to us," says Mast.

  I start to walk toward the other room, but Mast grabs me and pulls me back.

  "No," is all he says.

  Mast shoves me back toward the tunnel then points the spear at me. I decide to give up for now. But I want to know who that was. I turn around and head back through the long, carved out tunnel. Mast follows me, but Helm stays behind.

  I make my way outside, and I'm happy to breathe fresh air again. I feel better now that I have passed my first test. I know that there are still more trials though, and I cannot be overconfident.

  I lay down in a dry patch of clover and look up at the sky. Only a few clouds hang in the endless blue above me. I stare at one as it passes slowly overhead. I close my eyes and feel the cool wind move against my skin.

  After I have calmed down, I sit up.

  "I am ready for the next trial," I say.

  "Then run," says Mast. "Before I kill you."

  19

  I get up from the clover patch and run as fast as I can away from Mast. He waits a moment before chasing after me. I think it's to give me a chance to hide before he hunts me down and kills me.

  Mast is bigger and stronger than me, but he has also seen many more snows than me. He is not young like I am, and he may not be able to run as far as me. He is also carrying a spear, and wearing armor, and they are slowing him down.

  I head toward the field where we killed the wolves only a few days ago. I look behind me, and Mast is so far back that he is difficult to see. I do not have any weapons, and there is no place to hide. Once I am sure Mast won't catch me for a long while, I look for the spot where we killed the wolves.