Immortal

by Lacy Armendariz

  A Thief in the House

  Gabriel walked through a dim hallway. The loud voices from the other room were fading. There were pictures on the walls on each side. Only the ones with the small lanterns above them could be seen. The ones that could be made out were of men who stood with their swords held high. Dragons and other lifeless creatures lay beside them in the pictures. Gabriel assumed these were Griffon’s favorite pictures; the ones that had been purposely hung to be seen even at night.

  He heard a voice at the end of the hallway, in one of the rooms. He listened. He tried to make out what was being said, but the voice was just too faint to be heard with the thick wall that stood between them. He gently placed his hand on the knob and took a deep breath before turning it. He needed to clear his throat, but it was too risky.

  He turned his head and looked with one eye through the tiny crack; the other squeezed shut. There were two men who stood face to face. Their faces could not be determined, (as the room was just as lightless as the hallway had been). The figures stood in silence for a few moments until one of them spoke.

  “I guess I’d be a fool not to go with you. Still, I don’t see how you plan to pull this one off. I don’t think anyone could—not even you my friend.”

  “All I have to say to you is that if I don’t get what I want, I will take what I want!”

  “And you always have, but how do you take a gift—a gift that was meant for someone else?”

  “Ha! You really don’t think I can do it! Stay behind then, but I swear—” Griffon pulled a knife on the other man. “If you tell a single soul, I swear, I’ll kill you!”

  “I won’t tell anyone, I swear it! I won’t tell a soul!”

  Griffon laughed and looked at the floor briefly. He jerked his head back up and screamed, “Get out of here then!”

  The man stumbled over his feet as he hurried out of the room. Gabriel stepped backwards into a dark room across the hallway. When the man had made his way down the hall, Gabriel stepped out of the other room and took another peek at Griffon. He was now sitting at a desk. There was a lamp on the desk that was on. Griffon was looking something over very closely. He was looking at the map. He leaned in close to the map and studied it. He smiled, folded the map and kissed it. He then put it back in his drawer and shut off the light. Gabriel saw him headed to the door and backed up into the other room a second time.

  Gabriel looked down the hallway and watched Griffon turn the corner before crossing the hallway and going into the other room. He slowly opened the drawer. There it was. He took the map and put it in his back pocket, and walked to the door to leave the room. Just as he was exiting the room, he looked up to find Griffon entering the room as he was leaving.

  “Thief!” he called. “There’s a thief in the house!”

  The people from the other rooms shot down the hallway.

  “I’ll take care of him,” a broad and hairy man with a deep voice said as he went for Gabriel, followed by several others who surged toward him.

  “Stop!” Staysia called as she pushed through the crowd. “He’s not a thief! Griffon is the thief. He took my mother and father’s lives, and stole from my father. I have his tooth in my bag!” She pulled out the tooth and showed it to the people. “Have you been looking for this?” she asked Griffon.

  “Sh-She’s lying to you! She’s lying to all of you!” Griffon said.

  “Am I lying? What does everyone else think?” She looked around at the hardened faces that turned soft. “Griffon and all the others who claim this person and that is a thief, are only lying to excuse themselves. Look what has happened to Gnome Hills! No one is allowed to leave—”

  Before she finished, a tall man from the crowd said, “They are protecting us from the thieves—from the ones outside of our town, as well as the ones inside our town. We have not grown violent against one another! We have only become violent in the way of protection from the ones who take from us—the ones who are planning to kill our women and children! They whisper about it at night in their tents and huts. They sharpen their knives and growl at us when we walk passed them. We get them before they get us. We must!”

  “That’s not true,” Staysia said.

  “What has he taken from you, then? H mm?” a woman covered in fur, from the hat on top of her head, to the shoes on her feet asked. “Show us what he’s got in his hand, and maybe we will witness for ourselves if you speak the truth.”

  Gabriel and Staysia both knew they could not reveal the mere existence of the map to anyone. They looked at one another without saying a word.

  “Aha! You two are liars, liars and thieves!” the woman declared. The crowd went for Gabriel again. Griffon crossed his arms and smiled. He leaned against the wall and watched them commence their attack on Gabriel.

  “Everyone get off of him now!” said a loud voice from the back of the crowd. It was Tristen. They turned their attention to him. “I am the son of Cove and I say she speaks the truth! Does anyone want to take this up with my father? Or do you take my —” he paused and held one hand out in front of him. He poured water on his hand and it became a sword. “Or do you take my word for it? What will it be? Is there anyone here who wishes to challenge me in a sword fight? Is there anyone here who wishes to speak to my father directly? Or do you wish to let all three of us leave with our own property which we came here to reclaim?”

  The large man who had offered to get the map from Gabriel for Griffon stepped in front of Griffon. “I will take care of him! You three may go,” he said.

  “Wait! I would like to look into the eyes of this murderer!” Staysia went up to Griffon and stared him in his eyes. “You are not going to get away with what you have done. You will never do what you have done to them to anyone else ever again.” She pulled out her sword and held Griffon at point. She put the sword in between his eyes. He backed into a corner. His knees became wobbly and began to shake.

  “Y-You won’t get away with this.” He took his eyes away from Staysia and looked around the room. “N-None of you will g-get away with this!”

  “Is that all you have to say for yourself?” Staysia screamed. “Very well then, I will feel no pity for you when you get what you deserve. I should kill you myself! You know, that is why I came here.” Her eyes moved downward, when her eyes met his again, she laughed low. She shook her head and said, “You aren’t worth it. No, there is someone else who will see to it that you never harm another soul—someone who you will meet soon.”

  She turned, but just as she did, she turned back around and stuck her sword in the wall, near his head, causing him to hover both of his flat palms over his face. He removed them and tears welled in his eyes. Staysia laughed and turned to the crowd. “Who pities this man?” she asked. The crowd groaned and sighed. They shook their heads and looked at the ground and walked away. She stared into Griffon’s eyes once again. “No one,” she said. She stuck her sword back in its place, and nodded at Gabriel and Tristen.

  The three of them left the hut. The others who thought they had known Griffon all so well, were leaving as well. “Hey! Where’s everyone going?” Griffon called out his door. No one said a word to him. There were only two men who had sided with him. They stood, one on each side of him.

  “Peace will once again thrive along the streets of Gnome Hills. It will shout from the rooftops and echo through the forest. It will roll down the mountains and flood through the valleys below! Your hearts will once again feel what was forgotten.” Tristen called out. “I will see to it!”

  There were voices of hope from the crowd who had turned their backs on Griffon now. Their voices were tinged with joy that took the place of hatred and paranoia, madness and vengeance. The people had been under a sort of curse; a curse that was not compelled by sorcery or witchcraft, but by a common human trait: it was driven by a lie.

  Tristen, Gabriel, and Staysia walked side by side as they exited the hut. Staysia slowed her pace, until she finally came to a complete stop. Neither Tristen nor
Gabriel noticed until she had turned. She barreled towards Griffon with her hand on her sword. When she reached the steps that led to the door, she pulled out her sword and held it in the center of his chest.

  “Staysia! Wait! No!” Gabriel called.

  Staysia extended one of her arms at him, and without looking at him, she said, “Stay back! His days of murder are over!” Griffon turned and tried to run into his house. He stumbled and Staysia threw herself on top of him. She raised her sword, and just as she brought it down to stab him, Gabriel grabbed ahold of it, and put his hands over hers. She tried to push him away and struggled with him.

  “Staysia it won’t take the pain away!” Jasper called. Gabriel now filled with worry that Jasper had blown his cover, he turned, and as he did, Staysia brought the sword down and the blade stuck in Griffon’s arm. “Aagh!” he cried.

  “Staysia, please stop this!” Gabriel pleaded. Staysia stood. Gabriel rose to his feet behind her. She put her hands over her mouth. She turned to Gabriel and began to cry on his shoulder. “Take them all away!” Griffon bellowed. The two men that had stood by his side bolted towards Staysia and Gabriel. “Oh no you don’t!” said a voice.

  The crowd had returned, and they stood with their arms across their chests. A woman tucked Jasper in his little stroller and instructed Tristen to take them all and leave Gnome Hills before Jasper is taken and jailed. Tristen nodded and grabbed Staysia and Gabriel by their arms. He took them outside and poured some water onto the ground that made a circle filled with water large enough for them all to jump through. “Go! I will catch up with you,” he said.

  “I cannot leave yet. I need to get my parents out of this town! I need to let them know that I am not dead. They have certainly heard by now that I have been killed.” Gabriel said.

  “Worry not about your parents. Peace will be in Gnome Hills once again before you ever return. I will be sure that they get the message that you are alive and well. I promise. Go now with Staysia. Go, Mirideous awaits you.”

  Gabriel twisted his lips to one side and nodded. He took Staysia’s hand.

  Staysia, Gabriel and Jasper, Gabriel’s horse, Humberto and Barthesus, all jumped into the water portal and were out of sight.

  Tristen walked up to Griffon and stood over him.

  “Is Cove coming for him?” a man asked him. Tristen walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bucket of water. He threw it into the air and smoothed it into a circle. He stepped back and folded his arms. “Take a look for yourselves,” he said.

  A clear display of Cove’s face appeared.

  “Father,” said Tristen. “This is the man—this is the man who has filled the town with lies and hatred. The good have been portrayed as evil and the naïve have fallen for his deceit. The people will only suffer as long as he is alive!” Tristen proclaimed to his father.

  Griffon fidgeted as he lay on his side with his hand in the air. “Please spare my life!” he begged.

  “What have you done?” Cove’s voice echoed throughout the house.

  “I have done wrong! I am sorry for what I have done. I will do anything, anything to keep my life.”

  “Yes, and anything to prolong it,” Tristen scoffed.

  “First, I want you to announce what you have done to all the people of Gnome Hills.” Cove began. “I want you to be sure every soul that resides here is gathered to hear the truth. I want you to be sure that the town is at peace again, just as it was before you tainted it with your lies. After that, you will be my personal pet until the day you die. And might I remind you, it will be a lot sooner than you had hoped! You were a fool to go after the map in the first place. What could a mere man like you say or do to the Sea Child to take the gift that was meant for Staysia from the beginning of time? Do you even know who she is?”

  Griffon ground his teeth together and tried to come to his feet. Before he could, Cove lifted one of his hands and Griffon was forced to stay in his place on the floor.

  “How dare you!” Cove bellowed. An invisible force pulled Griffon off of the floor by his ear.

  “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” he cried. “Put me down! Please put me down!”

  Cove then dropped him to the floor. “Aagh!” Griffon wailed as he curled himself in a ball and covered his head with his hands.

  “Yes, that is a better place for you!” Cove looked around the room at all the people who stared down at Griffon and whispered to one another. “Isn’t this a better place for Griffon? On his knees, curled in a ball, covering himself in fear?”

  “Yes!” they cheered. “He’ll get what he deserves!” Several of them said. Others agreed and nodded their heads.

  “I will be on my way now. Griffon,” Cove stared Griffon in his eyes, his miserable eyes that had now witnessed his own defeat. “Griffon, I will be watching you.” In a flash, a water tunnel came and sucked Cove away.

  “He’s gone!” the people said in awe. “What are you to do now, Tristen? Will you stay here in Gnome Hills?” the woman who had answered the door asked him.

  “No, I must pay a visit to some friends of mine, and then I must accompany my other friends on another journey.”

  “Will you be back?” she asked.

  Tristen took a moment to answer. “Yes,” he said finally. “I will be back.”

  “Good luck on your journey then,” said the woman. She smiled at him and began to walk out of the hut.

  “Wait!” he called.

  “What is it?”

  “I need you to do something for me. Please find my friend, Gabriel’s parents and tell them he is alive and well and that he will see them soon. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yes, I will be sure they get the message.” The woman turned around and smiled. “Thank you for all you have done,” she said.

  “Please don’t forget to tell them!”

  “Hey, I promise I won’t forget!”

  Tristen turned and nodded at the people inside the hut. With that, he was on his way to the hut where his brother had lived until his death. Tristen felt a wave of guilt come over him. He wished he had been there when all of these things had taken place. He wished he had gotten to his brother before things had gotten out of control. He felt he had been overly consumed with his self, and that discovering that he was the son of Cove had thrown him out-of- whack. Tristen wished his brother had been the one who was the son of Cove. Surely, he could have saved his own life if that had been the case.

  Tristen and his father, Cove, were certainly close to straightening out the chaos of Gnome Hills, but Tristen was sure he should pay a visit to his friends before continuing. He walked slowly down the streets. He paid close attention to the people who stirred about spreading the word about what had happened. Griffon would soon tell all of the people the truth, if he knew what was best for him. If he did not, he would certainly face the consequences. Tristen was getting very close to his friends’ hut. He thought of his brother as he walked down the walk way and knocked on the door.

  A tall and skinny man wearing overalls answered the door. He had a red beard and a bald head. He smiled wide at Tristen and gave him a hug and a pat on the back.

  “Tristen, so very nice to see you,” he said.

  “Rooney, good see you.” The house was bedecked with manly ornaments. Things like guns, swords, and dead birds with fluffed wings hung from the walls. There was a huge bear skin rug laid out on the floor. Tristen could smell and hear tea brewing. The hut was warm and cozy. A picture of his brother that hung in the center of the room caught his eye. He glimpsed at it and then turned his attention to Garrot who fidgeted in his chair. He had a warm blanket wrapped around him and was opening his eyes from a nap. Garrot was a broad shouldered man who also had a long beard, a black beard. He wore a snow cap around his ears and a red plaid shirt was buttoned up to the very top button just below his Adam’s apple.

  “Tristen,” he said with a casual smile. He rubbed his face with both hands and sat up straighter in his chair. “You come to save us?”

&nb
sp; “I came to check on you and everyone else here in this god-forsaken town.”

  “Aw, I don’t blame you. After all, we couldn’t save your brother.”

  “Don’t ever say that again, Garrot. There was nothing you could have done.”

  “No?” Garrot said as he shook his head.

  “Well, I didn’t have to do much of anything once my father stepped in. Everything will be back to normal soon.”

  Garrot folded his hands behind his head and leaned back against the chair. “We must be doing something right if Cove is willing to step in,” he said.

  “Yeah, or someone was doing a lot of wrong,” Tristen answered.

  “Beast tamer set out to get the giants, guards let him leave to everyone’s surprise. Someone killed him up north, accused him of murder.”

  “Ah yes! The Doreau brothers? Gabriel is alive and well. The guards were probably getting tired of the chaos themselves.”

  “Is he now? That’s good news, where’s he at?”

  “He’s taking a friend of mine to see someone,” Tristen said as he got a piece of bread that was on the counter. He took a large bite.

  “Tea?” Rooney offered.

  Tristen sat down at a round wooden table in the kitchen. “Please,” he answered with a cheek full of bread. Garrot joined him, and after pouring three cups of tea, Rooney sat down too.

  “Sorry we didn’t save Jed,” Rooney said.

  Tristen swallowed and said, “Will you two stop blaming yourselves? I don’t blame you.”

  “I just feel like if I would have been there things would have been different,” said Rooney.

  “Yes and so do I, so does Garrot. I don’t want either of you to blame yourselves.”

  “You don’t understand! You weren’t even here in Gnome Hills. We were just around the corner. We were supposed to stay together—all of us. That was the only day we left him here by his self. If we hadn’t have taken so long in town then he would still be here,” Garrot said.