Sea of the Dead

by Matthew Holmes

  Chapter 10: Happy Birthday

  I am the one who has killed your mother and father, the one whose name will make all the people of Magentara scream for mercy! Die Prince Michael!

  He was freed from his nightmare by a loud shout. “Happy birthday, Michael!” two people shouted together.

  “Reno, Ryan,” Michael said after calming his breath, “who told you?”

  “Everybody knows the prince’s birthday. You were supposed to be paraded through the city today. Your father—” Reno cut himself off.

  “Where’s Tristan?” Michael asked, feeling the weight of knowing his father was gone forever.

  “He went into the forest to practice archery,” Ryan answered. “He left quite a while ago, so he should be back soon,” He looked over to the forest to see Tristan emerge from behind a tree. “Hey, perfect timing!”

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said between gasps, “I lost track of time.”

  Reno brought out a rabbit with a burning stick in the center. “It’s the best I could do for a cake out here, so you better appreciate it.”

  “Thanks Reno,” he said rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He went to eat a piece off of the rabbit, but Sphergol stopped him.

  “We eat later; right now we give you gifts.”

  “What?”

  “Presents, you know, like on a special occasion?” Tristan asked, taking an arrow out of his quiver. “This is my only metal arrow.” Tristan held up a steel-headed arrow with a hollow iron shaft. “At least it won’t catch on fire in mid-air, but it might melt.”

  “Tristan, I can’t take this,” Michael said trying to hand it back.

  “Yes you can. Besides, it was either the arrow or the bow, and I might just need a weapon when the time comes to battle,” Tristan pushed it back to Michael, who hesitantly wrapped it in cloth and hid it under his shirt.

  “This one is from me,” Reno said handing him a pair of leather gloves. They had small, narrow spikes on the knuckles. The back of each gauntlet was plaited with iron. He tried it on his good hand, first spreading his fingers and then clenching his fist. The instant he tightened his fingers, the spikes slid out two inches.

  Michael jumped and pulled them off. “Reno, you should’ve warned me!”

  “That took me all night to build,” Reno said proudly. “If you clench your fist tightly, the spikes come out, but if you just hold your sword they don’t. Also, if you wear them loosely with a little space in the fingertips, the trigger will not release when you make a tight fist. I’m a genius!”

  “Well, they might come in handy. Thank you again,” Michael said, still staring at the deadly gloves.

  “Now, it is time for my gift,” Sphergol said as she entered into his body.

  This time she went into his chest. Michael felt energy flow through his veins, mostly in his right arm. The power surged down to his hand. He could hear popping and squishing sounds coming from inside the limb. The swelling in his hand went down rapidly, and the color returned to normal.

  As Sphergol exited Michael’s body, she said “Happy birthday! I have healed your hand,” Although she seemed healthy, something had changed. Her once brilliant golden color was now a pale yellow.

  “Why didn’t you heal it earlier?” Michael asked, looking at his hand.

  “Uh! Ungrateful—” She said, “Well if you must know, I didn’t heal your hand earlier because we had not established the link between our identities. After I hid in your mind the first time I could have healed you, but Tristan’s arrival made it impractical.”

  “Oh, alright,” Michael said, looking at her pale yellow glow, “What else happened in there?”

  “Nothing! I’m just tired,” she replied quickly. “I believe there’s one more gift to be given,” Tristan and Reno looked towards Ryan.

  “Um… I… that is… well I, um, sort of forgot this was your seventeenth anniversary of life today,” he said, embarrassed.

  “Ryan!” Tristan, Reno and Sphergol all yelled at once.

  “How could you forget the prince’s birthday? He is royalty!” Tristan said.

  “Tristan, I honestly don’t care whether I get gifts or not,” the prince defended.

  After the gifts were given, the rabbit eaten and the different activities were finished; they made a camp fire and sat. The entire world around was dark, except the small fire.

  “I wonder,” Ryan said, looking at Sphergol, “what would have happened if we had never met you?”

  “I’ll tell you what would have happened,” Michael said seriously, “we wouldn’t be stuck here with you, because I would have killed you,” This caused a moment of silence among the group, then an eruption of laughter.

  “I have an idea!” Ryan exclaimed, “Let’s all tell each other about our most embarrassing moments!”

  “That is ridiculous,” Reno said.

  “No, it will be fun!” Ryan pressed for the conversation with strange excitement and urgency.

  “I’ll go first,” Tristan announced. Everybody settled down to hear. “My family was poor, and we didn’t have anything to wash in, so we used the river. We wore short robes so we could go together, in case somebody slipped on a rock and was knocked out.

  “One day the river was strong and when I stepped in, the current started to drag me away. I was lucky that my father caught me before I reached the rapids. When I finally got back on shore, something was missing. I had lost my robe!” Everyone burst out laughing.

  “But that’s not all; I still had to wash. I went to the edge of the stream beside the bushes with my soap and finished washing. From now on it only gets worse!

  “The river was about two miles from my home, and I had to walk the whole way, luckily we walked through the forest until we were behind the house, so I had a little cover, but there was a group of travelers on the road that saw me and laughed. I won’t even mention my father’s comments.”

  “What a ridiculous topic!” Sphergol spat. “I do not feel embarrassment like you weak humans.”

  “You,” Michael replied, “do not have anything to be embarrassed about. You are perfectly round; you don’t even have a face!”

  “But even if I did, I would not be embarrassed.”

  “Sure you wouldn’t,” Reno muttered under his breath.

  “My turn! My turn!” Ryan yelled excitedly. “So, there was this time when I was at my home and I—”

  “There they are, after them!” a shout interrupted Ryan.

  The small group quickly picked up their belongings and fled the camp; several soldiers right behind them.

  The soldiers gained ground rapidly, due to the heavy load of provisions carried by Michael and the others. The clank of metal grew louder and louder as the soldiers came closer. Michael realized that they had to fight their way out.

  “Stop running!” Michael shouted. “Drop your packs, turn around and ready your weapons!” There was a swish as Michael drew his new sword from the decorated blue sheath, a scrape as Tristan pulled back his arrow in his bow, and a grunt as Reno held up his black battle-axe, preparing to fight.

  “Michael, I don’t have a weapon,” Ryan said.

  “Here, you can have my old sword,” Michael said, tossing his sheathed blade to Ryan.

  All four of the band were now armed and ready to fight; Sphergol was also ready to work magic.

  When the soldiers were within fighting distance, they were the first to strike. There were ten; all were well armed. The armor was red, and on the spot where the symbol of Jenoth once sat was a black dagger.

  Malumous, Michael thought to himself bitterly.

  The soldiers attacked Michael. He swung his sword around him. There was a loud ring as the diamond edge hit metal. Michael glanced up and saw the red steel fuse back together. The guard raised his long sword in the air, and then dropped it. He fell to the ground with an arrow in the back of his neck. Behind him stood Tristan preparing another arrow.

  “Slash their necks or under their arms!” Michael y
elled. “It’s the only opening in their armor!” Michael turned and faced a soldier. Blank eyes stared down at him, cold and dark eyes, almost hypnotizing. The prince didn’t even realize that the man was swinging his sword at him.

  The blade was six inches from his head when the arm fell to the ground. The soldier screamed as blood poured down his side. Michael came to his senses as he saw the tip of a sword slice into the soldier’s neck. He was dead in seconds.

  “Happy birthday!” Ryan shouted over the sound of metal ringing. “I just saved your life!”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Reno split the helmet of a soldier. The man fell to the ground. The helmet repaired itself, but a red puddle formed quickly around his crushed skull.

  Michael could hear screams coming from all directions as more and more soldiers were injured, but there was one that he recognized. He looked and saw Tristan lying on the ground holding his bleeding leg. A solider was standing beside the boy, pointing a sword down at him.

  Michael went into a blind rage. The next thing he knew, he was standing beside a mutilated body. The smell of death filled his nostrils as blood dripped off of his shimmering sword.

  His companions stared at him with disbelief, and Sphergol pulsated with light as she hovered near. Michael had slain the seven remaining soldiers in his rampage. He looked at the sword then the dead men all around, felt sick in the pit of his stomach, and then all went black as he fainted.