by Morgan Rice
It was all a blur. He recalled the night before, climbing the cliff, finally reaching the island, laying there. Eventually, the other boys had made it up, too, and they had all been rounded up by the commanders of the Legion, who told them to rest for the night and prepare for morning. They had broken them up into small groups, based on their ages, and Thor had splintered off with Reese, O’Connor, Elden and the twins, along with four other boys Thor didn’t know. They had been directed towards small caves in the craggy mountainside of the desolate island. Night had fallen fast, and a thick fog settled in, so Thor couldn’t see more of what lay in store out there.
They had all barely made it to the cave, dripping wet, freezing, as dark settled in. Someone had built a fire, and Thor remembered laying down beside it, and falling fast asleep.
The next thing he knew, he had been awakened.
Thor’s stomach growled in the morning light, but he dared not say anything. He had slept in his clothes and boots, as did the others, and at least the fire had partially dried them out.
The commanders prodded one boy after another out the cave, and Thor felt himself being pushed from behind, and he stumbled out, into the strong light of the morning. The red mist still hung over the island, seemed to rise up from the island itself, but at least in the morning light Thor could see much more of this place. The island was even more eerie than he remembered-a desolate landscape of boulders and rocks, of small mountains and large craters. The horizon stretched forever and there were no trees anywhere in sight. Thor could hear the waves crashing, omnipresent, and knew that the ocean lay below, somewhere over the edge of the cliffs that demarcated the island in every direction. It was a fateful reminder that if one got too close to the edge, one would go hurling to one’s death.
Thor could hardly imagine how they would train here. This island was so empty, and there looked to be no training ground in sight-no targets, no weapons, no armor, no horses.
His brothers in arms filtered out of the cave and stood with him in the morning light, all of them huddling around, squinting, raising their hands to block the sun. Kolk marched before them, as angry and intense as ever.
“Don’t applaud yourselves just because you made it here,” Kolk said. “You must all really think you’re something special. Well, you’re not.”
Kolk paced.
“Being on this island is a privilege,” he continued. “Your staying here is not a right. It is not a gift. You will stay here if-and only if-you earn it. Every moment of every day. And that begins with your getting permission to be here in the first place. Before your training can begin, you must win permission from the locals.”
“The locals?” O’Connor asked.
“This island is inhabited by an ancient warrior tribe. The Kavos. They’ve lived and trained here a thousand years. Each and every warrior that comes here must ask and gain their permission. If you don’t, you’ll get shipped back to the Ring. You Legion members have been broken down into small groups, and you will each, separately, need to gain permission. You cannot count on the entire Legion now-only on the members in your group.”
Thor looked around at his group of eight and wondered.
“But where are they?” Elden asked, rubbing his eyes against the morning sun. “The Kavos?”
“Finding them will not be easy,” Kolk said. “They don’t want to be found. They don’t like you. And for many of you recruits, it will not go well. They are a belligerent people. They will challenge you. That is how your test of manhood begins.”
“But how do we find them?” Conven pressed.
Kolk frowned.
“This island is vast and unforgiving. You may not ever find them. You may starve trying to get there. You may get lost. You may not make it back.”
Kolk put his hands on his hips and smiled.
“Welcome to The Hundred.”
*
Thor turned and looked at his group: there were eight of them, standing there, in the middle of nowhere, looking at each other, dazed and confused. Exhausted. There was O’Connor, Reese, Elden, the twins-and two others. One he recognized-the coward, the boy who froze up on the ships, who Thor rescued. And there was one other, whom Thor did not recognize. He looked to be their age, and he stood apart from the rest, with dark hair and eyes, looking away from the others, and with a permanent scowl on his face. There was something about him that Thor did not like, something that seemed dark. Something … evil.
“So where now?” O’Connor asked.
The others grumbled and looked away.
“Where are the Kavos?” Elden asked.
Reese shrugged.
“I have no idea.”
“Well, to the South is the ocean, so we can’t go there,” Reese said. “We can head North, East, or West. That wasteland he spokes of looks like it’s to the north,” he said, squinting into the horizon.
“This entire island looks like a wasteland,” Elden said.
“I say we head north, and see what happens,” Reese said.
The others all seemed to be in agreement, and they set off, beginning their long march. Krohn, whining, marched beside Thor.
“I’m William,” said a boy, and Thor turned to see the boy he had saved in the waters, the one who had been afraid of the shield exercise. He walked beside Thor and looked at him gratefully. “I never had a chance to thank you for saving my life back there, in the sea.”
“I’m Thor,” he answered, “and you have nothing to thank me for.”
Thor liked him; he was a frail, thin boy with large hazel eyes and longish hair that fell over his eyes. There was something to his demeanor that worried Thor-he seemed fragile. He didn’t seem as strong as the others, and he seemed very on edge. Thor sensed that he wasn’t cut out to be here.
Thor hiked silently with the seven other boys across the wasteland for hours, the only sound that of their boots crunching on rocks and dirt, each lost in his own world of anticipation. It was unusually cold for a summer morning, even as the first sun began to rise, and the mist still lingered, up to their ankles. A persistent cold breeze swept through this place that never seemed to go away. The eight of them walked in silence, side-by-side, marching with nothing but more wasteland on the horizon. Thor swallowed, thirsty, nervous, wondering if they would find wherever it was they needed to go-and not sure he wanted to. It had been much more reassuring having dozens of his Legion members around-and with just the eight of them, he felt more prone to attack.
Thor heard the distant screech of an animal, and it was unlike any animal noise he’d ever heard. It sounded like an eagle crossed with a bear. The others turned and looked, too, and Thor saw real fear in William’s eyes. Thor looked around, trying to pinpoint where it was coming from, but it was impossible. There was nothing but wasteland, fading into the mist.
The others looked on edge-except for the final boy, the dark-haired one whose name, Thor remembered, was Malic. He still scowled, and he seemed preoccupied, lost in his own world. As Thor observed him, he began to dimly remember who he was. He remembered hearing rumors about him, the one boy who had joined the Legion by killing a man. If the rumors were true, they had come to his town for Selection and had skipped him over, and he rushed forward and killed a man twice his size in front of them. Impressed, they had decided to change their minds and accept him into the Legion. Apparently in every crop of the Legion, so Reese told him, they liked to take in one person who set everyone else on edge, who was a trained, ruthless killer. In this crop, that was Malic.
Thor looked away, and focused again on the landscape, on his surroundings, trying to stay vigilant. He looked up and realized there was a different hue to the sky, an orange green; there was a strange, thick feel to the mist, a different smell to the air, cool and crisp. This place was different than any place he’d ever been. Everything about it felt foreign. Whatever power he held within him was telling him something about this place, that it was different, primordial. He could feel the presence of the dragon, the fo
rce of its breath.
In fact, as they walked, he couldn’t help but feel as if they were inside a dragon’s lair, walking on the mist created by its breath. The place felt magical. It was like the feeling he’d had when crossing the Canyon-but it was different here. Here, it had a more ominous quality. Thor felt certain that other creatures lived here, too-and none that were welcoming.
“And what if when we find these Kavos they say no?” O’Connor called out to the group, wondering aloud the same thing that was on everyone’s mind.
“What if they don’t give us permission?” O’Connor continued. “Then what?”
“Then we make them give us permission,” Elden answered. “If it is not given to us, then we fight for it. Do you think our enemies in battle will grant us permission to invade their towns? That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? Isn’t that what this is all about?”
Reese shrugged.
“I don’t know what this is all about,” he said. “All I know is that I remember the stories I heard from my older brother, Kendrick. He told me of the first time he came here. His close friends both died.”
Thor felt a chill at his words. He turned and looked at Reese, and he could tell from his face that he was serious. The others looked more anxious than before.
“How?” O’Connor asked.
Reese shrugged.
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“But do you really think they would let Legion members die here?” Conval asked.
“What purpose would that serve? To kill off their own recruits?” Conven added.
Reese shrugged, and fell silent as they all continued marching.
“You said it yourself. Recruits,” Malic suddenly said.
Everyone turned to him, surprised. His voice was dark and guttural, surprising Thor, as he had never heard it before. He did not look back at them, but stared straight ahead, his hand always on the hilt of his dagger, playing with it as if it were his best friend. Its black-and-silver handle gleamed in the light.
“Recruits,” he added. “We’re all recruits. None of us are members. No one is truly a Legion member until they graduate. Age twenty. Six years to go. They’re trying to weed us all out. They want a force of the most elite knights in the world. If we can’t make it, they want us dead. They don’t care. Why should they? There are a thousand more just like us in every village in the Ring.”
Thor thought about that as they fell back in silence and continued to march, their boots crunching. They headed deeper and deeper into the wilderness of this place, and Thor wondered about the other Legion members, all the other groups, where on the island they were, what obstacles they had to face. He was glad to be in the company of these boys.
As hours more passed, as the sun reached its peak in the sky, as Thor was fading out, beginning to lose focus, suddenly, there came a loud hissing and bubbling noise right near him. He jumped out of the way just in time, and beside him, the earth suddenly bubbled up. He watched the soil turn orange, then bright red, then hiss and explode. Lava shot up, high into the air, sparking and smoking, sending small flames in every direction. A small burst of flame landed on Thor’s sleeve, and he swatted it as it began to burn him; luckily, he managed to put it out, although it lasted long enough to sting. Krohn snarled at it, ready to attack the lava.
Thor and the other boys ran away from the bursting lava spring, keeping their distance as it seemed to bubble ever higher. It was a good thing they did, because the ground around it began to melt.
“What is this place?” William asked, fear in his voice.
“Let’s keep moving,” Reese said.
They all turned and continued heading north, hurrying away from the lava burst. But just as they were gaining their distance, suddenly, another lava spring burst up from the ground, with no warning, just a few feet away on their other side.
William screamed and jumped, the flames just missing him.
They all hurried to gain distance from that one, too-but then, suddenly, all around them and as far as they could see, lava springs burst out. There came hissing and popping noises everywhere, as the land burst up like a minefield. Even while terrified, Thor could not help but notice that it created a beautiful display of light.
They all stood rooted in place, afraid to take a step forward. Lava springs were spaced out every twenty feet or so and it would be tricky to navigate between them.
“How are we supposed to continue through that?” William asked.
“At least they’ve already exploded,” Elden said. “Now all we have to do is walk between them.”
“But what if others explode?” William asked.
Clearly, they had no choice.
They all continued forward, into the lava field, Thor careful, with the others, to weave in between the lava springs. Luckily, no others burst as they went, but Thor was on guard the entire time.
Just as the lava field seemed to reach its end, suddenly, one last lava spring burst up, catching them all off guard. It burst right near O’Connor, too close for him to get out of the way in time. His screams filled the air, as did the stench of burning flesh. O’Connor’s left bicep was singed badly by a glob of lava and O’Connor screamed, smoke and flames rising from his tunic. Standing right beside him was Malic, who could easily have helped him put it out. But he did not.
Thor and Reese jumped onto O’Connor, knocking him down, putting it out. O’Connor screamed, and Thor saw the burn was bad, and it looked incredibly painful.
He and Reese pulled O’Connor to his feet, and Thor tore a fresh piece of cloth from his own tunic, and wrapped it around O’Connor’s arm.
“Why didn’t you help him?” Reese yelled at Malic. “You were standing right beside him. You could have put it out.”
Thor had been wondering the same thing.
Malic shrugged, nonchalant, then actually smiled over at them.
“Why should I?” he asked. “Why should I care if he gets burned?”
Thor stared back, disbelieving.
“Are you saying you don’t care about protecting your brothers?” Elden asked.
Malic smiled back, and Thor could sense the evil in his eyes.
“Of course I don’t. In fact, I would kill each one of you if I thought it benefited me.”
His smile never disappeared, and Thor could see how serious he was. Just looking at him, seeing the depth of his evil, gave him a chill.
The others stared back at him, flabbergasted.
“We should all kill you right now,” Elden answered.
“Then do it,” Malic said. “Give me a reason to kill you.”
Elden took a step towards him, scowling, drawing his sword-but suddenly, the twins stepped between them.
“Don’t waste your time,” Conven said to Elden. “He’s not worth it.”
Elden stopped, scowling, then finally turned away.
Krohn, beside Thor, clearly did not like Malic either. He growled quietly in his direction, the hairs standing up on his back whenever he looked at him.
“Let’s get out of this place,” Reese said. “Can you walk?” he asked O’Connor, who stood between them, breathing hard and clutching his arm.
O’Connor nodded back.
“It hurts like hell. But I’ll be okay.”
The group continued on, marching through the wasteland, all of them on edge, looking out for more lava springs. Finally, after an hour, Thor felt confident they’d passed them, and began to lower his guard.
As they walked and walked, as the sun grew longer in the sky, Thor began to wonder how long this would go on, and whether they would ever find the Kavos. How lost were they?
“How do we know we’re even going in the right direction?” William suddenly called out to the group, echoing what was on everybody’s minds.
He was met with only silence in return, and the whistling of the wind. That was answer enough-no one knew.
Hour followed hour as they marched through the wasteland, dirt and stones crunching bene
ath their feet. Thor was getting tired and hungry, and above all thirsty. The cool morning had morphed into a hot day, and the wind that whipped through only brought dust and more hot air. He licked his lips and realized he would do anything for a sack of water.
Thor looked up and blinked as he thought he spotted something scurrying in the distance. He’d thought it looked something like an ostrich, though it came and went so fast, he was unsure. Could it be? An animal in this place, in the middle of nowhere?
He squinted into the light, the morning mist now mostly burnt off, and thought he saw a small cloud of dust.
“Did you see that?” he asked Reese.
“What?” Reese said.
“I saw it,” Conven said. “It looked like some kind of animal.”
Now Thor wondered. As they all continued to march, suddenly, another animal sprinted right for them. They drew their swords, but the animal moved too quickly, and veered away at the last second.
“What the hell was that?” Conval asked.
Thor had definitely seen it this time-it had a bright yellow and black body, a round belly, long, skinny legs, at least ten feet high, with short, thick wings for arms, and a huge head. It looked like a bumblebee on stilts.
Suddenly, another one came darting out of nowhere, charging right for them. This one screeched as it went, flapping its wings with a buzzing noise, and seemed to charge right for Thor. Thor, his sword drawn, dodged out of the way at the last second, as the beast brushed by him. He swung his sword, but the beast was so fast, he wasn’t even close. He swung at air. Krohn snarled and snapped at it, but also missed. He didn’t know how something that big could move that fast. The brush with the beast left a bruise on his arm.
The others look baffled, but Reese nodded knowingly.
“Hemlocks,” Reese said, relaxing his guard. “They’re harmless, unless you provoke them.”
“Harmless?” O’Connor said. “That didn’t seem harmless.”
“Provoke them like how?” Elden said. “You mean by, like, going into their territory? Because that is exactly what we are doing.”
Thor studied the horizon and suddenly there came into view hundreds of hemlocks, scurrying every which way, their wings flapping and buzzing, gathering in the distance and making a great noise like a hornet’s nest. They zigzagged left and right, and all eight boys stopped in their tracks. They stood there, frozen, unsure what to do. It was clear that if they continued to move forward, they’d be attacked.
