The Boy and His Curse

by Michael P Mordenga

  The group took a pale dirt trail surrounded by trees leading north. Called the golden trail, Phaenix merchants used the path to go to the Sprawl. The dirt trail was ideal for pushing carts and hauling materials toward the North. Its width reminded Ethan of a major road in New York City leading up to Times Square.

  “Ya know,” Ethan recalled, “this place is sort of reminding me of one of those fantasy places in the books and movies.”

  Caitilin gave him a warm smile. “Your world has a weird portrayal of how Magi really works.”

  “No, hear me out,” Ethan said. “We have this story where some kids get stuck in a winter land and a large cat has to lead them to safety.”

  Hinson rolled his eyes at Caitilin. “Actually, the author got it wrong if I am thinking of the same event. Some Earthians visited the Perktower guild in the eastern lands and it was an owl that brought them to safety.We don’t have snow in Magi.”

  “I think one of the apes in Perktower had massive dandruff. Maybe that’s where they got that.” Hinson grinned.

  Ethan tried again. “That sounds like another story about a boy who uses an owl to learn about magic spells. He could fly as well.”

  Caitilin was shocked. “I remember that piece of history, but your world needs to get their facts straight. It was a young woman who tried to learn the ancient Wolfian art. The woman was deeply disappointed because the only Wolfian who would teach her was a broom seller. She ended up learning the ancient art of sweeping.”

  “That doesn’t sound right,” Ethan pondered. “What about the team of small people that had to bring a piece of jewelry to a volcano?”

  Hinson laughed. “That’s a story in your world? Our jewelry merchants usually tell that to outsiders to get them to throw away their old jewelry and buy new ones. They tell them that old rings and earrings are cursed and they need to throw them into the nearest volcano. I surely hope your world hasn’t taken that story too seriously.

  Ethan shifted his eyes.

  They continued to traverse the wooded area.

  As Hinson spoke about the woodland flora, Caitilin drank in his wisdom. Everything about this deacon was captivating and enticing. He was one of the best examples from her Readying Class who embraced deacon learning and held it close to his life. All the other deacons and deaconesses didn’t hold a flame flicker to Hinson’s leadership and knowledge. He was so holy in his intentions and pure in his motives. His mouth was a poetic musical instrument. When thinking about this she had to remind herself that she was only admiring the benefits of his priestly learning and nothing physical. Besides, what would a deaconess like her have anything to do with the next high priest?

  The first break they took was in the middle of the trail. Caitilin started the fire pit and Ethan was in charge of rationing the food. He wasn’t worried about running out, especially since the last snack had made him sick. He gave everyone an apple and watched them enjoy it over the blaze of the fire.

  Caitilin held the red apple over the fire. A syrup melted from the fruit and into her hand. She began to rub it onto her face and then wipe it off. Her face looked glittery and fluorescent.

  “This is how Phaenix maidens make their faces stand out to their betrothals,” she said, specifically smiling at Hinson.

  “You should take that off your face,” Hinson reprimanded. “It makes us more noticeable.”

  Ethan smirked and then thought of the girl he met before he was whisked away to Faeria. Kioko was off on Earth somewhere, looking at clothing designs and letting her fiery red waterfall of hair entice the boys around her. Would she put apple goop on her face for him? The thought made him sigh deeply.

  “Caitilin,” he asked, “how does the betrothal system work in Faeria?”

  She beamed. “First the Phaenix men have to learn their trade from the Readying House. Once they are finished, they need to complete a Trueman test proving they are adequate in their profession. Only then can they purchase the hand of a Phaenix maiden from her Readying House. Usually the price for a beautiful maiden is seven hog hides, six silver rings, eight golden butterfly nests and eleven tunics of pure silk.”

  Ethan thought about getting that for Kioko, but he wasn’t sure he could cut open a hog or make silver rings. He would probably make her an iTunes playlist of her favorite band and maybe buy her some earrings, which was the dating price of the maidens in his high school. Yet it was no use wishing for things that might not be. Ethan stopped himself from thinking about her.

  “I finished my Trueman test,” Hinson said, while polishing the wood on his bow. “I had to teach three Elfins the strict code of the Shaye. They loved debauchery and swore like enraged midget woodies, but I achieved it after much patience. I wasn’t allowed back into the homeland until they fully understood it.”

  Caitilin felt hope rising in her. “Will you find a bride now?”

  “As a matter of fact, there is a love of my life I have found.”

  “Who is it?” She felt her blood tingle wildly.

  “The Daysun is my only love. I can never express how much I love my master the Daysun.”

  The blood stopped tingling inside her and she went back to eating her apple.

  Ethan scratched his head and looked at the fairly attractive blonde girl and the dark-haired Hinson, “If your babies come from the dirt, why get married? You guys don’t even take care of them.”

  Hinson and Caitilin looked at each other, arguing with their eyes who would share this trinket of knowledge. Caitilin won since it was primarily a maiden’s story.

  “The first family of Phaenix was the Bastian family. The father, Odom, was allowed to be father of any flower sprout in the great land of Faeria. But when he stepped on a flower in great anger, he was punished with the inability to see his sprouts until his wife was buried. That was the fall of the Phaenix. But out of the Daysun’s mercy, he established a ritual of marriage so that a male and a female would need each other for love and comfort.”

  The story made sense and Ethan nodded, while Hinson shook his head in agreement. ”We are created with a need for one another. It explains why companionship is so important within the Phaenix race.”

  Caitilin bubbled up. “Also, in our vast history as a people, we have always had an even number of males and females so every Phaenix would have a mate. The number has never been unbalanced. Our Daysun watches over us.”

  Ethan felt the need to eat something for the journey and eyed the apple. It was gooey and wide, and he figured that even a different universe couldn’t ruin fruit. He bit into it and let the piece tumble in his mouth. It tasted sugary and sweet like the air he was breathing. This piece joyfully made its way down his throat. He took another huge bite and thoroughly enjoyed the taste.

  “Yup,” Hinson said, not looking up from his work. “It’s hard to believe, but the sugarwine apple comes from the yellow mushroom family. They have the same seeds, but the apples are germinated by ash berries.”

  Ethan stopped chewing long enough to notice Caitilin’s horrified expression, and then he realized his grievous error. It hit him like a whirlwind. First the world started to spin until he was forced to close his eyes, which made the inside of his eyelids spin. Then the colors began to form in odd blobs and shapes. They flashed so brilliantly Ethan needed to hug the ground.

  Caitilin immediately rolled him over, knelt on his chest and tried to pour water in his mouth. Ethan jerked his body too fast to receive any of that water. Caitilin turned toward Hinson in despair.

  “We need to do something!”

  Hinson sprang up, grabbed his bow and drove it down onto Ethan’s stomach. The boy’s eyes lit up and the apple spewed from his mouth.

  Ethan began coughing and removed the last bit of apple from his mouth. Upon standing, he felt the dizziness still in his system and he needed to sit down again.

  Caitilin gave him a hopeful smile, “There is some food you can eat, I swear upon my garden.”

  Hinson decided they should wait until Ethan’
s hangover diminished before traveling again. Caitilin used her motherly deaconess skills on the boy while Hinson finished polishing his bow.

  They were talking about the Kalhari when the trees on the east side of them began to rustle. Hinson instinctively raised his bow. It was a well-known fact that creatures didn’t travel along the golden trail for fear they would be crushed by the caravans.

  Caitilin’s eyes pierced the darkness until she saw a dark figure emerging. He was bulky, with long hair. The man held a sword. Her heart rested when she recognized the figure.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just Mollet,” she said, running over to him.

  Ethan began to feel sicker.

  Mollet’s face was stone hard and curved with rage. Every muscle was tense and he only stared at one figure near the fire: Ethan. Pointing his long, black blade at Caitilin, his gaze never left the boy.

  “Stay back, Caity, the boy will not see morrow.”

  Hinson instinctively rose up with his bow, while Ethan sank down in fear.

  “Put your bow at rest,” Mollet said. “We wish to kill the boy for his curse starting this Kalhari invasion. Don’t hide it anymore, Caity, we know he is guilty.”

  Caitilin staggered backwards. “That’s below wisdom. He had no part in this invasion.”

  Suddenly, four more archers came out of the trees with bows drawn on the boy. They all had faces set for action and toned muscles that complemented their focus. Mollet came prepared.

  “Caity, we know how much you muster emotions for smaller creatures, so we will kill him quickly. We decided that if we stab his neck he will die quietly.”

  Caitilin could only shake her head in disbelief.

  “He will leave no blood on your hands. He ruined the land I swore to protect,” Mollet declared.

  Ethan gulped, but the effects of the dizziness still wore him down. He could see that Mollet’s men were tougher than any Kalhari troops, even though to Ethan they looked like angry blurs spinning around like carousels.

  Hinson tightened his arrow against the bow. He wasn’t going to let misguided warriors stop their mission.

  “Are you really going to strike your fellow brethren to keep the curse in our homeland? He is the reason my brother Mallet died!” Mollet yelled.

  Hinson began to recognize who Mollet had assembled to fight. This was the Faeria fighting guild, known for taking down Octaflaughts with their bare hands. The Faeria fighting guild was equipped for quick ambushes and surgical strikes; they didn’t negotiate or threaten. If they wanted Ethan, nothing would stand in the way of taking his life. Surely a deacon and deaconess would be no match for the five of them.

  “Is this blood worth shedding because your mind cannot see the path we travel?” Caitilin shot back.

  Mollet and his Phaenix drew closer. The archers realigned their arrows. On their chests, they wore Phaenix warrior plates as a sign that they came ready for a fight.

  Hinson realized Mollet’s plan. His eyes scanned the tree line until he saw it. Hinson aimed his bow at a nearby tree and let his arrow sing through the air. The arrow found its mark not in the wood, but somewhere in the branches.

  A painful yelp sounded from the tree and the secret Phaenix showed himself. He was a young, curly-haired warrior, dressed in all black, with his wings protruding. Just like Hinson had planned, the arrow hit him in the shoulder, the same arm he had been planning to fire his arrow with.

  Mollet had not been planning to attack his brethren Phaenix; he was going to distract them so the assassin could take the boy out from the trees. That insured no Phaenix casualties.

  Suddenly, the scene exploded. Hinson grabbed Ethan and tossed him away from the archers, into the tree line. A barrage of arrows rang through and fell on the empty dirt where Ethan had been sitting.

  Mollet charged forward with his warriors, mowing down Caitilin in the process. She was tossed aside while they readied their bows.

  “You’re only making this harder on yourself, deacon,” Mollet shouted.

  Ethan was bewildered, but still too sick to run. He felt Hinson grabbing and pulling him to follow. His adrenaline spiked. He wanted to barf and flee at the same time. He wondered. What will go further my food or my feet?

  Hinson ran along the golden trail where there was a long strip of paved road. He had no time to plan a strategy, and with Ethan’s present state, the arrows would find him easily.

  “Fire!” Mollet yelled.

  Hinson tackled the sick Ethan to the ground, nearly caught by the spiked tips. They rained down and it was evident every member was skilled at shooting arrows. The situation had grown hopeless quickly, and Hinson realized the boy needed him for transportation. There was only one way to go to help the odds. Hinson scooped Ethan up in his arms and released his wings. He was thankful for the gift of flight now more than ever.

  With Ethan in the sky it would be impossible for the Phaenix to correctly aim their bows because of wind resistance. The only problem was Ethan’s weight in Hinson’s arms. He wouldn’t be able to fly as far or as fast. The warriors could still catch him in the air. Hinson sharply turned east, and suddenly Ethan felt air whipping at his face.

  “Fire!” Mollet shouted again, and the arrows pierced the sky, almost taking Hinson’s foot.

  The guild followed, gaining with ease. They took to the sky with daggers ready. Their intense battle training ensured every member of the guild would be skilled in flight combat. They could kill any creature in mid-air, but Hinson was different. They would never intentionally hurt a Phaenix.

  Time, that was all Hinson needed to find a plan. The dark sky backdrop would hide Ethan and himself. All he needed was some option to keep the fighters away from the boy. He rose up into the dark sky, flying higher, until Ethan began choking. The boy would have enjoyed the heights, but dizziness still had its hold on him.

  Hinson was a hunter as much as he was a priest and right now he needed to think like the prey he was skilled at killing. What would an eternity deer or game falcon do to evade him? He would need cunning. Could he hide? No, the warriors would track him. They could smell a drop of perfume in the desert. The smell of the boy was obvious to them. Could he attack the bunch? They were skilled in battle and attacking a soldier would be seen as treason. He had to ensure that the warriors were prevented from touching the boy.

  The fighters followed the two. With a weight in his arms and no experience in flight combat, they knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with the deacon. All they needed was for Hinson to grow too weary and crash to the ground.

  Hinson dropped vertically and ducked down into the tree tops . The view became darker, almost impossible to see through. Using the trees as obstacles, Hinson wove in and out of them, letting the foliage slap against Ethan’s face. He only did it for a moment before he rose up in the sky again. Sure enough, the guild followed on his trail.

  “Wound the deacon! Kill the boy!” Mollet shouted.

  This made the Phaenix guild fly faster and harder into the dark night. The wind beat violently against their faces.

  Hinson dropped again into the forest, repeating the same maneuvers, but coming a little closer to the ground. The guild dropped into the pitch black shadow of the trees. They lost sight of him for a moment. Their eyes frantically searched the ground until Hinson popped up again in their view. This time they were going to use all their wing strength to capture him. There was no way he could out-fly them while carrying such a heavy burden.

  Hinson repeated his vertical ascent into the sky, but this time he didn’t go so high. He was tired and the bundle of rags in his arms was feeling heavier by the minute. He only went high enough to get out of range of the squad. As he arced overhead, he saw five speedy specks coming at him. They had so much power and training; it almost made him laugh. He let gravity and velocity take his wings as he plummeted toward the ground. Hurtling toward the earth, he let the wind whistle against his translucent wings. When his feet hit the ground, he launched back with
tremendous force.

  Exhaustion stole over Hinson, and he let Ethan tumble to the ground. The surrounding area was just a patch of trees and bushes with muddy ground. It didn’t feature much for any hiding places. He laid down to catch his breath rest and let Ethan’s limp body lie next to him along the ground.

  “He’s down. Strike now!” Mollet yelled.

  The fighters rocketed to the ground, all landing on their feet and ready in fighting stances. They definitely proved to be stronger and faster than the deacon.

  Hinson could only look at Mollet with a tired face of surrender. Before him was the offering they would slay.

  “Attack, now!” Mollet said, and gave the "go ahead” to the assassin.

  The assassin Phaenix in all black took a small curved dagger and ripped violently into the boy. The blade drove right into the Earthian’s stomach.

  The men cheered as the blade cut open the robe. Fibers ripped at the edge of the dagger as the blade drove from chest to waist. A perfect kill against any mortal.

  The assassin was confused. He knew what the blade hitting flesh felt like and it definitely didn’t sound like leaves rustling. He opened up the robe to find it filled with leaves instead of Earthian flesh. He turned to his disappointed comrades, who turned to the defeated Hinson.

  Hinson was no longer tired. He jumped up spontaneously and drove his knee into the chest of the assassin. The force of his knee knocked the warrior to the ground. He had calculated the attack perfectly, leaving room for no fighter to retaliate. That was one of Hinson’s strengths: thinking out situations in advance. Others would use brute force and skill without a plan. If he could guess at how the guild would attack him, he could out-strategize them. Before Mollet could tell his men to attack, Hinson had already forced his fingertips into Mollet’s neck. It was a stiff blow that lightly impacted the trachea, not so hard to cause a snap, but hard enough to cause temporary choking. Mollet’s eyes bulged, his head snapped back and he dropped his long blade to the ground, scrabbling at his neck.