The sandworm, sensing success, weaved its way in and out of the pillars, snapping and blowing poison wherever it went. One contestant raised his hands up in fright and shot a bolt of fire that engulfed the creature around the base of its head. The toxin residue floating around its body suddenly turned bright orange as it ignited, sending waves of blistering heat crashing down upon my body. The sandworm thrashed about viciously in an attempt to somehow to shake off the flame, in turn almost knocking down a pillar with its massive tail. A distortion trainee to my right suddenly malformed his column so that he could easily leap over to mine. Anticipating an attack, I reached under my armour and twisted the head of Pride’s Grip. Although I couldn’t see it activate, I could feel the sudden strangely pleasant surge of breathlessness from before.
As I had predicted, the bulky trainee almost two heads taller than me charged onto my pillar, practically shoving me off with his presence alone. “Get off scrawny!” he bellowed over the din of the crowd while trying to elbow me away
“Or what?” I roared, acting more confident then I felt.
He feinted quickly and struck me unexpectedly in the gut, however I felt neither pain nor a crippling lack of air. Just as he was about to use his weight to push me off, I stepped to the side and held my foot out for him to trip over. He fell screaming and I couldn’t help but smile maliciously.
I gripped my shoulder as suddenly I, wished I could take that back. I had just seriously injured a trainee not too different from me, all because he too wanted to win. I felt quite sick, however after a few deep breaths I managed to regain control of my stomach. Noticing that my stamina was fading away dramatically, I reached under my armour and spun the head of Pride’s Grip a second time. My strength returned to me, although it was not quite as sharp as before.
The thought of Gregor winning caused me to focus once more at the task at hand. The sandworm seemed to be learning through every tiny movement it made. Recognizing that the trainees couldn’t see through its opaque gas, the sandworm blew large puffs in the general direction of the finalists, before sweeping its tail unexpectedly and knocking off a few more people. I looked around and was startled to see that the only people left standing were myself, Gregor and a trainee beside him who looked quite uncomfortable. Gregor opened his eyes suddenly and even from where I was situated, I could see that they had turned a violent shade of green. He clicked his fingers and pointed to the other trainee, who suddenly began to spasm and scream in horror. The sudden amount of movement seemed to catch the attention of the sandworm, as the other remaining finalist tried desperately to swat away something that wasn't even there.
With one quick blast of poison, the trainee simply fell to his knees before toppling forward, and almost landing on his head, many metres below.
“So what now?” I asked Umber through clenched teeth.
“We don’t do anything rash,” he said calmly. “We don’t do anything stupid and we just hope the sandworm gets to him first.”
Gregor’s shoulders bobbed slightly as if he was resisting the temptation to laugh. His eyes flashed green again and suddenly, the speed the sandworm was traveling slowed dramatically. I noticed in alarm that the eyes of the beast had softened slightly, like cheese just about to melt.
“What going on?” I asked in a frenzied voice. “Umber what is he doing?”
The spirit seemed to be at a loss for words.
“Umber please! At least tell me he’s not killing it!”
The sandworm suddenly began to circle around Gregor’s platform, however the kinetic trainee seemed hardly fazed by this. Giving a small salute to the crowd, Gregor stepped off of his platform and fell square onto the body of the sandworm.
The flatworm screeched as it suddenly seemed to regain consciousness. It desperately began trying to shake the figure clinging to the stringy blue hair on its back.
“He’s climbing up to the head,” I reported quickly. “He used his kinetic powers to bring the beast to his column, and now he’s climbing to the head to kill it.” I looked up to Umber with wide fear filled eyes.
“You have to get there first,” Umber said steadily.
I shuddered apprehensively and glanced to the ground to re-verify the height I would be jumping from. I took a step back and shut my eyes. “Whatever happened to not doing anything rash?” I whimpered through my teeth.
Umber ignored this and flew up aways. “Get ready!” he urged. “It’s coming!”
I slowly shuffled forward nervously and saw the sandworm advance with amazing speed. Just as he zoomed past however, I stumbled back in cowardice. I leaped back to the edge and cursed myself for my cowardice.
“I’m sorry.” I said, sniffing back a couple of tears. “I’m sorry Umber but I can’t-”
“Mortal you listen to me.” Umber interrupted, forcing my gaze straight ahead. “For everything this little fool has done, you have done and you have done it ten times better.”
“But,” I began, shuddered slightly.
“No,” Umber said simply. “I don’t want to hear about it. This is not the kind of talk that comes from a victor and that’s not the kind of blubber you want to be showing to the bane of your existence. Do you understand?”
The muscles in my forehead suddenly relaxed as Umber’s words replaced my fear with an empty determination. I started off at the sandworm in the distance and clenched my fists, then my lips. My arms tightened and my stance widened. My tongue pressed against the roof of my mouth and my eyes fixed onto my steadily approaching target. The sandworm flew towards me with its awful mouth open and its beady eyes filled with anger. It was going to fly right past me, giving me more opportunity to land on it than I had ever had before.
“Wait for it,” Umber coached softly. “Wait for it.” Just as I could see the blood on the blue fir of the beast, Umber instructed me to jump.
With my nerves moving me on their own, I extended my legs and dived headfirst onto the hide of the hideous creature. Time froze as for a moment I wondered if I would ever land. I felt my fingers meet the matted dry fur of the beast and I instinctively grasped whatever I could of the sandworm. The world suddenly opened up into a surreal realm of senses as I began to swim around in a galloping funnel of wind. The tips of my fingers digging into the filthy hairs of the sandworm suddenly grew hot from friction. My eyes fell back into my head as we darted about this way and that. I gave up trying to observe the outside world and focused instead on the sandworm. Looking ahead I could see that the front of the beast was no more than five metres ahead, but much to my surprise, Gregor was nowhere in sight.
I looked back in alarm as I felt something tap my heel sharply, only to see Gregor slowly bringing himself forward.
He threw his arm forward a second time and managed to grab the tendon just above my sole of my foot.
Energized by primal fear, I managed to shake Gregor off, and crawl forward as quickly as I dared to move. Only when I finished my assent to the head of the creature did I recognize that something was wrong. The whirl of the wind and the chants of the crowd had faded from my perception.
A familiar green colouring began to coat the outside of my vision, and following this came the strange sensation of thousands of pins being stuck and unstuck into my skin. I looked down at my arms and to my sheer horror, found myself being devoured by thousands of silvery bugs which burrowed under my body. Some part of me knew these images weren't real, but my mind did not want to ignore the nightmare submerging me. As if an unimportant detail in a dream, I could see that Gregor was advancing slowly towards me. I tried to turn to look at him directly, however the violent surge of the insects wiggling through my neck prevented any major movement.
My world spun as I felt Gregor flip me onto my back. He forced me to stare into his demented eyes as he slowly removed his prized sword Venom. I tried to focus my attention on his weapon, however the movement of the metallic insects suddenly intensified. They churned through my skin as if it was no more than a bath of water. Greg
or glared at me with the same uncontrollable hungry look as before and I knew then, that no elders would be there to separate him from me. No professor would be there to stop him from cutting my throat and taking my prize.
Gregor reached forward to grasp my throat and accidentally brushed against Pride’s Grip. I heard the face of the pendant click backwards by just a fraction and as it did so, I felt the the insects suddenly vanish. Just as Gregor was about to bring the sword down through my chest, I rolled to my right and flinched as I heard the sound of Venom slicing through flesh. To my amazement however, I noticed that this flesh was not my own. What should have been my chest instead became the head of the sandworm. A thick blackened ooze began to spew from the location at which Venom had penetrated. The sandworm screeched and tore to the ground faster than any projectile man had ever made. The world flashed bright colors as the foul breath of Gregor poured down onto me.
I couldn't see the ground, for I was looking up at the bright beautiful sky while being suffocated by my enemy. Surely an end would be what I wanted after all I had been through. Or perhaps not. Perhaps I would survive today to be killed in another week but I didn't know. I wondered if anybody would ever know. Just before I hit the ground however, I recognized the sensation of warmth quickly returning to my hands. It could have almost been welcoming.
In my subconscious, I distorted the ground below me so that it caught our impact exactly like a piece of suspended silk might have caught a heavy marble. The force of gravity was suddenly magnified, as the two of us sank into the rubbery ground. I watched with sleepy eyed amazement as Gregor flew over my body before landing on the now solid earth. The cheer of the crowd suddenly stopped. They saw me panting on the corpse of the sandworm while Gregor spasmed on the dry ground next to me.
I sat up and looked around in dull confusion. The panel of judges had begun to chatter among themselves in hushed whispers, no doubt getting ready to tell everyone that I had lost. It was Gregor that had dealt the killer blow to the creature and not I. It would be me that would simply move out of the way for the prodigy that got everything he had wanted in his life. I took a shuddering intake of breath as reality suddenly pounded down upon me with crashing waves of force. Dozens of hours could have passed before the group of judges slowly brought themselves to their feet. My insides squirmed as my ears strained to listen over the chatter of the crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” The fat judge began grandly. “We have a tie!” My head stopped operating as the gears working my thoughts rusted up with a magnificent screech.
“No,” I whispered aloud.
“Yes!” The judge boomed as if in answer to my response. “Yes, this quest will be done by two champions, both of whom will no doubt be fit to the task and-”
“No,” I repeated, shaking my head and laughing slightly. “No there must be some kind of mistake.” My chest began to bob as I forced a weak chuckle. “This is a sick joke! Me on this quest with... Gregor?” It was apparent by the way trumpets were sounding, this quest was anything but a joke. I fell off the pelt of the sandworm and stumbled to gravelly ground. I tried to force myself to my feet however I had lost all co-ordination. I ended up propping myself against the outer wall of the Etaporium while I watched Gregor apprehensively.
The other victor was rolled up into a hunched stance and looked at me with dead, suddenly uncertain eyes. For a while there was nothing to do but stare at each other in disbelief. My focus broke as suddenly the shriveled figure of the Caterwaul stepped from out of the shadows. He glared over the both of us disapprovingly before extending a finger and gesturing for each of us to follow. Deliberately trying to stay as far away from each other as possible, Gregor and I slithered through a passage leading out of the Etaporium, before stopping at a small blue tent I hadn’t noticed before.
“Now then... Champions,” the Caterwaul said while twitching slightly at the last word. “You will have until eight o'clock tomorrow to prepare yourself and gather anything you might like to pack with you on your travels.” The Caterwaul scratched his chin and stared off into the distance, as if distracted by something far more important behind us. He shook his head slightly and focused his signature scowl on the both of us. “Through the extraordinary generosity of the Grimlars, you will be provided with two large traveling packs filled with what we believe will be everything you’ll need during your travels.” He paused slightly and lifted his voice up a bit. “Unless one of you are willing to forgo the title of the champion?” the Caterwaul asked hopefully. Neither Gregor nor I said anything and instead glared at each other.
The Caterwaul snarled and folded his arms tightly. “I suppose I expected as much,” he growled before pointing to the blue tent. “Take anything you want with you and put it into the tent along with your other supplies. You’ll be spending the night in here so that you don’t have to deal with the other trainees, who are likely to ask you questions until your ears bleed.” The Caterwaul suddenly pointed sharply at me. “Anything I tell you, under no circumstances are you allowed to tell anyone else. Do you understand?” The both of us mumbled weak affirmatives which hardly seemed to satisfy the Caterwaul. “Don’t disappoint me,” he said before striding off and vanishing altogether.
Gregor immediately strode into the blue tent, leaving me to awkwardly stand alone on the spot. I considered following him in but suddenly reconsidered. What would I do inside a tent with a person who tried to kill me? I left the area quickly and desperately tried to avoid everyone else in the world. People shouted for my attention as I shuffled through the grounds of the school. I just ran until I had long last re-entered the distortion dormitories where I could flop down on the couch by the empty fire-place and sleep in peace.
***
I was awake when the Legion of the Montrose slowly filed into the room. Even though they were exceptionally quiet, I still wanted them to leave me be. I blinked away the sunlight and sat upright while stretching the kinks out of my back. As I did so, I could hear a couple members of the Montrose breath heavy sighs filled with relief. I craned my neck upward and found myself staring squarely at the face of Sebastian who although smiling, still looked as though he was about to cry.
“You did it,” he said breathlessly. “You escaped.” My eyes warmed up as a natural smile slowly engulfed my face.
“I haven’t really escaped yet,” I replied modestly. “There’s still a long way to go, and for all I know I might not make the entire journey.” I licked my lips and looked down, suddenly afraid that I myself might start to lose myself.
“Don’t say that,” Sebastian said, sitting down next to me. “No, you’re not going to die. You’re just going to go on an adventure.” I beamed and looked over him.
“You think so?” I asked hopefully.
“Yeah,” Sebastian said quietly.
“I’m surprised you’ve taken me into your family so quickly.” I said, looking around the room. Sebastian shrugged slightly.
“You’ve taken us in Jacob,” Sebastian corrected. “We’re a bunch of misfits you could have left alone and forgotten about but you made sure that we were looked after and stuff.” Sebastian looked as though he wanted to say more but was interrupted as the door was suddenly thrown open.
Preston burst into the room before savagely throwing his arms around me. I coughed terribly and Preston took a step back, somewhat startled by my weakened state.
“I've been meaning to talk to you for longer than a couple of minutes,” I said, flopping back onto the couch. “As if that’s going to happen what with me leaving and all,”
Preston's smile grew wider still, but yet he said nothing.
“You promise me you'll stay safe won't you?” he asked quietly.
“Only if you promise to do the same. We're a team you know?”
Preston nodded quickly but avoided eye contact in case he burst into tears.
“Actually Preston, can you wait one moment?” I asked, motioning towards my bedroom.
“Sure,” he mum
bled, awkwardly swaying from side to side.
I dashed into my room and retrieved the second cold cut obsidian ring that professor had given me.
“You see this?” I asked, holding the ring up him to examine. “Professor Wenchenberg made this for me. He calls it a fingalink ring and you can talk to someone who’s wearing this other ring.” I held up my left hand to show Preston the band on my third digit. “All you have to do is whisper my name into it and we can talk, no matter how far apart we are.”
Preston took the ring and looked at it in wonder.
“I’ll tell you everything I can about the outside world,” I began quickly. “I’ll tell you about how amazing it is. And you guys!” I said looking around at the Legion of the Montrose. “You guys can talk to me whenever you want too, just as long as you’re with Preston... And... And...” Unable to finish my sentence, I swallowed hard and drifted off into an uncomfortable silence. “Help me pack?” I asked, pointing limply off to the corridor.
Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) Page 34
