Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods)

by Leone, Hudson

  “Prophecies don't predict success,” he explained to me in a drawling voice. “They predict the future and if you saw a prophecy that said that one of us would die by the end of the end of the year, would you really want to go charging after this dragon?

  I felt my hairs stand up on end realizing that what Gregor said could be true. My mouth creaked open very slowly as if it were on a rusty hinge. “Well, at least it gives us a lead on what to do.” I whimpered in defense.

  Gregor shook his head and laughed, during which time I wondered how much it would hurt him if I dropped a rock directly over his face. “I would never say anything without intending to provide an alternative however,” he said, throwing on his pack and walking away from me.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, tightening the straps on my rucksack and hobbling behind him.

  “As luck would have it, we’re in Opendure. There’s something I’d like to do here.”

  “How did you know what this place was without anyone telling you?” I asked suspiciously.

  Gregor reddened in the face before frowning deeply and shaking his head carelessly.

  “I just know,” He responded coldly. “Furthermore, if you’re going to keep asking questions that have nothing to do with the task at hand, I’ll end up crushing the living lights out of you.”

  I bobbed my head meekly before sinking back a couple of feet and sighing to myself.

  “Touchy isn’t he?” I whispered to Umber who had been silently observing everything with intense intent.

  “How did he know the name of this town?” he mumbled quietly. “On top of that, why did he react so powerfully when you pointed this out?”

  I shrugged and bobbed my head from side to side. “What makes you think I caret?”

  “You yourself were wondering the same thing not even fifteen seconds ago,” Umber said angrily.

  I yawned quietly before breaking into a light jog to try and keep time with Gregor’s impressive walking pace. “Maybe we’ll find out more later,” I said, suddenly feeling very tired.

  “That’s just your excuse to forget about it,” Umber growled. “Think about it Jacob. How would he know what there is to do if he’s supposedly never been here before?”

  I exhaled sharply and brushed him away from my shoulder. “We’ll wait and see,” I repeated for a second time.

  I was pleased to see that despite all of his rage, Umber did no more pestering. To my confusion, Gregor seemed to be walking directly away from any traces of civilization and instead headed off into the dense bush past the waterfront. “Gregor, where are we going?” I asked uncertainly.

  “Either you be quiet, or you can just stay here while I do some things that need doing.”

  I bit my tongue and quietly trailed after him with brooding curiosity. The two of us crossed scrambled brush and hilly plains for what felt like a half hour, before eventually coming to a spacious field occupied by only one extraordinary brick manor house.

  “We’re here,” Gregor said, advancing up to the courtyard of the chateau. Noticing I had opened my mouth, Gregor quickly shushed me before jabbing a finger in my direction. “Not a noise out of you. We can’t be seen or heard here.” He suddenly turned on the spot before cautiously sneaking up to a side door and examining a lock. I looked up at Umber with dumbstruck eyes.

  “Are we breaking and entering?” I asked in a horrified voice.

  “It appears so,” he replied, swaying from side to side in uncertainty. Umber was suddenly interrupted by Gregor, who whistled for my attention like I was some kind of disobedient animal.

  “Door’s open, let’s go,” he said opening the passage and gesturing me inside.

  Carefully tiptoeing in, I entered an uncomfortable looking foyer made out of nothing but various kinds of stone. I rubbed my fingers together and recoiled slightly when I realized I could still see my breath.

  “What kind of luxury home owner keeps their house this cold?” I thought to myself angrilly.

  “This place has been deserted for years,” Gregor stated in adress to my confusion. “You don’t have to worry about getting caught now that we’re inside.”

  “Can I ask questions now?” I asked hopefully.

  “No,” Gregor said, sauntering off into one of the other rooms. I groaned in irritation before glaring around the area to look for something to do while Gregor ran amok. Looking to the oil paintings on the walls, I found myself somewhat startled once I noticed that all the faces of all of the people had been covered with a vivid red paint. A tall man dressed in a formal robe stood proudly against a writing desk while a woman in a heavy gown sat upright on a sturdy stool. The red blob obscuring their faces stuck out from the painting like scabs on a body. Compared to the elegant way that the rest of the painting had been drawn, the blemish looked like it was made with erratic and childlike hands.

  I shuffled around the room to observe the other paintings, however the people in these also had the distinctive red paint obscuring all the features above the neck. Self portraits, couples pictures and even a person formally posing against a landscape: It didn’t matter what the people were doing or how they were dressed, for they all had their faces scrubbed out from visible existence. The last and grandest picture was the only exception to this rule however:

  It was a painting of three people this time. The man and the woman, both had their face wiped out as usual, however the child the woman held to her chest was without any red paint at all. The infant was fat faced, and bored looking with his green eyes glazed over in sleepiness. “That’s odd.” I said, taking a step towards this image. “Everyone but this child.” I touched the face with my pointer finger and tilted my head to one side. “I wonder if he’s still alive?” I shrugged to myself and decided to explore the rest of the house while I still had some time.

  I strolled up the marble cut stairs and down a small hallway before abruptly stopping at the sight of a tortured looking bedroom door. I could tell it had been painted white originally, however there were a vast number of dents and thick scratches that had chipped away this coating. I reached out for a doorknob but stopped after I had realized that was missing too.

  “Perhaps someone broke in and did this?” I wondered, gently opening the door to find the surprisingly clean room of a child. Unlike the other rooms of the house, this area used wood floor and scratchy looking carpet instead of stone and tile. A small quilted bed sat hushed against the back of the room with just a single window for company. Resting on the windowsill was an arrangement of barbaric looking kitchen utensils that looked like they had been deliberately malformed and misused. The prongs of many different forks had been curled up into odd directions while a nearby knife sat with the blade shattered in multiple places.

  Whoever had put them there had obviously wanted people to see them in this state, however whether it be for intimidation or a show of power I wasn’t sure. I went to the wardrobe on the left hand side of the room and yanked it open, however all I found inside was a pile of large wooden buttons and a copper coat hanger that had been twisted out of shape. I opened the chest at the foot of the bed and found a few stuffed animals whose heads had all been half torn off. I realized suddenly that all of them were missing their eyes. I retrieved the pile of buttons from the closet and examined them more carefully. Someone had carefully scratched names into them.

  Bunny-bun, Alfred, Froggy water, and Slips were a couple out of the names that I read etched onto the button eyes. I carefully put these buttons back where I had found them and felt my skin prickle with fear. “The child that lived here was quite troubled.” I said to Umber before leaving the room rather quickly. I entered a impressive looking study where I saw Gregor filing through many papers in the cabinets. Ignoring him as he did me, I went to the desk and began searching through that as well. As I brushed through documents, I eventually came across a sturdy looking ink stamp. Curious as to what it said, I withdrew a bottle of black ink from a nearby drawer and lightly dabbed the rubber in my
hands. I forced the seal down onto a nearby piece of paper and removed it slowly. My mouth hit the ground. My pulse raced, and suddenly I found myself rereading the stamp.

  “Tyrannus loans :: Mark of validity”

  “That’s Gregor’s last name,” I whispered to myself in disbelief. In a single moment of clarity, I understood everything I noticed so far: The way that Gregor was able to locate and enter the manor so quickly. The fact that it was deserted from long ago. The horrible things that I found in the room of the child and the fact that the faces of all the adults in the area had been covered up. This was Gregor’s childhood home.

  “But that doesn’t make sense!” Umber protested into my ear. “You’ve claimed that Gregor was in the same orphanage as you! Since the orphanage was in Calandia, how could this be his home?”

  “People move from time to time,” I thought to Umber. “Perhaps he left for Calandia sometime before or after his parents death.” Umber sighed.

  “True, but that still doesn’t explain the faces covered in paint,” he said, swimming by my feet. “We’re still missing an important piece of the puzzle.”

  I laughed under my breath at this last remark. “An importaint piece missing from a worthless puzzle,” I mumbled grumpily.

  “Learning about your enemies is a very valuable thing.” Umber declared loudly. “I’ll bet you my right eye that Gregor knows more about you than even you do.”

  I clenched my jaw at the unnerving possibility before shaking my head slightly and fidgeting with my fingers.

  “Found it!” Gregor exclaimed triumphantly. “I now have have here, all of the legal agreements to do with my father’s clients.”

  “So this was your house then?” I asked before I could stop myself. Suddenly realizing what I had just asked him, I clasped my mouth shut and took a tentative step back. Fortunately for me, Gregor didn’t seem to be paying attention and continued to examine the papers that he had assembled. “These men,” he said while tapping his knuckles on the desk “Are in a tremendous amount of debt, and obligated by contract to my father and any relatives he has for life.”

  I stared at Gregor blankly, as if all the inspiration to say something cunning, witty or even inquisitive, had been engulfed by a large raincloud. “Right,” I began uncertaintly. “How does that help us?”

  Gregor sighed, looking completely overjoyed with himself. “This is an entire army of tradesmen, investors, warriors and thieves all at my command. With these men, we would have all we need to defeat Orthonus.”

  A sharp sound suddenly escaped my lips as I snickered. Before I had even begun to think I was speaking. “You're saying that we're going to kill Orthonus with a bunch of bankers? Even by your standards that lacks creativity.”

  A sharp pain suddenly flooded from the top of my head, as if a large saw-blade was slowly being pushed into my skull. Through the slightly green film now covering my eyes, I saw my body shift and contort as if someone was moving my limbs for me. My arm was jerked up to the sky, as it gave a powerful salute to whoever was standing in front of me. I felt my feet leave the ground and watched as the world span around me multiple times. When the sensation stopped, I found myself awkwardly kneeling with Gregor standing over me.

  He applauded slowly. “Well done sunshine. I had no idea you could do back-flips so easily.” Gregor took the time to inspect his nails as I lay cringing before his soot colored boots. “If you weren't already the lowest excuse for a Grimlar trainee, I’d say that you should have joined a traveling fair as an acrobat.”

  “Y...You,” I growled through my teeth.

  “Just remember that I’m very powerful kinetic warlock. You get on my bad side too much and you might just find yourself walking off a bridge.” Gregor assembled his papers in a large leather folder before carefully sliding the whole thing into his pack. “We might not be able to kill Orthonus with bankers but with this, we have something much more powerful.” Gregor paused here to add a deliberate element of suspense. “Gold! Silver! Valuables!” he exclaimed suddenly. “If I had these in large quantities, I would be unstoppable, even untouchable!”

  Perhaps I was just guessing, but it seemed to me that Gregor had been planning this for quite some time.

  “Now you wait just a minute,” I insisted in a trembling voice.

  He Ignored me completely, far too absorbed in himself to think straight. I spoke anyways. “You honestly expect these people to cooperate with you? They hate your father's guts! You'll just get sliced up!”

  Gregor howled with laughter so loud that it rattled the window panes slightly. “My father was just a little bit more clever than that.” Gregor reached into his pocket and withdrew a familiar looking bronze handled stamp.

  I gasped slightly. “That’s.... That’s a...”

  “It’s a Taborthodox stamp,” Gregor said proudly. Every financial agreement made between a client and my father was made using this blood oath. Every document here still applies because I am rightfully his son. I’m untouchable.” Gregor bowed deeply. “As usual, my argument and tactics are flawless.”

  “But... But...” I stammered, resisting the temptation to start screaming. Professor Wenchenberg told me this prophecy was supposed to be essential to the quest! Why did Gregor think he could refuse it so quickly?

  “We'll go forth with my plan immediately,” he said, slinging his pack over his shoulder and striding out of the room. “It's still early in the day. We might be able to cover some ground during this time. Have you a map?”

  I nodded my head reluctantly and handed him a map, white knuckled.

  Gregor snatched the parchment from my hand in a fell swoop of his own. He pointed off into the distance and took a deep breath. “We go south.”

  “Aren't we going to stick around and get some supplies?” I asked warily.

  Gregor snorted and spat into a nearby flower pot.

  “We already have all the equipment we need. If we linger around the town around for too long, we won't be known as mere travelers.”

  ***

  The frost laden path shown a bright white in contrast to the muddy gray houses we passed. Many gazes followed our advance however Gregor didn’t seem to notice or care. A fresh looking mother stared at us with a puzzled expression as we sauntered by. She looked like she wanted to say something to us, but decided against it at the last minute before suddenly swooping into her house to attend to her wailing young.

  Many merchants paused their exuberant haggles with hooded strangers as we passed by the marketplace. Some waved to us jovially and motioned to whatever it was they were selling, and others scowled, knowing we weren’t prepared to buy anything from them. A child ran into my side and fell to the icy path. His shockingly smooth features and hands gave me the impression that this youngster had never worked a day in his life. The boy looked up at me with soft watery eyes before mumbling an apology and tearing off into a nearby hut.

  The lazy flatness of the waterfront ended sharply along with the various settlements. After a few more minutes of walking, we were greeted by a forest so dense it was like someone had made a towering wall of nothing but tree trunk and leaves. A curiously warm and hearty smell seemed to be wafting in between the pines, as if the trees bundled up together were somehow producing warmth of their own. The darkness that lurked within the forest was intense beyond any measurement. It couldn’t be seen, felt or even heard but was still slumped there with its inky black mouth open at us.

  “This is the Charlie-horse wood,” Gregor clarified, inspecting his map. “It’s quite large, so if we have any hope of getting through, we’ll have to hurry.” Without waiting for a response or even telling me where he intended to go, Gregor ambled into the forest while I stiffly plodded beside him. The snowy path before us was surprisingly the brightest thing in our field of vision, however that too soon crumbled away along with the other decay within the forest.

  We walked in unison for what seemed like hours, looking up hopefully at the trees now and then for a si
gn that we were getting somewhere. Oddly enough it felt like the two of us were a couple of small fish in a thick pond of plant life. Gradually, the hours of walking without aim eroded our composure. I tried my best to avoid all contact with Gregor while I angrily grumbled to myself. “This was his ridiculous idea,” I whispered to myself darkly. “This was his idea to have us get lost without considering what I had to say.” I scratched my right arm furiously and twitched slightly. “Gregor should be the one to get us out of here, not me.”

  “Mortal, How important is this prophecy to you anyways?” Umber asked, flashing into view like a quickly moving fire.

  “Very important,” I thought before proudly casting my gaze back towards the path.

  “And is it important because your professor has asked you to do it?” he asked with a trace of uncertainty in his voice.

  I shook my head slightly. “Well, no,” I thought to myself, trying to persuade Umber otherwise. “No, it’s just a good idea all around and because of that, I’m gonna to try and get Gregor to follow through with it.”