Treasure

by Cortni Fernandez

  *

  But Luca wasn't a carefree little boy anymore. When he was young, he had never been afraid that Darius really was mad for bringing him to the dens of savage beasts and sailing mermaid-infested seas, always insisting they would be perfectly safe. He trusted Darius and whatever gift gave him the ability to see their futures, and somehow he knew that no matter how dangerous their journeys tended to be, they would both be alright in the end.

  He was a man now, even taller than Darius, and yet he felt as young as a child the day that Darius stopped at the base of a mountain path. "Aha!" Darius said, as though the rocky formations leading up the trail were signposts. Wolf had stopped too, and looked up at Darius curiously. "This is it, then - I knew the time was coming." Darius gave Luca a roguish wink. His face was lined and weathered, and his hair had greyed long ago, but he still had the energy of a fire spirit. "This way, boy, to something truly wonderful."

  Wolf began to sniff the path and investigate, but Luca placed his hand on his sword instinctively. He didn't know anything about these mountains, or what lived there - but he was sure Darius did. "Up on the mountain?"

  "It'll only take us a night," Darius said, turning from their path and beginning to climb the rocky trail, Wolf at his heels. Luca resisted the urge to tell him to take it easy; Darius would probably demand a race if he did.

  "You're sure it's on this path?"

  "Not on it," he called back, now several feet away, his voice echoing over the wind. "At the end!"

  Luca hesitated for only a moment, then hurried after him.

  That night they made camp by a small spring, almost near the top of the mountain. Wolf liked to sleep more than he used to, but his nose came up whenever a lonely firefly hovered near. Luca sat by them, his back to a flat boulder, and tended the fire with a long stick.

  "I think Starblum valley deserves another trip after this, you know? They liked the manticore story; I think they'd like the one about those griffons you ran into in the far hills."

  Luca didn't like that Darius hadn't mentioned himself in this suggestion. "That was your fault, if I recall correctly. Are you sure you won't need a rest after all this mountain climbing, old man? I don't need to listen to you complain about your creaky bones all day.”

  "I'm still tougher than you, boy, and don't you forget it. You'll be sorry one day if I've got to save your skin because you're still working off your baby fat."

  Luca's insides seemed to ice over in spite of the fire. Was that what was going to happen?

  "You're going to wear a hole in those boots in a few days," Darius remarked. "Three days, actually. Don't forget to get a new pair, or you'll regret it."

  Again, Luca's stomach squirmed.

  "And what about you? You've got holes everywhere. The wind's blowing through your cloak like a tin whistle. What if you catch a fever and fall over and I have to carry you over this mountain?"

  "Hah! I'd sooner stay here in the dirt than let you carry me like some prized hunting game."

  Luca tossed his stick in the embers and let it catch fire. He stared at the flames, and they made his eyes burn as he watched them. Darius didn't seem to notice his silence; he was busy staring up at the stars in the sky, grasping idly at the ones that moved and turned out to be fireflies circling his outstretched hand.

  "You're going to die, aren't you?" Luca said. As soon as the words escaped him, he felt ridiculous, like an infant child in tears, longing for a parent's hug. Perhaps Darius was right; he might look like a man now, but he was still working off his baby fat.

  "Everyone dies," said Darius. Luca forced himself to look at him, and met his bright-eyed face and gentle smile. "Of course I'll die one day. So will you. Haven't I taught you anything?"

  Luca managed a weak chuckle, and kicked the smouldering stick the rest of the way into the fire, where it crackled and burned to a crisp. He thought Darius wouldn't answer him properly, but then he spoke again.

  "You think I've seen my own death, don't you?" Luca looked back at him, but didn't want to admit anything out loud. Darius gave him a sly grin. "You think I haven't noticed why you took up the sword? Why you feel the need to go ahead of me into anything you think is dangerous? You pester the market vendors for the best food, and you keep trying to carry everything we've got yourself. You're a stubborn little mule, Luca. Not too bright either. It's a good thing you look so much like me."

  Luca laughed this time, letting his head fall back against the dusty boulder. The stars were really beautiful tonight; Luca didn't think he'd ever been this close to them before.

  "Everything ends, Luca," Darius said, settling back with his arms behind his head. "Best not to regret things ending, but rejoice that they began."

  Luca gave a theatrical groan. "Oh no, not more of your wisdom, old man, let me at least set up my bed first."

  Darius' laugh boomed around the mountain top. Luca gazed up at the stars again, trying to count the fireflies amongst them until he finally fell asleep.

  The next day, Luca felt as though he had been recharged with a lightning bolt.

  "Alright, which way?" he demanded, hopping down the rocks that led into the mountain's cavern. His feet were light and springy, his sword drawn, and his head clear. Whatever was waiting for them in this mountain would have to contend with him first.

  "Keep going," came Darius' cheerful voice from right behind him, Wolf trotting along at his side.

  "In here?" said Luca, turning slightly sideways to make it through a gap in the rocks. The morning had been exceptionally bright, and though Luca had brought several torches to light a pitch-black journey, golden sunlight filtered in through the top of the mountain and lit their way through the small canyon. For some reason, the warm and radiant stone made Luca even more apprehensive.

  "You wait 'til you see it, it's quite a marvel," Darius called from behind him, for Luca dashed forward as quickly as the rocks would let him, determined to find the end first. "Never found anything to match it, not even that incredible fairy feast we stumbled upon. Remember that, Wolf?"

  Luca climbed a series of chunky rocks to reach a platform above.

  "Yes, we're almost there - just inside," Darius said, waving Luca forward as he looked around. "Go on, have a look."

  Luca heaved himself up into a smaller cavern, sprang to his feet, and stared around, feeling sure that Darius was playing with him again. The cave opened to the sky so that sun flooded the stones with peach-gold light, and he saw a patch of bright blue high above. The walls rippled unevenly, but in the middle of the open space stood a strange stone archway. Luca couldn't imagine how it had got there - or rather, why anyone would carve an archway at the top of a mountain in the middle of a sunlit cavern. A trickle of water ran in from above, and streamed down the archway like a shimmering curtain.

  "There it is... truly spectacular," Darius said, coming up behind him with Wolf at his heels. Darius walked up to the arch and placed a hand on the stone, with something like fondness in his expression. "Haven't seen it in years."

  "This is what we came here to see?" Luca said, following the trail of the water where it disappeared somewhere into the stone.

  "This is it," Darius said, looking back at him. "The end." Luca gripped his sword, but Darius said, "You don't need that now. You'll lose it soon in a duel anyway - though it's well worth it, I promise."

  "But-" Darius raised an eyebrow at him, like he had done so many times whenever Luca objected to what he said. Luca lowered the sword reluctantly, confused, and more anxious than ever. He looked around the cavern again, failing to understand. "But why?"

  Darius took a step back from the archway and toward Luca. "This is where we part ways," he said gently, as though he was softening a blow. "You see, only you will pass through the waterfall."

  Luca blinked at him, stunned. He started to speak again, stumbling over his words in his anxiety, but after a moment, he let them die away. Darius watched him calmly as the realization finally came to him.

  "It
's not you..." Luca said quietly. He knew Darius' silence was assent. Luca had got it wrong. It wasn't Darius' end that had been coming closer: it had been his own.

  Luca closed his eyes as a small measure of understanding came. Darius must have seen this happening - known that Luca would, for whatever reason, walk through this waterfall at the top of the mountain, and it would all be over. It didn't even matter why, really. Even when he had known Luca would come back from a lost fight with a black eye, Darius had known what had to happen. Just like that day in the market all those years ago, this must be how things had to be.

  "What if..." he started, trying in vain to defy what he knew must be the truth. "What if I don't want to?" Luca glanced at the waterfall, then back at Darius, not caring any more that he sounded like such a small child. "What if I want to stay here with you?"

  Darius smiled. "You'll go," he assured him. "I know you will, Luca. You'd do anything to save your son."

  Luca nearly grinned in disbelief. "I don't have a son."

  "Not yet," said Darius, continuing to smile in his all-knowing way.

  Luca stared at him, feeling the same confusion he always felt whenever Darius declared anything strange or impossible. He was always right in the end, of course; Darius always knew. Luca chuckled this time. "If you say so, old man."

  His feet felt heavy as he turned towards the waterfall. The stream of water was clear as rippled glass. Strangely, it didn't scare him, or even make him anxious. He just felt sad, as though he was about to leave a part of himself behind. Padding footsteps approached beside him.

  "No, Wolf, you stay here," Luca said, crouching to let Wolf lick his face, and wrapping his arms around the shaggy fur in a hug. "Stay with Darius, okay?" With a final pat, he sent Wolf back to Darius, and stood up again. He looked into the man's face, so much like his own, and found himself giving an identical smile. "I wish we could have done this forever, old man," he said. "I really do. But all..." he trailed off, knowing Darius would finish.

  "Things end," he obliged, giving Wolf's ears a reassuring stroke.

  Memories came to him now - perhaps his life flashing before his eyes - memories of everything he and Darius had been through together, all the adventures they had had, and all the times Darius had known that they would be safe. Darius had always told him to cherish what he had, to treasure his gifts while he had them, and appreciate the time he had been given. Now Luca truly knew why: Darius had forseen Luca's death all along.

  "What will your next adventure be when I'm gone?" he asked.

  Darius looked momentarily stumped by the question, something Luca had never seen before. "You know, for the first time, I really don't know." He grinned again, bright-eyed and mischievous. "But I think that makes it all the more exciting."

  Luca returned the grin, and took just one more moment. "Goodbye, father," he said. Then he stepped through the streaming waterfall that veiled the stone archway, and vanished.

  Only the sound of trickling water remained after he was gone. Darius sighed deeply, and Wolf gave a soft whine at his side, looking up at him for comfort. "Don't worry," said Darius. "He'll find us both again." Darius turned away from the archway, and Wolf followed him as they headed back the way they had come.

  "Well, Wolf - do you know what's going to happen next?" Wolf wagged his tail, bouncing on the pads of his paws, and looked ready for another adventure. Darius gave him a pat and sent him running ahead. "Then I suppose we'll just have to make it up as we go."

  *

  Water streamed over Luca's head, and gently lifted his body like it was made of air. He felt himself lying on something that was soft and firm, and though the water tickled his skin, it wasn't what had woken him.

  Somewhere in the distance, someone was crying.

  Luca opened his eyes and sat up in the sand of a long dust-coloured beach, afternoon sunlight glinting off the ripples of the vast ocean before him. He turned and saw the coast, where the dusty sand formed into towers of hardened rocks. Luca heard the cries; they came from one of those towers, a big thick one that widened at the top.

  His sword knocked into his leg as he pulled himself up off the sand and started towards the rocky tower. The cries continued, and when Luca reached the base, he began to climb. All he could think was how strangely familiar it was to hear someone crying from on top of a rock tower, and in no time, he had reached the wider summit.

  In the shallow dip of gathered grasses and straws, a baby boy lay swaddled in a ragged cloth, his mouth wide open in an agonized wail. Luca bent down to pick him up, and saw that the little hair he had was a soft red colour. The baby whimpered and coughed, but when it finally opened its streaming eyes, it reached for Luca's fingers with its tiny grasping hand.

  Another cry rent the air, this one farther away, but much more deadly. On the horizon, a dark shape grew closer, like a storm cloud intent on reaching the nesting tower as fast as it could.

  Luca felt himself grinning broadly at the furious wyvern heading straight towards him and the baby he held in his arms.

  He already knew how this story went. And he knew he was going to win.

  The End