The Orphanage of Miracles (The Kingdom Wars Book 1)

by Amy Neftzger

  “I don’t ...” Taro stuttered as he attempted to respond to the questions, “I don’t think the Pontiffs have thought about this. They were only trying to keep the miracles and the orphans safe. But it does appear strange that the king hasn’t been here for a very long time.”

  “And it also seems odd that the miracles are being confined, and because of that, they’re useless. It’s even more strange that they overpower anyone who comes near them to make people ineffective, as well,” said Nicholas.

  “This seems wrong,” Maggie said with a thoughtful expression.

  “It does. Very wrong,” Taro agreed, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  “It makes me wonder if the Pontiffs are actually working for the sorcerer,” Nicholas replied in a thoughtful tone. “It seems that all their plans for the orphanage have only turned it into a place where miracles go to die.”

  “No one has made a miracle here,” Jovan said, “and they took the one that Nicholas made.”

  “The one that we made,” Nicholas corrected him.

  “All these miracles around us have been collected from places where they could have done the people some good,” Taro agreed. “I don’t know if the Pontiffs have done this on purpose, but looking at the situation now, it doesn’t appear that they’ve been working in the king’s best interest. But what I don’t understand is why the king hasn’t done something to change the situation.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to change the situation because there isn’t a war and he’s trying to maintain the illusion that there is one,” Jovan suggested. “Keeping all the miracles here would help him to do that.”

  “We don’t know that the king has anything to do with this,” Nicholas argued. “We haven’t seen him.”

  “What if he doesn’t even exist?” Maggie suggested. “What if there is no king at all?”

  “There’s a king,” Taro replied calmly. “I saw him once when I was very small. But he hasn’t been here in a long time, and I don’t know why.”

  “I can’t think at all,” Jovan said with a frustrated sigh. “This place is suffocating. There’s something about so many miracles surrounding me that make me want to give up and let them handle everything.”

  They were all silent for a moment when Nicholas finally spoke up. When he did, his expression was alert. He was concentrating all his energy on his thoughts.

  “No one comes into this garden,” Nicholas recapped. “And these miracles were created by other people in different places and times. They may have been created for another purpose, and yet they were brought here.”

  “What’s your point?” Maggie asked curtly. She didn’t want to spend the little energy she had on thinking.

  “Maybe they’re hungry for human contact,” Nicholas replied. “This may be an unnatural situation for them, just as it is for us. Like prisoners hungry for contact, these miracles have been separated from the people they were designed to help. They’re missing their purpose.”

  “If that’s the case,” Taro replied, “Then they don’t belong here at all.”

  “And the only way for us to be able to move about in this garden without feeling overwhelmed,” Nicholas continued, considering his words, “is to allow the miracles to touch more people.”

  “We need to unlock all the doors,” Taro said with conviction. “These miracles need to breathe.”

  They first opened the doors nearest to them and then ran through the hallways to open all the other doors into the courtyard garden, where the miracles had been locked up for ages. A cross breeze developed and flushed the stale air from the garden into the hallways.

  The scent of the miracles flowed through the orphanage, and everyone felt the warmth as the miracles inhaled new life. A breeze of happiness and good feeling circulated through all the rooms of the orphanage. Everyone could feel it. For the first time, apprentices of different mentors spoke with one another and shared ideas without passing judgment. The orphanage lost the cold and distant atmosphere it had acquired. Maggie looked at the change within the orphanage that had taken place in only a few hours. She felt much better than she had either inside the garden or living in the orphanage with the miracles locked up away from her. It was the first time she could remember when things felt right.

  “Imagine what this could do for the whole world,” she said as she inhaled deeply. “How wonderful a place it could be!”

  Suddenly, the Pontiffs arrived and slammed all the doors, locking them again. They rushed through the hallways with a sweeping motion, and after they had made the full circle around the courtyard to lock up the miracles, they took the children and Taro to another room.

  “No one has ever dared to open up the garden,” Mrs. Pontiff shouted. “You had no permission and no right to do this. What were you thinking?”

  “They weren’t thinking!” Mr. Pontiff shouted at the children in anger.

  “Perhaps I can explain,” Taro said as he stepped forward.

  “There will be no explaining,” Mr. Pontiff replied curtly. “We’ll consider the case and make a judgment. Rules have been broken. Our rules.”

  They didn’t allow Taro a chance to speak again and quickly left the room, slamming the door behind them. The children stared at the door in disbelief as Taro sat on a chair.

  “What’s going to happen?” Nicholas asked Taro.

  “I don’t think even the Pontiffs know. They made the rules but never considered the consequences.”

  “Those were their rules,” said Jovan. “They said they were their own rules, and you also said the same thing. But no one said if these were the king’s rules.”

  “Because I don’t think that they are,” Taro replied. “And that could make the consequences of what we just did very interesting.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The Enchanted Forest

  Kelsey and Silence had traveled a day and a half into the forest when they began to feel a cold wind. It became icier with each step that Kelsey took, but she continued to push forward through the trees. The frigid air moved slowly at first, gently chilling her as it snaked around her arms and legs as she walked. However, the more she traveled, the stronger the grip of the wind became. The feeling that the wind was grasping onto her came and went with each gust.

  “I wonder if we’ve gotten off course. Would the orphanage be in such a cold place?” Kelsey asked Silence, who nodded vigorously. “Have you been here before?” Kelsey asked when she saw the certainty in his response to her first question. Silence nodded again. “Did you run away from here?” Silence shook his head. “But you left for some reason,” Kelsey concluded. She wondered how the birds understood the boy when they were a different species, and yet she could barely hold a conversation with him. “I think I would really like it if you could talk,” she said aloud. She still didn’t know whether he was unable to talk or simply refused to do so. Either way, a little friendly conversation in the cold, dark forest would have been welcome.

  Kelsey continued to walk eastward until she felt the gentle hold of the wind on her wrists tightening. It was as if the wind had an invisible body that moved fluidly about and sent chills wherever it touched her, and it frightened her. Very slowly the wind wrapped its damp fingers around Kelsey’s wrists and ankles and she found it nearly impossible to move. The wind was alive. It was moving and breathing around them.

  “Do you feel that, Silence?” Kelsey asked in a whisper. “It feels like something is trying to hold onto me. Do you feel it, too?” Silence nodded, but he pushed her forward. He wanted to continue moving ahead, despite the feelings the wind was imposing upon them. Kelsey staggered forward and then dug in her heels for a moment. “I don’t know if we should continue. This doesn’t feel right,” she explained to Silence, but he gave her another shove. Kelsey wondered if it was normal to feel this way in the forest, but then again, normal had lost all meaning since she had left home. She slowly lifted her right leg and forced herself to go forward with Silence leaning on her from beh
ind. He was throwing his weight into hers to give her the extra force she needed to make herself keep moving, and it was working. She was grateful for the help. As she took a step, she felt the wind pick up speed and begin swirling.

  “I am fear,” said the wispy voice drifting around her. Kelsey looked up into the height of the branches overhead, but all she could see were leaves and branches bending in the wind.

  “I don’t care,” Kelsey shouted stubbornly. “I don’t care what you are. We need to pass through this forest.”

  “You cannot go any farther.”

  “But we will,” Kelsey insisted. “You’re only air. You can’t stop me.”

  “I am fear,” the voice repeated.

  The wind moved about slowly and continued to brush Kelsey with icy fingers. She felt weak at the touch of it, but Silence pushed her forward again. It was good to have him with her. This was not a walk she would have wanted to take alone. Silence appeared docile most of the time, but there were moments when his looks were more deafening than the loudest screams. Kelsey realized that Silence didn’t need to speak to cut someone down to size. For a mute he really was exceptionally skilled at communication. He could stand up to the wind, and he was helping her to do that, also. The determination on his face gave Kelsey strength and she knew they had to go forward. There was no other way.

  Again Silence pushed her from behind, and again she felt the bite of the wind decrease slightly. Kelsey thought that it might be possible for them to get through, but she still continued to doubt whether they would make it. Even though they couldn’t go back, that didn’t mean they would be successful in going forward. After all, she’d never fought fear, itself. She’d only been afraid. As she pushed into the fierce wind, she alternated between conviction that she and Silence could get through the forest and the thought that the wind would get the best of them. They were stronger together, but they were still children. As she struggled with the doubt inside of her, the wind picked up speed and began blowing with more force. It sounded like a frosty train running over them.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” she shouted above the noise of the wind. Silence only nodded to indicate his conviction, and he continued to push her forward. Kelsey wondered if the forest had changed since Silence had previously been there. Perhaps it had gotten much worse. Maybe it had even become deadly.

  “What if I get hurt?” she asked Silence. “What if I hurt you by accident?” Silence shook his head. Kelsey wished she had whatever it was that made the boy so confident.The wind circled around her, speeding up and slowing down, and constantly changing directions. It was hissing as it moved, and Kelsey understood that these were words of fear and discouragement. She took a step forward on her own, without Silence’s help. Then she peered into the wind as it swirled around her. She thought she could see a face with a pair of eyes that were little more than slits of light. She took another step forward, despite the strong gusts attempting to hold her back.

  "You are not brave enough to walk through me," the wind thundered. Kelsey thought back to the conversation she had with Megan before crossing the desert, and she knew what she had to do. This wasn’t time to develop wisdom or to back down and look for another solution. It was time to be brave and move forward.

  "If I don’t walk through you now, I will never be brave enough because I will lose faith in myself,” Kelsey shouted at the moving wind. She stood tall and took another step forward. The wind sped up again and tried to confuse Kelsey by swirling rapidly in circles.

  “You cannot overcome me,” the wind screamed. “You are not strong enough to lift the enchantment.” Kelsey remembered everything Megan had said about strength, magic, enchantments and what was real. She knew Megan hadn’t told her everything, and yet Kelsey knew the truth.

  “Enchantments are not removed through physical strength,” Kelsey replied. She didn’t know how to lift the enchantment, but she knew that the wind was lying to her and trying to trick her. If the wind didn’t believe it could overcome Kelsey with truth, then the wind was also afraid. It was time to make the choice to stand against the wind. Kelsey wasn’t sure how she knew this, but she was certain of it.

  “I am all around you, and I hold all the power,” the wind hissed as it continued to circle her.

  “You have only the power I choose to give you,” Kelsey replied. She remembered everything that Roland had told her, and especially what he had said about respecting her because she did not fear death. The thought of her friend made her suddenly feel lonely. She also knew choices were powerful things, and she would not allow the wind to have power over her.

  “I am stronger than you. You’re afraid,” the wind accused her.

  “I’m not afraid. I’m lonely for my friend, but that doesn’t make me weak. In fact, it makes me stronger because I’ve made the choice to love someone.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” the wind replied softly and then continued in that thundering voice, “because I am the fear within you.”

  “You’re only able to become my fear if I accept you," Kelsey rapidly looked around for the face of the wind, but it was moving too quickly. “And I do not accept you. I refuse to allow you to be any part of me.”

  Suddenly the wind changed tactics. “I belong with you,” it whispered sweetly as it slowed and warmed to Kelsey. “I am a reflection of your heart. Accept me and we can be together. You will be safe with me.”

  “You’re a lie. You only want me to think you belong with me. You want me to believe that I will never be safe until I allow you to be with me. But the truth is that I will never be safe if I allow you inside.” Kelsey didn’t know how she knew all these things, but this journey had taught her that lies can look like truth and truth can look like a lie. The sorcerer had altered reality, but somewhere inside of her she had learned to see truth. Maybe this was what Megan meant when she said she had healed Kelsey. Her eyes had been opened to see that the only thing that was real was the love for her friends. The love that she had developed for Silence and the promise that she had made to watch over him were now helping her to move forward.

  Kelsey took another step forward and began to see the faint outline of a tall, majestic building. It had to be the orphanage, she thought, but there was some sort of misty veil between her and it. She looked over at Silence, who pointed down to the knife in her belt, and she remembered the knife vendor in the city in the rocks. He had told her about the knife, and she dismissed it at the time. But now the words came back to her as she watched Silence point from the knife to the veil.

  “This cuts magic?” she asked Silence. He nodded as the wind called him a liar.

  “Don’t trust the boy. He’s leading you into a trap,” the wind hissed. “I’m protecting you from the evil on the other side. That’s what fear does. It keeps you safe.”

  “The only evil here,” Kelsey answered with a firm shout into the wind, “is you.”

  She ran forward and stepped up to the veil. She touched it with one hand and pushed forward, but she could not move her hand through it. It didn’t look solid, but it felt firm, like a canvas stretched upon a frame. She wondered if it was an illusion. Silence pointed to her knife again.

  “Do you want this?” she asked holding out the knife to him, but the boy shook his head. She was taller, anyway. She was also stronger and better at using a knife - at least the non-magical kind - so she decided it was probably better for her to cut through the veil. Kelsey took a deep breath and quickly stepped up close to the misty fabric to leverage her weight.

  She lifted the dagger up above her head as high as she could reach. Then she thrust it forward and pressed her weight into the cut, as if she were stabbing a giant in the heart. She grasped the hilt by interweaving the fingers of both hands and she continued to lean forward as she pulled down on the knife. She felt the strain in her back as the sound of tearing fabric echoed all around. The cold wind began slowing as she pulled the dagger through the fabric shrouding the grounds around the orphanage. Af
ter some struggling, her dagger finally reached the ground and she pulled it out of the slit. As she did so, there was a loud sound, like a single, thunderous clap and the wind quickly tapered off into a gentle breeze before stopping altogether. It was gone so quickly that Kelsey wondered if it had been real at all.

  Silence gently opened the veil and motioned for Kelsey to step through first. She glanced around while securing her dagger back into the sheath and noticed how vibrant everything looked on the other side of the veil. It was like a window had been scrubbed clean for the first time. She stepped through and into the bright, clear sunlight. It felt peaceful there. The change in atmosphere was so dramatic that Kelsey felt as if most of the worry and anxiety had been pushed more deeply into the forest so that the orphanage and surrounding grounds could remain in safety.

  Kelsey reached back through the opening and grabbed Silence’s hands. She tried pulling him through the veil, but he kept slipping out of her grasp. She wondered if he was still caught in fear or if there was something about the veil that made it difficult for two people to pass through. Perhaps she needed to cut another hole for him to get inside the peacefulness with her.

  After struggling for a bit, she finally stepped one foot back through the curtain and lifted him up. He was extremely light, and she easily threw his body over her shoulder to carry him. Once she had stepped through the veil, however, something changed. He became unbearably heavy, as if gravity had suddenly become a much stronger force. She struggled to stay on her feet, but her legs were buckling from the burden. She didn’t want Silence to get hurt, so she fought to hold him up. However, the heaviness was too much for her. Kelsey staggered and then fell, and Silence fell on top of her.

  Kelsey felt her body hit the ground hard and the wind was knocked out of her. All she could think about was that Silence felt heavier than she remembered, perhaps even two or three times as heavy. After they hit the ground, Silence quickly scrambled back onto his own feet, but Kelsey struggled to regain her breath as she lay on the grass with her head in her hands and her eyes closed. She wanted to check on Silence to see if he was hurt, but there was pain in her chest where the wind had been knocked from her. When she finally opened her eyes, she looked directly up into the sky to see the first snowflakes falling, and she felt calm at the sight of them.