by Curtis, Gene
Bekka went about the duties of lighting the fire. LeOmi tossed her things in her tent.
“The thing to learn at Tent Fest is that a good Magi never gets too cold, too tired or too hungry.”
“A perishable body weighs down the soul and the earthly tent burdens the thoughtful mind.” LeOmi said as she smiled at Bekka, “One of my dad’s sermons.”
Bekka had packages of muffins and a huge pot that had mashed potatoes ready to be heated.
There were even a couple of Chinese Lanterns on poles outside of her tent. “Nice touch.”
“If I am going to be at a place, at least for a while, I like to think of it as an empty canvas. Make it as homey as possible.”
Bekka went back to the fire and checked the stacked wood one last time before she lit it.
The fire was stacked so that it started out small—just right for toasting marshmallows, but as the night went on and the temperatures dropped, the fire grew. It was a masterpiece of perpetual tumbling of burning wood. They watched, mystified at each succession of the path to total encompassment of flames. Afterwards, a little repositioning of key pieces of firewood and banking of hot coals was all it took to keep a radiant heat all night.
The stars were out in earnest but had been obscured by the tremendous light from the roaring fire.
There were seventeen tents around the fire and each of Bekka’s charges lay in their tents looking up.
Bekka asked the group, “Have you got any questions for me?”
“Sure, loads.” LeOmi recognized Abigale Trent.
“Well?”
“Are we allowed animals?”
“In special cases, the school allows students, teachers and staff to have animals. What kind of animal are you thinking of?”
“None really, I just wondered what the policy was.”
“Okay, one question answered, fire another out, I got you going, don’t stop now.”
“What happened with my letter I sent?”
“All your letters have been delivered, I can’t make someone reply. The recipient has to do that.”
“Okay, another answered. Anymore for now?”
No one volunteered any more questions.
“Tents Fest is a time of celebrating. I have chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers. If you are in the mood, come and get it.”
Several students jumped to their feet. Bekka pulled out the items one at a time. First the graham crackers, then the chocolate, then she said, “Now where did I put the marshmallows, oh here they are, here, hold this.” Bekka handed LeOmi a huge bag, filled with marshmallows, each marshmallow the size of a soup can.–Then she peeked around the tent flap and smiled brightly at LeOmi and everyone started laughing. They were laughing so hard that they heard other people laughing at their laughing.
“Laughter is contagious, haven’t you ever heard that?”
Then they laughed some more.
LeOmi approached Bekka while everyone was busy toasting marshmallows, “Can I leave the school and come back after I have taken care of something?”
“Students are not allowed to leave the school unattended if they can’t remanifest.”
“Well then, could you take me somewhere?”
“That depends. Where would you like to go?”
“Well, as you know, my mother sent my dad a personal journal and he gave it to me. I have read it over and over and I think it is a code about where she hid the book that she got in Calcutta.”
Bekka looked at LeOmi, “Where did you get this theory from?”
“Well, it was because of the Journal itself.”
“The Journal says that it is a code?”
“No, but the story has some truth to it, and I need to see for myself.”
“I suppose she felt the journal would be safe with him, if anything happened to her.”
“Which is exactly what happened.”
“Okay.”
“I will write some letters tonight.”
“I will deliver your letters tomorrow, I cannot tonight because I have to keep the fire going and I have to make sure that–well, there are things I need to do.”
LeOmi wrote two letters by the light of the fire.
Explaining what she suspected to her dad was the hardest part, but eventually she just decided simple and to the point was better. She wrote, ‘I think mother hid the Sumerian Journal near home.’
* * *
The next morning, LeOmi just spent time wandering. There was too much activity for a morning run so they just decided to try to find a place and time later on.
The letters she had written were quick, short and simple, straight to the point.
Bekka returned after making her deliveries.
“Your dad asked that you stop by when you are away from the school and out in his neck of the woods. I think that would be nice.”
“And the other?”
“I left it, unopened, but delivered into her hand. What is it with you two?”
“You know as much as I do, if not more.”
“Well we cannot leave the mountain today, or during Tent Fest so I guess we will go next week. On–not Monday, that’s flags practice so…Tuesday. I guess this calls for another letter to your dad.”
After LeOmi wrote another letter, Bekka left promising to return later on in the day.
LeOmi made her way around the outskirts of the tents area. Bekka had given LeOmi an area map that showed the entire Seventh Mountain complex. It reminded her of Henry’s Wheel of Life, the Wheel of Four Ages.
The school was surrounded by twelve outer Regions. She knew where the Stables and the Game Preserve were.
In the center of the map was The Seventh Mountain. The school grounds extended a mile to the rock wall with its hidden offset entrances. The grounds included the Island with the moat that was located in the northern school grounds. Beyond that and over the wall were the fairly equal portioned divisions, divided like spokes on a wheel. They were listed as:
Stables and Farming
Forest
Life Sciences
Power and Engineering
Vehicle Training
Airfield
Naval Combat
Firearms Range
Firearms Combat
Urban
Wasteland
Game Preserve, Rain Forrest and Farming
It was all surrounded by an area marked Magi City.
It was odd how similar the map layout was to Henry’s Wheel of Life with The Seventh Mountain as a hub and the dividing lines of the Stables, Farming and other outer regions acting as spokes of the wheel. Magi City was the tire ring, the same type area that Henry had painted the vine and flowers. The life in motion spins, bound with the experiences of a person’s whole life. These good and bad experiences keep the wheel held together. There is also the joining of the other wheels that produce an efficient and productive system. If you take a single wheel hung above the mantle and use it in conjunction with other wheels, then you have an awesome power. The psyche people could have a field day with that.
If Fireball could have been with her she would have explored, but this was a week of rest for not only the students, but the animals as well. So she just wandered around, ending up at the posting board for sign-ups in the competitions.
The Sword Fighting Competition already had quite a few names written on the board in each grade section. Under the freshmen, a few names stood out.
“Well if it isn’t the traitor.” Slone approached her with his charming smile. LeOmi ignored him, turning and sitting on a set of benches that had been placed on the desert landscape just for the tents events. He sat down beside her. She turned away, so as not to face him. He stood up and sat on the other side of her. She moved down to the end seat and faced the other way, and he followed.
“I may have been a little too severe in the retaliation yesterday.”
“May have?”
“Well I was angry, and you didn’t make it any better, smacking me
around like that.”
“I am thinking that you will get over it.”
“Yeah. Anyway, let’s just put that behind us and start again.”
“I don’t think so Slone, I think that you passed a point of no return with that one, at least for me. I hope not for yourself.”
“Ah, you are concerned about me, how touching. See, we could get past this.” He grabbed her hand pretending to want to hold it. She tugged it to pull it away and then he bent it around her back and pulled her face right next to him. When she attempted to punch him he grabbed her arm and tightened his grip on the arm in her back. Before he caught her arm, she did manage to make his nose start to bleed again. In pain she could only listen and kick. He could have broken her arm, but he didn’t.
“Now you listen to me, I have given you a lot of opportunities to come to me and my group, but you’re just a tease.”
“What?”
“You heard what I said.”
An instructor was calling out, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing there? Stop that.”
“She bloodied my nose.” Slone said as he quickly released her and stood in one swift movement.
“Well, probably not without good cause. Go get yourself cleaned up.”
“Are you okay Miss?”
LeOmi stood as well, and she was rubbing her arm and shoulder. “I’ll be okay. I want to sign up for the competition.”
She gave Slone the, “I am going to beat you into the dirt” look, and he returned a similar one. He went to stand with his group of followers and she returned to her seat on the end.
The competition began. Ralph Lawrence had been diligently practicing. He won the first few competitions.
LeOmi took her turn and easily beat him. He was still clumsy and LeOmi moved swiftly and agility.
Several other competitors lost to her.
Keith Richards took a little more effort. All the practicing that they had been doing was showing.
She had been competing for quite a while and she was getting tired. There was a large group of onlookers now. It seemed like a large percentage of the freshmen had heard about the upcoming match and had gathered around.
The instructor called, “Slone Voif.”
Slone immediately approached and as they bowed to each other before the call to begin, he said, “I think that it is time that I paid you back for the bloody nose.”
She was still breathing hard from the earlier matches, “So you have been practicing falling down and getting back up again, have you?”
Mark called out from the onlookers, “She’s tired. Can she take a break?”
The instructor that was monitoring the competition said, “That’s up to her.” He looked a LeOmi.
“Let’s do this.”
“Very well. Begin.”
They had barely begun. Just a little sparring, she lost her balance, and Slone jabbed her hard in the ribs.
Her legs collapsed under her. She sat on the ground, holding her rib cage tightly. The other hand held her baton in a defensive position.
“Hold!”
The instructor put his hand on LeOmi’s shoulder. She looked up at him, but she didn’t stand. He turned and grabbed Slone’s arm and put it up into the air and said, “Slone Voif the winner.”
Slone put both hands up into the air and started jogging around the arena. Then he leaned in towards LeOmi’s ear, “Aren’t you glad this wasn’t my real sword.”
Slone’s crew was applauding, and he turned and approached the group then regally bowed.
The instructor asked, “Are you all right Miss?”
“Yeah, it is just a bruise.”
She stood up and hobbled over to her seat, followed closely by Mark.
“Are you all right?”
She didn’t answer. She just looked at him.
“You’re the best freshman fighter that I have seen yet. Slone just got lucky. I bet you’d have won if you weren’t so tired.”
“I’m going to win. I am not going to let him win.”
The instructor called out for another opponent, any more challengers for Slone Voif?”
Mark said, “Your too tired to fight now, at least let him take on another opponent first.”
“All right, I guess you’re right. I do need to catch my breath.”
The instructor called out, “We need a challenger for Slone Voif, the current Champion.”
“It doesn’t look like anyone is going to challenge him.”
“Just give it a minute. I can’t think of anyone who wants him to win the trophy except those cohorts of his.”
“Last call for a challenger for Slone Voif. If no one challenges him, he wins by default. I’ll give it to a count of ten… One.”
LeOmi was starting to stand and Mark put his hand on her shoulder. “You can’t fight him now. You’re too tired.”
“Two…”
“I know, but I am not going to let him go unchallenged.”
“Three…”
“What does it matter if he wins the cup? It doesn’t mean anything.”
“Four…”
“I’m not going to let that good for nothing bully win it, not him or any of his goons.”
“Five…”
“Why do you feel so strongly about it?”
“Six…”
“Its personal and none of your business. Besides, what would a goodie-two-shoes like you know about life?”
“Seven …”
“Ouch, what brought that on?”
“Eight …”
“Like I said, none of your business, now get out of my way, I am going to fight him.”
“Nine…”
“No you’re not.”
Mark raised his hand. “I’ll fight him.”
Slone had been watching the conversation between LeOmi and Mark.
Slone now tried to stand as tall as he could, “I didn’t think you had the guts and I know that you don’t have the skill. Last chance to back out. I know that you want to. I have seen you fight in class, if you can call it that.”
“I don’t want to fight you Slone I just want to wear you out so that LeOmi has a fair chance against you.”
“Begin…”
Mark took the defensive tactic.
Slone said, “Fight me you coward.”
Mark said, “If you don’t like the way I fight, you can quit.”
Slone was in a rage; he yelled and came at Mark, “Get out of my head.”
Mark easily dodged his attack and jabbed Slone in the ribs, just where he had jabbed LeOmi.
“Hold.”
Slone started to come after Mark again and the instructor yelled out, “HOLD. I said HOLD.”
The instructor went up to Mark and held up his arm and said, “If there are no other challengers, Mark Young, the Freshman Sword Single Combat Championship Winner.”
He was awarded the trophy.
Mark went back to LeOmi, “You know you rightly deserve this trophy.”
“That’s all right, you won it.”
“You would have beaten him hands down if you hadn’t been so tired.”
“I didn’t want to beat him; I just didn’t want him and his slime winning that trophy.”
“What I don’t understand is why you’re so down on him. I thought you were part of his group, at least for a while.”
“I have my reasons; maybe someday I will explain it to you. Right now, I just want to be left alone.”
“Suit yourself. I think you would have won. You’re a really good fighter.”
He walked off and left her alone.
The instructor came over and told her to show him the jab. She just stared at him.
“Well then raise your arm.”
She raised her arm about five inches and then she gasped in pain and then passed out. The instructor held her gently and remanifested.
She was in the Healing Ward when she woke up. Her father was sitting in the chair beside her bed with his hand holding hers saying a pra
yer.
“What happened?” LeOmi moved her arms to try and sit up, but the pain forced her to lie back down.
“Please stay still; I did what I could until the Healer gets here.”
“I don’t see how I can protest, I can barely move without passing out.”
“Yeah, he really did a number on you, it is a good thing they weren’t real swords or else he would have killed you.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” LeOmi was in deep contemplation.
Bekka came into the room, “Busted rib and a pierced lung was your dad’s diagnosis.”
She felt the bandages and then the sharp pain of inhaling a surprised bit of air.
“I guess you’re not indestructible.” Her dad smiled at her and gave her hand a small squeeze before releasing her.
“She fought magnificently though, or so I hear.”
The nurse came into her room with a small vial.
“I apologize for the delay, Tent Fest Competitions always keep us busy but Competition injuries are up this year.”
The Healer pulled the bandage back and shook her head when she saw the back and blue rib. She tapped one drop from the vial on LeOmi’s forehead. Immediately she fell asleep. A little under an hour later she awoke.
LeOmi stood, and removed her bandage.
“Oh thank You, dear God,” Her father said.
The nurse said, “How about your lung?”
“I feel fine, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The nurse turned and left the room.
LeOmi stood rubbing her head.
Bekka said, “Is there something else wrong?”
“I come to the Garden alone.”
Her father and Bekka said, “What?”
LeOmi turned from them and walked towards the window and looked down onto hundreds of tents.
“That was the song. Somehow Mark was projecting it into Slone’s mind and I heard bits and pieces of it.”
She turned, “At the moat, he projected thoughts to Chenoa; I heard…or felt him. I know that he can converse with animals too. Thorpe said that he had talked to a lioness. What else is he capable of?”
Bekka smiled and nodded, “So, you are finding out some of the mysteries of our mysterious Mark Young. The truth is that no one knows what he is capable of. Not even Mr. Diefenderfer, who sang about him. The song really just made us aware of his coming here to The Seventh Mountain and that he would be a champion of sorts.”
