by Troy Hooker
“If they don’t?” Sam persisted.
“Don’t what?” he looked cross-eyed suddenly.
“Stay within their boundaries,” Sam repeated.
“Then they destroy them,” he said cheerfully, shoving another purple handful of nuts into his mouth and peering at the now empty field. “But it hasn’t been necessary for quite some time now.”
Suddenly, the field came alive with players wearing green on the left side of the field and purple on the right. Teammates on both sides were tossing baseball-sized lighted blue balls with short leather slings with efficient speed.
Emma, who had taken on the noble job of teaching him all about Kolar Ball, had now seemed to forget any memory of his day with Sayvon and was snuggled up to his arm once again. Sam felt a bit strange with Mrs. Sterling just behind them watching every move they made, but he knew Emma and her intentions, and she had obviously earned the trust of her parents because they made no move to stop her.
“There are two goals spaced out in the field on each team’s side, and one main goal for each. And see those?” she narrated as the balls of light whizzed about the field like shooting stars, each one leaving a trail of light behind it. “Each team has three lighted Kiols that they try to throw in the other team’s goals. There’s seven Kiols total.”
Suddenly a player produced and swung a larger gold ball in his sling, slinging it to a teammate with precise skill. Emma grabbed his arm and pointed excitedly.
“And that ball over there makes seven. It’s the Kolar Ball. It is worth double points!”
Suddenly, all balls ceased movement and players lined up in straight lines in front of their team’s goals. The stadium grew steadily silent with only the occasional hoot from unknown parts of the stands. Gus, who had put down his giant mug of tea and bag of Fuzers, was the first to stand as a lone voice boomed from somewhere above them for all Descendants to stand as they prayed.
The stadium clanged to their feet in unison and became instantly silent once again.
Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam. Oseh ma’asei v’reishit!
Blessed are you, Lord, our Creator, sovereign of the universe who does the work of Creation! Keep us and our paths straight, and bind us to your tassels as we seek to honor your purpose!
“The prayer in the ancient tongue,” Emma said once the prayer ended and the stadium returned to their seats. As soon as she said it, suddenly a huge bright ball of blue light streaked center field and unfolded before them into a series of huge gleaming letters. It read:
Welcome all Descendants to the Games! Tonight’s games will be Nais against Themane, and Telok against Thalo! Purple and Green, take the field!
Then the lighted words dissolved into a huge gleaming circle, looking very much like a sun setting across the stadium. The game clock circle pulsated and began its trek across the night sky as a horn blast signaled the start of the game.
There were whizzing lights suddenly on the field, with players running every direction catching and throwing Kiols. The gold Kolar Ball could only be seen every so often as the teams attempted strategy plays to end the match quickly. After a while of getting dizzy watching the lights flash around the field, Sam began to see a rhythm to the madness and was able to keep up with the plays and even cheer when a team scored a goal.
“We want the green hall to win, because then we will see them in the final game,” Emma said in between sips of Sam’s tea. “Oh I just can’t stand how they act after they beat us like last year! So—so—happy that they beat us!”
With only seconds left in the third match, the green hall players scored their tenth point to beat the purple hall ten to five. The green hall had won all three matches without much effort. The purple players walked solemnly off the field as the giant gleaming numbers showed the final scores above them.
“Here they come!” Emma shouted suddenly, and the entire red section jumped to their feet.
The players jogged out onto the field amidst deafening cheers from the blue and red spectators.
“Descendants, please welcome the halls of Telok and Thalo!” The words rolled across the field as the teams tossed a few light balls to each other.
As the sunset timer ticked it’s last few moments away before the game, the players took their positions. Then the horn lights began to fly as players sprang into action, lighted balls flying everywhere. The red hall scored in the leftmost target in the first few seconds of the game, but then didn’t score again for the entire match. The taller blue team player with a large letter “S” on his back dominated the field, catching the red player’s balls every time they would get close to scoring. Another shorter blue player would constantly throw the gold-lighted ball at the red’s right target, causing the red players to focus most of their attention on defending their most important goal.
With the score of the first match being one to ten, the second match went nearly as badly, but the red hall was able to catch on to their strategy mid-game and won ten to eight.
The final match was a struggle for both teams, the red hall and blue hall players whizzing balls to each other in trick plays and fake throws. Suddenly, the slender rookie player named Pattok, with the sandy-colored hair, caught three balls in a row and scored in the left target.
The crowd chanted “Rookie! Rookie!” as the red hall pulled ahead of the blue hall halfway through the match, and Sam, Gus, and Emma stood to their feet with the crowd, chanting alongside.
By the three-quarter time mark, the rookie had scored three more goals, and the plumper but agile bald player named Taris scored two as well, making the game eight to seven in favor of the red hall.
After another two scores by the blue hall in rapid succession, the extremely tall and bony white-haired coach for the red hall called a time out. He stood over the players like a giant skeleton in a red robe, pounding his fist into his hand animatedly as he yelled.
As if a fire had been lit beneath him, the rookie was instantly all over the field when the glowing sun-clock started, snatching lighted balls from the air and returning them with incredible speed.
“Rookie! Rookie!” the crowd continued to shout, everyone now on their feet.
The blue players tried their best to keep up with the throws, but eventually they were overwhelmed, and two balls were rocketed into their left and right targets. The crowd roared as the red players collided into each other, the words “Thalo hall has defeated Telok hall 10–9” scrolling across the field.
“Rookie! Rookie!”
The red team hoisted the young player onto their shoulders and carried him off the field as numerous red and green lights streaked into the dark sky, signaling the winners of the night.
“It means tomorrow night we have an even tougher game with Themane,” Emma said as they exited the stadium amid hoots and whistles from the winning teams.
“So you aren’t still mad at me?” Sam asked suddenly, unaware where the question came from. He would have been smarter to let it go, but then he had never been very good with girls.
She ignored his question, and instead babbled on about each of the hall’s origins.
“Sorry, I should probably have told you what the halls were earlier, but each one is named in the old language for the different regions of Lior.
“The blue hall, Telok, means ‘land of the ancient.’ They are from the Northern lake region. Themane, the green hall, means ‘land of sorrow,’ but I really don’t know why they call them that—it’s a perfectly beautiful place in the Southern forest region. Nais is the purple hall, named after the cloud people in the Eastern mountain range, much too cold for most people to stand but they seem to make it just fine. And then there’s Thalo, our region, which includes Lior City, named after the ‘land of skulls,’ a truly dreadful name.
“Are you even listening to me?” she stopped suddenly in front of a coffee vendor who was filli
ng mugs as quickly as possible as more of the exited crowd lined up for a caffeinated nightcap.
“Yes, I uh—”
“Never mind. You’ll hear all about it from Gus anyway.”
Sam breathed a sigh of relief as they passed the City Center where they waited for Gus, Lillia, and the rest of the group to catch up. She obviously had gotten over being too-mad-to-even-look-at-him angry and had moved on to the burying-it-under-chit-chat phase.
“So why these particular colors? Do they have some significance?” Sam gazed at the stained windows that glowed in the halls of the City Center with almost living colors, a deep contrast with the darkness that now held the City.
“Why would I know that?” she said contemptuously, the sudden flare of anger revealing that the issue with Sayvon was not completely dead.
“Never mind. I know that each region chose a different part of Lior because they disagreed with each other after one of the wars,” she continued.
“So Thalo was not always together with the other halls?”
“No. In fact, the halls disagree a lot. But the games and the yearly feast help us remember we are together—now don’t try and ask if I’m mad. I’m fine now that Sayvon’s not batting her prissy little eyes at you anymore.”
Gus and Lillia caught up with them about the time they were entering the pathway to the cabin, and Sam was glad for the extra company. He even enjoyed Lillia’s snide comments about the other halls and players at the game for a change. As they walked, the smell of sea air drowned out the smell of doughnuts and skewers of meat being sold on the red hall street.
“I could use another beef stick or two,” Gus mumbled as he huffed up the pathway.
“No you couldn’t,” Lillia said under her breath but loud enough for all of them to hear.
“Lillia, really?” Emma lashed out suddenly, but was met with an animated eye-rolling back from Lillia.
“Sorry Gus,” she said quietly, but then mumbled under her breath, “that you can’t control yourself.”
Emma turned on her heels and stood directly in front of Lillia, her eyes blazing. “Lillia, that is enough!”
While Gus was unquestionably hurt by her words, he seemed more focused on getting them to the fire pit in the pavilion, as he no doubt had some news of his research earlier in the day.
Mr. Sterling, Mrs. Sterling, Cooley, and Miss Karpatch emerged from the woods still hooting and wearing their red hats.
“Don’t be out too late you four! I’m not waiting on you for breakfast!” Mrs. Sterling shook her large red glowing foam finger in the air as she and Mr. Sterling mounted the stairs to the cabin while the four teens found their way to the fire pit.
“We won’t, mum!” Emma said obediently.
Gus coaxed everyone to take a seat while Lillia poked at the ashes, which still showed some life in the glowing coals from the previous evening’s Fuzer roast.
“I was hoping to have a little time before bed to tell you what I found out today,” he started. “Although I’m not thoroughly ready to commit to any of the Lior legends, I did find a little information that may shed some light on Chivler’s disappearance,” Gus said with the slightest bit of nervousness in his voice, while the others stared confused at his connections. “I was reading in the library and luckily overheard one of the Protectors quietly discussing the break-in at Chivler’s Books.”
Suddenly all eyes were on Gus.
“So I sat at one of the tables near them so I could hear what they were saying.” Gus took a large breath. “Apparently whoever broke into the store was looking for something—a journal.”
“A journal? What for?” Lillia wiped her eyes casually.
“Apparently it belonged to a man who founded White Pine—a man name Julian Lawrence.”
“Isn’t that—oh! Chivler’s Bookstore!” Emma had wrapped herself up in her deep red knitted sweater with “THALO” stitched on the front and was trying to shift her chair away from the evening breeze off the ocean. “Wasn’t it the first building of White Pine?”
“It was. Julian was a banker, and when the copper mining began to take off a few years earlier, he sought to become the central bank for all of the Northern Midwest and Canada mines in operation. The building was to be the main branch for the entire region.”
“So?” Lillia pronounced.
“It seems that Julian, ever since moving to White Pine and building the Bookst—uh—bank, started having dreams and visions about arches.”
“He was a Descendant?” Emma’s eyes grew to saucers.
“Yep. But the dreams—they were, well, a little different. It seems that Julian was having dreams about a specific arch. A Dark arch, in fact—complete with visions of dark creatures who would enter and exit it freely.”
Both girls were suddenly on the edge of the bench, precisely in front of Gus to catch his every word.
“Like, as in the Dark Legend?” Emma stammered. “The theory of the Dark arch?”
“I would assume so,” Gus replied. “I read somewhere that many in Lior believed he was one of the ancient prophets. His journal is said to contain many secrets.”
“But that’s impossible. Descendants have dreams about the white arches—never the dark one we’ve only heard about in stories,” Lillia said.
Suddenly, a wave of panic engulfed Sam, and his almost nightly dreams about the black arch rushed back to him in clear, full detail, as if he could reach out and touch it. His face grew hot, even in the cool night air. His dream had not only featured a Dark arch, but he was a part of the dream. The voices of the others suddenly morphed into a blubbering mess of noise, and he could no longer understand them.
***********************
“Sam! What is it?” Emma was instantly at his side.
Sam hadn’t realized it, but he was now slumped over on the bench and feeling quite faint. The coals from the leftover fire blurred in front of him and all sounds around him became only muffled noises.
“Sam!” rang Emma’s voice rang, which was beginning to sound clearer.
He struggled to sit up. Immediately his mind went to the Dark arch once again, and wooziness nearly took him over once again. Instead of giving in, he grabbed Lillia’s arm, who had jumped off the bench mumbling that she needed to find a doctor.
“Don’t—” his words slurred, but he forced himself to form the words as his head pounded like a giant hammer inside his skull. “Just—don’t. I … I’m fine.”
“No you’re not, weirdo. You just fainted,” Lillia attempted to retrieve her arm.
“Don’t! I’m fine!” Sam said sternly, his senses finally returning fully.
“Fine. Your funeral.”
Sam couldn’t keep it to himself any longer. As he rubbed his temple, he held his hand up as if to quiet them again. Lillia reluctantly sat down on the bench, looking queerly at him from the other side of the fire pit. “I had—uh—dreams about an arch too.”
“We already know that,” Emma said gently. “Every potential Descendant of the Light does.”
What Sam told them next was something he had been keeping bottled up inside for quite a while now. He knew others had dreams like his own, but there was a difference in how they had reacted as opposed to him. The waking up in the middle of the night screaming in a pool of his own sweat, heart beating so fast he couldn’t possibly count his own pulse, had driven him nearly insane the past few months. Those around him did not seem to share the same sense of gripping fear he did. Since coming to Lior, he had suspicions his dreams were not normal, not like the wonderful feeling of being in front of the beautiful, pulsing white light of the arch in White Pine as it transported them to a different world. The fear terrorized him, tortured his mind in the night, leaving him cold and senseless to the world around him. Now was the time to tell them the truth.
“But in my dreams, the arch is alway
s dark,” Sam told them.
Chapter Ten
Old Lady Wrenge
Emma gaped at him open-mouthed.
“What? Why haven’t you told us this before?”
Sam felt light-headed once again.
“You never asked.”
“So you just thought everyone went around having dreams about Dark arches?!” Lillia joined in with Emma’s astonishment.
“I—uh—didn’t really know,” he stammered. “It’s not like you told me much of anything.”
“Does that mean he is cursed with Darkness?” Emma sputtered, refusing even to look in Sam’s direction.
He remembered the guard stopping him and Talister just before entering the Chancellor’s office. Could I have been the one to set off the alarm? Did the old lady in the forest know something about me and that’s why she called me ‘boy with the shadows’?
Gus stood and began pacing in front of the fire pit silently, and no one said much of anything for several minutes as they processed Sam’s announcement. It was Lillia who noticed Gus’s unwillingness to engage in the conversation.
“Did you know about this?” she glared in his direction as he paced.
Gus stopped, looking quietly into the night air beyond the pavilion toward the City. He obviously had been holding back on some information that would bring light to the situation.
“Yes. I mean …”
“Spill it, Grimace,” Lillia chided him.
“I had an idea, yes,” he breathed loudly. “He talks in his sleep … and his demeanor in the mornings following his dreams wasn’t quite one that would suggest his dreams were of the blissful nature like ours were.”
Neither girl responded to this, only continued to stare at Gus with concern as if he had the answers for why Sam had been dreaming in this manner.
“It’s not like I can help it,” Sam said angrily as they continued to act like he wasn’t hearing everything they were saying about him.
