They got a late start on the day because waking up the Imp proved to be quite a chore. He got on Russell’s back and they left for the port. Suddenly, Lizeria stopped and spoke loudly, “No, go back. We go back to Stone.” She talked in a commanding voice, a stark contrast from her usual hesitant tone. “We can’t. We have to get help for our friend,” Russell explained. “No. We have go back,” she forcefully retorted. Through a near whisper, the Imp said, “We need to go back.” “What, are you certain, my love? We need to get you to your Dust,” Shireez stated. “This girl has barely spoken a word during our entire trip. This is a greater clue than any map or tip we could receive. We need to go back,” the Imp insisted.
The crew turned around and went back to the Stone of Rockarius. An unusual sight awaited the group. A scrawny blond boy paced back and forth on the Stone while a Cyclops leaned with his back against the rock. Russell had never seen a Cyclops before. He became enamored with the giant, and shook his shoulders to make sure the Imp was awake. He looked back at the boy with shaggy, long hair. When he turned to walk away, a big lump on his back could be seen through his shirt. The odd-looking boy talked to the Cyclops and looked around.
Dragon-Eyes started laughing as if some youth had been magically injected into him. Russell asked, “What is so funny?” “The Pearl lies within. Don’t you see it now? The Pearl lies within,” he kept laughing. Russell still didn’t understand and asked the wizard to clarify for the group. He scoffed after the Imp told him that the Pearl of Wisdom was being held by the little boy. As they walked back toward the Sea of Green to get to Gama Traka, Russell Seabrook now had two more unlikely travel companions.
SUNNY
Muriel whirled the bamboo staff in front of her body, fending off two opponents. She spun and bent down in one fluid motion, using the staff to crack one student on the ankle, felling the large young man. She spun upward, but her advances were blocked by the remaining opponent, Santos. The two combatants traded staff attacks and the older male student, twice the size of Muriel, ran out of energy. Muriel noticed and backed away, inviting the opponent to go on the offensive. She picked her spot and exploded. The buzzing sound of the staff carried through the entire fire-lit room and a furious attack knocked Santos’ staff from his hand. He tried to hurriedly back away, but Muriel seized her chance and hooked her staff behind his foot. She yanked back with all the power in her wrists. The large man fell down, on his back, and Muriel pounced with her staff over his neck. She closed her eyes to concentrate and borrow strength from the spirits. The much stronger opponent lifted the staff along with Muriel initially, until the little girl overwhelmed him somehow. “I yield,” the student screamed. Santos got up and shoved Muriel as he walked away. Sunny just smiled. He followed his impressive sister by taking on three men with wooden swords. They were three of the top students, but Sunny and his oaken blade had little problem besting them.
The second period of the day was reading and writing. The order of classes switched on a daily basis. This subject was fifth period yesterday. They learned the language of Parismore for two hours until moving on to the next period.
History class dealt with the Battle of Parismore or the War of the Nobles. Sunny learned Ali-Samuel Wamhoff had taken a small contingent to Parismore while an internal war among ruling families raged. He promised his men and self to King Pradley’s cause. One day, King Pradley’s men woke up to find Ali-Samuel and his entire crew gone. They also took King Pradley’s head and crown which now sits above the throne of Donegal. The lesson was a cautionary tale to be careful of whom to trust and the nuances of alliances.
The next two hours were Sunny’s least favorite class, strength and conditioning. This period started with him carrying a stone heavier than himself, into and around the perimeter of every room. The next hour consisted of running full-speed up and half-speed back down the straight underground road, covered in sweat. Then Sunny had to wear a thick, fibrous jacket connected to a cart full of rocks. For a half-hour he acted like a horse and pulled the cart around the School. The last activity involved a hanging rod, horizontal to the ground. The students had to grip the high metal rod and pull their chins above it. Sunny could only do sixty-five because it fell at the end of the period. He had performed one hundred and thirty one pull-ups one day at the beginning of the period.
The next lesson consisted of hand-to-hand combat and grappling. This came at the wrong time. His energy sank low and the instructor always made him fight two or more students. Sunny had relief wash over him as the teacher only made him face one opponent today. Koji was one of the top students in the School. Being in his mid-thirties, he hated to lose to a twelve-year-old. Sunny had bested him many times before, and the older man resented him for it.
Today, Koji’s moves seemed quicker and he landed a few early blows. From their previous battles, Sunny knew that Koji always threw his predictable right fist in the same manner. He tried it again and Sunny caught the wrist with his right hand and turned the man’s arm over. Sunny used his other hand and forearm to put extreme pressure on Koji’s elbow, threatening to break it. Sunny looked up for a moment and his vision was obscured by a bare foot, rising up to kick him in the face. He dropped his hold on Koji and did a backwards somersault, springing back to his feet. He checked his nose for blood and shook off the cheap shot. A student named Jepi unexpectedly entered the fray. The instructor had never used this approach against Sunny before. Koji and Jepi tried to surround Sunny, who backed away, trying to formulate a quick plan.
He attacked Koji and the two traded blocked blows, but he kept circling to avoid being surrounded. From his peripheral vision, he noticed Jepi winding up a long, high kick, aimed for his head. Sunny ducked at the last moment and blood shot from Koji’s nose along with an intense scream of pain and frustration. Koji knew he had to take a knee and eliminate himself from this activity now. Sunny smiled despite the pain from the earlier kick. The slower remaining opponent threw a weak punch that Sunny caught with both hands on the man’s forearm. Sunny drove his shoulder into Jepi’s chest, while continuing his grip on the forearm, and easily flipped the big man onto his back. A stunned Jepi couldn’t act quick enough to stop Sunny from sneaking in for a choke hold. He flexed his right forearm and Jepi started to gag for air. Heavy squirming from Jepi followed until the older student tapped the ground, indicating he quit. Koji ran up, still bleeding, and demanded a single match against Jepi for smashing his nose in friendly fire. The instructors had to step in and settle Koji down. The class ended and Sunny moved on to group combat.
The daily task seemed easy enough. The class of two hundred and fifty six had to walk across the room, practicing protection from arrow attack. One man was supposed to march in front with his long, rectangular shield in front of his body. The second man stood behind and held a similar sized shield over the heads of both soldiers. This left a small peep hole to see through and only gave the arrow a slim chance of penetration. The students randomly lined up sixteen across and eight pairs deep. The teachers readied themselves to throw small rocks to simulate arrow attack.
Sunny’s confidence waned greatly after the first few steps. Marching with another soldier was difficult enough, but one hundred and twenty eight groups of two marching in synchronization seemed impossible. The rocks rained down and the discombobulated students were exposed and pelted. Several groups kept their shields intact during the entire march, but most were covered with red marks from the rocks. A few more disastrous attempts went by until Sunny realized something. The instructors stopped another feeble advance and sent the students to realign. “STOP,” screamed Sunny to the rest of the class. “What we need to do is pair up with a person of the same height. The man in back should lay the shield on the lead marcher’s helm. This way you can have a better feel for his movements and general speed of walk.” Sunny spoke with a lisp, which he blamed on his cleft palate, but when he screamed, the speech impediment disappeared and he commanded a manly voice.
The students
reassembled and the next attempt showed a startling difference. Only a few lucky rocks penetrated the marching brigade of students. The next few efforts were even better, and Sunny felt proud at having been able to diagnose the problem and fix it.
He didn’t have time to break his arm patting himself on the back as he needed to get to the final class. The intimate class only consisted of thirty students, making it by far his smallest. Muriel sat next to him and only a small percentage of students had made it past the first week of spirit conjuring. After a few times of trying to conjure the angels, a student either had the ability or did not. This skill couldn’t be taught or attained over time. Half of today’s class focused on the history behind the angels and their powers, and the rest dealt with trying to draw upon those aforementioned spirits. Today, they learned about the spirit of Dabu. Dabu was one of the first people on earth and borrowed the power of holding his breath from the Gods after he died, to give to his human family. His family on earth traveled the sea and he constantly had nightmares about them drowning. He thought if they ever got caught underwater, he could help the family survive by lending his air.
Sunny stood in a huge wooden barrel almost full of water. The liquid came up to his chest. The instructor said the words and the class repeated in harmony,
“Take and hold my breath for me,
Under water or under tree,
Dabu, he comes to set me free,
Take all my worry and let life be,”
Sunny’s partner pushed his head under and held him down. Several students popped up after a bit and most of the class soon followed with the exception of Muriel and Sunny. After almost ten minutes, both siblings came up for air at the same time. Even the instructors were impressed by this feat.
After the daily fourteen hours of classes, they usually performed chores for another six hours or so before turning in for a brief sleep. However, today marked the day they were permitted to leave the School. Sunny had been surprised to first learn that Kazu let the students go outside the School for two hours every fortnight. There had been an incident involving a previous student who had gone mad from constantly being underground, and killed some fellow students. Now they let the members of the School see the sun and moon by letting the students out a little before dusk. The children went to find Ollor at his place of employment but couldn’t track him down, and went to the beach after giving up.
“I don’t know. He said we were very special children but I know we aren’t his children, at least you aren’t. I remember when we saved you from the river. Look at you. Look at me. We don’t look very similar to be siblings,” Sunny struggled to say, fighting through the difficult letter ‘S’. “Then who are our parents? Ollor hinted at it a few times,” Muriel said. “I don’t know and don’t care. We have to forget about family now. It doesn’t matter if we were even royalty, our lives are committed to the School now,” Sunny told her. He was mature for twelve, yet still only a boy.
“Where do you think he is?” wondered Muriel. “I don’t know that either. The men at the docks said they hadn’t seen him in over a month. Master Kazu told me he just stopped showing up to see us. I’m definitely worried about Ollor. He only came out here for us to get into the th-school.” Anytime the word, “the,” was followed by a difficult ‘S’ sound, Sunny fumbled with it. “Did we bring Ollor out here to get him killed?” Sunny asked, looking at the sea. “I hope not. He is the only father or parent I’ve ever known and no matter what, he raised us. I’m going for a swim,” Muriel said, and walked up to the oncoming waves. “Hurry up or we’ll be late,” yelled Sunny. Muriel slipped smoothly through the waves with her amazing swimming technique.
Sunny’s earliest memories were from about a year before Muriel was born. He remembered sneaking around the forests of several kingdoms with Ollor. They never stayed at an inn and always avoided cities. Sunny had quickly learned how to hunt and trap. Ollor had taught him to swing a weapon properly. Sunny had always felt like they were being followed before and after they rescued Muriel. They had mostly slept under cover of forests and even avoided most human contact on the voyage to Gama Traka.
They stayed in Androsi at a small two-room house for five years until Muriel was old enough to enter the School of the Learned Warrior. During that time, Sunny wondered if Ollor had rescued him like Muriel. Ollor taught the kids as much as he could in the five years on the island, but nothing could prepare them for the rigors of the School. Looking out at Muriel racing around, Sunny remembered Ollor having to steal food for them to survive. He also recalled his father figure killing four men when they tried to rape Muriel. The girl was only four at the time and it showed Sunny the darkness of the world at an extremely young age.
From there, the trio went to the Pearl Islands. Sunny had noted Ollor knew many people on the islands and used their knowledge to figure out the exact location of the School. They stayed on the Pearl Islands for about a year before hitting the Sea of Green again. Once they gained access to the School, his rough knowledge and skills became polished like a fine new set of armor. The students only slept for an average of under four hours a night and the instructors constantly stuffed information into the students. Sunny developed quickly at the School, growing like a weed, but still confused about his parentage and past before Ollor.
Out of nowhere, a huge blue dragon came out of the sea to swallow Muriel whole and dive back down into the water. After a few moments, the beast slowly raised its pointy head and long neck above the waves. The blue dragon with fiery eyes and two golden peaks on top of its head looked at Sunny. The dragon stuck out a long, black tongue that equaled the length of its neck. The tongue rolled out like a welcoming mat and landed right in front of Sunny. Not fully knowing why, Sunny stepped onto the long, leathery object. Smoke rose from his feet courtesy of the scorching tongue, but the heat didn’t burn him. The dragon retracted the tongue and pulled Sunny in. The beast closed its mouth, leaving the children in a dark, hot oven.
“What is going on?” Sunny wondered aloud before the two were shaken around and plunged downward. Several minutes seemed to pass in the dragon’s smoldering mouth before he finally saw a light. The dragon opened its mouth fully, and the kids walked down the tongue and onto land.
Burning torches on either side of a cave entrance under the sea showed a land pocket of rock and dirt. The opening became wider and longer as they walked along. Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind. “Isn’t one prone to ask why thou art here?” someone asked in the common tongue. Sunny turned to find the blue dragon had talked. The dragon stood tall in body and ducked its long neck to navigate through the sea cave, avoiding the numerous torches. “Why are we here?” Muriel asked.
“I hate to hath to inform only children about these matters, but the war is upon us. We thought Damian Doome was twenty years away from another attack, but it appears we are wrong. My name is Dolpho and I am member of the Sea Dragons.” Another dragon entered the cave, dripping and shaking itself off. From a quick anatomy check, Sunny figured out Dolpho was female and the new dragon was a male. This one was green with a huge scaled body and oval wings that acted as paddles. A gold outline around the dragon’s eyes and nose matched the underside of the wings. “Why dost thou bring them in already?” the green dragon questioned. “The time is now. I didn’t know if another opportunity would appear before the first battle. We must prepare the children before too late,” Dolpho retorted.
Sunny had learned about the brewing war between Damian Doome and the humans. That was the primary design of the School, and every student constantly talked about the impending war.
“These children hath already cast aside their youth to serve in the battle against the coldomores whilst others their age frolic in the summer sun. Thou shalt never frolic in the joy of a lazy day. Most people thou know, and shalt come to know, shalt die in front of you. All may perish in this desperate battle but through this, we need thou to lead the Sea Dragons,” Dolpho told them. “I will lead dragons?” Sunny b
lurted out. “No, she shalt lead our dragons in the water battles,” Dolpho revealed.
Sunny looked at his six-year-old sister and wondered how she had been chosen. She was faster than a dolphin in the water, but still only a small child. The young girl with bluish-purple eyes, black hair and a bronze complexion certainly had a connection with water animals. Ollor had taught the kids to be in tune with nature, although Sunny had never really liked rivers and oceans. He thought about her birth and how she had to immediately survive in the rapid waters of the Rushing River. He remembered how Ollor had been shocked Muriel had made it that far down the river.
“She shalt lead dragons and thou shalt lead an army of men,” Dolpho clarified, instantly raising Sunny’s spirits. “Where are all the other dragons and how many Sea Dragons are there?” Muriel asked. “Forty two of us. We are Sea Dragons. We spend most of our time at sea. We stop in here for a reprieve as we can breathe in or out of water. Haven’t thou ever wondered why thou didn’t burn from fire, Sunny?” Dolpho asked. “I told you,” Muriel said to Sunny.
Muriel had told him in the past that the blood of the dragons flowed through them after she had jumped on his back and they both fell into a fire on Androsi. Both of their burn wounds had healed immediately. They burned themselves several times after, and the instant healing followed each time.
“I hate to hath to ask but dost thou accept the challenge of fighting in our noble war at such a young age?” Dolpho asked. “I accept,” they responded in unison. “Splendid response with zero hesitation. I am sorry to thrust this burden on the shoulders of only children, but thou art ready. When thou have a break from School, come back to the beach and we shalt speak further. There art other pieces out there in the world who art necessary to our effort. We need to findeth these people to fight at full force,” Dolpho informed them.
Fractured Families (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 2) Page 46
