Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (44 page)

             
In the distance, he could hear the cawing of crows and the forest all around him seemed to come to life with noise.  He braced himself for battle, but he noticed that the cawing and noise were moving away from him.  He stood for a moment as the noise moved outward from him.  In but a few more moments all was silent.

             
A powerful quake ran through the ground, and he stumbled.  As the tremor settled, he listened more intently.  He could hear the sounds of many cawing crows quite some distance away.  Another, stronger quake rattled him.  As it subsided, he climbed one of the trees to get a better view.

             
From the top of the tree, he looked over the dark scenery.  The sky was completely black and was almost indiscernible from the ground.  The earth shook again, and the cawing of the distant crows was nearly drowned out by the shaking all around him.

             
A flash of light in the west caught his attention and he turned.  Far in the distance, he could see what looked like the sun light up the sky, and much of the surrounding area came into view.  Rolling flames covered that distant part of the sky, and he could see dozens of shadowed crows come into sight.  They were circling in the distance, and diving down at something obscured from his view.

             
The ground rattled violently, and Harold had to catch himself from falling out of his dark tree.  He looked towards the crows and saw several slivers of glitter soar up from the ground towards them.  He noticed that a few of the crows burst into flames and fell to the ground, and the ground shuddered furiously again.

             
He heard something coming from behind him and he looked up to see the outlines of crows flying above him towards the other crows and the fire in the sky that revealed them.  The glittering substance flying up from the ground was beginning to slow down, and the first of the crows were nearly gone.  The ground shook again, but it was not as powerful, and more crows were coming into view within the rolling fire.

             
Harold heard a tremendous and angry shout from just outside of the light.  All of the crows turned and began squawking and cawing at the battle cry.  Six or seven white eagles flew out of the darkness into the light cast by the flaming sky, and flew into the midst of the pecking and clawing crows.  Fire bellowed from their beaks and swallowed several of the crows as they circled around the source of the quakes.

             
Harold watched as the giant faded into view from out of the darkness, shouting and shaking the sky.  It began falling all around and his eagles poured into view, screaming and fighting as swarms of hornets fell from their claws.  The hornets buzzed around stinging and overwhelming many of the crows while the eagles tore and pecked at them.

             
Harold pulled his fire into his eyes and got a better view.  There was a shiny stone in the center of all of the fighting.  As the white eagles and other eagles fought with the crows, the sky-holding giant knelt down around the stone, and cupped it in his hands.  The eagles and crows spun around him, pecking and clawing, and the giant roared as he shielded the stone from the combat.  Then he walked back into the darkness and the eagles screamed as they followed him.  A great pulse of light flashed and the giant was suddenly far away...

             
...As Harold woke up he thought he saw the giant walk into a sparkling ocean.  As he opened his eyes, he saw a rat trap snap shut on a white rat.

             
Harold sat up and rubbed his eyes and yawned. 
These dreams get stranger every day
, he thought.  While he stretched, he looked across the gunship to where Gabby was sleeping.  She was lying on her side facing him and her whitish blonde hair hung in waves around her peaceful face, and he looked at her more closely.  Her skin was nearly flawless, and smooth.  Though she had a blanket covering her, Harold traced her body line with his eyes, and sighed as he couldn’t help but admiring the beauty he saw there.  Then, another image suddenly flooded into his mind.

             
Sarah.

             
Harold turned his eyes to his canteen and picked it up and took a drink from it.  He leaned against the side of the gunship and just sat there letting the memories of the past few days wash over him.  He was excited yet slightly saddened by it all.  He felt what he had been while growing up leaving him, and perceived that he was becoming what he was always meant to be.  It was a scary feeling that he could have lost himself in if not for the danger all around him.  He did not know why but he could feel tears welling up in him, and an irrational fear of the future.

             
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the moment, and the mission at hand.  He realized that he could no longer afford to be a child and be wrapped up in those things. 

             
Too much rested on his shoulders. 

             
When he opened his eyes, he saw that Gabby was lying there, still, and eyes wide open.  She smiled and propped herself up on her arm and shook her head so that her hair did not bind her movements.

             
“Good morning, hottie,” she said.  “How did you sleep?”

             
“Well enough,” he responded.  “And you?”

             
“Actually very well,” she said.  “Just had some crazy dreams though.”

             
“Me too.  What was yours about?” Harold asked.

             
Gabby thought for a moment, “I’ve actually had several dreams similar to it, but the one last night was about a giant with a beard stomping and attacking a city.”

             
Harold stirred quickly, “How did he fight the city?”

             
“There were all of these hornets, and white birds around him,” she said.

             
“And they were fighting with crows, and jets, and monkey-things?” Harold asked as he leaned in closer to her.  “And the sky was falling all around him?”

             
“How did you know?” Gabby asked almost recoiling from him.

             
“I’ve been having the same dream,” Harold replied.  “Or at least something very close to it.”

             
“Whoa,” Gabby said with wide eyes.  “That’s weird.  I wonder what it means?”

             
“Maybe nothing at all,” Harold answered.  “But it is odd.”

             
Gabby pondered for a moment, “You and I are not normal, Harold.”

             
“I know,” he answered.

             
Gabby sat up and opened her canteen.  She took a sip and dug around in one of her bags of food and found some cornbread and ham.  She stared at a spot on the floor while absent-mindedly gnawing on the tough bread.  Harold found breakfast of his own, and they discussed more about their respective dreams for about an hour.

             
It was still fairly early in the day, and the sun wasn’t nearly high in the sky yet and Gabby smiled at him.

             
“Come on,” she said.  “Let’s have some fun.”

             
Harold raised his eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

             
“I want to see which one of us is tougher,” she answered with a smile.

             
“Okay, Gabby,” Harold replied with a smile.  “You’re on.”

             
She got up and pressed a symbol on the control panel, and the door opened.

             
“After you, hottie,” she said.

             
“I don’t need doors,” Harold winked and flamed out of view.

             
Harold was looking out over the lake as Gabby walked down the gunship’s loading ramp.

             
“I’m glad you were able to find a water source for us to make camp around,” Harold said.  “It’s a pretty place.”

             
“Yes it is,” she said.  

             
“So...” Harold drug out the word.  “How do you propose that we decide this?”

             
“I think that we each should pick a task and whoever can do it better is the winner,” Gabby said.  “The winner is the first one to ten.”

             
“Okay, Gabby,” Harold said.  “Be careful what you ask for–“ Harold said.

             
“–Because you just might get it,” she finished.  “Oh, yeah... No fire and no air-burning.  I won’t use any wind or an air-shield.”

             
“Fair enough,” Harold said, as he gestured to her to take the lead.  “After you, my lady.”

             
Gabby stretched her legs, and moved her arms around so as to warm up her shoulders.  Harold did the same, and after a couple of minutes they were both making small leaps up and down.  Soon after that, they were ready to begin.  Gabby found an open patch of ground and walked back and forth on it a few times, and was satisfied that it would work.

             
She sprinted down the open space, and bounded into a round off and began doing back handsprings, one after another.  After she did five, she leaped more than three times her height into the air, and as she soared through the air, Harold could not help admiring the beautiful lines that her body made.  Harold counted to himself: one, two, three, and one, two, three.  She landed with both feet firmly planted in place.

             
“Three flips, and three twists, huh?” Harold asked.

             
“That’s right, hottie,” she half-smirked.  “Beat it if you can.”

             
Harold stepped back and took off down the path.  His hands hit, and then both his feet, and the world whirled around.  He over-rotated on his third handspring, but compensated for it on the fourth, and the fifth was perfect.  He threw himself into the air, flipping and twisting, constantly looking for the ground, and he landed facing the opposite direction from which he had started, and he had to take a couple of steps to rein in his momentum.

             
“That extra half twist doesn’t count–,” Gabby said.

             
“– Yes it does!” Harold retorted.

             
“No it doesn’t,” Gabby replied.  “You weren’t trying to do that!  You pulled too hard and lost control and were just smart enough to cover it up!”

             
Harold grinned because that was exactly what had happened.

             
“You’re just a sore loser,” Harold said.

             
“Your landing was terrible too,” she half-laughed.  “You were so out of control that I thought you were going to run all the way to lake and fall in just to stop yourself.”

             
“Okay,” Harold said.  “Whatever... so you’re gonna’ make the rules as we go?”

             
“When I know that you’re full of it,” Gabby’s hair rustled.  “I sure will.”

             
Harold grinned, “So you’re better at flips and stuff.  So it’s one to nothin’.  My turn now.”

             
Gabby nodded in agreement.

             
Harold unbuckled his chestplate, and took it off.  As it dropped to the ground, he noticed Gabby watching him and smiling.  He returned her grin as he unclasped the armor covering his legs.  He let it fall to the ground, and he brushed off his pants and then took off his boots.  He rubbed his hands together and then sprinted towards a large tree.

             
He leaped to a branch high above him, and kicked off to another tree, flipping before he kicked off it to yet another tree.  He soared towards the third tree, catching one of its branches with both hands, and swung around once, and then twice.  He let go and straightened his body, and soared towards another branch, making two flips before he caught it and let his momentum carry him to the top of it where he stood.  His movement hadn’t even stopped before he leaped up and slightly backwards.  He tucked his body and made five full flips before landing on the ground.

             
He turned to Gabby, and bowed.

             
Gabby glared at him with a look of concern, and Harold winked at her.  Gabby took a deep breath, and ran at the first tree.  She kept pace until she came to the third tree, and she began swinging around the branch, once, and then twice.  Harold could see from her body lines and momentum that she wasn’t going to be able to make the gap between the third and fourth tree.  She let go, and Harold prepared himself to air-burn, but a current of wind rocketed through the leaves around her, and bore her easily across the gap.  Then she lightly made five flips to the ground.

             
“Cheater,” Harold said.

             
“One to one,” she answered.