Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (41 page)

             
“Thank you, Gabby,” Lily said.  “Thank you, Harold.  I was so scared.”

             
“You’re welcome,” Harold replied as Gabby gave the little girl a hug.

             
As she ran off back into the kitchen, Harold leaned back and took a sip of water, and Gabby did the same.

             
“It’s been a wild couple of days, huh?” Gabby asked.

             
“To say the least,” Harold answered as he put down his cup.

             
“We can’t stay long,” Gabby said.

             
“I know,” Harold replied.  “The High-Born will probably start searching the towns in the next few days.”

             
“What should we do first?” Gabby asked.

             
Harold thought for a moment, “I don’t really know... I say we find a city and wreck it.”

             
Gabby raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, “I guess that’ll have to do.”

             
They both sat there for about a minute in silence and then the children began packing in the room and finding their seats at the table.  The children were a mixed group.  Some were white, others black, but they all had one thing in common.  They all seemed a little underfed with their lanky, yet muscular limbs.  However, they all seemed happy too, so Harold figured that it probably balanced out well.

             
Deanna and Christie came walking into the room with platters of cornbread, ham, and pitchers full of water.  As they set the lunch on the table, the children all eyed the food hungrily, but they all seemed to be waiting on something.  Momma came walking in with two more large platters of food, and the children looked at one another gasping in disbelief when they saw a cooked chicken sitting on one of the serving dishes

             
“Momma went all out,” Gabby whispered in Harold’s ear.  “This much food would’ve taken us a week to eat.”

             
“All right, young’uns,” Momma said.  “Harold and Gabby get first pickin’s, and the chicken is theirs.”

             
Momma then began cutting the chicken, and steam rose from it as she sliced it.  An aroma filled the air that Harold had never experienced, and he felt his mouth water.  Momma served him first, and then Gabby.  She gave them their choice of ham and cornbread as well.  After they were seated, she let the rest of the children pick their helpings.  Harold noticed that no one, not even Gabby had started eating yet, so he held his place despite being famished.  After the last little girl got her helping, Momma stepped to the head of the table.

             
“What are we thankful for?” she asked.

             
“Each other,” they all replied.

             
Momma nodded, and they all began eating.  Harold took a bite of the chicken, and was completely taken aback at how good it was.  It was only the second time in his life that he’d ever eaten it, and it was spectacular.  He closed his eyes, savoring the flavors to which he was not accustomed. 

             
As he dined, Harold watched the children as they laughed, talked, and ate.  One boy was whispering to another boy and then they both looked towards one of the little girls sitting across the way.  She grinned at them, and swiftly looked away.  Momma was walking around, making sure that everyone had what they needed and not bothering to eat herself.  She turned her attention to Harold.

             
“We ain’t got much,” Momma said.  “But we got each other.”

             
She smiled as she looked across the children, and Harold saw her wipe her eye.

             
“Thank you both so much,” she said.  “I always knew you was gonna’ be special when ole Gus showed up with you all them years ago, child.  And now you done gone and found a boy as special as you too.  You two are meant to do great things.”

             
Gabby shot Harold a swift glance, and he quickly looked away.  He saw Momma regard Gabby questioningly, but Gabby just shrugged in response.

             
“I reckon that you might need to take him to see Uncle Elton,” Momma said.

             
“Yes, ma’am,” Gabby replied.  “I think they would both like to meet each other.

             
“Who’s he?” Harold asked.

             
“Why he’s the oldest and wisest man in Marksville,” Momma said.  “There ain’t nothin’ he don’t know somethin’ about.”

             
Gabby giggled as she cut a piece of chicken, “I’ll take him after we finish eating.”

             
As Harold ate, he couldn’t help but feeling slightly out of place despite everything being so familiar.  Something just didn’t feel right without Sarah.

Chapter 35

              As Gabby walked down the dusty road, Harold followed closely behind.  He couldn’t help admiring her figure and caught himself looking up and down her back and legs.  Gabby turned her head so that she could see him out of the corner of her eye, and he quickly snapped his eyes to hers.  But she just lightly grinned and let out a small laugh.

             
“Uncle Elton’s house isn’t much farther,” she said.  “I think he’s going to like you.”

             
“I did help bring back some of his kin folk, so I hope so,” Harold replied.

             
“And he appreciates it,” Gabby answered.

             
Gabby had been right, the scenery and layout of Marksville looked nearly identical to Foxx Hole.  As they passed through the town circle, Harold regarded the pyramid and Kristall sitting atop it.  The only difference was that there was the image of another High-Born instead of Colonel Foxx. 

             
“Is that Colonel Marks?” Harold asked as he looked up at it.

             
“Yes,” Gabby replied.  “But he won’t be back.”

             
Harold nodded as they made their way across the circle to what would have been road number seven. 

             
It was not long before they arrived at a home that greatly resembled Aunt Nean’s house, and on the rickety porch sat an old man with thin white hair.  Though his body had seen many better days, Harold could see that his blue eyes were full of both kindness and strength.  He looked at Harold with a grin that made him feel as though he knew something about him that he himself didn’t know.

             
“So this is the young man who helped you save the young’uns, huh, Gabby?” he said with a surprisingly strong voice.

             
“Yes, sir,” she answered.  “He is.”

             
“Well,” Uncle Elton said as he rubbed his thin, white beard.  “He don’t look like much.”

             
Harold raised his eyebrows and gave Gabby a questioning glance.  She smiled and shook her head.

             
“No, sir,” she replied with a half-laugh.

             
“But, I reckon you don’t look like much neither,” he smiled.  “But you know what?  I’ma thinkin’ that y’all two look like a little bit of somethin’ together.”

             
Harold looked down and felt like he was going to catch on fire, while Gabby tilted her chin towards Uncle Elton and smiled. 

             
“Thank you,” she said.

             
Harold finally looked up and saw Uncle Elton grinning, apparently amused to no end at the pressure he had just placed on him.

             
“Well,” Uncle Elton said.  “What is it y’all two young’uns want from me?”

             
Gabby looked at Harold who cleared his throat and said, “We don’t have many history books in Foxx Hole, sir.  But Gabby says that you know something about how things used to be.”

             
“Hmmm...” Uncle Elton pondered for several moments and motioned for Harold and Gabby to sit down in the chairs beside him.  As they found a comfortable spot, Uncle Elton continued, “Well, I growed up in the time of the High-Born, and I’m gettin’ on up there in years.  I believe that I’ma pushin’ ‘bout 90 years now.”

             
Uncle Elton stopped and contemplated while Harold and Gabby waited.

             
“And even though my ma’ and pa’ were only young’uns when it all started, and they were kinda’ old when they had me,” he leaned back as his eyes drifted over countless years long forgotten.  “They remember a little bit of how it was before, but the one who really told me about it was my grandfather.”

             
“How did he know?” Harold asked.

             
“Well,” Uncle Elton said, and leaned in closer to Harold.  “He was an American fighter pilot during World War III.”

             
“What’s an American?” Harold asked.

             
Uncle Elton thought a moment and then answered, “They are our ancestors...  We are what is left of them... And we are what they became.”

             
Harold contemplated and then asked, “Are they the ones who built all of those ruins?”

             
“Yes,” Uncle Elton answered.  “I ain’t never seen them skyscrapers that Gabby told me about, but my granddaddy told me when I was a little feller that the world used to be a place of shining cities, plentiful food, and he said that we had unlimited knowledge at our very fingertips.  We were once the most powerful country in the history of the Earth.  He said that we had liberty and justice for all.”

             
“Then came the High-Born?” Harold asked.

             
Uncle Elton’s eyes scrunched together, “That seems like the obvious answer, now don’t it?”

             
Harold regarded him, “What do you mean?”

             
“Sonny,” Uncle Elton said.  “The High-Born got a lot of it right in those ‘history books’ and that Vista of theirs, but they don’t tell you everything.  Yes, the High-Born came, and yes they took over, but it was us who brought down ourselves.”

             
“How?” Harold asked.

             
“Hmmm...” Uncle Elton pondered.  “Now that’s very complicated, and I ain’t got all the answers for that... but my granddaddy did say that World War III started because of the Second American Civil War.”

             
“Civil War?” Harold asked.

             
“Yeah,” Uncle Elton responded.  “Don’t make much sense to me either.  A civil war is a war between citizens of the same country.”

             
“What caused it?” Harold asked.

             
“Truly, my boy,” Uncle Elton said.  “I don’t really know, and I ain’t old enough to remember.  And, honestly, my granddaddy was a little bit loose-headed in his later life.  On his death bed, he kept saying that ‘we lost the most important battle and we paid for it.’  I was too young to really understand the things he said about it.  The only thing I can clearly recall was him wanderin’ around loose-headed just before he died saying over and over that ‘we had lost our way and forgot the things that made us great’.”

             
After a moment, Harold asked, “What made us great?”

             
Uncle Elton smiled as he leaned back in his chair and said, “I’m afraid that I ain’t got the answer for that neither.  I’ve lived my whole life under the High-Born, but I wish that I did know.  And I wish that I had lived back then.”

             
“Me too,” Harold answered as he and Gabby studied Uncle Elton.

             
“Well, my boy.  I don’t know what those things were that made us great,” Uncle Elton squinted as he looked at Harold and then at Gabby.  “But there is one thing that I do know.”

             
“What’s that?” Harold asked.

             
“I know that you two are meant to help us find our way back to whatever that greatness was.”

             
Gabby reached for and squeezed Harold’s hand.  Harold sat still for a moment as he looked at Gabby and then to Uncle Elton.

             
“Yes, sir,” he said as he looked into Gabby’s eyes and then turned his gaze to Uncle Elton’s eyes.  “We were meant to find the way.”

             
“Yes, you were,” the old man said.  “And I’ma thinkin’ that y’all will know when y’all see it.”

Part III

“The Quest”

Chapter 36

             
Harold, Gabby, and Momma walked out of the orphanage and down the dirt path.  Here and there, people waved or stopped to shake their hands and thank them for the return of their children.  Harold and Gabby were gracious, and took many gifts of food from the thankful parents as they moved through the town.  Once they got to edge of town, Harold could hear Momma sniffling slightly, and he saw Gabby wipe her eyes a couple of times as they approached the woodline.  After a few more minutes, they arrived at the edge of the well-hidden gunship.

             
“Oh, Gabby,” Momma said as she wiped the tears from her own eyes.  “I love you so much.”

             
“I love you too, Momma,” Gabby replied as she hugged her tightly.  “We won’t be gone forever.  I have to come back in a few days for the weekly meeting.”

             
“I know you do, but it don’t make it any easier,” Momma said.  “But I always knew you was gonna’ be something special, child.”

             
“Yes, ma’am,” Gabby pulled back and looked into Momma’s kind eyes.  “You taught me so much.”

             
“Child...” Momma let the word linger for a while.  “It was you who taught me.”

             
“Make sure the townsfolk keep the children hid, Momma,” Gabby said.

             
“We will, child,” Momma said.  “After you showed me the things you could do and was gone the morning after they took the young’uns, I knew you were going to make it back.  I found the note you left and talked to some of the other parents in town about it.  We decided that if you ever made it back, we were gonna’ have them places to hide.  And, we do.”

             
“Good,” Gabby said.  “Make sure they’re safe.  Harold and I are going to do everything we can to keep the High-Born off y’alls’ backs.”

             
“Ohhh... child,” Momma shook her head.  “I’ve thought, and thought about that, and I had a mind to argue you down about it, and maybe even forbid you to do it…  And I know that I should be worried about you...” Momma smiled brightly.  “But I ain’t... I know that you’re gonna’ be just fine.”

             
“I feel that way too, Momma,” Gabby smiled.  “Harold and I have to do something about the High-Born.”

             
Momma nodded, “Sometimes there ain’t no other way but to fight.  They ain’t never gonna’ stop until somebody makes them stop.”

             
Momma walked to Harold and grabbed him by the shoulders.

             
“He’s a fine, strapping, young man, Gabby,” Momma’s teary eye winked at her.  “He ‘ought to be able to take care of you.”

             
“Ma’am,” Harold replied with a reassuring smile.  “From what I’ve seen, I think she may be the one taking care of me.”

             
“If she’s smart,” Momma laughed as she squeezed Harold’s arm.  “She won’t let you get too far away.”

             
“All right, Harold,” Gabby said as she boarded the gunship.  “Let’s get out of here.  It’s starting to get thick.”

             
“Y’all be careful,” Momma said as she waved.

             
Harold walked to the co-pilot’s seat and sat down while Gabby raised the gunship’s door.  She sat down and began her pre-flight routine.  After a few moments, she pulled on the controls and the gunship rose into the air.  Harold watched as she pressed various symbols on the green grid, and pulled up a map of the surrounding area.

             
“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

             
“I honestly think it’s our only choice,” he replied.  “If we just hunker down, the High-Born will eventually find us, we’ve got to give them something to do besides focus on finding us.”

             
“I agree,” she said as she pressed one of the small green squares on the grid.

             
The grid quickly grew into another, larger grid with a large green icon on it.

             
“This is the city of New Pylos,” she said.  “I say we hit it tomorrow morning.  I don’t think we should wait much longer than that.”

             
“I agree,” Harold said.  “The High-Born will probably be sending mechanoids and soldiers all over in a couple of days.  We’ll land close to New Pylos and get some sleep, and then wreck it.”

             
“It will only take us about a half-hour to get there,” Gabby said.

             
She swung the gunship toward the west and pushed on the controls.  Harold watched as the speedometer rapidly rose to read 750 kph, and he settled back into his chair and watched the scenery speed under him.  Using his enhanced vision he could see, quite some distance to his right, the scarce outline of skyscrapers.  In between him and the skyscrapers, he could see the evidence of wheel-shaped communities across the landscape.

             
Back to his left, he couldn’t see any evidence of a city despite the map indicating that there was one.  He could make out the signs of large farming operations, and more wheel-shaped communities.  Much to his surprise, he could not see any evidence of other gunships.

             
“Can you see any High-Born patrols?” Harold asked.

             
“No,” Gabby replied.  “We’re probably outside of the immediate threat perimeter, but we’ll be seeing a lot of them pretty soon.  They’re gathering their strength at the moment and will probably be swarming in a few days.”

             
Harold nodded as he absently looked out of the windshield and just watched the trees and ancient highways pass beneath him.  In no time at all, the outline of New Pylos appeared on the horizon and rapidly grew in size as they got closer.  After another fifteen minutes they were on the outskirts of the city.  Like the other cities, there was a ring of blasted ruins surrounding a group of larger buildings, and a military compound in the center of town.

             
“Let’s check it out,” Gabby said as she turned the gunship to the north.

             
They both called to their powers and enhanced their vision and scanned the city for threats and targets.  There were several hundred High-Born walking up and down the city walkways dressed in their odd-looking clothing.  Throughout the city, Harold noticed large squares with ever-changing pictures appearing on them.

             
“What are those?” Harold asked.

             
“I’m pretty sure they’re called billboards,” Gabby replied.

             
There was the image a very pretty female High-Born on it.  Her eyes were a striking violet color that Harold had never seen before, and her hands were on her hips with her head looking slightly skyward.  Her hair hung in beautiful waves halfway down her back, and she had all manner of gems and precious stones covering her.  Her adornments sparkled with wild reds, blues, and purple flashes as she turned on the screen in a skin-tight red dress that left little to the imagination.  A name written in fancy script flashed over the screen.

            
 
Maronea’s Jewelry: Release the Goddess Within You.

            
 
“There kinda’ full of themselves, huh?” Harold asked.

             
“Just a little,” Gabby answered.

             
They both watched as the image flickered into a High-Born man.  He was dressed in sleek, black battle gear with a red stripe and he was holding a visored helmet by his side.  It did not look quite like the visors that Harold was used to seeing, it seemed much more sophisticated.  He had stark, black hair and a strong jaw line and a thin beard all brought to life by a pair of almost crystal-blue eyes.  He was standing amidst a group of dark clouds, and a black fighter jet sped around behind him making amazing maneuvers.  All at once, several other High-Born seemed to step out of him, and he became two High-Born pilots, then four, and finally, six.  Though all of them looked very similar, they were slightly different.  They were all dressed exactly the same except they each had a different colored stripe: black, blue, green, orange, and purple.  Suddenly, several words appeared on the screen.

Remember the Ascension of the Dragons

Order Your Commemorative Uniform Today!

Additional Colors Available Upon Request

Apollonian Outfitters

             
“Your eyes kinda’ look like theirs,” Harold said to Gabby.

             
“Yeah,” Gabby replied.  “They do.”

             
As they flew around, scouting out the city, several more advertisements flashed across the screen, but they paid them little attention. 

             
Harold pointed to a string of buildings and said, “I can air-burn us across those gaps, and we can hit the soldiers from above.”

             
“I’ll land us a few miles from the eastern edge of the ruins, and we’ll camp there,” Gabby replied as she turned the gunship.

             
They flew around for a few minutes and found a small break in the forest canopy and Gabby began her landing procedure.  As she fidgeted with the various controls, Harold watched.

             
“How do you know how to do this?” he asked.

             
“Do what?” Gabby said as she checked the trees on the left.

             
“Fly this thing,” Harold said.

             
“I don’t know,” she replied.  “It just kinda’ makes sense to me.  And I made Colonel Marks show me the basics when I had him fly me to the compound where the children were being held.”

             
Harold shrugged his shoulders as the aircraft slightly shook upon touchdown, and leaned back while looking around.

             
“You picked a good spot,” Harold said as he looked at the dense vegetation covering the ground around the trees that towered above them.  “There’s a lot of cover here.”

             
Gabby nodded, thought for a moment, and said, “We’re about to get in deep, huh?”

             
“Yep,” Harold replied as he opened a bag of food.

             
He tossed Gabby a piece of cornbread and ham, and then took one for himself.  They both began chewing, and opened their canteens.

             
“You know,” Gabby said.  “I don’t get tired like I used too.”