Sky Child (12 page)

20

Helm and Mast lead me back down the carved-out tunnel they brought me through in the first trial. Something seems wrong, though. A scent. A familiar scent that I can't place. What is that smell?

Helm opens the wooden door, and I enter the room. I realize too late that Mast has the spear against my back again. They have control. I must pass this last trial, or I am dead.

What I see inside the room hurts my stomach. Fear-sweat drips from me, and I feel dizzy for a moment. I fight the urge to vomit. Tied up and on the floor are Flot and Jet.

As quickly as I grew ill, I grow angry. I can feel my skin turn red, and my fists clench. I will make them pay for putting my brothers in danger.

"Let them go, NOW!" I yell.

The old man comes walking out from the other room.

"No," he says, in his evil voice.

I feel the point of the spear dig into my back. It does not pierce the skin, but it is meant to remind me that if I fight them, they will kill us.

"Untie them now, or I will kill you," I say.

The old man ignores me. He raises an old crooked finger toward me, but I see that he is also pointing downward. I hadn't noticed that there is a cup sitting on a small wooden table between us.

"Poison," says the old man.

"What do you want me to do with it?" I ask.

"Choose."

"Choose what?" I ask.

"Choose. Choose who dies."

I look down at the cup.

"You want me to force one of my brothers to drink this? To kill one of them?" I ask.

"YESSSSSSSSSSS."

My heart hurts from beating so hard inside my chest.

I pick up the cup, and I move toward the old man. I hear Mast yell 'no', and I feel the tip of the spear press even tighter into my skin. It hurts so much that I stumble, nearly spilling the poison. I know that if I pour out the poison, I will be killed.

I cannot kill my brothers. Flot is so innocent, and Jet is so brave. Is that what this trial is supposed to test, whether I believe decency or courage is more important? Or is this old man just sick in the head, and he's angry over losing the first trial? Is he just punishing me?

There must be a way out of this, but I cannot see it. I look around the room, but there are no weapons. Mast may be slow of foot, but he is quick of spear. If I try to fight, I will most likely die.

It is impossible to choose between them, to choose which brother I will murder with the poison. I look at Jet, and he is crying. I look at Flot and he is calm. He just nods to me, as if he is saying 'it's okay, I know I must die. Choose me and let Jet live.' I think Jet is crying, because he is thinking the same thing too. That I will murder Flot, and let Jet survive.

I shake my head in disgust at the decision I must make. That is when I realize it was never really a decision for me after all. If I do what I am about to do, they will have no choice but to let Flot and Jet live.

"I love you both," is all I say.

I drink the poison.

It burns going down my throat. I close my eyes, waiting for my death. Waiting for the pain to take over. I hear Mast drop his spear and move to me.

"Sam!" he yells.

Helm also hurries to me. They lay me on my back, trying to make me as comfortable as possible as I slip away. The dim light of the room grows dimmer. I can feel pain now, shooting through my entire body, like I've been thrown into the Great Fire. I hear Helm shouting at me, but the more he yells, the further away he sounds.

I panic, trying to fight the poison. My arms and legs shake as Mast and Helm try to hold them down. I can feel my eyes go wide, my mind trying to capture the last moments of my life. The room goes dark, and I can't feel anything anymore. I can't move, or hear, or see. I'm alone, inside myself, and afraid. I don't want to die. Sky Gods, please help me, I don't want to die. Don't want to...

* * *

I scream, and it tears my throat apart.

I can breathe again, but my whole body aches. I can still feel the poison moving through me, only not as painful as it once was. It burns, but I am glad for the pain, because it means that I'm not dead. But how am I not dead?

Helm is close to me. I can feel his breath on my skin, and see the surprise in his face.

"Sam, can you hear us?" asks Mast. I turn to look at him.

"How long was I dead?" I ask.

"You're okay now. That's all that matters," says Helm.

I rest for a moment. My body eventually starts to feel normal again. I'm still sore from my body shaking, but the burning inside disappears. I move slowly, just to make sure that the poison is not still affecting me. I push off from the ground, stand up, and start to walk toward the old man. This time I will kill him, and Mast won't be able to stop me.

"Not poison," says the old man.

I stop.

"What?" I say.

"Never poison. You lead," says the old man, retreating to the other room.

I don't know how to feel. I have passed the trials. But I have been tricked into thinking I was killing myself. I am glad to know that no matter what I chose, I never would have killed one of my brothers. But I would have had to live with the shame of picking one of them. Things never would have been right between us ever again.

I am glad I am not a coward. That I was willing to sacrifice myself for them. I would do anything for them, and I have proven that to them now.

I untie Jet while Helm unties Flot. Jet seems relieved to still be alive. I put one arm around him as he gets up, and Flot comes over to us. We all hug each other.

After we have calmed down, I send Flot and Jet back to our room. I stay behind with Helm and Mast, so that I can talk to them about what had happened.

"Who is the old man?" I ask. "And don't you dare leave anything out. I'm the Leader of the Hunt now, which means you both must do what I say without question."

"We will tell you now. You have definitely earned that right," says Helm.

"I know I've earned the right, now TELL ME!"

"The old man is named Stern. He was the Leader of the Hunt before Hammer. He has seen more snows than anyone in the Crag," says Helm.

"Why is he like that? Why is his voice so strange, and why doesn't he talk right? Why is he so evil?" I ask.

"Stern was injured very badly by a wolf once. It bit deep into his neck, and made his voice sound wrong. We were surprised that he survived the attack at all, because there was a lot of blood, and his head was very warm for a long time. It made him... different. He has never been the same. Even now, it hurts his throat to talk, so he doesn't say much," says Helm.

"What do you mean by 'it made him different'?"

"He is not quite right anymore. He is quick to anger, and he does not like being around people. Stern is very much like an angry new one. He is still clever, and understands things, but his emotions aren't normal."

"Has he been the one giving you orders?" I ask.

"No. There are rules that are passed down from leader to leader. We have been doing what we were told to do if our leader ever died. We hoped it would never come to this, because Lagan was a good man. We both owed him our lives."

"He was a good man, and I wish he was here. I would rather he lead the hunt instead of me," I say.

"You will make a fine leader Sam, probably even better than Lagan," says Helm.

I just shake my head at them. Why can't they understand that I don't want to do this? It doesn't matter if I'm good at it, or even the best at it. I don't want to lead. I don't want to make decisions that might cost people their lives. I don't want to control people as if they were animals. I don't want to seem special, or different, or better than anyone else. I just want to be left alone.

"I'm going back to my room," I say.

I think I hear them trying to talk to me as I leave, but I ignore them. I throw the wooden door back as hard as I can, making a loud crack echo down the tunnel. I hope it gets my point across.

I walk to the Great Fire first and pray. I say a prayer of thanks for protecting me, and Jet, and Flot. I pray that people realize I am not the Sky Child. I pray that people leave me alone. And I pray that someone does something about Chaff.

I know that the Sky Gods won't listen to my last prayer, because the Sky Gods do not honor prayers for someone to be harmed. I feel ashamed that I even thought to pray it, but Chaff is so evil that I could not help it.

I decide instead to ask the Sky Gods to end his evil in the way they see fit. Maybe they can work a miracle in his heart, and he will become a good person. Somehow I doubt even the Sky Gods are that powerful.

I get up off the ground that I have been kneeling on and walk back to our room. Inside are Jet and Flot, waiting for me to come back.

"Are you okay Sam?" asks Flot.

"How I am doesn't matter. How are both of you?" I ask.

"Surviving," says Jet.

"My wrists are sore, but I am okay," says Flot.

"I want both of you to know that I would never kill either of you, even if I was forced to. You are my brothers, and I would rather die than hurt you," I say.

"We know, Sam, and you proved that," says Flot.

"Did you know that what was in the cup wasn't poison?" asks Jet.

"No, I thought for sure it was poison. That is why I wanted the old man to drink it. Because he seemed evil, like the trials were his idea, and that he wanted to kill me," I say.

"Who was he?" asks Jet.

"A Leader of the Hunt from many, many snows before. He is not right of mind. He does not matter, for he does not rule over any of us."

"So you are the Leader of the Hunt now?" asks Flot.

"Yes."

"Don't think that we will do what you say now, or that we will listen to you," says Jet.

"No more than you normally do," I say.

I walk to the loud waters with a bar of soap in my hand. I wash away the day, cleaning the dirt and sweat out of my clothes. I clean myself, but it doesn't clean the feelings inside me. I am glad to be alive. I am glad that I survived the trials. But I never should have gone through them at all.

I am so tired that when I return to our room, I spend most of the day resting. The only thing I want to do is sleep.

21

Eventually, I get hungry. Flot and Jet have already left the room for the feast. I stretch, and yawn, and force myself to get up. I am tired, but I know that food will help me wake up.

As soon as I reach the feast chamber, people begin to clap. It startles me. I look around, not knowing what is going on. Then I realize, everyone is clapping for me.

Stop clapping. I don't want this. Just leave me alone.

I do not speak those words, but I feel them just the same.

I manage a very weak smile, and the clapping eventually disappears. I get in line for food. It is a soup filled with many different vegetables. Tomatoes, and onions, and potatoes, and celery. I take my food to the head table and sit down.

Chaff looks very unhappy that I survived. At least something good came from the trials. I was able to steal that evil grin from his face. Maybe being leader won't be so bad if I can do that every day.

I set my bowl and spoon down on the table, and just as I am about to sit down, Helm stops me.

"People of the Crag," he starts, and everyone quiets down immediately. "Sam is the new Leader of the Hunt, both chosen by Lagan before the attack, and made solid on the clover fields of battle. Sam has survived the trials, and made a fool out of Mast in the process."

Mast looks unhappy to hear those words, but the people of the Crag laugh. Mast stands up.

"Without Sam, many of us would have died in a field, burned to the ground by a dragon. For that, I am glad that we have Sam as our leader. Many good hunts to you, Sam," says Mast.

The crowd claps again. This time I am able to make a real smile, because I'm glad that I could help save people's lives. I am glad that many of us did return from facing the dragon. And I am glad that the Sky Gods protected us, and brought us home.

I am also surprised that after what Mast put me through, and what I put him through, that he would say good words about me. Maybe he is not a bad person. Maybe he is just doing what he feels is necessary to keep the hunters and the Crag safe. Maybe Mast is a better person than I realize.

I am now very glad that I did not kill him during the trials. I am even more glad that he did not kill me.

I sit down and eat my soup. It tastes very, very good. I finish it quickly. I am so hungry that I lift my bowl to my mouth to get the last few drops from the bottom of it.

I stand up and walk over to Ebb. I see that she has also finished her soup.

"Ebb, will you protect me as I walk back to my room?" I ask.

"Is that a command?" she asks.

"No, just a question," I say.

"It would be my honor," says Ebb.

I put a hand out to help her up from her seat, even though I know that she needs no help. We leave the feast chamber together.

Once we are a few steps away from the sound of others, Ebb turns to me and hugs me. It is a strong, warm hug, unlike any I have felt before. It surprises me, and it takes me a moment to hug her back. We stand there, holding each other for a while. Eventually, slowly, we pull away.

"Sam, I'm so glad you survived," says Ebb.

"Me too, actually," I say.

"What were the trials? What did they make you do?" asks Ebb.

"The first one wasn't very bad. They put glowing sticks under many buckets. One of them was on fire. They moved the buckets around very quickly, and I lost track of which one was still on fire."

"How did you figure out which one it was?"

"I waited until I was sure none of them were on fire," I say.

"Wait, how did the fire go out?" asks Ebb.

"I believe that fire has a breath of its own. If you steal its breath, then it dies, just like a person," I say.

"That's very clever."

My cheeks feel warm, because I'm a little embarrassed. "The next trial, Mast tried to kill me. I was able to beat him, but I would not kill him."

"I would have loved to have seen that," says Ebb, smiling.

"The last trial, I had to choose who I would give poison to, Flot or Jet," I say.

The smile disappears.

"Who did you choose? Did one of them die? I didn't notice them at the feast! Sam, did you kill one of your brothers?" asks Ebb, panicking.

"No, I drank the poison."

"You... drank the poison? How are you still alive?"

"The poison was never real," I explain.

"Did you know that it wasn't real?"

"No. I was sure it was real."

Ebb looks very sad for a moment. I think she realizes now that I value Flot and Jet's lives above all else. But her look of sadness changes.

"Sam, I am proud of you. Proud that you were willing to risk your life to save the people you love," says Ebb.

"I always will," I say, smiling at her.

She walks me back to my room then stands guard, protecting us as we sleep.