Blaze (The High-Born Epic) Read online

Harold struck the anvil again.

  Two large figures walked into the forge and, at first, all Harold could see was their outlines. Harold felt incredibly hot, and though he didn’t catch on fire, a fire started in the walls of the forge, illuminating the two figures. One was part wolf and part man, and the other was part tiger and part man. They walked to him, and he hadn’t noticed at first, but they were both holding something. The wolf man wore a helmet just like the Emerald Knight, and he was holding a suit of armor that he offered to Harold. Then he looked at the tiger man, and he was wearing a helmet like the Golden Samurai. In his hands, he held a flaming katana blade.

  Harold stepped back and spread out his arms and the wolf man walked behind him. He could feel something sliding over his body and he looked down at himself. The wolf man was helping him put on the armor and the tiger man watched intently. When all of the armor was on him, the wolf man banged him on the shoulders and disappeared. Then Harold stood there just looking at his armor. It was dark and ominous, but it held a slight sheen of green to it.

  He noticed the tiger man walking toward him with the flaming sword. Harold knelt before him, and the tiger man used the sword to tap him on one shoulder and then the other. Harold then stood up, and the tiger man knelt before him. He held up the flaming sword with both hands as he bowed his head, offering the blade to Harold.

  Harold noticed a little rag doll on the ground and a piece of ragged scarlet cloth was beside it. Lightning flashed all around him and Harold slowly looked out into the distance. Storm clouds were gathering on every horizon, and furious lightning illuminated the dark sky. He turned back to the tiger man who was still kneeling there just waiting for him to take the flaming sword. More lightning flashed and thunder echoed, and he could hear people wailing in sorrow. The tiger man was still waiting, head bowed while holding up the blazing sword for Harold to take.

  Flames covered Harold as he reached for the katana blade, and the storm clouds began filling with so much lightning that it turned the night to day. The tiger man looked up at him, smiled, nodded, and disappeared. Then, Harold brought the sword up to his shoulder and he saw the storms that surrounded him rushing towards him.

  Harold awoke with a stir. He took several deep breaths, and he put his head in his hands. He felt like crying, but he didn’t know why. Then, he just fell back into the bed. He lay there for several minutes, and looked around. It was still very dark; however, it took him some time before he was able to find sleep again.

  Chapter 17

  Harold walked into the barn just before daylight. He fed and watered the mule, and then lit a candle as he began scratching in the dirt with a stick. He made himself several math problems and numerous sentences. There was something there, but it just was not quite clicking yet, and he practiced for about a half hour. Then he smelled biscuits coming from the house.

  He walked back inside to see Cooper and Ollie sitting at the table, and Aunt Nean was at the stove. The children had a glass of powdered milk in front of them, and Ollie was holding something that caused Harold to shudder.

  In her little arms was a ragdoll.

  She had one of her mother’s spoons, and was feeding the doll as if it were a real infant. She was smiling and rocking it tenderly and just seemed lost in her own little world. As he sat down at the table, he felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. Ollie gave the little doll a kiss on the cheek and held it up for Harold to see.

  “She wants you to hold her, Harold,” Ollie said.

  Harold just sat there staring. Ollie looked strangely at him.

  “Her name is Betsy. She won’t hurt you, Harold. She says that she likes you,” Ollie smiled.

  Harold slightly shook his head and made himself smile. He took the doll from Ollie, making sure to be as careful as she was with it.

  “Where did you get this?” Harold asked as he put the doll on his shoulder and began rocking it. Ollie smiled and her tiny shoulders bounced up in glee and her hair rustled on her head when Harold gave Betsy a kiss.

  “Momma made it for me,” she said. “I liked the one that Susie had.”

  Aunt Nean smiled as she put the baker of biscuits down on the table, and they all began eating. Harold held Betsy for quite some time, and Ollie just smiled at him all throughout breakfast.

  When breakfast was finished, he gave Betsy back to her and though Cooper wanted to go with him, Aunt Nean made him stay home. Harold then went to the barn and got his bag of burlap shorts and headed to the woods. As he walked, he looked for Scape, but he was nowhere to be found.

  “I may have scared him off for good,” Harold whispered to himself as set off in a jog.

  Soon, he was on fire, bouncing and flipping through the forest. He occasionally slung a fireball or a flaming runnel, always being careful to douse the flames after he did so. He even noticed that since he focused on the heat and not the flames, air-burning was much easier, and even more accurate. He could make himself rapidly appear in seven or eight places in just a few seconds without much trouble.

  About mid-morning he doused his flames, and looked down. His shorts were untouched, and he smiled. He looked up into a tree. He found a high branch and air-burned to it. Once there, he looked out across all of Foxx Hole. He could see children running to and fro and many men were still working in their fields. Some were still plowing, some were fertilizing, and he noticed that it looked like Jim was planting.

  He found another tree in the distance. He couldn’t see it well, but he decided to try something. He called to the source of his fire, and the top of the tree suddenly came into focus. He released the power and the tree seemed to shrink back into the foreground. He closed his eyes and listened. He pushed the fire to his ears, and soon he could hear an incredible mixture of noise. It was difficult to separate, but he realized that he could hear nearly all of Foxx Hole.

  He could tell it would take a little bit of practice to master, so he just let it go, deciding to try later. He found the tree again. It was quite some distance away, but he knew since he controlled his power in a different way now that he could make the air-burn. He focused, and appeared in the top of it. The scenery in front of him immediately adjusted itself and he was looking at Foxx Hole from about the angle of road number ten. He was almost a mile from the border of the circular town, and about a hundred yards to his right was where he and Sarah were yesterday afternoon. He found another tree at the top of town and zipped to it. He looked around a little more, but found that the scenery didn’t change that much. He was careful to check with his enhanced vision around his air-burn points, but he soon made his way around the entire perimeter of Foxx Hole, and was back in the tree where he had started.

  He leaped down out of it, and decided to try something new. He found a stick that looked similar to Cooper and Scott’s swords. He called to the heat and surrounded the stick with fire. He focused intensely and the fire around the stick began changing colors from red to blue, but he forced the heat to stay where it was and did not allow it to escape. However, he kept it away from the stick as well and made the stick the focus of his power.

  He found a young tree about the size of his leg. He pulled more power into the barrier around his pretend sword and he leaped through the air toward the tree. The heat seared through the tree as he swung. He air-burned towards another tree, spinning and slashing as he dropped to one knee, and it fell in two pieces. He flashed high into the air to a branch in the top of a near tree. He swung and the branch fell and he air-burned back to the ground.

  He could see the branch falling and he pulled fire into the palm of his hand and stepped forward. Billowing flames rocketed toward the falling branch and consumed it. He closed his palm and the fires that he had started came to him and swirled around him like a flock of fireflies. He doused his stick and the swirling points of fire disappeared as well. Harold appeared in the top of a tree and stood there, looking out across the detection grid at Colonel Foxx’s house and the skyscrapers far in the distance.


  He stayed there for quite some time just lost in his thoughts. Scott’s secret base came across his mind, and he looked towards its general direction.

  He jumped down out of the tree and walked to town. It did not take him long to get to the blacksmith shop, and he found Sarah and her father both sitting at the front desk.

  “Hey there, Harold,” Willie said. “How are you today?”

  “I’m good, sir,” Harold replied. “And you?”

  “I’m a little tired today,” he replied. “But I got all the work for the day done, so it’s been a good day. Got a lot of food for it.”

  “When are we eating?” Harold smiled.

  Willie laughed, “Whenever you want to, my boy.”

  “Hey, Sarah,” Harold said. “You wanna’ go for a walk?”

  “I would love too,” she replied, eyeing her father.

  “Go on, Sarah,” he answered. “We’re done here today, anyways.”

  “Thanks, Pa,” she said.

  He nodded and the two of them left the shop. They took each other’s hand and leisurely strolled towards the woods.

  “What do you think it used to be like?” Harold asked.

  “What do you mean?” she puzzled. “Before the High-Born?”

  “Yeah,” Harold answered.

  “I guess there used to be a lot of cities like the one over there,” Sarah urged her head towards the city in the distance.

  “That’s what I think too,” Harold said and thought a moment. “What do you think the people were like?”

  “Who knows,” she shrugged. “I guess they didn’t know what they had. Else, we wouldn’t be like we are now.”

  “That’s pretty thoughtful, Sarah,” he reached down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve heard the old folks say that before the AIR War you could even leave town back then.”

  “Yeah,” she said as she kissed the back of his hand. “I heard Mr. Lewie talk about that one time.”

  “That would be nice,” he answered. “Well, come on, I’ve got something to show you.”

  “Okay,” she said, and Harold began pulling her in a light jog.

  Once they were safely inside the woodline, and away from prying eyes, Harold pulled her close, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “Hold on,” he said and fire whirled around them...

  ...They appeared quite some distance away, and flashed again...

  Sarah’s eyes were wide with excitement, “Whoa, that was really fun.”

  “I know,” Harold said, and they flamed out of sight again.

  After several careful air-burns, Harold found the tree that marked Scott’s secret base.

  “Your brother is such a clever little thing,” Harold said, and Sarah smiled as she cocked her head. “He found this place.”

  “What is it?” she asked as Harold revealed the staircase to her.

  “I don’t really know,” he answered. “But let’s find out.”

  Harold took her hand and they walked down to the door. With a quick pull, Harold opened it and they walked inside.

  “It sure is dark down here,” Sarah said.

  “I’m about to take care of that,” Harold said as he clenched his fists in front of himself.

  The puff of flame sounded and rays of light shot through the darkness, illuminating the entire room. Seeming fireflies flittered from Harold to the torches on the wall, and fully lit the remaining darkness. Sarah smiled as she walked around.

  “Check those shelves over there,” Harold said. “I’m going to look over here.”

  “Okay,” she said and walked to her side of the room.

  Harold looked over the dust-covered shelves, and they were surprisingly bare. He was careful to control his flames when he grabbed a cardboard box and peered down into it. There was nothing there. He saw a few open aluminum cans that used to have food in them, but they had long since been picked clean. He walked over to the partitioned beds and could see that they had been thoroughly slept in, but were also very old. He was close to the door at the rear and he walked around the table and went through it. It was everything he had expected: Just an empty, but fairly large bathroom.

  “I guess a family lived in here for a very long time,” he said as he stepped back into the main room. “You find anything?”

  “Yeah, there are a few books,” Sarah said as she shook the dust off a large piece of tattered cloth. “And this.”

  She grabbed each end of it and held it up for Harold to see. It was too large for her to show him the entirety of it, and he walked over to help her. He controlled his fire and grabbed one corner of it while she held the other and they stretched it between them. It was ragged and had a few holes in it, but it was mostly intact. It had red and white stripes running across it, but there was a large blue square on the end Sarah was holding.

  “This thing would’ve been pretty when it was made,” she said. “I love those stars in the blue part.”

  “I wonder what it is?” Harold asked as he began counting the stars.

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said as she began pointing at each of the stripes.

  “Best that I can count,” Harold said. “There are fifty stars.”

  “And thirteen stripes,” Sarah answered as her finger stopped on the top stripe. “If I cleaned it up, it might make use for a table cloth or something.”

  “Nah,” Harold said. “Let’s just leave it here. There’s no telling what the High-Born might do if they saw it. It’s got to be something from the Old World.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It could be dangerous. It’s sad though,” she said as she began folding it. “Such a pretty thing like this gone to waste.”

  As she put it back on the shelf, Harold looked over the books. One of them had 9th Grade History written on it, and there was one that had Calculus written on it.

  “I am going to take these though,” Harold said. “They will be interesting.”

  “If you say so,” Sarah shrugged. “But you better really be careful with them. The High-Born would kill you if they found out.”

  “I know,” Harold said. “But I’ve got a good place to hide them.”

  “I say just leave them here,” she said. “And come here to study.”

  Harold thought a moment, “Yeah, you’re right. We’ve got to be careful.”

  He placed the books beside the red, white, and blue cloth and then he and Sarah left, and walked back to Foxx Hole. He ate supper with Willie, Annie-Jane, Sarah, and Scott again that night, and then returned home. He did not stay out of his bedroom for long, and soon he lay down for the night.

  Suddenly, Harold could see only darkness, and he gazed at a great shadowed nothingness all around him. He turned and looked and could only take in the enormity of the darkness around him.

  However, he could hear something far in the distance. It sounded like wood falling on wood, and the muffled screams of children. As it faded again into silence, he heard the wind howling, and then he felt a light breeze against his face. A light source appeared behind him, and he turned.

  It was as if someone opened a light-filled door far in the distance.

  Something was spinning inside the light, but it was difficult to make out. It began growing in size, and he soon realized that it was coming straight towards him. The light breeze became a steady wind as the spinning light got closer. And, soon, the wind was blowing furiously all around him. From the source of the brightness burst forth a spinning whirlwind of light. It began rushing towards him, and he took a step backwards, but just before it hit him, it stopped.

  And it sat there, beaming and twirling.

  Harold stirred to life and as the dream rapidly faded, he thought he saw a shadow rise behind the whirlwind. He tried to focus on it, but it quickly escaped his grasp.

  Chapter 18

  Harold, Aunt Nean, Cooper, Ollie, and Scape all walked toward the town circle. Harold was glad to see that he had finally returned. Cooper was very excited as Scape ran circles around him, half
-barking, half-yowling. Every so often, Scape would look at Harold and raise his ears, then take a few steps away. Harold just laughed under his breath.

  Ollie held Betsy out in front of her almost seeming to dance with her as they moved down the road. Aunt Nean walked silently, occasionally looking at the children. She seemed a little bit sad tonight, but Harold thought it was because she was tired of the weekly meetings and speeches of Colonel Foxx.

  The road was beginning to fill up in front of them and behind them as well. Soon, they made it to the checkpoint, and as they passed through it, Harold noticed that one of the guards paid more attention to him than normal. He held his data-pane on Harold for longer than normal, and Harold saw an earlier image of himself appear on the screen. It registered with Harold that his muscles looked different than the last time the data-pane had recorded him.

  The guard’s tinted visor followed Harold as the data-pane recorded the other people. Harold pretended to not notice the extra attention, and soon the guard was back to his normal routine. Harold was thankful that none of the other guards seemed to notice, and he made a mental note to fix the problem before next week.

  After a while, the entire circle was nearly full. Townspeople in straw hats, overalls, and makeshift burlap attire littered the interior of the circle. Hundreds of individual conversations were going on all over the circle, and it was a din of activity. The only good thing about the weekly meetings was that it seemed to give the people some activity.

  Harold quickly found Sarah and they stood with a group of others about their age and just waited for the ceremonies to start.

  Colonel Foxx soon began speaking, and he gave more information about the Low-Born trade initiative. Then he talked about the importance of hard work and unity between the High-Born and Low-Born. After that, they watched the Vista again, and the entire town joined in the mandatory applause after it was over.

  “Now we will have something new tonight,” Colonel Foxx said. “From now on, children from odd-numbered and even-numbered roads will enter the gift area separately. This is to ensure the equitable treatment of all citizens. So, for instance: If you are the parent of a child from road one; three; five; seven; nine; or eleven, please send forth your child now.”