Blaze (The High-Born Epic) Page 6

  The Kristall began glowing red and the soldiers who rose out of the water walked through the crowd. Their images seemed to be little more than ghosts as they passed through the citizens of Foxx Hole. They soon made their way to the tanks on the southern end of town and took up positions around them.

  The soldiers and tanks then turned their weapons toward the oceans and the sky. Then, man-like robotic soldiers stomped out of the water, and the soldiers and tanks began firing at them. The mechanized soldiers began firing back with weapons that had been built into where their hands should have been, and the sleek fighter jets circling around town began firing at the tanks and human soldiers. The mechanoids and fighter jets made quick work of the normal soldiers and tanks.

  “Humanity, as it was, could not compete in the face of this mechanized onslaught. Therefore, the greatest minds of that lost age came together and created the solution to the AIR War.”

  The music lightened and seemed hopeful as the beat increased.

  “And the work of the Forgotten Nations gave birth to the first perfect human beings.”

  The music became exciting as all of the ghostly images disappeared from sight; however, the Kristall did not stop spinning. Suddenly, a gigantic pair of beautiful, crystal blue eyes appeared in the air above the Kristall. Applause erupted from the speakers, and the soldiers around the town circle started clapping and whistling. And so did a few villagers when the soldiers gave them harsh looks.

  “The High-Born were able to turn the tide against mankind’s seemingly invincible enemy.”

  Several new fighter jets streaked across the sky, and the sleek jets roared into sight as well. Rail gun friction-trails and missiles covered the dark and cloudy sky as the two forces collided. The music upticked to a heroic beat as the new fighter jets circled in and around the A.I. fighters. Soon the A.I. fighters began slowly falling one by one as the High-Born fighters sped in and around them.

  As the fight raged above town, dozens of the man-like robots began walking in large groups from all around town. The faded images of High-Born grunts began parachuting from all over the sky and seemed to land on the perimeter of the crowd. The ghostly soldiers raised their guns to their shoulders and began fighting with the mechanoids. As the robotic soldiers fell all around, the speakers blared:

  “Though the A.I.R. War cost many High-Born their lives, the High-Born bore this burden for YOUR sake. The High-Born ARE the only reason YOU are alive today! They died so that YOU might live! Take time to thank them for what they did for YOU! Be thankful that YOU have opportunity to repay them! Find a High-Born and shake their hand, because they still bear this burden for YOU even unto this very day!”

  Harold had to admit that the manner in which the information was presented was mildly inspirational. That is, until you’ve lived under their rule. Harold thought.

  All of the images flickered from sight and the Kristall projected the four images of Colonel Foxx toward the crowd. He was clapping, and he looked out across the crowd, “Let’s give our heroes a big hand!”

  Colonel Foxx began clapping louder, and the soldiers around the circle clapped louder too. Then, the squads of soldiers began urging the villagers all over the town. Soon, about half of the crowd was clapping, but the entire crowd still hadn’t joined in.

  “That’s right,” Colonel Foxx shouted. “Show your thanks! Come on, now. ”

  And he clapped even more furiously, while the soldiers around town began whistling and hooping. Slowly, the entire crowd joined in applause, even Harold. Colonel Foxx kept the standing ovation going for a long time before he finally stopped.

  “Now,” Colonel Foxx held out his arms in a welcoming gesture. “Please, send your children forward so that they might see the generosity of the High-Born!”

  Harold hadn’t noticed, but sometime during the Vista several large crates had been placed all around the pyramid’s platform. Now was the time for all the heads of Foxx Hole’s households to step forward and receive their crates of weekly rations. This was always done in twenty-four lines, each line representing the right and left side of a respective road.

  The six northern lines were for the left and right sides of roads eleven, twelve, and one; while the six eastern lines represented roads two, three, and four. The six southern lines were for roads five, six, and seven, and six western lines comprised roads eight, nine, and ten. The villagers always lined up according to the nearness of their house to the town circle. The households that were closer to the town circle were at the front of the lines, and the households that were farther were behind them. As the High-Born with the data-pane checked a household off the list, the other High-Born gave its head their labeled crate.

  Aunt Nean was always one of the last households in line, and Harold was constantly worried that the crates would run out before it got to them, but it had never happened. For everything that the High-Born were, they were efficient. The High-Born always managed to make this process very fast and in less than a half-hour, the entire village had their weekly allotments. It was almost always the same: a jar of peanut butter; a block of cheese; enough powdered milk to give each of them about a half-gallon per week; some flour and corn meal; and an assortment of canned vegetables, fruits, and meats.

  Rationed properly, it would last a week, but was never really enough to completely satisfy. However, Harold often caught enough fish, squirrels, and birds to give them all a little variety, and they had put back some turnips just in case. Between that, and the crops he often lifted from his fields, they ate better than most people in Foxx Hole, but it always bothered Harold that most of their canned food actually came from the crops he had made the prior season.

  After that was finished, Colonel Foxx called up all of the children. In just a few moments, the area just below the pyramid was full of Foxx Hole’s children. Colonel Foxx, the woman, and the ration-giving soldiers all began passing out all manner of extra canned goods. They also tossed out bread; cloth; toothbrushes; toothpaste; soap; shampoo, and even some toys.

  Harold shook his head because the toys were always action figures of High-Born soldiers.

  After all of the crates were empty, Colonel Foxx blew kisses to the crowd and walked into his gunship. As it rose into the air, his large image flickered into view above the Kristall and began rotating with him seeming to embrace all of Foxx Hole. The gunship moved toward the south, almost directly above the road on which Harold lived. In fact, he probably went directly over Aunt Nean’s house.

  Once he was safely away, the soldiers at the various checkpoints began sprinting away from the town circle back down the roads they were each guarding. It always amazed Harold at how fast the High-Born could move. About two hundred yards from the town circle, above every road, he saw gunships seemingly fade into existence. All twelve of the gunships were hovering about twenty or thirty feet above the ground, just above the building tops. It looked like they had been there for the colonel’s entire speech.

  Harold looked around, it was always the same. Their weapons were pointed in the general direction of the crowd as they just hung in the air, a blue glow coming from their six thrusters. Six ropes fell from each of the gunships, three from each side of the vessels. Each of the High-Born soldiers on the ground then hooked one of the ropes onto something attached to their belt, and were all swiftly lifted. In fact, all 72 soldiers rose from the ground so nearly in sync that they all arrived in their respective gunships at practically the same moment. Then, the gunships turned and all headed in the direction of Colonel Foxx’s mansion.

  After they were all out of sight, Harold searched for Sarah, but she was nowhere to be found. He had hoped to go the bonfire like they usually did on meeting night, and looked for several more minutes, but he still couldn’t find her. He then walked home, but Aunt Nean, Cooper, Ollie, and Scape stayed in the town circle to enjoy some of the festivities.

  When Harold got home he was too tired to do anything, even read. So, he just undressed and turned off his light
and then lay down in his bed. At first, Harold was only aware of total darkness. He didn’t know where he was, but he wasn’t in his room.

  Then, the entire sky above him turned orange. As he turned around, he looked more closely. Far in the distance he could see an ocean. He watched as the waters of the sea began rippling and he could see something coming from beneath the rolling waves. It was difficult to perceive at first, but something surfaced.

  And it was huge.

  It was a gigantic, bearded man, and he rapidly grew in the distance, and he seemed to stretch from the ground to the sky. He reached up with his hands, and appeared to hold up something that Harold couldn’t see clearly. Harold looked around and he could see shadows coming to life all around him. Slowly, the shadows took different forms, some looked like fighter-jets, and some looked like crows, and some looked like tanks, and some looked like a rat mixed with a monkey that walked like a man.

  All of the shadows began flying towards the giant. Harold wanted to see more, but found it hard to move. Suddenly, he was lifted off the ground and the dark ground rushed beneath him as an invisible power pulled him across the terrain. He stopped only when he reached the feet of the giant. He looked up to see that the giant was holding up the sky itself, and the giant began walking toward the army of shadows, unafraid.

  As the shadows converged on the giant, he let out a tremendous roar and released his grip on the heavens. Harold saw a tear form in the orange sky, and pieces of it fell all around him. The rip grew in size for several moments, and then eagles began pouring through it, screaming as they came to defend the giant from the shadow things. Several of the eagles were larger than the others and they were solid white with burning orange eyes.

  The white eagles joined battle with the shadow forces, and as they looped in and around one another the eagles began breathing fire that consumed the shadows that came after them. Many of the smaller eagles and shadows began flying around one another, fighting as the giant shook the sky, and pieces of it began falling on the shadows. The giant roared and swept his hand through the shadows, knocking many of them to the ground. Then he rose up his foot and stomped many of the tanks. However, more shadows began coming to life, attacking the giant and his eagles. But they did not stop fighting.

  In fact, the battle looked fairly even.

  Then, the ground to the west began shaking. A massive ocean wave rose in the east. A fierce, howling wind blew in from the north. Harold looked south, and saw that the entire horizon was on fire, and the fire was racing toward the battle between the shadow forces and the sky-holding giant and his eagles. But the strangest thing was that there was a rat trap at Harold’s feet that continually snapped on a white rat with red eyes.

  Dark clouds began forming around the battle, and soon lightning was covering the orange sky, and thunder was rattling everything around Harold. As the lightning began hitting the shadow foes, Harold awoke with a stir.

  Harold looked around, sweating. He took several deep breaths. It was still very dark outside. It was the middle of the night, probably around two or three o’clock. Harold rubbed his eyes and laid there for a few moments. Then, he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 7

  The sun had already risen when Harold woke up. He felt great, but his old overalls felt even tighter than yesterday. When he walked into the kitchen, he noticed that Aunt Nean, Cooper and Ollie were nowhere to be found. Harold figured that they had gone to trade in the town circle since rations had been passed out the night before. The circle was always packed the morning after the weekly meeting. It was always a good time to barter for something you needed and there was almost always somebody who had whatever it was that you wanted.

  He saw that Aunt Nean had left him a few biscuits and two pieces of bacon on the stove.

  “You don’t waste any time with your flour rations, do you, Aunt Nean,” Harold said aloud as he reached for them.

  He was famished, but he forced himself to eat slowly, and the three biscuits satisfied his hunger somewhat.

  As he walked to the barn, he noticed that Scape was nowhere to be found either. He walked in the barn and saw that the mule was finishing off the last of five corn cobs, and he could see where it had already eaten some hay.

  “I guess Cooper did this before they left,” Harold smiled.

  The mule looked at him when he pulled the collar and bridle from the wall. As he walked toward her, she pinned her head against the side of the barn. Harold stopped and put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. He stood there for a few minutes, just thinking.

  Then, he tried to slip the bridle over her ear. She just pushed her head even harder into the side of the barn. Harold was starting to get aggravated, and he began tugging and pulling on the mule. She started braying, and he leaned back, pulling her head, and managed to slide the bit into her mouth in between brays. He leaned over and slid the collar around her neck. While he was hooking it, she bit him right on his butt.

  Harold reflexively swung at the sudden pain. A loud whack resounded in the barn, and she rattled the wall much harder than she should have, because not only was he off balance when he swung at her, but also he was in an odd position that didn’t give him much power. Harold stood up quickly and backed up while rubbing his rear.

  He looked at the mule. She was a little off balance herself. She wobbled, and for a moment Harold thought she was going to fall. Then, she shook her head as if to clear it. When she seemed like she was better, he tugged on her bridle and she came along without much of a fuss.

  As he exited the barn with her, he looked at the sky. It was still early. He walked a few steps and noticed that the mule had stopped. He glanced at her and rolled his eyes. He looked at the plow. It was about twenty yards away, in the edge of the field. Turning his eyes from her and back towards the field, he tightened his grip on the bridle and just leaned into it. He felt some resistance, but the mule started walking again.

  He trudged until he got to the plow. Then he picked it up and turned to hitch it to the mule. As he walked by the mule, he noticed that she was breathing rapidly. He didn’t pay it much attention until he had finished hitching the collar. Out of the corner of his eye, in the direction of the barn, he noticed that the dirt was torn up.

  He looked at the barn. There were two noticeable trails where the dirt had been torn up coming all the way from the barn. He hadn’t noticed them when he was walking to the plow, then he thought about it. They weren’t here when I was walking to the plow. He couldn’t figure out what the two trails were, but they started at the barn. He followed them with his eyes across the yard to where he was standing, or rather, where the mule was standing. Dirt had accumulated around her hooves as if they were half-buried in the ground. Harold stepped back and scratched his head. This was very odd.

  Then, it struck him. He had felt some resistance when they left the barn, then he leaned against it.

  I drug her across the yard, she didn’t walk. That’s why she’s breathing so hard.

  Then he thought about when he had hit her. He had nearly knocked her through the wall of the barn, and he had been completely off balance. The mule was easily five or six times heavier than Harold. Harold gulped. He had just literally dragged the mule across the yard, and he wasn’t even breathing hard. A High-Born could probably do that, but not a Low-Born.

  Harold shuddered inside.

  He walked to the plow. It was easy enough to lift with two hands, so long as you braced it on your hips properly. He reached for it with one hand. He gulped as he wrapped his fingers around it. He slowly lifted it, expecting it be too heavy. Amazingly, he felt no more weight on his arm than if he had lifted an empty water pail. He looked at the plow.

  The entire piece was off the ground.

  He moved his arm back and forward. The plow still felt incredibly light, much lighter than it should have been. This is impossible, Harold thought. I must be dreaming. He put down the plow and looked around, hoping that no one was watchi
ng. He didn’t see anyone. He breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to make himself wake up.

  But he didn’t wake up.

  He walked to the well and pumped some water into the pail. He splashed it into his face, and he still didn’t wake up. Harold pumped some more water, and then took a drink. Then, he pinched himself. He was not in a dream—this had really just happened. Yesterday, he was on fire, and disappearing. Today, he could drag a 1,000 pound mule across the yard as easily as he could have dragged Maggie.

  He stood by the well for several minutes, just absorbing the gravity of the situation. The High-Born would likely experiment on him if they discovered what he could do. They would certainly kill him. They did not like any type of threat whatsoever. Despite these new abilities, Harold was terrified.

  He got up and walked to the plow. He picked it up, and gave the mule a light tap. Thankfully, she started walking and Harold directed her towards Jim’s field, but he found it difficult to think as he walked. In fact, it seemed to him that his mind was completely blank. It was absolutely surreal.

  Jim only lived a few houses down from him, and he soon arrived at his allotment of land. In short order, Harold was plowing. After he finished the second row, his thoughts seemed clearer, and he decided to try something. He leaned into the plow, pushing hard.

  The plow slid through the ground much more easily than he had expected and he ran into the mule’s rear end. She stumbled forward, nearly running, but he pulled back on her. She stopped in her tracks, leaning against his backward pull. He relaxed and lightly popped her. She complied and began plowing again.

  “Well, at least plowing will be a cinch now,” Harold whispered, and he even allowed a smile to come across his face. “Guess you were right, Ollie. Tiger-Man and Wolf-Man probably aren’t as strong as me.”