The Wizard and His Boy

On the account of my own sickness, I suppose it's important I tell this tale while I still can. I can't read so I'm not much of a writer. Embarrassing I know, but I never had any parents or educators to teach me in the awful years of my youth. I have however, told many stories around the campfire, so perhaps I'll find this easier than perceived. I'll think it in my head and have it processed and made fancy by a qualified writer in the capitol to my exact likings...if I endure this blight, and if you're reading this, well then that means there might still be hope.
First, I shall go back to a time before the terrible mishap had so rudely barged into my life and kicked its feet up wherever it wanted, well the two of them, the wizard and this awful sickness. It was a mere coincidence that our diverse paths intersected, the wizard and me. I can't say I'm glad we found one another because I am certainly not!
On the day that this tale began, I strolled along in a mystical fog which lingered through the Balen Mountains like a great white sea of ghosts, pursuing a contract. It was as if a gray tint had come over my watchful eyes. It rendered everything colorless and dull. The Balen Mountain Range was a place better discussed around the hearth with a belly full of ale, or perhaps at a tavern with the beautiful voice of an elven lady singing to her guests and plucking her lute, another puff at the pipe only a moment away. It was a place unofficially reserved for adventurers and monsters, no other would dare enter unless of emergency. In these mountains, there were black lakes and dens in the deep caverns a thousand feet beneath. These places were inhabited with grotesque aquatic beasts and other unholy things that scuttled about in the absence of light. The life that hunted the surface was equal in terror; fangs, glowing eyes, pincers, mandibles, claws, you name it. Undocumented horrors were no less common than the everyday fly. It was only the second worse place in all of Switchland.
I for one must have looked quite frightening as I walked between the rocks in the great stony vale with the elven silver sword tight in my snug black gloves. Oh, and that brutish iron ax that hung from its head in a loop on my golden belt. It swayed back and forth with every step. Fear was what I brought in my stead, for I was no boy, but a dangerous man. I didn't hold myself to ridiculous common tunics and pitchforks and I thought the armor of knights laughable and cumbersome. A finely sewn and padded black leather duster and a tricorn hat over dark hair for obvious style was my choice of wear. My pale mouth, nose and dark bristly goatee was hidden behind a tight black mask, that sort of thing that assassins have going on. I had a voice like thunder, arms like cannonballs and the height of half a giant's child, six feet and five inches. I was the type who knew much of monsters kneeling before his feet.
But, discussing me is discomforting for I am a man of mystery. That is why I am to tell you of the wizard. I had never been a fan of magic, it bothered me. I thought it a most unnatural thing, but opinions change as your knowledge grows. My naïve theory was once that magic was only a way of cheating life, and that life and magic didn't deserve to coexist.
I walked on in this dreaded land for some time with squinted eyes and clenched teeth amidst the wet air. The mountain annoyed me, there was so little to view and so much to think, and thinking wasn't fun within a scarred mind like mine. I thought it impossible when two figures, one large and one rather petite, appeared a few steps ahead of me. Two people! One was brightly colored red, and one was wearing black. They had slowly emerged from the hazy void in front of me. On the mountain that evening, what I saw was a wizard and a young boy.
The wizard didn't look a bit like the others I had seen at taverns and castles, or he wouldn't have if he wasn't wearing his crimson robes and wielding that elegant white staff with the ruby gemstone tip. He was older than I, but blooming for a wizard. I found his red pointed hat to be quite comical and so I shed an uncomfortable laugh. He had a beard, but it was thick, trimmed, and orange. I had thought that their beards were strictly supposed to be white and wagging down as far as the belt.
The boy stood no taller than four feet, he must've been but six years old, a wee lad. From a distance, I could see that his hair was dark and his thick bangs came down past the brim of his hood. His chubby face loomed at me with curiosity rather than fear. He was dressed in a soft looking dark hooded robe which sported belts, straps and buckles that held a bag on his back.
The wizard in red narrowed his eyes at me, as I mentioned earlier, I looked quite terrifying. His words came immediately and shot out at me like an arrow.
"I ask that we may pass without trouble."
Those were the first words he said to me, and certainly not the last. The aggravated tone of his deep voice stated that he was not traveling to see the wonders of the land, but to accomplish a task, as we all were.
"Please do," I replied with a smirk and bowed my head. "I see no trouble here." I looked around for effect.
He was going to pass, that would've been the end of it, and I would've gone off through the mountain in a day or so and had no tale to tell such as this one. I hadn't gotten a closer look at the child. His face was pale, flaky, and around his eyes were dark black circles. The husk of what was once a healthy boy stood beside the wandering wizard.
"What is wrong with him?" I said aloud and examined him without hiding my effort in doing so. I scowled at the boy and stood quite still.
The wizard turned to me in irritation even though I hadn't meant to upset him, but the boy slowly rolled his eyes in my direction only to stare with deep black eyes. I'd never gotten a feeling quite like that in my stomach before. There came over me...a sadness...what? I did not feel sympathy for the boy! Or...perhaps I did. I couldn't pull my gaze away from his sloped cheeks, his sickly pale pigment, or the dark muck that seemed to multiply beneath the skin around his eyes.
"Well go on, answer me. What's wrong with him?" I asked and looked to the wizard, but the boy answered my question instead.
"Sick," he said and coughed. A black mist spurted out from his nose and eyes and then floated through the air. When it got high, it frantically split up and headed off in different directions like a colony of bees taking flight. I was so intrigued.
"A sickness that we are going to fix, my son!" said the wizard. He smiled a rose red smile to the boy and then reached out and ruffled his hair. The wizard was apparently the father to that child, but I saw no resemblance between them.
"And where is this place you are going exactly? To fix it I mean," I said and pulled down my mask so that they could both see my face.
The wizard took a deep breath and stood up straight. "The capitol," he said, "to meet the other wizards and discuss this illness and how to prevent it. It has broken out in Caer Parcel, a few weeks now, a terrible plague."
I shuddered at the mention of Caer Parcel.
"So, there's no cure yet?" I asked.
"I'd imagine one would be easy to find!" the wizard said very loudly so the boy could clearly hear. His eyes said the complete opposite in the gaze he gave me.
"A plague? First I've heard of it," I said, "but I haven't been that way in some time."
"So many questions you have asked. How about I ask you what it is you're doing?"
"I'm hunting," I said aloud, short and sweet.
"Hunting what?"
"Monsters."
"What kind?"
"The kind you can't see with your eyes. The kind that lures children... the type that rips the innocence from the undamaged, the kind that preys on those who are easily manipulated. The sort that wallows in their own sin like pigs in the mud. What difference does it make?"
"So you're an assassin?"
"On my own terms, and I'd prefer hero, wizard. At least I try."
The wizard looked at me with satisfaction and nodded his head as if he saw a soft light in me, as if he saw no sword on my back or blackness in my attire. "Nobody can be everyone's hero," he said, and there was a slight smile that began to slip across his face. It was emotional and soft, approving. I liked it, this was a chance for me to expand my name, the wizard must've thought I was truly something marvelous if he were to give me a smile like that. I felt I couldn't stand there and call myself a hero and then walk away from this dilemma. The wizard looked to be of high status among his people, and surely he was packing a few coins, and could also recommend me to higher, revered and respected men with deeper pockets. But gold was not what ushered me.
I would offer help! That filth of a contract in Gunapard could wait, the sick boy would not. I needed to assist any way I could, one look at his hollow faded soul and you'd feel it too! There was always that voice in me, it told me to help, not for the money. It was louder when I was young. The wizard tapped his staff on the ground and the two of them began to head off.
"Wait," I said. "He doesn't look like he'll make it, not in the least. I know a way through the mountains, a shortcut." I pointed my fingers to the fog. "It'll take a good half a day from your trip, be there much earlier, I've taken it myself before."
The wizard stopped, turned to me and pressed his tongue into his cheek. "Do you know this for certain? There are terrible things on this mountain and I don't wish to stray away from the main path."
"I myself am a terrible thing," I said and wiggled the sword over my shoulder. "There is no beast on this mountain I could not slay. Besides, this path I speak of isn't very wide, it tangles around but I know my way. Nothing would desire to refuge up there."
The boy grabbed hold of his father's robe and slowly pulled at it.
"I think he would make a good guard, don't you Eddie?" the wizard said.
The small boy, whose name was Eddie, smiled. He faded further from this world with every passing second and blinked his eyes slower and slower.
"Wait, wizard," I said and gazed upon the child. "Can it be caught, this disease?"
"No, no," said the wizard, and he waved his hands as if trying to take back a word he didn't mean. He seemed to become stiff and mysterious. "It comes from a plant used in a new type of parcelian tea."
I was satisfied with that answer (he was a wizard after all and they know everything) and so I agreed and looked down at the stony ground. "Have you any water with you? Or food? It'll be two days before we make it and I'm afraid there's not much to eat here."
"We've run out, unfortunately," the wizard said and ran his hand against a leather bag that hung from his back. "This darkness in Eddie, it's hungry, it feeds constantly and has robbed us of most everything. My boy needs to eat, he needs to eat a lot, so we must find something. I am an arcane wielder, and a fire is the snap of a finger away if you can catch something to cook."
I laughed aloud. "If I can find something to cook? It's only a matter of when my friend in red. I'll find you the biggest, meatiest critter that crawls in the rocks." I thought myself an excellent hunter, even when it was only for animals. The mountain was a host to plenty of defenseless and edible creatures, monsters certainly need something to eat too. A certain kind of pale amphibian which lived under the ground in the darkness of the aqua caves would cook nicely. I knew there would be plenty of them sulking around in the open air of the night.
"Do call me Ingruf, for that is my name," the wizard said to me. "I would like it much if you were to tell me yours, traveler." He put both hands on his staff, one over the other, blinked rapidly and lost his smile.
"Of course, they call me Blackblood, and traveler works too if you like that instead."
"Your real name," the wizard said impatiently.
I grinned and shook my head side to side, looked to the ground and then back up. "No," I said quietly and crossed my arms. "There are few who deserve to know that."
Ingruf looked embarrassed for a moment, and he swallowed hard, then changed the subject. "Food!" he shouted out and his eyes widened. I knew Ingruf was hungry, but there was no reason to shout over something we had just discussed.
"I know, I'll get right on it." He had irritated me.
"No, you fool, food!" He pointed his finger to a place behind me.
I turned to see a blue deer that bounded down the trail. I reached for the ax which dangled at my side and gripped its handle tight within my right hand. I swung my arm and extended my elbow all in one whirling motion so that the ax released from my fingertips and swirled through the air in centripetal motions. The animal didn't fall but continued to run. It disappeared into the fog and was never seen again, probably heard, though. The echo of the iron ax sang across the pass like a siren's call. There was a rapid beat in my chest and a knot in my throat. I didn't wish to turn and see the disappointment of my two acquaintances.
"A matter of when." The wizard chuckled.
I accepted his tease and turned to both of them with an embarrassed smile. "We should get moving, I'm sure there are more animals further up the trails."
"Blackblood, know this, a sort that doesn't tell his name is a sort I can't put my full trust in. I'd like to remind you of the terrible things this staff can do to someone that may trouble me or my son."
I smiled. "Right this way sir."
There were no words, but a few agreed grunts came from Ingruf as he nodded his head. It was a wonderful thing actually, to find acquaintances in such a place, even one as odd as a wizard. Good things come around quite a bit if you're looking out for them.
I retrieved my ax and the three of us slowly began our ascent through the winding trails of the hidden passes. Ingruf was uncertain about everything, whether it was the crack of rocks or the howl of unknown life that echoed through the mist. There were birds that flew overhead and even they spooked him. Not that he was afraid at all for himself, I'd imagined not. Why would a wizard be? It was the fear of losing that boy that put him in such dismay.
The stone walls grew closer together until none of us could fully extend our arms to the side. We could barely turn around for that matter. I would've thought a dead end waited ahead had I not known the land, that we would have to cram ourselves back the way we came. We didn't though, and just when it seemed the path would crush us if we went any further, it began to open up. We came to a gully, one with great space for the wizard and his boy to stretch out their arms and let out a sigh of relief. I cracked my shoulders and watched the great burning fire of the sky slowly fall beyond the horizon.
"Here would be a good place to set up camp," I said, and put my hands on my hips. "I've slept here myself a few times."
The wizard instantly set down his things and yawned, his eyes were baggy and heavy. He had lugged that boy around for days probably, but he still shouldn't have the right to act tired. For Heaven's sake, look at the child! He should be the one yawning and on the verge of collapse, but that boy seemed quite content waiting for me to offer him a seat on the stone as if the dreaded mountain was my home. Such politeness. 
Maybe I was wrong, I think Ingruf had all the right to be tired. Sickness hurts two people. Obviously the boy, he was in a dark pain that drained him physically, probably emotionally too, having to accept the fact he might perish. But Ingruf, as a father, had to watch his child suffer and know that he would have to find a way to live on without him. His greatest creation would be deemed a failure to the monster that is life. So which weight was heavier exactly? I can tell you from experience, that it was Ingruf's, for there is no such pain as grief towards the ones you lost. There I go again, talking about myself. I should cease my rambling.
"I'll let you two get comfortable," I said and flung my ax from its belt loop up into the air. I caught it with nimble fingers and began to twirl it so that it spun about across my wrists and then I flipped it up to catch it. A smirk faded into my face. All those I'd shown off to in the past ended up dead shortly after.
The two of them surprisingly found a little dry corner of dirt between boulders to lay their things. From the old leather bag that hung from his back, Ingruf took out a fur blanket. I thought it empty, but then two, then three...three blankets he had pulled from an empty bag! He proceeded to dig around in it and pulled it open and peeked in too. Then two wool stuffed pillows came out of there! It was an endless magical bag, or at least that's what I saw. I made my discomfort clear and batted the air once with my hand and looked away. He threw the magic bag down to the rocks.
I didn't have time for rest, not now. My company was hungry, they weren't going to fill their bellies with dirt and rock. Instead of setting my things down, I pulled my black mask back up over my face and looked at Ingruf. "I'll be on the hunt, don't move on until I've come back. I assure you, I won't miss a second time. Get a fire ready, we'll have some meat to cook."
Ingruf brought Eddie closer to his side and shielded him from the wind with his robe. Nightfall approached and new sounds echoed across the peaks. The mountain in the hours of the dark was a nightmare from which you could not wake.
I strapped my back sheath and wiggled my sword to make sure it would sit still. I tightened the loop of my ax and prepared myself to fight, for the wildlife out there was fond of starting conflicts.
"Blackblood," the wizard said, speaking up.
"Yes?" I said and turned without actually looking at him.
"Take this," he pulled a glass ball from his magical bag and tossed it to me.
When it came in contact with my hands, it stuck to my gloves like it was crafted from some sort of rubber. I don't know what its makeup was, but it certainly wasn't glass. "What is this supposed to do?" I said to him and analyzed it closely.
"If you need help, whisper the words, lavik ekos."
"I don't do magic, Ingruf, I never have."
"Don't be foolish, the magic is within the orb, not you. It only needs the words for it to trigger."
"Then what happens?"
"It will light up and ascend to the skies with great might. A bright light for me to see and thus come to your aid."
I looked the thing over until I believed what it was he was trying to say. "Right...I'll keep it in mind." I set the orb in one of my pockets and it didn't fit well so it bulged out, the inconvenience I knew it would be.
I placed my gloved hands on the rigid walls of the mountain gully. It was a bit difficult because I hadn't had the climb planned out. I had to go up, it was the only gateway to more populated areas, and the only reasonable direction that wasn't back or forward. I gripped the jagged corners of the weathered edges tightly and pulled myself up, one after the other. The fall would've killed me for sure, would've snapped every bone in my body. I'd always had a knack for that sort of thing though and thought it unlikely that I'd slip because I never had before. Ingruf and Eddie probably had a pit in their stomachs while they watched me climb to what they must have thought my certain death. Ha, suckers!
Once I reached the top, I looked down to the gully and saw two shapes, one red and one black. They weren't looking at me, though, they weren't even facing me! My show of skillful climbing was without a point. A bright blue flame lit up between the two of them. I thought it an unnatural thing. It wasn't a real fire, but one made of magic. I shook my head. Whatever happened to flint and sticks? Beyond the horizon, the sun was nearly gone, its shift ending.
The descent wasn't half as bad as the climb up, for it wasn't as steep on the other side and there were more edges and pockets for me to slip my boots in and grip with. Once I got to the bottom, there was another maze of endless stone trails and piles of shale. No color, as it always was, but darker now due to the coming of nightfall. The other two I had come to meet seemed so far away when only a great wall of stone was wedged between us. I began to hunt.
Like paths carved out from great slithering dragons, the trails were unique and winded endlessly. They were like nothing of this world, yet here they were, natural and still, a piece of this earth. I had to respect them, otherwise, I'd become lost.
My eyes didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary, but as the moon began to rise, my ears heard all that was around; clicks, squeals, pincers, scuttles and growls. The mountain was alive, and the hunt was shared with everything that breathed around me. I pulled my sword from its sheath. Out of instinct, I also found my left hand had come to rest over the orb in my pocket.
I could hear a splash of fresh water on the stones a few yards in front of me. I crouched down and patiently tapped my fingers on the leather hilt of the silver sword and kept my gaze straight forward. There came a sound of webbed feet that clapped off the stones, then a loud grunt, and a high-pitched wheeze. I could see a pale figure that moseyed along the trail, it wobbled back and forth clumsily and smelled of fish. A roach of significant size with rapid legs zoomed out from under the damp cover of a boulder and the white figure snatched ahold of it and ripped it to shreds. This strange white blob was one of the amphibians I'd mentioned earlier, water pigs they were called. It must have crawled out of a confined aquifer and found its way here. A bad place to end up, wouldn't you say?
I got up silently, and sprinted my way to it, sword in hand. The creature only had time to turn its fat head before I sunk my blade deep into its soft flesh. It made an unholy noise and jolted up and down while its slimy tail wiggled side to side and slapped my leg repeatedly. This lasted only a few moments before it fell silent, dangled its limp jaw and released a final breath of life.
Pride is what boomed in me that night. This wasn't a very big prize, it was small, but that was more than acceptable because water pigs are two things, edible meat and bone. Ingruf and Eddie couldn't complain anyhow because I didn't see them getting ready to drag that deadweight back up the stone ridge to the gulley. For the first time in a while, I had the privilege to show someone other than myself something I was proud of.
For me, it seems that when things go well, they have a bad habit of doing the exact opposite a few moments after. In my moment of success, before I could even sheathe the sword, there was a massive black shape that scaled the mountainside, a silhouette that shuffled beneath the moonlight. There came a chilling sound with its arrival. The only other noise I could compare it to was the sound of saliva being swished about in a watery mouth, but much louder. It advanced straight toward me and all I could do was take a deep breath and accept what was happening. I have experienced absolute monstrosities and abominations throughout my career, but never have I felt such discomfort as I did at that moment in the mountain. This immense shape revealed itself to be a colossal arachnid, or simply put...a giant spider.
The spider's bristled legs scraped across my face and with that, I let out an involuntary primal grunt that hinted at pure disgust. Its immense weight pinned me against the rocks and the warmth of hot poisonous breath flowed down my neck. Its bristled texture rubbed roughly on my palms and caused my hands to stiffen. I found myself unable to blink or open my mouth, which was sealed shut with inhuman strength. Its eight foggy bulbous white eyes stared soullessly into the dark night while it pushed into me. I managed to hold it back for a few seconds, but it was a creature of savage instinct and so it overpowered me by the laws of nature. It was quite demoralizing to watch the dripping fangs slowly sink into my own chest while I did everything I could to hold them back. It burned...I coughed and attempted to cry out for help, but the only sound that shot from my throat was a dry wraithlike howl. While the stinging poison flowed through my veins, I somehow managed to keep a tight grip on that silver sword.
I didn't know how much time had passed when I woke. The last thing I could remember was the attack, I certainly wasn't dead. My limbs were sore and my muscles burned. There was an aching pain in my chest from the two dagger-like fangs. I had been in better places.
Naturally, I was wrapped in a flexible silk blanket...webs. That's what you get when you deal with big spiders. Hardly are they able to be killed, even by the best of hunters. My chest was tight, arms seemed glued to the side of me, my mouth was sealed shut and my favorite tricorn hat was missing! Only my nose was left for me to breathe but I did not panic. I was the Blackblood and under no circumstance would I fall to such a creature.
I wriggled about in my personal prison for some time and attempted to exploit any flaw in its design. Honestly, it was quite impressive. What a brilliant tactic, fill me with that awful poison and best me, only to then trap me so that I could not fight. It was an effective coward's trick, but there is no honor and respect for battle within the animal kingdom, only survival.
The webs began to loosen up as I slowly and calmly shifted my boots and waved my fingers up and down. The art of such a craft relied on the struggle to make it stronger, so I did just the opposite. An uncomfortable, unreachable sweat leaked down my forehead. I was inspired by the corpses around me, the eyeless holes and rigid ribcages gave me a reason to fight harder, to live another day.
It wasn't long before my heinous keeper returned. It came into view at the mouth of the natural dungeon and stared blankly. I could feel a rapid heartbeat pound in my chest. My stomach dropped and the presence of that nasty thing hung in the silent air.
My keeper continued to stare blankly at the sharp cave walls. I knew well that I could be seen with at least one of those eight eyes. There was, from the outside world, a small light that peeked through the cave entrance, a soft gentle glow. I would assume that the light was that of the sun rising to rule over another day. With that, I could proudly say I survived yet another night in the mountains, but my day was questionable.
The hulking arachnid bounded across the cave, its extremities zoomed in a flash, faster than an arrow. With this unexpected motion, I flinched and caught its eye yet again. If I were to move once more, if I were to even breathe a heavy breath, I was certain I'd be dead and pale within a few seconds. It turned back to whatever it was that it had originally intended to approach, which was a silky pile of corpses, man, and beast, and started to dig in. I couldn't help but notice my kill was among the dead.
A silver lining, a fire in the cold, a bandage to wrap the wound, my sword within arm's reach! Yes, there it was, it gleamed so elegantly. Only now did I realize how beautiful it was, a fine piece of elven craftsmanship. Its polished metal burned with light as the morning glow of the sun shined its warmth onto its silver blade. My left forearm was free because I'd done a fair share of wriggling. The great beast feasted with its back turned, a foolish thing to do.
I reached out for the sword with desperation and fumbled it around for a few seconds. The spider was continuously mutilating whatever it was that came in contact with its foot-long fangs and seemed to ignore me, a luxury that wouldn't go over my head.
I managed to get ahold of the sword handle so that it was tightly clenched in my palm, and I then swung the blade over my torso. From there I began to saw at the web, peeking down and back up with frightened eyes. I did my very best to hurry, and after ten seconds, I think it was, my right arm finally came loose. I swung the blade down between my legs so that they too were free, and then I as a whole was free!
I got to my feet and stood tall, still covered in webs. Never before had I gripped that blade with such vigor. Even if I could sneak out and run through the mountain to safety, I would choose not to do so, for the spider was now my prey and me, its hunter.
My substantial dose of sudden pride seemed to diminish as my keeper realized I was free of its crafty trap. There was caution within me once more. It hissed and heaved itself in my exact direction, to stop me I think. I thought the move sloppy and desperate of it. Luckily, I am the quickest in all the land, and so I was able to roll away this time. It bounced off the cave wall with such tremendous force, to this day, I don't know how it actually survived! I ran for the hole of light that was my exit, it was my only hope.
I emerged from the darkness and into the light as a drowning man emerges from the depths and through the surface, exploded through it with wide eyes and fear. The only difference was that behind me was a monstrous spawn of darkness that breathed down my boots, eager to get me wrapped back up in that putrid webbing.
There was a very small slope just outside of the cave, and I stumbled down it upon my exit. The spider must have started its pounce within the cave because it soared above me, thrown off by geographical change, legs spread out, and glided through the air, just barely grazed my head! I don't know how, and I think it was the adrenaline, but it was then, at that very moment, that I thrust the silver blade upward and into its underbelly.
I didn't let go of the handle, and so I was pulled with it, ripped forward, my arm was nearly torn from its socket. I landed with a thud, face against the shale, and still managed to hold on. Scraped back, forward, and side to side, the spider scrambled around in search of me, but I was stuck beneath it, holding closely the weapon that was wedged within its flesh.
What happened next, I had mostly the wizard to thank. In my pocket, there was the spherical artifact that somehow managed to stay where I had left it, even through all I had endured. The spider's wound began to spread, it opened wider and spewed green liquid down onto my cringed face that smelled of rotten bananas and mud. With my free hand, even while the rocks carved their way across my back, I violently jammed the ball within the abomination's body and yelled the words, "lavik ekos!"
A bright light shined from within the wound. The spider slid upward off of my blade, green ooze gushed out onto me as it soared up through the sky, carried away by the magic orb. Up it went until finally, the force was too much for the carapace to contain. It had torn through the spider's body and came to rest as a lone star rests among the twilight. It gleamed so very bright in the dawn, a glowing beacon for the wizard to see. The limp, mangled mess of legs and abdomen that was once my keeper plummeted down into the mountains where I would never see it again.
I laid there in the rocks and glared up at the light, glistened eyes and out of breath, unsure if I should feel lucky, terrified, or joyous. I was in fact, a great failure. I had no food to bring to Ingruf and Eddie, no great trophy to slap down in front of them with an arrogant smile on my face. I only lie there, covered in slime, unable to really move, and waited for my company to come and retrieve me.
There seemed a desire to see the wizard and his boy and tell them of everything I had just been through...but also, a sick desire to die. The corners of my eyes grew darker, my chest burned, my throat tightened once more. The poison was still within me, but I feared not. I had defeated the monster, outlived it, had the last laugh...how could I complain now? If I were to die, just die right there, I would be content. Maybe that was just the stubborn, arrogant, conflicted person I was, concocting up an excuse for my failure. Ingruf and Eddie couldn't possibly think me pathetic if I was dead, right? But in honesty, making a list of people that cared for me would've been futile. There would be no tears and sadness, no monuments, but only the legacy of a shadow that walked like a man.
The sky was so beautiful, a collection of orange and white, like the foam of an overflowing flagon. For once the mountain didn't sound so savage; of things trying to kill one another. There was the gentle haunting sound of the wind and a controlled chorus of crickets as if the world had set up a stage and calmed itself so that I may die in peace.
That was it, I was dead...I was sure it had happened, that I, Blackblood was to be no more. My eyes forced themselves shut and my entire body burned as if on fire. I did not cry out, and in time, while I clutched my many memories, I passed into a temporary sedative state.
There was the sound of the blue fire and the sweet scent it produced as my eyes fluttered open. Two voices chattered among one another...a wizard and a boy had come and saved me. I lifted my head, and before me was the mountain gully and the bright blue fire that danced among the gray. A wizard, one that was dressed in soft red robes and held the magic ball in his hands which was now without light.
"Well, you're finally up. I'd ask you what happened, but I don't know that I really want to know!" the wizard exclaimed.
Eddie sat to himself and watched me from a stone, his eyes were dreadfully dark, horrifyingly dark. He held in a cough and looked away. I grabbed ahold of Ingruf's arm with all the remaining strength I could muster.
"We need to...we need to get moving... to the capitol...need...to save him."
"You need a little saving yourself," the wizard said, and pushed my head back down onto the pillow which had come from that magical bag of his. He sat back and watched me with stern blue eyes. "I found these on the way," he said, and revealed my hat and ax!
"Thank you," were the only words I could release, my insides burned.
"Now, mister Blackblood, let's get you fixed up."
"It's Pinker...that's my name...Pinker Blacklud."
"Well then, Pinker, let's get you fixed up."
I had spilled it, my unfrightening name, but what did it matter now? The wizard showed me his hands, and within them, his veins glowed yellow, like an elvish map of the mountain on his palms. Magic pulsated in him, translated straight from the energy in the air and into his soul. He placed four fingers on my chest and stuck his thumb out to the side, then began to whisper. I had no time to argue. If magic was to be my friend, then my friend it would be.
I watched with silence. I took all of it in, the marvelous matter I was subjected to. Ingruf's blue eyes zoned in with utter focus. No longer did the idea of dying on the mountain seem like a welcoming grass field. It was now a dark forest full of terrible things. I wouldn't die, I was going to be okay. My pain diminished at the wizard's fruitful touch and three outlandish words, a month's worth of binding within a single moment. The pain within me was no longer, so I sat up silently.
Ingruf smiled at me and leaned back on the boulder he sat upon while he wiped his forehead of concentrated sweat. "All better!" he proudly exclaimed.
Eddie smiled too as he coughed up more of that vile substance, his eyes were slanted and black. I took no part in the optimism around me and depressively stared at the bleakness of the mountain. I didn't blink nor breathe, like those marble pigeon racks in the capitol. I slowly reached a hesitant hand to my chest and ran my fingers across it without looking down. Here there was once a great pain. My body had fought for survival with every last muscle and function, every little aspect of me, each molecule within the makeup of my very being was working to keep me alive. They would've failed, my bones would've been simply a piece of the land, an ornament of failure to decorate the colorless trails; something to spook the next passerby. Yet... now there was nothing of that sort.
I could only swallow and stare mysteriously into the gully walls. Ingruf looked to me funny, I saw him in the corner of my eyes with a confound look as he adjusted his hat. No longer did I feel like me. I owed him everything I was, but I didn't wish to give it. Was I even myself anymore, or was I someone else?
The others were only a blur, everything was a blur in fact. My mind wandered to darker places. Magic...a phenomenon...with the touch of four fingers and a few honeyed words, a life could be saved.
I could hear his voice now, so soft and innocent. Please, Pinker, don't let me die! I remember his green eyes, big and terrified, they stared back at me back with horror on the streets of Caer Parcel, my childhood home. We were two orphan boys, each as equally petrified as the other. My fingertips were drenched in the red liquid of death. I pressed over his wounds with hands that trembled and called for help as loud as I could... but nobody ever came.
The day my little brother bled out in my arms, that is what tugged at me. The day I was lost to a terrible thing, nor man or monster, but the deep crypts of a mournful mind. Now I realized that there was a way I could've kept him in this world, that sweet little boy which I devoted my life to avenging could've been saved...with the simple touch of four fingers and a few words. I couldn't bear to think about it.
"Pinker, are you alright?"
I quietly snapped back and bit down on my tongue with clenched molars. I scowled and looked Ingruf in the eyes, then became serious with him. I reached out and grabbed his shoulders, "What did you say? Ingruf, tell me what you said."
"What?"
"What were those words? What did you say?"
"The words that saved you?"
"Yes, Ingruf, those words!"
The wizard jerked away from my grasp and stared as if I disturbed him. "Do not ever grab me like that again, mister," Ingruf said and adjusted his robe.
"Please," I pleaded and swallowed hard, "please, just tell me the words." I dropped my shoulders and put my hands together, then rested them at my golden belt buckle. It was a few moments before he spoke, but he did.
"Hei coe, hei." The wizard finally said. "Heal child, heal."
I looked down to my boots and said not another word. The wind whistled in my ears. Eddie looked to the two of us with uncertainty and adjusted his position awkwardly in the case of my sudden obsession.
"I won't let him die," I said to Ingruf. I slowly put the tricorn hat on my head with one hand and slipped the ax in my belt loop. "I won't let him die."
The three of us were off once more, through the swerves and curves of the bleak mountain. Hunger clawed at our stomachs like a starving dragon on a dungeon door. We were miserable and afflicted. There were no words between us as we trekked. There wasn't any way to speak without annoying each other at that point.
Ingruf interpreted the silence as a form of peace I'd imagined, I think I saw his dimples begin to rise with a gentle smile. Eddie was still sick of course, an innocent host of vile things.
The silence was halted when a scratchy, dry, and drawn out sound escaped from Ingruf's open mouth. Eddie and I both whipped our heads in his direction. I stepped back and thought for a second that Eddie was to burst into tears. Ingruf knew exactly our thoughts and so he shook his head and spoke out in his defense.
"I am not sick, I am not," he waved his hands and looked directly at me rather than his son and I said not a word. That cough, in particular, sounded involuntary and off, a lot like Eddie's. Surely just a coincidence, because it can't be caught, and Ingruf's eyes were not dark.
"This is it, we've got maybe another hour before we see green grass again!" I said.
"If we're moving fast," Ingruf pointed out and pushed off his staff, and leapt over a big rock.
We walked on, trod through the shale and pebbles, a bit closer with each step. We came to the location where the trail would split into three. Left, right and middle. Reader, do you remember when I told you about my luck, and how things go bad when they start to go well? I swear, to this very day, that I knew nothing of what happened next, that it wasn't my fault and that I was not to blame. There in the middle trail, tucked between two great spires of mineral, sat a wild wyvern with cleanly white scales.
We did our best to duck, to get out of its view, but a wyvern's sight is better than ten hawk's combined. The roar of this great beast echoed down the paths, it thundered like the boom of stormy skies before a storm and came to life at our approach.
The great silver sword was gripped tight within my hand once more. I adjusted my hat and rolled my shoulders. Ingruf turned to look at me with great bulging eyes and then to Eddie.
"Run! Run! Both of you, run!"
The wyvern spread its great wings out and they glowed when sunlight shined through them. It stood up and shook its neck, then took to the skies. There was a dark shadow that whirled down across the stone, like a fast cloud over the three trails. It created a great wind as it glided above the peaks.
I grabbed hold of Eddie and effortlessly threw him upon my back where he could wrap his legs around my chest. I ran as fast as my legs would take me, which was fast. The sword swung in my right hand and the ax bobbled about on my thigh.
There was a bright fiery light behind me, and the squealing sound of the scorched wyvern, then a blast of frost, a colorful show of violence; wizard of fire, and wyvern of ice.
I ran on and on with Eddie until the roars were only echoes and until I half believed we were safe. I lifted him off my back and set him down. "Hey, hey, I got you buddy, you're alright, you're alright."
I looked back to the trails from which we had come. I crouched down to Eddie and grabbed his shoulders, then looked into his fearful eyes. Now I saw brown in there, not black, I saw a young boy, not a walking corpse. "You stay here, you hear me? I'm gonna go help your father." I breathed heavy interrupting breaths and looked down to the ground, and then pulled my ax from its loop and set it in his little palms. "This is yours now, you can keep it, and you hit anything you see with it that's not me or a wizard."
He shook his head up and down without a word. He was terrified...I let go of him, my strong hands came off of his gentle shoulders. I knew that the ax was nothing but a heavy and useless tool to him, but somehow, just maybe it would make him feel a little safer.
"I will be right back."
As soon as I turned, there came from the trails, the great white wyvern, its pearly white scales lit ablaze with fire and it screeched in anger and agony. The wizard had inflicted hellfire upon it, but he had likely perished in the battle.
I slowly glanced over my shoulder to Eddie, no words could leave my mouth. I couldn't tell him to run, for he would die, be picked off by something slithering or slinking beneath the rocks. I couldn't tell him to stay because then he would also die. I swallowed hard and slowly turned my head back to the flaming wyvern. I scowled and took a deep breath, then twirled my sword around once and entered a final fighting stance.
The wyvern was on me, and I dodged its great clasping jaws. Razor wings like steel blades whizzed past my cheeks, the force of its wind flung the beautiful hat from my head. I swung the silver blade up through and across its scales. It was then that red blood spilled onto the stone, gushed out like a pail of water flowing to dry grass. I dug my blade through its leathery wing so that it could no longer take itself to the skies. I was nearly victorious, I was...until the wyvern flailed its horned head and caught my right shoulder with the corner of its jaw.
I plummeted to the sharp ground going face first with wide eyes and lost the silver sword mid fall. I rolled to my back as fast I could, but saw only a mess of teeth, nostrils that flared, and my final seconds before me. Hot air sent my black hair backward as I helplessly crawled against the mountain wall, cornered like weak prey. My lip quivered, it really did, as much as it pains me to admit. I turned away to avoid the collection of gum hilted daggers and clenched my jaw. I was helpless. I remember quite clearly, two red snake-like eyes burning through me, fiery orbs that spoke of imminent death.
An ax, my ax, of all the axes ever crafted, slowly whirled through the air, the handle end landed against the wyvern's head and bounced off, then clattered off the ground. The wyvern jerked its head away from me. Eddie had done it, that foolish, heroic, idiotic, amazing boy. It was then that my heart truly sank.
"What're you doing?!" I yelled with such a thundering loud and angry voice.
The bleeding wyvern had lost all focus on me and turned its attention to the innocent. It burped and growled all in one vile, nightmarish noise and brought something to the back of its throat. A saliva coated ice block launched from the rear of a screeching gullet and sped through the air like that of a lead ball from a great ship cannon. I jumped out to block it, but I was not fast enough. It seemed I felt the gust of its force against my fingertips, but maybe that was just me trying to believe I was close to saving his life...Eddie flew back ten feet, driven by the forces of the frosty projectile, and rolled around in the stones before coming to a stop.
That life, it had no reason to be taken. There were so many bad things in this world, so many monsters that should crumble before their victims and serve justice as a headless corpse, but this boy, Eddie, he deserved no such thing as death. Fury and anger consumed me, my face grew red, my teeth nearly shattered as I bit down, and I lost my breath. My forehead became hot and the veins in my hands bulged out.
I ran to the silver sword, dodged the wyvern with ease, gripped the handle and got beneath its jaw. I stabbed upward and continued to do so. I ripped the blood-soaked blade from its meaty sheathe, again and again. Blood sprayed my face, and I dodged another desperate swipe of the wyvern's damaged wing. I ran to the mountain wall and scaled it, projected off of it, and swung the great silver sword down through its neck. The beast's ugly reptilian head separated from its scaly neck and I stood there, always victorious, but unable to win, the same as always, winning only half of what was to be won.
From the trail came Ingruf, he was bloody and bruised, his eyes were wide and alarmed, but he said not a word. I gave him the gaze of a broken soul. My eyes had started to burn, they uncontrollably leaked and it devastated me for I hadn't felt such things in a long while.
Ingruf caught sight of Eddie in the rocks, still as a stick. I dropped my head and took a deep shameful breath. I shook...my sword trembled in my fists, the wizard passed with haste, and ran to his son. He collided with him and cried out his name, he placed three fingers on his chest and divulged the words that had saved my life. Magic is a true beauty, and it can do amazing things, but it could not bring back the soul of the lost boy in which I had failed. My heart hadn't stopped pounding, it hadn't stopped hurting.
While I looked on at the lifeless ground, I saw a puddle...within the reflection of the puddle, I saw a damaged, battered thing.  I took a step back, then a step forward for a closer look. My face...it was black and dark, I looked...I looked...just like Eddie. I ran my hand across my cheeks and nose and swallowed hard. I knew that I had been feeling different, I knew that I couldn't feel emotion so easily, I was only sick... that's what I told myself so that the idea I had feelings would go away, shameful indeed.
I turned to Ingruf, who kneeled down to his lifeless child and grieved.
"You liar!" I screamed to him and began to walk in his direction. "You said I wouldn't catch it! You lying warlock!"
Ingruf jerked up his head and tears rolled down his rosy cheeks, like rivers of salt. His pigment matched the crimson of the soft robes. He stood up. "But you, you let him die! You lied and told me no such thing would be on this mountain!" His voice was pure pain and nothing else.
"Maybe you should watch out for your own kid, how about that!" I yelled back, even though I had initially offered my aid to begin with.
Ingruf's face scrunched up and he turned his head away, he couldn't look at me anymore, I wouldn't have been able to either. I stomped on the ax so that it launched up into the air and I caught it. There was silence between us. We stood there among the dreaded gray misty mountain, wizard and assassin.
There was such indignation in me towards Ingruf. I suppose what I did next was the most foolish of all the foolish things I have ever done. The only way I could express myself was with arrogance and anger. Hurt those that hurt you, right? I took a step forward and flung the ax at Ingruf and recall that I regretted my choice the second it left my fingertips.
His eyes grew big, not with fear, but surprise. He raised the white staff in one quick jolted motion. The spinning ax collided with some kind of magic force that seeped from the ruby tip. The red gemstone cracked at the collision of these two forces. To Ingruf's favor, the ax was thrust right back at me.
I was vulnerable then...the steelhead of that vicious ax tore through my abdomen flesh and stuck within me, which took my legs out from beneath. I fell face first into the stone and yelled and cried out in pain. The warmth of fresh blood soaked my duster, then it was cold and sticky. I didn't know if he meant for the ax to come back and hit me, but it had done so all the same, and I probably had it coming. I looked up to Ingruf with shame, my hand rested on the wooden handle of the ax.
We stared at one another in silence, two eyes locked in a battle that couldn't be seen or heard. There were a thousand words we both assumed the other was thinking, and both of us were probably right in those assumptions. I could only muster three of them, three small words that took a world of courage to speak.
"I'm so sorry," I said quietly. "I'm...so...sorry."
The wizard whispered a few magic mumbles that I couldn't make out, and his face too became dark and disgusting like mine. He had hidden it with a spell all this time, but no longer did he skulk.
"Me too," he said quickly and looked away in the wind. He reached into his magical bag and pulled out a pipe, and he lit it with his finger, inhaled for ten seconds and released a white smoke into the mountain air. He wrapped his hands around Eddie, and carried him off down the trail. I never did see the wizard or his boy ever again.
Minutes later, I finally got to my feet and slowly pulled the ax from my stomach. I threw it down to the rocks, bloody and shiny it sat. I put my sword back into its sheath, but left the ax for a traveler to find and use for themselves. I didn't want it, and I didn't want to see it, not ever again. It was my failures, it was Eddie.
I was alone in the mountain now, only a shadow that walked like a man once again. I put the hat back on my head and pulled the black mask over my face. I cut a canine from the wyvern's mouth and took it as a reminder of the first two people that had showed me kindness in years. I began to move at a steady limp...green grass waited ahead.