The Boys of Fire and Ash (7 page)

I couldn't breathe.

It shrieked with triumph.

The Tunrar raised both fists in the air, and I waited for the rib-crushing blow.

All of a sudden it arched its back and squealed like a Larmy pig, falling on the ground and writhing around.

I crawled away from it, clutching my stomach.

Av ran up and pulled his dagger out of the squealing monster's back, then gave it a hard kick to the head. It went limp.

“You all right?” he asked.

I sat up, still holding my stomach and noticing the hot blood pouring down from my split eyebrow.

I cried. It wasn't the pain, or the blood. It was the silence.

I couldn't hear Cubby.

“Here, let me see,” said Av, pulling my hand away from the deep gash on my thigh. He winced at the sight, but I felt nothing. The lump in the back of my throat was swollen and throbbing, I couldn't swallow. I'd lost Cubby. I'd failed my Little Brother.

My stomach heaved and I couldn't hold it in.

Av jumped back and wiped away my bile from his legs.

“Crow!” he called into the dark trees.

I heard thumping feet. As Crow, Blaze, and Digger burst out of the shadows and into the dark clearing, I felt sicker. Images of Wasted, his limp body, then Cubby, his face twisted in terror, flashed through my head.
Not Cubby
.

I stuck my head between my legs and lost myself in violent sobs.

Crow's cold fingers grabbed my leg and flattened it out as he tried to get a look at the gash from the Tunrar.

“Get me a switch from a Sticky Willow,” he instructed.

Someone ran off, I didn't know who. Probably Av, because they were back in moments.

I heard Blaze next: “What happened?”

“The thing went at Urgle,” said Av, handing Crow a short branch dripping with sap.

“Cubby?” asked Digger.

No one spoke.

Crow leaned into me. “This will hurt,” he said.

With a careful eye, he held the oozing stick just over the gash and let several thick black drops fall onto my open flesh. Each drip radiated with a vicious pain, and my body screamed to push Crow away as he pulled the sides of the gash together and squeezed. I didn't care. I'd lost Cubby. I wanted all of it to be the worst pain I'd ever felt, I wanted punishment.

“They'll be headed to the High Temple of Beginners,” said Blaze.

His words made no sense to me, like he'd spoken a completely different language.

“What?”

“The Tunrar and the kid.”

I looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“They won't kill him.” He was so matter-of-fact, as if we should have known.

Again, I thought of little Wasted.

“But Wasted…,” said Digger.

Blaze shook his head. “Wasted was for them. They're saving Cubby for the Beginning.”

We looked to one another, confused. I could hear my pulse in my ears, hear the grumbles of Blaze in the darkness:
End to the Beginning
. Hope and dread throbbed in the pit of my stomach.

“The Beginning?” I asked.

“Look,” explained Blaze, “Tunrar Goblins are servants of the Beginning. Whenever they feed, whenever they take,
they are bound to give back to it. So if they fed on Wasted, they have to save Cubby for sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?” asked Av.

“The Beginners' High Temple is where they'll head. They'll take the boy to the priests there.”

We stared at him blankly.

“Their home,” said Blaze.

“Where's the Temple?” I demanded.

“Other side of the Abish Village, tucked away somewhere in the Baublenotts.”

“No!” I yelled at him. “How do I get there?” I had no idea what these places were, but I was on my feet and brushing Crow off my leg, ready to sprint in whatever direction Blaze pointed me. My angry cut pulsed with pain and I wavered. Av put a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

“The Abish Village…to the—” Blaze stopped when he saw my face and sighed. “You are going after him completely blind.”

He was right. Every word out of his mouth was new to me, devoid of any meaning. I was blind. I knew nothing of the world outside the Pit, and what was more, I was the least ready of anyone to leave it. I wanted to scream at Blaze, his blue eyes pitying me and my ignorance. I wanted to hit him, make him say something that I understood.

He shook his head and sat against a tree, his hand rubbing his neck. Watching him, I understood one thing: I needed him.

“Show me,” I said, my voice trembling.

“Urgle—” Av started, eyes wide at the very idea.

Blaze had a knife out, his eyes following the blade as he thought. It glistened for a moment in the moonlight. I looked up through the crooked branches and shivered when
I didn't see the thick black smoke of the Fire Mountains. There was only naked, night sky. I'd never seen the moon before, a blotchy, pasty orb, alone in an expanse of empty blackness. Once I had Cubby back, I never wanted to see its blue glow again.

“A Beginners' Temple isn't exactly a place I want to be, Urgle,” he said.

If I could have killed him in that moment, I would have. It was
his
fault the Tunrar came,
his
fault Cubby was gone. And here he was telling me what he wanted or didn't want? Searing hate pulsed through my flesh and I stomped on his ankle. He let out a snarl as Digger shoved me away from him and Av was by my side, arm out to hold me back.

“We helped you when you needed us!” I bellowed.

He looked at me, his eyebrow arched with amusement.

Av pressed harder against my chest to keep me back.

“I am a Brother,” said Blaze, revealing the ankle I'd slammed with my foot. His scar was almost white in the moonlight. “I'll take you to get the boy back. But once I get you to that Temple, you're on your own.”

“I'm going with you,” said Av.

A lump formed in my throat. He didn't have to, but I was relieved Av would be with me.

“Uh, bad idea,” said Blaze, getting to his feet. “The Baublenotts are tough going. Keeping my eye on one of you is going to be hard enough.”

“I can take care of myself,” Av snapped.

“I'll go,” said Digger.

Digger had the same opinion about Cubby as Fiver, though he wasn't as vocal about it. What did he care if the little scroungee was dead? Surprised, I turned to face him, and when I did it all made sense. He was standing straighter
than I'd ever seen him, shoulders back. He was showing off for Blaze.

“We don't need you,” I spat.

“Makes more sense for me to go than Av,” he said. “It's almost my Leaving Day. Better for you to have two grown men helping to get Cubby back than just one.”

Two men. What a moron
.

“Crow, you have to go back, take care of Fiver.” Digger's leader voice was out again. “And tell the others what we're doing.”

So everyone knows what a hero you are
, I thought.

“Crow?” said Av quietly. He was looking at his feet, kicking lightly at the dirt. “Would you look out for Goobs for me?”

I felt my stomach churning again. I hadn't even thought of Av, what he was leaving behind in order to help me.

Crow nodded and Av patted his back in thanks. Then Crow turned to me and grabbed my hand. “Good luck, Urgle.”

I nodded, feeling the lump in my throat rising as he disappeared back into the shadows of the forest, back to the Ikkuma Pit, back home to the Brothers.

“Well,” said Blaze. “Ready?”

For the first time I was aware of a chirping sound all around me, the rustling of the trees in the darkness as the cold wind slithered through their branches. I shivered. I'd never been this cold. Even with my Brothers standing there with me, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that I was alone.

It was morning when we finally emerged from Nikpartok Forest and found ourselves trudging through endless rolling hills of long grass. The sun lay low in the sky, scorching my eyes. I had to stare at my feet to avoid the pain, but my legs up to my waist were hidden by the thin grass swishing as we forged ahead.

“This is impossible,” Digger whined behind me. “My head is killing me and I can't see anything!”

Several paces ahead, Blaze was hacking at the grass with a long blade.

“It's because you're used to the Pit being so dark,” he said. “Most places don't have the smoke cover you boys have grown up with. Takes a while but you'll get used to it.”

I hoped he meant the sun and not the ache in my head.

“One day, you might even enjoy it.”

I doubted that.

The pulsing in my head thumped to a rhythm that matched the throbbing where Crow had patched up my leg. There was nothing to be done about that either.

I looked over at Av. He was waving his hands around his head.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“Buzzing,” he growled, swatting and clawing at the air.

“The bugs?” said Blaze. “They should go away once we hit the village.”

Digger stopped in his tracks and hung his hands pathetically. “When's that gonna be?”

“Not too far.”

My head turned from left to right, and all I could see was rolling hills of long grass. Waves of bright green opened out beneath a sky the color of Blaze's eyes. It looked so strange, like they didn't belong together, the green and the blue fighting to overtake the horizon.

The ache in my head throbbed and I looked at my feet, trying to find relief from the brightness.

“Ugh,” Digger growled, “how long does it take to get used to it?”

Blaze shrugged. “Not long.”

“How long did it take you?”

He paused to think. “You know, I don't know. I don't remember any of that sort of thing bothering me.”

As the buzzing Av was talking about made its way to my ear, I found that hard to believe.

“It's the loneliness that gets to you more than anything.”

None of us said anything, too distracted by the brightness and the buzz. But Blaze went on. “You're lucky, actually, being out here with each other.” His blade struck the grass with an angry slash. “All I could do was cry the first few nights. It was the scariest thing, sleeping alone.”

With a final swat, I managed to make contact with the
buzzer and the noise stopped. Sleeping alone. I'd never thought about it before, and I realized I'd never slept alone. Every night of my life had been spent in the A-Frame, with Cubby sleeping above me for the past few years. Where would he sleep tonight?

“Did you boys, ah…?” Blaze paused, his eyes on his feet as he forged ahead. “Did you know my Brother?”

“Cole?” said Digger.

I bit the inside of my cheek and looked to Av. He was kicking at the grass, and gave me a quick glance before he bent down to inspect something by his feet.

“Yeah, we knew him,” said Digger.

Blaze nodded and bit his lower lip. He looked like he was going to say something else, ask how Cole died maybe. It had been something with his insides; there was nothing Crow could do for him. He cried and screamed for days, no matter how many tonics Crow forced down his throat for the pain. Finally, he just stopped. But Blaze didn't ask. Just one nod and that was it. If it had been Cubby, I wouldn't ask either.

Cubby. My stomach twisted at the thought of him out there by himself.

Av stood up with some kind of root, giving it a careful sniff. “You ever run into anyone?” He gave it a lick then spat, tossing the root away. “Brothers, I mean.”

Blaze just shrugged. I guessed that was a no and my stomach twisted further. No. How big was it out here? How far away could those things take Cubby from me?

“So you mean,” said Digger, “you didn't find your Big Brother?”

Blaze shrugged again. “I never really looked.”

Digger's whole face seemed to sag and it was no secret
why. Digger had been really close to his Big Brother, Steamer; they even talked and moved the same. He'd mentioned more than once that he planned to find Steamer after his Leaving Day. I never understood it. Things hadn't been that way for me and my Big Brother.

Without noticing, I quickened my pace and I passed by Blaze.

“Urgle?” he said. “Wait up.”

With a few more steps, my legs were free of the cool long grass and I stood on a wide dirt pathway.

In front of me were dozens of little wood and stone structures, like the A-Frame but cleaner, bigger, sturdier. Hordes of men, burly and covered in colorful skins, moved in and among them, undisturbed by the blinding light of the sun. So many. If my eyes tried to focus on one single person, five, six, and seven crowded my view of them.

“Abish Village,” said Blaze. “Other side of that we start on the Baublenotts.”

“And that's where the Temple is?” I asked.

Blaze nodded and led the way.

There were people everywhere. Men behind cluttered stands lined the streets, shouting in grumbles to one another, to Blaze, and to the rest of us.

“Who are they?” Av asked.

Blaze raised an eyebrow. “It's an Abish village. Behold, the Abish.”

What I beheld, I didn't like. The Abish were fat and loud and stunk of sweat; they were like Larmy pigs. They shoved by as though they didn't see us at all, and on each face that passed me I searched for something familiar, something like us. I didn't see anything. Their faces were fatter, hairier. They looked tired and hard.

“Think we'll find one of the Brothers?” asked Av beside me.

I shook my head. I doubted we'd find any Brothers living among men like these.

A man with a feathered garment on his head rammed into Av with his swollen belly. Av leaped back into a crouch, dagger drawn, and Digger and I readied ourselves for a brawl.

The man stared at Av a moment, then threw up his arms and made a “Bah” noise before stumbling off in a different direction.