The Winter Letter (14 page)

Gatnom raised a hand and quieted the boys. “I have some news. As you all know we are leaving for the War-Games in a few days. This year you will all be going.” To say the least the silence departed. There were cheers of excitement, which Gatnom quickly hushed. “Will, Wohie and I leave tomorrow, but you will leave today. You will take the carts south. Yoh, rig up extra seats. From there you will ride the roots to Master Jared’s keep.” 

At the mention of
riding the roots
all the boys howled with excitement. Will didn’t know what was so exciting, but something about root riding, whatever that was, made the boys happy. Gatnom shushed them again. “As you already know, King Mel’s troops could be anywhere. If you are stopped, say you are from the villages south of the bottomless lake, just out on a joy ride. Do not mention the War-Games. Yoh, you are in charge. No detours, go to the river that leads to the abandoned city. Enter the forest at the checkpoint hidden at the southern part of the big field. Do you know where I am talking about?”

Yoh nodded.

“One of Master Jared’s men should be there to send you through the roots. This is serious. Dangerous. Understand? In the midst of all the fun, we are still at war. Don’t forget there is danger about. You must leave now, and not waist one second. Understand?” 

All of the boys nodded. They had no clue how serious the situation was. The only thing they had heard was that they were going to the War-Games, which is the dream of every young boy in the Under-Kingdom. They all grabbed a bag, one Gatnom made them always keep packed, and followed Yoh out of the tent.

“Goh, come here for a second,” Gatnom said. He leaned down to the young boy. “Prepare the catapult, full strength, towards the lake.”

“AI, AI, cap’n,” said Goh, and with that the boy ran up the stairs and out of the tent.

“Gat,” Wohie said. “Is it safe, sending them like this?”

“It’s our only choice. Jabber just told me the spy has been seen right outside the camp and has retreated to the South-West, back towards the bottomless lake. Apparently he sensed he had been detected. That proves he is a magi. His hiding proves he’s not to be trusted. We must get the boys to a safe place.”

“Oh man, what are we going to do now?” Will asked.

“Well...” Gatnom said slowly. “We must find this spy before he is able to report our position... and capture him.”

“What?!” Will and Wohie said together.

“Capture him? Are you crazy?” Wohie asked.

“We have to. What if he reports to King Mel?”

“But Gat, I’m not ready,” said Will.

“You’re ready. I saw that this afternoon at the beach.”

“What do you mean? I still can’t counter!”

“Most people don’t think they can do the things they actually can. The reason is because most never try. You will succeed if you believe you will. You are stronger than you think. Anyways, I am with you. I’ve, how did you say it,
got your back
.” Will didn’t look too sure. “You will be fine; just remember what I told you earlier. Here Wohie, put this on.” Gatnom handed her the cloak.

“Nice!” Wohie slung it over her dirty t-shirt.

Once outside Gatnom turned to the tent. “Collapse & Conceal!” he said as he moved his fingers like he was folding a towel. The tent fell flat and folded into a square the size of a floor tile. Gatnom picked it up and stuffed it into Will’s bag. Right then Jabber buzzed back. 

“He’s running towards the Bottomless Lake, moving as fast as a land-cart!” said the butterbug.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Gatnom said as he took off towards the brother’s catapult. Wohie started to follow, but stopped when she realized Will wasn’t moving.

“Come on Willy, let’s go.”

Will stood still a moment more, then he shook the fear out of his head. Together, he and Wohie caught up to Gatnom. When they arrived the catapult was ready. 

Will jumped in the bucket with Gatnom and Wohie; the lever was pulled back; the
ready-set-go
was completed; and the catapult was released. Before Will could think about what was happening the three were flying and spinning over the yellow forest. For a moment Will thought he would be sick, but Gatnom mumbled a few words and the spinning stopped, leaving each of them static in whatever position they happen to be in when Gatnom spoke. Will, who thought it only his luck, was upside down with his cloak hanging over his face. Wohie sat upright smiling, and Gatnom was in a laying down super-hero pose. Will brushed the cloak out of his face and realized he was once again flying through the air, plummeting towards the ground, and that he was about to be in his very first battle.

Fifteen
The Spy

This time the landing was not so graceful. Goh had turned the strength of the catapult up so much that Will, Gatnom, and Wohie were flung half way into the middle of the Bottomless Lake. The leverage was more than the catapult could handle and to Goh’s horror (but only for a moment because of his love for putting things back together) it sputtered, barked, and fell apart hinge by hinge.

Gatnom, Will, and Wohie each used different methods to find their breath and reach the surface. Will used another bubble (the same as the last time he was tossed through the air screaming like a madman); Wohie flipped open her mirror, muttered some unintelligible bubbly words, and held it up to her mouth like an oxygen mask; and Gatnom slipped a piece of seaweed into his mouth which magically allowed him to breath normally. 

When Will emerged Wohie was bobbing up and down and brushing her hair out of her face. “Where’s Gatnom?” he asked, looking all around from inside of his bubble. No sooner than the words had escaped Will’s lips, Gatnom shot out of the water like a ball of an underwater cannon. He landed feet first and for a moment stood steady on the surface as if he would walk on water, but then he sank as quickly as he had rose. He emerged shaking his head, hat in hand. “I can never get that one down,” he said. 

Once they made it to the black sand beach Gatnom got down on one knee and held out his ringed hand. 

“What now?” Wohie asked.

“We’re ahead of him I think. We should connect ourselves and spread out on the northern bank. Try to cut him off near the river.” 

Wohie stuck out her mirrored wrist and Will his mother’s locket. The three intertwined fingers. Leaning in, Gatnom put his face so close that the brim of his hat was nearly touching their joined hands. “Connect and Communicate,” he said, and for a hair of a young second a thin blue circle of neon light appeared. 

Bending down he drew a miniature version of the lake, the peaks, the forest, and the ocean in the wet sand. “The spy may have seen us fly over, but if he is from the King he won’t turn back so easily. Will, you stay here, closest to the lake, along the rocks of the northern shore. I’ll go the farthest north, towards the island in the river. Wohie, follow me, but half-way to the island hide and wait; stay in between Will and I. That way we will have the entire space covered. If either of you see him, don’t try anything on your own. We don’t know who this guy is; he could be dangerous. We must work together.”

“How are we going to capture him?” asked Will.

“We’ll use stunning magic. It will stop most magi, but we might need to do it together. We need for him to be unconscious so we can take him to Master Jared.”

“Take him?! Are you kidding me?” Wohie asked too loudly, looking a little too excited.

“Master Jared will know what to do. If that spy gets word to King Mel none of these woods will be safe. We have to stop him. Okay?” Will and Wohie nodded. 

With that Gatnom turned and climbed up a set of rocks that looked like natural stairs cut out of the stone walls surrounding the lake. At the top he stopped and turned around. “Be careful,” he said, then he was gone. Wohie squeezed Will’s shoulder reassuringly, but then she was gone as well. 

Will, not knowing what to do, ducked behind a large rock sticking out of the black sand. He looked out from behind it, then ducked back, then peeked again, then ducked again. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but knew he would know if he saw it. He felt like a kid playing war with sticks. 

The cliffs extended out and over the beach, looming over-head like a giant mouth with rocky fangs, and beneath these teeth, for as far as Will could see to the left and right, were sporadic oval caves. If the black water had been high in its banks Will would have never known these caves existed. As he stared into the throat of one of the underground caverns he felt like something was staring back. The black seemed to go deeper than the eyes could penetrate. 

Will shivered, then turning he climbed up the rocky stairs. 

***

Gatnom ran fast, quiet, and in a straight line to the banks of the Foot River. Across the river was the southern tip of an island where there was said to be ghosts. Gatnom knew nothing of ghosts, but he did know all about the island. It was abandoned, desolate, and familiar, because at one time it was his home. Somewhere beyond the wall of impenetrable trees lay the buried ruins of a village. Somewhere in that buried village lay the burned bones of his family. Gatnom stopped, his feet refusing to go farther. He had never gone back and neither would he now. He grabbed a low branch and jumped straight up six feet into the fork of a tree hanging over the slow moving water. From here he could see far north and south; if anyone crossed the river he would know. As he steadied himself he glanced back to the island. Why did it always feel like it was watching him, daring him to visit? 

“Focus,” he commanded as he repositioned himself so his back was to the island. That was the past and as Master Jared had told him again and again, it should stay behind him; he should not spend his time looking back. There was no point in revisiting these dark memories as if he might forget. He would never forget.  As if he could. But, why was it always so hard to not look back? Why was it every time he came near this place he felt like this? He had a new life now, one with purpose, one destined to fight against the evils of King Mel Masih; destined for the War-Games. He had an important job, until the war games at least, to protect the boys, Wohie, and the newcomer Will.

Will. Deep down Gatnom felt sorry for the boy who had fallen from the sky. He had, like all of the rest of the orphans, been thrown into this unwillingly with nothing to soften the landing, but Will’s wounds were still so fresh. Over the last few weeks Gatnom had snuck into Will’s room almost nightly to place a sleep charm. Every night Will fell asleep in silence, then he would start to weep through his dancing eyelids, but always within an hour the tears would stop and Will’s brow would wrinkle as he began to mumble threats. He was being tormented. The charms helped him forget the night terrors, but the pain remained when he woke. Gatnom could tell Will was trying to hide his anger, but it was clear the boy wanted revenge, and who could blame him? Gatnom wanted revenge too, although he couldn’t tell Will that. The urge was to be fought, not accepted.

Gatnom sat, unmoving, with no expression. His mind wandered to the boys in the camp. He wondered if they were on their way to Master Jared’s keep yet. He wondered if Goh had worried about the catapult, which he had felt break. He wondered if Wohie was okay by herself. Constant questions forever sought answers, but as always none were found. The whys were strong and haunting, but useless. 

Realizing that in his thoughts he had inadvertently turned his gaze back to the island, he once again made himself turn and look south. That’s when he saw a leg disappear into the forest. 

Gatnom was running before he hit the ground. “Will! Wohie! Are you there?” Gatnom screamed. “He’s heading your way!”

***

Wohie found a spot on the edge of a clearing in the trees. She figured anyone trying to move fast would take every open area they could find. Unlike Gatnom, her thoughts were still. Her green eyes danced back and forth from one side of the field to the other. She wanted to be the one to see the spy, so much in fact that her heartbeat thumped loudly in her own ears - not from fear but excitement. She always wanted to be a part of all this, and thank the King of All she had begged her brother until he awakened the magic in her. Now, she could be a part of changing all of Baru, all of the world, and all the while at the side of her last remaining family member, Seth.

She wiggled down beneath a few bushes. From each direction it would take half a minute to cross this field. If the spy broke the tree line she would be on him in an instant. 

Gatnom’s voice suddenly boomed through the connection spell. “Will, Wohie. Are you there?! He’s heading your way!”

Wohie sat up and stared towards the northern tree line. “Gat—”  

At that instant, the spy burst through the trees and had crossed the field before Wohie could budge. She had never seen someone move so fast, and she swore his feet were not even touching the ground. 

“Wohie try to slow him down!” Gatnom screamed.

”I can’t! He’s too fast!“ 

***

When Will emerged from the stone staircase he was in a field of golden grass twice his height. He brushed his way a few steps forward, then realizing he could see nothing beyond arm’s reach, he turned back towards the lake. A foot from the edge of the cliff the grass ceased and a natural path of grey stone took its place. Will took baby steps up to the narrow edge and peeked over. The cliffs were a lot taller than he had thought from below. Carefully, he started walking back towards the stoney staircase.

“Will! Wohie! Are you there?!” Gatnom’s voice boomed, as if in his head. Will started, nearly losing his balance over the edge of the cliff. Once again cold ran through his blood, like every time he had just missed an accident. He had felt it when falling from the boat, when he was flung through the air, both times, and now as he caught his balance. His heart was beating so loud he was afraid it would give his position away. 

“Wohie try to slow him down!” Gatnom screamed.

”I can’t! He’s too fast! Will! Hide!“

”What’s up Gatnom? Where are you?“ Will asked quickly.