Anansi's Web

“That’s the man from earlier.” Vince snarled. He got his sword from its spot leaning against a wall, and rushed outside.

Ember, followed after him, but Cara and I stayed inside, watching.

“Aren’t you going to help them? They need your magic.” Cara said.

“I’m just watching, trying to see how he fights. Why don’t you help them? You have alchemy stuff.” I said.

“Remember in the castle, when I tried to save you, but I hit the hostages, and you almost died?”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t your fault, you can get better-”

There was an explosion of wind outside. I looked out of the window as I felt the harsh air swipe at us from the open windows.

Ember was defending against the man’s attacks, but doing nothing else. Vince looked stuck, looking up at the red haired man; he couldn’t do much with just a sword.

I tried to control the man with my magic, but it was somehow deflected. A thought came to me, and I ran into the kitchen, and dragged the farmer into the living room, where I froze him with my energy and lifted him outside, still tied to the chair. His eyes were wide, and hit me with blunt fear, but I ignored it, lifting the farmer high into the air. The floating man was busy trying to catch Ember in a mini tornado.

I tossed the farmer at the floating man, hoping he was heavy enough to break through the wind shield. The farmer whined, and squealed pathetically as he flew towards the floating man. I couldn’t blame him.

To my relief the farmer passed the wind shield, and hit the floating guy full force. The two tumbled to the ground. The red haired guy was on top of the farmer. I felt kind of bad, but the guy tried to kill Ember, so I got over it.

The farmer hit the ground with a painful “Umph!” I flinched as the red haired man stood up next to the unmoving farmer, lying limp, still tied in the chair.

The wind guy looked at me expressionless. He raised his hand, but with his wind shield down Ember took the shot, and the man was tossed backwards, where he lay just as still at the farmer. Everything was eerily quiet, and calm. Ember and Vince walked into the house with stone expressions.

“Good work.” Ember said.

I smiled.

Vince laid his sword against the wall again, with a small scowl. “Let’s go.” He said like he was trying to sound less aggravated.

The world seemed to stand still as we walked down into the cellar like nothing just happened.

“Who was that?” Cara asked.

“The guy I saw earlier. Let’s just go down here, and then we can leave.”

“How have you been doing since we left Vince?” Ember asked, almost out of breath.

“Fine. Lost more territory, like that camp you guys slept at. Belongs to the trolls now. Have you done what you planned?”

“Yeah, and then we left because we were attacked by the person we were hiding from. We almost died. That was today actually.” Cara said.

“You’ve kept busy today. Don’t worry; I know a nice clearing to sleep in, really soft dirt.”

“Dirt?” Cara said, like dirt had stolen her ice cream cone.

“We have money for a hotel Vince, why don’t we stay in one of those.” Ember said, as we continued down the stairs.

“I haven’t had money; I’ve been stealing things for months.”

“You could have pickpocketed someone, I’ve done it, it’s really easy, you just…uh, never mind.” Cara stopped talking when she saw the ‘I dare you to say more’ look from Ember.

At the bottom of the stairs there was a small, almost boring room. A round coffee table sat in the center, with a few chairs around it. The rank smell was lighter here. Papers were scattered on the table, and pinned along the walls. Seeing a gun on the table froze me for a moment.

Vince picked up the gun, and pressed a small button on the side, and a symbol changed on the small screen facing the user. Vince aimed the gun at a blinking camera on the wall, and pulled the trigger, releasing a thin red laser that fried the camera. The smoke created a thin haze in the room, smelling like burnt waffles.

“Definitely keeping this.” Vince said. He took a black bag sitting in the corner, emptied a few papers from it, and shoved the gun inside.

“Hey, everyone look at this.” Ember said. Her eyes locked onto a paper pinned to the wall by a blue tack.

“This talks about a meeting planning out the attack on the castle. The date on this is from a month ago. I guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

I frowned, and walked away from the paper, and picked up a random slightly yellowed paper from the desk. It crinkled in my hand. The paper had sloppily written notes on some kind of plan to attack the pirates. I can see why Vince was interested in this, but if he isn’t a pirate anymore, then why does he care so much?

We were all holing papers, and shifting through them with disapproval of these awful ideas to kill pirates. I thought about the law that pirates must wear red bands, and I wondered why everyone hated pirates so much. They don’t seem that bad.

“Hey guys,” Cara said, “This one is a future plan, for a few days from now. It says they’re gonna kill a man who gives out information on Fervan. He lives in Sraff.”

Vince snapped his head up. “We’ll I guess I’ll go to Sraff. You guys are stopping there right?”

“Yes, for a day or two. Stay with us as long as you need to.” Ember said.

Cara folded up the paper, and gave me a quick look before putting it into her pocket.

“Did we get what we came for?” I asked.

Vince nodded, “Yeah, I think we did. So, how about this hotel? I haven’t slept in a bed in forever.”

“Of course, let’s go.” Ember said, leading the way back into the living room.

Cara winked at Vince before following Ember. She nearly knocked over a chair on her way out, but she walked confidently.

Vince looked confused, and I smiled as I followed them out.

In the town we found a hotel, and I realized that we were pretty much a mess all over again, but it didn’t matter because the woman at the desk recognized us from the news. Apparently there was footage of us leaving the castle. She knew me as that pushy guy. My face was red until we entered the room.

I felt a rush of déjà vu as I walked down the hall. This could be the exact hotel we stopped in when we first came here. The room looked kind of different though.

There were still only two beds, but because we paid with an astrexium coin, we got huge beds, and access to the hot tub, and all this other cool stuff. It sucks we only have one night here…I guess I’ll have to stay up all night, but then again, I was really tired. It’s been the longest long day in my history of long days.

Thoughts danced drunkenly in my head. They were all different thoughts, but all of them were about what happened today which says something about how much just happened. They left my head spinning, and I felt dazed. I just needed to sleep over it. I couldn’t swallow all of this information at once.

“I feel fantastic.” Cara mused from the other bed. She wore a robe form the hotel, with her normal clothes slung over a chair.

“This makes me want to get home, and relax.” I said.

Cara hugged herself tight, and sighed. “Me to, but here I have friends.”

“You don’t have any at home?”

“Don’t judge me; I’m just wrapped up in work. Alchemy stuff.”

“I’m not judging you, it’s just, you’re a really cool person, you seem like you have a million friends.”

“Thanks.” Cara said smiling. “You know, this is a…interesting adventure. I can see why you would want to stop the director.”

“Thanks for trying to understand.” I said. We smiled at each other.

Vince walked by us. He just got out of the shower and was wearing a towel. Steam was still rolling off his skin in wisps. Cara’s eyes were pinned to him. Vince walked to the bathroom to get a robe, and when he got back, he winked at Cara like she did as we left the farmers cellar. Vince went up to a window on the other side of the room, which was pretty far, and looked out onto the town.

I rolled my eyes. He thinks he’s so perfect. Maybe he is perfect, but he doesn’t need to rub it in my face. Just when I got use to him I want to tear their head off again. I remember how he liked to explain everything when we were in the mountains. I wish I knew something useful. I felt like a talentless lump sometimes.

Cara looked at me with a huge smile. “You know, I’m really happy to be here.”

“Oh please.”

Cara laughed, and I remembered that this was all just a joke. Still, I was annoyed.

Ember walked out of the bathroom. It was huge, so there was probably room for both Ember, and Vince at the same time without noticing each other.

Ember sat on a soft recliner, reading a magazine. “Sleep, we have to get up in the morning, and leave. Plus, you have been though a lot today, and I know you’re tired.”

I groaned as I looked up at the ceiling. Cara walked to the chair where she laid her clothes. She took out the folded paper, and handed it to me. “Be careful with this.” She whispered, more serious than I have ever seen her.

She moved to the other bed, and gave Ember a reluctant goodnight. Turning towards the wall, I opened the paper as slow as possible after making sure Ember wasn’t looking. I read the part that Cara talked about in the cellar, how there was a man giving information about Fervan to people, and how the Ecrealt society was going to kill him. I turned the paper over, and there was more. I read it, and I saw what the director was after. In these notes it talked about the directors plans to unleash a Siribi. I folded the sheet back up, and turned, facing Cara from the other bed. She gave me a subtle nod, yet there was an impatient fear in her eyes.

Ember pointed at the light switch, and the lights turned off. She snapped, and a soft light rained above her so she could read.

“Show off.” I groaned.

“Go to sleep.” Ember insisted.

My body ached standing outside, swallowed by heat. Vince didn’t have a griffin with him, so he decided that we should ride a train to Sraff, but what were we going to do, let the griffins go? I mean, we might not need them if Embers plan goes smoothly, but who knows?

“The griffins could follow us in a taxi, we could rent a car.” Vince suggested.

“No, we’ll just ride the griffins there. They might not be able to get into the air with more than one person, but they can walk with two people on their back. I don’t want to rent a car, and never return it, and there aren’t any taxi’s here from what I can see.” Ember said.

Vince rode with Ember. He was behind her, holding onto her stomach to stay balanced. I asked Vince why people from Amedia hated pirates so much.

“Pirates are from Amedia” Vince began. “They left for independence. Amedia hated ’em so much they want us dead. Pirates did try to take over Amedia once so.… ”

“So, you’re from Amedia?” Cara asked.

“I’m from Othal, but I joined the pirates. Long story.”

Somehow Vince ended up stranded in the mountains for a year. That sounds like a very interesting life. He looks only in his early twenties; I wonder how old he was when he joined the pirates. His family must have been worried. Maybe they were proud of him.

I felt the paper Cara gave me though my pocket. I wanted to make someone proud of me, I wanted to be perfect. If I stopped the director I would have something amazing to tell people I did.

“Where are we stopping again?” I asked.

“I think we’ll stop by the mountains, and then fly to Sraff.”

The green field around us felt like a sea that was trying to drown me. I couldn’t see the mountains, but I know that we’re close. We started to diverge from the old, empty back road. I hoped we wouldn’t get another troll, or demon attack. Thinking about the demons still scared me, but I felt more secure with everyone around. I pet Joseph’s neck, and he purred like a cat. Taking a deep breath I forced my nerves down, and sat up straight.

Chapter eighteen

The path to the mountains was the same as I remember it. No roads went this way, only metal spines snaked through the parched grass for trains to chug along. The trees we saw were few, and far between with spotted brown leaves. I got tired as the sun lay it’s blanket of heat over the ground. Without rain, the soil had become tough.

We made it passed the pathetically ineffective gate with only a sign to keep people away. Vince led us into a path that was supposed to lead to where his people camped out. Vince moved quickly with soft feet. It was like he was in his natural habitat while the rest of us were trying not to trip on stray rocks, or get hit by the dying plants that struggled to survive from cracks in the toothed walls of solid rock.

Before we climbed the gate, Ember gave the griffins some freedom to fly around the peaks. She said that they would come back if she called them.

“Are you sure you know the way?” I asked Vince. We stopped at a small field like the one where I was attacked by an ogre, except this field was smaller. We had been walking for maybe an hour or two, and no matter how hard I fought it my feet were getting tired. The sun and my thoughts were chipping away at what little energy I had.

Vince looked affronted. “I know this place better than you.” He said. Even he looked kind of tired.

“I’m just saying, it’s taking a while to get there. How much longer?”

“Not too far. Just need to keep moving.”

The rest of the time we spent walking to the camp I tried not to notice how tired I was, or how bad I wanted to lie down on the dirt. It went by pretty quick actually. I tried to think about how much I wanted to find the director, and I told myself that he would be at the end of this path.

The camp sat past a tunnel with the entry covered in dry, cracking vines, becoming brown, and sick from lack of water or any kind of energy from the earth. The camp itself wasn’t special like the last one; it was just an open field. Tents stood scattered around, covered in faded markings. I tried not to think about the animal skin that the tents were made of.

Two griffins were leashed, and tired to a wooden post, surrounded by a wooden fence. They looked young, and they constantly pawed at the ground, and tried to bite at their bonds. Kids played around the center, laughing, and panting with joy while the adults watched, and talked off to the side. Strange tan, and brown colored birds sat around on top of tents, watching over the camp with disinterest.

When they saw us come in they stood up in alarm, but when they saw Vince the kids and adults rushed to meet him. It was strange how these people live here without ever being discovered, or leaving the mountains. Where did they come from?

When Vince was done talking to his friends, he told Ember, Cara and I to wait while he goes and talks to the chief. The kids kept their distance from us, watching us with wide eyes every now and then. The adults didn’t seem too concerned about us being here, which made me feel a lot less anxious.

“I’ll get you two home. I promise.” Ember said. She was looking out at the kids playing with a sad smile.

I didn’t say anything back. I just exchanged a look with Cara. I wanted to go home, but I wanted to stop the director more, even if it meant I had to be uncomfortable.

“I wonder if I would be happy living here.” Cara said.

“Maybe” I said, “But you’ve lived a different lifestyle than them your whole life.”

Ember laughed a little. “Why, are you thinking about living here Cara?”

“No, I was just seeing how happy they are. I can’t remember the last time I felt like that.”

“You seemed happy in Sraff.” I said.

Cara shrugged. “Maybe it’s just growing up.”

“Maybe.” I said.

Vince walked back from one of the tents. He looked dazed, like the world suddenly fell onto him, and he was struggling to bear the weight.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Vince said, snapping out of his trance. “I have something for Ember.” He took out a necklace from his bag. The necklace was simple, with one orange rock hanging from it.

Ember put it around her neck. “A charm?”

“Just a rock from an old camp. It’s kinda sacred or something.”

“Oh, well why did you give it to me?”

“Chief said to give it to you. Also said I should stay with you guys. He had some magic dream, and says I’d do best if I left.”

Ember put her hand on Vince’s shoulder. “People did have dreams that are linked to magic that tell the future. They’re mostly vague, but I would say to trust him.”

“But, I want to help, they’re my family. What’ll they do without me?”

“They’ll do what they did before they found you. I’m sure you’ve helped them, but you’re needed somewhere else.”

Vince looked up at all of us, and sighed. “Maybe. His dreams do come true. It’s why he’s chief.”

“So is it time to go?” Cara asked.

“Not yet.” Vince said. “I want to do something before we leave.”

Vince walked back to the tent where the chief was, and we stood and waited for him again. With the time we had I thought about my own dreams. I haven’t remembered one in a while, but that reoccurring one with the woman’s silhouette, and the gems was starting to make me anxious. What if my dreams are real too? How would that even work, my dream was so abstract.

“How come everyone else gets special rocks, and I get nothing?” Cara said.

“Nothing? You got all that Alchemy stuff.”

“Well…still it’s not the same.”

I rolled my eyes, and tapped my foot the rest of the time we waited for Vince. Ember was examining the necklace, and the adults who sat out here watched, and whispered to each other, looking at us. I crossed my arms, and looked around to find something to catch my attention.

Vince walked out of the tent, and talked to some of the grown-ups whose eyes hadn’t left us for what felt like years. They all walked off somewhere I couldn’t see, and they came back moments later carrying several tools, and supplies. I wonder where they got those wooden planks, and modern tools.

Vince told us he got the supplies from trips outside of the mountains, and from scavenging around.

“I’m gonna build protection for them, like gates, and a few traps if you guys want to help.”

Ember agreed to help, but Cara and I sat in an unused tent to wait for them to finish. This seemed like a waste of time, but I could understand helping these people out.

In the tent dull orange sunlight managed to reach us. It smelled like dirt, and the scent of animal fur. There were several old moth eaten quilts on the floor that smelled musty, and felt ragged. Heat had gathered inside of the tent to drown me. Somehow it was hotter in here that it was outside. Cara and I sat cross legged in the small space. We finally had some time to talk about the paper she gave me.

I took the paper out, and read it one more time. The director was going to try and release a Siribi named Anansi. The thought was horrifying, but I always thought that they were just legends. I don’t think anyone knows what the Siribi looked like. They only tell you that they’re huge, terrible god-like creatures with a bunch of power.

Cara watched me as I read the paper. “So, what are you going to do?”

I took a deep breath. This need for revenge that drove me forward was being clunked up by fear. He must be powerful to try and do something like this, how could I ever stop him without help. The last time he attacked me I would have died without Ember, so how could I beat him if Ember won’t let me track him. I got a pitiful feeling that I was in over my head. My rush was over, and reality was knocking down my door.

“I wanted to follow, and stop him, but you remember what Ember told me right? About how she didn’t want me to get hurt, so she was taking us home. I don’t know if I can stop the director without her.”

“Angelo, look, I showed you that paper so we could do this together, I want in. I might not be enough, but we could get Vince in on it. Ember might never know about it if we do it right.”

“Why do you want to help me?”

“Ever since we left the castle I’ve been thinking, and when I read what he wants to do I just can’t let that happen. Telling people about it won’t do anything, we need to act.”

“I agree, but…I can’t.” It was too late. Doubt slipped through the cracks, and my courage was flooding, being dragged down. I felt heavy, and stressed.

“But what?” Cara asked, throwing her hands into the air.

Frustration was building up, but I needed to keep my emotions in control. I couldn’t let it control me. I took a deep breath.

“Look, if you don’t want to its fine. But you were right we need to do something. Let’s agree to at least help Vince save the man in Sraff, and to tell the king of Othal about the director.” Cara said.

I turned the paper over, and read about the man who had information about Fervan who lives in Sraff. The Ecrealt society was going to try and kill him. We could save him, and get information from him to give the king of Othal.

“What’s gotten into you?” I asked with a tired grin.

Cara smiled. “Don’t know, maybe the same thing that got to you.”

“Alright, let’s tell Ember about our plan. She’ll have to agree, it isn’t dangerous.” I said.

Cara took the paper, and put it back into her pocket. We talked about Othal, and how we felt about our homes. I told Cara that I wanted to work harder to spend time with my mom and dad after this, but I definitely was going to sleep for a few days. She told me she was going to try and make some friends back home, because she wasn’t going to get the apprentice license no matter how hard she tried. I told her that I would introduce her to some of my friends, and she got really excited.

When we got bored of talking, we stepped outside to see how the defenses were going. Everyone was at the entrance to the tunnel. There was a huge, crude wooden gate in place of the old vines I saw earlier. Ember was singing an old song as she worked, moving with a rhythm. Vince was very concentrated on what he was doing as he worked with the other people.

“So where are the traps?” Cara asked.

Everyone stopped, and turned to notice us, which made me blush, but Cara was unafraid.

Vince smiled. “Ember put a charm on the gate so it turns those who use hit it unconscious, and she made the gate stronger than steel. To open the gate you move the latch, but troll are too stupid to know.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

Vince gave me a harsh look. “We’re gonna put more gates in the tunnel, and they all do different things when attacked.”

“Are you sure we have time for that?”

“Sraff isn’t far from here kid. I’ll take a griffin from camp, and we’ll leave. With Ember’s magic, and all this help we should be done sooner than you think.”

“Don’t call me kid.” I said. I just wanted something to be angry with, the frustration built up inside was showing, and it was beyond hiding.

“You can’t be so touchy in real life kid.”

Everyone watching was silent. Tension thinned the atmosphere, breaking down the layers of calm I always fought to maintain.

“I’m not touchy, you’re rude.” I said, trying to keep my voice from rising despite the rising anger choking me.

“Why do you care what I say?”

I felt like Vince was trying to give me some kind of life lesson I’ve heard a million times, and I wasn’t going to stand here and listen to it. Everyone was doing nothing, even Ember who watched with more curiosity than concern. With everyone’s eyes on me I turned, and left. Anger wasn’t graceful, it made me feel like an oaf, but it’s been so bottled up for so long, Vince just brings it out in me because he thinks he’s so perfect.

I sat alone in the tent for the rest of the time, cooling down. I felt worse the more I thought about how I acted, and I started to suck up my emotions, and layer them with as much calm as I could muster. I hated myself for lashing out, which made me feel like an overturned guitar string ready to pop, but I let the feeling melt before I walked out of the tent to see everyone as they finished building.

They had five or six gates standing in the tunnel. People were opening, and walking through them with ease. They were hinged to the stone walls of the tunnel which I guessed was some kind of magic.

Vince was talking with some of his friends at the end of the tunnel, and Ember was resting against a wall of the tunnel two gates in front of me. Cara was just admiring the scene from the opening where I was.

“Hey.” Cara said cheerfully. I couldn’t help smiling.

“Hey.”

“We just finished, we’re gonna leave soon I think.”

“Cool. I’m going to apologize to Vince.” I said. Every word was a little painful, it reminded me that I made a mistake, but I knew I had to own up to it. I was acting like a brat earlier.

When the work was wrapped up, Ember, Cara, Vince and I sat on our Griffins outside of the camp, with a handful of the people seeing us off. Vince had a bag full of new stuff, like mountain berries, and alchemy stuff, and even things he stored from his trips outside of the mountains like a bag of chips, and some little candies. Vince also had some sentimental stuff packed away, like a necklace with a seashell on it, and some dusty old pirate book. He and his friends teared up as they said goodbye.

Ember hexed Vince’s Griffin just after calling all of ours back. When we were done with goodbyes Vince was silent, and I wondered if now would be the best time to apologize. He was emotional, would he appreciate my apology, or think I’m insensitive. I decided to tell him later.

We took a wide path through the mountains until we reached a ledge that the Griffins could jump from to help their flight. We all got onto the shelf in the stone, it was a bit cramped, but we fit. Then, one by one the griffins dove from the ledge, and opened their wings, gliding through the air.

The sky was darkening with grey clouds looming over us. I hoped we would be fast enough to avoid rain, but the clouds grew darker, and seemed to get closer. I didn’t say anything until our griffins screeched in a shrill chorus just before lightning flashed.

“Are we going to make it?” I shouted at Ember.

Hold on. We’ll be fine, trust your griffin, and wait. Ember told me.

I gripped Joseph’s neck, and watched as rain began to beat down from the clouds. We were so close to the sky that I jumped every time I thought I heard thunder. Soon I could hardly see a few feet in front of me, and the world was a swirling, wet, grey mass that prickled my skin, and drenched my clothes as it swallowed me. Joseph screeched, and soared to the side as a bolt of lightning struck a few feet away. The heat coming from the area was so intense it made me feel like I was in an oven. The rain was warm, and the air was saturated, and muggy.

Stay calm. We’ll be landing soon.

I was reminded of the flight attendants before an airplane takes off, and how calm they sound when talking about the worst case scenario. Ember sounded just like that, and I didn’t appreciate it.

The rain came so harsh, and fast it hurt when it collided with my skin. I closed my eyes, and let the world go on without me. The sounds began to blur in my head, and the sense of rain dulled. My mind went blank as I waited for the storm to end.