Anansi's Web

“So you’re a pirate?” Cara asked, with a nervous tint to her voice.

“I used to be one, but I haven’t been one for a few years I think. I got stranded on these mountains a long time ago. I was seventeen.” Vince said as he led us through a secret passage that led to where he and the people camped out.

The tunnel was very dark, and the smell of earth had soaked into the air permanently, making the wind damp, and moist. Ember, being the tallest had to duck to avoid hitting the rough rock ceiling that hung over us.

“What are you three doing here?” Vince asked.

“It’s complicated, we’ll tell you later.” Cara said quietly.

I shuffled my feet, keeping my focus on Vince, and just following him wherever he went, because all I wanted to do was lie down, and forget that this day ever happened. I was shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of sweaty people, who looked at me, but didn’t say anything. I got a spectrum of looks from everyone. Some people looked at me with intense curiosity, while others smiled, and folded their hands in some kind of greeting. A few however, looked at irritated, and angry.

Cara was clutching her brown paper bag tight. Her eyes were wide as they searched the tunnels. I saw one of the little girls take a strand of her hair, and she began to braid the tangled strands. Cara jumped, but when she turned, the girl smiled, and Cara relaxed a little bit, but she still looked on edge.

“You’re lucky. Not many people can walk through the mountains and live, hardly anyone survives an ogre attack.”

“Well, we had some great help. Ember said, annoyingly calm.

The tribal people murmured amongst themselves while Vince accepted her compliment. “Thanks, but you guys did handle yourselves pretty well.”

“So how long w-were you, uh, watching us?” Cara asked as the girl continued to braid her hair.

“Not long, we came because we heard the noise. We don’t see people from outside often.”

A light blossomed at the end of the tunnel, and I walked faster to reach it, but my pace was still buffered by all of the people. When we made it to the camp I stood in awe of what I was seeing.

My worn shoes were standing on ancient white bricks, sprinkled with dust and cracking with age. Old white columns lay in pieces on the ground, broken while attempting to hold the weight of time. Stairs sneaked throughout the ruins, leading to small old buildings that were crawling with green moss, and tangled with vines that now inhabited them.

“What is this place?” I asked Vince.

He shrugged his shoulders as he lit a fire in an open space in the center of the crumbling ruins. “Who knows. It looks old, but I can’t say what this place was used for. My people don’t even know.”

Cara walked over to a fallen marble column, and slid her hand over it. I personally didn’t want to touch anything…but where was I going to sleep?

Ember looked out over the ruins wearily, “I wish I could have known that this was going to happen.” She paused to sigh, and then said, “Where are we going to sleep?”

Vince walked away from the fire, and looked around. “We normally sleep on the ground, but there are a few old beds in a few of those buildings, those are reserved for the leaders though. But before you sleep, I want to know what you’re doing here.”

I leaned against a marble column as an icy mountain breeze swept through the area. “Can’t we ask the leaders to move?”

“They reserve those buildings for their ritual stuff, like magic. I, I don’t wanna disturb them.”

“You don’t sound like much of a pirate.” I said.

Vince looked at me like I needed to shut up or he would punch me. “I was a pirate.”

I shrugged, and let it go.

“They have some straw, and even a few old quilts.” Vince noted. “It’s not as bad as it seems, trust me.”

I looked from Vince to the moth eaten quilts that lay heaped in a pile near the fire. They had several noticeable strings loose. I took a deep breath, and told myself that it was only for one night.

“I’ll sleep on the ground.” I muttered.

Ember and I sat on some straw, trying to get comfy, but it was difficult. The cold wasn’t awful, but it was really annoying because it seemed to stick to my skin. The straw was lumpy, and scratchy, and I had to move constantly to be comfortable. Even with the holey quilt I had trouble sleeping. Ember seemed to have the same problem, but Cara refused to lie down at all. She just sat cross legged with her arms folded over her chest.

Vince sat by the fire, poking at it with a wooden stick. “What’s your story?”

Ember explained what led us here. He looked like he was listening to every word. Ember talked all about Fervan, and the pirates, and the train.

“Wow, I’ve missed a lot.” Vince said watching the cackling fire. “I’m not going back though. Never.”

“What about your story?” Ember asked.

“Long,” Vince snapped out of his trance. “I don’t like talking ’bout it. You should get some sleep. You must be tired.”

We thanked him for letting us sleep here before he left into the ruins, somewhere deep in the darkness.

I thought about taking my shoes off, but I decided not to because it was too cold already. I wondered how Ember felt about all of this. She seemed annoyed earlier, and I remembered what she said on the train about running, not being chased. Spur of the moment things must push her buttons.

“Are you going to lie down?” I asked Cara.

Cara played with her new braid. “No, I’m not tired.”

I snorted, “You have to be”

Cara looked at the ground. “This place is pretty cool.”

“Yeah, it is. I’m sad my phone isn’t charged so I could take a picture. Is your phone working?”

Cara shook her head, “I have my charger though, but there probably isn’t an outlet around here. I mean, we’re in the middle of some mountains.”

I rubbed my eyes, “This is a lot in one day.”

“Who knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow?”

“I have a plan. I’ll make sure that everything goes right.” Ember said from her pile of straw a few feet away.

“Ugh, I can’t believe that there’s no bed. That sucks.” Cara whined.

“You just have to roll with it.” I said. Annoyance was creeping up on my nerves.

“I already know I won’t be able to sleep. Ugh I can’t do this, I want to go home to Othal, and I want to lie in my warm bed.”

“And we don’t?” I said.

Ember was silent. The only sound was the crickets chirping, and the breeze whistling past, carrying the smell of ancient dust, and damp mountain air. I heard distant leaves rustling, and owls hooting. I wondered if owls even belonged in the mountains.

Cara huffed out her anger, and snatched a nearby quilt as she walked over to a pile of straw to sleep. She shuffled around for a long time before she finally went still.

I yawned, and shut my eyes, finally ready to fall asleep. The embers of the fire blurred as I drifted away. The smoke became a blanket, and the dying glow of the fire was a beating heart.

I opened my eyes, and quickly covered them with my hands. The light was too strong to look at. My eye lids felt like crinkled old bags, and my brain felt heavy. I forced myself awake anyway, because as tired as I was, this straw still was not comfortable.

I looked around and saw all of the people were awake. Some of the men had on no shirts, and their black hair was long, or cut very poorly. The pants they wore were beige, and stained with dirt, and dust. The women wore dresses made out of the same stuff the men’s pants were made of, but the dresses went to just above the ankle, and they wore a rope at the waist. Some of the girls had braided hair with random feathers sticking out. The kids were running around, and playing in the remains while the adults prepared to leave, or ate breakfast, which was some kind of bird that I guess they cooked this morning, along with pink berries.

I looked for Cara, and Ember, but I couldn’t find them. I walked around, and forced myself to watch for my friends, and not to observe the ruins. I walked up stairs, and into buildings that were half caved in, and caked with dust. I still couldn’t believe that I was here, and that all of this was happening. Seeing this made me think about nature, and how old this universe is. How many people have walked through here, how lively did this little place use to be?

Eventually I found all three of them in front of a building larger than all of the others. It was up a bunch of white steps, layered in vines, and moss. The sun reflected off of the white temple, and I could make out some ancient statues.

Ember, Vince, and Cara were wearing old leather armor from who knows when. Vince had the sword he had last night hanging from his waist, and he was giving a knife to Cara. I was still walking up the steps, so couldn’t make out the exact details, but it was a long knife, with a bronze looking blade that reflected the sun. The handle was black and the blade was toothed. Cara looked at it like it was as ancient, and strange as these ruins.

When they saw me, they waved. I got to the top, and asked them why they didn’t wake me up, and they said that they didn’t want to disturb me, because they all woke up around the same time. I was feeling like a wound up wolverine, ready to lash out, but I contained my anger the best I could. “So what are you doing?” I asked.

“I went looking around last night, and I found a bunch of supplies in here. They aren’t modern at all, but they’ll work for a walk through the mountains.” Vince said.

I stretched, trying to wake myself up. “Is there anything for me?”

Vince handed me a piece of leather armor. Maybe it was called a breastplate?

“Got any weapons?”

“No, you and Ember are going to have to go without them. But I hear you have magic, so you should be safe.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how to use magic.” I said.

“We’ll be there to protect you.” Ember said.

I frowned. “But I wanna stand up on my own, c’mon Ember, teach me something useful.”

“When we’re in the mountains, I’ll show you some more magic. I want to get to the griffins as fast as possible, and we have to be careful because Vince tells me that the people here have a war with the trolls over territory. The land gets dangerous the farther back you go.”

“Yeah, we’ve almost lost all of our land.”

I looked past the building at all of the towering mountains, and I wondered what was out there.

Cara tapped me on the shoulder. “We’re leaving, come on.”

I looked away from the mountains, and headed down the stairs. Seeing the sun rise was really beautiful. All of those colors blended together, it really makes you think. Trolls are animals, they can’t control when they go to war, but humans, and they have the ability to reason. Sometimes people don’t act like they are people at all. Or maybe I was just naive.

Vince and Cara laughed as they made their way down. I didn’t hear the joke, but it must have been funny because Cara was nearly falling down the steps. I smiled, and walked a little faster.

When we were on the ground again, Vince grabbed some legs, and wings of the bird that the natives were eating. The rest of us ate some and it tasted bland, but it filled the empty spot in my stomach. We walked to an exit of the camp, which was a long, crumbling white arch with long, lazy vines swinging underneath, enjoying the breeze, tickling my head as I passed under.

Cara had opened her brown paper bag, and was giving everyone some sweets. It gave some flavor to our breakfast. Vince didn’t eat his; he said it was because they aren’t healthy. Cara slipped a muffin back into the bag, and swung it from her arm as she walked.

We followed a dirt path that extended farther than I could see. A man stopped us on our way. He folded his hands, and smiled. “Safe, trip” He said in a deep voice. He sounded like a natural speaker.

We all folded our hands like they did, and thanked him.

“Who was that?” I asked when we were farther down the path.

“A friend,” Vince said.

“Do they all speak our language that well?” Ember asked.

“The older ones know enough to carry a conversation.”

“So how long is it until we reach the griffins, or at least a rest spot?” I asked.

“Not long, but we’ll have to look out for trolls on the way.”

I took a deep breath, and looked at the sky. The sun was still rising, and the sky was cloudless. I remembered what happened last night, step by step. I wish we could just take a break, and relax. The general doesn’t know where we are, I’m pretty sure he thinks we’re still in the city. He obviously didn’t see us go into the mountains. But, then again, we did need to get to Neptia, and going on foot would probably take forever, and point us out. Then again you don’t see three people riding griffins every day.

“Angelo, pick up the pace. Vince says we need to be fast.” Ember called.

Then, I realized that I was behind everyone again. Maybe if I walk fast enough we can be done with this entire thing, and I can go home. I walked faster, and soon I was a little bit ahead of them.

“Is this fast enough for you?”

“Well, you should stay with the group, you aren’t the leader.” Vince said.

I ground my teeth, and slowed down so that Vince could lead the way.

“So what’s up?” Cara said, walking beside me.

“Nothing”

“No, I wanna know how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? What’s going on?”

I sighed, why was Cara asking all of these questions? “I just feel a little overwhelmed y’know?”

“Me too. But, I can’t wait to see Neptia; I heard it’s crazy there. Did you hear about that guy that ate a live snake whole?”

“Yeah, wasn’t he on drugs or something?”

“I dunno. all I know is that it sounds like my kinda place. I’d be free…But I do feel bad about not being able to tell Drason that I’m gone. He’s probably worried about me.” Her perky tone dropped as she finished her sentence.

“Well when we get somewhere with an outlet you can call him.”

“Yeah, I guess…How do you like it here?”

“It definitely looks pretty, but I’m scared of running into another ogre.” I said.

“Vince says ogre’s are nocturnal so-” I cut Cara off.

“Vince knows everything, doesn’t he?”

“What do you mean? He lives here, of course he knows how to get around, are you jealous or something?”

“No, I’m just anxious to leave.”

“Well hopefully we’re stopping soon, because I’m getting tired.” Cara complained, sighing for maximum effect.

Large gusts of wind beat down, ruffling my hair. In the sky two giant golden brown hawks slowly soared above, casting a giant dancing shadow onto the entire mountain side.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“Nothing, they’re so big it’d be like stopping to eat some ants. Let’s keep moving.”

“How come the people who live in the towns near here never see birds like that?” Ember asked Vince.

“They never go far from the back area of the mountains; they’re scared of humans. I heard it was because they were killed off by machines. They wouldn’t need to leave anyway; this is their home.”

After one whole freaking hour, we came to a stop at an empty field, completely devoid to grass, moss, or anything green. It was all just brown rocks, dust, and crumbly mountain walls. The sun began to beat down on us, and I was ready for a good, long break. The damp, sweet smelling mountain air made me sick at this point.

I leaned against a rock while Vince took out some old, banged up metal water bottles. When he gave them to each of us there was hardly any water in each of them. But, Vince took out some alchemy stuff from a bag he brought along, and said he could make more water using what we already had. I raised an eyebrow, but he set everything up, and Cara helped him using the sun warmed water in their bottles.

“I forgot to do this before we left, it’ll only take a few moments with help.” Vince said. I bet he just wanted us to watch him work, and be impressed.

“Do you have aqua crystals?” Cara asked.

“No, but I have what we need to make them.”

When Cara began to work her hands moved with a rhythm. They poured, grabbed, and crushed things into powder. Her long dark brown hair was tied up behind her. She looked more comfortable than I had ever seen her.

“Angelo?”

I realized that I was staring, and I turned to Ember. “Yeah, what is it?”

“Do you want to learn some more magic?” She asked with a smile on her face. Her clothes were dirtier than they were before we left the train, but that was expected. Somehow she looked the same even though her skin had grown darker, and her makeup had disappeared.

“Yeah, definitely.”

We stood up, and I felt Vince, and Cara’s eyes on me. They must have been done with the water.

“Alright, so magic is always inside of you, it is like you’re energy. Magic will let your body know when it is stirring, and it often tickles your stomach. Magic stirs when you are nervous as a reflex, and, it stirs when you are happy because you are at an emotional high point. Beginners usually get this feeling while falling or while extremely angry, so I am going to lift you up with magic, and you, are going to fall. Before you say anything, I will catch you if you don’t catch yourself.”

“How will I stop myself, is there some kind of spell, or something?” I asked. My palms were sweating, and my heart was racing. The idea almost sounded insane. Was she really going to just drop me?

“Just feel the magic in your stomach, and feel a strong emotion, like anger, or happiness. Release it in a burst. You get what I mean?”

“Yeah,” I said, hugging my arms across my body. I looked up at the sky, and bit my lip. “Don’t let me fall.”

“I promise I won’t, trust me.” Ember said with an elegant smile. Ember wasn’t stupid, but I still didn’t know if I really trusted her. I took a deep breath when I felt my entire body go stiff. I looked around, and saw that I was covered in purple energy like last night.

I began to rise into the sky. I watched Ember as she guided me with her hand. Everyone was becoming smaller on the ground, and I knew that I had their full attention. I was starting to have second thoughts.

I came to a stop when I was above a small misty cloud. The air was harsh up here, and the sun was ever hotter. Then, without any warning, I fell.

I didn’t fall straight down; I was on my stomach, like a sky diver. My stomach jumped, which was apparently my magic gathering. I closed my eyes, and felt incredibly happy, I told myself that I was flying. I tried to catch myself with my excitement, but I don’t think it worked. I tried again, desperate to get it right. Everyone below was approaching quickly. Then, I felt my body go still, stuck in the sky diver position like a flying super hero drawn onto the sky.

I looked at my body and saw that I was covered in a white aura. This must be the color of my magic.

I smiled, and tried to wave, but my body was too stiff. I heard clapping, and then I watched a purple light smash into mine, and soon I was back in Ember’s control, slowly gliding back to the ground.