Anansi's Web

Ember stood up immediately, looking from me to Cara, making sure we weren’t hurt. Then she stood in the aisle, creating a wall between the shattered glass, and the booth we sat in.

The train had stopped completely, throwing people forward, but as far as I could tell no one was harmed. Everyone was in a huge panic, yelling, praying, and comforting others. I tried not to let it get to me, but my nerves wouldn’t keep still.

Past Ember I saw what smashed the window. My eyes went wide, and I gasped. There was a huge human like creature fitting its way into the train. Its skin was grey, and looked as hard as stone. It had one pair of huge beefy arms. Its jaw stuck out, revealing all of its yellow, incredibly sharp teeth. Those beady eyes stared at me with a hatred that chilled my veins. When it fit its body through the jagged glass without any harm, I saw that it had hairy brown goat legs complete with clanking black hooves. The huge pot belly jiggled as it moved.

Cara opened her eyes like a snail might, looking around like she only barely heard what was going on. She was a really heavy sleeper. I shook her a bit, and she started to wake up.

She swiped the unruly umber hair from her face, and looked past Ember. Predictably, she screamed, but it blended in with all of the other passengers, who were moving to the back cars. Unfortunately for us we were right across from the monster, and who knows how fast it is. I was scared that Ember might not be able to handle it.

The doors to the cars below us burst open, and several men and women in blue uniforms, with gleaming gold badges rushed to help us. I was glad they came, because now even more monsters were breaking through the other windows.

“Trolls,” One of the officers called out. “F-25”

Before they could yell for Ember to get out of the way, she said, “Oni.” In seconds the trolls began to punch each other, ramming their friends with sharp horns, drawing green blood, and releasing sharp howls of pain that rang through the empty air.

The MOD members let her stay with them as the formed a wall between us, and the trolls. “Fire.” One of the officers said. The entire group raised their hands, saying a strange spell in a harsh chorus.

Flashing lights blinked, and whizzed, and popped in front of the trolls, making them grunt, and yelp like dogs. Cara was on her knees in the seat, trying to look over all of the people, while I held my knees to my chest, and wished that it would be over soon.

The S-MOD drove all of the trolls form the train, back through the windows. As they finished up, they began to speak with one another. I heard them wondering how the train slowed down long enough for the trolls to get on board, and how this could be an attack by a greater force. The idea that the Fervan guy was doing this made me shiver.

Ember turned to Cara and me. “Come on; let’s go outside with the other passengers.”

We got up, and I realized that I was trembling as I walked. Cara however, was awestruck, asking Ember all sorts of questions that I didn’t bother to listen to.

We got outside of the train, and my legs felt like noodles as the chill night wind whipped my face. All of the passengers were in the open field of dark grass, whispering excited murmurs, and pointing at the train with wide eyes. They were covered with blue blankets that I guess the train staff supplied in case of an emergency. The attendants were putting up a tent, their faces empty of any emotion.

Cara came up to me, her eyes wide. “Can you believe that just happened?”

“No.”

“That was so exciting though, it was kind of fun.”

I walked away from Cara, towards the people who were about to get into the thin, flapping tents that the attendants had put up. Cara was some kind of thrill seeker, and I considered her insane. Who wants their life to be put in danger? I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked at the sky. The moon was so bright, in the center of the darkness, with not a single star. A strange longing began to wash away the old traces of fear.

Ember walked up to me. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I guess… Do you think the Fervan guy had something to do with this?”

“We’ll just call him the general for now. And, it is possible, but we need a little more evidence. How about we just stay here with the rest of the passengers, and if I find out that it was the general then we can go and hide in those mountains. For now stay in a tent so he doesn’t recognize you.”

“Okay.” I said. The mountains were far in the distance, at the end of the large valley. If we went alone, the general would spot us for sure.

I walked to the nearest tent, but I didn’t go in. I just stood outside as an MOD member came up, and looked into the tent to get a head count or something. The train still had the lights on, and I could see people’s bags sitting in the seats. What have I gotten into? What if someone got hurt? What if that was me? All of those people behind me could have been hurt, because someone was chasing me. I shouldn’t take all the responsibility though, they were after Ember too, and she seems responsible enough to make sure we don’t put anyone else in danger.

“Hey,” one officer said to another.

“What?”

“The engine is busted, and I can’t get to it. This attack must have been planned.”

I looked around, everything becoming a blur as I tried to find Ember, but she was already behind me.

“We need to go.” She said.

“To the mountains?”

“Yes, there we’ll camp, and in the morning we’ll go looking for some griffins. They live around here. Hopefully I can control them, and we can fly to Neptia. It should take like two, or three days at most.”

“Griffins? Can’t we take a taxi or something?”

“Take a taxi all the way to Neptia? I don’t think they would take us that far. And if we rented a car travel would be slower, and if the general see’s us and attacks while we’re in the car it would be damaged, and we’d be putting everybody on the road in danger. We would have to walk to the next town to get a rental car from here. Griffins are faster than cars, and closer than however far the next town is on foot.”

Cara jogged next to Ember, breathless. She clutched a brown paper bag. “I took some cherry buns, raspberry cake, and lavender-lemon muffins. The muffins are mostly for me, but you two can have a few.”

“Good Cara, now let’s get moving. It’ll look strange if we’re out on our own, so I’ll hex a few MOD members to come with us.”

Ember walked to two officers in the distance. When she got there, they looked like they were having a conversation.

Ember came back with two men, with glowing purple eyes, and blank expressions. When she hexed people it was a little disturbing to me, but I just kind of went with it. It was helping us so I wasn’t going to complain.

We walked away from the camp, and to the mountains. I could see the huge brown-grey mountain peaks, but they were still distant. We tried to walk fast, but not so fast that it would cause suspicion. Apparently magic can’t teleport you, or Ember doesn’t know how to teleport.

“So how come you could hex them even though they’re MOD?” Cara asked.

“They’re lower ranking MOD, trained in basic protection, without much experience in fields other than energy.” Ember explained, “Now no more questions until we reach the mountains.”

Cara took in a deep breath, and slouched, dragging her feet on the grass. I was trying my best to stay upright, and calm, but it was getting more difficult with the mountains seeming to stretch farther away the closer we came.

I wondered about magic to fill the time. I wanted to know more about it; I wanted to use it, and be as powerful as Ember.

The brown paper bag crinkled in Cara’s hand, and she pulled out some food, but I didn’t look, and I tried not to listen. I wanted to get to the mountains before I relaxed. I was always looking around in the dark for any sign of an attack. I wasn’t entirely sure Ember’s idea is going to work.

After ten minutes of walking we were a few feet from the front of the mountains. A semi-large wired gate stood between us. Past the gate, the peaks were so high they blocked out the moon. The rock was layered with a soft dark blue, almost making all of the rough, jagged edges nearly invisible. I felt like an ant staring up at a wall in a house. The scariest part was that there could probably be an avalanche while we were there, but who is that unlucky in one night?

. I almost couldn’t believe that we were here, but the adrenaline from the troll attack forced me to realize that I wasn’t going to wake up.

Ember waved her hand over the two MOD members, and the purple light left their irises. Their eyes went droopy, and they fell to the ground like feathers.

“We can’t just leave them here.” I said.

Ember picked the two up, and leaned them against the rattling gate. “They’ll come too eventually. We can’t just walk them back to the camp, and I don’t want to waste to much magic tonight.”

“You can waste magic?” I said wearily.

“Magic is just another muscle, and no matter how hard you train it, it can only take so much. I need to save my power for something that may happen later to night, and I already feel a bit drained.”

“I wish I had magic.” Cara mumbled.

We climbed the gate, which took a few moments. We had to climb down the other side before starting into the mountains. I would say it was about eight feet high, not too difficult.

“If you want I can teach you some magic when we get farther into the mountains.” Ember suggested.

I shrugged. I wasn’t physically tired. I was just really worn out from everything that happened. I reached into Cara’s brown paper bag, and snatched out a cherry bun. I bit into the warm, crisp roll, and my mouth flooded with sweet cherry filling. My brain felt numb, and I wanted to melt, but I forced myself forward.

I saw how tall the rock walls were around me. There didn’t seem to be an end. I couldn’t help imagining impaling myself thrown onto those jagged edges, like wicked stone daggers.

There was almost no light, but we managed to find a path in the pale navy blue haze of night. Were we going to find some place to camp out here? The paths were so narrow, and I constantly tripped over rocks. We were in the smallest crack of the mountain, and I was starting to get claustrophobic.

Then, we reached a wide field, which was a welcome change from the narrow paths. It was a circle, and seemed the perfect place to camp out for the night.

Ember raised her arms above her head, and in a flash of violet light, two wooden torches appeared in her hands, with wild dancing fires shimmering at the ends, releasing pale grey smoke into the air. The comforting heat felt just like natural fire. I watched in awe as Ember made a small campfire in the center of the circle, lighting up the grassy field. That was when I noticed that we were at a dead end. We were surrounded by brownish orange stone walls, covered in unusually large patches of green moss, and tangled vines. I could see the sky above us though, so that made me feel safer.

“We can sleep here for the night,” Ember said. She sounded drowsy.

“Uh, we’re sleeping on the ground?” Cara said with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her light voice was beginning to sound rusty, like her throat was sore.

“No other choice.” Ember said.

“So you can’t just snap, and make a bed?”

“No. Dangerous things live in the mountains, and if need be, I will protect you guys with all of my power.”

I felt like Ember really meant what she was saying, but she was putting us in danger in the first place. I wondered if going with her is really any better than being kidnapped by the pirates. She seemed friendlier than they seemed, that’s for sure.

“Are you going to teach me magic?”

“Yeah,” Ember said. “Alright so, I would describe magic as energy, but this energy lives inside of you, and gets power from emotion. Beginners are taught to feel one certain emotion to release magic, and over time this teaches them to control their emotions, making them able to temporarily get rid of emotion for complete harmony. Magic is stronger that way.”

“Um, sure” I said. Truthfully I could hardly grasp what she was explaining, and I hoped that it wasn’t central to learning magic.

“Give me your hand.”

I held out my hand, and Ember took it in hers. She closed her eyes, and slowly I felt drained. I watched as a silvery white energy was gently tugged from my palm. I watched the warm energy dance, and swirl into Ember’s palm. It floated in a ball, illuminating her face. She seemed almost as surprised as I felt. The white light pulsed, and moved in a rhythm, like a heartbeat.

“I…is that my magic?”

“Yes. It’s a rare color, and very powerful.” Ember took a deep breath. “I can feel your emotions. You seem very worried, tired, and confused, but there’s anticipation as well.”

My face felt a little warm, because she was reading my emotions. I mean, those are personal. I wish I could see what she is feeling right now. She’s hard to read just by looking at her face. I crossed my arms over my body, and kept listening to Ember breaking apart my emotions.

“Very strong, you have a lot of potential to be great.”

“Thanks.”

Ember opened her palms, and the white light floated back into my chest. I felt warmth spread through my body and I slowly began to feel less tired, but after the warmth came a stinging pain. I winced until the feeling stopped.

“Is it always painful?”

“No, it depends on if your emotions are negative, or positive. I think that’s enough of a lesson for today. We can talk more tomorrow; there might be some more time.”

I didn’t object because I wanted to lie down anyway. My eyes were about to shut on their own, and the pain I felt earlier made me want to be unconscious for a while.

“So lucky,” Cara murmured a few feet away from me. She was sitting with her knees clutched to her chest, and she was looking right at me, her green eyes were polished by the fire, gaining a greedy gleam.

The ground began to shake, and I heard something that sounded like an avalanche starting, but it ended as soon as it began.

We all looked at each other wearily, wondering if we would survive the night. I looked up at the sky, and crossed my fingers that I could sleep, and not be killed by a huge boulder. That would be a painful way to go.

“I’ll stay up, and keep watch.” Ember said.

I nodded, and flattened myself on the lumpy earth, laying my head on a thin patch of moss. There was a big day ahead of me tomorrow, and I had to be ready for it. What a way to kick off my summer break.

The shaking came back, and this time, a bit of rubble landed on my cheek. I sat up, and crossed my arms. “I think we should find somewhere else to sleep.”

“No, I can protect you, just go to sleep.” Ember insisted.

I sighed, and looked around. The night was so cold; my skin crawled, and prickled. The wind tossed my hair around, and the rumbling wasn’t helping. I guessed I could just stay up as long as I could until I got sleepy again. From the looks of it Cara was having a hard time getting to sleep too, she was munching on one of her cakes, looking up at the stars.

ROAR!

I stood up, and turned around to see an opening larger than the one we came through. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. The noise came from there. We all waited, watching to see what roared. The mountain shivered with fear as I heard something on two legs squeeze it’s way though the crack.

When it got close enough I saw it. It was a huge beast with sleek grey skin, and a huge stomach that scraped against the sharp rocks, but somehow wasn’t scratched up. The creature had the bottom half of a brown goat; the shaggy fur was shedding on the ground. Cloven hooves stomped onto the rock, shaking the mountain. It looked like a gigantic version of the trolls on the train, because it looked exactly the same, with horns and everything.

We backed up against the wall of rock when the thing looked at us with a bright yellow eye, cut in half by a vertical pupil.

Ember raised her hands, and a shield of wavering purple light surrounded all three of us. The troll was standing in the valley now, right in front of us. He was about thirteen feet tall. The creature lifted a huge rock, and my mouth gaped open, was he going to try and smash us with that? Would Ember’s shield hold?

The troll brought its huge rock down against Ember’s shield. The energy faltered, rolling like waves in the ocean. Ember grunted, but she managed to keep the shield up.

“When I say go, I want you two to run to the wall behind us, and start climbing.” She said. Her voice was still, and flat.

“Sure.” I said.

Cara grabbed my hand in a steel grip, and we prepared to climb. The huge troll had its rock half lifted when Ember released the shield, and said, “GO!”

The shield dissolved, and Cara let go of my hand as we got to the rock wall, and began to climb. I wasn’t the best climber ever, in fact I had only climbed those kiddie rock walls that are in playgrounds, but now I was seeing each potential foothold, and handhold to that I could use to escape this monster. Occasionally I would slip, but I would regain my footing just as quick. I guess fear, and adrenaline was helping me along.

When I thought that I had a second to spare, I turned back, and saw Ember using magic to flash lights at the giant troll to distract him like the people on the train did. The giant troll backed away, swatting at the lights angrily. Then, Ember summoned her goat in a flash of blue light, and the goat ran up to ram the huge troll in the gigantic pot belly. The troll stumbled, and fell down, getting its horns caught in the rock wall behind it. The mountain shook, and some rocks fell on the creatures head, but it didn’t seem that harmed. The goat backed up, and tried to ram the monster again, but the thing reached out its hand, and clenched Alexandra in its fist. When the huge hand opened, little sparkles were evaporating into the air.

Ember was just below me, beginning to climb. “Keep going,” she urged.

As I climbed the mountain shook again, and I knew that the troll was free. Then, after I heard a few booming footsteps I felt a huge, hairy hand grab my torso.

“Angelo!” The girls screamed.

The monster gripped by body so tightly that I almost couldn’t breathe, I could feel my body bruising, and I wanted to cry, but I bit my tongue, and closed my eyes. Concentrate, it old myself. I had to use magic, but how? I tried to empty all of my emotions, but I couldn’t stop breathing so heavily. My mind went hazy, and I was fighting for each breath. Ember couldn’t do anything because the troll might drop me, or I might get hit. I opened my eyes, and even as my ribcage felt like it was searing away in a fire, I tried one last, foggy attempt at magic.

Then, I heard the sound of glass breaking, and the insane cackles of fire erupted below me. I wondered if I had somehow summoned fire, but when I looked down I saw several tan, half naked people at the troll’s feet, with bottles of alchemy fire.

The troll’s grip loosened a bit, but not completely, I was still fighting for consciousness. The night sky was getting blurry, and the stars seemed to call to me. The moon light flooded my eyes, and I forced myself to fight the pain.

I looked back down at the scene, and I saw one guy who was wearing clothes. He had a sword in his hand, and he thrust it into the giant’s huge, dirty feet.

The troll howled with pain, and its hand opened. My eyes widened as I began to drop, but in a few seconds I was surrounded in a purple aura. I couldn’t move, but I was magically being pulled from the action by Ember. I took a deep breath, but it made my ribs sting, so I kept it to small, quick breaths.

I was lowered to the ground, and I noticed Cara, and Ember climbing back down. The light left my body, and I could move on my own again. I leaned against the rock wall, and closed my eyes, trying to null the pain by not thinking about it.

The huge troll was lying on the ground, and the tribal people were tying it up. The one guy who wore a black T-shirt with a V shaped collar walked up to me. He also had on jeans, and some brown hiking boots. He had inky black hair, and wide brown eyes. He was by most people’s standards handsome. He was lean, but muscular at the same time, and he was a bit taller than me. I looked at the sword in his hand cautiously. The blade was some kind of shiny bronze metal, and the guard was gold.

He laid the sword on the ground. “My name’s Vince.” He said.