Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (41 page)

              The grim realization struck me harder than any blunt object ever could have. The entire storage depot was collapsing.
I grabbed the sack and immediately
tumbled out of the cart, nearly falling in the process.
To my right and left large pieces of the shelf
hit the ice floor with amazing impact, sending painful shards of
ice
scattering across every inch of free space
. I wanted to run. I wanted to just dash out of the room
, but I couldn’t risk slipping and damaging the bomb rocks. Large pieces of stone cracked open the barrels of blood, and like some sick hallucination, the clotted liquid began to gush out in streams, spattering across my armour, and sinking into my skin.

              Cloudy, dense dust shot into the air from every angle. I cupped my hands over the mouth and struggled to keep my eyes open as the stinging dry particles clung to my eyelids. I tumbled to my right,  and narrowly avoided a large stack of books which fell in rapid succession. I distorted the earth around me into a primitive barrier which only just managed to block a large boulder tumbling from nearby. I turned sharply and quickly slithered up the staircase, swatting away whatever was blocking my path with my distortion abilities. I gaped as I saw the exit was about to become smothered by the tumbling remains of the shelf,
preparing to seal me in.

As I raced against time I experienced an odd sensation in which I never once felt my feet touch the floor. Whether I was falling, running or flying I didn’t know. I knew only of my destination, seconds away from being completely smothered in ruin.
I felt the wind of the rocks fall past my ears, but never heard th
e sound of their clatter when they tumbled noiselessly to the ground. With mere seconds to spare, I had crossed the threshold into safety. The passageway behind me spat dry puffs of dust as it was suddenly shut off by the wreckage. It was almost as if the last hour was just some strange dream.
I fe
l
l to my knees
, too disturbed to cry, and too tired to shudder. The Grimlars would know this was no accident. The Grimlars would investigate. They would come looking but whether or not they would suspect me, I hadn’t the slightest idea. I rubbed the soot out of my eyes and almost found myself laughing.

Chapter
fifteen

             
A Tale of Two Brothers

             
Space below us

             
Sky above

             
Wonder where land is

             
Wonder of love

              “Here
,
” I said
,
tossing
Minget
another
bomb rock
.

The metal eagle insisted I feed him myself, seeing as he had no arms. I made the unfortunate mistake
of just placing the first rock in his beak. As he crunched down on the substance, the force of the explosion sent me flying back a few feet, which in turn left nasty burns all over my lanky arms. Minget bit down on the rock I had just thrown to him, before making a noise of approval as smoke poured out of his elegantly carved nostrils.

             
The next one I chucked to him
missed almost entirely
, and hit the floor with a clatter. I picked it up gingerly as it started to fizz and threw it back
inside the cold beak
.

Minget clamped his mouth shut, muffling the noise of the explosion.
“Last one
,
” I said with absolutely no remorse in my voice. If anything, I said this
all too positively.

The statue scowled at me.

“Don't tell me you want more
.
The passage is sealed off. There
is
no more.”
I reminded him
patiently.

Although he did not appear happy, he quickly unhinged his jaw
as the last piece flew into his beak
. He shuddered and looked suddenly fearful.
“You know,
a
re you sure you wouldn't just like a nice fancy shield along with your sword?
” Minget asked suddenly.
“It m
ight
get
you a good bit of
gold
in a pinch.”

I paused,
suddenly
noticing something
odd in his voice.
“
You haven’t yet told me why you don’t want me to go to that other room,
” I
noticed,
looking at him curiously.

He sighed, looking down. I saw a trace of fear in his
cold iron
eyes.
“I see no reason to tell you why,” he snapped begrudgingly.

              “I gave you food. I risked
my life
for this
and it’s rather rotten of you to make a promise you simply won’t keep.
”

The eagle looked at me with a pained expression
,
a
s if there wa
s nothing more he would like than
to tell me, but just couldn't get past the actual action.
“My oldest brother guards the door to that room,” he said eventually. “A long time ago, I had a squabble with him that left me mad enough to do the unthinkable.” He paused, taking this moment to blink rapidly. “When the Grimlars came down to do a routine check, they asked me if there was anything suspicious going on. I told them my brother had let someone into his room without any question.” The iron eagle began to quiver with guilt. “For our family, that is the biggest taboo. It’s a proud family tradition to protect, to guard and to safekeep. Since my brother was in charge of the most important door, they... Had to punish him.”

              “What did they do to him?” I
asked, instantly chastising myself for asking.

Mud began to leak out of Minget’s eyes and in amazement I realized that he was crying. Of all the things that these statutes could do that would mimic life, this was by far the most human.
“They let him keep his door which was good at the least. But... They stopped giving him the charms that would continue his life functions.
” Minget began to stutter. “
He's slowing down; close to stopping at this point. In a month or so he'll be gon
e, and
I'll have no one to blame but myself.
”

I didn't know what to say. So I didn't say anything. I just sat there
with my
back hunched in a mortified silence. It seemed like an eternity of me picking the floor and trying not to make eye contact with the
creature
before I
spoke
.

              “Would you like to send him your apologies?”

Instantly he
began
to sob.
“H
e
didn't even know it was me!”
Minget said in hysterics
. “He's so
far gone
he wouldn't even know what the word betrayal means! “I just want him to know. I want him to know...” I tried to look sympathetic.

              “Know what?” I asked softly
.

Minget
regained some of his composition
, but there were still large streaks of sandy mud all over his face,
“I want him to know... That I
love
him.” I stared up at him in confusion. What on earth was he talking about?

              “Minget? That’s your name right?”

Again, he tried to nod, but ended up looking a little silly, so instead he replied with what could have only been a very shaky yes.

“Minget... What is love?”

              He sniffed loudly and gave a shaky laugh. “I keep forgetting that none of you
Grimlar
s know anything about love.” He stared into me deeply, and even smiled a warm smile. “Imagine someone you care about very deeply.”

Almost immediately, the smiling face of Preston popped into my
mind
.

“Now triple that emotion until you can't increase your care any more.
” Minget whispered quickly.
“Then
triple that.” It made my head hurt simply trying to care that much
.

              “So its like having a friend
?
” I wondered qu
ietly.
The eagle laughed softly in response.

“No. Love is hundreds of times stronger than friendship. Men
and women alike
will break down mountains, swim through seas, and level forests just for the people they love. It
’
s the most powerful substance in the world.”

I frowned
and found myself
immensely confused.

              “Why don't the
Grimlar
s use love then?”

Minget’s
beaky smile grew even wider at this question.

“You can't give something you don't have. The
Grimlar
s have
barrels and barrels of mage blood but they
don't have
a drop of
love.”

I til
ted my head to one side, finding it now rather difficult to breath.
I was truely befuddled.

              “Why do people love Minget?”
The statue facing me
paused.

              “Well
,
f
rom what I understand, it
’
s the reason people start families, it
’s
how they continue to exist. Because those who love one another become a part of each others lives. You can't spell woman without also spelling man.
”

              “I don't know any women
,
” I said slightly embarrassed. “Can you only love
them
?”

              “No... I don't think so. People seem to confuse love for attractiveness. Men generally claim to love women because they are beautiful.
T
he real, pure, irreplaceable love, comes from the desire to be with
a person
forever
and that applies to both man and woman.” I gasped, sharply inhaling the cold air.

              “Forever? Can you be with someone you love forever?”

              “As close to forever as you can get, young soul.”

              “How close to forever can you get?”

              “You won't have even taken the first step by the time you stop.”

              “Then why try?”

              “So that your children can continue to love and continue the journey to forever.”

              I stopped trying to think at this particular moment. The puzzle of this strange and foreign substance that may or may not exist had been dumped before me in a jumble of disorganized bulky pieces. They bedazzled and confuddled me, stupefied and muddled me. It was an addle-brained, pudding-headed disordered garble of bright and shining interlocking emotions strong enough to make absolutely no sense at all. I sat in silence.

              “You want me to tell your brother that you love him
,
” I replied lamely.

              “Yes
,
” He replied in a somber fashion. “Yes, tell him I love him more deeply than my own existence. It
’
s the least that I could do for him after our little spat. He began to tear up once more. “You will do this for me. Won't you?
”