The Winter Letter (7 page)

Gatnom pulled the cork from the tiny bottle holding the liquid and filled both cups to the brim. The sizzling liquid fizzed up and turned red, blue, green, and brown before settling back into orange and starting the cycle over. 

“Are you thirsty?” Gatnom asked. 

Will shook his head. He figured it best not to even touch the cup. 

Gatnom laughed. “Go ahead. Try it,” he said as he took a drink. Will glanced at the label on the bottle.

Minum-Manis

Will took a small sip. It tasted like strawberries, then blueberries, green apple, cola, orange soda, then strawberries again, and it burned ever so slightly as it went down. “Dude, that’s good!”

“Dude? My friend, my name is Gatnom,” said Gatnom. “By the way, we found this where you fell.” He reached behind his chair and set Will’s father’s travel bag on the table. Will snatched the bag and checked its contents: letter, journal, clothes; everything was there. “We also found these.” Gatnom set a pair of goggles on the table, the ones Tobby had let him use. They must have tumbled out of the boat when he fell. 

“Are those magic goggles?” asked Gatnom.

“Umm, I don’t know, but they are pretty cool. Let’s you see real far.”

“Ah yes. Those can come in handy. Are they from Baru?”

Will nodded. For the first time he could see Gatnom’s eyes clearly. He looked nineteen or twenty physically, but his eyes seemed aged. 

“How old are you?” Will asked.

“I am seventeen.”

“Seventeen? But, you’re so tall.”

“Yes, it must have been from my grandfather. How old are you, Will?”

Will’s whole demeanor changed. He would hate birthdays from now on. “I’m thirteen,” he replied quietly.

“And where was it you said you were from?”

“Earth, from America.”

Gatnom cocked his head slightly to the side. His eyes seemed to leave the room for a moment. “Earth?” he asked again, more to himself than to Will. He looked like he was trying to remember something. “I think Master Jared might have mentioned—” He stopped in mid sentence and walked to a bookshelf. After scanning the titles he grabbed a book, taking a few loose pages from inside. He ran his finger down the page, his lips moving as he read, and every once in a while he glanced from Will to the loose papers and back again. After a few awkward minutes he returned the book to the shelf and sat back down.

“How did you get here? Where are your parents?” Gatnom asked, suddenly more seriously.

“It’s a long story.”

“What happened?”

Will lifted his eyes, then dropped them, then lifted them again, then dropped them again, like an injured bird trying to fly. In the end his chin fell back towards the table. His wings were broken. 

“My mom and dad are dead,” he said. The words hurt coming out of his mouth. “They died in an accident.”

“I’m sorry,” Gatnom said, looking down as well. “When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.”

Gatnom’s eyes shot back up. “Just yesterday? How did you get here?”

“This is going to sound crazy, but I got a letter before it all happened that told me about everything. It told me what had happened and what to do and where to go. So I did, and now I’m here. There was a train, a crazy lady with a cane, a well, a tree, and a mole, and now...” Will stopped. “I know it’s crazy. ”

“It’s destiny.”

Will looked up from the table. Gatnom had his hat off and was looking him directly in the eyes. Will looked away. He felt like Gatnom could see everything inside of him. “What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember all the children outside?”

“Yeah.”

“They are all orphans from the villages east of the Sudden Peaks. I take care of them. I’m the eldest.” 

The word orphan burned. Will realized that he was now named orphan. 

“Are you an..” Will swallowed. “Are you an orphan too?”

“Yes, my parents were murdered years ago.” 

”They were murdered?“ Will asked.

”Yes. Ever since I’ve been here, perfecting my magic and taking care of my brothers and sister.”

“What happened?”

Gatnom sighed before he began.

“Fourteen years ago I remember being asleep in my home, on an island not too far from here. I have no idea how I remember, but I see it as clear as I see the now. In the middle of the night a hot bright light woke me. When I looked out of the window my entire village was on fire. At that moment my mother burst into the room and took me in her arms. She ran, as fast as she could, into the woods towards the river. From over my mother’s shoulder I could see my village. All the houses, including ours, were burning as if fire had rained down from the sky. When we reached the river there was this loud noise back in the village, like metal scratching together, then an explosion shook the ground.

“At that moment my mother stopped, dropped to her knees, and put me in a hiding place she had already prepared. She told me not to move. She had to go help my father. I begged her not to leave, but she told me she must. ‘I love you,’ she said, then she disappeared back into the trees toward the village. 

“It seemed like I waited forever, and that horrible noise continued to get louder. Being so young, all I wanted was my mother, so I crawled out of the hole and walked back towards my house. I hid in some bushes just outside the village and watched for my mother. There were men everywhere, carrying axes, swords, and torches, and they were murdering everyone they saw.

Gatnom stopped for a moment and looked through the walls. After a few heavy swallows he continued.

“I can still see it clearly,” he said. “Near where I was hiding, one of the bandits was stabbed. He fell only feet from where I was. His eyes watched me as they closed, and even in death he reached out his hand to grab me, like he was possessed. That’s when from behind a hand pulled me out by the neck. I fought, but then I saw it was a traveling Magi named Jared. He had visited our village many times over the last few months and was always kind to the children. He brought me here. 

“After that, week after week, he would leave and return with more children from the raids. He has been our guardian ever since. A few years ago he began teaching me the Magi Arts so I could become a Magi like himself. Now I am the protector of the rest of the children, as he was for me.”

“What happened with your parents?” Will asked.

Gatnom seemed reluctant to continue, but he did. “Later, Master Jared returned to the village. He told me most of the villagers burned in their houses.” 

There was silence for a few more minutes.

“Will, I must ask you an important question.”

“Okay.”

“Who sent you this letter?”

Will pulled the letter out of his bag and set it in front of Gatnom. “It was signed by a King Mel Masih,” he said. 

Gatnom’s eyes grew narrow as he looked at the watermarked paper. He stood quickly and grabbed the same book he had read just moments before. “Remember I told you a bandit was killed and fell dead in front of me?”

“Yeah.”

“I knew he was a bandit from the cloak he wore. They all wore the same colors, an earthy yellow, with the same symbol on each. After we came here I listened to the screams of these children night after night until I fell asleep and dreamed my own nightmares. For years I dreamt, over and over and over, time and again I saw that man fall dead at my feet. The symbol he wore haunted every second of my sleep until I drew it out on a piece of paper. After that the dreams stopped.”

Gatnom slammed the open book down in front of Will. Both wooden cups spilt as the table shook. Will grabbed the letter and placed it side by side with the book. In the loose papers was a hand drawn symbol that matched the watermark on the letter exactly. Both of a lion standing in front of the sun.

“The one who sent for you is the one who killed my parents,” said Gatnom. “And I imagine your parents did not die in an accident at all. Not if the King is involved. He has already orphaned every child this side of the sudden peaks, and now it seems he has taking his evil to other worlds.”

The quiet air instantly was full of clanging thoughts.

“So now the question is this,” Gatnom said seriously. “Will you join us?”

“Join you? Join you in what?”

“Will, it is the will of the King of All that you are here. A war is coming, to stop King Mel Masih’s evil, and we are going to join. Every orphan older than I has already joined the new army. Together we can put a good King on the throne! One who will not murder an entire generation!”

Gatnom’s eyes were full of contagious passion, and Will felt the same stirring in his own heart. King Mel had not planned on him falling into this forest and meeting Gatnom. It was a setup the entire time, but the King’s plan had failed. Of course he had killed his parents, how else had he known all of those things? 

Will’s eyes caught fire, and with them the last depressed feeling turned to anger. He crumpled the letter up inside of a tight fist and looked Gatnom straight in the eye.

“I’m with you,” Will said.

Gatnom smiled, then his face softened. “I have one more question,” he said. 

“Yeah?”

“What’s a train?”

Ten
The Team

Will woke the next morning more rested than he had been in days. Dreams of his parents, fires, and evil kings had been constant throughout the night, but somehow he still felt refreshed. He crawled out of bed and walked into the main room. This tent had 12 tiny bedrooms, a small kitchen, a large living room with a library, and a bathroom (which Will had to figure out, don’t ask). Gatnom was seated at the table in the main room, reading. He was surrounded by a stack of books two feet high, but only one was open.

“Good morning Will. How was your rest?” Gatnom asked without looking up.

“Good. I feel better.”

Gatnom looked up and smiled. He pulled out a piece of cloth from his pocket. “Last night I placed a charm underneath your cot. I imparted some magic into it to help you rest.”

“Imparted? What’s that?”

“Is there magic in your world?” Gatnom asked.

“I don’t think so,” Will answered. He wasn’t sure if there was or not anymore.

“Then there is much to explain. Impartation is when magic is placed into an object, like a cloak or cloth. This way it can be taken to places where the Magi cannot go.” Gatnom slid a book out from the middle of one of the stacks. The ones above it fell to the floor, but Gatnom didn’t seem to notice. He held the book up.

IMPARTATIONS

“It’s all a part of the arts you will need to learn.” 

“What arts?”

“The Magi Faith Arts; the same practiced by magi in Baru for thousands of years.”

Will’s eyes got wide. “Like Magic? Like what you did last night?”

“Yes.”

“Man, that’s awesome!” Will said. He glanced at the table full of books. “Are all of these magic books?”

“Yes, these are just a few of the books you will need to read.”

Will suddenly wondered how bad he
really
wanted to learn magic. 

"But,” Gatnom continued, “we don’t have that much time. The War Games start in just two months.” 

“War Games?”

“Yes,” said Gatnom, smiling. He seemed more than happy to explain. “The War Games is a tournament of Magi held in the Underground Arena south of here. It’s how the strongest Magi are found and ranked in the army of Lord Markus. It only happens every four years, and this is the year! It is our only chance to join the army of the Under-Kingdom. The war could be over by the next games.”

“Wait, who is Lord Markus, and what is the Under-Kingdom? I’m lost.”

“Okay, let me start from the beginning.” Gatnom motioned to a chair at the table. Will sat. “Lord Markus is the most powerful Magi east of the peaks and the leader of the Under-Kingdom. In fact, as far as we know, he is the only magi who has mastered the power needed to summon the dragons from the sea—”

“Dragons? There are dragons?!”

“Yes, of course, but why do you look so excited? Are there not dragons in your world?”

“No!”

“Well, they are dangerous, ferocious to everyone, but the one summoning them and only loyal to him by magic. They live under ground. When they come to the surface they always emerge from the sea.”

“I’ve read about Dragons, but those were just stories.” 

“Stories? What do you mean?”

“It’s, uh, make believe, like telling something that isn’t real, something that never happened as if it did.”

“How do you imagine something you’ve never seen, or heard, or experienced?” Gatnom asked, suddenly intrigued. 

Will thought for a second. Once he had tried to imagine a new color, but it just made his head hurt. “I don’t know, but Dragons, magic, wars, kings; I can’t believe it’s all real!” Will sounded surprised, but deep down he wondered if he had known it was possible all along, just somewhere along the way stopped believing so.

Gatnom made himself comfortable in the chair. “I think I should tell you some of Baru’s history. For you this started just a few days ago, but this war actually stems from before you and I were born.

“Years ago a witch rose up and enslaved the miners of the Sudden Peaks. With some type of new dark magic she turned these men into the nearest thing to Goblins that exist. She was consumed with the desire to be queen of this world, so with them she built a bewitched army and sent them to destroy the city of King Neba, the original King of Baru. The King, having just arrived from a long journey, had no time to prepare, so he split up his top three knights, sending one of the three to hunt down and break the spell the witch had over the people. This knight’s name was Lord Markus. 

“Lord Markus tracked her deep into the mines and killed her, but when the witch died the spell was not broken and the siege continued. There was another power behind it, one unseen. In just a few hours the city was overrun, but all of the sudden almost the entire bewitched army turned and retreated into the caves.”

“Why did they run?” Will asked.

“We don’t know, but we do know King Neba was in the city when the invasion happened and afterwards he was never seen again. When the hoard finally cleared King Mel sat on the throne. Some say King Mel was the real power behind the witch; others say he used the invasion to take the throne from King Neba while he was at his weakest. We don’t know. We know nothing about him. It’s like he appeared out of nowhere.