Anansi's Web
Vince

We moved swiftly past the gates and through the crowd of on-lookers until we reached the kings gate, which was surrounded by people, yet no one was on the boats. The man who drove the boats was standing on the platform, trying to look at the castle.

Helicopters buzzed around like enormous flies, and reporters stopped at random people, sucking the information out of them. They tried to see what we were doing, but we didn’t pay any attention to them. I think I even pushed one reporter aside as I ran through everyone.

The man at the dock looked at us with agitation, until he realized that we had come from the castle. He began to ask us questions, but we needed to hurry.

“We just need you to take us to the first gate at the entrance of the city, please; we need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

The man nodded, and let us on the boat. He started up the motor, and drove us down the stream as fast as the clumsy tourist ferry could run.

“What happened to you in the castle?” I asked.

“We got to the third floor in the elevator. We started to go back up for you, but you said you were fine, so we got out of the elevator because lowering it any more would wear me out. We got to the first floor, and waited for you” Ember said. Her hair and eyes had gone back to normal.

“Ember told me the queen was with you, where is she?”

“Oh… she’s somewhere in the castle. The director knocked her out.”

“You just left the queen there?” Cara asked. Her voice was small, and reserved.

“Yeah, I couldn’t carry her, and the director wouldn’t.”

Ember gave me a weary look. “Why couldn’t you carry her?”

“I…I didn’t really think about it. It’s not my fault.”

Everything went quiet for a bit as we all let the shock, and surprise hang in the air. I was so scared; I couldn’t believe he found us. How had he been planning this for months? Was us being there some kind of coincidence? One thing I know for sure is that he doesn’t need us now. The king and queen already know about him. All we need to do is replace out is what he’s after, it can’t just be the emerald tablet.

“I’m just glad that you’re safe. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect with both of you, but I guess you took control of the situation Angelo.”

“Yeah, it was tough.”

“And you did a good job, especially with the very limited magic that you know.”

“Thanks Ember.” I said. I kind of wished that she would just stop. I didn’t feel amazing; I felt like I had barely scraped by, I felt exposed, and unsafe, even more than before. The worst part was that it made me angry to feel that way. The urge to fight back was consuming my thoughts every second.

“So, does this mean he’ll stop chasing us? The king and queen already know.” Cara chimed.

“Honestly, the Queen might not remember what we told her, and who knows what happened to the king. But there were witnesses. I don’t know if we are one hundred percent safe. We should stay careful, and hidden.”

I didn’t like what Ember was saying. A while ago I would have agreed with her, but now I wanted to go home. If the director was still going to look for us, I wanted to turn the tables, and block him from reaching his goal. My mom crossed my mind, and yeah I wanted to see her, but I had a new goal.

Maybe we could go to Sraff, do some research, and chase the director. I couldn’t wait, I finally felt a fire inside of me that needed to consume until it burned out.

“What happened in there?” The driver finally asked.

“Someone cursed the castle, but we escaped.” Ember said.

The man didn’t ask any more questions as we moved. Here, there weren’t many people outside; everyone either outside of the castle, or in their homes, watching what had happened on the news.

I found it disturbing how calm the day seemed outside of the panicked castle. The sun was sitting bright. Fluffy white clouds drifted above, and birds flew overhead, making their repetitive calls. The streets were still beautiful despite the lack of people.

In the castle people were being attacked by robots, lasers, and who knows what. I had no idea how long it would last, and I hated myself for not helping other people, but I just didn’t think about it. I directed the hatred towards the one person who deserved it.

I wondered if the queen had regained consciousness yet. I thought about that and a lot of things as we floated lazily down the stream. When we finally made it to the other side of the kingdom, we got off, and simply walked away. We had time. As far as we know no one is looking for us, and the director had his hands full with the S-MOD . If he did get out it would take him some time to replace us.

As we walked back out of the gates, I turned and looked at the city one more time. That was supposed to be our safe haven, but now it was dangerous. We had spent all of our time trying to get here, only to be pushed out. I guess this would have happened anyway, but I felt too free. What was the official plan now?

I silently said goodbye to the city, looking back at the empty streets one last time before following Ember to the griffins.

The griffins were in a small glade where they lay asleep, coated in dappled light, surrounded by green trees on top of a carpet of soft green grass. Bones on small animals lay around them, but I ignored that as Ember woke them up. We got onto our griffins, and rode down the road that took us to Neptia.

Riding without a saddle was going to be uncomfortable. I could feel my griffin’s leg muscles moving as he walked. I pet him, and remembered that I had named him Joseph, after my friend from Othal. I was over feeling homesick though, and I was ready to get back to Sraff. I would have to tell Ember my plan.

“What are we doing now?” Cara peeped. She sounded like everything was weighing her down, crushing her enthusiasm.

“It depends. The main priority of the director won’t be us anymore, so it may just be safe to head home, but the chance he might send someone after us is high. I would say we go to Othal, or Sraff and wait until he isn’t a threat.”

“But, I want to stop the director; I can’t just sit here and wait until he gets what he wants.” My voice was harsher than usual, but it felt kind of good.

“That would be dangerous Angelo, besides we can’t track him.”

“We could replace out somehow. I know it’s a long shot, but I want to know, I want to do something.”

“I don’t want to risk your life.” Ember said with a tone that told me that was her final decision.

I ground my teeth. “Risk my life? I almost died dozens of times, and you don’t want me risking my life?”

“You risked your life to stay safe, not to actively go after danger. What would your parents do if their son died?”

“I would ask you that, you saw what happened in the castle, I was almost killed. This was your plan. Let me do this.”

Ember glanced at me, showing concern. “I couldn’t protect you in there. It’s painful to admit that, but it’s true. What if I can’t keep you safe and I’m not there to help?”

“Teach me more about magic then, and I can take care of myself.”

Cara spoke. “Um…sorry to interrupt, but the director doesn’t know that we live in Othal, and I kinda wanna go back home.”

I took a deep breath. It was two against one, and I probably sounded insane. I guess it was for the best that we were going home. I suppressed my anger, and tried to control my emotions. The MOD could deal with the general themselves. I hadn’t completely given up though. I knew now for sure that I was going to be a member of the MOD when I got older.

“Fine.” I said.

“Thank you.” Ember said, “I just want you to be safe, and to live a…relatively normal life. You’re so young Angelo; I don’t want you to risk everything so early.”

I hardly registered Ember’s words, and nodded my head. I didn’t want to be mad anymore, but I didn’t want to give into her too quickly. As we traveled down the road I kept imagining what my life would be like as an MOD member, using magic to help other people.

We took a break after traveling far from the common roads for thirty minutes. My butt was sore, and it felt amazing to stretch.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Not far from the town that we were at before we came to Neptia. If we wanted we could go there, but I think I’d rather get as far as we can before stopping. If I’m going to get you two to Othal I want to move quickly.”

Cara sat down on the dirt, and I followed her. She reached into her bag, and took out her phone.

“Lucky I thought to grab this before we left.” She said, “But it only has twenty percent power, and I left the charger.” She closed her eyes, and sighed. “This is terrible.”

Ember shrugged. “I guess we’re back to where we started huh?”

Ember got back onto her griffin, and said, “You know, we could cover more ground if we fly.”

I looked up, and she smiled. We were gonna fly for the first time since we left the mountains. I hopped up, and got back onto my griffin, even though it was still uncomfortable. Cara was less enthusiastic.

“I hope I don’t throw up from so high in the air. I feel bad for the poor guy it lands on.”

“It won’t be so bad.” Ember said as the griffins began to get a running start.

They got really fast, and I held on tight to Joseph’s neck. He must be excited to fly again, if he can still think on his own.

They extended their huge wings, and we were each yards apart from each other in a field far from the main roads. The huge wings began to flap, and we were struggling off the ground. It must be hard to lift off when you don’t have a mountain to give you height.

They got higher, and higher off the ground, until we were a good distance from the dirt road. Eventually I could feel the misty clouds again.

I almost felt guilty for being so happy while all that bad stuff kept happening at Neptia, but this was so fun. The sun was warmer up here, but the thin clouds we flew through every now and then kept me cool. I felt the breeze glide across my face.

Joseph screeched, and I felt like yelling too. I felt to free, and happy up here. I wore a smile as I hugged my griffin’s neck tight.

We’re going to the next town where we’re going to stop and rest. I almost fell off Joseph when I heard Ember’s thin voice, echoing voice in my mind.

Okay, that’s fine. I thought.

Alright, enjoy the view. She said before I felt the connection leave.

I looked down at the ground, and watched the roads snake by on the grassy fields with trees scattered below. How close are we?

After what felt like just minutes of flying we got low to the ground. When I looked below I saw that the next town was just a few yards from a small cluster of trees where we were landing.

My stomach flopped as we landed. My legs felt like noodles, and the ground almost seemed to be spinning. Joseph just licked his feathers, and shook his head rapidly, like he was shaking off the dizziness himself.

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to get back into the rhythm of being on the ground but it only half worked, and I ended up leaning against a tree for balance, snickering.

Cara was the same, but Ember kept her composure as she tried to keep herself steady.

“Okay, um, we’ll leave the griffins here, and walk to the city, err, town.” Ember said.

We left the griffins surrounded by trees, and followed a road. We passed a small farm on the left side of the road. The town was up ahead, to the right. When I looked at the farm I saw a plump old man walking out. He was looking in all directions. He was talking on the phone, and when he turned I saw that he had a freaking sword in his other hand. It was the same bronze-like material as Cara’s knife. What did she call it again, Sokrastium? The swords’ guard was gold, and I swear I saw it somewhere before.

As we walked, I slowly drifted toward the farm, trying to catch what the farmer was saying, but I could hardly hear. Nervousness was stuck onto his face, his eyes fluttered around the field, eventually stopping to watch us as we passed. His bald head was greasy, and he wore overalls with dirty old boots.

“Hey Ember,” I whispered.

“What is it?”

“Don’t look, but I think that guy is watching us. He has a familiar sword.”

“A familiar sword, so you see a lot of swords around huh?”

“No, it’s just familiar, I think he’s suspicious.”

“Angelo, the first thing you learn as an M.O.D member is not to go looking for assignments, stay on task, and follow instructions.”

“That doesn’t suit me.” I said.

“That makes it no less important.”

I ignored Ember, and tried to think of times I have seen a sword. It was recent, I know that. I don’t remember seeing any kind of decorative sword anywhere, and if I did it wouldn’t have made as much of an impression on me as this one. Cara’s knife came back into my mind, and I thought about when we were at the mountains. During the troll attack Vince, the former pirate saved me by sticking a sword into the ogres’ foot. I pictured Vince holding his sword in my head, and now I knew where I had seen it before. But…what would an old farmer be doing with Vince’s sword?

I drifted even closer to the farmer, and now I could hear some of his words, but I couldn’t piece together a conversation.

“Angelo, what did I tell you? Get back here.” Ember said.

I turned and saw that Cara looked worried, and tired. I took a deep breath, and walked further towards the farmer anyway. I didn’t care if I was ignoring Ember; this was my opportunity to show her that I can handle myself. This might sound stupid, or reckless, but I wanted the guy to attack me. I wanted to have a chance to prove myself.

“Angelo, it’s getting late in the afternoon, after what we just went through today are you sure you want to do this?” Cara said.

I stopped for a second, but then I kept going. Maybe I was on some kind of dumb rush from the castle, but at the time I couldn’t stop what I was set out to do.

I hopped over the farmers’ fence, and I could hear feet pattering quickly behind me, but I ignored it. The farmer was looking at me now, with suspicion, and anger. His lips were pouty, and pressed tightly together. His eyes followed me, forcing the weight of severe distaste into my brain.

I walked further into the farm, and the man hung the phone up. He tuned to me completely, and said, “What‘re you doin’ here?” he said in the old accent that is kept alive by people that live in the east.

“I came to get a look at that sword you have.” I sounded a little too cocky.

The man lifted it slightly, shifting it in his hand. “You ain’t gettin’ it so get out o’ here or I’ll use it.”

“I don’t think you will.” I said idiotically, “It doesn’t belong to you.” I guessed.

The man narrowed his eyes, and took a step back. “Who are you? Some kinda pirate?”

So it did belong to Vince. I was going to say something else, but Ember caught up to me, along with Cara. They stood next to me, silent.

“Don’t worry about him, he doesn’t know what he-” Ember began, but the farmer interrupted her.

“Are you a pirate too? I don’t like pirates walkin’ up onto my property, so I suggest you leave before I call the S-MOD.”

“No sir, I was just coming up here to get my, err, son. He needs to learn not to get into so much trouble.”

“He don’t look like yer son, you sure lady?” The farmer said, with the sword still half raised.

“Of course I’m sure, now how about you go back inside, and forget about all of this.” Ember said in that persuasive tone she uses. I was sure she was trying to hex him.

“I don’t think so ma’am. You’re tryin’ to hex me. But that won’t work. I’ve got the place protected with shadow magic, so get on back to that road there, and stay away from my property, or I’ll use this.” He said, raising the sword higher.

There was a noise from the house. It sounded like a muffled scream, and some pots falling over.

“May I ask what that noise is?” Ember said in her best snarky voice.

“No you may not.” The old farmer said before rushing inside. Ember gave me a stern look, and told Cara and I to stay outside while she deals with it.

I began to follow her, when Cara called for me to stop.

“What is it?”

“Don’t go in there.” She said while crossing her arms.

When I asked why not she said, “I don’t like it. We just escaped the castle, what are we doing here now? Why do you want to be some kind of hero so bad?’

“I, I don’t. I just think that’s Vince’s sword, and I wanted to help him. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be a hero.”

“Last time I checked the definition of a hero was someone who rescues people, and the definition of rescue, is-”

“I know what it is. Look, maybe I do, and I don’t know why, all I know is that someone is trapped in there, and needs help. I’m going to help him whether you come or not.”

Cara turned around. “I’m not moving.” She said firmly.

I turned back, and walked into the small house. Inside, it smelled like moth balls, and sweaty socks. Basically like old people left week old laundry lying around. Wooden floor boards creaked as I stepped in. There was a lot of noise coming from Ember, and the farmer. Flies buzzed around, but I ignored them as I followed the noise into a kitchen, where a handsome young man with black hair was tied to a chair by old blankets and clothes, it was Vince.

The farmer stood in front of Vince, holding out a black stick that was pointed at the end. White lines were twisted around it, and at the bottom was a string that looked like the end had been burned off by a fire. Ember stood on the other side of the room.

Ember held her hands up, ready to attack, but the man held the sick out, and Ember seemed frozen. Her eyes noticed me, but she didn’t say anything. I hid behind a chair, and I peeked over the edge, so that the farmer wouldn’t see me.

The farmer said, “Vasha,” and a bust of fire appeared from the air between him, and Ember. Ember threw up a magic shield, and the fire fizzled away. I could feel the atmosphere tensing, as the room became colder.

Ember pointed at the man, and a thin wave of purple energy sliced through the air, landing on him, leaving a long gash on his chest. Red soaked his overalls, but he didn’t seem very hurt. It must not have been a deep cut.

“You’re good to be able to use magic in this box missy, but that won’t save you.”

Ember snapped her fingers, and I watched as purple energy was deflected inches away from the farmer by an invisible wall. I was mesmerized at the magic, but I had to do something.

I raised my hand, and concentrated on the man. Before he could raise his little wand thingy again, I froze him, he was surrounded by my white energy.

Ember pushed him aside, and used that slicing magic she used on the farmer to cut the fabric that tied Vince up. He sighed with relief, and hope filled his eyes. “Who’d of thought I’d see you here.” He said as he stood up, and walked into the living room, where I was.

“I know.” Ember said. “Angelo was the one to notice that the man had your sword. We should leave before he wakes up.”

Vince nodded, and they left the house, followed by me. Outside, Cara stood in the same position, but she was looking at the window concerned.

“We’re back.” Ember said.

Cara turned around, and gave Ember a hug. “It sounded crazy in there, let’s go.”

“Hey.” Vince said.

Cara saw him, and her eyes went wide. “What’re you doing here?”

“I was getting supplies when I saw a farmer talking to a member of the Ecrealt society-some bad people-and I followed him. He ambushed me when I thought I lost him. Took me here, and I heard some plans of his.”

“Why is the Ecrealt society so bad?” I asked from behind. Vince turned, and smiled. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey,” I said.

“The Ecrealt society,” Vince began, “Is a group of people from Amedia who hate pirates, and wanna wipe them out. They’ll get anyone to help them, and they repay their friends different ways. You know about the war right?”

“Yeah, we just don’t know what to do to stop it.” I said.

“You’re trying to stop it on your own?” Vince asked with a hint of a mocking tone.

“No, we’re not. Well, I want to, but we’re not.”

Ember nodded. “We’re on our way to Sraff right now, and then we’ll go to Othal. We’re stopping at the town here, if you want to join us.”

“I’ll come until we get to the mountains, I’ve gotta go back.”

“I understand.” Ember said.

“You wanna get your sword from inside?” I asked.

Vince looked at the small house. “I was gonna do some snooping around. You can come, or wait somewhere.”

“I wanna go with you.” I said.

Ember walked up, and I thought she was going to order me, or hex me, but instead she put her hand on my shoulder. “I’m going too.”

Cara took a deep breath. “I’m tired of being out here, it smells weird.”

I wanted to tell her it wasn’t much better inside, but if I did she might not decide to come with us.

We looked around each room, but it was as small inside as it looked on the outside. When we were in the kitchen Ember showed me the white marks on the walls, creating a box for shadow magic. We tied the farmer up with what was left of his sheets, and left him on the chair. I was surprised he was still lying on the floor.

“What was that stick he held?”

“That was a wand. Wands suck energy from the atmosphere when they’re charged using a string on the end. You light the string on fire, and the fire draws in the energy for the wand to absorb through the white lines made with charmed paint.” Ember said.

Just to be safe, I snapped the little black wand in half, to the farmer’s dismay. Golden energy was released, and evaporated into the air.

“It has to be here.” Vince said, “He was talking about it.”

Cara was walking through the living room, when she tripped on the edge of the carpet. The rug was pulled up and a wooden door with a latch was revealed.

Vince found it, and opened it up, revealing stairs leading into a cold darkness.

“This is it.” Vince said as a severe gust of wind whipped the house from outside, busting the windows. The farmer squealed from the kitchen. The windows shattered spilling jagged glass onto the floor. Outside, there was a tall, thin man in a black suit wearing sunglasses. His wild red hair stuck up from his head, whipped around by the wind. To my surprise, he was floating.