noveltune Book 5: Chapter 30: Cracks
Book 5: Chapter 30: Cracks
Book 5: Chapter 30: Cracks
Heretical Fishing
One hour earlier, southern Tropica
Paul gazed down at the pile of failures heaped against his workshop’s wall. Each tiny vessel was handmade from start to finish, all the materials gathered, processed, and shaped by his crew. And not one of them had been a success. The knots in his stomach squeezed so tight that the sensation rose into his chest. He couldn’t breathe. He had to get out of here. Needed to—
“Are you sure about this?” another asked, stepping up beside him. “I kinda feel like trying again. What if we craft for a few more hours, then play until dark?”
Paul whirled on the speaker. He knew just how insidious a single dissenting voice could become. His memories demanded he snuff it out. Best to go too far than not far enough in response.
Better to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both, his mind quoted from somewhere deep within.
Paul frowned, coming back to himself. His hand had drifted to the pommel of his sword, where it now rested in obvious threat. Whose voice had that been? What had he been about to do?
Toby blinked. A smile curled his lip as his gaze drifted from Paul’s expression to his sword. “Forgive me, my liege!”
Teddy had lifted his head. He watched from his spot beside the heaped vessels, ears alert, eyes penetrating.
As Paul floundered for a response, Theresa came to the rescue. She withdrew her wooden blade and pressed its splintered edge into an insubordinate neck. “Shall I remove his head, sire?”
They’d both assumed Paul was joking. He ran with it. “Hmmm. I say we let him live this time. Consider this your last warning!”
Toby gulped. “I yield! Please don’t give me any splinters!”
Theresa sniffed and slipped her training sword back into the cloth belt she used as a sheath. “Count yourself lucky, low-blood! Next time, it’s off with your noggin!”
“You know we have the same blood, right? You’re literally my sister.”
She rested a hand on her lacquered pommel. “He’s getting lippy again, sire...”
Toby raised his hands in mock surrender, forcing his eyes wide, and Teddy lowered his head. Paul focused on how grateful he was for his friends, the adolescent part of his mind taking over. The knots in his torso relaxed.
The last few weeks had brought so much fun.
Toby had been above playing with them at first, too embarrassed to join in. Paul and Theresa played tag for like three whole hours one time while the teen carved a spear, pretending he didn’t want to join. The adult part of Paul had found that ironic. Caring what others thought was far more immature than just doing whatever you found enjoyable, childish or not. Paul hadn’t pointed that out. Doing so would have pushed Toby further away.
Instead, he’d continually made bids for connection, subtly inviting Toby to play. It had taken all of four days for the older boy to join.
Paul stepped forward and lowered Theresa’s wooden sword, which had once more found its way to the side of her brother’s neck. “I’m absolutely certain about our quest. We need new materials, and I think I know where we can find them.” He started leading them from the workshop. “I know you’ve taken to crafting, Toby. If we find what we need this morning, you can be creating something with them by this afternoon.”
“But you won’t tell us what they are?”
“And ruin the surprise? Is that really what you want?”
Toby considered that for a moment. “Okay,” he finally said, shrugging to himself. “I trust your judgement. You haven’t led us wrong yet.”
Paul jarred to a stop, his eyes going wide. Those words had made his semi-suppressed core ripple something fierce. His adult self took over. Rather than grow tight, the knots in his stomach loosened further, his abdomen tingling with possibility.
With a shake of his head, he returned to the present. Toby wore an expression that mirrored how Paul felt. The teen’s peepers were unblinking as they drifted down to stare at his own abdomen.
“You...” Paul swallowed. “You felt that too?”
“Yeah...”
Their surprise lingered a moment, then morphed into excitement as they charged out of the workshop. Paul felt like someone had injected some of his mother’s famous berry pie directly into his veins.
“Felt what?” Theresa asked, scrambling after them. “What did you feel? Hello? What did you feel? I’m seriously gonna start swinging this sword if one of you doesn’t—”
“Our cores,” Paul said in a rush, coming to a stop on the street. “Well, my core. Toby doesn’t have one yet, but if he sensed it too...”
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“I might be close to awakening.”
Theresa pouted in thought, inspected her weapon, then smacked the flat of its wooden blade against her stomach. “What the heck, core?” She turned her displeasure on Paul, as if it were his fault. “Why didn’t mine do anything?”
“Dunno. Age? Compatibility?”
“Combati-what-now?”
“Don’t worry about it. Point is, you’ll get there eventually.”
She scrunched her nose, then gave an easy shrug. “You’re probably right. Like my stinky brother said, you’ve been good at choosing what we do so far. And besides, it's been fun—”
Paul wasn’t sure if she’d actually cut off, or if the drumbeats thumping in his core had drowned out her words, but by the time he came back to himself, he didn’t much care to find the answer. Flashes of pure white swirled across his awareness, like currents of air winding around himself and his two friends, seeming to push and pull them toward his center. Both returned his stare, just as stunned as he was.
No words were needed. All three of them, young as they might be, understood the implication. Their futures, and their very purposes, were linked.
A giant head shoved its way between them, projecting a red aura that flooded Paul with energy. Paul wrapped Teddy’s neck in a hug, his adolescent half unable to resist. The bear’s blood-colored mane of thorns turned softer than silk at his touch and easily parted. “We’re okay, Teddy! Better than okay! They’re close to awakening, and our future ideals are aligned!”
***
Teddy suppressed a low growl as he lumbered along behind Paul, the armored and clanging forms of Toby and Theresa riding on his back. He wasn’t so sure about his cubs being okay. His spiked hackles agreed, refusing to fully retract, no matter how much he willed it to happen.
Paul’s outbursts were getting worse. Teddy had been watching the children closely since his breakthrough, his ideal demanding the young be protected. He’d noticed the changes in Paul almost immediately; he could smell the scent of iron and leather when the ‘older’ version of Paul took over. Thankfully, as the intensity of the outbursts grew, so did the time between them. Which was the only reason he hadn’t yet informed his master.
“Woooo!” Theresa yelled, giggling and raising her arms as Teddy leaped over a ditch.
He let out an amused huff despite himself, her exuberant nature infectious. This was but a trot to him, but Paul was sprinting ahead, going as fast—and as loud—as his armored and partially awakened body could go. Theresa was a normal human child. She should have been far too stressed to let go of his fur, no matter how much he’d reassured her. He wondered if Toby felt the same.
Toby did not feel the same.
Teddy immediately slowed when he saw the white pallor on the boy’s face, and let out a soft whine to get Paul’s attention.
“Oh! Sorry! Was that too fast?”
“No,” Toby lied bravely.
“We should walk from here, anyway! We’re almost there!”
Teddy had been so lost in thought he’d not realized just how far they’d traveled. Over the sand flats, past the first line of mountains, and deep into the range had Paul led them, conquering a staggering distance of ground. No wonder Toby was so afflicted. A breeze blew through the forest—coming from the east, if its oceanic scents and the rising sun could be believed. He recognized this place. Or the general area, at least. He’d seen glimpses of it through his connection to Fischer. This was one of the places the master and mistress had camped over the past month.
Why had Paul come here? He seemed playful like a cub, but smelled of leather and iron, hinting that the older version of the boy was in charge. Teddy didn’t like it. Something felt wrong. He let out a questioning growl.
Paul flashed his impish smile, so similar to Theresa’s. “You’ll see. You’ll all see! I reckon we’ll find just the thing we’ve been missing! Relax, Teddy!”
He didn’t. But he followed along without complaint regardless, eyes and senses peeled for the first hint of danger. All around them, birds flew between branches, chirping with nary a care in the world. The wind came and went, as did the sun peaking down through gaps in the canopy, its rays nowhere near warm enough to melt the icy gaze he gave the surrounding trees.
He paused, lifting his nose after catching a scent. It was faint. Barely noticeable amongst the aromas of the nearby shore. Yet there all the same. He lowered his ears in relief. There were two friends nearby. Friends that would arrive in an instant if anything were to go wrong. Maybe he should call out now and—
Crack! Cr-Cr-Cr-Crack!
The air split with a sound like dozens, then hundreds of snapping twigs. The black lines of a portal tore into space in front of them, tinged with purple, glowing with ominous intent. Teddy transformed and charged forward, placing himself infront of the children, his claws, teeth, and clusters of spikes glowing red.
The portal finished forming. A nightmarish bramble of thorns and writhing limbs flew out of it, skidding to a stop on the forest floor. A shape most-foul leaped through next, teeth bared, lips pulled back, a declaration of violent intent grated from its tiny throat. It skidded to a stop beside the bramble, lowering its head and letting out a pathetic blehhhh.
Teddy scowled at the two idiots. He expected such trickery from the tree spirit pretending to be an evil bush, but he’d thought better of the hellhound who’d adopted the demonic form of a chi-wow-wow. Borks let out another blehhhh, his rapidly wagging tail giving away his true feelings. Lemon shimmied in delight, her breezy laughter hissing through the surrounding trees, replacing the cacophony of snapping twigs she’d been emitting.
Both tree spirit and hellhound abruptly froze, Lemon turning into a regular shrub, Borks becoming a Golden Retriever as they stared past Teddy in horror. He spun, raising his deadly forepaw, ready to cut down whatever threatened his cubs.
When he saw it, he froze.
Theresa and Toby were staring down at their abdomens, where their cores were forming. Paul’s stomach shone too. Instead of beaming out in every direction, the light of his breakthrough swirled out in ribbons. They were beautiful, powerful, and... flowing into his friends.
Teddy unleashed a great pulse of chi to alert everyone. His aura flowed out, empowering his cubs. Paul harnessed the strength and bent it to his will, which let Teddy know what he was doing to the siblings. Teddy’s blood turned to ice and every one of his crimson spikes twitched.
Paul’s ideal wasn’t aligned with Toby and Theresa—it was trying to subjugate them.
Teddy roared across every connection he had.