Chapter
Five: Into An Inner Core
"Just drop it, okay, Ryo?"
The elder Barbic gave the cub a
glare. He sneered, a glare every Barbic was familiar with. Buddi narrowed his
eyes back at the adult. Ryo added to his lecture,
"And crying for Ursa? Gum's sake
Buddi, are you a Barbic or a baby?"
Buddi's face flushed with anger and
shame. He was a shy child, although not terribly shy. But because of that, he
embarrassed and blushed easier than the others. But he kept his eyes strong. He
faced the adult and said,
"I'm smart enough to know that
holding fear in, eats you alive."
Ryo rolled his eyes and then hissed,
"A * human * is more Barbic than
you!"
Pain more intense than Buddi thought
possible shot through his heart. He fought the tears in the corners of his
eyes. Granted, he had more respect for humans than the others but still, a
lower insult could not be given. He waited until the adult turned on his heels
and stormed out before letting the tears come.
Gradually, the cub's sorrow
transformed into anger. His first impulse was to punch something. But something
Ursa taught him came back to him. She told him that it was good to let anger
out, but positively. Buddi walked down towards the indoor training room, eyes
seeing red with hurt, anger and fury.
Ursa trained him here when it was
raining or too bad weather to train outside. No one was there now. He walked
over to the punching bags, drew his fist back and threw a punch.
Then another and another.
His anger blinded his body to the
pain as he bruised his own knuckles and made them bleed.
* * *
Ursa wandered down the corridors.
She was looking for Buddi when she heard sounds coming from their indoor
training facility. Peering in, she found her cub, at the punching bags,
punching with all his strength. Their bags were made from thick leather,
stuffed with feathers and tightly packed beans. It seemed ridiculous for a
punching bag but was actually quite hard, because of how tightly they were
packed.
"Buddi?"
The cub made no reply but increased
his speed. Ursa heard a different sound than usual and that worried her. As she
came nearer, she realized what it was and as she heard barely contained gasps
of pain. She saw then and her heart skipped a beat.
Buddi's young knuckles, so tiny and
frail, were bleeding and covered with blue, black and occasional yellow
bruises.
"Buddi!" Ursa raced in and grabbed
Buddi's wrists. "Stop it! You're hurting yourself!"
The cub's eyes came back empty and
lacking any emotion, except one.
Anger, pure fury.
Ursa knew the look anywhere. She
smiled and gave Buddi a delicate smirk. Leading him to sit on one of the mats,
she said,
"I know you're angry but you're also
hurting yourself."
Buddi shrugged, "I didn't punch any
walls, did I?"
Ursa shook her head, "No, but still
Buddi. You should not use all your strength. Even now, when your strength's
just developing, you could hurt yourself badly."
She took a handkerchief from her
pouch, wet it with a water bottle from the room's icebox and swabbed at Buddi's
hands. He winced as she went over the few yellow bruises he had. But she was
gentler there. Then, she took a handful of herbs from the small case they kept
in here, for minor injuries. Crushing the bulbs of the plants, she wet them
with water and slapped them against Buddi's wounds, where they stayed, like
paste. Finally, she took the wet cloth and tied the cub's knuckles tightly.
She gave him a smile. "Now, if you
still need to get anger out, use this part," she rubbed the area just below his
knuckles. "It puts less pressure on your bones. Which are more fragile than
mine, you know,"
Buddi nodded. "I…I was just trying
to get my anger out."
Ursa smiled and ruffled his hair, "I
know, Buddi. What got you so miffed, though?"
Buddi growled under his breath and
slowly told Ursa what had happened. Her eyes lit up with anger. Buddi smiled as
he heard a small word leave her lips that he only heard the grown ups use when
they thought he couldn't hear. He noted that Ursa realized what she'd said and
grinned sheepishly.
"I'll give him a talking to, Buddi."
She smiled. "I promise. For now, you can go do whatever. Explore. Get your mind
on something else."
The cub got up, nodding. "Okay."
He ran out into the hallway, as the
pain in his knuckles became clear. He growled and cursed himself,
"Buddi, you idiot."
* * *
Buddi wandered about the city,
weaving his way through adults here and there. Being the smallest helped
sometimes. But when they had ceremonies and such, he always had to tug on
Ursa's dress, slap his hands on his hips and pout before she remembered he
couldn't see over the adults. Then, she'd slip him on her shoulders and he'd be
taller than all the others.
Buddi sighed and weaved his way
through another sea of three adults. They tried to clear a pathway but Buddi
formed his own.
The adults went on and Buddi walked
around the corridors. It had grown fairly late, nearly time to eat. Buddi was
actually a good ways from the dining hall, which was unusual. He was hiding
from Ursa. She'd meant to train him that day but had not been able to find him.
He knew she'd be mad so he explored the more mysterious corners of the city.
This section however was starting to
give him the creeps. It was darker, with fewer windows, lamps, and candles.
Also, there was dust and cobwebs everywhere. The cub shoved some aside as he
walked. And he was very aware of the adults' voices fading away. He hadn't
realized how comforting their chatter was. Even though Ryo was a rude Barbic
with not a lot of sensitivity, had Buddi run to him in pain or bleeding or
shouting for Ursa, he'd help him. The others would have been even nicer about
it.
The cub stopped. He felt a chill, an
intangible and illogical fear. Sighing aloud, the child leaned back against the
wall.
It caved in, opening a door and then
closed again, sealing the cub in.
The child fell for a while and then
suddenly stopped, a loud crack illuminating. He sat up, rubbing the back of his
head. His hand came back bloody. He knew he had a concussion. He was even more
assured when he stood up, by the way the room spun. He winced and focused on
the far wall to try and stop the dizziness. Ursa had taught him that, to
concentrate on one thing.
Then, suddenly candles flickered on.
The cub jumped. He could sense
Celina's presence. He told Ursa when he was ten that he sometimes felt like he
was psychic, like he could sense things. She'd rolled her eyes and admonished
him, saying it was, "a load of hogwash." She had proved her point by dropping
to his level, putting a hand on each of his shoulders and saying, "Alright,
Buddi Barbic. If you're a psychic what number am I thinking of?"
He hadn't been able to answer.
Now he thought maybe he could just
get a feeling of when there was something terrible about to happen. Maybe that
explained his dreams. Not just his present dreams but the ones before.
A week before Barbic Woods had
fallen; he'd gotten disturbing nightmares, dreams of darkness and fire. But
he'd shrugged them off.
A week later, the woods were gone.
Now, he was having another feeling.
He gazed around and drew his arms around himself to provide false security. It
was cold, damp and he'd never felt so alone. Looking around did not help. It
must have been when the gummies had torture chambers. He recognized some from
the history legends that Ursa told him at times.
A rack, an iron maiden, a dunking
booth and a mixed array of weapons and knives decorated the room.
He called into the cold air,
"What do you want, Celina?"
His answer was a laugh but no
vocals.
Then, he turned. The blades all fell
as one. The iron maiden creaked open. The child was petrified. He'd never in
all his life longed for Ursa more. He knew Celina was meaning frightened him.
It was working. Sweat broke out. The cub ran to the walls, searching for an
exit.
Celina laughed louder.
The pain came then. Like fire
through his body, first his feet, then the sides of his legs, his hips and
backside, his back, his arms…everything. He saw the reason swiftly. Spears,
similar to the ones the Barbics used, stabbed from the ground slicing his skin
and fur open. Most were deep but not life threatening. But they kept coming. He
screamed and ran.
Luckily, he saw a door and quickly
ran out. Celina's laughter dulled and then stopped. He heard her voice,
"Die, cub. Die in fear and pain."
Then, those walls seemed to close
in. His lungs condensed. He gasped in air. Softly as he ran he shouted,
"You know I'm claustrophobic."
The increasing laughter was the
boy's only answer.
* * *
Ursa walked along the corridors,
Gritty just behind her. The two adults were looking for Buddi. Ursa secretly
was concerned. She knew Buddi. He was never far when dinner was close but he'd
missed dinner. He hadn't even tried to sneak in for dessert. That worried her.
"Buddi!"
Gritty sighed and called out,
exasperated,
"Come out, partner. Ursa and I don't
have time to search every nook and cranny for you!"
Ursa sighed. "Gritty. It's not like
him. I know Buddi. Whenever we call for him, even if he's in trouble, he comes.
And he's NEVER missed dinner, unless I make him. Where is he?"
Gritty shrugged. "I don't know Ursa.
It's a big city. Maybe he went exploring. You know he loves to."
Ursa nodded and caught sight of
three Barbics walking from the far corners of the city. She called out to them,
"Hey! Mari! Lundi! Yveti! Have you
three seen Buddi?"
The three nodded and it was the
tallest of them, Mari, a humble Barbic that answered,
'He was near the edge of the city.
You know, where the lights dull?"
Ursa nodded and walked through them,
gritty trailing her. The black Barbic answered the three tan,
"Thanks."
They nodded and walked on.
Ursa sped up. Her motherly instincts
were picking something up. Buddi was an adventurer but he never went where
there weren't adults close enough to help. That was one of Ursa's rules when he
explored. She had told him that it was because the city wasn't fully explored
yet.
And she'd had felt an odd feeling
since Buddi's nightmares had come.
Others had had them too, although
they were not as detailed or frightening.
She didn't like it.
* * *
Buddi gasped for air and ran through
the inner walls. None of the doors worked. He was sealed in. and by some
illusion, Celina made the space condense, shrink. Cold sweat was running down
the cub's arms and he was heaving for any air. He stopped and listened,
"Buddi!"
"Ursa!" the cub called in answer and
ran to the nearest door, a mirror door. It was locked too. But he could hear
her. And he heard Gritty too. The cub fell to his knees panting for air and in
immense pain. Blood was making rivers down his body from the spears. He beat
his fists against the mirror's wooden back, the one thing that separated the
glass from this hallway. He whimpered,
"Ursa…Gritty…help me!"
He could hear them walk by. He
suddenly was desperate, willing to do anything. He dug his fingers under gaps
in the wooden back and tugged with all his strength. It broke off, leaving cuts
on his palms. He went onto another board, and ripped hard, slicing his
fingertips open. The cub kept going, until blood poured off his hands and
joined the other rivers on his body. The child finally saw what he wanted.
The fragile glass.
He heard Celina's growl of defeat
and then a feeling of a weight lifting as she disappeared back to Drekmore.
He pounded on the glass, screaming
as loud as he could,
"URSA! GRITTY! HELP ME!"
* * *
Ursa stopped. She heard a faint
voice, very faint,
"Ursa! Gritty! Help Me!"
She recognized it immediately.
"Buddi!"
Whirling around, she saw him. A
small child, eyes wide with terror, behind the glass of a mirror. Blood was
running down his body, his eyes were wet with tears and his clothing torn. He
was gasping, struggling to pull air in.
"BUDDI!"
she whirled around and ran to him.
She put her fingers on the glass. It was hard. She called to the child,
"Stand back, Buddi!"
The cub did so. Ursa swung her fists
and the glass cracked. Buddi crouched low, trembling in pain and covered his
head so when the glass broke it wouldn't cut him.
The glass cracked but didn't break.
Ursa hit it again. It indented deeper. Buddi whimpered and Ursa's heart felt
like it was being torn in two. She called behind her,
"Gritty! I need you!"
Buddi heard the adult's footsteps
and whimpered, as he gasped for air, "Please hurry, hurry!"
The glass cracked deeper. Buddi
didn't look up but he knew that Gritty had gotten there. The glass cracked
again and then with one last punch, the glass shattered.
Buddi was petrified and just clung
to the arms that lifted him out into the light. Ursa was terrified. He was so
hurt. Was he…
He gasped
for air, looked up and saw Ursa's face.
He cried.
Ursa had never heard a more beautiful sound.
