Chapter Five: Into An Inner Core

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.