Chapter 24: Blake von Deen
I have to admit, the tree frog's got a pretty nice campsite. I figured he'd have us crowded around a circle of human skulls shaped into candle holders. Instead, looks like he's actually built a fire like a civilized little creature.
Blake sat around the edge of the tiny campsite, isolating himself from the rest of the group, who had taken to exchanging stories around the fire. He chuckled to himself; the most unlikely creature on the continent had saved them from the Inu. He never thought of Rikians as anything more than a race of green nomadic fairy-tale creatures. Certainly he was aware that they existed, but Blake von Deen had very little desire to come in contact with them.
The camp was far more modern than Kali T'kahn's shabby dress and dirty skin implied. Softly glowing lanterns chiseled out of blue crystal lined the campsite, hung from the lower branches of the great trees surrounding the clearing. Cyx and Travis were chattering away with Kali by the tiny fire, admiring the Rikian's skill in carpentry. Kali had taken logs from the forest floor and shaped them into benches, surrounding the camp in wooden furniture. Caitlin was sprawled out on one of them, snoring blissfully in the background.
Blake rolled his eyes at the three boys; he hadn't been able to go a single moment without recalling his encounter with Cyx the previous night. The whole notion still turned his stomach. The frost-headed boy mused that even though he was traveling with four other children his own age, he was still without a single friend in the lot. He choked back the lump that formed in his throat and decided to fill his time by eavesdropping on the conversation.
"What's it like in Fendra?" The green boy squealed with excitement. "I've always wanted to know what it's really like living in Bylon; it sounds like such a wonderful place!"
"Not too different from your hometown, I'd imagine," Travis replied; laying down in the grass to Kali's left. His head rested on the edge of the wooden bench, so Travis had to crane his neck upwards in order to make eye contact. "We have houses and streets, pretty much standard stuff for a small town."
Kali beamed with intrigue, devouring every one of Travis's words like a baby bird to its first meal. "Boffo! My town moves every year, so we never build streets or anything. Well, except for our capitol, but that's on an island… What are your houses made of? I've seen the ones in the Iron City; they're made of some really strong wood!"
"Actually, that's not wood," Cyx giggled, sitting on the bench to Kali's immediate right. "It's iron, a metal. That's what the city's named for."
"Oh, I get it, that's what metal is!" Kali grinned, snapping his fingers. "I knew it wasn't made out of crystal or pearl, because we have plenty of both of those in Rikia. Talking about metal is pretty taboo where I'm from; I get the impression it's a Bylonian thing?"
"Well, not entirely. There are lots of countries that use metals," Travis replied, counting on his fingers. "There's Hikari, Kargonn, Masara… Um, Ujinga, sort of… I'm pretty sure that's it."
"Don't forget Tokage, Schion, and Mouko," Cyx chimed in, giving Travis a quick nod. "The Atrox continent counts, too."
Gods, doesn't he ever shut up? Blake's thoughts turned bitter upon hearing Cyx's voice. Knots began to work their way into his chest; the boy's breaths grew shallow and short. Soon, he could no longer feel cool air entering his throat; it seemed to halt abruptly at the tip of his tongue. With every word that came from the scientist's mouth, the image of his terrified expression pushed deeper into Blake's mind.
"Wow, there are that many other countries?" Kali blinked, digging his toes into the dark soil. "I never knew planet Mirai was so massive…"
"Well, those are the ones that use metals, anyway," Travis said. "There are more countries than that; even some that nobody's been to before, I bet."
"If you want to take the ancient texts from the Divine Era into account, there are exactly two," Blake blurted out, his body growing more frantic for air. His breath continued to draw short, but at least now he was no longer in danger of fainting. Blake was sure his face had been discolored, judging from the worried look Cyx was broadcasting. Travis was less sympathetic, merely giving him a blank stare.
"There are exactly two unexplored continents in our planet, Mirai," Blake continued, crawling on his knees to the other three boys. "One is Niveus, the mountainous tundra continent to the West. The other is the floating isle referred to in the tomes as the Aviary."
"The Aviary's just a myth, really," Cyx replied, wiping the lenses of his glasses in his shirt. "There isn't any scientific evidence that such a place really exists."
"What was that, Yamato?" Blake growled, his lisp becoming more evident. His muscles grew tense; he could feel his arms shaking in rage at Cyx's blasphemous words. What made it worse was the tone the engineer was using; how dare he disregard the teachings of the holiest of ancient texts with such carelessness!
"Well, it's all well and good that some dusty old books say that the Aviary exists, but do you know of anyone who's ever seen it?" Cyx Yamato's eyebrows rose suddenly after he finished speaking; Blake guessed that he knew he'd said too much.
"That's enough, Cyx," Travis stepped into the conversation, rescuing Cyx from the venomous avalanche of insults and slurs festering on Blake's tongue. Blake's body was on fire; for an instant, he was grateful to Travis for restraining his best friend.
I'm not the only one who should be happy that you shut up, you fucking nerd… Blake von Deen ground his teeth together and shuffled behind Travis, avoiding Cyx's eyes altogether. I wonder how eager Travis would be to protect you if I told him the way you really felt about him…
"So, what you're saying is there's one unexplored continent that everyone knows about, and another that people don't agree on?" Kali spoke up, crossing his legs. "Boffo! The planet's bigger than I imagined!"
"That's because you're an idiot," Blake snapped, rolling his frost-colored eyes at the newcomer. "Seriously, I don't know how you people keep your brains in your heads with so little intelligence."
"Hey Blake, that's totally uncalled for!" Travis shouted back, his dirty brown hair falling into his face from the sides. "It's not Kali's fault that he wasn't born in Bylon! Besides, you owe him your life, remember?"
"It's not like I'm proud to owe my life to a stupid frog," The snow-haired boy scoffed, feeling the fanatical rage he'd been saving for Cyx spill over to Kali, Travis, and anything that spoke. A lump of disgust settled in his throat; he was beginning to lisp even harder than usual. "And you shouldn't be either! Don't you get it? You're a citizen of Bylon, Travis; you're on a completely different social level then this glorified tree sprite and his bottomless idiocy!"
"Shut your mouth, Blake!" Travis cried, bringing a wide-eyed fury to Blake's surging lungs. "Don't you have any decency at all? First you brought a dagger to our camp, most likely to kill us, and then you're rude to the person responsible for saving your life! I was an idiot to ever think you'd change!"
"Guys, we've been through a lot today, why don't we just go to sleep for the night?" Cyx suggested, squeezing the knees of his pants hard enough to turn his knuckles a bony white. "We can go back to our old camp in the morning, and be on our way back to the Iron City…"
"Who asked you, Cyx?" Blake retorted, shooting him an angry glare. "You're the last person in a position to tell me to do anything! You and I both know that much, don't we?"
"Cyx, what's he talking about?" Travis asked in an unsteady voice. The boy in question was perspiring, adjusting his glasses with nervous fingers. Blake smirked, cruelly chuckling under his breath.
"I'm not talking about anything, Travikins," He turned his icy glare to Travis, brushing the white pinwheel of hair out of his eyes. "I was just reminding your half-breed companion of his proper place."
"Don't you ever call Cyx that, you bastard!" Travis Kinmire stood up, his hazel eyes blazing with majikal energy. A sphere of licking flame crept out of the boy's palm, growing in size as he neared Blake von Deen.
"Is that little firecracker supposed to scare me, Travikins?" Blake feigned a yawn, unsuccessfully willing his arms and legs to stop shaking from the tension. "I'm a kaj, remember? Your majik is the same as it was when we were kids, and you can barely handle a sword besides."
"I should beat the shit out of you where you stand, Blake von Deen," Travis snarled bitterly, closing his hand around the ball of fire. Eyes watering, the boy shook his head slowly. His voice cracked as he spoke. "No. You're not worth it. You're not worth the fucking effort."
"Oh, cry me a river, why don't you?" Blake chortled, sensing the pain in Travis's voice. I've got him now. All I have to do is play the right cards and he'll be bawling like the pampered little princess he is.
"Blake, Travis, you need to calm down. Please, this is going too far," Cyx pleaded, shivering apprehensively next to Kali.
"I agree, you two are going to fight if this keeps up," Kali added, nervously rubbing his hands together. "I don't want to see either of you get hurt."
"Wouldn't be the first time, that's for damn sure, green bean," Blake replied, crossing his arms. He crossed his legs, but then uncrossed them when they continued to tremble. "My nose is still broken because of that kid."
"Oh, and I suppose I'm responsible for your lisp, too?" Travis threw his hands into the air, walking away from the group. "Give me a break."
"I'd love to show you what it really means to break," Blake laughed wrathfully, spitting on Travis's shoe as he passed by. "But I'd have to wait until after you figure out that your brother is never coming home. Otherwise, you would be too full of false hope to feel it."
Blake was never sure exactly what Travis used to strike him, but whatever it was left him with a bruise on the right side of his face and pitched him to Kali's feet. Even through the ringing in his head, Blake could hear the impact resonating through the labyrinth of trees. Kali and Cyx were speechless; their eyes were moving between Travis and Blake as though a ball were bouncing between them.
"Cute, Travis; very cute," Blake mumbled through semi-numb lips. He felt the warm rush of crimson dribble over his lips to his chin; it amused him to note that Travis only hit him hard enough to knock him over. With his strength, Travis could have easily broken his jaw.
"Guys, please stop it," Cyx whispered, lowering his gaze to his feet.
"It's fine, Cyx. Forget about it," Travis replied from Caitlin's still-sleeping form. He shook his head at her before turning back around to face the trio. "Just forget all about Blake; he's nothing but a jealous, selfish loser."
"I think you guys just need some food; you're all in awful moods. After all, you haven't eaten in a while. Let's go gather some fruit for the night," Kali offered with an unusually cheerful quality. His oversized ears drooped, silently revealing his true mood.
"Salad? Are you nuts?" Blake gawked, narrowing his eyes at the Rikian from his huddled section of dirt. "You'd probably gather some poison berries and murder us all. I'll go hunt down some meat like a real human being."
"Rikians don't eat meat, Blake," Kali said blankly, crossing his arms.
"That would explain your delightful skin tone, wouldn't it?" The snow-headed boy shot back, wiping the last of the blood from his mouth. Blake hobbled to his feet and began pacing around the campsite. He slipped Travis a smug grin as he passed. "Anyone who wants to have real food can feel free to follow me."
"Blake, stop it," Cyx spoke up, hopping to his feet from the wooden bench. "If you have to go kill something to satisfy your sick little cravings, go ahead. But leave Kali out of it!"
"Oh yes, we owe him our lives, don't we?" Blake laughed, meticulously brushing his silken robe with his hands. He sighed briefly; his hands and feet still trembled with tension. "I'll be back with meat in an hour or so, try not to miss me."
"Don't come back," Travis commanded, staring off into the woods. Despite being used to near-constant insults, a nail drove itself into Blake's heart. Travis had meant every word.