FireSweet

Two Steps Forward

I felt better after soaking up the sun’s heat on deck.  Obsidarian silently joined me after a few minutes, sitting on the warm boards at my side.  He watched as Mají, Jumé, and Fame returned and retreated to Mají’s cabin.  Mají’s eyes flicked to me, an unreadable emotion in his eyes. 

            “Jumé’s muttering about that prophesy again,” Obsidarian said softly.  “He started obsessing about it this year.  I’d love to know why.”

            I looked toward the cabin door, sighing as I looked away again.  “I’d settle for knowing what the dumb thing is about.  I know it deals with the Griffon’s Child, but why is it such a bad thing?  I hear things about avoiding the prophesy, but from what Mají told me, it’s about restoring the powers and reuniting the worlds.”

            Obsidarian shrugged.  “Your guess is as good as mine Piratess.  Only the captains know the true prophesy.  They’ll do anything in their power to keep it that way too; it’s what all captains fear.”

            I heard footsteps from across the deck, and sat up slightly to see who was coming up from below.  Flint took a few steps on deck, his pink ninja band tails swinging as he walked.  He froze when he saw me with Obsidarian, backpedalling until he reached the steps.  He fled in the direction he came from, disappearing below deck as quickly as he had appeared.

            “Talk to him,” Obsidarian urged gently.  “He feels guilty about you getting hurt.  Now I don’t know exactly what happened, but I haven’t heard that boy speak a word since you showed up with blood pouring from your arm.  And the kid normally can’t shut up.”

            I nodded slowly, realizing the truth in his words.  I muttered my thanks under my breath as I climbed to my feet, following my student below.  He was in my room, sitting in the corner and staring at the floor when I found him.

            “We need to talk,” I said coldly, opening the chest at the foot of my bed.

            He looked up bleakly, nodding half-heartedly before dropping his eyes back to the floor.

            “Your moping has gone on long enough,” I lectured.  “I know that you aren’t like the rest of us Flint, and maybe that means you have a conscience.   That you feel guilty about hurting me in training or something.  But you need to get over it, you didn’t really do anything wrong.”

            Flint looked up at me again, puzzlement written over his features.  I couldn’t help but smile slightly. 

            “Tell me what happened,” I said softly.  “Exactly the way it was.”

            “I stabbed you,” he muttered.

            “I jumped into your blade,” I countered.  “Try again, take it from the top.  What were we doing?”

            “You asked me to sneak up on you,” he answered.  “You closed your eyes and sat in the middle of the clearing, and asked me to sneak up and tap you with the flat of my blade.”

            I nodded, urging him to continue as I rummaged around in the chest, drawing out strips of crimson, black, and hot pink to rebind my hands.

            “I know I’m not very stealthy, so I picked a few rocks up from the ground.  Before I moved toward you, I threw one to the other side of the clearing.  It hit the ground in front of you, and rolled against another rock.  You threw a knife at it, thinking I had made the sound and warning me to choose a different route.  I risked taking a few steps in your direction, but you were focused on where I had thrown the first rock.  I tossed the second one to your right, it rolled through some leaves and you threw a dagger in that direction.  Again thinking it was me.  I moved toward you again, and was within striking distance.  I pulled my blade out, debating whether or not to throw a third rock when Briamy startled you… and I stabbed you.”