Olympus: It's Not Just a Game

Chapter 13

Karl had never committed suicide before, and he wasn't very good at it. The first forty feet went smoothly enough, as he plunged through the upper branches of the tree. But then he banged into a large limb which broke his fall as it broke. He slid sideways, trying to get his breath back, and then toppled from branch to branch until he stopped, dangling like a wet towel from a limb too thick to crack. There was pain, plenty of pain. His whole body was a sheet of fire. But no cybersuit could simulate the internal injuries such a fall would really cause. Karl was still very much alive.

And so was Jacob. Squeals of rage from above made that all too clear. "You won't get away from me, you pig!" he screamed, climbing down hand over hand from above. Karl couldn't see the ground below him, but there was no time to be cautious. He slithered off the branch and fell another fifteen feet or so onto the turf. He was at the edge of the woods. He plunged into their darkness.

Jacob plunged into the forest, shrieking with anger. Karl only had time to seek out a deep patch of shadow, throw himself behind a huge trunk, and try to force himself to breathe silently. This last was difficult, for his battered ribs and side were in agony. Jacob raved up and down, jabbing his sword into every bush and chopping uselessly at shadows. He wound up in a moonlit glade just yards away from Karl's hiding place. Karl peeped out from behind the trunk to watch him.

"I hate you, Karl!" Jacob screamed into the darkness. "I hope you broke your spine just now! May you crawl around on your belly, you snake!" He hacked at a branch beside him. Silver leaves fluttered to the ground. "You've only got one drachma, Karl! May you starve to death, slowly! Here's to the day when you come crawling to me, Karl, begging for a scrap of bread. And do you know what I'll do when that day comes, Karl?" He lashed out fiercely at a wild rose bush. A branch of pale blossoms fell to earth. "When you come up to me on your hands and knees, I'll kick your hateful teeth down your throat." He slashed viciously at a tree to Karl's left and lopped off a bough which just missed him.

Karl had not thought about really starving to death. He wondered if CyberCamp would really let that happen. How far would things go before they took him out of his suit?

"Don't even think of coming to Dad for help," Jacob snarled. "I'm going to tell him what you said about Mom. He loved her. He still loves her. When he hears what you said about her, you'll regret it. You'll wish you had starved to death if he gets hold of you!"

Karl winced. Each of the Huber men had a different way of dealing with the loss of Mrs. Huber. Jacob fantasized about her, and Karl put her out of his mind, but Mr. Huber could be almost violent in his grief. One reason he worked so hard was to take his mind off the gnawing ache of her absence.

"You've got nothing, Karl! No sword, no armor, just one measly drachma to your name. Your gonna die, and I hope it takes a long and painful time." Jacob's blade came whirling through the night, right toward Karl's hiding place. He dodged back behind the trunk as the flat of the blade smacked into it. There was a snap and a "thunk." Karl opened his eyes cautiously. Inches from his nose protruded the quivering haft of Jacob's blade. It had broken off against the oak.

"No!" Jacob screamed, practically in tears. He held up the mutilated sword. "I can't take this!" He hurled the shattered sword down in disgust. The stump of blade buried itself in the soft earth of the forest floor. Its handle and hilt made a ghostly cross in the moonlight. Jacob looked at it, and started, a little superstitiously. Suddenly the forest seemed very dark and very silent. The cross seemed to reproach him. His voice took on a defensive tone. "God, why did You do this to me?" he cried. "Why can't anything go right?" Only the silence answered him.