It's a short stay

Over the next few days, the hangover of the cabin games continued. Our jump from cabin eight to cabin two had left most of the others speechless- and cabin two was worth all the effort we had put in.

The cabin was larger, and cozier- it was round from inside and had maroon and white checked marble tiles on the ground. The fireplace was larger and more decorative, there was even a chandelier fixed to the top, somehow the cabin from inside reminded me of Christmas. Our bunkers were bigger, but probably the best part of the cabin was the plasma screen- we had a wide range of movies, some human and the other Atlanteans- a couple of video games.

The door had a big round glass circle on it, and the key card was also fancier and had a silver colored eagle made on it.

“Ice cream head”, Suhani whispered, “stop daydreaming”.

“Oh”, I said absentmindedly, “I mean yeah, of course”.

Her attitude had changed since we had got promoted, by that I mean she wasn’t after my life.

We were standing outside the circular hall facing the door, the latch from inside clicked and the door opened.

“Come in, come in”, Hatchet muttered.

We walked inside, Hatchet fumbled with the projector, “Hatchet”, Suhani said, “with all due respect, we are not here for a lecture. We have a board meeting today”.

Hatchet, raised his head and looked at her with round eyes, “nobody told me”.

“Now we did”, Suhani said nodding at him.

“Take a desk and chair then”, he grumbled and walked out of the door, closing it behind him with a slam. I heard him yell, “Oblin!”.

The room was empty and dimly lit, we found our way to a desk on the front row and I sat down beside Suhani.

The door banged open.

“Bah”

“Bah-bah”

“BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH”

Two Gargles entered carrying a long wooden table with them and placed it at the front. The campers did take their meetings seriously, because the room from inside reminded me of United Nations assemblies.

“Bah”

“BAAAAAH”, the other Gargle yelled.

They held the table in the air, deciding where to put it down.

“Bah”, the first one said, pushing it behind.

“Bah”, the second one said, pulling it ahead.

Gargle one:“BAH”

Gargle two:“BAH”

Gargle one:“BAH-BAH”

Gargle two:“BAH-BAH-BAH-BAH”

Gargle one:“BAAAAAH”

The table creaked forward and then backwards, then again forward and now backwards. Finally like polished diaper dudes, that they were, they struck a deal, ‘Nor yours and neither mine’.

I watched in amusement as they picked up their clubs and smashed the table into two. No need to quarrel anymore, one Gargle placed one half slightly ahead and the other pushed his half back.

And then they walked out of the camp, very happy with themselves.

“Bah!”

“Bah!”

A shadow appeared on the ground, Trivium walked in.

His blood shot eyes aimed at me, but he did not say a word- just went over to the furthest possible table of the first row and sat down sulkily.

“HHHHHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!”

Suhani groaned, “here comes Holly”.

“HHEEELLLOOOO!”

A rather tall, blond, buck-toothed girl blasted into the cabin and spread her arms in a rockstar style, “HHHEELLLLLOOOO”, she grinned.

I squirmed as she looked at me, “Hey there”, she said sharply.

I tried to hide below the desk, but unfortunately desks around here weren’t built for hiding.

“Hi”, I said twirling my fingers.

“My name is HOOLLLLLYYYYYYY”, she yelled.

“Hi Holly”, Polly- I added in my mind for no apparent reason.

“HHHHIIIIIIIII!”, she grinned.

“Hi”, I said, things certainly couldn’t get any more weird.

Then Suhani came to my rescue, “Holly”, she said, I could see she was making an effort to be respectful, “please sit down”.

“Suhani”, Holly squeaked and lunged for her hand, “It is such a PLEASURRRREEEEE meeting YOUUUUUUUUUU!”

“I wish I could say the same”, Suhani muttered under her breath.

“Did you say something?”

“Nope”, Suhani said, “nothing at all”.

Holly stood up and flashed a toothy grin at us, and then she continued smiling. We continued staring- and she was still smiling and we were still staring, finally Holly seemed to realise it was getting weird, “I uh”, she said, “will be going now”.

“Bye”, Suhani said, not making any effort to hide her relief.

“Bye”, Holly replied, not budging.

“Bye”, Suhani said after a while, reminding Holly she had to go.

“Bye”, Holly squeaked, still not moving.

“Bye Holly”, Suhani said frustratedly.

Holly’s grin widened and I could see her teeth from one end to the other, “Ha-ha”, she crackled, “bye Suhani”, and then twirled around on her toes- and almost fell down, “Ow- Ooh -yeah, ta-ta-taaa”.

“That was a strange type of being weird”, I murmured to myself.

Next Robby Round walked in, his name pretty much told you everything you need to know about him. Imagine Bruce Lee, remove all the muscles and replace it with fats- so much so that he starts looking obese even by elephant standards. Reduce the size of the eyes until they look like peanuts. Now visualize the image, but before that -make him ten times more obese, and what you now get, is the slim version of Robby Round, at least that was what I thought.

He sat down on the desk beside us, taking up both the seats.

Finally after what seemed a century, Oblin and Hatched walked in, “well”, Oblin said, admiring the brilliant handiwork of the Gargles, “two is better than one”, he chuckled.

So Oblin seated himself on the table ahead, while Hatchet sat behind.

“Bracer”, Oblin said, looking at me.

“Yes?”

“Please, stand up and come beside me- get your chair also”.

Cluelessly I picked up my chair and sat beside Oblin, it was uncomfortable as all the four cabin leaders were looking at me instead of Oblin.

“This”, Oblin said looking at the others, “will be the first meeting of our new cabinet, Holly and Trivium of course have been here before, so I before we begin- I would like to welcome Robby Round of Cabin four and Suhani Vashist of Cabin two”, and then he turned to look at me, “What?”, I quacked.

He looked away “today’s meeting might as well be categorised as an Extraordinary General Meeting”, I noticed the four cabin leaders suddenly straightened up, and sharpened. And then I sat back motionless as Oblin spoke out every small detail, since the first time we saw the Flame.

Great, just great.

The cabin leaders stared in awe, their eyes flitted from Oblin to me every few seconds, as if to check whether I was still there. Even Trivium could not help but give out a soft sigh, which he later on tried to cover up as a cough.

So much for trying to be normal

Once Oblin finished, everybody in the room was staring at me- Trivium spoke almost immediately, “so what happens to the Flame?”.

“The Flame will be heading back to Notraade tonight itself”, he said.

There was an uncomfortable silence as the captains processed the information, Robby was the first one to break the silence, “So”, he said thickly, flexing his wrists, “you believe the Flame wants Bracer to head to Gradingier”.

“I do”, Oblin said nodding.

“I hope you understand, Gradingier is out of bounds for Atlanteans under the age of seventeen and anybody caught travelling there will be put behind bars”.

“That is why it needs to be done with minimum involvement”, Oblin replied.

Why wasn’t I informed about that?

Robby let out a long sigh, “it is also possible that the Flame wanted to inform any Atlantean, not necessarily Bracer- it might as well be a coincidence”.

“It is possible”, Oblin said sharply, “but, it might not be one either”.

Robby looked at Oblin, “I am sorry Oblin, I vote against this- I believe we should instead seek military involvement”.

“Very well, Captain Round”, Oblin said, “your vote has been registered”, he turned his head to look at Trivium, “your views please?”

I didn’t need to listen to him, to understand his views and by the look of it- Oblin didn’t either.

Trivium glared at me, “I agree with Robby here, I believe Bracer is not capable of executing the mission of such high importance. However I do not believe we should seek military involvement”.

“So what do you want?”

“I believe the mission should be transferred to cabin one instead, since we can do a better job”.

Oblin looked at Trivium, “are you implying that you do not agree with the Flame’s choice”.

Trivium looked to be taken by surprise, “No, I believe the Flame just wanted the message to be conveyed- now it is done”.

“Very well”, Oblin said, “your vote has been registered- Holly, how about you?”

Hearing her out should be fun.

“According to me”, Holly spoke, brandishing her teeth, “when the Flame is involved, we have no right to question it’s decisions. However, I would like to raise my concerns that Bracer is underaged and smuggling him inside Gradingier will be very difficult, because the military will be monitoring every boat that enters the uncontrolled regions”.

Once again, why wasn’t I informed about that?

“So”, Oblin asked, “what do you suggest”.

“Keeping my concerns in mind, I believe the Flame chose Bracer for a reason and whether we like it or not, we have to go forward with it”.

“Very well Captain- your vote has been registered. Suhani, you next”.

I glanced at Suhani, her misty brown eyes were glued to the table, “as absurd as it sounds”, she began, “I believe Bracer should be sent to Gradingier, however- he should be allowed to take a team with himself as managing it alone can be difficult”.

I most certainly needed to have a talk with Oblin.

Oblin seemed mildly impressed, “your vote has been registered”.

Holly raised her hand, “It seems we are in a tie- so now I believe it is your turn to choose”.

“Absolutely”, Oblin said, jerking forward, “Taking in mind all the other possibilities I believe- Bracer must head to Gradingier, as it would be wrong to go against the wishes of the Flame. However, Suhani here- is right, a solo mission can turn out to be very challenging. So-”, he said looking at me, “Bracer shall be allowed to choose a team for himself”.

And lead them to their deaths, I added in my mind.

The captains let out deep sighs and slumbered back on their seats, “any questions?”, Oblin asked.

Trivium looked like he wanted to argue but then thought better of it and continued glaring at me, “Very well, then according to rule 1-5-2 underage Bracer Phoenix has been allowed to lead an emergency mission under strictest confidentiality , due to involvement of the Flame”, Oblin said, “Assemble your team- and be present at the docks at 0700 hours two days from now”.

“Oblin”, I said.

“Yes”

“We need to talk- again”, I added.

*******

“But I’m just a kid!”

“Bracer”, Oblin cut in, “kids would do just about anything to be where you are”.

“That doesn’t change anything”

“No”, Oblin sighed, “you’re right it doesn’t”.

“So-?”, I prompted.

“Bracer”, he said, “The Flame Bracer is-”

“Is very important- I know this, you do not need to repeat it”, I said, cutting him off.

“Can you imagine what will happen if the Flame dies out? The world will be in chaos- the only reason the Dardians haven’t invaded us yet is because they respect the Flame, but if the Flame dies there will be no stopping them. Do you have a clue, how dangerous such a war can be?”

“Bad?”, I guessed.

“Imagine two of the strongest races fighting- There will be masacres, destruction, carnage, millions will be dead. A war like this will wipe off all life from the planet including the Neomancers. If this war ever happens- the two Neomancer world wars will seem nothing more than a water balloon fight”.

“Bad”, I confirmed.

“So whether you, like it or not- the fate of every living creature on this planet lies in your hands”.

Great, just the type of welcome I needed. I was furious at my parents, at Oblin, at the Dardians, at the Atlanteans and especially with the Flame.

“So”, I said, “I have to go to Gradingier, and do what exactly?”

“If the Flame wants you to go there, it must be something important. So all you have to do is find out what it is- and get out”.

Easy for him to say.

Maybe it could have something to do with my father.

All I had to do was to go Gradingier-

Whoa, whoa boy- slow down. Gradingier lies inside the uncontrolled regions, in waters which are swarming with pirates.

How could I ask somebody to go with me?

It was suicide.

“Oblin, why can’t we inform the military?”

“Because”, he spoke, “if the Flame wanted it could have told it to them, itself. Instead it chose you- for a reason”.

Great, I was so very excited to go on a mission with pirates chasing me like a two year old behind a lollipop.

“So am I being used?”

“The Flame needs your help”.

“Why can’t it help itself?”

“Because, due to some reason it is weak”, Oblin said softly.

“Is it dying?”

“Only time will tell, but I hope it doesn’t”.

“So let me get this straight- I have to sneak into Gradingier, which is impossible”.

“Check”, Oblin said.

“Then I have to find out what is wrong? Which again is impossible”

“Check”

“And then I run- assuming I am alive. Which most surprisingly is also impossible”.

“Check”

“And how do I get to Gradingier?”

“Ahhh”, Oblin sighed, “I could help you with that”.

“How many kids go with me?”

“According to the rules, no more than five”

Gee, I doubted I would get even a single stupid who would accompany me.

“And one kid has already volunteered”.

“Wow”, who could be so stupid, “and who is it?”

The cabin door blasted open, Suhani appeared armed to her teeth. She had her armour on full battle mode and her bow was on her shoulders.

“I’ve wanted a mission for so long Ice cream head”, she said casually.

“If you say so?”, I shrugged, “so you have a plan?”

Her cheeks became red, and she almost smiled- almost.

“Do you want my help or not?”

The truth was, I wanted all the help I could get.

“A duo”, I mused, “not a bad start- I’d say”.

“Perfect”, Oblin said, “begin packing- but keep only essentials and stock up your ammo. Two days is all you get- we’re going to get you to Ziobrey and then you’re on your own”.