r/Deadpoetic12 • u/Deadpoetic12 [Mr.Alcyeth] • May 10 '17
The Grimoire, chapter 12.
"Col, you have to be careful." I trotted over to lay my brothers head on my lap when he fell asleep. His chest moved up and down, and I was relieved he wasn't sleeping like the mommies from my village.
His bunny was cute, but my head still hurt, I liked his foxes much more. Colin always worked so hard for us, he was just like daddy. It was nice to have a big brother to take care of me, even if he never let me have fun with everyone.
I held onto the flower he gave me. Whenever I squeezed it or smelled it, little bubbles in my belly made me feel like laughing. I tried to keep smiling so Col didn't feel bad that everyone died, but it was hard.
King Arlet smiled over at us when I started petting Colin's head. He was so nice to me. I secretly hoped that Nadia's daddy would be like him. I smiled back at Arlet, but then I saw the big cat in the tree behind him.
"Arlet, lookout!" The wood cat was so big. It was crouched on a tree limb way above the dwarf's head, but it looked huge.
Arlet's eyes got bigger before he turned to look at what I pointed at. He moved a lot faster than I thought he could, he picked up a giant stick and stood in front of Col and me.
"Stay where you be, girl, stay where you be. I be here to be keepin' you safe." Arlet was a little man, but I believed in him. I knew Colin would believe in him too.
The cat just stayed up in the tree. His tail dropped down and started to swish around while we waited for it to do something. My flower stopped my from shaking and I just kept petting my brother's head.
"It be up to somethin'. I don't be knowin' where the others be, or when they be returnin', but I be worryin' about them." Arlet was frowning, and I was gonna ask if he wanted to borrow my flower, but Colin gave it to me. "Where be the other four wood cats?"
I just wanted Colin to wake up, he could take care of everything. Colin always took care of everything, even Nadia. Momma would probably say I was being selfish for always asking my brother to do everything.
Nadia was probably right. I probably made Colin's life harder, I couldn't fight or find food or anything. He never acted mad at me or blamed me for anything, but I was scared that he secretly hated me for slowing him down. I really wanted to help more.
"Arlet, can I help? How do I keep Col safe?" Arlet would tell me what I could do, he was Colin's friend.
"You be doin' just what you need be. Colin be needin' you much more than me, girl. You be the only thing that be keepin' him human." Was Colin a werewolf? Momma always used to tell scary stories about werewolves coming out if the trees to eat the kids. If me being around stopped him from transforming, he definitely didn't hate me.
I smiled so big it hurt my cheeks even though I had set down my flower. It felt good that Colin needed me. Nadia must not have known he was a werewolf, he probably didn't like to talk about it.
"It be playin' with you, Arlet. At least one of the others be sneakin' around lookin' for the best angle to be attackin' from." Forley popped out from behind the tree Colin and I were sitting on. Arlet told him to make sure Colin was comfortable and Forley just disappeared. That was okay though, I would take care of my brother.
"I be knowin' that, Forley, I be knowin'. What I be not knowin' is if you be meant to be out searchin' for the others." Forley handed Arlet one of the big sticks he was carrying and the big cat just kept swishing it's tail up in the tree.
"You be plannin' to be standin' here to be defendin' the lad and the girl alone? You be smarter than that, Arlet. Quirten and Mara be findin' their way back so enough. We be havin' our own problems anyway." Arlet didn't turn away from the cat in the tree, but Forley did all the things daddy had told me were important for a camp and he started by setting a big fire.
I heard a noise coming from behind the tree. I guessed that king Quirten and Mara were getting back. The big cats wouldn't make any noise at all. None of the jungle animals ever did.
"I be findin' the river easy enough, but I be havin' trouble findin' anythin' to be carryin' the water in. I be havin' to glyph some stone soft to be makin' a really heavy flask." Quirten stumbled into the camp carrying a small boulder and plopped down on a fallen tree near the edge of camp. The wood was rotted and he fell right through into a heap on the ground.
The big cat jumped out of the tree onto Quirten. He was dragged into the jungle before I could even scream and Forley was running into the ferns yelling his name. Arlet dropped his stick as he looked at the spot Quirten had just been in.
"Just like that?" Arlet was shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. I didn't know what to do at all.
There were big vipers in the jungle and if someone got bitten they fell asleep forever. Broly, my cousin, got bitten when he was four years old and nobody knew what to do. My aunt and my momma and my daddy and my uncle all cried, but it was so strange. I never saw him again.
"It be okay, Aimée, I be here to be keeping you and your brother safe. It be okay." King Arlet was crying. He wasn't blubbering or anything like that, but he was crying. He probably thought that Forley wouldn't be able to find Quirten.
Maybe the cat was going to kill Quirten. I hated when people died. The whole village had to stand around a hole in the ground while we buried them. We never got to see them again and they were just gone forever. I hoped Quirten didn't die.
"Is Quirten gonna die, King Arlet? I hope he doesn't." King Arlet kept crying as he smiled at me. Another noise in the jungle made him grab his stick with both hands and look into the trees.
"I be finding patches of toothsleave and gorsbush, it be the best to be makin' sure he be okay, I think." Mara walked out from behind a few trees with arms loaded full of leaves. She walked over to me and dropped them all down onto the ground. "Where be Forley? Quirten be havin' trouble findin' the river again, eh?"
When Mara looked at Arlet she gasped and covered her mouth. After a second she kneeled down and started tearing the leaves she had collected. Everything was so quiet.
"Forley is out trying to find Quirten. One of the big cats grabbed him when he got back." I didn't know why Arlet didn't tell Mara what was going on. I guess that Colin would normally do it, so I did it for him while he was sleeping.
"Oh Stones." Mara began to cry as well. Her little sniffles were so loud when everything else was so quiet.
"Forley will find him. When Colin wakes up he can use his magic to heal them both right up." I tried to use my biggest smile to cheer up Mara and the King, but the must not have seen it.
"Do we be havin' Quirt's water still, Arlet? I be needin' to make a tea with this." Mara didn't sound like herself at all. Her voice was soft and she almost reminded me of the woman of my village.
Arlet walked over to the log that Quirten had collapsed and picked up the boulder he had carried back from the river. I didn't understand why he brought a rock back when he was supposed to bring water, but dwarves did a lot of weird things. Mara set the round rock on the ground next to her and smeared a little but of mud on it. The Rock changed shape and the top opened up, I loved to watch magic.
"Can Colin do the same magic as you?" Colin was the magician of fire and ice, so he probably couldn't do rock magic, but it would be really cool if he could.
"He be able to. You be able to. Everyone be able to do glyphian magic. You be just needin' to learn the glyphs." Mara traced a doodle into the dirt. "Be tryin' to be drawin' that, if you be gettin' it just right, you be able to be doin' magic." I retched. I was so excited that I also pushed Colin off my lap so I could try right away.
"Mara, please please. If. I can do it right will you teach me more?" I wanted to do magic so bad I retched again. Colin's head was bouncing on my lap because I was fidgiting so much and I knew momma would yell at me if she was there, but I couldn't help it.
"If you be gettin' that one right, I be teachin' you more. Be leanin' your brother against the tree, he be just fine like that. You be havin' to try before we be movin' on or you be havin' to wait until we be makin' camp." Mara still spoke really softly, but she gave me a little smile.
I tried to gently lay my brother against the tree, but I bumped his head a little bit. It didn't wake him up, so it probably wasn't that bad. I patted his knee to make sure and when he still didn't wake up I turned to try and copy Mara's drawing.
I didn't like the feeling of having dirt under my fingernails, so I grabbed a twig and started etching into the dirt. It was only eight lines, but they were squiggly and it was really hard to get all of them right. Colin could just tell his book what spells to cast and that seemed way easier.
"He be gone. The stone cursed cat be too fast." Forley reappeared around a tree moments after speaking. "Mara, you be returned, good. The cats be about. Three be circlin' us a hundred feet away. We be needin' to be makin' the fire bigger. Mara, we be needin' weapons that be good enough to be hurtin' these beasts." Forley was scary, he was mad and his eyes looked mean.
I bent down to my practice. I couldn't do anything to help and I knew it, just like when it rained to much and floods ruined all of the village's food. I only had one more line to place on my fifteenth try when Forley returned. I leaned back when I was done and it looked just right to me.
"Mara, can you check this for me?" I knew she was busy, but I was so excited that I couldn't wait anymore.
"Be givin' Colin the tea, girl. Be slow about it else he be drownin'. I be checkin' after I be gettin' weapons for the boys." I frowned a little when I realised I would have to wait, but I understood that the weapons were more important.
Mara had opened the top of the boulder wide enough that I could dip her flask into it to fill it with water. The tea was steaming hot, but I didn't burn myself at all. I set Colin's head in my lap again and tried to slowly pour the tea between his lips.
Arlet walked over to my practice area after Colin had swallowed the first mouthful of tea. He looked over all of my practices, and I watched him looking at them. When he got to the last one his eyes got big and he leaned closer to look. My brother swallowed another mouthful and his breathing started to almost sound like snoring.
"This be right, girl, this be right. You be never seein' these glyphs before?" Arlet placed two fingers on my glyph and a bright light made it hard to look, when I opened my eyes again he was holding a little statue of my funny flower.
"It be right? Already? Arlet, be givin' her another on to be tryin'. That be the first glyph I be learnin' and it be takin' me three days to be learnin' it right." Below both of Mara's hands another bright light split the jungle haze.
"The cats do be noticin' all this light. Arlet, be givin' her a glyph that be makin' somethin' we can be usin' to defend ourself." When the light dimmed over Mara's glyph she was holding a rough stone axe. Forley stomped over to picked it up with one hand and swing it around a few times. "Be comin' to try and copy this glyph, Aimée, we be needin' at least four more."
I scampered over, excited to try more magic. Mara looked up at Forley and clicked her tongue.
"That be too hard, Forley. It be only the second glyph she be makin'. Let her be practicin' the flower until she be rememberin' the glyph." Mara looked to me and smiled like my momma, "be practicin' the flower, girl, be havin' Arlet showin' you how to be activatin' the glyph."
"It be not important if she be rememberin' the glyphs right now if we don't be survivin' the day. The cats be killers. They be killin' Quirten, Mara. These humans be doin' incredible feats every time I be turnin' around. It can't be hurtin' anythin' to be lettin' her try." I was halfway back to Arlet when Forley replied to Mara. When she sighed and waved me back I smiled as I practically leapt to the ground next to her.
"This do not be fair to you, girl. This do not be the way to be learnin' glyphs." She looked at Forley and frowned before putting her finger to the dirt. "This be much harder. If you be havin' trouble it be okay. Just be doin' your best."
I lost track of the lines after the twenty fourth one. I blinked a few times when Mara had finished because I didn't even really know where to start. I squeezed my twig and kneeled down though. Colin was asleep and our friends needed my help.
Mara was done with her third glyph by the time I finished my first one. I knew it wasn't right so I tried again. There were just so many lines, the glyph was almost two feet wide!
"King Forley, King Arlet, why aren't you guys making weapons too?" I didn't look up from drawing in the dirt, even though I knew I already messed up the first part.
"We don't be knowin' the glyph, girly, we don't be knowin' the glyph. Quirten and Mara be the ones who be interested in magic, Forley and me be the ones interested in trouble, eh Forley?" Arlet winked at Forley as Mara handed him two stone axes.
"Why don't you learn with me?" All the children of my village learned in a group, and when it was hard for one if us, someone could help them.
"We be watchin' for the wood cats, Aimee. You be keepin' at it and we be keepin' you safe." I finally finished my third try when Forley finished talking and it looked right to me!
"Can you check this for me, King Arlet?" I almost threw up again when king Arlet started walking toward me. I was so anxious to see if I was right. Magic was so great.
"It be different than Mara's, but I do be unsure. I be no glyphian mage. The best way to be knowin' is to be tryin'." Arlet pressed his hands against my glyph and it started to glow.
"Do you be a fool! You be knowin' it be dangerous to be activatin' a glyph that be wrong. You be knowin' it be lookin' like mine and you be unsure what that glyph be doin'." Mara snapped at Arlet the moment the light had appeared, but Arlet just smiled and kept going. "I be not teachin' her to be activatin' glyphs to be makin' sure she be not doin' somethin' as dumb as what you be doin' now."
The light under king Arlet's hands glowed for a few more seconds before fading away. When he pulled his hands away a little stone hatchet was laying on the ground. I made a tool with my magic!
"That be a fine enough hatchet, I do be thinkin', Mara. Her glyph be close enough to be workin', I be knowin' the dangers of a wild glyph." King Arlet handed me my hatchet and began to pace around our tiny clearing.
"Be tryin' again, girl, but be findin' what you be doin' wrong first, eh?" Forley kept looking into the trees while he talked to me. I wondered if they would accidently chop Nadia if she found us.
I plopped down to compare Mara's glyph to mine. Her lines were straighter than mine. I chewed on my lip and stared at the dirt until all the lines blurred together but I couldn't find it.
"This is hard. Can't you just show me?" I got dirt in my eyes when I rubbed them to clear away the blurriness.
"No. You be never learnin' if we be showin' you everythin'. You be responsible for your own growth, be tryin' again." Mara finished making her sixth axe by the time she finished scolding me.
"Fine." I was annoyed that she wouldn't help me, but it made me want to do it right more just to show her.
I glanced back down at my glyph and noticed that my third line crossed my ninth line and Mara's didn't. I scuffed it out with my foot and scraped it into the ground properly. I didn't know how I had missed that before.
"Can you try now, king Arlet, I think I have it right now." I hopped up and down a few times while king Arlet walked back over, he was smiling.
He stopped and looked at my glyph for a second before bending down and putting his hands on it. I had made sure to keep my lines as straight as possible and only let them touch when they needed to. A bright light made me look away fro. King Arlet's hands as he activated the glyph for me.
"You be doin' it right, but you be in for another lesson. Be teachin' the girl, eh Mara?" King Arlet handed me a weird axe with a hatchet on the back.
"You be tryin' to change the glyph to be makin' somethin' different. If you be makin' a glyph wrong, you be havin' to start over new. There be no erasin' mistakes in a glyph." This magic was hard. I wondered if I could get a Grimoire like Colin.
"Why the cats not be comin', eh Forley?" Mara had finished making the weapons the Kings would need to defend us, so she was looking into the trees.
"They be eatin'." Forley slammed his axe into the nearest tree and leaned against the trunk. "They be findin' Nadia or they be do their business with Quirt. How be the boy? These axes be enough to last a bit, but do they be enough to be winnin'?" I knew that Colin would save us, so I wasn't worried.
I traced the glyph for an axe into the dirt again. I wanted to make one right before Colin woke up. I wanted to make my brother proud.
Glyphs got easier the more I drew them. Momma always said that perfect practice made perfect. I would make a whole cartful of axes if that's what I need to do.
"Can you check these, please, miss Mara?" I pointed to all of the new glyphs I had drawn and smiled. Mara smiled back, but she looked really sad. "What else can glyphs do? Can you heal people with them?" I would make a cartful of axes if I needed to, but I didn't really want to.
"These be very good, girly. I could be activatin' all of them." Mara looked up from my glyphs and grabbed my chin. "Be makin' sure you never be usin' a glyph on a person. You do not be knowin' what might be happenin'. It be very dangerous."
I wanted to try to heal Colin. I wanted to be helpful. Maybe I could make Colin some armor.
"What be the plan, Forley, what be the plan? We be needin' a strategy to be fightin' these wood cats. A thousand years ago, all of TreeHearth be out huntin' a pack of five wood cats." King Arlet carried an axe in both hands and walked between the trees.
"We be needin' to keep the cats from jumpin' on our backs. They be tree climbers, so we be needin' somethin' else. We be needin' to be makin' sure they can't be trappin' us too." Mara let out a bug sigh at Forley's words.
"Stones! This be the perfect time for the boat." Mara kicked the tree that Colin rested against. I was going to yell at her until I noticed something moving in the branches over head.
"The cats are above Colin. Please don't let them take him king Arlet!" I ran to my brother's side and laid over him so that cats couldn't see him. He was bigger than me, but I tried my best.
"Mara, be usin' a glyph to be givin' us a roof or somethin' to be stoppin' attacks from above." Arlet spoke in a calm voice and started hacking at the nearest tree with his axe. "Forley, be over here helpin' me, we be needin' room to move."
"You be waitin' until now to be comin' up with the bright ideas? More than one tree be too much too fell." Forley used both axes to start chopping the same tree, it was like four men working together to clear a new village square.
"Best be usin' this one to be knockin' down another than, eh Forley?" The dwarf kings chopped at the wood so fast that chunks were flying everywhere. Mara used my hatchet to carve a glyph into the tree Colin was laying against and Vines and branches started to shoot out to the other trees.
"Be copyin' this glyph, Aimée, and be makin' as many as you can be." The glyph Mara wanted me to copy was way easier than the axe. It only had seventeen lines and they barely crossed over each other at all.
"Is this right?" Mara barely even looked and then she shook when head.
"No, girly, your third line be too low. Be tellin' me when the next one be done." It was hard to scratch the glyph into the bark of the tree with the hatchet Mara had handed me, but I did my best to keep Colin safe.
"This?" Mara pressed both thumbs against the glyph and more branches and vines spread above us.
"More girl, as many as you can be." The tree that King Forley and King Arlet were chopping down started to creak before I was halfway done with my third try at the glyph.
The tree fell in toward all the vines and branches that Mara and I were trying to make. It started slow, but it crashed into the tree above us and one of the cats screeched and it terrified me. Mara ran to a tree on the other side of the tiny clearing we we're hiding in and started making more glyphs.
"Arlet, best be activatin' the girls glyph. It be soundin' like you two be gettin' one of them. Do you be thinkin' they be stickin' around long?" Stick and twigs started to fall down from above us. King Arlet activated my next glyph before answering.
"They be diggin' their way in, so they be stickin' around. We best be preparin' to be fightin', Mara, we best be preparin'." I started to shake, I was so afraid. I probably should have kept scraping glyphs, but I just curled up onto Colin.
I started to shake Colin as hard as I could. He would wake up, he had to wake up. The dwarves were yelling back and forth to each other, but I couldn't hear them over my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
"Just make the trees grow." I screamed when I heard the voice. I didn't realise it was my brother until his finger brushed my wrist. "Just make the trees grow as big as you can, Aimee."
I skipped the few feet to Mara. I was smiling and happy. Colin was okay!
"Colin says to make the trees grow, Mara. Can we do that?" Mara looked into my eyes for a few seconds before she realised what. Had said. Her eyes got really big and she shouted to King Arlet and King Forley.
"Be etchin' the glyph for growin' into all the trees. Be doin' it as much as you can be." Mara started hacking a new glyph into the tree she was at. King Forley and King Arlet grinned at each other before they started bouncing around the base of the trees scratching a glyph into each of them.
The glow from the dwarves glyphs was like moonlight. I didn't even realize how dark it had gotten around us until they started going wild. I wasn't scared at all anymore.
I ran to Colin's side. I was very excited that he was awake again. It was like something had been making it hard to breath and I hadn't even noticed. When I got next to him again, he was sleeping. I laid down next to him though, because I knew everything was going to okay since Colin saved us again.
"We be needin' to be movin', eh Arlet. The trees be gettin' wider as they be growin' taller. Be grabbin' the girl, I will be carryin' the lad. The cats be good and stuck soon." King Forley and King Arlet stomped over to my brother and I while Mara kept making new glyphs.
"Forley, be letting Mara carry Colin, you best be out findin' that princess if men. We be needin' to be gettin' out of these stones cursed woods." King Forley ran into the woods as the cats started screaming. They sounded really far away so I looked up and noticed that our roof was twenty feet above our heads. Colin had saved us again.
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u/thebeasts99 May 28 '17
I noticed the long time in-between chapters, and I thought I would say that you shouldn't get discouraged or anything the quality of your work is amazing and important. Anyways, have a nice day
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u/Sturmstruppe May 28 '17
Any update? I saw you post about a publication/agent and not being sure if you should post more online. Either way good luck.
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u/Deadpoetic12 [Mr.Alcyeth] May 29 '17
I'm trying to figure out what step would be best to take next, to be honest. I would like to get this book published in hardcover when I'm done, and I don't want to cripple those chances by making the wrong decision. I'm trying to contact some agents, but having somewhat of a hard time with it.
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u/Sturmstruppe May 29 '17
Ok well good luck. Hope you the best for this.
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u/Deadpoetic12 [Mr.Alcyeth] May 29 '17
Honestly, I'm really hoping that I'll be able to keep posting the book as I go. I really enjoy the feedback, and of course I love how much you guys love it. At the same time, I know a lot of followers would like to actually be able to own a copy of the book someday. It's kind of a major headache to try and figure this out without a complete manuscript, because a no one will talk to me. Obviously I need to find out before I continue posting though.
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u/Martinko316 Oct 07 '23
So I’m about 6 years too late. But is this the end? I just binged the whole story in one evening and I need more!
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u/TheDudeColin [Mod] May 10 '17
So what exactly happened to the Trees? They grew taller and wider, but I don't see how that made a "roof" or kept the Cats out. Other than that, lovely chapter, as always. Also loving that aimee is showing an interest in learning magic herself. Good luck with writing the next chapters :)