SPIRIT NIGHT
For a long time, Nimbus stood outside the town hall. There were lights
blazing in the windows, and he could see the silhouettes of dancers as the band
played. There was laughter. Singing. A party for the living, in
honour of the dead.
He clenched his fists.
Clouds slowly drifted across the night sky, mapping dark patterns on the landscape.
‘You aren’t going in, are
you?’ Cumulo said.
Nimbus shook his head.
‘It’s an important night,
Nim. You will be expected.’
‘I can’t,’ Nimbus said. ‘Not
now. Not yet. There’s somewhere else I have to be.’
He turned to leave, but
Cumulo placed a huge claw in his way. ‘He won’t be there, Nim. You know that.
Spirit Night is important to you... to those people in the hall. But the
spirits don’t care either way.’
‘I just...’ Nimbus shook his
head again. ‘This is the first time. Since all of this happened. Since magic
came back. When I was little, my dad used to tell me the stories of Spirit
Night. We used to always make sure we put a loaf of bread outside with some
wine or something. But it was just stories. Traditions.’
‘Exactly.’
‘But things are different
now. You’re here. Magic is everywhere. Who knows what will happen? Maybe all
the spirits in the afterlife will come back for one night. And if they do... I
mean... If he does.’
‘If he does, what good will
it achieve?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, if you insist on
doing this, at least let me come with you. I do not think it is safe to be
alone out here tonight.’
‘It never is, Cumulo. Not
anymore.’
Nimbus hunched his shoulders
and walked away. Cumulo watched him for a moment, then with a sniff, he
strolled across to the entrance of the town hall, where he waited patiently.
Surely it would only be a matter of time before someone thought to bring him
out some pumpkin pie.
***
Nimbus sat on the beach, and drew his knees up to his chin. It was
almost pitch black here, with only the faint light of the crescent moon picking
out the edges of the surrounding rocks in silver. Apart from the gentle lapping
of the waves on the sand, the world was silent.
He wiped his nose on his
sleeve. It was getting colder. It would be winter soon, and who knew what that
meant? Who knew what new creatures would fly in on the wings of the winter
storms? What new horrors he would have to face, just so he could continue
calling himself the Wing Warrior?
But that was a concern for
the future. A battle for another day.
For now, everything was
peaceful.
The world of the living was
sleeping, dreaming of the dead.
‘So, here I am,’ he said.
The only response was the
hush of the water retreating across the beach.
‘It’s Spirit Night,’ he went on. ‘The first
one since the world went crazy. The first one since you... You know...’ He
cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I don’t know if you’re out there. If you can
hear me. But I hope you can, because I need you to know something.’
The water gulped around his
toes, and for a moment his thoughts were filled with that fateful day on
Serpent’s Coil, when he had been cut by the Spirit Blade, and was almost
devoured by the Vampyr. He repositioned himself on the beach, just out of reach
of the waves.
‘I’m not too keen on the
water these days,’ he said, laughing quietly. ‘Not since then. You said the
ocean was dangerous, and you were right. Sometimes, it seems so peaceful. But
it’s so strong, and there’s so much of it. It can break down cliffs, and it
slowly eats away at the world. I think, one day, there will only be sea left. I
guess that would make you happy. Or maybe not. Maybe you’ll never be happy.’
He chuckled to himself,
shaking his head as if it might somehow rearrange his disjointed thoughts.
‘I’m rambling, putting off
what I came here to say. It’s just, that last time we met... There was so much
bad blood between us, and it got in the way. It blinded me. But now... Now I
just miss my friend.’ He choked back a sob. ‘And I just wish that, in those
last moments, you could have known how much I wanted things to be different.
‘If only you could have
understood what being the Wing Warrior means. You could have been a part of it.
You won’t believe what’s happening now. A group of men from Crystal Shine have
captured a griffon. They’re training it as a mount. There’s going to be a whole
battalion of them eventually, called the Griffon Guard. You could have been
one. You would have had your own legendary creature to ride, rather than trying
to take mine.’ He stopped himself, as he felt anger bubbling up from the deep
well of his heart. He didn’t want to be angry anymore. This wasn’t about anger.
‘You would have been the best,’ he whispered.
Suddenly, there was the
clatter of pebbles being dislodged among the rocks behind.
Nimbus turned, and for a
moment he thought he saw a shrouded figure darting for cover. He jumped to his
feet to give chase, but as he did, a cloud rolled across the moon, plunging the
beach into utter darkness.
‘Wait!’ he shouted.
There were more sounds among
the rocks, as stones were displaced; but by the time the moon reappeared,
whatever had been there was gone.
As he stared up at the
rocks, Nimbus wiped his mouth with one trembling hand. When he finally blinked,
tears wetted his cheeks.
‘Tide?’ he said.
A figure emerged from the
darkness: a girl in a white dress, with a shawl wrapped tightly around her
shoulders.
‘It’s only me,’ Sky said.
‘What are you doing out here all alone?’
Nimbus quickly brushed the
tears from his eyes. ‘Oh. Nothing. I was just...’ He hesitated, and then he
smiled. ‘I was just talking to an old friend.’
Sky looked at him seriously
for a moment, and then she smiled too. ‘You should come to the party,’ she
said.
‘Why?’
‘Because otherwise your
dragon is going to eat all the pumpkin pie.’
Nimbus laughed, and took
Sky’s hand in his. ‘I guess we better go then,’ he said.
As they left the beach, he
stopped only once, glancing back towards the rocks where he was sure he had
seen a stooped figure, wrapped in a cloak of seaweed.
‘Do you think it might be
true?’ he said.
‘You mean the stories about
Spirit Night?’ Sky asked.
‘Yeah. I mean, we know
ghosts are real. Captain Spectre and his men were proof of that. But do you
think the other stuff is true too?’
‘The stories say the spirits
come back to visit the ones they love. The ones they miss. Maybe we just want
that to be true.’
Nimbus held Sky’s hand a
little tighter. ‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘Maybe.’
