Flash Fiction: Obi Travalar, Chapter I

by Peter O'Keefe
CHAPTER ONE : The Candle

The harsh easterly wind buffeted the citizens of Coperna early on an October morning. This village was small, and vastly unknown in the mighty kingdom of Milandria, and the citizens didn't help the matter. All who heard of this small town steered clear of it, for the plain and simple reason that they were known to be terribly superstitious. They believed all sorts of crazy things, from breaking mirrors giving you bad luck to locking your doors at night resulting in a robbery.        But today they had a new superstition. Not only did these cold winds, early for this time of year, mean that the crops would be bad, but they were also saying that something terrible would happen today. The town guards, dressed in their shabby armor and leather tunics, kept on telling the folks of Coperna that they were fools, that today would be just like every other day. These guards were from the great city Osêria, and as a result did not hold with these superstitions. Nothing they said could dissuade these stubborn country folks, though. Coperna was still in peril, and nothing could stop the horrible from happening.
       Most of all, Obi Travalar was unlucky, because today was his birthday. Obi was turning thirteen, which was the unlucky number, which heightened the tension.
       Obi lived in a relatively large house near the outskirts of town, a brick one with a nice garden out front and carved arches built into their doorway. The Travalars were a well-respected family, founding members of the town, and they were wealthier than most of the other townspeople. Despite the fact that every Travalar since time’s beginning had had blond hair and brown eyes, Obi was an exception, inherited from his mother’s parents. His hair was brown, and he was one of the only people in town who had blue eyes.
       He had a big family. His father, Zachary, and his mother, Olga, had seven kids. The youngest was Cyna, a sickly little girl of eight years old, and the oldest was Herb, a man in his early twenties. Obi was the fifth child, and the next youngest was his lifelong playmate, Aaron, who was eleven. The parents were always complaining about all the money they spent on their children, and how old they were getting. They were eager for the kids to grow up and to be able to retire early, and all in all Obi had never found himself close with either of them. He told himself he was imagining it, but he always seemed to notice that he was the child most ignored by his parents. They didn't really seem to care about his future at all, and it was always a wonder for him when he was given a finely made cake imported from Osêria for his birthday.
        Obi and Aaron were stalking the streets that morning. Everyone at home was in a grumpy mood, so they had decided to take an early morning walk.
      “Do you think the cold weather will last?”asked Aaron, who was very knowledgeable of the ways of the world. Being a town completely dependent on farming, the loss of the crops could result in a catastrophe. Obi, pulling his coat closer over him, replied, “It never does. This is just a strange day. It'll get better. It always does.”
      “That doesn't mean it will now. Oh! I made a joke for your birthday!”
      “Is it as bad as the barber joke you told last year?”asked Obi wryly. Aaron, annoyed, said indignantly, “No. And it's not my fault my humor is too lofty for your mind to handle.”        Obi rolled his eyes and said, “Okay, just tell the joke. I'll be the judge of it's quality.”        “Why you?”
       “Because it's my birthday.”
       Aaron, clearing his throat professionally, quoth, “Forget the past, you cannot change it. Forget the future, you cannot predict it. Forget the present, I didn't get you one. Nevertheless, happy birthday!”
       Obi had to applaud, if not for the joke, for the smugness of the smile on his brother’s face.
Then he said, “It was better than last year’s, I’ll give you that.”
       “Obi, are you excited for the festival?”
       “Of course I am!” Only a fool wasn't. The festival occurred every year, in a wide plain next to the city Osêria. It was the greatest event the people of Coperna looked forward to. The festival had everything you could ask for: magicians, strongmen, food, sword swallowers, storytellers, singers, dancers, craftsmen, animal tamers, contests, plays, rich people by the thousands and, best of all, the jousting tournament. But Aaron could be pardoned for asking Obi whether or not he was excited. Because Obi had had many misadventures at the festival. In fact, he had been banned from five of the acts so far, due to harmless mistakes, like revealing a magician’s secret trap door, or thinking the mind reading act was for free. Nothing terrible had happened because of these events, but the festival folk were really touchy for some reason. But he was always on his best behavior during the joust, of course. He couldn't risk being banned from that.
       Obi had also made a friend among the festival people who gave him inside information and took him to places not open to the public (one time, this led him to stumble through a curtain and knocking the flame blower into a cart of apples). This friend was Nancy Nobel, a pleasant girl who he'd been friends with for years. She was the daughter of the falconer, a jolly, fat man who didn't ban Obi from the show when he accidentally fed the falcon little bits of cake and got it sick.
       “What're you getting banned from this year?”asked Aaron causally. Obi didn't answer. Aaron, annoyed, said, “Ignoring me doesn't change the fact that I'm here. I can still bother you no matter what.”
       “Shhh!”exclaimed Obi shrilly. Then he added, “Don't speak so loudly.”
       “Why? Is it- oh. That's him, isn't it?”
       Down the road, a solitary figure walked among the trees, his eyes searching the boys from under his dark cloak. The boys ignored him, and soon the frightening moment came to pass. He was gone. Obi let out a breath he had been holding, and his brother sighed with relief.         “Cole Seb is back in town,” muttered Obi gloomily. Cole was a really strange man, who was not a resident of Coperna but came here often enough. He was a traveler, and was said to be on the road almost all the time. But Obi had always thought, whenever he saw Cole, that the man was staring at him, in a dark, peculiar manner. What a traveler would want with Obi, he didn't know, but his parents didn't believe him when he told them that Cole Seb was stalking him. They said “he's just passing through”, or “he is a peaceful man”, or “he's had a string of bad luck”, that sort of thing. But Obi was suspicious of him no matter what.
       “Come on, let's go home,”said Aaron uneasily. Obi hastily agreed. But as they headed for their home, they saw a man running towards them urgently. The boys were about to bolt, as their instincts commanded, but then they saw that this man was a town guard, and they had nothing to fear. Wait, thought Obi. He suddenly recalled that the army, which hadn't been used in years, had become a terror, and there were reports of them doing all sorts of terrible things, using their power to do whatever they wanted to. Nobody trusted the army nowadays. Least of all folks from
Coperna. But it was too late to escape now.
       The guard stumbled towards them, a stout man in his mid-forties, and said deeply, “Hey,
Travalar! Could you take a message to your folks for me? Very important.”
       Obi, casting a glance at Aaron, replied, “Um, sure.”
       The guard said, “Okay, tell them that there are more Vikings in the area, so prepare their bows for tonight in case they've come for a raid.”
       “Okay, I'll tell them.”
       “Oh boy,” said the guard mournfully, half to himself. “What is this world coming to? Ten years ago, Vikings were our friends, and ten years ago, the army was given the respect we deserved. We weren't publicly defiled by our very king! Oh well. Nothing much we can do about it anyways.
Just take the message to your folks. Thanks, have a nice day.”
       He trotted off sullenly. Obi couldn't get what the guard had said out of his mind. It was absolutely true. Ten years ago, the Vikings had been Milandria’s closest ally, but not since lawlessness and corruption had taken control of the Vikings. A few good ones were still left in power, pleading for sanity from their leaders, but to no avail. This was one of the many things the folks of Coperna complained about. Another was the currency fraud that had happened a few years ago, when a criminal had went around claiming there had been a change in currency, and since then, money had become basically useless in this part of the country, and all the blame was given to the young king, Gerald Heimer. He did not appear to care about the misfortunes that happened in his country, as the Copernans said, instead doing unimportant things that could wait until later.
       “I feel bad for the king,”cut in Aaron, interrupting Obi’s thoughts. “He gets the blame for everything that goes wrong. I don't think he can do everything at once.”
       “You're just a loyalist because I am,” accused Obi. Aaron shrugged. It was true, Obi and Aaron were some of the only loyalists in the town, though it was rumored that Cole Seb was one, too. The rest of the Travalars believed the king was corrupt and evil. Obi had gotten his belief in the king...well, he had always supported the king, though he wasn't quite sure why, especially when no one else did.
       “Are you going to see Teff today?”asked Aaron, trying to start a conversation in order to think of anything but his cold toes. Obi shook his head and said, “She's not in town today. Tomorrow
I'll see her.”
       As long as Obi could remember, he had known Teff Tekkler. Her real name was Tiffany, but she loathed that name and so had chosen the nickname Teff. She was seventeen, and was also one of the only people in town to have blue eyes (which wasn't common this far north). She lived alone in a small cottage, which she'd had for herself since Obi could remember. Even when she was too young to live by herself. He was not sure when they had met, or how, but whenever he asked her, she simply replied, “I don't know. It was such a long time ago.”
       Obi and Aaron briskly rushed home. They passed all the familiar houses, and also the mayor’s office. The mayor had been sick for almost a year now, so he hadn't been doing his job very much, which the people didn't really mind. Occasionally he forgot to send someone to collect the taxes, so they were fine with this. Anyway, they passed the poorer section of the town, a place almost completely composed of shabby, dark houses with rotting wood and starving families. Obi had always been taught to avoid these houses at all costs lest he be mugged, but he doubted anyone in Coperna would do such a thing.
       Eventually, they arrived at their home. As they mounted the steps, Obi suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot to tell you about my dream!”
       “What dream? And why is it so important?”Aaron asked dubiously. But before his brother could reply, they had arrived at the door, and it was thrust open ceremoniously by Herb Travalar, the oldest brother.
      “Good day, gentlemen,” he said with a flourish. “Happy birthday, brother. I have come to visit you today.”
       Herb was in his early twenties, and he owned a cottage of his own, and was married. He was a good example of a successful citizen of Coperna. He was smart, had money to get by, and was married at a young age. Obi’s parents always held up Herb as an example to the rest of them, but this did not cause ill will towards him as you might expect, because Herb was too nice an individual to be resentful towards.
       “We can't have your party until later, though,” said Herb as the two boys stepped in. “Dad is out in the fields trying to figure out what we're going to do about these winds.”
       “Thanks for coming today,” said Obi gratefully. “Where's mom?”
       “Picking up the cake from the delivery guy. Poor guy. He comes down from Osêria every time one of us has a birthday.” Herb chuckled. Then, he suddenly said, “Hey, wanna play the memory game?”
       “We always play that!”complained Obi. The memory game was just them saying what their earliest memories were. Obi was always asked this, for reasons unknown to him. He always said the same thing; that time he visited the festival at age four. He remembered the thrill of seeing the jousting competition for the first time, with the glinting armor, the deafening stamping of horse hooves, the bright colors, the drama.
       Actually, this wasn't his earliest memory. Or maybe it was. He wasn't sure. There was another one, but it was so fuzzy and strange and unrealistic that he believed it was a dream. It was simply him walking through the streets of a dark city, next to a horse. It was painfully cold, and his shoes were too small. Beside him, an old man and a young man were speaking together urgently. That was all.
       After a few minutes, both of the boys managed to escape to their bedroom, a small one they shared. They were lucky to have only two in one room. All four girls were squished into one bedroom, not much larger than this one.  
       Aaron, settling himself on Obi’s part of their bunk bed, said, “So, I am your counselor. Tell me your life story beginning with your conception.”
       “I think I'll skip to my dream last night, doc,” replied Obi. He began to pace the room, as he always did when he had something on his mind. “It was so real. And somehow, I think it meant something, it wasn't just a weird dream.”
       “Go on, my apprentice.”
       “It started with a single candle in a dark room. The candle tipped over and began to burn its surroundings.”
       “Sounds scary,” commented Aaron.
       “Just wait, it gets worse. Wait… were you being sarcastic?”
       “Of course not,”said Aaron with a small smile. Obi glared at his brother, then went on. “But the fires didn't stop there. Two soldiers on horses, in a colorful arena, were riding desperately to escape from the fire. A man with horns was chasing me through the fires, and I got the feeling that he wanted me dead.”
       His brother was now serious. Death was not a laughing matter. “Go on.”
       “After that,”continued Obi, “I was in a small village, also burning, when I saw a man with fake horns being hanged by his people; being hanged with his own belt. But he descended from the gallows, and I knew he could help me, but he was stoned to death. Then, I was in a burning room, and a man with a hammer decided whether I be killed or let live. Before I could hear what he said, I was suddenly in a castle courtyard, and the fires were quenched by a fierce rain. And the horned man stalked over to me, and I knew he was going to kill me.” Obi turned to look at his brother. “That's when I woke up.”
       Aaron was stunned. Never had he heard such an odd dream, or one that coincided that much with their superstitious beliefs. Finally, the young boy asked his brother, “Is there anything else?”
       “Sort of. When the candle lit it's flames… it felt like it was my life going up in the flames with it.”
       “That can't be true. Besides, you're one normal kid from a small town in a normal family. Believe me, your life will be just like the lives of everyone else in Coperna. You'll see.”        Obi certainly hoped that was the case. And yet… he had always yearned for an adventure, something that would make him different from his family and friends. Teff kept telling him that great things were in store for him, that his life would be in the history books someday, but he knew she was just trying to get him excited and trying to boost his confidence. He needed that. Last week, Nancy Nobel had stopped by Coperna on her way to the festival in Osêria, and she had said that he was lucky being able to stay in one place and live a normal life. Life on the road was tough for her, as she constantly reminded him. And Obi knew for himself that if he were famous, it wouldn't be a good thing. All the famous leaders of his country were unpopular in Coperna, even the great Adrian Masias, who had went into hiding several years ago to get away from public life. It was twenty-five years since the end of the goblins, but Masias was still the most legendary figure on the face of the earth.
       Later that afternoon, Obi was anxious to have cake. He'd told his mom of this, but she just told him to take a hike. Which is exactly what he did. He decided to walk near the hillside forest that was just outside of town, an amazing place where the thick trees seemed greener. Obi loved this spot, where Teff had taken him many times before for long walks. He always enjoyed walking, usually by himself. It gave him a chance to think.
       He enjoyed the woods, and he enjoyed the soft rain that pattered him lightly. The silvery skies looked dramatic next to the deep greens of the vegetation around him. Teff had always taught him to see the beauty in nature, so it wasn't very hard to now.
       He tried to preoccupy his thoughts with nature, and the amazing serenity of the landscape around him, but his mind kept wandering to the cake he would receive later. Such rare delicacies were not enjoyed regularly, especially here where people made food for quantity not quality.         A sudden noise snapped him out of his thoughts. It sounded as if a leaf had been stepped on. Obi crouched lower to the ground. He had always reacted well in the face of danger, and his best example of danger was being in the woods when there was a large animal around. He silently moved forward a little, sticking to the shadows of the trees around him. Just to see what kind of animal it was; if it were a dangerous animal and he survived, he could brag about it to all the kids in town. The only animals around here that were dangerous were bears and wild horses, and he knew how to deal with both of them.
       Obi could hear the animal moving now. He followed it closely, using his dark coat to blend in with the trees. But as he stalked his prey for ten minutes or so, he began to realize that these steps sounded more like a person than a beast. As soon as he accepted this, he abashedly turned back, but he suddenly heard a voice, and he couldn't ignore it. For the speaker was Cole Seb.
       “What would he be doing here?”muttered the confused stalker to himself. Obi had better see what the old con was up to. So he crept closer, avoiding twigs and leaves. Soon, he could see that Cole was not alone, but his comrades were who worried Obi. The two others sneaking around in the woods were his brother, Herb, and Teff Tekkler. This was a really strange turn of events, and his curiosity led him to listen in on this conversation, to find out what was going on.       “...held up by the farmers,” Cole was saying. “Anyway, he's not safe anymore. You both know this. The chief says that he has to leave soon.”
      “He's safe where he is!” insisted Herb. “Trust me, my dad and I are good enough to protect him, even if we must die for him.”
       “Does your father feel the same way?” Cole demanded. Then he said, “No, the enemy is strong. They're powerful fighters, and your father and you will not be a match for even one of them. But how do we tell him that it's time to go? He doesn't even know me!”
       “The festival!”exclaimed Teff. “That'll get him to Osêria, and then that'll throw us off their scent for a while.”
      “Excellent. The festival occurs the 17th, correct? Yes, this is all coming together now. I'll tell the chief. He'll be in town tonight.”
       “I guess it's all decided then,”said Herb glumly. “It'll be hard to break it to my parents tonight. Today's my brother’s birthday.”
       “That can't be avoided. We've got a duty to do.” Cole Seb rubbed his hands together professionally, then said, “Meeting adjourned. I feel this may be the last time we'll all be in one place for a while; if the mission succeeds. Thank you both for your help. My next journey to the
Capital will be the most dangerous one yet, so wish me good luck.”
       Obi decided it was time to leave. His mind was racing. Why were they meeting so mysteriously in the middle of nowhere? And who was in danger that upset Herb so much? Plus, Obi's parents had never liked Teff, so they'd told him to avoid her. He had never told anyone that he visited her except Aaron, so how did Herb know her? And Teff was supposed to be out of town today, so why had she lied?
       So many questions, yet Obi knew he would receive no answers. He had a feeling that all these new conspiracies and problems revolved around Cole Seb. That no-good foreigner had come to Coperna for a reason, but what could that possibly be?
       Obi rushed home. He needed to get there before Herb did. When he got there, Aaron was playing checkers with their little sister Cyna. He looked up and said, “Obi! We were waiting for you! Dad just got home, so we're going to have the cake as soon as Herb gets back.”        “Okay,” said Obi distantly. He was not in the mood to talk. However, after a few games of checkers with Aaron, he had nearly forgotten the strange events of his afternoon. And in no time flat, it was finally time for the cake, the central event of the day. The whole Travalar family congregated in the dining room, around their oak table on which sat the cake. All the Travalars had looked forward to this for weeks, and Obi was determined to enjoy it. His mother was just lighting the candles on it now, and the other lights in the room were blown out. The heavy clouds outside, and the waning sunlight, made the room look entirely dark aside from the candles.         “Obi,” said his older sister Dara. “You had better prepare for an unlucky year, being thirteen and all. Remember when I was thirteen and I broke my leg falling off a horse?”
       Obi remembered that well. He also recalled all the things that had happened to his other siblings and friends upon their turning thirteen. In a community so superstitious, it was an accepted fact that your thirteenth year would be a disaster. His mom’s friend had drowned on her thirteenth birthday as a child. That was an extreme case, but being superstitious, he knew something would happen, one way or another.
       He had been thinking to use his birthday wish so that his past offenses would be forgotten at the festival, but this seemed more important. It could very well save his life. So, as his family sang happy birthday to him, he decided he would wish that nothing unlucky happen to him this year, that it went by like every other year. And with this decision in mind, he blew as hard as he could on the candles. To his utmost relief, they all went out immediately. Obi’s year would be lucky after all!
      “What did you wish for?”asked Aaron as their mother went to work on cutting the cake, and Herb went to relight the house lights. Obi told his brother, “I can't tell you. You know that. Or else bad luck.”
       His father went to get the candles, placing them in a cup near Obi. He was so relieved. The year would go fine! And that also meant that nothing bad would come from the mysterious meeting of Cole, Teff and Herb.
       But a few seconds later, all of that changed. His eyes managed to drift towards the candles for a split second, and in that moment, he saw that one of his candles had a reddish spark still on its wick. Before he could do anything, it grew, and he saw, to his horror, that the candle had relit itself. Dread filled his superstitious heart. This was a sure sign that everything would go horribly from now on.
       Obi hurriedly blew it out, hoping nobody had noticed.
To be continued...

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