Chapter one: Cody

My grandfather once told me that an arrow may fly through the air and leave no trace; but an ill thought leaves a trail like a serpent. I never knew what it meant. I probably never will. Im okay with that, though, since my grandfather provided all the imagination and adventure I needed. He told heroic stories of dragons, knights, princesses, and everything a little boy wanted to hear.
When I turned fourteen all those stories stopped. My mother said he left to find grandma in the clouds. He would always tell me about how he would find a way to get ‘back’ to her. Grandpa was lost in his fantasies almost as much as Mother hated them. All she would say was, “It’s just his Alzheimer’s flaring up again,” and go back to entertaining who ever happened to walk in the door that night. She may be related to him by blood, but she sure didn’t act like it.
I missed my grandfather, but I never got the time to think about him. I had just started Higher High School, great name right? And the classes were intense. Most, normal, people study high mathematics or difficult chemistry equations. If only I lived in a normal place.
Higher Compound was literally higher than everything else. It was perched on a massive hill that was a staggering thirty feet higher than the neighboring Compound of Better. The town closest to either Better or Higher was the town of Mist, which was below sea level, and therefore looked down upon. People only went to Mist for two reasons: gas for their cars and the casino. The compounds of Better and Higher had their first ego dispute fifty-six years and three hundred and sixty-one days ago. The annual competition of “Who is the Ultimate Compound” is in four days.
“Hurry up Cody! You don’t want to be late for school! Again!” My mother didn’t understand the meaning of fashionably late. I grabbed my backpack and trotted to the door. Before I could open it, my mother holding, a paper bag, intercepted me. I nodded my thanks and bolted from the house. I turned a left at the end of the driveway, careful not to disturb the mounds of garbage and ruble that greeted me every morning and night. Once at the main schoolhouse, I headed towards the back of the building to the lounge. I immediately spotted my three closest friends being destroyed by my best friend at UW3, Uncivilized Warfare three.
“Gosh, Crystal! Give a guy a break,” Chriss whined as he tossed the controller on the couch.
“Oh please I wasn’t even trying! You were standing in the middle of the arena with out cover! I wasn’t about to let Dary have such an easy shot! Not that he would have actually hit you or anything…”
“Hey! I’m a great shot!”
“Oh please! My dog has better reflexes than you!”
“Now now, Crystal. Let’s not get too excited before class. Today we have agility training remember?” I tried to change their focus before Crystal ended up putting the both of them in the infirmary. I herded them all out side and they winced at the bright sunlight.
Five and a half miles later, I decided I wanted to leave. I had never really liked Higher due to the fact that I have no natural talents. Oh great. I almost forgot today was evaluations for the competitions!
“You’re lucky I covered for you,” Crystal whispered to me as I stealthily slipped into the line up.
“I had it sorted.”
“Of course you did.”
“Hey! No talking!” The evaluator this year was Mrs. Ashburn who, to be nice, needed to seriously think about retiring before she turned into dust. “I want all of you to try your hardest for this year’s competition! As you all know, we usually win every trial except archery. Well this year that’s all going to change right?”
“Yes Mrs. Ashburn,” the lineup answered half-heartedly.
“I’m glad to hear it! We have some new freshies this year who have already signed up for that trail. I want you all to wish them luck. Dary, Crystal, please step forward so we can send you off to the archery range with heavy hearts!”
I heard Crystal sigh as she stepped forward at a snails pace. Then Dary stepped up next to her and started walking towards the range while the rest of the students wished they had to miss the evaluation like them. The only catch was that Crystal could actually hit the targets. Dary was better than me, but he only hit the center once out of ten shots. On the other hand, Crystal would think missing once out of twenty-five was a disaster.
When I finally got home, I was bleeding from my nose and I could have sworn my arm was broken. My mother just looked and me and asked, “Evaluations?” I only had the strength to nod and collapse on the couch. “Your friend Chriss called earlier and wanted to know if you made the cuts for any trials. I think the message said that he made the running team.”
“I’ll call him later.”
“No need for that!” Chriss said as he barged into my house. “I was in the neighborhood and decided to pop in.”
“Chriss, you’re always in the neighborhood. The compound only has two hundred people living in it.”
“Exactly,” Chriss breathed as he inhaled my mothers cooking freshly laid on the table for dinner.
“Well you’re always welcome in our home Chriss. You always seem to enjoy my cooking.”
“I don’t see how he could enjoy it mother. He hardly pauses to chew,” I joked as Chriss swallowed a tray of brownies after finishing off few chicken legs.
“So, Cody, did you make any trials?”
“What do you think Chriss?”
“Hey don’t get defensive! I’m just asking. You did better on the five and a half today.”
“Better doesn’t mean I made anything,” I sighed.
“Well I heard Crystal made the varsity archery trial and she also made the sword class.”
“Wow isn’t that great Cody? You should go over and congratulate her!”
“Mom. You do realize that the sword trials are to the death right? She basically signed her own death certificate.”
“Oh I don’t know about that Cody,” Chriss said as he put down the last plate of brownies. “I’ve been watching her practice. She has a real strong chance.”
I shrugged and wished that Crystal knew what she was getting herself into.



Now that the evaluations were over, school went back to normal. First class of the day is English with Chriss and Dary. Then math with Crystal and after that science with all three of them. Once lunch is over, Crystal heads off to sword class, Dary to the archery range, and Chriss to the engineer club. What do I get to do? Stare out the window the rest of the day. The only interesting thing about today is that I found my grandfather’s old adventure journal on my bed. When I questioned my mother about it, she denied everything. I decided to relive my childhood for a moment and carefully opened the journal.
It still looked rather old and dusty but I could just make out the sketches on the page I happened to flip too. This sketch was of a waterfall. Grandfather had said that this waterfall was nearby and when he finally found it, he could get back to grandma. The next page was devoted to describing something called a catapult and apparently, it was used to launch projectiles wherever the shooter wanted. How creatively unorthodox. The further I read the more I realized just how much time and thought grandpa put into this journal. It was no longer childhood stories, but plausible weapons and places.
My favorite part was the description of the dragon king. His scales were royal blue on the outside and sky blue on the inside of each individual scale. His head was adorned with eight horns. Four on each side and they increased with length so each one was longer than the one before it. He had four claws on the front of his feet and one on the heal but higher up the leg. The claws seemed to have been dipped in silver, for they glistened in the sun and a spiral design was vivid on each claw. His teeth were deathly white, but the way he held his jaw was almost as if he was grinning. I stared at the picture for hours and let myself dream, once again, about my grandfather’s stories.
The day of the trails finally came. My mother had to drag me out of the house to get me to go. She insisted I be there to cheer on my friends. I didn’t want to watch them die. No one had ever won two trials in a single year. Crystal had the archery one in the bag, but I knew deep in my heart that she wouldn’t have a chance at the swordplay. One reason being that she is a girl and the other that she is only a freshman, only decreased her chance of survival.
Before the Archery trial, I saw Chriss playing around with a strange looking sword. “Hey what kind of sword is that?” As I walked closer I noticed that it was hallow on the inside design, but the edges were curved and coated with two types of metal, one slightly blue and the other a dull white.
“I’m trying to find out. Crystal asked me to sharpen it for her. Said it was her father’s,” Chriss said as he continued to swing it around, testing the balance.
“I didn’t know Mr. Siserle was a swordfighter.”
“No, it was her real fathers. Said she found it along with her birth certificate, some strange amour, and a charm bracelet. Her mom is letting her use it today. Thought it might be sturdier against our usual swords.”
“Gosh I sure hope it is. I don’t want to watch one of my best friends die.”
“Neither do I.” A bell silenced our conversation as the archery competition started. Dary hit the mark on the first target, but when they moved it farther, he didn’t even make a dent in it. Crystal was last and she had to hit the middle all five times to win, since the person before her shot all but the last one. Twang-twang-twang-twang…. Thwack! Her last arrow put a hole though the last target. For anyone who had watched her shoot before, it wasn’t surprising. Now all she had to do was kill four people. No pressure.