Children of the Glimmer Pool - Obstinate Anarchist (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📗

"Gone! It's gone, I tell you. We'll never find it if we don't act now!"

"Yes, Geraldine, we are all aware of the 'missing' artifact, but acting right away will not solve any of our problems. What good will rash decisions be in this type of situation?" An ancient looking man with a beard as white as snow sat at a long, wooden table. He wore a robe of olive green silk with a darker brown trim. He had pale, almost translucent blue orbs, and crows' feet tugged at the outer edges of his eyes.

"But what good are we doing just sitting here talking about it?" The woman named Geraldine huffed, short auburn hair framing her tanned face. A long, terracotta colored dress hugging to her curves. A clay tinted sash hung from her hips, swaying with her every movement. She stood up, her sandstone chair sliding backward against the floor, her hands pressed firmly against the cool wooden table. "If we don't act now, the villagers may find out and want war again! You know as well as I that the Ring of Frederick was the only thing keeping our peace, Cecil," she persisted, her amber eyes ablaze with fury.

Cecil let out a long sigh and leaned back in his tall wooden chair, moss and lichen climbing up the legs and back. He closed his eyes for a brief moment in what seemed like resignition. "Perhaps we should consult the other Village Leaders?" He shifted and looked over in the direction of two other young men now. "Ralph? Hamish? What do you think?"

A brunet man stirred in his own chair made of a what looked like ice and some sort of transparent material. He wore a heavy, indigo coat whose hood was lined with soft, white fur peppered with black spots. His warm, honey colored eyes flickered over to the older man and he leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the wooden table, chin between his hands. "What do I think? I think this whole thing is a ploy to start up some feud between the villages. I don't plan on losing my head all because some old ring has disappeared from Frederick's mausoleum," he replied dryly. "We should find out who took it and deal with them."

"It might not have been stolen, Hamish. Let's take things slow. We shouldn't break it to the people just yet, not before we have some more information. What if we make false accusations?" Ralph reasoned, idly running one hand through his blond hair. He donned a vibrant, forest green cloak over a thin olive green shirt stitched at the the torn v-shaped collar. His emerald gaze fell on Hamish now, who seemed to be unbothered by the young man's words.

Geraldine grit her teeth and slowly sat back in her own chair, slumping against its back, defeated. "The people already know, Ralph. Maybe not a lot, but they certainly know something," she grumbled bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest.

The old man looked over the younger Village Leaders with a hint of amusement. They were young, many years younger than he, and had much more to learn. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips but he resisted and instead cleared his throat. "I believe that waiting may prove to be beneficial to us. Spreading any news of the disappearance of Frederick's ring might cause turmoil," Cecil decided, his wooden chair creaking as he readjusted his position.

An air of silence filled the room, the sound of the steady breathing of the four Village Leaders providing the only source of sound. Finally, Hamish spoke up again.

"The Children of the Glimmer Pool." He spoke in such a quiet tone that Cecil almost had not heard him. The words did not sound pleasant, in fact, they sounded like a curse the way Hamish uttered them.

"Yes, Hamish, what of them?" Ralph inquired, urging the other man to continue on.

The mousey haired boy grimaced, seeming nervous now. "They'd always had... You know. Some sort of strangeness about them, haven't they?" Hamish ventured, fiddling with some of the fur lining at the hems of his sleeves. "It could have been one of them. They might have taken the Ring."

"Yes! Yes, of course, why hadn't I thought of that?" Geraldine exclaimed in excitement, throwing up her hands. "The Children of the Glimmer Pool!"

"But why?" The blond boy questioned, furrowing his brow in confusion. He was the newly appointed Village Leader and had held this position for little over a month. Ralph was unfamiliar with many of the stories and customs of the Village Leaders, and so he could not understand why the Children of the Glimmer Pool might be possible suspects.

Cecil took it upon himself to explain to the younger man. A fondness flickered in his dulling vision as he turned to Ralph with some minor effort, the ancient wooden chair creaking once more. "Ah, yes, I'm sorry, Ralph. I forget you are not as familiar with the story as Geraldine and Hamish. You know that the Ring of Frederick belonged to a man named Frederick Elswood, correct? Frederick was a peaceful man who thought that violence was never the answer to anything. He traveled through four vast climates all inhabited by clan people, most of which were rather barbaric. They fought viciously and ravaged one another's lands for food, for territory, and dominance.

"While Frederick ventured through these places, he took note of their uncivil behavior and left for middle ground between all four landscapes. It is the place we now know as the Glimmer Cave. Frederick took it upon himself to fix the warring clans' situations and into the cave he went. As the story goes, Frederick prayed to the heavens and a ray of sunshine broke through the roof of the cave. A beautiful woman was formed from the sunlight and told Frederick that she would grant him seven days to come up with a wish that he wanted most.

"For seven days, Frederick stayed in the Glimmer Cave with the beautiful woman and over the course of that week, the two of them fell madly in love. On the seventh day, Frederick wished that the clans come together for peace and just as promised, the woman granted his wish. The four clans stopped their fighting and eventually settled into the territories our villages reside in. After the woman fulfilled Frederick's wish, she dissolved back into the ray of sunshine from which she was born. This caused Frederick great sadness and a single tear fell from his eye, mingling with the sunlight that the woman was formed from.

"The woman's sunlight and Frederick's tear mingled together and formed a never ending pool of iridescent water we call the Glimmer Pool. Frederick could see the woman's reflection in the Glimmer Pool and drowned himself trying to reach his love. In due course, the clans who had been brought peace by Frederick's wish went in search of him and when they discovered his dead form in the cave, floating at the surface of the Glimmer Pool, they mourned for him. Each clan decided that for the sake of Frederick and his love, a child from each clan would be sacrificed on the seventh month on the seventh day every other year.

"The Children of the Glimmer Pool are children who were sacrificed to the pool. Typically, the children sacrificed will float to the surface of the pool, but those who sink will swim to the surface seven days after with a type of iridescent feature. Most often, Children of the Glimmer Pool are seen as unnatural beings. After all, what child sinks to the bottom of a never ending pool and then swims up a week after?" Cecil spoke every word affectionately, as he had told this story dozens and dozens of times.

Ralph stared at Cecil for a few moments and was silent for a good two minutes, waiting for Cecil to continue. When it was evident that the old man had finished his story, the blond sighed and asked, "But what of his Ring? Why is Frederick's Ring so significant to us? If he wished for us to have peace, then shouldn't we have peace? There is no need for a ring."

"It is because it was Frederick's. Frederick is dead, but as long as something of his remains, it reminds us that we are to keep the peace he wished upon our clans," Geraldine explained, rolling her golden eyes in annoyance. "Or are you so daft you can hardly comprehend something so simple?"

Again, the blond man was quiet and leaned back in his chair. He decided that it was not too clear, but now that Geraldine had explained it further, he understood a bit more.

"Precisely. So couldn't the Glimmer Children be our prime suspects?" Hamish pressed, cocking a brow as though daring someone to question him.

Cecil grunted and stood up. "Why would it be the Children of the Glimmer Pool? Have you any evidence? Or perhaps you have a confession from one of them?" He shuffled away from the table, cuing the other Village Leaders to do the same.

Hamish grit his teeth and began tugging on a pair of woolen mittens as the four of them exited a large wooden building constructed in the resemblence of a tree. "The Glimmer Children are unnatural beings, Cecil, that much is clear to anyone. No human being can breathe underwater, much less in an endless, iridescent pool," he pressed.

"Yes, perhaps they are not of this world. But they have not made any conspicuous trouble, Hamish. Until we have extensive knowledge concerning Frederick's Ring, we should not tell our people the details." The old man turned away from the brunet boy and looked to Ralph. "Now, Hamish, Geraldine, I bid you a warm hearted farewell. Come, Ralph, let us go."

Without another word on the topic, Cecil and Ralph turned left at the exit and made their way toward their own separate Villages: Cecil went down an old, worn forest trail while Ralph made his way toward a mountain range.

Hamish and Geraldine went just the opposite of the other duo. Hamish, still fuming, whirled on his heel to face Geraldine now. "Geraldine, you understand, don't you? The Glimmer Children are not to be trifled with but they must have had some hand in the disappearance of Frederick's Ring!"

The auburn haired girl stared at Hamish for a moment and bobbed her head up and down in a nod. "Yes, Hamish, I agree wholeheartedly. The Glimmer Children are strange and otherworldly. They are not to be trusted. Everything about them is suspicious and we would do good to be cautious about them," Geraldine grimaced, adjusting the sash at her hip.

Hamish nodded vigorously and held out one ungloved hand to Geraldine. "We shall make an oath, our very own secret agreement between the two of us. Cecil is reaching his prime age and soon his words will not matter," the brunet boy grumbled bitterly, staring expectantly at Geraldine.

"Yes, our own secret oath," Geraldine replied in a quiet tone, taking Hamish's hand and shook it firmly, sealing their secret conversation.

Without another word between them, the two made their silent oath of secrecy and parted ways, one toward the icy arctic climate, the other to a hot, barren desert.