The Brotherhood: Blood (65 page)
“About what?”
“That we hadn’t gone back to the mainland until I was older.”
“How much?”
“I’m… not so sure.”
The concept of age could hardly be explained by physical appearance, let alone by simply looking at someone’s face and gauging the fat in their cheeks or the hollow of their face. Just because he had
looked
a little older and had beard shadow didn’t mean a thing, as for all he knew that could be on his face tomorrow or even next year.
He said we’d be here a year… so that makes sense.
What
didn’t
make sense was the time difference that seemed to have been so obviously-present in his dream. If they returned to the mainland when he completed his journey, that would make him eighteen, if not nineteen-years-old. He’d become a squire at sixteen-and-a-half—if all played out well, this would all be over when he was eighteen.
“Ah well,” Nova chuckled. “A dream’s a dream, right?”
“I guess.” Odin turned his head and watched Miko’s back rise and fall with each passing breath. “Has he said anything?”
“No. Why?”
“I was just wondering. I’ve never had a dream like that.”
“You haven’t had dreams about me or him?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… weird. It felt like I really
was
at the castle with him.
“Well, like I said, dreams are dreams—you have ‘em or you don’t.”
“I know.” He settled back into bed and drew the blankets tightly around him. “Anyway, I’m going to try and go back to sleep.”
“Sweet dreams,” Nova said.
Sweet dreams they would hopefully be.
Odin sat up with Nova out of boredom and because he couldn’t seem to fall asleep. Miko, who hadn’t said a word since Odin rose from his tangled mess of blankets and pillows, rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, eyes wide and aware.
“Are you all right?” Odin asked, a frown crossing his lips when he took in the Elf’s behavior.
“I’m fine,” Miko said, draping an arm over his brow. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
“I can’t sleep.”
“Neither can I.”
A brief smile crested Miko’s fine lips before it disappeared into the pearl canvas of his fine face. He studied the ceiling for several long moments, then sat up and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his naked torso and setting his attention on the door opposite them.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Nova asked.
“I’m feeling much better than I have in quite a while, my friend.”
“Does this mean you’re ok?” Odin asked, wary at the idea that recovery could come in such a short amount of time.
Miko smiled and lifted a hand to push a length of hair behind his long, pointed ears. “It does, Odin. I guess… I guess…”
What?
Odin thought, staring at both the creature and at the look in his eyes.
“You guess… what, sir?”
“That I can be myself again.”
In that single moment, when it seemed that the entire world was riding upon the Elf’s shoulders and only his, Miko’s bright features returned. His porcelain skin gleamed in the sullen moonlight, his eyes sparkled despite the darkness, and his smile—arguably the most beautiful thing about him—showed strong and pure.
They say that there comes a time in someone’s life when they think they are about to lose everything. When that time comes, there is only one of two things to do—to give in and die or to fight.
It seemed as though Miko had just won his fight.
Odin couldn’t be happier.
“Sir,” Odin said, drawing his eyes away from the sky to look at his knight master. “You said we were going to be here for a year, right?”
“Yes,” Miko nodded. “That’s right.”
“But where does that leave my other year?”
“Ah.”
Expecting more, Odin stopped, waited, and gently nudged a rock out of the road. Miko set a gloved hand on his shoulder, leaned into his side, then whispered, “It’s a secret.”
“No,” Odin laughed, taking a few steps back and away from his sire. “You’re not doing this to me again.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not waiting weeks to find out where we’re headed once we leave here.”
“What’s the fun in waiting to go somewhere?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
“So,” Odin paused, drawing the word out to gain his master’s attention. “Are you going to tell me?”
“No.” The Elf chuckled and continued walking down the road, only gesturing Odin along when he stood his ground. “Come, Odin.”
“What if I don’t move until you tell me where we’re going?”
“Then you’re going to be standing there for a very long time possibly forever.”
When Miko started walking again, Odin stood his ground, hoping that the Elf would give in and reveal to him their next destination. It wasn’t until the much older being turned the corner that Odin sighed, took a deep breath, and continued following his knight master, knowing the secret would eventually come despite the circumstance.
In one year, they would be leaving both Neline and the Globe Village behind.
He might as well enjoy his time while they were here.
Chapter 7
“Odin!” Nova called, then ceased his incessant yelling a short moment later. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Pull ups!” Odin laughed, pulling himself up onto one of the cottage’s metal bars, then swinging his legs up onto a second before he pushed himself into a sitting position atop it. “Why? What’s up?”
“Miko’s ready to leave.”
“He is?”
“Yeah, so get off there. We need to get going.”
“Ok.”
Odin looked down at the ground below. After a careful moment of consideration, he tilted his body back, grabbed the opposite bar, then slowly slid down the one he was sitting on until he had his hands on the bar behind him. He dropped down shortly thereafter.
“How’d you get up there anyway?” Nova frowned. “It’s three, four feet higher than you are.”
“I jumped.”
“I’m not even going to ask how. Let’s go.”
Laughing, Odin slid up against Nova’s side and followed his friend into the cottage. Miko, across the room, was stooped over his pack, pushing and rearranging it as he saw fit. He only looked up as the door closed behind them. “Hello,” he said. “Are the two of you almost ready?”
“I am,” Nova said. “What about you, Odin?”
“All I need to do is pack.”
“All right,” Miko said. “Get packed, then we’ll leave.”
At midday, after they’d prepared for the next part of the trip, they made their way through town and toward the gate that would lead them out and into the wasteland. Odin glanced at Miko, then at Nova, both of which wore their hoods over their heads. Nova’s mess of uncombed beard stuck out at odd angles and directions, as if forewarning of the hell they would soon be enduring come a few moment’s time.
We won’t be coming back here after this.
“Sir,” Odin frowned, unnerved by the lack of dialogue between them. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Miko said, turning his eyes on Odin, then lifting them to the road. “And yes.”
“You want to share?” Nova frowned.
“It’s nothing the two of you should worry about.”
“We’ll be worried if you don’t tell us,” Odin said. “Sir—”
“She’s pregnant, Odin.”
Both Odin and Nova stopped. The Elf would’ve continued walking had he not noticed their sudden halt. “As I said,” he continued, voice nondescript and once more falling into its all-too-haunting monotone, “it’s nothing to be worried about.”
“But how,” Odin started. “I thought—”
“Gestation is different with Elves.”
“You were only with her one time,” Nova started. “You—”
“You should know better than anyone that it only takes one time for a woman to become pregnant with your child, Nova. You, too, are a married man.”
“I—” Nova stopped. He glanced at Miko, then at Odin. He eyes fell to the ground almost instantaneously.
“Sir,” Odin said, taking a few steps forward. “We should stay here. If she’s pregnant, you can’t just—”
“The child is not my responsibility. Besides—I won’t allow my squire to play caretaker to a babe when he has no need to.”
“But you said—”
“Did I ever say something, Odin?”
“No, but—”
“If a man is engaged with a woman for more than one brief time, yes, he
should
stay and be a father to the son or daughter he bears. But if there is only one time, and
only
one time, a man cannot help if the woman becomes pregnant.”
“Sir—”
“Do not question me further. I have made my decision. We are leaving both Neline and the Globe Village behind.”
Without waiting for a response, Miko started off, leaving Odin and Nova to stand there and consider his words.
“We can’t just leave,” Odin whispered, grabbing Nova’s arm. “If she’s pregnant, we can’t—”
“We can’t control what he wants to do.”
“We’ll tell him to stay!” he cried. “We—”
“I know how you feel, Odin, because I feel the same way. I can’t stay here though. My wife’s been waiting for me for far too long. I can’t make her weight just because some woman is pregnant with his child.”
“But Nova—”
“I’m sorry, Odin. He won’t stay, I can’t stay, and you’ll never learn how to be a knight if you stay here and take care of a baby.”
Nova took one last deep breath before shrugging his pack further up his shoulder and continuing down the street.
So,
Odin thought, falling in place behind his human friend only when he felt himself capable of actually moving.
This is it then.
This was the last time they would be in Neline—and, he assumed, the last time Miko would ever return.
“These are for all of you,” a young woman whom had introduced herself as a Gate Guardian said, turning and grabbing three thick, fur cloaks out of a wooden dresser before returning her attention to them. “The mayor’s asked that the three of you garb yourself in them before you leave.”
“The mayor is very kind,” Miko said, but didn’t reach out to take the cloak.
“He wants you to have them, sir. He’s asked me to keep you here until you do.”
The mayor sure is stubborn,
Odin mused.
Considering the Elf had impregnated his daughter, the mayor was being awfully generous. Now if
he
had been the mayor, Odin wouldn’t have been so quick to impart gifts, especially to a man who had abandoned his grandchild and forever mark him or her as a bastard.
Not knowing what to do but not willing to reject the gift, Odin stepped forward and accepted one of the cloaks, drawing it over his already tightly-bundled body. Nova, too, took a cloak, painstakingly shoving it over his thick, furr-lined coat and pants before snapping the buttons together.
“Sir,” Odin said, looking up from his progress of securing the coat in place. “You should take one too.”
“The mayor’s asked for you too,” the young woman said, pushing the largest of the cloaks forward. “He had it custom made for your size.”
“Thank you. Please, give the mayor my regards.”
“He wants you to be as safe as possible,” the gate guardian said, crossing her arms over her chest. She turned her attention to the distant windows within the tunnel and let out a brief sigh. “As a gate guardian, I should warn you—the spring storms might be surging this time of year, especially considering how severe our winter has been.”
“You don’t think anything will go wrong,” Odin asked, “do you?”
“I highly doubt it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something did. The mayor’s said the two of you are mages. How you crossed the land I’m not sure, but do as you did before and make sure not to wear yourselves out during your travels.”
With that said, the young woman nodded, then made her way to the gate, where she positioned herself along a group of other gate guardians before they began to slide locks, bars and gears out of place.
“We’ll go slow this time,” Miko said, sliding the second hood over his head just as a colossal groan began to reverberate throughout the interior of the tunnel. “I sent a message to the brothers some two weeks ago. The boat is on its way as we speak.”
The gate opened.
A storm of snow blew in.
In the days after they disembarked from the Globe Village they covered little ground at a time, going as slow as possible in order to avoid overworking themselves for fear of collapse from exhaustion or the chill. Not once throughout those moments, hours, or days did Miko push any of them past their limits, and not once did they travel during a storm or as night fell. It would have seemed, looking upon the darkened world, that there would be monsters crossing the landscape—giants, it could be said, of snow and ice, melded together by old magic brought about by the destruction of the once-beautiful world and created merely to protect the land and what little happened to say there.