by Quil Carter
Malagant laughed dryly. “He’ll be back… he just needs to prepare himself.”
“For what!” Ben said agitated, but then he just sighed.
Though suddenly something occurred to him. Ben looked to Malagant and narrowed his eyes.
Malagant looked suspiciously back.
“You know what it is,” Ben said. “Just tell me. Tell me and avoid giving the neurotic hibrid an aneurysm.”
Malagant looked ahead, a half-smile that looked almost sad appearing on his face. “It’s not my place, you know that. Just give the poor kid time. You know how he is.”
Yes, he did know how Teal was, that’s what was so frustrating about it.
Well, at least Malagant was talking again. Malagant had been quiet and reserved since the incident in the inn, and since Ben had still been angry at him for what had happened he hadn’t tried to push conversation. He was still unhappy with his friend but it looked like Malagant was punishing himself more than he ever could.
“I shouldn’t have even brought it up,” Ben said when it had been quiet between them for several minutes. “He called me by an old nickname I’d been called in my world. I guess he had heard it from the demigod. It stirred up feelings; I haven’t thought about Tav in a long time.”
Malagant nodded slowly, his face holding that sad half-smile again. “Don’t… don’t feel bad about it,” he said, before pausing again like he was trying to think of a way to word something.
Then he spoke again, and Ben realized that that’s exactly what he’d been doing. “I think it is best if… if you let go of those feelings towards him.”
That comment sat in Ben’s throat like it was covered in needles, but eventually he nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Malagant then perked up and looked at Ben curiously. “Old nickname?” he asked.
“Tav used to call me Benji,” Ben said with a shrug.
A small squeal came from Malagant’s lips. “Adorable! Little Benjikins,” he exclaimed.
Ben glared at him. Malagant shut his mouth and looked down at the wineskin. “I’ll stop drinking now.”
They had decided to make camp underneath a large hanging cliff that evening, which sheltered them well against the wind and light rain. The camp they had made wasn’t anything fancy, but it was better than sleeping in a saddle, dryer too.
Ben and Malagant had already finished eating and had guiltlessly been picking in Teal’s share of the food, when two reflective orbs peered at them through the darkened woods. By the time Teal had slunk into the outskirts of the camp, he was already missing half of one of his sandwiches and all of his larger candied chestnuts had been harvested.
“Are you just going to stand there and sulk, or do we have to give you a written invitation?” Ben called flatly.
They heard Teal sigh. With his head hung low in a submissive posture, Teal walked back into camp. Ben noticed he was holding something brown and furry in his hand.
Teal placed what Ben realized was a dead rabbit onto his lap. “I… I caught you an apology rabbit,” he said quietly.
Ben stared at it blankly. He held the dead thing up, making its head flop back and forth; it looked like it had already been gutted. “Is this a hibrid custom?”
“It’s… it’s a Teal custom.”
Ben smirked; he really did love that little nutcase. “Well, apology accepted then. Come and grab some food. We left you a little bit.”
Teal sat down and grabbed his plate of dinner. Though when he reached for his candied chestnuts Ben snatched the bag away from him. If only in an attempt to lighten Teal’s troubled mood.
“Nope,” Ben said in a singing voice, “until you tell me, I get all your share of the sweets.” Then, not breaking eye contact with his perplexed friend, Ben popped one of the candies into his mouth and crunched it in the noisiest and obnoxious way he could. Malagant laughed from where he was sitting.
Teal looked like he was trying to hide it, but he ended up smiling. “You always could make me smile,” Teal said, but then he poked his sandwich and sighed.
“Soon, I promise,” he whispered.
“You really don’t…”
“No, I can do it. You just… caught me by surprise that’s all. I guess I hoped you had forgotten, or didn’t remember,” Teal admitted. “But I can do this… right, Malagant? I can do this?”
Malagant nodded. “By tomorrow night we’ll be at the Jarron Canyon and if the map is correct, the bridge to get across it will be there too. After that is full-on Lazarius until we reach Dad’s and past it. Any time would be a good time. I’m cutting the bridge after we take it, so after will be safer. I don’t want anyone following us once we sell the horses in Arasbor.”
Ben groaned. No more horses again? “Why!”
“Too many rocks and hills. The terrain gets worse the farther on you get, all the way up to the border to Azoria. They’ll break their legs unless you take the merchant’s road and it’s much too busy for us. Without horses we can remain unseen. Sorry, Ben, but with the Serpents recognizing me – we just don’t know who is included in the prophecy and it’s not writing specifically enough for us for me to trust it.”
“And it still hasn’t given us an update,” Teal said dully. He glanced at his backpack which was tied beside his and Ben’s bedrolls. “Still nothing, we’ve already journeyed to Rhastt with Gorat and Grady and nothing at all. It’s frustrating.”
“Well, we have to do what we can,” Malagant said. “We need to remain out of sight and that means the horses get sold in Arasbor. At least we’ll be at Dad’s within the month and he knows more about prophecy than we do.”
“Great,” Ben sighed. “The prophecy that I’m in just has to be the one where the book is malfunctioning. I wish we had more guidance… but at least we know which direction to walk.”
Malagant nodded, but his brow was furrowed and his face troubled. “It still gives me an uneasy feeling but…” Then he shook his head. “Like Dad always says, one will go fucking crazy trying to figure out the gods’ games. We just have to keep walking and eventually – eventually it will start helping us again.”
The next several hours they stayed up, making small talk and planning the next leg of their journey before retiring to their sleeping rolls. Malagant took first watch which was just fine with Ben. The scabbards on Teal’s back may have been comfortable but he still hadn’t caught much sleep.
It was still chilly out, but he could tell with every night the weather was getting more and more mild. He was happy for the snow to be gone, and for every frost-free morning they had. Waking up to ice crystals in his hair had been amusing the first time it had happened but it lost its charm quickly.
With a yawn, Ben closed his eyes and, as seemed to be the trend, as soon as Teal thought he was asleep he shifted over until he was scrunched right up to Ben and slept soundly with his hands tucked up underneath his chin like a little cat. Ben had asked Malagant and, to his relief, he himself didn’t sleep like this. He was a hibrid in a lot of ways but he still didn’t do a lot of cat-like things hibrids seemed to do without realizing it.
Ben put a hand on Teal’s head as his friend slept, and smiled. It was rather cute though. He and Malagant had oo’d and aww’d several times when they caught Teal’s endearing sleeping positions. And although they’d never told him, he and Teal had done the same thing to Malagant who had a habit of talking in his sleep.
Then, half-asleep, Ben suddenly scowled, coming to the realization for the first time that Teal and Malagant probably did the same to him while he was sleeping. This thought had never occurred to him.
Ben wasn’t sure what time it was, but he found himself waking up in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and saw bright sparkling stars outside of the canvas tent, more vivid and burning than they had ever been in his world. He was even amazed to see bits of aurora borealis start to appear in faint green sheets. Like emerald veils they wrapped themselves around the cold silver stars above. They were so prominent in Ben’s half
-asleep consciousness he was almost sure he could reach up and touch them.
With sleepy appreciation, Ben gazed up at the stars and just admired the beauty of them. Though as he did he started to hear Malagant singing. Ben craned his ears to listen to the solemn sound and started to hear the words of what he realized was the saddest song he’d ever heard.
A babe is born in Elron,
As an elf lays down his cane.
An acorn becomes an elder tree,
And falls under wind and rain.
The warlord dies from old age,
A hero from hurt and pain.
Everything in Elron changes,
But the moon he stays the same.
He does not care of matters,
Of war, peace, loss, or gain.
Because in a blink, they are gone,
And the moon he stays the same.
You’ll look up at him with envy,
For he does not feel pain.
You know one day, that you will die,
And he will always stay the same.
“Malagant, that’s beautiful,” Ben whispered as the elf finished singing the last word. Malagant jumped up in surprise and looked behind him as Ben crawled out of the tent with his green blanket draped over him.
“Thanks,” Malagant said simply.
“Did you write that yourself?” Ben asked. He sat down beside Malagant to warm himself by the still burning fire.
“No, unfortunately I’m not that talented.” He had his own blanket draped behind his back and a metal cup of something that smelled like tea, resting on his knee. “My father wrote it when he was in Evercove and he used to sing it on cold and clear nights such as this.” He looked accusingly at Ben before offering him a drink of his tea. “You’re supposed to be asleep, did squirmy wake you up?”
Ben shook his head as he took a sip. “No, he hasn’t been as bad as he used to be. I think having us near him has helped his nightmares. Want me to take over for a while?”
Malagant shook his head. Ben noticed for the first time that he had his crossbow resting beside him. “I would feel better if I watched for the rest of the night. I’m pretty good at sleeping in my saddle. It’ll be good enough until the canyon crossing.”
There was something behind those words though, Ben felt a hint of apprehension in his tone. “Are you worried about something?” Ben asked.
Malagant paused then he nodded. “Believe it or not… I’m worried about Sorah.”
This did surprise Ben. He expected Malagant to be worried about the other Serpents tracking them or perhaps Taugis or even Nyte or Tseer with the prophecies not updating. Malagant was worried about the daraphin they’d left behind in front of the burning inn?
“Sorah didn’t look like he could wield a weapon, let alone have the skills to track us. Do you really think he would come after us?”
“Not us,” Malagant said slowly. “Me.”
Then he wiped his face with his hands and looked into his mug of tea. Though, as if unable to look at his own reflection he stared at the fire instead. “Just a couple hours before, that little elfling was trying to tie my horse… I thought we could kill them, and move on. The family would be safe and I could resolve some pent-up aggression from what happened in Rhastt, and the world would have four less Serpents.
“You were right I should have acted smarter. I feel like I’m in training again, always screwing up; letting my emotions rule me like my dad was always cursing me for. Always doing the wrong thing, except I don’t have a commander to whip me in the square, which would be easier than this. I have to deal with this now. I’ll never forget Sorah’s screams of agony. Like I won’t forget Migheer’s, or Teal’s, or Thierry’s, or my father’s…” Malagant whispered. “So many mournful cries… cries that only sound from someone’s lips when their heart is breaking inside of them. Too many to count. They find me, wherever I go. When I am most confident, when I am most happy. I hear them, especially the ones that were my fault.”
Though he dearly wanted to, Ben decided to save asking ‘What the hell type of organization whips a knight in training in the middle of a square?’ For a later time.
“You know, you have Teal to thank for me telling you this,” Ben began. “I can’t say I understand everything that might’ve happened to you, but I understand why you couldn’t let them just go.”
Malagant looked over at him, but remained silent.
Ben went on, “Selfishly, I was pissed at you. Actually probably more scared because it was terrifying seeing them drag you off like that. Teal reminded me of, well… you never talk about your god damn life before us. It was hard for me to understand your feelings towards your old knight brothers. I understand now. I feel personally responsible for Erick. If I see him and he’s this mindless, brainwashed dictator and not the brother I did once love, deep down. I think I might want to kill him too. It would be hard to see someone you love or, in your case, respected, turn into something evil.”
Malagant’s brow furrowed; he was silent for a few more moments. “I suppose you do understand then. I never thought of it that way.”
“Like I said, you have our little feral to thank for making me realize that,” Ben said. “Can I ask… who was the one who recognized you?”
“He was the one I shot with the arrow, name was Bauseir. Bloody cook when I was training in Fort Greybane, if you can believe it,” Malagant said. “I just – Damn, I hate how they remember everything, but yet… they’re just evil. They remember themselves, they remember their lives, it’s just that they are uncaring, rapist, sadistic… bad elves. It’s eerie, Ben. I can’t stand seeing it…”
“It must’ve been devastating seeing Thierry like that…” Ben hated himself as soon as that comment left his lips.
Malagant bit the corner of his lip and nodded. “Yeah.”
Malagant was silent, his blue eyes finding the red coals of the fire again. The silence between them was heavy but not awkward, but even so Ben wanted his friend to keep talking. He wanted Malagant to talk about himself and what it was like being an Alcovian knight, not a Serpent, before all of this happened.
It didn’t sound like it was as fun as Ben had originally thought. Seriously, whipped in the fucking square? Perhaps it wasn’t this close-knit brotherhood that Ben had always imagined, it sounded like a horrible place to be.
And still Malagant came out of it, and the eventual brainwashing of Alcovian knights into Serpent knights, still being a happy, charismatic jokester with a smile always on his face or ready to make its appearance.
Ben rested a hand on Malagant’s knee and when Malagant put his own hand on top of his, they slipped into each other’s. “There is no way you could’ve predicted what those Serpents would do,” Ben said. “They had bad blood with the daraphin family before us. For all we know they were already planning on burning the inn down. We could’ve been caught up in it and slain that night.”
“Perhaps,” Malagant replied. “But try telling Sorah that.”
Sorah… that poor daraphin. Where was he now? On this beautiful night. Was he still beside the ruins of the inn? Still beside his brother’s slain corpse? Or did he listen to Malagant and ride towards Rhastt?
As the surge of guilt made itself known inside of Ben, he found that he was trying to force himself into believing that it would’ve happened anyway. Though forcing those thoughts did little to stop the rising guilt.
I wonder if they used ironflare – like we thought the elves who killed the family inside of that stronghold had used.
What a grim thought.
In that moment, Ben wished he could have done more for Sorah. He had been so friendly, inviting, and helpful; he’d been gazing at Ben like he was a deity, so eager to become friends with someone his own age.
What a terrible place Alcove could be. Already Ben had seen more horrors than he had ever thought to see in his time here, and his friends had lived in this place their whole lives.
Malagant squeezed Ben’s hand tha
t was still being held in his own. “Ben, no matter what happens with you and Teal. When he tells you… remember: he loves you, you’re his best friend, and he did what he thought was best at the time. He just… he’s just… Teal. He was scared, and all of the decisions that he’s made were never ever meant to hurt you.”
Ben’s heart jumped and, in an instant, the guilt over Sorah turned into a boiling hot rock of anxiety which seemed to drop into his stomach. Malagant sensed this and put his arm around Ben and pulled him to his side.
Ben sighed and leaned a head on Malagant’s shoulder. “I don’t want to know do I?”
The burning inside of him only intensified when Malagant shook his head. “No, you don’t, but you have to know. Ben… it’s eating him alive.”
Ben turned away and slipped his hand out of Malagant’s. He brought both of them to his face and slowly wiped them down with a long and drawn-out sigh.
“I’ll be there for both of you,” Malagant said quietly. “As you were there for me.”
34
The field in front of Erick was teaming with Serpents. All of them doing their drills, swinging their swords, thumping their shields. There was a time in Erick’s life when he was awestruck by their demonstrations. The drum-like beats that emanated from their shields and their boots shook the ground with deep percussions, permeating around them with such electricity Erick had felt like lighting the forest on fire in celebration.
And then they had started to sing. Their low rumbling voices sung perfectly in tandem to the beats. He remembered the first time he had heard it; the first time the Serpent soldiers and knights had gathered before the Draken Rebellion.
And he remembered what the priests whispered in his ear that night.
“They sing for you, King Erick. They sing for their new king.”
I remember when I first realized I was king. I remember when I first stepped on the balcony of Fort Holt, where my Serpents had gathered, ready for our rebellion. I remember the moonless night, their torches blazing, reflecting off of their chainmail armour.
