The Brotherhood: Blood

by Kody Boye

  Stepping out of the dirt, he dragged his feet along the grass as he walked, removing any trace of mud. Convinced all was off, he continued forward, all the while feeling guilty about leaving his weapons master in the dust.

  A hand touched his shoulder, stopping him in place.

  “Odin.”

  Grimacing, Odin turned, expecting the worst.

  What he saw surprised him.

  Concern lit Jordan’s face in a light that was normally not seen, especially in situations so personal and private.

  “I needed to be alone, that’s all,” Odin said, sliding his fingers into his pockets so they wouldn’t betray his true feelings. “Miko said I could.”

  “I don’t doubt he did.” Jordan glanced up at Odin’s arms. He let out a short breath as his eyes trailed up to his shoulders. “I’m just not used to you wandering off alone.”

  “I’ve been alone for two years, sir.”

  “Behavior sees as behavior does.”

  What is that supposed to mean? Odin frowned.

  When Jordan made no move to free his hand from his upper arm, Odin took a deep breath, sighed, then turned his attention to the distant walls, which seemed all the more breathtaking once standing beneath them and seeing for oneself just what their gargantuan size was like.

  Somehow, he knew it wouldn’t be long until he and Miko left on their grand adventure.

  “You’re back,” Nova said, raising his head from his place in bed.

  Odin nodded, careful to close and secure the door behind him. “Where’s Miko?” he asked.

  “He left a few moments ago. I think he went to find a healer.”

  After settling down at the table and tangling his hands in his hair, Odin bowed his head and tried his hardest not to look at Nova for fear that his true and unsure emotions would betray themselves. However, when the man started coughing, Odin rose from his place faster than he could ever imagine possible and went directly to his side.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Nova said, raising his hand to cover his mouth. He coughed a few more times before settling into the cranny between the headrest and the corner, where he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

  “Do you need anything?”

  “I’m all right. Thanks for offering.”

  Odin looked out the window and at the somewhat-sunny weather before them. Hopefully there wouldn’t be another storm. Last night’s rain had brought about enough commotion on his behalf—they didn’t need any more.

  “Guess you needed to get out, huh?” Nova asked, breaking Odin’s trance with a small smile.

  “I haven’t been outside a whole lot since I’ve been out of the tower.”

  “Why were you there in the first place?”

  “I’ll show you.”

  “Show me?” Nova frowned.

  Odin walked to the wall bhind the circular table. His sword lay atop a dresser that sat low to the ground.

  “When I was fourteen,” Odin said, sliding the weapon into his hands, “someone delivered this to me completely out of the blue.”

  In but a few short steps, Odin returned to the bed and offered the man the sword. Nova took it, examining its dark, almost-shining sheath before pulling the blade free from its confines. “Woah,” he said, eyes darting over the black metal. “This is… different.”

  “The courier and the guards said it was made by Dark Elves. The king’s committee thought I might be trying to do something illegal, since the weapon wasn’t from here and is what it is. I was thrown into the tower immediately after the guards saw just what it was.”

  “And you got out because Miko came along, right?”

  “Uh huh,” Odin nodded. “I was starting to get worried, since there weren’t any knights coming up to look at me, even though Jordan, my weapons master, did his best to make me sound like a good squire. He kept telling me that I would get out, but I wasn’t so sure.”

  “He would’ve kept you in there if someone hadn’t come for you?”

  “No—at least, I don’t think so. I would’ve been released when I was eighteen, but that would immediately discount any kind of work I could do in the royal portion of the military. “

  “I wanted to help you when I saw you in my visions. That’s why I left. Well, that, and because the figure of light said it would be there for me if I helped you.”

  Odin shrugged. He leaned the sword against the wall and settled down on the bed. “I’m sorry you came all the way out here.”

  “I’m not,” Nova smiled. “I mean, I got to meet you, didn’t I?”

  “I guess.”

  “That, and I’ve finally gotten around to seeing Ornala.”

  “Where did you come from?”

  “Bohren. I’ve lived there my whole life. Haven’t been outside the town once.”

  “I hadn’t been outside Felnon until I came here.”

  “Guess we’re alike in that way.”

  Odin smiled. Nova started laughing.

  The door opened. Miko slid into the room, shortly followed by Jordan and Ectris.

  “Father?” Odin frowned, rising. “What’re you doing here?”

  “I heard about last night’s excitement,” the man said, stepping up to Odin’s side. “You must be Nova?”

  “Hello sir,” Nova said, shaking the man’s hand.

  “I’m Ectris. Odin’s father.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Ectris settled down beside Odin while Miko pulled his cloak off. Jordan stood at the end of Nova’s bed, watching him with curious eyes.

  “You’ve got nothing else to tell us about why you came here?” the weapons master asked. “Nothing that I should be concerned about?”

  Nova closed his eyes and began his story. First, by telling him of the initial vision, in which he’d seen Odin trapped in the tower, he revealed to the four of them a gift that could be viewed as just as much a curse as anything, then told of the second vision. Finally, when he came to the third, in which the figure of light had told him that he needed to help Odin to be helped in his own time of need, Nova paused and waited for reply. None, however, immediately came.

  “Master, sir,” Odin said, drawing Miko’s attention away from Nova. “What do you think of it?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. Whatever it was, it sounded important.”

  “And strange,” Ectris added. The way he said it implied that he didn’t particularly care why Nova had come all this way. “Why Odin though? Why my son?”

  “I’m not sure,” Nova said. “It just said that I needed to be there in Odin’s time of need.”

  “Well,” Jordan said, speaking up for the first time since Nova had begun his story, “as long as you’re not here to cause any harm or make any trouble, I won’t kick you out. We’ll have to move you outside the walls, though.”

  “Why?” Miko asked. “He can stay here. That’s perfectly fine.”

  “I don’t care either,” Odin added.

  “Where have you been sleeping then?” Jordan frowned. He looked at the bed, then at Miko. He seemed to realize that the bed wouldn’t support the Elf’s frame, as he said nothing further.

  “Not too hard to understand,” the Elf smiled.

  “Father,” Odin said. “Why did you come here with Miko?”

  “I have to say goodbye, son,” Ectris sighed. “I came with the other fathers from Feltnon to wish their sons off.”

  “You don’t have to go. You can stay.”

  “Unless I want to head back alone, I have to go. We’re leaving this afternoon.”

  Odin nodded. He wrapped his arm around his father and leaned against his chest.

  “I’ll see you whenever,” Ectris said, stroking Odin’s back. “I love you, son.”

  “I love you too.”

  Ectris kissed Odin’s brow and rose.

  Before he could walk out the door with Jordan, he raised a hand and smiled. He mouthed ‘good luck’ before leaving the room.r />
  “How long will it be until we leave?” Odin asked.

  Miko looked up and away from the fire’s glowing embers, then at the bed, careful to make sure that Nova was sound asleep before returning his attention to Odin. “We need to wait until our new friend gets better.”

  “Are we taking him with us?” Odin frowned.

  “We can’t expect him to go home, can we?”

  “I guess not.”

  In the absence of dialogue that followed, Odin watched the crackling embers and tried to understand just what it was he felt at that moment. The anxious feelings were there, obviously, but something else was interspersed there, almost as if a drop of blood had just been added to an elegant glass of chardonnay to make it all the more bountiful.

  Jealousy? he thought after a rash moment of indecision.

  It couldn’t be. What did he have to be jealous about? It wasn’t as though he and Nova were competing for anything.

  “Does it bother you that I want him to come with us?” Miko asked.

  “No. Not… not really, sir.”

  “I understand why this might bother you, Odin. It’s not often that a complete stranger shows up and says he’s come to help you when you obviously don’t need any assistance.”

  “He said that he needed to come to me in my time of need, but like you said, I don’t need any help.”

  “Not now, but you might later.”

  “Do you know something I don’t, sir?”

  “No. Why would you think that?”

  “Because you’re… well, different. Powerful.”

  “Just because I’m an Elf doesn’t mean I can see the future. Few can, and those seldom few often see twisted versions affected by personal opinion and feeling.”

  “A seer can’t really see the future then, can they?”

  “A true seer doesn’t try to predict what will come. He or she instead sits back and sees what will unfold.”

  Odin nodded. He reached up to scratch an itch on his shoulder and ended up touching his master’s hand. It startled him at first, given the fact that he had not realized the Elf had scome up behind him, but he settled down soon after.

  “You need to remember that you can’t change what might happen in your life. Just understand that you have to deal with whatever comes along. All right?”

  “Yes sir.”

  Miko slid an arm around Odin’s shoulder. “It won’t be too long until we leave,” the Elf said. “Don’t worry.”

  Within the next two weeks, during a time in which the newly-surmounted squires left with their knight masters for lands far, far away and for tasks in much higher nobility than many could even question, Nova had fully recovered. Blossoming into the strong, boisterous man he appeared to be, his cheeks brightened in color and his eyes, once dull, eventually began to sparkle like drops of fresh honey on the fingers of some fair child. Even his smile—which, up until that point, had remained somewhat somber—brightened astoundingly, once again hinting of a richer upbringing and well-kempt grooming habits.

  One day, when the sun was high in the sky and the birds in the distant trees seemed all the more jovial, Odin and Nova stood in the training circle on the western grounds, hitting straw dummies with swords, staves and a variety of other weapons.

  “Can you fight with a scythe?” Odin asked.

  “I suppose,” Nova smiled. “I’ve never used it on another person, but I don’t see why I couldn’t. Why do you ask?”

  Odin returned his sword beside the others before grabbing a staff off the nearby rack, twirling it into his grasp until the rod rested evenly in his hands. “You want to fight me?”

  “The question is: do you want to fight me?”

  “I guess.”

  Grinning, Nova lifted his own staff from the rack and returned to the training circle, twirling the weapon around his hand as if it were no more than a simple quill between a fancy man’s fingers. “Let’s try not to break each other’s fingers though,” he smiled, returning the weapon to both hands. “It won’t be any fun riding a horse if we do.”

  Odin laughed.

  He ducked just in time to avoid an overhead swing from Nova.

  Damn, he thought, ducking before he threw a returning strike of his own.

  He hadn’t expected the bigger man to be so fast.

  After blocking Odin’s attack simply by raising his rod and spreading his fingers out to avoid a strike that connected with the spare space directly between his hands, Nova twirled his staff around his head, over his shoulders and across his back, then smacked the tip of Odin’s weapon into the air in a single flourish.

  “You’re good,” Nova smiled.

  “I haven’t fought with a staff before,” Odin mused.

  “You haven’t?”

  “No.”

  Nova ducked when Odin returned a receiving blow.

  Odin could hardly believe how awkward he felt whilst holding such a long weapon in his hands. Here he was, some five-foot-five, wielding a weapon that nearly rivaled his size, trying to combat someone who was a good seven inches higher than himself who could easily use an was obviously-skilled with such a weapon. In blocking and returning blows, he nearly lost his balance several times, stumbling backward or to the left and right.

  Once, when Nova struck his staff so hard its bottom end was thrust into the dirt beneath them, Odin nearly caught a blow in the face that surely would have broken his nose.

  Concentrate. Watch his movements.

  Nova’s unarguably-needed stance left him open for a number of attacks. His legs, far apart, could be struck, while his left side, mostly unattended as Nova was right handed, remained in perfect view. If he could only catch the man off-guard without revealing his plan.

  He’s good, Odin thought.

  Who could have trained him to fight so well?

  “Getting scared?” Nova smirked, throwing two strikes in Odin’s direction.

  “No,” Odin lied, grinding his jaw together. “Why?”

  “You’re sweating.”

  A bead of moisture ran down Odin’s nose.

  Stay calm. He’s not going to hurt you. You know that.

  Either way, he couldn’t help but remember in that moment his confrontation with Herald Monvich, in which he’d been struck a mighty blow not by sword, but fist, and the blood he’d shed.

  Nova swung his staff.

  Odin’s eyes went out of focus.

  What the—

  He didn’t have time to react before the bigger man struck him in the ankles, sending him flying to the ground.

  “Gotta watch your feet with long weapons,” the man laughed, offering Odin a hand. “You ok?”

  “I’m all right,” he said, brushing the dirt off his pants. “I didn’t consider my feet.”

  “Eh, it’s all right. I’m guessing in full armor you don’t have to worry about that so much, since the suit will be heavy and all, but on your own two feet? Hell no.”

  Smiling, Odin turned his attention to the threshold—where, in the distance, Miko stood, watching from beneath the stone archway, almost completely invisible despite his gargantuan size.

  “He’s pretty big,” Nova said, gently punching Odin’s shoulder, “isn’t he?”

  “I guess. He’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen.”

  Nova laughed.

  It wasn’t until a short moment later, after Nova slung an arm around his shoulder, that Odin realized he’d called his knight master a man.

  “What?” Nova asked, still laughing.

  “I haven’t called him a man before.”

  “How come?”

  “I’ve… well… always thought of him as just an Elf.”

  “Well, technically he is a man, even if he’s not human.”

  Odin looked back at Miko and raised his hand. The Elf returned the gesture promptly. “When were we leaving?” Odin asked, setting his staff against its rack before looking up at Nova. “Did you hear?”

  “No. Miko said it would be soon tho
ugh, maybe this afternoon.”

  “Why so late?”

  “Well, we’re not ready now, are we? And besides—Jordan said he was having food and other supplies prepared for us. We can’t leave until those are ready, can we?”

  Odin shrugged. He turned just in time to see Miko crossing the field and heading directly toward them.

  “Are you two ready to leave?” the Elf asked.

  “Where are we going, sir?” Odin frowned.

  “Let’s just say its somewhere you wouldn’t have expected.”

  Miko turned and began to head back into the castle.

  Odin and Nova gave one another peculiar glances before following their companion into the structure.

  “You won’t tell us?” Odin asked, busying himself with packing the few pairs of clothing he owned.

  “Come on,” Nova laughed, slapping Miko’s back. “Don’t keep it a surprise.”

  “What fun would that be?” the Elf smiled.

  Odin shrugged. Nova chuckled, then tossed his hands over his head. “All right,” Nova said. “You win.”

  “Finish packing,” the Elf said. “High Mage Daughtry and his daughter would like to meet with us before we leave.”