Chapter Twenty Nine
1044 Words
Flashback
Luke nervously bit his nails as he darted his eyes for any sign of human form in their path. He could feel Baric's suffocating presence behind him, he could almost hear his brother's tormenting monikers.
Coward
Girl
Delinquent
Nincompoop
Heat rose in Luke’s cheeks; he was none of those things. Would someone who lacked valor be sneaking into the castle in the dead of night after spending time in the forbidden woods?
“Do go on brother, unless you want this to be our new home...”
Luke swallowed back the warm saliva that had formed in his mouth. His heart had began to frantically beat against his chest and his body temperature had lowered significantly. When he breathed a small mist escaped his mouth.
“You little girl, you cannot do it can you? Afraid of mother as usual I see?”
Luke began to shake his head but he stopped himself.
He was afraid.
“Out of the way…Let me show you how actual boys behave…”
Baric shoved his brother aggressively as he passed him. He had sneaked in and out of the palace multiple times before. He had never gotten caught. Luke mirrored his brother's every move lest he somehow gave them away. They stealthily moved past the border guards and made a run towards the palace using deserted streets whose occupants were usually drunk folk seeking a place to relieve themselves. Baric gave a triumphant huff when they reached the palace stairs, Luke hang his head in shame.
“You cannot accompany me next time, you are a liability…”
“But Baric-“
“No buts, I shall be taking Lawrence and Tamara with me from now on…”
“But Tamara is a…she is a…”
“A what Luke? A girl? Well she is twice the boy you will ever be…You will never sit on the throne, father will never respect you and mother will always see you as a weak little boy…”
A dark, consuming, malignant force took over Luke. In one fluid moment, he pushed his brother with a potent energy he did not know he possessed. Baric, surprised at the unseen attack, stumbled and lost his balance on the staircase. Luke watched his brother fall in utter horror. Baric’s head hit the ground hard, there was a cracking sound upon impact. Luke finally began to scream when he saw blood oozing from the back of his brother’s head.
By the time his parents were coming to find out what had caused the commotion, Baric had lost a part of himself and frankly so had Luke.
Present
“You are not seriously considering this are you? She is a…she is a…”
“Mages are not deaf…and if you value your life you will not finish that sentence…”
Lawrence grabbed Luke’s arm and pulled him away from Roselidah’s earshot. Roselidah responded by rolling her eyes, they were wasting precious time.
“She is a witch, she is everything we despise…her kind-“
“You think I am not aware of all of this? They have my little brother Lawrence…they destroyed my family, ailed my father and killed my mother…they made our kind suffer…I know all this…”
“Then why are you contemplating over her words?”
Luke snorted. Hadn’t Lawrence already pledged his own loyalty out of fear?
“Baric comes first…”
Lawrence let out a humorless chuckle.
“Do speak your mind Lawrence…”
Lawrence fought the urge to voice his thoughts. Luke had spent seasons treating his brother as if he was invisible and now he had the nerve to act as if he cared for Barry? No. This was just Luke’s way of earning his father’s and the people’s approval.
“What if this is an elaborate trick…what if she doesn’t keep her end of the bargain and we lose Barry and the girl anyway?”
“That will not happen and I suggest you dispel any feelings you have for that witch. I will not spare her life when we cross paths…”
Luke whirled around after this grim remark to face Roselidah. She had already swung the swords over her shoulder. Luke struggled to hide his smile, that was one confident witch.
“Why do you need us? We are mere humans and clearly you are trudging a dangerous path here…What use will we be in the face of more encounters like the one that we just had?”
“I will hand you your swords then…”
“How sure are you that we will simply not take them and find our own way past the magical realm?”
Roselidah huffed amusedly. This human was quite full of himself.
“You think you and your cowardly friend over there-“
“Hey humans are not deaf either!”
Without warning, Roselidah propelled a small stray stone towards Lawrence. It hit him squarely on the glabella, he let out a string of cusses.
Luke couldn’t help himself, he doubled over, overwhelmed by guffaws.
“As I was saying, two men with swords-“
“Immersed in the vessel…”
“Are all humans this rude? Let me finish one statement, just one!”
Luke dramatically waved his hand for Roselidah to continue.
“You need my help and I need yours…”
“How exactly are we supposed to do that?"
Roselidah c****d her head, the human didn’t know. Hr had absolutely no clue as to what he could do. But how? He must have come across magic before. Roselidah was positive that her touch of fear had not worked on him, this had only happened once before. To her brother’s long lost love.
“What if I told you you are one of us? What if I told you that you are what you so dearly despise? A magical creature?”
- Writer
