The Brother

Chapter Fourteen

“So how was training?” asked Jonathan as he stuffed his mouth with something similar to pancakes.

“Well, I realized that I haven’t lost my skills. Also, my bow has twenty six features.” said Jace. “How many does your bow have?”

“Twenty.” said Jonathan and looking at the broad grin on his brother’s face, he added.”It’s two years older than the one you’re using.”

“Jealous?” said Jace.

“No. Not at all. But I’d sure like to watch you train..” said Jonathan. “Don’t you feel lonely.”

“Well, yesterday was very eventful and today I had practice.” said Jace. “So, I didn’t have the opportunity to feel lonely.”

“It’s time for your training.” said Jonathan. “I have some errands to run.”

Jace was excited for the training session. Sameer would teach him everything about the features of his bow. He had a list of the features written in a sheet of paper as he entered the training room. He noticed that Sameer was the only one in the room.

Who else did I expect?

After making Jace recite the keywords for the features,Sameer said, “Here, take these glasses. They are synced with the bow.”

Without having any second thoughts, he wore the glasses, readied his bow and arrow and said, “Aesmer”. He felt the bow move itself and point to the center of the target board. He let the arrow fly and watched it hit the center of the target board.

“I don’t like it.” said Jace. “Why would I practice archery if all I have to do is say the word which does the job for me?”

Sameer smiled and said, “You can try the other features as well. I’m pretty sure that you’ll like them much better.”

“Good idea.” said Jace. He readied his bow, fixed the arrow and looked ahead. “Caliditas” he said and looked ahead.

Everything was a shade of blue with a bit of yellow here and there. He turned to look at Sameer and saw him in a dark shade of red. Jace gave his forehead a slap as he realized that he had activated the thermal sensor.

After going through all the features of the bow, Jace felt exhausted.

“I’m gonna take a nap.” said Jace.

“You’ve done well. You deserve it.” said Sameer.

Jace pressed the button on his bow, watched it compress and stuffed it into his pocket. He looked at the quiver full of arrows hanging on the wall and asked, “Can I have those?”

“Of course you can. What kind of an archer doesn’t have arrows?” said Sameer. “Hold the quiver and say ‘figura’. It will allow you to stuff it into your pocket.”

“Alright” said Jace and picked up the quiver. “Figura”

He watched the quiver diminish in size till it was as long as his forefinger. Impressed by the ability of the quiver to change its size, he placed it in his left pocket ensuring that the bow and the quiver were in different pockets.

He left the training room and headed to his room to take a nap. He found his brother sitting on his bed and drinking a glass of transparent liquid. Jace immediately guessed it to be vodka.

“You’re making great progress.” said Jonathan “I’m impressed.”

“How would you know?” asked Jace. “I just finished my training.”

“Well, I get updates from Sameer before the end of every session. I was going through them.” he said and held out a paper that was neatly folded in his left palm. “So you hate auto -aim?”

“Yeah. I don’t understand why it would be necessary. Unless, I lose my ability to shoot an arrow overnight.”

“You’ve got a point.” said Jonathan.  

“Jon, you haven’t told me the whole story of the war. At least the true version of it.” said Jace.

“I won’t be telling that unless the time is right.” said Jonathan and gulped down the last of his vodka and headed to the glass bottle placed on the bedside table.

The glass was full when Jace heard a knock on the door. He looked at Jonathan and said, “Am I supposed to say ‘come in’?”

“No, the person on the other side is knocking because I’m here. They would just enter if it were only you.” said Jonathan. “Come in”

The door swung open and Jonathan’s assistant entered. She was wearing a red blouse with black skirt. She gave a quick smile to Jace and turned to look at Jonathan who was drinking his second glass of vodka.

“Sir, there’s a minor infringement at the outskirts of the city. Near the gate. It’s a couple of Stryke’s personnel.” she said with a tense look on her face.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Jace said, “Can I go with you? I want to see how good I am.”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on going there myself. I was thinking of sending Julius and Romero.” They’re good enough for this job.” said Jonathan. “But now that you’ve given me that idea, let’s go.”

Jace was surprised. He wasn’t expecting his brother to say yes and was now afraid that he may change his mind. “Hurry” he said and watched as his brother went to bring his bow.

Maybe it was the vodka - thought Jace and felt grateful for it.

Jace was standing in the corridor and waited for his brother to come out of his room. After what felt like eternity Jonathan walked out in the uniform he had worn in the photograph.

“What took you so long?” asked Jace.

“You did hear her say ‘minor’ didn’t you.” said Jonathan. “The only reason that you’re coming with me is because of that word”

“Big brother is responsible now.” said Jace as they hurried to the elevator at the end of the corridor.

Jonathan stuffed the golden ball into the hole and said, “Top”. The elevator began accelerating to the top.

“Why are we going to the top?” said Jace. “Aren’t the vehicles at the bottom?”

“Actually, I have mine parked at the top.” said Jonathan and the elevator came to a halt. They stepped out of it and found themselves standing on the top of the building. Jace could feel the sunlight pricking his skin as he followed his brother.

“Egredior” said Jonathan and turned to his brother. “Before you say anything, it’s gold. Deal with it.”

“Deal with what?” asked Jace and saw a motorcycle or at least what would have been a motorcycle if it had wheels park itself in front of them.

It was golden in colour with streaks of black complimenting the color. It was a two seater and was hovering a couple of inches off the ground. Jace watched his brother sit on the front seat and immediately sat behind him.

“You ready?” Jonathan asked and without waiting for a reply, he said,”Go”

Jace felt something near his legs and saw the bike deform itself. He turned to the other side and looked down at it in disbelief. “Are those…”

“Wings” said Jonathan. “This is the air force I was talking about”

This place keeps giving me surprises. Jace thought as the bike took off at tremendous speed.