The Others

Chapter Twelve

It did not take me a long time to find the courage to leave the tent that was given to me. With Lilly still in my arms- and she was getting pretty heavy- I walk outside to take a look. It is very busy. Men, women and animals are running, or strolling around. I instantly notice that I see a lot of dogs. Different sizes, different types. But it’s many of them, like a vast majority. I will ask them about that later, if I remember.

I look up to the sky, and notice that to the south there’s a lot of birds flying around. That might be a good sign as where to go to. Finding my tent again would not be difficult any way, since I can always recognize it by the black general’s tent close to it.

I walk pretty fast towards the south. Many eyes are focussed on me, but no one dares to approach me. Maybe they do not recognize me, maybe they are all just fascinated by Lilly, like I was when I met her. It’s difficult to wipe the proud smile off of my face. I still cannot believe that she’s my Other. A part of me is not convinced, either. It does not feel like we are connected.

I tickle her under her skin, and she chuckles. I wish she could speak, or that I could hear her in my head. That would be so great. Every step I take, I feel my heart beating faster and faster. It’s been almost eight years since I saw my brother last. I’m not sure if I will even recognize him. Will he recognize me? A part of me is dying to see him, but a part of me is also very angry with him. He left, without looking back, and never came home. Not when father passed, not on any of my birthdays. Even if I were to marry, Shane, or anyone. I am sure he would never come, not even to that.

It’s like my brother has disappeared from the earth for me, and also for my parents. I know my father would have given so much, just to see my brother, before he passed. How am I supposed to break the news? “Hello, brother, I have not spoken to you for eight years, but father died a couple of weeks ago.” Should I break it to him down gently, or just go on full speed?

A stinging feeling in my lip, takes me back to the present. Apparently I was chewing on my lip, and just cut it open. I taste the blood in my mouth, and I feel the little dragon wriggle in my arms. ‘Sorry’, I whisper to her. She looks up, straight into my eyes. Hers are so beautiful, so bright and blue. It’s like they radiate, and look right through your soul.

She keeps wriggling, until I let go. She stretches on the floor, and I see that she starts walking by herself. I quickly look around me, seeing what types of Others are close to us. I do not want her to get hurt, or attacked. She’s only the size of a big housecat.

A big, beautiful panther, walks up to us. Her eyes bright and blue, but contradictory to last time, she does not show her teeth this time. Jonathan walks half a meter behind her.

The hood from his cloak is put down, and I can observe him much better now. He has a pretty big scar running from his temple to his ear. I did not notice it before, but now I see it pretty good. The color shows that it’s not too new, but because it has not turned white completely yet, it’s also not old.

‘Where are you heading off to?’ Jonathan asks me. I shrug.

‘None of your business. Mike said I’m free to go where I please.’

Jonathan crosses his arms, and takes his time to observe me. From head, to toe, and back. I notice my cheeks getting warm again, while I remember how close he was not so long ago.

‘I’m coming with you’, he then says. His tone of voice tells me that there’s no choice in the matter for me.

‘Do as you wish’, I say, before I continue walking towards the birds, walking just half a meter behind Lilly.

‘Ah, you’re looking for your brother’, I hear him say after we take a couple of steps. I nod, knowing he can see me, because he walks just behind me. ‘Not all birds are with us, you know’, he tells me.

I look back over my shoulder, and straight into his eyes. I quickly turn my face away from him again. ‘Mike told me that most birds are with us’, I contradict him. ‘For scout purposes.’

I hear Jonathan clacking his tongue, but I do not look back again. ‘Most’, he repeats after me.

I can still feel warmth inside of my head. I must be blushing like crazy, but I do not want to blush. Not because of him. I wish he never came so close to me.

‘Don’t you have anywhere else to be?’ I ask him, before I bite my lip and a stinging sensation reminds me that it was already bleeding. I hear Jonathan chuckle behind me. He does not give an answer, though.

After about ten minutes of awkward silence, we reach the field where I see at least twenty men and women, with their birds. I am not sure if what they are doing is training, but it sure looks like it. Most of them wear leather cuffs, where the birds can sit down and rest.

I recognize ospreys, buzzards. I see eagles of all shapes and sizes- even when I must admit none of them are as big and majestic as Feather.

It could be my imagination, but it seems like the birds closest to us all decide to stay mid-air, or even high up. Is it because of Thalia?

With fake confidence, I walk up to the first person I see. It’s a girl, about my age. Maybe a little bit older than me. She’s reaching with her arm in the air, and I think she’s trying to call for a great horned owl, that’s flying circles above us.

‘Hey’, I say. She looks at me. Then she looks at Jonathan behind me, and instantly lowers her arm. Her facial expression instantly shows annoyance. ‘Yeah?’ she asks in a very unpolite way.

‘Well’, I say. ‘I was wondering… Do you know anyone called Shane?’

The girl spreads her arms. ‘You’re in the army. Do you know how many people there are called Shane?’ she says. And she makes a fair point.

‘He as a Falcon’, I say. I wish I could tell her how tall he is, or what he looks like now. But I do not think me describing him as a twelve-year-old is going to help me a lot.

She chuckles. ‘We do not have any falcons here’, she says. That caught me by surprise.

‘No falcons?’ I ask her astonished. There’s so many birds, why would there not be a falcon?

The girl points at Jonathan. ‘Ask him. Now leave me alone’, she says, and she focusses back on her owl.

I walk back to Jonathan. The embarrassment is completely gone. To be honest, I feel anger coming up. With crossed arms, I ask him: ‘No falcons, hmm?’

Jonathan shrugs. ‘Told you, maybe he’s with the King.’

I shake my head. ‘She says there’s no falcons, and that you know why. Why can’t you tell me?’ Jonathan shrugs again, it makes him look pretty stupid.

‘You have some blood’, he says, and he brings his hand to my lip. He brushes my lower lip, and takes his finger back to lick the blood off of it.

My heart skips a beat and I instantly take two steps back. I bring my hand to my lip, right where he touched me. It feels like he stung me, when he touched me. A tingling sensation flows through my body. ‘Stop touching me’, I whisper, just loud enough for him to hear me.

He looks up, and I can see surprise in his eyes. But it almost seems like his surprise is not at what I say, but at what he just did. Like he did not even realize it, until now.

He scrapes his throat. ‘I.. eh’, he says. I can hear he does not really know what to say. ‘I will go.’ He turns around, and walks off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him walk as fast as he’s doing now. Thalia tilts her head, looks at me with her piercing eyes, and then follows him.

A gentle braap makes me look down. The little dragon is sat on the floor, and she’s digging with her front paw in the earth. She fishes a fat worm from the dark brown soil, and slurps it up.

I lick my lip, and think back at what happened with Jonathan. Did he do that just to startle me into changing subject? He did manage to run away from answering my question.

Pensive I walk back towards my tent. Maybe a couple hours of sleep will clear my head straight up. I have not slept in a long time, and the idea of the bale of hay seems tempting.