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“You are very extraordinary man. If you were my friend…” Blaze whispered and continued to impudently look at him until he noticed Leiandros.
Draken clutching the grip said, “I know people like you. I am holding this sword in front of your face, thereby I am depriving this sword of all meaning. It was not created to touch you.”
Changing his expression, Blaze pointing at himself said, “You should be careful. Your secret is with me. I am sure you already know that what is happening between you and Leiandros, is not a good thing. And I know about it.”
“So, you want to achieve our submission by threats?”
Blaze just grinned and looked towards Leiandros. “What took you so long?”
Throwing the branches aside, Leiandros, as if nothing happened, sat down and began to unpack his bag with food. Without looking at anyone, he said, “Sit down. You should eat.”
Draken broke into laughter. And there was something evil in his laughter. “You are suggesting him to eat with us?”
Leiandros gave him a few potatoes and quietly said, “It’s getting colder. He should eat too.”
From the look of Blaze, one could say that he, like Draken, was also very surprised. Playing the role of a villain, he did not expect such an act at all. But confusion didn’t make him stay in one place for a long. Abruptly turning his attention to the hot potato he sat down and grabbed it greedily.
Slightly removing his scarf, but nevertheless not completely revealing his face, he made a few bites and the potato was gone.
Draken continued to stand by the tall tree. Large snowflakes whirled, smoothly falling down. He folded his hands over his chest and closed his eyes.
The spoiled mood after the happy moment with Leiandros suddenly took on an indifferent note.
He felt sleepy but he didn’t want to fall asleep.
In this cold night everything seemed so calm and meaningless. The sky was filled with clouds and only occasionally he could see some kind of hint of stars.
Watching Leiandros generously sharing food with this man, Draken without noticing it, gripped the hilt of the sword so tightly that it left a deep mark on his skin.
Looking at him, Leiandros made it clear that everything was in order and he should be relaxed. But Draken just turned back and closed his eyes. The desire to fall asleep completely engulfed him.
The next morning, waking up from the strange heat around of him, Draken almost jumped up and fell back. Several stones with dragon’s fire were all around.
He sighed and felt the sweat on his back. Noticing Leiandros not so far from him he asked, “Where did he go?”
“He left at night.”
He went up to him and nervously asked, “What did you do yesterday? Sharing food with someone like him?”
“What is wrong?” Leiandros asked. His fresh face was shining with new spectrum of emotions. “Don’t you know that being kind is the only virtue? Always and everywhere.”
“And this is the great warrior Leiandros!”
“Blaze is not so bad. He just pursues his goal. And this goal is quite understandable. After all, everyone in this world needs some kind of a goal.”
Squatting beside him, Draken put his hand on his back and earnestly said, “What is his goal? He uses our secret just to make us provide him with dragon stones. And this is his goal? And as for food, I will not be greedy. You’re right, everyone needs food and if we have it, why not show some generosity. But there is one thing that I don’t understand. Yesterday you were on your knees, begging me to listen to you. You said that love is prohibited, that it is dangerous. But what happened now? Or did you lie to me? Or did you just want to be alone with me?”
Leiandros looked around and after making sure that there was no one, he tilted his head, his face was glowing with joy. “I can be in a panic. And all because of you. In short amount of time, you taught me to panic. And all because of you. I worry about you more than you think. Even though we still don’t know each other.” He took his hand and continued, “I don’t like this tenderness that I am feeling right now. But there is a one thing that I love and it is to protect you. When I see that someone is next to you, I worry so much that I think I can lose my mind. What I said yesterday is true. In this world, love, to love someone, to protect someone, to have tender feelings to someone, all these things are not allowed. Because feelings make us weak. And warriors can not be weak. Warriors must be on the alert. And therefore, love is prohibited. If someone has this feeling, then he and his beloved one will have to fight with each other. Fight until the end.”
Listening to him, Draken began to recall the conversations between his father and Storm’s father. He remembered that they were mentioning something about love. And that two soldiers fought with each other until they let out their last breath.
“Now do you understand?” Leiandros asked and stood up.
Continuing to sit on a snowdrift, Draken said, “Love is a weakness. But can there be love between us? I mean, how can we be so sure?”
Leiandros directed his gaze to the sky, changing his tone to a colder one he said, “I hope you will understand it soon. We have to go now. Blaze will not tolerate our laziness. And I don’t want to fight with you.”
Draken put the stones with dragon fire into the bag and they went towards another forest.
Walking so close to Leiandros, made Draken forget about the beautiful forest around of him. So he suddenly asked, “Do you see the beauty?”
“Beauty?”
“Yes. Do you see the beauty around us?”
Leiandros looked at him. It was hard to tell what kind of emotions were in his eyes. “I see another beauty.”
“Which one?”
“The one that is now in my soul. In my thoughts. In my feelings.”
Draken smiled and nearly fell on the slippery rock. “You are such a romantic and also the great Philosopher too.”
“I just read too many books.”
“Tell me, what kind of human you were at my age. Who did you want to become? I don’t think that you dreamed about becoming a warrior. With your tender heart and soul.”
Leiandros slowed down his steps and it was noticeable that behind of his eyelashes covered with snow, he was hiding entire worlds. The thoughts, that were able to melt the ice. But something that settled in the corner of his soul did not allow his past to be fully revealed.
Looking down, looking at the traces that remained after him on the snow, he said, “When I was younger, I dreamed a lot. But these dreams weren’t connected to any actions. I was just a dreamer.” After becoming silent on this note, he turned his head to the side. Thus, he tried to hide his sadness.
But as befits any warrior, he continued what he started. “People dream about to become someone. To be someone important in the eyes of others. People dream of things that will elevate them. When I was at your age, I dreamed of beauty. The beauty in everything. I dreamed about beautiful flowers that were blooming in the stories in my books. I dreamed about water that doesn’t freeze, but which stores the sun’s rays and if you dip your feet there, you can feel the touch of millions of stars. I dreamed about evenings with the sunsets when the color of the sky foreshadowed that tomorrow everything would be fine. I dreamed about butterflies that were kept in the lines of the poetry written by unknown poets. I dreamed about all these things just like others were dreaming about becoming the great warrior.”
While listening to him, Draken stopped breathing. His heart stopped beating, it was too, listening. And when he finished, Draken remained silent.
The howl of the wind was sounding from all directions. The creak of the snow underfoot filled the mind from within.
Feeling that Leiandros was looking at him, Draken couldn’t find the right words. He couldn’t find the feeling which can embrace this kindred spirit he was looking for all this time. And all he could say was, “I am home.”
The strong blizzard enveloped them again. They lost each other’s gazes and only fuzzy outlines could be seen through the snow. And these outlines, nervously, happily, were smiling.
- Writer
