The Voyage in the Blizzard (BL)

Forget about you

With each passing day, Draken tried to stop his feelings and thoughts about Leiandros. He didn’t want to think about him and so he tried to read as much as possible. Although these books only brought him pain. It was unbearable to hold Leiandros’ books. They were burning his skin. The imprints left by Leiandros, made his think about him even more, worry about him and thus increase his hatred for Sun.

Sitting in the library, Draken was thinking about that night when they were expressing their feelings. He saw Leiandros in front himself, he saw him lying on this carpet and he saw his tender gaze. Imagination, memory, all this made him hate himself. He closed his face. The guilt, anger, appeared in his heart again.

Hearing a loud knocking on the door, he put on his robe and went downstairs.

Standing on the doorstep and shivering from cold, Silver rushed inside. “I can’t feel my toes. So cold.”

“There is stone with dragon fire. Take it,” Draken said and returned to his chair.

“I hope I didn’t wake you up.” Silver said and comfortably sat in front of the fireplace. “It is so nice to sit by the fireplace after the training.”

“Soon there will be final battle among the soldiers. And your father will visit this clan. I hope you didn’t forget about it.”

Rolling a small stone that burned his hands, Silver looking at the flames of fire said, “Yes, soon, there will be the final battle. The final exam. And then my father will send me to the Battlefield again.”

Draken sat next to him. “I always wanted to ask you. Why did your father send you to the Battlefield without letting you finish your trainings?”

Lying down, Silver closed his eyes and replied, “My father was always unhappy about me. In his eyes, I was always weak. That is why he decided to send me to survive in the war. He thought that there, I would change. Although, I must admit that on the Battlefield, all I did was running and hiding behind of other warriors.”

Feeling sleepy, Draken leaned against the pillow. “Soon, we will have the final battle. And we need to show to all Masters of Three clans what we are capable of. And I am sure that this time your father will be proud of you.”

Approaching him, Silver’s eyes sparkled with fire. Without taking his eyes off Draken he slightly smiled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You know, a few months ago, there was a fight between two soldiers. This fight was the most terrible thing I have ever seen. Two soldiers were fighting as if they were enemies. There was a lot of blood. And I was standing there. I couldn’t help them. But I wanted to help. They were fighting and each of them wanted to stop the other. But they couldn’t stop. They had to fight until they killed each other. And this fight continued for several hours. Because they didn’t want to hurt each other. And therefore, the injuries weren’t serious. But they knew the rule. They knew that they must stop this. So they looked into each other’s eyes for the last time and smiled. And then, they just stopped it. Until their hearts stopped beating, they were lying on the snow, and staring into each other’s eyes. I wasn’t able to move. I was just standing there. I felt all their pain. I don’t know why a person should suffer so much when his only dream is just to be happy. I am scared, Draken, I am so scared that one day, I will meet my end like them.”

“Why do you think you will meet your end like them?” Draken whispered, noticing tears in Silver’s eyes.

“I am just scared,” Silver replied and fell asleep.

The next morning, Draken woke up with a great mood. So he left the house and joined everyone on the training field.

“Brother Draken, what a pity that you didn’t become our teacher earlier. Very soon, there will be the final battle and then we will leave you.”

“Are you crying? I never thought that you were that sentimental.”

“Draken, teacher, are you ready for the final fight? As a teacher, you are responsible for all of us.”

“Yes and since you are of the same age as we are, you too, have to show your skills before masters.”

“I wonder who Draken will fight with. We all will be defeated for sure.”

“Better focus on running,” Draken said.

“I don’t know about you, but I think I can defeat this giant,” Den uttered. “Bigfoot, he is already old and I don’t think that he still has powers.”

Storm stopped and loudly said, “Have you seen him? He is taller and more muscular than all of us.”

“He is not young anyway. Just remember the last fight. Almost everyone defeated him.”

“It is because the previous soldiers were much stronger than all of us.”

Galen unable to run anymore, fell down and asked, “This Bigfoot, do we really need to fight with him?”

Draken, stopped. Taking a deep breath he said, “Bigfoot, despite of his age, he is still the strongest one. Therefore, his goal is to carry out the last test for soldiers. But you shouldn’t be afraid of him.”

Catching Silver’s strange gaze, he continued, “Bigfoot is strong but beasts are stronger. Bigfoot has no fangs, no claws. He is a human like all of us. So you better think about beasts. They know nothing except how to destroy everything on their way. Now, stop thinking and focus on your abilities.”

“What if one of us will be defeated at the hands of Bigfoot, what then? We won’t go to the Battlefield?” someone asked from the crowd.

Walking back and forth, Draken answered, “If you are defeated, you will still go to the Battlefield. If you win, then you will go there anyway. This fight is not a decisive moment whether to send you to the Battlefield or not. This fight shows not your strength, but mine. What I taught you and what kind of soldiers I prepared. So most likely, Raghnall will test me. And decide whether I will remain a teacher or continue on my way as a simple warrior.”

“We won’t let you down. I will do everything in my powers. The First clan needs such teacher like you.” Den said and added, “And perhaps in the future you will become the greatest warrior of all the times!”

Silver still staring at Draken suddenly asked, “Teacher, there are only a few days left until the final battle, so maybe we should fight right now?”

“No. These days you won’t fight. Just keep running,” Draken answered.

After everyone left the training field, Draken didn’t want to go to Leiandros’ house, so he went to the forest.

The branches of the trees merged together, creating a gloomy atmosphere around.

Ignoring the darkness, Draken was slowly walking ahead. He was thinking about Silver’s words. About those two soldiers.

Before his eyes, he could see their gazes filled with fear and the last sparks of tenderness.

Clenching his fists, Draken closed his eyes as if thereby wanting to close his feelings.

His words sounded through the wind. Quietly, with pain, his words slightly disturbed the peace of the forest. The words that sounded like that, “I will forget about you.”