Chapter 35 Miska
MISKA
Tiny flying bugs dipped and dived, sparking like embers between the mossy trees, and a chorus of small creatures sang to the night sky.
The sun had barely set when I left the shelter to hunt for a few ingredients.
While the stash I’d stolen from the palace was sufficient, she didn’t carry half the things I needed for the salve I was using on Kaden and Isaiah.
Kneeling, I plucked a few more dried berries off the forest floor.
Was I stupid for this? Was I a fool to help them?
These were the questions that kept me company as I worked.
When they woke up, they would probably kill me.
Kaden was terrible, and Isaiah was no better.
They were the infamous, merciless generals of her army and her brothers.
But when I’d reached them and seen the disaster left in the wake of their fall, I’d had to help.
My chest had ached at the sounds of those great, scaled beasts wheezing and moaning in pain.
When their bodies shifted, returning to their mortal forms, they were both beaten, bruised, and covered in so much blood.
I had treated them as best I could out in the open, monitoring them throughout the day. As they slept, I built a litter and pulley system out of tree limbs, vines, and massive leaves I’d found that were as strong as flexible metal.
It had taken me a while to find a shelter, but I hadn’t wanted them to spend the night exposed to the elements and without fire.
I had been lucky even to find a place in this forest, although lucky might not be the right word for what I’d found.
I had stumbled on what looked like the ruins of a small village.
Only two small structures still stood, lumber and clothes littering the ground.
It seemed that when Nismera had taken control of this area and built her evil, golden city, she’d wiped the area clean of anyone who dared have any claim to it.
One at a time, I hoisted them onto the stretcher and dragged them to the crumbling, half-destroyed structure. The only thing that helped me was that it had rained recently, and the soil was wet enough to ease the way. Heavy was an understatement, and my shoulders still hurt at times.
After collecting more of the leaves and wet grass, I added them to the basket I’d made alongside the berries and herbs I’d found and headed back.
The small light in the rotten cabin flickered, and I stopped when I heard voices.
Were they awake? I lingered outside by the tree that had brought down the one wall and peeked inside.
“This just means—” Isaiah started.
“It means nothing,” Kaden barked back, causing me to jump. The pain coating his words was heartbreaking.
“Mera—”
“It’s Nismera,” Kaden corrected, rage bubbling in his voice.
He sat on the side of the cot I had fashioned from the remains of the old beds, his knuckles bunching as he held the edge.
“No nicknames. She doesn’t deserve it, not from you, not after she lied to us our entire lives and tried to kill us both. ”
My hands gripped the basket tightly, clutching it against my chest. That was what she had done to them? Why they’d fought her?
“I know.” Isaiah’s voice grew louder, almost begging. “That means Dad didn’t lock us in that damn prison. You heard her. She knew stuff that she wouldn’t have unless she’d organized it all from the beginning.”
Kaden’s laugh was a twisted bark. “Are you that na?ve? You saw him lock the fucking realm with us in it.”
“Or she did.”
“How, Isaiah? Use your fucking brain.”
“Use yours,” he snapped back. “Xeohr was working with her. The god of fucking tricks. He probably disguised himself to shove us in there.”
Kaden’s shoulders slumped, and he shook his head, his laugh bitter. He ran a hand over his brow, hissing slightly, and I knew that the wounds across his chest and abdomen were hurting him. “Is that what this is about? Are you still fucking looking to justify his abandonment of us?”
“We weren’t aban—”
“Stop!” Kaden raised his head, his crimson eyes flaring.
“What do you think she did, huh? Made him what? Abandon us? Raise the one son he actually loved? Care for the only ones he considered family, and forget us? Do you think she has that much power? And even if all that is true, we were imprisoned for eons, Isaiah! Do you really think the most powerful god in history couldn’t have found us?
If anything, it gave him an out, a final reason to be done with us, and I doubt he ever thought of us again. ”
I waited for Isaiah to respond, to yell, to scream, but nothing came.
“I hate that even now, after everything, you still wish for a reason. He slapped us in the face with the reason. Why are you so desperate for an ounce of fucking love from him? He didn’t love us.
He used us, and he left us. Just like Mera.
” He said it mockingly before sighing. “Just let it fucking go.”
I knew they were monsters, beyond cruel and mean.
I knew they’d hurt Cameron and Dianna, but I couldn’t help the burn in my eyes or the tears that fell.
The things he’d said reminded me so much of my life with my mom.
We had fled Jade City because of the abuse we’d endured, but they had hunted us down and dragged us back.
I remembered being separated from her and never seeing her again.
They had been so cruel, and I had felt so alone that there had been times I’d wished I’d never been born.
After hearing what Kaden and Isaiah had gone through, I realized I had probably heard just a small part, and I wondered if they had wished for the same.
Dianna had once said that with my past, I could have turned mean, hateful, and cruel.
She told me she admired me for choosing to be good, kind, and loving, for not forgetting how to smile, laugh, and care for others.
I hadn’t really understood what she meant, but I thought I did now.
We were all shaped by our experiences, but at some point, we had to decide what it made us, what kind of sharp instrument it turned us into.
Perhaps true strength lies in the moments when the world tosses us into the fire and we emerge unscathed.
Anger and hate came easily, but kindness after the world tried to break you was a mark of true strength.
I squared my shoulders and slipped from behind the tree, making some noise as I walked back into the cabin. Kaden sat, staring out into the dark forest. Isaiah was sitting up as well, but he’d turned away from Kaden with his head propped on his hand, staring daggers into the floor.
“I got the things I need for the salve,” I said. “Just give me a second.”
Neither said a word as I crushed the herbs and mixed them into a paste.
I approached Isaiah first and gently removed his bandages.
He barely looked at me as I cleaned and reapplied the salve before wrapping his wounds once more.
Kaden sat up straighter as I approached him, and I could see the wince he tried to hide as the wound in his abdomen pulled.
That one had worried me, but they were both healing quicker than I thought they would.
Especially since I didn’t have the correct ingredients, but I was happy nonetheless.
The small candle I’d found flickered in the room as I cleaned Kaden up.
As soon as I was done, they settled back on their makeshift cots and turned away from each other.
An emotional wall had gone up between the two brothers, each fortifying it with stone after stone of pain and anger.
After disposing of the dirty bandages, I returned to find Kaden and Isaiah deeply asleep again.
Good, they both needed the rest, and so did I.
I walked to the tiny area I had made for myself and used some water to wash my hands.
I sighed and tucked my hair back, weariness weighing on me.
As I stoked the fire, nursing the small flame, movement from the broken window caught my attention.
I jumped, but stifled my yelp. The bird made of midnight feathers watched me with pale eyes from the windowsill.
It flicked its head toward Kaden, Isaiah, and then back to me.
I am sure it was my imagination, but it seemed almost gleeful that I had listened and helped them.
My heart pounded, and I pressed my hand against my chest. I hadn’t even heard its wings.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, but it only blinked at me.
I turned to pull the small bundle of stale bread and berries from my pack, but when I looked up, the bird had disappeared as silently as he had arrived.