CHAPTER SIXTEEN #2
“The map was dismal. It needed the doodle. Trust me.”
Briar shook her head and seized the map from his grip.
As she tilted it in the sun, her brows furrowed and narrowed until she sighed and shoved it back into his hand.
“Make sure you stop to rest before you head into the mountains. If you get caught in a blizzard, which—” She glanced into the distance.
“It looks like it may start either tonight or tomorrow morning from those clouds, you won’t be getting any sleep. And you’ll freeze.”
Another grin. “Yes, Mother.”
“Stop smiling like that or I’ll slap it off your face.” Briar threw her arms around his neck again in an iron grip. “Be careful. Promise me.”
“I promise,” he murmured. He lifted her off her feet with as much rib crushing enthusiasm as he could muster in the hug. Gods, he would miss this.
When Briar stepped back, her eyes were wet and she angrily sniffed. Cal gave her hair an affectionate stroke and said in her ear, though it was loud enough for them all to hear, “He’ll be fine. I briefed him.”
It was true. Cal had gone over everything he remembered.
Though Vesper had only seen sketches, he knew the city was circled by windmills and waterwheels.
The raging Stoho River from the mountains fed power to the city until it plunged off the cliffside.
He’d informed Vesper of their strict laws on removing weapons for meal times and no food was to be consumed with his hands under any circumstances.
Also to greet everyone with lowered eyes, extension of his foot to his side, and two fingers pressed to the scar over his heart.
Vesper thought he was joking, but apparently the citizens of Morana were far more formal than Ellynne.
Generally only the Guardians were greeted this way now.
“You haven’t been north in years, Cal. We have no idea what the lands are like now. For all we know, they’re war-torn and crumbled,” she argued.
Cal wrapped his massive arms around her, something he only did in Vesper or Marlys’s trusted company, then whispered something too low to hear. When he pulled back, he cupped Briar’s face and gave her cheeks a squeeze that spurred a wet giggle from her.
As Cal turned back to Vesper, apprehension in his eyes, his chest inflated with a deep sigh overflowing with things Vesper knew his friend would never say.
Instead they embraced, patting each other’s backs like they always did.
The horsey scent of hay, dust, and a hint of manure still clung to Cal’s clothes.
He always assured Vesper that mucking horse stalls was therapeutic, but Vesper would rather shave his head than shovel horse shit.
The hug lingered longer than Vesper expected, both of them not quite willing to let go.
As his oldest friend, Cal knew the blemishes on Vesper’s soul and loved him despite them.
Cal had always been the golden man with rock solid morals and the unfathomable ability to stare adversity in the face until it crumpled to its knees.
When they were children Vesper wanted to be like him so badly.
When Cal pulled back and dove into a handshake they had retired in childhood, emotion clogged Vesper’s throat. He went through the movements though, not daring to turn away this rare display of affection.
Then it was Marlys’s turn. If Vesper thought Briar’s hug had been aggressive, he’d been wrong. Marlys crushed the air from his body in one rush, maybe cracked a rib, too. This was a rare display of affection, opposite her berating, which was how they were. They poked fun at each other.
Marlys pulled back and took Vesper’s face in her hands, much like Cal had done for Briar. Her touch was rough from her time in the kitchens, but familiar. “Do you have everything you need? I hope you brought extra knickers. You never know. And did you pack enough food? I can—”
“You have already stuffed my bag with enough food to feed an army. If I eat too much, I’ll ruin my gorgeous figure.
And I’ll only have you to blame.” Vesper laid his hands over hers as he searched her face for recognition.
Though he would be fine, there was no convincing her.
“I have everything I need. Food, water, clothes, supplies. I’m all set. ”
Marlys nodded once, brisk and affirming, but it didn’t ease the concern in her expression. Usually she wore kohl on her eyes, sometimes a pop of colour to offset her dark skin, but she was plain today, coming to say goodbye without any barriers between them.
“I’m not dying,” Vesper assured. “It’s a month. Not forever.”
Marlys’ thumb stroked his cheekbone, something she once did when he was a boy and ran to her for a dose of tough love.
“Can you blame me for worrying? You left us once. And don’t ever do that again.
I mean it.” She gently pulled her hands from his grip, stepped back, and crossed her arms with sass.
“Don’t do anything moronic. Use your brain, boy. ”
Vesper scoffed. “Why does everyone think I’ll do something stupid?”
“Experience,” Briar chimed in and they all laughed hesitantly.
But when the quiet settled, Vesper knew it was time.
“Thank you all,” he said. “For everything you’re doing and have done. I’ll send word with Quill once I’ve arrived. If you don’t hear from me in a few days, I’ve likely been mauled then digested into Hollowhound shit.”
Briar swatted his arm. “Don’t be a prick.”
But Vesper gave her hand an affectionate squeeze, glanced between his three pillars of strength, and mounted Balthasar.
If his father was there, would he be proud of him?
Would this somehow make up for the century of wasted life and all the atrocities he’d committed against his family’s values?
Would his father finally see who he really was, or still look through him like a ghost?
Would this be enough to earn his approval?
Or earn his love? Either way, he would fight for his home.
His mind wandered back to Arborius shackled in a chamber hidden in the mountain pass, trapped with corpses, bled, and starved all that time by his father’s hand.
And why, Vesper didn’t know, other than the dragon aided Thellonius in the massacre of Asaella’s former rulers, along with the rest of their people.
Vesper had been too young to know the details, but the unending punishment seemed beyond cruel.