Boelik (20 page)

“
Just one night. Do you
need anything?” Kian asked, looking at him.

“
First, water. Second, the
demon—you saw it?”

“
The big dead
mutt?”

“
Yes. I need you to burn
the carcass.”

Kian stared at Bo for a minute before taking
a lighter from his pocket and heading out to do as Bo had
asked.

The next few days were slow. Kian took care
of Bo as fever struck, cleaning the cabin of his messes and
changing the bandages on his wounds. Half of the time Bo was
asleep. Still, he was proud of Kian, who never complained even
once.

At last, one morning when Bo awakened, he
found his fever broken. He sat up in bed, looking over at Kian,
who’d fallen asleep at the table. Bo shook his head, but smiled. He
got up and draped his cloak over the boy’s shoulders. Then he made
breakfast.

Eventually Kian awakened—just in time to eat.
Bo put a plate of meat and berries in front of him, but Kian only
stared at him. “Are you sure you should be moving?” he asked.

“
I’m fine,” Bo replied,
sitting in Ryan’s chair. “I heal quickly. Eat your
breakfast.”

Kian glanced down at the plate made of
polished wood, then up and around the cabin. It was practically
falling apart, with cracks in the walls and holes in the roof that
led to leaks that pooled on the floor. “Why are you living here?”
Kian asked.

Bo noticed now how deep the boy’s voice had
become. “Because there’s no place else for me to be,” Bo replied,
biting into his bit of venison.

“
You could live with me and
Ma, I’m sure,” Kian said, his brown eyes fixed on Bo.

“
Kian, that would be a
disaster waiting to happen,” Bo sighed, leaning back in his chair
and bringing out his left hand. “Remember?” Kian looked down at his
plate. He popped a blackberry into his mouth, furrowing his brow in
thought.

“
What about if we at least
repaired this place?” he suggested, swallowing.

“
I don’t know that I’d
bother. I only have about twenty years left in this place at the
maximum,” Bo said.

“
What? Why?” Kian asked,
his eyes wide. “You aren’t leaving, are you?”

“
Probably then.”

“
What about me?”

“
Well,” Bo said, “we’ll
see.”

Kian kept his gaze on Bo a moment longer
before looking back around the cabin. “Twenty years is a long time,
though.”

“
Shorter than you might
think.”

At that, Kian returned his gaze to Bo. “Bo,”
he started, his voice wary, “how old are you?”

Bo sighed. “Oh, about six hundred and
fifty-four. Roughly. Honestly, I’m not sure that I should even
bother keeping track but I do.”

Kian simply blinked at him for a moment,
stunned.

“
I’m old, I
know.”

“
Ancient
would be a better word for it,” Kian replied.
He quickly put another berry in his mouth as Bo glared at him
flatly.

***

Kian began making a habit of visiting Bo. He
would discuss his schoolwork and his friends with Bo as if he were
his father. Bo would listen patiently and offer suggestions when he
could as to how to fix problems, and then the two would go out and
train.

One day, as Kian was talking about his school
years being over, Bo asked, “What about your mother?” He threw
another log into the fire.

“
Huh?” Kian asked, looking
over his shoulder at him.

“
You’ve come to me with
this sort of thing quite a bit. What about your mother?”

“
Oh,” Kian said, glancing
away again. “Well, Ma’s been sort of…off, since Da died. She goes
to work and cooks dinner and all, but she doesn’t really ever feel
like talking anymore. I don’t…I don’t really know what to do,” he
admitted.

“
I see,” Bo said, throwing
a final piece of wood to the hungry fire before sitting in Ryan’s
old chair across from Kian, making sure not to knock the hat off.
“Well, I wish I could help somehow, but I can’t. Grief is something
that she’ll have to overcome on her own.”

Kian nodded. “That’s all right. It’s not like
it’s your fault, anyway,” Kian said.

Bo nodded and the two were silent for a
while.

“
Kian, what year is it,
exactly?” Bo ventured.

“
You don’t know?” Kian
asked, bemused.

“
I haven’t asked anyone in
a while.”

Kian looked at him. “It’s nineteen
ninety-five. June, if you want to know that, too.”

“
I think I could have
figured that much out.”

Kian grinned. “Well, either way, it’s getting
to be about sunset,” he said, looking out at the golden light that
filtered through the forest. “Will we train today?”

“
There’s nothing preventing
it,” Bo replied, standing from his seat. Kian followed him out of
the door, and they went to the normal spot.

***

“
Come on, Bo, hurry up! I’m
going to beat you today!”

“
Thirty-three years old and
impatient as ever,” Bo muttered, walking patiently to the training
grove as Kian jogged ahead of him. “You haven’t beaten me once all
this time,” he said, raising his voice. “So what makes you think
you can do it today?”“No clue! But I’m going to try!”

Bo rolled his eyes. “So much energy,” he
muttered. Then, “You aren’t even changed yet! Get ready to
start!”

“
Right!” Kian said, going
behind a tree to take off his clothes and change, his deer form
spreading out from behind the tree. He galloped over to Bo, dancing
in place and snorting, his great rack blocking quite a bit of
sun.

“
Are you going to fight
with me or dance with me, Kian?” he said. Kian snorted and held
still, lowering his head so it was level with Bo’s rather than
three heads higher. “Ready?”

The elk snorted.

“
Then…go!” Bo shouted,
leaping out of the way to avoid the immediate charge and dashing
behind the elk.

“
Predictable!” he called.
Kian reared and turned back around, leaping at Bo and trying to
plant his hooves on Bo’s head.

Bo ducked and rolled to the side, letting
Kian’s enormous weight plow the ground instead. “If that’s the best
you can start with in all this time, you’re going to need remedial
lessons!” he called as he swiped at Kian’s shoulder, but Kian
sidestepped just in time and lowered his head in the same moment,
turning his rack to catch Bo in the jaw.

“
Good,” Bo praised, leaping
back. He rubbed his jaw. “Good thing we aren’t hitting any harder,”
he grumbled before leaping back at Kian, who was simultaneously
charging at him.

Bo intended to take hold of Kian’s throat,
but Kian lowered his head in time to catch Bo in his antlers. Kian
continued charging ahead with new vigor, and Bo knew the boy was
aiming to catch him between a tree and his enormous rack. Managing
to find a handhold, he leapt off in time for Kian to plow into the
target without him.

Kian shook his large head and turned back to
Bo, stomping the ground. Bo was very tempted to laugh at his
pupil’s frustration.

Once again Kian tried to charge at Bo, but Bo
was prepared and stepped aside, ducking as Kian tried to hit him
with his rack. As Kian missed and began to turn, Bo managed to run
and leap onto him, using the antlers as a handhold as Kian tried to
buck him off.

“
Use more of your front,”
Bo directed. “I’m not sitting on your rear!”

Taking his advice, Kian began using more of
his shoulders. He also decided to add a lot of spinning to the mix.
However, Bo had a good hold on Kian’s side with his legs and a good
grip with his right hand. Using his left arm, he quickly stretched
and took a jab at the soft part of Kian’s throat. The game was
won.

Kian stopped bucking, his breaths heaving. Bo
straightened on his back, patting his damp neck. “Good fight. Try
being a little less predictable, though.”

Kian snorted.

“
Also, don’t leap at an
opponent as fast as I am or as vicious as I can be. I could have
ripped open your chest, which you left open, or your throat, and
managed to get away before you hit the ground. And if something’s
on your back, try backing up and rearing them into a tree. It’ll at
least drive the air out of them and make it easier to shake them
off.”

After Bo finished doling out advice, Kian
knelt and let Bo get off. Then he went back behind his tree,
donning his clothes once more. “Well, I tried,” Kian sighed,
emerging from behind the old alder.

“
You did. I still
won.”

“
Yeah, well, either way, I
planned on visiting Ma and Da’s grave before night set in, so I’ll
see you tomorrow,” Kian said, giving Bo a lopsided
smile.

“
All right. Have a good
night,” Bo said, giving Kian a small wave before the boy turned
back and walked away. Bo looked up at the sunset sky through the
trees and turned to head back home.

As Bo lay on his bed staring up at his
tattered roof that night, he felt Dayo join him.
Hello, Dayo,
he greeted.

“
Hello, Bo,” Dayo greeted,
rather happily.

Is it time?

“
He is ready.”

Where is he?

“
America. Michigan,
roughly.”

I don’t have a clue as to
where that is. My maps are a bit outdated.

“
Well, that’s fine. I’m
going to be the one to fly you there, after all. But to find him, I
would recommend some espionage.”

Spy?

“
Yes, spy. On dragons, to
be specific. We don’t actually hoard physical treasure, after
all—that’s fallen rather out of style, considering so many were
killed for their jewels. We do, however, hoard knowledge. And such
a special case is a special treasure to know of.”

All right, I
suppose.

“
You suppose?” Dayo huffed.
Before Bo could retort, however, he continued. “Well, anyway, shall
I pick you up in the morning?”

Yes—wait,
Bo
thought, having a realization.
Actually, could we
do it in the evening? I’d like to say good-bye to Kian.

“
I can manage that. At
sunset, then? At the boy’s grave?”

Yes. At Ryan’s
grave.

Dayo fled from Bo’s mind then, leaving him
alone with memories.

“
So,” he whispered to
himself. “I guess we’ll be leaving Ireland for the last time
tomorrow, won’t we? And we’ll have to burn all of this,” he said,
gazing around in the dimness at the cabin he and Ryan had built.
His eyes stopped on the old gray hat that rested on the corner of
the chair. “Time to go,” he murmured, closing his eyes and falling
asleep.

***

In the morning, Bo got up and packed food for
the trip. He stored his cloak away as well, and when he was
finished he looked toward the window. The day he’d awaited for more
than six hundred years was here.

Bo went outside to listen to the birds. He
sat in front of his cabin, his back to the graying, decrepit wall,
holding Ryan’s hat in his hands. He regretted not keeping something
of Olea’s as he stared at it, his heart aching with all of the
things he had had to give up over the years. But before he could
dwell on any of that for too long, Kian showed up with a beaming
smile on his face.

Giving him a skeptical look, Bo asked, “Why
are you grinning?”

“
Because I feel like today
is going to be fantastic, Bo!” Kian said, plunking next to Bo in
the grass. He was a good head taller than Bo, sitting or standing.
Bo didn’t look at him.

“
Well…” Bo began, lifting
his eyes from the hat and gazing out at the forest. The sun
filtered through the trees, the leaves bright green with it. The
ground below was like an ocean with the flowing light and shadows
as a gentle breeze made the boughs above dance. “The day will
certainly be nice here in Ireland.”

“
You’ve got that right,”
Kian agreed, gazing out at the forest alongside him with his warm
brown eyes.

“
It’ll be a nice day to say
farewell,” Bo said, not wanting to say it.

“
What?” Kian asked,
stunned, flicking his gaze to Bo. “Today?
Now?”

“
Not now. This evening. I
want you to see me off. Then I want you to burn the cabin. Take
whatever you want from it first.”

There was silence for some time. “Okay,” Kian
finally said. He then glanced down at the hat in Bo’s hand. “You
know, I never saw you wear that hat once.”

Bo finally looked at him then, his hazel eyes
clear. “That’s because it was never mine.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
It was a…a friend’s.”
Partner doesn’t do him justice.
“He died a
very long time ago.”

“
Who was he?”

“
You remember that story
your father said, when I asked him about his namesake?”

“
The boy with the ruined
face? That one?”

Bo nodded.

“
So the reason you looked
like you’d seen a ghost…”

“
You remember it that well,
huh?”

Kian scratched his head, embarrassed. “I was
worried. Anyway, was all of that story true, then?”