The Boy in the Field (31 page)

You moved back, getting out of their way before they could
begin fighting. Noah didn’t even question the request, just raised his sword
and slashed at Ethan. You backed into the corner, trying to avoid being struck
yourself.

They were almost perfectly matched, both trained to fight and
both as fit as the other. You flinched as Noah’s blade flashed in front of you,
knocking an ornament from the shelf. Ethan pushed him back, trying to corner
him at the other side of the room, but Noah was too smart to allow himself to
become trapped. He struck harder, determined to break through Ethan’s defence.

Noah stepped in closer, pushing his blade into Ethan’s with
both hands, doing everything to stay too close for Ethan to react. Ethan let
him take another step before planting his boot hard into Noah’s shin. Noah
cried out and stumbled, dropping his blade. He gained his balance before Ethan
could attack again, his face red and blood dripping from his palm. He lunged at
Ethan, both of them tumbling to the ground in a flurry of fists.

Ethan rolled onto his side to avoid being thumped in the face,
wrestling with Noah for control. You saw Noah’s hand go to his boot, drawing a
short blade from the leather. Before you could shout, Ethan fell back,
clutching his stomach. Noah struck again.

You rushed forward before he could stab for a third time,
pulling Noah by the shoulder. He lashed out at you, the blade of his knife
missing your skin by the thickness of your clothing. Snarling, he put his hand
to your chest and pushed you back. He said nothing as he walked away.

“Ethan?” You crawled to his side. “Oh,
gavana
! Wait
here, I’ll get help.”

“No!” He grabbed your hand. “Don’t leave me.”

“Ethan? Your need treatment.”

He breathed deeply, his eyes opening and closing. “If you go,
I’ll be dead by the time you return.”

You took off your shirt, bundling it against the growing patch
of red on the front of his tunic. “No. No, you won’t. I’ll get help.” You
pushed the fabric against the wound. “Don’t die.”

“I love you.”

“No! Don’t you dare!” You pulled him to your chest. “Ethan?
Ethan!” You put your hand to his face. “Oh, Ethan. I love you too. Don’t go.
Please!”

He didn’t move as you pulled him closer. You put your hand to
his chest and felt nothing.

* * *

They didn’t catch him. You weren’t surprised; Serlora was with
war with you and once he went back, they would never hand him over. Besides, as
far as they cared, Ethan was just another dead, enemy soldier. But not to you.
You would search for him. Wherever he was, you would find him or die trying.
Ethan deserved more.

The End
(Back to start)

“No.” You stood between them, holding your hands out to keep
them apart.

Noah gave a low laugh. “You could have been a magister in a
different life.”

“Like you, you mean?” Ethan replied.

You looked at Noah. “You're a magister?”

“He's not the only one who has done well for himself,” Noah
said with a nod. “We’re both soldiers. We can solve this problem like men.”

“Because that’s what people do where you’re from right?” Ethan
replied. “You just stab each other when you can’t agree.”

Noah nodded. “Life is easier in Ethigos. If some bastard
poaches your girlfriend, you take his bastard head off.”

“I suppose the same applies to men who try to kill the leaders
of foreign countries?”

“No.” Noah shook his head. “They get promoted.”

“So it
was
an invasion?”

“
You
declared war on us.
We
were protecting you!”

“Stop!” you yelled. “Please, stop. We can talk this out. We
don’t have to fight. We’re family.”

Ethan dropped the tip of his sword, letting it touch the floor
for a moment before he laid it down. You smiled at him and turned toward Noah
just in time to take his blade across your chest.

That moment stretched into infinity, Noah’s eyes wide, Ethan’s
jaw slack, hands reaching for you as the world began to slip onto its side. You
heart pounded in your ears. They were shouting. The sun was too bright and too
dark all at the same time. Everything was happening at once and not all. Too fast
and still too slow. You weren’t sure if you were in pain. You couldn’t breathe.

Choice:
215. Close Your Eyes
or
216. Hold On

“Well, before you change your mind, would you like to meet
him?”

You looked over your shoulder. Mrs Valkipa and Noah had both
vanished from sight, but you knew they wouldn’t have gone far. The worst case
scenario was that they had gone back to her house and she would wait for you
there.

“No.” Vapasi shook his head. “I don’t want to meet him.”

“Are you sure?”

He shook his head again. “No. Because then it won’t just be a
brother and a girlfriend that I lost. It will be a son too.”

“So don’t let it end that way. Come back and meet him. He’s
still your son and you can still be his dad.”

“Ethan’s his dad.”

“His father then.” You took a few steps in the direction of
home and held out your hand to him. “Come on.”

* * *

Vapasi sat on the floor of your living room while Noah sailed
a toy ship around him. Somehow, that boy knew the man in front of him wasn’t
Ethan, but it didn’t stop the two of them getting along. Whenever you looked at
them, Vapasi would look away and concentrate on one of the wooden sailors as if
it were the most important thing in the world.

“I’m sorry,” he said, once Noah was in bed and the two of you
were alone. “I never meant to hurt you. At least, not like this.”

You smiled and shrugged. “He likes you. I’m sure he’d like to
see you again.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“I’m glad you did. At least he got to meet you.”

He turned away, wiping his face on his sleeve. “I have to go.”

* * *

He returned a week later but he wasn’t alone. Beside him was
Ethan. Vapasi ushered him into the house before you could say anything.

“
Masuki
!” Ethan wrapped his arms around you.

“Ethan...” You buried your face in his shoulder. He was much
thinner than he had been when you had last seen him and his hair was far too
long, tied in a ponytail at the base of his skull. “Oh, Ethan, you look dreadful.”

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.”

You couldn’t stop yourself crying and while you were crying,
there was nothing you could say to him that wouldn’t sound pathetic. When you
straightened, you both grinned at each other. Vapasi was facing away from you.

“Can I see my son?” Vapasi asked, not meeting your eye.

“No.” Ethan turned and shook his head, his smile gone. “I don’t
want you going near him.”

Vapasi looked at him, scowling. “I want to say goodbye.”

“Ethan…” You put your hand on his arm. “He’ll be okay.”

“Go with him. Please. I don’t want them alone together.”

* * *

It wasn’t until later, when you saw Ethan’s scars, that you
understood his apprehension. He could barely keep himself from crying when he
told you about the ways in which Vapasi had inflicted them on him, sometimes
healing them only to open them again, sometimes causing him so much pain that
he would pass out. Every single scar was a question about you that he had
refused to answer.

“I thought I was going to die on that last day,” he said. “I
felt faint and sick and the blood…” He swallowed. “He kept healing me. He kept
me right on that edge until I was begging for him to end it and I’m so sorry,
but I had to tell him. I had to make it stop.” He wrapped his hand around yours.
“I told him where you were. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” You smiled. “He didn’t hurt us.”

“I failed you. I swore to protect you and I failed.”

“If you hadn’t told him where I was, you would still be in that
prison. He would still be torturing you. But now we have you back. I’m glad you
told him.”

You put your arm around his shoulder and leaned your head
against his. You would have to leave town again, take Noah away from his
friends, but it would all be okay. Ethan was home. It was all you had wanted.

The End
(Back to start)

You shook your head and took a step back, eager to put
distance between yourself and him. As he tried to close the gap, you turned and
ran, darting down alleyways and narrow roads, hoping you could lose him in the
maze of back streets.

“Did I mention that I’m a magister?” he shouted after you. “I
could chase you for miles and you’d never get away from me.”

You grabbed the handles of dustbins, pulling them over as you
passed, knocking over anything that could impede his progress towards you.
Every time you looked over your shoulder, he was still right behind you, not
even breaking a sweat.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a cab driver yelled at you as
you ran in front of his therin, the animal whinnying as it tried to avoid you.

“Sorry!”

You continued to run, heading for a crowded street in an
attempt to try to lose him. The people around you slowed you down and the fuss
you caused as you pushed past only made your position more apparent to the
magister who used to be Noah. It also alerted the other soldiers in the area,
all of whom began to close in on you. Surrounded, you raised your hands above
your head and knelt on the ground.

Instruction:
218. Kesene

It was months before Ethan’s trial was brought to the Ethigos
Courthouse. When the day came, you sat in the public gallery to watch. The
Empire’s most senior magister was presiding over the case, putting on a good
show of justice being served. It didn’t seem to matter that the prosecution was
made up of other magisters while Ethan represented himself.

You listened to the magisters presenting their version of
events. You even pinpointed the exact moment that Noah – Vapasi – would have
attacked Ethan, switching his own armour for his brother’s. Then you watched
as, one-by-one, the members of the Kinel Council entered the room, each
identifying Ethan as the assassin.

“Ethan Wicker,” the Magister Ultima began, allowing him to
speak to his own defence. “What have you to say to these allegations?”

Ethan’s eyes scanned the public gallery, fixing on you for a
second. “I deny them, Your Supremacy. Before the council met, I was on patrol
duty – as my colleagues have confirmed. Then, ten minutes after the meeting
started, I was called inside. I got no further than the lobby when I was
knocked unconscious by several men in Kinn uniforms. I awoke several hours
later in a prison cart with no idea what had happened to me.”

“Then might you care to tell me why all seven members of the
council recognise you as the murderer of the King?”

“I have a twin brother, Your Supremacy.”

The Magister Ultima smiled. “A convenient story. It is let
down, however, by the absence of any twin brother. We spoke to your colleagues,
none of whom recall you ever speaking of a brother, twin or otherwise. Your
parents have not come forward to testify on your behalf and neither has this
‘brother’. So, Wicker, what evidence have you to support your claim?”

“None. Until recently, I believed my brother to be dead, which
is why I did not speak of him to my colleagues. Instead, I must hope that I
still have a friend amongst those gathered here that is willing to step forward
and corroborate my story.”

The Magister Ultima stood. “Very well. I invite any such friend
of Ethan Wicker to step forward. Testify.”

Choice:
219. Testify
or
220. Say Nothing

You followed Ethan into the house. From the living room, you
could hear groans of pain. As you moved towards the source, you saw Noah,
curled on the floor. Blood shone on the surface of his clothes and he screamed,
swearing at Ethan. You dropped to your knees at his side and took his hand.

“What happened?” you asked.

“Please, help me.”

You ran your hands over the material of the jacket, looking for
his injuries. He roared in agony as you touched his lower back. He pushed his
forehead against your knee, gritting his teeth and wrapping his fingers around
your wrist in a death grip.

“Am I going to die?”

“Not if I can help it,” you replied, pulling a blanket from the
chair behind you and pushing it against his back. There was a long gash across
his back, bleeding profusely. He screamed again as you applied pressure.

“You’re lying!”

Ethan appeared at the door, a radust box in his hand. “Here.”
He placed it on the floor beside you. “How can I help?”

“Hold this.”

Ethan pushed the cloth against Noah's back. Noah swore, calling
his brother every rude name he could think of. As he screamed, you took from
the box, a pink pearlescent stone. Holding it in one of your hands, you nudged
Ethan's hand aside and placed your other on Noah’s injured back.

“
Adhiki
!” Noah growled. “
Kuji
.
Vasa
!
Khurabi
!”

You ignored the stream of insults, focusing on stopping the
bleeding. He stopped swearing as the painkilling effect of the radust began to
take hold. His breathing slowed and deepened. You repeated the process with the
green stone, this one helping to stop the bleeding.

“I’ll go for help,” Ethan said as you put your hand back on the
cloth.

For a moment after Ethan left, Noah was quiet. He looked up at
you, but his eyes didn’t meet yours. You frowned and watched him, worried he
may lose consciousness.

“Are you okay? Noah, speak to me.”

“I can’t feel my legs,” he said, eyes meeting your at last. “I
can’t feel them.”

You smiled. “I used a painkiller on you. Perhaps I overdid it.”

Noah laughed. “I don’t think that’s how radust works.” The
laugh became a sob and he took a deep breath so that he wouldn’t cry.

Choice:
221. Fetch a Medic
or
222.
Keep Talking to Him