Brothers: Legacy of the Twice-Dead God Read online

  Then I collapsed.

  Chapter 10

  “Come on, Seth, just drink a little,” a voice said. Someone put a plastic cup up to my lips. They were so dry. I sipped at the water, slowly. Then I must have passed out again. The next thing I remembered was I needed to pee badly, but I was really disoriented and sluggish. I think Peter helped me to the bathroom and back to bed. Everything was fuzzy.

  “Wake up, Sunshine, you need to eat a little,” said Ethan, rousing me from sleep gently. I was in a hotel bed propped up with some pillows behind my shoulders. He sat cross-legged on the bed beside me holding a steaming Styrofoam cup. I looked up at him bleary-eyed but at least I could focus now. And I was hungry. Ethan lifted the cup to my lips slowly. I tried to intercept him—I’d been eating on my own since I was two—but my arms weren’t listening yet. I sipped at the too-hot broth and pulled back, letting it cool slightly before running down my throat. My arms finally started working again and Ethan let me take the cup from him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked hoarsely between sips. I could hear a television in the next room at low volume, but it didn’t look like the same hotel room.

  “You’ve been asleep for a couple of days,” he said. “Kieran is helping Peter unload the car. They’ll be back in just a minute.”

  “A few days?” I asked in disbelief, finishing the cup of broth.

  “Yeah, pulling off miracles can exhaust a young man,” he said grinning.

  I heard the door in the connecting room open and daylight shined in briefly. Kieran and Peter were talking in low voices and rustling bags. Ethan got up off the bed and leaned into the room, “He’s up.” That’s when I smelled the best, most enjoyable smell in the entire world: pizza!

  “See, Peter, he is alive,” said Kieran, jovially falling lengthwise on the bed beside me. I’m afraid all of my attention was on the boxes Peter carried in with him, though. The broth Ethan fed me just kicked my appetite into high gear.

  “How are you feeling?” Peter asked, handing me a slice of pepperoni pizza on a napkin. “Eat slow!”

  “Just tired,” I said, weakly, taking a bite. Turning to Kieran, “What about you? How are you? You had me scared to death.”

  “I am hearty and hale,” Kieran said, smiling at me. “You did a remarkable job.”

  I just stared at him, chewing slowly.

  “What’d I do?” I asked. “Peter and I just cleaned you up. I don’t remember much after that.”

  “You did a lot more than that, little brother,” he said, patting my leg roughly. “And you nearly exhausted yourself doing it. You’ve been asleep for three days. Had us all worried that you wouldn’t wake up.”

  This was a lot to take in over a slice of pizza, even eating slowly. “We’ve moved?” I asked.

  “Yes,” answered Kieran, sitting up as Ethan handed him a pizza box from the table. I craned my neck up to see what kind, ham and pineapple. Maybe my next piece. Kieran continued, “Once we were sure you were just sleeping off a huge power burn, we felt it worth the risk to move to another location. One that would be easier to defend since obviously there are things in the world I hadn’t considered if we could be taken so easily and quickly.”

  “Who was that woman?” I asked. “From the other night?”

  “She is a Princess of Summer,” he said, taking a bite of the pineapple and ham pizza. Turning to Peter, he said, “You’re right, this is good.”

  “Did you kill her?” I asked carefully, finishing my slice.

  “No, I just sent her back to the Shadowlands,” he answered casually.

  “You did what?” exclaimed Peter, punctuating each word.

  Kieran looked over at him bemused. “I sent her home.”

  “A Fairy Princess?” Peter asked, bewildered. Kieran nodded calmly.

  “Is that hard?” I asked him.

  “It’s damn near impossible!” he exclaimed, standing, throwing his arms up. “But look at who I’m talking to.” He left the room muttering to himself about getting him killed or fried or something. I didn’t hear all of it. Ethan was near the table snickering. My one slice of pizza landed like a boulder in my gut. I wanted more, but I didn’t think I could eat any more right then.

  “Why don’t you take a quick shower,” Ethan said from the doorway, carrying the pizzas into the other room. “You can eat more later if you want.”

  “That sounds really good,” I said, getting up quickly. And sat right back down. Dizzy. I’ve never been dizzy.

  “Go easy, Seth,” said Kieran, tossing the crust in the trash basket near my feet. “You’re exhausted. That takes time to get over.”

  I stood up more slowly this time. Okay, I get it, just move slow. Not exactly a snail’s pace but not much faster. I felt decrepit walking like that, but I made it to the bathroom. Did the necessaries, then took a slow, warm shower. Someone, I assumed Kieran, put a change of clothes and bathroom kit, both newly purchased, on the vanity for me when I got out. I brushed my teeth and hair, but didn’t feel up to shaving. Felt a thousand times better, though, and the boulder in my belly had moved on. I was hungry again.

  When I walked into the other room, it was a big surprise. The room was a mess, with one corner piled several feet high with trash from packing materials, boxes, and such. The dresser was lined with cell phones and rows of credit cards behind them. Peter was sitting at the table working on a laptop and there were two others closed and stacked on the table beside him. Kieran and Ethan were sitting on the bed hunched over a fourth with Kieran tapping the keys rapidly and Ethan urging him into action. I had no idea what they were doing. I’d never used a computer before so it was foreign to me, though I knew what they were. I grabbed a piece of ham and pineapple pizza and sat at the table with Peter.

  “Peter,” I said, realizing I’d done nothing but cry on his shoulder since he got here. “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I couldn’t have done this if you hadn’t been there for me.”

  “You’re welcome, Seth,” Peter said, smiling. It brightened his eyes to a warm brown and he seemed to relax. I wondered why he bothered to help but I didn’t know how to ask.

  “Aw! He killed me!” Kieran all but shouted from the bed, matched by Ethan’s mocking laughter. He arched an eyebrow at Ethan, saying, “You didn’t do any better.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t boast as much as you did, either,” Ethan said, chuckling as he took the computer out of Kieran’s lap.

  I pointed at them with my pizza and looked at Peter quizzically while I chewed. “They discovered video games,” Peter said, with a sideways grin. “They’ve been like that since yesterday. You’d think they were twelve with the way they’ve been competing.”

  “He doesn’t know what they are, either,” said Ethan, tapping at a mad rate on the keyboard.

  “Still?” Peter asked me. “I would’ve thought your dad would’ve brought a computer in by now.”

  “Electronics always seemed to have a way of failing around Dad,” I said. “Usually involving sparks and arcing electricity.”

  “Good point,” he said, panicked and grabbing his laptop away from me. Then he stared. And kept staring. “You don’t have an aura anymore.”

  “Huh?” I said. Kieran and Ethan both looked up. Ethan closed the laptop and set it aside. I looked down at myself, but I looked normal to me. Just like the three of them looked normal. Well, as much as I could see Kieran’s and Ethan’s auras, I could still see them, sort of a faint heat outline.

  “Peter’s right,” said Kieran, as they gathered around me like vultures. He raised his right hand up like he was warming it with me as the fire and I felt a gentle push of energy.

  “No, his aura is still there,” he said, changing his statement, “it’s just changed.”

  “Yeah, I saw it briefly when you pushed on him,” said Peter. “But why? Why is he like you guys now?”

  “Well, that makes it obvious,” I said, looking up at Kieran. He narrowed his eyes, shrugging. “What d
id Ethan teach me three days ago?” I asked him.

  Kieran and Ethan locked eyes for a long moment, then Kieran said, “Ethan taught you some very specialized healing magic in the old tongue, but just knowing and using this magic should not so completely hide your aura from the physical plane. It just doesn’t make sense.”

  “Why were you looking, anyway?” I asked Peter. “Not that it matters to me because I can’t turn it off and on myself, so it’s not like I could object.”

  “I was trying to see what kind of sparks you threw off,” Peter answered. “What do you mean you can’t turn it off?”

  “Wait,” Kieran interrupted, “Too many questions, at once. What do you mean by ‘sparks’?” He pulled a chair away from the wall, turning it backward and sitting, facing Peter and me.

  “That’s why wizards and magicians avoid electronics,” Peter said. “For the most part, as we progress in our magic, we get stronger and we tend to discharge energies through our auras somewhat. Sparks. It’s these sparks that disrupt electronics. The more intricate the device or the more sensitive to electricity, the more likely it is to get zapped.”

  “And this happens with everyone?” Kieran asked.

  “As far as I know,” Peter said. “I suppose there could be some sort of shield that could be done for short terms like going into hospitals and such. Come to think of it, there would have to be, my dad has a cell phone he keeps in his briefcase most of the time.”

  Then Peter turned to me and asked, “And you’ve seen auras all your life? Always on? Doesn’t that get confusing?”

  “No,” I said, shrugging.

  “How would he know any differently?” asked Ethan.

  “But,” started Peter, “that might explain why Olivia and Robert kept Seth so isolated during his younger years. At least in part, to limit the influence of others’ magic on him.”

  “More likely to hide the fact but a valid consideration nonetheless,” said Kieran. He laced his hands together and rested his chin against them on the back of the chair, thinking. “How did you find the anchor?”

  “Ethan said he was stuck in the Pact lock. When I called his name, there was only one point on the surface of the Pact that didn’t seem to protect itself from intrusion. I assumed that was the anchor. When I pushed through it, there he was.”

  “Seth,” he asked carefully, “you can differentiate a point on a sphere?” I nodded. “Can you do it again?” I swiftly moved into the cavern, flipped up the Pact from its brick-like stand, and searched for the tiny hole. I pushed at it a little.

  Ethan said, grinning, “Yeah, he can find it. That tickles. Quit!”

  Kieran turned back to the bed, looking at Ethan with an arched eyebrow. “He can influence you?”

  “It’s the same as him being there,” said Ethan, reaching back blindly for a pillow, then tossing it straight at my head, still grinning. “I said quit!”

  I caught the pillow with one hand, tossed it back, and finished my slice of pizza. Ethan caught it in return and used it to prop himself on the bed, stretching out length-wise. Peter and Kieran seemed lost in thought so I went after another piece of pizza.

  “Where are you keeping the weapons?” Kieran asked.

  “I dunno,” I said, munching on a slice of sausage with black olive, peppers, and onions. “Wherever Ethan put them.”

  “I put them in your hands,” said Ethan. “What you did with them after that, I haven’t a clue. I kept giving them to you because you seemed to have a place to put them.”

  That shook me. That means they were acting on their own. They seemed to me to be doing that anyway when I used them, but what did that mean when I put them away? I brought out the Night sword and, holding it aloft near the ceiling, peered below its surface at the magic that held it together. Below that, the off-white dragon’s bone stood rigid, stronger than titanium, and resisted the pull of the dark energies that pulsed around and through it, giving it its name. Its hilt was fine silver filigree, giving it a lighter, more rapier-like character.

  “So where are they going?” I asked. “Does it look the same?”

  “Yes,” said Kieran.

  “No,” said Ethan. Kieran turned to him, surprised.

  Ethan stood up on the far side of the bed and smoothed it out, saying, “Bring all five of them out, please, Seth.”

  I tossed what was left of the pizza slice in the trash and stood, transferring the Sword to my right hand. I brought out the scabbard and sheathed the Sword in one smooth movement, laying it on the bed in front of Ethan. Then one by one, I brought out the Day Sword, the Crossbow and the Quiver, and the Stone, laying out each as they were in my space, more or less by happenstance. Ethan looked carefully at each in turn, not touching any, then invited Kieran to do the same by sweeping his arm at the bed, smiling. Kieran accepted the implied challenge, starting with the Day Sword, staring soberly and intently.

  “Oh!” exclaimed Kieran, almost laughing at the Stone at the bottom of the bed. “I guess it still could be yes from my perspective, though. That is how I first saw them. They’ve been tuned to him. Ethan, he does not have the knowledge to do this. What happened? Does this have a scent to it?”

  “Yes, there is a definite scent to the magic involved,” Ethan said, looking back and forth between us. “But he does not have the knowledge to do this.” Ethan shrugged, muscled shoulders showing through the tight T shirt. I’d try to remember to grab some more when we were out next, larger. I sat down, feeling tired again. It occurred to me what they were saying about the weapons.

  “What do you mean they’ve been tuned again?” I asked.

  “May I look at them?” asked Peter from behind me. I waited for either Kieran or Ethan to answer. When they didn’t, I looked up to see them looking expectantly at me.

  “What?” I asked, looking at Peter. “I don’t mind, but they’re not mine to say.”

  “Someone disagrees with you there,” said Kieran, picking up the Day Sword by the hilt. I could hear a low rumbling, like a big heavy rock sliding against another, starting in the distance, but I couldn’t place where it was coming from. When Kieran pulled the Sword free of its scabbard the rumbling changed pitch and it was obvious from where the noise was coming. The Sword was complaining about its current handler.

  Peter was looking at the fist-sized black Stone from the foot of the bed. Ethan joined him, asking, “How far into the enchantment can you see?”

  “Not very far,” Peter said, grimacing. “I’m not all that strong. Basically, I can get down to the layer of obfuscation, then I lose any detail.”

  “Seth,” Ethan looked over at me, “How many layers on the Stone do you see?”

  I looked at the rock on the bed. Propping my head up with my hand on the palm and elbow on the table, I looked at the layers of magic penetrating the Stone. The obfuscation layer that Peter saw was close to the top. I concentrated on seeing deeper. It had a lot of magic poured into it over the centuries of its existence. A lot.

  “Five hundred and…” I started. It got blurry. Pinching the bridge of my nose and shaking my head to help clear it, I looked again counting carefully. “Seven hundred and twelve.” The Sword’s whine was getting on my nerves. “Would you hush?” It stopped.

  Both Peter and Ethan were staring at me with their jaws dropped. I was getting that a lot lately.

  “You know, if y’all keep that up, I’m going into dentistry. At least then I’d understand why your mouths are hanging open.”

  Kieran sheathed the petulant Day Sword and placed it on the bed, chuckling the entire time. He stepped over my outstretched feet and moved around the bed, looking carefully at each implement in turn again.

  “Seth, call them,” Kieran said quietly.

  “How? Say ‘Hey, Rock, C’mere’?” I asked, sarcastically. Peter shoved himself away from the bed as the smooth black Stone flew off the bed, narrowly missing his head, shooting straight at the center of my chest. It hit me before I could start dodging it, but dodge I did. E
than and Kieran had a huge laugh at my spastic attempt to miss something that was no longer there. At least Peter seemed to be concerned and came to my side, making sure I wasn’t hurt. I glared at them for their laughter while my heart slowed down.

  “That seemed to work pretty well,” said Kieran, sitting on the other bed now. “Maybe we should keep the Swords in their scabbards if they’re going to fly around the room.”

  “Where did it go?” I wheezed, sitting up in the chair. The Stone was just gone. I couldn’t find it anywhere on the floor or the table.

  “It went in to where your aura is hiding,” said Ethan. “Wherever that is.”

  “Something physical went to the same place that’s hiding something metaphysical,” I said in disbelief.

  “This from the man who found a one-dimensional object on a two-dimensional sphere, then projected intelligible energy through it to a three-dimensional object and back again.” He crossed his arms, leaning back against the dresser, grinning in challenge.

  “I’m not sure I like seeing myself in you,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him, smiling a little. “Z’at ch’all’s way a’ sayin’ y’all don’ know?” I let a little Southern Georgia drawl come out in that one. The words were a reach but the accent was real, if overly dramatic. Trying to make a point here, gentlemen. They were hiding something. And they were treating me like I was a stupid hick.

  “No, not at all,” said Ethan, shaking his head. “I mean exactly that. Look for yourself.”

  Now that was a little shocking. I looked in my cavern, in the center. There stood the wondrously colorful Pact with its protective magic sitting atop a brick pedestal. The rock had indeed returned. It had tuned to me somehow and made itself quite comfortable in me. I stared deeply into the foundation Stone, looking at each layer. So many different ways to push the magic through to manipulate the power of the tool. Perhaps the others could be equally as useful. Each one came to me with whatever I thought to call it: Day Sword, Night Sword, Crossbow and Quiver. I brought the Day back out and had Ethan hold it while I called for it again. It pulled on him, he said, before sliding out of its sheath and flew hilt first to my hand. It thrummed in the air at Ethan, shooting sparks angrily in his direction while I held it out of his reach. It was my turn to laugh.