Death of a Guardian

Chapter 7

It took Aleks a while to convince Emryk to join him in the fort for the night. When they finally got there, he didn't know how to say the things he wanted to say. He isn't used to talking about his emotions.

Despite what Emryk thought, he does care. He cried alone about Jakub a lot. But he's supposed to be the strong one. Emryk always comes to him to be held and cry when he needs. But who does he get to go to? No one.

He read those signs so many times. He knew every word. They should've sent Jakub down the falls. Why wasn't he?

Either way, for the first time, he wanted to kill Viscount Tomasz. Only he could've given that order with no magicians around. Someday, he knew he would join his dad and become a soldier. He needs to learn to fight so they're ready for anything.

He grabbed Emryk's hand and told him about his feelings for the first time. Again, he didn't know what was giving him the strength to do it, but it was coming out of his mouth. Before Emryk spoke, they both saw a bright flash of pink and gold.

It seemed to blind them slightly. Where it came from astounded them, since the trees didn't block any of it. They blinked their eyes to clear the tears.

Then the branches above them shook, and the ground seemed to shiver. Aleks felt something come up and brush his leg. Looking down, he saw what looked like a tree root pushing out of the ground and touching his legs.

The branches above kept shaking, and they looked back up. The trees swayed, but no leaves or needles fell. They saw an opening appear through which the sky could be seen. It appeared like a tree was growing taller than the others and its branches closed over the top again.

As he looked at Emryk, he saw a root moving under his bare leg, too. It seemed to stop after touching their legs. "Was that a quake?"

Emryk shrugged. "Not sure. No leaves fell. All that happened was the root coming out of the ground a little. But it's just a root."

Aleks heard a voice in the back of his head agreeing with Emryk that it was just a root. There's nothing dangerous about a root. Then the voice left as quickly as it intruded.

He shook his head, his mind going back to why they were there. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about."

Emryk jumped in. "I know what the laws are. I know you feel you need to have a wife to protect your family." A voice in his Emryk's head agreed, telling him it's obvious to need a wife to be protected from questions.

The voice blended into his subconscious so well, Emryk couldn't tell it wasn't his own mind encouraging him to keep speaking. "So, I guess you can date a girl. But no kissing any other boy besides me." Exactly, the voice agreed. You love him and that won't change. He'll always love you. He even said he cannot live without you.

Aleks smiled. The voice in his head that sounded like his subconscious told him he could live with that. He could have Emryk forever and a wife. "I accept. I'm sorry I hurt you."

They held each other and kissed. The sun went down, and they needed to get back. Once over the river, the giant tree shrank back down to a woman smiling. She patted the trees. Then, holding it, her essence vanished into the tree and her body disintegrated into dirt. A green glow appeared to fill the trunk and shoot down into the ground.

The boys ran, and both were smiling, believing they both resolved their problem and came to an understanding.

.....

The next weekend, Aleks father invited them both to visit the sea wall with him. He would take them piscix hunting while he was on guard duty at the walls for the week. Emryk thought they would both be in the town square waiting, so he headed that way.