Degree - The Warrior |Book 2|

Chapter 1

ROXANE CAREFULLY EYED a small bush blowing in the wind. She had seen something unusual about it; it had seemed to shake some. “Hey, Julius,” she whispered over her shoulder to her brother, who was watching her carefully and intently. “I think I’ve found something.”
Julius carefully stalked over to her. It had been years since they first discovered the mysterious land where Roxane went missing, and now they were welcomed to roam freely in it. Except for the fact that Julius had immediately set some boundaries for his younger sister, who was now 14. He watched the movement in the bush and nodded to Roxane. “Yep,” he whispered.
As if he had given some sort of signal, Roxane leapt into the bush with a knife in hand. After waiting a few moments, she finally emerged with a dead rabbit in her hands. “What a catch!” Julius said, now in a regular tone. Roxane smiled. “Thanks for teaching me how to hunt,” she said. Julius nodded. “You would have had to learn it someday. Besides, if you were to get lost again, what would you do if you didn’t know how to hunt?” he challenged.
Roxane just stared at the ground for a minute. Feeling awkward, Julius followed in her lead and sat in silence. Finally, he broke the war of sounds. “You hungry?” he asked. Roxane nodded. “I’ve been hungry all morning! I’m ready to eat,” she stated. “That’s the spirit!” Julius said, beginning to walk back to their cottage with Roxane. He looked at the glimmering reflection of the morning sun against the icy lake. He sighed as they trudged through the snow.
“Hey…” Roxane started. She hesitated before finishing, “…do you ever miss Mom and Dad?” Julius froze. He thought of them a lot. In a period of years, he had lost a lot of people he loved. Only one of them he was able to get back. He remembered her question, snapping back into reality after being lost deep in thought. “Oh… yeah. But I’m sure they’re… um, in a better place,” he finally responded. Roxane nodded. “What would you do if you ever saw them again?” she asked.
“Enough with the personal questions,” Julius snapped. “I don’t need a lot on my mind at once.” He looked up to see the sun rising in the sky, sharing its rays of light with the world. Roxane began to suddenly run forward. For a moment, Julius panicked. Then he realized that they had made it back to their cottage. “You ready to eat?” Roxane called, swinging open the wooden door. Julius silently nodded.
He grabbed Roxane’s rabbit and brought it to their kitchen that happened to be just a section of their dining room. “Come,” Julius gestured to Roxane, who happily followed him into the kitchen. “I’ll quiz you on how to cook,” he stated. Roxane looked at the rabbit and then at him. “Well, what do I do first?” he asked her.
Roxane looked at him like he was made of coconuts. She snorted, “Well, first, you obviously skin the rabbit!” Julius nodded. “Good job,” he said. He carefully skinned it with his knife, making sure to scrape every last bit of the fur off. Roxane was very picky about some fur still sometimes being cooked into it. “Now what?”
“Is this really a quiz? It’s so easy, I could do this myself!” Roxane boasted. Julius laughed. “Well, then, do it,” he challenged. Roxane gently moved him aside and grabbed his knife. “Next, you put it in the oven and heat up the fire real good,” she said, beginning to place the rabbit on a board they use for cooking. Julius stopped her. “Nope,” he nagged. “You forgot to take out the organs and cut it up into smaller pieces first.”
“Well, yeah, I might have forgot about the organs, but you don’t have to cut it up into smaller pieces!” she tested. Julius laughed. “But you prefer to have it cut up into the pieces,” he teased. Roxane sighed and pulled the organs out. She playfully mocked him as she cut the lifeless rabbit up into pieces and then placed it over the fire.
“And after all that grossness, you eat it,” she stated. Julius nodded. “You remembered this well when you first started cooking! Is something bothering you?” he asked her. Usually, if he or Roxane forgot something, they knew something was on their mind. Roxane sighed. “I’ll tell you when we eat.”
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Julius sat down at the table eagerly. He caught a whiff of the cooked rabbit and his mouth began to water almost instantly. He picked it up and took a great bite into it, hungrily shredding it up. He looked across the table to see Roxane simply staring at it, slowly picking it apart with her hands. “What’s up?” he asked her. Roxane looked at him and sighed. “What would I do if something were to happen to you? I’m not done with my training yet, and I can barely cook as well as you do. What would I do without you?” she asked him wearily. Julius stared at her. “You just need a bit more training,” Julius reassured her. “But when could I get as good as you? I mean, you’re the warrior of Degree, for crying out loud!” she stated. It was true. Julius had kept coming back to visit Degree a few months after their first approach to it, and soon, the Teller Animal had granted him to protect everybody. It was a big honor for him. To protect a whole unknown land from any harm. How great that was! “You have been training as much as I have. Your skills in fighting are around the same level as mine, so you aren’t very different. And besides, I’m not going anywhere,” Julius promised.
“Thanks,” Roxane said. Julius sighed. Was that really bothering her? When did it start? As Julius pondered these questions, he looked down to see his plate was empty. He looked at Roxane’s plate and saw that she had begun to eat and not pick at the food. “Here,” Julius assured her, “After lunch, I’ll take you to Degree and see if someone we know could help you.” Roxane smiled. It was the least he could do to see the smile grow back on his sister’s face from previously being a worried expression.