Chapter 186 – The Unspoken Hurt (IV)

Chapter 186

The Unspoken Hurt (IV)

“You can’t, brother! Father will get mad!” A young boy cried out, trying desperately to stop the older one from sneaking out.

Past the window was a dark night, ashen clouds cloaking even the faint few scatterings of the moonlight.

“Let me go!” The older boy yanked himself free as the younger fell down. “And if you say anything, I will feed you ants until your head explodes, you hear me?!”

It was the fourth night in a row that the older boy snuck out–the last time Father caught him, he’d put him over the knee for almost four hours.

A’tun had never seen their father so angry before–so angry that he beat Laye until the latter had no more tears to cry.

But it didn’t matter.

His older brother kept sneaking out, still, and A’tun didn’t even know where to.

Not anymore, however.

Gritting his teeth, the young boy sprang back to his feet and shuffled over to the window, vaulting somewhat awkwardly and landing on a slight slope by their house. The distant lights of the vast compound scared him for a moment, but he quickly shook himself free of fear and used an ordinary chant to follow Laye’s scent.

North and west he went, over to the Dark Woods.

Nobody was supposed to go into the Dark Woods–that was where the beasts of heraldry lay dormant and were never to be disturbed.

But if Laye went there… he had to see what his older brother was doing!

Bracing the tiny wooden doll he always had with him before bedtime, he slid down the slight slope and into the tall grass; their house was at the very edge of the compound, where tall grass and strange flowers surrounded it from all but one side.

He tried to make as little noise as possible, his legs scraping against the rather dry and sharp blades of grass, cutting him… yet he endured the pain, speeding up.

He walked so for nearly ten minutes before coming up to the forest’s entrance–tall grass slowly waned, and in its place grew even taller, darker trees, their trunks and branches and leaves all pitch-black.

A gentle breeze blew by, yet, as the grass swayed, the branches and leaves remained unmoving.

Pinching his cheeks to once again become fearless, he braved the steps into the dark. Rather than following with his eyes, he followed with the spell–his brother’s scent was growing thicker and thicker, and he didn’t have to walk too long in the endless dark to find a spark of light.

He hurried over, still making as little noise as possible, and hid behind one of the trunks just before the trees opened up into a round clearing.

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There, he saw Laye’s familiar figure–he was on his knees, arched backward like a bow, arms splayed. Before him was… something. It was dark and ghastly and faceless, save for the eyes red like blood.

It spoke in an unfamiliar tongue, stirring the howling, cold winds to blow around the boy as they lifted him off the ground.

A’tun saw winds shape themselves into daggers and aim toward the hapless body of a boy, and he screamed.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Shooting out from between the trees, his fingers snapped into motion as he conjured several sheets of paper in front of him and lit them ablaze.

Six spherical balls of fire appeared and lit up the forest as though it were day, and he hurtled them all toward the ghastly figure. It screeched as the flames came upon it, yet the fire never made it that far–a sheet of black spun into a vortex and sucked all the flames as the thump of a falling body echoed and the crimson eyes shifted their focus over to him.