50. Brothers

Nathanial sat on the coach bench at a loss for words. The man he was seeing on the crowded streets of Stafford, where metal posts with accented magic lanterns brightly lit the path, was without a doubt his brother’s face. But he couldn’t believe it.

He couldn’t believe Lucas, his most cautious brother—was here at Stafford.

“Nathanial! Don’t you dare pretend you didn’t see me! We just locked eyes!”

He ignored his shouting brother, yet Jetson immediately stopped the wagon. Nathanial shot him a fierce glare, only for the old man to gesture at him to get off.

“Your ride ends here, Nathanial,” Jetson said. “It’d be rude to keep your guest waiting for ya.”

“It’s rude of him to show up unannounced,” Nathanial countered.

“Well, that’s family for ya.”

“Family…?” Nathanial frowned. “Was it that obvious?”

Jetson stared at him with a deadpan gaze. “I would have to be blind to not see the resemblance.”

The men in the wagon nodded in agreement without uttering a word.

“Nathanial Eternus Silverlight! If you keep ignoring me, then even Solas himself will not be able to hold me back from the beating I am about to unleash upon you! Don’t you know these hands were made for violence!”

Fredrick whistled. “Damn, he even called you by your full name. The only time someone’s done that to me was my mom.”

“You should get going,” Richard said with a smile. “Best to speak while you have the chance. There’s no telling where they’ll send us next.”

Nathanial grumbled. “Alright, then in that case you guys don’t need to wait for me. I’ll probably be gone for a while.”

The men gave a simple salute to their patrol leader. They watched Nathanial hop off the coach bench and land on the stone road with a heavy thud.

Nathanial grabbed his helm and scabbard that was left on the oak bench. He fastened his sword to his leather belt before placing the helm on the pommel of his blade.

With a deep breath, he calmed his nerves before stepping forward. Nathanial’s blue eyes met his brother’s. The two were only a few steps away. Yet, seeing his brother made Nathanial feel like the distance between them hardly existed.

A tangled bundle of emotions swelled in his chest.

Half of Nathanial was grateful to see his family, but the other half was full of frustration at seeing his brother arrive here at Stafford.

How? How could this idiot be here…?

Nathanial approached his brother with wide and confident strides. He looked at Lucas with eyes mixed with disbelief, anger, and a hint of relief, knowing that he was alright.

Yet Lucas didn’t share the same relief. His smile soon faded as the corner of his lip dropped. Lucas’s bright gaze cleared as if a brush slid across a board, removing the chalk from its surface.

Before him stood Nathanial, a young man with dozens of blade marks painting his iron armor. Lucas didn’t know what to say. The words failed to leave him as his heart ached seeing his little brother walk closer with his head held high.

He didn’t know the tales of what Nathanial had endured, but the dark circles beneath his eyes told him all he needed to know.

For someone like Nathanial, he couldn’t imagine the disdain his brother harbored toward them for forcing him to join the army. He knew what his father had planned, and despite his protests, Lucas couldn’t change Nathanial’s fate.

But the situation had taken a drastic turn once he had learned of the Silverlight Elder’s sinister plot. The mere fact that Nathanial was turned into a conscript threw Lucas into a fit of rage, and once he had found out, he immediately sent word to their father and began his own preparations.

Lucas wouldn’t just let it all unfold. He stepped forward and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“You’ve done well, Nathanial, but it’s time to go home. You can return with your head held high, knowing that you’ve accomplished the impossible.”

Nathanial stared at him in confusion. He slowly shook his head from side to side.

“No, there’s no way I’m going back.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous!” Lucas shook him. “We know what the Elders have done to force you into this position. Even if you were supposed to join the front lines, your role was to be more of an officer or advisor. Instead, you were sent here with no proper training!”

“Regardless, it’s too late now for any changes to go through.”

“It’s only too late if we give up.” He clasped Nathanial’s shoulders. “Listen to me, I have already arranged for our positions to be swapped. With what little authority my wife’s family has, we’ve managed to prepare the paperwork to have me take your place—”

“Your wife’s family? Not ours?”

He froze as Nathanial pointed out that one fact.

“That’s right, Stella’s family helped us out.”

Nathanial gritted his teeth in frustration.

For a moment, he said nothing because the words struck his heart deeper than they should have. Nathanial knew that if Lucas was aware of the situation, then his father had to have known as well.

The head of the house, their father—Corvus Silverlight—wasn’t the type of man to make maneuvers that would endanger the lives of his sons. That meant his father had something planned that he wasn’t aware of.

Yet Lucas had gone against their father’s wishes and done something completely outside their expectations.

Nathanial slowly exhaled. “What you did was unnecessary.”

“Unnecessary?” Lucas’s expression twisted.

He could see the anger in his brother’s gaze and soon dropped his hands. If he were in Nathanial’s shoes, then Lucas knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself either, knowing that their father, a man they had spent their childhood looking up to—had abandoned them.

“I get your frustration, but let’s not argue here,” he said, turning to a small stone path that extended down the street. “Come with me; we can talk as we walk.”

Nathanial tightly shut his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to collect his thoughts.

“Alright, but let’s try to keep this short. I don’t exactly have a lot of time to spare.”

“Bleh, like that excuse will hold. I know you just returned with the others. Time is all you have right now until they give you your next assignment.”

Nathanial quietly clicked his tongue, following Lucas as they made their way down the winding brick road. The two passed by several magic black lampposts that pushed away what remained of the darkness of the night. The green leaves on the trees swayed in the breeze, providing them with patches of shade.

His brother wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but at the oddest times he suddenly became quick witted.

This was one of those times.

Finally, Nathanial broke the silence.

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“Why did you ask your wife’s family for help?”

Lucas’s expression tightened as he glanced over his shoulder.

“There’s nothing wrong in asking for aid.”

A bitter laugh escaped Nathanial. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

“Tell me.” He stopped in the middle of the path. “How much did they have to beg on our behalf? How many favors did they have to call in just to pull these strings so you could try to save me?”

“That doesn’t concern you, Nathanial.” The narrow-eyed man stood upright. “That’s a matter for the adults to handle.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” His hands curled. “I’m not a child anymore, Lucas! And these favors you’re using—they shouldn’t even be wasted on me!”

“You’re my brother; it’s not a waste.”

Nathanial’s gaze dropped. His expression twisted with guilt.

“Stop trying to make this more difficult than it has to be and go back home. I appreciate the lengths you’re going through but I’ve already made my decision. I have no intentions to let you take my place.”

“Nathanial… what’s the matter with you? Do you even hear yourself?”

“I do.”

“No, no, you don’t!” Lucas snapped back. “You’ve always been prideful, and I understand that your heart is in the right place. But our father should have never forced you to go when I’m still around!”

“You seem to misunderstand something. He didn’t force me; I willingly chose to go.”

“You chose to go?”

Nathanial met his brother’s gaze. “I did. And when father told me the news, he didn’t demand I follow his word. He requested that I head out.”

Lucas clenched his jaw. He didn’t know what to say. This entire time, he thought Nathanial went because he had no other choice. But his brother had actually left out of his own free will. However, that didn’t make the guilt any lighter.

To Lucas, there was a natural order in the world.

The young should stay behind and let their elders fight.

It was what he believed to be right.

Because if that wasn’t the case, then what good was a society that failed to protect its children?

Lucas crossed his arms over the white deer insignia on his chest. “Regardless, that doesn’t make the situation any better. You’re still only a one-star aura user. You’re far too weak to be out here in the field.”

Nathanial stopped himself from speaking right away. He thought of the watchmen and knights who had died on the battlefield with a bitter expression. Of John, who gave his life for them to survive.

“Just because you’re stronger doesn’t mean you’ll have better odds of survival.”

“That’s exactly what it means, Nathanial.”