The Tale Of Two Brothers

Chapter 6

As soon as we exited his bedroom, the king, unfortunately, turned to stone once again. Even though he was still using touch to guide me, it felt much colder and formal than what he had been doing only moment before. 

He whisked me through the castle, with only minor hesitations to sharply order his guards around. I noticed how carefully they minded him and wondered what he had done to establish such a powerful authority.

We were out the castle doors in a mere matter of minutes, but surprisingly, we set out on foot through the snow. He took his hand away as soon as the door closed and I begrudgingly trudged behind him. 

The inky darkness had settled all around us, but the king knew exactly where to go. His pace never faltered, whether we were weaving through trees or climbing snowbanks, he didn't even bat and eye. Annoyingly he simply scaled them with ease.

I, on the other hand, was having a hell of a time. For starters, I was beginning to freeze again. Surely with his cloak, the king was toasty warm, but in the light shirt, I was shaking from the bitter cold. My shoes, which were the only thing I had kept from when I arrived, were caked with snow and ice and even the soles were soggy.

Slowly, I began to fall behind. We had only been walking for about five minutes, but I was not used to or suited for these conditions. The king didn't notice until he was half a dozen paces ahead.

Once he did, he stopped with a huff and crossed his arms, waiting for me to make up the gap.

"We don't have much time." He said tersely, his voice thin with annoyance.

I narrowed my eyes in annoyance and continued right past him. "Well sorry I wasn't prepared to go hiking!" I tried to exclaim, but was too winded to raise my voice.

I could hear another soft sigh from behind me, then I felt warmth across my shoulders as he wrapped his cloak around my shivering body. His hands lingered on my arms for a moment, rubbing them to bring back a little warmth.

And just like that, the ferocity I felt only moments prior melted away as I turned in his halfway embrace and reevaluated him. His hands never left me, only allowed me to spin before rubbing my arms once again.

"We don't have much further." He promised quietly, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear before taking my hand once again, matching my pace this time.

Lucky for me, he wasn't lying. 

No more than a minute later, we arrived at the edge of a cliff. The drop off was vast and steep, but I couldn't tell how far down it went or even what was at the bottom. A queasy feeling settled in my stomach as I tore my gaze from the abyss to face him.

"What do we do now?" I asked. 

"We wait," He said, staring out into the canyon. "Presumably not much longer, I'm sure they're waiting for us."

"Wait? Wait for what?" 

He ignored my question and turned to face me with an unusual expression on his face.

"There is something you should know before we visit my family..." He trailed off, looking away again.

"What?"

As soon as the word left my mouth, a feeling out weightlessness consumed me. Blinding color overtook my vision, as I tried to squeeze my eyes shut. It almost felt like I was in an incredibly windy tunnel, a tornado of sorts, except it was pushing from all sides.

My hands flew out in front of me, reaching for security. Reaching for the king.

Then the wind seemed to disappeared all at once and it dropped me face first on the rigid ground.