The Dragon's Scale [COMPLETE]

17.2 || Rescue Mission

'Rescue mission' sounded a lot cooler than what Josh found himself doing the next few days. Hisato summed it up pretty well with his words. Josh watched an uneventful patch of grass. The most exciting thing to happen was the occasional tourist gawking at a bunch of rocks.

He trained when it wasn't his turn to stare at the stones, but they couldn't use any energy on the off chance a Shadow Knight came close enough to sense them. It stole the benefit of having Hisato with him almost constantly.

On the fourth day, though, Hisato vanished for a good part of it to give another group a small break. When he returned to Josh and the others, night had fallen, and the exhaustion showed on his face.

Cale offered to take the first night watch, which Josh couldn't blame him for. Hisato needed his rest.

But it also meant, for the first time, Josh got stuck on watch with the other young Paladin.

He shifted. Even laying on a blanket, he couldn't escape the chilling bite of the hard ground. He glanced over his shoulder at his sleeping bag. What were the chances Cale would chide him if he brought it over to lie on?

Cale pulled away from the binoculars and rubbed his eyes. Faint lines indented his skin from using them so much. "Your turn." He handed the binoculars over with one hand and continued rubbing his face with the other.

Josh held the device to his eyes. They provided a mostly normal view, but when a bird darted into his line of sight, a faint red glow outlined its body.

"How have you been holding up?"

It took a few moments for Josh to realize Cale was initiating a conversation with him. He glanced over—yes, it really was Cale laying there—before staring through the binoculars again.

"Better than I was on the first day," Josh said. "I'm just ready to find Eli and get him and Xander home. How about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah." Josh shrugged. "I don't need to know your family history or anything, but it was kinda your brother that kidnapped mine. Having an evil sibling doesn't sound very fun."

Cale went silent.

Well, if your goal was to shut him up, you did a great job, Boomer said.

It was just a question—

"It was a shock," Cale finally answered, "but I'm doing fine. Confused, I guess. Peter was a good older brother. I can't understand how he's a Shadow Knight now."

Josh frowned. He was the older brother in the situation, but if Eli ever turned out evil after disappearing for a while, he had no idea how he'd feel. "Six years can change a person. How old is he anyway?"

"Twenty-four."

Josh did the math quickly in his head. "So, he was about eighteen when he left? Dude must have gone straight into the wrong crowd."

A small pause, then a sigh. "If you're trying to be helpful, you're failing."

"More like trying to make conversation because this mission is crazy boring, but now everything's just awkward," Josh admitted.

Another beat of silence. Josh glanced over to find Cale's gaze turned inward.

"What was he like?"

Josh jumped. The binocular pushed against his eyes. Lack of pain or not, that did not feel nice. He rubbed at it as he faced Cale again. "What?"

Cale kept his eyes trained on the open field. "Peter. I want the full truth. What was he like?"