The Knights of Aragon

Chapter 40

"I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe!" Bo shakes his head in disbelief with a laugh. Draxum runs his hands out over his face, exasperated and close to being annoyed. It almost makes me laugh. "I'm telling you, that's our history! It is what we are taught, Bo," Draxum exclaims. Bo holds his hands up in surrender. "Listen, Draxe, just listen. You're telling me that nine men from who-knows-where decided to take over the land and divide it all up. All the while, the Last Battle is occurring?" This argument has been going on for the last half hour. Draxum talked to Bo and Gawain about the history that we were taught at our village which led to an onslaught of questions and explanations. Long story short, there is a disagreement as to what actually happened during those years. "No, no. The Last Battle happened after the establishment of the Regions."

We all sit around a small fire, listening to the heated conversation. Goosey has her head on Vera's lap, the twins and Gawain sit on either side of her. Draxum sits next to Gawain, across from Bo, with me on the other side of him. Rhydian laughs at the whole interaction from my other side. "So, if you don't agree with their history, what version were you taught?" Rhydian leans forward slightly. I would like to hear this too, actually. I've already thought about the Elders possibly changing written history. "Our parents learned from their parents as they learned from their parents," Gawain begins to explain to Draxum. "Our ancestors called what you mentioned as the Last Battle, the Long Conflict. The beginning is unknown to us, but we do know that the Long Conflict destroyed everything." Vera nods along Gawain's words. "My mother explained it to me like this: the Old world was balanced with four points of power. Two of light and two of dark. When the Old world merged into the New, the balance was ruptured. The light and the dark began fighting each other. Then, they were harmonious and pious. Now, they wage war."

A chilling silence engulfs all eight of us. "I never really understood what it meant," Vera runs her hand over Goosey's sleeping head. "She said she would explain it when I was older, but she never got the chance." Before she disappeared. No one says it but we all understood. We're all parentless. We all understand the pain of not knowing where they are now. More-so for Draxum than for me. I have a good idea where my parents might be. "History is subjective," my eyes wander to the woods behind Vera and the others. "It is only ever written by those who survive." Fate will be cruel. To you. Just you. I clench my jaw. I have survived this far without fearing what fate has for me.

"Or win."

I turn and look at Rhydian. His eyes are already on me. "The winners have always been able to write history. Rewrite it or change it back." A small smile lifts a corner if my lips. Changing history sounds so good coming from him. I break our connection first, looking at anything else. My eyes land on Vera as she wiggles her brows at me. My cheeks burn from embarrassment and bow my head. I'm taken aback by the feeling. It's not that I've never been embarrassed because I have, but it has never felt like this before. Like I'm shy, or something along the lines of that. Maybe, just maybe, I do have feelings for Rhydian. I bite my lip as I think about what that would look like. What that would feel like. I've never been with a boy before. I admire Rhydian from the side. His lips have always looked soft and nice. Nice? Nice. What am I doing? You cannot be doing this, Val! You don't know what this lifetime will hold in store and having...Rhydian might not be in cards.

"Alright, I'm spent," Beau claps once, "I'm off to rest and you should be too." Vera nods carefully scooting back, laying Goosey on the floor. We all stand, collecting our stuff, and spreading out into their spaces. "Good 'morrow." I nod at Gawain, stalking to my spot against a big tree. "Sleep well!" Draxum waves at everyone, running after me. The night is cool, cloudless. Winter is on its way, I think. "Are you sleeping next to me tonight, kid?" I wrap an arm around his shoulders. His curls are getting a bit long now. I must remember to give him a haircut. He nods making his hair bounce. "You owe me a story," he says, "I haven't gotten one in a while." I squints my eyes at his claim, trying to remember the last time I told him a story. "I can't have been that long. At most a week, right?"