The Battle of Wills || The Witcher

Chapter Two

"Easy on that line!" Verin called. He strode over to his younger son, their little boat hardly moving beneath his experienced sea legs. "You'll snap it if you're too eager."

"I told you, Kol," came a remark from the other side of the boat.

"Shut up, Frami," Kol shot back angrily, turning to look at his brother.

"Hey, now." Verin gave both of his boys a stern glance, but his gaze lingered a second longer on his eldest, who was smart enough to drop his eyes and go back to his own line.

Verin turned back to focus on Kol's line once more, but unfortunately, Kol had not. Kol was still looking past Verin to his brother and hadn't noticed that the fish was making a dash for it. At that rate, the fish would end up taking the whole rod with it. "Kol!" Verin warned as he grabbed for the fishing rod. He snatched it out of Kol's hands before the fish could. Unfortunately, in doing so, he pulled even harder on the taut line and with a twang, the line snapped.

Verin tumbled backwards, clipped his head on the boom, and was left sprawling on the floorboards. He clutched at the back of his head and groaned.

Frami and Kol scurried over and stood sheepishly before him.

"You see what you've done?" Verin cringed.

"Sorry, da," came the simultaneous reply, though both boys were trying to hide their snickering.

Verin tried to hold a scowl on his face, then couldn't help but break out into a grin and start laughing as well. "It's alright." Frami reached a hand out and Verin accepted it, pulling himself to his feet. "But you two are cooking dinner tonight." Verin lowered his gaze to Kol's frayed fishing line. "And you'll have to fix that up if you want to catch anything for it."

"I'll help you," Frami offered to Kol, who smiled in return.

Frami ducked under the boom to fetch supplies at the front of the boat while Verin parked himself on the side rail, rubbing the small bump on the back of his head.

They didn't actually need to catch anything. They'd been fishing all summer, stocking up their larder for the stormy season that would be arriving any day now and would keep them land-bound. Today was just a day to get out of the house and enjoy one of the last calm, sunny days they had.

Of course, with two boys, a day was never fully calm.

Verin didn't begrudge them their antics. Gods knew he had gotten up to much worse when he was young. They certainly tried his patience, but Verin couldn't have asked for two better sons. Frami, now nearly a man, took after Verin himself, with vibrant red hair and a quick mouth that often got him into trouble. Kol, on the other hand, was the spitting image of their late mother. Not quite a teen, Kol had hair as black as midnight and, though he would never admit it, Verin knew Kol looked up to his brother.

Verin pulled in a long draught of salty sea air and sighed contentedly.

Kol approached somberly. "I really am sorry, da."

Giving a chuckle, Verin pulled Kol in to sit down beside him. "I know, my boy."

"Da! What is that?"

Verin looked up to the bow to see Frami pointing out toward the water. There was a dark mass a hundred yards out, floating on the surface.

Kol shot up to his brother and Verin followed behind. Shading his eyes, Verin tried to get a better look, though his eyes weren't what they used to be. "Just a bit of sea growth that's broken free," Verin guessed by the greenish color.

Frami turned to Verin, a grave look on his face. "I think there's a man on it."

Surprised by Frami's statement, Verin took another look, squinting in an effort to focus his eyes beyond their capacity. Sure enough, hiding in the mess of dark green was a flash of something pale. It was still too distant to make anything out, but the haunted look on Frami's face was enough for Verin.