Valiant (*On Hold*)

15 Brother - Tyne

The place we had agreed to meet was not far off. Through the copse of trees until you heard the trickling of a stream. Uesli was waiting for me in a clearing near the babbling brook. I hesitated at the treeline, watching my brother stand, staring down at a dagger and the blood he cleaned from it. His hair had always been lighter than the rest of ours. A shaggy light brown mop that he always kept cut above his ears. Until now. It had grown long and coarse, flowing into a beard that nestled below his chin, stopping at his collarbone. His face had lost its rounded quality and taken on sunken cheekbones and the sharp, angular features of a man honed by battle or hunger or both. He was no longer the lanky teen of his youth but had grown into a tall and toned man, muscles hidden deceptively beneath his Rirdantan garb, the strips of leather and netting their people preferred.

I stepped forward into the clearing and his head popped up at the sound of a twig snapping beneath my foot.

"Brother," I said in greeting.

Uesli broke out into a grin and it was the most familiar expression I'd seen on the man's face so far. He finally, truly looked like the brother I had lost so long ago.

"Brother," he spoke in reply and then we were crossing the clearing to meet one another, embracing and clapping each other on the back.

"I thought you were dead," I informed him once we parted, still grinning like fools as we stood a bit apart in the clearing.

"There were many times in which I thought the same. What became of you?"

"They took me to the mines, slave colonies in the mountains. I worked for a while, watching my fellow slaves die, and then they sold me to a man who raised me, not as a slave, but as a son. He taught me how to fight, he taught me the way of Rirdanta. And then Bento Mathis came and butchered him and burned his property to the ground."

"So it is vengeance you seek?"

"Always."

"On Bento or Etel?"

I just raised a brow and Uesli's grin broadened as he shook his head.

"Where did they take you?" I asked.

"The training camps. But I did not fare well. After I first drew blood, I refused to do so again. They tried to beat me, threatened to kill me, but I refused. So they tossed me into the fighting pits and said I would either kill or be killed. The first life I took burdened my soul. I did not eat for weeks. I became so weak that I was sure the next fighter I faced would kill me. But they did not. Nor did the next one. I do not know how long I was there. I lost count of how many men I faced and killed. Eventually, Etel came to collect me again, claiming I had finally become a warrior. He tossed me into this regiment and I've been here ever since."

My fury grew with every word my brother spoke. My hands clenched to fists at my sides as I renewed my vow, then and there, to kill Etel Albo and all his ilk.

"I can get you out," I told him. "I have made friends."

"The Etzeran royalty, I see that," Uesli answered, raising a brow, something like an amused grin on his lips. "I saw the princess save your man."

"Then you saw me save her as well."

He snorted.

"Let me go and speak with her," I offered. "She could–"

"No, Tyne," Uesli interrupted, holding up a hand. "I am pleased to see you. More relieved than you may ever know. But I could be of more use to you within these ranks."

I blinked at him, understanding dawning upon me.

"You would offer to turn spy," I said, amazed. "For Etzera."