Tales of a Dead God

Chapter Twenty-Nine: We Ride for Freedom

Everyone was working through the night. Not a single soul slept in the city or palace. Theo and Noah kept close to Ciro as they helped distribute weapons to soldiers passing by quickly. By that morning, troops were lining up preparing to march. The only thing left was the go sign from Lorcán.

Ciro quickly walked down a corridor making sure there were no stragglers. The troops needed to be ready because of the mass amount of people that were being transported through these portals. Finding no one he curled back around to find the boys and get their things ready. He found them ushering out the last of the stragglers and went for them.

"You guys ready?"

"I need to grab my bow gear, but yeah other than that," Noah informed and Theo nodded.

Ciro nodded. "Well, I have something for the two of you before we head out." Ciro started walking and they soon followed him. "Gabriel and I were planning on giving these to you guys earlier but time got away from us." They entered the room they had soon begun to call home.

Hanging in front of them were two full sets of battle-ready armor. However, they were quite different from each other. Noah's gear was more along the lines of what Gabriel wore. Given he wouldn't see much hand-to-hand combat it was more leather than metal. Black as the night sky but with purple detailing to show the royal colors. Theo's on the other hand was a lighter metal gear given he was not a very big person. Given he would be in hand-to-hand combat, he would need as much protection as possible.

"We thought that having your gear made special would be our gift to you," Ciro explained. "Oh. I almost forgot." He went and pulled out a sheath. "I had this made for you Theo."

Theo took it and pulled out the sword. The handle was bronze and the sword itself had detailing that was hints of gold. Each brother would have links to the respected Gods they chose closer relationships with.

"I don't know what to say." Theo was in awe of the special gift.

"Just do me a favor and use it well."

Theo nodded.

Each gathered their gear and packed everything that would be needed and headed out to meet with everyone else. They found Lorcán who was talking with a wizard that Theo recognized. As they walked up, they caught Lorcán's attention. He dismissed the man he was talking to and met them.

"Everything seems to be in order. I think we're ready to travel." Lorcán states. He looked over at Ciro.

"We're ready if you don't mind someone bringing our horses," Ciro declared. "We'll be leading them to the battlegrounds."

Lorcán nodded and disappeared into the crowd of people. Their horses were brought soon after and they made their way to the front of the large group. Noah recognized one of the men that led the group as the leader of the royal bowmen. That's who he would be fighting with. Ciro called out orders and they began their three-day travel to the frontlines to meet with those who were still surviving.

~~~*~~~

For about a week, there was a lot of work to be done setting up camp and also keeping eyes open for movement. Luckily for them, they would potentially be able to surprise attack as Erebus wasn't informed of the movement of Lorcán and his troops.

Theo and Noah trained on the outskirts of the camp every day or were in their tent. They didn't see much of Ciro throughout the day as he was in charge of keeping an eye out for movement or in meetings with Lorcán. Day in and day out there wasn't much to be said or done and still no word on Gabriel. The boys were starting to get worried, but Ciro would try to tell them that Gabriel was still okay and that this mission wasn't going to be a short one. Noah just hoped that Gabriel would make it back in time.

Like every morning the two boys went to their usual spot to train for a few hours. Noah set up a target he and Theo had stolen while Theo began going through different positions and movements.

"You think Gabriel is, okay?" Theo asked as he watched Noah focus on the target.

Noah shot the arrow and turned a bit to face Theo. "I think he's doing better than we give him credit for." Theo gave a nod and went back to practice. Noah however stopped and paused. He had thought about Gabriel every day since he left in a rush that night. He hoped that Gabriel was still alive. "Hey, Theo."

"Yeah?"

"Are you afraid?" In that moment Noah let go of the brave face he had kept up for so long.

Theo dropped his sword back into its sheath. "I'm terrified, but we have a job to do right?"

Noah looked at his feet. It was their duty to protect a free land. He lifted his head back up. "Is this what our parents would've wanted?" He thought back to what Melosa had said. That felt like it had happened years ago.

"I think they would be proud of us." Theo knitted his brows together.

Noah then became quiet. Theo watched him with a bit of worry tugging at his heart. "Do you regret any of this?"

"Absolutely not," Theo answered quickly. He looked almost offended and Noah raised his eyebrows at the sudden answer. "Sure we've been through hell a time or two and we're about to find out what hell on earth is like, but these last few months have been the best time I've had with you." Theo laughed.

Noah chuckled a bit.

"If we were given the chance to go back to that night at that tavern, I wouldn't change anything that happened that night."

Noah smiled at his brother. Theo went back to drills as Noah stood and watched. He smiled and shook his head. Things would've been completely different if Gabriel left the city that day as he had planned. Instead, he raced after a poor kid's horse that was spooked not knowing that he would soon have a makeshift family and a journey that would be one for the books.

~~~*~~~

Ciro was in and out of meetings on battle strategies. He rarely saw the boys and hadn't heard from his brother yet. Each meeting was the same though and soon he was bored with the continuous repetition. Deep down Ciro knew that when this started that these detailed plans were not going to work. Even Lorcán could sense the boredom from Ciro and knew he wouldn't last much more if he had to keep attending these meetings. So after one particular meeting once everyone had left Lorcán stopped Ciro.

"My dear boy I have a sense that you're about to pull your hair out if you have to attend one more of these meetings," Lorcán stated. He had this intuitive glint in his eyes that told Ciro that Lorcán knew more than he thought.

Ciro paused studying Lorcán carefully. He wasn't sure if Lorcán was wanting an honest opinion or one that sounded nice. "I suppose so." Ciro hesitantly said.

Lorcán nodded in understanding. "I think I should've known that earlier. I wasn't always familiar with the details of war when I was much younger either." Ciro raised an eyebrow. "You believe I've always looked like this? Well, I guess I can understand why. I have looked the same for two millennia now. Anyways, go. Go see Theo and Noah while you can, and I don't want to see you in here again." Lorcán smiled and winked. Ciro smiled and headed out.

For the rest of the day, Ciro was with the boys. They trained for a bit but mostly goofed off. It was nice to have a few minutes of peace even if it was for a brief moment. The sun was starting to set which meant dinner was growing closer. So they packed up their gear and headed to get their food.

Alarms went off throughout the entire camp and runners came blazing past yelling out. "Get into position! This is not a drill! Get into your positions!"

All three looked at each other hoping it wouldn't be the last time. Dread and fear swept through the brothers as the last little bit of childhood innocence would be taken from them in just a few short minutes.

Noah grabbed Theo and embraced him in a crushing hug. "You stay alive out there."

"You too."

Noah let go and watched Theo being dragged off by Ciro. He stood there watching his brother disappear into the crowd going to see him again.

"May the Gods be on our side," Noah whispered to himself before heading off.

May the Gods have mercy indeed.