A Mysterious Arrow

Chapter Seven: Rusted Bastard

"You think your hero so valiant? So welcoming? So blessed!?" Who knew where this rash child had come from, but Thalleous knew who he was. He knew what pit he was born from, he knew what trouble he caused. He was a murderer, a genocidal maniac, but to Thalleous, he was nothing but a pathetic teenager who was too desperate to be like the Deathsinger. "I mean, seriously, what happened to living your truth, Thalleous?" oh no. How had he known such a thing? How had told him? The only time he had said something like that was the last time Ingressus had been friends with him.

    Thalleous turned his head over to Ingressus, who immediately tried to calm Tygren down when he noticed his gaze. "Tygren, enough," he said, firm. But it wasn't enough. "Has this 'brave champion' told anyone about his homosexuality?"

    Thalleous jolted awake his forehead sweaty and his limb shaken. 170 years later, and he still couldn't get that stupid moment out of his head. It wasn't true. Of course not. He was a dumb kid willing to make up any lie to ruin his reputation. "Thalleous?" of course. Just the man he needed to see after such a nightmare. "Yeah?"

    "You don't need to break in to sleep here you know?" Hawken. A scholar, a friend, and a pain in his ass. "I'm aware,"

    "Then why do you do it?" Thalleous looked up at Hawken, who had concern in his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, standing up. "Thalleous, you fall nearly dead drunk every night, I- I'm worried about you,"

    "Hawken, you know I can't die," this is how things were now. Instead of always being around each other, mocking each other, and annoying each other, Thalleous found a warm bed to sleep in, woke up, barely had any conversation with Hawken, and left. Alone.

He never meant to be like this, he never meant to be the nameless bastard who had more power than secretly anyone else in his world, but, he could dare to help it. Cowardness ran in the family. "Well aren't you head over heels," he also couldn't help running into Cora's little nightmare. "Shove it," Thalleous warned. Little did Cora know that the man wasn't a voice, he was a person. A human man with hair as thick and black as fresh smoke and eyes that could have passed on as shards of broken glass that made a hand bleed. He had a nourished build but yet still seemed frail and skinny, and he was nearly as tall as the Ardoni he frequented with. Although he was no Royal, he dressed just like one, and the only thing that helped Thalleous identify him was the cut that went five layers deep on his hand. "What's got you so pissy this beautiful morning, my old friend?" he said, sarcasm seething through his voice. "Maybe your existence."

"Work is work. That little Cora creature is orphaned at preschool age, and the 'Queen' still wishes for her father," irate, Thalleous turned to him. "So your power is based on the suffering of children?" he rolled his eyes. "Thalleous, my boy, Abbigail's a grown woman-"

"But you started when she was just a child and she was dumb enough to think you were helping her!" this man-voice was what most people call a master manipulator. Someone whose words could never be claimed as true or false, and he knew this well, and so did Thalleous. "You speak largely for a man who has done worse. You've murdered thousands, and started genocides, and all I've done is speak!"

    "All you've done is bewitch!" he corrected, now enraged. "I don't know who you think I am to ruin a child's life,"

    "You're the one that's been distracting her with your...family issues and lying to her face." Thalleous paused. He had no argument. The only thing he had been instructed to do was lie. Lie until her power got too strong to where she had to be killed. Unfortunately, if Galleous hadn't been raising her, he would have killed her with no protest. But something changed. Something dire.

~~~~

"Your brother!?" Cora's confusion and excitement had traveled all the way into the night. "You guys don't even look alike," even though Galleous never liked speaking about his brother, he was starting to feel more and more like he couldn't refuse any conversation she wanted to talk about. "We're fraternal," he replied, tucking her into bed. "I thought fraternal twins needed a girl,"

"Not always, obviously," Cora stared at him up and down. "Is that why you're so short?" she asked. Galleous lowered his eyebrows. "Well I'm tall to humans so I think that's enough," he stood as Cora shrugged and clicked her tongue. "Whatever you say," Galleous rolled his eyes with a smile. "Are you done?" he asked with his hands on his hips. "No. I have to tell you something else," Cora said in a whisper before waving her hand toward herself. Galleous had never been more concerned in his life, even though he had no reason to be, it was a part of him now. Galleous kneeled back down near Cora's bed and waited for whatever tragedy she could have told him. "Hubris was super lucky to have you take care of him," she whispered. Galleous didn't know how to react. He wanted to cry or smile but he didn't do either, he was in complete shock. Cora was never like that to him, he could always tell that even when she was warming up to him, she wasn't completely trusting in him, but now, she had to be. Weeks earlier, Cora had sworn she would leave when everything was over, but now, Galleous wasn't so sure she wanted that. "Is that so?" Galleous asked, trying his best to hide his glassy tears. Cora laid back down with a smile. "Yep,"

    "Well, when he was a pre-teen, he would have disagreed with you," Galleous smiled at the memory, even though a small thought of him distressed him. "Really?"

    "Teenagers are that way sometimes," he said before shutting her lamp off. "Goodnight," while Galleous was leaving, he heard Cora whisper to herself. "I'd never be like that," years prior, he would have never thought he would have raised such a child.

    Galleous had never been very religious in his lifetime. Not as religious as his brother or father. Sendarian have their own pantheon of gods and their own suffocating rules on how to worship them. The first Sendarian book, the book that was basically their Bible, was nearly three thousand pages. Galleous wanted no part of that. But occasionally, he did leave out candles for the gods. In Sendarian culture, candles on porches of homes would lead drunken gods back home. And what do you know, such a candle had already been snuffed.

    "You have some nerve showing up here, Thalleous,"

"Do I not at least deserve a hello?" Thalleous had let himself inside and was just as unhappy to see his brother as Galleous was. "Why are you here?"

    "That girl needs of figure out that dumb arrow and she has to do it fast," Galleous crossed his arms. "The hell are you talking about?" he asked, unamused yet still concerned, anything that could potentially be harmful to her concerned him. "Can't say," Thalleous replied. "But I know that even though you hate me, you'll still do it cause it's about her," Galleous expression never changed around Thalleous, he was always annoyed, angry, and upset. "I'm not an idiot, Thalleous."

    "Would you just trust me for once?" Galleous scoffed. "Why would I trust you? The only thing you've done is make my life worse!"

"I made your life worse? Galleous, you're the man who's tried to kill himself more times than limbs I have," his brother's words were like a poisonous rose thorn in his side. He had never brought that up. He had never escalated that quickly. He had never made a joke of it before. "Get out." was the only thing that dared to come out of Galleous' mouth.