The Lost Coast: The Second Book To Land Of Storms

XIV

"Gabriel come to think of it. What makes you happy?" Amell asked as he sat down next to him.

It was late at night. The girls had gone to bed. Amell and Gabriel were having a talk. Amell felt like after what Abigail said, they needed to spend more time together.

"Well I tried drinking, all that did was make me sick. But I did met someone while I was there. He was....interesting, to say the least." Gabriel said.

"Really? That's great! Your meeting people. It's good that your out making friends. What's his name?"

"Walter. He has a boat, kind of reminds me of you." Gabriel admitted.

"That's alright." Amell said. "Most people have boats around here. I'm just happy that your making friends. I know it's hard for you to adjust to the new environment. I can only help you so much. Listen, tomorrow go out and explore on your own, meet people have fun. Don't even think of coming back before dark."

With that Amell left. Gabriel moved closer to the hearth. He could hardly believe what Amell said to him. He was given the opportunity to explore. It was exactly what Gabriel wanted, so why did he feel so guilty? He chose not to think about that and drifted off to sleep.
                                     *~*~*~*~*
Gabriel woke up. He had a funny habit of waking up before anyone else. He snuck up to Amell's bedroom where his stuff was kept.

Gabriel opened the door. Amell was soundly sleeping. Gabriel walked over to the bedside table and picked up his bag. He was as quiet as a mouse. He opened the bag to check the contents.

There was something missing. The blade. It was gone. Gabriel looked around the area the bag was kept. It didn't turn up. He started to walk out of the room and look else where, when he saw something silver shine from under the pillow.

Gabriel knelt down in front of the bed. He carefully reached under the pillow trying not to wake Amell. But Amell turned over and half opened his eyes.

"Malin." Amell said as he reached over and touched Gabriel's face. "I've missed you so much. I love you very deeply. I don't know how long I can go on with this pain."

Gabriel knew that these were the words of a tired broken man. He didn't have the strength to tell Amell that he was dreaming. Amell was obviously in a world of pain over his late lover.

"Amell don't worry about me. Live you life. Take care of the people you love." Gabriel said trying to sound like his father.

Amell smiled a small smile then retracted his hand from Gabriel's face. Gabriel watched as Amell fell back into the black void that is sleep. He grabed the blade from beneath the pillow and his staff from the dresser. Then left the room.

Gabriel put the scabbard around his waist. He looked in Emily's room to ensure she was still there. She was sleeping soundly. Gabriel didn't dare look in Abigail's room. He was afraid that she would think that he was a pervert.

Gabriel headed out of the house. He had no clue as to were he wanted to go. He walked aimlessly for a long while. Amell had repeatedly told him the island was small, but to Gabriel it was the biggest thing he'd ever seen.

After a while Gabriel looked down at his reflection in a puddle. Everything in his life had changed except for his reflection. He had the same eyes, same mouth, same nose, same hair.

My hair. Gabriel thought. If Amell can confuse me with my father it's because of my hair. I can never let that happen again.

Gabriel took the blade from the scabbard around his hips. He held his hair in his hands and closed his eyes, then cut. The puddle rippled at the touch of the fallen hair. When he opened his eyes he didn't want to even look at himself.

He put the dagger back into the scabbard and touched his head. It felt lighter. He wondered what Amell would say. He knew that Ethan would have a million things to say about his new look.

That was the first time he'd thought about Ethan. His mother crossed his mind all the time but Ethan wasn't even an after though. How was he doing as the new King? Did he consider taking a wife? Gabriel cleared his mind from these questions and walked down to the beach.

He started out down by the pier. Looking at the ocean gave him a bittersweet feeling. It was beautiful sight to behold, yet the guilt of leaving it weighed down on him like gravity.

He walked along the coast until he saw something off in the distance. Gabriel had no idea what it was exactly, but he was excited to find out. Gabriel ran towards the object to find that it was a boat. When he looked down, he was to say the least, surprised at who was sleeping there.

It was Walter. He slept in the small, two person vessel all night. Walter's eyes opened while Gabriel was looking at him.

"Is this the wake up call I get? If so, I could get used to this." Walter said as he sat up.

"Walter is this were you sleep?" Gabriel asked with wide eyes.

"Well yes. I can't afford an Inn so I just sleep where I would any other night." Walter answered.

He stood up and moved around the boat. He stuffed the blanket he had into a compartment in the boat. Then he lifted up his arm and sniffed. He grimaced at the smell.

"If you'll excuse me, I'd like to do some swimming. Unless of course you'd like to join me. In that case your more than welcome to stay."

Walter started to undress. Gabriel couldn't stop starring at him. He felt heat slowly creep up to his checks. Gabriel thought if he dared touch them his hand would burn on contact.

"Don't you swim? I mean you must know how." Walter said, snapping Gabriel out of his trance.

"You have no idea."