Drakon

brotherly warning

[♘a l i s t a i r   s e l w y n♘]

I yelped as Gavin dragged me out of the room with his mind.  “Can you stop manhandling me?”

He smirked.  “Grin and bear it, kid.”

I groaned dramatically.  “Please don’t call me kid.”

“Whatever, kid.  We have a lot to talk about.” Gavin grunted.  I looked back towards the room we were in- Terris made a face at me, and I saw Kia slap her on the head before yanking her into the room.  That's my girl, I thought proudly.

Gavin tossed me into a room, and I landed on the bed with an indignant squawk.  “Dude, what was that for?”

The silver dragon rolled his eyes.  “Sorry.” He didn't seem that sorry. That's because I'm not.  He replied in my mind casually.  I merely grunted in response.

“Anyway, what are we here for again?”

Gavin rolled his eyes.  “We’re here to talk about Kia.  My sister. Your sort-of girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend-” I muttered, flustered.

“Save it.” The prince said sharply.  “I want to know your intentions. You kissed her, what is she to you?”

“Technically, she kissed me first?” I squeaked.  I never knew Gavin could be so intimidating!

“Doesn’t matter.” He smiled wryly.  “What can I say, I care about her. I missed out on being a brother for most of her life,  I’m taking the chance to be one for her now.”

I guess I could get behind that.  I barely had the chance to be a little brother for Cole, and I pretty much never had the chance to be a big brother for Berniss.  My father was to blame, but partially I was too. Sure, my father wanted to take their magic, but I could've stopped him.

I could've stopped him.

That was the worst.  I could've found out more about what happened to my siblings.  I could've rescued them. I could've done something.

“Ahem.” Gavin stared at me, eyebrow raised.  “Are you done moping around?”

I flushed.  “Whoops. Continue.” I had forgotten he could read my mind in the blink of an eye-

You should be fortunate Terris is a water dragon and not a silver.  She’d know every dark secret you have before you could even think of telling her to stop.  Now, the most she could do is turn you into goop.  

That didn’t sound fun either.  

I know.  But it’s not like you’re keeping your mind a secret either.  And also, how good are you at sparring?

That was an odd question.  

No, not really.  But answer anyway.  

“I’d say yes.  I used to spar with the guards and kick their butts for fun.”

Good! You might want to prepare yourself.

Gavin put his hand against my forehead.  His eyes glowed violet. “Sleep.” The world went dark.

I found myself in a dark place.  In the distance, a single light flickered.  I walked towards, driven by the brightness. “Don’t,” said a voice, “touch that.”

I heard the sound of a striking match, and instantly the place grew brighter.  Behind me, Gavin’s face was illuminated by flickering lamplight. He hooked it onto an anchor on the stone wall.  With a snap of his fingers, more lamps appeared on the walls.

Small people moved in frames.  What were they? Looking closer, I saw that they were memories- I saw a younger him squealing in joy as his father spun him in circles and his mother laughed.  A young girl with raven-black hair wobbled on her feet, taking a shaky step forward as an older boy cheered her on. In another scene, a younger Gavin lay under the stars with a boy around his age.

Pieces of paper lay discarded on the floor, dust and cobwebs littering the room.  “Welcome to my mind.” He said gruffly. He snapped his fingers again, and the room cleared up a little.  “Excuse the mess. I don’t normally get visitors.”

“That’s okay, take your time.” I said, distracted.  One door had ‘Pre- Kia’ on it written in chicken scratch.  I guessed those were the rest of the memories Gavin had of his life before Kia was born.  Another said ‘Friends and Family’. There were so many more labelled doors. And one of them was completely barricaded.  There were chairs, shelves, books, all kinds of things stacked up against the door. I walked closer, curious.

“That one’s prohibited.” Gavin’s voice was quiet.

“Why?”

“The memories.  They’re too painful to look at.”

“Oh.” There was a long pregnant silence as the silver dragon prince resumed cleaning.

I heard a sneeze.  “Finally, I’m done.  I haven’t been in here for a long time.” With a swish of his hands, everything moved aside.  “Now we’ve got space to train.” A sword materialized in my hand, and I hefted it up, waving it around.  It wasn’t Aichmiros, but it would have to do. Gavin grinned, a silver spear in one hand and a shield that glowed with blue light in the other.  “Let’s fight.”

I attacked first, my sword striking his shield.  I yelped as I was thrown backwards, crashing and leaving an Alistair-sized dent in the wall.  “What the hell?”

Gavin didn't look bashful at all.  “Psychic shield. Try again.”

I charged, this time batted back by the shield.  Whatever this psychic stuff was, it was good. “Can you change your shield?” He rolled his eyes, the blue glow on his shield fading to normal silver.

I brought my sword up, iron clashing against silver.  He thrust his spear forward, and I parried it just in time.  All that training with Gael really did help. “My father taught me how to fight.” I counter-attacked with a feint, slashing out.  He blocked it neatly, barely winded. “He wanted me to use a sword, but I thought shields were cooler.”

I managed to get past his defences, lunging towards his stomach.  He hit me in the head with his shield and I fell to the floor, ears ringing.  “Ow.”

“Again.”

“Jeez, you’re harsher than your father!”

“What can I say? I learned from the best.  Plus, I’ve been waiting for ages to try this out on someone.” I grunted.  It wasn't like I was out of practice, but I really felt like a terrible fighter.  “You need to learn to fight against different powers.” That was true. “Okay, now fight me.”

I groaned, slashing out half heartedly.  “I thought you were gonna give me the ‘Talk’.  What happened?”

He shrugged, safely behind his shield.  “I decided against it. Besides, this is way more fun! There's no brotherly bonding time without a good fight.”

He lowered his shield, and I lunged forwards.  This could be my chance! Unfortunately, Gavin was prepared, as always, and sent me flying back onto the sofa.  I grunted. “Okay, you win.”

He grinned, falling back on his own sofa.  “I guess we both needed that.”

“Excuse me,” and incredulous female voice spoke, “what are you two doing? I leave you two for a few minutes, and I find you both lying on the bed unconscious!”  The voice tsked disappointedly. “Gavin, you need better mind shields. Alistair, you’re gonna fall off the bed soon.”

We both whirled around, caught like deer in the headlights.  Kia stared right back at us, a look of amusement on her face.  Whoops.

image: extremely ugly drawing of gavin and his weapons by me (no eyes coz i suck at drawing eyes lol)