Borlosanti: Genesis

Part 19

Nathaniel's perspective

Chapter 30

The next day Wayne, Ravi, Nathaniel and Christopher walked out of Dayja's castle. Nathaniel glanced around. The court yard was full of soldiers, dragons, dwarves and centaurs.

Nathaniel reflected, I died yesterday, coz I failed to think before I acted... I won't make dat mistake again... Ohh my gosh, my poor mother, she had to watch me die. How could I have done such a thing to her and how could I give up der chance to go back to her, straight away? How could I risk dyin' again and never being able to see her again? How?

Hooves pounded against the ground. A group of soldiers rode into the courtyard on horseback and then two soldiers closed the gates. A soldier sharpened his sword, on a stone whilst another group of soldiers pulled catapults into the centre of the courtyard. Nathaniel and his friends practised sword fighting, archery and hand to hand combat.

Nathaniel thought, I need to speak to Potencia, alone.

He glanced around. Potencia was sitting in the corner of the courtyard, by herself, firing fire balls into the air.

He walked to her. "Erm...can I have a word in private?"

She nodded without making eye contact and then she stood up. He led the way round the side of the castle, after a while, the noise from the court yard gradually lessened, as Potencia's footsteps trailed behind him. He looked around. No one else was there apart from him and Potencia. He stopped and faced her. She stopped, sucked her thumb and looked into the distance.

Nathaniel said, "I've noticed dat you haven't looked me in der eye since I died."

Potencia took her thumb out of her mouth and started twisting her fringe round her finger tip. "I'm not worthy to look at you. I betrayed you...because of me you died... I'll never forgive myself for that."

"I've forgiven you, so don't you think it's about time dat you forgave yourself."

Potencia's eyes glistened as she squirmed under his steady gaze. "I can't ... what I done was selfish and evil."

"Look at me," said Nathaniel.

"No."

"Look at me."

"No!"

Nathaniel grasped her face in his hands, turned it to face him and looked at her. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

He wiped away her tears and hugged her fiercely to his chest.

Chapter 31

The four boys and Dayja's allies were in the court yard. They were armed and wearing full body armour. Nathaniel gazed. Dayja and Novelle walked out of the castle, into the courtyard.

"My friends, it's time for us to go to battle. I will not lie to you... we're outnumbered. There are ten thousand soldiers out there, gearing up for war. Whereas our numbers currently stand at four thousand — undoubtedly more people will come to our aide, but due to the fact that they're coming from the four corners of Borlosanti, it may take some of them a few days to reach us — Unfortunately, we can't wait for the cavalry to arrive before we start fighting, because the enemy will be upon us shortly... I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, for coming to my aid... with all that said and done, there's only one more thing for me to say and that's fight well, so we can be victorious in battle," said Dayja.

Dayja's allies cheered. Ravi tapped Nathaniel on his shoulder. Nathaniel turned around. Ravi and Christopher were standing there.

Christopher said, "this is crazy, I wonder if Dayja would still allow us to go home, if we asked him."