CHP16

“Briel, come on now, you know how Shythe is,” Zaien pleaded.

“I do know how Shythe is! That’s why I’m angry with him. He could have told me about this, this thing!” Briel prodded the side of his head in exasperation. “All it would have taken was a quick, ‘by the by, you’re Acryan, be ready for things to get a little crowded.” Briel paced around, running his fingers through his hair.

“It’s just how he is. We wanted you to have your mind to yourself and not be filled with that,” Zaien pleaded.

Briel’s contemplative eyes roved back and forth, reading or reliving some sort of memory as he thought.

“So, you’ve really no idea what that damn snow child has done, do you?” Briel asked, furrowing his brows at Zaien. His posture went stiff, and Zaien took a step back. His tongue flicked at his teeth again, and his accent shifted.

“Not since Sai tamed me have I been hurt so much.” He tugged at his hair and gnashed his teeth, seething as his rage grew, his blue eyes darkening.

“Briel… Acryan…Grandfather… Please. Calm yourself!” Zaien pleaded, reaching out a hand to touch the boy’s forearm.

He jerked his hand away and snarled, eyes searching the air once more as he thought. He then stared at his hand, lit his fire, and balked at the blackness of it roving over his palm in oily waves. Finally, he shook his hand to dissipate it and grabbed Zaien by the top of his head, letting his palm rest across Zaien’s pleading brow.

A moment of tense concentration passed, drawing the pupils in Zaien’s eyes. Two black pinpricks of horror flashed up at him as Briel released a wavering breath. He looked straight into Zaien’s eyes and gripped his fingers, just as quickly releasing. With a sneer, he watched Zaien stumble back, fingers clutching to his head for a moment as he sank to his knees, wheezing.

“You didn’t know, did you?” Briel asked, looking down at Zaien’s shaking form.

“No! Feathers, no! I didn’t!” Zaien wheezed as he kept his hands clutched to his head just a few moments longer. Then, finally, he opened his eyes, looked skyward, and took a shuddering breath as his light dappled from their pale blue expanses. Tears trailed his cheeks before he slumped back to sit sprawled.

The cold look left Briel just as fast, changed to a look of pity, then bewilderment as he stepped back.

“Zaien?” Briel asked, his accent back to his rich Anael, not the thick old thing it had been.

“Briel, just sit down. You’re okay.”

“Of course, I’m fine. I’m worried about Shythe. I… I mean, we said things, he said things, and his arm,” Briel groaned before shaking his head again and falling to sit in the dirt once more.

“Did I just transfer memories to you?” Briel asked, looking from his palm to Zaien’s floored form. Briel could remember what he’d done, but not quite what memories, gaps between the spirits.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Zaien said breathlessly.

“Tell anyone what?”

“What Shythe was doing to you!” Zaien stood on shaking feet, tense, angry not at Briel but at the circumstance.

“Doing what to me? He’s hard on me, sure… He’s hard on all his students,” Briel laughed.

“None of what I saw was normal. None of what I saw was okay for a kid. That was abuse, Briel,” Zaien bit at him.

“I am what I am, Zaien. You know that the Acerrai blood runs thick. It’s just hard to tame down,” Briel shot him a cocky grin, not his own. Little bits of Acryan, his warlord’s soul, started to show through.

“I’m having the council bring your things out of Shythe’s home. We’re moving you into the palace. You know what’s coming your way now, and you need to brush up to take the crown,” Zaien said through shaken breath as he rubbed tears from his eyes.

“Why are you so upset? It wasn’t that bad, and they’re not letting me have the crown,” Briel chuffed with laughter but quieted at Zaien’s glance.

“The fact that you think those kinds of beatings and being talked to that way is okay for what you are, speaks volumes to what I saw and how you view it. You’ve never been a bad kid, and now that you’re growing into a good friend to me, I owe you this much. You’re not going back to Shythe, and you will be our king again.” Zaien said, shaking with anger.

Briel backed down, quieting as he sank in contemplation. “They’re going to let me bind?” He asked quietly.

“Absolutely,” Zaien said confidently, raising his chin as he steeled himself.

“And we can search for her?” He asked.

“Without a doubt.”

Briel stood slowly and looked up at the skies. He closed his eyes in silent reverie broken only by a low mutter of sound. “I’ll find you when you’re ready.”