~Rin~
Chiron returned late the next morning. I expected him to return drunk or looking like he had been in a fight, but he was oddly sober. If he had picked any fights, they would have been easy wins. I didn't spot any new bruises or dirtied clothes.
When he noticed me assessing him, he frowned and turned in his seat to face away from me. We sat together at the table with our newest companion, the four of us eating the eggs and toast that Milo had prepared.
I thought back to a couple hours earlier, when Bri had left Milo's room, looking more flushed than when she had entered it. The poor girl had no idea the appetites of the men she decided to dwell with. Even Milo, under his happy-go-lucky bravado had darker desires that he wasn't shy about indulging. She was probably safer trying her luck on the road, but I was also selfish. I might have argued that I was just trying to help a magic born in need, but in reality I selfishly didn't want to give her up just yet.
"What's the report?" I asked Chiron, who had returned with a message from our commander. I had Chiron send word of our status to the commander when we returned to the safehouse. I hadn't checked in for over a week while in Grenar's dungeon and my brothers hadn't informed him of my status in fear of being called off the rescue mission. The break in protocol wouldn't go unnoticed...
Chiron broke the seal on the rolled parchment and flattened it onto the table.
"We're being called back to camp," he said after reading. "We're expected in two days' time."
"Does it say why?" asked Milo, who had been smiling and humming all morning. At the news of our recall his mood sombered.
"The commander doesn't need to justify his orders," Chiron grunted. I spotted his flash of unease before it was replaced by a hard mask of indifference.
"Let's pack and be out within the hour."
"The witch?" Chiron didn't look at her. He hadn't looked at her since he returned from nearly breaking her neck.
"She comes with us," I said. "It isn't safe to leave her here alone. Is that ok with you?"
Bri noded warrily, glancing at Chiron and avoiding eye contact with Milo. Milo noticed and smirked at her red cheeks. He placed his hand over hers, patting it softly. She pulled away, hiding the hand between her thigh and her chair.
I pushed a feeling of reassurance into her mind. She looked at me and I felt a pang of guilt at the hope I saw in her eyes. Like most mages and any of the Brotherhood, deception came second nature to me, so I smiled softly and told her what she wanted to hear.
"We will keep you safe, Bri." But not from us.
~Bri~
This trip with the brothers was easier than the first even if it was toward the camp of the infamously violent Brotherhood. I was unchained and heading away from the lord's estate, that's what mattered. For the first time in a long time I had some hope for the future instead of just worrying about the day to day.
Milo made me nervous because I couldn't get a good read on him. I thought I had read him pretty clearly initially, but his actions from last night had me questioning everything about him. Chiron terrified me in a way that pulled at something deep inside I would rather ignore. But Rin was the reason I stayed. I didn't let my guard down fully, especially after what happened with Milo, but Rin did seem kind and he was willing to train me. That was more than anyone else had ever done for me. Now to wait for the other shoe to drop...
We traveled hard and stopped long after the sunset to water the horses and get some sleep. I suspected they would have ridden through the night if Rin wasn't still recovering from his injuries. When we came to a stop I nearly fell off the horse I shared with him and Rin wasn't fairing much better.
Moon shining and fire crackling, we sat across from each other, training. Our bodies were exhausted but our minds were still sharp. Chiron had disappeared, still in a mood, and Milo sat on the other side of our small camp, on watch.
"Control the scene," Rin was saying as he allowed me into his mind. I had been practicing entering and exiting his mind most of the day as we traveled. Entering another's consciousness was fairly easy. It was the getting back out that was the challenge.
I allowed myself to be pulled into his now familiar aura, opening my eyes to a mindscape that was not my own. We stood together in the living room of the safehouse, a place we both knew.
"I want you to take me somewhere I've never been," Rin instructed. "Gain control by controlling the landscape. You want the emotions and intent of my mind to follow instead of lead."
I focused on a memory that I often dreamed about. The breeze smelled of salt and sea life. Around us the room expanded until the walls and ceiling were gone and we stood on the shore line with bare feet sinking into soft sand. Sea birds called to each other and a small house sat just past the dunes.
"Very good," breathed Rin, sounding impressed. "Where are we?"
"My home, I think. It's the earliest memory I have and it feels like home. I'm not sure if it's totally real or if I've made parts of it up, but the ocean and sand are real, I know that."
"Hmm." Rin was silent for a moment, thinking.
"What?" I asked when he gave me an odd look.
"It's just, you don't look like most from the north sea. You're so fair and your eyes... I wouldn't have guessed it to be your home."
"Oh."
I'd never really thought about it. I knew I wasn't from this province, that I had been brought to the nuns as a child and left here. I had never seen much point in seeking out a family that didn't want me.
I felt Rin take control and shift the scene. We now stood in the mountains on a cliff that overlooked a valley of wooded farmlands.
"I grew up in this valley." Rin looked out, pointing to a portion of the land in the distance. "Just there, I was taught to lead a horse and plow. And there," he pointed to another area to the left, "I had my first kiss."
Moving closer to me, he placed a hand on my back directing my gaze with a hand just in front of my eyes. "Over there, I asked her to marry me and she told me no. Then I asked her again in that same spot every year for eight years until we turned sixteen and she finally said yes. I bought us land from her father over there and built us a house three years after that."
A memory flickered in front of us, a young Rin and a tall blond woman embracing in the threshold of a small log house. As fast as it appeared, it vanished and I knew Rin had pushed it away.
Gently I prodded him, curious about this man's past and the woman he loved. I knew it was tragic, whatever the story. I had seen the deep scars that darkened his aura.
"Then what happened?"
"Then someone decided they liked the look of our valley and they sent men to take it away."
The weather darkened and rain started falling. A small light stood out in the gloom and it took me a moment to realize it was a fire. Before long, multiple fires dotted the valley.
"They killed the ones who fought." He said darkly, watching the tiny building burn. "We watched them kill our neighbors and we surrendered. Elie wanted to fight but I made her stay by my side. They put us in chains and when we were subdued they took the women they wanted back into the houses still standing. There was nothing I could do to stop them. I had put myself at their mercy and they still took everything from us."
I heard a scream from behind us and turned toward it, startled. Out of the tree line, three men dragged two tied and naked prisoners. It was Rin and Elie, battered and bruised. Two of the men, wearing the thick leather armor of hired warriors, dragged the younger Rin to the edge of the cliff just beside us. The third guard pulled Rin's terrified wife beside him, laughing as she screamed and struggled.
Rin put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from stepping toward them. "They burned our homes, took our land, and killed our friends and family. Then they taught me to fly."
A strangled gasp escaped my lips before my hand shot up to cover it. My other hand reached out uselessly toward the memory as I watched the soldiers lift Rin and Elie off the ground and shove them over the edge of the cliff. I ran forward, watching them fall. Near the bottom, one of the bodies disappeared while the other continued to fall, hitting the trees and rocks far below.
"Some skills are learned the hard way."
I felt his hands on me as soon as I realized the trap I had fallen into. Standing on the edge, my balance was off and with a hard shove, Rin sent my body over the side. The wind screamed past me and my stomach pulled tight as I free fell toward the trees below.
It's just in his head! Get out! I tried to pull myself out of the dream but my fear was rooting me to the memory. The trees rushed toward me, closer, closer.
Damn it, get out! I squeezed my eyes shut, yanking myself back into my own body right when I felt the branches snap against my falling body.
I opened my eyes with a scream, flailing, almost falling into the campfire. Rin caught me by the arm, which I yanked out of his grasp as soon as I was righted.
"What the fuck was that?!" I shouted at him, standing to get some distance. He was a sociopath!
"It was a lesson." Rin was infuriatingly calm.
"That wasn't a lesson! That was... What the fuck?!"
My heart was still racing, my stomach in knots.
"The world we live in is not gentle, Bri. It won't coddle you or let you take things slow."
He stood so we were face to face, taking my arms and pinning them to my side. I shook and twisted, trying to get free but he was stronger than me and I couldn't throw him.
"Let me go, Rin!" Anger overpowered my fear as I fought and the more I struggled the angrier and more frustrated I got. I felt salty tears burning my eyes. "Let me go!"
"You aren't strong. You aren't big. You aren't a skilled fighter. You have one strength, Bri, your mind. So use it. Make me stop."
Enraged, I pushed forward my intent, willing his hands to release. I had a small moment of victory when I felt his grip loosen, but it was short lived. He pushed me hard, sending me to the ground. Before I could get my feet back under me, Rin was on top of me, using his weight to hold me down.
