Chapter Seven:

               A ride to town and back. 

    I woke up to someone kicking me. I opened my eyes and turned around to see Sebastian. 

    “Get up,” he said, and kicked me. I got up silently, rubbing my leg. What is up with everyone kicking me so much? I thought. 

    “What is it?” I asked. 

    “Time to get up. We need to get moving.” he said. I noticed that he still had his cloak and mask on, same with his gloves. 

    “Hey, you still have your stuff on.” 

    “Yes? What about it?” 

    “Aren’t you going to take it off?” I asked. 

    “No.” they replied sharply. “This stays with me at all times.” 

I frowned a little. Guessing that he didn’t yet trust me enough to let me see his face, I spotted Emine crouched down, eating a rabbit that he must

have caught.

    “Hey, wait up!” I said, noticing that Sebastian was already leaving the cave. “Where are we exactly going?” 

    “Somewhere.” 

    “Uh–okay. If you’ve got a plan.” I said. I saw Bylur standing next to a tree, which he was tied to. Sebastian had lifted himself onto his horse, sat on the saddle which he had previously fixed. 

    He had called Emine with a short whistle, the next moment came Emine running out of the cave. The next minute, Bylur started to trot forward. I started to follow him. 

    I had followed Sebastian and his horse, along with Emine, deeper into the forest until we had soon stopped next to a river. 

    By the time we reached the river, my legs were exhausted. Sebastian jumped off from his horse, then Bylur went forward and both he and Emine started to drink from the river. 

    “We’ll settle here,” he said, then I watched as he walked off somewhere out of my view. I sat down and layed on my back, tired from the walk.

Everything felt sore as I closed my eyes.

    “What do you think you're doing?” I heard Sebastian ask, which made me open my eyes again to give him a puzzling look. 

    “Uh… I’m resting?” I said, puzzled, and when Sebastian kept looking at me with no response I said. “You know–resting? You do know what that is, right? It’s where when you’re tired, you–” 

    “No, no! Not that!” he snapped. “I mean, get up. We’ve still got work to do.” 

    “But, Seb, I–” 

    “Don’t call me that. Get up, now. There's no time to rest. I said, now.” he ordered, which made me scramble up to my feet. 

    “Seb,” I said, ignoring his plea, “We have been walking forever! My legs are tired!” 

    He gave no reply yet I could feel his gaze on me. “Fine. What do we need to do?” 

    “Follow me, and I said not to call me that!” 

    Sebastian had left with another word. I followed him without

complaint. 

    “What are we doing?” I asked for the third time in a row. 

    “We’re going to do sword training,” he answered.  

    “Why?” 

    “I’m not going to answer you, I don’t have time for your word games.” 

    “If you say so.” I said. “Oh! I got something to use for sword training!” 

    “What is it?” 

I left, and followed the imaginary path I remembered us taking to return to our campfire. I grabbed something that I put out of my ground from earlier. 

    I returned to Sebastian after that. 

    “Here it is.” I said, grinning, holding out the sword that I picked up. 

    “What is that?” he asked skeptically. 

    “Okay. You have to seriously stop asking that. It’s a sword. You know, you call me stupid, but you really should start thinking of yourself–” I got interrupted as Sebastian quickly took the sword out of my hands. 

    “Hey, that's mine!” I said, trying to get it back, but he held it away from

me. “Give it back! What are you doing!?” 

    “Where’d you get this?” Sebastian demanded harshly. 

    “From one of the guards when they died.” 

    “Well, you can’t use this for battle training,” he said. “I’ll keep hold of this for now.” 

    I didn’t say anything as I crossed my arms. I continued following Sebastian until we stopped by a shallow lake. 

    “Okay, we’ll start here. Take this,” Sebastian said, handing me a stick, “okay, good. Now…take your stance.” 

    We had walked all the way to our camp after a full day of training. 

    First off, things didn't go well. I didn’t get my fighting stance right, Sebastian pointed out all the things I was doing wrong, and when we actually got to fighting, I failed horribly. 

    My legs, arms, and whole body were aching badly from all the bruises I had gained. Apparently, he did not believe in hitting softly, or even taking breaks. 

    In a real fight, no one is going to wait until you are done resting. You fight until you’ve finished the job, his words echoed in my mind as I layed back on a tree trunk, staring at the dusk sky. 

    I thought about his explanation a little more. 

    A few more days went on like this, but I was getting no better whatsoever and Sebastian wasn’t helping at all, but one morning was different; 

    I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. There was no kicking or talking from Sebastian, so I had looked around- he was nowhere to be found. 

    It was morning–not dawn which was the time he had usually woken me up at–and I saw Bylur and Emine sitting next to the fire, which was still going. 

    I watched as the fire burned and the smoke rose up in the air until I had come to my senses. 

    I jumped up, then searched the area. I then saw a stick of meat laying on an unusually big leaf. 

    I took it, thinking that it was from Sebastian, and started eating it. 

    About when I had finished eating, I saw Sebastian come into the clearing. 

    “Have you eaten that food I gave you?” Was the first thing he asked. No hello, or good morning, or even how are you? But that was to be expected from him. 

    “Uh–yeah, it was–” 

    “Great. Come on.” Sebastian interrupted with an order, then left. Confused, I just followed him. He checked Bylur’s bags that he had on him, and when he finished he threw something at me. 

    Surprised, I looked down to see what he tossed to me. It was a cloak, gloves, and a mask. 

    “Put those on,” he instructed. 

    “If you say so.” I said, and I quickly got dressed. “Why do I need these?” 

    “We’re going to a town for supplies. Don’t want you to get caught.” he said. “Now, get on Bylur.” 

    “What do you mean?” I asked, shocked that he said that.

    “Exactly what I said. Get on.” he said sharply. Although I couldn’t see his face, just his mask, I stared at it and gave a grin, which made him ask, 

    “What is it now?” 

    “You trust me, don’t ya?” 

    “You’re terribly mistaken.” Sebastian grunted, then mounted Bylur himself. Still smiling, I got on as well after a bit of difficulty. 

    Sebastian took the reins and prompted the horse forward, as we were moving, it felt weird. This was the first time ever riding a horse. 

    I felt happy. “So, Seb, where did you have the time to find a town?” 

    “You were sleeping for a while,” he said shortly. 

    “How long do you even sleep for?” I asked, to which there was no reply.

    We had been riding for hours and it became dusk, then something came into view.      

    “Okay, Bylur, stay here.” Sebastian said, as he got off the horse. I jumped off also, pondering on why we’re leaving the horse in the forest. But then again, I followed him nonetheless. 

    We had entered the town without any problems. I was so happy and

nervous I started to fidget with the hem of the cloak with my hands, well, until Sebastian stopped me by saying,

    “Really, you seriously need to stop doing that. It looks more suspicious.” 

    I stopped, just agreeing with what he was saying. I marveled at the town when we walked inside the next moment. 

    “Now, stay close to me. Don’t get lost. Don’t wander off.” he said. 

    Wow, I could’ve lived in one of these towns! With actual people! I thought excitedly, walking next to Sebastian.    

    I wandered away from Sebastian’s side at some point without telling him as my mind was telling me to go explore. 

    After a little bit, I walked up to a big board. I saw many papers on it, but one had caught my eye; I looked at it with piqued interest. 

    I couldn’t make out what I was looking at, my eyes grazing over the shapes and marks, but I did see an interesting drawing of a young man wearing a mask… something about the eyes behind his hood looked familiar…the distrust, and semblance of a deep knowledge… too much for

someone so young.  I took it off the board and looked at it, thinking; I wish I could read! 

Noticing where I was, I thought it was time to go find Sebastian. I stuffed the poster in the hidden pockets of the cloak. 

    Invigorated by the energy of the small city, I pluckily strolled the town, looking for Sebastian when suddenly a piercing headache started to bore into my temple. I stopped against a stacked stone wall and rested my head against it, trying to find relief in the cool smooth rocks.. With my eyes closed I started to feel as if I was running down the streets but my legs were not moving, then I saw Sebastian in an alleyway talking to someone. 

    When I opened my eyes my head no longer hurt. I started walking down the path I thought I saw thinking how it was a bit different from when I saw through Kenric’s eyes. 

    Maybe it's because I'm already so close to him? The vision definitely helped but I still had no idea where I was going. After a little bit of searching, I suddenly heard voices. 

    I followed the voices, which seemed to be echoing in my head. They had led me to an alley. I walked inside, but then I quickly hid behind a barrel when I saw people. I looked at who they were, then I realized why I recognized them. 

    Uh-oh, I thought. Sebastian was being surrounded by a group of people and one of them was pointing a sword at him. I turned around, and fled knowing I wouldn't be much help but remembered something I had seen earlier. 

    I was panicking as I ran down the street. It's not that far from here. 

    Ah-ha! I was laughing at myself, proud, as I saw the stable, and there, I saw horses. 

    As fast as I could, I ran towards the stable. No one was in it so once I was close enough, I jumped the fence that restricted the horses in their pens. 

    I quickly strode over to the first horse that I saw; I must have scared the horse as It wynnied in panic.

    No time to calm it down, I jumped onto the horse's back trying to

mimic Sebastian. I took its mane, kicked my legs at the side, and that sent the horse racing off. 

    Scaring myself with the speed of the horse, I saw it galloping towards the fence. 

    I should have thought about this! I thought. Right before we hit the fence, the horse–miraculously–jumped over the fence and landed on the other side. Shoot! Turn, turn, turn! How do I turn!? I ended up just yanking the horse's mane, swinging its head in the direction I needed it to go while leaning to the side as much as possible. Oh shoot! I leaned too far and nearly fell off. 

    I had no idea how to ride on a horse and nearly hit someone walking by, but then the alleyway came into view and I pulled the horse's mane again towards it. When it saw the narrow alley it gave a small buck but right before we entered. 

    I felt the wind going through my hair as it pushed the hood of my cloak off my head, but I didn’t care. The horse quickly ran as I steered it to where I last saw Sebastian. 

    The horse–realizing that I wasn’t getting off– stopped where it was with a high pitched cry rearing up onto its hind legs stepping back scaring the group of people that was threatening Sebastian.

     I wrapped my arms around the horse's neck, trying not to be bucked off. 

    I had to try and get this horse still so I grabbed two fistfuls of horse hair, slid down, and kept the horse's head down so it couldn’t buck anymore. 

    “Sebastian!” I yelled out. Seb whipped around and noticed me barely keeping the horse in place. 

    One of the guys grabbed Sebastian and stabbed him in his side when he tried to break free from them, then he–to my shock–stabbed the guy holding him, and ran towards me. 

    He came and jumped onto the horse’s back with no hesitation.

    Sebastian took pieces of the horse’s mane as I got back on and he steered it around sharply, exiting the town with a gallop. 

    The horse started to run towards the forest; tracing back where we first

came in, I saw Bylur shortly after. 

    We had soon reached our camp. Sebastian slowed the stallion down then jumped off its back. He walked over to the campfire, came back with a piece of rope and tied the horse to a tree. 

    I slid off the horse’s back, and watched as Sebastian went back to the campfire. I noticed something was off. 

    “are you–” 

    “Where were you?” he interrupted in a piercing cold tone. 

    “What do you mean?” 

    “I mean. Where were you? I said to stay close to me, but you ran off somewhere where I couldn’t find you!” Sebastian said, almost stumbling as he went to sit on the ground. 

    “W-well, I was off exploring.” I stuttered. Sebastian stayed silent as if he was thinking. “Sorry…” 

    “I don’t know what you were thinking, everything with the horse, but I guess I would owe you a thanks for saving me and everything.” Sebastian said. I gave a sheepish grin but accepted it. 

    “I said I would, especially if you hadn't wandered off in the first place.” he said.

    “Are……are you okay? You don’t seem like it. Did you hurt yourself, I mean?” I asked worriedly after a few moments.

    “Yeah. I’m just fine.” He replied curtly, and I could tell that he was still angry at me for running off. 

    I took off my mask, cloak and gloves, and handed them back to him. I noticed that his own mask was cracked. 

    I went to sit by him, and layed back on a tree. “Hey, I have a question.” 

    Sebastian grunted, I just continued, “D-did you stab that guy back there? In the town? Did you actually kill him?” 

    “Yes.” 

    “But, why? Why did you kill him?” 

    “Nothing that you would understand,” he sighed. “Look, there are many things you don’t know about me and I prefer to keep it like that, okay?” 

    “Okay, fine, tell me this then. Why was that guy attacking you then?” I asked. Sebastian stayed silent once again. “Fine, don’t answer…” 

    I layed back on my tree trunk a bit more. I put my hands in my pockets. I took something out that was in there. Ignoring it, I noticed Sebastian laying his head on his knees. 

    “What is your name, anyways?” he asked, sounding as if he were distant from the situation. I stared at the night sky before answering. 

    “I don’t know…” I finally replied. 

    “What?” Sebastian asked. “What person doesn’t even know his own name?” 

    “I don’t know. I forgot. Like everything else. It probably didn’t even matter either if I forgot it so easily.” I said. “Kenric gave me a name, but I forgot it too.” 

    “Well, it’s getting late, should probably go to bed.” Sebastian said. I noticed that he sounded tense. 

    I agreed, said goodnight, and just watched the stars while listening to the fire crackling until I fell into a restless sleep, worrying about my friend. 

                        Chapter Eight:

                       Fight

I noticed as the beautiful yellow sun was sinking down underneath the hills as if the earth was swallowing it whole; the clouds, looking soft and cushy as always, were drifting across the purple and blue sky as I was standing next to the new horse.

    I heard all the animals and beasts become quiet as it was getting close to night.

    The wood's eerie sounds sent chills down my spine. I listened to the crackles of fire as the familiar smell of campfire drifted past me as I stood in the cold. 

    “Woah!” I said to the black horse who was in front of me. “Calm down buddy!”

    The horse that we stole was rearing, trying to break from the rope that bound him to a tree. 

    The stallion had fascinated me to the point where I was stunned by its 

appearance. The huge horse had magnificent black hair, it also had a striking black mane to match.

    “Sebastian, help!” I yelped, dodging out of the horse’s hoofs, afraid of being trampled. 

    Almost being stomped by the horse, I saw Sebastian coming to my aid. Sebastian had an exasperated look on his face. I saw that he was carrying something in his hands, which he shoved forcefully in my arms. 

    When he handed it to me I looked to see what it was; it was a shiny leather saddle. 

    Moments later of examining the saddle, I looked up to see Sebastian approaching the black horse. 

    My chest tightened with worry as I just watched him getting closer; I opened my mouth to warn him about getting under the hoofs. 

    “Seb–” I started but then got immediately interrupted as he lifted his palm to me in return as a signal to keep my mouth closed. I just obeyed and kept silent. 

    I kept quiet, watching with wonderment as he was inching closer and

closer; I could hear that he was mumbling under his breath although I couldn’t catch a thing.

    I hugged myself in an attempt to warm my body after finding myself shaking. I tried to will myself to stop but was unable to do it. 

    I put the saddle that Sebastian gave to me close to my chest, whilst it did not help whatsoever. 

    Sebastian had gotten next to the horse, and by the time he did, the mount calmed down. It watched with wide eyes as Sebastian put a gloved hand on it and started to stroke the bridge of its nose. 

    I stared in amazement on how he calmed the horse down. 

    “H-how did you do that?” I asked in wonderment and admiration. “I couldn’t even do that!”

    “You just have to know how to calm them.” Sebastian said, turning his head to me but still petting the horse. “Plus, I’ve had some practice with Bylur when I first got him. What did you do to get him so freaked like this?” 

    “Nothing. I just approached him and he got scared for some reason!” I

explained. 

    “Hm. Perhaps he could see your past, and saw something?” Sebastian suggested. 

    “Yeah, right. Nice try.” I objected, shaking my head. 

    “Could be. You’ll never know.” Sebastian said. I stared at the black stallion with curiosity. I shook my head. “But anyways. You’ll have to learn how to calm him down if you're keeping him.” 

    “I’m not keeping him, though,” I objected. “I’m going to return him to his rightful owner.” 

    “Look, I know what you want to do, the right thing about going back.” Sebastian said in a sarcastic tone. “But you can’t do that, not after what happened yesterday, after you took the horse and ran out of town.” 

    “You mean, after you left the town after you stabbed the guy.” I pointed out, surprised at my own voice as I heard a little anger in it. 

    “Point is,” he snapped, ignoring me. “You can’t go back. So we could leave the horse here to die, or kill it. Or we could take it along, then you got a horse. Either way, we can’t take the horse back.” 

    “I don’t want it to die.” I quickly disagreed, then I smiled as I continued. “So, I guess, out of the goodness of my heart, I’ll keep it.” 

    “Don’t joke, It’s annoying.” 

    “Says you,” I shot back, laughing. 

    Sebastian ignored me, marched up to me, and snatched the shiny saddle that I was holding out of my hands. He then put it on the black horse, adjusted it so it laid on its back comfortably. 

    “There. I made a saddle for him.” he said, with a hint of approval in his voice. “Are you going to name him? He would need one.” 

    “Hmm…how about…” I trailed off for a moment, looking up at the sky. “Furio.”

    “Furio?” Sebastian repeated. 

    “Furio. Yes. It’s perfect.” I nodded, smiling, proud of myself that I had both caught and named this horse all by myself. 

    The pure black horse nickered and whynned and I just took it as an agreement. Sebastian shrugged his shoulders like he didn’t care. 

    “If you say so,” he said. 

    I returned, then settled myself next to the campfire. I watched the flowing flames distantly, my mind filled with thoughts that I was unable to get rid of. 

    I looked over and saw Sebastian still standing. 

    “Uh–are you okay, Seb? Aren’t you going to sit down?” I asked, watching as he was swaying back and forth, looking a little uncomfortable.

    “No.” he said. “And why are you sitting? Up! Up!” he prompted, gesturing his hands for me to get up. 

    “Why?” 

    “Uh–because we need to train?” he said, like it was obvious. I got up on my feet, confused as to why he didn’t want to relax and to train instead. 

    “It’s dark out.” I pointed out, gesturing to the dark sky up above us, to the moons and stars.

    “Yeah, so?” 

    “And– are you sure you're fit to be able to?” I asked worriedly. “You don’t look like you're fine.”

    “For the last time, I’m fine.” 

    I sighed, still not believing him. I still grabbed my stick and I followed Sebastian to our usual sword training spot. 

    Once we had reached our destination, I had taken my stance, pre according how I was supposed to do it last time. 

                                                        *    *    *

    When Sebastian was ready, I rushed forward, ready to attack. He was too slow to move and I scored his side below the ribs. He gritted his teeth and returned with a feint and thrust. When I first trained with him, his maneuver would have caught me flat-footed, but today my sword and feet and the wind were as one. My blade flashed and bled him twice more before I stepped back and sheathed it with a flourish.  

    I had dodged a move that he tried to perform, which I usually fail at. A couple more hits, I stepped back. 

    “What do you think you're doing?”

    “Not fighting you.” I responded. 

    “Why not?” 

    “Because, something is clearly wrong with you,” I pointed out. “You’re moving slower than normal. Your attacks and timing are off.” 

    “So?” 

    “You're not fit to fight. Let’s head back to camp, let you rest, heal, get better. I’ll take care of you,” I offered. 

    “No,” Sebastian’s reply was cold and curt, “No, I’m not doing that. Nothing is the matter. We’ll finish your lesson here, now.” 

    “You’re being stubborn and foolish. For once, take some time to relax,” tension crept into my voice and my words sounded harder than I meant. 

    “‘Relax,’” Sebastian scoffed mockingly. 

    I softened my tone. “For all the while that I have known you, I have rarely seen you sleep, let alone relax.” I took a half-step forward. “You're always working or doing something… except enjoying yourself.” 

    “I don’t have time for any of that!” he growled, his voice now tight with anger. “Believe me, I don’t. I won’t take risks like that, ever again.” 

    “But why?” 

    Sebastian was silent for so long I nearly repeated myself. “I can’t tell you,” he finally muttered.

    “That’s another thing! You never open up! You always seem to be in the dark, sulking about something. You never let me help you. You're in a bad mood all the time!” I was yelling now. 

    “Maybe I don’t want your help. I never asked for you to come along!” he snarled. “If I hadn’t messed up that spell to unbind you then I would have left you. This is what I get for trying to help. I should have just left you when I first met you!” 

    “Yet you didn’t. There must be a reason.”

    “Yeah, because of that stupid spell!” 

    Deep hurt welled up in my chest. Sorrow, shock and many other emotions vied for control of my tears. I shook my head in disbelief. How dare he say such things? My mouth opened, letting out all the things that had been on my mind since meeting him.

    “That's not why!” I jabbed my finger at him. “And you know it isn’t! You're good and kind! You want to be. I know you want to be. But

something holds you back. I know it. You know it. So, how about you stop it and let me help you get better,” I said, forcing my voice to be gentle. 

    “You don’t know what you're talking about.”

    “Yes, I do! I see it. I see it clearly! That's why you didn’t leave me in that cave all by myself, why you let me travel beside you for days. That's why you unbound me from Kenric–the whole thing with binding me to you was a mistake–but from Kenric? That wasn’t. You're lonely, that is the real truth.” 

    He did not answer. 

    Instead, he slammed his sword into its scabbard, took three limping steps in my direction, and punched me in the face. The blow landed on my cheek and made my ear ring. He was screaming and tackling me to the ground. The ground rushed up to meet us and I landed in a way that forced the air out of my lungs. 

    “You don’t know what you're talking about! Stop making up nonsense and talking about things that you don’t know about!” It was all I could do to fend off his abrupt attack. I caught his left wrist in my hand inches

before his fist hammered into my nose. My right palm came up sharp under his chin, clacking his teeth together hard. I moved in a way he taught me less than a few days ago, leveraging his own body’s weight to turn him aside and free myself.

    “I do though! I know what I’m talking about!” I claimed, rising into a wrestler’s half-crouch. Sebastian had frozen in his own half-crouch, staring down near my knees where my hands were poised for defense. My eyes followed his gaze as I became aware that I was clutching something. I had finally escaped from the tangle, and I swiftly took a few steps back. I noticed that I was holding something. I quickly looked down, and there in my hand, illuminated by the full moon’s light, was Sebastian's cracked mask. Dread filled me. “Oh, no… “ I uttered involuntarily. I gulped as I lifted my head to see Sebastian straighten and cover his face with his cloak.

    “Give it back!” he screeched. His voice was that of a tortured young boy. “Give my mask back!” 

    I was silent, too stunned to act. A familiar growl, full of warning and the promise of deadly violence, brought my senses forward. Emine watched me as he padded over, head low and ears flat, and planted himself protectively in front of Sebastian. 

    All my senses were screaming at me to run, but I held my head in confident defiance. Emine meant business, but he was clearly defending his master and gave no sign of attack.  

    “Give it back!” he repeated, this time his voice thick with intense pain. Out of nowhere, Sebastian stumbled sideways and clutching his head in pain. “Give it…” He fell to the ground with a heavy thump. Emine rushed to his side with a whine. He looked at me, back to Sebastian, then back to me. The beast’s threatening defensive posture melted immediately, replaced with concern. I rushed to Sebastian’s side. 

    I could see blood oozing from his side and onto the ground. “Sebastian!” I yelped, as I rushed forward, falling to my knees right beside him. 

    Emine had given a whimper, then sat down and gave a howl to the big

yellow moon up above.