Sitting at the table, Snow was absentmindedly chewing on a delicious, fresh loaf of bread, when the door to the house was suddenly opened with full force, slamming against the rock wall behind it, almost making him jump to his feet.
“Mom?! Where’s everyone? Some help would be really appreciated!” a young woman with curly dark hair shouted, and Rain immediately appeared at the kitchen door, a bright smile on her lips.
“You’re finally back!”
“Yeah, I’m back! Where’s everyone?” she repeated, looking around, and her gaze froze, and then widened, when it landed on ZaiWin1Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos)., who had in the meanwhile gotten up from his seat beside Snow. “I can’t believe it! By the Gods!! I can’t believe it!” she shouted even louder and quickly ran across the room, jumping to wrap her arms around ZaiWin’s neck, her legs nimbly circling his waist, forcing him to take two steps back. “You’re here! You really here!! Shit! I can’t believe my own eyes!” she kept saying between laughs, and ZaiWin grabbed her by her waist in order to regain his balance.
“You know? Your bear-hug is kind of choking me,” he complained in a pained voice and she laughed again, straightening her back to look him straight in the eye.
“You look the same!”
“You look better.”
She grinned widely at that.
“Storm, behave yourself and let go of the little lord,” Rain chided, but her voice sounded more amused than anything else.
Snow lowered his hand, his loaf of bread completely forgotten, a strange feeling squeezing his chest, making him stare at the newcomer with a suspicious glare.
Unlike the other villagers he had seen so far, she was much younger, probably ZaiWin’s age or so. Her skin was beautifully tanned by hours under the sun, her dark hair, tied at the back of her head, a mass of glistening curls. Her smile was wide and open, and honestly bright, extending all the way to her dark eyes. And she was dressed like a man, simple pants and a white tunic, her legs firmly wrapped around ZaiWin’s waist.
As if she had felt that someone was staring at her, her gaze fell on him and her smile faded away, replaced by a suspicious scowl.
“Who’s the brat?”
Snow frowned, annoyed with her dismissive tone.
Gently pushing her back, ZaiWin finally managed to untangle her from his body, and Storm nimbly released him, taking both hands to her waist, in a gesture that reminded her mother a lot.
“This is Snow,” ZaiWin introduced him, the same way he had done several times before, but her scowl only deepened.
“Snow?!” she repeated in disbelief, turning to look up at ZaiWin. “Shit, Win! Don’t tell me you kidnapped some lordling's kid!”
ZaiWin laughed at her blunt accusation and Snow couldn’t help stare at him in complete disbelief.
He had never heard him laugh like that, this ... wholeheartedly laugh. And what had she just called him?! Not even ZenTar2Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind). treated him with such familiarity.
“I can assure you, that’s not the case.”
“The heck it isn’t! Just look at him! Is this why you came all the way here? Are you on the run because of him?”
Well, that wasn’t completely far away from the truth, ZaiWin thought, making sure his smile didn’t falter.
“It’s like I’ve told you. His name is Snow. And I haven’t kidnapped him or anything.”
Looking at Snow again, Storm frowned and leaned closer to ZaiWin, covering her mouth with one hand, lowering her voice as if that could assure no one else could hear her.
“Is this your new pastime? You broke your celibacy to hang out with a kid?”
ZaiWin laughed again, but Snow’s cheeks blushed embarrassedly.
“You and that foul mouth of yours!” ZaiWin chided between laughs.
“Why else would you bring such a frail-looking doll all the way out here?”
Snow stood up at that, his chair dragging noisily across the stone floor, and, fists tightly clenched at his side, promptly marched out of the house.
ZaiWin laughed again.
“What? Was it something I said?” Storm asked, still staring inquisitively at the door he’d left ajar, and Rain sighed, shaking her head.
“How in the world have I raised such a troublesome child,” she sighed, but Storm ignored her, turning to ZaiWin again.
“Have I offended your little toy?”
ZaiWin sighed, his cheek muscles hurting from the lack of use.
“You should probably not call him that to his face, from now on. My little toy may look like a frail doll, but he has quite the temper. Just ask Grisly.”
As if to confirm that, Storm turned to Rain and the older woman sighed again.
“That boy froze most of our men to the ground, when they first arrived. They had no other choice but to stand by the village's entrance, unable to move or step away from where they stood.”
Storm whistled in appreciation.
“So that’s why the old man’s still not dead,” she commented. “I was sure you would kill him, the next time you came around,” she told ZaiWin. “He wouldn’t stop yapping about how he was going to chop you into pieces, since you were a traitorous bastard and all that. And I was sure that he’d try to do just that, the first opportunity he got, and that you would finally put him out of his misery.”
“Storm!” Rain chastised, this time in an angry tone.
“What, mom? It’s the truth! You know as well as I do, that Win has every right to kill him and be done with him!”
Rain scowled, pressing her lips into a tight line, but didn’t contradict her daughter’s harsh words.
“So the brat has some of those markings, like you,” she went on, looking up at ZaiWin again, and he tilted his head to one side.
“You could say that.”
“What about Zen? Is he here as well? Does he know you’re dragging around a cute-looking toy-thing? A boy, nonetheless?” She peered around the room as if expecting to see him hiding in some shadowy corner, and ZaiWin sighed.
Storm, like her name said, was just like that, an unstoppable force of nature. The only problem was her dirty mind and her loose tongue.
“He is to meet us here in a few days.”
“Enough with all the chitchat,” Rain interrupted, her face still angry. “You should go to the caverns, Storm. Most of our people are there.”
“The caverns? Why? What happened?”
ZaiWin smiled.
“Why don’t you go and take a look for yourself?”
Raising a curious eyebrow, she quickly made her way to the door, and, with a new sigh, ZaiWin followed her outside. He should go and look for Snow, he thought. At least to let him know that she meant no harm, that this was just the way she was and that he shouldn’t pay heed to the absurd things that constantly fell from her mouth. He didn’t have to look far.
Since, like Rain had told Storm, most villagers were at the caverns, working in securing new passageways to the waterfall chamber they had uncovered the day before, Snow had curiously approached the only group of people visible from the house.
Surrounded by five other young men, he seemed to be focusing on something, his expression attentive and serious.
“Hey guys! Guess what? They are all at the caverns!” Storm shouted, energetically waving her arms in the air, quickly running to meet them, and they all turned to look at her, Snow included, a deep frown immediately appearing on his forehead.
“The caverns? Doing what?” one of the youngsters asked and Storm shrugged.
“Who knows? Just leave the game where we left it and let's check it out!” she was saying, and then her gaze fell on what Snow was holding in his hands.
Was that a bow and arrow?, ZaiWin wondered, widening his pace to keep up with her.
“Hey, brat! You know how to shoot?” she asked, clearly doubting it, and Snow simply tilted his head up, a cold superior look about him, turned to his right and skilfully armed the bow, pulling the string all the way to his ear before releasing the arrow. The arrow cut through the air with a sharp whistling sound and hit the absolute center of a barrel lid, resting against the rocky wall, a good distance from where they stood.
Storm whistled in appreciation but Snow’s gaze was ice-cold when he turned to face her.
“Damn! Who would have thought!” she commented, clearly seeing him with renewed eyes.
Who would have thought indeed, ZaiWin agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. MenTar’s doing, no doubt, he immediately guessed and, somehow, that thought kind of ruined his good humor.
“Brat! It would seem you’re not as useless as I thought!” Storm went on, grinning broadly, and tried to wrap an arm around his shoulders, which Snow quickly avoided, pushing her away with the tip of his bow.
Glaring murderously at her, he returned the bow to the young man to his right and turned his back on all of them, silently walking away, but not before he took the time to glare at ZaiWin as well, as he passed by him.
“What did you do to the new kid? He doesn’t even know you and he already hates your guts!” one of the youths asked, and Storm scratched her head with a puzzled expression on her face.
“I haven’t done anything!”
“Why do you even bother asking? She’s completely clueless!” another one said and Storm shrugged, waving her hands in the air dismissively.
“Who cares! Let’s go check the caverns!” she said instead, clearly eager to see what had drawn the entire village there, and the others sighed, shaking their heads in silent condemnation, but ended up following her.
“Coming?” she asked, looking up at ZaiWin, and he simply shook his head. “I’ll see you later, then!”
And she went on her way, the younger men from her group passing by him and completely ignoring his presence. Which wasn’t at all unexpected.
The last time he’d been there Storm had still been the only person more or less his age. Everyone else was mainly former members of Grisly’s gang and, of course, the women that had joined them in meanwhile, after they had abandoned their pillaging and murderous ways. The young men must have joined them afterwards, ZaiWin thought, watching them go, hearing them laugh rowdily as they played with each other, which meant they didn't know him. At least Storm wouldn’t be as lonely anymore …
Thanks for the chapter!!
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