The Scout

“It is a dismally cold evening, I’m afraid my body isn’t really quite up to the task of standing in the snow.” remarks a weary man under a bundle of leathers. Two men sit around a small fire as snow falls in clumps. The older man propped himself against a tree, the leather bundled man as close to the fire as possible.

“Can’t we make the fire stronger? We’re deep enough in the wood to block out the smoke..” mumbles the leathers.

“Nah, it ain’t man we keeping from. All them snouts out there will sniff us if we add to yer fire.” snorts the other. He props himself up, grabbing onto the trunk. Where he sat is nothing but muddied grass. As he steps closer to the fire, the boy notices his dark blue hair and beard. Clumps of snow start to melt off of him. He groans as he kneels next to his partner, “Yer blood ain’t thick enough to be here, why they send ya?”

“I told you already! No one sent me here. The war wiped my village out, and I’m trying to get to Fort Helm since the King opened the doors to refugees!” snaps the leathers. He knocked his skins off, revealing a face that has barely seen any years; let alone the horrors of war. Hair as blonde as the wheat that grows in the Autumn fields, and eyes as green as the leaves in the Great Forest.

“Ah, now that I can see yer face you musta been born right when that mage locked the temps in place. Kid, where’d ya say yer village was at?” chuckles the dry man.

“At the Winter’s edge of the forest, why does it matter to you? My family died to Spring soldiers!” the kid looks flustered and frostbitten. His lips quiver from the ice ridden wind.

“Listen kid, I don’t care where yer from. I been sittin’ there wonderin’ why the hell yer lyin’ to me,’ he the man raises his hands above his head with a deep stretch, ‘I tell ya, my names Godriel. I work for the guy you call King. King o’ the Winter. King o’ the Walls. Everyone knows thats Lord Rayne anyways. Redmund ain’t want the job but yer “Em-por-er” went and said it were him! Still you keep lyin’ to me when I been telling you my whole life!” He looks right into the kids eyes, but not at him. Through the kid, as though he was looking for something inside of him.

“Why do you think I’m lying to you?” the boy sniffs, whether from his obvious aversion to the cold or from crying, it all looks the same.

“Cause you keep starin’ at me, tryin’ to see if I use magics. You ain’t seen any yet so who knows? No one from the Winter cares that much, kid. Our brothers and sisters can do it, or our ma’s and pa’s. Hell, my pops did it so much Isolation went and stole him away!” Godriel lets out a hearty laugh. His eyes narrow upon the fear struck boy. Godriel smacks his forehead, forgetting where they were. In the woods after night has fallen, when the beasts are hunting for poor lost souls who wandered in; begging for meat. Godriel walks back to his tree. He picks his staff off the ground, chuckles to himself before spinning around towards the kid, “What are ya more afraid of kid, mages or wolves?!” he barks with laughter.

“Wolves, wolves, wolves!” the kid screams. Godriel smacks the kid’s forehead. He cups both of his hands onto the kids cheeks, his eyes tracing the kids face and burning it into his memory. Godriel’s hair is now a mossy green.

“If yer gonna learn anything from me, every single livin’ bein’ on this giant rock fears the mages more than wolves. A wolf will eat ya, sure but a mage can do things to ya that you couldn’t dream of. Now lil Spring Scout, yer pa ain’t teach you right if he never told ya why the seasons don’t change anymore. He ain’t teach ya right if he never told ya why yer forces have to come by boat, why the Great Forest that splits the land in two sends ya to places ya ain’t thought existed. Those were mages lookin’ for peace without any bloodshed. They were the nice mages, now there ain’t a whole lotta bad mages but they are here. I’m married to one of ‘em, and boy you don’t wanna cross that one,’ Godriel is squeezing the kids face with one hand at this point. His eyes still looking through the kid, searching still for a piece not quite there. ‘Child, I can send ya home or I can take ya with me but ain’t no way in all of Absolution will I let ya go to the Helm. Trust me, ya don’ wanna meet my wife.” Godriel looks to the trees as he warns the kid. His hands move upward from the boy’s cheeks gently tracing his face. He digs his thumb into his forehead, a light glow appears around his finger tips. Godriel snatches his hands away from the boy, his fingers still glowing.

“You’re one of them?” The boy stares bewildered, he’s been frozen in fear for some time now. He doesn’t feel the cold anymore, but the leathers have fallen to the snow. Color has returned to his lips. “Why haven’t you killed me already?” the boy utters as he starts to cry.

“I guess you could call me one o’ them good mages… though I stopped thinkin’ that some time ago.” Godriel moans. The glow around his fingers ignites into a flame, burning brilliantly for a moment before shuttering to nothing. He clenches his hand into a fist. “I’m gettin’ too old for this.”

The boy wipes his eyes, “My name is Brin, I was supposed to be a scout for the Spring but I guess I am not as good as anyone thought.” Brin tries to smile, though it is more out of shock than any other emotion. He notices that since Godriel touched his face, that he hasn’t felt the cold or that snow stopped piling up around them. “What did you do to me?”

“Nothin’ to you, just thought the snow was bothering ya. Ya oughta look up once in awhile if yer goin’ to be out here.” Godriel giggles while motioning for Brin to look upwards. Above their heads is a sheet of snow, dangling precariously yet unmoving. “We ain’t all bad, but it can be hard ta notice us. Welcome to the land of Eternal Winter, kid. Where ya neighbors can throw fire pass’ yer head and everyone everywhere else wants ta kill ya.” Godriel sits back down next to the fire, his hair now a brilliant red; redder than the poppy fields in the Summer.

“Why does your hair keep doing that? The colors I mean?” Brin ponders. His whole world has been turned upside down. This isn’t the oddest thing to happen tonight but it’s all he can ask without crying.

“Ya like that? Me too, my pa once said I had Absolution in me which might be why my wife likes me so much. Our kids sure don’t take after me much, they got Isolation in them.” Godriel giggles, he stretches out against the ground. “Try ya best not to bump into my kid Harlidain though, kid didn’ socialize much. Love him to death still.”

“What’re you going to do with me Mr. Godriel?” Brin asks with tears welling up in his eyes again.

“Really? Don’ do the mister thing with me now, if i was goin’ ta kill ya it would have been when I caught ya out here. I was goin’ to walk my happy self down to Raylin’s castle, I’ve got somethin’ for the Lord there. I can take ya with me, or leave ya here. Aiyanna’s trees will sort you out eventually, maybe send ya home or maybe somewhere new. Who knows? She’s weird like that.” Godriel lets out a groan. He positions himself back up, arms across his knees. “Choice is yers, but one things for sure; I wouldn’ go back if i were you. I ain’t goin’ to let you go to Fort Helm, you wouldn’ make it out anyways. I’m sure Mr. “Em-por-er” would kill ya for failin’.’ Godriel makes a mocking gesture when he says emperor. ‘I’d come with me kid, and who knows, maybe you’ll get accustomed to the cold.”

The fire dances in Brin’s green eyes. Godriel’s words flutter around his thoughts, almost finding a place inside his mind but bouncing off like arrows on steel. Brin’s world has crumbled, everything he knew and everything he was taught to be true has just been shattered in an instant by the ravings of this insane mage. The snow still falls just outside the border of the ceiling Godriel put in place. Godriel still stares at Brin. Brin stares into the flames. “Godriel, my name is Brin Brunlet and I would like to go with you.” Brin finally remarks.

“Good thinkin’ Brin Brunlet, time to see the other side.’ Godriel smiles before waving his hands and tearing a hole in the air. ‘And maybe, we can find you a new home.”