Wingheart: Luminous Rock

Chapter 7: Fire, Wind, and Water

Chapter 7 - Fire, Wind, and Water

Magnus stepped out from the shelter doorway and into the forest clearing. Nothing here had changed since yesterday. The pickup slumbered in its spot on the earthy plane, glazed in the rays of the freshly risen sun that trickled in through the overstory.

Drake was sitting on the ground at the clearing's edge, inattentively toying with a withered twig. He seemed disquieted, immersed in his thoughts. Magnus' approaching footsteps called him to his senses. He looked up at his brother with a halfhearted smile.

Magnus found a seat next to Drake between the serpentine roots of an old oak and bared a narrow grin in sympathy. "You've been quiet all morning," he said.

"I..." Drake pulled a grimace and rubbed his tired eyes. "I just didn't sleep well last night. I couldn't take my mind off what happened yesterday." He dropped the twig with a bleak sigh. "I hope you're not still mad at me. I'm sorry I never told you any of this...I just—"

"Please, Drake," Magnus cut short his brother's apology. "I'm the one who should be sorry. After what Cecil told me this morning, I understand now...why you kept all this from me."

Drake was silent for some time. He finally said, "It's one thing to witness so many innocent people die. It's another to see your mother murdered right before your eyes."

Magnus' lungs clenched as his veins turned to ice. "You saw it," he replied grimly. "You saw our mother get killed."

Drake bit his lip; he didn't turn to face his brother. "We were almost out of the city," he began to recall. "I was running beside Cecil, who was carrying you; you were only an infant. Our mother was falling behind. Cecil said we were being followed and told us to pick up pace, but our mother wasn't fast enough. As we turned a corner, she was shot in the back by an arrow. I heard her scream—I saw her fall dead. That was it."

Magnus couldn't bear to hear any more. He lifted his tearing eyes to the oak's thinning canopy, as if to escape his own thoughts. He wished he could still believe that their parents had merely drowned, as Drake had used to tell him.

"I never wanted anyone else to feel the way I felt that night," Drake continued. "I never wanted anyone else to have to live with those memories. That's why I never told you any of this."

"But if I hadn't found our father's book," said Magnus, "would you ever have told me about MorningStar?"

Drake seemed cautious in responding. "I can't count how many times I had the opportunity to," he said. "But I couldn't. I could never work up the nerve to admit I'd lied to you and to tell of a real past that would make me sound like I'd gone insane. When you were younger, Cecil and I both convinced ourselves that it would be best to wait until you grew up before you could handle the truth. As you got older, we feared how you'd react if you were told the truth. It was for the best that you discovered that book when you did." His last words were stolen away by a frail gust of wind that died into silence.

"What about other family?" Magnus asked. "You and Cecil always told me that we had none..."

"A few, I think." Drake shrugged. "Distant relatives. None that Cecil or I remember well. Perhaps we'd have had a chance of finding them if I hadn't stayed so secretive."

"You did all you could," Magnus commiserated. "You were only trying to protect me. It seems like this was bound to happen one way or another."

Drake gripped his brother's shoulder and attempted a smile. "Put your mind off things for now." He nodded to the opposite end of the clearing. "Cecil is waiting for you. He has something he wants to show you that might help lift your spirits."