A Tall and Small Collection | Soren

Square One Again

"B...but... what are we going to do?" whimpered Dorian. Soren leaned forward and clasped his brothers' hands. Their eyes fixed onto his.

"We're going to stay for just a little bit longer," said Soren calmly. "I'll talk to Ashlynn – she's the human – and have some arrangements made. We can put our beds on the ground under the bed or just inside the wall; but, until I get better, we have to stay nearby." They looked reluctant and still unsure, but nodded. To Soren, it looked like they were possibly accepting their perceived fate of captivity.

Soren knew there was nothing he could say in that moment to calm them further. Even he was unsure until very recently about Ashlynn and her intentions. Guard always at the ready. Fate accepted in the worst-case scenario. Soren could hardly say he was as okay as he let on. He shook his thoughts away. There was no time to think about such things now.

His eyelids grew heavy and threatened to close on him. Was he really that tired? The yawn that crept up on him was barely stifled as he returned his attention to his brothers. He needed to find out what happened to that pathetic excuse of a dad, Brady, and fill in the pieces that only Dorian and Rey knew.

"Trust me," he said finally with another reassuring smile. He saw them nod in acknowledgment, which was enough for now. "Now... I know it only happened yesterday, but I need you to tell me what has happened while I was gone. Where did you go? Where have you been living? Where is Br... I mean, your dad?"

Dorian and Rey both shuffled under the covers closer together, as if their simple proximity with one another would make the situation better and make them more comfortable. Rey was the first to speak up.

"After we got back in the walls, we did like you said and ran a good distance away back toward camp just in case; and we waited and waited," began Rey. "Dad came back and... and..." Rey sniffed and wiped his eyes with the base of his palm.

"And I wasn't with him," finished Soren. They nodded.

"We begged dad to go back and even offered to help, but he said the human got you and that you were captured," finished Dorian.

Both boys spoke slowly, voices crestfallen as if they were admitting guilt to some kind of crime. Soren clasped their hands harder and pulled himself closer just as they pulled themselves closer to him.

"He said he would keep an eye out and that we would rescue you when the human wasn't looking; but, before that, we had to move camp. Dad thought the human would make you tell where we were. So, we moved," said Dorian.

"Yeah," added Rey. "He had us climb an entire floor up so we could stay in the ceiling."

"He had you what?" Soren didn't mean to interrupt. It was completely involuntary, but he couldn't believe what he had just heard. [An entire floor? They only just learned how to climb a line properly. It's a miracle they didn't slip and fall.] He watched his brothers nod again.

"Dad said it was safer there. There was a place with sturdy wood, and it was warm. We moved everything and made camp," finished Rey. Soren exhaled slowly as Dorian continued the account.

"We did see you from the ceiling. Dad found where you were after the first week or so and took us to see. That's... when he told us that you might be different.... We saw her doing something to you, but dad made us leave," said Dorian. Soren felt himself roll his eyes, disguised as a long blink. [At least Brady has that much going for him. He didn't make them witness everything that happened to me.]

"After that..." Dorian's voice snapped Soren back to the present. "He went out and tried borrowing what he could, but there wasn't a lot since we couldn't go where you were for safety. We tried rationing the food, but... dad... he was having a hard time bringing back rations."