The writer's story (bxb)

Chapter 7

  I'm looking at Nathan, my mouth wide open as my head is trying to come up with something to say how horrified I am by his confession. "That... How can anyone just get away with that?"

To kill a whole village, who could be so cruel, so inhumane, so... evil? "We have to stop him from doing that ever again," I say. Before I can even realize what's happening, I'm already up on my feet. "If no one else does anything, we should do it."

Nathan lets out a dry laugh that sounds more like a bark. "If it were that simple, I would've taken him down years ago," he says, his soulful eyes fixed on me. "And you just experienced what happens when facing him head on. It doesn't end well."

"Not if you go after him alone and leave me to take care of the rest," I mutter under my breath. Out loud, I say, "that's because you didn't tell me everything. If we work together, it'll surely end differently."

"I love the enthusiasm but, as has become painfully clear just a few minutes ago, I'm totally useless right now."

"I'm not," I immediately interject before he can go any further. "Teach me. I know I still have lots to learn, so teach me what you know. Meanwhile, I can take care of you until you're back to full health. I can even gather information for you from the village. I'll disguise myself and everything." The more I think of it, the more confident I can feel myself becoming. This is going to work. No doubt about it.

Nathan looks up at me for what feels like ages before he finally nods. "Okay, fine. I'll teach you whatever I can, but you have to promise that you'll do whatever I say. No matter what."

"Whatever you say," I agree, a smile growing on my face. "I promise. And in return, I'll help you get back on your feet."

Nathan huffs, shaking his head though I can see just the tiniest of smiles which makes my heart beat about a million beats a minute. "You sure are something else, Alexander."

******

Before I even know it, time seems to pass by. Days turn into weeks and soon we've been working together for a whole month already. By now, Nathan is able to walk around normally again, but he's still too weak to get back to his fight training, so he just watches me while I whack at a tree with my sword, in a clearing near the river.

"Again!" he calls out from where he's sitting on a rock, shaking his head. "I told you, you have to see that sword as an extension of your own arm. Don't whisk it around so carelessly. You're putting way too much strain on your own body. This way you'd sooner break your own wrist than actually hurt anyone else."

Sighing, he walks over to me, grabbing the hand that's holding that cursed sword. "You need to relax your hold." He forcibly takes the sword from my hand, showing me the proper way to hold it.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been getting crash courses on hand-to-hand combat and tips on how to use my surroundings to my advantage. Apparently, as a marksman, I don't have a lot of experience with close combat. I also learned more about the world we're in, things I hadn't even figured out yet. Though every moment I stay here longer, I start forgetting my real life more and more. This is starting to get problematic, but still, I'm starting to wonder if I even should go home. What's really back there for me anyway?

I watch Nathan as he drills on and on about proper stances and bla bla bla, but all I seem to be able to focus on is his face. That's another thing I've started to notice. Every moment I'm here, my eyes just seem to fall right back on his face, those hypnotizing eyes and his full lips, always rambling on about this or that. Whenever I'm near him, I can't seem to look at anything else and when he's gone, I can't help but think about him. It's like my whole universe has shifted to revolve around this one man. A man who's as handsome as he's dangerous. A man who would surely kill me if he knew what unholy thoughts I have about him, day in and day out.

"Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Nathan groans, waving the blade in front of my face, making me blink quickly and shake my head.

"I'm sorry. It's been a long day and I guess I'm just a bit distracted by what I heard in town the other day."

True to my word, I've been going to town every other day, posing as a merchant to win information about Ardelian and when he'll be back. Last time I did that, a villager confided in me, telling me about how the taxes had been raised once again and how they'll surely have to sell most of their belongings to be able to pay it. Things are escalating more and more, especially since Nathan has also been sending me on raids in a strange Robin Hood-ish style to lessen the strain on the villagers, but for every coach I rob, he just taxes more and more. There's no winning this.

Nathan takes a seat on his rock once again, patting the spot next to him. I sigh as I sit down. "I know I've been asking a lot of you this past month, and I'm really impressed by the improvement you've gone through," he says, showing me that soft smile I love so much. "I also know that I never could've come this far without you."

I chuckle awkwardly, not used to getting compliments from this god of a man. "Come on, you and I both know that you're plenty enough on your own," I say, bumping shoulders with him to try and lighten the mood. "I'm just making it a bit easier. It's nothing, really."

"Don't sell yourself short. You've really shown yourself to be someone I can wholeheartedly rely on. So, I guess, thank you for that."

I look down at Nathan's hands that are still holding the blade, feeling too overwhelmed to keep looking at his face. Nathan, that clueless, loveable oaf, doesn't seem to notice my awkwardness or just decides not to react to it as he keeps on talking.

"It's okay feeling like it's too much sometimes, but you have to tell me when you feel like this next time." I watch him place the sword next to him before he stands up and holds out his hand to me.

My eyes trace upward, from his hand, up his arm until they finally lock with those grass-green orbs I love so much. "I will," I croak out, taking the outstretched hand and allowing him to pull me to my feet as well. "I promise."

"Good. Now, how about we call it a day and warm up some of that toadstool soup you made?" Nathan suggests with a slight smirk. "You did quite a good job on that, by the way. Do tell me who taught you that delicious recipe?"

I laugh, leading the guy back to our camp. "Oh, just some guy I met a little while ago," I say, laughing even louder as Nathan sends me a slight glare.

"Who are you calling 'just some guy'? I'm teaching you how to be a proper chef. You'd better be grateful. Mind you, when this is all over, you won't be able to swat away all the women fawning over you and your 'chef-worthy skills'."

My laughter slowly dies down, ending in an awkward chuckle as the topic lands once more on the one thing I don't want to talk about. Relationships.

"You know how I feel about that," I say, looking down only to realize that I haven't let him go yet. Blushing brightly, I turn away from him and let my hand fall down, severing our connection and walking the last few feet to our camp. I quickly occupy myself with starting a fire, making sure to not show my beetroot-red face to Nathan lest he finds out just how I actually feel.

"Why are you always changing the subject when we start talking about that? You must want to leave a legacy one day?" Nathan hums, sitting down close to the fire while watching me busying myself with the soup. Why can't he just sit further away? He's much too distracting this way.

"I told you. I'm still young. No need to think about things like that right now. I'm too busy anyway," I say, just saying whatever comes to mind first.

"Is that right?" I can just feel Nathan leaning closer towards me, making goosebumps appear over my whole body. I have to close my eyes to will my body and pounding heart to relax. I still don't get why I have such an intense reaction to him. "Are you sure that there isn't another reason for your dismissal?"

I glance up only to look straight into his eyes, his face very close to mine.