ODE TO THE END: A BALLAD OF BROTHERS

CHAPTER 8

The dog instantly tucked its tail and whimpered its deepest apologies. Now poised to submit, Adlai sighed at the docile creature. He held out his hand, and the large hound approached. It paid respect to the new alpha by licking his nose.

"D-down! Down," said a gagging Adlai. "Blargh!"

The undesired taste of dog spittle was suddenly made apparent to him. As Adlai choked on the flavor, a gentle gale whispered between the woods and the ruin.

"Well. Of all the things I could find you doing, making the fuzzy friends is definitely new." It was womanly voice, almost sultry, and her words were accented by heavy Slavic tune. The breeze continued to blow, and soon she could be seen.

An elegant woman arrived on the wind, and she was veiled in rags similar to Adlai's. She was a radiant entity that dripped with beauty beyond worldly fathom. Her skin was a pale complexion that glistened in the light and she had long, black hair that stretched beyond the curvature of her thighs to her backside. One side of her face was always covered by her long locks, but that only enhanced the mysteries of her sleek allure.

Only one left someone questioning their attraction, be it only for a fleeting moment. Like Adlai, the color of her gaze could only be described as a pit of ink that oozed something sinister.

"Come, my little Bunter - a nickname for Adlai that hailed from her native language -. It is time for the training and the meditation," said  the mysterious lady. She lifted the air with a wave of both hands, and a gale carried Adlai to his feet. The witch of the wind giggled, but Adlai was not pleased.

"I told you not to call me that, Nadine,"  said the grumpy young man.

By his will, the air that allowed him to float dispersed in a wave of heat. With a groan just barely withheld, the woman resigned herself to their common dynamic. Her arms folded and she blew a loose strand of her hair back into place.

"Fine. If that is what you wish. My apologies, Adlai. But again," she clapped. "Training and meditation. We are waiting for you. Look! Brielle is over there," Nadine said with pointed hand

Adlai followed her finger and found a puff of curls peeking from behind the twisting trunk of a tall tree. The hound went to inspect the hidden stranger and stopped just short of the bend. A girl would peel herself from behind the tree trunk and shared a mutual intrigue with the beast. When the dog barked, the girl's eyes watered at the sight. She then sprang from her hiding spot and dove toward the massive dog to provide all the affection she could.

"Hi baby! Hi baby," Brielle said in a google-eyed earnest. With talk-for-toddlers spewing from her lips, Brielle threw herself on the mastiff while its tail wagged in the shape of a smile.

The girl's stature stated that she was the youngest of the three, but her gaze held an identical taint. The shape of her face fell between strong quadrates and graceful angles, while the bridge of her nose sloped like a smooth valley dip. She had skin of a light chestnut hue, and the tangling curls on her head would have been twice as large if it had not been shaved down on a single side. This asymmetrical due left only half of Brielle's face exposed, identical in fashion to the witch of the wind. Those who knew Brielle only ever saw one eye at any given time, but both were large. With a beauty mark resting just above the summit of her cheek, the girl had been promised an alluring form by her maker. She would never have thought it though, especially not now. The slobbering hound demanded far too much of her attention.

"Nadine," called a bashful Brielle. "Can we bring this dog with us when we leave?"

"Only if you are the one cleaning up its various presents," the woman replied. "I am willing to do a lot for you both, but I am no one's..." Wait for it. "Scooper Pooper! Get it?! Because of the scooping of the..."