Sons of Hellfire: Book 1 [Wattys 2016]

Aeric - 2

The day had started off strangely for Aeric, and he didn't think it would straighten itself out anytime soon. The first thing that Vajeel had done to greet him that morning was simply wave her hand to the table, motioning him to come over and peer down at what she was gesturing at.

Her fortune bones were out, spread across the table in what seemed to be a haphazard pattern. But Aeric knew better. She was contemplating again, her brows knitted together lightly above her slightly glazed over eyes. Vajeel was partially blind, but she still seemed to be able to see everything.

"What is it?" Aeric had asked groggily, still too tired to try and decipher what the bones were saying. He had never been able to interpret them correctly anyway - only Vajeel could read them.

His guardian of fifteen years shifted in her seat and pursed her lips at the display before her, tilting her head a little to the side. Aeric was used to this sort of silence, indicating that what she was seeing was not a common spread of bones. Curiosity peaked within him and he leaned forward a bit, trying to see what she was seeing.

Vajeel's fortune bones were of her own creation, something that she used on a day to day basis. Every morning before he woke, she'd cast and learn about how the day would play out. They didn't say anything specific but they gave her what she called 'Senses'. If she sensed calmness, then the day would be uneventful and relaxing. It was a general yet convenient way to predict things. The bones themselves were a mix from many different small animals - ones she'd either find dead in the forest or from the animals that Aeric had brought in from his day's hunt. She carved runes into them and doused them in oils and tinctures that she created herself, before letting them out to dry for a day and adding them to her little pouch in her pocket.

"What are the senses saying?" He tried again, when Vajeel didn't answer his first inquiry.

"They're saying," she said, "something new."

That completely took hold of Aeric's attention and he blinked rapidly to get rid of any more sleepiness that still hung over his eyes. He turned towards the bones and looked over their random pattern, wishing that he could make sense of the criss-crossing and runes facing up and sideways bones and whatnot. "Something different? What is it?"

"Not something different, though I suppose that does go along with new. But that's what they tell me, exactly. I feel 'something new'."

The two of them had contrasting expressions. Aeric was frowning, unsure of how to interpret that information. He was used to Vajeel hugging him a good morning, then simply saying the word 'intense'. He would then have a day full of running after animals or having to scale a tree in order to get away from a larger creature. He was familiar with the word 'pleasant,' where he'd pick enough berries that Vajeel would bake a nice pie for the evening. But he wasn't sure how to deal with the words 'something new', which in itself, was a new phrase altogether.

He looked at Vajeel who was simply looking at him contemplatively. Aeric knew with a sigh that the bones most likely had to do with him. Vajeel rarely left the massive, hollow tree trunk that they called their home, and it was usually Aeric that came home with stories of his adventures in the forest. If anything new was going to happen, he was going to be on the definite receiving end of this fate. He glanced at bones with a withering expression. It wasn't that he didn't think something good could come out of 'something new', but as a cautious person who had his fair share of running away from the Wet Wood's beasts, he was prone to assuming the worst.

Aeric looked back at Vajeel, an indifferent expression on his face. He'd take the day as it came. She saw it in his eyes and simply smiled, reaching out to swipe the bones off the table and back into the little pouch. "Be careful," was all she said.