"The eternal sun scorched the land until only ash remained."
"Why is it always so hot?" Dai asked, through panting breaths. The road they followed hadn't changed much, and in Honey's opinion, the night air was the furthest thing from hot. Yet Dai still seemed to be on the verge of overheating in the thick air with the limbs of trees blocking out the moon.
"You told us yourself that it was always summer in the Wild Woods," Lukas growled, his eyes narrowed. "And if you're so hot, why don't you just take off that cloak?" he snapped, although he already knew Dai wasn't going to. Dai never removed the cloak from his body, not even when he claimed that he felt like he was burning alive.
Dai looked to the floor of the cart, giving only a mumbled response that neither Honey nor Lukas could understand.
"Then don't bother complaining if you aren't going to take off that filthy rag," Lukas said not even turning his eyes from the road.
Yet, Honey still saw the hurt that flashed through Dai's golden eyes as he wrapped the dark fabric of his cloak tighter around his body, looking down, his fingers moving to weave their way through his fluffy tail. His animalistic ears fell flat on his head as his fingers wrapped around a particularly stubborn knot.
"What's your deal with it anyway?" Lukas asked, suddenly, surprising Dai as he moved his fingers off of his tail to turn to Lukas. "You never take it off," he snapped. "Why's that?"
"Because."
It wasn't the answer that Lukas was looking for, yet Dai had gone back to weaving his fingers through his tail, working the knot out of his fur with skilled fingers. Honey watched him do so, with a slight curiosity burning in her eyes. "Do you like doing things with your hands?" Honey asked, softly.
"Not really," Dai said, although he didn't really seem like he was listening. "I'm just good at it," he said, with a slight shrug.
"I find that hard to believe," Lukas said. Dai looked up, anger burning in his eyes, yet Lukas continued speaking before Dai even got a chance to snap at the god. "You wouldn't have gotten good at it if you didn't like it," he said. "I'm good with a blade because I liked fighting with it over my magic. But once the Lady of Light was destroyed, I began to use the Twin Blade of Light because of how good I had gotten with a blade," he said, explaining his answer to Dai.
The young Mutare seemed to be thinking about Lukas's words before making the slight tsking noise. "I don't like it anymore," he said, correcting himself. "But I used to," Dai said with a faint smile. "I used to like creating machines. Only then it became boring," he said, his smile fading into a scowl. "What about you, Honey? Do you like using your hands?" he asked.
"I like to cook," she offered. "I don't know how to make machines or anything, but I do know how to make food taste good," she said.
"Can you make this taste good then?" Dai asked, reaching into the pockets that lined the insides of his cloak, before holding up the slice of bread Lukas had forced into his hands earlier that night when Honey had eaten what she had considered to be her midday meal. Dai had always refused to eat the bread, saying he'd rather starve.
"If I could then I already would have," Honey said with a slight smile. "It's not like I enjoy eating that any more than you," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Why are we even eating that bread in the first place, Lukas?"
"Because it's meant for traveling," Lukas sighed. "It lasts longer than regular bread but in trade, it doesn't taste as good," he said.
"And I didn't think bread could get any worse," Dai mumbled. "Where did you even find this stuff? I've lived in Muurin for years and never seen it," he said, louder, as he tossed the small loaf of bread from and to hand like it was a toy of some sort.
"That's because it's not from Muurin," Lukas snapped. "It's from a Lekki village just south of the Wild Woods," he said, trying to ignore the rising frustration in his chest.
"No wonder it's bad then," Dai said.
"Lekki can make good food too," Honey snapped, feeling as if Dai's comment was a jab at her, or rather her people. "But I wouldn't expect a Mutare who has never left the Wild Wood to understand that," she snapped.
Dai made the tsking sound, turning his head. "And what reason would I have to leave these trees?" he asked. "Lekki hate Mutare. Gods hate Mutare. Every creature that flies, walks or crawls in the world, outside of the Wild Woods hates us for simply being alive," he hissed. "I don't ever want to leave the woods," he said.
His voice soft, but bitterness was woven in every word he had dared to utter aloud. It was an ancient form of sorrow that had been buried in Dai's heart for centuries. A cry that echoed from the lips of every Mutare, yet he was the only one who dared to speak it.
"It's not like I have any control over my life any longer," Da said. "I'll go where Lukas goes unless of course, he meets an unfortunate demise."
That grabbed Lukas's attention, as the god snapped his head so that he was glaring at his familiar. "What is wrong with you?" he snarled. "If you kill me you do realize that you will sentence the world to another war? All of your friends and family will die. Do you understand me, Dai? Everyone you care about will be dead," he snapped.
Lukas's breaths were ragged with rage and his gray eyes had been set ablaze by rage. Dai simply stared back with his own golden eyes, dully. "Even if there was someone that I cared about then I would just protect them," he said.
"And how do you plan on doing that when you can't even protect yourself?" Lukas countered. "I am the twelfth god, the youngest and therefore the weakest," he snapped. "If you can't protect yourself from me then you will never be able to protect yourself from one of the stronger ones," Lukas said, gray eyes blazing.
There was something absoltely terrifying about those eyes.
"The first war reduced the world to rubble. Thousands died fighting in it, and thousands more in its after effects. Can you protect someone from starvation?" he asked. "Can you protect someone from illness?" Lukas narrowed his eyes as Dai remained silent and Honey knew he couldn't. "I didn't think so."
Dai's head snapped up. "You have no idea what I'm capable of, Fire God Lukas," Dai hissed, his golden eyes narrowing and his pupils in slits. "You have no idea what things I have seen," he said, with a cold smirk. "And no idea what might happen if the pair of us ever crossed blades again," he said, his words almost like a threat.
"And you wonder why every creature hates you Mutare," Lukas said, bitterness filling his tone as he returned his eyes to the road. "You would sacrifice thousands of innocent lives just so you wouldn't have to be a familiar," Lukas said, sneering in disgust. "You're little more than a selfish child in my eyes and that'll never change," he snapped.
"Be silent!" Dai hissed, his golden eyes ablaze. "You don't know anything about me so don't pretend that you do!" he spat, his tail fluffed up to twice its usual size. "Because from where I'm standing..." Dai trailed off. "You're the child," he said, voice cold. "Delusional with visions of grandeur and surpassing your elder siblings. But believe me when I say that you'll never be able to find the Rose Book," Dai spat.
And then like a like the shadows fading away in sunlight he was gone.
Honey stared at the spat he had vanished into thin air from, the shock of Dai's words slowly ebbing away as Honey released a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding until it slipped through her lips. "Did he just..." Honey trailed off, glancing away, not certain if she wanted to finish her comment.
"He just insulted me," Lukas said, sounding slight shocked himself. It wasn't as if Dai hadn't insulted Lukas before but it was never so directly. He had always hidden his insults under a thick veil of delicate and perfectly worded phrases which almost made it sound like he didn't realize he was insulting them.
Honey had wondered before if this was intentional or if he truly didn't realize what he had said until it was too late to take it back. Yet his reactions afterward were always smirks which made Honey think that he knew exactly what he was doing and had them all wrapped around his finger, playing with them like toys.
Honey hoped Dai saw them as more than just his toys.
"I don't know anything about him, do I?" Lukas asked although it sounded more like he was talking to himself. "Do you know what he meant by that Honey?" he asked, and Honey turned away. She had an idea what he had meant.
If Dai was as old as he claimed to be then that would mean he would keep on living long after Honey herself died. He would keep serving Lukas for all of eternity, which would have been a fate far worse than death for Dai. Well, Lukas wasn't that bad, but Dai made it very clear he didn't like the God of the Flames. Honey had to admit she felt pity for Dai which was the last thing he'd want.
However, it was Honey's guilty expression that gave her away to Lukas. The god narrowed his eyes, drawing his own conclusions. As Honey gave a mumbled, "No," in response to his question. Clearly a lie.
"He told you something, didn't he?" Lukas said, his voice sharp. "Tell me what it is, now, Honey," he snapped. He was ordering her around, Honey realized with a jolt. It was like he thought she was his servant just because she was born Lekki. Honey wished for the strength Dai possessed to simply laugh it off saying that Lukas was crazy, but Honey had always been too weak.
Too weak to save her brother. Now too weak to keep her friend's secret. Something he had entrusted her with, which was clearly something he did not do easily. He had trusted her, and she had shattered it.
Honey knew he was going to hate her, but once she opened her mouth the words wouldn't stop spilling out.
A U T H O R 'S N O T E
Can't tell Honey anything.
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