Children of the Rune: Winterer

Chapter 5

Yulken was doing the opposite of Vlado, in that he did his best to encounter his younger brother. He was past forty, but he still wielded a mean sword, and many soldiers ran from him in terror. If he found Vlado now, he would not be content until he stabbed the man in the throat. The sinner would die tonight.

Yulken soon got his wish, and it wasn’t in a fair fight, just as he’d predicted. He’d noticed a sudden influx of fighters in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he cut through them ruthlessly. The enemy seemed to diminish, but they replenished themselves in numbers each time. Yulken realized something wasn’t quite right, and it wasn’t long before he knew why.

“Had a nice evening, Brother?”

Only after registering the voice did he notice the heat spreading in his side. His brother’s voice had had that much of an impact on him.

“Bastard! Vlado Jineman!”

Cold, sharp metal plunged up through his chest, and blood filled his throat.

An urgent voice shouted in his ear, “My lord!”

“Hmph!” Vlado scoffed and turned away.

Toulk, the steward and mage, was considerably skilled, but he had no offensive powers. Vlado wasn’t scared of him.

“I’ll kill you as well!”

Lightning suddenly flashed, and though it was just the weather, Vlado flinched. Had the steward learned lightning magic?

Toulk did not waste the opportunity. Vlado watched as a dark fog billowed toward him. Oh no, you don’t. Jumping out of the way, he summoned his own mage by way of thought.

The man was right behind him. The mage was one of the prince-elector’s, and he opened his arms, forming a hand seal in the shape of wings. A gust blew and drove the fog away.

Vlado was sorely disappointed as he glared at the spot his brother had been a moment ago. Both of them had disappeared.

Boris pushed his way through the brush alone. He was afraid of two things—one was the slaughter going on at the manor, which he could not see but could hear, and the other was Emera Lake, which he was approaching. The distant sounds faded away to silence. He stopped suddenly, hesitant. Then he walked again, only to stop once more. It was like something was pulling him back.

It took him a while to resume a slow walk. Darkness fell around him until he could no longer see a thing. Unable to go on much longer, he stopped again, this time changing his direction little by little to take a detour around the lake.

He thought he could hear the sound of water, but he might have been mistaken. He wasn’t sure if any streams emptied into the lake. It seemed much more preferable to believe that rain was starting to fall—the last thing he wanted was to imagine the lake crouching in wait for him in the darkness.

His surroundings went quiet again, and surprisingly enough, he actually managed to find the three trees that his father had told him about by moonlight alone. It was only a few dozen paces away from the lake he feared so much, but he didn’t know that. The trees were quite large, and they seemed likely to provide him with good cover. He used his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat off his face and sank to the ground. His shadow slumped, stretching out in front of him now that he had his back to the moon. He felt sluggish. Even if he was only lightly armed, it was too much for a twelve-year-old like him.

His father would come to find him, if he wasn’t dead. Though he had never known deep affection from his father, Boris trusted in his sense of responsibility. But what if his father died? Who would come to him or know to find him here?

Boris shook his head, then felt the chill again. That wasn’t the real problem. If his father died, he would have no House of Jineman to go back to. When Boris had been very young, he’d nearly died at his uncle’s hand. Without their father to protect them, Vlado would try to kill his nephews with renewed zeal. And that includes my brother...

That was when he noticed a shadow that seemed blacker than darkness itself shoot up from behind him. He was so terrified, he couldn’t even scream. He didn’t dare turn around to look. His eyes bulged as a much larger shadow overtook his own.

A sound like that of some giant insect rubbing its wings together rang out, and then it abruptly stopped. Boris felt something snatch him up into the air. A scream finally left his throat.

His body stopped about three paces off the ground. He stared down, realizing that the round shadow, which had been difficult to distinguish moments ago, had sharp blade-like protuberances sticking out over it. There were many of them. Could they be arms? Antennae? Or perhaps tentacles? His limbs were unbound, but he wasn’t aware of it. He wasn’t able to move at all. His body refused to move, and his judgment stalled, even though he could be torn apart in a moment.

There was a flash of blue light, and a foul liquid spilled over his head. It washed over him, dripping from his hands and feet. The grip on him weakened, and he drooped to the ground. Instead of falling helplessly and perhaps spraining an ankle, he quickly tucked his legs under him and rolled, just as he’d learned in tumbling about on the hills with his brother.

When Boris stood up and turned around, he saw a strange corpse that looked something like a deflated waterskin. The same liquid that had drenched him was all around, and behind the body was a person holding a gleaming sword. The blue glow that came from the ominous darkness was produced by none other than Winterer.

“Boris! What the hell are you doing here?” Yevgnen shouted in a rage. Sweat poured down his face, forcing him to continue wiping away at it. He grabbed his brother and threw his arms around him. He was sweating from the tension.

Though Yevgnen was more skilled than others his age, he did not have much practical experience. He had broken out in all this sweat in the short moment that it had taken him to rush at the monster, which had grabbed a boy who looked like his brother.

When they stopped hugging, they both shuddered at the disgusting liquid that had also gotten onto Yevgnen.

Boris said, “F-Father, he...”

“He told you to come here?” Yevgnen finished, catching the drift immediately, though he couldn’t understand it. His father had probably sent Boris here for the same reason that he’d chosen this place as his destination. Not even their uncle was likely to guess that they’d taken refuge near Emera Lake.

It had always been a foreboding place, but after their aunt’s death, it had become forbidden even to speak of it. The rumors about this place weren’t false—there were actual monsters here. The one just now hadn’t been the first he’d noticed. Long ago, Yevgnen had wandered near the lake alone, trying to see for himself the thing that was said to have killed his aunt. That was when he’d learned that creatures of the sort he’d just killed were very common near the lake. And that wasn’t the end of it.

“Why are you here, Yevgnen?” Boris recalled what his father had shouted to his brother, that he should run.

Yevgnen delayed his response, wiping some of the liquid from his brother’s hair. Then he said in a low tone, “I’m waiting for Father.”

“What?”

Yevgnen looked at Boris and said in a clearer tone, “I’m waiting for him to come. I don’t agree with him. You, Father, and the people who have protected our house matter more to me than the treasure.”

“But didn’t he tell you it was your mission to protect the Winterbottom Kit? Our grandfather—”

“Yes. He risked his life for it and protected it at the cost of his honor. But…”

“But?”

Complicated thoughts filled Yevgnen’s mind, but he gave a simple explanation to his young brother. “The treasure exists to be used at times like this, doesn’t it?”

What’s the purpose of protecting it if it can’t be used? In the grand scheme of things, it was obvious that the Jineman name would not outlive the renown of the Winterbottom Kit. Yevgnen believed it was more correct to act as a member of his family, rather than simply join the long list of names that had once possessed the treasure. What did it matter what happened to it once the House of Jineman was no more? No one could hold on to a treasure forever, since no human could outlast a sword or piece of armor.

“Then will you go back to where Father is?” Boris asked.

Yevgnen shook his head. “No. Not now.”

“Then what will you do?”

Yevgnen did not know how to further simplify the complicated situation. Throwing a sidelong glance at the dark lake, he sat his brother on the ground. “We need to wait until the fighting ends.”

Boris’ round eyes widened and asked, “But what if Father dies before then?”

“He won’t.”

The night wind felt rather cold on their damp bodies. They both frowned as the liquid on them slowly dried.

“Boris, it isn’t just one greedy uncle our house is dealing with right now. Behind him stands Prince-Elector Khan. He lent Uncle Vlado an army of a thousand, no less. That can’t simply be because our uncle was loyal to him for many years. Even if the House of Jineman isn’t what it once was, they must know that a few hundred soldiers won’t be enough to defeat us. What does that mean, then? It’s obvious. Some kind of deal has been made, and it’s not hard to guess what about.”

Boris stared at the silver-white armor that his brother was wearing. “Snowguard and Winterer?”

“And the loyalty and cooperation of the House of Jineman, which our uncle will control. Our father must disappear as well, of course.”

“And?” The more Boris listened, the more he became convinced their father was in danger. Why didn’t his big brother seem to think so?

Yevgnen stared at him with subdued eyes. “Father knows these things far better than I do, and that we don’t have a chance in a head-to-head confrontation. That’s obvious from the way he had us run away like this. Does it seem to you like he would give his life for a hopeless battle? No. He sent you here. Therefore, he will also be here.”

Their father was someone who would make the practical choice, even if it meant the deaths of all his soldiers, that much was clear. There was still something Boris could not understand, however.

“But you didn’t know I would be here.”

This was the part that Yevgnen found hardest to explain. Evidently, both he and his father had reasoned that this was the only place safe from Vlado’s army. That was why Yevgnen had intended to wait here for him. While their uncle might not think to look for them here, the lake was an extremely dangerous place. How could he send a child here alone? Had he not cared whether Boris lived or died while waiting for him to show up? Truly?

Yevgnen gave an awkward smile. “Why do you think I didn’t know? I told you before, didn’t I? I can feel it when you’re in danger.”

Boris clearly recalled Yevgnen’s shock at seeing him near the lake, but he did not ask any more questions—almost as if he understood the extent of his own value. His surprise had subsided somewhat throughout the course of the conversation.

Their eyes grew accustomed to the dark, but they stayed extremely quiet, so that not even someone passing in their immediate vicinity would notice them. As the moonlight shone down on the body of the monster, which resembled a huge broken egg, Boris shuddered.

“Yevgnen, what was that thing? Is that one of the ghosts of Emera Lake? Did you just kill one?”

“No.”

“So there’s something more?”

“Yes.”

Yevgnen, who had his sword resting on the ground as he gripped it, shuddered so faintly that Boris didn’t notice. There was no guarantee that skill and luck would be on their side.

I’ll try to protect my brother, come what may, but… Moistening his dry lips, he prayed his father would arrive soon. That was the only way they could leave this place without seeing one of the red-eyed ghosts.