Spirit of Vengeance - 10. Ch 10: Little Joe

CHAPTER 10: Little Joe

The quick pattering of feet pounding across the floor came the moment I had knocked on the door. Moments later, it swung open and a wide boyish smile greeted us.

“Sammy!” Little Joe exclaimed moments before he suddenly jumped against me and gave me a hug, his feet dangling a little in the air since I was still taller than him. His dark brown hair was long and messy like he had forgotten (or more likely hadn’t bothered) to comb it. He looked thin but when he jumped on me, it felt like I was hit by a solid wall made of muscle. It was clear that farm life had toned him well.

“Hey, Little Joe,” I said. “Or is it Big Joe now? You’ve grown so much.” I laughed as he remained dangling around my neck. “Aren’t you a little old to still be hanging from your brother like this? You are heavy now you know.”

“Never!” he said as we broke the hug. “And what else did you expect, you’ve been gone for more than five years! I haven’t heard a word from you since then.”

“Yeah, sorry,” I said smiling. “You know the rules. We cannot send letters out. They are intent on keeping our place a secret.”

“Speaking of secrets,” my uncle said. “It’s best perhaps if we continue this conversation inside.”

“Uncle!” Little Joe said. It seemed to me like he was intent on shouting everything he said. “Forgive me for not having greeted you first.” He bowed respectfully to my uncle.

“It is of no consequence,” my uncle said and I had to smile inwardly. It appeared that Little Joe was still terrified of my uncle despite all these years. After all, how could you like someone who never smiled, showed no emotion, and in most situations looked at you like you were about to be reprimanded. I had five years to get used to my uncle. And, I could still remember his words as we stood outside of The Gardens in Malden. My uncle was definitely stoic, even in his showing of affection. He simply could not be as open for it risked showing favoritism which may cause more trouble than was worth it.

Despite my uncle’s assurances, Little Joe looked nervous in my uncle’s presence as he led us into the house. The house which looked almost exactly the same as it had many years before save a few new pieces of furniture here and there. He brought us to the kitchen where a man was bent over an oven, poking a pick into the fire.

“Well, it’s about time,” my father said as he looked up from the flames. “I was expecting you days ago. I was beginning to worry.” He then looked at me. He looked a little older than when I last remembered him. Certainly he seemed smaller though I was sure it was because I was bigger. He had thick brown hair like my brother that was cut to the side and his dimples were more pronounced as he smiled. He opened up his arms towards me. “Samuel.”

I gave him a hug which he returned tightly. “Father, it has been so long.”

“Aren’t you a little old to be hanging from father like that,” Little Joe jabbed playfully.

“Never!” I replied and laughed. It wasn’t a forced laugh. It was hearty, full of life. I was laughing like I hadn’t for a very long time. I looked around, smelling the familiar smells, seeing my loved ones and I knew I was home.

“I thought I heard someone arrive,” my mother said as she came in from a side door. Her long, dark hair so much like mine bounced as she walked in carrying two buckets of what looked like milk. I gave her a hug like my father, except perhaps gentler. She sighed. “Look at you,” she said and it almost looked like she was about to burst into tears. “When you left here, you were just a boy and now you’ve returned almost a man. I’ve missed so much of your life.” She sighed and I could have sworn she gave a dirty look towards my uncle.

“Jandi, my love, perhaps you should show Samuel where he will be sleeping while I talk to my brother,” my father said as though he had sensed my mother’s trouble. It seemed to me like they had a few conversations about my departure that perhaps lead to tense moments.

“Of course,” my mother replied.

“Did my room change?” I asked.

“Yep,” Little Joe replied enthusiastically. “We turned it into a play room since we knew you’d be gone for many years.”

That caused me to frown. I knew the room would be vacant while I was away for a long time but somehow I figured that room would still be mine. It was in many ways the first thing that I considered my own – my room, my space. To hear it was gone brought up some disappointment in me.

“Don’t worry though,” Little Joe continued. “We prepared a bed in the barn for you. You just have to wake up early every morning though because we have to use it afterwards to hold the feed for the cows.” He then had the audacity to smile cheekily at me.

“You be carefully,” I said in a mock dangerous voice. “I’ve learned quite a few things since I’ve been away.”

“As have I,” he said proudly. “There’s now a day school for magic in the village. Can you believe it?” He asked excitedly. “An actual teacher of magic in Alba! He came from the Academy of Laudenfort. Got sick of city life I reckon. He wanted to get away from all that. I suppose we’re lucky he chose our place. You should meet him! He’s great and has many funny stories about what his former students did back in the Academy there.” He went on and on and it seemed like the short walk around the house seemed to take forever, though in a good way.

“I see he’s still as talkative as ever,” I said to my mom.

“You have no idea,” my mother said with a sigh and a smile.

“Ma!” Little Joe said, looking scandalized.

My mom ruffled his hair to which he grumbled half-heartedly like he wanted to resist but knew he couldn’t. “Don’t grow up too fast, okay?” she said with a smile though I could feel a more serious undercurrent in her voice. I blinked when I realized that a bit of my empathy was leaking and I could feel some sadness coming from her as she said those words. I strengthened my blocks and somehow felt ashamed that I had used my empathy on my own mother even if it wasn’t on purpose.

“My room!” I said as we entered the place that I knew was my room. “It… it… looks the same.” I turned in wonder at the tiny space that I had known as my room.

It looked smaller perhaps because I was bigger. Whatever the case was, my bed was still in the corner with fresh linen that smelled like flowers even from the door. A table was next to it where I had spent many years learning to read with my mother. A bookshelf build by my father by hand and without the aid of magic still stood on the side. Except instead of books, it contained an assortment of odd items, things I held precious, gifts given by father, mother, and Little Joe.

“There’s more,” I said, fingering the new additions on the shelf. There was a tiny little statue of a horse and a rider I didn’t recognize. There was a disc of some sort where weird symbols were etched. I counted them out. “Five,” I said. “One for every year.”

Little Joe nodded and smiled. “Happy Birthday Sammy!” It wasn’t my birthday of course but I understood what he meant. The new items on the shelf were his gifts for the five birthdays I had been away.

“Come here, you,” I said as I took him in a one armed hug. “Now, I feel guilty that I don’t have anything for you. We don’t have shops or crafts where I train.” I didn’t mention of course the circumstances that caused me to be delayed and almost missed my trip home. I figured that would worry them unnecessarily.

Little Joe frowned as he pulled away, perhaps his first of the day. The way he frowned made me think his face wasn’t used to the expression. “I didn’t make those so that you could get me something in return. I made those for you so that you’ll be happy when you see them. They’re not there to make you guilty.”

“And I am happy,” I said. “I’m really glad you’ve thought of me all these years. I’m sorry I said it like that. I wish I had something for you not because you gave me something but because you are my brother and you are special to me.”

“Knowing that,” he said smiling again as he regained some of his energy, “is enough, I think.”

“You don’t know how happy it makes me to see you two like this,” my mother said with a smile and gesture for both of us to give her a hug. “I am so glad the years apart have not quenched the bond you two had. I had never seen bothers so close as you before. I worried for Little Joe when you left, Samuel. I wasn’t sure he would be able to cope with his big brother leaving.”

“Ma!” Little Joe said, looking embarrassed.

“But he managed,” my mom said with a fond smile. “He even managed to apply himself into new things that he did not know he was good at before.”

“Oh?” I asked. “What are those?”

“Here,” Little Joe said as he went over to the shelf and got the disc with the strange symbols on it. “Take a look at this and guess what it is.”

I raised an eyebrow at him but did as he asked anyway. The disc was not just an ordinary disc. That much was easy enough to tell. It hummed with the faintest lines of magic, just barely detectable on the surface. I might not have even noticed it if Little Joe didn’t ask me to analyze the thing. The symbols on the surface did not make any sense to me but the pattern of the magic looked familiar in a way despite it not being Water Magic. I smiled when I recognized it or at least something similar to it.

“It has a spell that absorbs heat,” I said and was rewarded by a shocked look on Little Joe’s face. My mom and I had to laugh at it because it was obvious I wasn’t supposed to be able to guess.

“How’d you know?” he asked and then his eyes got big and excited. “Do they teach you Rune Magic too? Can you teach me some of the things they taught you?”

“No,” I said and laughed at the pout that planted itself on his face. “No, I don’t know any Rune Magic as you call it. I think that’s an aspect of Earth Magic, right? I’m a Water Mage so we’re not studying that at all. However, the behaviour of the magic on the disc is similar to a spell I am very familiar with. Except the spell I use is used to ward off the cold instead of absorbing heat. In many ways, it’s similar in concept. What’s this for though?” I asked referring to the disc.

Little Joe nodded in understanding. “Some people call it a bed pan though I don’t know why they call it a pan of all things since you can’t use it to hold anything. You can leave it out in the sun to absorb heat and then lie over it to keep yourself warm through the night without having to do any spell work on your part. Pretty good huh?”

“It is,” I said, smiling. “Wouldn’t it break though if I lie down on it?”

“You don’t have to lie down right on it,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “You can put it between mattresses if you have more than one or you can even put it on the floor under your bed. The heat shouldn’t be strong enough to cause a fire on the wood or cotton.” He looked pensive for a moment. “At least, I don’t think so.”

“Don’t even try,” my mother warned with a laugh. “I don’t want to remember the day you visited as the day the house burned down, okay?”

“Sure, mother,” I said with a laugh.

“There’s actually a way to make it unbreakable,” Little Joe said, sounding a little troubled. “There is a way to make it so that it will last as long as I live and magic holds it together. But the process involves… certain things I’m not quite comfortable with yet so I didn’t bother with it.” He took the disc back from me and replaced it carefully in the shelf to sit with the many other gifts he had given me.

“He wants to become a Master Runesmith,” my mom said as she sat on a chair by my table. “He wants to study Earth Magic so that he can understand the creation of magical objects.”

“Do you know that the greatest cities are built around Rune Magic?” he asked excitedly. “Magister Stokely, that’s the teacher I told you about by the way, said that in the cities, everything is held up by Rune Magic. The best runes aren’t even noticeable by the common eye. They can be on your clothing to protect you against harm and the weather. They can be on doors to enchant them to open only for those that are allowed to open them. They can be on towers, walls, and castles to protect against nature and magic.”

He then got a faraway look in his eyes. “I want to visit some of the Mage Cities some day. I hear Laudenfort’s castle looms over the rest of the city in ways impossible without magic while Arantiva’s Silver Towers sparkle in the day like stars in the night sky.”

My mother reached over with a hand and gently touched my brother’s cheek. She smiled and said, “I still have quite a bit to do before supper. I’ll leave you two together for a bit, alright?” We both nodded at her as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

“What was that about?” I asked as I sat down on my bed, which was as soft as I remembered it to be. Even being away for so long and even without empathy, I knew my mother wanted to leave for some reason other than what she had just said. I patted the space beside me indicating Little Joe should sit also.

“I think ma’s not too happy when I talk about these things,” he said a little somberly as he sat down next to me. He raised his legs and sat cross-legged on the bed, his elbows resting on his knees while his chin was propped up on both hands.

“Huh?” I said. “Why not? Isn’t it great that you found something you are passionate about?”

Little Joe gave me a small smile. “Magister Stokely said the same thing to ma and pa when he came to visit. Oh yes, he went to our parents to tell them about what he noticed about me. Gifted hands, he said. I had the talent and the hands to someday become a Master Runesmith. All I needed was to hone my skills in it.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” I asked.

“Magister Stokely is a good mage,” he said slowly. “But he’s no Master Runesmith. He knows the basics of Rune Magic because he has studied Earth Magic. However, even he recognizes that he isn’t good enough to teach the finer details of the subject…” He paused and just seemed to stare out the window.

“And no one else in Alba can teach you,” I said finally understanding the cause of my mother’s distress. “You would have to go somewhere else, possibly a larger city if you ever planned to become a good Runesmith.”

He nodded. “But I can’t just leave. With you gone also, no one else would be here to take care of ma and pa if I left too.” He didn’t sound resentful or anything. He just sounded sort of sad. “Sometimes… sometimes it feels like I need to go. It’s like something inside me is yearning for me to leave, like I’m not supposed to be here anymore.”

“You’re growing up,” I said. “I think it’s natural for you to want your independence. Every boy dreams of seeing the world.”

“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “Sometimes though…” he paused like he was recalling something but eventually just shook his head. “Either way, I can’t just leave ma and pa here. Not now. I’ll wait a few more years until I’m really an adult. There’s still plenty of time left later for me to study anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” I said as I reached over and gripped his shoulder comfortingly.

He snorted before I could say anything else. “Don’t go apologizing now. We knew you were gifted with Water Magic for a very long time. Do you remember how you controlled the river than runs off the mountains after winter? Even I can’t do that now. And I’ve tried. You did it when you were six. Ma and pa knew that uncle would come by sooner or later to take you to train at that special place for Water Mages.”

I raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

He rolled his eyes at me and said, “I haven’t told anyone about your secret. Don’t worry.”

I nodded at him. “Still though, I didn’t want to become a burden for you here.”

“Hey, don’t be like that,” my brother said smiling, his attitude turning buoyant again. “You didn’t come visit just so we’ll be all depressed and everything. This is a happy time. There’s reason to celebrate.” He paused. “There is right? You weren’t kicked out or anything? Ma and pa seemed to know you would be visiting but they didn’t tell me why.”

“Oh,” I said and of course remembered the reason why I visited. I was after all going to take the Rites soon, something I wasn’t sure I could discuss with Little Joe. It was something all Water Mages went through. It was also something that was dangerous. There was always a risk that something could go wrong. “I’ll tell you over supper okay?”

“Speaking of supper,” Little Joe said as he sniffed the air. “I think I smell pa’s roast pork in a blanket.”

“He still does that?” I asked. It was a special dish my father made for special occasions when I was younger.

“Of course,” he said. “He even got this huge, huge piggy from Farmer Holtz. It was like… huge.” He gestured widely with his hands then extended them to their fully limit. “Bigger than me.”

“That’s not really hard to accomplish,” I joked and was rewarded with an aghast look on Little Joe’s face. “Come on,” I said putting an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go see what they’re making for us.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Nightfall had long descended on Alba yet we were still out of the house, in the town. The last time I had been there five years ago, our mother would have charged out of our home, grabbing each of us by an ear and scolding us for not being in bed. Now though, at the edge of manhood, we were free to do as we pleased. I was certain though that my mother wanted to come out there with us, not to scold but to comfort.

Little Joe was unhappy, that much was clear to me. He was leaning against an old oak tree near Orlof’s inn. We had spent many years in our youth hanging from that tree, spying for rabbits that we could take to Orlof to make his delicious rabbit stew for us. We never did catch a rabbit and yet every time we came back to Orlof’s, he would have a delicious rabbit stew waiting for us along with whatever sweets he managed to make. It made all the failures worth it. All those happy memories seemed to come into conflict with the new sad ones being made at that very same spot.

“Little Joe,” I said softly. He had stormed out of the house after hearing the news from my uncle.

In a way, I was a little disappointed in the way my uncle broke the news to my family. My father obviously knew from his reaction. My mother and brother didn’t.

“Samuel’s about to take the Rites,” my uncle had said while we were eating. “I can’t discuss the details of what it involves. However, it is quite dangerous and he could very easily die in the process if he isn’t careful. I hope you can give him your blessing and the strength and the courage to go on with the challenges that lie ahead.”

My mother and Little Joe had sat stunned while my father merely nodded. The silence lasted no more than a few moments before they started peppering my uncle with questions. It was the first time I’d ever seen Little Joe so angry, more so at our uncle whom he feared since he was very little.

“Little Joe,” I said again as I stood some distance from him as he leaned against the oak tree. Even in the darkness I could see the tear tracks that etched themselves over his cheeks. “Look, it’s not as bad as uncle makes it sound.”

“Yeah?” he asked. His voice wasn’t hopeful. Rather it was as angry as I had heard it when he shouted at our uncle to get lost. “You’re telling me it’s not dangerous? That there’s no chance you could die? What? Is this Rites thing like a walk in the forest?”

“No one has died while taking the Rites,” I said trying to keep my voice calm. Shouting then would not have helped either of us.

“Really?” he asked. “And you know all the people that have ever taken the Rites? Are you certain no one has ever died before? Why would our uncle say that if it hadn’t happened before. Obviously it has! Do you think you’re invulnerable now? That you can accomplish anything. Is this why you came home? To tell us we might never see you again? That I… that I might never…” He stopped unable to say anymore.

I walked slowly towards him. I kept my distance because I was worried he might have been so angry he would hit me. But if he did, I didn’t really care. Perhaps I deserved it. My brother was perhaps the most important thing to me. Yet, I had not written anything to him or let him know how I was doing. Sure it was against the rules but perhaps I should have at least tried anyway. I couldn’t have expected any other reaction than this had I been in his place, knowing I could very well never see him again the moment we separate once more.

Little Joe did not hit me, not even when I put an arm around his shoulder and made him lean against me. Instead, he cried. I had held him more than once before as he cried – when he hurt his leg as we played by the river, when father had yelled at him for scaring the cows in the barn into running away. But this time, it was different. We weren’t children anymore. The things we cried about were not things we could brush off and forget by the next day.

I let a little of my empathy seep into Little Joe. I loosened the blocks that connected me to Little Joe and what I saw deeply grieved me. He was angry. But more than that he was scared. He was so afraid and I didn’t need to guess what he was afraid of.

“Little Joe,” I said again. “I’m sorry I haven’t been a very good brother to you. If I had known all this would cause you this much pain, I never would have left. I don’t care what uncle or father would have done if I said no all those years ago. You are the most precious thing to me and it pains me to know that I have caused you this much hurt.

“I don’t know what will happen when I take the Rites,” I continued. “In truth, none of us who will take it know. It is a secret guarded even between parents and children who live in Malden. I know one thing though. I am good. As much as you know you will someday become a Master Runesmith, I know that I will someday become a Master Water Mage. The time we have here will not be the last we will spend together. I promise you, from one brother to another, even if I have to tear down the walls in every city to find you again, I will. I may be away a lot but I do it to protect you and those like you that deserve to live a happy life away from the evil that we know is rising.”

“Is it that bad?” he whispered. He had also been told the need for Water Mages to combat the growing darkness that was rising. Something evil was coming soon that could very well change the world as we knew it.

“I don’t know, Little Joe,” I said. “Whatever the case may be, I will do my best to make sure they do not win. It may take me away from you for a long time. It could very easily be years again before I see you once more. Please don’t let this moment be the one I remember the most as I think about you and mother and father.”

He was silent for a long time before he spoke again. “I don’t like what’s happening. But I guess, sometimes, I just have to accept them for what they are. I’d rather that someone else put themselves in danger instead of you. I know though that it’s selfish for me to think like that. I know in a way that you would want to do something yourself if there was trouble. You’re not exactly someone who will sit about waiting for others to do things for you.

“I may not be father or mother,” he said. “But I think it’s right for me to say this now. I give you my blessing so that you can succeed in the trials that await you and so that you may come home when your victories are done.”

“Thank you, Little Joe,” I said hugging him tighter to me. “That is all the blessing I will need.”

“I love you, Sammy,” he whispered.

“I love you too, Little Joe,” I whispered back.

NEXT CHAPTER: Ch 11: The Rites of Water
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