Fantasy: Part 2 of 5

    Well, that was a bit of a whirlwind! I'm not complaining. Spontaneity will save any soul from the dreary dregs of monotony. My hubby isn't working yet (by choice, it's going to end soon now that jobs are starting to advertise), and our oldest is on Spring Break, so Wednesday night (around 11 pm) we decided to pack a few suitcases and drive to Calgary to visit my sister. We let her know we were coming when we were on the road Thursday morning. Once at the hotel, we decided to stay for two nights rather than one so that we could just hang out and let the girls play in the pool.
    No laptops, no deadlines, no plans. It was GREAT! My 3-year-old can swim now (with her floaty, of course, but she self-propels), my 6-year-old was doing laps and jumping into the pool at spots deep enough that sometimes the water would go over her head (she's usually terrified of having water on / over her face), and we got in some quality family visits that included swims, sharing meals and a walk at the local dog park with my sister's pooches.
    It really was just a great trip. It's also wonderful to come home early enough that we've got basically the whole afternoon to be home and recover from taking a random family mini-vacation. LET THE LAUNDRY COMMENCE! Lol :) ........  Well, laundry after blogging. And maybe some writing first... ;)

2. Hard Travels

​            “Yes, Master Torinson! Whatever you say, Master Torinson!”
            Addint glared at his brother. 
            “I swear it Enti, if you call me that one more time I'll force-feed you some of that fickleroot!”
            “And who's going to hold me for you?” what Enti called his ‘Soldier Face’ evaporated into a wicked grin. “Him?” he pointed to a moaning set of bushes to his left, “or them?”
Another set of bushes to Enti's right were emitting similar sounds of misery. Addint closed his eyes and counted to ten before answering.
            “Enti,” he began as his younger brother snapped back to full attention.
            “Yes, Master -”
            Addint threw a right hook that his brother narrowly dodged. Enti was suddenly laughing too hard to keep his balance in the snow and, tripping over his own feet, went down onto his ass in a drift. Addint, taking full advantage, had his younger brother flipped onto his stomach before Enti could get in any type of defense. Addint scrubbed his brother’s face in the snow.
            The older of the two sprang lithely to his feet, using the younger as his lift-off point, and was out of reach before Enti could recover. Enti, nearly angry, sat up with both fists clenched and a beard full of snow. Then, realizing what had just happened, burst out into another fit of laughter. Addint tried to scowl, but snickers soon began to leak out of him as well. He finally conceded, sat down in the snow beside his brother, and they both laughed themselves to tears; much to the humiliation of their non-mountain-folk peers. Once their joviality had mostly subsided, Addint sighed and shook his head. 
            “You know, we'd move a lot faster – and a lot more comfortably – if you'd quit screwing around.”
            Enti nodded, agreeing completely as he swiped the tears out of his eyes.
            “You're the only Trainee that Archer sent out and that's only because you're from the High Mountains. It wouldn't be funny if this scouting mission ended with you being kicked out of the compound based on bad references from these guys,”  Addint encircled the surrounding foliage with one sweeping gesture.
            Enti broke down into fits of giggles, his eyes dancing with mischief. Addint found himself again getting caught up by his brother's humor and tried to turn it to anger. 
              “And why under stars did you give them fickleroot?!”
            Enti burst out laughing. “Well,” he started, once he could talk again. “Master Catsh was saying how he felt nervous shitting in the woods, which was delaying us, and you kept saying how we all needed to pick up the pace...” Enti shrugged. Addint stared at his brother in disbelief. “I just thought it would help to kill two birds with one stone. Master Catsh is shitting easily, and everyone is moving really, really quickly,”
            Addint rolled back into the snow drift, laughing so hard his belly hurt. Enti managed to stay sitting… barely.

#

            The five young men were soon traveling hard and fast, going cross-country to the mountains instead of taking the winding roads. In seventeen days’ time the brothers led their small group out of the foothills and into the familiar terrain of the High Mountains. Twenty-two days later, they passed out of the High Mountains into the uninhabitable and unnamed peaks beyond. They didn't stop at their home village on the way by, their orders didn't allow it.
            The three men traveling with the brothers, despite a deserved dislike of Trainee Torinson, held a grudging respect for the two men leading them. After all, Master Torinson was a man in his element when in command, and Enti always seemed to know just where to step. Whether it was on snow covered ice, or scaling a sheer rock face, his hands and feet always found the right spot to lead them all safely through. Addint had smiled and winked at their shocked exclamations when first seeing Enti really climb. 
            “It's because we're only half-brothers,” he told them. “We have different mothers.”
            Enti had swung free then, dangling 30 feet above them by only the fingers of his left hand.
            “That is entirely correct!” he'd cried down at them. “My mother was a goat!”