I slung on my robe, rubbing my eyes due to the early morning. It was exactly 5:56 AM, and I had only managed to get around six hours of sleep, which wasn't enough to feel fully rested. Uncle Constantine hummed around the house, urging us to hurry up before Mother woke up and found us preparing to leave. But it was too late. She had already heard the noise downstairs and was startled awake. At first, she came in with a look of confusion, which quickly turned into vexation as she realized what was happening. Constantine laughed nervously, his voice betraying his unease, and started a conversation with her.
"It's not what it looks like, Diana…"
"Where are you going with my boys?" she demanded, her tone sharpening.
His tone promptly switched to a more serious attitude. "It's time I take these boys out into the outside world. Keeping them in an enclosed place will only negatively impact their development. And besides, it's not safe for them to be here anymore."
A look of disbelief, one I hadn't seen before, was written all over Mother's face. "These are my kids, my boys, and it is far too dangerous for them to go with you, Constantine."
"You can't keep them secluded forever, Diana…" he said in a gentle, almost pleading voice.
It hadn't occurred to me until now that Mother and Father were secretly planning to keep us from venturing outside, to protect us from some unseen danger. I don't know why, but it must have been for a good reason. Even when we went to the village, it seemed cut off from anywhere else. In fact, I don't really know where we are at all. There are no visible maps around here, and it's not like there's GPS or anything like that in this world. So when I eventually moved out, I wouldn't have had a clue where to settle or how to get there.
Uncle kept on pestering Mother until she finally, albeit reluctantly, accepted. During all that commotion, I noticed the absence of Darius. I peered outside and saw his figure sitting on the wooden steps of our house, lightly kicking his feet with what looked like frustration. But upon closer inspection, it seemed more like agitation, as if he was wrestling with some inner turmoil.
Uncle Constantine and Mother continued to argue, their voices rising in intensity. I heard something I probably shouldn't have: "I mean, you even changed your name so your family can't track you down, Diana! What happens if they find out you've had two kids and abandoned your duties as a noble?" Uncle remarked sharply.
That's why he was calling her Diana. That made sense now. Father normally calls Mother Annika, so it had completely slipped my mind. I decided to go outside and sit alongside Darius, waiting for Uncle to come out and give us the go-ahead. We sat there patiently and silently, both lost in our own thoughts. There wasn't any tension brewing this time, a rare moment of peace between us. A sense of relief came over me, but I wasn't in the mood to chat with him. It would just be too awkward, given everything that had happened. I could understand how he was feeling. He and Dad were closer than I was with Dad myself, so it made sense that he missed Father to this extent. It must have been eating away at him, just like it was starting to eat away at me.
Finally, Uncle had stopped bickering with Mother, and it was time to go. Mother rushed outside, a look of sadness in her eyes, and handed us supplies and a fresh set of clothes that she had kept for us. She told both me and Darius to carry it. The backpacks were quite heavy, and they occasionally poked me as I tried to fit something inside from our home. I could tell Mom had filled them up to the brim, packing everything she thought we might need. We walked towards the village, our steps heavy with the weight of what we were leaving behind. We greeted the villagers one by one, their faces a mixture of concern and curiosity. They all seemed to know Constantine, and it was evident that they respected him highly. We finally stopped when we saw a man feeding his horses and a carriage beside him.
My Uncle tossed a bag of rapsos at the man. "Here's 20 rapsos, take it or leave it."
The man began to empty the bag into his hands, counting the copper coins carefully. He then signalled to us to make our way inside the carriage. At last, we had waited long enough. The man rounded up his two horses and boarded the vehicle, ready to start the journey. This was the first time I had ever been in a carriage or any sort of transportation in this world. I sat in the middle, so naturally, the space was more enclosed, making me feel a bit claustrophobic. Uncle had told us that the journey would take at most a day or two. I had asked him where we were going, and he simply responded, "Let me worry about that." Now, of course, going to a random location that we had no idea about with a man we had just met a day before would make anyone's nerves heighten. I stopped asking questions and soon it had become dawn. I decided to close my eyes, but the constant bumping and movement of the carriage woke me up every time. So instead of trying to get some shut-eye, I decided I would kill time by starting a discussion between all of us.
"Uncle Constantine, how long have you been traveling?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
He began chewing on his toothpick and responded, "Nearly my whole life."
Darius just sat there quietly, deciding not to join in. It was clear that he wasn't interested in any of this conversation. "I see, so you know your way around this world well," I said, trying to keep the conversation going.
With a prideful grin, he responded, "Yeah, you can call me a master at this sort of stuff."
For the rest of the journey, I forced myself to get some rest, but I was suddenly awakened by another bump in the track. Groggily, I rubbed the mucus from my eyes and tried to get my bearings. It appeared that both Uncle and Darius had fallen asleep, so the driver and I were the only ones awake. Now alone and left to my thoughts, I looked outside, revealing the dusky night sky, the stars barely visible through the thin veil of clouds. These were times that I both enjoyed and hated. It gave me some good introspection that I desperately needed, but it also made me feel overwhelmingly alone.
I wondered what was happening to Dad right now. A pit of rage formed inside me, boiling just beneath the surface. For the first time ever since his capture, I had actually felt vexed by it, truly angered by the injustice of it all. All this time, I had been placing things on my shoulders, trying to be strong for everyone else. I hadn't allowed the fact that my Father had been taken from my family to really sink in yet. But now it was hitting me all at once. Now I knew how my brother truly felt, the feeling of mortification knowing that you can possibly do nothing but envision yourself rescuing him. It was like there was a sense of urgency that couldn't be quelled, like every passing minute he was closer to his impending death, and I was powerless to stop it.
"I promise, Father, I will not only save you but also remove the great shame that those men have placed on you," I whispered to myself, the words almost choking me.
Darius, with his arms crossed and one eye open, looked at me with a sense of admiration that I hadn't seen from him before. There was a spark in his eye, as if he was giving me a silent stamp of approval, acknowledging that we were in this together.
"You and me both," he said softly.
With that, my brother and I exchanged looks of determination, nodding and mentally telling each other that we would do whatever it took to find and rescue our father. But truth be told, it wasn't as simple as that. We both knew it. But either way, I promise myself I will still continue to put on a brave face so I don't discourage the others. That's the least I can do anyway.