Chapter three

Maxine felt the wind on her face whilst running with her arms wide open feeling the touch of the tall grass on her hands, a cold breeze on her face. As she looked sideways she noticed that they were child hands. She reached a stone house atop a hill, some kids were playing with the livestock outside. She felt…happy.

That happiness was clouded by darkness when riders came into the vision with their high horses, swords and spears in hand. A slaughter began. Young Maxine just stood there on the edge of an opening gap between her and the house, unable to move towards it, feeling a force pull her further and further away. When she looked down her tiny hands again, they were trenched with blood. The riders set fire to everything, even in a distance she could feel the warmth of it so real that she was shaking, panting, and sweating–

Maxine opened her eyes, sweat drops all over her face, tears in her eyes. She had never had nightmares like this back home, in fact she was a sound sleeper. Jake and Farak flanked her, too close to her making it extremely hot and suffocating. They were still asleep, so she got up quietly.

She opened the cabin’s door to find out there was a thin layer of snow on the ground, the forest was still quiet, the coming up sun blessing the horizon with shades of orange.

“What happened? Why are you up?” She heard a hoarse, just-woken-up voice.

Maxine took in the view, appreciated the cold breeze that brushed her, a pinch in her stomach made her look back at Farak, who was already up and getting dressed.

“I am starving, my stomach is literally speaking to me…” she said closing the door.

Jake was slow to open his eyes and stretch out his arms, Farak was up in a hear-beat, thinking there was some kind of a threat. It was very clear how different they were, even in these small actions.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve been up” Farak said pulling up a pair of pants, “You don’t usually wake up early, I thought something was wrong” he then ran a hand through his hair, tugging it back. She wondered why he had some scars on his body when he was apparently close friends with a healer. Another question to add to her eternal list.

She thought about telling them about her nightmare, but she couldn't bring up this topic with them just yet because as far as she knew they were basically strangers, and she was stuck with them for the moment, until she could go back to her world, if that was even a possibility.

“How long are we staying here?” She asked, sweetly.

Farak was poking Jake with his foot to get him up, “Here in the cottage?”

“No, I mean here in this…planet? Universe? I don’t even know…” she threw one of many questions on them. Jake was now up, but still looked sleepy as he walked towards the oak chest wrapped in his fur, he looked like a type of bear. Maxine couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Why…Are you in a hurry?” Jake questioned, without looking at her.

“Well…” she thought about her life back there, about her routine, taking the bus to work, her few friends from the café, her casual flings. Nothing that she really missed, nothing extraordinary, maybe she would miss Hugo, just maybe. The only person she cared about was Adalyn, the woman who adopted and raised her until she was sixteen, but she was gone, taken by a liver disease.

“No, I guess I’m not in a hurry, but it would be great to know what is this place, if it’s another planet, or anoth…"

“Same planet, different reality, different dimension…That’s all we know, actually” Jake drawled, interrupting her.They were now both dressed, boots, shirts, and–

Maxine’s eyes glittered at the sight of the dagger Jake was sheathing along his leather belt. He glimpsed at her with those deep blue eyes, smirking at her.

“Do I get one of those?” She almost begged. Jake and Farak exchanged looks and laughed.

“Yes, you will get one…but we think you are possibly the most dangerous weapon here…” Farak said as he pulled out some more things out of the oak chest. How much articles could fit in that old chest ?

“Here..” He showed her some pieces of random clothes, “I think all of these will fit you…”

“No gown then?” Maxine joked picking up some underclothes, a pair of dark brown leather pants, a loose cotton shirt that had ruffles along the neckline, and–

“What is this? A corset? Really?” She held the corset up in her hand, annoyed.

“You can choose not to wear it, but I think that would make running a bit…distracting” he grinned, she cocked her head with an angry expression, “For you!” Farak rubbed his face with his large hands, a bit uncomfortable “distracting for you, I mean.”

“You can tie them up tight with a cotton fabric, if that will make you feel more comfortable” Jake stepped in.

Both men looked like they had just come out of a history book, court clothes. Ruffles, metallic details, leather and velvet. The clothes smelled old, she didn’t know whose clothes these were, or how long they had been in there, but by the smell, it had been a long time.

She turned around with the blanket as a cover started getting dressed. Fortunately the corset was shorter, it ended along her ribcage, the whalebones made her posture better. It took her a long while to tie everything up, since there were no zippers.

Jake handed her the belt to go over the doublet, and with it a simple dagger. Exciting. She buckled everything up and picked up the old dark green velvet cloak from the rug. She would put it on when they went out into the cold because at the moment she was almost sweating after struggling to put her clothes on while balancing the blanket on her back.

Maxine brushed her hair with her fingers and tied half of it up with a strand of thin leather.

“Well, I wish I could see myself in a mirror” she mumbled, mainly to herself.

“You look good” Farak said, eyes on her “Let’s go.” He opened the door holding up something that looked like a compass, his gleaming sword sheathed at his back. Jake packed the three furs in a thick cotton bag, double checked if the oak chest was empty and glanced with an affirmative look to Farak, nodding his head.

They went out of the little wooden place, Maxine already missed it, specially the warmth. She felt her stomach aching again, she was hungry and very, very thirsty.

“When are we going to eat and drink something on this quest?” she had always wanted to use that word.

“Soon, we just need to retrieve something before going anywhere…” said Farak, leading the way, eyes on the compass and back at the horizon, “If you see any game, don’t hesitate, I’m hungry as well”. Surely he was talking to Jake, Maxine had never killed anything, but her stomach was so empty that maybe that could change.

They walked for a few minutes before encountering a thick tree, it’s trunk was so large and tall Maxine wondered how they didn’t see it sooner, it stood out from the pine trees around it. She was silent, so hungry and thirsty that she didn’t even ask any questions as Farak pulled out his sword and with a unnatural strength pierced it on the ground, snow melted around the metal and earth became visible under it, he cut through it then started digging in the groove.

“What are we doing?” Maxine asked, now she was curious.

“Just getting some…” Farak moved the damp earth outwards and outwards, until “something” he held up a small sack made out of thin black leather, it was heavy.

“Money…” Jake explained from behind her, keeping watch.

“Oh… good, I can see you two prepared everything neatly, huh?”

“We didn’t, we’re just following instructions from someone who might be dead by now, but luckily, so far so good” Farak said getting up, dusting off dirt from his knees and hands, “Now, let’s go find some food”

Her companions, former roommates, and now her possible only friends hunted some small game for them to eat, it looked like some kind of rabbit that she had never seen. They cleaned and skinned it by a stream, where Maxine gobbled as much water as she could. The water tasted so pure and delicious and fresh, she felt her body thanking her for it.

Lighting a fire was easier now that they had the apparatus for it, so they cooked and ate. It tasted as good as it could, but there was no salt or pepper to season it so Maxine just ate enough, maybe less than enough.

They ate in silence, then filled two water skins with the stream water and started moving again, moving south through the woods. With her belly full enough and water in her system she decided now was the time to drop some more questions.

“So…that sword Farak, where did you get it? Did you bring it through the tub portal?” She had been wondering about that since the moment she had to burn her favorite pair of boots. He answered without even stopping to look back at her.

“Yeah, I had it in my room the whole time, but it belongs here, to this dimension, so I could bring it back” and then he halted into a complete stop, until her and Jake caught up with him a few paces ahead, “it has a power of its own, it was given to me by the same person who managed to set everything in place for your return…” he said with piercing eyes on hers, his pale green eyes, she fell silent.

“Aren’t you going to ask who?” He purred, getting really close to her. She looked up to face him, the red in her eyes glowing bright with curiosity.

“Who gave you that sword, Farak?” She stammered, eyes still locked. He raised his hand, touching her chin, pinching it lightly, so close their breaths mingled.

“Our father” he breathed, a thin wicked smile on his lips.

Maxine slapped his hand out of her chin, and looked at Jake, looking for an explanation about what she had just heard. He was biting on a smile, so she knew something was wrong.

“What do you mean our father. You’re my brother?” she was almost yelling.

“Actually, we are your brothers…” Jake came closer, index finger swaying to Farak and himself, “we grew up in the same infamous orphanage home since we were babies, before we had to deliver you to the other side” he explained.

Maxine felt anxious because she remembered her dream the night before, it was time to tell them, to tell them she is starting to remember some of her short life here. She stares blankly into thin air as she tries to recall the details of it.

“Was this orphanage some kind of a stone house on top of a beautiful green hill? Was it burnt to ashes?”

Farak and Jake’s eyes widened at the unexpected question.

“How…do you know that?” Jake whispered.

“I’ve always been a sound sleeper throughout my life, apart from last night. I had the most real dream last night, guess you can call it a nightmare since by the end of it everything was burning and my child hands had blood on them” she explained, while looking down on her own hands.

“That is amazing” Farak mused, trying to recollect his own memories “you were only four or five years old when they burned the whole place down, looking for you…” he said turning on his heel to keep walking, “I found out sometime later that the orphanage wasn’t a real orphanage, it was a place where royals from all over the continent would send their bastard children, I don’t know, maybe a safe for keeping back up if they could not produce a legitimate heir…” he kept going, while taking big long steps back on the track.

“You’re telling me”, Maxine ran to walk alongside Farak, Jake went after her, “all three of us are royal bastards?” Great, just fucking great.

“That is what they wanted us to believe, but I have a feeling there’s something more, something big that we’re yet to find out. They wouldn’t have sent riders to kill and burn everyone if we were just mere bastards…Tysen would not have asked us to take a toddler into another dimension for hiding if it wasn’t a big deal…” Farak finished, and she knew then that they were almost as unaware of what was going on as she was.

“We came back you know…” Jake started, “we delivered you and came back, we left you in front of a temple…or as you would call it, a church. Do you remember that? Us?” Jake questioned, hope shinning in his blue eyes.

Maxine felt a pinch of anger in her gut, they had left her alone in another dimension, in another world basically, not knowing if she would even survive. Sensing her anger as if reading her thoughts Jake stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“We waited…we stayed there until someone found you, don’t be mad, we were children too…”

She pushed the rage away, they would do no good now, “Can you take me there? To what’s left of the place?” she asked them in a rather sweet voice she used when she wanted something. They stopped walking again, both of her roommates looking at her.

“We can, but not until we find out what has happened while we were gone looking for you…” Farak finally broke the silence, “and most importantly, not until you let your magic start flowing freely in you”