Free The Brotherhood: Blood by Kody Boye

different. Is that right?
    “Yes.”
    And, child, am I right when I say you do not believe what you have done is wrong? Am I right when I say you feel as though, had you not left your creator, he would have created invisible bonds that would have been tied to your heart?
    “Yes,” he repeated. “You’re… you’re right.”
    Do not be afraid of the thing you have done or the things that you will eventually do. You will have to learn that, eventually, you must make your own path in this world.
    With that, the wolf and her pups disappeared into the cave, leaving Odin to push Gainea into a trot that she did not want to perform.
     
    Morning rose into afternoon. The birds chirped, the creatures of the night went to sleep, the rodents, in abundance, gathered at the side of the road to watch the giant horse and its rider make their way up the road—it was a perfect morning, given the fact that there’d been so much rain the previous night, but in spite of the beauty currently surrounding him, Odin couldn’t stop thinking about the wolf or the things she had said. Had she been following him since last night, pursuing him through her territory to make sure that her pups were safe, or had it been for some other, possibly beneficial reason?
    Whatever it was, he thought, she’s not bothering us now.
    There was no feeling of being watched—no tickle at the back of the neck or unease within the confines of his chest. Even if for some reason his senses weren’t true, surely Gainea would’ve reacted to outside stimuli. She was, of course, a horse, and would obviously pick up on any danger that was in the immediate area.
    As of now, nothing was following them. He could have faith in that.
    She said, he began to think, then began to falter shortly after the words began to ooze from his mind and into his consciousness. That I would make my own path.
    Was that what he was doing here, in the now, whilst making his way to Ornala—making his own path through the world and trailblazing his own right of passage? If so, he hadn’t accomplished much in the day-and-a-half he’d disembarked, and so far hadn’t seen any passerbys from the caravan. Maybe they’d passed him while he slept, bringing them that much closer to the adult lives that beckoned to all those boys, or maybe they hadn’t passed by at all.
    No.
    It took a moment for the realization to sink in, but when it finally did, he found himself content with the fact and instead settled back into his seat, breathing in the crisp morning air and smiling at a group of baby birds that could be seen in the trees.
    There was very little chance that the group had caught up to him within the early hours of the morning. He’d travelled far too long for any of them to have made up that lost time spent during the night.
    And when morning came, he thought, father discovered I was gone.
    Guilt ate at him like a hunter to a small animal, tearing into him with teeth and claws and spit and slime, but regardless of whatever he felt in that moment, he couldn’t dwell on the fact. His father would know that he was headstrong enough to pursue his own path, much less make it to the castle on his own.
    Make your own path, the voice said.
    “I will,” he whispered.
    He may be foolish and nothing more than that.
    “Father is foolish.”
    You are aware that you are the first man creature I have spoken to in quite some time?
    Though he couldn’t place the exact feeling or premonition that dwelled on him, he couldn’t help but feel nervous at the fact that the wolf had implied something far more curious than she had let on. She’d made it apparent that she had, of course, spoken to a ‘man creature’ or something similar in recent past, but how long ago could that have been—a day, a week, possibly even a month?
    Gaia magic isn’t that uncommon, he thought, dwelling on the fact that he, too, was blessed with such an awe-inspiring gift. Even though some people can only talk to certain kind of