Brothers: Legacy of the Twice-Dead God by Scott Duff Page B

out,” said Kieran, rather
sheepishly.
    “It may have gotten a little out of hand,”
added Ethan, shuffling his feet and staring down.
    “O-kay,” I started, shaking my head. “I don’t
know whether to laugh at the both of you for looking like
seven-year-olds owning up to dad for losing their bikes, to yell at
you for siccing armed men on me, or to thank you that I don’t have
to check with you before dressing each day so I don’t look like the
stupid twin.”
    “We did look that way, didn’t we?” Kieran
said, standing up a little straighter and grinning. “You did very
well, by the way. The flow between the weapons was flawless.”
    “That wasn’t me,” I protested. “That was
either the weapons themselves or whatever Ethan did to put them
there. They moved me how and where they wanted me. I was along for
the ride.”
    “Don’t sell yourself short, little brother,”
Kieran said. To Ethan, “The Day Sword, right?”
    “Yes, The Day Sword,” Ethan said. “The Twin
of Might. Said to be forged from the first gold and silver mined by
the Fae. It has a hair’s breadth of iron in its core, wrapped in
silver and bespelled in the old elven tongues, to guarantee death
to all Fae it strikes. Sharp enough to pierce all but the strongest
armors. It is rumored to know the killing strike for any opponent.
And again, you saw how easily Kieran defeated it.”
    He grinned and now he looked positively
cherubic.
    “This sounds like stuff out of a cheesy
tourist magazine,” I said. “How do you know this?”
    “Some of it was written into the Fae bindings
before I removed them,” he said. “Then there was the pixie. He
found the hummingbird feeder and got positively snockered!” He
started snickering. “It only lasted for about twenty, twenty-five
minutes but he was hilarious! This was while you and Kieran were
looking at the albums. And the bow that never misses? Missed
Kieran, what three score times? Isn’t that how they count them?” He
was laughing outright now. At least he was building a
personality.
    Why wasn’t I mad about this?
    “Well, I need another shower,” I said,
pulling my tee shirt away from my body to help dry it. The heat was
already pushing eighty-five degrees and it wasn’t even eight in the
morning yet. “What are your plans for the day?”
    “A shower, breakfast,” Kieran said, starting
for the trail, “then I thought we’d look through the financial
records you found last night and see what kind of trail we can
find.” I thought he had a sword earlier but I didn’t see any
evidence of it now as I filed in line behind them. They both wore
loose fitting black silk pants, tied at the waist, and they were
both bare footed. The path had been cleared of its sharp
stones over night, so they were walking without wincing now. I
wondered who drew the lot for that job.
    In the house, I headed for my room and Kieran
headed for what was technically the Master bedroom, even though the
two rooms were virtually the same outside of the furnishings. Both
rooms had full baths while the main house only had a half bathroom
to it. Ethan hung back in the den while we cleaned up. I was a
little faster in getting out than Kieran and called Ethan in and
told him to pick some clothes for himself until we could get his
own. I was probably a bit small for him, but the change in his
looks had given me the chance to put a few thoughts together.
Combined with some of the comments Kieran had made last night, I
had decided that it was time we came to an understanding. I felt
like I was about to alienate the only friends I had.
    I went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Shrank was already there, standing on the side of a large mixing
bowl filled with flour. A large wooden spoon stood in the bowl
beside him.
    “I do not understand what this is,” Shrank
said, looking up at me.
    “I don’t know what it is supposed to be,” I
said, looking over him into the bowl, “So I’m not going to be much
help until you