Chapter 10: Books & Leeches
It had been nearly a month since Loki and Rykar had returned to the village in an attempt to bring their mother back with them.
During the first few days, the atmosphere was bleak as they lost motivation to go on. They passed the time by sitting or simply laying there while staring vacantly into nothingness, occasionally breaking the cycle to numbly nibble at a piece of bread or some berries. The only exposure to the outside of the tree was the odd toilet break.
It was only when they were out of food that they came to a mutual decision to venturing out in search, returning with a variety of roots, berries and fruits along with the refilled water pouches. Such became the routine.
Days would go by without a word being spoken between themselves. Under this lack of communication, functioning as a pair was only made possible due to the intimacy they had built up over the years of familiarity. Their bodies and needs were all but identical in terms of their bodily functions, strengths and weaknesses… However, this began to gradually warp as abnormalities began to surface.
At first, it was barely noticeable, but it became increasingly apparent that Rykar's eating habits were becoming more and more dramatic while he left the room in order to relieve himself less and less frequently. By the time three weeks had passed, he was eating three times more that his brother while having completely lost the need to relieve himself.
It was as though he became a bottomless hole, with food pouring into him and simply disappearing without a trace. At first, he became worried over this, thinking he had fallen ill while anticipating the discomfort it would cause, however instead of feeling as though he was constipated or bloated, he felt full of energy as his previously hallow and depleted frame began to show mild traces of vitality. He then threw the matter to the back of his mind after consulting his brother, who's answer didn't leave him with much to dwell on.
"Are you dumb? We sucked in the ashes of dead people, have grey skin, red and grey eyes, my foot magically healed, and our bones are fixed… but you're sitting there worried about eating more and feeling energetic?" As usual, sarcasm dripped from Loki's answer however the familiar response helped to ease Rykar's mind.
After that short conversation, it was as though the clouds in their minds had been sliced open with a knife. It served as a turning point, opening up conversation between them and bringing things back to the way they had been before.
Unlike in the past, there was never a mention of their mother. Since the conversation they had after returning, it was as though her presence had been erased. Without having to bring it up, her name had become a taboo between them. There had been an unspoken understanding on this as they both consciously tried to block her out while distracting themselves. Through idle conversation, collecting food and games, they actively distanced themselves and repressed their longing and sadness while finding ways to preoccupy themselves.
With nothing much to do between gathering food and sleeping, aside from exploring the forest regions around them, their attention had turned to the collection of books that was spread along the long shelf.
The shelf itself was curved around the circular wall of the room and took up around a third of its surface. It's length of the shelf was divided into five segments around two metres wide with each of the segments having 10 rows extending from the floor to the ceiling. It wasn't possible for the twins to reach the top shelf with their short statures, but they eventually worked around this by pushing the table over to the wall before stacking a chair on top of it, creating a make shift step ladder.
Browsing through the books was just a random thought at first, of course neither of them were able to understand any of the symbols within them, but eventually their curious natures began to find a lot of joy in looking through the pages and finding images among the symbols. Some of the books were even entirely made of images with vivid colours of vast lands, fire breathing serpents or unidentifiable beings made of fire or plants. Monsters and wonderful creatures that had been isolated to their imaginations were given life in the books, given a projection in a lifelike manner which left them fascinated.
It became an obsession, a thirst for knowledge despite it consisting of things they couldn't even comprehend. It was like studying art, without knowing the intentions of the artist, they began to bring their own meanings to the pages. They would look through the pages of text and analyse the shapes and curves of the lettering, some looking like blocks, some like hieroglyphs and some having shapes that flowed like serpents across the pages.
It wasn't necessary for them to understand what they were reading, sometimes they even decided to give meanings to the stories themselves. It was just a matter of needing to see something they hadn't seen before.
Among these, there were also many which depicted the human body in various poses with arrows and symbols covering the blank spaces on the page as though trying to gesture and explain the contents of the diagrams.
From then on, it became a part of their routine to sit and simply flick through the books and scrolls, page by page, book by book scroll by scroll. Whether the cover was glamorous and decorated, plane and unadorned or even ripped and tattered, they had no intention of leaving it unturned.
. . .
"When are we going to go get some meat?! You decided you want the bow but what have you done with it besides whisper b*llshit and play soldier. You couldn't hit a rabbit even if it seasoned itself and sat on your plate." Rykar groaned out as he threw the last of the mulberries into his mouth.
Over the last month, they hadn't eaten anything apart from berries, fruits and the last of the bread they had saved. Even while back in the village, this was their staple diet however their mother would spice it up every week and sneak some rabbit or boar from the distribution tent if they asked often enough.
As Rykar's appetite had been expanding rapidly, he began to feel less and less content with their current diet.
Hearing his brother's complaint, Loki payed no attention. Continued to slowly flick through a large book with metal corners with one hand while using the other to precisely pick out berries from his pile of fruit and deliver them to his mouth.
"I said that I want the bow and you agreed. So, the bow is mine. Why should I go out of MY way to go get meat for YOU with MY bow? You have daggers sitting on your waist doing f*ck all, go get yourself some." Loki mumbled back with a disinterested voice while putting subtle emphasis on the 'my' and 'you'.
"We already agreed that all food is shared. If I go get some, I know you'll say you want half so I ain't going to get it on my own." Rykar huffed while throwing himself onto the bed before looking up with a glint in his eyes. "Actually, fine. I will go. But from now, all the food we get doesn't have to be shared unless we want to. Deal?"
Loki paused for a second before looking up at Rykar with a dazzling smile plastered on his face, "Not a chance." he directly declined. When they initially came to the tree house, they agreed that the food they collect would be split evenly between them when they get back,
This arrangement was a good way for them to share their earnings in the case that one of them found fruit that was tastier than the other managed to, they wouldn't end up miserable. They also devised this way of equal sharing so that one wouldn't go hungry due to bad luck while searching or in the case that one of them was injured or sick.
At first this had worked perfectly and there were no complaints but recently this arrangement had turned into a shackle for Rykar and a blessing for Loki. Due to Rykar's bloated appetite, he left the treehouse two or three times more often than Loki in order to find food, causing him to bring back a substantially larger amount. There were many times when Loki would join him, but realistically he could simply spend all of his time in the treehouse reading books while still living comfortably off the efforts of Rykar after he returned and grudgingly split his spoils.
Dissatisfied, Rykar had complained many times but once they made a deal between them, unless they both agreed to cancel it, their always held to their words.
However, rules are meant to be broken.
The deal had stated that the food they collect was to be split… didn't that just mean that he should eat the food on the spot instead of collecting it? In this manner, Rykar ate his fill while he was out by extending his gathering sessions. After which, he would bring back enough food to last a while, which would then be split between himself and Loki.
"Ah, I have a secret I forgot to tell you! Do you wanna hear it now or later?" Rykar questioned but without giving Loki a chance to decline, he continued, "You're a f*cking leech."
"You realise we're twins right? Takes one to know one" Replied Loki while directing his attention back to his fruits, which just happened to be brought in by Rykar earlier.
Jumping off the bed, Rykar Began to pack a bag with a water sack and other supplies before strapping it to his bare upper body. He then reached under his sheets and pulled out the thing he had deliberately been keeping concealed.
Making a point of his latest achievement, he twirled it between his hands before slinging it over his right shoulder, which was now without any traces of dirt and free from the previous tattered clothing. This caused it to display a shocking black tattoo running from his shoulder down his entire arm, forming a complete sleeve which concluded at the back of his palm.
"Fine, I made a net earlier, I don't need your help. I'll just go catch something and cook it there. Don't worry I'll make sure not to wipe my hands before I come back, that way when they come back with juices on them, you can suck your half of the meal off them like the leech you are"
"Now that you mention it… you're right. Our diet is pretty boring latel- I mean, it can't be healthy to only eat stuff like this mhm. I guess we should hunt together aye brother… for health reasons" Loki hollered, dashing over to his bed and readying a bag before snatching his bow, with a similarly tattooed right arm, and chasing after Rykar who had already left the opening.
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