chapter Ten
Solomon’s fingers twined into Mathieu’s and pulled him closer. “Sorry,” Solomon said, “but this many jumps so quickly makes me weak. I can’t move as large of an area as normal.”
“It’s okay. How can I help?” Mathieu asked, looking up at him.
Solomon pulled Mathieu’s arms around his waist and held him close. “Now put your feet between mine. Just like that. Thanks. This makes it like only moving myself. Try to relax, okay?”
Closing his eyes, Mathieu relaxed against the other and let the darkness lap around his ankle, forcing him tighter to the blond. This time, ‘jumping’ felt different, faster and smoother. He wondered if it was because Solomon was only trying to move one person instead of multiple. In a mere moment, they went from the training facility to standing in the glass kitchen, looking between a rather irate Kiev and a piss-and-vinegar Josette.
“And I’m telling you, you have to cook.” Josette was staring the taller girl down, small flames flicking at the tips of her hair.
“I just cooked last night! This is crap! Solomon! Tell this wench that it’s not my night to cook!” Kiev shrieked, a finger pointed at Josette.
Solomon sighed and released Mathieu, looking between them. “Quit yelling, both of you. Tell me what’s going on?”
Josette flicked long black curls over her shoulder. “Elric isn’t feeling good and I don’t want to cook. That means it’s up to her, what with so many gone.”
Not one to watch people bicker, Mathieu stepped forward. “I’ll cook. I don’t mind, and I’m pretty good, too.” He smiled between Josette and Kiev.
Kiev made a sound suspiciously like an ‘awe’ and batter her lashes. “I can help. I just hate cooking alone.”
Josette just sneered at him. “How kind of you. Don’t expect a thanks. Pull your weight around here, stupid.” She stalked out of the room and the cute blonde woman, Adele, latched onto her arm. Adele giggled and waved at them over Josette’s shoulder, going into a different room.
“Wow. She’s scary.” Mathieu said, adjusting his shirt self-consciously.
“Josette is a bitch. Adele is the only balance to her that exists in the known universe and luckily, she rarely goes anywhere without her healer. But don’t mind her! What do you want to cook?” Kiev looked at him with big eyes, hands on her hips. “We can make anything you’d like!”
Mathieu rubbed his chin, thinking. “How about we make some stew? It’s warm and makes quite a bit. Plus, it should help make, er, Elric I think it was, feel better.” She nodded in agreement, so he began to poke around the large kitchen, unearthing everything that someone could want for a stew. Mathieu set Kiev up with making the broth base, while ehe went about chunking the meat himself. Solomon, who had lingered around, watched from his seat at the small table in the corner.
“Don’t think I forgot about you,” Mathieu said over his shoulder, “get over here and chop these greens. I’m gonna cut the potatoes and then I’ll help. Throw it straight into the pot.” He ordered, making a short whistle when Solomon didn’t immediately move.
The blond dutifully pushed his chair back, making something of a show of doing it, rolled up his sleeves, and came to the counter. Picking up a knife, he started to cut the assorted vegetables Mathieu had set out; his cuts were precise and even.
“Holy crap! Come quick, Darcia! Solomon is helping cook!” Kiev was giggling as she shouted across the house for everyone to hear.
Many sets of curious eyes turned to them, and a flush climbed Solomon’s neck to his cheek. “Dead, Kiev. Dead. Just you wait…” He brandished the knife in his hand at her.
“Er, is this unusual?” Mathieu raised an eyebrow but didn’t look away from the slab of meat he was cutting.
“Yes.” Kiev said simply before deciding to elaborate. “Solomon doesn’t cook. Ever. So for him to help without so much as a struggle, well, I’m sure you understand how odd that is. But it’s good. About time he started to help around here.” She hummed idly as she stirred the stew.
Mathieu smiled to himself and watched the two as Kiev continued to casually throw insults at Solomon and he promised her returned pain. They had a very different relationship. Solomon and Avanon had a very friendly, yet intimate relationship, something he could see being more than just friends; whereas, Solomon was clearly just friends with Kiev and seemed to get away with saying things that the others wouldn’t dare. Happiness glowed inside him. It was something of a relief how here he could feel the pain of Avian’s loss while still finding it within himself to be happy.
The sadness hadn’t eclipsed who he was, yet he hadn’t forgotten about her either. Talking about her somewhat indirectly a bit earlier had helped ease the tension he felt in his chest every time he thought of her, however. With potatoes chopped as well, Mathieu moved to stand beside Solomon, dicing a few peppers. He playfully nudged the other man and a watched as a little smile touched Solomon’s lips.
“Whatcha want, Blondie?” Solomon asked him with a curious tone.
“Excuse me? I am not a blond. This,” he tossed his head and his bangs flipped, “is white. Blond implies a yellowish tone. Do you see any yellow? ‘Cause I don’t. Sheesh.”
Chuckling, the man who was actually blond tossed his hair. “True. Blond is too sexy for you.” Solomon dumped his vegetables into the pot before carrying his knife to the sink and washing his hands.
“It smells good.” Kiev stood over the pot, stirring occasionally.
“I’m glad. I haven’t made a stew in a long time, so I wasn’t sure if I missed anything.” He grinned at the girl and went to look down into the pot. The overall effect was rather appetizing and his stomach grumbled from the practice, traveling with Solomon and getting his butt kicked. Twice. He took a moment to season the meal.
“When is it going to be done?” Avanon poked her head in, carrying an empty bowl in her hand.
Mathieu shrugged. “It needs to simmer for a bit, but it shouldn’t be too long ‘til it’s done.”
“Wonderful. By the way, Elric is fine. Just a cold. I swear, a healer who gets a cold. Who does that?” Huffing, she dumped the bowl into the sink and washed her hands, making sure to flick the water at Solomon.
Solomon just ignored the childish antic, casting his gaze across the house, and looking into the room at the far corner. “He’s moving around, so he’s probably fine. Don’t worry so much.” He gave the girl a knowing look.
Flushing, she kicked Solomon rather violently in the shin. “Go cook something, why don’t you?” Storming out of the room, she wove back to Elric’s to keep him company.
Kiev chuckled, much to Mathieu’s confusion. “You know, Solomon, if you keep picking on her like that, she might not want to be your friend anymore. She’s shy, you know. Not that you care.”
“It’s annoying how she can be so courageous and gutsy while fighting, but she gets around Elric and becomes this demure…thing.” The blond man frowned. “I don’t like it.”
“I could say the same for you around some people. I’m going to wash up before dinner. Nathan should be home soon.” With that, she swept her blonde hair over her shoulder dramatically and left the room.
Looking at the clock, the taller man shrugged. “She’s right. Nathan should be home soon. I’m going to go feed the Shadowriders. Tesla is complaining.”
“How do you know Tesla and Nikola?” Mathieu said almost defensively.
A cocky grin crossed Solomon’s lips. “Because I created both of them; they are my servants. How they came to be in your possession, however, is a mystery and they refuse to tell me. How did you come by them?” The glint in those green eyes was almost accusing.
“They met me and decided to tag along. I never told them that they had to stay.” Mathieu crossed his arms over his chest.
Solomon silently surveyed him before turning to the door and pausing. “Whatever the case is, they’re finally home. I won’t tell you that you can’t use them though, because both are rather inclined to do as they damn well please.”
Standing alone in the kitchen, Mathieu wrinkled his nose. “Jeez…”
“What’s wrong, Mathieu?” Nathan was coming in the outside door to the kitchen, a briefcase in his hand.
“Oh! Nothing. Dinner is almost ready. Where are the plates and stuff so I can set the table?” He said, looking at the redhead with a smile
“Don’t worry about it. It appears you cooked, so the rest is on someone else. By the way, do you happen to know who’s here right now?”
Mathieu, who wasn’t that great with names, tried to name the ones he could remember having seen. “Er, Solomon, Avanon, Elric—who’s sick—, Kiev, Darcia, myself, Josette, Adele, and I think that’s it…”
“Hn.”
“Yeah…” He looked away awkwardly.
“It smells good.”
A confused look crossed his face. “Huh? Oh, the food! Thanks. I had help.”
“Really? That’s good.” Nathan said, his mind clearly somewhere else.
Mathieu didn’t want to be in the man’s way, so he coughed quietly. “Well, I’m gonna go change for dinner. I’m kind of sweaty, and that needs to simmer.”
“Until then.” He waved Mathieu off.
Mathieu looked around the other rooms as he walked to his and Solomon’s current bedroom. The blond was still in the bathroom, standing in front of the sink with his sleeves rolled up.
“I was gonna take a quick shower before dinner…” He said to the man’s back.
“Hm?” Solomon looked up from where he was washing his face. “Oh, go ahead. Don’t let me stop you.”
“Are you gonna, uh, leave?”
“Why? We’re both guys. I doubt you have anything I don’t. Well, except for a feminine face, but you’ll grow out of that. Or not.”
Mathieu hip-checked him into the counter as he passed, quickly stripping.
~*~
Post-shower and redressed, Mathieu made his way back to the kitchen, finding everyone bustling about. It reminded him vaguely of the servants’ kitchen from the palace, everyone handing plates and working together. Off to the side stood Solomon and Nathan, watching the others, seemingly communicating silently.
“This is delicious!” Adele stood with two bowls in her hands and a spoon hanging out of her mouth, smiling. “Who cooked?” Her words were slightly slurred around the utensil.
Kiev tilted her head towards the door, not looking his way, however. “Mathieu did. He’s a wonder in the kitchen, making something out of nothing. The kid even put Solomon to work.”
“Would you not bring that up? I was just trying to make him feel like we cared. It won’t happen again. In fact, it was rather annoying. Jeez.” Solomon had his eyes closed and was leaning back against the counter, his head resting against the cabinet.
Mathieu crossed his arms, clearing his throat. The room went silent. “Well then, Solomon, the next time I’m being annoying, just let me know and I won’t bother you. That way you won’t have to make me feel like you care.” If looks could kill, the blond man would have hit the floor in convulsions.
“What?” Emerald eyes flew open. “Wait, no, I didn’t mean—I was just—”
With a look, he silenced the man. Mathieu kept his eyes narrowed at Solomon as he went and got some stew before going back out to the room with the large table, a presumable dining table, sitting alone.
A quiet hum of conversation picked up again, sans Solomon’s voice. Mathieu didn’t realize that he could pick almost anyone’s voice out of the group.
Nathan was the only person who came out to join him, sitting across from him “Well, I see you two are getting along well again. I didn’t know you had it in you to stand up to him.”
“I’ll stand up to anyone who wants to pretend to be my friend but then says I’m annoying when he thinks I’m not around. He’s an ass and I don’t appreciate being treated that way. If he doesn’t want me to make a fool of him, he should act like a jerk.”
“Strong opinions breed arguments. Although, it can be good for a relationship if it’s done properly.” Nathan said offhandedly.
Mathieu gave the older man a long look. “If I’d known my father, I think he’d have been like you.”
Nathan smiled and looked into his bowl as he ate. “You’re a good kid. However, I came out here with an intention. I wanted to ask if you would accompany me to the Sky Pillar.”
“Sure.” Mathieu said.
“You aren’t even going to ask why?”
He shrugged. “I’m assuming you’re going to see the god you managed to capture.”
Solomon dropped into a seat beside him. “You’re stupid. You can’t capture a god. You summon and attach them.”
“To what?” Mathieu said as if Solomon were the stupid one.
“To yourself. Their loyalty is attached to your life. Other than dying, the only way for a god to get free is to be released.” The blond shrugged.
Mathieu refused to look at him and directed his gaze to Nathan. “I hear that the god is attached to a child.”
Nathan nodded. “Weirdest thing I’ve seen, but it’s true. Little boy, only nine or ten; his name’s Enak.”
Humming and finishing his food, Mathieu nudged the bowl away. “When do you wanting to go?”
“It’s a long trip and Solomon’s teleportation powers only work in my domain, so we have to ride from the main headquarters just outside the training facility; it’s right on the border of the two districts. We leave first thing in the morning, spend the night in the foothills and go through the mountains in the morning.” Nathan explained.
“I didn’t know Solomon was going…”
“Problem?” Solomon asked with a cynical chuckled.
Mathieu’s stomach twisted. “No.”
Nathan nodded, “Good.”
“…My riding skills are minimal. What are we riding?”
“Tuvashes. They’re horse hybrids.” The red-head responded.
Mathieu wrinkled his nose and huffed.
The blond bumped him lightly. “You can ride with me. I won’t let you fall.”
“Oh, this is going to be wonderful.” He said sarcastically. “I’m going to bed now.” With that, Mathieu stood and went back to the kitchen to drop off his dish before going to his shared room and into the bathroom.
He pulled out a brush and ran it through his hair before pulling it up into a bun, going back to the bed. Turning back the covers, he curled up in the bed, eyes closing.
He was in a light doze when the bed dipped beside him. Cracking an eye open, his gaze met Solomon’s.
“Hey…” The blond gave him a half smile, lying on top of the covers. It didn’t seem that Solomon planned to apologize.
“What?”
Shaking his head, emerald green eyes slid closed. “Nothing. Sleep well, okay? We’re getting up bright and early, so don’t take too long to fall asleep. If you’re tired, you’ll fall on your ass and I won’t save you.”
“Wow, my hero.” Punching the other in the arm, he closed his eyes too, turning so his back was to the blond. Mathieu was pretty good at holding a grudge.
~*~
He wasn‘t sure what woke him up, but Mathieu was up before the sun. Solomon had him pressed between the wall and his chest, and the man smelled wonderful.
“Hey, get off me!” Mathieu pushed against the chiseled chest, trying to get some space. The man didn’t move in the proper direction and actually moved closer to him, compressing him. “Moooove.” He wiggled and pushed until the man grumbled and gave an inch, just enough for Mathieu to get out from against the wall, and slide off the end of the bed. Stretching, he rolled his eyes and went into the bathroom, planning on getting the first shower of the day.
Looking around, he noticed that no one else was awake. He smiled to himself and hummed softly as he flicked the water on. A good hour later, he emerged from the bathroom, hair wrapped up in a towel.
Solomon was sitting on the bed, arms crossed. “You know, Nathan is fuming. We should have left at dawn, but you were in the shower until the goddamn height of the day.”
“Oh please, the sun isn’t even completely over the horizon. Let me get dressed and I’ll be ready to go.”
Sighing, Solomon tossed a pair of pants made of a thick, smooth material at Mathieu. “Wear those, otherwise you’ll chafe and bitch the whole day.”
Sticking his tongue out, the shower had put him in a surprisingly good mood; he dropped his towel and dressed in boxers, the tight pants, and a loose white shirt. “Does this meet your approval?” He asked almost teasingly. Solomon was irritated with him, and that made him feel a bit better about how rude the blond had been last night.
“It’ll do. Come on.” The other man was already dressed and had a bag over his shoulder. “I brought a change of clothes for you, too.”
Throwing the towel aside, he put his hair up and followed the other man out of the house to where Nathan was waiting with two monstrosities. They shoulders were nearly as high up as Solomon, who towered over Mathieu, and were a black darker than night. They were beautiful and scary. Mathieu took a hasty step back. “Oh hell no. I’m not getting on that thing.”
Solomon rolled his eyes and literally picked Mathieu up, throwing him over a well-muscled shoulder.
“Eeeeek! Put me down! Put me down now!” Kicking, he was thrown unceremoniously onto the back of the nearest tuvash. “Oh my god, oh my god, get me off this thing!” Panic was welling up in him when the blond hopped up in front of him into the saddle, tossing their shared bag to the redhead.
“We ready to go?” Nathan mounted his tuvash and patted its neck as he slid the bag into a pouch on the side of his own saddle.
Solomon checked the reins, then looked over his shoulder at a panicking Mathieu before nodding. “Hold on tight, Mathieu.”
Sitting up properly on the horse hybrid, he looked hesitantly at the other’s back, unsure where to put his hand. They sort of hovered by the man’s side, as he tried to figure out how best to go about the task without crossing some personal boundary line.
“Jeez.” The blond reached back and caught Mathieu’s slender wrists in his callused hands, pulling mocha arms around his tones waist, securing Mathieu. “Just don’t let go, kid.”
Mathieu, to his dismay locked his hands around his own wrists, but didn’t cling too tightly. “Er, okay.”
Pinching his brow, Solomon sighed deeply. “You’re going to fall off like that.”
“I’m fine.”
Shrugging, Solomon turned to Nathan, who had been watching them the whole time, and motioned with his chin. “Let’s just go.” The tuvashes started off at a trot.
Scared to death by the sudden motion, Mathieu suctioned to Solomon; he was holding so tightly that his cheek was pressed firmly to the other man’s back. “Oh god, I’m going to die on this thing!” Mathieu shouted as the tuvash he was on picked up speed. “Ahh!”
It took close to an hour before the panic in Mathieu’s throat loosened enough for him to realize he wasn’t about to be thrown to his death. That and Solomon kept patting his arm in a comforting way. Some of the tension relaxed from his shoulders, and Mathieu found the ride to actually be rather…fun. A slow smile crept over his face, watching the ground flow smoothly over the mount’s feet.
“Hey, Solomon…” Mathieu said after a while.
“Hm?” The blond sounded like his mind was a million miles away.
Closing his eyes, Mathieu relaxed a little more. The blond hadn’t let him fall, yet; he would be lying if he didn’t think Solomon still might just to prove a point. “Talk to me.”
“Okay, what about?” Solomon sounded a bit more alert now.
“You. I mean, you’re six hundred, right? You can’t have spent your whole life working with Nathan.” Mathieu remembered that his riding partner had mentioned creating Tesla and Nikola; he wouldn’t mind hearing that story. Vaguely, he wondered what the two had been up to, but he wasn’t too worried. Whenever he began to worry, he would feel one or both of them brush against his consciousness and remind him that they were there. The few flashes of thoughts he saw through their eyes showed they playing in their largest, armor covered form and tromping through the forest. They were playing and exploring, it seemed.
Solomon was quiet for a moment before turning his head slightly so that Mathieu could hear him better. “Well, Mina and I grew up in this little town just across the sea. When we were born, it was the time before any true innovation. Our country wasn’t nearly as advanced as Unith is, but we were further than Korinth. This place is magic fueled though, so I guess it isn’t that surprising.” Shaking his head, he chuckled. “But anyway, I digress.”
Adjusted in his head, Solomon continued. “Where we lived was ruled by a dictator, and we happened to hold his favor. Mainly because Mina had caught his eye; but also because of what we are. So, all in all, our lives were fairly good. Like all humans, though, the man passed away, and another took his place who wasn‘t so kind. He saw Mina and I as a disease to be purged. We decided that we didn’t like the new man who ran the land, you know because he was trying to kill us, so we left. It took us a full week to get here. We rowed most of the way on a boat, but it hit a rock and sunk, so we swam the last bit. Mina was devastate because we lost everything we owned. Then, when we washed ashore, Nathan was just standing there, waiting for us.”
“How did he know?” Mathieu said, amazed that the twins had gone to such lengths to be free.
Solomon shrugged one shoulder. “Well, Elise is a seer and she saw having tea with Nathan, touched his arm and saw us. Or so the story goes. But there he was, waiting with a change of clothes and some blankets. He gave us a place to stay. It was rather nice.”
Tightening his grip into something of a hug, Mathieu smiled against a muscled back. “That was nice of him.”
“Now it’s your turn. Tell me about your past.” Solomon laughed. “And not the half-ass answer like you gave yesterday.”
Hesitating, he huffed. Generally unwilling, he thought he could at least indulge the man a little bit. “Where to start? Well, I guess you know I grew up in an orphanage. It was a pretty quiet place and we kept to ourselves, but being alone in a house with the same people for a long time can wear on you, as I’m sure you understand. Things were never really very good for me, and even the person I thought of as a friend was an enemy in the end. I never belonged there, I don’t think. Not after living with Avian and then here…”
“Being the freak isn’t something anyone wants to be. My sister and I were that way too, always the outcasts because we were different. All of our friends got old, and he looked the same as the day we finished puberty.” Solomon’s voice held a hard note to it, like the memory hurt.
Pressing his nose into the space between the man’s shoulder blades, Mathieu smiled to himself. It was nice not to be the only outcast. He would have preferred it wasn’t Solomon, but he would take what he could get. “Yeah, but I bet you protected Mina, and that’s what mattered. Don’t worry too much on it. Now she’s the bitch who protects Elise and hates me. I think she’s doing fine now.”
“Mina doesn’t hate you. She just…doesn’t like people that are wildcards. The rest of the people she meets, she can peg who they are and predict their actions. It a trick that comes with age, watching lots of people come and go. But with you, she never knows what you’ll do. It worries her, I think.”
Nathan dropped back a few paces to their level, looking over them. “You two want to stop when we get to the river and have some lunch? Give the tuvashes a break, you know.”
“Sounds good.” Blond hair shifted with a sudden breeze and all of them could smell the faint scent of clean water drifting towards them.
They had been riding for a good few hours and Mathieu was ready to get off the tuvash, to stretch. His butt was numb, his legs were tired with the effort of clinging to the beast, his arms were aching from being wrapped around Solomon, and his back hurt from riding. “Ride faster, I want off this damn thing.”
The blond chuckled and spurred there steed on faster, racing with Nathan towards to water. Faster and faster they went until the tuvashes’ feet were barely touching the ground. And suddenly they were at a dead stop on the edge of a cliff. The ‘river’ was in fact a raging rapid at the bottom of a canyon.
“Holy crap! Back up, back up!” Mathieu cried out, eyes wide. The monster did so obligingly, and soon they were tied to a nearby tree, the three men sitting in the grass, each with a sandwich in hand.
Mathieu laid back and arched his back, stretching. “Man, this is so nice. Decent change of scenery and this sandwich is delicious.”
“Kiev made them for us. She’s a good kid.” Nathan said with a smile.
“She needs to cook more.”
Solomon bumped Mathieu’s foot, “You’re a good cook, too.” Emerald green eyes met the purple ones of Mathieu’s before he continued. “I’m sorry about what I said. You know I didn’t mean it, didn’t you?” His brow was furrowed.
Blushing, Mathieu threw a handful of grass at the blond. “Don’t be so weird.”
“Eh.” The blond man shrugged and gulped down the rest of the sandwich. “Let’s get going, kid.”
“Nooo. Just a few more minutes, please?” He pouted cutely at Nathan, the neutral party to their conversation, making a whining sound.
The redhead rolled his eyes. “Lord. If you knock that crap off, we’ll wait a few more minutes, okay?”
“Yay!” Rolling to his feet, he looked around before approaching the cliff curiously. It wasn’t so scary when he wasn’t so worried about the tuvash he was on going over the edge.
Solomon’s deep voice floated towards him. “Hey, don’t fall in. I won’t save you.”
Smiling, he looked over his shoulder at them. “So I should jump, right?”
“Go for it.”
Nathan gave the blond a hard look. “Don’t. In fact, come back here, Mathieu. I don’t feel safe with you over there.”
Huffing, Mathieu returned from his perch to sit beside them, nearly falling into Nathan’s lap. “Oh, Nathan, why doth thou betray me with thou words of summons?” He joked.
“Doesn’t the Duchess sound so pretty?” Solomon said, raising an eyebrow.
“Quit saying insulting shit. It pisses me off.” He aimed a kicked at the blond’s head, annoyed.
Nathan caught his foot and dropped it back to the ground, “Alright, That’s enough sitting around, you two.” He stood and untied the tuvashes. “Let’s go.”
Catching the reins of theirs, Solomon hopped up onto the tuvash and reached down to grab Mathieu’s wrist, pulling him up in front of the blond. “Ready? Okay, hold the reins like this…” Solomon’s callused hands guided his to hold the leather strap, making sure his grip wasn’t too tight. “If you’re too rough, or try to move too fast, you’ll make them nervous.” The man said against his ear.
“It sounds pretty basic.” Mathieu swallowed hard, trying to not let how nervous he was around the beast show. He leaned back into the blond, praying that the man would take over if things started to go wrong. “Okay, I can do this…”
“And if you can’t, I’m right here. I promise.” Solomon wrapped his hands over the smaller ones comfortingly. “Let’s go.” He spurred the tuvash on with a kick of his heels, guiding them over the bridge to the other side. “You’re doing just fine. Now, you see those mountains? The inn we’re staying at is in one of the valleys. So aim for over there, okay?”
“Okay.”