The Brotherhood: Blood by Kody Boye Read Free Book Online Page A

reins with a single hand. “I don’t want you getting lost.”
    “I’m not going anywhere,” Odin whispered, trailing his eyes to the forest beyond.
    It would be foolish to stray away from the group. With bandits, wild animals and other, lesser-known creatures stalking the countryside and surrounding woods, there was any guess as to what would happen were even a grown man to wander away on his own. Here, so far south of any civilization, one was bound to be attacked if they separated themselves from the group.
    Before them, the men whose horses had bucked or caused them any significant amount of distress remounted and secured their harnesses to the cart pulling supplies. Odin’s father, whom had been tasked to lead the group, bellowed for them to continue down the path in spite of the storm that was brewing overhead.
    “It’s cold,” Odin whispered, brushing his arms and drawing his cloak tighter around his body.
    “We won’t be going much longer.”
    Of course we won’t, Odin sighed. That’s why we’ve been going for the past four hours.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, readjusting his hood across his head. “I—”
    “Don’t be sorry.”
    After a moment, Odin chose to relinquish himself to silence and instead concentrated on the path in front of him. None of the other boys had complained—had not, in the least, spoken up to admit their discomfort to the fathers or men who tended them. Did that make him weaker than the others, despite the fact that he had persevered for far too long?
    When a hand strayed to his back, Odin jumped in his saddle, but relaxed after realizing it was only his father.
    Just him.
    The cold burrowing into his skin, taking shelter up along his bones and chilling his veins almost to an unbearable temperature, he drew his cloak as tightly around him as he could, bowed his head, then closed his eyes.
    Maybe, he thought, then stopped before he could continue.
    No. He couldn’t. There would be no way in the human world that he would be able to do such a thing without his father noticing.
    But what if I only warm myself?
    Either way, it wouldn’t matter. Even if he warmed only himself with the Gift he so recklessly knew how to control, his father would likely sense the tingle in the air that he had described so many years ago—when, upon a midafternoon sparring session, he had blown a practice dummy to the sky without even trying.
    Rather than think about the situation beforehand or the white flame that occasionally tickled his hand, Odin concentrated on the road that would eventually lead them to the shining capital of their Golden Country. Ornala—centerplace of the Ornalan territory, a shining icon to the testament of human prowess and strength—would soon be rising above them within the following days. Once, as a child, his father had told him about the castle and that its impressive structure had been carved out of something many considered to be gold and silver. Then, to complete its magnificence, they had polished it in the gel of melted pearls. He’d also told of its size and how, from even so vast a distance, it could be seen rising into the sky. How such a marvel had been made Odin couldn’t be sure, but in that moment, he didn’t particularly care.
    In but a few days’ time, the boy in him would be stripped away to be replaced by the man he could eventually become.
    A warrior, he thought, pride swelling in his heart. A pure, iron-blooded warrior.
    “Listen up!” his father called, immediately drawing Odin’s mind from his thoughts and signaling his return to the physical realm. Above, the sky churned overhead, growling with thunder. “We’re cutting off the path and into the forest for the rest of the night! Make camp beneath the trees!”
    The men whooped and cheered.
    The boys cried out in joy.
    “Come, Odin,” Ectris said. “Let’s set up the tent.”
     
    Despite the howling wind and the biting rain that showered down upon them, they managed to construct and