Oaklie winced at that mental image.“Did you guys win that war?”
“I can’t remember,” Arkas said.“Fate wipes most of our memories.We’d probably go insane if we remembered every detail of our eternal existences.”
“It’s hard to believe you’ve been alive for billions of years,” his female marveled.“Do all of the knights look as young as you do?”
“How old do you think I look?”he asked.
“Maybe in your mid to late twenties,” she said.
“We all appear to be about the same age,” Arkas confirmed.“We don’t change at all.Our hair doesn’t grow, our muscle mass remains the same and those of us who don’t have a beard can’t grow one.”
“I prefer cleanshaven men,” Oaklie said, then looked down at her can of fruit, clearly wishing she hadn’t said anything.
“And I prefer women with gorgeous black hair that reaches to their delectable backsides,” he said silkily.
“Don’t try to seduce me, Arkas,” she said with a scowl.“I’m not going to sleep with a guy who’s only going to be here for a short time.The last thing I need is a broken heart.”
“That would imply you think you’d fall in love with me, female,” Arkas said, willing her to look at him.She stubbornly refused to lift her gaze.
“Love has no place in the apocalypse,” Oaklie denied.“There’s only pain, death and despair left now.”
Her tone was sorrowful and he wished he hadn’t upset her.He decided it would be wise to change the topic.“What else can you do with your power?”he queried.“Besides crafting statues and spearing humans to death.”
“They’re pretty much my main talents,” she admitted, wrinkling her nose.The can was empty, so she got up to rinse the spoon with bottled water in the bathroom sink.She put the can in a bag to throw away with her other trash.“There is something I can do that’s pretty cool, though,” she said, crossing to the door.
Arkas had no idea what to expect when she put her hand on the frame.He could vaguely feel her using her magic as she concentrated.Then the wood began to move and he stared in wonder.Instead of a smooth, flat surface, the wood shifted into an intricate pattern of vines.Leaves and flowers appeared, with hummingbirds and insects scattered here and there.The pattern spread upwards and across the top of the frame, then extended all the way to the floor on both sides.
Getting up, the warrior crossed the room to take a closer look at her work.“That’s amazing,” he said, touching a bird that hovered in midflight.
“It gets better,” Oaklie said with a grin.With another surge of magic, the birds and insects began to move.The hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower, drinking the nectar.The insects chewed on the leaves before shifting to a different location.
Speechless, he wished his brothers could see this spectacle.“Does it sap your energy to use so much magic?”he asked.
Oaklie hesitated as she thought about it.“It used to,” she replied, withdrawing her magic and letting the birds and insects become immobile again.“But I feel like my strength has increased recently.”She took a seat on the bed again, propping pillows behind her back.
“Howrecently?”Arkas asked, returning to the chair.
“Ever since you arrived in my town and started squatting in the blue house,” she said.
“I’m stronger and faster than usual as well,” he said with a frown.“This has to have something to do with why we can feel each other’s pain.I just wish I knew what was going on.”
“Maybe your commander will have the answers,” she figured.“What are we going to do all day while we wait for the storm to pass?”
He could have made several suggestions, but none of them were appropriate.“You could help me hone my whittling skills,” he suggested hopefully.
“I don’t use tools, but I might be able to give you some tips,” she agreed.
Arkas glanced out through the window.“I’ll have to duck outside and find some fallen branches to work on.”
“Don’t bother,” she replied, then crawled over to the nightstand on his side of the bed.“We can use this,” she said.She placed her hand on the nightstand and it broke into several pieces.“Can you grab them for me?”she asked.
Arkas was kneeling beside the bed almost before she’d finished asking.He scooped the bundle up and put them on the bed.“That doesn’t look like normal wood,” he said, examining them.
“They’re basically pulp that’s been squashed together, then coated in a layer of plastic,” she said.She used her power to peel off the coating, then transformed the pulp into solid wood.They were a lot smaller when she was finished, but still about eight inches long and six inches wide.
“I’ll just grab my tools,” he said, eager to get started.
“Use the wastebasket to catch the scraps,” she told him.
