Note: Err...I dropped a couple of F-bombs in this chapter, b/c they seemed to fit. Hope I won't offend anyone too much. Just a warning. This is my favorite chapter so far, since it finally gets to the point of the story. Oh, and this is all I have for now. I'll probably finish this story, since it's pretty fun to write.

"Don't you think it's high time we stopped for lunch now?"

Percival's stomach growled as he kept his horse up at a brisk trotting pace with Borus. It was nearly noon and they hadn't eaten anything since five o'clock. All morning, they had been traveling southeast, crossing expansive farmlands and sparse woods, sometimes on dirt roads and other times off the beaten track. They passed a few villages and manors along the way, but stopped to rest at none of them. Borus led the way. He certainly seemed to know where he was going.

"In a bit," Borus replied. "I want to get to Khalan Bridge on the Cottonmouth River before we stop. It shouldn't be far now."

"Well, you seem rather eager to get home quickly."

Borus gave him a harsh look. "You think that's the case? Look, the last thing I want is to get home as soon as possible, but I need to make sure we can get there before evening, or I'll never hear the end of it from my mother. Tonight dinner's supposed to be the big family gathering and all that bull."

"Yeah, but if you say the Redrum Manor is by Broma Village, we should have plenty of time to spare if we keep at this pace."

"There might be unexpected delays, you know." He paused. "Hey, if we get there early, we'll go check out Broma first, how's that?"

"I don't care about that, Redrum. I just want some food right now."

The two squires fell silent and rode on. Borus hadn't been very talkative for most of the morning, but Percival didn't mind at all. He very much enjoyed long, quiet rides across the countryside, especially at this time of year. The fiery fall colors of the woods and tall golden wheat harvests of the fields could always put his mind at ease.

The same couldn't be said for Borus, though. The blond boy had that remote, contemplative look on his face, and Percival noticed that he paid absolutely no attention to the beautiful scenery around him. He figured to just leave Borus alone in his thoughts.

They reached the river soon enough, and Borus took a turn to the north to follow the river upstream. After ten more minutes of riding, the Khalan Bridge came into sight.

The impressive stone bridge spanned across one of the narrower points of the great Cottonmouth River. It was the major crossings of the river in these parts, and it was part of the main roadway connected the town of Signet in the east on the Grassland border to Brass Castle in the northwest. As the only river crossing for miles around, it was quite busy with fellow travelers and merchant caravans from both Zexen and Grassland.

Stopping a few hundred meters short of the bridge, Borus halted his horse and dismounted. "Let's just stop here and eat. We'll get trampled by the merchants if we get any closer." Percival likewise dismounted and they removed their bags from the pack mare. They then let the three horses loose to graze in the lush riverside fields.

Percival took both their water canteens and trotted down to the river to refill them. When he got back, Borus had laid out practically a feast for himself: meat, fresh bread, cheese, fruits, and, of course, a bottle of expensive wine, the best that Zexen vineyards had to offer. Percival let out a laugh as he reached into his own bag and pulled out a tin can full of rock-hard biscuits and a sack of dried apple slices.

"What's so funny?"

"Didn't think anyone would be so, uh, lavish with their travel provisions." Borus glared at Percival, who gave a sycophantic smile back. "Say, that looks like more than you can eat all by yourself."

"Have some, then," Borus said with a shrug.

"Oh, thank you, my lord," Percival exclaimed happily as he tossed aside his own biscuits and apples. "You will always be remembered for your immeasurable generosity towards this poor deprived starving wretch." He quickly dug into the banquet and greedily ate his fill.

Growing thirsty, Percival began to eye Borus's wine bottle. Borus noticed and handed it over to him. "Don't tell me you bring any of your dainty little wine glasses. Why, it's so unbecoming of a gentleman to drink straight from the bottle!" Percival teased right before he threw back his head and took a great swig.

Borus looked at Percival and stated in a resigned voice, "Percival, please. I don't need any of your taunts right now."

Embarrassed, Percival quickly fell silent. "Sorry," he said as he handed back the bottle. "Good wine," he said after a long moment of stillness.

"Oh, this Zexen junk is nothing. I think we're gonna break out some of Dad's old priceless Chisha vintages from the cellar tonight at dinner. Wait 'til you should try some of that."

"All tastes the same if you ask me. Hell, you can get the exact same aftereffects from drinking enough of that watery fifteen-potch-a-pint beer back at Mike's Tavern."

"You don't know how to appreciate anything, do you?" Borus said shaking his head. He lay down onto the soft grass with the back of this head rested upon his clasped hands. Percival followed suit, yawning. They basked there in the warm autumn sun silently for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of the rushing river. "You tired?" Borus suddenly asked, initiating some small talk.

"Mm-hmm. A bit. You did get me up at four this morning."

"Well, you weren't up very late last night. I heard you come in around nine-thirty."

"You were awake?"

"Barely. What were you doing before that?"

"Why, seducing Chris Lightfellow, of course," Percival declared delightfully. He laughed as he glanced over to witness Borus's priceless indignant reaction. "No, seriously though, I ran into Mycella and all them coming back from Flandersville when I was returning from my ride. So we went to that cheap seafood diner on Ocean Street for dinner. Then we went lawn bowling at Antler Park 'til nine. The others were gonna go to some tavern or other, but I just went back to get some sleep."

"Well, that's a surprisingly tame evening for you. No sneaking into the Guild Hall courtyard and shaving some Councilman's poor dog this time?"

"Nah. That stuff's not really fun unless I have someone with me to throw a bloody fit and pretentiously pray for St. Loa's forgiveness right afterwards."

"Hey!" Borus objected with a grin on his face. "I did not throw a bloody fit, okay?"

"Right. Call it what you will." The two shared a light laugh over the memories of that particular night, but then grew silent again. Neither spoke for a full five minutes. Percival closed his eyes during this time, feeling perfectly content with his life. When he opened them, he stole a glance over at Borus and saw that he was staring up into the clear blue sky and had that brooding look on his face again.

"Say, Redrum," Percival broke the silence. "Care to tell me some of what's on your mind? That is why you wanted me to come home with you, right? I'm still sorta in the dark here about what's going on and everything."

"Yeah, I suppose I should tell you." Borus looked over at the dark-haired squire. "Percival, I know you don't know much about our nobility traditions, but basically, sons aren't considered men no matter how old they are until their father dies. We're not allowed to get married or own land or sign contracts or have any kind of direction over our own lives until that happens."

Percival cocked his head to the side. "Well, you're only sixteen, you know. I mean, I can see how this arrangement would really suck for your older brothers, but...I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I don't think anyone really considers you a man right now, whether your old man croaked or not." Shouldn't have said that, he realized before he even finished speaking as he watched Borus fly into a rage at his words.

"Yeah?! Well, fuck you, too!" Borus shot furiously as he bolted upright. He clenched his teeth and cast a vicious stare at Percival. "Fucking asshole!"

"Hey, I didn't mean it that way! I just meant that you probably weren't planning to get married and all that anytime soon anyways, right?"

Breathing heavily, Borus sighed, shook his head, and calmed down. "Hmm..." He idly picked up his sword, which he had taken off and laid down on the grass beside himself before eating. He unsheathed it and carefully examined the sharp steel blade.

Percival chuckled nervously as he watched Borus handle the sword. "Heh, heh. Okay, Redrum. You know what? You are a man. You are one magnificent male specimen of the human race. Please don't kill me."

Borus smiled at Percival's joke, but didn't look up or utter a single word. He seemed to be a little embarrassed about his outburst just now. "Anyway," Percival continued as he sat up and grew serious again. "I don't quite see what you're so upset about." He cleared his throat. "Goddess, I feel absolutely awful saying this, but it almost seems to me like you guys should be...not...too...unhappy about this whole incident." He looked over apprehensively at his friend and quickly added, "I'm really sorry if that offended you, Redrum."

"No. No, you're absolutely right," Borus said after a brief pause. He stood up and slashed his sword at the air in a skillful, practiced swipe. "They say that a nobleman's death is a blessing for his sons. Very true." He formed a rather guilty smile on his lips. "It's just that... You see, I've never made any serious choices for myself up until now, 'cause my old man would always make them for me. But now..." He looked at his reflection in the shiny blade of his sword. "Now I'm my own man and...I can do things for myself. I lead my own life now, not my father, and I'm just starting to wonder if all those decisions he made for me in the past are really what I want. 'Cause, you know, I'm still young enough to go back on those decisions and make them mine, like they should be."

"What kind of decisions?" Percival asked curiously.

Borus dropped his voice to a barely audible murmur. "Like this whole knight business..."

"What?"

Borus shook his head. "Never mind. I still have a lot to think over."

"No, seriously. What did you mean by that?"

Borus ignored him and sheathed his sword. "And after all this, I still have my stupid family to contend with. My mom's okay, but my three brothers...ugh. You'll understand when we get there." He looked at Percival and grinned. "Well, at least my dad's out of the picture now. He used to give me even more trouble than them." He stopped and looked around. "Hey, I think we've wasted enough time here, don't you? I'll go get the horses." He jogged off to gather the three scattered steeds.

Percival stood up, but didn't move from his spot. He was still baffled by Borus's peculiar statement. How could he possibly not want to be a knight? Borus was easily the most hard-working and earnest squire he knew, not to mention one of the best swordsmen in the group. After all these years of training as a page, then as a squire, how could he, of all people, just consider quitting like that? He couldn't even begin to imagine Borus Redrum as anything else besides a Zexen Knight. He can't be serious, Percival thought. He was probably just spewing out the first thing that came to mind without even thinking. Percival decided to let it go for now.

He started to clean up after their meal. There wasn't much left over, but he put anything edible that remained into a container and tossed it over by Borus's bag. He then sat down on the grass and took a drink from his water canteen, waiting for Borus to return with the horses.

Percival thought about how odd he found Borus's sheer coldness towards his father's death. He certainly cared enough about the social implications, but was almost entirely indifferent to the fact that, well, his father just died. Maybe that was the price to pay for growing in such a well-off household: you were treated by your parents less as a loving son and more as an aloof beneficiary whose only purpose was to maintain the wealth and status of the family name. Not only that, but you couldn't even grow close to your brothers, since they were probably just viewed as your competitors for the inheritance land and money. Perhaps being a son of the nobility wasn't quite as easy as Percival had previously envisioned.

Borus returned shortly with all three horses. They gathered their belongings and got everything in order for the long ride ahead. "Oh, and Redrum?" Percival called out just as they were about to mount.

Borus turned his head towards Percival. "Hmm?"

Percival climbed onto the back of the chestnut gelding without looking at Borus and said, "I think one of us really needs to work on being more secure in his masculinity." Without turning around to see Borus's venomous scowl, he laughed and started his way along the river towards the Khalan Bridge.