It was only a few minutes of walking before Aphid felt the weight of his brother press against him and heard Kor's gentle snores.
The older brother was happy the boy was able to fall asleep so quickly, what with the constant rumbling of his—and Aphid's-- stomach and the excitement of the back to back flight and fight for their lives, but it was probably only because the poor kid had an adrenaline crash as soon as he felt safe with Aphid.
Aphid could tell the kid's injured leg was bothering him though, even in his sleep. Anytime the older brother took a little too jousting a step, Kor's leg would twitch or flex and usually be accompanied by a sleepy whimper.
"It'll be alright, baby brother," the older brother quietly reassured the snoozing boy, "It'll get better. Everything will get better. I promise."
Aphid's low and soothing voice seeped through the sleepy, wounded whimpers enough to have Kor give a relaxed sigh and snuggle his face down upon the older brother's shoulder.
Aphid smiled at this, but in truth, he may have been trying to reassure himself more than his little brother…..
It was taking whatever bit of strength the older brother had, mentally and physically, to not let even a quiver of worry on his lip.
Taking all he had not to limp, not to drop, not to cower at every crinkle of leaf, wondering what deadly creature would bare its fangs next, and he had not even his dagger anymore….
His mind wracked with worries of not knowing exactly how far the next settlement was. His map wasn't very clear even before Kor smudged it….
They couldn't camp out here. No supplies, no protection, nothing.
They had nothing but Aphid's determination….and lies…. that everything would be okay.
Gods. What if that wolf DID have rabies?
Aphid could feel his face pulling into worry.
If the action and sound wouldn't have startled Kor awake, Aphid would have slapped himself upon the face real good.
He tried steadying his thoughts.
"Hold yourself together. Hold yourself together. You're the big brother. You don't have time for rabies. Just get from A to B….Or is it P to Q now? Just head west…ish. We can't be that far off path….Should be able to see that fort before long, even if we are a bit off the road. Yes. Yeah. The fort. I do at least remember the fort on the map. Halfway point. We gotta be about halfway now. And they'll spare food for Kor. They gotta. Poor starving injured pitiful little boy? Yeah. Plus, those dots are adorable….Can't be too much further. Just hold it together. Baby brother needs you to hold it together. You're the safety net. You're all that he--"
Aphid suddenly paused.
In both his thoughts and movement.
There was a scent in the air.
……Faintly. Very faintly.
But it was the smell of meat cooking.
Aphid gave a small sigh. It had to be the fort. Gods let it be the fort.
They were close.
Aphid sped up his walk just a little bit. He had to still concentrate on not limping and he didn't want to wake Kor, but after a few minutes, the boy began stirring a bit anyway.
Kor slightly lifted his head and his sleepy voice drifted over Aphid's shoulder.
"….Aphid?" he spoke.
"Mhm? What is it?"
The boy suddenly gave a whine, which halted Aphid.
"What's wrong?" the older brother asked, "Is it your leg?"
Kor whined again and buried his face back down upon Aphid's back.
"Nooo," he muffled. He then lifted his head to whine the complaint, "I'm just so hungry that I'm smelling something good cooking that isn't theeere."
"Like meat and something sweet?" Aphid replied, "...pork roast and apple pie, maybe?"
"...Ye-yeah?" Kor answered with a little confusion as to how Aphid was smelling the same imaginary smells. He slumped his head back down on Aphid.
"I'm not even awake, am I?" he pouted.
Aphid chuckled quietly and resisted the urge to be a pesky big brother and pinch him.
"You're awake," he answered instead, "I smell it too. I think we're close to that fort I told you we were gonna stop at."
"Really?" Kor replied with a bit of refreshing peppiness, "You think we're close?"
"Yeah," Aphid said, "I don't think any hunters or bandits would be out here in the middle of the woods baking pies, do you?"
"….Probably not," Kor answered.
"Probably not," Aphid repeated with a chuckle.
Aphid was fairly confident they had to be nearing that fort….the only issure was….he couldn't see a hint of it.
The folks back in town said it was a large old fort with a tall tower in its center. Tall enough to see over the tree lines.
Aphid hadn't seen a sign of it. Not one cobble. It was hard to see over the trees, what with being under the canopy, but he figured he should be able to see….something?
He did sort of see something.
But….
It looked more as if the tree line just ends?
Dips off?
Admittedly, his vision was a little hazy from exhaustion, but….
No, it definitely ends.
It was definitely a drop off.
Aphid soon confirmed that by coming right up on the edge.
He would have been overcome with utter frustration, if not for what he saw below.
Spanning this rather large, crater-like hole in the forest, was an orchard.
An apple orchard.
No tall fort in sight.
A farm in a hole.
Aphid was a little more than confused, but his brother helped snap him out of his bewilderment.
Kor had leaned backwards and grabbed ahold of Aphid's choppy hair like reigns, forcing the teen to walk backwards like a guided horse.
"Ay-ay, heey!" the older brother shook his head out of Kor's hold. He loathed having his hair grabbed, but he didn't react angrily. Just surprised.
"Whata'ya doin'??" he asked.
"I didn't want you to fall," Kor explained.
"I wasn't gonna….," Aphid replied, "but thank you for the save, baby brother…You coulda just asked me to step back, though…."
"I did," Kor said, "You kept leaning more forward….I'm sorry."
"You did?...I did?" Aphid asked and realized he may be losing having the upper hand on his exhaustion. He had suddenly become very aware of the wobbling in his legs…and head.
"Ah, don't be sorry, Kor," the big brother added, "I'm sorry. We didn't come this far for ME to send us over the edge….literally."
He had said that as a light joke but realized from Kor's halfhearted chuckle, that the kid may have taken that as blame for everything that's been beating them down lately.
He quickly fumbled through his brain for something else funny to say, but Kor intercepted with a statement of the obvious.
"That's not a fort," he said of the farm below.
"No, it's not," Aphid replied.
"You said it was a fort," Kor remarked.
"Wha—I didn't say this was a--"
"No, you said we'd come to a fort."
"Eh, well, guess it's another f word," Aphid shrugged.
There was a three second silence before Kor began forming indeed another f word.
"Fu--"
Aphid immediately shot a warning glare over his shoulder at the boy.
"I'm sorry!" the boy squeaked as he hid his face from the scary brother upon that scary brother's shoulder, "I-I wasn't thinking! I'm just so tired!"
"Farm," Aphid stated, his face relaxed from that scary expression but his voice lingering with a little bit of scold, "Farm was the other f word."
"I-I'm sorry."
"I know you are," Aphid huffed and regained his much calmer self, "….Alright, let's find a way down there."
"Do you think it's safe?" Kor asked.
"The farm?" Aphid replied and Kor nodded, "….Yeah. I can't imagine many villains tendin' an apple orchard."
Though one villain tending an orphanage came to mind.
"Just…," Aphid added, "….be my extra eyes and stay quiet as a mouse until I say alright, alright?"
"Mice squeak," Kor stated matter-of-factly.
"Why are you suddenly being so contentious?" Aphid peeked over his shoulder again.
Kor gave a small tilt of his head at the word he's never heard before, but instead of asking its meaning, he questioned a previous speaking of a questionable word.
"How did you know I wasn't going to say fun?" he asked.
"Because you weren't," Aphid answered matter-of-factly.
"I wasn't," Kor answered truthfully and with guilt, "…..but how did you know?"
Aphid gave his amused chuckle and tossed Kor a sly eye.
"Because," the older one smirked, "you can't hide anything from me."
Kor immediately had a check mate for that.
"I've hid from you," he stated plainly, "Remember when we were playing hide-and-seek last year, and I hid so well, you thought someone kidnapped me?"
Aphid groaned.
"Don't remind me," he said.
"You got so mad," Kor continued to remind him, "you yelled at that guard."
"I got scared, Kor, not mad," Aphid corrected, "Now shush, would ya? Quiet. Like a …. rabbit."
"Rabbits squeak too," Kor checked him again.
Aphid playfully threatened the boy for this continuous backtalk.
"Alright, you're about to squeak when I bonk you upside your head, you little punk," he said, "Be my eyes, rapscallion , not my mouth."
Kor chuckled, but quieted as Aphid found a way to safely descend, as the actual marked path into this crater appeared to be well on the other side.
The only peep from the boy on his back was a delayed whisper halfway down the climb.
"What's a rapscallion?"