Octavius POV

Chapter 14: The strange water

I walked to the fountain with a second sword in my hand again. Jedediah and I agreed we will meet each other once in the week. The last time I've seen him was at the first training seven days ago. So we both were locked up in our cities for a whole week. For a moment I was scared that Jedediah had forget our training, but when I arrived at the fountain he crawled out of the hole in the wall.

"Good evening, Octavius," Jedediah greeted happily.

"Good evening as well," I greeted back. Jedediah looked with distrust at me and had his head a little bit skewed. I immediately saw my mistake.

"Jedediah," I said quickly.

"Very well, Roman," Jedediah said on that weird, happy tone again. I realised I had never seen Jedediah in such a good mood before.

"Did something happen?" I tried to ask ordinary. Jedediah looked confused at me.

"I've been locked up in a box for a whole week, but nothing happened besides that," he answered me after a moment, but still on a happy tone. "Octavius, it seems like you never saw someone who is a bit cheerful."

"I never saw you cheerful," I corrected him. Jedediah shrugged his shoulders, sat down on the edge of the fountain and shrugged again. While he did this he kept on looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked when Jedediah keep on looking at me.

"Well, nothing what has to do with you," he answered immediately.

"Last week you also didn't want to tell me why you surrendered."

"You're still not over it?"

"No, I still think about it."

After that Jedediah started to laugh. The barbarian just laughed at me before my noise.

"Come on," Jedediah said after some time, still half laughing. "Let's start with the training, shall we." He already stood up and reached his hand towards the second sword.

Hesitantly I gave it to him.

Just like the first training I was amazed at the way Jedediah listened to me. Without any reply he did everything I said and followed every instruction I gave him. It gave me a great and powerful feeling. But at the same time I look at it with fear. After two lessons Jedediah improved. He still isn't very good, but I can see the difference already.

After the training he sat down on the fountain again. He took a weird thing who hung the whole time on his hip. He called it a canteen and drank the water from the it. With great curiosity I looked at the object. That thing just looked so different than the ones I know.

"What? You want a swig?" Jedediah asked me suddenly. I looked at him, but didn't move to take the canteen he reached at me. "Are you taking it or not?" Jedediah asked impatiently. My curiosity even grew, so I took it and looked at it.

"Don't forget to pull out the cork before you drink," Jedediah said suddenly. I looked at him again. "Otherwise the water doesn't come out," he continued. I was not sure if he made a joke or not, because he looked so serious. But I still nodded, even though I already knew.

After I pulled out the cork I hesitated before I took a sip from the strange water. This water tasted indeed different then the water I ever tasted. After the sip I drank some more I gave the object back to Jedediah. He also drank some water from it again.

"You still want to know why I surrendered at the last battle?" Jedediah asked when I sat beside him.

"I would still like to hear that, yes," I answered honestly. I was prepared for a 'That's a shame, I'm not gonna tell you' reaction from Jedediah, but instead the only thing Jedediah said was: "Jacob."

I looked amazed at him. "What's that?" I asked curious.

"You mean: who is that," Jedediah continued. "He was the boy who pushed you over last battle." He stopped and laughed a little bit before he continued. "Well, that was pretty funny actually." I remembered the boy again and indeed Jedediah called him Jacob back then.

"So... what's wrong with the boy?" I asked after I found some courage to do. I was afraid this conversation would change in a yelling fight any moment.

"There is nothing wrong with him," Jedediah started. "But I was afraid that man besides you would attack him and hurt him. That's why I surrendered, I didn't want Jacob to get hurt." I don't think I looked so astonished before. I would've never expected that.

"And today he called me Jed," Jedediah continued. "Normally he always corrects himself immediately, but this time he didn't. I'm sure he hadn't notice it himself." Jedediah smiled again, but I had no idea how to react.

"Who is Jacob actually?" I asked after a while.

"He is just an ordinary boy, but I knew him even when I lived for real," Jedediah answered calm.

"Is he family of you?" I asked still prepared for when I reached the border. But Jedediah just shook his head.

"He is no family, but I do see him as my little brother. But you better forget all of this. It's not that interesting."

I sighed deep. It was the first time Jedediah ever told me something so private. I had to restrain myself so I won't start talking about Agrippa. I mean, Jedediah has nothing to do with it. That's why I truly don't understand why Jedediah told me so much about himself and Jacob. I'm sure he regrets it now. But still, it did feel weird when he spoke about his life, but sometimes it is even weirder to see him as my enemy.

"I don't have any water left," Jedediah said with an annoyed look on his face. I felt a bit guilty, because he allowed me to drink something from his water.

"If you want to…," I started. "You can drink something from my fountain."

Och, it's pretty cute I think! ^^

But for the people who are interesting in it: Jacob is a fictive person, maybe the only person I made up in my story (I'm not sure about this, so I say maybe =S). But Jacob comes from Jacob Wheeler: a character in the serie "Into the west." I've never seen it, only a little part with Jedediah Smith in it, but I immediately liked Jacob, so I used the name and shaped the boy for my story! ^^