Footsteps of a Stranger
Chapter Five
When Matthew and Francis had disappeared into the trees, Alfred felt a heavy silence between himself and Arthur. Alfred cleared his throat. He pulled his braids over his shoulder and fiddled with the ends.
"Why the braids?"
"Huh?" Alfred's brought his eyes up to Arthur.
"Why just two braids? Why not grow all of your hair out?" Arthur asked.
"Oh, well, we did try the long hair. It was hard to manage, especially with their combs. They're made for thick hair so it hurt our heads," Alfred explained. "And when we grew it out, we felt like we were getting rid of Dad."
"I see," Arthur said after a moment.
Alfred smiled and pointed to Arthur's eyebrows. "Why them?"
"What about them?" Arthur narrowed his eyes.
"Why are they so big?" Alfred grinned, hoping Arthur would understand he was kidding.
"They are not that bad!" Arthur snapped. A hand flew to his face and be began to smooth his eyebrows.
Alfred laughed. He found himself leaning closer to Arthur, even though he was yelling at him. "You're right, they're almost cute."
Arthur's mouth snapped shut with an audible click. His ears turned red and he ducked his head to his chest. He dropped his hand to his lap and twisted his fingers together.
"I'm sorry," Alfred said. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"No, you didn't. It was just…" Arthur paused and managed to meet Alfred's pretty blue eyes. "Unexpected."
Alfred smiled. "Not many people like your eyebrows?"
"I usually get laughed at for them," Arthur said. "Francis is the worst of them."
"Should I beat him up for you?" Alfred asked with a grin. He nudged Arthur's shoulder and he gave a small laugh.
"You can try, but he's a bit bigger than you," Arthur said with a grin.
"Oh, c'mon. I'm not that short," Alfred said.
"Just a tad for your age."
Alfred rolled his eyes. "You are barely taller than me, you have no room to brag."
Arthur chuckled lightly. "Being taller gives me all the bragging rights I want."
"That is not how it works."
"Now it does," Arthur grinned wickedly.
Alfred shoved his shoulder and they laughed together. Arthur felt like a child again, teasing Alfred like this. They sat in compatible silence, the fire popped and crackled in front of them and their thighs pressed together.
"Arthur?" Alfred said after a few minutes.
"Yes?"
"Will you tell me about England?"
"Why? You will be going there soon enough," Arthur said with a smile.
"I know. I'm just excited. Please?"
Arthur chuckled and gave a single nod. "Very well, what would you like to hear?"
Alfred was quiet for a moment. "Tell me about your house."
"Well, it's very large. About a dozen rooms-"
"What's a dozen?" Alfred interrupted.
"Twelve. There's twelve bedrooms, a parlor, a study, two bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining hall and a small ball room." Arthur said.
Alfred was quiet. He wasn't exactly sure what a parlor or ball room was. After a few seconds he spoke again. "Do you live with anyone?" Alfred asked. All those rooms sounded like it would get lonely.
Arthur shook his head, then nodded. "Sort of. The servants live with me. There's only a few though."
"You have servants?" Alfred asked.
"Yes. One cleans, one cooks, one takes care of the yard and one takes care of my animals," Arthur said.
"What animals do you have?" Alfred hoped Arthur didn't notice him changing the subject. He had heard of other tribes that had been forced to be servants. Luckily they had avoided such a fate so far.
Arthur smiled. Alfred sounded like a little kid asking so many questions. "I have a horse my father brought me from here, a couple chickens, a goat, and a cat."
"Oh," Alfred seemed confused by some of the animals, but didn't say anything.
"Anything else you wish to know?" Arthur asked.
Alfred shook his head. "Not at the moment."
"May I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Will you teach me your language?"
"Gee, Arthur. I can't even read English, how can I teach you a whole other language?" Alfred rubbed the back of his neck.
Arthur opened his mouth to reply, but the trees around them began to rustle quite loudly. Startled, Arthur gripped Alfred's arm. "What was that?"
"I don't know. It was too big to be a squirrel," Alfred said. He moved closer to Arthur, not sure what to expect.
"Alfred!" It was Matthew. "Alfred!"
"Matthew?" Alfred stood. "What are you doing? You scared us!"
"We have to go," Matthew said. He went to Alfred and gripped his arms. The ends of Matthew's hair dripped water coldly on Alfred's skin.
"Why? What's wrong?" Alfred asked. Matthew looked wild, his eyes wide and his cheeks flushed.
Matthew glanced at Arthur then switched to the native language. "I kissed Francis."
"Isn't that good?" Alfred, responded in the same language, and furrowed his brow.
Matthew looked at Arthur again before turning back to Alfred. "Can we go back to the village?"
"Yeah, sure," Alfred said. He turned to Arthur and spoke in English. "We have to go. We should be able to get out tomorrow though."
Arthur's brow bunched together, almost making a continuous line. Matthew was acting strange.
Alfred continued speaking. "We can meet here. Say, noon?"
Arthur nodded with a rough smile. "Alright. Good night, you two."
The twins waved and went into the trees, their heads close together. Arthur heard Alfred talking, but Matthew stayed quiet.
Francis made his appearance a short time later. His hair was wet and his clothes stuck to him damply. He looked around the small clearing. "Are they gone?"
"Yes. What did you do?" Arthur said with a glare. "As soon as Matthew got here they both ran off."
"How do you know I did something?" Francis asked. "What if Matthew bashed me on the head and left me to drown?"
"Because he looks like he was assaulted and you look just fine." Arthur folded his arms and waited for an explanation.
Francis sighed. "If you must know, I kissed him."
"What?" Arthur felt his mouth drop open.
"We were in this spring and he was looking at me and I just kissed him."
"Did you shove your tongue down his throat as well? The poor lad look terrified," Arthur scolded.
"I might have gotten a little handsy, but I thought he was enjoying it. I tried to apologize but, he ran off."
Arthur sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You better make things right. It won't be long before the other men decide to invade the villages."
"They wouldn't hurt anyone, would they?" Francis asked.
"If they don't find any gold, I think they will. And we don't want Alfred and Matthew there when they do."
"But the other towns around here have left them alone. They have treaties."
"What makes you think that these men will listen to the treaties?" Arthur picked up Alfred's forgotten bag. "You have to make things right with Matthew tomorrow."
"Are they coming back? Did Matthew say he would?"
"He didn't speak to me. Alfred said they would be able to get out tomorrow, though."
Francis nodded. "I'll make things right with him."
Arthur just gave him a look before he stomped out the fire. "Let's go before they get suspicious."
"He didn't hurt you did he? Did he touch you anywhere inappropriate?" Alfred all but shrieked.
Matthew shushed him and shook his head. "He just kissed me."
"Why did you run off then? Isn't that what you wanted? I thought you liked him." Alfred set his paddle across his lap and leaned closer to Matthew.
They were a ways away from the village. They could make out a few of the roofs, but other than that everything was shrouded in shadow.
"I did want him to kiss me, and I do like him," Matthew agreed. "It was all just so fast. I mean, one moment we were just sitting there and the next, his hand was on my thigh-"
Alfred gasped. "He didn't touch you there, did he?"
Matthew felt his cheeks heat up and was glad it was too dark for Alfred to see. "No! I panicked after that and said I had to go. I didn't know what to do."
"Oh," Alfred said softly. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Matthew said pathetically. He dropped his elbows on his knees and slumped his chin into his hands. "What should I do?"
"I don't know. What do you think? Do you still like him?"
"Yes. I do. And I want to go to England still. He just...attacked me, you know?"
"Well tell him that. Not me," Alfred said. He placed a comforting hand on Matthew's shoulder. "I would tell him to take it easy. I mean, it's not like you are going anywhere."
Matthew nodded. "That sounds good. I think I'll tell him."
"Good. Now can we go home? I'm tired."
"Wait," Matthew said. He stopped Alfred from putting his paddle in the water. "What happened with you and Arthur?"
Alfred shrugged. "Nothing much. We talked. He told me about his home in England. He has a lot of animals, Mattie. It's going to be really fun. Oh, and he wants to learn the native language."
"Really? That would be fun to teach. Maybe we can show Francis, too," Matthew said. He raised an eyebrow. "Did you remember to get those papers and books from Arthur?"
Alfred sat for a moment, then smacked his forehead. "No! I forgot. Sorry, Mattie."
Matthew smiled and waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. We can get it tomorrow. What kind of animals does Arthur have? Do you think Francis has the same ones?"
They talked for a bit about Arthur's home. Then they speculated about Francis's. Alfred teased that it was probably full of half-naked ladies and Matthew took high offense to that. ("Francis is not that kind of man!" "He attacked you!" "He did not attack me!" "You said yourself he attacked you." "Maybe I over exaggerated.")
"Hey, Alfred?"
"Yes, Mattie?"
"Will we be happy in England?" Matthew sounded small. Like a child who was lost and desperately wanted reassurance.
"I think so. I mean, we might miss this place, but who is going to miss us?" Alfred said. He believed his words. The village would probably rejoice at their absence.
Matthew was silent for a moment. Then: "I hope our mother does, because I'll miss her."
Alfred met Matthew's eyes in the semi-dark. They were the same shape as his, but Matthew's had a slight purple hue. "I'll miss her, too."
"Do you…" Matthew paused. He cleared his throat. He had been doing that a lot while they talked. Alfred hoped he wasn't getting sick. The nights were getting to be too cold to deal with that. "Do you think she'll miss us?"
Alfred thought for a moment. Would their mother miss them? He couldn't say for sure but she was their mother. Could she hate then so completely? He shrugged. "I don't know, Mattie. I don't know if anyone will."
They were silent. The sky was full of stars. They reflected dimly on the barely moving water.
"Are you ready to go back?" Alfred asked softly. He wanted to get to sleep before the sky began to lighten.
Matthew sighed heavily. "I suppose we should."
They paddled back to their village. While they sat and talked, they had floated a ways off and it took them a tad longer to get back to their shore. Once there, they slid into the shallow water to drag the small boat over the rocks. They carried the canoe back to where it belonged and made the trek back to their beds.
"No one will notice we were gone, right?" Alfred whispered.
Matthew took off his shoes and placed them at the end of his bed, which really was animal hide stuffed with hay. "I don't know. I hope not."
They didn't dare to light a candle to see what they were doing and changed in the dark. Out of their wet clothes and half-blind, they managed to climb into bed.
Alfred yawned loudly and jostled around a good two minutes before settling down. Matthew rolled his eyes and adjusted himself, waiting for Alfred to quiet down. Finally Alfred stopped moving.
"Night, Mattie."
Matthew cleared his throat. It had felt itchy for a while now. He was probably just tired. They had been talking most of the night. "Good night, Alfred."
A few minutes later, Alfred's light snoring took up their small space. Matthew fell asleep to the oddly soothing sound.
Matthew's coughing woke them up the next morning.
