Oh Brother

By: Aeonian Dreams

Chapter 3

"What?" Borus had to look to the figure that had entered the room. It was an older man, perhaps in his early 50s, portly and a face that held nothing but malice. Borus immediately recognized it as Lord Grisham, a friend of his father's. Grisham waddled up to Borus and poor Kat who now stood hiding behind her older brother.

His nasally voice whined out of his lips as he addressed Kat. "There you are my precious." He licked his eager lips as his eyes devoured Borus' young sister in a way that angered Borus like few things could. "This is where you went. It took quite a while to find you, having disappeared so quickly. How ever you became a knight in a little over a week since we last saw each other is a mystery to me."

Borus looked back to Kat who glared at Grisham as if she could slay him with it alone. Her voice was steady if not tinged disgust. "What I do is no concern of yours. Since I am currently a knight you have no control over me now." She smiled in triumph as Grisham's face darkened in rage.

His voice lifted into shrill rage as he spat at Kat eyes glowing with ill-concealed ire. "You are my concern as you are promised to me by your father as my wife!" He started to advance towards Kat but then realized Borus stood in his way and backed off. "Ah, little Borus, I remember you. Do be kind and tell your little sister to listen to reason."
However Borus was too shocked for words at what had transpired in just the span of seconds. He turned to stare at Kat and blurted out from his slack jaw. "Wife?" Apparently shock had ripped all articulation from the blonde knight and could only speak single words at a time. "You? Him? What?"

Bitterness swirled in Kat's eyes and danced in her voice as she spoke to her brother. "Yes, dear brother. Father saw fit to hand me over to that slug in return for a stake in Grisham's wine business. I am supposed to marry that." She gestured towards Grisham with no real care of him hearing or seeing her. "That is why I am here, that's why I..."

"Yes, but you are coming back with me. You are no knight, Lord Salome here can tell us that." Grisham sneered as he looked towards the impassive Salome. Borus followed his gaze to his fellow knight still dazed at what had transpired so quickly.

A minute passed before Salome looked down at his papers and then looked up at Grisham with no real emotion. "It says here that she is in fact a knight." Borus noticed the trademark twitch which he had come to know as Salome hiding a grin, but he doubted the seething Lord Grisham could see that.

Grisham turned and pushed past Borus who was taken by surprise and grabbed Kat's wrist. With a wrenching pull he tried to pull the poor girl out of the door. "She's mine! Lord Aleksander promised me!" He nearly screamed in rage as Kat fought to knock the man off of her, trying not to cry and scream.

Her fight was suddenly ended, as Borus in a fit of his own anger ripped Grisham's hand away from her and hurled him backwards. Black ire flared in his face and eyes darkening his handsome features as he beheld his family's old friend. "You would do well not to touch my sister again." The deadly cold in his voice dared the older man to see what would happen if he indeed tried that again.

Grisham seemed taken aback at what had happened. Although big he was most certainly not brave enough to try to take on one of the Mighty Knights of Zexen. He backed away and headed out of the door. "This isn't the last you'll see of me! Lord Aleksander promised me her, and I always get what I want" and with that he was gone.

Forced to take a deep breath Borus calmed his rage down as best he could before he turned to his still scared sister and looked at her. Something hadn't felt right since she had come to Brass. How was it that his sister who spent her time partying and playing around become an expert at things she denounced as stupid? He came up towards her and looked down upon her, watching her eyes for lies. "Tell me, honestly, what are you doing here?"

Kat was silent for a moment before she started to talk, hesitantly at first but building as the story came out in truth. "Father promised Grisham that I would marry him if he would get part of the wine business Grisham owns. They struck a bargain but I didn't want to marry him. So I was wandering around Vinay del Zexay one evening and ran into Sir Salome.

"I had spent the last couple hours drinking with Mary and well, crying. So I obviously looked upset, so he asked me what was wrong and I told him everything. I told him that I couldn't bear marrying that thing, but I was stuck, I didn't know what to do. Salome is such a kind man, and he knew that you wouldn't like what father had done. So he decided to take pity on help and me me escape that fat slug.

"So we plot this whole thing up. He would mock up the fact I was a knight so I could escape to Budehuc Castle without problem or worry. He'd make it look like I was working there so I would never have to go back to Grisham. I'm not a knight, alright? Never was. I just want to go to Budehuc and set up my life there with Michael." She finally let it out and she looked like someone who had finally let go of a terrible burden,

However Borus was shocked. Not by the fact that his father had done that. He and his father had never gotten along for the very reason that he really didn't care about his children except for what they did for him. Nor was he surprised that Kat wasn't an actual knight. It was the fact that she had gone to this much trouble without telling him. He deeply sighed and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Listen, you could have always come to me and I could have helped you…or I could have tried. Next time you're in trouble just let me know, I'm here to support you…wait…Michael…the ERRAND BOY!" His honey colored eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he realized she was running off with the family errand boy.

"Yes, that Michael. I happen to love the boy and want to start a family with him." She glared at him before poking her finger at his chest. Borus whose rage was infamous backed up at the storming ire of his little sister. Let it be said that Borus was no fool. "You will support me on this, right?" her eyes dared him to go back on his previous statement of supporting her.

Beaten and defeated Borus bowed his head and ran a hand through his unruly hair. "As long as you are happy…then yes." He sighed and looked to her and raised an eyebrow. "However if he hurts you, he's dead." Borus felt a smile cross his lips as Kat chuckled and nodded. A thought struck him though as he thought about things. "Wait…I thought you and Percival..."Kat and Percival exchanged glances then laughed in unison, which irritated the blonde knight to no end. "What?" He demanded of them as they continued to laugh.

Percival finally shook his head and offered a smile to his friend. "Borus, my dear friend, your sister is a tad bit too young for my tastes and I'm afraid my heart is already taken by another lady. Though, it was so amusing to see you flip out every time we appeared together. We both figured it was a good way to piss you off and a good source of amusement for us. The joke's on you Borus, or should I say Bory-Bear. " Percival laughed again and decided to move a bit away from Borus before he decided to get violent.

Kat smiled and hugged her older brother. "It was rather funny. Even Chris thought it was amusing." She nodded her head over to the Silver Maiden who turned away and hid a smile behind a hand.

"Lady Chris, you too?" He dismayed before succumbing to the hug of his younger sister. After a minute he looked down to Kat and asked. "So this was an elaborate joke on me?"

"The whole thing with Percival? Yes. It was his idea after all. I just thought it was a perfect way to get back at you for teasing me for all those years. Besides you won't see much of me after I go to Budehuc. Which reminds me, Michael is waiting for me up there. I ought to get going pretty soon." She let him go and smoothed out her clothes. "I really wish I could have told you but you probably would have ended up going home or going after Grisham. This way I get to ride off into the sunset and no one has to die."

Borus watched his sister with interest as she moved to talk to Salome and figure out how the rest of the plan went. He felt betrayed on some level, but mostly on the fact that Percival and Kat were playing an elaborate joke at his expense. However mostly he was happy that there was nothing going on between them. He was planning on killing Percival if things didn't break off soon. Well, he was planning on killing Percival anyway, but that was a different matter.

Chris walked up to him and gazed up into his thoughtful face. "Borus, are you okay?" She asked gingerly, as if waiting to see some of his trademark anger.

"I'm fine Lady Chris. I guess things work out in the end." He sighed and relaxed his posture and worked the tension out of his shoulders.

"That they do. " Chris smiled as Kat nodded and hugged Salome and Percival before coming over to them.

Kat looked at Chris then turned to her brother. "I'm sorry, alright? But you can get back at me after the wedding. It's this Saturday afternoon, you're all invited by the way." She smiled and ran a hand through her own somewhat unruly hair. "That's if you aren't too terribly mad…"

Borus smiled and pulled his little sister into a tight hug. "No, not now that I know that you aren't together with Percival." Letting her go he gave her a playful slap on her shoulder. "I'll be there."

"Good. Take Lady Chris as your date." She tossed him a wink and watched as a blush creeped up on his cheeks. Laughing she gave Chris a bow and waved jauntily at them. "Well, thanks for everything. I'll see you all later. Fare thee well." With a saunter in her step she left them and off into perhaps a better life.

Borus sighed and watched her leave. Chris smiled and patted his shoulder and left, talking with Salome who was in tow. Percival came up and patted his shoulder and offered up a smile. "Honestly though, you should have seen your face when you thought I was with your sister. Priceless."

"Oh brother." The blonde knight shook his head and left Percival laughing there. It had been a long day, and he thought he finally deserved to go back to bed.

A/N: Well, there you go, the end of it. Sorta took a while and for some reason just…had blocks. Hopefully you all liked it. And now for the end credits and music. Thanks for reading kiddos! You all rock!