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summer_of_giles2012-06-26 04:32 pm
Right of Claim 5/?
Warnings: See part 1
Chapter 4 – A Painful Homecoming (And Unbroken Ties)
Home - the world tried to break me
I found a road to take me
- Gweneth Paltrow - Home
He was exhausted, but he still pushed on. He’d taken ten minutes to dampen down his magic as much as he could, but he could still feel it raging under his skin after so long bound. And he’d lost track of how long he’d been following the road for since then, but it had easily been an hour, if he was to be any judge. If someone didn’t come along soon, then he was stuffed and there would be jack that he could do about it.
He didn’t know what Ethan would do about it, either, if it caught up to him after what he’d done to it. And he also didn’t think that his spell would hold for much longer, if it hadn’t shaken it off already. It was powerful, after all, but so was the vampire, he’d felt that over time that it’d had him trapped.
Just as he was beginning to wonder whether he mightn’t be better off taking a stance to fight a distant glow lit the air behind him, and a truck swept around the corner. Holding his breath and hoping that there was something looking out for him above, even after all that had happened he turned around, came closer to the road so that the trucks lights could pick him out, and stuck his thumb out. As soon as the driver spotted him, the truck began to lose speed and a few meters up the road from him it came to a halt.
Offering quiet thanks to whatever had heard his silent plea; he ran down the road and pulled the door open. The driver was a heavyset man, with a full beard that was a mix of grey and black, his hair was short on the top of his head, and his eyes were blue and coolly intelligent.
“You know what time of night it is, kid?”
He glanced at the position of the stars and the half-full moon, and made a few quick calculations, “Around three?”
“Huh. Smart bugger, aren’t you?”
Rupert grabbed the side of the truck with one hand, the seat with the other, and pulled himself up. Then he pulled the door shut behind him, and buckled up.
“Anyway, thanks. I’m Rip… Giles. Rupert Giles.”
“Kenneth Rodgers. Mates call me Kenny. My folks had a strange sense of humour.”
He started the truck, and pulled back onto the road.
“Won’t ask what you’re running from, kid. But do you know where you’re headed?”
The Council headquarters was the first place that came to mind. But that wasn’t where he wanted to be. Instead he settled for shrugging.
“What’s the closest town, and where’s your last stop?”
“About three hours out of Pariah, and I’m heading through to Marks.”
Again, Rupert repeated his silent thanks. Marks, that was a couple of hours away from where he wanted to be, and if he remembered his geography right, they were about a week worth of driving away.
“Whitegate, so if you don’t mind the company the turnoff that’s closest to there will do just fine. I’m going home.”
They drove in silence for a few hours, and then Rupert heard an ominous growling, just as the very edge of the sky was beginning to lighten. Startled, he glanced around trying to locate the source of it, before he realised that it was his stomach. Kenneth glanced sideways at him and raised an eyebrow at him.
“There’s half a beef and chutney in the glove box if you’re hungry kid. And I’ll stop for breakfast in another couple of hours, around seven. You can grab a proper bite to eat then.”
“Thanks,” he responded, as he fished in the glove box for the aforementioned food, pulled it out and forced himself to actually eat it properly, when what he really wanted to do was put the whole thing into his mouth at once, “but all I’ve got with me is the clothes on my back.”
“Don’t sweat it kid. I’ll cover it for ya.”
That titbit had made him more curious then ever as to what the boy’s story was, but he told himself not to go there.
“Sounds good. I appreciate it.”
A few minutes later, he spoke again.
“Why you decide to help me? There’s sweet bugger all I can give you to pay you back.”
“Got my own son, about your age by the look of things, and there isn’t a thing in this world that I wouldn’t do for him. I’m sure there’s someone back home, feels the same way about you.”
“I… I don’t know,” he spoke honestly, for the first time in a long time. He wanted nothing more than to be safe back home now, but he had no idea of the reception that was waiting for him.
“Why you leave in the first place?”
Kenneth broke one of the promises that he’d made to himself. But Rupert chose his reply carefully.
“Nothing that seems as bad from this side as it did from that.”
“Yeah, that’s the way it goes, kid. That’s the story of life; you get over to the other side of the river, and see that it was greener where you were standing.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Rupert agreed.
At that moment the sun rose far enough for it’s light to touch his hand, and he bit his lip to stop himself from screaming as he watched with genuine surprise to see that it wasn’t blackening and bursting into flame. It hurt like hell, and even though it was something that he’d braced for, having read a little about these sorts of situations, nothing could have really prepared him for it. Gritting his teeth, and hoping that Kenneth didn’t notice the pain that he was in, he wove as many layers of shielding magic about him as he could without thinking that it would alert Ethan to his position.
And he noticed how much more readily its name came to him, now that he was out from under its thumb. He supposed that since it wasn’t there, he wasn’t making the conscious effort that he had been to deny it name and being.
It was closer to seven thirty when Kenneth actually stopped in front of a truck stop with a small dinner on the other side.
“We’ll eat and then I’m gonna grab a couple of hours sleep before we carry on. You’re welcome to stretch your legs or grab a little rest yourself, whatever you want.”
He grabbed the keys from the ignition and swung himself out of the truck slamming the door behind him. He waited until Rupert had joined him, before coming around to check the door was locked. Then he let a couple of cars scream past him, before he crossed the road with Rupert right on his heels.
Pushing open the door, he instantly nodded to the grey-haired woman behind the counter, “Marg.”
“Kenny. Must have been what, four months since you were last this way?” she poured out a couple of cups of coffee, which she slid to the edge of the counter, “And who’s the boy?”
The trucker grabbed both of the cups and held one of them out to him.
“Marg, Rupert. The boy was interested in the lifestyle, so his folks arranged an initiation, of sorts. Rupert, Marg is the angle of this corner of the highway.”
“So, Rupert ah? Well your folks couldn’t have set you up any better for a cross-county trip. You want the usual, Kenny?”
“Yes, thanks. Just double it so that I can feed the boy, too. He may be small, but he can put it way like a man already.”
They both laughed, at some distant joke that they shared, and Rupert took a seat at an empty table, taking a sip from his cup which he’d been holding between his hands to walk them. As there was a break in the conversation between the middle-aged man, and the older woman, and she turned to start work on the food, he flicked his gaze to her.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he muttered, before turning his attention back to the coffee.
“A pleasure to meet you too,” she said, glancing back at him, “I hope to see you this way again one of these days, Rupert.”
“Thanks.”
After they’d eaten, and Kenneth had talked to Marg for another fifteen minutes or so, he rose and stretched, rolling his shoulders back.
“Are you stopping for a bit? I’ve got half a dozen rooms free at the moment.”
“Just for a couple of hours; I’m got a couple of time-sensitive items in this lot.”
She tossed him a set of keys, and he snatched them deftly out of the air.
“You know that key goes to what. And there are spare blankets and pillows in the main cupboard so the boy can take the couch.”
“Cheers. Appreciate it.”
By this time the burn of the sunlight had faded to a dull throb, something that he was grateful for. Finishing off his drink, he rose and trailed after Kenneth as he led the way through to the rooms out the back of the shop.
“So, what you fancy? A bit of rest, or did you want to explore this place?”
He was exhausted, he had only slept in tiny patches the other day, and last night he hadn’t slept at all.
“Rest sounds bloody good to me.”
“By the way, I’ve been thinking,” Kenneth spoke again, as he turned the key in the lock, and crossed over to the main cupboard, pulling out a couple of old feather quilts, and three pillows that had seen better years, “It’s only a couple of hours out of my way, so I’ll run you through to Whitegate. Save you from winging it, the rest of the way.”
“Don’t have to. I mean, you’ve shown enough generosity already.”
“I can’t see you all that way, without seeing you the rest of the way home, kid.”
“Thanks,” Rupert flicked out the blankets over the couch, and tucked the pillows in against the arm as Kenneth crossed over and pulled the curtain so that it dimmed the light, “if you really don’t mind, well, it’d mean a lot to me.”
Kenneth paused with his hand on the doorhandle to the bathroom, “I wouldn’t have said if it I minded. Now, you get some shut-eye. You can always get a bit more once we’re on the road again, but it never feels quite as good as it does when you’re lying down.”
He settled on the couch, and didn’t know any more until he was being shaken awake a few hours later.
“Come on kid, time we cut a track.”
Over the last week Rupert had adjusted himself well enough to Kenneth’s pattern of about a day and a half of driving, followed by a couple of hours sleep, then right back into it. And it felt strange when he began to pinpoint some of the sights that he’d grown up with. Even stranger that he was coming to the end of his journey.
He’d discovered yesterday that he couldn’t enter the home of someone that he didn’t know without a spoken invitation when they’d stopped for dinner at the home of a couple of Kenneth’s old friends, something that he’d had to subtly and skilfully manoeuvre from the homeowner, but that was something he hoped would fade with time like the effects of the sunlight should. Still, he resolved to make his approach to home during full daylight, on the off-chance that it would stretch to his own home, too; on the off-chance that it would no longer be regarded as his home.
After all, he’d been away a while, and a hell of a lot had happened. In spite of his initial fear he hadn’t felt a single tremor of Ethan’s presence, and nor had Kenneth elected to question him over anything.
As they hit the turnoff to Whitegate the man that he’d come to regard as a friend, and one of the best sorts of people pulled up at a small, out of the way place for lunch. He’d only been there once before, and no-where near recently enough for anyone that worked there to recognize him.
“So, where about here is home, kid?” he asked, over wedges and bacon and egg pie.
“How well you know the area?”
“Well enough to get around.”
“You know the property names? You know of Sanctum?”
“Isn’t that that huge old estate, about half an hour away from here? The one where the…” he trailed off, and Rupert knew exactly what he’d been about to say, in spite of never having heard the end of the sentence.
“The one where the kid went missing from, if that’s what you were going to say? That’s the bugger.”
He stared uneasily at the drink that the man had brought him to go with the meal. His head was aching dully, but he’d been tolerating that for the last day or so, and didn’t think that it was anything to fuss over.
“You’re the Giles boy; -Adrian’s son? Well, of course you are, I suppose you’ve already told me that…” he fell silent for a couple of minutes, and Rupert was beginning to wonder just where this was going when he spoke again, “Christ, kid, must have been just shy of two months ago that your father was offering a reward of five thousand over information about your location. When you gave me your name, I didn’t think for a moment that…”
He trailed off again, and Rupert busied himself with his drink again. Only after the bowl of wedges that was in front of him had been dealt with, did he work out where to go from there.
“You’re more than welcome to run me to the door, and pick it up if it’s still on offer. Not many genuinely kind people you run into when you need it, and you deserve it if anyone does.”
“I think I’d feel better leaving you with my address. If you decide to pass it on later on, well, that’s your business. But as for something like that, that ought to be something between,”
“Please, Kenny?” he shortened the man’s name as he had the last few times that they’d spoken in any seriousness, feeling comfortable with it, “I know you’ve done a lot for me already, but it’d make me feel a little more secure in things.”
He finished off his own food, and stood to leave.
“Just for you; kid.”
“Thanks.”
The rest of the drive back passed in a silence that felt more uneasy than he’d remembered it doing so, before. Even that first night, when he’d picked a ride with a complete stranger he hadn’t felt quite this awkward about it. But then, he guessed that he was reading too much into it, probably. Overreacting; to the fact that who he was, was out. And he couldn’t stop the fact that his father had been concerned enough to offer a cash reward from circling his mind, either.
When they pulled up to a stop outside of Sanctum, for the first time he questioned the merits of having asked Kenneth to bring him to the door. But to change his mind now would be a show of weakness, and he was determined to prove to himself that he wasn’t a coward.
He got out; planning on opening the gate so that he could drive through and Kenny shut the truck off, and swung down and out. Seeing Rupert’s hesitation, he raised an eyebrow at him, “Second thoughts kid?”
“Yeah, actually, that’s about the size of it.”
“I don’t mind saying goodbye and carrying on.”
He made his mind up, and pushed open the metal gate which barred the way over the farm trail that led up to the house.
“No. Come on.”
The stables were just visible through the trees to the left, and a pair of thoroughbred horses, Master with his black body and white socks on his two forelegs, and Raven which was a pure black danced in the field to his immediate right. And the sound of voices, Master came up to the fence and eyed him with those eyes that had always seemed to intelligent for a horse.
Not feeling the slightest bit foolish, he nodded to the animal wishing for a few moments that he had the time to go up to him, and spend a bit of time simply talking to him, and scratching that spot behind his ears that he knew the beast loved. But he could save that for later, for a reward after he’d done this.
It was a ten minute walk up to the house, and Rupert found himself hesitating again before the front door. As Kenny slowly climbed the front stairs behind him, he raised a hand and grasped the knocker, striking two firm blows with it. Then as he waited, he entertained himself with the question; of who it would be who would get the front door. He knew what day it was, but he didn’t know if any staff had been hired or fired over the last eight months. Would it be someone that he recognized, or would it…?
Then the front door was opened by none other than his father, himself. And Rupert, who hadn’t been able to shake the thought that he had to get home, was face to face with a man that looked older then he should have, who was staring at him with an expression that was a mixture of wonder and wariness and hesitation, who looked as though he’d been given both a gift that he’d never expected and something that he wasn’t sure whether he’d wanted to see, at the same time.
“Rupert?” His voice was hesitant, and soft, as though to say it any louder or with certainty would be to make to vision before him take flight.
That couldn’t be a glint of tears in the corners of his eyes could it?
Rupert raised a hand slowly towards where he thought that the barrier, but in spite of a slight tingle across his skin at a certain point there was nothing, certainly no barrier. Maybe it was already fading. Maybe he had run far enough to break it.
He stepped through the doorway properly, and as he passed the halfway point a flash of pain throbbed in his temple, but he brushed it aside. And his old man gave up all pretence of hesitation, and drew the teenager into a tight hug, that Rupert once would have shrugged free from. And he was trying to bite back his own tears.
“My God; Rupert… They… they told me two months ago that you’d dropped of the radar, that you were… that you were dead. I offered a reward expecting a body. How could they have been so wrong?”
“It’s a long story, Father. But I’m not, I’m fine. I’m fine now, anyway, and that’s…”
“That’s all that matters, that you’re alright, that you’re back,” Adrian spoke over him, but for once he found that he didn’t mind it. He was home, he was safe, he could stop running, and he would place himself back under his father’s guardianship without a single word of complaint or thought of resentment.
Now that he knew what it was like out in the cold world, he was prepared to learn what he needed to get by in it, and never think of the last two months of his flight again.
Ethan couldn’t touch him here.
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Not that I'm demanding, or anything... *cough*
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