Gate

Merrin scuffed his feet against the gravel path that led down the eastern wall of the Clocktower’s garden. The rest of the town was silent at this time, even the docks were quiet of all noise. At no point did he really know what he was supposed to be doing the entire day, but after bouncing from task to task, he finally made it over to Zane at the apothecary.

That was six hours ago.

Six hours of more labour than he would have done if he had just gone to work at the docks. Moving furniture made of solid oak, lifting sacks filled with anything from bonemeal to firewood, lifting full jars onto shelves, pushing a wagon from the east gate to the apothecary with no stops, and anything else Madame Rosevin could think of. Each and every task completed just reminded her of something else that needed doing that–for some reason–Zane couldn’t do.

He was supposed to be resting, but apparently even leaving the house resulted in a million other things to do because no one else was capable of doing them. Shifting kegs at Mercy’s, helping move furniture into the new houses, fixing wagon wheels. Each one just another thing that he was certain at least one other person was capable of.

Every part of his body ached worse than it had after he’d literally almost died from an explosion at the manor, and no one but Zane cared.

‘Want a bath when we get in?’ Zane asked from beside him, looking equally as tired as Merrin did.

‘And lug the water from the hearth or the well?’ Merrin reminded him not so kindly, but it wasn’t Zane he was mad at, and Zane knew this. ‘I don’t think I can.’

‘Then I’ll just use magic,’ Zane said and tugged at the strap of his bag. ‘No one will know.’

‘You actually know how to do those sorts of spells?’ Merrin asked before realising how that sounded. ‘I didn’t mean it in that way. I meant like- I don’t know what I’m saying.’

‘Merry,’ Zane said and moved in close enough to loop an arm around Merrin’s. ‘I know what you mean, and yes, I do. Madame Rosevin still refuses to teach me anything useful, but Clovara taught me a few tricks to get by. A few flame spells, water spells, minor things that will mostly go unnoticed as they’re just for use around the home. She also gave me a book on spells that are much the same to learn, so no one needs to worry about lugging buckets anywhere. Just a little further then we can relax. Okay?’

Merrin had to admit that the thought of a warm bath did sound preferable to simply climbing the stairs to his room before collapsing on top of his covers. He also couldn’t deny the idea that having Zane sort it all out for him after everything else would just be the cherry on top. It was like he could already feel the warmth seeping into his aching muscles and taste the stew that was bubbling away on the hearth. A perfect way to end a shitty day.

‘Okay,’ Merrin said and leant against Zane that bit more.

It only took another minute for them to reach the gate at the edge of the gardens, the wrought iron had seen better days, but it was still in better shape than the rest of the garden was. Well, the rest of the Clocktower at this rate. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t hold its own against the weather and anything else thrown its way.

Including the twins.

Merrin reached forwards to push the gate open, the iron screeching horrifically before refusing to move more than a centimetre. With a groan, Merrin shoved it again, it wasn’t abnormal for the gate to stick, but even with his full weight braced against the metal the gate refused to budge. Merrin leant his head against the gate and felt all the fight drain from him.

‘Please tell me you know a spell to dissolve this fucking thing,’ Merrin said, sounding far more exhausted than he had just a minute prior.

‘Even if I did, I somehow doubt that it would be a wise plan,’ Zane said and rattled the gate himself.

It reverberated against Merrin’s head and somehow he didn’t think he actually cared. He just wanted to go home.

‘Is there any other way home that doesn’t involve walking down the cliff?’ Merrin asked.

Other than the side gate, there were two other entrances to get them past the wall, though only one of them remained viable right now. The front gate had crumbled and was now impossible to get past at all unless Merrin felt like scaling the rubble, and he doubted that would end well. The only other way was the tunnel from the docks to the basement, but not only did that involve walking down the shitty steps of the cliff face to the docks, it also meant climbing the rocks to even get to the tunnel. After that they would have to climb the spiral stairs up from the basement to the Clocktower, and Merrin knew that if the cliff didn’t finish him off, the stairs would.

‘There is one way,’ Zane said, and Merrin looked over his shoulder to see Zane looking at the top of the wall. ‘Think you can climb?’

Merrin wanted to say no, but that would have meant sleeping outside in the dirt, so he peeled himself away from the gate.

‘Fine,’ he sighed. ‘Can you?’

‘I can try my best and you haul me up when you’re at the top,’ Zane said with a smile.

Merrin rolled his eyes but knew that it was inevitable he was the first one up, after all, only one of them had years upon years of experience scaling walls for the sake of fun.

‘Boost me,’ Merrin said, and waited for Zane to piece together what he meant.

Zane knelt beside the wall and laced his hands together. With a small run up, or at least as much as he could muster with the little energy he had, Zane managed to give him those few extra centimetres for him to grip the larger stone of the wall. His arm muscles screamed at him as he hauled himself up with all his remaining strength. The tiles on the top of the wall were slick with rain, but his boot found enough purchase to push him up the rest of the way.

Just as he reached his knee up to the tiles, Zane managed to reach the top of the wall with his hands, though he made no further attempt to pull himself up.

‘Come on Zee, use those muscles,’ Merrin taunted despite the exhaustion in his own body.

‘I think that’s the first time anyone has said that to me.’ Zane was already breathless, and Merrin had to hide the smile on his face.