Brotherhood Saga 03: Death (88 page)

“Good evening,” the young man said, looking up as Odin stepped off the last stair.

“I thought I was being quiet,” Odin smiled.

“You were. I just have good hearing.”

“Is it all right if I bother you for a little while?”

“It
’s fine.” Parfour closed the book with a single flush of his hand. “Can’t sleep?”

“I haven
’t been able to sleep during thunderstorms lately. Don’t ask me why.”

“They seem to be worse in the winter,” the young man shrugged, nodding as Odin seated himself in the chair across from him. “Something on your mind?”

“I want to go back to the place where we burned my father’s body.”

“You mean on the outskirts of town,” Parfour said, waiting for a nod before he continued. “Would you like me to take you, or…”

“I’ve asked Virgin to go along with me.”

“Not to push you into answering, but… is he—“

“The person I’ve been sleeping with?” Odin asked. “Yes. He is.”

“All right then.”

“What about you? Have you found a girl?”

“Unfortunately, no. My service to the church requires me to be celibate.”

“You’ll be a priest soon, you know.”

“I know, but I
’m not worried about finding someone to sleep with—at least, not anytime soon.”

“It
’ll come in time,” Odin said. “You just have to wait for the right person.”

“Where did you meet him, if you don
’t mind me asking?”

“Outside the Abroen. I asked if he would take me to the capital and he said yes.”

“Just like that?”

“He
’s a bit of a nomad. He only left because… well… you know.”

At that, Parfour offered a nod, immediately dispelling need for further clarification.

After stretching his arms over his head, Odin leaned back in his seat, looked about the room, then allowed his eyes to fall back on his friend, who offered a slight nod of approval before rising and making his way to a tea table, where he filled two glasses full of the amber liquid before returning.

“You plan on going back to the kingdom,” Parfour said, reseating himself soon after passing Odin
’s cup to him. “At least, I assume that’s what you’re doing, all things considering.”

“I have to. I
’ve been gone for nearly a year.”

“Most everyone who was here left soon after you disappeared.”

“Icklard and Domnin? Ardut? What about Carmen and Nova? Where’d they go?”

“Icklard and Domnin followed the battalion to the mouth of Denyon and returned with the main human force shortly afterward. Ardut left once the ill and injured here were tended to and Nova and Carmen left three or four days after you left.”

“So they
’re already back in the capital. All of them.”

“I assume so, yes.”

“Have you heard any news from Ornala?”

“Other than that they
’ve been expanding the town south of the wall to house the refugees from here and Ke’Tarka? No. Not really.”

“So you don
’t know anything about Nova and Carmen then.”

“Sadly, no.”

With a sigh, Odin sipped his tea, then bowed his head before lacing his fingers beneath the table, all the while trying to cope with the reality that it would be at least a week once they embarked from here until he would know anything about his companions, if then.

I won
’t know if Katarina’s ready to have her child,
he thought.
Or if Carmen really does have that giant dog.

Hopefully some semblance of normalcy had returned to his friends
’ lives. Nova and Katarina deserved to start their family and raise their baby boy, if only because they’d gone through so much together over the past few years, and while Carmen would never necessarily have a normal life until she was reunited with her husband, at least she had the company of others.

“Odin,” Parfour said, tilting his head down to look him in the eyes. “Are you all right?”

“Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About how much I’ve missed.”

“You went through a rough time. You deserved to find happiness.”

“You really think I’ve found it?”

“Do you?”

Yes,
he thought.
Maybe.

He couldn
’t argue that Virgin had done much for his happiness. Without him, he would have never been able to find his way through the Abroen, would have died when the Nagani had attacked him, would never have had the courage to strike Jarden over the head or steal the book and make his flight from the castle. He would have never even made it outside the doorway had it not been for the Halfling’s help, nor would he have escaped the city in the nick of time to escape the Elves quickly pursuing them. Had Virgin not stepped into his life—had he not placed a knife to his throat and threatened to rob him—he would have never went as far as he had and would not have returned in such wholesome conditions.

Were he to say that he had not found happiness in the one man he considered to be the most important person in his life, he would not only be deceiving himself, but the entirety of what had occurred between them.

“I don’t know if I’ve found it,” Odin sighed, tilting his head back up. “I know that I’m happier than I was before.”

“It takes time, recovering from a friend
’s death. You’ll probably never be over it, but at least each day brings you one step further out of the pit of despair you’ve been in.”

Odin closed his eyes.

Though he believed heavily in the idea that time would free anyone from the persecution life bestowed upon them, he could not live with the idea that his father would never again grace his life.

After he stood, bid Parfour goodnight, then returned to bed, he only realized once more what he would have to do.

In but a few weeks’ time, he would come to know the Book of the Dead and all its secrets.

They stood on the outskirts of Dwaydor in full winter attire staring at a place where, almost a year ago, an Elf had burned. Wrapped in a coat so thick Odin felt as he would be swallowed by its thick layers and its fur-lined interior, he shifted in place as if fumbling through the maw of some great predatory rodent and tried to keep his emotions intact, but to no avail. Tears stung the corners of his eyes, snot filled the insides of his nose, and the horrible cold seemed all the more willing to destroy him in a place where emotions could not be summoned to attend the weak-hearted.

This is it,
he thought, bowing his head to shield his eyes not only from his friend and companion, but to recant on the past.

He had, once upon a time, thought and said those
words on the way home from Ohmalyon—when, nearly two years ago, he and the man he had not known was his father looked upon the Ornalan Coastline and saw in the distance the shining figure of a castle. It had been in that moment that he believed his future would be intact, that he would soon become a knight and would one day lead another squire of his own, to defend their kingdom from any outside force. That moment, as distant as it seemed, was all the more clear in his mind, if only because his previous thought had once more led him to things that had happened long ago.

“Are you all right?” Virgin asked.

“I don’t know,” Odin said.

He did not lie, as in retrospect he could not discern his emotions for what they really were. There seemed an ounce
of materialism within his mind, that of which came from the moments they had shared and the time in which they had spent together, and there was obviously an immense amount of gratitude for the fact that the Elf had taught him so much. For that, he couldn’t understand just what he was feeling, as it seemed in moments of great distress that sadness ruled everything and kept any good soul from relating what they currently felt.

I
’m sad,
Odin thought,
and want to cry.

But he couldn
’t, of course, for Miko had said that human emotions were for the weak—that crying for someone, dead or not, was to reveal a weakness that could be easily exploited. Any intelligent person would be able to see that someone crying was, in fact, vulnerable, and could as such use it to their advantage, but wouldn’t any intelligent creature know that such actions were the result of a deeply-rooted method in which all sentient life had been crafted?

Not knowing what to say or do, Odin tilted his head up and looked at Parfour, who had since crouched down near the side
of the road.

“It
’s never recovered,” Parfour said, tilting his eyes up at Odin when the patch of scorched earth was revealed from beneath the snow. “Not once.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Odin asked.

“I’m not sure. Maybe it means nothing. Maybe the grass just wasn’t ready to grow back and was just waiting. Or maybe it means something more. Maybe…”

Maybe… what?
Odin wondered.

That the earth lay testament to his father
’s passing—that the grass, upon which the birch and bark had been set, had mourned for the Elf’s passing; that the land, so old and full of wonder, had marked this place as something great: as a cannon to all living creatures to know that something great and wonderful and old and mysterious had given its life o save its progeny? It could be said that the earth, when greatly wounded, could cry out in pain—that Gaia, so great and mighty, could mark the passage of time in ways that normal men could see—but if that were the case, then why would it be marked here, in such forms of scorched grass, if not in the form of something wonderful, like a tree or even the gentle formation of rocks in the shape of something wonderful?

“I want to say a prayer,” Parfour said, standing, taking a few steps back and lacing both hands together before allowing them to fall, conjoined, over his waist. “Is that all right with you?”

“It’s fine with me,” Odin said.

In truth, a prayer might have been just what he needed.

Parfour bowed his head and closed his eyes. Odin did the same, though didn’t bother to wait and see whether or not Virgin would reciprocate.

“Dear God,” the young acolyte said, his voice pure, strong and focused despite
its obvious tremble. “I call upon you today to know that we mourn the loss of the creature you created and respect the decision you held in calling upon his service in the great land of Heaven. As one of your disciples, and as one of your children, I know how difficult the decision must have been to take our great friend away from us, but I know that you did not do so out of ignorance or arrogance. Please, hear my plea—keep our friend safe and within your heart, beneath your arm and behind your rib, and please, allow us the strength and courage we need in order to continue on with our lives. It is without you that all men are lost, and in such times of pain and sorrow, we cannot afford to wander blindly without your candle. Amen.”

“Amen,” Odin and Virgin said.

A slight wind came up and disturbed the snow on the patch of scorched earth.

Odin closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he said.

Virgin tightened his arm around his shoulders.

It would seem in such dark moments that happiness could not be found.

“Are you sure you have to leave now?” Parfour asked, shivering in three layers of clothing as Odin secured his horse
’s saddle across its stomach and checked to make sure all of their belongings were safe and sound. “You know you’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“I know,” Odin said, turnin
g to brace his hands on his young friend’s shoulders. “I need to get back to the capital, return to my king and let him know that I’m still alive, regardless of whatever rumors are currently spreading throughout the kingdom.”

“All right,” the young man sighed, tilting his head down to stare at the boots on his feet.

Odin closed the distance between them, wrapped an arm around Parfour’s shoulder, then planted a firm kiss against the young man’s brow. “Thank you for welcoming us into your home. It means the world to me.”

“Come back soon, won
’t you?”

“I will,” Odin smiled. “I promise.”

Virgin lifted his head from his place in the stable and offered a slight smile and nod.

“Well my friend,
” Odin sighed. “I guess this is goodbye for now.”

“Not goodbye,” Parfour said. “
‘See you later.’”

“See you later.” Odin paused, then smiled and said,
“I like that.”

“You ready to go?” Virgin asked.

“Yeah. I am.”

They embarked from Dwaydor with the sole intent of crossing the expanse between the snow-covered Ornalan Plains within the span of seven days. Though the journey would be tough, especially with so much snow and seated atop the only horse they could afford to take, Odin couldn’t help but feel they would accomplish what they set out to do with little trouble.