Shadows and Results

Chapter II

     Curled up like a baby with a serene look in his eye as if were a fish in the sea without the existence of a predator, or a bird soaring high in the sky, lay Marden. He had a smile which reflected a pleasure that apparently none of them had ever experienced.

      They followed the man in and timidly surrounded the bed, simply looking at him. The robed man did not seem concerned for any kind of danger. They all stood silent, staring into Marden's eyes, which occasionally blinked. His head lay on a pillow, and he clutched the blanket as if in effort to convey an ecstasy he felt.

      They were speechless, as if partially experiencing the wonder that held Marden themselves.

 The man turned toward the three, which gripped their attention. None of them realized it, but they now had the same expression on their faces as did Marden. Nodding in reverse, the man looked toward the door. Slowly, and definitely not soberly, the three paced themselves out. Were they now his slaves? The man followed them out and shut the door.

    He led them back through the arch and turned left through the hallway that they had seen moments before. He waved an arm again, and lit another torch. They followed the hallway right and another torch lit proceeding a wave. They passed a shut door on their left and came to another ahead of them.

     Going through it, the man stood aside as the three passed by. They robotically found chairs to sit in. Opposite them was an old, wooden desk with a lamp and other various clutter. Behind them were walls lined with bookshelves overflowing with dusty books, but the room was full of rolled carpets, bedding, and old disintegrating wooden boxes full of who-knew-what. The three sat in red-padded, golden-wooded (albeit decrepit) backed chairs. The man pulled a chair for himself out of the crook of the desk and turned it around, sitting to face the three.

     He chuckled after glancing at the three. The goofy look was still plastered on their faces. He decided to let it wear off naturally. "I won't ask anything of you at the moment, especially not questions. I'd rather not disturb your current state. You may not remember all of what I tell you, but what you do retain should be adequate."

     Nodding to himself at this, he reached around his back for a glass with some water in it. He drank what little there was and sat it back down.  He stretched and yawned. he looked back at the three again. Not seeing any fatigue in their eyes, he decided to continue. "Marden is healing. Yes, he had been hurt, and was planning something awful. That part is true.." he had folded his hands and was looking down, sorting through the details himself. "The person that told you was probably the same person that told me.. or through the grapevine, as it were." He looked up. "Anyway, he WAS going to do something bad, but it's been put to rest. He has a bright future before him; he just needs to walk out enough of his days to gather the understanding for

himself."

     "Sufficed to say, I wish no harm to come his way." He looked back down the hallway, as to insure no one could hear him, and turned to the three, again. "I haven't told him this, yet, and I should probably do so before anyone else, but not telling anyone is driving me mad, so here it is. Marden is my son. I handed him over to Abberaddus to find a family to care for him and raise him apart from me. Doing so sounds cruel and possibly hard-hearted on my part, I know, but I believe he would have been robbed had he been raised by his real parents... there are reasons. At the moment they are not important, though they may be soon."

     He sat back, finding a more comfortable position. He looked away in thought and began tapping his foot. He turned back to look at the three once more. "How y'all doin' over there?"

     They just smiled back at him. A chuckle was let out his nose. He looked down the hallway again, and back. "All right, well, I'll have to encharge you now. Enough info has been given, for the moment. We'll see each other again... one day."