Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

101 - Letters From The North

Asgard's cells recounted, perhaps, to their heyday, but like everything else, frozen in time; the weedy stones, the leaks, the rusty locks, the high ceiling, for the round cell was in a tower with openings high above the heads of its prisoners, through which freezing rain soaked the place on inclement days.

In another cell and in another time, the door opened with a great clang and Hilda's counselor walked into that dismal place where the prisoner was imprisoned by the hands in precious shackles, but attached to the opposite walls and very high, so that he seemed to be hanging by open arms.

That prisoner was an Athena Saint.

The visitor locked the door behind him, and the boy raised his swollen eyes to see a young man standing before him who had a red fringe over one eye; an outfit that seemed to hark back to any kind of nobility, an earring in his ear and a diadem in his hand.

"What is your name and what did you come here for?" asked the boy in common-tongue.

"Where's Jamian?" returned the Athena Saint to his side.

"Jamian?" asked Alberich.

"The Raven Saint!"

"Your friend is very well taken care of. He is locked up just like you in some of our many cells in Valhalla."

He struggled in the amethyst handcuffs, but then there was nothing he could do against the spell that bound his hands.

"He is alive, which is more than we should have done for invaders like you." continued Alberich. "And if you do not cooperate, I am afraid the God Warriors of Asgard will leave you here until both of your bodies rot and descend to Helheim. Do you understand what I say? Until you finally perish."

"Damn it..."

The Athena Saint couldn't believe that he and Jamian were trapped in a place like that, where their Cosmos were worthless; he hated himself, as at first they were welcomed with open arms only to be surrendered and removed from their Cloths in a bloody battle that had ended with both bodies being taken to the dungeons of Valhalla.

"Why are you doing all this?!?" asked the Saint again.

"You invaded our lands. That's what happens to Asgard trespassers."

"We come in peace!" shouted the boy.

The guard didn't answer him.

"What is your name?" asked Alberich, but the boy did not answer him.

The boy in the darkness approached him with a lamp that illuminated the Hyoga's wounded face: his clear eyes, his hair stained with blood, but still carrying the color of the northern sun, the thick accent. Alberich showed him the diadem he held in his hand, a shiny, though badly cracked, circlet of white and blue bronze in the shape of a beautiful, spread-winged bird. His voice was almost whispered so close to the Saint.

"лебедь."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise and he stared into Alberich's one eye, which was a pale green.

"You are the Cygnus Saint, are you not?" Alberich asked in Russian, surprising Hyoga.

Although curious, Hyoga remained silent, when he was finally surprised one last time by Alberich's cunning.

"You are Cygnus Hyoga, the Sanctuary Saint."

Hyoga's eyes accused and finally gave the certainty that Alberich needed and the boy got up, turning his back to Hyoga and leaving the lamp on a nearby table. He took a deep breath and returned to Hyoga's side.

"So you are Camus' disciple." The boy's eyes widened once more.

"What? Do you know my Master Camus?"

"Yes." replied Alberich; while Hyoga searched for words, the boy took out from under his tunic that he wore an arrowhead pendant that Hyoga immediately recognized as Aioros' amulet, which was used to mark the traitors of the Sanctuary, but which came to be worn with pride by those who believed in the Hero of Sagittarius. "Camus gave this to me a long time ago. I am Alberich."