Liege

7. Tragedy

Bible leaves for a swift campaign in the borders:"Go there, crush the rebels at once and return to protect Jeff" were his instructions.

But soon after he arrives at the battlefield things start going wrong. The rebels weren't just a few disorganised tribes, they had more resources than they thought. Also, they had the advantage of knowing the terrain.

Under the cover of dense fog, Bible's company gets ambushed while trying to regroup in a forest. Bible was forced to fight at close range, killing several rebels but he was hit on his right temple with the rim of a heavy shield, and the gushing wound is bleeding profusely.

He can see with tears in his eyes that most of his group has been massacred. He can hear the cries of the dying soldiers while he runs through the forest, pursuing his attacker.

Perhaps because of the loss of blood, he's starting to feel disoriented, tripping over tree roots and stumps. The thin rain that started falling a while ago doesn't help, enveloping everything in a grey blur.

A piercing pain suddenly makes him stop - an arrow just pierced the skin of his calf.

He sits down to try to remove the arrow but he feels nauseous. He grabs his dagger trying to at least cut the arrow's shaft. The contours of the trees seem to be moving and his eyelids are becoming heavier. He collapses.

Lying bloody on the grass, a layer of thin rain dampening his clothes, his hair stuck to his face with a mixture of blood, tears, rainwater and mud, his last thoughts go to Jeff.

He hopes he can always be happy and safe and live a long life.

***

At the palace, Jeff is planning where to go next. He can't stay now that his brother has been anointed crown prince. He couldn't even attend the ceremony to avoid drawing attention to himself.

He's become someone who makes his father and brother uncomfortable.

He's not all that bothered, he spends his days composing. He has a burst of creativity and he's so absorbed into his music that he can go several days without sleeping or eating properly until he finishes a song.

He wrote some verses about lovesickness, which he sings with his beautiful deep voice:

Mær er mér tíðari en manna hveim
ungum í árdaga ;
ása ok alfa þat vill engi maðr
at vit samt séim.

To me more dear than in days of old
was ever maiden to man;
But no one of gods or elves will grant
that we both together should be.

He is awaiting Bible's return with anticipation. Will he accept his decision, will he be happy to live a simple life with him?

***

Then one day the news of Bible's death reach the palace. Someone who survived the bloody battle saw him badly injured, and that was the last time anyone saw him. His body hasn't been recovered, so he's technically missing in combat, but believed dead.

Jeff feels so much pain, that for some time he thinks he can't survive. How can he go on living? This time, not even the music can help him.

He organises Bible's funeral, to keep on living. Since they haven't got the body of the deceased, they put some of his belongings in a pyre, set them on fire, and then they bury the ashes in a grave marked by standing stones.

Bible doesn't get a grand ceremony nor a place of honour in the castle's cemetery but he was generally liked and respected. Many of the soldiers attend the funeral and pay respects, bringing gifts for the grave, and drinking and singing in his honour.

After the ceremony is over, Jeff asks his father via one of his aids to send him far away. It's Jeff's desire to work for the kingdom near the border, away from court life.

His father agrees, there's nothing he would prefer more than for Jeff to quietly disappear.

They find a suitable appointment and prepare for his departure, planned just after the royal wedding.

Jeff is genuinely happy for his brother and for the one who once was his bethrothed.

***

During the wedding banquet, he is drinking heavily on his own, thinking of Bible.

One of the bride's ladies in waiting comes to sit next to him.

"Do you remember me?"

Jeff stares at her blankly. Her face looks vaguely familiar. He nods.

"The knight who was with you. He loved you, right? And you loved him back." She says, as a matter of fact.

Jeff stares at her, open-mouthed. With the slow movements of a drunken man he nods again.

"But he's gone..." He says in a whisper.

"I love Eleanor in the same way." Says her, looking in the newlyweds direction.

They look at each other for a good while without talking. Then Jeff gives her a hug and fills her glass.

"Let's drink for the love that cannot be." Says Jeff.

Far away, in the main table of the banquet, the king looks towards his son and his heart warms up a little, thinking that Jeff has finally a love interest.