Curse Of Blood: Gods & Monsters

Chapter XXXI - Heida

Where exactly did one begin to look for a man that did not, apparently, wish to be found. Heida had searched in all his usual haunts and called out to him so much so that her voice was raw for the shouting. All who were abed sleeping could not very well have stayed so with all the noise she had produced.

But Roth was not in the practice yard where he was wont to exercise of an early morning, he was not in any of the nausts tinkering with the boats, and he was not in or around any of the storehouses. With a disgruntled sigh, Heida settled down amongst the fragrant ling, beneath the shade of a cedar, and rested her head back as she thought about where else to look. Lord, but it was warm today. Perhaps once she had discovered Roth's whereabouts, she would make the time to head down to the water and ... swim.

Of course! She hadn't thought to explore the banks of the river where the men ofttimes went swimming. Somehow she knew that he was there. It was a veritable certainty, in fact; she would have staked a fortune on it.

The cattle were already spread across the meadow, their heads bent to the lush herbage of the undulating pasture, as she hurried down the hummock towards the water's edge.

Once she attained the embankment, Heida walked along the edge scouring the area until finally she caught sight of the familiar form she sought. Roth was almost invisible in the umbrage where he sat against the broad bole of an elm, an elbow resting on each knee and his chin almost flush again his chest in a desponding manner that instantly alarmed Heida.

"Roth!" She rushed towards him, but when he raised his head she saw that his eyes were hollow and as remote as the craggy peak of Ulfrtönn itself.

Would that that was all she saw to alarm her, but as she finally drew closer, she espied what the shadow of the elm had thus far hidden. Blood. Inordinate amounts of blood.

"By Frigg!" she gasped, skidding to a halt and instantly dropping to her knees beside him. "Who has done this to you?!"

Heida reached out a trembling hand, but halted in the midst of the action, hesitating, for his eyes had become strangely hostile.

"No one has done this to me, Heida," he growled, edging further away from her the while his eyes suddenly brightened eerily.

"Well you look as though you've been in a scrimmage with a monstrous bear!" She could not help being flippant, for she saw now that he moved easily enough and was, despite all appearances, quite hale. "And by the look of things you clearly slaughtered it."

"There was no bear. I am the only monster in these woods." He was inspecting his hands again, the embers dying from his eyes and the hollowness worming back into his features again.

Though her fear had begun to abate with the realization that he was unharmed, unless of course he was only feigning the air of a hearty man, she felt the dread slink back into place, settling heavily in her gut. This scene was too grimly reminiscent of the year before at the Klanerting — the tang of copper and gore imbruing the very air with death and violence as it had done that day.

She scooted carefully from her position at his shoulder and thereat settled in front of him, her knees bent between his feet and a hand pressed gently to each of his shins as she sat back on her haunches and regarded him solemnly.

"Would I be here if you were a monster?"

His brow furrowed and his lip twitched imperceptibly, but otherwise he was motionless and aloof.

She leaned in a fraction. "There are precious few that I love, but you may count yourself amongst them, Roth. And consider, Aila and Renic could not love you either if you were indeed a monster."