The TwiceBorn

What Is Done Can Not Be Undone

"I'm falling apart...falling down on the world like snow..."--Lorenzana

Gre pushed himself back through the grass, still clutching the filled waterskins.  As the grass enveloped him, he paused and rested his face against the cool dirt.What he’d witnessed was private, he had no doubt of that but it had also been…sacred.

Yes, sacred.  Something pure and left undefined. There were no words to describe it; not what he’d seen…but what he’d felt.  He raised his head and glanced, one last time, at the couple across the water.  The Twiceborn still held Islinn who clung to the other woman with all the desperation of an abandoned child whose mother had returned.

And Gre realized he was afraid.  Not the heart-pounding fear and exhilaration of the battlefield, this fear was silent and swift.  It began in his soul and spread outward, rattling through his tissue and bones like a fast traveling disease of unknown origin.  But a swift killer all the same.  Because he knew when the time finally came around, they would not only be battling The Twiceborn,  they’d be battling Islinn as well.

Gre lowered his head and pushed his way back through the grass until he felt he was a safe distance away.  He tried to get to his feet and fell.  Fear had taken his legs out from under him and he sat there, breathing harshly through his mouth as he listened to his heart pound in his eardrums.  His bones were cold.

His mind floated back over all the times Behrin had ridiculed and shamed Islinn for the marks on her back and he remembered laughing along with the rest of the men as Behrin chuckled and said, “She’s good to fuck but once I’m done, she sleeps beside the bed. Damned if I’m going to wake up feeling like I’m laying on a just plowed corn field.”   

 Sure, he’d laughed.  Of course, he’d been holding the bottle back then instead of the bottle holding him and wasn’t that just the way it always turned out?  But now after what he’d just seen…the remark was laid bare and Gre saw just how callous it had been. 

He sighed heavily and struggled to his feet.  His legs shook, then held.  Good and evil.  When had it become so complicated?  Good was Brede and a passing acquaintance with the Church and its disciples.  A few coins donated to Sentinels and an occasional feeling of remorse when he woke up in a pool of drunken vomit.

Evil was foul and putrescent.  The odor of rot and filth.  When he’d been a child he’d always thought of it as shadows with teeth.  It was a simple definition that had served him well.  But now he wasn’t so sure.  He realized neither definition took love into account. 

He thought about this as he made his way back to Aubery, absently pushing branches away from his face and stepping carefully along the tangled path so he didn’t fall.

Behrin loved Islinn.  Of that Gre had no doubt but just as he’d thought before…Behrin hadn’t loved her very well.  And now…after what he’d just seen…maybe Behrin’s love had been more for himself then it had been for Islinn.

He didn’t want to think about this realization but his mind started to poke and prod at it so quickly and deeply he almost didn’t catch the sudden movement in the brush off to his left.

With a ragged cry he swung around, fussing with the crossbow and struggling to untangle the leather loops of the waterskins so he could free his other hand.

“Slow…too slow…too slow…” His mind yammered as Aubery burst through the underbrush and slammed into him.  Gre fell backwards, his head connecting against the ground with a meaty thump.  Aubery, all knees and elbows, was astride him and Gre felt the feather thin blade of the boy’s dagger at his throat.

“Hah!”  Aubery crowed triumphantly.  “Captured!  The fairy king is now my prisoner, the pink pantaloons raining down on the trap worked and now I rule the highlands!”

“Aubery, get the fuck off of me!” Gre growled but the blade remained pressed tightly to his throat.  The fetid heat of Aubery’s body pressed down on him and Gre’s anger soared.

“Get off of me! Now!”  He croaked.  Aubery shook his head adamantly.  His lips were the color of winter ice.

“I have your fairy army as well.  Nose bleeds, you know.  I caught them running through the tavern when the stars came out and the whores danced with the linens that needed to be washed.  ”

Gre relaxed and stared up at the sky.  Actually, Aubery thinking he, Gre, was the king of the fairies and slitting his throat wasn’t the worst outcome of this entire fiasco.

 He’d always hoped he’d go out drunk though.   Quickly, he decided on a different approach.

“Oh, great and wondrous one, I’ve brought you a magical elixir that will boost your prowess with a sword and enable your strength to be unrivalled.”  Gre intoned as his hand tightened on the waterskins. 

Aubery blinked.  The dagger blade wavered a bit.

“For me?  Why didn’t the cow in the middle of town in the sky tell me of this? Where is it?”

Gre propped an elbow up and dangled a waterskin. 

If I get out of this and he recovers…I’m going to kill him…

“In here, fearsome one.  The potion is guaranteed to put muscles on your reed-like girlish frame and you will no longer resemble a scrawny featherless bird. Your sword will no longer be like lifting your own weight in steel and…”

Aubery’s eyes narrowed then flicked towards the waterskins.  Gre’s voice took on a rich, rolling timbre as he warmed to his topic.

“…the potion will also make your features more alluring to women! No longer will you resemble a weasel who bathes in dirt and your personality will blossom as well!  Gone will be that whining screeching rooster mentality and that spoiled little boy demeanor! It will also…”

“That’s enough, Fairy King.”  Aubery interrupted him, a perplexed scowl on his face.  Gre grinned, even though it pressed his neck a little bit more snugly against the blade.

“Forgive my insolence, wondrous one.  But it is a powerful elixir.  Just for you. Because only one as fearsome as yourself is deserving of it.”

And that was the deciding factor.  Aubery rolled off of Gre and greedily snatched the waterskin.  Gre watched as the boy chugged down the contents.  The water would dilute everything but it would take a bit.  The Twiceborn and Islinn would make it to Lochedge and while he knew those two would have no trouble with the Hynti, it was a different story for him and Aubery. 

Gre got to his feet and headed over to a nearby tree and eased himself down.  Leaning back against the trunk, he watched Aubery chug down water.  Everything had just become a lot more difficult but Gre was a man who could see the benefits of any situation. 

And one of the benefits right now was he didn’t see any way into Lochedge.  If Aubery wanted to gallop through the Hynti on his rickety horse, more power to him.  That would save Gre the trouble of killing him.  Or they could wait for The Twiceborn to leave but who knew how long that would be? 

Or…and here was the scenario that brought a quiet smile to Gre’s lips…he could simply kill the little cock-knocker and make up some spectacular story with The Twiceborn thrown in the mix.  Of course Behrin would expect him to continue on after The Twiceborn.  The quiet smile turned into a grimace. 

He’d done a lot of favors for Behrin but this one…well; this one was just sucking the heart right out of him.  He got up and went over to his saddlebags and dug around until his searching fingers located an almost full flask.  He sat back down and watched Aubery mumble to himself as he careened about the clearing.. 

 There would be no good end to this.  Gre could feel it in his bones.