Goddess Of Ashes and Sun

CHAPTER SEVEN (Shea)

I froze, staring at Njord. What. The. Hell. Was he doing here?!

"No hello? That's no way to greet an old friend now is it?" He said, giving me a disapproving look.

"How- Why are you here?" I whispered, still in shock. This was wrong. Something was very very wrong. I was thinking of the worst. Njord had been captured too. Or he was working for Baran. He wouldn't sink that low, would he?

"I wanted to see how you are faring. It seems like you're settling in, which is good," he said lazily, waving his hands vaguely.

"You know what I meant. Now answer the right way, Njord," I snapped.

With the way he was acting, I was beginning to fear that the worst option was the only one.

"Still as demanding, as usual, I guess that'll never change. I'm here under my own free will."

"How?" The question was simple but it held to much weight to it. Part of me already knew I wasn't going to like the answer.

"Because Shea, I'm one of Baran's most trusted advisors and his best assassin. Though I must say, you might be upstaging me, but I guess I can allow it. After all, we are friends, and that's what friends do, right Shea?" He said, grinning.

For once, I didn't know what to say. But, after a minute of stunned silence, I finally spoke but didn't answer his open-ended question.

"The Marshland healer, that was Idunn wasn't it?"

"Do you like the new look!? She was always getting terribly sunburnt with the pasty white skin she had before. Though, she did have a bit of a drastic personality change. She's now longer the gentle, soft, woman she used to be. She's a lot more... guarded. But you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Njord chuckled.

"Who else." Who else had betrayed me? Betrayed us.

"There's one other North god besides me and Idunn. And a few Grace gods as well. You've already met one of the lower ones, like the tík Psyche," he answered, counting the numbers on his sea-worn hands.

"Why?" How could he just throw away all those years of friendship for this monster?! Did loyalty mean nothing to this bastard?!

"How about you to answer me some of my questions first? After all, this is my meeting. You see, Shea, Lord Baran's court is having some doubts since you refused to sign the papers we so kindly provided for you, and we would like to ask formally, are you with us Shea? If you say yes, we'll lift some of your restrictions, maybe even let you see your friends downstairs. If you say no, well, I guess we'll have to go back to the same old rules. And your friends downstairs will receive a not so pleasant surprise." He patted me on the shoulder, "Think about it wont you? I'll be back to collect your answer soon." Then he disappeared.

Shit.

He used to be my friend. I used to love the laid back god of the sea, but now his easy-going nature was like a slap in the face. The bastard had the nerve to side with Baran, the nerve to throw away years, decades, of loyalty and love out the window to grovel at the feet of a monster. A mortal as well! There had to be a good reason why. Njord never did much unless he got something out of it. Baran probably promised him his wife back. He still wasn't over her.

"Are you ready to go back?"

I jumped and looked up. Kaleb was standing awkwardly in the corner. I'd completely forgotten he was there.

"I find my way back by myself, I'm not as incompetent as you think," I snapped.

He shrugged and left. The little asshole. He didn't care that my world had just been thrown upside down. I was still trying to collect all the pieces of my mind. I had to figure out who else was sided with Baran. And I had to give Njord an answer, but most of all, I needed to find my ties.

"Damn it Jord!" I whispered sitting down hard at the top of the stairs. Why did this always seem to happen to me?

To my left, you could see the night sky from a small slit of a window. There were clouds in the north, but you could still see the stars, and there were so many out tonight. I remember a time when I could look out at those stars in peace. There wasn't a pointless war going on, the people I loved weren't stolen away or trying to kill me, the hálf-kyn weren't being hunted down and brutally murdered. I longed for that time again. I longed for peace.

I put my pounding head in my hands. This would be so much easier if I didn't give a damn about anything or anyone. I could just climb my way to the top of Baran's pecking order and burn the scoundrel alive. But I do care about people, and actions like that could get them killed.

I took a deep breath, stood, and began the long descent down the tower. It was time. I needed to take a visit downstairs.