A Whisper to the North

Chapter XXV ✠ The Fair Judgement

Una stayed next to Frey this entire night, dreadful night, kneeling on the floor next to the bed. Many servants came in and offered to help Una take her away from that place, but Una refused. It wasn't until Gareth came in that Una turned her cheek away from Frey for a moment. She gently turned her torn neck to look into the pale light coming from his oil lamp.

"Why do your cousin's servants pester me so in my hour of lament?" Una uttered soft and low.

"They do not understand how you feel, for death is as common as a cold here," Gareth answered.

"So, they do not weep for those passed into the light?" Una asked as Gareth came close to her and gazed down at Frey's lifeless body.

"No. Many of the servants have abandoned their deformed babes in the wood beyond the castle, so what Llewellyn has told me over the years." Gareth said as he sat on the edge of the bed behind Una.

"I came to tell you that we will bury him at first light. I am sorry, Una Elisedd, for your loss." Gareth said, bending down and looking at the lamp he holds in his hands.

He had lost someone so near and dear to him this night. While Frey struggled to take his last breaths, a messenger was on his way north to deliver Gareth's graven news of his father. His father, the great Idris, ruler, and the king of Wessex had died. No sooner than moments ago did Gareth receive this news. He came to tell Una, but what good what it does now. It would only add to Una's sorrows. Gareth just longs to console Una in her grief.

He knows what it is like to lose someone like this, not just his father. Mildred, his older sister, had died from sickness a decade ago, a day before his fifteenth name day. He remembered she cried because she had no gift for him, but Gareth insisted that her gift be that she lives to see the sunrise the next day. She could never give him that gift.

"A Christian burial, I presume?" Una uttered.

"Yes," Gareth said, looking at Una's hand, gently placed over Frey's forearm.

"Frey was not Christian," Una said.

"I'm assuming he was not nihilistic either." Gareth grinned.

"No, he believed in greater forces beyond this. He believed in the Gods." Una said, resting her head against the bed.

"You have abandoned yours, so it's pointless to you how he is laid to rest, for Gods do not exist for you. I wonder, how is it that you wish to be laid to rest if there is not a ceremony for you?" Gareth said, looking at the dried blood on Frey's colorless skin and clothes.

"Is that something to be talking about during an hour like this?" Una said, leaning her head back, feeling her neck splinter in pain.

"It is most certainly not but considering that I leave tomorrow for another burial ceremony, I suppose it should let Llewellyn know. I doubt you will tell her yourself, for I know you think yourself invincible." Gareth said, standing up.

"I am quite mortal, Gareth. I will surely tell her before I die here. Perhaps an old oak grove, like the old ways. However, I will not be sacrificed as in the old way. I want to be left to be ravaged by the wolves." Una's voice trailed off as she rationalized what Gareth just said.

"Gareth?" Una said, turning her knees to the side and releasing her touch on Frey.

"It has been an eventful reunion, dearest Una. However, my coronation begins promptly tomorrow at nightfall. After I settle with my cousins in the next hour, I shall return home. I pray that you find solace in this dark hour. You must be brave, Una. As you said, you have been abandoned." Gareth said, walking back with the lamp.