Greywolf

  "What way?" Greywolf could hear the wariness in Wysper's voice which matched his own, since he didn't trust that woman as far as he could throw Titan. Shite, I can't even pick up Wysper right now, let alone throw her.

  Zanzabel gave Wysper a mysterious smile. "I know you think me a spy for Muzen, and I was. However, in truth I am a spy for my lord Osiris. You see, Queen Zenobia had grown suspicious of my loyalty, and asked Osiris to go through my memories the same way Muzen went through yours. He discovered my deception, but instead of having me put to death, he walled off a piece of my mind and placed all the memories of his discovery within them before sending me back to Muzen as a two-faced Janus."

  Greywolf frowned. "Muzen should've noticed something was wrong."

  Zanzabel turned her mysterious smile on him. "Muzen would have, had he not begun relying on Yrg to do the searching for him. Yrg always thought she knew more than she did."

  "I'd say she thinks a lot less, now."

  Zanzabel shuddered. "Seeing Yrg reduced to a puppet... Anyway, Osiris always gives me several enchanted crystals to keep with me, which I use to contact him directly. They resemble simple mana stones, but once I break the crystal, the mana released brings up his image, which we will be able to see and hear as he can see and hear us. I need to give him my report, but I will also explain the situation, and see if knows of a ritual we can perform that might satisfy the barbarians."

  "I think that's a really bad idea," Greywolf said. Zanzabel gave him a puzzled look and he added, "Osiris and Asena hate each other. I mean, Asena was with Alexander the Magnificent when he conquered Aegyptus, and she made all the Celestials kneel before him, including Osiris. Celestials don't forget insults, and when he realizes I'm Asena's son—”

  "Greywolf," Castor said, interrupting him, "how's Asena going to react when she discovers you've gone against her orders and betrothed yourself to the girl she forbade you to save?"

  "I'm trying not to think about that. I mean, she'll be a little upset."

  "A little?" Castor snorted. "We'll be lucky if she doesn't break your bones throwing you around, before ripping out Wysper's heart and eating it."

  Wysper drew herself up. "I am not afraid to die... at a goddess's hands."

  She thinks Asena's a goddess? "Wysper, I didn't survive Muzen just to see my mother kill you instead. Wotan's blood, she's going to be furious enough with me, but if she finds out Osiris is involved..." How can I make them understand? Asena’s more likely to snarl than slay, but she hates most other Celestials because of what happened to her.

  "Regardless," Castor argued, "having an Aegyptus betrothal agreement should satisfy the Great Khan."

  "Then I will contact Osiris." Before Greywolf could protest, Zanzabel reached into a hidden pocket of her dress and pulled out what looked like a blue mana stone. "We will be speaking in our language until Lord Osiris decides otherwise, so this may take a while." She walked away from the others, skirting the pool before stopping close to the opposite side of the room. Her back was to us as she flung the crystal down to the floor.

  It smashed in a flare of blue light, revealing the blue image of a lean man wearing robes. He was bald, with a hawk-like face, and clean shaven except for a chin beard like a dark strip going down to his center chest.

  He looked up from whatever he was doing as Zanzabel knelt and placed her forehead on the floor. He spoke to her in a language unlike the Sasnayam tongue, with more hard sounds like Germanic but also with odd, softer sounds as well as she replied to whatever he had said. He made a slight motion with his hand and Zanzabel rose to her knees before they resumed talking.

  Castor lightly gripped Greywolf’s shoulder. "While they're jabbering away at each other, let's get you cleaned up." Castor helped him get his trousers and groin protector off, then supported Greywolf as he rose from the bed and into the pool. Wysper's eyes went wide as he eased Greywolf into the water. Hasn't she ever seen a naked man before? Maybe she hasn't, strange as that seems.

  Ah, warm water; that's a lot better. Everything still hurt, but Greywolf’s muscles relaxed a bit as the water flowed from one side of the pool to the other. Castor let him go. "Woman, is there a cloth I can use to wash his wound with?"

  "My name is Servant-mistress Pigeon," the small woman replied, "and I will attend to him. You," biting off the word, "will snag the material with those claws." She went to the dais and pulled on an ornamental knob, opening a hidden drawer. She pulled out a red cloth with black stripes and returned, kneeling on Greywolf’s injured side while Wysper knelt behind his head. Greywolf closed his eyes as she began running her fingers through his hair. Then he reopened them as Pigeon started washing out the wound, enduring the pain as he grit his teeth.

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  Pigeon finally finished and Greywolf sighed in relief, the small woman rinsing out the cloth in the water as Zanzabel said something in the Sasnayam language. Pigeon responded, then laid the cloth out next to the pool to dry before rising with Wysper. Both of them walked over to where Osiris' image was sitting cross-legged in front of Zanzabel. They bowed and then knelt, Osiris asking what sounded like a question and Pigeon responding, before Wysper responded as well.

  Greywolf knew he should’ve been worried, but watching the water change from red to light pink as he listened to Wysper's husky voice, without understanding the words, was pleasant. Maybe I'll close my eyes, just for a moment...

  Castor's claws pressed down on Greywolf’s shoulders just enough to jerk him awake. Osiris' image was floating right above the water on the opposite end of the pool, sitting cross-legged with his robes covering his feet. He smiled. "Well met, Greywolf, son of Asena," he said, speaking in the language of the Germanic tribes. "I assume you know the old tongue of the North-land?"

  Greywolf gave him a wary nod. "That was the first tongue I lore-learned at Asena's knee. How can I be of service?"

  "By telling me whether we are accursed of each other, or shield-friends."

  Remember who you're dealing with. "I have no quarrel with you, King-priest Osiris, though Asena may."

  Osiris' image chuckled. "Three things I know to be certain: the sun will rise in the East, the Nile will flood, and Asena will hold onto her grudges. Knowing this, I wonder at your boldness in desiring life-oath to the human girl, Wysper."

  Greywolf reared back in surprise. "Life-oath? This was to be betrothal."

  Osiris shook his head. "I explained the ancient customs and what they meant, then gave her the oath-choice. Wysper wants, or in truth, needs, to be life-bonded with you."

  "But she has no year-lore of me, or what I truly am."

  "She believes you are a demigod of the north and that is enough." Greywolf opened his mouth to protest but shut it again as Osiris raised his hand. "Open your ears. Muzen crushed her faith without removing the shadows from her mind the Fae of Winter embedded, and even though time will wash those shadows away, she needs to believe you are one, or risk despair strong enough for her to seek death."

  "Life-oath means bonding together until death. What if she knows regret over this?"

  "Greywolf, by the customs of the North-land tribes and Aegyptus, you are both allowed to live apart with other spouses. Yet I do not believe this will be needed unless politics rears its ugly head. You two are meant to be together."

  "I felt heart-longing the first time I saw her," Greywolf blurted out without thought.

  Osiris' image smiled. "She admits the same. This is good, yet other reasons exist for you to swear her a life-oath." The smile slipped away as he sighed. "When Celestials came to shatter spears with the Daemo princes, not all fought. Some established guest-halls, fortified places where warriors could rest or recover from grievous wounds, and we used the humans we found as servants, raising them higher than they ever could have done alone. In return, they worshiped us as gods."

  "And do so still."

  He nodded. "Which was our sin, dark-shadowed as heart of my shield-brother, Set. We never took time to see them as people, only objects to be used and toyed with. Too late did the Oldenbloods know their sin, the corruption it caused... and yet, could not change course." Osiris' image pointed a finger at Greywolf’s chest. "The Oldenbloods are dying, and our dual natured children already suffer from the slow loss of mana. But you are different. I know Ghostdog from a long, long, time ago, and he is only being that could get a child on one of us who was exactly like we are... or exactly like we used to be when young."

  "At tent-hall meeting with the Great Khan, a woman with no eyes told him I was Asena reborn, but changed." Greywolf scratched his head. "Understanding swept past me. I mean, all children part of each parent, not just one or other."

  Folding his hands in his lap, Osiris' image shrugged. "Truth, except Shadowlands was place of conception. Grey is strange and Ghostdog understands much he will not speak of." Greywolf gave him a sour look and the image chuckled. "Often have I felt same as you after talking to him." He glanced off to the side, as if looking at something Greywolf couldn't see, then back again. "But this is why life-oath to Wysper so important. Bonding with human means living as one, understanding as one, loving as one."

  Osiris regarded him a moment. "Greywolf, we who live in golden halls must someday answer for dark-shadowed sin, and I would see you remain unstained. Great burden I place on young shoulders, yet important that life-lesson is understood: we are not gods."

  "Asena teaches such lore daily with her actions, yet deep-truth in the words spoken." Greywolf glanced at Wysper. She was trying to keep her face a stoic mask, yet he could see the shadow of fear behind it. She thinks I'm going to say no... and a part of me wants to do just that.

  Greywolf was scared. He would’ve never admitted that to anyone, but bonding with Wysper for life meant everything would change. No more guarding caravans and fighting off bandits alongside Asena, no more sharing the warmth of lonely widows or wrestling carnally with slender Daemo...

  But it meant never again performing carnally in front of hooting merchants just so Asena could drink herself into next week. It meant knowing where he'd be living next week, next month, maybe even next year. It meant having friends and a place where he belonged.

  It meant finding a home. Greywolf smiled at Wysper as he switched to Greco. "Papa used to tell me that home's not a place but a person you love, and that if I ever found her, to never let her go. I'll be your home until the end of your life, if you want me."