by Luke, Monica
“Ogorec,” Ovfren asked, in a raspy voice, “Did you sleep past your time?”
Relieved he spoke, Ogorec inhaled deeply; then held Ovfren tightly before he tenderly spoke. “It is you who slept pass his time.”
Slowly, Ovfren tried to raise himself.
“All my muscles are stiff,” he said right way when he did; “And it hurts to move.”
“Lay down,” Ogorec said, as he pressed him back down to the bed, “Does it come to mind what befell you?”
“An odd looking speckled lizard.” Ovfren now remembered, “Was crawling close to my hand as I pulled water from the well to look at it. I tried to brush it aside, and it bit me, so I killed it.”
“Then what?”
“All that comes to me is the water pale fell from my grip, and I fell over onto my side and could do nothing else but lay there. I could hear you speaking to me, but I could not answer,” Ovfren answered, as he groaned when he tried to turn more to Ogorec.
“I could feel that you were trying.”
“I wanted to answer, yet I could not.”
“You answered by coming back to me,” Ogorec said tenderly.
“Oooooh ouuuuuch,” Ovfren groaned, as he tried to move again.
“Try to do nothing,” Ogorec said, at once, “I will do it all for you until you are well again.”
Just as he vowed, Ovfren did nothing for himself. Ogorec lovingly helped him to the chamber pot, each time carefully cleaning him afterwards; feed him; washed and clothed him, and at the end of the day lay beside him to keep him warm, until finally Ovfren began to be himself again.
“Such a sight you look with your hair out of place all over your head, and your beard grown out,” he said affectionately, as they lay to sleep while he recovered, “And still your face has me in awe of how handsome you are.”
Ogorec smiled, and pulled him close to him.
“Go to sleep.” He urged, “And I will hold you.”
“When I am myself again, “Ovfren said softly, “I will wash, shave, and care for you, as you have done for me.”
“Sleep.”
Ovfren closed his eyes as if to sleep, but when a thought came to him, they sprang back open.
“Ogorec,” he said, as he looked at him lovingly.
“Yes, Ovfren, “Ogorec patiently said, as he held him in his arms.
“When I did not come to bed,” he asked, “Is it why you looked for me?”
“Yes,” Ogorec answered, and lovingly teased him, “You know well, I cannot sleep without the warmth of you beside me, or without hearing the silly sounds you make in your sleep.”
“Again you saved my life,” Ovfren said, through a smile and slightly laughed at his affectionate tease, “If I did not already love you greatly, I would fall in love again.”
“I saved my life, “Ogorec said, as he thought of almost losing him, “Is not your life my life as well?”
“Yes,” Ovfren answered, and this time closed his eyes to sleep.
**
Reminded of how much he missed hunting from hunting with the Vells, Baric decided to hunt again in the Grey Forest of Worrlgen as he did long ago and when Ovfren was well again, and Ogorec able to leave him, arranged a hunt.
As all eagerly gathered, including Laad and Loth, early in the morning, they decided to hunt wild boars and rode deep into the forest, then when they spotted two adult boars, divided to hunt them.
“How is he faring?” Baric asked Ogorec, as they rode side by side.
“He is faring well,” Ogorec answered cheerfully, “And now moves without pain and dreads he is not riding with us.”
“It is good to hear it,” Baric said; then pointed, “Look!”
Their boar right ahead of them, they gave chase.
“You go to the left,” Baric said to Bayl, “And I to the right,” and divided.
Baric and Ogorec behind the boar they chase; Laad and Loth followed, but stayed farther behind able to see both groups clearly, and when Loth saw Laad take out his bow, teased him.
“Long has it been since you used it. Do you remember how?”
“I remember well,” he teased back, “Such that I may have to teach you again.”
“We shall see,” Loth said, spurring his horse.
As they rode, Laad saw Bayl turn to the right.
“My lord,” he called out, “Where do you ride, it is ahead of you?”
“A deer,” Bayl said, and more interested in it, changed his course after it, “I saw a deer.”
Belon immediately turned to stay with Bayl.
“Be wary, my lord!” he yelled, well aware of dangers in the forest if you got of course, “Of what lurks in this forest and on the paths!”
Certain Baric and Ogorec would be fine, Laad decided to follow Bayl.
“Where do you ride?” Loth called out after he noticed he suddenly turned his horse in a different direction.
“To follow Lord Bayl and Belon,” Laad quickly answered.
Without a second thought, Loth turned to follow Laad.
“Why do we change course?” he questioned, “It was right ahead of us.”
“Lord Bayl saw a deer,” he answered, as he rode, “And is going well off course and deep into the forest after it.”
The deer on view, Bayl rode harder to catch up with it, not paying attention to the path, even as Belon tried to warn.
“My lord!” he again yelled, “Watch the path!”
His mind and eyes steadfast on the deer he had in his sight, Bayl was determined to catch up to it, all the while thinking of its size and the size of its antlers to show his father.
Cautiously, looking to his left and right, Belon tried to stay with Bayl.
“This is madness,” he said, cautiously bending under the low thick branches, “Watch for the low branches, my lord!” he then yelled out.
“It is just head!” he took his eyes off the path to yell, but just as he turned back, a large tree branch in front of him caught him by the neck and swept him off his horse.
Bayl gasping for air when he hit the ground, Belon jumped from his horse and hurried to him, but when he reached him, his face looked horrorstruck, as the fear of what he yelled only moments before came to fruition when he noticed thickets from it lodged in Bayl’s throat.
“Lord Bayl!” he cried out, as he kneeled and put his hands on his neck, the blood from it flowing over his fingers as steadily as crimson looking water over rocks.
Once they reached him, both Laad and Loth did the same, and kneeled beside Bayl frantically trying to stop the bleeding.
“Blow the horn!” Laad yelled to Loth.
Quickly, Loth went to his horse to get the horn and blew fiercely until he had no air left in his lungs, and when Baric and Ogorec heard it, broke off headed towards the sound.
“What could be wrong?” Baric asked Ogorec when they quickly turned.
Both riding hard to the sound of the horn, when they saw the others kneeling over Bayl; Baric jumped off his horse and ran to him; then dropped to his knees.
“Noooooo!” his anguished howl, as he put his brother’s head on his lap and looked at his face, “Nooooo! Brother – speak to me!”
Blood still spewing from Bayl’s neck, as he cawed and gasped for air, when Baric saw the faraway look in his eyes, knew he was quickly losing him; then, as suddenly a surreal silence came over him, the light in his eyes went dark.
As a silence fell over them all, Baric broke it with another anguished howl, which reverberated above the tallest trees, before he burst into tears while Belon closed Bayl’s eyes, and bowed his head.
At once, Ogorec went to Baric and put his hand on his shoulder, as he kneeled beside him, and as Laad and Loth watched, they to bowed their heads.
For a long time, no one said a word out of respect; then Ogorec closest to Baric, squeezed his shoulder.
“We must take him to your father,” Ogorec said, as he stood, pulling Baric up with him.
Slowly, Baric stood, yet his
eyes did not leave Bayl, then Belon, Laad, and Loth made a pallet to pull him, instead of draping him across his horse, which had stopped farther down.
“Who shall give word to the king?” Loth asked.
“I shall,” Laad said at once; then jumped on his horse.
Quickly, Laad rode ahead, then just as he did when he was a messenger, made his way to the king, who when he saw him coming towards him covered in blood, got off his throne and meet him halfway.
“It is Lord Bayl, great king,” Laad said somberly, “He is dead.”
At once, King Rone let out an anguished howl of his own equal in emotion to that of Baric’s.
“Nooooooo!” he cried out, “Where is my young son?”
“As we speak,” Laad said, as he stepped out of the way, “They return with him.”
King Rone ran from court towards the outer doors where he saw Loth and Ogorec pulling Bayl, and when Baric saw his father, he stopped.
“Bayl! Bayl!” King Rone lamented loudly while falling to his knees, “What befell him?”
“Father.” Baric’s voice cracked. His face just as ghastly pale just as his dead brother’s was, “He broke from the path and a tree branch caught in his throat, and knocked him from his horse!”
As he spoke, Liha ran from the door and fell to her knees in front of Bayl, and as she let out a high-pitched scream, Seda rushed out and held her to console her.
“Take him inside,” King Rone ordered, “That others not see my son in such a way.”
After Belon and Loth took him away, Laad looked to Ogorec.
“This day is done.” He knew, preparing all for the great sorrow that would fill Worrlgen border to border, “Have the guards and servants ring the bells of mourning until the king orders them to stop.”
After Laad ordered the bells of mourning rang for Lord Bayl, Ogorec ended his day and went to his cottage. When he walked inside, as soon as Ovfren saw him bloody and heard the bells, he hurried over to him.
“Ogorec,” he worriedly asked, “Are you hurt? I hear the bells. What has happened?”
“I am not.” Ogorec sighed loudly, and sat down at the table “And the bells are for Lord Bayl, who is dead.”
“Dead!” Ovfren looked at him shocked, “How Ogorec, how? You all went hunting for Boars?”
“A tree branch caught his throat as he rode in the forest,” Ogorec answered, as he looked down distressed and shook his head in disbelief, “And as he gasped, he was unable to speak his last words.”
Right away, Ovfren put his arms around him to comfort him.
“A great loss this is,” he said, “He will be greatly mourned.”
As he spoke, Ogorec stood, then held Ovfren and kissed him hard.
“Why such a kiss?” he asked concerned, “I welcome them, but this one it is not like your others.”
“I will not breathe my last with no last words to you of how much I love you,” Ogorec said, as the thought of it bothered him, “Or you, your last with no words to me of the same.”
“We know them.” He tried to ease his mind. “If we could not speak them, still we would know them well within us.”
“Ovfren you have become my life,” Ogorec said, as he pulled him closer saddened, “Such sadness was before me, yet what plagued me more was what if it was you? If you had been well you would have been with me…”
“It was not me Ogorec,” Ovfren interrupted, trying to ease his mind.
“I want you from harm,” he said resolved, “I have set my mind that we will leave WorrlgenHall.”
“Ogorec,” Ovfren said, willing and ready to follow him, “I will follow you into fire. Yet, nothing could stop what befell him if fate is fate, and who could foresee such a fate.”
Beside himself with grief over Bayl, and always worried about Ovfren, Ogorec buried his head in Ovfren’s shoulder.
“Come,” Ovfren said, as he began to undress him so he could relax and wash the blood from his hands and arms, “Lay beside me, and as we hold each other and I tenderly kiss you, it will comfort you.”
“Your kisses are all to me,” he assured him, “Yet they will not comfort me this day.
Urging him to lay down, Ovfren had Ogorec lay on his back; then crawled in bed close to him and put his arm around him, and just as he said he would, tenderly kissed on him.
“Is your mind still plagued?” he asked, as he kissed his neck.
“Yes,” he solemnly answered, “And shall remain so.”
Ovfren slowly moved, then kissed on Ogorec’s arm and his chest, then looked into his eyes, before his kissed down his chest to his stomach.
“Is your mind still plagued?” he asked again, as he looked up noticing Ogorec looking down at him, back into those eyes.
“Hurry your lips to mine,” he said, as he pulled him up to him.
“Let your mind be filled with passion from me for now,” Ovfren whispered, “And after, as we lay, again we will hold each other and grieve for Lord Bayl.”
From his words, Ogorec pulled Ovfren onto him, and just as Ovfren knew he could do with Ogorec, took his mind off his sadness; then as they lay in the other’s arms, again they thought of Bayl and mourned him.
Chapter 27
Lord Bayl buried with grand ceremony and entombed, instead of burned on the Mound of Kings beside his mother and ancestors, when the time of mourning had passed, slowly WorrlgenHall began to return to normal.
As late summer fell over the land, men still worried over the lot questioned if King Rone would still have his son, Lord Baric reign to the east or west and divide the men.
“He is still mourning,” Laad said to Loth, as they discussed the matter, “Dare I bring him such a question now.”
“The men want to know.”
“Give him more time,” Laad said concerned, “It is to soon to ask.”
Loth nodded, and moved on to another matter.
“The summer is upon us and this season feels hotter than any in some time.”
“True,” Laad agreed, “When did the guilds last check the wells? It may be time to dig more.”
Loth chuckled. “The western wells last when a lizard bit Ovfren.”
Laad shook his head as Loth chuckled.
“Shameful are you to laugh,” he chided him, “Does it come to mind he was held to his bed?”
“He is well now,” Loth said, “And now I can laugh about it.”
Thinking of it himself, now Laad chuckled.
“I would not believe it,” he added, “If it had not seen him with my own eyes.”
“If Ogorec would not get so angry from it,” Loth continued, “I would have the guilds find one that looks like the lizard and tease him with it.”
“No, no,” Laad objected shaking his head, “Dare any rile Ogorec by taunting Ovfren.”
“Never have I seen such or will,” Loth voiced his slight awe of it, “By any man and woman.”
“What?”
“Two bound to the other in such a way,” Loth answered, “They seem as one.”
“If it is as what I feel for Nona,” he said, as he thought of her, “It is strong and great.”
“As what I feel for mine,” Loth added, “And what our children will feel for the other.”
“Mmhmm,” Laad said, as he looked at Loth, “Elaad wedding your daughter Gisla. Her bounty to him must be great, Elaad has a strong father.”
“Strong indeed,” Loth said; then looked around to make sure no one was near them, as they began to walk down the stairs, “And one who is fit to be a king.”
Laad as always gave him his warning glance, but didn’t speak.
“King Ronegavlaad,” Loth continued wanting to hear how it rolled off his tongue, “Lord Helm Ronegavlaad. The first rolls with ease off the tongue,” he added.
“Enough,” Laad finally spoke.
“I speak only to you,” he assured him, “And am true to my oath to you.”
Laad gave him a nod that only true friends could do expressing what no words could
.
“Silly you are to always tease me of names.”
“I have such a right,” Loth’s playfully response, “To tease one so close to me who I see as no less than my brother.”
“You are a brother to me as well,” Laad replied, “Come, let us get our families and ride to the river to spend the day there, a long while has it been for such.”
“True,” Loth eagerly agreed, “We shall all meet by the waterfall,” and both parted.
**
After Bayl’s death, Belon kept to himself within his chamber, and when Ogorec noticed he wasn’t around, decided to go talk to him to see how he was doing.
“What will be your day?” Ovfren asked, as they both got ready to ride back into WorrlgenHall.
Leaning over to Ovfren from his horse to kiss him goodbye, Ogorec answered him.
“Such is the heat; there is strife with villagers over a well. We are riding to them, instead of them riding to court over the matter. Lord Baric is on the throne for a time in place of King Rone, so I will be with him.”
“I will wait for you later in the day by the courtyard,” Ovfren said, “We have to ride the roads this day to make sure the king’s road boundaries are still marked well.”
Knowing he’d be away all day, Ogorec almost didn’t tell him of his other plan, but didn’t want to deceive him.
“And,” he casually slid into the conversation, “It has been sometime that any have seen Belon. I reasoned, I would go by his chamber and ask how he is doing.”
Ovfren gave him a dubious look. “…in his chamber?
“He has not come out of it,” Ogorec gave his reason for going.
“If you must,” Ovfren abruptly blurted.
“If it troubles you.” Ogorec knew by his tone he wasn’t in agreement with it, “I will not go.”
Ovfren inhaled in thought.
“How can I be so selfish?” he then chided himself, “I trust you and will not let jealousy of what is no more plague me - go.”
Leaning over to him to get another kiss, Ogorec gave it.
“Be watchful,” he cautioned, “Of things small and large.”
“I shall,” Ovfren assured him, “Should I still wait for you by the courtyard?”
