The Fallen

by R. L. Drummond

  In the morning Reya had no recollection of what had happened and skipped gaily along the landscape of wild grass with naïve abandon, much to Jenko’s irritation. He called out to her many times to stay close and be careful, his tone increasing in irritation with every outburst that felt far too paternal for his liking.

  “Leave her be, Jenko.” Tellan scolded mildly as he watched the cavorting of his niece with an adoring smile.

  “Fine, but if she twists her ankle on a rabbit warren, I’m sure as shit not carrying her.” Jenko retorted sullenly, but Tellan could see through his gruff demeanour and noted the glint of concern in his eye that Jenko would have scoffed at before now.

  “You don’t mean that.” Tellan challenged with quiet knowing.

  “Ask me again after a full night’s sleep.” Jenko grumped back and Tellan grinned silently at his comrade’s surly admission as he followed his trail.

  They made camp as frequently as they could afford and rested well, but Reya’s nightmares still came to her on occasion and it was all the men could do but awaken her before she could be spirited away. Tellan was grateful that these attacks didn’t occur every night; he couldn’t help but think that they were taking an unseen toll upon Reya, and Jenko agreed. Her ignorance of the gateways lent strength to her new, fragile happiness however, and one evening when the moon was high and the camp fire roared, Reya lay forward on her stomach and fed her curiosity.

  “Tell me what Papa was like?” She asked, her face bathed in the warm light of the camp fire.

  Tellan smiled playfully at her as he swept a sharpening stone along the edge of his bastard sword, “You don’t need me to tell you that, my love.”

  “Yes I do.” Reya replied as she propped her chin upon her hands and watched his firm strokes, “I want to know what he was like before I came along. You know, up in Asgard?”

  Jenko encouraged more heat from the crackling wood with a poke of a branch and huffed a laugh, “You already know, Reya. You’ve been behind his eyes.”

  “But I want to hear it from you.” She answered meaningfully and Tellan gently propped his blade against his shoulder for comfort as he calmly regarded her. She then finished, “I’ve seen his battles, sure…but what was he like?”

  Tellan and Jenko exchanged another glance and as Jenko shrugged his shoulders and continued to feed the fire, Tellan laid his bastard sword on the ground with a lengthy sigh. He glanced at Reya briefly before he folded his legs and sagely considered on where he should start; there was so much he could say.

  “Well first of all…” He said as he looked into the depths of the fire, “you already know that your father was our commander, our leader.”

  “Yes.”

  Tellan smiled at her tone, such a proud recognition there that she hadn’t expressed not so long ago. He then continued, “But what made Baldur so remarkable was his presence; he was an incredible man, Reya. There was never any question of not following any order he gave and he was always at the forefront of any battle.”

  Jenko chuckled from the fire and interjected with humour, “‘At the forefront’…” He grinned at Reya and added, “Sometimes you had to keep a bloody hold on him to stop him from entering a fray. Never scared of a scrap was our Baldur.”

  “No.” Tellan continued fondly and he turned his eyes towards Reya’s awed expression, “He was a powerful warrior, true. But Baldur was an astute tactician and it was his wisdom that saw the Legion victorious on many battlefields.”

  “Why wasn’t he a general…or something?” Reya asked in wonder.

  “He didn’t want to be.” Jenko supplied as he settled into an easy recline beside Reya. He then laced his hands behind his head with a contented sigh and added with proud approval, “Baldur always said that his place was beside his men, knee deep in enemy guts with that great axe of his.”

  Reya wrinkled her nose at Jenko’s comment, but he had closed his eyes in fond remembrance and his lips spread in a proud smile as he continued on, “Besides he didn’t have to be. Everyone knew who Baldur was, even the brass.”

  “The…brass?” Reya asked with awe.

  “The bigwigs, the generals.” Jenko replied and as he opened one eye at her, he nodded approval, “Whenever Baldur spoke, they bloody well listened.”

  Pride glowed within Tellan’s face as he continued on, “Baldur was well known among the Legion. Being a member of his contingent was the highest honour for any Asgardian being. We were the elite–”

  “Hey!”

  “Are the elite.” Tellan corrected with an indulgent grin at Jenko’s interruption, “When he Fell there was no hesitation. Our place was by his side, the Line of Baldur, regardless of whatever plane we came to.”

  Reya blinked as she listened to the proud honour in Tellan’s voice, such a startling display of fierce loyalty that went beyond the mere words he spoke. She had seen it for herself, of course, but she felt as though a little more of Tellan’s own personal world had been bequeathed to her, and it was a precious gift of unshakable valour indeed.

  “I’ve been seeing someone else in my dreams. He had a bow; who was he?” Reya asked.

  Both Tellan’s and Jenko’s faces darkened with the sombre expression of loss and as they looked away in tandem, Reya already sensed that there was an unspoken tragedy there.

  “His name was Timran.” Jenko said thickly as he sat back up and stared dully into the flames of the campfire, “He was the fourth of our Line.”

  “Timran…where is he now?”

  “He died.” Tellan supplied and Reya’s breath hitched in her throat at the grave manner in which he said those simple two words. Death was always an awful thing to contemplate, but the way in which he spoke of Timran’s end, held an unspoken suggestion that such an occurrence still shocked the two men. Tellan then breathed deeply and continued sombrely, “Fifteen years ago, the four of us had tracked Belial down to a ruin in the southern coast. But…”

  “Timran didn’t make it.” Jenko finished bluntly.

  “Oh.” She replied simply, for she felt she had no other words to offer as comfort.

  “That’s the problem with choosing to Fall.” Jenko began with a wry smile as he leaned forward once more and poked the fire with the stick again, superfluously and a little more vigorously than was necessary, “Mortality makes a person that much easier to kill.”

  “Um…can I ask? What happened?” Reya asked hesitantly.

  Tellan and Jenko shared a glance that was heavy with reticence, but Tellan replied with such gravity, “We didn’t know it, but Belial had rigged the ruin to collapse if we ever found him. We fought and…” He stopped suddenly and the harsh convulsion of his forehead matched the gulp of sorrow, “Timran fell into the sea with Belial. We thought they had both died but…well, here we are now.”

  Reya’s eyes dropped at the terrible hurt within her uncle’s eyes; clearly the wound of losing his comrade so long ago still festered with guilt. “If Belial survived, maybe Timran–”

  “No.” Tellan replied, “No one survives that amount of blood loss.”

  Reya’s response died in her throat as she thought of the implications behind those words. It was difficult enough for her to swallow the trauma of her father’s death, but both Baldur and Timran had been as good as family to Jenko and Tellan themselves…how hard it must have been to say goodbye to someone you had known for centuries…

  “I’ll never forget the day we won at Sigur’s Cross.” Jenko stated in a desire to leave the melancholy of the conversation behind, his contented murmur bringing Reya from her thoughts.

  Tellan hummed in proud remembrance, “Ah, yes. What a battle…just the four of us against the Lamassu. The Abyss had never run faster.”

  Memory waved a banner in Reya’s mind and she laced her fingers beneath her chin as she asked, “Is that a big, winged demon? All grey and scaly?”

  “How did you know?”

  Reya blushed and kicked her feet slightly, “That was one of my dreams. I saw the
three of you there, with my father.”

  “Ha!” Jenko cried and he nodded in self-satisfaction. He then lifted his arms in an enthusiastic charade of archery and asked, “Did you see the bit when Baldur threw Timran into the sky and he fired down at it from above?”

  “Yes, actually.”

  “That was good, eh?” He beamed proudly.

  Reya giggled happily and glanced across at Tellan again. “Tell me more?”

  And so they talked through the night and Reya became enraptured with the stories of the man she had thought she had known so well. Her father was already a great man in her eyes; but now he was an immortal titan, a being of tremendous power and honour, and Reya’s heart swelled with pride that she was his daughter. By the time her eyes drooped in lethargic slumber, the fire had nearly died out and Tellan lovingly draped his overcoat across her shoulders, ready to sit his nightly vigil. Reya slept the full night soundly, much to Jenko’s delight, and when they made off on their travels again she felt much happier in herself.

  More of the world was revealed to her with every step and again, Reya became lost in the beauty of everything she had missed out on for so long. But it wasn’t until she came to the coast that she stopped with sheer awe, and even breath fled her at the sight of such wondrous beauty. Enormous white birds, easily twice as large as the biggest ravens she had ever seen wheeled around the sky like black tipped kites, their long yellow beaks open as they squawked loudly at one another. There was a soft tingling upon her skin that made her touch her face in awe and as she licked her lips, she was astonished that she could taste salt.

  But all of these paled in comparison to the incredible wonder that was the ocean, and Reya’s gasp came from her very soul as she stared upon its eternal expanse. She had never seen water so blue before, and the white peaks that danced a flurry upon every wave echoed with a hushing whisper that sent chills along her skin. Reya was seized by a powerful instinct to chase the waves as they swayed back into the endless sea and with an eager step forward, she stared down at the unusual sensation beneath her feet.

  Sand…she had read about this in one of her books; it was soft, but much firmer than she had ever expected. She bit her bottom lip as she raised herself onto tiptoes and shuffled the balls of her feet into its grainy texture, smiling delightedly at the way it shifted beneath her. She pushed her hair from her eyes and looked up at the blue jewel of the ocean with renewed wonder when another thought occurred to her: she couldn’t see beyond the horizon…what wonders lay on the other side?

  Tellan watched her in silence for a moment, soothed by the innocent awe within her face as she stared with eyes so wide. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He asked her quietly.

  But Reya couldn’t tear her gaze away and when she answered it was through a breath of astonishment, “You’ve seen this before?”

  “Many times, in many different places.” He replied and Reya’s mind exploded with the possibility that there were more places like this within the world.

  She stood stock still for so long that Jenko nudged her roughly in good natured jest and his eyes were amused when she finally dragged her gaze to his.

  “You never seen the coast before?” He asked.

  Reya simply shook her head in flabbergasted silence, still lost in the wonderment of what lands lay beyond that endless ocean.

  “Well you’ll need to explore it some other time.” He as he gently took her shoulder and steered her westward, until the great body of an enormous mountain filled the entirety of her vision. He pointed at it and Reya’s mouth hung open at its titanic peaks when he added, “That’s where we’re headed.”

  “Up…up there?” She squeaked incredulously and aped his gesture with a trembling finger.

  Tellan laughed as he walked toward her, “Don’t worry, we’re not going all the way up, Reya. There’s a path that takes us through to the coal valleys beyond, it’s a quicker route than going around.”

  Reya gulped as she followed her guardians’ tireless march towards the mountain, its rocky face smattered with grass and wildflowers throughout its craggy trails. She imagined it was an old giant’s face as they made their ascent; the jagged rocks were deep lines within an elderly face, the thorny bushes grizzly stubble and at the top, a peak of snowy white hair. Tellan carried her when they came to a stream, her soft boots no match for the cold water that streamed gaily from the chilly mountaintop, and when he plonked her back down with a gentle smile, she wished that he would carry her again. But she remained silent as she followed his back, for she felt instinctually that he would chide her for such a childish desire.

  But in spite of the games and curiosities her mind had conjured during the climb, fatigue had gradually crept upon her and Reya’s legs were weary when she asked, “Do we have much further to go?”

  “Not long now.” Tellan replied with a glance behind his shoulder, but still he continued walking and pointed towards a cluster of trees in the distance, “Do you see the wood there?”

  “Yes?” Reya replied.

  “That’s where we’re headed.”

  Reya’s heart sank, “Oh, that’s…that’s still ages yet.”

  “And the more we walk the quicker we’ll get there, what’s your point?” Jenko asked.

  Reya scowled slightly at Jenko’s brusque statement, but she couldn’t ignore the pounding in her feet that told her she had developed some painful blisters. “N–nothing.” She mumbled disconsolately.

  “Are you alright?” Tellan asked.

  Reya hesitated, “I’m fine.”

  “Reya.” Jenko insisted and finally, even though she blushed with such embarrassment, she turned towards him reluctantly. He then wiped his brow with his forearm and asked persistently, “What is it?”

  Reya’s eyes fluttered, uncertain that she should speak the truth for fear of inciting Jenko’s annoyance. But he had asked and so she answered with awkward self–consciousness, “My feet are sore.”

  Jenko glanced at Tellan significantly and upon a silent nod from his commander, he adjusted his sword belt and replied, “Fair enough.”

  Reya balked at the simple sentence as Jenko strode forward and kneeled with his back to her, heedless of how stared at his hunched form in confused silence. “Come on then.” He said.

  She clambered self–consciously onto his back and when he stood, Reya saw that Tellan had walked onward again, leaving her and Jenko together in what she felt was an awkward silence. She jolted upon his back softly with every footstep and eventually, when the awful silence became too much for her to bear, she tapped his shoulder.

  “What?” He asked.

  Reya hesitated; she wasn’t sure why she had done that and now she stared at his shoulder while her brain wracked for something to say.

  “Thank you.” She finally said.

  The birdsong above was the only response that came, until Jenko grunted, “Eh?”

  “For carrying me…” Reya explained and a blush burned upon her cheeks with a sensation of foolishness, “thank you.”

  Jenko shrugged as best he could with the weight of the girl’s arms upon his shoulders. “It’s nothing.” He mumbled.

  “You didn’t have to though.”

  “You want me to drop you?” He asked brusquely.

  Reya started at the abrupt question. “What? I–no!” She sputtered incredulously.

  “Very well then.”

  Silence fell between them again and Reya felt the bruise of it deeply until she voiced a thought that had troubled her since the moment she had met this abrasive man.

  “Why are you helping me?” She asked curiously.

  Jenko stopped in his tracks and from over his shoulder, he glanced at her askance and replied, “What the hell kind of a question is that?”

  “It’s just…you…” She started and gaped silently before blurting, “I don’t think you like me very much.”

  “Reya…” Jenko moaned as he hefted her higher upon his back and when he glanced at her again, he
murmured in weary reticence, “Don’t make me say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “You know fine well.” He responded sharply, but his face was a grimace of awkwardness when he added, “I don’t make a habit of…saying that to people.”

  “But if you…” Reya blushed and her eyes darted downward shyly, “love me…then why do you get so annoyed by me?”

  “Because you’re annoying.” He stated bluntly with an affirming nod.

  Reya sighed in frustration of his candour. “Well excuse me.” She muttered not quite below her breath.

  But Jenko simply chuckled good naturedly. “You’re sixteen, you’re supposed to be annoying. We all have our faults.” He said and grinned before he added jovially, “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of a dick.”

  Reya eyed his affable demeanour warily. “Yes I had.” She replied pointedly.

  “What?”

  She shrugged self-consciously at Jenko’s apparent innocuousness and rubbed her arm as she mumbled, “Noticed.”

  “Noticed what?” He asked innocently.

  A furious blush scorched Reya’s cheeks as he cleared her throat nervously, and all she could say in response was, “What you just said.”

  “And that was?” He encouraged with a wicked grin that spread with every second of continued silence. He then hefted her once more to spur on a response and cajoled, “Go on, you can say it.”

  Reya’s eyes fluttered uncertainly and when she swallowed her nerves down, she finally blurted through a thrill of naughtiness, “You’re a dick.”

  Jenko laughed at the self–consciousness that resounded within that absurdly uttered oath and replied happily, “There you go! I’ll toughen you up yet, Reya.”

  Reya frowned thoughtfully as Jenko hefted her with a grunt once more and together they walked onward after Tellan’s trail. After a moment of silence, Reya spoke up again, “You…you’re not mad at me?”

  “For what?”

  “For calling you a…” Reya faltered at her new found swear word and, imagining the scolding her father would have given her, she clumsily finished, “that.”