The Gravedigger’s Son and the Waif Girl 1
Page 32
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
You do unusual things.
"Such as?"
Stinker sighed pitifully. The completely whacky care you take of your teeth, and every morning at that.
"Oh, you mean that."
What did you think? You hardly think I’m going to praise you!
"Pft! You said I was different. So, how?"
Once the other hosts had realised what I can make happen, they wanted me to be performing miracles constantly. But you bristle against the idea with every sinew in your body.
"I don’t want that. I want to be me."
Pft!
The discussion was threatening to lead nowhere. And so Farin asked: "So you didn’t help Vigo, and that’s why he had to die?"
He lost in an honourable duel against the other principal knight. I stayed out of it, that was all – after all his opponent didn’t have a daemon on his side either.
"Hm. But Vigo was relying on your help. You could have remained loyal to him."
This constant waffle about loyalty. There are two sides to that too, a worm especially should know that. When the going gets tough, loyalty demands that you switch off reason and conscience.
"I don’t understand what you mean."
Hellfire and damnation! Imagine Emicho commands that his loyal retainer Drogdan be killed. How does the loyal Farin react then?
"I…I wouldn’t do it. If he commanded me to do something like that, then I wouldn’t serve him anymore. He won’t do anything like that."
Worm-eaten argument! And if he claims that Duke Turgenson belongs to the cult of the Necorers and must be killed? What then?
"I…I don’t know."
Where are the borders? You condemned the lord of the castle rashly. So don’t even think of trying to make my life hell.
"That’s something else. You’re a parasite and don’t belong in my head."
I saved your life only a few short hours ago. And I didn’t seek you out. Or did somebody force you to steal the amulet, to carry it around your neck for days on end and then to even throw it onto the fire to seal our pact?
"Hm. The last part was a mistake, but we’re not making any progress here. Fate has brought us together. It can certainly separate us again."
I really don’t know how, without the gravedigger’s son sustaining long-lasting damage. Hee-hee, you heard Emicho.
Farin rolled his eyes. "Back to the duel. Vigo lost, which means he was killed. What happened next?"
Orelia bribed the jailkeeper so she could get to Vigo’s body before it was dismembered and fed to the dogs. He was buried two days later in a secret location. When his body was laid out the evening before the interment the amulet appeared on his chest. As you yourself experienced first-hand, it’s the medium I can slip into in this world when I’m not in a person. At that very moment Vigo’s beloved Orelia turned away with eyes filled with tears and left the church. Her lady-in-waiting noticed the piece of jewellery on the dead man’s chest and she took it. Stole it, to be exact.
"Orelia is Emicho’s mother and was pregnant with him when Vigo died."
That’s the way it must have been. I was in Vigo’s loins when Emicho was conceived.
"Should he call you “daddy” then?"
Funny, little squire. He wants to kill me, forgotten already?
"And the light-fingered lady-in-waiting…did she happen to be called Gerlunda?"
You’re beginning to be uncanny. Yes, that was her name. The thieving, fraudulent human being.
"Who later moved to the pretty village of Heap."
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
"Did you hide in Gerlunda from that time on?"
Time is of no importance to me. Still, I don’t like remembering the old witch. Because of me she scored your symbol of God into her chest almost every day. As if that could possibly help, but she couldn’t stand me.
"I don’t understand at all." Farin considered for a few moments. "Do you have something to do with witchcraft?"
No! That too is nothing but a misconception which has cost many human women their lives. That suspicion came about when some crazies believed that the devil was having carnal knowledge of girls and women. It all kicked off with countless witch trials and your traditional slandering and insinuations.
"They say that the daemons are responsible for all the evil in this world."
There are daemons and there are daemons. People need to shovel all that blame at somebody’s door. And it’s the simplest thing in the world to point at a non-material being. The more people get together, the worse. You manage to place the blame for the polluting of the air, the poisoning of the water, the destruction of the forests, and the predominance of pestilences and illnesses firmly on the shoulders of daemons. Don’t get me started on how you behave towards each other.
"Pater Amen always preached that the devil created the seven deadly sins," recalled Farin.
Stinker snorted: Sure, of course. Pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth are all inventions of mine. It has nothing to do with humans at all. You have to distinguish between the stories of the fallen angels who were banished from Paradise because they foreswore the divine order, and the genuine daemons from other dimensions. You humans like mixing up things that you have no real understanding of.
"Now I’m mixed up."
I’m clearly demanding too much of you.
Farin didn’t let himself be provoked. "Whichever way you or I look at it, I am the squire of a daemon hunter who is hunting down and wants to kill the very daemon who is floating around in my head. I don’t believe it!"
Emicho is carrying my blood. No wonder he’s so great.
Farin groaned but decided not to comment. "And the cult of the Necorers with its dark, unutterable other daemon is hunting me down because he wants you."
That’s the nub of it.
"What do we do now?"
We? Did you really say we? That’s the first step in the right direction.
"More a mistake, really."
Oh, right. Worms don’t take steps, they have neither legs, nor feet nor backbone.
"Stinker, your nothing but a daemonic idiot."
Hee-hee, you’re nothing but a human half-wit.
I really want to be a good squire. How are we going to carry on?"
As before! When it comes down to it, the two of us are at the source, searching for an idea that will help us both. Stinker paused for a moment, then came out with another suggestion: Alternatively, you could ride back to the Anvil and jump into the ravine.
The suggestion made Farin smile.
This chimera really is full of shit. Whatever’s going to happen next?
THE END
The adventures of Farin, Stinker and Aross continue in
The Gravedigger’s Son and the Waif Girl, Volume 2
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