Viktor

by Francesco Leo

  While he was waiting for the blacksmith, the boy thought he had fallen asleep when, all of a sudden, all his senses heard the noise of creaking wheels.

  At that very moment he heard someone moving the cloth roughly. Jumping and realizing he was looking at the same individual he had run from, he kicked him straight in the face and made him fall on the moist grass.

  Afraid, he got out of the wagon and jumped on the gasping shape on the ground. Only when he was on top of him he saw that his clothes were brown and not black as they had seemed in the dark and that they didn’t look like the clothes that someone would wear to scare you.

  When he saw the long blond hair, Viktor took her hood off showing Selene’s face contracted with pain.

  “I’m sorry, I thought you were…” the boy began in a tone of regret.

  “You’re an idiot, I tried to get near you when I saw you on the path, but you began to run,” the girl cut short.

  “Oh, there seems to be something going on between you two!” exclaimed the blacksmith’s loud voice, who was arriving with some saddlebags and a bag on his shoulders with a cloth around it.

  At his words, the two friends looked at each other amused and at the same time embarrassed, realizing they were still on the ground.

  “Selene didn’t have anything to do these days so yesterday we organized her being with us, it was a surprise… and I see that you took it well!,” Trust ended up saying looking at the boy laying on the girl and giggling.

  “To tell the truth there’s been a misunderstanding…” Viktor tried excusing himself.

  “To tell the truth, he kicked me in the face,” Selene said, trying to hide the embarrassment at the blacksmith’s gag.

  “I didn’t want to, it was dark and when I saw her come suddenly out of nowhere, I assaulted her. I didn’t want to hurt you. Sorry!”

  Only then did the boy realize he was still laying over the girl. He blushed and got up quickly.

  “I’ll pardon you when I want to…if I ever do!” she answered, indifferent to her friend’s embarrassment.

  “Help me get the horses and tie them to the wagon, boy! Maybe with you they won’t kick as they are doing with me!” Trust yelled from the barn. Viktor and Selene smiled and the girl entered the cart, waiting for the others to get ready to leave, while the horses were being tied to the beams of the wagon.

  The horses neighed, as if they didn’t want to begin the journey. Viktor decided to take the reins until they went by Lezhen, to verify the state of the animals.

  “I’ll drive the wagon till the edge of Lezhen, get in,” the boy told Trust.

  In the meantime, Selene was touching her lip looking for painful points. Luckily and with Viktor’s relief, she didn’t find any.

  Trust was forcing himself to be active but the signs of fatigue on his face were evident. Seeing the blacksmith open and close his eyes repeatedly made him realize he hadn’t rested much. Even Selene had noticed it, so she often stared at him trying to keep him awake. However, she soon got tired so she turned on her side and took a nap not being used to getting up as early as she had that night.

  In the meantime Viktor remained absorbed in his worries.

  “Now Selene thinks that if ever I saw someone with a menacing look, the first thing I would do is run. If it was right or not, I don’t think I seemed very brave… I really think I behaved like a coward.”

  He was abruptly distracted from his thoughts when for a moment the cart crossed a path with areas of loose dirt. He jumped, then immediately regained control, turning around to look out of the opening of the wagon.

  “Everything alright, boy?” asked Trust in a tired voice.

  “Yes, all’s well,” Viktor answered, making sure the jolt hadn’t awaken Selene. He turned toward the houses of Lezhen, realizing he had returned to the village.

  “Now you can give me the reins,” Trust said as soon as the cart stopped at the outskirts of Lezhen.

  Only when the blacksmith took his place and he sat inside the cart did he realize how tired he really was. He stretched out on the cold wooden planks, then he lay down beside Selene, making sure she was comfortable, and decided to rest. Trust tapped his face with the palm of his hand, trying to wake up his drowsy senses before beginning the journey, then he went along the narrow path going downwards, leaving the noise of the creaking wooden wheels and the village of Lezhen behind.

  THE WEIGHT OF THE PAST

  W hen the rainbow light emanated from the blade hidden in the red sheath, Viktor realized he was about to wake up. The dream, as always, ended the moment that the stranger with his hidden face unsheathed his sword.

  He opened his eyes and felt a strong prickling sensation in his legs. He looked down to see that his legs were blocked by Selene’s chest, who was sleeping as if she didn’t feel her friend’s uncomfortable presence. He reflected, amused, for a few seconds how he could have tucked himself under his friend, then something entered his mind. The more that thought took shape, the more he considered himself an idiot for not having considered it before.

  “What’s happening, boy?” asked Trust, hearing the noise. “All’s well, I woke up suddenly….” answered Viktor continuing to have his head in the clouds, reflecting on something that didn’t convince him. “Trust…do you know old stories from the continent? That is…those for children… or even only those told around night bonfires during holiday periods, when everybody sits around the storytellers and the bards. You travelled a lot, you must have heard a lot of them, haven’t you?” the boy asked, hoping in an affirmative answer.

  “Yes, I’ve heard some… what’s precisely worrying you?”

  It was the answer the boy was waiting for.

  “In your opinion, is it possible to dream about something you know nothing of? I dreamed of one of these stories before even knowing they existed.”

  “You dream about things you know nothing of but that exist? Well, it’s funny, maybe you should only rest a bit more, shouldn’t you?”

  “I’ve been dreaming the same dream for a while, as if it wants to tell me something!”

  “A dream that wants to communicate something to you? You need to sleep more,” the blacksmith exclaimed sarcastically, smiling under his lips hidden under the grey beard. “And precisely what are you dreaming about?”

  “Do you know the story of the Star of the Prophecy?”

  “I only know that it’s a fairy tale like others, they told it to me many years ago. The fact that you dream about it is probably because you’ve heard about it during the day. You know that often we dream about what we have heard during the day.”

  “When I began dreaming about it I didn’t know anything about the story.”

  “What do you see in the dream?”

  “A man named Xemnath that is riding toward the ruins on the hill and he faces Zergh.”

  “So you understood it was this story because you heard the name Zergh in the dream?”

  “Exactly…besides, at the end of the scene, this Xemnath takes something out of a bundle, which emits a strong glow: I think it’s Arald, the sword of destiny. Xemnath must be one of the chosen ones by the star, as the bearer of the weapon.”

  “Well, it seems to be just like that. In my opinion, I just think that you heard of this story so many years ago that you don’t remember it and only now your mind is conjuring your memories up in a dream. At times we dream about things we have completely forgotten about.”

  “The fact remains that for me it is strange to have the same dream for a long time and repeatedly, even if I try to remember something or speak about it during the day.”

  Trust yawned, shut his eyes a few times and then continued, now exhausted.

  “Do you want me to drive the cart? There’s no problem until mid-morning, it will be dawn in a short time.”

  “At the end of the path there’s a bridge that goes over the river we are going along: I’ll let you drive soon after where the road is flat and clear and it’s a lot easier.”


  Viktor nodded and lay down again, being careful not to bump into Selene’s legs, then he looked out of the curtain in the back of the wagon and remained in that position for a while, staring at the road they were leaving behind them.

  He looked down and began to contemplate the two rear wheels of the cart, turning and alternating deeper sounds, when advancing on beaten ground, to other imperceptible ones when the wheels turned on a grassy surface. If he allowed himself the luxury of not focusing his mind on anything that might help him to get distracted, Viktor would have risked falling asleep, overwhelmed by exhaustion. He jumped when he saw Selene’s head come out of the dark green covering.

  “You scared me, you seemed to be dead!” she exclaimed.

  “I was only trying to dawdle, in a while I have to swap places with Trust and if I stay here without doing anything I will surely fall asleep,” he answered drowsily.

  Viktor gazed into Selene’s tired eyes and there seemed to be sadness in her look. “You were sleeping like a log when I came out… strange that you woke up without any reason…”

  “I dreamed of him…” she answered in a low voice.

  “Edgar… you still think about him, don’t you?”

  “With the passing of time the pain caused by a wound disappears, but the scar remains forever.”

  “It depends on the wound,” he answered.

  “Mine was deep,” Selene concluded annoyed, with an offended look on her face, then she returned inside.

  Viktor knew what Selene had been through when Edgar was with them, he knew how fond she was of him, and his answer had been positively inappropriate. He entered and grasped her hand.

  “Excuse me, I’ve been stupid. I didn’t want to offend you, I only wanted to keep things light because I know how bad you felt and I don’t want you to suffer. I only wish you could forget him even if I know it’s very difficult: remember that he was also a friend of mine. The only friend I had. Speaking about him hurts both of us.”

  “You can’t forget the past. What we are today is because of the past that we have lived. Every person arrives in our lives to impart something to us, and for better or for worse, we must remember those people. This is my opinion and I don’t think I will change my mind… and I don’t think I will forget Edgar either.”

  Interminable seconds of silence followed.

  Viktor stared at the girl while she was looking into the emptiness with a sad, thoughtful air. She often dreamed about Edgar and, when she did, she fell into a temporary depression, a slow vortex of memories and bitter tears that imprisoned her.

  “You’re right, we shouldn’t forget our past but not even allow it to overwhelm us. We won’t live long looking at what has been. Perhaps you won’t forget Edgar but time will help you to get used to his absence…”

  “Perhaps it would have been better if I hadn’t trusted him so much…” Selene reflected in a low voice “but crying is useless. Perhaps it is as you say, one day I’ll be able to think about him without feeling the pain. Does it happen to you?”

  “When I realize that I’m about to think about him I try to find something to keep me busy… You know, being busier now than before, between the forge and helping Gabriel and my father, helps me not to think about sad events so much. At times I think about him at night, when I get into bed, but luckily I’m so tired that I don’t have time to think much.”

  Selene listened to Viktor’s words and remained silent, then, after a moment of hesitation, asked: “Why did he go away?”

  The boy held back a tear. He didn’t expect such a question; the more the conversation went on, the more his friend’s pain was evident. Not being able not to think of Edgar made him so sad that he could no longer keep the memories back and they suddenly filled his mind.

  “I don’t know,” Viktor answered in a low tone, hugging Selene. A tear of pain went down the girl’s cheek; the pain of having given so much to a person she thought would have remained forever.

  All of a sudden, Selene found herself in her village, exactly two years earlier.

  Edgar was a boy who had arrived at Lezhen, not much was known about him and how he got to the village. Even if he had always repeated that he was there by chance, Viktor and Selene never believed him entirely, because of his introverted, gloomy and silent character.

  A long time had passed from the days when they were together, having fun and living the carefree adolescent age. With the passing of time, Selene tried to understand the boy better, curious about his real inner self. In recent times, the girl was sure that Edgar didn’t want to confide in others because he was used to being alone and because he must have gone through a very painful past. She could read it in his eyes, the same eyes that she saw when she looked in the mirror, the eyes of who, like her, had lost someone. Nourished by a feeling of affinity and understanding they began to trust Edgar, who seemed relieved that he had finally convinced the two to stop scanning him.

  Selene remembered an afternoon in which the three had decided to take a walk under the trees at the foot of the mountains around Lezhen, when, going down a steep path, a turf of earth collapsed. Viktor slid down, rolling until the path began to go upwards to the mountains.

  Selene screamed, but he only agitated a hand and said that he was fine in a painful voice. When Selene turned around, she saw Edgar staring aghast, with his eyes lost in the emptiness, at the point where the land had collapsed while he seemed to be sweating cold. For a few moments he didn’t answer the girl who was trying to attract his attention; then he seemed to recover, with an expression that made it clear that he was again present with his mind.

  That evening, while they were having dinner together, Edgar said he had a headache and he went to bed upstairs in Selene’s house because she was lodging him. That night it seemed to the girl that Edgar was talking in his sleep and, silently, she entered his room and tried to hear what he was mumbling. Among the senseless words, she caught some that she still remembered now.

  “Not yet, I don’t want to leave,” he repeated and “I told you to be careful… why didn’t you obey me? Why doesn’t anyone listen to me?”

  The next day she told Viktor about it and he listened with great attention.

  Days, weeks and months went by and a good relationship was born among the three; even Edgar seemed to be better, although there was still his usual estrangement from the reality that surrounded him. With the passing of time, something was changing even in Selene, feeling more and more attracted to Edgar and afraid of the new, unknown sentiment that was arising.

  Suddenly, as if to predict the future, she began to be afraid of losing him.

  When they were alone one evening, she asked him if one day he would have to travel to somewhere he knew nothing of.

  She would never forget the moment that followed: he kissed her but kept silent. Selene had always believed that the action had been a way to reassure her that he would never leave her, he would have protected her, he would always remain by her side. But often people become slaves to the illusions that the mind conceives for convenience. Of all this, Selene only told Viktor about her own sensations, hiding the episode of the kiss, not sure about the boy’s reaction.

  Then, when everything seemed to be going well, Edgar disappeared.

  No trace of him, no reminder, only that kiss.

  Everything returned to the starting point and no one knew or would ever know anything about him; not even a letter. Only emptiness remained in Lezhen. He didn’t leave anything to those two who had always tried very hard to trust a perfect stranger, who had helped him feel part of them, of a family, and who had transmitted the warmth that he had probably never felt.

  Nothing, as if he had never existed.

  Another tear followed and fell on her friend’s shoulder who hugged her tightly. Only in that moment did the girl return to reality.

  “Welcome back,” Viktor whispered, smiling at her and withdrawing from the hug.

  “Excuse me, at times I remembe
r the past.”

  “Right when we were speaking about him? I can imagine what you remembered.”

  Selene frowned and looked outside.

  The continuous sound of the wheels that proceeded on their way toward Beleth changed when the cart reached a big stone bridge, assuming a different but constant sound. They went on the paved way toward the other bank, but Trust suddenly slowed down and put his head inside the cart.

  “Viktor, look!” the old blacksmith exclaimed with preoccupation.

  Curious, Viktor looked out from behind the curtain and stared straight ahead: at the end of the road, on the other part of the bridge, there were two blurred, stock-still shapes.

  “Who are they?” he asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “And what if they are bandits?”

  “It would be a problem! If they see the rod, they could take it.”

  “And certainly they would, considering what it’s worth.”

  The way in which the young man had spoken didn’t calm down the blacksmith’s nerves, visibly under pressure while time went by and the group was approaching the end of the bridge. If they stopped the cart it would have made the two shapes suspicious so Trust only slowed down, without stopping.

  “What do you want to do?” he asked, without receiving an answer. Viktor’s gaze was lost in reflection.

  There wasn’t much time, every second that passed they became more visible to the men who waited with authoritarian posture, cold, immobile: they had to think of something as soon as possible. A few moments later, Selene said: “Let’s try to hide the rod but if they find it we’ll give it to them and return to Lezhen; I prefer our lives to mithril.”

  “I’ve got a better idea!” Viktor exclaimed returning into the cart and grabbing the bundle with the rod. The cart was getting closer and closer to the two shapes. “See you at the fair in Beleth,” he said getting out of the back of the wagon and trying not to be seen.

  Selene and Trust stared at him in astonishment; he went toward the low parapet of the bridge.

  “No, Viktor!,” Selene screamed while the young man, after inhaling deeply, jumped into the emptiness below them, the bundle with the rod tightly in his hands.