by Kody Boye
“Oh,” the boy mumbled. “I… I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake anyone up.”
“You’re more likely to do that by being quiet,” Odin sighed, parting his hair from his eyes. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“What’re you doing up?”
“I… uh…” Parfour paused. His eyes fell to his feet a moment later.
“You… what?” Odin frowned.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why didn’t you just wake me up then?”
“Because I wasn’t sure if I still wanted to talk about this.”
“Come on,” Odin said, sliding his boots out from under his bed. “Let’s go out in the hall.”
“Won’t they still be able to hear us?”
“Not if we go further down, near where the painting of the ship is.”
Content with his answer, Parfour nodded and withdrew to the opposite side of the room. While the boy pulled his shoes on, and while Odin loosely tied this jerkin into place, Nova and Miko continued to sleep as though not a thing had transpired. Nova’s light but raspy snoring, Miko’s silent but recognized breath, Parfour’s whispered but obvious indecision—all blanketed the tension in the room with an invisible cloak that made it all seem unreal. Odin himself found it hard to stay quiet as he made his way to the door and slid the key into the lock, as the knots in his chest only continued to tighten with each passing moment, but did so for fear of waking the others and causing a scene.
Parfour had come to him in confidence. If the boy wanted to talk alone, they would. There was no other option.
Outside—in the long, moonlit hall—Odin let out a long, drawn-out exhale and closed his eyes. Head buzzing, he set a hand on his brow and wiped a few beads of sweat away.
“Are you all right?” Parfour chuckled.
“Just a little dizzy, that’s all.”
“Why were you holding your breath?”
“I didn’t want to wake Miko up.”
“Would you breathing really have woken him up?”
“What do you think?”
Parfour shrugged. No words followed.
Shaking his head, Odin started down the hall and gestured Parfour to follow him, the painting that framed the corridor their destination. Once there, Odin glanced down both sides of the hall, careful to make sure no one had heard them coming, before leaning against the wall. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Uh… a lot of things,” the boy mumbled. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.”
“I’m worried about what will happen once we get to the mainland.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… the… uh… you know—”
“The monks,” Odin said. Parfour’s expression was enough to confirm his suspicion.
“Yeah,” the boy sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “What’re they gonna make me do, Odin?”
“As far as I understand,” Odin began, “the first thing we’ll have to do is report what happened. Afterward, I’m not so sure, but I know for a fact that a lawyer, possibly even the king will want to talk to you.”
“I don’t—”
“Don’t know what?”
“About talking. I’m not sure if I can do it.”
“Why?”
“I… Odin… I’m not there anymore.”
“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I don’t think it’s much of a—”
“You don’t want them to get punished for what they did to you? For what they did to the others?”
“It’s… Odin, they—”
“Parfour,” Odin said, stepping forward. “What did they say they’d do if you told anyone what happened to you?”
“I can’t say.”
“You can tell me anything.”
“No I can’t.”
“Yes you can. Dammit! Tell me what they said so I can go back to that island and cut all their fucking heads off!”
“Odin—”
“Don’t patronize me, Parfour. I can only imagine what they did to you. You haven’t told me, you haven’t told Nova, and as far as I know, you haven’t told Miko. I doubt you even told the healer much of anything, but even if you did, that doesn’t matter. Right now, I need you to trust me. I know you’re scared, but it’s the only way we’ll get anything done.”
“You said you were going to go back there, right?”
“Yeah. I did.”
“Does that mean you’ll go there under the king’s orders?”
“That’s the first thing I’m going to do once I get my shield. You can count on that.”
“All right,” the boy sighed. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you won’t kill them.”
“I can’t promise that,” Odin said. “If they hurt me, I’ll have to defend myself.”
“Just… don’t kill them, if you can.”
“Tell me what they told you, Parfour. Just come out and say it.”
The boy shook his head. Moonlight reflected off the tears flowing down his face.
Odin’s heart grieved for the boy who’d only been physically saved.
“They told me,” the boy said, “that if I told anyone about what they did to me, they’d send more men after me. They said they’d take me from wherever I was, tie me to the ground, then…. then—”
A door opened.
Parfour disappeared down the hall.
Odin could do nothing as the boy disappeared into their room and slammed the door behind him.
“Is something wrong?” the sailor who’d emerged from the room asked.
Odin shook his head. “Nothing,” he sighed, “and everything, all at once.”
The man shrugged and made his way toward the stairs.
The pit in Odin’s heart deepened.
Was this what it meant to be a knight?
“I’m guessing your talk with Parfour didn’t go very well,” Nova said, lacing his fingers before leaning against the railing.
“Huh?” Odin frowned.
“Your talk with Parfour. You know… last night… when you two went in the hall… then he came back and slammed the door.”
“Sorry.”
“Not your fault,” the older man shrugged, stretching his arms above him. “What were you two talking about anyway?”
“He woke me up by sneaking around the room. At first, I thought someone had picked the lock and was trying to rob us, then I realized it was Parfour after he whispered to me from the end of the bed.”
“He’s lucky you have good self-restraint,” Nova chuckled.
“Yeah. He is.”
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t’ve had your sword out if it had been there.”
“Oh no—I would’ve. Don’t worry.”
“Keep going.”
“Anyway,” Odin sighed, stepping up alongside his friend. “He wanted to know what I thought might happen after we got back to the mainland. Of course, I couldn’t really answer him, because I have no idea how these kinds of things happen, but I told him that the judge and, most likely, the king, would want to talk to him.”
“What’d he think about that?”
“He started to get nervous. I tried to get him to talk to me about what had happened on the island, but before he could, someone came out of another room.”
“Which is why he took off down the hall,” Nova nodded.
“Yeah.”
Shaking his head, Nova tipped his chin down and rubbed a spot along his temple. His features softened almost immediately.
He’s never looked like this before, Odin thought. At least, not when we weren’t talking about his wife.
“Nova,” he started.
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Might as well.”
“You plan on going home once we get to the mainla
nd, don’t you?”
Nova stopped rubbing his forehead.
“Nova?” Odin frowned.
“You know I’ve been waiting to go home for three years, Odin.”
“I know.”
“So why are you asking me this?”
“I…” A flicker of unease passed along his chest. Absently, he reached up to brush away what he thought might have been a fly, but found nothing. It didn’t take long to understand what had just happened. “I guess I’m afraid of going through this alone.”
“Through what?”
“My initiation.”
“Odin,” Nova laughed. “I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Of course I’ll be there, kid, and I’ll bring my wife and father-in-law with me. If anything, they deserve to meet the boy I left home to try and save. Well… actually, now that I think about it, you’re not much of a boy anymore, are you?”
“I feel like one.”
“Why? Because you’re afraid of what might happen after we get off this boat?”
Odin didn’t respond.
“Hey,” Nova said, slapping his arm. “Don’t be ashamed of the way you feel. Hell—I was scared to death when I left my wife.”
“You were?”
“Fuck yeah I was. Who do you think I am? A hero? Before this whole experience, I hadn’t even considered using the scythe my father made me, let alone use it to protect my friends. Let me tell you something though, Odin—I’m no hero. I think that’s pretty obvious. You, on the other hand? Let me tell you, kid—you’re more of a hero than I’ll ever be.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes it is. Think of everything you’ve done for everyone since this all began, then tell me you aren’t a hero.”
“I’m not a hero, Nova.”
“You will be someday.”
Odin tipped his head up. Nova’s smile forced one of his own.
“See that?” the older man grinned. “You know what you’ve done.”
“I know.”
“And you know it’s helped a lot of people.”
“I know.”
“Don’t be ashamed of whatever you feel, Odin. Everyone gets scared sometimes. In the end, though, you just have to remember what you’re shooting for. You hear me?”
“I heard you,” Odin smiled.
Turning, he braced himself against the railing and looked out at the sea.
In the distance, a faint whisper of land glimmered on the horizon.
A gull squawked.
A fish jumped.
A pod of dolphins serenaded the homeward-bound.
His life, his journey, his experiences, his just—it took but one look at his past to realize what all he’d done.
Odin closed his eyes.
The healing wound at his hand pulsed.
Change is coming, it whispered. Can you take it?
“Yes,” Odin whispered. “I can.”
In the waning light of the afternoon sun, Odin stood at the bow of the ship and looked out at the land he hadn’t seen for over two years. His solitude merciful, his mind at ease, he looked down at his hand and for the first time began to realize that change would be coming in more ways than one.
Weeks had passed since that fateful night on the coast of Ohmalyon.
His wound had not scarred over.
I’m changing, he thought, looking up at the bleeding horizon, and no one knows it except me.
A creaking floorboard drew him from his thoughts.
Miko brushed up against him, long cape billowing in the wind. “Is everything all right?” the Elf asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Odin said, tucking his hand into his pocket. “Just looking.”
“It’s a lot to look at,” Miko said, “especially when there’s more that you can’t see.”
Odin let a puff of air out of his chest. The Elf’s eyes, though hidden, shifted. The movement caught just enough sunlight to reflect their impression into the open.
“Will you be all right?” Miko asked, placing a hand against Odin’s back.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied.
“Then I’ll ask,” the Elf said. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“For everything that’s about to come.”
“I…” Odin trailed off. He looked up at a shimmer in the distance. It took him less than a moment to realize it was Ornala glowing in the fading light of the day.
This is it, he thought, tightening his hold on the railing before him. This is where everything changes and you start your new life.
“Odin?” Miko asked. “Did you hear me?”
“I did, sir.”
“Are you ready?”
“More than ever,” Odin said. “More than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
The story will continue in book 2,
The Steel Rites
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About the Author
Though he was born and raised in Southeastern Idaho, Kody Boye has lived in the state of Texas since 2010. His first short story, [A] Prom Queen's Revenge,was published at the age of fourteen. He has since gone on to publish numerous works of fiction, including the young-adult novels When They Came, The Beautiful Ones, The Midnight Spell and ALT CONTROL ENTER, as well as fiction for adults. He currently lives and writes in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.
You can visit him online at www.kodyboye.com
