Chapter Fourteen #3
The aftermath of any battle, from what I was later told, was always a matter of cleaning up afterward, which was always the least glamourous part of it all.
Not that I’d ever seen any glamour in any part of it, to tell the truth.
But now that the imminent threat of impending death was over, it was time for the Falians to bury their dead, honor their sacrifice and mourn their losses.
Of course, all of that, except for the burials, had to wait until they’d made their repairs to the burnt houses and made more permanent the temporary patching of the many breaches in the walls and city gates.
I didn’t see Fionn again until almost dusk. I’d spent most of the day helping where I could. I could dig graves and help with cleanup and even a little with construction, as long as it wasn’t anything complicated. I wasn’t about to sit around all day doing nothing.
Fionn had no such qualms, and I found him sitting at a table outside a tavern with Tadgh and his father, Ehlbert, when I was finally done.
They didn’t seem to be arguing, but I still didn’t approach them.
I hadn’t gotten over Ehlbert’s rudeness, even if it seemed that Fionn had.
I found an empty bench on the street outside and sat down out there instead.
It had been a long and horrible day, and I had no wish to prolong it.
As soon as Fionn stopped talking or after I’d rested a few minutes—whichever came first—I’d find a place to sleep for the night, hopefully with a bed, but I wasn’t overly choosy.
In fact, this bench might do. I was more tired than I had been in a long while.
I decided I’d lie down for a few minutes and close my eyes to rest.
The next thing I knew, I was dreaming of a female ogre, watching me from across the field.
She was hiding in the tree line too, like I’d done earlier, watching as her camp was overrun, and all her companions were killed.
I could feel her intense rage and her curiosity about me and why I wasn’t out on the field with the other knights but being guarded by two strong Faery knights.
She was wondering who I was, and why I was so important.
I could literally feel her hatred radiating toward me like the heat of a fire.
It made my skin crawl with a prickly sensation.
I peered at her more closely and brought her face into sharper focus.
I saw that she was tall and lanky, with a mean, hungry face.
She had corpse-white skin stretched over a bony face that was nearly fleshless.
Her mouth was a slash across her face, and her hair stood up in a wild red fringe along the middle of her skull, to disappear down the back of her neck and onto her back.
She suddenly bared her teeth in a horrible grin at me, like she knew I was watching her. There was blood on her teeth.
I almost jumped out of my skin as someone touched me, until I realized that it was Fionn, trying to wake me up and get me to bed. He wrapped his arms around me and held tightly to me.
“It’s me, Braden. You were having a bad dream.”
I shuddered as I nodded my head. “Yes…it was awful.”
“Ehlbert has offered us a bed for the night at his home. You need a good night’s rest and you’ll feel better. But you did well today.”
I made a little noise of disgust. “I did nothing except keep two good soldiers away from the battle. I should have stayed in Goriana.”
“I didn’t want you there. I wanted you with me. And those two soldiers were doing as I asked them to and had the most important role in the battle—to keep you safe. I’m most pleased with them and told them so.”
I blushed at his words, but I was still embarrassed. “I’m not a child, Fionn.”
“No, but neither are you a soldier. Now get up and we’ll go with Ehlbert and Tadgh to their home for the night.”
“I don’t want to stay with Ehlbert. Not after the things he said.”
“He was angry and felt as if we’d stolen his crown.
I believe he understands now that the late king himself devised this scheme for putting me on the throne, because he wanted you to be as closely associated with his title and his people as possible.
And Ehlbert is already married, with another child on the way, though I think he would have married you despite that, and despite the fact that he prefers women.
He was very complimentary about how handsome you are. ”
“Hmph. As if I would have had him.”
“You wouldn’t have had much choice in the matter. As you didn’t with me. How fortuitous for us both that I agreed to take you on, considering how much trouble you’ll no doubt be to me for the rest of my life.”
“Take me on, huh? A charming way to put it.”
He grinned. “Ah, a chuisle. But you know it’s all true.”
He caught my fist a mere inch or two from his face, twisted it around behind me and pulled me in to kiss me until I was almost breathless.
He finally pulled away, stood up and extended his hand.
“Come along. You’re bad tempered when you’re tired.
I promise you can be as rude as you like to Ehlbert while we’re here.
You’ll enjoy that. And it will be a kindness, really.
To show him not only what he lost, but how I spared him the vexation of dealing with a half-mortal like yourself for the next few hundred years or so. ”
I turned my back on him, giving up on arguing with him. I followed him to Ehlbert’s home, because I really was tired, and I wanted this long day to be over and done with.