A New Path for Two

Hail ended up shrugging and looking away with a smile, feeling strange to be looked at in this way. Barely eighteen, Hail was finally beginning to chafe at the restraint that was placed upon him by the temple. But it would be hard to leave the only place that he had ever known. He bowed a little to the healer before he left with the empty dishes.

His days were monotonous, same as all the other days of the year. At least, he picked up the task of bringing meals to Alexander, although he did not have time to chat. A lot of work this month, with winter coming.

One thing Hail did always find time for was sparring practice. Past the vegetable garden, where there was a square of flat ground, those that wanted to keep up their skills had the space to practice. A few pairs with staves, mostly good humoured between bouts. They weren't good humoured when the time came to defend the temple, however, then picking up bows and bladed weapons. A dangerous world they lived in.

Hail was deep in discussion with an older man, considering the advantages of different types of grip, not seeing Alexander until the man nudged him and pointed. Apparently the guest was again the subject of frequent conversation. Hail waved.

Alexander had taken the afternoon to take another slow stroll in the yard. With leaving the stoney walls to the outside he had already seen Hail, quietly practicing before he had gotten into conversation with another monk. Alexander had watched him awhile before he had started making his slow path over the ground.

He grinned and lifted a hand in return to Hail's greeting and made his way towards him and the other. "Good afternoon." he said with a slight bow to both Hail and the monk. The old monk was familiar to him by face, but not by name. He had seen many of the monks around the temple while he had taken a walk. To his room had only come the healer and Hail, so he had spoken to close to none of them.

"It seems to be a good day for practice." he said easily, his face drifting up to the sky. It was a sunny day, barely cloud out in the blue sky

“A good day for a dance,” the old monk suggested, with a very slight smile. He had been something else before he gave up the world, and the cold mountain temple passed for a pleasant retirement. Well, the monk wasn't the only one who hid the scars under his long sleeved robes. Hail just found the turn of phrase amusing, not realising the little good humoured dig at his own lack of experience.

“Though most of us are fed up of being beaten up by this one,” the monk added. “I am too old now to give him a run for his money. Not that any of us resented it last winter, when the blasphemers came.”

Hail smiled awkwardly, as unsure with this praise as he was when Alex had told him that he was good looking. He leant the end of his staff against his shoulder and looked away. It was just a simple quarterstaff, probably made from birch. Just a weapon for practice, not even shod.

“How are you recovering?” the monk asked Alexander, looking him up and down.

Apparently Hail did not really like talking in front of more than one person.

It seemed Hail was a talented studend. To Alexander the monk did not seem like a man that would offer false praise. And what Alexander had seen of their practice had looked good. Hail had made fluid and elegant body motions, like he was letting go of his aware mind to let it shift to a deeper space where body and brain seemed to work together without the actual need of conscious thought. It had felt good to watch, and he could have stood there for hours. But they soon had made a break.

He would give a lot to practice with them and learn bits of the art of fighting they did, but the bit of walking had caused his muscles to weaken already. He felt the sweat of the exhaustion from simple standing slowly pour down his back. But he grinned, waving Hail's question away. "As you can see, I have managed a walk from the door up here already, without once kissing the stone beneath my toes." he said it in a good humored fashion, but he knew that he would soon have to return to his room.

"Are you still practising, or might I ask your friend to join me on my way back?" he asked, turning his attention to the monk. He had grown to like talking to Hail whenever the chance arose. There were not many people he had a chance to speak to around here, everyone seemed to always be busy with things he could not quite grasp. But Hail seemed to have time for him ever again, and Alexander had simply grown to like him.

“I think I would prefer a nap in the sun, while we still have some.” The old man found Hail's youthful energy – or at least endurance – rather exhausting. The fact that Hail got on badly with everyone younger did not exactly help. “Go away, boy. Shoo. Take the staves back in.” To Alexander he added, “You should not exhaust yourself yet.”

Hail gave the old man an amused look, with a very slight smile, accepting the second staff. He balanced them both on his shoulder, bowing very slightly to his elder before taking his leave. Maybe Hail was neither tall nor obviously strong, but he did have a wiry sort of strength and a certain grace with a weapon, as if it was merely the extension of himself. Perhaps he would have suited a more elegant weapon better, but there wasn't exactly much choice in the temple armoury.

“Short or the long way back?” Hail asked Alexander. “Test yourself a little further?” Alex did not look so well, but muscles needed to be reminded of their use sometimes.

Hail was entirely unaware, but he was being poked at Alexander. There were a few people who thought that he needed more real experience of the world before he should consider taking his vows. Reliable looking travellers had been asked before if they would consider an addition to their party. No one was quite sure where Hail might actually fit in the world, and some thought that it would be a shame if ten years down the line Hail regretted the waste of his youth on these cold rocks.

Alexander chuckled at the words of the monk and nodded his head greatfully in the older man's direction. "I won't." he said, as he turned to walk the way back with Hail. And in Hail's direction he agreed to the longer way without a thought of further consideration beforehand. It had sounded like a challenge, both to him, but at the same time for himself to his body. He could not rest forever. It was time for his body to regain its former strength.

"Tell me, Hail," he said, while they made their slow path through the gardens, Hail relaxed and easy going, while Alexander fought with every careful step he took. "Would you be willing to go with me when I leave here again?"

He had had that thought within his head for days, and now it seemed the right moment for this. Or at least there could be no better moment he could imagine. Hail had alawys seemed fascinated by his stories, and all the other monks had been fascinated by when he would leave, and whether he did not prefer travelling with a partner. And Alexander had decided that indeed he would like a travelling partner. And Hail seemed just right for that experience. Was just the question left whether he really wanted to come along. And Alexander wanted to give the young man time to make that decision while Alexander was rebuilding his body to its full strength.

Hail struck only in the vaguest direction of the armoury. He took so long thinking about Alexander's question that the silence had already begun to feel awkward and they were at the door.

“I... Don't know. I have never been anywhere,” Hail said, straightening out the pile of practice weapons, avoiding Alexander's eye. He was being a coward and a child for the moment, afraid of the big outside world and unfamiliar people. But he did know how to fight, and he did know that really, if things went terribly badly, he could always run back home again. Even if it might take a while. “Maybe?”

He knew, rationally, that nothing actually forbade him from just leaving, and he knew that he could freely raid the temple stores for both weapons and clothing, but it was still a hard decision to leave the only home he had ever known. Especially since he felt that the world had already rejected him once.

“What would I even do?” Hail actually had very little idea how the real world worked. All the histories he had ever read tended to just be about kings and epic battles.

Alexander waited patiently. Or maybe he was rather distracted by his fight with his limbs, but he said nothing while Hail took his time considering Alexander's suggestion. He didn't really sound like it was a sudden and unfamiliar idea. He must've thought about it himself, or maybe the other monks had guided him into that direction.

But when Hail offer his "Maybe?" a bright grin broke out on Alexander's face. To him that sounded enough like a yes. So they would travel together. He nodded his head lightly and eventually took some refuge by the wall, placing a hand against it to steady his shaking muscles. "We will discuss anything further after I have rested some." Alexander said with a somewhat shorter breath. "The highest monk has given his ok already, he will give us the necessary equipment for the beginning of our travels."

The monk had been once in his room, and the only thing they had discussed was Hail and his going with Alexander. It seemed the monk had deemed Alexander to be the right guy for Hail to follow.

Apparently everyone was happy to discuss him when he wasn't around. He wondered if he should be offended... But it was true that he could not simply stay here for his entire life. What use would he be to any god having never lived in the world?

“I grew up here,” he said, straightening up, making a baffled gesture with his arms. “The winters are cold.” So cold that the water in pitchers froze solid, even if the fires were kept going all night. It wasn't for the looks that their winter robes were lined with fur. “The wind feels like it will freeze your lungs.” Hail's skin always ended up cracked and bleeding, dried out. “But... I'm worried I might miss it.” He had thought about it a lot, listing the good and the bad, trying to weigh things up. Many of his favourite people here were old, and Hail knew that if he left it was likely that he would never see them again.

Introspection was not that natural to Hail, however. “You don't look so well. Do you need to lean on me?” Spending a long time with the frail healer had meant that he was used to being a crutch and an arm rest at times.

“If I go.” He was trying to convince himself that he hadn't made a decision. “What would I need? I have never travelled far. Just to the mountain shrines, and then all you need is some clothes and a bit of food...” He was used to keeping his voice level, so the extent of his enthusiasm was almost entirely hidden.

"It's a good feeling to miss something. You will never know if you don't leave though. And you can always return. I think everyone here is glad to see you leave to learn more about this world. I think they believe you are meant for more." He waves Hail's offer of help away and slowly got into motion again. It wasn't that far anymore. "You can write them. I think that'll be the most exciting thing they have lived through in years."

Now that Alexander had settled with the idea of Hail coming along with him he didn't want to let it go again. It would be a lot easier with Hail by his side, and he would enjoy it, he was assured of that. He'd spent many lonely weeks in the past. That would change now.

"Food, a weapon, clothes." Alexander nodded lightly. "I will take care of gathering it. The less package the better, and if we miss something we can trade or buy it along the way or in the city."

If he actually hated living at the temple, Hail supposed that it would be much easier to leave, but even when he complained about the goats and the chores, he liked the quiet and peaceful rhythm of the life there. Bought up by those who had chosen to abandon the world, Hail had never learned how to deal with it. He was shy and hence worried more about meeting people than than everything else. .

“I suppose I can.” One good thing about temples was that at least literacy was mandatory. Most people never even saw a book, let alone be able to read one. “It's not as boring here as you think, though. There are bandits. And wolves. And sometime people like you.”

“What on earth am I going to wear?” Hail suddenly realised. It wasn't a question of looks, but of what he would travel as. Robes were not that practical for long trips – when priests travelled usually the only symbol of their rank was the colour of their cloak and the silver pin with the symbol of the god. But Hail was not a priest, and the only thing he actually owned was a carved staff. He had absolutely no sense for money either. 'Buy' was an abstract concept that whooshed over his head.

Alexander chuckled lightly and patted Hail's back with one hand though it caused him to somewhat get a waver into his walk. "You are worrying too much" was all he said before he turned the corner towards his room. Alexander had spent enough time on his own with nature to know how to handle it and to get from it what he needed. He'd lost all of his things on the way to the temple, whatever might have happened before. But everything they needed for a start they'd get here, and what they didn't they'd get along the way. He had always done it that way and he figured that Hail would only relax once he'd tried it himself. It was normal to be worried, especially if you never have lived outside a building that gave you shelter at all times.

Alexander was more than glad when he sunk onto his bed, covering his shaking body with the thick blanket he had. The air within his room was cold, but beneath the blanket he swiftly warmed up. And in the following days it took less and less time for the blankets to grow warm around his body, and he could stay out for walk longer with every passing time. Soon he could train his arm musculatur and even take part in the training of the monks. He was not that strong yet, but strong enough to learn the basic movements. He enjoyed it and liked the feel of his muscles slowly growing back to full health.

It would not be long until he and Hail could leave the temple.

Slowly, a little pile of stuff grew in Hail's normally very empty room. Simple travelling clothes, new boots he was meant to break in, changes of socks. Most of it was a greyish colour, and a little scratchy. Fine materials were unknown here. His staff was going with him, of course. He had made this one himself, carving it lightly with etching of mountains, trees, a continuous landscape going around the top. Even a little carving of a dragon in one place. Only a third of it was done, delicate like lace. It was a heavy weapon, shod with iron at both ends, made to last and balanced exactly for Hail.

A couple of finer gifts Hail suspected might just have been 'borrowed' from the treasury. The healer gave him a fine dagger and showed him how to wear it hidden, and the head of the temple gave him a dark grey cloak with a silver clasp: a skeletal tree, symbolising the cold heart of winter.

As they got ready to leave, Hail looked more and more often towards the road that led to the foothills and the closest city. What would it be like? All his impressions of towns were from books. It was impossible not to pester Alexander with questions on silly things like 'have you ever seen men with skin as black as coal?' and on why was sea water undrinkable. All books seemed to assume the reader already knew...!

As Hail collected things for the journes so did Alexander. His health had almost grown back to its fullest and the rest could only be gained along the way. He, too, had received many presents form the temple. Everyone seemed good natured towards him because everyone was terribly excited about Hail going away and wanted for both of them the best. Alexander had had stuff, but he'd lost all and the temple gave him everything he needed.

When finally the morning came to Hail and Alexander to leave everyone had gathered at the front of the temple to wave them off. It would be a long journey and Alexander wondered wether Hail would ever get to see this home again.

"Are you ready?" he asked, turning his attention towards Hail. The young man had been nervous and at the same time curious whenever they had spoken asking questions and questions. Alexander had told some, but he knew that whatever his stories would be for Hail, they would never be as grand and splendid and as dangerous and frightening as that which they would actually encounter. He wondered how Hail felt now that they were actually departing.

“I guess?” Hail said dubiously, looking back at the temple's main building than at the road ahead of them, sharing smiles that looked more terrified than enthusiastic with those who saw them off. Maybe he was, right now. Turning down that road without the intention of coming back... It was different, somehow.

“It feels weird wearing trousers,” Hail admitted after a moment. Robes had much more... Air circulation. His pack was only a little heavier than for the trips up the mountain, and it made him wonder how could it possibly be enough. There were even a few silver coins hidden at the bottom of it, just in case.

Hail stepped down the road first, getting the awkward goodbye part done. He wasn't sure if he would ever come back. Travel was risky, but... He was also trained in combat. He knew how to light a fire, could identify every type of mountain weather, every type of potential cold. That should be better than the silver. Still, he was holding his staff a little more tightly than necessary.

Since Alexander did not feel like staying behind he swifty followed after Hail. And those their travels began. It was a bright day, the sun shone and the wind wasn't just as harsh as it usually seemed to be in this area. It would be at least a night or two until they first got onto another path where they might even meet more people. But until then they would be alone and Hail would have time to adjust to being away from the temple. And Alexander would get used to walking for hours again.

One of the monks had given them a small linen tent. Alexander told Hail that usually it was no problem sleeping without tent, but it was still a big plus for two people, especially in the windy mountains. It was shelter and at the same time would keep the warmth of the two inside the tent, so they both would be warm during the night. When Alexander suggested to make the first break the sun stood high in the sky already and he felt his stomach grumble with hunger.

There was a long smooth stone and he suggested that they settle on it. They wouldn't have much shelter but a good view of the full plane. And it was amazing with the mountaing ranging high up into the sky to one side, and the path falling lower and lower to the other side,where the first trees grew and further down a thick forest spread.

Alexander reached into his backpack and pulled a flask with water out and strips of dried meat he had received from a monk. It was a good meal for in between. He handed the water and some of the meat over to Hail and eyed him questioningly. "How are you feeling now?"

As they walked, the breeze turned out to be welcome. The sun was surprisingly warm for the season, and it was a beautiful day. It would have been difficult to feel miserable. Hail kept his eyes on the road ahead mostly, sometimes looking back to the temple as it got smaller.

Where they stopped, it was one of the last points where the temple could still be seen, looking now like an eyrie of some giant bird than a place of human habitation. Soon the path would curve too much to see far back. The mountain's beauty made no real impression on Hail: after all, he had grown up with it. It was the everyday. He was used to the jagged line along the sky and to the quiet pine forests.

“I'm starting to think that I might actually miss the goats,” Hail said, taking a sip of the water first. “I'm out and nothing is trying to eat my clothes.” He had been too nervous to eat a proper breakfast, so the meat was welcome. Like chewing leather, but it was tasty. Goat, of course – they rarely had any other meat. Took a while to get through a bite, however. Very frustrating when he wanted to talk.

“An hour or so further down and its the farthest I've ever been from the temple,” Hail admitted. “I don't even know what's down there. Where are we going?” He had only seen maps, and those he had almost memorised.

Alexander motioned vaguely down the hill towards the horizon. That was where they were going he told Alexander and it was also where they could get him a different animal to chew on his clothes. Maybe a horse. Or if they waited until they were across the sea a camel. It would be warmer, too, then, he explained.

Alexander had told Hail that he'd wanted to cross the ocean before he had lost his consciousness and health. And now he told him that was still what he wanted to do. First they would move to the next big city which was pretty much the closest and only city around as well. And from they'd move on to the coast where another big city with a port lay.

"You'll soon get used to it." he added at last, finishing with his little speech. As he eyed Hail he wondered whether he'd only taken him along because he'd thought him to be friendly and good company. Watching the pretty face, the light skin and wide eyes and the leathe body he realized that something else might have caused him to take the young man along.

Alexander shivered involuntarily and got up, packing his things back together. "Let's move on." It had only been a short break but the sooner they moved on the sooner they would reach the city.

Hail's eyes were mostly on the path ahead, rather than Alexander, but he caught the look – a baffling one he didn't quite understand. Desire for other people was another thing he had only read in books. (Apparently 'epic romances' were also worthy of being carefully preserved for posterity, particularly the ones that ended up with everyone dying.) He looked back at Alexander, more curious than anything else.

“Alright.” Hail was lean, and had the wiry sort of strength that made him capable of keeping going long after everyone else might have keeled over. Tiredness wasn't going to particularly make an impact. They would get to the city.

Being confused over Alexander was the last thing that he wanted to do right now, and so he gave it no further thought. Seeing the ground flatten out a little, then suddenly the path turned again and there was nothing but forest. Going down was strangely thrilling when Hail had always gone along or up. Even the change from cold mountain trees to more temperate plants was visible. Everyone who left home for the first time must feel that elation, and Hail, normally so serious, might just have smiled as he watched the birds fly overhead. It really was a beautiful day.

Alexander liked the feel of the little stones beneath his feet and the grass that swirled around his ankles when they walked through parts where it was growing longer. Slowly the trees above were shadowing their heads and the sounds of animals around them in the forest grew louder. There were more birds now and mammals made their way through the high grass an all fours. Alexander felt his spirit lift and he was glad that he was out here again.

When he saw a shadowy thing hush past at the edge of his vision he turned his head towards Hail. "Say, have you heard about those that believe in the God of Death?" Before he had been in the temple there had been a lot of word about a group that was supposed to be wandering in this mountain area. He had heard that some of those believing in the God of Death believed that they good elongate their life in sacrificing the life of another. Those the date of their own death would be set anew later in time. Some even practices the killing in suffering, where their life was to get better if the one that died for them died in agony. The shadow he had seen somehow had reminded him of those stories he had heard. He wondered whether there actually was something like that, and if then Hail must know about it he thought.

“Yes.” What a bizarre question. To Hail the existence of the gods was a given. To question it was akin to questioning the existence of the mountain... And then, all gods had worshippers. That was part of what made them gods. Hail was a firm believer in everything supernatural.

“Wait, which one? Death Death or Pestilence?” Both were quite twisted. Then again, Hail's religion was quite twisted too – the greatest virtue was to endure, whatever the world threw at you, whether it was more enemies than could be counted or all the forces of nature arrayed against you. It was why temples to the Lord of the Blizzards tended to be built in stupid places, like tops of mountains, or at least the sides of them. Of course, they also had to suffer shitty weather during winter. It simple wouldn't be right otherwise.

It was not a great topic for such a beautiful day. “Why do you ask?” Hail's knowledge of theology was encyclopaedic to say the least, and any questions Alexander might want to ask on the subject would get precise and most likely correct answers.

Alexander shrugged his shoulders lightly while his eyes ran over the trees around them. They stood so close that further away from the path they barely were shadows in the darkness with even less light than what fell onto Alex's and Hail's head. Alexander wouldn't have been able to say where the thought had come from, only that the goosebumps that crumpled over his skin a moment ago had reminded him of just these people. It might have been the shadow he seemed to have seen at the edge of the vision. But whatever it was, it was nothing he had experiences before. He had never known fear in the darkness, fear of being along, fear of unknown creatures or anything at all. But what he had felt a moment ago came very close to it.

"Have you ever met those people?" he asked Hail. Alexander had a clear image of a mad pair of black eyes circled by coal in a white face. A body covered from toes to head over the hands in black linen. And next to that another pair of eyes, green, and not quite as mad. Was there a connection? It was how he imagined those priests though, or how he thought they looked, though here he also did not know. He could not remember having met anyone of them, and usually his mind was not on the worse side of working. But he had met many people on his travels. And he was getting older, maybe something had slipped his mind.

Hail was a priest though, maybe he could give him more information about the matter. And in any case, if they truly were roaming this area then it would be good to have some information about them. The way they sounded they were more than dangerous. He hadn't heard of anyone being actually attacked by those priests, but if they truly caught and killed the ones they wanted to sacrifice then they surely would not let them flee again.

“Not personally.” Hail did not view such people as good or evil. His own god was morally ambiguous: and asked not to judge others. “They visit the temple, sometimes, to pay their respects.” Hail, like all devout people, had a distinct aversion to referring to his god by name. Invoking Fannar's name in vain was not merely blasphemy, however. What if the god actually turned up and was angry? Gods of nature tended to be more malevolent.

“When I was very little... I was five, I think. A necromancer visited the temple.” It was dredging up very old memories. “He wore bone jewellery. I asked him about it, and he said it was human bone, and that he had carved it himself...” It was an odd memory. A black-haired, dark-skinned man, crouching in his dark robes to talk to the lonely child. Then touching Hail's cheek with long and strangely cold fingers. “He gave me one of his rings, before he left.” Hail paused, a little embarrassed. “I still have it.” He pulled out a thin silver chain from under his clothes, and the ring was there – yellowy form of a feather bent around itself. Darker than Hail's skin, strangely enough.

Hail was not at all sure why he had kept it, and he had no explanation for that. “He told me about Death.” The last door everything mortal had to pass through. Unless, of course, they found themselves in the ice god's home, the heart of the blizzard, where no other gods had power, and were preserved forever there, immortal and cold. But that was not a nice tale either. There was no such thing as childhood innocence in the temple. These things had been explained to him, as soon as he was old enough to understand.

Alexander knew little about the Gods though he lived in a world where many Gods existed. But amongst common folks there were only few that was special attention paid to. The men of the fields knew about the Gods of the earth, of the weather and the plants, of the small animals that lived for the plants or killed them. For many the Gods of sickness and health were important, and those of the luck and the way of the soul. But Alexander had grown far from that. In large cities the people paid even less attention. Often they were too busy with work and the troubles of their lives to get too attached to Gods. And often they were let more by superstition than the actual believe and rituals of the Gods.

Though Alexander stopped to give Hail's ring a closer gaze it did not ring a bell. He had not seen anything like that before though he had heard about necromancy. He was curios about people different than himself, and the practice of the Gods was always interesting but in some cases dangerous as well. That he knew.

"What did he tell you about Death?" Alexander asked. It seemed the man had taken a special interest in Hail. Maybe it was the skin color or something of the feel that one had when seeing Hail. Hail was different, special in a way, but why exactly Alexander could not say yet.

“The story of how He came into being.” Even children knew that one – that Death was the last god to be born, and would be the last god to live in the mortal realm, to sweep it after everything passed.

“But... He told it differently. He said that death, when it came, came for you as your friend. That the god would take away all the pain and show you the way between the worlds. That He is the caretaker of all that is destroyed, and that He remembers everything: every name, every action, good or bad.” Death as a historian certainly wasn't the usual portrayal. Usually it was a cruel and capricious god, parting lovers, taking children, destroying lives. But if one truly believed – what was life but only one state of being? Ah, metaphysics. The sort of thing monks spent days pondering.

“I think I should still prefer to not to die,” Hail concluded. “Some people think that they could bribe Death. That another's life might make Him pass on by.” That was the darker variation of the belief... As if a god can be bribed! “I think they are very foolish. Gods do not barter. They do what they want. That is why they are gods. We worship not to gain favour, but because it is the right of such beings to be worshipped...” He trailed off. It was a view only common amongst the believers in Fannar.