Gilded Serpents

Chapter Eleven: Ciro

I stared at the fire. The flames flickered, sprinkling tiny dots of ash near my feet. Perhaps if I didn't move - if I didn't say anything, I would simply disappear from this incredibly awkward situation.

I was afraid to look at Ciro. Would he be angry? Upset? He was a complete stranger to me - and I him. The quiet was deeply unsettling.

"I... I should leave. I - I didn't know he was going to do this," I finally sputtered. "He had no right to just leave me here. You don't even know me -"

I began to try and open the thick wooden door - but it was far heavier than it looked.

"Stop... It's fine. It's fine," he sighed.

I turned to see him put his hands through his hair, worried expression on his face deepening the lines across his forehead.

"So you were chosen to be one of Solia's finest?" he coughed, rummaging around the bottles for any that weren't completely empty. "Lucky us."

"Lucky us," I echoed.

"I'd offer you a drink but It looks like I'm fresh out," he paused, looking up, "Wait - how old are you?"

"I... I just turned seventeen."

"So you just found out then? Passed your test?" he gave a sad little chuckle, "So what did you end up saving? A dog hit by a cart? A drowning child? A-"

"An imp. He - she was stabbed by a stick? If I remember correctly."

He chuckled, raising his eyebrows. "That's a new one."

"What about you?"

"I... I was riding my horse... and we hit a bend too hard, hit a low branch - and it broke its neck... dying immediately. Until, you know."

He gestured with his hand before taking a final sip from the bottle, then throwing it to join the rest.

"Right... you brought it back to life," I signed, then sat on the only chair, a small stool, next to the fireplace. "Have you been hiding here since then?"

He laughed, "Gods no... But that's a story for when I have a bit more drink in my system. Are you hungry? My courier should be here in about..." he then walked over to the side of the door. He pulled on a chain hanging from the rocky wall, and a brass length of tubes jut out of the wall in small sections appeared from the ceiling. He put his eye on the section of tube - an eyepiece or sorts, and began to spin in circles, "In about an hour I'd say. I'll see if he can also get an extra bedroll on his next trip if he doesn't already have one on him. He's usually pretty stocked."

I watched him push the device back in the ceiling, then begin pacing in front of the fire, trying to warm his hands. The bright orange flames cast dark shadows on his weathered face. He kept looking at me, start to say something, then look back at the fire. This curious ceremony continued for a bit before he finally spoke.

"Have you... have you done it yet? Have you brought something back to life? I mean, not in a dream," he asked. It was odd, seeing such a serious looking man so nervous.

"I did.. It was.. It was-" I stuttered, trying to find the right words.

"Exhilarating, right? To lift someone up - to see through their magic... Can I ask... What happened?"

He was excited now, pacing about the room, eyes wild.

I thought a moment, then told him about getting attacked by the serpent - about Gaelenod's fall and dropping the blood into his mouth... About becoming him and finding the sound of the magic song before gasping back to life.