The God's Game

Until I can go with him

Kaizer Schulz limped along the hallways of Calamis, one agonizing step at a time.

Like a lost ghost haunting the moonlit corridors of white marble, he swayed to compensate for the imbalance in his meandering gait. His hounds followed close with their heads drooped, howling and whimpering. They nuzzled against his black mourning robes, at times gently tugging on them as if they were trying to stop him from venturing any further in the direction he was going.

He appeared not to notice at all. His face contorted in pain, his undershirt stuck to his skin, and he was bathed in cold sweat. His teeth dug into his tongue more and more with each step until the rusty tang made his mouth bitter. White-knuckled, he clamped down harder on the sleek black cane that supported his frame, desperate to go where he was going even if it meant losing his ability to walk.

It felt as if his soul was dragging his body along, his own limbs too heavy to take another step. A twinge shot up his spine at the slightest of movement as though his legs and hip were screwed together with a rusty nail.

The clay jar full of wine he had tucked under one arm sloshed with every faltered motion, the sound accompanied by the clamor of coins inside.

Gulping a mouthful of blood, he glanced ahead. His eyes gleamed; two pools of tears under the cold moonlight.

Just a little while longer.

The crystal frost that adorned the glass panes of the windows seemed to have settled deep in his bones as well. His labored breath formed clouds of mist in the frigid night air and his teeth clattered in a morose melody. The marble floors drained what little warmth remained from his bare, numbed feet.

He hugged the jar closer to his heart, the only place in his body with any warmth left. He will not drop the jar, even if he himself dropped dead. Muttering something only his faithful hounds and lonely moon above witnessed, he inched forward.

Kaizer Schulz was thoroughly confused. 

He didn't know why Einar was gone.

Kaizer looked for Einar, everywhere he could think of. He went calling for him, but he was not in his armory, polishing his blades. His workroom was cleaned by someone, but he had not returned to messing it up again. His tools hung on the walls and rolled stacks of parchments sat on shelves, waiting for him to come along to take them out.

Einar was not in his room. Kaizer found an incomplete blueprint of a dagger, neatly folded, and tucked under an inkpad on his table. He admired a smudged fingerprint on the corner, imaging how Ei must have groaned and tried to wipe it away. The poetry collection he was babbling about lay on his window ledge, book marked with a feather. Someone had changed his linens into crisp new ones and had taken away the sheets that smelled like him and his favorite herbal oil.

Kaizer couldn't find him in the dining hall, either. He was not in any of his usual spots. His tea pot sat on the table, gone cold and empty. He asked a maid to refill it with hot tea for him when he gets back. A spoonful of honey and exactly three pieces of milk candy to go with it.

While waiting for him to come, Kai helped himself to half of one. Ei always thought he could finish three and gave up at two and half. Kai would end up eating the piece he couldn't finish, anyway. 

Kai had a distant feeling that Einar might be crossed at him for what happened at Salkow. He didn't recollect why they were fighting, but he distinctly remembered how furious he was when he slapped him.

That must be it. He must be avoiding him.

Ei was angry with him.

When he finds Ei, he will say sorry for making him angry.