Blood of the Red

Chapter 46 - Ingold

Chapter 46 - Ingold

Ingold hefted his pack into place. The day had almost gone. If he didn't leave now he might never leave. He had gone with Gartus and Dain as far as the standing stone, true to his promise.

"Before you leave there is a gift Cordus wanted me to give you," Gartus said.

He stood by the obelisk, Dain at his side.

Ingold raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see him give you anything. His ... hands were about three hundred yards below us, if I recall correctly. In fact I do recall correctly, I recall nearly drowning under one of his damn nails!"

"It's a spell," Dain said.

"Well I don't want it."

"You have to take it now. It has to be cast here. It won't work anywhere else and there's not much time," Dain said, his voice urgent.

"No time?" Ingold asked.

"The Blood will lose its potency soon." Gartus held up the ornate flask from the cavern.

Ingold turned to go.

"Damn it, Ingold Stannith!" roared Gartus, crisping the small hairs on the back of Ingold's neck, "Do you want to be another Raymell? How many men will you murder on your way to Handelf?"

Ingold turned on his heel, furious. Gartus raised a hand.

"Do this one thing for me, Ingold. I will never ask another." He snorted. "We're too old to argue like this, my friend. Look at you, there's grey in your hair. And me, I should be bouncing grandchildren on my knee not shouting at a truculent bard in the badlands."

Ingold's anger left him as suddenly as it rose. He forced a smile.

"Let's get this over with," he said. He did feel old. Tired.

Gartus led the way up a low ridge directly in line with the obelisk's spire. He took a bowl from his sack. Probably stolen as they ran through the panicked market back in Parsus City. Dain followed behind Ingold. They turned back to face the obelisk and stood a moment in silence, watching the sun fade behind the western horizon. Gartus laid his sack on the ground. He drew forth a torch, it lit in his paw and he handed it to Ingold.

"She died by fire," said Gartus. "She lives in the flame."

Ingold froze, icy fingers closed around his heart. Gartus set the shallow iron bowl on the rock. The wind tugged at Ingold's cloak. The light was failing, the air growing cold. Gartus took the ornate flask from his sack and poured Blood into the bowl. He beckoned to Ingold.

"Come Ingold, light the fire."

The torch guttered as Ingold lowered it to the dark pool. The flames took in a heartbeat. He stood, entranced. The wind played wisps of hair across his face, grey amongst the red.

"Cast your spell," Ingold muttered.

"I already have." Gartus's smile was gentle.

Ingold saw the man behind the monster. His friend. He knew in that moment Gartus was no dragon's puppet.

"Talk to her Ingold. Remind her. She will come."

Ingold bit at his lip. His scarred hands moved one across another. Fear took his voice. He knelt before the bowl feeling no heat from the flames. He felt foolish. Self-conscious. As no bard should. The way Karalynn made him feel that first time, stammering over his words.

At first he whispered... "I couldn't breathe when you were near. I couldn't speak. I lost the power to hold a knife and fork without accident. You cast a spell on me. You still do, but it's deeper now. Now you're beneath the skin. In the bone. The heart."

He smiled. The firelight glowed on his face, speaking clearly now. "You made me want to do extraordinary things. Just to please you. You made me want a dragon, just to save you from. What I would do, to see you smile...

"It's strange. First love, it runs so shallow and so deep. It burns so brightly. You set my life on fire, Karalynn. We burned so bright."

Ingold didn't notice Gartus walk away, Dain's hand in his. He knelt before the fire, seeing his memories dance among the flames. Emotion cracked his voice.

"I've missed you. I visit your grave but you're not there. You speak into my silences, dance across my empty moments. I see you in our old places. Between the trees in Lorn Park, running up the steps at Stannith Hall. I catch your scent sometimes, when I wake.

"You left young and pretty. I've grown old. Would you still want me? Bitter and grey? It's not what you would have wanted for me, I know. But the light is gone and I can't see the way. And so I wait. The years slide by without colour. And here I am again, remembering the mole behind your ear, the curve of your cheek, the clear peal of your laughter. I'm cold, and these hot tears don't warm me. How long? How much longer?"

The flames wove a face from their flickering. Ingold wiped at his eyes, the breath frozen in his chest. The fire sculpted her. Her voice ran beneath the wind. She spoke to him and the missing years were forgotten.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dawn broke over the foothills. Ingold found Gartus sleeping on the frozen ground. Dain lay huddled against him, kept warm beneath a thin blanket by the heat from the giant's scales.

"Wake up! Wake up you slug-a-beds. It's a long long way to Sark!"

Gartus lifted one eyelid and rolled a crimson eye at Ingold. "I thought you had business at the palace?"

"A man can dwell on one thing too long." Ingold waved the question off. "Besides, he'll come to justice soon enough. I should imagine things are quite lively on the Rock right now as it happens."

Dain yawned mightily, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at Ingold and grinned. Ingold grinned back. He stooped and picked up the pieces of Jamus' sword he'd left at the camp the night before.

"I thought you were going to throw that away," Gartus said.

"I was," Ingold replied. "But some things can be mended." 

The End

I hope you enjoyed the read. This story is 16 years old now, and written when I was learning to write. If you liked it then please consider my later works.

Red Sister has just come out and is a whole new thing, a good place to start.

https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Lawrence/e/B004HNAQOQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

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