The Long Road To... - 13. Thorny Subjects

An early departure and a steady walk brought us back before the gates of Stag’s Pass. We carried branches as Machaeon had done. The guards on duty called down, spoke with us, and after a few short moments , we were allowed to enter and proceed between the walls to Hestian’s house.

“My, My… it is good to see you all again,” he began. “You missed the event! Macheon’s a father! Twins! Isn’t that wonderful!” He began pulling at our cloaks and things to hang them on the pegs. To escape his assistance, I began to walk to the common room that we had slept in before.

“No, No… we have other rooms prepared for you now. Come, come… follow me.”

Kjartanei and I exchanged quick glances and followed Hestian and Joachim through the arch across from the fireplace.

“Yes, Yes… this one is mine.” He gestured to the first door. “And this one is for you two…” He opened the door opposite. Two well appointed beds sat in a comfortable sized room. “The boys…” We stopped at the end of the hall and he gestured the open door. "...are in here..." His expression visibly changed “…and yours is there…” He pointed to the final, closed door. Then turned and walked away.

“Now, Now… when you are comfortable, come back out. Much, much… to tell. I will see to your meal.”

I pushed the door open to find another comfortable room, this one with a single, very well appointed, bed for two. I silently blushed and cursed. Thorn’s belongings sat in one corner. No wonder the odd look. What had he told them? A single bed together? What would Kjartanei and Joachim say? Not that they didn’t suspect, especially after the incident out on the tundra, but still…

I met them in front of the fire. Joachim already with a mug of that tea in his hand. I glanced around. No Hestian.

“He stayed long enough to get that,” Kjartanei said pointing to Joachim’s tankard. “There is more on the sideboard. He said he would be back soon.”

I nodded and stood by the fire.

“Twins,” Joachim pondered. “I think I have only seen like, maybe… one set in my entire life.”

“They run in my family,” Kjartanei sighed.

“Really! Do they get, like matching designs?” Joachim pointed at Kjartanei’s arm and took a sip.

“No, individual to the man. I think I might have mentioned, some are family symbols and events, those might be the same. Others are for different skills, professions, or spouse, children, even close friends to be remembered.” He looked at Joachim and I for a moment. “We end up unique as our lives are.”

I stared at Kjartanei and his blue skin. I tried to make out what might mean what. The thought that they had meanings had not occurred to me. A written history of what was important to him drawn all over his skin in beautiful blue design, overlapped into a single lifetime’s tale. Some of the symbols started to make sense. There were also spaces, more tales to be recorded. I had never noticed before, all I had seen was blue.

Loud giggling and talk broke the silence before the door opened and I was besieged by the group. Gibbous and Crescen laughed and ran to us followed by Doriskos, Hesitan, and Thorn with food.

We ate and the boys talked and talked and talked with Kjartanei and Joachim of their adventures in the town and with the other boys. Doriskos and Hestian laughed easily with Thorn about some of the goings on while we were gone.

Kjartanei told the tale of Joachim at Barth’s with a little more flare and detail than I remembered. Doriskos said he would go up there with Joachim soon. The enemy village was suddenly quiet enough, but he still suspected it was a false peace.

Thorn looked at me more than once. The stolen glances told me he had missed me as much as I had missed him. Perhaps it had been a good idea to get a large bed for us, regardless of how the subject may have come up.

The boys were sent off to bed, happily ready to dream of tomorrow and there new friends. Doriskos excused himself to go on to guard duty. It was his turn tonight. Joachim asked if he could tag along and followed him out the door. Hestian yawned and hovered until Thorn gently told him it was ok to go off to bed and that we would not be long after.

Indeed, we were not. We left Kjartenei to meditate and I followed Thorn to our room. He let me in and I heard the lock behind me. In the shadow, I felt his hands on my back and then chest helping me undress.

“I missed you,” he whispered.

His hands made my body respond in ways that only his could. I grabbed out and crushed him to me. He trembled and clasped me back as hard as he could knocking my breath away.

Passion and rediscovery. It had been a long time, and that translated itself into the touch and silent whispers between us.

No one else had ever made me feel that way.

No one else had ever made me feel that young.

~ ~ ~

“Its strange, I just can’t put my finger on it,” Joachim whispered.

We had been aloud inside Stag’s Pass proper and had walked the boys to the common house where the children learned and played. The little village was quite unremarkable. Very small, all wooden structures, except for the mostly built wall on the inside side of the inner gate‘s wall. Two men passed us with stones in a cart, they stopped and smiled broadly and oddly. It appeared as though they were building a full rock wall inside the second wooden gates.

“Third defensive wall.“ I said slowly.

“No, I don’t think that‘s it,” Joachim puzzled.

Kjartanei, who was following Thorn, twisted his head for us only to hear. “There are no women.”

I stopped for a moment, letting the others get ahead a few steps, and looked and thought. No women. The guards, Hestian, Doriskos, the workers on the wall, all men. The children, all boys. No women anywhere. I began walking to catch up. A few men passed, watching our progress intently. All men, all similar. Tall, large chested, heavy, one or two very large bellies, most with dark facial hair. Joachim’s bright shock of hair showed all the lighter in comparison.

I caught up just in time to enter a home behind the others. Macheon sat proudly in a chair on the side of the room with two babies, one in each arm. He looked tired, but his eyes betrayed his happiness.

“My boys,” he said simply and smiled.

~ ~ ~

The valley behind Stag’s Pass was larger than I had expected. Thorn pointed across the pasture and fields to the mountains. “This is a dead end valley, an off-shoot of the big one. The Pass is the only way in or out. With a secure entrance, they are protected and have nearly everything they need. The only worry is that the stone wall and gates won’t be finished before something happens.”

I turned to Thorn who smiled and walked me towards a tree where we could sit under the canopy and be alone, finally. The scouts had seen nothing in days, and Kjartanei, Joachim, and Doriskos had gone with the caravan to Greenwater. In an odd, parting message, Kjartanei insisted privately to Joachim that they not tell anyone where the hill was or take anyone there. Then he turned me and said, “Other than Thorn, of course.”

“Slowly they are becoming more independent. Still, trading needs to be done. The men in the caravan will trade and bring back some essentials.” He turned to me and smiled. “So tell me of the place you found, the hill was it?”

I told him of the position, the peace, the comfort. I told him that I wanted to take him there. To show him. To get his approval? Could it be a new home? Finally?

“Home is where we make it.” He looked across and back at the valley. “What about our birthplace?”

I nodded. Yes, we could return there someday. There was no hurry.

He smiled. “What about here?” He pointed across to the hidden little village in the hills just on the other side of the field.

I shrugged. “Whatever you want.” His smile broadened and he leaned back on his arms. Out in the field, a few men tended the farm. Men. More men.

I leaned on the tree and grasped at how to ask what he knew. I would not need to. I knew him well enough to know he would not keep me waiting. I could see the impatience in his face.

“Yes, as for that... do remember when we found Gibbous back in that village? The blood? In a way, he was lucky that we, Mach and us found him when we did. His father, Bastian, was from here you know.” He paused for a moment. “Now, well, Gibbous has come of age.”

I looked at him and he smiled. That grin that made me melt. The best was coming, I could see it in his eyes.

“That blood coming from his belly… not exactly a wound. Like many of the men here… he is capable of becoming a father… now. A birth father.”

I felt his hand on my jaw, slowly closing my mouth.

“I know, I know. I didn’t believe it either when Mach told me, but, there were other things too. With Gibbous, when I touched him that first time, when I stuck my fingers in, well… he kinda acted strange. I knew something was wrong. Mach knew for sure, but didn‘t say anything then. Anyway, had we not found him and brought him here, who knows what would have happened? With no father to help keep it secret and hidden, he might have been killed or outcast to starve in the forests.”

Bastian was Gibbous’ father. His father.

“Then there was Hestian. I vaguely recognized that name he said, Froenick, ’His Froenick.’ Not common, but definitely male. Then when Mach brought me in, all men. You know me, I just kept sensing more. All the men were similar in some ways. Things run in the families you know. I understand there is a record somewhere of everyone born to Stag’s Pass, and now, there are two more, Mach‘s sons.”

Leave it to him. My Thorn’s heart always served him well.

“One of the reasons they let me in was that I had some experience with treatments and their other doctor has not come back. Mach needed my help. Twins can be difficult, and believe me, I saw a lot helping. Caeneus, Mach’s… I guess mate? was having a difficult time. We had to cut him open to get the them out. He is fine now, but, will be kept hidden and resting for a while. So far, so good.”

I stared, wondering, just wondering. A sunny drizzle fell beyond the tree limbs. Back where we came from, that was a good sign. Good gentle rain for the Father, bright warm skies for us.

“Then there is the matter of that village...”

I looked at him again and thought about how far we were from the places of our births. A place where life began in the usual way. Earth Father Bless My Mother.

“Since the lordship down there changed a few years back, travel has become dangerous. I understand that the chief or whatever is on some type of crusade to wipe out Stag’s Pass. Some here think it is because of where it sits, between him and Greenwater. Others think because he thinks that the men here are not really men. They think he believes that they are an abomination and should not exist.” He shrugged.

“Probably some of both. We’ve heard stuff like that before. They began building that inner wall of rock to seal themselves in. They are learning to become more self-reliant and leave less frequently. Mach and others go out for their own purposes and return. He said that he sees the day ahead, maybe when his son’s sons are grown, when no one leaves at all.” He frowned and nudged my arm.

“The other physician had ventured inland. He was supposed to go around the enemy village to one farther in to see what news. His group were not supposed to reveal who they were, only to gather information and some items, and practice his healing. They have not returned. With the high state of paranoia, the encroachment from the village, and now scouts in the woods, Mach fears the worst.”

Another place, another conflict. Everywhere. How long could a place like this survive behind its walls? Even the best defense would show weakness in time.

“It’s so peaceful here isn’t it.” He lay back again looking up into the leaves. A few drops of water dropped onto his chest. He thought he could aid them, somehow. The rain was slowing.

“We could help them. We really could. The boys will do well. I spoke with Hestian about staying a little longer, before we move on. He assured me we were welcome and offered the private rooms. Doriskos was with me when I put my gear in the room I selected for us…” He frowned and looked away. “He looked at me strangely and suggested that I not mention our sleeping arrangements around town.” He sighed.

“It seems that with the older ones… men, if neither one can bear young, well, they are thought of with suspicion if together.” He rolled his head to look at me.

“Odd, isn’t it? Us sharing a bed may cause a stir but Machaeon and Caeneus, or Hestian and Froenick no one even thinks twice about. Maybe someday.”

We sat quietly, waiting for the rain to stop. Being welcome was an odd thing, especially when it had conditions. We could not stay here forever. He knew that. “Where do we go now? There are some old maps of settlements inland, beyond that only rumors. A ship out of Greenwater? Around the other way…”

I closed my eyes.

“You must take me to see your hill...”