The Long, Cold Road

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It took an incredible amount of strength and effort just to get himself up on two feet. ANd he wasn't even that well off. He was shaky, and a bit dizzy for it, leaning heavily into the wall. But he was a stubborn thing and wanted to test the limits of how badly he truly was off- but a few steps out proved the obvious, and Calent couldn't even make it to the door before he stopped.

Making a face, he tried to grit back the pain, and let himself fall into a chair nearby a window. It creaked beneath his weight and he lay there for a while, the room weighing heavily upon him as he breathed. After a few moments, he finally opened his eyes and peered up at the ceiling, then over at the window. But there was nothing to see beyond the white.

His breath was released in a hot puff against the glass, fogging it, and nothing more. After a time, he merely turned away from it, closing his eyes and letting his heart beat calm down.

[Ivory]

Kerr watched attentively as the man pulled himself, through willpower alone, to first his feet, then to a chair by the window.  He nodded slightly to himself and turned his attention to sharpening his dagger to give the man some privacy to sulk.

Eventually, though, he rose to his feet and began to wrap himself, once again, in the heavy layers that had protected him from the cold earlier.

"You're from Allar, so I know you know how bad a blizzard can be.  What you probably don't know, Your Grace, is just how difficult it is to travel by foot in a heavy snow."  No, the Grand Duke -- and even a man with so low a rank as a lord -- would have no idea what it meant to travel in a blizzard; they had men to prepare the road for them and to travel beside them.  Two men, alone, however...  It was vastly different.  "You'll kill us both unless you're strong enough to travel."  His smile was dark as he added, "And I'm not foolish enough to throw myself on Angsar's mercy."  No, he knew how that would end...  "We stay until you're no longer a liability."

With that, he lifted the scarf up over his face and plunged into the snowbank outside to begin the long process of digging them out.

---

The weeks dragged by slowly.  Kerr was as gracious a host and companion as he could manage to be -- which was to say, he was careful to be civil, if not particularly polite.  But he was civil, in a down-to-earth, soldiering kind of way...

As soon as Calent was well enough to sit up and to help, he was put to work.  There would be no pampering here -- if it were Kerr alone, he would have waited out the worst of the winter in this secluded place rather than risk a trip in the snow...but with two of them and one of them antsy to be on his way, preparations had to be made.  Kerr managed to do a little hunting, so the meat had to be prepared for travel.  He managed to collect some firewood, which had to be carefully dried and bundled.  And a makeshift sled had to be prepared to carry everything.  And if there was anything Kerr had learned, it was that survival depended on careful planning...

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The weeks did in fact drag on, and Calent grew more haggard and restless as it persisted. He was already growing in a thick beard by now- one that had been tame before, but now was positively grizzled, and it made him look like anything but the Grand Duke- a man made to sit on a throne and bark out orders while living in a posh and opulent castle.

No, now darker circles were collecting beneath his eyes, and his green eyes appeared more grey, and his skin, much paler an he- looking quite gaunt. But he was recovering, and healing about as fast as a man could in his position. But it was not the healing and the snow and the travel that got to him-
as always...
It was the nightmares- the plagues that kept him never at rest.  Last night's dream had been one of the worst- for the shadows showed him something else; and he could not fathom why. Normally he relieved the nightmare of his father's 'death'- and it- always presented to him as a murder. And more importantly, as him being the murderer. But this dream...
he wasn't sure how it happened, but his wife found herself within it- and when he woke up, covered in sweat from a quick, mid-day nap, he sighed and smoothed a hand down his face.

It was only just a dream. And he closed his eyes and tried to swallow back the knot.

[Ivory]

The nightmares had not gone unnoticed.  Kerr took in everything with the silent, sharp gaze of a hawk studying its prey.  He never commented; he simply took the nightmares in stride and left Calent to his own thoughts.

The wound itself was healing, and the fever that had plagued Calent the first week in the small cabin had also become better.  Yet, the man's condition seemed to deteriorate.  It was puzzling -- but it earned him no sympathy.

As Calent started awake, Kerr rose and almost nonchalantly deposited some hempen strands in his lap.  "We need more rope," he said simply, "And now that you're awake, you can help."

Settling back down on his stool, he returned to winding his own hemp into a tight rope that would, with any luck, survive the conditions they were about to travel through.

"Your nightmares are getting worse."

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Calent stared down at the hemp on his lap then lifted his green eyes over to Kerr. He said nothing on his comment about the nightmares before turning his gaze away, focusing his eyes back to the object on his lap.

"A man ruling a country has many reasons to have restless nights," he commented, and set to work, mimicking what Kerr was doing.

[Ivory]

"I imagine so," Kerr responded neutrally enough.  "I didn't mean to pry."  He had, in fact, meant to do just that.  "I had only noticed that your dreams do your health no favors, your grace.  They seem more taxing than the wound and fever you took falling from a cliff."  Which was to say, they were no small, mundane matter.  "And I wondered if there wasn't something I should know."

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Calent frowned and cast the man a hard look.
"There is nothing to discuss," he told him shortly. "If you were in my position, you'd understand the complexities of politics and what I deal with every day of my life. Keeping our country and people safe is no easy task."
And he sighed now and looked down.
"We're at war.... and the country needs healing."

[Ivory]

"Ah," Kerr answered, in no way discouraged or offended by Calent's tone.  On the contrary, the single voiced syllable seemed to both understand and agree.  "War is a heavy burden to bear."  Especially when you bore it alone...  "And I imagine you are anxious to be away from here."

He sighed softly to himself.  He must be getting soft -- he was actually starting to like the moody sovereign of Connlaoth.  He had his flaws (didn't they all?) but they weren't so different.  Of course, were Calent to find out who he shared his respite with, things might be a little different...

Kerr himself had thrived in the chaos created by the war and pursuit of his brethren...but his goals were very different from those of most men.  It had been a long time since he cared about anyone other than himself and his vengeance, so it didn't matter how many people -- mages and non-mages alike -- fell as long as he could carry on.  It wasn't an honorable way to live, but he had, long ago, given up the ideals that had made him what he was today...and that was another reason why it was so disconcerting to find himself considering Calent's plight.

"If you'll forgive the speculation -- I am, after all, a simple soldier, your grace...  If you want the country to heal, you'll have to unite them against an even worse threat."  He gave his head a slight shake, knowing, of course, that the presentation of a bigger threat -- whatever that happened to be -- was a gamble.  "But that, of course, could have the opposite effect as well."

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Calent took all of this in before closing his eyes and releasing a long sigh.

"There is no worse threat than being the enemy among my own people. I will be happy if this war can end before my reign, but for now, I am too exhausted, and thoughts on this are making my head hurt worse."
And though he always feared sleep, he was feeling too exhausted to care as he closed his eyes and simply listened to the crackle of the fire.

[Ivory]

It was several weeks later that the Hellvion Castle finally appeared, peeking through the snow like a welcome beacon after so long in the freezing wilds with minimal supplies.  Kerr's caution had been necessary; struggling through the heavy, blowing snow was not an easy task, and a man in Grand Duke's original condition would have stood no chance.  His preparations, too, helped a great deal after they left their little hut...and the Grand Duke would be cold but no worse for wear upon his arrival.

"There's the castle there," Kerr pointed out, a bit unnecessarily.  "I assume you can find your way from here, Your Grace."  He tilted his head in a simple bow.  "I will be going to town for supplies."  He gestured in the other direction to the town outside of Hellvion's walls.  "So here is where we part ways."

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With a nod, the two parted ways, continuing on their paths of destiny-
One to the North, to the castle, and to politics...


And the other?
Who was to say. The Grand Duke was none the wiser on what plots Kerr had in tow. But that was hardly of his concern. Once things were as settled as they could be with the Hellvion court, he tried his best to hurry back home.