Page 58 of Warrior of the Wild
Iric can’t help but get pulled into the memory. I don’t say anything for fear he won’t tell me the rest of the story.
He pulls himself back and says, “Aros had great respect for the warriors. While we were up there in that tree, a group of them came into view, passing beneath us. I still remember how he looked at them. Wielding an ax makes them so fit, and Aros was admiring them.”
“Surely you don’t blame him for looking?” I ask. “And a smithy is just as fit from pounding metal all day.”
“I know Aros loved only me. I know he was only looking, but still, it needled at me. I couldn’t get it out of my head. For weeks I was in a foul temper. And Soren finally asked me about it.”
Suddenly I see where his story is going, and even though I already knew it had an ugly ending, now I’m realizing the scope of it.
“I told him. Soren wasn’t at all surprised. He went on about how all the ladies wanted to marry warriors. Why wouldn’t Aros?”
“He didn’t.”
Iric looks at me now. “He did. Looking back on it now, I realize Soren wanted to spend more time with me. We were practically brothers. I spent most of my time in lessons, and any spare time I spent with Aros. But if I became a warrior instead of a smithy, Soren would see much more of me. He used my insecurity with Aros to convince me to switch specializations. He tried to convince me I had a talent for it. I knew it was a lie. I was passable withan ax at best, but I certainly had no special skill for it. But I didn’t care. I thought Soren could get me through the trial, and then Aros would never even think of leaving me.”
“And you failed your trial?” I ask.
“I was bitten within the first minute.”
“And then Soren was overcome by guilt and failed on purpose,” I say, remembering what he told me.
“He knew I wouldn’t survive in the wild alone, so he bounded headlong into a group of ziken and let them have at him.”
“So Soren actually has some skill with an ax?” I ask.
“He was the best in the village.”
“That so?”
“The ladies practically hung off him.”
“Did he also have someone special?”
“No. He liked all the attention. Didn’t want to minimize it to only one girl.”
“I see.”
“Oh, the wild has changed him. I doubt anyone would recognize him if he ever did make it home. He’s not nearly so arrogant or selfish. But I’m afraid he’s still attracted to anything female.”
The door in the floor opens with a slam, and Iric and I jump. We’d been so engrossed in our conversation, we didn’t even hear Soren climbing the tree.
Iric and I are being entirely obvious with our silence and the way we’re staring at Soren.
“Were you talking about me?” he asks.
“No,” Iric says at the same time I say, “Yes.”
Iric doesn’t believe in the goddess, so lying doesn’t faze him, but I still cringe at the sound of the lie. Obviously, Soren believes me.
“Only good things, I hope?”
“Yes,” Iric says at the same time I say, “No.”
“Have you been harassing her?” Soren asks Iric.
“She’s the harasser!” Iric says. “She keeps pestering me about information from our home and our trial.”
“That’s what normal people do,” Soren says. “They talk. Make conversation.”
