{"sf1_id":1713731,"sf2_id":"AnK8xV1E","title":"Ragnarok - II","author":"Rob MacWolf","words":1486,"posted_at":"2021-05-03T05:45:00.000Z","tags":["Epic","Iambic pentameter","Poetry","blank verse"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1713731-ragnarok-ii","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/AnK8xV1E","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/4f/c6/4fc64513-09a6-4b35-8ee9-fba4ae92a7cd","description":"#3 of Ragnarok\n\nDoes SoFurry let you upload something without a description? Because I'm gonna run out of things to say about these.","content":"The sun was gone. The only light that shone  \nWas a reflection off the fading sky,  \nYet faded not the gold out of the roof,  \nFor, at the touch of darkness, fireflies,  \nLit crisp like Christmas candles,  \nAppeared and turned the leaves to paper lamps.  \nBy their increasing light Shane darkly saw,  \nThe trees were shorter, less cathedreal,  \nThe trees were further, less orderly ranked.  \nUnder his bare feet there gradually came  \nThe green impalpable caress of grass.  \n\"But what are these woods? How did I come  \nSo deep within their pathless unaware?\"  \nVarr frowned with thought before he answered \"Come.  \nRest for your weariness lies yonder near.  \nThere shall I answer. For now, I know not  \nHow you came here. I know well how you woke;  \nSo woke I too, though many years ago.  \nI opened up my eyes, and saw great cliffs  \nA-towering far above me where I lay  \nDeep in a shady vale bedecked with vines  \nAnd saturated with the scent of fog.  \nOver the years, I have met many such  \nWho suddenly awoke on crags and hills.  \nYet one who knew who brought him to this place  \nI never met. Yet see, here the trees thin!  \nYou already had come near to the edge  \nEre I was sent to meet you.\" \"Sent by who?\"  \nAsked Shane, now aching from his bleeding side  \nAnd limping as he came. His guide gave him  \nA reassuring, twilight hidden smile,  \nAs if to promise more, but only said  \n\"I long ago was taught, when once the wind  \nSo summons, not to question, but to go.\"  \nThen just beyond the trees the boxer saw  \nAn ancient tower, never proud or high,  \nNow half-collapsed to no more than a hut.  \nBehind it swept the rearmost stand of trees  \nBeyond which lay wide plains invisible  \nAnd stars appearing like the fireflies.  \n\"Here\" Said Varr \"May we lie safe, once I a  \nWatchman capture. Wait here, brother, and watch!\"  \nThe warrior disappeared inside, and Shane  \nWas left to wonder mutely on the need  \nTo catch a watchman. Night breeze brushed his skin,  \nHe shivered, and commanded stern his thoughts  \nTo think otherwise. Airborne drops of light  \nOne by one drifted lazy through the grass.  \nAs he stood motionless, the fireflies  \nBegan to tend toward him, as distant stars  \nWill slowly list in circles round the holes  \nPunched through the firmament. They gathered close  \nInto a living galaxy, with Shane  \nFor axis. There he watched them, pain forgot,  \nForgot the mysteries that gnawed his brain.  \nHe only watched with unabashed delight  \nThe drifting revolutions. Cautiously,  \nLest he should frighten, stretched he forth a glove.  \nTwo fireflies drifted epicyclical  \nAnd settled there, like beacons on a hill.  \nHe drew them gently close, until their light  \nCast shadows upward on his face, and gazed  \nAs if he never saw a bug before.  \nTheir shells were jade and golden, and their eyes,  \nGlittering with solemn curiosity,  \nWere amethysts. Their lights unblinking hid  \nThe edges of their forms, just as the sun  \nConceals the sky by lighting it too much.  \nAnd as the boxer smiled and breathed again  \nThe fireflies took flight toward the trees  \nAnd joined another galaxy, that spun  \nUnder the forest eaves. Shane felt himself  \nGo tense, for he could see by fireflylight  \nThat someone stood within this nebula.  \nTheir form was dim, and ill-illumined, but  \nThe boxer knew they had been standing long  \nEnough for lights to come round him as well  \nAs they encircled Shane. He liked this not.\u0026nbsp;  \nHe raised his fists, and took a ready stance.  \nAt movement of his foot, the fireflies  \nAll scattered, both from him and from the shape  \nThat now was hidden in the velvet night.  \nEven as he peered, there came the tread  \nOf Varr returning, clanking as he came,  \nAnd carrying a basket of a size  \nTo just contain a kitten. \"What is it?\"  \nThe warrior whispered, at Shane's warlike stance.  \n\"Something is in the woods. I saw it not  \nBut saw the floating lights surround it, as  \nIt loomed and watched me. It may still be there.\"  \nVarr squinted, with his hand upon his hilt.  \n\"I nothing see,\" said he, \"Yet let us not  \nPurposeless stand unsheltered in the night.  \nSee! We shall sleep in readiness, and shall  \nAlerted be of any peril. You  \nAlready draw our watchmen near again.\"  \nSo saying, he swept through the unlit air  \nThe basket to scoop fireflies, just as  \nA fisherman plucks from the sea his catch.  \nLight shone strong through the chinks. The warrior said,  \n\"Should any evil thing, intending harm,  \nDraw near, these fireflies all douse their lamps,  \nSo will we know if foemen lie without  \nThe while we lie within. Thus set your mind  \nAt ease. Whatever wight you might have seen  \nCan mean no harm to us. The fireflies  \nBurned brightly all about it, as you said.\"  \nThey turned to go inside, Shane still uncalm.  \n\"It may have been no foe, but nor no friend.  \nWhy did it hide itself in dark?\" he said.  \nInside, the ruin had been cleared. The roof  \nAll reinforced with branches. The smooth earth  \nThat was the floor was spread with rushes, and  \nThe fallen blocks of wall were stacked along  \nThe one side of the room to form a bed  \nWith furs for mattresses and quilts. The fire  \nLay cold and black upon the hearth, where Varr  \nWas bent to kindle it. The only light  \nCame from the basket. Yet a moment more  \nAnd up the kindling leapt, and bathed the room  \nIn sunset hues. \"Do bar the door,\" said Varr,  \n\"And sit. You soon will ease your weariness  \nWith bandages, and food and drink, and rest,  \nBut most of all with answers. I have wine.  \nWaybread have I, and cheese both savory  \nAnd sweet. Dried fish and salted meat there are.  \nSo break your fast, and satisfy your thirst,  \nAnd presently your questions I will sate.\"  \nAt first Shane found himself unsure about  \nThe food, for it was not as he was used.  \nBut caution hunger overcame, and soon  \nHe ate, if not with relish, like the fine  \nAnd epicurial, but with the plain  \nCoarse gusto of a man who wins his bread  \nWith hearty toil and sweating of his brow.  \nThe warrior, meantime, laid his armor by.  \nHe stacked it with his shield beside the door.  \nUnbuckled he his tassets and his greaves,  \nHis breastplate shining and the shoulderguards.  \nHis helm he laid on top. His coat of mail  \nHe hung upon a jutting crack of rock.  \nHis heavy boots he piled against the door.  \nBeneath his shell of steel plating he dressed in but  \nA kilt or loincloth, bound about his waist,  \nA tunic, worn and frayed, and a gold band  \nFit snug below the shoulder sinister.  \nHis chest and arms were crossed with many scars,  \nSome recent, some that seemed almost as old  \nAs he. Now liberated from the weight  \nOf arms, his limbs relaxed and hung at ease.  \nHis mighty sword and sheath he laid beside  \nThe bed. Then fetched he bandages and gauze  \nAnd ointment sickly-smelling, and with these  \nHe dressed the wounds he had inflicted. Then  \nThey broke their bread together, without speech.  \nAt length, when conquered hunger was, Shane spoke,  \n\"You spoke of answers. Three questions have I  \nThat I would speak to you. You spoke of more  \nWho here awakened, knowing not the why,  \nEven as you and I; where are they now,  \nHow is it you alone did come to me?  \nWhat peril is there, that we need a watch,  \nFor I saw nothing deadly but yourself;  \nWhat foe will insect lanterns warn us of?  \nAnd finally, you said that you were taught  \nTo follow wind, which led you to me. Who  \nTaught you this craft, and who drew out this skill  \nIn you?\" The boxer silent fell, and crossed  \nHis arms across his chest. The warrior sat  \nAs if in thought, then said \"All these are one.  \nIndeed, there once were many others here.  \nIndeed, there is a wicked peril nigh.  \nIndeed, the wind I followed to the place  \nWhere you were wandering was as a guide.  \nNo wind has stirred within those woods for years.  \nYea, there was one who taught me of its speech.  \nTo answer all of these requires a tale  \nBoth long and grim. If you would take your sleep,  \nI gladly shall reserve it for the morn.\"  \nShane shook his head. \"I have slept quite enough  \nOf late, and you will find that I endure  \nMore weariness of body than a tale  \nCan lay on me. Say on,\" the boxer said.  \nVarr fetched a flask, drank deep, and passed it on.  \nShane drank, and found the taste was honeylike  \nBut strong as brandywine. Then Varr began,  \n\"The tale I tell you now is more than I  \nDo understand. Forgive me if stray  \nOff of my certainty along the way.\"\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Ragnarok","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1713726-ragnarok-i.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1713909-ragnarok-iii.json"}}