Greywolf - Osiris

"What way?" I could hear the wariness in Wysper's voice which matched my own, since I didn't trust this woman as far as I could throw Titan. Shite, I can't even pick up Wysper right now, let alone throw her.

Zanzabel gave Wysper a mysterious smile. "I know you think me a spy for Muzen, and I was. However, in truth I am a spy for my lord Osiris. You see, Queen Zenobia had grown suspicious of my loyalty, and asked Osiris to go through my memories the same way Muzen went through yours. He discovered my deception, but instead of having me put to death, he walled off a piece of my mind and placed all the memories of his discovery within them before sending me back to Muzen as a two-faced Janus."

I frowned. "Muzen should've noticed something was wrong."

She turned her mysterious smile on me. "Muzen would have, had he not begun relying on Yrg to do the searching for him. Yrg always thought she knew more than she did."

"I'd say she thinks a lot less, now."

Zanzabel shuddered. "Seeing Yrg reduced to a puppet... anyway, Osiris always gives me several enchanted crystals to keep with me, which I use to contact him directly. They resemble simple mana stones, but once I break the crystal, the mana released brings up his image, which we will be able to see and hear, as he can see and hear us. I need to give him my report, but I will also explain the situation, and see if knows of a ritual we can perform that might satisfy the barbarians."

My eyes had gone wide. "I think that's a really bad idea." Zanzabel gave me a puzzled look, and I added, "Osiris and Asena hate each other. I mean, Asena was with Alexander the Magnificent when he conquered Aegyptus, and she made all the Celestials kneel before him, including Osiris. Celestials don't forget insults, and when he realizes I'm Asena's son-"

"Greywolf," Castor said, "how's Asena going to react when she discovers you've gone against her orders, and betrothed yourself to the girl she forbade you to save?"

"I'm trying not to think about that. I mean, she'll be a little upset-"

"A little?" Castor snorted. "We'll be lucky if she doesn't break your bones throwing you around, before ripping out Wysper's heart and eating it."

Wysper drew herself up. "I am not afraid to die... at a goddess's hands."

She thinks Asena's a goddess? "Wysper, I didn't survive Muzen just to see my mother kill you instead. Wotan's blood, she's going to be furious enough with me, but if she finds out Osiris is involved..." How could I make them understand? Asena was more likely to snarl than to slay, but she hated most other Celestials because of what happened to her.

"Regardless," Castor argued, "having an Aegyptus betrothal agreement will satisfy the Great Khan."

"Then I will contact Osiris." Before I could protest, Zanzabel reached into a hidden pocket of her dress and pulled out what looked like a blue mana stone. "We will be speaking in our language until Lord Osiris decides otherwise, so this may take a while." She walked away from us, skirting the pool before stopping close to the opposite side of the room. Her back was to us as she flung the crystal down to the floor.

It smashed in a flare of blue light, revealing the blue image of a lean man wearing robes. He was bald, with a hawk-like face, and clean shaven except for a chin beard like a dark strip going down to his center chest.

He looked up from whatever he was doing as Zanzabel knelt and placed her forehead on the floor. He spoke to her in a language unlike the Sasnayam tongue, with more hard sounds like Germanic, but with odd, softer sounds as well. They stopped speaking and he made a slight motion with his hand. Zanzabel rose to her knees and they resume talking.

Castor lightly gripped my shoulder. "While they're jabbering away at each other, let's get you cleaned up." Castor helped me get my trousers and groin protector off, then supported me as I rose from the bed and into the pool. Wysper's eyes went wide as he eased me into the water. Hasn't she ever seen a naked man before? Maybe she hasn't, strange as that seems.

Ah, warm water; that's a lot better. Everything still hurt, but at least my muscles were relaxing a bit as the water flowed from one side of the pool to the other. Castor let me go. "Woman, is there a cloth I can use to wash his wound with?"

"My name is Servant-mistress Pigeon," the small woman replied, "and I will attend to him. You," biting off the word, "will snag the material with those claws." She went to the dais and pulled on an ornamental knob, opening a hidden drawer. She pulled out a red cloth with black stripes and returned, kneeling on my injured side while Wysper knelt behind my head. I closed my eyes as she began running her fingers through my hair. Then reopened them as Pigeon started washing out the wound, enduring the pain as I grit my teeth.

Pigeon finally finished and I sighed in relief, the small woman rinsing out the cloth in the water as Zanzabel said something in the Sasnayam language. Pigeon responded, then laid the cloth out next to the pool to dry before rising with Wysper. Both of them walked over to where Osiris' image was sitting cross-legged in front of Zanzabel. They bowed, and then knelt, Osiris asking what sounded like a question and Pigeon responding, before Wysper responded as well.

I knew I should’ve been worried, but watching the water change from red to light pink as I listened to Wysper's husky voice without understanding the words, was pleasant. Maybe I'll close my eyes, just for a moment...

Castor's claws pressed down on my shoulders just enough to jerk me awake. Osiris' image was floating right above the water on the opposite end of the pool, sitting cross-legged with his robes covering his feet. He smiled. "Well met, Greywolf, son of Asena," he said, speaking in the language of the Germanic tribes. "I assume you know the old tongue of the North-land?"

I gave him a wary nod. "That was the first tongue I lore-learned at Asena's knee. How can I be of service?"

"By telling me whether we are accursed of each other, or shield-friends."

Remember who you're dealing with. "I have no quarrel with you, Osiris, though Asena may."

Osiris' image chuckled. "Three things I know to be certain: the sun will rise in the East, the Nile will flood, and Asena will hold onto her grudges. Knowing this, I wonder at your boldness in desiring life-oath to the human girl, Wysper."

I reared back in surprise. "Life-oath? This was to be a betrothal."

He shook his head. "I explained the ancient customs and what they meant, then gave her the oath-choice. Wysper wants, or in truth, needs, to be life-bonded with you."

"But she has no year-lore of me or what I truly am."

"She believes you are a demigod of the north, and that is enough." I opened my mouth to protest, but shut it again as he raised his hand. "Open your ears. Muzen crushed her faith without removing the shadows from her mind the Fae of Winter embedded, and even though time will wash those shadows away, she needs to believe you are one, or risk despair strong enough for her to seek death."

"Life-oath means bonding together until death. What if she knows regret over this?"

"Greywolf, by the customs of the North-land tribes and Aegyptus, you are both allowed to live apart with other spouses. Yet I do not believe this will be needed unless politics rears its ugly head. You two are meant to be together."

"I felt heart-longing the first time I saw her," I blurted out without thought.

Osiris' image smiled. "She admits the same. This is good, yet other reasons exist for you to swear her a life-oath." The smile slipped away as he sighed. "When Celestials came to shatter spears with the Daemo princes, not all fought. Some established guest-halls, fortified places where warriors could rest, or recover from grievous wounds, and we used the humans we found as servants, raising them higher than they ever could have done alone. In return, they worshiped us as gods."

"And do so still."

He nodded. "Which was our sin, dark-shadowed as the heart of my shield-brother, Set. We never took time to see them as people, only objects to be used and toyed with. Too late did the Oldenbloods know their sin, the corruption it caused... and yet could not change our course." Osiris' image pointed a finger at my chest. "The Oldenbloods are dying, and our dual-natured children are already suffering from the slow loss of mana, but you are different. I know Ghostdog from a long, long, time ago, and he is the only being that could get a child on one of us who was exactly like we are... or at least, exactly like we used to be when we were young."

"At the tent-hall meeting with the Great Khan, a woman with no eyes told him I was Asena reborn, but changed." I scratched my head. "Understanding swept past me. I mean, all children are part of each parent, not just one or the other."

Folding his hands in his lap, Osiris' image shrugged. "Truth, except the Shadowlands was the place of conception. The Grey is strange, and Ghostdog understands much he will not speak of." I gave him a sour look and the image chuckled. "Often have I felt the same as you after talking to him." He glanced off to the side, as if looking at something I couldn't see, then back again. "But this is why life-oath to Wysper is so important. Bonding with a human means living as one, understanding as one, loving as one."

He regarded me a moment. "Greywolf, we who live in our golden halls must someday answer for our dark-shadowed sin, and I would see you remain unstained. Great burden I place on young shoulders, yet important that life-lesson is understood: we are not gods."

"Asena teaches such lore daily with her actions, yet deep-truth in the words spoken." I glanced at Wysper. She was trying to keep her face a stoic mask, yet I could see the shadow of fear behind it. She thinks I'm going to say no... and a part of me wanted to do just that.

I was scared. I would’ve never admitted that to anyone, but bonding with Wysper for life meant everything would change. No more guarding caravans and fighting off bandits alongside Asena, no more sharing the warmth of lonely widows or wrestling carnally with slender Daemo...

But it meant never again performing carnally in front of hooting merchants and caravan hands, just so Asena could drink herself into next week. It meant knowing where I'd be living next week, next month. It meant having friends and a place where I belonged.

It meant finding a home. I smiled at Wysper as I said in Greco-Roma, "Papa used to tell me that home's not a place but a person you love, and that if I ever found her, to never let her go. I'll be your home until the end of your life, if you want me."

She began blinking rapidly as the stoic mask cracked... is she crying? "Do you mean that?" I nodded, and she leapt to her feet. "Yes," she cried as she rushes over to the pool and dropped to her knees to throw her arms around me. "I want-"

Wysper slipped and fell into the pool. I grabbed her before she hit her head on the side as water splashed onto the floor, Castor's laugh almost a wolf's howl as as I winced in pain. But I didn't care. We kissed open mouthed and wrapped our arms around each other like we’d never let go.

Then a voice above us rumbled, "What's going on here?" Wysper and I broke apart and looked up as Titan strode down the stone stairs, his footfalls echoing off the wall as a look of surprise seized his face. "Osiris?"

The blue image had already turned around and was floating in his direction. "Titan, it has been a long time. Zanzabel, who was my agent keeping me informed about Muzen's doings, has explained everything that has happened thus far." Titan stopped at the bottom of the stairs an arms length away from Osiris' image, as he said, "Now, let me explain what you have missed."

They began speaking together in yet another language... how many tongues does Osiris know? Zanzabel turned away from them and looked at us. "If you wish to consummate your union in the pool, I have an unguent that is not only slippery, but will not wash away in water, and will prevent the conception of a child."

"That part's not a problem," I tell her, "because I'm a Shadow-walker." Why do they all look confused? Idiot, why do you think they do? "Apologies. Shadow-walkers can only conceive a child in the Shadowlands, and Papa warned me to never do that. He said that if I do, the child won't be born human but will be a monster that can use the Grey."

Castor said, "Do you think he told you the truth?"

I shrugged as I wrapped my arms around Wysper's slender body again. "Asena thought he was lying, but he seemed pretty adamant."

Pigeon frowned as she joined us. "I hope you are right, because Wysper does not need that problem on top of everything else." She made a disapproving clucking sound. "That beautiful dress is ruined."

Wysper raised her chin as she met Pigeon's disapproving look with defiance. "Then I shall remove it."

Zanzabel smiled. "You will be snarled up in it like a kitten in yarn. Come to the edge and let me help you." I let go of Wysper and she waded over, raising her arms as the African woman helped her get the dress off.

My eyes went wide as the pool itself as I drank in the sight of her slender beauty. I went hard as a blade, and as Wysper pressed her body against mine again she felt it too, for she gasped. Zanzabel laughed. "I have another thought. I shall join you both, bracing Wysper against me so Greywolf will not need to exert so much pressure that his wound reopens."

"It is going to reopen anyway," Pigeon retorted.

"Then let it." I looked up at the others, my eyes meeting theirs. "If Wysper has to bleed, then I should bleed with her, and share her pain as well."

Zanzabel raised her eyebrows a moment as her smile turned wry. "If more men felt that way, I might enjoy being with them more."

"Few have gone through what these two children have," Titan rumbled as he and Osiris' image moved our way. Osiris took his former position floating at the other end of the pool as the Ogri dropped to one knee beside us. "Because of Asena, I was going to oppose Greywolf doing more than betrothing Wysper, until Osiris told me of rumors several of his trade captains brought with them on the tide. The Kingdom of the Gauls has supposedly invaded the Isle of Britannia."

Wysper gasped. "Invasion? But-"

"The trade captains had no hard evidence," Osiris' image said, "and none of the rumors suggest the Brittani people have been conquered. But under the circumstances, it is important that the two of you are forged into a single unit no one can break, short of death, as Wysper may someday need to return to Britannia."

I gave Titan a bewildered look. "I don't understand. Why is it so important?"

"Alliances," he rumbled. "Among the Brittani people, only the noblest of children are the ones sacrificed to make their blood oats, and thus the queen or one of her sisters always conceives a daughter with blood magic and a small amount of life magic as well."

"Queen," Wysper said in a quiet voice.

My eyes went wide again as Titan nodded. "Even if the royal family has survived, this alliance between the White Horde and the Brittani is essential for each one's survival."

"I have seen maps of the civilized world," Zanzabel said, "and there are hundreds of leagues between here and the Isle of Britannia."

"Doesn't matter," I replied. "I'm a Shadow-walker, and even walking hundreds of leagues doesn't exhaust you or even seem that long, if I brought say the Chosen to help. But why would the Great Khan agree to an alliance in the first place?"

"Prestige for the kingdom he wants Prince Avitohol to establish," Castor answered. "With you as Avitohol’s Bloodguard, and a princess of the Brittani as his adopted daughter, his shaky hold on becoming heir would suddenly become a lot stronger in the eyes of the People."

"Huh. Do you think Avitohol realizes who Wysper actually is?"

Castor shrugged. "Who knows? But I will say this," his jaws opening in a wolfish grin, "for a kid, he plays a mean game of 'Conquer the World." Seeing my puzzled look, he added, "It's a game of strategy and tactics."

"Which are the subjects I plan to instruct Wysper in," Titan said, "after she and Greywolf become members of the White Horde."

Wysper gave him the startled look of a deer hearing a twig snap. "Strategy?"

He nodded. "And tactics. While I feel certain your family has survived and is being served by wise advisers, it is always best to plan for the worst possible outcome."

Wysper's expression became shadowed. "I do not feel... they will welcome me. To lay with a male... is betrayal."

"With a human male, perhaps," Osiris' image said. "However, with the son of the Wolf-mother Asena, everyone, especially Pan, would be overjoyed."

The sun returned to her face as she said, "Do you really think so?"

"I plan to tell him myself when I discover the truth of these rumors, and speak to him of your fate. For now, are you willing to bond with him for the rest of your life, knowing that you or Greywolf may need to live with another spouse, or that your separate union may need to produce children?"

"Greywolf will always be first in my heart." My own heart swelled up hearing her words, as she took a deep breath. "However, I will accept whatever Lady Fate weaves into my life. Yes, I am willing."

"You'll always be my Home no matter what," I blurted out. Idiot, that sounds stupid. But she was smiling again in a soft way, so I supposed it was alright. "I agree as well." Even though Asena's going to kill me for sure, this time.

Osiris' image looked around at the others. "All of you bear witness that these two have agreed they will take care of each other for life." Everyone either nodded or said something in response, and he smiled. "Excellent. In the morning I shall have my scribes write out the agreement in both the language of Aegyptus, and in Greco-Roma, for both of you and the witnesses to sign."

"And then what," Titan rumbled. "Send it with the next caravan north?"

"The agreement will be sent by courier," he replied as his expression grew sly. "Now, I believe the next step is in order?"

"Lord Osiris," Zanzabel said, a small ceramic jar in her hand, "with your permission?" His image made an inviting motion as it floated off to one side, and she slipped off her dress before climbing into the pool with us. She dipped her finger in the jar as she said to Wysper, "With your permission?" Wysper nodded, and Zanzabel drew out a dab of dark creme before putting her hand under the water.

Wysper sucked in her breath. Zanzabel finished, then settled against the side of the pool as Wysper turned around and nestled in between her legs. As I waded towards them, Zanzabel said, "Normally, when I am instructing new lovers into the erotic arts, I would ask everyone to leave so they can take their time. However, I can see blood seeping from Greywolf's wound already."

Glancing down, there's a trickle of red coming from my shoulder as Titan added, "I would overrule you if you asked. This needs to have witnesses, in case Prince Timur claims the bond was not consummated."

"At least there aren't as many spectators as usual." Wysper's eyes widened as I realized what I’d just said. Shite! "I've, ah, had an interesting life, at least at times."

She smiled. "Someday I want to hear... all about it."

"I'll tell you everything," my hand going to her face. Shite, that hurts. "And I'll make our next times special, I promise."

Wysper clasped my hand with her soft one. "I believe you." Then she reached down into the water with her other hand and positioned me exactly where she wanted it to go. "Please?" I kissed her as I thrust hard.

She cried out as my wound reopened, her arms wrapping themselves around me as I pressed onward. Wotan’s blood, this hurts, this really hurts. My normal self-control was completely gone as I finally had the one that I'd wanted since the day our eyes met. Too soon, I exploded inside her, sagging as my arms gave way, and Zanzabel held me up as Wysper burst into tears. Fear stabbed at me. "Did I hurt you?"

Wysper shook her head, holding onto me and crying into my shoulder as Osiris said, "The dam is broken and the Nile flows freely. She will never have another mana node grow inside her ever again." Wysper nodded in agreement, lifting her head up off my shoulder.

She gasped. "Please, he is bleeding bad." It isn't too bad, is it? Shite, the water's looking pink and it's darkening-

Massive hands pulled me out of the water, Wysper gasping as we were pulled apart, and Titan laid me down on the cold stone floor before wrapping a long, thin linen cloth around my shoulder, spiraling it several times before tying it off. People are babbling... is somebody telling me something? I really want to sleep, but maybe I shouldn't... I'll just close my eyes for a moment.

Just for a moment.