Blood and Gold Read Free Page B

all over the world speak it.” He stared at the blood drinker again. “My name is Thorne,” he said. “Thor was my god.” Hastily he reached inside his worn leather coat and pulled out from the fur the amulet of gold which he wore on a chain. “Time can’t rust such a thing,” he said. “It’s Thor’s hammer.”
    The blood drinker nodded.
    “And your gods?” Thorne asked. “Who were they? I don’t speak of belief, you understand, I speak of what we lost, you and I. Do you catch my meaning?”
    “The gods of old Rome, those are the gods I lost,” said the stranger. “My name is Marius.”
    Thorne nodded. It was too marvelous to speak aloud and to hear the voice of another. For the moment, he forgot the blood he craved and wanted only a flood of words.
    “Speak to me, Marius,” he said. “Tell me wondrous things. Tell me all that you would have me know.” He tried to stop himself but he couldn’t do it.
    “Once I stood speaking to the wind, telling the wind all things that were in my mind and in my heart. Yet when I went North into the ice, I had no language.” He broke off, staring into Marius’s eyes. “My soul is too hurt. I have no true thoughts.”
    “I understand you,” said Marius. “Come with me to my house. You’re welcome to the bath, and to the clothes you need. Then we’ll hunt and you’ll be restored, and then comes talk. I can tell you stories without end. I can tell you all the stories of my life that I want to share with another.”
    A long sigh escaped Thorne’s lips. He couldn’t prevent himself from smiling in gratitude, his eyes moist and his hands trembling. He searched the stranger’s face. He could find no evidence of dishonesty or cunning. The stranger seemed wise, and simple.
    “My friend,” Thorne said and then he bent forward and offered the kiss of greeting. Biting deep into his tongue, he filled his mouth with blood, and opened his lips over those of Marius.
    The kiss did not take Marius by surprise. It was his own custom. He received the blood and obviously savored it.
    “Now we can’t quarrel over any small thing,” said Thorne. He settled back against the wall greatly confused suddenly. He wasn’t alone. He feared that he might give way to tears. He feared that he hadn’t the strength to go back out into the dreadful cold and accompany this one to his house, yet it was what he needed to do so terribly.
    “Come,” said Marius, “I’ll help you.”
    They rose from the table together.
    This time the agony of passing through the crowd of mortals was even greater. So many bright glistening eyes fastened on him, though it was only for a moment.
    Then they were in the narrow street again, in the gentle swirling snow, and Marius had his arm tight around him.
    Thorne was gasping for breath, because his heart had been so quickened. He found himself biting at the snow as it came in gusts into his face. He had to stop for a moment and gesture for his new friend to have patience.
    “So many things I saw with the Mind Gift,” he said. “I didn’t understand them.”
    “I can explain, perhaps,” said Marius. “I can explain all I know and you can do with it what you will. Knowledge has not been my salvation of late. I am lonesome.”
    “I’ll stay with you,” Thorne said. This sweet camaraderie was breaking his heart.
    A long time they walked, Thorne becoming stronger again, forgetting the warmth of the tavern as if it had been a delusion.
    At last they came to a handsome house, with a high peaked roof, and many windows. Marius put his key into the door, and they left the blowing snow behind, stepping into a broad hallway.
    A soft light came from the rooms beyond. The walls and ceiling were of finely oiled wood, the same as the floor, with all corners neatly fitted.
    “A genius of the modern world made this house for me,” Marius explained. “I’ve lived in many houses, in many styles. This is but one way. Come inside with me.”
    The great room of the