When Finnvid seemed satisfied by the silence, he continued. “But King Lordan couldn’t just have Varin killed. The people loved their hero too much, and might revolt if he was murdered by their king. And Lordan wasn’t strong enough to kill Varin in a fair fight. No one was.” Of course not. Theos had come to think of Varin as the original Sacrati, which made the stories much easier to appreciate. “So Lordan set traps for Varin. He sent him on impossible missions . . . I’ve already told you some of those stories, and we know how Varin managed to win against all obstacles. And then he’d return to the arms of his beautiful wife—and, no, I don’t think she has a name—and the king would see them together and come up with an even more impossible mission.”
“When Varin came back from fighting the star god, Lordan must have wanted to punch him in the face.”
“Probably,” Finnvid agreed. “The king had stopped caring about Varin’s beautiful wife quite so much because he was too busy hating Varin. Being jealous of him. Especially since Varin was the only one strong enough to lift the star god’s sword, so now Varin had an evenbetterweapon to fight with.”
Theos tucked his arm behind his head and looked up into the darkness of the room. This was a good story.
“But after that fight,” Finnvid continued, “Varin was tired. He needed to recover from his many injuries, and he wanted to spend some time with his beautiful wife. So when the king summoned him to a royal audience, he went, and he was respectful and polite. But the king said he had another mission for Varin to go on; Varin refused. Politely. He said he was injured, and tired. He said he needed a little more time.”
“How’d the king like that?”
“Well, secretly he was very pleased because it gave him the excuse he needed. He said Varin was no true hero if he wouldn’t follow the orders of his king. And right there in the grand hall, with all the nobles watching, he declared another man the hero of the realm.”
Theos was quiet for a moment. “Is this a real story?”
“Itis. But you’re right, it’s not a coincidence that I’m telling it to you now.”
“No.” The story was beginning to taste more like medicine than a treat. “So . . . what happened then?” Best to get it over with.
“Varin thanked the king. He said the other man was a good fighter and would be a good hero, and Varin was looking forward to spending more time with his wife. And right there in front of everyone, he pulled his wife to him and gave her a big kiss.”
“Wait. You were being my wife in the hall?”
“The story isn’t over yet. Do you want to hear the rest?”
“Probably not. Why don’t you just tell me more about your wifely duties and responsibilities. Should you be sleeping on the floor, now that we’re married?”
“So Varin went back to his home with his wife, and they were very happy.”
“Did she sleep on the floor? Did he like that?”
“You’re about to miss the ending of the story. I’ll just roll right over and go to sleep, and you’ll be lying up there trying to guess what happens, but you won’t be able to because your imagination isn’t all that good.”
“My imagination is excellent. I just use it for more interesting thoughts than stories about silly Elkati kings and marriages.”
“Fine. You lie up there imagining whatever you like. And I’ll just go to sleep.”
Theos lasted for three breaths, then said, “Slave, I order you to tell me the rest of the story.”
“Ask nicely.”
“Iordered. Youarea slave, you know.”
“I don’t agree.”
It was true, Theos realized. Finnvid still acted as though he was just spending time with slightly surly friends before returning to his old life in Elkat. And Theos had been letting him believe it. So he might as well continue with the charade, at least long enough to find out what happened to Varin. “Please tell me how the story ends.”
The room was too dark to see Finnvid’s smug smile, but Theos could hear it in his voice as he said, “Everything was fine until the dragon came.”
“Wait? There’s a dragon?” Theos had almost missed the best part of the story.
“Aye, a fierce old beast. Claws as long as a man’s arm, and eight of them on each foot.”
“Eight? That seems like a lot.”
“Itisa lot! It was a terrible dragon.”
“But not Varin’s problem.”
