Hrafn opened his eyes slowly, and the first thing that came into his vision was the good old Edvard, standing by his side with his usual impeccable posture. He turned his head a little and also saw Grim, kneeling farther ahead, hands praying in silence beside the bed. The smell of incense and food reached him as he tried to sit up, but it was far more difficult than he expected. His body was weak and empty in an unpleasant way, and he could feel that he was thinner too, and the sensation was enough for him to conclude that he must have spent more than one or two days unconscious.
"How long this time, Ed?" he asked, his voice coming out hoarse, still half caught in the back of his throat.
"Today will complete a full week, my lord," the butler answered.
"A week, hm?" Hrafn said.
It was to be expected, he had broken a good part of his ribs in the fight, suffered various abrasions and burns, as well as cracking his jaw and most of his teeth. That last thought made him run his tongue over them, feeling out the roof of his mouth, the gums and the whole inside with caution. Apparently, almost everything was fine, he lacked only one of the back teeth.
"Thank you, Grim," he said, relieved. A good part of him during the fight, had begun to fear the permanent damage that battle would leave behind. The white voroir did not answer, he first finished a few more sentences of the prayer, then opened his eyes and braced himself on one knee to stand up.
"It was nothing," he answered. "The teeth are easy to adjust if they are not torn out. As for the rest, I could not do much more about the burn marks."
That made Hrafn bring the hand to the collar of his shirt and pull it a little aside. On the left part of his neck and chest there were marks slightly darker than the rest of the skin, but that result was already a relief, an ordinary person without the treatment of a white voroir would have been much more ruined.
"Thank you anyway," he said. "It is always good to have a healer friend."
"Friend?" Grim asked, raising an eyebrow that made clear how much he distrusted that word coming from Hrafn. "You should thank Leif more than me."
"Makes sense," Hrafn answered. He then turned his face to Edvard as he felt the smell of the food and drinks that had been prepared, the table beside the bed was already waiting for him with everything a weak body would need. "I see you have been waiting for me prepared, Ed."
Edvard inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment, and Hrafn began to settle himself to eat, as he thought about the oppressive aura that had carried him out of the arena and kept him from being crushed by the marquis's presence. No common voroir, and probably no vondorodr either, would be capable of having so much megin, and no other hersir would leap into the arena for him out of simple kindness.
"I imagine it was not for free," Hrafn pointed out, taking the food for himself while Edvard served him with drink.
"I imagine not," Grim answered. "Since Leif told me to inform him when you woke."
"Did he happen to say what he would ask in return?" Hrafn asked.
Grim sat down in a chair near the window and relaxed his posture, looking through it at the weather outside before answering. "Winter is nearing its peak," Grim said. "This is always the worst part of the year for the Hird. The nights are longer, just as it will become difficult to travel the roads as the days pass."
"I think I understand," Hrafn answered.
"In times like these," Grim continued, "each city-state is almost on its own, at least during the next month, and this winter promises to be worse than average." He made a small pause, with the sound of his own stomach betraying him. "I think I will accept those drinks and foods now,".
Edvard was quick to serve him, and Hrafn continued speaking between one bite and another. "Do you think Leif is going to ask me to go to another city? Before the winter gets strong enough to close the roads?"
"That is what I imagine," Grim answered, blowing on the coffee before drinking it. He closed his eyes for an instant and then added: "It is very good." And Edvard merely nodded again.
"There is a city that has been reporting disappearances recently," Grim continued. "It is a very corrupt place, in truth, so it is not taken very seriously, and the high order of the Hird does not want to release much manpower to help them."
"And what about the Crown?" Hrafn asked, though he already suspected the answer.
"The Crown values helping political allies," Grim answered. "Those more willing to pay taxes and flatter. Of course they fulfill their duties, though in a minimal way and only enough to still be within the law." He paused and looked to the window again, with an ominous expression on his face. "But Leif believes there is something more in Vardheim. He says that if measures are not taken, there will no longer be a city there after this winter."
"And I imagine, it will be to this supposedly doomed city that he wants me to go," Hrafn said.
"Probably, yes," Grim answered. "Winter is always a time of calamity for the kingdom. The Hird has more voroirs and warriors in general, but it is always occupied, and it will send very few there." He set the coffee down beside him before continuing. "But you are freer than the others, and have shown yourself more powerful than your peers."
Hrafn ate a little more, chewing in silence while he thought about the cruel irony of the situation. He had barely awakened and there was already work waiting, he showed himself strong only to have worse tasks. "And what about Brinegard?" he asked after a moment. Part of him already knew there was not much to cling to there, but it was still where he had been born and raised, his old house was there too, as were his family's graves. There was also Nanna's little library, and he intended to return one day, to open those books again and discover how far she had been right about old stories.
"There is not much to worry about," Grim answered. "It was founded right beside the sea, like the ancient cities. There are few places so safe in the kingdom."
"That is good," Hrafn answered.
"And how do you feel?" Grim asked. "How is your body? Everything right and in place?"
"I feel like a sack of shit," Hrafn answered. "But other than that, I am excellent. Why?"
"It is nothing, just medical concern," Grim answered.
"If you say so," Hrafn murmured, not worrying too much about it. Grim had that way of knowing more than he said, but almost every white healer seemed like that in some way. Hrafn finished eating a little more and then leaned himself better in the bed. "Well, I suppose I have to get up and recover some muscle before being sent to another corner of the kingdom."
''And there was no rest for the Lord'' said Grim. ''And neither for the blessed. Chapter five, verse twelve from the book of the new beginning ", he concluded.
Hrafn then looked at him for a while, Grim looked back at him seriously, and then the two of them burst into laughter.