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"It would seem so." Talberth gesturing with opens hands. "I have made the alternatives plain, have I not." He glanced toward Emiel. "Agreeing to this undertaking would seem the wise...."
"Master Talberth!" Belsimioth cried, slamming the door open with a bang and rushing across the room.
"..er...Belsimioth!" Talberth snapped out angrily. "You know better then to..."
"Master! Master! Caliban has gone mad!" he blurted out in explosion of words and breath.
"...Interrupt...."
"Master, but..." Belsimioth gasped
"...me. Enough!" The wizard shouted. "You will sit and stay silent!"
"But..."
"Not another word. Not another peep, or you'll be joining Ragnar in the Hall." Talberth warned, and catching the shocked expression on his page's face, he saw also there the dawning of understanding. "Yes. Good. Caliban has not gone mad, and neither have I, not yet, not until you drive me there! So sit!"
Talberth shook his head and brushed his hands across his face and eyes as if to clear them of some obscuring dust settled down by ages of disuse. "Gentlemen," he said, "I wait your answer, yea or nay."
Emiel and Ted exchanged glances, looked at the silent page sitting dumbfounded in a chair near the door, then back at the wizard. "Yea" they said together.
"As you know it must be." Emiel added glumly.
"Good!" said Talberth. "Your enthusiasm heartens me. Now I believe ten moments have passed." he glanced at the door." Yes I believe that will be Caliban retrieving our gentled barbarian."
And they heard the odd footfalls of Caliban passing by, heading for the entrance and Ragnar.
* * *
It was like a grey cloud had settled in his head. Slowly it cleared away, and he began to be able to think again. Then his vision began to return, fuzzy at first, but he could make out shapes in the fog. A thought occurred, a memory, 'Talberth'. From far off he heard his own voice, cracking and strained, he began to cough. A little at first, then without control, great racking coughs. He realized he could feel, and he wished that he could not.
There was a burning, he had felt its like before when the warmth came back to frozen feet and hands, but this was worse. This burning began deep inside, it radiated out from his heart, from the marrow in his bones.
The clouds were gone and the fire was in his head, behind his eyes, and following the courses of blood through his body. Suddenly every nerve caught the blaze and it swept from toe to tooth. A shout formed in his mouth but before it could escape the wave past and was gone.
Ragnar found himself sitting in a large and ornate chair and before him the thrice damned wizard standing behind a table of some dark smooth wood.
"Feeling better are we." Talberth said with a smile. "Good. Now enough time has been wasted. You will find that there is little to spare."
"Wizard, you and your damned spells, just what did you do to me!" Ragnar said angrily. He would have risen, he should have been enraged, berserk, but he felt slow, withdrawn. He was awake, his head was clear and focused, but he could not maintain his outrage or anger with the wizard.
"It is unimportant, trivial, and you do not have the time." Talberth looked from one to the other. "You have been complaining about inaction since I brought you here Ragnar. And you Emiel, Ted, you have been straining to return to your homeland, your people. Well now is the time."
"Tell us then!" Ragnar snapped, then calmed. "I have done nothing but sit and grow fat, you promised much, what is it that you needed from me?"
"I need your skills Ragnar. Yes, that axe of yours and your experience, but especially your judgment. I need you to protect these two as you will need them to help guide you, but beyond that I need you to kill a giant."
Ragnar smiled. "Yes wizard, that is worth what you have put me through. Tell me about this Giant."
* * *
(To Be Continued)