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“How about settling down for a while,” Saint Viktor said out of nowhere.
“Huh?”
Archemorus had been deep in thought about boats. In his life he had spent a significant amount of time on boats and ships. He had loved to ride them and he found himself missing the experience more than he had expected. There was something freeing about the wind in his hair and powerful about taming the force of the waves. Since Saint Viktor was not always down for conversation, Archemorus had entertained himself lately with plans to build a boat himself. It was not very realistic to travel through the mists by water but he could probably obtain some materials from the right places and if they only had some sort of permanent base where he could build a small wharf-
“Settling down?” he asked blankly.
“Yes,” said Saint Viktor with an air of forced patience. “Staying in one place for a prolonged amount of time, maybe building something. Or however you might want to interpret the term.”
For a moment Archemorus was stumped how much the sentiment mirrored his own thoughts.
“Yeah, sure,” he said.
Saint Viktors jaw dropped a bit.
“I had thought you would oppose the idea more, since you enjoy wandering and exploring places,” he said, sounding slightly incredulous.
“Well, yes, I do. But a change of pace doesn’t sound so bad. Besides, I could build a boat.”
Saint Viktor gave him a dubious look.
“Whatever you say. Anyway, I noticed that the terrain seems more stable around the domains of the various gods. If we could reach the vicinity of one of the domains, we could look for a more stable place with access to some wood and water and try to build a sort of shelter.”
Archemorus grinned.
“That sounds great, Viktor” he said and slung his arm around Saint Viktors shoulders.
“Incidentally,” Saint Viktor said slightly stilted, “It seems like we might be close to the domain of Melandru. We could start looking around.”
Archemorus couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The bastard had probably planned all of this carefully. It was endearing.
“Sure,” he said, still grinning.
Then suddenly the ground disappeared under their feet.
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Archemorus felt himself submerging in freezing water without any warnings. It was not the worst experience that the mists had thrown at them, but it was certainly near the top of the list. He tried to remain calm and to reorient himself. After an agonizing amount of time, which felt like an eternity but probably wasn’t longer than a minute, he finally reached the surface, thanking his ancestors for their affinity with water. At least the ocean was familiar territory for him.
But it was not for Saint Viktor. Saint Viktor didn’t even like water. He looked around in increasing panic until he remembered, that as spirits in the mists they couldn’t drown or even die in most cases. Still the fear refused to leave his heart. They couldn’t die but they could be separated with no way of finding each other again. And despite every rational thought, he didn’t want Saint Viktor to drown in this ocean longer than absolutely necessary.
After looking around for some time, he saw a dark spot at the surface of the ocean to his left. It turned out to be plank of driftwood. Cursing, Archemorus held onto the plank. Finally, he saw some splashes in the distance and hurriedly swam towards it.
“Viktor!” he shouted while approaching. “Hey, Viktor, there you are.”
Saint Viktor was gasping for air, and struggling to stay afloat with all his heavy, waterlogged clothing. Archemorus grabbed him and helped him get a grip on the piece of driftwood.
The look of naked relief that Saint Viktors shot him probably shouldn’t warm his heart as much as it did.
“I remember why I never liked the ocean” Saint Viktor said after catching his breath, voice thinner than usual.
“I will introduce you to the joys of the ocean sometime” said Archemorus, his spirits rising. He held onto the other end of the driftwood. “But first, let’s look for a way out of here.”
“And how do you propose we do this? You might not have noticed, but there is nothing except water around here.” Saint Viktor said testily. From the proximity Archemorus could feel the tremors running through his body.
“Well, despite what a lot of stories tell you, driftwood is not just floating all over the ocean.” Archemorus said with a smile. “It means that a ship sank around here or was badly damaged. And damage means something to collide with, hopefully land. So, let’s start looking around.”
Saint Viktor didn’t object and soon they saw another dark speck floating in the distance. Following smaller and bigger floating parts of driftwood, they indeed reached something looking like a jagged rock formation standing out from the ocean. As they got closer, the jagged edges got less and some more uprising mounds and flat surfaces became visible.
“Strange.” said Archemorus, observing at the landscape. “These rocks don’t look very natural.”
A bigger flat-topped mound with a stone structure upon it came into their field of vision and he realized, that indeed, these were no rock formations in the ocean. These were hilltops, in some parts overgrown and wrought by men. And the stone structure seemed like some sort of temple.
Before he could work through the ramifications of this discovery, he heard Saint Viktors teeth chattering. His knuckles were white as he held on to the piece of driftwood as if for his dear life. Archemorus softly clasped one of his hands around Saint Viktors and steered both of them towards the temple like structure.
They managed to pull up to the relatively flat stone surface and stumble on to the structure. It seemed indeed like a slightly damaged temple but more importantly it had a roofed space relatively secure from the elements, which was where Archemorus was heading towards. There he held Saint Viktor who basically collapsed on the ground and sat next to him with a groan. Shaking his tired legs, he started observing their surroundings.
Despite the mostly sheltered location and vegetation surrounding them, it didn’t feel like a pleasant place. An unrest lay in the air and it felt like something was crawling right under the surface of the water, only waiting for the right time to appear and devour their unsuspecting prey. Archemorus hoped, that they wouldn’t be forced to stay in this place for a very long time.
"That was unexpected" he said after some time.
"Yes, and it certainly was no pleasant surprise" Saint Viktor replied, still sounding winded. “And this is no pleasant place.” He hesitated slightly. "You can let go now."
Archemorus turned to look at him. Saint Viktor was sitting stiffly and talking more to the wall than to him. A bit of colour had returned to his face. Archemorus realized then, that he was still holding Saint Viktors hand. It was surprisingly big in his own, with long fingers and it felt natural to hold it. Archemorus was reluctant to let it go.
"You're still cold" he said, moving his hands and taking Viktors between them. Saint Viktor turned to him jerkily. Then he took a deep breath and sat up straighter.
"You are cold, too" he said with a judgmental look towards Archemorus. He placed his other hand on their joined hands and together they got some warmth back into their hands. Archemorus didn’t know how it even worked but he felt the warmth spreading.
They both didn’t let go of each other’s hands, despite the cold and uncomfortable stone floor and their slightly awkward positions. Sitting there in silence, Archemorus was suddenly hit with how close he was to Saint Viktor.
Despite spending a lot of time with each other, he had never really noticed Saint Viktor like he did now. The hands clasped around his own, big and strong with long, slender fingers. It felt surprisingly secure holding Saint Viktors hands like this. His body was closer than usual too. He could feel every point of contact acutely, where their shoulders met, where their ancles met and the warmth that seemed to radiate from these points. He also noticed Saint Victors tension and the set of his shoulders, holding himself upright despite being completely soaked and having obvious misgivings about their situation. He was as always, a steady presence next to him. Archemorus felt a sudden warmth washing over himself as he was overcome by affection. Saint Viktor, his enemy and reluctant ally in life, his longtime companion and friend in death, who had apparently wormed his way into his heart and become dear to him without him noticing.
He felt a tremor running through his body, and couldn’t help breaking out into a delighted grin. In the grip of his sudden bout of affection, he softly tugged one of his hands out of Saint Viktors and slung his arm around him, pulling him even closer.
"I'm so glad it is you, which whom I ended up in death" he said, tightening his hold slightly. He hadn’t actually been very glad about it in the beginning and he had been cursing both Saint Viktor and their circumstances spiritedly. But now he couldn’t imagine anyone else at his side. They were equally matched in presence and at the same time so different to each other in character, in their knowledge and in their crafts, that it never felt like there was a dull moment. Maybe fate had been involved after all.
Saint Viktor had gone still in his arms, but this close Archemorus could hear his heart beating fast. After a bit of time Saint Viktor also freed one of his hands, shifted a bit and put it around Archemorus' waist. Carefully he maneuvered them both in a more comfortable position and leaned a bit into him. Archemorus could feel the tension draining from his body.
“I’m glad, too” he said after some time, voice slightly raspy. “I- “
He stopped himself and didn’t continue. They both sad for a while in companionable silence, enjoying the closeness and warmth each other’s presence gave them.
“So, why don’t you like the water?” Archemorus finally asked.
Saint Viktor sighed.
“When I was a child” he began reluctantly, “I was playing at a Lake with a friend. The cliffs there were high, but we were curious and wanted to explore. As it had to happen, I slipped and fell into the water. The lake was quite deep so I was sure that I would drown. But my friend had fetched some help and they pulled me out of the water in time.”
Archemorus could feel the shiver that ran through him. He held him a bit closer.
“It’s stupid” Saint Viktor continued, looking out at the ocean. “But ever since then, water has felt dangerous to me. If I don’t have to, I don’t go near lakes or the ocean, much less onto a boat.”
“It’s not stupid” said Archemorus. “The ocean can be as soft as a kitten or as dangerous as a wild tiger. If you learn how to handle it, it may lose its terror. Do you know how to swim?”
“No,” said Saint Viktor.
Archemorus turned to him. “Then I’ll show you how.” He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Swimming is such a joy, when it is done in the right way. I can’t wait for you to see.”
Saint Viktor didn’t look very convinced but still turned to face him. “If we ever have the opportunity, I might be open to try it,” he said seriously.
Archemorus brought their foreheads together softly and grinned at him. “I can’t wait for it,” he said. “I’ll show you everything you want to know.”
Saint Viktor seemed to be breathing a bit easier now and his body wasn’t trembling. Archemorus felt warmth spread all over his own body, dispersing the cold from his wet clothes.
After some time, the world swam out of focus around them and they felt the familiar shapes of the mists returning, together with the outskirts of Melandrus domain. They entangled their limbs a bit awkwardly and stood up.
“Maybe we’ll look a bit further away for a place to stay” Archemorus said, feeling the loss of Victor’s warmth.
“Yes, I fully agree.” Saint Viktor stepped next to Archemorus. “I think this direction looks promising” he said, pointing at a random rock formation. When taking his arm down again it brushed against Archemorus’ hand. Archemorus noticed then, that he was standing closer than usual.
“Sure” he said shooting Saint Viktor a look, who shifted a bit. Archemorus felt a brush at his hand again. Furrowing his brows, he slowly reached out and moved his hand into Saint Viktors, who took it immediately.
‘This bastard’ thought Archemorus fondly as he followed Saint Viktor towards their next destination with a spring in his steps. Towards many more adventures and, maybe, towards a shared shelter, a boat and some swimming lessons in still waters. But wherever they would go and whatever they would choose to do, they would do it together.