Hours later, after having dinner in the big hall at Ari’s guesthouse, the visitors now moved to the fire chamber, sitting down on floor pillows around the room, much like at the house in Sotira. A choice of tea or hot punch was served, as was the tradition in this occasion.
Ari occupied the main seat, just next to the fireplace, while Daniel sat opposite him, on the other side of the fireplace. To Ari's left sat his six sons in the order which they were born, while to Daniel’s right sat Nemo, with his leg bound properly now. Heli was next and then Séraphin, wings folded behind his back. The seven werewolves, now in their human form, occupied the rest of the seats in the room, thus closing the circle.
Earlier that day, Ari sent people back into the woods to find and retrieve the bodies of the fallen men. They were put back together, washed clean and dressed properly, and were then buried in a small field just outside the village. So it was that the first ever cemetery in the kingdom came to be. Messengers were sent to their respective villages to inform the families of the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones.
For the first time in their long history, the Endërland people met with the pain and sadness of the loss of human life, and it was heartbreaking to know that this was only the beginning. These men were the first victims of Winter’s madness, and if the guys did not succeed at finding the Great Lord, they would not be the last.
As for the surviving men, Daniel proposed that, since being a werewolf was an unnatural state of the human body, it could be considered as a disease and as such it might probably be cured with Summer water. So the seven men were given some from whatever Ari and the people in the village had in store for themselves. After drinking it, all of them had fallen on the floor, going through some kind of seizure, but other than that, there had been no sign of any change in them. The fact that the night had already come, Hëna was well up in the sky, and yet they were still human, meant that Daniel had been right, and that Summer water had worked its magic in them. Overcome with happiness the men laughed and cried for a good while, thanking Daniel and the villagers, and expressing their endless gratitude. Theirs would make for yet another fascinating story to be told around the fire, as was custom among local folk.
Storytelling was one of Daniel’s favorite traditions in Endërland. He had always loved stories; as a child his mother would tell him a new one every night, when she would put him to bed. After she’d died, Daniel had not bothered his dad to do the same; that had been one of the few memories he’d shared with his mother and it hadn’t felt right to do it with someone else.
Tonight, however, as the guest of honor, it would be him who would tell his story first, and it would not be a made-up one. He was nervous, for he didn’t really like to speak in front of many people. But tradition had to be observed. So he began by recounting almost everything from day one, all that had happened before and after The Council up until the moment his great-grandfather and his sons arrived at the place where Nemo had fallen. Of course, he felt he had to leave out certain things, Séraphin’s attitude and refusal to help Nemo being one of them, but that had no effect on the overall story.
When he was done, everyone raised their glasses and toasted in his honor, with Ari humorously congratulating him on his good story-telling skills.
It was Nemo’s turn to share with them next. Understandably, Nemo left out even more bits from his story than Daniel had, but he also filled in some of the missing pieces from the latest event; mainly how he had stupidly thought he would have been safer on top of a tree, thus abandoning the horses and climbing on the tallest one he could find. It was just his luck that the werewolves were unable to climb up there after him.
Another toast was raised in his honor when he finished, causing the red-haired boy to turn a darker shade. Daniel strongly suspected it was the punch, of which his friend had helped himself several times since dinner.
Next, one of the seven men offered to share with them his tale of the events that had led to the preceding events of the day. It was practically the same story as the rest of the thirteen men who had ended up attacking Daniel and his friends. He told of how he had been in the woods one day, and had been bitten by some animal he had never seen before. He had lost consciousness and when next awakened, he’d found himself locked up in chains in a dungeon somewhere along with the other men. There they had been kept alive and fed regularly for a very long time, but were never allowed to go out. Every night the beast would take over, but the chains held them in place, and they were unable to go anywhere or do anything but howl at the dark. But that had changed the previous evening, when they were suddenly released into open space, just before the moon had come out. Next thing he remembered, only seven of them were standing naked before Daniel and Lightning.
This was one of the sadder tales, as the pain of their friends’ loss was still fresh. But there was also joy in it, for they had finally defeated the beast and come out of this nightmare alive and well. And now new friendships and allegiances were formed that would likely last as long as Endërland itself.
They toasted again after the man finished, and then all turned now to Ari, whose turn had come to speak. Heli and Séraphin politely declined to share their own tales, much preferring to just sit there and listen.
This was the part that Daniel had been looking forward to the most, for so many different reasons. Ari began his tale with the first time he visited Endërland. He kept his eyes fixed on Daniel, as if this story was being told for him alone.
‘I was only a little boy when I started to visit here, and for a long time it was all just a dream to me. But as I grew up, I understood that it wasn’t so. This was a whole other world, and I seemed to be the only one who could come here. My father died in a war before I was born, so if he ever were a Visitor, he did not make it to Endërland, and I never got the chance to meet him.
‘When I was about your age, I met someone who called himself a prophet and he told me that he knew about this world and other people who had been here before me.’
‘Freddie?’ Daniel interrupted, completely mystified. It couldn’t be the same guy; that would make him older than Ari. Unless there was more to Freddie than he let on.
‘I think he went by Alfred, back then,’ Ari corrected, and then continued. ‘A scrawny young man, with short brown hair and a penchant for philosophy; maybe a year or two older than me.’
‘Yep, definitely Freddie,’ Daniel concluded. He made a mental note to get to the bottom of this the first chance he got, and then re-focused his attention on the story.
‘Anyway, he introduced me to this group of people who called themselves Guardians, and convinced me that I had a role to play in the future of both worlds. I stayed with them for a few years, all the time training to fight with guns and swords and everything else they could think off. They taught me many things, as if they were preparing me for something big and important, but nothing ever happened.
‘One day I was told that my training was over and that I should go into hiding. The Order had gotten news that many people like me were going missing or being found dead, so I had to lay low for a while. That’s when I started to travel around the world. I visited many places for a very long time, but finally decided to settle down in a very small and well-hidden village in Albania.’
‘Sotira,’ Daniel said.
‘Yes. There I met this beautiful young girl, who would become my world for the next forty years or so. And that’s where your grandfather and mother were born. We didn’t have the house you’re staying in back then, only a humble wooden shack; but we were content. Everything else that I had been through before that, faded away as if it had never happened. Nobody ever came to look for me and I never went back. I lived the rest of my life in peace and I died a happy man.
‘Death took me in my sleep, so I got to stay here for good. The Lords offered me to be the King of the Land, and for a time I did that, even though my heart was in living a quiet and simple life with my family. So when your mother came, I passed th
e reign on to her and moved out here with my new wife and sons. Our lives have been quiet and fulfilled, with not much happening, but that’s the way we like it.
‘But now, you come along, and bring with you a wind of change as it has never before happened in Endërland. And I can finally feel all the pieces falling into place. I may enjoy a quiet life and the beautiful silence of these mountains, but I have never forgotten what I was told, nor the reasons why I was chosen. So, when the day is upon us, and the Great Lord calls for me to serve, I will answer. I have a distinct feeling that I am about to finally get the opportunity to do what I was trained for.’
Long after dinner was over, Daniel thought about everything Ari had said, trying to understand what he meant with his last words. And he believed he did. He could not foresee much, but one thing was certain, dark days were indeed ahead. Thankfully, it seemed he would not have to face them alone.
Falling…