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Chapter XXVIII - Truth Be Told

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"You know, Sir Claudius, ever since yesterday, I can't help but think of something," Athena spoke, sweeping the dust from the floor, sending specks whirling into the air.

"And what's that, Athena?" Sir Claudius glanced up from his treasured novel. His scarred fingers gripped its thick spine.

"That I feel as though I am finally beginning to understand you… the way you are, why you do certain things, why you act in certain ways. It all makes sense now. You never really had a childhood. I had more of a childhood than you did!"

"Athena, dear, you forget you're still in your childhood—albeit, the final years."

The girl gripped the broom handle, lifting her thin brows and stiffening her body. "Yes, I suppose I am." With one slender finger, she pushed a curl back into place behind her ear and commenced sweeping. "Sir Claudius, will there ever be another place I sweep that's not the Grand Hall? I feel as though I have been sweeping it for ages! Surely there are dustier rooms in the castle than this."

The man scratched his scruffy chin, making a metallic sound that echoed through the hall before dying out. He cocked his head to the side, staring into the fireplace. "Yes, Athena, I do believe so. But we will go there another day."

Athena perked, her long curls bouncing up-and-down along her back. "Where?!"

"My Master's Quarters," he replied. "I hardly ever sleep there so the bed does not need making up, but I suppose you could dust off my tables and sweep the floors and so on. Maybe even spruce up my private library—reorganize the books for me."

"Sir, I would be delighted!" She raised a hand up to her forehead and made a sign as though she were following a captain's orders. Sir Claudius couldn't help but chuckle.

"Back to the previous conversation..." he winced, tightening his jaw. "There are still some things I have not told you."

Athena held her mouth open and her silvery eyes bulged out of her head. "Yes, Sir?"

His heart sank deep into his chest, retreating back as though it were crawling into a hole in a cave, avoiding a predator that had been avoided for twenty years. "Athena…" he stammered, shutting the book and slamming it down on the counter. "I suppose it is time I told the truth."

Athena leaned forward, beads of perspiration falling off of her forehead. Her circular eyes bugged out like a fly's in anticipation. "About…?"

Sir Claudius's eyes fluttered about the Grand Hall. He shivered, his insides swelling with frozen fear. "Henri. About Henri."

The girl dropped the broom handle, a thud sounding throughout the hall. She gathered her extensive skirts, tip-toed toward her chair, took hold of the armrests, and pulled it closer to Sir Claudius. "Tell me everything!" Athena plopped down, resting her chin on her palms. Her eyes tore into his soul like a predator tearing into its prey.

"Well, yes…" he uttered, coughing into his sleeve. "After he made all of the furniture and fabrics for me, and we became acquainted with one another… I… asked him to be my apprentice. I hadn't had one in over a year and needed one desperately. To tell my tales, to learn potions, to go out into town and buy things."

"Uh, huh…." Athena nodded, her tongue sticking out of her pretty pink lips.

"And so, he agreed, mainly because of the gold which he needed to refurbish his shop… but later he told me it was also because of the 'confidante' and 'mentor' he had found in me. I'll never forget that." Sir Claudius smiled, a far-away smile—withering away like an old, creaking ship departing out to sea. His eyes told stories Athena only wished she could know; they withheld emotions she only wished she could comprehend. "And then, one day, two years after we had met… he did not show. I knew something was wrong because he was never late. Ever."

"Was he ill?" Athena bumped in.

"Not in the way you would think." He wrung his hands together, his scars gleaming in the firelight. "A week or so later, I received a letter in the mail." Sir Claudius's icy eyes grazed over Athena, and a single drop of sweat fell into his lap. "The… the person told me that Henri had been attacked."

Athena gasped, a hand lurching up to her mouth. Tears drowned her eyes. "But why would they do that?! Henri is so—"

"Several men of the town did not like the tales Henri had been spinning—the ones I had asked him to spin about dragons. Henri made them seem believable and so they thought he was a loon. It did not help that he was French either, nor that he made clothes. One night while he was closing his shop, a group of men attacked him, leaving him for dead. Thankfully, the author of the letter witnessed it and took Henri into her home. Once he healed, and the men found out about it, they banished him from the town. Not legally, of course. They were a part of a gang of sorts." Sir Claudius tugged on his cape and leaned over his chair. "The author of the letter described Henri as petrified and ill, but fervent to come back and work for you. The lady said he would return one day. Yet, after twenty years passed, I thought perhaps he had died, especially with him being ill still." His head popped up, looking into Athena's eyes. "Now I find that not to be the case."

Athena squirmed in her seat, thoughts running rampant in her mind. "So that is why you waited so long to find another apprentice!" she squealed.

"Well, actually, I wasn't intending on having another one at all." He rubbed the back of his head. "That advertisement you found was from some odd years ago—before your time. They must have never taken it down after I put it up there. They had to have not taken it down."

"Oh, no," Athena giggled, "you are quite right, Sir Claudius. Mr. and Mrs. O'Dair never do anything in the bar—they never take any advertisements down nor do they fix anything! The most they ever do is clean the whiskey glasses and sweep the floors!"

"Hmph!" He turned his head toward the fire, his straight nose in shadow. "Well, generally I would scorn upon such incompetence but, perhaps I can make an exception." Slowly, Sir Claudius's eyes shifted to face Athena. The girl's cheeks blossomed.

"I do have one other question, Sir."

"Yes, Athena?"

"Who was the author of the—"

"I do not know. A lady. I could tell by the handwriting. Other than that, I do not know," he snapped. Athena remained silent and squeezed her knees together as tight as she could. Sir Claudius took note and spoke, "It has taken many years for me to come to terms with this, for nothing like it had ever happened before. I felt responsible for his near-death experience, Athena. And I don't want the same fate to come to you. Therefore, every single tale I share with you must be kept a secret."

"But then—" she gasped, "what will you do if the tales are not kept alive? Isn't that just what we were speaking of the other day?! We must keep them alive, Sir!"

Sir Claudius gripped the armrests of his chair. "I want to keep them alive, Athena, but I cannot risk you getting hurt, or worse. I was wary of you working here for this very reason, and if you do not comply with my wishes, then I won't have you as my apprentice for any longer." Small ovens within his pupils began to heat up. Roasting.

"Then what will you do if you turn to stone? Don't the tales have to be kept alive for you to remain human during the day?!" Athena raised her voice, sitting up, her back completely straight. "I can't lose you either, Claudius!" The girl stiffened and blushed, her cheeks turning the reddest he had ever seen them—the color of blood. "Oh… Sir," she corrected.

Something tingled within the man's stomach. A fiery worm crawling up out of his intestines and making way to his ribcage and heart. He sighed, palming his scruffy face. "If you truly care about me, Athena, then you will not share any of the tales I tell. You can tell them to your mother, to your younger siblings, to some of the older people in the village. But no one else."He pointed his finger at her.

"Sir," she laughed, throwing her head back, "no one in this town is going to harm me! I've lived here my whole life and everyone knows my mother! No one would harm the daughter of the 'fair maiden of the village'!"

He leaned back in his chair, covering his eyes with his hand. He tapped his other hand's fingers on the armrest.

"It's something else, Sir Claudius. You know they wouldn't harm me. It's something else." She leaned forward, as curious as a cat.

"Athena, please," he begged, desperate for her to stop and yet solemn. "Haven't you tortured me enough for one day?"

The young girl bit her bottom lip. She gasped several times, almost speaking, and yet drew the breath back in each time. Finally, she sighed and hung her head, her curly hair falling over her shoulders. With the firelight gleaming on her curls, it was hard to tell whether they were locks of golden hair or yellow flames. "Sir Claudius, I… If you need anything, just tell me. I will listen. I am here for you when you need to talk to someone."

"Well, who else?" he muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

"My point still stands. You know I am here for you when you are ready to tell me anything." She held out her hand and pressed it against his. He glanced, at first disbelieving his eyes, but once her warmth dispersed into his stone-cold fingers and he saw the truth in her ocean eyes, he had no choice but to believe that she was holding his hand. That she cared. For the first time in his life, someone cared.

"Thank you. I want to believe you, but I am… not quite sure just yet." Athena's eyes fell, pulling away from his hand, but— Sir Claudius's grip only grew stronger, and tighter, and more intimate. She looked into his eyes, which were no longer the blue of frozen rivers or mists, but rather, the blue of the heart of flames. "Athena, thank you."

She giggled, faltering, her lashes batting. As she dropped her head, a slight double chin poked out beneath her face. "You're welcome… Claudius. You don't mind if I call you that, do you?" She ran her thumb over his hand. At first, Claudius thought she was feeling his scars, but after several moments passed, he knew she wasn't.

Sir Claudius's fangs poked out beneath his lips, forming a slight smile, and his pale skin morphed into a deep reddish-purple. "Not at all, Athena. Not at all."