Thirty-six – 05

Mon Capitain.”

Seamus took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly before he turned to his longtime second among the Hunt, a slender Frenchman with dark hair and gray eyes. He’d grown used to the nicknames the rest of the Hunt had saddled him with over the years and the one that Ghyslain had given him had been the one that stuck the most easily. He couldn’t say that he minded–though there were other things that he’d have liked to be called.

“What is it, Ghys?”

“We’ve been talking,” Ghyslain said slowly, the wings of his cloak falling closed in front of him, the dark wool hiding the leather breastplate the archer favored. “The lot of us have been talking.”

Seamus arched a brow. “About what?”

“About you, my old friend. You have kin, Seamus. Living kin.”

His throat tightened and he bobbed his head once in a nod. “I do. An abundance of it, in fact, if what I’m being told is to be believed.”

“You’re the only one amongst us that has that, you know.”

Seamus winced, squinting at the late morning sun and the glare of its light off the ice and snow. “I’m sorry, Ghys.”

Bon dieu, Seamus, don’t be sorry. We’re glad for you, glad that you’ve found them, found this.”

“But I can’t stay.”

Ghyslain was quiet for a long moment before he cleared his throat. “About that–we know that they’ve been digging for a solution to that problem, mon Capitain, and we’ve been looking at the records that old Anselm has been carrying around for nigh unto forever.”

“No one leaves the Hunt unless death finally takes them, Ghys.”

“The Ridden Druid did,” Ghyslain said softly.

“You sound like my sister.”

Ghyslain shrugged slightly. “Perhaps there’s something to what she’s said and what she’s thinking. Seamus, listen. It’s not written anywhere that you can’t be released from the Hunt–that the Hunt can’t decide to simply let you go.”

Seamus blinked at him. “What?”

Ghyslain smiled. “That’s what Anselm told us, anyhow. There’s just one thing we want in return if you can convince them.”

He couldn’t breathe, felt light-headed. “I–what?”

“We want someplace to call home, Seamus. If we let you go, we want to be able to return and stay, too. It’s been a long while since any of us had a place we could call home. We want that for ourselves and each other–as much as we want you to have a future with the people you love.”

“I–”

Ghyslain clapped him on the shoulder. “Think on it, Seamus. It could benefit us all.”

“Ghys…”

His friend smiled and shrugged. “It may be that it’s time for the Hunt to fade, mon Capitain. There’s nothing written that says that can’t happen, either.”

He walked away, leaving Seamus to stare at his retreating back, too stunned to speak or follow.

That was how Jacqueline and Neve found him fifteen minutes later.

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This entry was posted in Book 4, Chapter 36, Story, Winter. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Thirty-six – 05

  1. WOW! Big adjustments there!

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