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GNO Chapter Excerpts Page ~ B1C9 Quick-Browse
Chapter Quick-Browse For Graven's Grotesque: A Gothic Epic
Chapter 9 Excerpt Teaser
Description: The Promise To Fetch The Friar ~ 7 Paragraphs
“Understand what?” Lazarus finally asked.
“I couldn't do it either, if Odino asked me—Martha and all.”
“That is all? And the Gatestone remains open?” Lazarus asked with a shrug.
“I did all that Odino expected of me. The remainder he expects from you. And as you have made your choice—alas, I gather the Gatestone remains so.”
“Yet, you know that I cannot, Nicholas. I cannot walk in the light. I cannot walk to Italy—'tis too far. Friar Odino asks of me what I cannot do. 'Tis too much, friar!”
Nicholas raised his head and locked eyes with Lazarus, “He never intended that you walk to Italy.” A hush fell over the cave.
Lazarus finally spoke, “I cannot do what you might gather.”
“Cannot, or shan't?”
“I cannot fly,” Lazarus replied.
“Have you ever tried?” Lazarus said nothing. Nicholas grabbed a fresh stick from the fuel heap and thrust its end into the heart of the fire, turning it carefully till it flamed up brightly. “Perhaps I can convince you otherwise.” Nicholas raised the burning torch and rose to his feet. “Come.” He turned and headed deep into the cave and toward a narrow pitch opening of a grotto. Lazarus followed.
“You know, I discovered this cave not long after I arrived at the Abbey.”
“Mountain Mouth,” Lazarus added.
“You saw it too—the face in the rocks?”
“I did. Yet, Nicholas, why were you travelling so far from the Abbey.”
“Wondering; considering things. Searching for myself, I suppose. I like to walk and wonder of things.”
“And did you find yourself?” Lazarus questioned him. Nicholas heard the sarcasm in his words.
“I found Mountain Mouth instead.” Nicholas laughed. They entered through the grotto passage. Nicholas stooped low whilst continuing forth with the torch; and Lazarus trailed behind, ever-wary of the low rock ceiling betwixt them.
“Where are we going?”
“Forward. Come.”
“I gathered that much,” Lazarus grumbled. Nicholas chuckled. The two of them wormed through the passage. Its walls eventually fell away, revealing a vast cavern, its damp air thick with a pungent odour. With a circle of light illuminating the floor about them, they walked to its centremost part. “What is this smell?” Lazarus questioned. “Something is in here.” Lazarus searched the darkness.
“Yes, your teachers. They can teach you to fly, Lazarus.” Nicholas stopped and turned about.
“Who? How?”
“The best way.” Nicholas thrust the torch on high, revealing a high cavern ceiling completely filled with Greater Horseshoe bats. Lazarus stood in awe, looking over the upper cave formations as ten thousand shiny black eyes stared down at him.
“Rats?” Lazarus questioned. Several bats dropped from the ceiling and circled the cave.
“Look!” Lazarus pointed to them, “They're flying!”
“Yes, they are. They're bats. And bats fly. They leave the cave when the sun sets. They eat and return before dawn. They rest now. I've always been fascinated with bats.”
“Bats—like birds,” Lazarus mumbled to himself, hypnotized and staring at the ceiling.
“Bats are different than birds. Bats fly at night, when birds rest. And during the day, bats rest when birds fly. By the rise and fall of the sun, they take turns commanding the skies.”
“Friar Odino once gave me a bird. It fell apart.”
“A dead crow?” Nicholas asked.
“How did you know?”
Nicholas laughed. “I was the one who found it. I recalled Odino telling me that you wanted to see a bird, so I brought it to him.” Nicholas stared at the ceiling.
“Was it already dead?”
“Yes, lying amongst some rocks along the Abbey road. I walked that road a lot—found many things.”
“May I have the torch?” Lazarus asked. Nicholas looked down to see Lazarus with his hand extended.
“I can hold it higher for you, Lazarus.” Nicholas raised it as high as he could to better illuminate the ceiling.
“May I hold the torch?” Lazarus questioned again. Nicholas looked down.
“If you wish.” Nicholas gave him the burning stick. Lazarus held it high and walked about the grotto, inspecting the ceiling whilst Nicholas stayed put.
“And they only fly at night?” Lazarus called back at him, his words echoing through the cavern.
“Only then,” Nicholas replied.
After a time, Lazarus and Nicholas made their way back to the exterior cave and stoked the fire.
“I ask you again, Lazarus—for Odino—shall you?”
“I am not a bat,” Lazarus replied.
“And Odino would never ask it of a bat,” Nicholas replied.
“If I say that I shall—and then cannot fulfil it?”
“When I told Odino of Martha and of my plans to leave the Abbey, he told me this: `Tis better to have committed and failed than to have failed in commitment lacking.' You see, Lazarus, honour is based on deeds—not words alone. What he asked of you is that, at most, you give your word that you will try. Answer me once more and I shan't trouble you with Friar Odino's final request again.”
“Italy is so far away—and the sun?” Lazarus glanced at the grotto's opening.
“Your answer, Lazarus?” Silence followed.
Lazarus replied, “I—yes.” From the cave floor, beside his foot mitten, Lazarus picked up the map and looked it over, “I shall offer promise—merely that I shall try to fetch the friar—only that.”
Nicholas smiled and patted the boy's shoulder. “And no more is being asked of you, than your honourable attempt. Ivan would be proud of you.” Lazarus sniffed—only then did Nicholas realize that Lazarus wept beneath his mask...
[ End Excerpt Teaser Text ]
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