In Pieces

Chapter 15: Dead men tell no lies.

Hayl was very tired. Who would have guessed that making Niki Oberyn live like a normal human being would be more taxing than battling savages! The boy had an almost magical ability to turn everything into a chaotic mess. The worst part was that he insisted that this mess of his had some sort of system to it, and everything had to stay in a certain kind of order. Hayl supposed that this order could only be understood by a madman. If there was any logic to Oberyn's system, it was not a type of logic familiar to humans.

This evening Hayl had to leave the boy's room early upon Niki's insistence. He shuddered to think what the place would look like tomorrow. To calm himself down and release the tension, Hayl decided to spend the free hours training with the sword. He didn't want to get rusty. Or more like, with the way things were in the Empire, he couldn't afford to get rusty.

After an hour Hayl had worked up a good sweat and was in a much better mood. Which didn't last long.

Because just as he was about to get to more challenging moves, he noticed a familiar figure of his newly appointed master walking out of the palace. He was dragging a big bulky bag behind him, obviously having a lot of trouble with it.

What was he even doing out at such hour?

Hayl dropped the practice sword and made his way towards the boy.

"Where are you going?" he asked, trying to maintain a respectful tone but it wasn't easy.

Niki, as always a bit oblivious, didn't seem to mind the sudden questioning by his so-called servant:

"To the Sacred Mount," he answered, as he continued to pull the heavy bag.

"Why...?" Hayl almost added "the hell" to the question but stopped himself.

"To talk to the spirits," Niki Oberyn said in such a tone as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Yes, that's what one does late at night – takes a heavy bag and goes to the Sacred Mount to talk to the spirits.

"What's in the bag?" Hayl couldn't help but ask.

"Mostly bones. And some plants for the spiritual fire."

"Does it mean that you gathered all the bones, scattered around your room?" Hayl asked, happy that whatever was going on here might at least have a positive impact on this boy's living conditions.

"I took just the ones that I might need," Niki responded very seriously. "I'm actually in a bit of a hurry. It will take me a while to get this bag up the mountain."

In fact, judging by the way Niki was handling it now, it looked like it would take him an eternity.

"I can help you with that," Hayl offered.

"You really don't have to," the boy shook his head and looked at him with those big bright eyes that for some reason made Hayl's heart skip a beat.

Without saying another word Hayl just picked up the bag, suddenly realizing that it wasn't even as heavy as Niki's desperate attempts to move it made it out to be.

The boy shrugged and just continued walking – they made their way to the mountain in complete silence. It wasn't very far, yet Hayl had never visited the Sacred Mount before. It was where they buried the ashes of the most celebrated warriors in the Empire. There was a time when Hayl dreamed about having his last resting place here. But now it was, of course, impossible.

Once they got up the mountain, Niki made his way towards the fire pit where the warrior bodies would usually be burnt. Hayl followed him, now even more intrigued about what the boy was up to.