Chapter 20
The Öht Nürn Aldhii
‘Something wicked this way comes . . .’
Mraan finished his meal quickly, cut himself an extra chunk of dark bread to gnaw along the way, then left his home with no little sense of urgency buoying his steps. His sense of excitement had been growing daily as Haloch’s work on the new version of the Book of Runes neared completion; there remained only the tasks of proof-reading the text, and then finishing the final illustration; a painstaking task, as Haloch was used to working from a completed model.
Over the past months, Mraan tried to tell himself (his father as well) that he was excited because of his fathers’ accomplishment. The truth be known, the real reason was that he was hoping they would actually get to spend a little time together, before another task took Haloch away from his son in all but spirit for another lifetime.
Haloch had said that he would retire upon the book’s completion, but Mraan knew better than to take his father at his word where his work was concerned. Demands upon scholars came unbidden, and when made were difficult, if not impossible, to refuse. Such was the price of service to work whose importance superseded having one’s own life.
It was the still second hour before noon, a time of day Mraan had always disliked. There was something stagnant and dull about this time of day which always made him feel listless and impatient; it was as though time itself maddeningly dragged its feet out of mean-spirited obstinacy, or as though some hidden clockwork process of life itself had become sluggish, untrustworthy.