115

Orphic could feel the bells on the souls of his feet and the palms of his hands as he pressed them to the dusty stone floor. Thatarus below, all of Cap-Sebastian must be ringing. It had been generations since all of the bells had been run, something wasn't right. A small bit of loose gravel and dust rained down on the cloth ceiling that a young Orphic had once constructed.

Orphic's mind swam too much had happened that day and he was having difficulty keeping it all together. His mind was racing from one detail to another. Darius, the girl at the market, Abelia, the Sakpatian temple, Salus, the woman, his old hiding spot, and now the bells. He was having difficulty breathing, as though his chest was being pressed in a vice. This wasn't a life, lives did not hang on the edge of decisions. Lives should be sooth, tempered, even. The constant pressure and struggle was too much if there was anything left of the gods or the old gods, surely this wasn't what they meant for people; squeezed to the very point of breaking.

Orphic's hand brushed against the carved wooden warrior Ajax. He picked him up and held him close to his face so that he could make out the rough scratches that were the toy's face. He closed his eyes for a moment holding the toy with both of his hands, almost as though he was in prayer, but his mind was blank. He let go of the day and sought darkness in his mind, emptying his vessel he looked with closed eyes and saw the darkness, black and empty. His ragged breath slowed and the pain in his chest eased. In this he found calm.

Standing Orphic tucked the toy warrior into the worn leather pouch on his belt and began to make his way out of his sanctuary. Somehow he knew that there was a finality in this act, a door closing that he had left opened for too long. He made is was back to the entrance to the room retracing his footprints in the dust.