The Funeral, The Fire and the Unwelcome Guest

Chapter 2

A sea of people in black tunics flooded the small town square, in front of the steps leading up to the town's church dedicated to the New God. In front of this building stood a marble slab. On any normal day this slab was used as a sacrificial altar, the blood of many lambs, goats and cattle stained its golden stone. But today it was topped with wood, each piece Yokig had to gather from the forest on his own within the two days since his grandfather had passed.

On the first day, he moved his grandfather's body to the cellar beneath the house, to prevent it from decaying too much before the funeral. It was a hard thing for the frail young boy to do. He remembered having to wrap the body up in the beds wool blanket, and not being strong enough to carry the body, so he had to drag the body inch by inch, foot by foot, out the bedroom door, across the kitchen and outside to the cellar doors. The stairs leading down to the cellar were the easy part. He remembered being too busy trying to keep the body from sliding too fast down the stairs, desperately attempting to avoid damaging the body, to even begin to imagine his world beneath the ground.

He remembered grieving for hours beside the body as it lay in the center of the cellar.

He couldn't believe the old man was gone. Just like that, a body that was once full of life, love and of energy, now lay empty, void and cold. It still looked like his grandfather but it felt like just an empty husk of what his grandfather once was.

On the second day, Yokig remembered going to the town's church and making arrangements for the giving back ceremony. The church taught that the body should be burned on a pyre because everything is given life by the One God and therefore, when someone dies, their body should be given back.

He went into the forest after the church to gather wood. With every fallen twig and branch the boy picked up, his heart sank a tiny bit more. The truth of his grandfather's passing becoming more and more real. This was it. The body would be burned and then there would be nothing left for him to hold onto to remember that his caretaker was even alive.

Grandfather is gone, he thought to himself. He didn't want it to be true, but it was. He remembered falling to the forest floor and weeping, unable to hold back his tears.

But today was the day. On top of the mound of sticks lay his grandfather, dressed in his favorite green wool tunic and sandals. The priests had painted a gold dot on the body's head. Yokigs grandfather looked at peace offering yokig a small and fleeting moment of relief from his sadness.

Silence came over the mourners in the square as the priest of the new god descended the church steps. The priest was a very round fellow, with emerald eyes and a thick beard. He wore a grey tunic with a gold dot embroidered in the center, the sleeves trimmed in gold.

His trainee, a kid of about 17 years of age, followed close behind carrying a flaming torch.

The priest made his way toward the front of the funeral pyre. He positioned himself in front of Yokig and gently took the boys hands into his own.

Yokig noticed that the priest's hands were soft, his grip firm but gentle.

The priest leaned in to whisper into Yokigs ear. "My child, I'm sorry for your loss, your grandfather was a great man. Very fair and very kind." The priest whispered. "I hope that the one god will find favor with his soul"

The priest let go of Yokigs hands and turned toward the pyre for the ceremonial moment of silence to remember and honor the memory of the boy's deceased loved one. After which, the priest turned back around to face the crowd gathered in the front of the church.

"Rothghi Bog, " he started, "was a great man. I remember when I was only a boy. My mother would send me to Rothghi's bakery to pick up our daily loaf of bread. We didn't have much money, and Rothghi always offered us a discount price lower than what we brought him to buy the bread with. I remember that he would tell me stories of the beauty of the kingdom and all the people he met in his travels. I remember being so inspired by all of his tales, and by all of the One Gods creation. I would sit there for hours and the bread would get cold. And when I got home, my mother would scold me for taking so long getting back. In his bakery is where my love for the One God started.'' A tear slid down the priest's face. "And now the one god has taken him back."

The priest walked toward Yokig and rested his hands upon the young boy's shoulders.

Behind the priest Yokig caught a glimpse of a pair of green eyes, hiding in the shadows. Had the black cat come back to mourn too? He wondered. Yokig shifted his focus back onto the priest.

"Rothghi is survived…" the priest continued, "By his grandson Yokig Bog. And while his main caretaker is gone, but not forgotten, we can all do our part to make sure he becomes a man Rothghi would be proud of."

The priest smiled at Yokig. Yokig could see that the priest was trying to keep his composure but was losing the battle. The priest's cheeks were wet with grief.

The priest turned back to the altar and raised his hands to the sky. "True one!" He projected into the sky in a loud voice. "You give us all of us life, and now, we give one back to you!"

The priest trainee stepped forward and lit the pyre. Quickly the wood erupted into flames engulfing the body in its warm embrace. The crowd watched as the body was given back to the same deity they believed created it.

Yokig looked on as he saw the flames take the last of his grandfather, leaving him nothing but emptiness and ash.

They looked on until there was nothing left on the altar. And, after everyone gave Yokig their condolences and well wishes, all the mourners slowly emptied the square.

A sound started the boy out of his mournful trance.

Meow

He heard it again and quickly turned to face the source. He saw the black cat, his grandfather's old friend, looking up at him with its large green eyes, sitting calmly on the dirt ground.

Meow, it coed, almost as if it too was saddened by the loss.

"Hey, I didn't think I'd see you again." Yokig said to the cat. "How are you little buddy?"

Yokig felt a hand grab his shoulder. He looked up to see a large man, taller than usual but not by that much, with features he couldt quite make out except for his deep violet eyes.

"May I help you?" The startled boy asked.

"I was a friend of your grandfather, we need to talk," the man bellowed. Yokig could tell the man was trying to keep his naturally loud voice as quiet as he could.

"So talk," Yokig countered.

"In private!" The man insisted.

*****************************************

The tall man followed Yokig to the bakery. On the way there, Yokig noticed that the man would occasionally stop and look around to check if they were being followed. The black cat never trailed far behind the pair. They entered the house and yokig shut the door. With a deep sigh the man fully relaxed.

The black cat had followed them inside of the house and had jumped on the table in the kitchen, curled itself into a tight ball and made itself comfortable. Yokig went to retrieve a couple of candles from the shelf.

"May I sit?" the man asked.

"Go ahead" The boy replied as he set the candles around the kitchen and lit them.

The man took off his black fur coat, draped it on a chair and sat down with a heavy sigh. Yokig could make out some more features on this man's face in the candlelight. The man had a permanent worried expression on his face. His eye sockets drooped at the end giving him a permanently sad look. His beard was black and unkept with red hairs sticking out in random patchy spots. His eyebrows were thick, his forehead heavily wrinkled and his hair long, about shoulder length, and wavy.

"Sorry to barge in on you," the man apologized. "You know, with it being your grandfather's funeral and all." The man stopped to wipe a tear that had formed from his eye. "He really was a great man."

"You knew my grandfather?" yokig questioned.

"Yeah, he got me out of a few rough spots I was in about five years back. We've been friends ever since," The man answered.

"Oh, how rude of me. It seems as though I haven't introduced myself. Pardon my bad manners." The man laughed. "My human name is Barthomi, but my name on my mother's side is Redbeard. You know, because of my tiny red hairs in my beard. Very creative, no?" Redbeard chuckled. "But the family on my mother's side aren't really known for their creativity."

"W..what do you want to tell me?" The fear was evident in Yokigs voice, he didn't know what this man wanted.

"Oh poor thing, I don't want to hurt you or anything, well, it's not my intention to anyway," Redbeard stated. "Me and the cat BlackPaw here only want to help."

Yokig felt as though this was true. But why would this man want to help, Yokig didn't feel like he needed any. Especially help from a stranger. And Blackpaw? Was that the black cat's real name?

"Help?" Yokig stammered.

"Yeah, help. You know, with those dreams you've been having." Redbeard casually replied.

This caught Yokig off guard. Nobody except his grandfather was supposed to know about the dreams. And it was his grandfather's suggestion not to tell anyone else. Yokig didn't know why his grandfather wanted the secrecy on it but he promised not to tell anyone.

"Dreams?" the boy replied, trying to see if this man was bluffing.

Ever since Yokig was left in his grandfathers care, he had been having the same dream. In the dream he would find himself in the clearing of a forest, the grass cushioning his bare feet. There were twelve trees lined neatly in a row in the clearing, and of the twelve trees only one tree still stood. The others had been chopped down and now were only remnants of what they once were. In this dream a man would pass by Yokig, holding an axe in his greedy hand. And as the man chopped down the tree, he laughed and squealed with relentless joy. All Yokig could do was watch and wait for the dream to be over. He would have to stand there until the tree fell down to the ground below and the man left. But a new tree, a much larger and more grand tree, would grow in the place of its fallen comrades. It would grow and eventually uproot the remains of the clearings previous occupants until it filled the entirety of the grand space amongst the trees. It was only then that Yokig would be released from his nightmare.

"You don't have to hide it son, your grandfather told me and Blackpaw here all about your dreams. We were part of the same brotherhood with your grandpa, you see."

Yokig was speechless. The brotherhood? All Yokig knew about the brotherhood of Old was that it was a secretive society full of traitors and spies. He heard that they opposed the teachings of the One God and went against the New Religion. He knew that being a part of them or even associated with them in any way could get someone killed, without a trial. The brotherhood were enemies to the faith and were treated like so. But why would they be here, in his house. And why would his grandpa tell them about his dreams?

"My grandpa was a righteous man, dedicated to the New Religion and the One God! He would have never joined the brotherhood!" Yokig blurted out through his fog of confusion.

"We are all righteous men, child. We pretend to believe in the one god. We walk the walk, talk the talk, dress the part. That's how we keep safe. That's how we keep alive. " Redbeards voice was somber, as if this very thought made his heart ache. "His grandfather never told him?" Redbeard asked the sleeping cat.

The black cat sat up and stretched, letting out a long yawn.

"I was advised that we were to keep him in the dark until the right time." The black cat replied.

This made yokig jump out of his seat and let out a loud scream that shook the entire bakery. "The cat talked! The black cat talked!"

"Keep it down, would you! You're going to wake the entire town with all that yelling!" The cat said, trying to keep her voice calm and quiet.

They waited for Yokig to settle down. It took awhile for the young boy's heart to stop racing, it felt as though it would explode.

"Give him a break Blackpaw" Redbeard broke the silence. "He's probably never seen a talking animal before, let alone a talking cat!"

"Regardless, we don't have much time left. We need to leave the town before it gets too dark. The kingsmen patrol heavy at night and we need to avoid as much of a delay getting back as we can." Blackpaw replied.

"Right!" Redbeard agreed. "Yokig, we can help you find out why you're having those dreams but you would need to come with us to Grenlov so we could help you with our fellow brotherhood members."

This was a lot for Yokig to take in. First his grandfather died, then this mysterious man shows up and he finds out that the cat who lived with him for two years could talk. Inside he knew he had a need for adventure that was calling out to him, It was like an itch he couldn't scratch. It nagged at him, begging him to accept the offer.

"Wow," he said after a long pause.

"We know, " Redbeard replied.

While his sense of adventure called to him, Yokigs sense of duty kept him in place. He couldn't leave the bakery. The needs of the townspeople outweighed the needs of his heart. The shop needed him.

"I cant" Yokigs voice lowered in shame. "I can't go, I'm sorry."

"Well," Redbeard huffed as he stood up and threw his coat over his shoulder. " That's unfortunate to hear. That's not the answer we were looking for."

Redbeard made his way to the door, the black cat jumped off the table and followed close behind. As Redbeard opened the door to head out he turned around to face Yokig.

"If you ever change your mind, you know where to find the brotherhoods den in Grenlov. It's the one your grandfather used to take you to when he came to visit. We'll be there waiting." With a glance at the cat Redbeard continued, "Come, let's get going Blackpaw."

And with that Redbeard shut the door behind him, leaving the boy all alone inside to contemplate the day's events.