No. That's over and done. Concentrate on the climb.
After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the peak and clambered on top. As he hugged himself for warmth, he looked around.
A man cooked over a fire outside a ramshackle hut. A large hoary wolf sat next to him and gazed at Rhanu with lazy yellow eyes.
"I began to think you weren't going to make it," the man said. Gray Brother was tall and grizzled, with shaggy gray hair and a shallow beard. Yet his face was unlined as though defying age. He wore gray from his hood to his fur-trimmed boots. Beside him was a sword in a leather-wrapped sheath. "I have better things to do than to freeze on top of this Deis-cursed mountaintop."
"Then why have me meet you here?" Rhanu's words shuddered between chattering teeth.
Gray Brother sighed. "This is how wise men meet. It gives a sense of accomplishment when one has to go through an ordeal to gain insight. If knowledge is gained too easily, your cynical mind will find it suspect. But when a man forgoes common sense to risk his neck climbing up some icy stairs, he is more inclined to listen."
He shrugged. "Other than that, there is no reason for our meeting here. You should come inside. Would you like some stew?"
Rhanu entered the hut and sat on a rickety bench as Gray Brother fixed a bowl and handed it to him. The large wolf gnawed contentedly on a large hunk of deer leg. They ate in silence. The cold slowly seeped from Rhanu's bones as the stew filled him.
After a while, Gray Brother spoke. "I must say I did not expect you to be a foreigner. From beyond the Sea of Sand, yes?"
"Yes. From Hikuptah."
Gray Brother gave him a keen glance. "The land where Masiki exiled herself. You may have encountered her since she basically founded your civilization."
"I have not heard that name before." Rhanu frowned in thought. "But the one who commanded the odji when I discovered them was a female. I know her name well. Indeed I will never forget it so long as I live. Sokhet." He spat the name like a curse. "She escaped my hand in the Temple of the Dead. I have not seen or heard of her since."
Gray Brother stroked his beard. "I know not of that name. But she has many, and even more guises. Tell me, Rhanu, did you recover some sort of trophy from that temple?"
Rhanu froze. Gray Brother's eyes betrayed nothing, but a slight smile quirked the corner of his mouth. The man already knew the answer.
"Yes."
"May I see it, please?" Gray Brother's tone was casual, as though he didn't care if Rhanu showed him or not.
Rhanu sighed and reached inside of his shirt. The medallion always felt weightless against his chest, but when lifted by hand it became unbelievingly heavy. The ruby orb glinted dully. It seemed to change colors before his eyes, murky dark to blood red and back again.
Rhanu hesitated before offering it to Gray Brother, who reached to examine it.
His hand stopped just short. Rhanu had seen it before, from anyone who tried to take the medallion from him. It was as though it bonded to him in some physical manner, allowing no one else to touch it.
After a moment longer, Gray Brother dropped his hand and sighed heavily. Rhanu was surprised to see his regretful expression.
"It is as I feared," Gray Brother said. "Already the Shama possesses Eymunder, one of the Six. Now Titien is recovered and brought into the same proximity. What are the chances?"
Rhanu tucked the medallion back with a quizzical glance. "One of the Six? I don't understand."
Gray Brother's eyes grew keen. "Of course you don't. The Five Sages are mere legends in this world, as are the Geods that amplified their abilities. Each Sage possessed one, but their Geods could not be taken with them when they departed from this world. Nor could they be destroyed, so the Sages hid them away from humanity."
Rhanu held up a hand. "Why couldn't they be destroyed? Surely the material is not indestructible—"
Gray Brother's harrowed stare stopped Rhanu cold. The words the man said were even graver. "It is not that the Geods cannot be destroyed. It is that they must not. Your world was in danger the moment that any of them resurfaced. They are more than useful tools, you see. They were last used in a singular purpose, one final task before they were hidden away. The combined might of the Sages were brought against Stygan the Dreadlord, and they barely managed to contain him. They imprisoned him in the fiery realm of Narak, and there he remains, full of loathing and hatred for perceived injustices. It is the Geods that bar him from returning to this world. They are the keys that have locked him away."
The medallion seemed to grow cold against Rhanu's chest.
Gray Brother's gaze locked with his own. "And they are the keys that can free him as well, should they ever fall into the wrong hands, or should they ever be destroyed."
Rhanu tried not to shrink back from the words that seemed to darken the room when spoken. "How…do you know all this? Who are you?"
Gray Brother grinned, easing the tension somewhat. "One who knows a few things. Worry less about my history and more about what you will do next."
Rhanu touched the medallion — the Geod, beneath his shirt. "What am I to do? If this is truly a key to Stygan's prison, then it should be hidden again. Hidden whereno one can find it."
Gray Brother leaned back and gave Rhanu an appraising glance. "I'm afraid that you will have to learn to use Titien."
Rhanu stared. "What?"
"It is obvious that the Geods have been recovered for a purpose. These events are not random, nor are they to be taken lightly. If you walk in ignorance, you will be no better than a puppet used for twisted purposes. Better for you if you take the bear by the paw and teach him to dance than to become his next case of indigestion, wouldn't you say?"
Rhanu shook his head, trying to follow the other man's logic. "What are you talking about? I'm no sacred priest or a cursed Lektor sorcerer. I could not even read the glyphics in my homeland. How can I possibly learn…?"
Gray Brother held up a hand. "Easy, friend. You are among the Sha, remember? Their very cause is to unearth forgotten lore. They will help you on your path. Tomorrow night you will experience the full bond with Titien, just as Shama Nyori has with Eymunder. You will gain the knowledge you need to wield the Geod properly."
Rhanu studied the other man. There was something about him that didn't fit, but Rhanu found it hard to put his finger on it. It was as though Gray Brother was too majestic for his threadbare appearance, a king in the guise of a beggar. "You said there were five Sages, yet six Geods that keep Stygan entrapped. Who then has possession of the sixth Geod?"
Gray Brother raised a surprised eyebrow. "You pay close attention, Rhanu of Hikuptah. The sixth Geod is in safe hands, I assure you. Both the warden and location of it is a secret, of course. The less that know, the safer it is. I'm sure you understand."
"You seem to have great insight on how matters will turn out. Why do you not take the lead against this plot if you believe it to be so threatening?"
"Those who lead are usually the first to die." Gray Brother rose and stretched luxuriously. "That is something I have learned over years of experience. It is much safer when your enemy does not see your approach. Now come. It is freezing up here, and my bones cannot take it any longer. There is a path through the mountain that is much easier than your climb. Let us descend to warmth and good food with fine people. You are to be a newly wedded man, I hear. That is cause for celebration."
"How could you know that?"
"I wouldn't be a very good wise man if I didn't." Gray Brother hefted his sword across his shoulder. "Come, Ash." The large wolf slowly rose and shook himself. Rhanu was not sure, but it seemed that the beast grinned at him as it passed.