Philandros lifted an arm to wipe the tears from his eyes...it was just like some scene from one of those Roman comedies--where the servant appears at just the right moment to come to the wrong conclusion! "I tell you, Eirik, it's like some farce by Plautus! Can life be so like that, that an author would use it? I wouldn't have believed it!"

Though he couldn't read the plays Philandros talked about, he knew them from the times Spurius had dragged him along...and he nodded his agreement. He too, wiped the tears of laughter from his face, and wagged a finger at the greek. "You're not getting off so easily--you have yet to answer my riddle--or do you concede?"

Philandros sipped the wine Eirik handed him, and closed his eyes for what seemed a long time. He shook his head slowly. "I don't give up so easily, barbarian! Everyone knows that it was Prometheus who brought fire to men...but there is no bird in that story, unless it's the one who pecks at his liver as eternal punishment?..." He opened his eyes, and frowned ever so slightly.

"Unless...you are playing a trick on me--and trying to pose a question about a story I've never heard! That would be cheating, to use a story my people have never had a chance to learn!"

Eirik looked down at the floor for a moment before meeting the greek's eyes again. "All right...you are right...I'll give you the true story of Crow and The Light, as I heard it from the far north beyond Thule...." and Eirik proceeded with the tale of the theft of light from a child, and how it was delivered to people who had lived in constant darkness until that time. Now those people lived in darkness only half the year.

When Eirik had finished, it was many minutes before the red-head could speak: the rhythm, the pace and even the emphasis of the bard's words had woven a spell about them, so that Philandros was no longer in his own room, but rather on some cold, foreign shore. "Pros theon! You should enter the contests to win the top prize with a tale like that! With your gift, no one could match you...."

Eirik shook his head. "Not for me...the joy comes in the telling, not in the money or honor...working at something so hard, it would take the joy from it, and I don't ever want to lose that! You understand?"

Philandros set his cup down agan. "Oh yes--I love to read--but if I tried to write, then I would come to hate words, I think; too much thinking goes into producing a work like that." He sat up a bit straighter, and sighed. "I'm tired of riddles now...do you play calculi?" He pointed to where a wooden board sat across the room. Eirik carried the square over, and put it on the table, along with two bags of glass pieces.

After explaining the rules: capturing the enemy's pieces was done by putting one on either side of his pair, and that you could win by getting five stones in a row, Eirik thought it sounded easy enough--until Philandros pointed out that it was a common rule not to allow a 'double three', where two sets of three stones were joined together. After that, the game went on...until Eirik finally placed his fifth stone in a diagonal row. He now saw why large numbers of stones were available to use--the game could go on until every space was filled, and still not have a winner!

Eirik looked toward the window, where there was now no light at all to be seen--darkness had fully fallen over the town...and still there was no sign of Spurius! Philandros saw the glance to the open window, and yawned. "I am so tired of this room--and it's only been one day! I can't imagine spending weeks here--you have been great company, Eirik--but I'm not used to being unable to get about!"

Eirik smiled as he stood up. "I understand that--I once broke my leg, and it was torture until it healed! I must do something for a few minutes--you don't mind do you?" When Philandros shook his head, the german left the room quietly and disappeared down the hall toward the stairs. When several minutes had passed, and there was no sign that Eirik was returning, Philandros began to worry; had something happened to him? had he decided to go out?

Just as Philandros was about to ring the small bell on the table next to his bed, he heard footsteps, and Eirik soon reäppeared at the door, followed by Phobos who entered the room across the hall. The greek smiled, but that soon vanished as he saw the drawn look on the blond's face. He tried to straighten up further, but Eirik came to the bed and sat down, placing his hand on the pale chest to restrain any stressful movements. To reassure him, he gently caressed the firm flesh for a moment.

"What's happened? Has something gone wrong? Has Spurius--" the words died as Eirik picked up Philandros' hand, squeezing it tightly in his own before raising it to his lips.

"No...nothing's wrong, exactly..." he took a deep breath. "I sent Phobos out earlier to look for Spurius...he's just come back. The boy ran into Idris, who sent him to me with a message--" Philandros saw that the look was more one of puzzlement rather than panic...and certainly not fear.

"Something--I don't know what--makes Idris think that we should not stay here any longer...and if he thinks we should move, then I agree..."

Philandros found his voice: "But--I--" he shook his head, putting out of mind his thoughts of himself and his injuries. "You are leaving...now?! Olaf isn't back yet--what do I tell him?"

A momentary far-away look came into the blue eyes, and Eirik leaned forward, giving a long kiss to this kind-hearted greek. "We will stay in contact...I don't think we'll be going far....Just tell Olaf that we will see each other again soon, and that I love him." He took Philandros' hands in his, gently rubbing the backs of them with his thumbs. "My son is in the best hands he could ever find--I am sure of that!"

At the door, Eirik took the saddlebags from Phobos, before turning back to Philandros with a small wave and another smile: "If you care for one more riddle--

"Ask Grumio this tomorrow: 'What is it, that airs the soul, and lifts our baser selves above all others?' He knows the answer to that one--and I think you'll like what happens!"

Philandros heard soft footsteps departing toward the stairs, and the closing of the outside door below....