Words Are Unnecessary

Part 6

By Corina

It had been three weeks—three long weeks, and yet Golodhros was being kept so busy he was surprised to see that time had even passed. Gods, I’m sore. You’d think that he would get at least a little tired, but nooooo. He practices more than I do, for crying out loud! He sighed, then reminded himself that Anarin had probably built up a lot of endurance over the past four hundred years. Why do I keep forgetting how old he is?

The young man shook his head. His teacher had left him alone for tonight, telling Golodhros to get some sleep. Good thing, too. I don’t think I could move any more if I tried. Sighing, he sunk a little deeper into his hot bath. He was so glad the Academy was located near hot springs. For once, I can actually relax.

*****

Anarin paced around his room nervously. He didn’t know why, but for some reason he felt like something bad was going to happen. It’s Golodhros, I know it is, but why am I acting like this? It’s not like he hasn’t been out of my sight before. Still, Anarin liked to keep the young man where he could watch him.

He snickered softly. Usually they give me students who get jealous and want to kill me, but I don’t want him out of my sight for an entirely different reason. Still….

While he had occasionally let Golodhros take the occasional nap, Anarin had forced his student to do so in Anarin’s own guest quarters. I like it better that way. I don’t have to worry about what’s happening to him, and I can watch him whenever I want to. However, the temptation to misuse this privilege was awful. He had to take a break…but I’m more tense when he’s not here than when he is. I didn’t know that was possible!

He slammed his fist against the wall. Oh. Blood. I should probably clean that up. He sighed, then brightened.

It shouldn’t be a problem if I just go check on him, right?

*****

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Golodhros’s mouth. What the…? His reflexes brought his hand up to his throat to black any incoming objects—a thin cord, in this case. He tried to bite down on the hand, but a thump on the head made him lose his concentration. He kicked his legs, trying to at least splash up some water in to his assailant’s eyes or flip him over or something, but to no avail. Golodhros heard a curse when he managed to yank the cord out of the mysterious person’s hand and was immediately dunked underwater. Losing oxygen, his first and only coherent thought was that it wasn’t Anarin attacking him because Anarin didn’t curse in Common. Just before blacking out, he noticed that his attacker’s arms had tensed, then relaxed.

The next thing he knew, he was laying flat and someone’s mouth was on his. Suddenly aware of the water in his lungs, Golodhros coughed it up and then lay back again, still very weak. Then the mouth was on him again, kissing him. What the…?

Then he blacked out again.

He didn’t know how long it took, but it must have been a while, because he had been moved to his bed and his hair was starting to dry out. He groaned. I feel awful.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” came a soft voice from somewhere on his left.

Anarin?

“I don’t want to lose—such a promising student, Golodhros.” Anarin. Nobody else says my name like that. “If I hadn’t thought to check up on you, I-I don’t know what might have happened. You’re supposed to pay more attention than that, Golodhros.”

“Sorry,” whispered Golodhros in elven.

Anarin was silent for a moment, and then Golodhros felt him brush back a strand of hair from over his eyes. “You know,” said the elf, “if you don’t mind, you could just stay with me all the time. We could move your things to my guest room, and then you wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked again.”

That much is certainly true. Sometimes Golodhros wondered how anyone could be so paranoid, but he had to admit that he certainly felt safe in Anarin’s rooms. Then again, I had felt safe here. But…he saved me. Slowly sitting up, he looked at Anarin carefully. Blood all over his hands. He didn’t even clean up yet. That was unusual. Anarin generally kept himself immaculately clean, as far as Golodhros could tell.

“What…what happened?”

Anarin sighed, as if he were in pain. “Well, obviously that—that thing”—and he pointed to a body in the corner that looked as if it had suffered intense pain before dying—“attacked you, and I—I heard you from the hall. I was just going to see if you—wanted your red shirt back because you left it in my room.” He paused. That doesn’t sound like the whole truth, but I know he isn’t trying to hurt me. Somehow, I’ve always known that. Anarin continued. “So I broke in, and the first thing I saw wasn’t you. I managed to grab his dagger before he noticed me, but I didn’t kill him right away because I didn’t know what he wanted. Then he—and so I had to kill him.”

“Why…?”

It seemed that Anarin purposely misinterpreted his question, because his response was not what Golodhros was expecting. “Any number of reasons. It could be that he was sent by someone for revenge, or even that he was jealous. The point is that I don’t want it to happen again, and unless you do—” and here Golodhros shook his head “—I think it’s best if you move in with me.”

Move in with him? While Golodhros had almost reached the point at which he could think clearly in his mentor’s presence, he didn’t know if he would be able to concentrate knowing that Anarin was sleeping alone in the next room….

Golodhros smiled to himself. Maybe this will work after all.