{"id":5617,"date":"2015-04-09T16:15:48","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T23:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/?p=5617"},"modified":"2016-04-07T15:37:02","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T22:37:02","slug":"8-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/?p=5617","title":{"rendered":"– 8 –"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reason you\u2019re not supposed to hit Edmund in the mouth is that hitting people is wrong. It is particularly wrong if you\u2019ve been sainted and Tom\u2019s hat holds you to a higher standard. It is doubly<\/em> particularly wrong if Edmund will just open his mouth really, really wide and take your whole hand in. In fact this is a really good way to lose your hand.<\/p>\n

Edmund\u2019s stomach rumbles.<\/p>\n

It keeps on rumbling. It rumbles like the sea.<\/p>\n

Finally, Saul pulls his hand out. He glares. He turns away.<\/p>\n

\u201cNice self-control, you sodden git.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmund shrugs. Edmund walks past Saul. Edmund sits. Edmund squints up at Saul. \u201cDo I even know you?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a band,\u201d Saul says. \u201cHad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmund catches Saul\u2019s eyes with his. There is a pulse in them; the white in them rises; there is a wave of hunger that should stagger Saul, could separate him from the binding on him that Tom\u2019s hat has lain; but Saul mazes that power as it comes in, skips back from it in his mind, retreats and leaves baffle-concepts in its path, like a man who distracts himself from his impending execution by fretting over the surprise exam paradox.<\/p>\n

After a few moments, the pressure of Edmund\u2019s eyes relents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a wolf<\/em>,\u201d says Saul.<\/p>\n

Edmund frowns at him. \u201cThat\u2019s surprisingly common.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLinus has a black dog,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cWell, it turned white later. Then you blink, and the dog is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d says Saul. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s yours.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmund tilts his head to one side. Then he sighs. \u201cWould you like tea?\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Saul glances around the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have a teapot,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh,\u201d Edmund concedes.<\/p>\n

He shrugs. He stretches out on the cot. He sleeps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going to have an important discussion,\u201d says St. Saul, \u201cabout my dreams about wolves and things. They might have been prophetic!\u201d<\/p>\n

Or about a previous incarnation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr about past lives!\u201d<\/p>\n

But they don\u2019t have that discussion. Edmund is snoring.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine,\u201d says Saul. \u201cI\u2019m leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m making tea,\u201d says Saul, after a while.<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t make tea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m strangling you in your sleep!\u201d<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t strangle him in his sleep.<\/p>\n

St. Saul finds himself sitting on the edge of the cot and stroking Edmund\u2019s hair. He doesn\u2019t really understand it himself, except maybe, he ran out of other options.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re reincarnated lovers,\u201d he cautions the world \u2014<\/p>\n

After a while, though, it comes to him; he can feel it in Edmund. He can see the puppy wound through and with and in the other boy; it articulates itself through him. The air tastes suddenly of caverns underneath the earth, of wolf dander, and of gold.<\/p>\n

Saul doesn\u2019t even understand why he\u2019s crying.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just \u2014<\/p>\n

Everything hurts, suddenly, for no reason at all.<\/p>\n

After a while he gets up and goes to the door to slip quietly away. He turns the handle. He pulls.<\/p>\n

After a further while Edmund wakes up. He looks at Saul.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a prisoner of my circumstances,\u201d Saul says, embarrassedly. He wipes his cheeks dry.<\/p>\n

Edmund rolls his eyes. He gets up. He stretches.<\/p>\n

He bursts the seals, he snaps the chains, the touch of his hand shatters the wall of concrete poured out over the door.<\/p>\n

Then he blinks, a few times, because he hasn\u2019t had his coffee or his shower yet, and he wanders off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The reason you\u2019re not supposed to hit Edmund in the mouth is that hitting people is wrong. It is particularly wrong if you\u2019ve been sainted and Tom\u2019s hat holds you to a higher standard. It is doubly particularly wrong if Edmund will just open his mouth really, really wide and take your whole hand in. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"series":[50],"class_list":["post-5617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vidars-boot-chapter-4","series-vidars-boot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hat_3a_nobg.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5617"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6059,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5617\/revisions\/6059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5617"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=5617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}