"About three months ago," Raven started. "God ordered me to get on a ship alone and sail from Capital Sandgill to Saltsand."

"He told me I was to retrieve a 'treasure'. For future reference, that's all he fucking said."

Aithan looked askance at his brother. By that look alone, River felt like he was not going to like the rest of the story.

"So I hopped on a ship and departed from Sandgill, fucking clueless about where the fuck to look or what the fuck to look for." Raven dramatically rolled his eyes.

River found himself empathizing with the king on this. The gods really did have a way of talking in riddles and ambiguity and then going silent for a prolonged period of time. There was more than one instance in history where mortals would misinterpret God's words and bring ruin to themselves and others. There was no way to double check telepathic memorandums from heavens,after all.

But God made no flaws. If they did not reveal something, it was always for the greater good.

Mortals did not have the foresight of the heavens anyway.

"I kept sailing for two days. Then surprise! Surprise bitch! I got caught in a fucking storm!"

Raven waved his hands around as if to show River how violent the tempest was. "For a moment, I thought God actually wanted to do me in!"

That wouldn't be too surprising.

"Next thing I know, I'm washed up on a deserted island, in the middle of fucking nowhere! No food, no water, and no way to go back."

River found himself wandering what this island could be. There were no islands on the sea route Raven was advised to take. How far had he been dragged along by the storm?

"The island was small; in the center there was a thick forest patch," Raven continued. "I trekked three full circles around it but couldn't find a trace of anyone. So I decided to camp close to the shore in case a ship goes by."

He paused to scoop up the last few remaining berries from the bowl.

"The entire place was fucking weird," I'm telling you. There were no animals, not even insects. Fish wouldn't come near it either. The whole place looked fucking cursed."

River felt a chill down his spine.

"So seven days later, no water, Im eating grass and going a little bit crazy, ok? I thought, 'Well, fuck it, since Im going to die here anyway, why not go deeper into the forest and see? '

Things are a bit hazy here because I was delirious, but I found ruins of some kind of structure. I don't know what the fuck it was, but the way I remember it, it looked like it was destroyed by lightning."

"So God struck it down?"" River asked thoughtfully.

"Could be. He does feel like a piece of shit who goes around striking down random buildings for fun and sending random people into storms."

River grimaced at how this man seemed to have no respect or regard for his God. Royal families and even regular citizens are brought up to regard deities with the utmost respect and not speak ill of them.

Some had faith in divine forces. Others respected them.

But all feared the gods. One must not defy heaven after all.

Apparently not Raven Alistair because he speaks like he had fought Southern God in a dark alley on a regular Friday night.

And won.

Mireya Huxley would drop dead if she were to hear how this man speaks. She was so devoted to her gods that she wouldn't step a toe out of line. River often wondered what her near-crazy obsession over God really was.
devotion? Or fear?

River pushed down memories and thoughts of the queen.

"So I rummaged through the ruins and found that there was indeed a treasure buried under rubble. What may I ask? Six thousand gold rods! Each weighing as much as a fat baby, long as a house cat "

River felt his eyes widen. Now that really was a treasure, if he had ever heard of one. It was totally worth the trip!

"They were lumped together. I think they were arranged in some sort of order, but then it fell apart when the building collapsed."

"So I screamed to the sky, 'I found what you wanted! Send me back right now! . That evening, Aithan found me. "

River gave Aithan a wide-eyed look.

"The Southern God directed the fleet of ships in kindness and generosity," he explained. "He wanted us to follow the winds and constellations."

Aithan gave Raven another sour look. He seemed to be thinking, "I would one hundred percent leave you there to die if you weren't the king."

"So we loaded his beloved gold rods onto our ships, which took forever. We were loading the last few when I found two really rusty, fucking ancient pieces of metal, buried under all that gold.

I turned it this way and that way, but it really just looked like normal scraps of metal. So I stood there thinking, What the fuck should I do with it?"

River took everything he had heard up until now into account. The island was probably cursed or was home to some evil entity. He had read about ancient rituals where priests would tie the spirits of such entities to objects and bury or burn them. It seemed someone, at some point, had made a golden tomb for such a cursed object.

He scanned Raven's face with anxiety. "Please tell me you didn't take them home."

Raven scoffed, "That shit looked cursed as fuck. Who would take such a thing home?"

River sighed in relief.

At least his common sense had survived the drop he certainly suffered as an infant.

"So when we docked at Saltstand, I pawned it off," he deadpanned.

When he saw the horrified look on River's face, he shrugged.

"Don't give me that look ..yet."

"There's more?!"

Aithan's brow twitched. "How I wish there was not."

"So the next thing I know is God throwing a hissy fit, striking down two palace towers! Because he wanted those two crappy pieces of iron that only worthed two silvers!"

"You just got six thousand gold rods!" River found himself stressing and scaring, "What do you want two silver coins for? You are the king!"

"Exacty!" Raven retorted, "That's exactly what I told God; I just brought you this much gold. Why are you acting like a nagging wife, saying you wanted that, not this? If you had told me what the fuck you exactly wanted, I would have brought you those scraps and kept the gold for myself!

And he had the audacity to strike down another tower! Roaring that if I don't find those two metal pieces, my head will be next."

River shook his head in disbelief. "What do I have to do with any of this? Did God want you to snatch me too?"

Raven scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, he didn't exactly say that. But he told me that there is a blue-eyed child of the Northern God who doesn't see the sun. And I should ask that person for help."

 Author has something to say

Thank you soooo much for reading !
Dont forget to drop a comment ! And vote!

Raven - finds two pieces of ancient scrap metal ,buried under ton of gold .

Also Raven -