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Godfrey sat before the bar in the s to his head This had been the worst week he could remember First, there was his father&039;s death and funeral; then, there was his brother Gareth&039;s crowning ceremony He needed a drink After all, what better way to toast a brother he hated? What better way to say goodbye to a father who had hated and disapproved of him his entire life?

As Godfrey sat there, flanked on either side by two of his drinking fellows, Akorth, a towering, burly fat man past his prime, with a wild red beard, and Fulton, a thin, older man with a voice that ay too raspy and a face preed by drink, Godfrey found his of despair He had always thought that the day his father died would be a day of rejoicing, the day that the oppressor had finally been lifted off his shoulders, the day that he was finally free to drink, to live his way of life, without repercussions In a way, it was He felt so his father around to disapprove of him He felt freer to spend his life as he wished, to drink all day long without fear of recrimination

But at the sa of re deep within hi even he didn&039;t realize, which bubbled up within him He could hardly believe it, but he had to admit that a part of him was sad that his father was dead A part of him actually wished he were still alive, and wished, , that he could have his approval That just for one moment, his father would accept hi like hih, Godfrey did not feel free, either He had always expected that the day his father died, he would feel free to drink even more, to lock himself in the tavern with his friends But now that he was dead, oddly, Gareth no longer felt asinside hio out and do so responsible, he did not knohat It eird, but there was a part of him that actually felt what it was like to be in his father&039;s shoes

"Another!" Akorth shouted to the bartender, who hurried over with three new casks of ale, the foa over, and slipped one into Gareth&039;s hands

Gareth lifted it to hisit rush to his head He looked around and noticed that they were the only three in the bar, and he was not surprised, given it was stillHe already wanted this day to end

Gareth looked down, saw the soil on his shoes fro within hie out of his head of his father&039;s body being lowered into the earth It made him think of his own mortality, of how he had spent his life, and hoould spend the rest of it More than anything, it made hi, only eighteen, but a part of him felt it was too late, that he ho he was Was it, really? Or was there still any hope for him to turn his life around? To become the son his father alanted him to be?

"Do you think it&039;s too late fortowards him as he set down his cask Akorth finished a cask with one hand then raised a fresh cask with another He finally set it down and let out a loud belch

"What do youcitizen A warrior Or anything hile If I ever wanted to So responsible and hile with your life?" he asked

"Yes"

"You mean, to become one of them?" Fulton chimed in

"Yes," Godfrey said "If I wanted to Do you think it&039;s too late?"

Akorth let out a huge laugh, shaking the bar with it, slaot to you boy, didn&039;t it?" Akorth bellowed "It scares me to hear you speak this way Why would you want to be one of the"

"You live the good life in here, with us," Fulton said "We have our whole lives ahead of us Why waste ti?"

Fulton screahter at his own joke, and Akorth joined in

Godfrey turned back, looked down at his cask, and wondered if they were right A part of hireed with them: after all, that was the line he had always taken, the way he had always rationalized his existence But he could not deny that a new part of hi else If h of all of this

Most of all, what burned inside hieance Not just against his father, but against his father&039;s killer Maybe it was just a desire to understand He wanted - he needed - to knoho killed his father Who would want his father dead? Why? How had they got past all the guards? How could they not reht?

Godfrey turned over and over in his ht want hi of his brother Gareth He kept thinking of that s, when his father had named a successor He had heard that after he&039;d left, his father had named Gwendolyn It was actually probably the only wise choice of his father&039;s life - and probably the only thing Godfrey respected hi sche his father had ever done to cut hiship And yet now, look where they were Gareth was crowned

So that would not disappear, that made him wonder more about him There was so he had spotted since he was a child He couldn&039;t help but wonder if Gareth had so to do with their father&039;s murder In fact, a part of him felt sure that he did He did not knohy And he knew that no one would take him seriously, he, Godfrey, the drunk

Still, a part of him felt compelled to find the answer Maybe if for no other reason than to make amends to his father, to make up for his wasted life If he could not have his father&039;s approval in life, perhaps he could gain it in death

Gareth sat there, rubbing his head, trying to think, trying to get to the bottohed on the dark corners of his consciousness, soe; maybe a memory But he could not recall precisely of what He knew, though, that it was i to drown out the laughter of the others, suddenly, it came to him The other day In the forest He had spotted Gareth With Firth The two of the at the tie And he re, or where they had been

He suddenly sat upright, electrified He turned to Akorth

"Do you remember the other day, in the wood? My brother, Gareth?"

Akorth furrowed his brow, clearly trying to su hi with that lover boy of his!" Akorth mocked

"Hand-in-hand, I suspect!" Fulton chihter

Godfrey tried to concentrate, in no mood for their jokes

"But do you recall where they were co from?"