On reaching the family mansion, Laban first went to see his eldest brother. It was the evening before the death anniversary, and all his siblings had returned. All except Queen Sabina. She would arrive the next morning and return to the palace that evening.
That she could not spend a few leisurely days with her family even once a year showed how much her position in the palace had weakened. Many concubines came from good families. She might be queen in name, but if even one of them won favor and bore a child, her position could vanish overnight. There were also rumors that care and worry had robbed her of much of her former beauty.
“Well, where have you been wandering this time?”
“I went north. I followed the Nemi River upstream and saw the Dragon’s Mouth Falls. I spent some time with the one-eyed people nearby.”
“They say it’s a fine sight. Perhaps I’ll see it one day.”
Laban was certain Herodion would never do so, but merely smiled. To his eldest brother, sights beyond the borders were no more than dots on a map. Maintaining and increasing the family’s influence and fortune occupied his entire mind. It was the same with the other brothers. Had even one of them been different, Laban might have found it difficult to keep his secret. He deliberately grew his beard and let his face become sunburned, so his brothers did not doubt his words.
Just as Laban was basking in the satisfaction of having carried it off again, Herodion spoke abruptly.
“Isn’t it time you put an end to life abroad and came back to help your brothers?”
Caught off guard, Laban answered without thinking.
“With all of you here and well, what use could someone like me be?”
“You may be the youngest, but you’re in your mid-thirties now. It’s time to stop behaving like a child. How will you face Father in the underworld if you’ve spent your whole life that way? You received a share as a member of this family. You ought to do your part.”
Beside him, their second brother Claudion agreed. It was strange. Ekenos’s sons firmly believed that power diminished when shared, and had always been pleased by Laban’s lack of interest in family affairs. There had to be a reason for them to say such things now.
“Brother, has something happened to the family?”
Their fourth brother, Dunan, bristled.
“Do you think we’re asking for help because something’s happened? You imagine you could solve something we couldn’t? Don’t make me laugh. We’ll be lucky if you aren’t somewhere causing trouble. Our eldest brother only wants you where he can see you, because he’s worried. And while we’re on the subject, are you really doing nothing but wandering about? You aren’t rutting with some lowborn woman and fathering bastards, are you?”
Laban’s mouth tightened into a straight line. Emerina tapped Dunan’s knee and frowned at him. The other brothers said nothing.
None of them had forgotten that day. In their eyes, what Laban had done was his own fault. But he had chosen the wrong person, and the circumstances had been wrong. Above all, scandal had to be avoided. Herodion had taken the lead in burying the matter, apologized to Laban, and promised to make amends somehow.
But Laban had wanted no compensation. There could be none. Unlike his brothers, he had not thought of his wife as a woman who would briefly pass through his life. More than ten years had gone by, and he still kept the wooden doll she had made for him.
“Think it over slowly. There’s still time.”
Herodion rose as he spoke. The other brothers got up and dispersed. Laban was the last to stand. Instead of going to his room, he went out into the dark rear courtyard. Emerina followed. Laban looked back and shook his head.
“Sister, I don’t want to talk now.”
Emerina nodded and returned inside.
Laban walked alone for a while. As he neared his stepmother’s annex, someone came out and stared at him in the darkness.
“Who have we here? It has been a long time.”
As the man approached, Laban saw the hood he always wore and his sandaled feet. It was difficult even to recognize his face beneath the covering. Ayub, the evil-spirit sorcerer.
Laban grew tense. Simply leaving might make the man more suspicious, so he answered.
“I can’t remember how many years it’s been.”
“It is only natural that a busy gentleman should not remember. I believe it has been about three years. Have you been traveling somewhere pleasant?”
“I must have the wandering sickness. And what brings you here?”
“I think of nothing but being of service to this family. As I happened to be here, I intended to pay my respects to Her Majesty before leaving.”
“Did my eldest brother summon you?”
“Lord Herodion is always more generous to me than I deserve.”
Ayub answered vaguely, bowed deeply, and walked away.
Laban remained until he disappeared, then turned. Sweat ran down his back. That man could only have been the one who summoned the spirit that attacked Tina and Gene. Laban had expected to encounter him someday, but not today.
No one, not even those who employed an evil-spirit sorcerer, knew how far his powers reached. Surely he could not learn that Tina and Gene were alive merely by looking at Laban’s face. Yet Laban could not shake his unease. It might be an overactive imagination, but instinct whispered danger. Should he leave at once? Would that only make him more suspicious?
He came only once a year. Leaving without attending the memorial rite would surely look strange. Tomorrow, Sabina would arrive. When she heard that Laban had come and gone, she would remember her old grudge.
After thinking it through, Laban decided to leave the following night. But he found it difficult to return to his room.
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