Chapter 46

I felt a hand on my elbow. I turned, my heart beating fast despite my near invulnerability, survival responses flooded my anxious mind to fight or run. It was Galen. A confident Chieftain looked to the retreating pair and subtly shook his head at me. 

He lightly put pressure on my elbow to pull me away, "Come we should talk, my friend."

I let him guide me out of the main celebrations. People who were keen to lavish us with attention moments before, now ignored us. Perhaps more accurately kept clear out of respect. Soon our only company was the stars. 

Out of sight away from curious eyes and the torchlight, he slumped like an empty sack on the log. I knew him for his noble warrior's bearing. Now, I saw the weight he carried. The tension twisted his body into a misshapen shadow of his prime. The pressures of preserving this small society was gradually ruining what birth, effort and privilege had given him.