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"My father wasn't killed in the grasslands," he said, his voice quavering, the wind whipping his auburn hair. "My father is alive. He's in the tavern down there. "
"You want to see him?"
"I have to see him. I have to tell him that I didn't die! Didn't you listen to them talking in my house to me?"
"No," I said- "I gave you your time with them. Was I wrong?"
"They said he'd become the drunkard because he had failed to save his son. " He glared at me as if I had done him some dreadful wrong. "My father, Ivan, the brave one, the hunter. Ivan, the warrior, the singer of songs whom everyone loved¡ªIvan is the drunkard now because he failed to save his son!"
"Be calm. We'll go to the tavern. You can tell him in your own way¡ª-. "
He waved me off as though I were annoying him, and he set off down the street with a mortal tread.
Together we entered the tavern. It was dark and full of the scent of burning oil. Fishermen, traders, killers, drank here together. Everyone took notice of us for a moment and then ignored us, but Amadeo at once spied a man lying on a bench to the back of the rectangular room which made up the place.
Again, I wanted to leave him to what he meant to do, but I feared for him and I listened as he sat down now close to this sleeping man.
It was the man of memory and the man of visions, that I knew, as soon as I studied him. I recognized him by his red hair and red mustache and beard. Amadeo's father, the hunter who had taken him out of the monastery that day for a dangerous mission, to ride out in search of a fort which the Mongols had already destroyed.
I shrank back into the shadows. I watched as the luminous child removed his left glove and laid his chill supernatural hand upon the forehead of the sleeping father. I saw the bearded man wake. I heard them speak.
In rambling drunken confession, the father gave forth his guilt in abundance as though it belonged to anyone who roused him.
He had shot arrow after arrow. He had gone after the fierce Tatars with his sword. Every other man in the party had died. And his son, my Amadeo, stolen, and he was now Ivan the Drunkard, yes, he confessed it. He could scarcely hunt enough to buy his drink. He was a warrior no more.
Patiently, slowly, Amadeo spoke to him, pulling him out of his ramblings, revealing the truth with carefully chosen words.
"I am your son, sir. I did not die that day. Yes, they took me. But I am alive. "
Never had I seen Amadeo so obsessed with either love or misery, with either happiness or grief. But the man was stubborn, the man was drunk, and the man wanted one thing from this strange person prodding him and that was more wine.
From the proprietor I bought a bottle of sack for this man who wouldn't listen, who wouldn't look at this exquisite young one who sought to claim his attention now.
I gave the bottle of sack to Amadeo.
Then I moved along the wall so that I might better see Amadeo's face, and all I saw there was obsession. He must make this man understand.
Patiently, he spoke until his words had penetrated the drunken haze from which the man stared at him.
"Father, I've come to tell you. They took me to a far-away place, to the city of Venice, and I fell into the hands of one who made me rich, Father, rich, and gave me learning. I'm alive, sir. I'm as you see me now.
Oh, how strange was this speech coming from one infused with the Blood. Alive? How so, alive, Amadeo?
But my thoughts were my own in the darkness. I had no role in this reunion.
At last, the man, sitting up to face his son, began to understand.
Amadeo was trembling, his eyes fixed on those of his father.
"Forget me now, please, Father," he begged. "But remember this, for the love of God. I shall never be buried in the muddy caves of the monastery. No. Other things may happen to me, but that, I won't suffer. Because of you, that you wouldn't have it, that you came that day and demanded I ride out with you, that I be your son!"
What on earth was Amadeo saying? What did these words mean?
He was on the verge of crying the terrible blood tears which we can never really hide. But as he rose from the bench where his father sat, the elder caught him tightly by his hand.
He knew his son! Andrei, he called him. Fie had recognized him for who he was.
"Father, I must go," said Amadeo, "but you must never forget that you saw me. You must never forget what I said, that you saved me from those dark and muddy caves. Father, you gave me life, not death. Don't be the drunkard anymore, Father. Be the hunter again. Bring the Prince meat for his table. Be the singer of songs. Remember that I came to tell you this myself. "
