Chapter 101

ALEXANDROS The trees flash by in a dark blur of muddy brown as we run through them toward the mountain that looms over the valley like a portent of doom. My anxiety grows as we draw nearer. Which is surely to be expected at the prospect of finding my son and not knowing the state he will be in. In my mind, he is a grotesque version of his younger self. Dark holes where his eyes once were, crawling with maggots that feast on his soul. His black lips curled back over a snarling set of fangs, face twisted with vengeance and hatred. That is the only version of him I can easily recall. Despite him never actually having looked like that, it is all I see when I think of him. It is much harder to find images of his true self. The one who looked so much like me. Giorgios slows his pace until he comes to stop, and I do the same. He pulls up the hood of his cloak and nods to the foot of the mountain, which houses a deep cave. “That is where he is hiding, brother.” I glance around, looking for sig