“They interfere in man’s affairs?” I asked, not understanding how Rowle was justifying his actions.
“Certainly, granted not as much as when they had free access to Earth, but they still interfere. Look at the Wanderers; we have always served Verðandi, one of the Norse Norn sisters. Everything the Wanderers do is interference in man’s affairs. And don’t think the Wanderers are the only ones meddling in human affairs. Although most of the Wanderers don’t realize it, the other gods have their own lackeys on Earth.”
“But Tess told me that you were responsible for the deaths of the other Wanderers,” I said, more to keep him talking than because I needed verification of what I’d been told.
“Tsk, tsk,” Rowle said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Wanderers are grownups. They can fight their own battles and do so quite often. Sometimes we don’t see eye to eye on some matters and occasionally it comes to a fight. Unfortunately, when Wanderers fight, only one survives. I didn’t want to kill those other Wanderers, but once a fight starts, either I win it or I die. Would you, yourself, not go down fighting? Of course, you would. You wouldn’t have been reaped as a warrior fit to serve Fate if you were any less of a man.”
“But did you have to kill them all?”
Rowle gave a sad wag of his head. “Alex, my actions may have been a little extreme, but I assure you that they left me no choice. As I mentioned, none of the Wanderers are as pure as the driven snow. We aren’t evil, but sometimes we have to do things that the average man would consider the work of a bad person.”
“Even Rafe?”
Rowle’s face darkened and I thought he was going to shake his head again, but then he hesitated and his eyebrows wrinkled in thought. He lowered his face and for a few moments, he was silent.
When he met my gaze, he looked sad. “Alex, there are some truths that are hard to learn. I had hoped to avoid telling you everything until you were surer of yourself, but I can see you believe too much in Raphael.”
Well, D’uh. Of course, I believed in Raphael. Besides saving my life, he’d stopped an invasion of Earth at the Garden of the Gods. Who wouldn’t respect that? “What do you mean?” I asked. “What truths?”
“Alex, my son, you are my direct descendant.”
I blinked in confusion. “What? How is that possible?”
“When I became a Wanderer, I had a wife and two children. I couldn’t very well return to them, but I saw to it that they were taken care of. I followed my family through the years, always checking in when time permitted and making sure that they were safe from mundane and mystical elements. For that reason, perhaps, most of my descendants died of natural causes. But you died fighting to save another and thus you were deemed worthy of becoming a Wanderer. As such, I felt I had to take you as my apprentice rather than letting Raphael gather you up.”
I was stunned. Could he be telling me the truth? It was hard to believe, but why would he risk such a great lie? There were ways to determine kinship, but something in me told me that Rowle was being honest, at least in this much.
When I got my emotions under control, I said, “So, we’re related. That doesn’t justify all of your actions, but it would explain your wanting me for an apprentice. But I’m supposed to train under a Wanderer, how could I become a Wanderer as your apprentice?”
“You will have all the powers of a Wanderer when you finish your apprenticeship, but whether you accept the obligations that go with those powers are up to you and you alone. I won’t even interfere in your accepting Verðandi’s summons, when you’ve proven yourself capable.”
“You would really train me and then let me be a true Wanderer, not some kind of renegade like you?”
Rowle spread his hands wide. “My departure from Fate’s service was because I could no longer tolerate her orders, her unwillingness to explain some of her actions. When you are trained, it will be up to you to make your own decisions. I would not insist you follow me. A man must decide his own fate.”
I nodded thoughtfully. He sounded reasonable enough, nothing like the power mad magic user that Tess had told me about. “Would you be willing to have a DNA test done to prove we’re related?”
Rowle’s hands came up almost as if he were pleaded with the gods for patience. “Alex, you must feel that I’m telling the truth. I can tell you are my off-spring without any test, but if it will make you more comfortable with me, I will agree to whatever test you require.”
I nodded. “Okay then, I’ll take you at your word about this relationship until there’s an opportunity to get tested, but I still want to talk with Tess and Rafe about this. There’s no reason that you have to be enemies if I’m going to be your apprentice.”
Rowle was frowning before I finished my statement.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Alex, it’s not I that has a problem with Raphael. Rather it’s you,” he said as he pointed a single finger at my chest.
“What? Me? I don’t understand. What problem do I have with him?”
Rowle’s eyes grew sad again. “You understand that
