The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH FLEUR AND YULI

Fleur was laughing as she served food to a cafe full of Mariners. Vole was teasing her about cooking on his ship and that she couldn’t burn up the ocean.

Yuli ran in, “Mom!”

She turned her head and squealed her happiness as a dark-haired man in traveling clothes entered behind her son, “Shadz!”

The tall man grinned and hugged her as she tackled him. “I have a surprise for you,” He stated.

“You found a potion to make me tall?” Fleur giggled and he threw back his head and laughed, “No... no, but I came to see if you and Yuli would like to come to visit the new healer’s farm on Arborea for a tenday or two. Maybe pick your brain about Meara’s botanical research.”

Fleur’s eyes changed but her smile didn’t falter. “Hmmm, cooking for my hollow-legged cousin on the storm-tossed southern sea, or relaxing in a hammock under the trees.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, “You do have hammocks, don’t you, war-brother?”

“I am sure I can find you one, war-sister,” Shadz promised.

“You do not play fair, war-brother,” Vole accused as they snickered.

“Please, Mom, I want to go to Arborea.” Yuli begged, he looked apologetically at Vole, “Sorry, cousin Vole.”

Vole ruffled Yuli’s golden hair, “It’s alright, little cousin. I’m just sad that we can’t go sailing anymore, but I’m happy your magic is coming. Your dad was a forester and loved the trees the way I love the sea.”

Yuli grinned happily when Fleur said, “Go pack for warm weather, Yuli.”

Shadz sat down next to Vole and they chatted while Fleur and Desandra finished the lunch service. When the cafe was clean, Fleur paid Desa for the next tenday and told her to enjoy her time off. After Desa left, Fleur gave Vole and Shadz an appraising look, it didn’t matter that she was blind, she could feel their worry.

“Spill it,” Fleur demanded, “Vole asked me to come cook for him for the crabbing season, and as soon as he learns Yuli can’t sail anymore, you show up with an invite to Arborea.”

They glanced at each other, then Shadz said quietly in his deep monotone, “The Huntsman is coming here with a group of guardsmen to investigate the murders of two citizens committed by the brigands.”

Fleur’s breath caught as she sank down in a chair. “Oh no.”

“Don’t worry, cousin,” Vole reassures her, “No one knows his threat to you. Banth has agreed to run the lighthouse and live in your home as keeper while you’re away. If the Huntsman comes here, he will suspect nothing. You are just one of my many warrior cousins and out to sea with the fleet as expected of someone from our house. ”

“I... I wish you d-didn’t have to take s-such a r-risk.” Fleur stammered, almost weeping.

Vole pulled her into a hug. “We will never let him hurt you, cousin. Never again. My father should have taken you from his half-sister before he died. Our house has never regretted anything more than what happened to you.”

Fleur hugged him tightly, “No one knew she left me with them. It isn’t anyone’s fault but hers and she died so long ago, I don’t even remember her... And it wasn’t all bad, some were kind to me...” She trembled at the memories.

“We need to go quickly. They are coming on the Starship Wanderer tomorrow to Brightwater Port,” Shadz revealed.

“But we’ve missed the ferry,” Fleur blurted out.

Vole grinned, “True, but I have the skimmer that we use to come ashore from the fisherships. We can be around the isles and to Brightwater Port by midnight. And Shadz brought medicine for Yuli’s sea sickness so he can sail.”

There was a double rap on the door and Fleur jumped up, startled, then breathed a sigh of relief. Banth came in when she unlocked the door.

“Hello, lads.” He looked at Fleur’s distraught face. “Don’t cry, Fleur. You and Yuli are having a vacation, just don’t forget to take that cursed feline with you. I’ll not be dealing with him breaking every dish you own because I won’t poach him a fish.”

His remark made Fleur laugh, and she hugged his neck. “Thank you, Banth.”

“Go. And I’ll tell everyone, you’re out with your cousin and the fleet. Everyone seeing you leave with Vole tonight will convince them.” Banth patted her hand. “Shadz, Vole. Fetch the trunk from my living room, and carry it up to the lighthouse, or have you two gotten lazy since I’m not around to run you through drills like when you were novice guardsmen.”

Vole scowled but Shadz laughed, “Yes, Sergeant-at-arms.”

Banth and Fleur walked up to the lighthouse, she quickly packed as Yuli chattered happily with Banth. Yuli was excited to visit another world. They walked down to the docks, waving at several townsfolk. Yuli took his motion sickness pill and got on the boat. It was dark when they arrived in Brightwater Port and snowing lightly. Shadz took them through the portals to Septa City on Arborea and then it was a short flyer ride to the farm estate in the tropical climate.

After they settled into their rooms, Yuli dragged his mom out to the veranda where Shadz had a tray of chilled tea.

Yuli gaped at the trees. “This is amazing, Mom! Thank you, Shadz. When Rieth told me how big the trees were... I didn’t believe him.” Fang sniffed everything but Fish climbed up to the canopy and disappeared.

Shadz chuckled, “They are wonderful. But you have to climb them to really feel how big they are.” Yuli ran toward the closest one and started climbing it as Fang laid down by the roots. Shadz turned his attention to Fleur. “So, Rieth... Is he the same fellow who made your doors?”

“Yes,” Fleur answered tightly.

“Banth said you rescued him from the brigands.” Shadz repeated what he and Vole had learned.

“Yes.”

“Cassie said you did a well stitching his throat and that Yuli likes him a lot...”

“He does.”

With amusement, Shadz teased, “Desandra told Vole he loves you and kisses you.”

“Oh good grace! Enough, Shadz. He is just a friend.” Fleur turned her face toward him, her lips were pressed tightly together but her cheeks were brightly blushed.

“Fleur, I know you loved Yuriel, and he loved you enough to risk the wrath of the royals to hide you and your children from them. But he’s gone, he’s been gone a long time. You deserve to be loved and from all accounts this woodsmith loves you and would be a good father figure for Yuli.” Shadz prodded gently. “You don’t have to spend the rest of your life grieving for the family you lost.”

Fleur sat quietly, her face turned toward the tree where Yuli was climbing. “Yuriel wasn’t Yuli’s father.”

Shadz sighed and admitted, “We know.”

“How?” Fleur clenched her fist in her hands.

“Asha ran the genetics. You were so terrified of Lord Yurieth when you woke... Of him finding you. Now, you seem more terrified than ever. No one but Asha and I know. When did you remember that the Huntsman is your son’s father?” Shadz took her hand gently in his.

“It isn’t what I remember, but what I realized when Yuli’s magic began getting stronger. He has Huntsmen’s magic, I am sure of it. Oh, Shadz, what am I going to do? He’ll kill me and take Yuli. He’ll kill you and Vole to get to me.” Fleur worried. “He hated me so such.” She rubbed her chest as if she could still feel the Huntsman’s arrow through her heart.

“He won’t kill any of us. They will search the Isle, then leave and you can go home. He won’t even know you live there.” Shadz promised. “And when Yuli gets older, I will bring him to my school and teach him how to use his magic. Remember the Huntsman hates me as much as he hates you, so he never visits Asha. Who knows, maybe I will even move my school to the Southern Star, Asha loves the sea and the Huntsman hates it. We’ll never be bothered by him again.”

Fleur giggled sadly, “You make is all sound so easy.”

“The hardest part is not rubbing in his face that you are happy and falling in love with someone,” Shadz said as he bumped her shoulder.

“I am not,” Fleur protested. “Besides, Rieth deserves better than a retired royal concubine. He is a decent and hard-working man, which I know you know because Vole ran his identity and I would bet a gem that you did too.”

Shadz hugged her to his side, “Just looking out for my favorite swordswoman and war-sister.”

They sat quietly listening to Yuli talking to Fishlover in the top of the tree.

“Cassie sent a message to Asha that you were getting worse.” Shadz asked quietly. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t remember much, I’m having weird dreams, nightmares. I only remember flashes of them.

“And what are these flashes?”

“A few moments of being chained to a bed, longer memories of terrible things being done to me by Lord Damien and another,” she threaded her fingers through her pale hair.

“Do you know who it was?”

“At first I thought it was the king, then I remembered someone saying he and Lord Yurieth look so much alike they could be twins, then I realized it wasn’t Karstien in my memories. He was always kind to me, like Lady Asha...” She pressed her lips together as she hesitated.

“So it had to be Lord Yurieth?”

“I...”

“You are remembering about when you were a prisoner of war, aren’t you?” Shadz’s voice begged her to tell what she suspected; she cursed her memory loss.

Fleur stopped to chew the nails on her free hand. Her whole body was shaking. “I think Lord Yurieth wanted me dead because I knew he had been to Lord Damien’s fortress. He treated me the same as the dark prince. I don’t know how I escaped or if Yuriel rescued me. I just remember him running, carrying me through dark tunnels, telling me to hang on. People shouting at him to hurry. None of my memories are in any kind of order that makes sense. What happened to me, Shadz? How long was I on Meridian 3 before our village was destroyed? How did the Huntsman find me there if Yuriel was hiding me?”

“I don’t know, Fleur. You disappeared the day the Oracle was taken from the Southern Castle. Everyone thought you were dead. Years later, right before Meridian 3 was harvested, Yuriel had come to tell me he found you and had hidden you with his family. I think he didn’t know who he could trust... Fleur, you had disappeared in the north country then you were back and wouldn’t talk about it. The story you tell about the snowstorm, it wasn’t Yuriel who found you, was it? It was Lord Yurieth.”

Fleur sobbed slightly, “I only remember I was running through the storm blindly. I thought he meant to rescue me, that he remembered how we once cared for each other before he found out what I was... we... we were together... But in the morning, when I told him I loved him, he told me he hated me, that he would cut out my heart, then forced me to follow him through the forest in the fog. I could barely see but I kept up. I remember that I fell and broke my arm, but he didn’t stop, I don’t remember where we went just that I was hurt and had to keep going.”

“Anything else?” Shadz’ voice was gentle, Fleur felt calm, almost sleepy. She didn’t realize Asha was standing behind her using her magic.

“I remembered playing Tiles with Yuriel, fighting with him in combat several times. And... and two girls... I think their names were maybe... Betha and Jenna... maybe they were friends with the Oracle’s daughter Asha... I remember Benni and Danni playing in my sunflowers.” Fleur shook her head slightly, then yawned, “I also dream about a boy who looks like Yuli except he had golden eyes, like Lord Kaleth and he called me mom then I told Yuriel the boy was born to be a fish... Isn’t that silly?”

“Maybe they were some of the children you schooled. Yuriel said you loved your students as your own, you took them to beach often,” Shadz lied.

“They all died with my sons, didn’t they?” Fleur blinked slowly like she was falling asleep. “Like I will die if he finds me. I’ll die and he’ll take Yuli.”

“You won’t die, Fleur, and we won’t let anyone take Yuli from you... You should sleep, it is four hours before dawn in the Southern Star,” Shadz deep voice lulled Fleur to sleep.

“The memory of Kalen swimming was only a month before she went back. She is breaking through the memory obscuring magic.” Asha walked forward and put her hands on either side of Fleur’s head, glowing brightly golden. “It was never meant to be used the way we used it.”

Yuli jumped down from a tree and ran to the veranda. “Is Mom okay?”

Lady Asha gave him a smile, her glow lulling him into trusting her. She answered, “She’s just very tired, Yuli. But we are very worried for her. Shadz was just going to carry her to her room for a rest.”

As Shadz carried Fleur inside, Asha sat down on the step and compelled Yuli to sit with her. “Yuli, I got your letter and checked all of Healer Cassie’s records.” She held both his hands in hers. “Can you tell us how she has been and if she has had anymore of her spells? Or remembered anything new?”

“She doesn’t tell me when she remembers new things because they are bad things, but she still has seizures sometimes...” Yuli’s eyes glowed under the influence of Asha’s magic.

He told her everything from the headaches Fleur had almost daily before rescuing the woodsmith up to the day Fleur had fainted in Rieth’s shop, then about when Fleur used her magic the night Dosander’s father was killed, and how he had seen Rieth kissing Fleur just before the alarm bell.

“He visits every weekend, and we harvested the wood for the cafe’s doors together. He has some magic for climbing and stuff. He carved the door to be so fancy. He really likes Mom, and she always smiles when we talk about him.”

“I saw the picture Shadz took of the doors, they are amazing. It looks just like Fishlover. Tell me Yuli, do you like him? If he were to court your mom, would you be happy?” Asha asked carefully, as Yuli leaned on her shoulder the way Kalen always had before their mother was lost to them. “I mean would you like him as your dad?”

“I’ve never had a dad,” Yuli said emotionally. “My dad died before he even knew about me. Banth is kind of like a grandfather, and Vole and Nevin do things with me, but not like Rieth. It’s like he understands me. He is teaching me how to craft wood and move through the forest so fast.”

“Yuli, has Rieth ever said anything about being a Huntsman or a Forester in the old kingdom?” Shadz asked from behind them.

“No, Shadz.” Yuli shook his head, “I was there when Rieth told Banth he had a little forester magic, but he was never trained because they didn’t train people who were unranked in the old kingdom. He said a lot of people died because of it.” Yuli looked up at Shadz, “Is it true, did they just send houseless people to war to die?”

Shadz put his hand on Yuli’s shoulder, “The ancient Kings did not value the life of every Aetherian as King Karstien does... You should get some rest, it is very late at night back home and tomorrow I want to take you with me to my school and test your magic.”

“What about Mom?” Yuli asked worriedly.

Asha patted his hands. “I’ll take care of her. I am sure she would be interested in the new gardens. You’ll probably be back before she’s awake. But if you don’t want to leave her, I am sure Shadz can test your magic here.”

“Thank you, Lady Asha. I... I’m so scared she’ll...” Yuli couldn’t speak his fears, but Asha could feel it so she hugged him the brushed his hair away from his cheek and tucked it behind his ear.

“You’re a very brave boy to understand how ill your mother is, Yuli, but don’t be afraid. I promise, I will do everything I can to keep her with us. Now sleep, and tomorrow when you wake you won’t even remember seeing me, but you will feel more encouraged about your mother’s health.” Asha said in a soothing voice.

Yuli slumped against her. Shadz carried him in and she followed. He laid the boy in a medical bed next to his mother, who was also in a medical bed. As the Master Healer ran several medical scans, she looked at Shadz with amazement. “It’s exactly what Milo and Cassie found. His development is accelerated, he will have full access to his magic by the time he is eighty instead of it starting to show between eighty and one-twenty like a normal Aetherian child.”

“How is that possible?” Shadz asked in frustration. “Yuli’s magic has increased exponentially since the last time I saw them two years ago, and according to Banth, Fleur has regained the use of part of her magic. She is overcoming a memory spell that the Blood Mages of Xelusia couldn’t break without killing the person bearing it.”

Asha shook her head. “I don’t know. All the soil and water samples seem normal. Two hundred and fifty years of studying the trees and no one ever completely figured out how the isotopes bonded to the wood to change its color. But that’s not the problem. Whatever is influencing the children growing up in the Southern Star Archipelago, is affecting mom too.” Asha rubbed her forehead, as she revealed, “The magic repressing her memories is failing. In five years, it will break completely, and we will lose her. But she could go into Cascade Memory Syndrome at any time. I can’t increase her medicines or there will be a toxic build up and she’ll die from that. Honestly, I need to reduce them so she will stop having headaches but then she’ll start remembering and die.”

Shadz pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried, when she calmed he asked, “Should we move her?”

“It wouldn’t change anything.” Asha shook her head, “She is happy in the lighthouse my father built for her. Maybe the cure for her will find her, maybe it already has.”

Shadz tipped his head, “The Woodsmith?”

“I observed him through Yuli’s memories of him. If he can give her back her hope, make her feel loved again, I believe she will fight to stay with us,” Asha said hopefully.

“So, you think it is okay for him to pursue her? I haven’t been able to meet him yet.” Shadz voiced the concern showing in his rust-red eyes. “I wish I could see others’ memories the way you do. Everyone seems to find Rieth a decent fellow. Banth told me Rieth reminds him of your father when he was younger.”

“From Yuli’s memories, Rieth doesn’t know who she is, but we need a measure of his magic. Uncle Yuri is there now, he can discern the level of someone’s magic,” Asha suggested.

“I’ll have him question the woodsmith as a person of interest.”

“He won’t do it if you ask,” she reminded.

“No, he won’t. But if it comes through the channels as a part of the investigation, Yurieth will do his duty. The woodsmith was one of the victims,” Shadz explained. He looked back at Yuli and Fleur sleeping in the golden-glowing beds. “What about them?”

“We fill them up with pleasant memories and send them home once Yuri and Kalen leave Oceania.” Asha smiled sadly. “I wish I could stay, but I can’t risk being the trigger to mom’s memories.”

“Don’t worry, I already thought about how to keep her busy. I will teach Fleur and Yuli about how we are trying to duplicate the way the plants grow in the Isles. She did help Mara with her Botanical research on the trees, perhaps she can figure out what we are missing, and it will distract her from trying to figure out her memory fragments.” Shadz considered his own words for a minute then Asha gave a caviler half-smile. “Your mother always did like puzzles.”