The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

(PART 2 of 4 - THE HUNTSMAN’S HONOR)

CH MEMORIES FROM HER PAST, HIS FUTURE

Four months after her arrival, Fleur was standing on a dressmaker’s pedestal, draped in iridescent lavender silk. She could feel Mina smiling at her as the matriarch of the House of Adamos held her only daughter, baby Kalyssa. Baby Kaleth was asleep in a bassinet, radiating a feeling of contentment that Fleur had missed for over a century. Her once and future husband in his new golden and perfect skin filled her heart with so much joy and so much sorrow at once she could barely keep it in. Four-hundred-six years, nine months, eleven days, and nineteen hours was all the time they shared together as sealed ones. It counted the almost two days when they first met. It included the 38 minutes when she was trapped in the past with him, believing his fatal fate was sealed, a mere week before his youngest son maimed him so badly that all believed him murdered while he recovered in a healing bed taken from the Tear of Heaven’s Hope by his father.

The week they spent in the ancient city of Atlantia on her homeworld was added, but she did not count the three-thousand-year journey they slept through on the way back to Aetheria Prime. And most painful to count were the twelve minutes and forty-six seconds, she went back through time after his death to demand why he had not told her his time had come. His answer was simply, he could not because he loved her too much and couldn’t bear to bring her sorrow sooner. She had spat horrible, hateful words at him, and he had taken it with tears running down his scared countenance, then answered that he would love her through all time as she walked away to return to her life in the future after he left her. Baby Kaleth frowned in his sleep and Fleur bent to touch his golden curls. His amber eyes popped open, and he made a happy cooing sound that chased her sorrow and regret back into the dark corner from whence it crept.

“My sons will both be blessed to be loved by you.” Mina said affectionately, “And no one will be more beautiful than you at the solstice ball, my daughter.”

“Thank you, mother, but I will have to take your word for it. I can only see that the fabric is the color of moonflowers.”

Cinna the clothier turned her, fitting the bodice with pins. “Trust me, my lady, this is my magic.”

The housekeeper Madge asked, “What are moonflowers, Lady Fleur?”

“It is a trumpet-shaped lavender flower that grows on a vine. It blooms only at night, they grow in warm climates at home and smell amazing. Kaleth always said I smelled like I had bathed with them.”

As she was describing them, Abrieth entered with his brother Yurieth a step behind.

“You look pretty as a flower, Fleur, if I wasn’t already in love, I would be chasing your affections. Mmm Hmmm, so lovely,” Abrieth teased.

“Why thank you, Abrieth,” She smiled. “I don’t know if I should be flattered or afraid,” she quipped then giggled as they all laughed at his false offense. She curtseyed and then gasped, “Ow, pins!” And they laughed harder.

She could feel Yurieth standing there just watching her, so she turned and demanded in a flirty tone, “Do you like my new dress, my lord?” She could feel his surprise.

He didn’t answer so Mina prodded him in an amused tone. “Speak, my son, this isn’t the first pretty female who has smiled at you.”

Fleur could sense Yurieth start to blush in embarrassment at his mother’s teasing, but he remained silent, warring with his emotions. Unlike Abrieth, he was not naturally comfortable around beautiful women and he had never realized Fleur was this breathtakingly beautiful. She was just Fleur.

While he was thinking, Fleur asked Abrieth, “Does he own a cat?

Abrieth raised an eyebrow at the question. “No, why?”

“Just curious,” she responded lightly, “When this happens at home, we say, ‘the cat got his tongue’. Has he been to the forest? Perhaps it was a wild cat that stole his tongue?” And she made a little clawing motion with her hand at Yurieth. “Meow!”

Abrieth, Mina and Madge all burst out laughing harder as Yurieth turned redder. Cinna chuckled as he continued adjusting her dress while Fleur giggled and squirmed. Angry and embarrassed, Yurieth turned on his heel and stomped out.

“That is very rude,” Abrieth called after his brother in a laughing taunt.

“I’ll be right back,” Fleur whispered to Cinna, who nodded in amusement.

She ran barefooted in the direction she felt Yurieth. The skirt floating around her legs as she rushed down the stairs and seized Yurieth in a hug from behind. He froze as the fabric swirled around his boots.

“I’m sorry I was teasing you,” She giggled happily into his back. “Please don’t be mad.” She was radiating joy like sunlight peeking through a cold fog, it felt warm to his war-scarred soul.

Yurieth sighed, sometimes he still felt like an awkward juvenile just discovering his destiny would not be what he thought. He also knew he always got embarrassed easily by those he cared about. He couldn’t stay mad at her, not when she felt this happy. He turned, untangling her arms from around his waist, and stepped down one step to look at her dress. It looked like it was woven onto her body, flaring out into a floaty layered skirt the ruffles look like flower petals. She was the most beautiful being he had ever seen. He scooped her up in his arms like a bride and kissed her. It felt like breathing sunlight. One of her hand rested lightly on his cheek, the other caresses the back of his neck. He forced himself to lift his lips from hers, and put his forehead against her hairline, cradling her in his arms.

“My lady, you are more beautiful than the dawn. Forgive this simple Huntsman for stealing a kiss, I am not used to seeing someone as lovely as you.”

Her clouded eyes held his, trying to see through the haze as she continued to play with the long hair on the back of his neck. “You have never been a simple huntsman, Yuri. You have always been wonderful; everyone can see it except you.” Her pale hair fell away from her face as she smiled up at him, then she pulled his head down and kissed him again, wrapping both arms around his neck so he couldn’t get away.

He tightened his arms around her instinctively, letting the kiss grow as their souls caressed.

Suddenly, Fleur gasped and jerked away in pain, whispering harshly, “Oww... a pin...” She squirmed, pulling at her dress, and he held her slightly away from his body.

“Am I going to get impaled?” he demanded.

“No, well maybe... take me back, I’m getting stabbed...” Her voice was getting higher with every breath she took.

Yurieth laughed, he couldn’t help it. It echoed up the stairway and down the hall as he walked. He whispered to her in a smug tone, “It serves you proper for teasing me”

She grinned up at him and a wave of joy washed over him again. Fleetingly, he wondered if she was aware she was doing the thing she called ‘shining’.

“Mother, your dearest future daughter, has impaled herself.” Yurieth chuckled as he set her feet on the pedestal. Cinna immediately began checking the seams.

“Impaled herself?” Abrieth looked confused.

“I have a pin piercing me in a very personal place,” Fleur whispered, trying not to inhale too deeply as she pointed to the side of her breast. His look of comprehension caused Mina and Madge to laugh at him then Fleur complained with a whine, “Ow, I can’t inhale.”

Bowing to her then drawing his sword, Abrieth cavalierly offered, “I’ll save you, my lady, and remove the offending garment.”

Yurieth was having none of it and dragged his chortling brother from the room by his collar, grumbling that he was not to touch her. Mina and Madge where laughing loud enough that the babies were both making happy noises with them, as Fleur’s breathy giggles carried like music. Sitting in his library listening, Lord Adamos the fourth of the High House of Adamos, smiled, thinking this is how his house should always sound. Filled with life and laughter, and he thanked the Light for a day like today. It brought joy and fortitude to his heart.

Later that night, across the continent at the Tear of Heaven’s Hope ship building site, Oshay sagged with sudden faintness and Odini caught his arm before he faceplanted on the floor.

“I think that is enough for today, Oshay,” Odini responded with concern.

“I... I just need to finish this, then Oren and Orion will be able to sync the rest of the sleep chambers when they return,” the younger mage insisted. “And we need more palladium for the...”

“Shadz, grandson,” Odini said softly as he helped him sit, “Enough for today. You are taxing yourself beyond your endurance and beyond Oren’s power to restore you. You must tell the Blind Oracle and go home to your sealed one.”

“I can’t, not yet, I... I have hidden things from the Oracle, grandfather. I do not know when I leave, but Abrieth meets me at a court ball, and later Yurieth sees Fleur and I ice skating together. Adamos obscured their memories of who I am.” Oshay revealed stoically.

“How do you know this?” Odini asked in an almost identical monotone.

“On his last day, Lord Adamos gave Lord Kaleth a letter for me. It was from you. The pages were blank until Lady Fleur found the note from Lady Yllumina. It said to wait until after the Day of Light Returning to go home, that I am to spend the high winter with you, learning what was lost. I would know the time was near when the Oracle loses her power for a season. I do not know what that means, I cannot imagine what could cause her to be without it. I must be here to protect her if something catastrophic happens to her,” Oshay explained.

“How can you hope to protect her if you barely have the energy to protect yourself?” Odini demanded.

“Please, Grandfather, let me stay, let me learn. We have lost so much of what we were. When I am out and about with Oren and Orion, I can’t hide my amazement. I am trying to gather information on the trade crafts, we know nothing of such things. In my time, if all of the Aetherian people and our allies gathered in one place, we would not fill a fourth of the King’s City. Please, don’t send me away.” Oshay begged, suddenly seeming much younger than he was.

Odini looked at the young man who called him grandfather and nodded. “But you will take your rest and healing baths. You will tell me when you become tired, and if I tell you to stop, then you will, or I will tell Lady Fleur to send you home.”

“On my word and my honor,” Oshay promised.

“Then come, we will finish here tomorrow and return to the King’s City, you will need proper court clothing and to learn our customs,” Odini frowned, then nodded to himself. “You can gather the information on our tradesman under the guise of our cousin who has been training as a monk on Trios and now seeks a craft. Also, it will give the Guardian Regulus a chance to talk with you. He is very interested in how a mage and oracle learned to fight with such proficiency and deadliness.”

“You taught me well when I was young, but then my mother gave the Black Sword to my elder brother,” Oshay started, as he stood to follow Odini down the hall.

“She would not dare! The Sacred Sword chooses its weilder...” Odini announced angrily.

“And it did. It refused to kill me when I tried to show my brother mercy and he decided to show me none,” Oshay explained to him as they walked. “The Sword of Odini would not let my brother kill me, and it has defended Asha and Daisy... I mean Fleur, many times. When it was cracked, I feared the worst, but Lord Abrieth was able to repair it, as he has been able to make many swords of legend...”

“How could it be broken? It has an unbreaking enchantment on it!” Interrupting, Odini’s shock vibrated in his deep voice.

Oshay sighed heavily. “Grandfather, the things we face in the last war; the magic, the creatures, the evil... Warriors and weapons are pushed pasted their limits of endurance. One of my best friends fell into the darkness for a time and almost killed his own sealed one, another did and she was lucky to revive. If it were not for your teachings and my Asha, I would have succumbed to the dark forces that seduced my father, my mother, my aunt, and their mother from the Light.” He looked at his grandfather who now was only a few centuries older than him with great sadness. “I am sorry, but all your children will fall into shadow and you have to let them, because it is only through them that I will learn what we need to understand how dark magic and blood magic works in the far future. In my time, I am the last mage except for the Dark Prince.”

Odini strode quietly for many long moments then asked, “What of Oren and Orion and their children?”

Oshay answered honestly, “Orion is alive when the Oracle comes to free us from the tyranny of the Dark Prince. His great-great-grandson is my best friend and brother. Lord Colby of the House of Orion saved my life many times, showed me true friendship, and honored me with his trust for centuries,” Oshay smiled slightly. “I miss him. He is much like Orion in his need to cause mischief and display humor, they have the same emerald eyes.”

Odini nodded. “My brother has kept me from melancholy many times since our father disappeared.”

Entering the small cabin, they shared, Odini began to cook a simple meal. As Oshay watched, his heart ached at the childhood memories of an Odini who was several thousands of years older doing the same thing. “Thank you for cooking, Grandfather.”

“I miss it when I don’t have time,” Odini repeated the response Oshay had heard dozens of times before his grandfather’s death.

Oshay had to look at the window to hide his tears. The Oracle had warned him, but he had never realized how hard facing his past would truly be. Odini’s question brought him back to the present.

“Tell me of your Asha?”

Oshay grinned broadly, it transformed his normally solemn countenance. “Asha was a year old, and I was the only person she would sleep for and I took an oath to be her protector. Her first word was ‘mine’, I didn’t know then, that it was her nickname for me.”

“She calls you Mine?”

“Yes, she calls me Mine, and taught me to believe in the Light when she was only baby. I was the last son of darkness born on our old world and she was the first daughter of the Light born on Aetheria after the resettlement, and even if she had not chosen me, I would have protected her to my last day... When she was little, she would run away to the meadows in the deep forest to gather red flowers and play with the Quetzals. What you call the guardians of the forest and meadows."

"She played with them?"

"Yes and one still follows her around like a pet..."

His grandfather laughed with him and sometimes nodded sadly as Oshay spent the next several hours telling of his Asha and their life together.