The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH NUT COLLECTOR CORBIN

To distract Fleur from her fit of temper over Protector Corbin’s incompetence and travel ban, Reith laid several large planks on his living area workbench.

“Rieth?”

His knuckled tapped out, ‘Eleven but only four lived. You scared them off. Let Corbin do his job badly and come see your new doors.’

She stopped pacing and turned toward him, “What?”

“He asked if you wanted to see your new doors, right?” Yuli announced. Rieth nodded. Yuli had worked hard to learn the old tapping comm code.

Fleur’s lips twisted into a mischievous smirk, “Oh yes, I’d love to ‘see’ my new doors and while you’re at it, can I be taller too?” Yuli snorted with amusement, as Rieth chuckled then coughed.

“Oh Rieth, I am sorry. I forget about your throat. I’m really not trying to kill you.” Fleur giggled as she apologized for making him laugh while he guided her over to the wood.

He tapped on the wood. ‘Too much trouble to save me last time.’

“Yes, it was.” She declared primly, “So, what is this?”

Banth chuckled as he stood up and stumped over. “This is some fancy wood. I’ve never seen the like. It looks like Fishlover’s fur.”

′It’s Yuli’s wood. He has claim on it.′

While her son excitedly told his tale, Rieth gently ran Fleur’s fingers over the wood, drawing shapes of sea creatures, plants, and a cat for her mind to see.

Yuli talked about how he found the grove. He revealed he and Rieth had been harvesting the wood and the Southern Sun Mill owner was waiting to see how the doors turned out, but he was excited to represent the wood and had helped Yuli fill out the claim paperwork. Yuli was describing how much coin he could make to them when Rieth whispered in her ear.

“Can you see them now?”

With his arms around her, she felt strangely safe. It is a familiar and yet longed for sensation that she hasn’t felt for a very long time. Looking up at him, she smiled. “They will be lovely.” She could feel him looking down at her with longing and hope.

Rieth almost kissed Fleur in that moment, but Banth cleared his throat, interrupting Yuli talking about all the things he was going to buy for everyone he loved. “Fleur, we need to go if we are going to get out of town before Corbin closes the roads.”

She looked down at the wood, caressing it but she didn’t move to leave the circle of his arms. “Thank you, Rieth.”

“Not yet,” Rieth whispered, “When they are finished.” And very reluctantly he stepped away from her.

Rieth walked with them to the Midcoastal Road then Fleur tried to send him back so he wouldn’t be caught out past curfew. But instead he shadowed them through the woods all the way to Soldier’s Cove. Fish and Fang stood on the porch watching him in the post-sunset woods for a few moments, then went in after Yuli and Fleur. Rieth knew as long as his war-trained cat and the protection-trained wolfhound were with them, they were safe. He made it back to Lumberton in an hour, letting his magic sense for any threats.

Pausing two streets over from his shop, he felt men waiting for someone in the shadows and he went up a wall. There were two Guardsmen at each end of the street, Protector Corbin was snarling at one pair.

“And you are sure you saw him leave?”

“Yes, Protector. And if he comes back tonight, we are to arrest him for breaking curfew.” The young man repeated.

“That’s right, and you didn’t find anything suspicious when you searched his shop?” Corbin demanded.

“No, sir,” they chorused.

Rieth could see Corbin’s scowl and decided to have a little fun with the protector. He leaped from roof to roof, silently landing on his own and going downstairs without a light. Night vision magic allowed him to see his shop and living quarters had been trashed. Moving the dresser in his bedroom, he verified that his burst transmitter was still safely hidden under the floorboard before he crawled into his warm bed. He went to sleep thinking of how warm Fleur had felt in his arms and how cold Corbin must be waiting out in the frigid night to arrest him.

The next morning, he got up early, straightened his shop and living quarters until they looked as if nothing had happened. He worked on the hummingbirds for a while then walked out his shop door and toward the center of town. Nodding his head in greeting to the two guardsmen gawking at him as he passed them.

Rieth was followed to the Public Comm Center by the two very miserable looking guardsmen. He sent a message to his brother’s alias at the new mining complex on Meridian 4. The message talked about his new shop and the wonderful people of Oceania’s Southern Star Archipelago. He described his attack and being rescued by a beautiful lighthouse keeper and her son. He included that his throat did not heal enough for him to speak aloud. He stated he was sad he would never be able to sing again because he had found someone he wanted to sing with, declaring she had such a beautiful voice to listen to before bed.

The last part he added just to irritate his enemy whom he knew would be reading a copy of the message before his brother. He described the failure of the local guardsmen to protect travelers and asked for his brother to please send him one of his fine swords. He left it with a wish to see them after the portal station opened, adding the blacksmith across the street was soon to retire and perhaps his brother could take over that shop because Rieth couldn’t see himself leaving the Southern Star without the beautiful lighthouse keeper. Rieth went back to his shop with a smug assurance that Protector Corbin would be irritated beyond reason when he read the message.

Later in his office, Corbin snarled as he read the communication between the woodsmith and his brother. He ordered his guardsmen to always watch the tall, bearded man who wanted what Corbin considered to be his. Corbin began trying to find another way to make Fleur become his wife. He only had a week until she would be back for a meeting on the school, so he must force her to move here and find a way to make the woodsmith leave permanently.

Rieth kept Yuli and Fang while Banth and Fleur went to the meeting about the new school. The building was almost finished, and the community was very excited about it. But when Banth and Fleur came back from the council meeting, she was once again vibrating with rage.

“Mom? What happened? Aren’t they going to open the school?” Yuli looked worried as he took Fleur’s cloak.

Rieth had felt her anger for an hour and had hot chocolate made for all of them. As he handed her the warm cup, Rieth admired how she looked in her dark gray dress with rich purple trim. He was painfully reminded of a dress like that she had from Cinna, he wondered how she had come to have such a dress like the one lost in the Cataclysm.

Fleur downed the half the cup like a shot of spirits before she began coldly. “Protector Corbin has convinced the council that I need to live here in Lumberton, next door to the school because he can’t guarantee my safety traveling to and from Soldier’s Cove, or that of the children from the cove who are in school. He says the children of Westfalls and Soldier’s Cove need to live in dorms like they do on Brightwater and when I said I will not move or close my school, he said that I was being irrational. I... I. Am. Being. Irrational... ME! Because he won’t do his job!”

She angrily started rubbing her scars, with one hand as she sipped the cocoa, then snarled out, “The elders on the Mayor’s council also said they felt it would be more appropriate if I was married and that I shouldn’t wear my swords because it is unseemly for their school teacher to be unmarried and armed. And when I said it wasn’t safe to travel unarmed, they suggested that if I feel so unsafe that I should marry the Protector or a guardsman.”

Rieth took the cup from her hand before she flung it against the wall. He had seen her fury before and knew of many mugs that had been sacrificed to it. “They can’t make you,” He whispered harshly. “You are a free person.”

Fleur snorted derisively, “As if I would ever marry Corbin.”

Banth grumblingly added, “Corbin actually got angry when I assured them the veterans would escort Fleur and the school children until the brigands were caught.”

“Angry?” Fleur laughed bitterly. “I could feel his contempt for the veterans. He’s one of us but he hates us.” She exhaled in frustration, “It doesn’t make sense.”

Rieth took Fleur’s hands from her face, both were rubbing her temples red. He put a small carved figure in her palms, whispering, “Corbin is this.”

While she fingered it, Banth continued, “He call us a bunch of useless cripples. Hmrph! We provide all the fresh fish, onions, carrots, and potatoes this town eats and they have never paid Fleur a coin or gem to teach, not one! She is no more their school teacher than the Queen herself!”

Fleur laughed suddenly interrupting his rant, “Catch Corbin.” She tossed the small wooden figure to Banth. It was a squirrel. Fleur gave Rieth a beautiful smile, “Thank you for putting Corbin’s attitude in perspective. ”

Banth laughed, after he looked at it. “I never really thought about it but he really is.”

“Is what ?” Yuli asked.

Rieth put his fingers to his lips and wrote ‘Protector Nut Collector’ as Banth waved the small carved squirrel at him.

Yuli chortled until he snorted. “So that’s why Fang keeps trying to eat him!”

They all began to laugh with him, except Rieth who was choking as he painfully chuckled at Yuli’s amusing observation.

“Please, Mom, can I let Fang eat him now?” Yuli begged.

Giggling, Fleur shook her head. “Not today.”

Banth stood and stumped over to Rieth, putting the carved squirrel in his hand. “Woodsmith, I do like your sense of humor. Come Fleur, Yuli, we need to sneak out of town. Evidently, we are in trouble for traveling without an escort and are only not being detained because of our former military service.”

Rieth’s eyebrows shot up, then he shrugged and wrote, ‘I’ll walk with you and we can say we are going to look at wood. I was going to come to the Cove and harvest one more of Yuli’s gray-fur trees. Yuli’s cat is my most popular display piece and I have an order for eight cats in different poses. The crafters’ agent who represents me wants them to show off my miniatures and cameos.′ Rieth didn’t tell them the cats were for his niece, Jenna, Fleur’s forgotten daughter, for her birthday.

“Good for you, lad.” Banth congratulated. “And good for Yuli, he’ll get the tag fee for each tree .”

“Just let me change,” Fleur said as she shook her head, “I am not hiking home through the falling snow in a dress. And Banth... From now on, I am wearing my sword in town.”

They all started laughing again as she went into the bedroom.

The Whispering Woods became an instant curiosity among the townsfolk. Rieth’s skill made him sought after, and he had more opportunity than time. He was diligent, kind and appeared the perfect citizen. He seemed to grow more muscular every week slowly gaining back the weight he lost to get to the Southern Star. His handsome features weren’t completely disguised by his dark bushy beard and long raven hair, and his stormy gray eyes brought him the attentions of the few eligible young ladies on Arbor Isle, all of whom he politely rebuffed in such a respectful manner that most didn’t even mind. He worked constantly, and made friends with many in the towns, including the guardsmen who watched him. Every restday, he went to Soldier’s Cove to visit his friends there but mainly to spend time with Fleur and Yuli. No one knew that sometimes, he went at midweek during the night, just to check and reassure himself they were safe. His intuition would not leave him alone that there was danger in the isles beyond the brigands.

The Protector of Lumberton had a very different problem. It irritated Corbin because he couldn’t find anyone to be the woodcarver’s enemy with him except for the three survivors of those who ambushed Rieth on the Midcoastal Road and they feared his fighting skill too much to risk another encounter with him. There were no records of other than Reith’s own statements during his arrival interview from the past with the other Relic Refugees, and some of his travel and work history. Rieth, son of Riles, had served in the King’s Guardsmen during an ancient war, accounted for his skill as a warrior but Corbin was sure there was more.

The woodsmith had bested almost a dozen mercenaries, before his bow broke and his throat was partially cut by a lucky slice. Corbin wanted him dead, but with no one to help him he needed to find another way to get rid of his rival without drawing attention to himself and he needed to do it soon so the blind teacher and lighthouse keeper would have no choice but to marry him.

The Huntsman Regis of Remus, Headmaster of the Academy for Huntsmen and Foresters on Meridian 4, read the transmission through the public comm channels with a scowl then handed it to Rheema. It had been delayed almost three weeks by a weird system error that had all communications to the colonies beyond Aetheria Prime delayed. Discovering the problem had made Rheema’s friend, Master Tech Lara very unhappy and figuring it out had taken too long. Lara had lamented to her old friend about the loss of the Oracle Lady Daisy and her brilliant mind. Rheema had almost told her what they discovered but she didn’t because Lara was loyal to Asha, and her former best friend could not know that they had found her mother. Rheema quickly logged into the Guardsmen Central Information Center then into the Mariner’s Security Unit using her hidden codes. No one would know she had even tapped into the two ultra-secure databases.

“There are no records of the attack against Yuri or anyone on Arbor Isle, and only a few about robberies in the Southern Star Archipelago. There is nothing about a possible murder or a possible group of criminals. Corbin used to be a Guardsman, he knows any violence must be reported,” Rheema scowled. “But these reports make it look like there is no crime at all there.”

“How well do you know him?” Regis asked.

“Not well, he was older, he didn’t really have many friends that I remember. He left the Guardsmen’s Corps after being attacked on Gaia before the death of the Guardian Kaleth. He never really advanced, but he seemed a decent fellow. He really wasn’t cut out to be a warrior. He went to live on Arborea, and until Yuri asked about him, I hadn’t even thought of him since he retired,” Rheema revealed. “Do you think I need to have dispatch send some Guardsmen?”

Regis shook his head, “They would inquire as to how you came into this information. Contact Lilith. It is time for Abrieth and I to go on our annual hunting trip, I feel we should avail on your cousin instead of waiting for the portals to open in four weeks if he is asking for a sword and his brother to relocate. It means come prepared to do battle and bring all we need with us.”

Nodding, Rheema sent a coded message to Lilith. Half an hour later she got a message back. She looked at her sealed one with excited eyes. “The Wanderer is supposed to help bring in Lumbermen from Arborea to the islands. If you can be there in two days, I can have your travel arrangements cleared and a false path laid. The new captain doesn’t know Abe.”

“Then I must leave right away, so Princess Serapha will have time to do her magic.” Hugging his sealed one, Regis pressed a kiss into her copper hair. “I will miss you, but I will be back soon, and I promise not to get my head almost removed as Yuri did.”

Rheema sighed. “Just be careful. I love you.”

“And I love you. Don’t worry, we shall help the Oracle,” Regis promised.

“Lady Daisy was like the mother I never had.” Rheema almost wept.

Her Aunt Merla that had raised her since her parent’s murders had gone into the light two decades ago. Merla had hoped they would find Daisy before she passed. Now Rheema had no one to be a grandmother to her children except Daisy and that might not be possible.

“I don’t care if she doesn’t remember me, I just want her to be healed and loved by her sealed one.”

“We all do.” He took his travel pack and left. It was a mission like many he had been on in the war, blend in and gather intel.