The Queen's Garden Mage

I came upon the tree her Highness hid within, taller than any tree I’d seen before it, its circumference perhaps tripled my height, its canopy too high to see with human eyes alone, it could be nothing but a giant’s spine, planted when the world was young and giants roamed as we do. I traced my fingers along its bark shivering in awe at his age. The spirit was undeniably male, not because he revealed himself to me, his slumber was too deep for that but because I could feel him and I just knew. I patted the tree gently before sliding down the slopping bank to a river that had no name.

The water raged, the river swollen with the new come spring, I drank deeply from my water skin before braiding my hair in one long plait. While the plants and trees of the forest would not offer hindrance I wasn’t foolish enough to believe the water would do the same. That was not where my gift lay after all. I gazed at where the river rushed the trees’ base, swirling and lapping furiously creating a little alcove cloaked in darkness, I watched the water rush through the trees creating its own path across the land and I began to remove my boots deciding that I did not want to drown.

I pulled off my tunic and then the pouch of useful seeds and vials, followed by my sheathed blade I wrapped both in the fabric of my tunic which I tucked into the Water proof pack. I tossed my boots and my pack higher up the bank not wanting to take the chance that the water would drag it away and then I plunged into the river diving deep beneath the root that formed an arch just beneath the water before surfacing on the other side. Thankful that the water though chilled wasn’t freezing I swam towards the dark little nook pausing in my paddling when the river surged not wanting to find myself bashed against the base of said tree before I reached my destination. Once close enough I clung to the tough bark of exposed roots pulling myself along until I could crawl into more shallow water.

“Highness?!” I called breathless shivering as a breeze passed over my wet skin. “Princess?!” I called when I gained no response crawling closer to the darkness.

“You promised not to be reckless and here you are diving into a raging river,” strong hands pulled me further into the darkness.

“How else was I to get in here?” I questioned tossing my braid over my shoulder.

“There’s a small tunnel in the back!” she cried furiously.

I rubbed my hand over my face gazing at the light leaking through the man sized tunnel, no doubt made in preparation for this moment. “Highness, I’m sorry.” I shifted so that I could see her more clearly, she was completely dry. Goddess I wished I’d thought to look for another way in, I wished I’d thought to ask. “Not for diving into the river, I was in no real danger. I’m sorry for yesterday…”

“Gardener just ask your question…”

“So you can refuse me,” I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I did not dive into a raging river for nothing.”

“Calm but reckless, powerful and yet afraid…” The Princess mocked, “How do you live?”

“You don’t understand,” I breathed goose flesh stealing over my skin as the air grew chill without the heat of the sun to warm it.

“I understand perfectly…”

“You understand nothing!” I snapped in my anger. “You have lived under the protection of your mother’s wing for the whole of your life Highness. You can go anywhere you wish to go; you can study anything your heart desires. You can marry who you love all with your mother’s blessing. I do not want any title she can think to give me; she has already taken so much.” I breathed shaking my head.

“She gave you a life,” Adri countered a daughter defending her mother.

“She stole my life!” I cried heart aching. “I was happy, Kantari may seem like a backwards, island nation, but we were happy. I was to be a healer, because I knew the plants. My mother would teach me all the things she knew and Reason was to be a warrior, though my mother wanted that path for me since I was the eldest. I did not want to go, my mother, my family they loved me. Your mother took me against my will, perhaps she had my parents blessing because every parent wants a better life for their children but I did not want to come.

Everything was different, alien, the words, not as soothing to the ear, the gestures seeming unnecessary and I learned it. I learned it all, while aching for a home that would no longer be mine. All that reminds me of the jungle, lies in the garden. That is the only reason that I bare the title Gardener because it is the only place in this entire land that I feel at home.” I sighed softly gazing at the steady stream of light shining down through the tunnel. “All I have is my pouch of seeds given by my mother, and the blade of viper’s wrath, my father spent his life’s saving on. That’s all I have, that and the unwavering knowledge that my parents loved me, to remember them. I have long since forgotten their faces.” Tears streamed my face, hidden by the shadows, mixing with the water still trailing along my skin. “I have forgotten my father’s laugh and my mother’s soothing scent, the way each of them called my name, I have lost my friends and all my plants. All of it gone from me, stolen by the passage of time.

“I can forgive her for taking me, because I am older now but I will not serve my jailor beyond the title I stepped off that ship carrying because I am trapped here.” Adri opened her mouth to counter but I silenced her with a question. “Where can I go when all others know my title, know my worth to the Queen of Angileri? Where can I go and truly find peace…?”

Her Highness stared at me unable to find words, I tipped my head in acknowledgement of her silence. “You will be Queen one day, and I will be yours. Perhaps then I will feel differently, after all you are not your mother.”

“You hide a lot within you Gardener…” she hesitated. “I understand a bit now of why you do not wish to take Rosen’s place but I cannot help but think there is more.”

I leaned back on my hands sighing as my fingers burrowed through decaying leaves and moist soil, it was warm. “I will not argue that I am Rosen’s equal, her second or her better. I truly do not care…Rosen is where she belongs, she is a good politician. I can perhaps be good if I try, despite my penchant for blunt honesty but,” I bobbed my head back and forth in a thoughtful gesture, “I do not care to try. As I have said I do not want any title your mother can give me, as well I do not want any title I have not earned. Being Head Gardener is more than being the most powerful after all and it took sun cycles for Rosen to reach this point, long after she herself gained the title actually.” I chuckled at the thought. “Truly though my biggest reason is that I rather enjoy being anonymous, oh they know the brown skinned foreigner that works in the gardens, but no one ever truly makes the connection. People rarely if ever actually see me, I am good at living my life in the shadows. I rather enjoy the peace of it…”

I flinched startled as Adri threw something at me falling backwards onto damp soil and rotten leaves. I wiped decaying leaves from my brow realizing that she’d hit me with mud. “What was that for?” I mumbled curiously watching her crawl towards the tunnel hips swaying in an enticing manor as she moved.

“One of the smartest people I’ve ever met and you’re still an idiot…” I scrambled to my feet following after her, pausing shortly at the tunnel waiting for her to clear it before quickly pulling myself out.

“Why am I an idiot?” I questioned brow furrowed trying to wipe as much soil from my body as possible, to no avail. I was simply smearing it around.

The Princess turned back to look at me face a mask of frustration, “Am I ugly? Is that what it is? Or am I truly as fat as everyone claims I am?” She traced her hands over her stomach self-consciously. I followed the path of her hands distracted by the motion. “I try so hard, I train with the guards, I run with them, I ride my horse and I still do not know for sure if I ever will enjoy being that high off the ground. I eat healthy and my body is as slim as it will ever be, I know because I’ve asked the healers and yet here I am.” She waved her hands, “The second day of the Queen’s Tournament standing in the middle of Griffin Forest with one of my mother’s Gardeners who compliments me but does not truly see me.”

“Highness you are standing right there…” I winced as she growled before marching off in the other direction. “Highness!” I raced back down the river bank grabbing my pack and my boots before sprinting after her. “Highness I haven’t asked my question.”

“The answer is no!” I easily caught up and kept stride my legs being longer than hers.

“I haven’t asked.” I sighed exasperated.

We walked in silence for a long time after that, me trailing in her footsteps barefoot and without a shirt, covered in mud while I carried my things wondering what exactly I’d done wrong. “Gardener…”

I glanced up gazing at the Princess’ wary expression. “Yes?”

“Do you like me?” I blinked at the simple and yet earnest question.

“Well… Yes, Highness, we are friends…and I will one day serve you.” I answered slowly sure that this was important even if I really did not understand the need to ask.

Adri made a strangling gesture too short to actually reach my throat. I watched smiling softly brow furrowed slightly at her frustration. “Are you purposely ignoring my feelings in an attempt to not hurt me?” She asked after a moment of thought.

“I would never…”

Do you ever want to kiss me?!” She exclaimed face reddening.

“Ahhh…” I murmured finally realizing what she was asking me, I scratched my head understanding why she’d called me an idiot. The chill had reached my brain surely that was the reason it’d taken this long for me to understand her ranting. “I have never actually contemplated the thought…one does not simply just kiss the Princess after all.” I replied truthfully those saplings taking root and growing like crazy in the pit of my stomach. I felt as if I might be sick.

Her Highness stepped closer gazing up at me as she rested her hands lightly on my hips, “I want you to want to kiss me Denarii…”

I gazed down into the twilight of her eyes and I struggled to draw air, suddenly feeling warm all over. “I will make you a wager.” Adri stepped back eyes sparkling anew. “If you can carry me all the way back to the Training Fields you will have earned your pass and I will have earned a kiss for having said yes when I have already twice told you no.”

“I never asked,” I murmured feeling a little dazed from her close proximity.

“True, but that makes no matter now… so do we have a deal Gardener or am I as fat as everyone says?” Her words were joking but, I could see the pain in her eyes. I wonder if she expected me to refuse…she underestimated how badly I wanted that pass…and perhaps a small part ached to feel her lips pressed against mine.

I opened my pack and pulled on my tunic, pouch and blade settled at each hip respectively before I pulled on my boots tying them quickly. I gave the Princess my pack before turning and kneeling on the ground, glancing over my shoulder at her Highness now watching me curiously. “You have yourself a deal Highness.” Adri laughed before hopping on my back.

I stood turning towards a path that only I could see, the Princess wasn’t light, she was fit more muscle than fat but she wasn’t overly heavy either. Nowhere near as heavy as my brother, warmth suffused my face as she wrapped her legs firmly around my waist and nuzzled her face against my neck thankfully having moved my braid aside before climbing on. “Let’s go Gardener, the day grows old.”

I gazed at the position of the sun sweat beading on my brow from the heat slowly waning before continuing on the path I’d taken to get here. If fortune was with us, we’d make it back to the Training Fields a little before the sun reached the horizon. Goddess I breathed muscles burning with the added strain of extra weight I hoped fortune was with us…

“Are you tired?” Adri asked for about the tenth time since we’d started.

I grunted sweat trickling down my face as I gazed at the position of the sun, “No just hot.” I murmured truthfully as we entered the clearing where I’d left Carina to graze. I set her Highness down greeting my mare with a heartfelt hug. “Did you miss me girl?” I asked chuckling as she butted me in the chest causing me to stumble.

“I’ve seen her before but never thought to ask how exactly you came across a horse from your homeland, wild horses from the jungle are hard to find and even harder to tame if you do…” I stroked Carina’s muzzle smiling softly.

“A gift to my brother from one of the soldiers for saving his life, he’d said. Though my brother has never set foot on a battle field, by his own choice, he’s aided many a soldier in surviving with his training on horseback. I don’t know how he got her, though I heard it was something to do with a drunken bet. Reason in turn gifted her to me…another reminder of home he told me and we have loved each other dearly ever since.”

I beckoned Carina over to the Princess and watched as she nipped at her hair while Adri laughed stroking Carina’s jaw and neck while murmuring words of praise. “Will we ride your horse now?” Her Highness asked raising her brow, her expression stating that this wasn’t part of the deal.

I chuckled at the fact that I could read her expression so easily, “No Highness, Carina knows her way home I simply wished to unburden us of my pack.” I hooked it onto my saddle before tying it so that it remained secure.

I clicked my tongue several times before watching Carina trot away, she’d probably stop and enjoy a bit of sweet grass along the way, but I wouldn’t fault her for it. “The Training Fields are about a slither of the sun’s span from here.” I turned kneeling so that she could climb onto my back pulling my braid over my shoulder. “Let us finish this journey Highness. I grow hungry for more than jerky and dry biscuits.”

“Mmmm, Gardener and we haven’t even kissed.” I wavered as I stood nearly falling over at the Princess’ husky tone and suggestive words murmured so close to my ear.

I took a deep breath while she laughed softly apologizing, “You’re going to be the death of me Highness.” I mumbled marching across the small clearing avoiding the paths that others had taken, ignoring the guards sulking around the forest trying to remain undetected.

“Many apologizes Gardener; you are just so unflappable I could not help myself.” Her lips passed over my jaw in what might have been considered a kiss if I were paying attention. I’d realize that later, but in that moment I stood motionless heart racing at the profound silence that had stolen over the forest…no not the forest, the green, all of the plants, all of the trees they were silent. The noise that never ceased, never stopped, the constant chatter in the back of my mind was gone. Slowly I allowed her Highness to slide down my back to the ground gazing up into the tree tops searching for any form of danger. “Gardener…” I silenced the Princess with the raise of my hand shifting so that I could see her from the corner of my eyes.

“What monsters exist in the Griffin Forest…” sure that her knowledge was greater than mine. “What monsters exist that hold magic of their own?”

Adri took in my tone sobering quickly as she gazed around, as I did using her eyes to scan the canopy above and behind me while I in turn gazed at the forest beyond her. “Anything that had once been a danger in this forest should be long gone Denarii, my mother wouldn’t send a group of untried and half trained suitors into this forest if there was danger.”

“As well I have walked nearly the entirety of these grounds and found no predator magical or otherwise that has ever truly been a danger so long as I’ve avoided them, they’ve avoided me.”

I nodded to make sure reaching out to the trees, none would speak to me. My heart skipped a beat, I stepped closer to the Princess. “Can you feel it?” I asked mouth going dry as I fingered my blade.

The birds chirped, the wind blew, animals scurried in the underbrush but there was danger in the air, undetected by nature, purely unnatural in its presence.

“I don’t know what I’m searching for?” Adri said honestly glancing at me before glancing away still searching. I loosened the draw string on my pouch pulling forth a hand full of thorns, muscles tensing as the silence grew slowly but surely spreading to the animals, first the rodents, then the birds and finally the air stilled until her Highness pressed her back to mine crouching low. “Where’s the orb?” Her Highness questioned voice quivering with nerves.

“In the pack I tied to Carina’s saddle…I never thought for a moment I’d need it. Many apologizes.” I murmured voice suddenly loud in the silence.

“Why are you apologizing…”

“For the danger I suppose…” Before I could elaborate the silence was shattered by shadows raining from the trees. I blinked as they rushed towards us, flickering darkness that had no true form. I tossed the thorns into the air magic surging forth with a whispered command. Thorn covered vines sprang to life around us grabbing at the shadows.

Adri drew the short sword given to her for protection, while I ducked the swipe of wispy claws, flipping backward out of reach while the beast gave chase, landing on my toes several feet away. I slashed at the darkness with my blade as it came near, crimson liquid splattered across my shirt. The shadowy form cried out, a distinctly human sound of pain as it drew back numbness setting in. Magic… I had time to think as I kicked the shadow in what I supposed was its face and watched it fall to the ground shadows constantly shifting despite its motionless form. Before I had time to breathe several more converged in its place, all the while vines stretched taught continuing to grow in a shield around the Princess.

I twirled among them braid whipping behind me, the air filled with blooming flowers and glowing magic that created a distraction allowing me to disappear. I raced up the side of an ancient, the rough bark clutching at the soles of my boots pushing me higher into its leafy canopy. Roots freed themselves from the ground, tripping my pursuers as they realized where I’d gone. I watched as the bark shed from the trees like the dead skin of a snake as they attempted to climb after me. I dropped a large bud and saw one fall prey to child’s slumber, blooming as it drifted towards the ground. Several remained caught in my web of vines surrounding the Princess, thinking to attack her once the raptor vines had stopped moving only to find themselves pulled into their restricting embrace. Her Highness stood in low guard sword at the ready, if any should get past my defense.

I leapt onto one of the remaining shadows my height and weight instantly knocking them unconscious as I rode them to the ground. The last I caught in the face with a well-timed flick of my blade causing the shadows to vanish revealing a man slowly drifting towards the afterlife.

The pocket of quiet that had existed vanished with his death, the green once more murmuring in the background of my mind always there, their silence warning me of a threat I couldn’t see. I sunk to my knees breathing heavily as I clutched at the earth gazing on the unfamiliar face of the man I’d just killed. Her Highness slipped from the small space in the vines open to her, sheathing her sword as she came to me.

“Gardener…” she gazed at the enemies I’d managed to defeat in a matter of moments. “What else are you hiding from us…” Her Highness stood staring at the web of vines still moving, shifting with each attempt of a shadow’s escape, the vines burrowed into the ground, stretched high into the canopy of the surrounding trees, wrapped around tree limbs and bodies alike. With an empty center where she had once been.

I wiped my blade on the dead man’s tunic, not the shimmering gray of a shade, but similar enough to be disconcerting. Someone wanted people to believe that even the Shades were against Adri’s succession. “Are these Shades?” Adri asked as I sheathed my blade, watching the shadows as they grew motionless in my web of vines strangled into unconsciousness, the magic hiding the fact that they were human still active proving that all but one still lived.

“No.” I ripped open the man’s shirt to find his chest scarred but bare of the Royal crest lost in shadows, their mantra inscribed beneath it. “They carry shadow magic, perhaps they are even mages of high caliber…not a one had lost their cloak of shadows despite the fact that they’re unconscious, but they aren’t Shades. All Shades carry the Royal crest of an Alia rose lost in shadows tattooed onto their breast, with a short mantra, written in the first language of Angileri which means to serve the Queen, even in death. His chest is bare.” I released the tatters of his tunic allowing it to fall closed. I gazed at the position of the sun.

“Are we to leave them here?” The Princess stared at the few others lying unconscious on the forest floor, I pushed to my feet collecting the small husk of Child’s Slumber lying beside one of them. “What is that?”

I tucked the seed into my pouch, watching as the vines sagged, once vibrantly green slowly darkening. I moved forward grabbing hold of the now stronger plant as the shadow men fell unceremoniously to the ground. Her Highness gave me a look but did not comment on the rough treatment. “We’ll leave them here,” I began tying one of the shadow men up, “None will escape without help.” Once done with him I moved to the next, “As for the little pod I tucked into my pouch, it was the seed of Child’s Slumber, a flower known for inducing sleep, they only produce one seed at a time unlike other plant’s. It can knock out a room full of people depending on the phase of its blossoming.”

Adri helped me drag the few stragglers closer to the rest, tying their hands and feet separately and then roping them together behind their backs. When they woke they’d all find themselves painfully unconformable, because neither of us was much forgiving in our positioning. “What else are you hiding in that little pouch of yours?” The Princess asked as I stripped one of the greener vines of thorns tucking them into my pouch. “And how do you separate everything in there?”

“I don’t,” I offered answering the latter of her two questions.

“You don’t what…separate them? Then how do you know what you’re pulling out of there, how did you happen upon of a handful of thorns instead of a mishmash of seeds?” Adri gazed at me with wide eyes while I searched the dead man for anything identifying him and finding nothing as I’d expected, but it did no harm in looking.

My lips curled slightly, we’d just been attacked and she stood here before me while I searched a dead man asking about the how of my pouch instead of cowering in fear. Moments ago she’d been crouched, eyes burning, sword raised ready to do battle. This woman was greater than anyone gave her credit for. I closed my pouch pushing to my feet chuckling as she stood waiting for an answer. I understood now more than ever why the guards and soldiers alike would give their lives to see her on the throne. “It’s a part of my gift Highness, I have spent many a day practicing what I draw out of this pouch by feel alone.”

“So when you stab your fingers…”

“Not feeling with my hands Highness, feeling with my magic, calling the seeds, calling the thorns into my hand until there came a point where I could just…” I offered her a twilight peony. “Know exactly what I held in my hand and use it to my advantage.”

“How…” she took the peony tracing her finger along each blue petal speckled with lavender. “How did you do that? I didn’t see you reach for anything…”

“Sleight of hand and magic,” I chuckled slyly tracing my finger along my nose in a mischievous gesture. “And that’s all you’ll hear from me on the matter.” I turned kneeling so that she could climb on my back. “Now come so that we can hopefully make it back before night fall, I have a wager to win.”

Adri climbed on my back arms hanging low across my collarbone as she wrapped her thighs around my waist. “Every time I think I know a little bit more about you Gardener you reveal more mysteries.” Her Highness sighed softly as I stood strolling out of the clearing as if we’d stopped for a small rest and nothing more.

“I am who I am Highness and if you happen to find me mysterious then that is your perception.” I countered gazing at the sun now quite low on the horizon, if we made it to the Training Fields before nightfall it would be by the Goddess’ will alone.

“Says the woman who just single handedly took down perhaps ten shadowy apparitions all by herself.” Adri huffed likely rolling her eyes.

I chuckled but chose not to comment, she was right after all.

“You were very brave for a Princess,” I mocked good naturedly. “I had half expected you to cower in fear.” I continued trying to fill the silence.

Her Highness snorted indignant, “You do realize that unlike my brother on my sixteenth summer of life I actually went on campaign with the Guard Captain…men died in my honor. This small ambush was nothing to be afraid of, I knew we could handle ourselves.” She sighed against my neck nuzzling the skin there and…breathing in my scent though I could have been mistaken I did not question it not wanting to embarrass her. “What of you Gardener, do you regret killing a man, were you afraid we might not survive?”

I thought on that moment before everything began when we stood back to back, muscles tense, I remembered the silence that had begun with the voices of the trees and slowly spreading from there, to the rodents, to the birds, and to the very air itself. The silence had been deafening, startling in its clarity, everything had been so sharp allowing me to act without hindrance. Was I afraid… “In the brief moment before everything began when I thought some monster out of legend had come upon us I was a little afraid.” Adri chuckled at my admittance, “After I discovered they were but men hiding behind the cloak of their magic I grew more confident. I felt no remorse for the dead man, after all he tried to kill me first. And in case you were wondering not once did I fear for you, as you once told me you can protect yourself...”

“And yet your first action was to protect me.” She murmured softly lips tracing over my jaw in a kiss, I stumbled nearly falling before catching myself.

“You’re my friend,” I husked tugging lightly at my shirt as if that were the problem.

“Perhaps one day you will look at me as more.” Adri murmured softly against my skin.

I tipped my head in acknowledgement of her words. “Perhaps one day…” We traveled in silence the rest of the way to the Training Fields trying to win a race against the sun before it set over the horizon. Fortune must have been with us despite our encounter because we topped a hill and stood gazing out across the palace grounds just as the sun began to set. Libeth pointed towards us whooping her excitement at my accomplishment. I ran towards my fellow Gardeners and our new friends laughing gaily, the Princess still firmly latched onto my back laughing with me.