by Forthright
And
DARE TO BELIEVE
“You made it!” Hesper strolled toward them, smiling broadly. “It wouldn’t be much of a viewing party without the guests of honor.”
Caleb checked his watch. “We still have a couple of hours before showtime.”
“But proper greetings take time.” She quirked a brow. “You should know that by now.”
Josheb quietly admitted, “There was a little trouble in the paparazzi department.”
Hesper’s gaze snapped briefly to the street. “Were you harassed?”
“No,” Caleb quickly assured. “But he can’t say no to his admirers. He was signing autographs and posing for group selfies for nearly an hour.”
“Free promotion!” argued Josheb. “And that’s good for everyone, yeah?”
“In the long view,” Hesper conceded. “So, how’s it feel, getting your international debut?”
Tonight, one of the big networks was kicking off their summer lineup with a special two-hour premier of Dare Together, a new television series starring Josheb and Caleb Dare. Multiple simulcasts would broadcast the show worldwide.
“I’ll probably cringe my way through it,” admitted Josheb. “I was such a newb when we filmed. My posture will probably be as appalling as my pronunciation. Caleb kept having to correct me, and now we’re basically typecast.”
Caleb had stepped easily into his televised persona—meticulous, informed, diplomatic, polished. As the straight man of their duo, they often played up his discomfort in the face of all things rugged or reckless. By contrast, Josheb was being portrayed as a garrulous thrill-seeker—fearless, eager, chatty, and enthusiastic. Again, not too far from the truth. Just exaggerated a bit, to make their series more entertaining.
Just then, a stir on the steps drew their attention to half a dozen young women ogling them. The resemblance was strong enough for Caleb to assume they were part of Hesper’s family, and he raised his hand in a basic Amaranthine greeting.
“Friends of yours?” inquired Josheb.
“My sisters.” Hesper lowered her voice. “We have a betting pool going. See which of us can get you into the barber’s chair and make a respectable man of you.”
“Not a chance.” Josheb smoothed a protective hand over his lengthening beard. “This is part of my image.”
“Oh, yes,” she drawled. “Very iconic. So what other myths and monsters have you been chasing?”
Caleb hung back, letting Josheb do all the talking.
Tonight, they were airing a heavily revised version of their real-life encounter with bigfoot. Caleb’s photographs and drawings had been used, along with reenactments of the earlier campers’ panicked retreat and the Dare brothers’ investigation. Josheb did most of the on-screen interaction, interviewing Andor with the help of an interpreter. Bringing in Hisoka Twineshaft for that role had been a stroke of genius. Caleb did all the voice-over narration.
“Hey, Caleb!” Hesper had stopped just before the porch steps, waiting for him to catch up. “You won’t want to lag. We have two casks of star wine on tap. They were hand-delivered.”
“Oaken’s here?” asked Josheb.
“I wish.” She smoothed a hand over the slight swell of her belly. “The whole clan’s in a tizzy, trying to catch the eye of your other co-star. After all, it wouldn’t be much of a viewing party without bigfoot … am I right?”
Caleb couldn’t believe it. “He left the woods? But he’d never leave the woods. He’s a total recluse.”
“So were you, once upon a time,” teased Josheb.
“Every sow for miles around is angling for his eye, but we’re not the reason he’s here.” Hesper gently nudged Caleb toward the stairs. “You gonna keep him waiting?”
It had been weeks—no, months—since they’d filmed the interview that was part of tonight’s special. Since then, the brothers Dare had been whisked from place to place, usually with a film crew in tow. Always to some new destination with an air of mystery and a connection to the clans.
So it had been months since Caleb’s last taste of star wine.
Weeks and weeks since he’d seen the one who considered him kin.
And more days than he cared to count since he’d felt a star’s touch.
“Andor?” And louder, “Andor!”
Before Caleb could draw another breath, he was yanked against a familiar wall of grumbling, growling fur. All of his lessons in Old Amaranthine escaped him. So much for impressing the First of Bears with his studies. But he could be glad. Soaringly, daringly glad.
With a mutter, Andor hooked a claw around the pendant Caleb had been given. It was a personal ward, intended to mask his presence from figments and Amaranthine alike. Andor dragged it over Caleb’s head, eyed the stone with obvious disdain, and chucked it over his shoulder.
Caleb leaned to the side to follow its arc and heard the soft thud as it landed in the grass. Because everything else was suddenly as as still as a forest when an apex predator was on the prowl.
Nessie trotted over, tail wagging, to retrieve the pendant from the lawn.
But then Andor was dropping a different necklace over Caleb’s head. One that incorporated two crystals. “I know you,” he murmured to the clear one with its blushing heart. “But … your ring?”
Andor lifted his hand. He still wore a ring, but the stone was different—pale blue with a decided twinkle. A match in color to the smaller stone on his necklace.
“That’s an impressive upgrade.” With an admiring look, Hesper added, “It’s very well done. He’s had it tuned to you.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Josheb.
Hesper was talking, so she must have been answering, but Caleb didn’t catch anything she said. Because another voice was nearer, filling the place where songs belonged.
“Andor has been fretful. This will give him some peace.”
“Eri?” he whispered.
“Here I am. Here I will always be.”
Caleb often knew that Eri was close. Sometimes he even picked out their voice in the nightly chorus. But lullabies and dreams weren’t enough. How much he missed the one who’d promised to be his home.
Searching Andor’s face, Caleb touched the pendant. “You’ll have to explain.”
“The pink is for our sake. Touch the stone. Unlock the sky.” Eri did try to make their meaning more clear. “If I sing with this stone in mind, my voice will reach you.”
“We can talk?”
“Call, and I will answer.”
Including Andor in his smile, Caleb asked, “And the blue?”
“Tuned to the stone in Andor’s ring. He wishes you to know that he can find you, no matter what path you have taken.”
A tracer of sorts? Andor’s expression was hard to interpret, but his posture was tense. Even rigid.
“This gives you peace?” Caleb checked.
Andor grumbled something and looked away.
“Call, and he will find you. Lost or injured or lonesome, he will reach you with all speed.”
“That’s a big promise.”
“We call it a pact.”
Caleb understood enough to ask, “What’s my share? There has to be balance.”
Eri’s laughter was effervescent as star wine. “Andor was half sure you would flee and certain you would refuse.”
Closing his hand around the pendant, Caleb said, “I live up to my name every once in a while.”
Andor offered a satisfied grunt
“What’s this? Is our name at stake again? Dares will derring do!” Josheb hooked his arm through Caleb’s and greeted Andor before asking, “Are the rumors of star wine on these premises true? I feel certain we should thoroughly investigate the matter!”
Hesper laughed and rattled off a smiling translation.
Andor beckoned them to the house, striding through like he owned the place.
Josheb, who still had Caleb by the arm, leaned in to relay, “Hot tip from another guest about the true identity of Nessie’
s namesake. Let’s add it to the schedule!”
Caleb paused just outside the door to make a note in his field journal, but he did so distractedly. He was honestly more intrigued by the weight of his new pendant and the terms of his new pact. “Are you close?”
“As can be.” Eri sounded pleased.
“We’ll talk later?”
“Long into the night.”
“Will I see you?” Caleb wanted to see Eri’s face almost as much as he craved star wine. “I was half sure you were a figment of my imagination.”
“I am true,” promised Eri. “And I, too, can live up to my name.”
Star Potential
Caleb was rarely far from his brother for the rest of the evening, but in some ways, they were worlds apart. When it came down to it, Josheb was still a people person, and Caleb was still a hermit. So while one brother was learning names and coaxing interesting tidbits out of everyone, the other was retreating into corners, hoping for some quiet, ready to go home.
A hazy memory stirred, and his own words came back to him. “I’m home wherever I can hear the stars.”
With an envious glance at Nessie, who was somehow able to sleep through the din, Caleb found the nearest door and escaped into a warm June night. The wrap-around porch was nearly as crowded as it had been inside, with the Vale family and their friends—all part of the same enclave—milling and mingling.
Caleb was feeling just a tiny bit desperate when Andor caught up to him.
In a familiar gesture, the bear clansman rolled his eyes at the entire doings and lifted his chin toward the lawn.
Nodding gratefully, Caleb shadowed his steps, but hesitated once they were beyond the reach of the party lights. With a sense of déjà vu, he called, “I can’t see a thing.”
“I will light your way.”
“Eri?”
Andor hoisted Caleb up and pointed up, presumably into the heights of one of the enormous trees that dominated a lawn that must have taken hours to mow and manicure. Blinking, Caleb tried looking a little to the side. The trick worked. In his periphery, he caught a faint glow, like figment light. “In the tree?” whispered Caleb.
Placing a finger over Caleb’s mouth, Andor … jumped.
It was over too quickly for Caleb to work up a holler. Instead, he swore softly and asked, “How high are we?”
Hands framed his face, and Eri smiled for him. “Not as high as I like. But higher than you hope.”
“How …?”
“Save such revelations for a later verse.” Eri softly added, “More time and trust are needed.”
Caleb had to ask. “But you can fly?”
“Not I, who left the sky and cannot return.” Eri’s wistful tone turned hopeful. “Unless Andor carries me.”
Andor plucked Eri from their lofty perch and like a second moon, they rose.
“Won’t we be seen?” Caleb asked. “You really are lighting our way.”
“Hide me.”
With a little rearranging, Eri crowded into the cover offered by Andor’s vest. Cramped and precarious, they drifted higher. It was quiet, blessedly so after the constant crowding and congratulations. For the first time in his life, Caleb was both out of his comfort zone and comfortable.
“Is it awful that I don’t want to tell Josheb about any of this?”
“Is it?”
“We’re brothers. We’re roommates. We’re business partners.” Caleb toyed with the crystals on his pendant. “He’d probably keep our secret if I asked him.”
“You would rather keep it with him than keep it from him?”
Caleb slowly shook his head. Hadn’t Eri said that their friendship would be Caleb’s to treasure?
“You wish to remain distinct.”
“Yeah.” In much the same way Josheb avoided razors in order to keep from being mistaken for his older brother, Caleb wanted to distinguish himself. But in a much more intangible way.
Andor produced his flask. His jaw worked, and he carefully pronounced, “Caleb Jonathan Dare.”
“Yes?”
The bear clansman muttered something in Amaranthine.
“Trade with us in the manner of friends. Become part of our balance.” Eri’s lilting delivery gave their words a certain formality.
We will reveal our hearts because you hide nothing.
We will make our vows because you want peace.
We will tune our song to your soul because it is sweet.
We will accept your path because you chose it.
We will heed your call because you will need us.
Every song his star ever sang had only ever come true, so Caleb believed Eri and accepted Andor. “All right. Yes, please. I’ll share your pact.”
A pact with the sky. A home close to the stars. A secret worth keeping.
Andor rumbled in a pleased way, looked toward the heavens, and shouted something in his own language.
“He declares his vow before the Maker,” Eri reported in reverent tones. “It is finished. It is done.”
They passed the flask until no drop remained, then Andor bumped Caleb’s forehead with his lips and bestowed a final gift. One that was widely considered an honor. One that no human would even think of refusing. Slow and solemn, but also proudly, Andor gave him a secret name.
“Caleb Jonathan Skypact Dare.”
THE END
never more than
FORTHRIGHT
a teller of tales who began as a fandom ficcer. (Which basically means that no one in RL knows about her anime habit, her manga collection, or her penchant for serial storytelling.) Kinda sorta almost famous for gently-paced, WAFFy adventures that might inadvertently overturn your OTP, forthy will forever adore drabble challenges, surprise fanart, and twinkles (which are rumored to keep well in jars). As always... be nice, play fair, have fun! ::twinkle::
FORTHWRITES.COM
Songs of the Amaranthine is a collection of short stories set in FORTHRIGHT’s Amaranthine universe. Before the Emergence, the clans were nothing more than whispers and mysteries and legends and lore. But every so often—in out-of-the-way places or shockingly close to home—an unsuspecting person stumbles into a fateful encounter with someone who is decidedly other.
An eclectic collection, spanning continents and centuries. Tales of adventure, discovery, friendship, rescue, belonging, and love. Each short story stands alone and can be read in any order.
Marked by Stars
Followed by Thunder
Dragged through Hedgerows
Governed by Whimsy
Hemmed in Silver
Captured on Film
Amaranthine Saga
Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox
Kimiko and the Accidental Proposal
Tamiko and the Two Janitors
Mikoto and the Reaver Village
Fumiko and the Finicky Nestmate
