“Do you know how to care for a horse?”
A horse. She had never cared for one before. “I…umm…I have never tried.”
“We have one that had a rough day yesterday. She could use a good rub down and perhaps you could find her a few berries from the bushes around here.”
Warmth tickled her insides. Nathan thought she could help. She had been asked to do very little in her life, almost like no one trusted her ability to succeed, but she had helped the villagers on her tour and had survived on her own for a week. She was capable, and to have Nathan trust her made her feel rather warm inside.
“I will do my best.”
“Is there anything else that needs to be brought to our attention?” he asked.
Will raised his hand. “Would anyone want to play a card game?”
Nathan closed his eyes. “I meant anything important to the welfare or mission of this company, Will, not your entertainment.”
The company laughed, then spread out on their various assignments.
∞∞∞
Once Nathan saw that Garin rested again, he helped Will take down the tent—or tried to, but found that his gaze wandered time and again to where Danni combed the horse. She had seemed surprised at his request for her help, but had not complained and had gone straight to the horse and done her best to calm, feed, and comb the mare.
“Nate!” Will’s voice brought his attention back to the tent.
“What?”
Will raised an eyebrow. “Could you please look away from that beautiful woman long enough to help me roll up the tent?”
Nathan felt his face grow warm. “I was not—”
“You were staring at her and have been since you found her. Now, I cannot say that I fault you, for she is beauteous…”
“…and playful and innocent. She cares about everyone, even people she has never met. She never complains and always smiles. And she has a strength deep within her that just needs a little encouragement to break free from her timid shell.” Nathan sighed, not even aware that he had spoken his thoughts aloud.
Will chuckled. “You are lost, my friend.”
“What?” He hadn’t realized he had spoken out loud. “I am not…I wasn’t…I—I may have watched at her at times, to ensure her safety, as James has instructed me to do. That is all.”
Will’s second eyebrow arched. “Uh huh. Tell me then, what will you do when you have to give her back to James?”
Nathan tried to say that he would return her to James’s keeping and walk away, but the words wouldn’t come. He groaned, completely confused by the feelings that swirled within his heart, then he helped Will finish packing.
When everyone had finished their assignments, they gathered around him and awaited word to move out.
Nathan woke Garin and gave the order. He planned to travel only a few miles, though he wished to continue all day. Garin would never complain or ask to stop, so Nathan would have to watch him carefully and stop when he began to tire.
After two miles, Colter returned from scouting and Nathan ordered Garin to ride the horse for a bit. Even still, two miles later, he noticed Danni’s gaze linger on Garin and concern crease her brow. Garin’s cheeks had paled, and his eyelids sagged.
Nathan led the group on for another mile, then moved off the road and meandered through the brush until he found a grassy area surrounded by shade trees. “We will camp here for the remainder of the day. Garin, once the tent is set up, I want you to rest, though we will give the tent to Danni for the night.”
Everyone started right to work—including Danni, Nathan noticed, who helped Edward unpack the supplies. When the tent was ready, she took Garin by the arm and settled him inside for the evening.
Chapter 14
After Danni helped Garin into the tent and saw that he was comfortable, she joined the men who had started a camp fire and sat around it. Peter had returned and reported no sign of the army, so Nathan let everyone relax for the evening.
The company chatted and shared friendly conversation. Will took over, reliving memories with Nathan and Lane.
“Nate,” he began, “remember when you and James threw a ball around the palace kitchen and it broke that cabinet and all the fancy china in it?”
Nathan chuckled, and Danni nearly swooned as his face softened at the memory.
“Please, do not remind me,” he said. “I believe my backside still bears the marks of the wooden spoon my mother used to punish me for that incident!”
“Mine too,” Lane added. “Even though I wasn’t involved.”
“We were all punished for that one.” Will rested his elbow on his knee. “Except James, of course.”
“He was never punished.” Lane blew a strand of hair away from his face.
Nathan chuckled. “True. I often wished I was the prince so I could escape punishment.”
“James made it up to us every time, though. Remember?” Will licked his lips. “He always slipped us cakes and pastries from the cook while we served our time. I think deep down he felt bad. What would you have done, Lane?”
Lane scrunched his eyes and thought for a moment. “I probably would have enjoyed the privileges of being the prince.”
Will wacked him and Lane grinned.
Nathan’s rumbling chuckle sounded again.
Danni forgot the others and gazed at him. He leaned his back against a tree trunk and folded his hands behind his head for support. She admired his capabilities as a leader and his loyal sense of duty, but she loved to see him smile in those moments when he allowed himself to unwind and express his feelings and emotions. He could be quite playful and charming when he relaxed.
Will started another story, but Danni paid no heed—her thoughts were elsewhere. She heard Lane respond defensively, but knew not what they bickered about. Nathan grinned at their banter, then shifted his gaze to her. His smile faded, but he didn’t turn away. They stared at each other for a moment, then his smile returned. Danni’s heart pounded and she had to look away. When she dared peek again, he no longer gazed at her.
Will continued reliving the past. She listened this time and tried to ignore the sense that Nathan might be watching her. Before long, Will’s stories of his childhood had Danni laughing so hard that her stomach hurt. “Stop, Will!” she cried. “I cannot breathe!”
The conversation lulled after that. Nathan stirred the fire with a stick and added more wood. “Danni,” he asked, “would you tell us the story of the ruby ring?”
She blinked in surprise. “I thought you were told the story since you were a child?”
“I was. We all heard it, but perhaps it has changed over the years.”
“It most likely has.” Lane squinted at her gloved hand and stroked his short beard.
“Please tell us,” Will added.
“Yes,” Peter agreed.
Through the dim evening light, Danni saw every eye on her. She knew the story well—her father had told her many times—but she had never repeated it. While she lived with her father, there hadn’t been anyone to share it with, and James had never asked.
“I will tell it the best I can remember.” She shifted her feet against the log she sat upon. “Long before our time, this beloved land was filled with wickedness. The people knew nothing of Goodness, but dwelt in chaos and horror. There was no king and no law.
“Then one day Goodness, like a glorious ray of sunlight amid the blackest storm, visited the land. Who or what Goodness was no one now remembers, though she had to have been more than a mortal. She brought with her a gift from the higher powers, to bless the land as long as they remembered her. The gift was a magnificent ruby ring which she set in a wooden box between the empty thrones. Only he who proved worthy to bear the ring could inherit the kingdom. None other could touch it for the ruby held a coal of living fire that burned all who were unworthy to bear it.”
“It contains a coal of living fire?” Will asked.
“I know not.” Danni brushed a strand of ha
ir off her cheek with the hand that bore the ring. “So much in the legend is mystical that it is hard to tell what is real and what is metaphor.”
Will and Peter nodded, but no one else spoke, so she continued. “Men flocked to the throne like vultures to fresh meat. Though all tried to touch the ring, not one bore the brilliant ruby ring and the title of king. Instead they bore the mark of the fire within the ring, for they were all unworthy.”
“That must be meant literally.” Nathan’s dark eyes reflected the fire’s glow. “You said James still bears a mark from when he touched the ring.”
“Yes. He does.”
They stared at each other for a moment, then Nathan’s gaze dropped to her gloved hand, perhaps because he was curious, perhaps because he needed to look away.
“Then one crisp autumn night,” she continued, “a stranger named Rulonn Marselon appeared. His auburn hair shined like the falling leaves, his emerald eyes sparkled like the sun-kissed ocean, and his entire countenance glimmered with a purity unknown in the wicked land. He placed the ring upon his noble finger and took up the throne.
“King Rulonn’s integrity showed in all he did. He restored order to the Great Kingdom of Rulonn, and ruled in honesty and truth. The ruby ring sat, not upon his finger, but in its box with the lid ajar where it shined the brighter and filled the palace—and indeed the entire land—with its glow of goodness. It gave him strength to spread goodness abroad. It gave him power to protect himself and others from harm. It gave him empathy to heal the wounded.”
Colter cleared his throat. “Can you do all that with the ring?”
Danni shrugged. “I know not. You have all seen that it has given me the ability to protect, but I cannot say if I could do those other things. I have never tried.”
“You have the strength to spread goodness abroad,” Nathan said. The fire popped a spark his way and he brushed it off his pants. “You did that on your kingdom tour.”
“Thank you.” Her words caught in her throat, the memories from that adventure still fresh and poignant.
“Please finish,” he said.
She took a deep breath to regain control of her emotions. “The people lived in happiness and peace for hundreds of years under the Marselon line and the protection of the ruby ring, but it did not last. Evil entered the land and robbed its virtue. Goodness was scorned and trampled in the dust.
“There was nothing the Marselons could do. For all the power of the ruby ring, it could not take away man’s agency—and man chose to forget Goodness and follow evil.
“The ring weakened and the Marselon line faltered. War broke out and evil conquered. The Marselon line and the ruby ring vanished, led away to a valley of paradise by the Goodness who brought them to the land. The Great Kingdom divided and never again saw true peace.”
“There has been no peace in our lifetimes.” Edward rubbed his hand across the birthmark on his face, then stirred the fire with a stick.
Danni felt the weight of his words descend upon the group. She hadn’t grown up in their society and knew little about their situation, but James had talked about the skirmishes and attacks on innocent Callairians, and the growing tension between the kingdoms. It was the tension and fighting that had separated him from Nathan, Will, and Lane over the years.
She licked her lips and continued her tale. “Evil con-quered Goodness that tragic day, but it will not always be so. For one day men will again seek for Goodness, and she will return. She will wade through sorrow, pain, and the wickedness of the world to gain the strength and courage needed to conquer at last.”
The air felt suddenly heavy and stifling, though she knew not why. She straightened and rubbed her chest to ease the pressure. “She will enter a war waged for her cause, and with a hand blessed to touch the ruby ring, shall return it to the Marselon throne. United and hand in hand, Goodness will be restored and she will again rule the land with her emerald eyes…”
Danni stopped as the pressure squeezed the air from her lungs. Her body went cold, despite the fire’s warmth. She had heard those words so many times before, but had never understood them. It had always been a story about a symbolic Goodness, but in telling it one last time she understood, and she trembled. Her father’s last words came to her as clearly as if he were beside her, You must discover who you are…
The world spun about her and her shaking hands reached toward her mouth. She finished her sentence in a breathless whisper, “…and again rule the land with her emerald eyes…and ruby ring…till the end of time.”
She buried her head in her hands and felt the truth crash upon her with the weight of the world. It crushed her until she could no longer bear it. She was the Goodness spoken of in legend. She would suffer through sorrow and pain. She would lead a war. She would return the ruby ring. She would unite the land. This was her destiny, her role in life, her very purpose.
It could not be.
She slid her gloved hands up into her hair and curled her fists around a lock on each side. Surely there was someone else. It couldn’t be her. She was too young and timid. But she knew it was. The firelight seemed to intensify and confirm her fears. She stared into it and felt her body convulse to its chaotic rhythm. Her destiny. Sorrow. Pain. War. The return of the ruby ring.
She let her hands fall into her lap, then searched the group, desperate for something to cling to, something to relieve the burden she now bore. Their faces spun around, a muddled blur. Then her gaze met Nathan’s. His confident face glowed in the firelight.
Strength rushed back into her limbs. His eyes were no longer hard, but full of great emotion. Sympathy swirled in their depths, but so did confidence and trust. She knew he believed in her and somehow she also knew he would be with her to the very end.
Chapter 15
Sleep did not come easily for Danni that night. She tossed about in her tent and tried to understand her fate. She should have realized her destiny long ago. Her father had brought her to Callair to show that the Marselon line had not disappeared. James had sent her on a tour to give Callair hope of uniting the kingdom once again in peace and prosperity. She had been too naive to understand that she was meant to do more than spread goodness abroad.
An insignificant girl not even quite eighteen years old could not unite two kingdoms that had been feuding for centuries. She wasn’t a great leader like Nathan or James. In truth, she preferred to stand behind people like them. She knew nothing about war and the very thought made her want to crawl under her blankets and hide. The legend said so much that seemed impossible for her to accomplish and she feared she would fail.
When she could no longer remain confined in her oppressive tent, she got up and stepped outside to find some company. Moonlight chased off the darkness and she went in search of whoever stood watch.
“Princess?” Colter called from the shadows behind her. “Are you well?”
“I cannot sleep, and please, call me Danni.”
“After all you said tonight, I am not sure I can call you that.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “I am still the same person I was before. Would you have called me Danni then?”
“Possibly.” Moonlight shown off his light brown eyes and the shadows elongated his pointed nose. “You may join me in my watch Pr—er—Danni, if you don’t mind a rugged man’s company.”
“Thank you.” She sat on the ground and rested her back on the log he sat upon, not sure she dared divulge her feelings to him.
“You shouldn’t fear your destiny,” he said, as though he read her mind. “You are the woman in the legend because you have the strength to be her. You will do marvelous things. I am sure of it.”
His kind words surprised her. She hardly knew Colter, for he and his brother were nearly always out scouting. Despite their unfamiliarity, he now sat beside her and offered the very words of solace and confidence she needed, as if Goodness had sent her a comforter.
She gazed up into the night sky where thousands of tiny stars struggled t
o light the gloom. She felt like a miniscule star. “Do you suppose that one tiny star could make a difference in the whole sky?”
Colter tapped his foot against the log. “I’m not sure if I believe it, but Doc says the sun is one tiny star like all the others. If that is true, then it makes a great difference. It turns the darkness of night into the brightness of day.”
She thought hard on his words while she let the still night calm her troubled soul. Could she be like the sun and turn the darkness of war, fear, and evil into the light of goodness?
Such thoughts finally made her tired. Her eyelids grew heavy and she rested her head against the log. She had nearly drifted off when Colter’s voice stirred her again. “You should go back to your tent and rest.”
“I do not wish to be alone,” she said with her eyes still shut. Then she curled up on the ground and rested her head on her arms. A moment later she was asleep.
∞∞∞
Nathan awoke from a troubling dream in which Danni fought Lord Donavan to return the ring to the throne. She held nothing but the ring and stood alone before the armor-clad king who swung his sword in a great arc toward her unshielded body. His eyes had seemed nearly red and were fixed on her heart.
He ran a hand across his face, relieved that it had been a dream, though he doubted her future held anything else. She had obviously not understood her destiny until she told the legend to his men—and he hadn’t fully understood it either. It seemed impossible and unfair that someone so innocent and pure could be destined to suffer, fight, and restore a kingdom that had been divided for centuries.
Unbidden, thoughts of Emma filled his mind. She had been so young and innocent, and entrusted to his care. He was the older brother. He should have watched over her but he hadn’t and she had died.
Now another woman was his to care for and protect. An army sought her and would surely kill her if they found her. He must keep everyone safe. He owed it to Emma, and James, and Danni and himself. Perhaps he could finally be at peace if he returned Danni safely to James’s care. Or perhaps not. He doubted he could ever forgive himself for Emma’s death.
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