She longed to tell him the danger threatening their child, to feel his strong arms about her, and hear him say that nothing would harm either her or the babe while there was breath in his body. And he would be true to his word. He would put their lives before his and as surely as she had seen it come to pass in Lylea’s pool—Arianne knew he would die because of it.
The thought of his existence being cut short, taken from her so soon before they even had a chance to live one lifetime together was more than she could stand. It stabbed at the heart of her deepest fears now that she had chose to live a mortal life with him. Forever was now a few decades when time was once unlimited. Her mother warned her about the hazards of mortal existence. Her own father was human, and it had near killed Arianne to watch him wither and die as his mortal existence reached completion. She vowed she would not to do it again and it had made the choice so much easier when Dare had come into her life.
Her mother preferred to take men as her consorts largely because they had a finite lifespan. Lylea had no desire to be tethered to anyone for thousands of years but on occasion, even the High Queen of the elves required company. Once they were gone however, her mourning was quick and then she continued on as she always had, until the need for company overtook her again and she ventured out of the Veil for a temporary salve. Arianne did not blame her for it, as she understood that Lylea saw these men as transitory elements in her life..
Arianne knew that she could never feel the same way about Dare. To face all of eternity without him was unimaginable, and so she accepted the price her older brother could not—to live one short span of life with a man she would die without. It made Lylea’s demand to keep this from Dare all the more reasonable. If the Enemy required her child for its dark purpose then Arianne was the only person it could not harm. Any force capable of drawing a god from the Aether was more than capable of killing the King of Carleon.
She would not risk Dare for anything.
The voice of Imogen, one of the fairest singers in Sandrine, carried through the hall as she performed her song for the King and his guests. She sang a sweet melody of love and courage, of great deeds and tragic losses. The audience listened in rapt attention and Arianne studied Dare as he too was mesmerised by the enchanting music. He caught her gaze and turned to her, favouring Arianne with a smile as he covered her hand with his.
In that moment, she knew he was happy.
Becoming King had been hard on him. For years his goal had been to free Carleon and Avalyne from Balfure but she realised he had thought little as to what came after. He was so accustomed to moving about freely, going on adventures and sleeping under the stars with his companions. For so long he had driven towards their liberation from Balfure and now that peace had come he was finding the adjustment from warrior to king difficult to make.
However, for now he appeared finally at peace with his life, in a way she had not seen since before his coronation. Her heart soared at this knowledge, but also plunged because she knew how much of a knife edge that happiness stood upon.
Her course was now clear. This quest was hers to fulfil.
Whatever the outcome.
*****
‘It was good to see everyone again,’ Dare sighed happily as he lay contented against the cool sheets of his bed and held his wife’s warm body in his arms hours later.
It was in the small hours of the night and their guests had either turned in or were still sprawled under tables where they had drunk themselves to a merry stupor. When Arianne had spirited Dare away to their bed chamber, the king of Carleon was certain he had seen a pair feet protruding from beneath the table that either belonged to Ronen or Aeron. He was not certain which. Meanwhile, even if the folk of the Green did not think much of interacting with the other races, they certainly knew how to drink. Tully had shown a remarkably lusty appetite for ale and had held his own quite impressively against Kyou and Ronen in this endeavour.
The king himself had indulged and as he rested his head against his pillow, he knew he was going to suffer tomorrow. He prayed his wife had some elven remedy to spare him some the torture. Then again, she might just as well let him suffer to teach him a lesson.
‘Yes it was,’ Arianne agreed, savouring the feeling of lying in his arms and in their bed, secretly aware that it was going to be the last night they would share together until her quest was done. ‘I had forgotten how much I missed them all.’
‘So had I,’ Dare replied, breathing in the heady scent of her hair into his lungs. ‘Sometimes I think everything before the war happened to some other man, because it seems like a lifetime away from where I now stand.’
‘The world changes my love,’ Arianne smiled, her fingers tracing small circles against the bare skin of his chest with her finger. ‘You have simply changed with it.’
‘Until tonight, I did not know I could be happy as I once was, although I wonder if I was ever truly content. I always had the dream of the alliance to drive me and I do not think I gave any thought to what I wanted for myself, other than us being together. I had so much freedom as an exile and none now that I am king. I have yet to decide which is better. Still I have you and soon our child, so I think I can be happy as king,’ he admitted.
‘I am glad,’ she said softly, her eyes fixed on his. ‘I want to see you happy, Dare. You deserve it. You have brought pride to the House of Icara and its line of kings. When our son is born, he will have a father he can look up to.’
Dare looked at her with mischief and remarked with a brow raised, ‘How is it so that you are so sure it’s going to be a boy? It could be a girl.’ he teased mimicking her own words from the day of her announcement to him.
‘It will be a boy, ‘Arianne replied softly, saddened by how she had come to know this fact, ‘I know it.’
‘I did not lie when I said I did not care what it is Rian.’ He raised her chin so that he could look into her eyes. ‘Any child that comes from you will fill me with joy, no matter if it is a girl or boy.’
‘I know,’ she smiled and leaned forward so that she could kiss him.
There was no terrible darkness waiting on the edge of her consciousness when her lips touched his. As always, they were two creatures perfectly attuned to each other's needs as he rolled over and covered her body with his, taking charge of their intimate exchange. Their intimacy as husband and wife always felt deeper than flesh. Arianne did not care what tomorrow would bring. All she knew was that she loved him and that this was possibly their last night together if she failed in what she intended to do.
Shrouded in each other’s heat, their need for one another became an agonizing game of pleasure and pain, of touching and tasting, of animal lust, wrapped within the complexity of deep abiding love.
And when they were both complete, when he lay against her breast, the air soaked with the scent of their lovemaking, she watched him sleep. There was no trace of Alasdare Icara. the King of Carleon but just that scruffy young man who appeared at her mother’s court and stole her heart away.
*****
Celene's farewell to Ronen was nowhere as passionate as Arianne's, but she did not mind it terribly.
Unlike the Queen, Celene did not believe their quest would fail, and so she considered her parting with her husband a temporary thing, for she fully intended to see him again. He had won her heart because he understood that even if she was warrior born, there was still a woman beneath the armour who wanted all the same things as her mother before her. However, wanting a home and children of her own did not make her any less of soldier, and his understanding of that simple truth was what made her love him so.
Of course that love was sometimes tested particularly when he was in the company of his friends.
She watched him snoring in their bed, dead to the world, certain to suffer spectacularly for the excesses of the evening. Even if she could rouse him from his drunken slumber she doubted she would get any sense from him at all. Accustomed to brothers who loved their ale, Celene c
ould not fault him for enjoying himself in the company of Tully, Aeron and Kyou. It was not often that he could forget his station and be himself amongst people he could truly call friends.
Celene stayed at his side all night, if only to make sure he did not drown in his own vomit should his body revolt against all the ale he imbibed. Fortunately, Celene was spared that indignity, and only when dawn’s first light finally peeked over the horizon, she left his bed to embark on the journey ahead. The previous night’s revels ensured he did not notice her departure with Arianne and Keira.
Even though she was now the Lady of Gislaine, she was still at heart a daughter of Angarad and her travel garments reflected that past. She wore a dark red leather jerkin with a belt at the waist to hold her scabbard. Her breeches were of similar colour that were a variation of the combat uniform of an Angarad soldier. With the same boots she had worn when she followed Dare’s Circle across Avalyne, Celene strapped on her vambraces and took up her sword, a blade of the falchion design favoured by the Angarad, and she was ready to go.
She returned to the bed where Ronen continued to snore in deep slumber, and she found a little smile stealing crossing her lips as she took in the sight of him. Leaning forward, she kissed him lightly on the lips and then frowned because his black sleep made him oblivious to it. With a sigh she drew away and hoped he would not be too upset at her when he awoke to learn what she had done.
Whatever his reaction, she knew it mattered little. Arianne needed her and Celene would not fail her Queen.
*****
If Tully knew what she was about to do, he would have thought her mad.
To him, she wasn't an elf princess like Arianne nor was she a soldier like Celene. She was a farmer's wife whose days were spent cooking, cleaning, growing vegetables on their farm and occasionally going into the village to hear the latest gossip. She had no doubt that he would have considered none of these skills terribly useful if one was embarking on a quest to fight an opponent planning on hijacking an infant’s soul and replacing it with the spirit of a god.
This moment was what she had been waiting for. The words had escaped her lips before there was any time to consider how she would embark upon the quest with Arianne without Tully protesting her participation. Fortunately, the urgency of the situation required secrecy and they would have to be away from Sandrine without revealing the intention to anyone which suited Keira fine. The less Tully knew the better.
Keira knew that Arianne and Celene probably expected her to turn back and return to Sandrine. They may even be relieved, she thought silently. After all, what was she but a provincial woman of the Green who spent her days growing things and looking after the needs of her husband? She had stood on the periphery of world changing events while they had been in the thick of it. Save for that one incident with the Disciples, Keira had little to do with the defeat of Balfure. She was certain that they expected her to turn back before they were even half way there.
Except that she wouldn’t. She had joined this quest for a reason.
Like Celene, Keira had no chance to say goodbye to Tully or even give him some semblance of a veiled farewell the night before. He was properly drunk by the time she’d dragged him from under a table in the Great Hall, having drunk himself into a stupor with Ronen, Kyou and Aeron. Fortunately, the magii Tamsyn who was also retiring for the evening, came to her aid in helping her take almost unconscious husband back to their chambers.
Tully had fallen face first into the clean sheet of the enormous mattress, his legs dangling over the side, muffled snores escaping him and completely oblivious to the two people staring at him.
‘If his head feels like the inside of a drum tomorrow, he’ll have no sympathy from me,’ Keira snorted as she turned to Tamsyn, ready to thank him for his help.
‘Will you be here for that?’ He asked, his dark eyes boring into her.
Keira’s voice caught in her throat and she glanced anxiously over her shoulder at Tully even though he was in no state to have overhead anything. Facing the magii once more, she tried to recover her composure and respond but it was he who spoke again.
‘Are you sure this is what you want to do?’ Tamsyn asked staring at her hard, like he could see something inside her no one else could.
Tamsyn had caught her off guard and Keira was still uncertain how to respond. She did not wish to betray Arianne’s plan to the magii and then again, she realised that it was because he was a magii that he knew what they were intending. After all, it was for nothing that he was the greatest wizard in the land.
Collecting herself, Keira finally replied. ‘Yes I need to do this. I'm not getting better and if I leave it any longer, I never will be.’
‘I suppose there is no changing your mind from this course,’ he still gave her that hard stare. ‘I can sense the shadow inside you, it is thick and blind me somewhat. However, you prevailed against the Disciples I am told and that is not easily done. Perhaps there is darkness in your soul but you most certainly are not weak as people believe.’
Keira did not speak to that, she was considering his words, trying to determine what he could really see and what he was just assuming.
Whatever his intention, his words stayed with her for many hours that night.
*****
When they left Sandrine, the city was bathed in the amber glow of dawn after the sun beginning its ascendance in the morning sky. On their way out, they noted the silence as they rode along the cobblestoned streets. Most of Sandrine’s inhabitants were still lost in the slumber following the previous days’ celebration. Every street and square seemed to bear the signs of the revelry by the remains of food, crushed streamers and flags that mingled with the littler on the ground. To say nothing of the unconscious people passed out on benches, beneath porticos or inside doorways.
It surprised Arianne just how much she had come to love this city in the last year. The city and its people, even in their presently undignified condition, were now as dear to her as her former home of Eden Taryn. Dare did not lie when he described the beauty of the place to her so many years ago. Even before his return to the city as king, he and his friend Braedan, also of Sandrine, were frequent visitors to the city of his birth, moving through it anonymously and getting to know its people on a more intimate level.
In truth, she had been dubious about his description because the elves considered the architecture of men to be a crude and clumsy affair, lacking the elegance and grace of their own cities. Still, Sandrine was not constructed from mud and brick. It was paved with marble, adorned with sculptures and frescos of ancient kings, green with manicured gardens and filled with paved courtyards that allowed its people to enjoy the sun shining past the tall spires and domed ceilings. Its beauty had survived despite the ugliness of Balfure’s occupation as if maintaining it was a connection to the kingdom of the past.
As Sandrine was left behind her, Arianne hoped the quest would ensure that Sandrine, like the rest of Carleon, did not know the shadow of another oppressor.
Even one who might be her son.
*****
Celene nudged her grey steed alongside of Keira's smaller chestnut pony after they’d passed through the gates. Once next to the woman of the Green, Celene leaned over to her saddle bags and gripped the handle of a sword she had tucked away and presented it to Keira.
This is for you,’ Celene announced as she waited for Keira to take it.
‘For me?’ Keira stared at the woman in dumbfounded as she took the weapon, a short sword sheathed in a leather scabbard mounted with brass at the point and mouth. The blade was surprisingly light and possessed a hilt of solid brass, with a ribbed grip that sat comfortably in her hand with the intricate design of a small bird on each finial of its cross guard.
‘Yes,’ Celene said proudly, oblivious to the discomfort that Arianne could see on Keira’s face a mile away. ‘Its my first blade actually. It was gift from my father for my fifteenth summer. It’s not terribly heavy but it is still sh
arp. I thought it would be a good weapon for you since you're joining us on this quest.’
‘But I have no idea how to use such a thing!’ Keira protested even though she was pleased to be armed if they were going to be facing dangers along the way, ‘I’ll probably cut myself!’
‘No you won’t,’ Celene grumbled impatiently trying not to feel peevish that her gift was rejected so. ‘I’ll show you how to use it because if we fall into peril I will not have you completely defenceless.’
Arianne could appreciate Keira’s hesitation even if Celene could not. Celene had come from a people who could not conceive of any existence where they did not have a sword in their hand while Keira had come from one that could not conceive of any reason why they would need one in the first place.
‘You will be fine,’ Arianne assured her, ‘and it is just for the sake of safety. If we have to fight, Celene and I are capable but we will not leave you unarmed either.’
Keira nodded, accepting the reasoning behind it. ‘If Tully could see me now,’ she sighed.
‘If our husbands could see any of us,’ Arianne remarked with a smile, ‘they would lock us away and never let us out.’
‘That will be the day,’ Celene snorted derisively. ‘I would like to see Dare try.’
‘It would be amusing to see,’ Keira laughed and then added, ‘Alright then, teach me how to use this but I don’t think I’ll be any good at it.’
‘Don’t you worry,’ Celene said confidently, happier that Keira had agreed to take some instruction. She refused to believe that any woman was incapable of wielding a sword, even if the rest of the world beyond Angarad had a rather narrow view of what one could do. ‘I’ll teach you as I was taught by my father with a houseful of brothers.’
Keira gave Celene a look of scepticism but as she held up the sword she admired its craftsmanship and the idea of being able to fight back was reassuring. It was time to show them her worth. Starting with this.
Arianne who had experience with an older brother and sparring did not know if that would be of any comfort to Keira but said nothing. The woman of the Green was driven by more than just the need to help her and the Queen did not fault her for that. They all had their reasons for joining this quest. Hers were to protect her son while Celene’s was to defend her queen. Who was to say that Keira’s reasons were any less important?
Avalyne Series 01: The Queen of Carleon Page 6
