The following is an original work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book/story are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The following is intended for mature audiences only.
Chapter 12
Handing the reigns over to the waiting stable hand, Finneck filled his lungs with the fresh air scented by the tall-grassed meadows and snow-fed streams surrounding Nasbith.
Eitiris was nestled amongst plenty of natural features, but being confined to the castle and its grounds most of the time left him pining for the pure breeze untainted by the populous.
“Finn! Finn!”
A small high-pitched voice cut through the silence like a welcomed songbird. Despite the shrill resonance.
“There’s the little warrior,” Finneck teased as soon as she was within earshot.
It had been quite a task watching the little babe grow from a distance. Even if he would often take detours just to get a peek at her for only a moment.
Her first nurse, Sequora, would graciously take up conversations with the captain whenever she held the bundle in her arms. Words of great importance were never exchanged. Somehow the woman knew he just wanted some time around the little one. Though he never truly reconciled his true motivation. Guilt? Obligation?
Unfortunately, Sequora was replaced after a few months without warning or reason. Not that it was any of his business to the whys of things.
Now Kaylub was only days away from her fifth birthday.
Running toward the Captain of the Guard as fast as her little legs would go, dark hair flying from her already disheveled braid. The bottom several inches of her dress stained with the day’s play.
If he had to guess, there was most certainly a frustrated and exhausted nurse trailing somewhere behind her.
Before the woman could appear, the little girl flung herself at Finneck, trusting him to catch her as her laugh shot straight through the captain’s chest.
In the beginning, Finneck had every intention of keeping his distance. Having already disrupted her life enough. For all intents and purposes, his role in her life was over. But then her mother died. At least the woman that was to have been presented as her mother.
Instead of finding a replacement, nurses were brought in to tend to her, at her new father’s request.
There was a pull toward her at that point. Even before Sequora prolonged their time together. There was something about Kaylub that made it impossible to ignore her presence.
Once she began to walk, she would toddle her way in his direction at every opportunity.
Nearly five years later, he still tried to convince himself he did it out of duty to the promises he had made to both her mothers. The one that gave her life and the one that tried to ensure she would thrive. Both making Finneck promise the same thing.
“What took you so long?” Kaylub asked jutting out her bottom lip.
Trying not to laugh at the forced pout, Finneck set her back on her feet. “I told you I would get here as soon as I could,” he reminded her.
“Was it important?” she asked looking up at him. Sometimes he had to shake his head when she looked at him in such a manner. Through her light eyes shone a wisdom that didn’t belong to any child and very few elders. Often wondering if it had anything to do with her parentage.
“It was,” confirmed Finneck.
“Did you bring me anything?”
Reaching into his tunic, he produced a small box. Presenting it to her sitting in the middle of his large palm. Her eyes lit up the moment she spotted the white box tied with pink twine. Biting her lip to keep from squealing, dancing around, and clapping her little hands together. She watched the box as if at any moment it would float into the air and perform tricks. Anticipation wafted from her in waves.
Finneck couldn’t help the laugh bubbling up from hie chest. “Go ahead,” he said richly, extending his hand forward.
Small hands snatched the gift and excitedly tore the string off, lifting the lid as gently as she could under such emotional duress. Her little gasp as soon as she spied what the box contained allowed Finneck to release the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Is this from that shop you were telling me about?” she asked in awe.
“Halway. In Cilium. Geati spends all night making each little chocolate by hand. This one was made especially for you.”
“Really?”
Finneck nodded.
Taking the small chocolate, letting the box fall to the ground forgotten, she held it as if it was the most precious thing she had ever handled.
The more time Finneck spent around her, he realized she had no verbal of physical filter yet. To her, at this moment, this chocolate was the most precious thing in her life. He was sure that would change as soon as she shoved it into her mouth.
The treat filled the palm of her small hand. A shiny dollop of sweetened cocoa filled with creamed honey and topped with a sugar-sculpted flower. Yellow, Kaylub’s favorite color this month.
Finneck was certain that Gaeti thought he was courting some woman after he told her it was a special gift. The smile she had given him as he left the shop told him he needed to be ready to squash some rumors when he returned to Eitiris. On the other hand, maybe these rumors would be welcomed. Maybe the king’s councilmen would stop trying to throw their daughters, and a few sons, at him. Bachelorhood suited him just fine.
Shrugging he watched the little girl lick her lips as she slowly brought it to her mouth.
“Don’t you dare put that in your mouth,” commanded a stern voice.
Both the captain and child groaned.
Altrixi, Kaylub’s nurse was closer than either of them realized. Walking up to them breathing heavily. As an Eildun, it was difficult to accurately determine her age. By her face, Finneck would have guessed she was somewhere in her twenties. But her round, stout body and crinkled skin at the corners of her eyes made her seem older. Altrixi could have been anywhere from twenty to four hundred. Ash blond curls stuck to the side of her neck showing the amount of effort it took reaching them.
“If your father finds out that you have been eating sweets before dinner again, it will be both our hides this time,” she warned.
“Please, Altrixi? Finn brought it to me as a present.”
“I’m pleased you you made it safely, Captain Salvotiis,” she said between gasps of air. “Though, I’m sure you’re aware you are late.”
Finneck bowed his head but kept his mouth shut. He had no doubt little Kaylub spent the last few days nagging the woman.
“What have you done?” exclaimed Altrixi.
Finneck looked down to see both the girl’s cheeks bulging outward. A ring of chocolate around her mouth.
“This is the best thing I have ever tasted,” she proclaimed around a mouthful of sugar.
“I pray to the gods, child. You will be the death of me yet,” sighed Altrixi.
“Will you take me there one day, Finn? Will you take me to Halway?” she asked as she swallowed some of her prize, ignoring her nurse.
“He will do no such thing,” Altrixi interrupted grabbing her by the hand, guiding her away from the captain. “No sense filling the child’s head with hope. You know her father would never allow it,” she told Finneck before pulling her charge away. Presumably to try and get her presentable for dinner.
Heading in the opposite direction, Finneck made his way to the small cottage that housed him and any visiting Dreche.
Feet dragging as he entered the quaint sitting room where he found Sterk planted by the fire oiling an axe, his weapon of choice. The ends of Sterk’s dark red beard, split into two braids tied with leather cord, grazed the tops of his knees as he leaned over his axe. Three beads hung from the left plait. Sterk claimed they were made from the bones of his first kill. Even knowing how brutal the man could be, Finneck still had his doubts. The man was his most trusted member of the Dreche. The elite team of guard that followed Finneck above anyone else. Known for their cunning skillset and brutality.
“Took you long enough,” Sterk said without taking his eyes off his task.
“I was delayed,” replied Finneck removing his own weapons strapped over his body.
Placing the axe and oil cloth gently on the table, Sterk gave the captain his full attention. “Anything interesting?”
Taking his time, Finneck walked over to the chair opposite Sterk. Settling into it, watching the flames a moment before answering his man.
“A few empty fields caught my eye,” he finally spoke watching the fire dance. “The soil hadn’t been worked for some time.” Finneck’s parents were farmers. Spending his earliest years learning the trade until they were killed in an accidental fire. With no other family, he did the only thing he could do. Made a new life for himself, far away, in the Eildun guard.
“Patches of ash, I suppose,” Sterk surmised sitting back into his own chair.
Finneck nodded. “Evidence of a camp. A large one.”
“Will you tell the king?”
Finneck paused again before answering. At the beginning of the Caedum, there had been several attempts by groups of humans to keep Fae and Eildun off their lands. Initially they were successful. A good majority of land was spared from the war. But as the Caedum expanded, no one and no place was immune.
Which led to a few other attempts by the humans. Gathering and organizing to take matters into their own hands was nothing if not inevitable. Unfortunately for them, both immortal races were not nearly as fragile. Their efforts were short-lived. As of late, there had been evidence that humans were once again trying to organize. This time trying to conceal their gatherings and intentions.
Talag Equis, commander of the biggest Eildun regime outside of Eitiris, had reported seeing evidence in other farms along the center corridor of Corianth. When he presented his theory to King Aesiri, the information was brushed aside, telling Commander Equis to come back when he had a concrete threat.
Finneck was fairly certain that this did not qualify as such.
“I’ll look into it on my return to Eitiris,” decided Finneck.
“They are taking your little warrior to Heleath,” Sterk announced glumly without preamble.
“Why would they do that? It’s nothing but a gods-damned pit.” Finneck sat up in his chair as if prepared for an attack.
Heleath was once a beautiful place of worship. Temples, stone edifices, dotted the rolling hills. It was a sacred place celebrating each deity. At least until the Fae sullied everything good about Heleath.
Their attack instigated the disintegration of the land itself. The once thriving, green landscape had decomposed into a sludge-filled swampy wasteland that started to devour the temples.
The sky above had been permanently scorched. Since the temples began to sink, the sun hasn’t shown its face. Many believed it was the gods’ displeasure at the Fae’s insults. Heleath was no place for life let alone a child. No matter the reason.
“Well, not Heleath exactly,” admitted Sterk.
“Then where are they taking her exactly,” Finneck ground out through clenched teeth.
“Ancra.”
“The gorge leading to Heleath?”
Sterk shrugged, eyes once again focused on his axe. “The day after her birthday they are taking her through the gorge to the border of Heleath.”
But why? Finneck wanted to ask.
No one spoke of the day Finneck brought the baby to the castle. Her actual arrival was never acknowledged. One day no one knew she existed, the next she was suddenly a part of life just as much as anybody else. It was not Finneck’s place to ask the king’s intentions. If he had any at all after learning a female was born and not a male.
Since he had returned with her, Finneck wasn’t certain how involved the king had been beyond obtaining the baby. But to what end?
“Who is taking her?” Finneck asked.
Sterk shrugged again. “Not my problem apparently. I wasn’t invited to the main event.”
“Are they not taking any guard?” That was unacceptable to the point where Finneck was ready to insert himself where he hadn’t usually belonged.
“I and a few others are to accompany them to the entrance to the gorge and await their return. Since Ancra has always been under Eildun control, I guess they figure it’s relatively safe. Unless, of course, Fae magically created an army of drake, there is little chance of threat,” Sterk tried assuring the captain as if he could read his thoughts. When it came to the girl, there was very little that could offer fortitude.
“You would have known this if you arrived on time,” Sterk threw at him before standing from his chair. Lips tugging up at the corners.
