Quests Volume Two

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "There wasn't anyone when we settled here."

  "It's probably hunting season, then. Good, let's get moving."

  Keneith rose and threw earth on the fire. The last of the meat he put away in the wagon. He went to get the draft horse.

  "Why are they so creepily alike?" Raykim asked him, helping him to put the horse at the front of the wagon.

  "They're twins," Keneith answered. "Sometimes happens with Humans. Two babies, either identical or just born together. And I think those two are royalty. I've heard stories in the Gallian Kingdom, apparently Amrendra has twin kings."

  Raykim looked at Mahesh and Manish who were waiting patiently for them. "So you think those are the prince heirs?"

  "From the size of the hunting pavilion that you mentioned, it's obviously a royal residence. Yes, I think we just met the prince heirs of this kingdom. Would you like to ask them before we get moving?"

  Raykim went back to the two young men and again put his hands on their cheeks.

  "Are you the prince heirs of Amrendra?" he asked.

  "Yes, my lord Raykim," they answered together.

  "My lo..." Raykim guffawed. Nobody had ever called him "my lord" before. "Please, Raykim is my name and it's enough. Climb onto the wagon with my cousin Keneith and direct us to your house."

  The twins nodded and he let them go. He flew to the top of the wagon, figuring he didn't have to hide. Suddenly it was a brand new game. The half-god entering the world on his coach. Maybe he could fly ahead... no, that wasn't sensible. He'd wait for Mahesh and Manish to introduce him, hopefully not as a lord or god.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It took a good part of a year for Keneith to master the southern language. Raykim, of course, learned it in a few days. The twin princes introduced them to their father and his twin. As Keneith had thought, the lone palace was a hunting pavilion that was used once a year. The whole royal family went back to Delen, the capital on the coast, a couple of days after they met the twin princes.

  The royal palace was a three-story building of gray stone, decorated with vines. It had tall arched windows and stood on a hill from where one could see both the sea and the mountains from the top floor terrace. Inside it was all carpets and tapestries that made it feel warm even during the coldest winter.

  The twin princes, being in their late twenties, were both already married and had started breeding. Mahesh had twin daughters, but Manish had already provided the future heirs, twins Daruka and Dahana who were now six years old.

  Raykim and Keneith were given close quarters in the palace, but they had separate rooms. At first Raykim was very happy to be an interpreter, but soon he got lost in new friendships and the adulation that came with his strange looks. The Amrendrans really considered him a half-god, wings and pointed ears and everything.

  And since Raykim had told them they were cousins, Keneith was also held in high regard. As soon as he mastered the language enough, he was allowed into the king's High Council, even though he wasn't too keen on giving them information on the northern kingdoms.

  Raykim happily flew over the border every day to check there were no marching armies. Daruka and Dahana grew up and got married themselves. Sixteen years passed in a heartbeat, considering how time flew in the Amrendran palace.

  Loriana's top started wearing out and Raykim used the local silken scarves, crossing the fabric on his chest to hide his nipples and knotting it on the back. He had no trouble wearing pants and slippers or boots that were made for Humans.

  But then Keneith noticed Raykim was restless, because his friends had grown up and didn't want to play with him anymore.

  "Maybe we should move," Keneith said as they watched a sunset from the main terrace of the palace. "I mean, I've never stayed twenty years in the same place! These people are nice and everything, but can we move on?"

  Raykim shrugged. He was in an uncharacteristically brooding mood. "Did you have to scare Winged Monia away?"

  "What?" Keneith stared incredulous at his cousin. "You mean you've actually grown up and you want to mate? Wow. Took you almost forty years, but well, I guess it was high time. So why don't you go flying over the Central Massif and look for her?"

  "Do you know where her nest is?" Raykim asked, frowning.

  "No, I've never been to the top of those mountains, you have. Now, let's say good-bye to the nice twin kings and princes and their people and get away from here. You do your mating flight and join me down the road to Lakeshi, what do you think?"

  Raykim scowled. Keneith had noticed Raykim had put on muscle and didn't look like a teenager anymore. Women stared at him admiringly and gushed over his blue hair and wings. But he was of Air and Fire, surely his first experience of sex must be with a flying being, although probably not a female Fajrulo.

  "Raykim, I can't do your mating flight for you," Keneith snapped. "We're not tied at the hip, you're free to just take off on your own, you know? You're not a baby anymore and you've just proved you're no longer a child, why do you obstinately stick to me anyway?"

  "Because you're my only relative in this part of the world," Raykim grumbled.

  He obviously still had problems letting go.

  "I said I'd see you on the road to the south, didn't I?" Keneith said, trying to be patient. "You can't expect me to take you to find a mate! If that's your call, go for it! I'll be waiting, but not in this palace, that's all."

  "Why don't you suggest I try Humans?" Raykim asked accusingly.

  "Because if you're following instinct, you need someone who can fly. But if you're having your very first crush over some pretty Human, that's another thing. Which is it, Raykim?"

  Raykim nibbled at his lower lip, pondering the reply. He didn't seem to like where his thoughts were taking him.

  "I don't know," he said at last. "I just can't stand how fast Humans grow old. You look still more or less the same, why do they decay so fast?"

  Ah, so that's the problem. He finally realized how short-lived Humans are.

  "Because that's the way Humans are made," he answered. "Why do you think I kept moving all my life and never spent more than ten years anywhere except with the Genn who age slower? I had even forgotten how short-lived Humans are, since I promised you my stepmother would make you new clothes, without considering the fact that she might have been dead by the time I got home! A natural death for a Human female, not some form of accident or other."

  Raykim sighed. "Fine, let's go to Lakeshi, then. I'll try to find a mate in the sky and join you on the road to the south. I'm sure King Manish Mahesh will give us another draft horse to pull the wagon."

  "I have walked throughout the northern kingdoms, and since we don't need to hide your looks, we can walk further. I mean, I don't think we need the wagon, and a horse that might get killed by a tiger in the jungles of the south. Maybe we can get an elephant at some point."

  Raykim brightened at the thought. "An elephant? That's nice! And you think I could still travel as a semi-god to the southern kingdoms?"

  "I'm sure the gods down here are more or less the same. The dialects are similar, and so is the culture, therefore..."

  Raykim smiled at last. "Deal!"

  ***

  Raykim was constantly horny. Watching couples' intimacies – something that used to disgust him utterly – had become his new game. He wanted the same thing. He didn't think it was gross anymore. But Keneith was right, he did tend to come when flying, more than on the ground.

  Thus he said good-bye to his Amrendran friends and left the capital by flying off the main terrace and heading towards the Central Massif. There was more than one nest there, surely he could find a willing Sila in need of a mating flight. Or maybe looking for her destiny. He still couldn't manipulate his appearance, so he hoped his bat-like wings wouldn't deter any prospective mate.

  It was just sex after all! Even finding Sila males would probably be helpful. Keneith couldn't fly and couldn't explain some things to him. So he might as well ask others. He consider
ed going back to the Home Nest and not letting anyone drive him away until they answered his questions, but it was much farther north and he didn't feel confident enough.

  He had grown very attached to Keneith and a part of him feared he wouldn't be able to find him again. But then, his telescopic eyesight would allow him to spot his cousin even if he was a dot the size of an ant. Keneith might wear the southern fashion now, but he had a very distinctive gait and Raykim knew he'd recognize him among dozens.

  At the first nest he saw, he asked about Winged Monia. He was directed to another nest with curious looks but no hostility. Probably naming someone meant they didn't feel threatened by him. At the second nest, he found Winged Elsa. She looked older, but still not as old as Humans had become under his eyes.

  "Monia has singing duty this time of the year," Winged Elsa said. "It's dankotago, after all. Have you ever celebrated it?"

  "Well, I'm the son of a mating flight," Raykim said with a shrug. "So of course I celebrated my birthday during dankotago, even though with my mother we usually stayed up in our nest and didn't go down for the ceremony."

  "Are you in a hurry?" Winged Elsa asked with a smile. "Stay a few days, and I'm sure you'll find someone to answer your call."

  Raykim blushed. "How do you know I have a call?"

  "It's obvious." Her chin pointed at his groin. "You're ready to mate."

  Sometimes Raykim hated how his genitals acquired a life of their own.

  "Come, I'll introduce you to some friends. You might find someone who satisfies your curiosity."

  "Thanks," he muttered, still embarrassed.

  She treated him like a younger brother, though, and so did the other Sila she introduced him to. She told them he had nobody to turn to, and asked if they could please help him. Both males and females were ready to answer his questions, and then they asked him about his mother and his nest.

  "I've heard of Winged Amalia," someone said. "She was actually mourning her destinito, that's why she fell for Runedemon's trap."

  "He might have taken the form of her beloved," someone else added.

  Raykim stared at them wide-eyed. Why hadn't his mother ever told him that? Why was she so outcast in her own nest? Because she made a mistake – him?

  "She is with Air now," Winged Elsa said gravely, squeezing Raykim's shoulder. "She flew all the way to Amrendra to check on you with her final strength, then took her last breath on these mountains."

  "She's... gone?" Raykim's eyes filled with tears.

  Winged Elsa hugged him and the others patted his head, shoulders, wings in comfort.

  "You'll be fine." Winged Elsa pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Hey, there's Monia!"

  Raykim wiped his tears with his hands and turned to look. Winged Monia had aged too, but she still had a most dazzling smile.

  "Raykim!" she greeted cheerfully. "Good to see you! How long will you stay?"

  "Long enough to have a mating flight with you," he answered boldly.

  She chuckled and caressed his cheek. "Really? We'll see..."

  ***

  Keneith had missed walking on the roads. He had his map, his boots, what else did he need? He wasn't even as upset as he'd been when he'd left Kelvia. He kept a leisurely pace and stopped whenever he felt tired. King Manish Mahesh had given him a purse of southern coins in exchange for his northern ones and his services to the Amrendran crown for twenty years.

  He had discarded the long magic user coat he'd worn up north for more comfortable southern clothes. He knew he was headed for warmer weather and actually looked forward to it. He crossed the border river on a ferry at Sutra and found himself in Lakeshi.

  He stayed more or less on the coast, following the main trade routes through gentle hills. The animal population was slowly changing and he met enough hamlets or lone farms to be able to eat normal Human food, albeit cooked the southern way.

  He enjoyed his newly found solitude so much, that when Raykim playfully attacked him from behind it unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. Not because he thought it was a real threat, but because his peace of mind was over.

  He glared at his younger cousin who was chuckling to himself.

  "Did I scare you?"

  "No, Raykim, you didn't scare me, although you did take me by surprise."

  "I unbalanced you, you almost fell flat on your face!"

  "And you think that's funny? You've obviously spent too much time with people with wings!"

  Raykim shrugged as his smile vanished. He was wearing a Sila shirt with openings for the wings, but still had his Amrendran scarf wrapped around his waist. He'd been with the Sila for almost a month and Keneith hadn't really missed him. In fact he had hoped he had gotten rid of him.

  "There is a town up ahead, and a river," Raykim said, walking next to him with his soft Sila boots. They wouldn't last long if he kept walking with Keneith.

  "Must be Jevina," Keneith grumbled. "I saw it on the map, but I wasn't sure how far it still was."

  "At this pace, you will get there tomorrow. Can I fly you there? It would make an impressive entrance for those Humans, don't you think?"

  "I see the Sila forgot to teach you stealth," Keneith snapped. "But then, they don't land in Human towns."

  "Well, if I'm a semi-god, I might as well make a grand entrance, don't you think?"

  Keneith rolled his eyes. "We'll see. Did you do what you were supposed to do?"

  "Yes!" Raykim beamed again. "Winged Monia was very nice to me. And so were the others."

  "Good. So you're calmer now?"

  "I want more. I want to try Humans."

  Keneith stopped walking and stared at him. Raykim sounded really proud of himself. And sex-obsessed as much as he'd been when he was younger. I have made enough mistakes in my dealings with Humans. I have hurt enough women in my youthful inexperience. I better tell him to behave.

  "What?" Raykim asked nervously.

  "Raykim, there are thousands more Humans than there are Sila. And they're much, much more aggressive than Sila. So you will have to learn how to behave with Human females. Or no matter how much they worship you here in the south, they will try to kill you if you hurt their women."

  "I don't want to hurt them," Raykim replied, puzzled.

  "You might hurt them with your behavior, unknowingly. Fire knows how many women I have hurt in my youth. I want you to be loved, not feared. Therefore we will study the courtship ways of the south, and you will follow them, understood? No humping with no preliminaries."

  "All right." Raykim still looked puzzled, but then, he had no idea of how complex Humans could be.

  ***

  Jevina welcomed the winged semi-god as enthusiastically as the Amrendrans did. Since Keneith didn't allow him to make a grand entrance, he resigned himself to just following his cousin. He soon got sick of walking and fluttered around Keneith like a big butterfly – or a bloody mosquito, like his cousin once snapped.

  Raykim thought Keneith was even more ill-tempered than before. Maybe he'd enjoyed being on his own. He certainly hadn't looked happy to see him, but Raykim had missed him. He had blurted out all of his experiences with the Sila, but Keneith had looked bored.

  Raykim really hoped to find new friends in the four-story building, with the upper floors used as the royal residence, the middle floor for official purposes, and the lower floor for servants and other services. The great hall was the biggest room he'd seen so far, and the palace had many sculptures everywhere, adorning the halls and gardens with humans, animals or mythic creatures.

  The royal family of Lakeshi didn't have twins, but they were a big and cheerful lot. The heir, Prince Vijay, seemed to adore him more than the others. He was constantly by his side, smiling and touching him and trying to get him all to himself, which of course was hard in a busy and crowded court.

  Everybody seemed to want a piece of Raykim, but mostly left Keneith alone. Every time that a woman showed interest in him, Raykim glanced at his cousin. Usually Keneith's glare wa
s enough to deter him.

  Until he decided to consult with his new friend, Prince Vijay. Night had fallen on the palace and everybody had retired to their rooms. Raykim had been in Jevina for a fortnight, therefore he knew were everybody slept.

  He knew the prince was married, but he didn't sleep in the same room as his wife. Prince Vijay already had two children, and probably more would come. But he didn't go to his wife's room very often and usually stayed in his own.

  Without using doors, Raykim went to his balcony and flew to Prince Vijay's balcony, unseen by the guards in the corridors, and more importantly his grouchy elder cousin.

  The prince was still up, although he wore a night caftan and was in bed, alone. The lamp on the bed table was still on and even if Vijay had his eyes closed, he obviously wasn't sleeping.

  Raykim stepped in the room and recognized the rhythmic movement under the bed sheet. Good, Vijay must know how he felt. He found it odd that Vijay used his hand when he could simply go to his wife, but well... wonders never ceased.

  He cleared his throat. Vijay gasped and opened his eyes.

  "Raykim!" he whispered incredulous. "How...?" A glance at the open window behind Raykim answered the question.

  The prince exhaled and pulled out his hands from under the sheets, sitting more comfortably against his batch of pillows. "Why are you here at this time of the night?"

  "I want to talk." Raykim sat on the edge of the bed, bending one leg over the bed sheet and leaving the other foot on the ground, so that his wings could trail behind him without touching the mattress. "During the day it's impossible."

  "I want to talk too!" Vijay brightened. "You first, though!"

  Raykim nodded. "I was wondering if you knew what your father would think about me mating with one of his daughters. Your sisters seem to like me so I..."

  Vijay chuckled. "You want to mate?"

  "I mean marrying." Raykim slapped his forehead. Keneith had told him of Human rituals, it just didn't register that they cared a lot for that marriage thing. Humans didn't just "mate" and "breed", they got married and had children. "I want to marry one of your sisters."

  "No, no, you want to mate, and that's fine, except it obviously contrasts with our marriage laws," Vijay said, amused. "You see, princesses should marry as virgins, therefore you can't have any of my sisters unless you intend to spend the rest of your life with her."