To the Victor

by Samantha M. Derr

  He needed her help, or they'd both be made slaves.

  Desperately, she searched the ground for something she could use as a weapon, but she had used the dead wood in her fire. There were no large rocks or even anything with a sharp edge. She spun around desperately. What was she going to do?

  She needn't have worried. Even without his horse, the knight was more than a match for the thugs, and by the time she had found a suitable branch with which to whack at them, the men were crying out and scurrying away—one of them on the brilliant white steed.

  "My horse!" the knight cried. He gave a few steps in pursuit, then seemed to think better of it. No one could catch up to a knight's horse on foot. Besides, she'd heard that knight horses were trained not to follow the orders of anyone but their knight. Rather, they took their rider on a wild journey to the middle of nowhere, dumped him, and found their way back to the palace.

  Or so she'd heard. She'd never met a knight before.

  "My lady?" the knight questioned, approaching her slowly, as if she were a deer that he might frighten. "Are you all right?"

  The knight removed his horsetail helmet, and she found herself gazing into the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen. His cropped blond hair was mussed, probably by sleep as well as helmet, but the tousled look gave a rugged edge to his otherwise pristine appearance.

  "Can I help you?"

  Help her? He could remind her how to breathe. He really was that gorgeous that she had forgotten anything besides this knight deserved her attention. She couldn't help it. She was falling into those deep blue eyes and found that she liked it there. The intensity of his gaze made her feel safe; he could clearly protect her and care for her.

  She put a hand to her throat, then started. Collar. Right. She cleared her throat. "Umm…" Those blue eyes really were terribly distracting. Particularly when they were peering at her with such concern that she just wanted to throw herself into those strong arms and be held for eternity.

  Collar. Right.

  "This collar. It's a magic Blocker. Can you get it off?"

  "A magic Blocker?" The knight frowned. He removed his gloves, revealing carefully manicured fingers, and traced over the collar. Arriyah held her breath. He was just so close, and his fingertips occasionally brushed her throat as they searched for the collar's seam. "These are illegal."

  She shrugged, knocking his fingers against her throat once more. She wondered if he could feel her heart pounding out a Midsummer drum beat. "I've heard slavery is as well. Not everyone follows the law out here in the Outlands."

  The knight's frown deepened, then he twisted his hands and suddenly the collar was off. She breathed deeply, feeling the power in the very air around her. She sighed. Everything was back to normal.

  "Are you alright now?" the knight asked.

  She nodded. "Yes, I am."

  He picked up his helmet and gave her a slight bow. "Then good night, my lady."

  He turned to leave, and she realized that he was her chance at freedom. She couldn't just let him leave. "Wait!"

  He paused and faced her again. "Yes?"

  "You saved my life."

  A look of pride brightened his features. "It was my honor, my lady."

  Oh, how glorious. A man who felt honor-bound to protect those who needed help, rather than prey upon them like the slavers. She only had to convince him to take her with him… Then she had an idea. "I am now bound to you."

  "Bound to me?" His eyebrows furrowed.

  "Yes." She drew herself up, presenting herself to him for his appraisal. "You saved my life. I owe you a life debt. I will come with you and serve you, always."

  She caught him so off-guard that he actually stepped back ever so slightly. "That really won't be necessary."

  Arriyah stepped closer. "It is." He was a knight. Honor was everything. Honor, dignity, vows. This was her one chance. She couldn't blow it. "Among my people, it is my sacred duty to serve you to repay you for what you have done for me."

  He hesitated. "I… I don't know that that would be right. Besides, I am a vassal to the queen. I do not need one of my own."

  Damn! She was losing him. She didn't care if he didn't need her, or even if he didn't want her. He was taking her out of these woods! "Are you on a quest, my lord?" She had never called anyone 'my lord' in her entire life, but if it got to him, then so be it.

  "Yes."

  "Then let me come with you," she pressed. "If only for this one mission. The Outlands are my home. Let me guide you. Let me use my magic to protect you and see you home safely again. Then you can consider my life-debt to you fulfilled."

  He seemed to consider her offer. It was a good one, if she did say so herself. Not that knights needed any protecting—probably this glorious specimen least of all. But it was only logical for him to agree to a local guide. It wasn't like she was going to cause any trouble.

  No, no trouble. Just the chance at the adventure of a lifetime.

  "Agreed." He held out his hand to her, as if he intended to shake hers, then realized that the gesture probably wasn't proper. Before he could draw it back, however, she took his soft strong hand in hers and gently kissed his knuckles.

  "Agreed. Lord…"

  He shook his head, taking his hand back. "No Lord. I'm only Kyrrin, a knight in the Queen's Guard."

  She smiled at him. "Kyrrin." Just saying his name sent a welcome shiver through her. "I am Arriyah."

  He stood awkwardly for a moment, just looking at her—which she certainly didn't mind—then he cleared his throat. "We should get some sleep. Dawn comes early."

  She inclined her head to him and returned to her bedroll. Unfortunately, he bedded down on the other side of the last embers of her fire.

  Arriyah pulled a small charm out of its place in her hair and glared at it. Apparently her luck had run out. She would need to imbue it again on the next full moon. In the meantime, she would need to make her own luck with this knight.

  *~*~*

  "So, where are we going?" Arriyah asked, far too chipper at shortly after dawn. Kyrrin was normally not a morning person, but there was too much at stake for him to be anything less than his best.

  He glanced over at Arriyah as they walked a path that was starting to turn overgrown. Honestly, it was hard for him to keep his eyes off her. There was no getting around it. Arriyah was as beautiful as any princess. Her long dark hair held strategic braids to keep it away from her face and was interwoven with beads, charms, and feathers. Her brown eyes were bright and lively, and her multi-colored, multi-layered dress was snug enough to accent her full figure. Even her small booted feet drew his attention as she walked so lightly that she practically danced through the dew-covered grass. It amazed him that this slight ethereal woman had been so ferocious in fighting off her assailants the night before. She laughed lightly as a butterfly fluttered around her, settling on her raised fingers. He found himself with a sudden desire to hold her hand, to feel those small delicate fingers entwined with his.

  "Kyrrin?" She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he realized he hadn't answered her question. He'd been caught staring and daydreaming about her. Hardly chivalrous. He focused on his mission.

  "I'm going to find a flower to save the queen."

  Arriyah made a face. "What's wrong with her?"

  Kyrrin drew up short. Yes, word traveled slowly to the Outlands, but everyone knew what had happened to the queen. Everyone had tried to save her. "Are you making a joke?"

  "No. Are you?"

  "The queen's health is not something to joke about!" he said with more force than he'd intended, but with all the intensity he felt.

  "Touchy, touchy," she grumbled. "You asked first."

  He glowered at her in response. "The queen was cursed. She was preparing for a party with an important foreign ambassador, and she put on a necklace that had been gifted by his people centuries ago. She's been dying since that day."

  "The ambassador poisoned her?" Arriyah hopped a pace or two forward. "B
e careful—varmints."

  He carefully picked his way around a series of small varmint holes and shrugged. That had been his—and just about everyone's—first assumption. "It seems not. The queen and her family have owned the jewels for generations. They've never left the country. The caretakers swear they were never tampered with. No one can find the person responsible. Our greatest sorcerers have been called in to investigate, and our greatest healers to treat the queen, but it hasn't made any difference. No one has any answers."

  "Accept you," she pointed out. "You think this flower will save her?"

  "That's what Ghree—the royal sorcerer—says. He gave me this map." He dug it out of his pack and handed it to her. As she walked and studied the map simultaneously, he watched her carefully to be sure she didn't trip.

  "This map is a bit outdated." She eyed it doubtfully. "This has to be a hundred years old. Who says these flowers will still be here, if they ever were?"

  Kyrrin tightened his jaw. "Ghree said they were there, years ago. And I have to believe they still are. They're the only chance I have to save my queen."

  She rolled up the map. "There are a lot of dangers out here in the Outlands. There's magic infesting everything. The forests, the animals, even the ground itself has run wild with no one to care for it. Our people have been abandoned beyond the walls as we try to care for it and each other. And the map you have hasn't been accurate for a hundred years. You're risking your life for someone just because she's your queen? Do they still brainwash knights to make you the ideal servants?"

  Kyrrin bit back a harsh remark and clenched his fists in rage. How dare she? "I'm not brainwashed! I chose to serve. The queen is a remarkable woman who has done more for our kingdom than any queen before her. She has more than earned my respect and devotion.

  Arriyah eyed him dourly. "I have yet to see these 'wonders' she has accomplished reach out here, to the Outlands."

  "Just because you've only come across other uncivilized groups of Outlanders doesn't mean—"

  "Uncivilized? How dare you!" She shoved at his chest, but she was so short and he was so strong that it didn't have much effect. "You think that just because you live in a palace that you're better than me? Because I was raised by Outlanders that I live like some animal?"

  Kyrrin realized then what he'd suggested. "Forgive me, my lady." He inclined his head toward her, but she rolled her eyes and walked on, apparently not placated by good manners. "If I insulted you, that was not my intent."

  "If? Of course you insulted me!"

  "You insulted me first." He couldn't help but remind her.

  She flipped her hair and looked over her shoulder at him as he took a few strides to catch up to her. "I don't appreciate blind obedience. Respect has to be earned. So does loyalty. I don't bow down to anyone who hasn't done something first to show their worthiness. I certainly wouldn't pledge my life to some woman I've only ever seen from afar. What has she done to earn your loyalty? She's done nothing to earn mine, leaving my people out here to fend for themselves."

  "She's not some woman, she's my—" Kyrrin stopped himself. After three careful years, it wasn't worth losing his temper and letting something slip. Even to an Outlander who would probably never venture within the city walls. There was no reason to give her any kind of leverage.

  "She's your queen," Arriyah sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, yes I know." She stopped at the edge of a looming forest, dark and old. Kyrrin felt something off, and he frowned as she handed the map back to him. "Your map says these woods aren't for another league. You're lucky you found me, knight." And with that, she disappeared into the trees.

  *~*~*

  Within a few steps, it was too dark to continue walking without needless risk. Arriyah pulled a polished piece of quartz from her pocket and murmured the words that made the light-stone shine. Rather than hold it aloft, she searched for a dead branch to use as a walking stick and wedged the stone into the top. When she returned, the path was barely recognizable from the overgrown forest around it, and Kyrrin was watching her.

  "You have magic."

  "Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't have cared when those slavers put that Block on me last night." They continued walking, carefully.

  The forest was very old and was deeper into the Outlands than even Arriyah had ever gone. She often went farther than other Forest Folk to find ingredients for her magic doings, which was why she had been alone the night before, but even she knew better than to wander into this forest without very good reason.

  That very good reason being that the queen would die of old age if they tried to find a way around it, never mind her curse.

  "You have usable magic." Kyrrin amended his previous statement. She understood what he meant. Some people had magic deep inside, so deep and in such small supply that they could never harness it and use it. However, if someone with that kind of magic was attacked, sometimes the magic would jump free to defend them. That was one reason slavers used Blockers on anyone, whether they were known to have magic or not.

  "I don't just make lights," she said. "I was trained by my village shaman. Most of my work is in charms."

  "Charms?" Kyrrin repeated. He didn't sound particularly interested, more like that he was being polite.

  She narrowed her eyes. "Yes, charms. I can make amulets, talismans, and charms for just about everything. Protection, healing, fertility. Luck, good fortune…"

  He raised an eyebrow. "What's the difference?"

  "Luck is for small things. Good fortune is more…"

  "Good fortune is more?"

  She gave him a look. "Luck just happens. Fortune is divine."

  "So you're divine?"

  "No. I can make charms to get you the favor of the divine."

  "That sounds awfully lucky to me."

  She shot him her most sour look. He certainly had a way with twisting her words without being blatantly rude. She had to give him credit for cleverness. Were all knights like that?

  Before she could come up with a retort, she tripped and landed flat on her back.

  "Oomph!" All the air was forced from her lungs, and she struggled for her next breath. A quick inventory said that nothing was broken—nothing hurt but her pride. Particularly when Kyrrin reached down, took her hand, and effortlessly brought her to her feet.

  Even if he got under her skin, he also sent her heart pitter-pattering with just one casual display of his strength.

  "Are you all right?"

  And those eyes. Even in the dark they were peering right into her.

  Right. The dark.

  She bent down to retrieve her staff and picked up the item that had caused her to trip. A fist sized stone that was lighter than its size suggested it should have been. She peered at it, then reached into one of the many pockets of her skirts, pulled out a pair of spectacles, and inspected it further. Peripherally, she saw Kyrrin step off the path toward an apple tree. She frowned. She hadn't seen the apple tree, even though she'd tripped right in front of where it currently stood.

  "My lucky day," Kyrrin called absently, teasing her in a voice that held no malice. She stuck her tongue out in response without looking up.

  "I only packed enough food for one," he continued. "I wasn't expecting to pick up a companion. You want one?"

  She glanced up, then gasped. Quickly, she raced forward and slapped the apple out of his hand. Before he could work up a good mood, she told him, "That's poisoned."

  "How do you know?"

  She held up her wire rimmed glasses. "I charmed these to be able to see magic. Or rather, to be able to see through illusions."

  He took the glasses from her, set them on the bridge of his nose, and looked around. She smiled. He was really quite adorable like that.

  "I don't see anything," he said.

  "Sorry, they won't work for you. I spelled them to only work for me, so no one would bother stealing them." She took them back and tucked them in her pocket. "I only meant to show them to you; I didn't think you'd want to
try them on."

  "Impressive." She glanced over at Kyrrin and was pleased to see that he was being genuine.

  She smiled at him.

  "I could never do anything like that," Kyrrin continued as they set off again. "And not just because I have no magical inclination. I just want to blend in."

  She laughed at his joke, but when he gave her a strange look, she realized he wasn't teasing her again. "You want to blend in? As a knight?"

  He looked suddenly bashful; it was so adorable. "I'm nothing special. I'm just a man serving my queen. Helping my people, doing my job. Just fitting in."

  She gave him a sidelong glance. He really didn't see how extraordinary his description of himself was, that he was selflessly serving 'his people' as he referred to them. Only a man who truly cared about people referred to them as his own. It was a very attractive trait.

  "I'm done blending in," Arriyah told him. "I want to shine. I want—" She screamed when something grabbed her ankle and lifted her into the air.

  "Arriyah!" A flash of silver, and suddenly she was on her back again, looking up at Kyrrin.

  "What happened?" She struggled back to her feet.

  "The tree," Kyrrin answered, assuming a defensive position and glancing around them. "A root came out of the ground and grabbed you."

  "Oh my." She'd heard that magic had made the trees come alive, but she'd never seen it firsthand. And she wouldn't mind if she never did again.

  Something roared, and then a blur of fur sailed past her to tackle Kyrrin to the ground.

  "Kyrrin!"

  It was a squirrel. A giant, ferocious squirrel. She couldn't believe her eyes.

  Even as Kyrrin struggled with it, another squirrel bounded in to join it—and the nearby vines came for Arriyah.

  Quickly, she pulled a handful of charms from various nooks of her skirts and murmured the words to activate them. Protection, defense, strength, power.

  She gasped as she suddenly felt tired. The vines were strong—and they were zapping her power quickly. She reached out and drew power from the earth, making the charms shine brightly and the vines creep back.