Tempered Hearts (Hearts of Valentia Book 1)

by S. A. Huchton

  Silent moments passed, but she didn’t stir. As she always slept on her side, he knew she was working up to ask him something.

  “Whatever’s bothering you, I hope you’ll tell me soon.”

  “I was just thinking about earlier today. Out on the ridge.”

  “And?”

  “I think I know what it was that upset you, but I was wondering if you’d tell me.”

  With a deep breath, he readied himself. He thought she might ask about that, though he expected it sooner. “Naya was there for the heart’s blood. She teased me after, calling me draka ehsa as you did.”

  Arden fell silent again.

  “Are you all right?”

  She shifted beside him. “I thought that might be it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of—”

  “Please don’t apologize.” In the darkness, Darius found her hand, weaving his fingers between hers. “I’m sorry I reacted at all. It just… caught me off guard, I suppose.”

  “Have I messed it all up again?” Her voice wavered in the darkness, chipping at his heart. “It’s been going so well between us, and now—”

  He wrapped her arm over her stomach and pulled her to him, her back against his chest as he breathed in the lavender in her hair. “It takes time, asahana. You haven’t ruined anything.”

  Her grip on his hand tightened, and she gave a small nod.

  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re with me. This place… I still have nightmares about the last time I was here, but you calm me. You’re a light in the darkness, Arden. Do you mind me so close?”

  She snuggled deeper under the covers, pulling his arm tighter around her waist. “I’ll keep watch over your dreams, kendala. You’re safe with me.”

  He closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair, fighting back the echoes of violence that hung in the air like a fog. “When I was here before, I couldn’t imagine knowing comfort again. When I say I’m grateful to have you with me, I mean that sincerely. The things I saw in this tunnel, even if I tried to explain, it’s impossible to share the horrors that were lurking here.”

  “You can tell me about them, if it helps.”

  He sighed. “I’d not disturb you with those stories. Then neither of us would sleep.”

  Arden stopped where she was shifting in his arms, thought for a moment, then turned to face him. “You still think me a wide-eyed innocent.” Her hand lifted to rest on his cheek, her skin soft against his scars and stubble. “I watched people die from wounds inflicted by the poisonous claws of Torn Ones. Their howls carried through the halls and courtyard of Aerenhall day and night. I held their hands through amputations, suffered through watching some begin to turn towards infected darkness. It doesn’t happen as often anymore, but I had nightmares for months about one man in particular. He was the husband of one of the women helping tend the wounded. She hid him from the healers, knowing how irreversibly ill he was. He succumbed to the poison shortly after I discovered them, but she was too stricken to do anything. In mere moments the man would’ve… there was no one nearby to help, and it fell to me to act. I… I had to…”

  Her voice broke, and he pulled her to him, smoothing her hair as her shoulders trembled. Long moments passed before she settled again.

  “I know how it feels to take a life, Darius,” she whispered against his chest. “I know what it’s like to be haunted by sounds of the dying. I know the burden, and I will gladly help you bears yours as much as I can. I may not know the horrors of the front lines, but I know what it’s like to survive the aftermath. There’s no need to shield me from the world. It found me long before you did.”

  Hugging her tightly, he knew she was right to correct him. At twenty-five, he felt twice as old as his years and looked at her as though she were a child. “I always underestimate you, asahana. It must be very frustrating.”

  She huffed the tiniest of laughs. “I’ve had plenty of practice dealing with people underestimating me. If I can teach my father, I can certainly train you.”

  He chuckled against the top of her head. “Is it terrible of me that I’m sort of looking forward to that?”

  “So long as you don’t admit that to Vennic. He’d never stop teasing you.”

  “It’s unlikely he will, anyway,” he said with a grin. “But he’s good with the horses so I keep him around.”

  The conversation faded away, and his body finally began to relax, mostly thanks to Arden. As sleep began pulling at him, she let out a quiet yawn as she curled against him.

  “I’m here if you need me, kendala,” she whispered as she drifted off.

  Feeling her warmth beside him was enough to quiet his memories. If nightmares found him later, he knew she would soothe him no matter how terrible the ghosts were.

  Arden

  Mountains always felt more like home to her than anywhere else. Arden couldn’t tear her eyes away from the snow-capped peaks rising into the sky as they neared Ogtern Mountain. The tallest in the entire range, she could see it the whole way through the pass. Excitement bubbled in her stomach, giddy at the prospect of exploring the colony deep inside the earth. Dwarves dug deeper, explored farther underground than humans ever did, and she couldn’t wait to see the abundance of rare rocks and minerals that must’ve been revealed in such extreme excavation. Stones were a measure of time, their exposure marking the paths of the world’s greatest upheavals and changes. Caves and mines always gave her a sense of insignificance, yet immensity. To stand among such testaments to life’s great march… the thought left her breathless.

  The pass opened up to a massive market a mile in diameter, all spread before a set of huge stone doors carved into the mountain itself. Even though it wasn’t peak trading time, as winter wasn’t quite over yet, she was curious to see where business with the outside world was conducted.

  Her excitement gradually faded into confusion as they passed into the market, however. All around them, the vendor stalls stood empty and still. Not a soul roamed the circular pathways, and everything was shuttered. A glance at Darius’s face answered her unasked question; something was very wrong.

  He responded with a single frown and urged his horse to go faster, catching up to Vennic at the front. She couldn’t hear their conversation, but their posture and gestures spoke of serious concern. Eerie silence lurked in the desolate market, broken only by the occasional call of a bird circling overhead. Onward they went, Darius and two guards pulling away from the rest of them, while Vennic dropped back to her.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. “Shouldn’t there be people here?”

  He nodded, the gold of his hair dulled in the pale mountain light. “There should be, yes, unless the yar ordered the doors closed. That’s only done in extreme cases, so if that’s what happened, it doesn’t bode well for our visit.”

  “What might cause them to close the doors?”

  Vennic shrugged. “Any number of things. A threat from an outside force, a perceived slight that prompted the yar to cut off trade, political upheaval inside the colony… or something else entirely. Whatever it is, it’s not good for us, or Valentia in general. The majority of our raw materials come from Ogtern, as it’s the largest dwarf settlement and the one on the best terms with the crown. If we lose them as a supplier, Valentia could be crippled.”

  She bit her lip, her worry growing as the stone doors loomed closer. “I appreciate you telling me. Not everyone thinks I’m interested in or capable of dealing with such problems. Hopefully I can be of some help.”

  “I’m not sure how likely they are to welcome that help,” he frowned at the mountain. “The dwarves are particularly keen to keep non-dwarf peoples uninvolved in their lives. Darius earned their trust during the war, but that’s a rare thing. Humans generally aren’t considered heroes to dwarves.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “He’s a hero to them?”

 
Vennic nodded. “One of their proseika, actually. It’s a great honor, and the pinnacle of achievement among dwarves.”

  She’d heard many stories about her husband, but not that one. “A proseika? How did he earn that title?”

  “It’s a long story, the short of it being he settled a political dispute that could’ve meant civil war for this colony. He also recovered multiple mining tunnels and pathways to colonies that had been lost to the haegaroi. A particularly nasty monster settled into the bowels of this settlement and was spawning these horrific parasitic sacks of flesh that infected the livestock here. Are you familiar with grabnars?”

  Bewildered, she shook her head slowly.

  “They’re slightly pig-like, but they eat the fungus that grows in the tunnels here as ravenously as goats eat grass. Grabnars are the primary source of meat in dwarf colonies, so the infection threatened every life here, not to mention how devastating it would’ve been to places outside of Ogtern had it spread. Darius found the source and cleared everything out. So, when I say they’re most likely to listen to him out of all of us, it’s for a very good reason.”

  It was hard for her to believe one person accomplished so much in a short twenty-five years. How could anyone else ever measure up to such a high standard? It was no wonder he looked at people in tedium; compared to him and the things he’d done, they were all mere children.

  “Well,” she shifted in her saddle, determined to help him in whatever capacity she could, “I hope I can be of some use. No one can do everything on their own, right? He can only go so far without a strong team behind him.”

  Vennic chuckled. “That’s very true. He wasn’t alone in these mines then, and he isn’t now. We followed him because we believed in his abilities, but also because we add to his strengths, filling in the things he lacks. He knows that, and has always treated us with great appreciation. Darius isn’t in love with titles or accolades, but always strives to be better than what he was told he was as a child. He never accepts less than the best from himself, no matter what the undertaking.”

  The rows of weathered wooden stalls gave way, opening up to a clear, circular area surrounding the Ogtern entrance. Vennic pulled to a stop twenty yards from the doors, and they watched as Darius spoke with the guards standing duty. After much discussion, one of the four armored dwarves opened a smaller, inset door and disappeared inside. Ten minutes later, the same guard returned, motioning to the retinue as they watched from a distance. Darius looked like he might be arguing a point, but his words got him nowhere. The guard planted his feet and the end of his tall ax firmly on the ground, bringing a halt to any further discussion on the matter.

  Darius and the two guards returned on foot, leading their horses. He motioned the soldiers to disperse information, then approached Vennic and Arden.

  “They’ll only let the three of us inside,” Darius said. “No soldiers.”

  “No soldiers?” she asked. “Do they think we mean to attack them with so few?”

  “The fewer they let in, the fewer they have to worry about,” he said. “There’s a rather large problem, and they don’t want it spreading.” He looked up at her, face pinched. “There’s a very real danger here, asahana. You may want to consider staying behind with—”

  She crossed her arms, frowning at him.

  “You haven’t even heard what the danger is yet, why are you already arguing?”

  “I don’t believe I said a word.” She lifted her chin, defensive.

  “You have that look on your face.”

  Vennic sighed, clearly wanting to avoid listening to them bicker. “What’s the problem? Why did the yar order the doors closed?”

  Darius shifted his gaze to the elf. “There’s a mysterious disease afflicting the mining caste. They don’t want to risk exposing anyone until they’ve determined the source.”

  “Like the grabnar problem?” she asked.

  He shot her a mildly surprised look, then shook his head. “No, not this time. It manifests as an actual disease, whereas that was a parasite we easily discovered. I’m assuming Vennic told you about that?”

  “A bit. It’s only affecting the miners here?”

  “Yes, but there’s concern it could spread if they can’t determine where it came from or what it is.”

  With a resigned grunt, Vennic dismounted. “And I imagine you’ve a mind to inquire about this, correct? Proseika to the rescue?”

  Darius frowned. “It’s a bit larger a problem than defending that oft-contested mantle, Vennic. If this mine stays shut down, the entire kingdom suffers for it. We can’t afford that when we’re barely beginning recovery from the war.”

  Vennic slapped him on the back, grinning. “That was a joke. I know what it means if Ogtern falls. I’m with you for whatever mischief you get into.”

  Darius released his reins and helped Arden down from her horse. “I know you wanted to see this place, but I wish you’d consider staying behind. I don’t like the risk this presents, especially given your confessed predilection for exploring tunnels.”

  She made a face at him. “You already promised to let me explore any mine I like so long as you were with me. Are you going back on your word?”

  Vennic laughed, coughing against his fist to hide it.

  “That’s unfair, asahana.”

  Grinning at him, she patted his cheek and collected her horse’s reins, looking back over her shoulder as she started towards the area the soldiers were setting up camp. “That’s your consequence for marrying a woman with a good memory and insatiable curiosity.”

  His grumbles of displeasure and Vennic’s laughter caught up to her before they did, but she held her ground. Ogtern awaited, hopefully with some answers.

  Chapter 20

  Darius

  Arden’s expression as they entered the cavernous opening of the Ogtern communal square made Darius forget everything and anything else around them. Her eyes were wider than apples as she took in the massive stone columns that spiraled up and out of sight. Her lips parted in a half grin, half gape of utter amazement at the grandeur of the endless mosaic floor stretching out at their feet and climbing the walls. She marveled at the warm, luminescent orbs protruding from the rock, reaching up to touch one as a child investigating a shiny thing. More than once he had to urge her on from where she paused to study something up close, or corral her when she rushed ahead, eager to see what was around the next corner. She was as intrigued with the vendor stalls and shop windows they passed by, peering closely at the oddly shaped roots at a vegetable cart, or pressing her face up to windows to look at the tools or armor or household goods.

  It was impossible not to smile, only slightly less difficult not to laugh. Watching her was like seeing the world with fresh eyes. There was so much wonder in the way she looked at everything. Each question she asked had purpose, expanding her mind, the answers forming a chain of knowledge that fed the fiery intelligence in her gaze. Not even the surly dwarves were immune to her. Wherever they went, whomever she spoke with, they were all changed by her presence— small lights left behind in her wake.

  The communal square shifted into residential areas, those occupied by the merchant class. Arden shifted into questions about architecture, commenting on how ingeniously each building was carved from the mountain’s interior, how intricate their façades were in replicating various styles from Valentian and Danumbar history while refreshing the looks with unique dwarven touches. In all the years he’d known the place, he’d never given it half the thought she had in the short time they’d been there, and he wondered what else he failed to appreciate in his travels.

  The gates to the noble residences halted their journey, however, and he groaned when he saw who was on guard.

  “No visitors beyond this point,” the dwarf said, his red-orange hair sticking out in tufts between his helmet and shoulder armor.

  “D
roogan,” Darius forced a friendly smile, “what a pleasure to see you again. Still as warm and welcoming as ever. Glad some things never change.”

  “Save your pleasantries, meddler. You’ll not be getting through here on my watch.”

  He folded his arms across his chest, trying not to feel smug that the bothersome lout was still on guard duty, rather than bumbling his way up the army ranks. “Now, Droogan, I don’t think your yar would be particularly pleased with you barring our way. I hear he might be in need of my services again.”

  “No one needs you!” he barked. “Begone!”

  Scowling, Darius ushered Arden and Vennic towards a temporary retreat around the corner of a building.

  “So it’s brute force, then?” Vennic asked. “You know that old boulder won’t budge an inch for you.”

  He was about to agree, but Arden stopped him with a hand on his arm. “He doesn’t like you, that much is obvious. May I ask why?”

  “I trounced him rather thoroughly in hand-to-hand combat while we were campaigning for opposing political candidates, his support being for a cousin of his.” He scratched his chin absently, trying to think of another way through. Kicking off their visit with a street brawl wasn’t exactly what he had in mind for their trip. “It’s two years since then, and he still holds a grudge.”

  Arden chewed her bottom lip, fiddling with the cuffs of her tunic. “Would you let me speak to him? All he can do is say no, after all, which won’t make us any worse off.”

  “You want to speak with him?”

  She nodded, grinning. “People are like lock boxes. Find the right combination of words, and they open right up. This Droogan problem has an easy enough solution, I think.”

  He glanced at Vennic, but all he offered was a shrug. “Very well, but I don’t think you’ll get very far with that one.”

  She lit up briefly, then immediately changed her demeanor as they rounded the corner again. Her walk was not the giddy steps she had on their journey so far; she became a lady of purpose. At ten paces from the guard’s hateful stare, she bid them stop and wait while she approached him.