Almost every day Toman had managed to find a place near water, though he had made sure to avoid camping too close. He had told her that streams fed the land, but also were places that wild animals would come to drink. She had a feeling that the guard wasn't just worried about animals. She wasn't so ignorant of the world to believe that there weren't lawless men to avoid out here as well.
The girl laid her skirt and blouse on sun warmed grass to try and dry them before she had to put them back in the bag. The blue dress had been worn the previous day and needed to be washed as best she could, so the girl returned to the water enjoying the refreshing feel.
She had never cleaned clothes before, Xerese thought as she worked. The work wasn't distasteful to her, which surprised the lady. She had watched the servants take her clothes away to be laundered and never given it much thought, but now it was up to her to keep her appearance. There were no servants or ladies in waiting here.
A noise from the trees behind her made the birds go silent. Their alarm was hers and the girl held up her blue dress before her as her only protection.
Spying Toman covering his eyes with one hand and touching a tree to avoid running into it with the other, the man called out, "I have the food ready, my lady. If you are done, you can eat now."
Still holding the dress in front of her, Xerese started to walk out of the water towards the near shore. She didn't fear whether he was going to look at her. It would be a bit embarrassing perhaps, but the lady had to depend on him to protect her. After all this time traveling together, she had a feeling that he didn't even truly care to look anyway.
On the other hand, looking at the guard in his road dirt covered clothing, Xerese made a face at the man's continuing decline in appearance. "I am almost done cleaning my clothes. You know, Toman, you should probably take the time to bathe yourself."
"Perhaps after dinner, my lady," he answered still standing where she had first spied him. His hand remained a barrier between them, but beneath it she noted the beard that had grown out during their travel. His hair was getting longer too and already getting in his eyes.
Sighing, Xerese put the dress down fairly confident that the man wouldn't dare to look. She pulled out a second skirt and started to slide it on while the girl wrinkled her nose at the idea of the dirty looking man.
"If not for yourself, then do it for me and wash out those clothes. They won't last forever, even if they are more durable than silk and satin dresses. You also smell. Walking beside you, I can smell you next to me and your odor is growing more earthy every day," she finished thinking the term overly kind for the stench beginning to waft from the guard and his clothes.
"I am sorry, my lady," the guard said without moving. His answer was typical of the guard which made her consider his words.
A white button up blouse was thick enough to cover her even as the water on her skin stuck to it. Like the blue dress, it was tight in the bosom. The girl that had given up the clothing must have been nearly flat, she thought. Xerese had never considered her chest overly buxom. There were ladies at court that wouldn't have been able to close the blouse at all.
"Maybe you should stop calling me 'my lady' all the time, Toman."
"My lady?"
"We should find another village eventually. Calling me, my lady, will make people wonder. I don't think we want that kind of interest, do you?"
"Probably not, my... If not that, what should I call you?"
"Well, my name is Xerese, but that might be uncommon here in Tseult. My brothers used to call me Xerie when I was a child." Her face wrinkled at the thought and she added, "Ah, they still do when it slips out on their tongues. Maybe that would work."
"Xerie, well I suppose I will have to try to remember then."
She picked up the wet clothes with a frown. Their camp was in the woods, but she worried about just leaving them here to dry. Likely only animals would find them, but Xerese gathered them anyway.
"I am dressed. You can stop acting like a child trying not to be scared by a shadow. I am hardly that scary," she finished with a chuckle.
Lowering his hand, the man's lips turned up slightly in a smile. "So you say," he agreed sarcastically.
She sighed again. Nearing Toman, her nose wrinkled. "You definitely need a bath. If your knife is sharp enough, maybe I can even cut that hair without making it worse. I would be afraid to try trimming that beard though."
Carrying her boots with the bag and clothes, Xerese noticed how her feet had strengthened against the litter beneath the trees. By the end of this trip, the lady feared that she would be more like a peasant than a lady of the royal house.
"My dagger is sharp, but like you, I wonder if you wouldn't wind up cutting my throat in the process," the man chuckled at her expense.
"Keep taunting me and it wouldn't be an accident," the girl complained wagging a finger at him as best she could holding so many items.
Toman was too dirty yet to let him help her, so they returned to the small camp where Xerese hung up her laundry with some pride at her work. The food was simple travel fare, but it was filling enough. It quieted a stomach beginning to grumble after another long day's travel.
After eating, her guard followed her order and went off to bathe and clean his clothes. The lady wondered if even the fresh water could help remove the scent of the man, but when he returned he certainly smelled better. More importantly, she couldn't really smell him at all. His clothing was still wet, so his shirt went over a tree branch to dry while he suffered wearing the pants.
He didn't let her try to cut his hair, however, and they went to sleep as they had most nights with her lying by his side with his arm drawn over her for warmth. The night air began to cool, but Xerese preferred the comfort of the powerful man's arm around her as well.
Sleep came and her dreams disturbed her a bit. Her comfort with the guardsman might lead her mind to the wrong thoughts, but awaking Xerese could still look at him without blushing.
As they walked yet another day, a few travelers passed them going the other way. They said little to the pair as they headed east. When a train of carts was seen coming their way late in the afternoon, Xerese mentioned the fact that they had only seen people going east.
Toman had noticed the same thing and called up to one of the men steering a wagon and asked why so many people were heading towards Kloste.
"Soldiers attacked the temple of Sordrian a few days ago. It has the town worked up. If you are headed that way, you might choose to avoid Delem instead. It might be safer," the man said before the wagon pulled away from the guard walking beside it.
"A temple was attacked?" Xerese questioned in confusion. The brothers had been speaking out against King Orlaan. Had they done the same thing in Delem against the king of Tseult? "Do we continue to town, Toman?"
While he considered the question, the man looked solemn. "I think it might still be alright. It would also be good to know if there is anything else to worry about in our way. Ships might be sailing to other ports as well. If we're lucky, maybe we can catch a ride and save ourselves some walking."
"I don't mind the walking," Xerese confessed and was surprised that it was true, "but a ship would certainly be faster."
He nodded. "Then we should at least look. If it is too dangerous, we will just leave."
The girl followed his instincts knowing that he knew more of the world than she. Unfortunately, her instincts were telling her to avoid this town of Delem. She could only hope that the guardsman's hunch was better than hers.
Chapter 21- Being a Normal Girl
Annalicia walked beside Captain Delfren and Sebastian as they checked over the Sea Dragon. They had discovered their goal, but only kept it safe after a hard fought battle.
After a month of sailing, sea battles and legendary discoveries, the compass used by Darterian had led them to a previously undiscovered island. At least it hadn't been discovered by anyone willing to put it on the map. The Dark One's warlocks had hidden the G
rimnal with his remaining crew on a supposedly uninhabited island and left them there trapped by dark magic.
Though Gerid Aramathea was considered immortal and was even older than her grandfather, his men were not; yet they found him living in a thriving village. A tribe of merfolk had joined with them. Some had wed the men confined to the island and Gerid had married as well. There were children, grandchildren and more generations birthed since his first wife had passed away. They had married as well and, like their grandfather, they were trapped by the Dark One's magic.
The Sea Dragon had arrived with little time to ally with the Grimnal and his people before two more of the black ships had arrived. A third ship, a captured Kardorian warship which had followed them, helped create a battle on multiple fronts. Annalicia had stayed with the Sea Dragon and her people. Liam and some of the mage's other wizards joined her for a sea battle unlike any she had ever heard of before.
The enemy used blood magic sacrificing Kardorians to feed portals to send the ships to different points to get an advantage on the Sea Dragon. It would have worked without the magic at their disposal. Air and water magic kept the Malaiy frigate from being destroyed by the two black ships until the merfolk were able to surprise them. Tattooed with magical runes, the mermen attacked and caused one of the enemy ships to beach or risk sinking almost immediately.
On land, Sebastian and the Grimnal fought against the wizard hunters' and their warlock leader. They managed to use Gerid's power and immortality mixed with Sebastian's new magic sword, the Hollow Sword, to defeat the powerful warlock and his hunters. In an explosion their enemy disappeared, but the merfolk fighting the remaining crew of the beached ship told of him reappearing near them before the last ship and those on land used more portals to escape.
The fighting had taken its toll. Sebastian and his healer girlfriend, Yara, had spent the remainder of the day healing the worst of the wounded. Bodies of the Kardorian ambassador and Ashleen's mentor had been found among the dead. Their blood had fueled the warlocks' magic and they had been discarded like the burned out ashen remnants in a fireplace.
Ashleen had started to become a friend as had many of those with Sebastian. She felt for the girl's loss. There were covered bodies on the dock for members of her crew who no longer lived as well. No one had gone completely unscathed from any side.
"She could sail if we needed her to," Delfren stated writing on a sheet of paper. The man had recorded anything that should be repaired while they had walked around the vessel. With the help of the sea folk they could even check beneath the water from the outside of the ship. Internally, no holes were found to let in water; but once the Sea Dragon set out again they would want to know that the ship was completely sea worthy. It was a long way to the next port after all.
"Do any repairs that you need to now, captain. Master Aramathea has already forced Sebastian to give him a month before he is willing to leave for Southwall. If nothing else, the village needs some repairs and to deal with their losses as well," the platinum haired lady stated for her captain.
"This is his home now," Sebastian replied looking at her like he had failed instead of defeating a powerful enemy. "Gerid could have said no to us. We've interrupted his life, even if this is also his prison."
Yara was missing from his side, a rare sight. Annalicia knew the healer was still working with the shamans of the merfolk on the wounded. There were still wounds to heal and medical attention to follow up on as well.
"You have a plan for freeing him," she stated without a doubt.
"Yara and I can combine our power to destroy the pillars set to trap the Grimnal and any of his descendants. Once they're destroyed, he can leave and so can any of the others. The people of this island might choose to join society again."
"They have their own society here with the mermen. His village can't really start trade with the outside world without risk of revealing them at the same time. You haven't been given permission to reveal that they are real to the rest of the world, have you?" she asked having heard some of the conversations between the mage and the giant immortal.
He shook his head. "Your people need to be sworn to secrecy also. If we don't, the merfolk will make sure that we don't leave the island either."
Annalicia nodded. "They can't know that someone won't speak of them once they return home, but if no one else backs their story, they will look like a fool. If someone does believe though, the Grimnal's village will be the site of hunters looking for the mythological merfolk."
Sighing at her opinion, Sebastian replied, "We can only do so much. If the sailors aren't trustworthy, I guess that you are right."
His eyes looked past her a moment later and Anna turned to see the silver haired giant approaching with a small contingent of elders from both the village and tribe beneath the waves. The latter dressed in strange clothes made of material capable of surviving beneath the sea. Looking like they wore woven seaweed garments, the merfolk also had slightly larger eyes than normal, the girl thought.
Looking at Gerid, Annalicia felt his power and something else that she couldn't quite quantify. It was a weird feeling of familiarity. She had that feeling from the first time she had met him.
"How does she look, captain?" Gerid asked as he met them at the end of the dock. There was a single pier for the village. Usually just fishing vessels were moored there, but the Sea Dragon and the Carnivore had alternated using the pier at its far end where the water was deep enough for the larger ships to avoid getting stuck.
"Considering everything, the Sea Dragon doesn't look too bad, sir," Delfren replied with a perplexed looking smile for the immortal. He was uncertain how to address the legend. He had been a king and was synonymous with the Southwall king's castle also. Calling him Gerid felt wrong, even if it was his given name. "She survived the battle, but we'll do what repairs we can to make certain that nothing is worse than I think."
"If you need help, let us know. The sea folk can help below the water. They help our fishermen with our ships here also."
The men spoke briefly about the status of the boat and Annalicia listened with half an ear. It seemed more like the men wanted to talk about the boat to be able to speak of what their respective people could do. No one wanted to be talked down to, but in the end they talked about repairs which had little to do with the air wizard.
She had been trained in magic, but this was beyond her wizard schooling. The girl had little practical knowledge of repairs or ships. Before Anna could excuse herself from their talk, Gerid placed a hand on her shoulder to make her turn to walk with him.
"Can I help you, Master Aramathea?" she asked curiously. There were times where the girl thought that he had looked at her in an odd fashion. This seemed like more of that strange interest.
"You are a granddaughter of Darius, if I heard correctly."
"I am," Annalicia nodded. He stood so much taller than her that the girl thought her neck would snap trying to look him in the face from so close.
A moment's pause led him to ask another question, "Has Darius had other children or grandchildren with our gift?"
Confused as to what he meant, she was forced to ask, "What do you mean 'gift'?"
"I have had many children and they have had children adding generations of grandchildren, but none gained the gift of immortality. Has Darius had any children like that? Perhaps with an elf for a mother there have been more."
She shook her head. "There are none that I know of. My father and some of the others didn't even inherit his magical talent. You've met my cousin, Darterian. He and my cousin, Elias, are wizards; so am I, of course, but none of us are immortals."
His look at her seemed a mix of amusement and confusion. "Has Darius ever told you how an immortal is discovered or what traits they seem to share?"
Frowning at the man, the girl looked ahead of her as they slowly walked along the pier towards shore. "Well, he said that most are born with silver blonde hair. Of course, they can be injured, but you hea
l from just about anything too. Beyond that I am not sure that there are any other similarities."
"Some are born with white or silver hair. Mine was diagnosed as an omen from birth, but I have known a few that had more common hair colors. All can heal well, but the one certain shared event we all share is that we should have died.
"Darius may have studied it closer. I'm no wizard. I preferred a sword to all that research. Luckily, my extra gift is that I am resistant to magic and can't use even a trace of it."
"That is lucky?" she asked thinking that her enjoyment of magic would mean that she viewed having magic as a gift. Being unable to touch any of it would have made the girl feel empty, Annalicia thought.
"Well, I didn't have to spend my lifetimes studying all the time," he laughed. "That's lucky for someone like me. If you're like your grandfather, you probably enjoy studying and your magic; but I am better off like I am."
Wondering if there was a point to this talk, Annalicia simply waited for him to speak as they continued their walk.
"Have you ever had a moment where you should have died?" he finally asked.
Frowning at the giant beside her, the girl immediately retorted, "Of course not! Though I have been through a few battles since letting Sebastian and his people came aboard, I never..."
Her steps faltered and her frown deepened.
"You've thought of something?" he asked sounding hopeful, which annoyed Annalicia further.
The problem was that something else nagged at her because of what she had already said. "During the tournament, the final round in fact, I lost to a fire wizard when I lost consciousness. Sebastian came to my rescue. Magnus helped the mage when he feared that I was dying inside of a vortex heated by the fire wizard's countering fire tornado.
"He used magical tubes to funnel the flames inside of my defenses. The fire burned up the air before I could dispel the tornado or find a way out of it. Sebastian managed to lift a lot of water up to the vortex putting out the flames and disrupting my defenses which continued without my conscious thoughts.
The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus Page 30