‘Boys are nothing but trouble, lass,’ Stella warned her, waggling a disapproving finger to emphasise her point. ‘And the purpose of this festival is to have appreciation for a good year in the fields, not for gallivanting with the lads.’
Althea had heard the phrase many times over already. The Hammerfall Festival was not only a celebration of another excellent year of harvest, it was also a celebration of the dwarves’ honouring their ancestors. But she wasn’t a dwarf, so what did it matter what she did there?
There were some thirty or forty vendors – mostly dwarven – at the festival, plus various venues for entertainment: ale tents and food vendors, games of strength, games of chance designed to part the naïve from their silver, bards, and performers.
Althea was sorry to have gone without her father, but the Mana Knights had despatched him yet again. She was used to it, so the pain of his absence wasn’t as fierce as when she was younger, but she had been looking forward to going to the Hammerfall Festival with him. The last time they had gone to a festival together was three years ago. Stella would have to do, she supposed. The dwarf treated her well enough when she wasn’t being over-protective.
Althea sampled the wares of several food vendors while Stella griped about how much better her cooking was. Althea agreed, but continued to hop from one stall to the next, her favourite being the dwarven ‘chocolate ores’. Stella paid for everything and even bought a few chocolate ores for herself when she was sure that Althea wasn’t watching.
It didn’t take long for Althea to run into people she knew. Most were from her school classes. Vaughn, Claudius, and Nacole were there too. They stopped when they saw Althea, but they quickly averted their eyes and shuffled away when they saw that Stella was with her. Nobody dared cross the dwarven housemaid. What she lacked in magic, she made up for in causing a scene, and no sane person wanted that embarrassment. Althea was relieved to see them go, but dreaded encountering them later.
Stella noticed everything. ‘What’s wrong, Thea?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Do you want me to talk to them?’ She rolled up her sleeves.
The thought of Stella confronting Vaughn and his friends appalled Althea. They would never let her forget it. ‘N-no. Please don’t! Let’s just go.’ Although the image itself was rather amusing – like a small hound nipping at the heels of three horses.
She soon forgot about them when she encountered Cassie, who was watching a bard sing and play a lute on a wooden stage. Cassie saw Althea and ran up to hug her, while Stella scowled and said nothing. Althea knew why. Stella had lectured her many times on how bad an influence Cassie was.
Cassie acted very wayward and outlandish compared to the reserved Althea. According to Stella, she caked herself in a layer of makeup that would rival a serving wench at the Pinch and Tickle. The young girl fluttered her eyelashes and unconsciously preened herself when she caught the stares of the other boys, which she tried to do at every given opportunity. Althea’s ribs began to hurt from the suppressed laughter of seeing Stella fume while Cassie flounced about the festival with them.
Finally they arrived at Jace Dubose’s booth, much to Althea’s delight and apprehension. He sold necklaces, rings, kitchen utensils, and pans. At the moment, he was less interested in selling and more interested in talking to Stella, who tried to keep an eye on Althea, but did not want to be rude to Mr. Dubose.
Usually interested in the jewellery, Althea ignored the wares on the table and glanced in Kairos’s direction, instead. He stopped rummaging through the inventory, looked into her eyes and flashed a wide grin.
The exchange did not go unnoticed by Cassie, who made an appreciative croon. ‘Was this the boy you told me about?’
‘Cassie!’ Althea hissed, her face becoming warm from a fierce combination of her friend’s brash comment and Kairos’s intense eyes. ‘H-hi,’ Althea mumbled to him.
‘Hi,’ Kairos said cheerfully. ‘You came!’
‘Yes.’ Althea flushed even further. She couldn’t think of anything to say.
Cassie thought of something for her. ‘Hi, I’m Cassie. Althea’s friend. Nice to meet you.’ She offered her hand, which Kairos looked at, unsure of what to do. ‘You should come with us.’
Kairos cast a quick glance at Mr. Dubose, who shook his head. ‘I can’t now. I’m working.’
‘Oh.’ Althea tried to hide the disappointment in her voice, but failed. Perhaps she had the wrong idea, or got her hopes up for nothing.
Kairos smiled again. ‘I have to work for a bit, but shall we meet later?
‘Yes,’ Althea found herself saying a little too suddenly. ‘I would like that.’
‘Where did you have in mind?’
‘Shall we meet by the bard’s stage in an hour?’ She sounded breathless, as if shocked by the audacity of her own words. She looked back at Stella to see if she had heard, but the dwarf appeared to be looking elsewhere.
Kairos paused, only staring at her. He nodded. ‘I’ll be there,’ he said.
No sooner had he said this than Stella swooped in, spun Althea around and pushed her away from the booth. ‘Althea! What are you doing dawdling with that good-for-nothing boy? I turn my back for a moment and here you are misbehaving. I’ll not have this boy remove your virtue under my watch! Tis not proper, you foolish girl!’
As Althea was whisked away, she looked back at Kairos and mouthed the words, ‘See you there.’
‘Come on,’ Stella snapped. Turning to Cassie, she pointed a finger. ‘And you, as well. Move along. I’m sure you’ve had a hand in this, too.’
Althea looked up at the evening sky and smiled. It was starting to get cool, but she felt very warm. She shared a knowing look with Cassie.
* * *
The Hammerfall Festival was a big event for the dwarves, an entire day of food, fruit and vegetables from the summer harvest (though they were short of star-apples this year), ale, mead, games of chance, competitions, fights, and drunken dwarves vomiting after engaging in all of the above. The dwarves gathered in the field, apart from the Ordonians, and there were arm wrestling matches, competitions in throwing axes, and Kairos’s favourite, sparring with wooden staves where each combatant stood on a platform above a mud pit.
Kairos worked with Mr. Dubose all day, assisting the dwarf with managing the money and supplying the inventory. The dwarf conducted all of the business transactions, since Kairos had little skill in engaging the customers. The one time Mr. Dubose allowed him to try, he inadvertently offended a nobleman and his wife by mentioning how wearing one of Mr. Dubose’s necklaces would complement the greying hair of the nobleman’s wife. Besides that sordid encounter, he had a great, but tiring day, and the dwarf decided to let Kairos off early so the he could enjoy the festivities.
He wanted to partake in some of the games, but he wanted to see Althea more, so he walked to the wooden stage where they agreed to meet. The dwarves formed a half circle around the stage and listened to the performer, supposedly a famous bard from Dvergar, singing songs that spoke of the glory days when Thelos roamed Alban, and how he created the mighty dwarven race destined to rule the mountains and all the land. The crowd listened solemnly. Kairos recognised a few dwarves from Dwarfside: Calev, Alberich (one of them), and Togram. He caught the latter watching him from the crowd, but the large-eared dwarf nodded and walked away upon being spotted.
The next song launched into a light-hearted story of a brothel in Dvergar, and many of the dwarves listened to the song’s rhythm, occasionally repeating a phrase and laughing. Kairos sat a distance away with his back to a tree and waited. He followed the song, initially with rapt interest, but grew bored when the bard continued on with similar lyrics and rhymes.
Some time passed and the sound of the bard’s lute and baritone voice helped soothe his mind, drawing him into the sleep that usually eluded him during the night.
It was night when he awoke to the touch of a hand on his arm. Alarmed and befuddled, he slapped the hand away and spr
ang to his feet, ready to fight. The bard was now singing a song about some glorious battle.
Althea let out a gasp, and fell backwards, sitting down hard onto the grass.
Kairos’s head cleared quickly. ‘I’m sorry,’ he stammered. ‘Are you all right?’ He helped her up.
‘I’m fine,’ she said, examining herself and dusting herself off. She frowned when she discovered grass stains on the white dress. ‘I shouldn’t have startled you.’
‘I wasn’t startled,’ he said, embarrassed, ‘just asleep.’
They both smiled at each other.
‘I wasn’t sure you would come,’ Althea said. Then, in a rush, ‘After you went to live with Mr. Dubose, I haven’t seen you in so long. And after the Badger’s Trial, I wasn’t sure if I would see you again.’ She looked embarrassed as soon as the words left her mouth.
Kairos grinned. ‘Mr. Dubose keeps me extremely busy.’ His expression became serious. ‘Though I thought about leaving on that first night.’
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Where else could I go?’
‘Don’t you have any family?’
‘They are all dead. I had a brother and a father. Malus’s army killed them, and now I am alone.’
Althea reached out and placed her hand over his. Her touch made him breathless. ‘What do you plan to do?’ she asked.
‘I have sworn to avenge them. But first I need to become a Mana Knight, because they’re the only ones fighting Malus.’ Kairos dared not tell her more – about the Einar, about the fact that he may be god-cursed. He did not want to frighten her. ‘What about your family?’ he asked, trying to change the subject.
‘Father has always worked a lot ever since I was born. Mother died when I was little. I was very close to her and sometimes I dream that she’s at home again, showing me a new spell or cooking for me.’ She went silent for a moment, watching the dwarves sing along to the bard’s new song. ‘My father hired Stella, who is like family. So it’s just us now.’
At the mention of Stella’s name, they both looked around.
‘We should take a walk,’ she said. ‘I ran off from Stella when my friend, Cassie, distracted her. She’ll be looking for me here. If she finds me with you, she’ll be furious.’
They traipsed off into the crowd. Dwarves from various booths called out aggressively to them to play their games, offering prizes. ‘Only a silver crown to play!’
‘How ’bout a prize for the lass?’ another cried. ‘It will bring you luck tonight, if you know what I mean!’
Kairos ignored them. Mr. Dubose had told him that most of the games of chance were rigged in favour of the vendor. Still, they looked fun. ‘Where shall we go?’ he asked.
‘Do you want to play a few games?’ Althea asked.
He did, as he felt a need to impress Althea and win her a prize. With the money he earned from today’s work, he tried his hand at throwing axes. One of the prizes was a silver necklace that she said ‘looked pretty.’ He managed to embed the axe into the wooden target two out of three times, just one shy of winning the prize.
‘Not bad, lad,’ the dwarven vendor said, deeply impressed. ‘Especially for a human boy. Care to try again?’
Kairos answered by slamming another silver half-crown onto the table with determination. So much for heeding Mr. Dubose’s warning about not playing these games.
The dwarf took the coin and jerked a thumb towards the wooden board which served as a target. ‘Go grab your axe, then.’
Kairos walked over to the wooden board and stooped to pick up his axe. He found that the axe head was a little loose on the handle – which was probably why he had missed. He looked around and saw another axe lying on the ground and stooped down to pick that one up instead.
Something whirred over him and struck the target with a thud. Kairos stood up in alarm. An axe was embedded into the board behind where his head had been a moment earlier. Someone had almost hit him!
‘No throwing axes without paying!’ the dwarven vendor screamed, scanning the crowd for the culprit.
‘Are you all right?’ Althea asked in a voice full of concern. She was deathly pale.
‘I’m fine.’ Kairos looked into the crowd. He could only see a mass of humans and dwarves. Most shuffled by without even glancing their way. ‘Did you see who threw the axe?’
‘No,’ she answered. ‘It came from behind me.’
The dwarven vendor, obviously not wanting two distraught customers loitering around his booth, handed Kairos the necklace. ‘Here, lad. Just take it and go. It was probably a damn drunk.’
Kairos, with necklace in hand, left the booth with Althea. He scanned his surroundings, but all he found were – as the dwarf termed it – a bunch of ‘damn drunks.’ He led Althea to a secluded area at the edge of the festival, at the foot of one of the many mountainous hills surrounding Vadost, and they sat down on a cold rock.
Kairos placed the silver necklace around Althea’s neck. It had a crescent moon on the chain and was cheaply made, he realised bitterly, cheaper than the silver crowns he had spent to earn it. Mr. Dubose would have griped about the poor quality. Still, Althea beamed as she wore it, and her smile filled him with a pleasant, newfound warmth.
‘Thank you,’ she said, looking into his eyes.
He stared back, watching the reflection of both moons. The image of Farina appeared in his mind. How Althea so much resembled the unfortunate girl! Another sudden rush of guilt flooded his being. More guilt for surviving when the others like Thylar and Farina had not. Somehow, he felt he didn’t deserve all of this.
‘What’s wrong?’ Althea asked worried.
‘I-it’s nothing,’ Kairos said. ‘I’m just… just really glad that I met you.’
Althea smiled and their eyes met again. She moved closer, her hand brushing his, and the proximity made Kairos’s blood hotter, burning away the guilt and sadness.
‘Thea!’ a distant voice rang out. ‘Thea!’
Althea jumped up. Kairos felt a stab of loss as her hand left his.
‘I have to get back home,’ she said. ‘I’ve been gone far too long, and Stella will be furious.’
Kairos didn’t protest. He knew she was right. ‘Where can we meet next time?’
‘I’m not sure. I don’t think Stella will allow you to come to our house.’ She looked back towards the festival where they could both hear the dwarf calling her name. ‘Don’t walk back with me. If she sees you, she’ll only be angrier.’
‘When can I see you again?’ Kairos asked.
Althea paused in thought. ‘Maybe at the Academy. We should have some classes together. If you can wait until then?’
‘That’s a whole month away…’
Stella’s voice rang out in the distance again, this time more urgent and irate.
‘I have to go,’ Althea said hurriedly.
‘Very well then. I’ll see you at the Academy.’
Despite her apparent nervousness at the prospect of Stella’s anger upon her return, Althea leant in quickly to Kairos and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I can’t wait to see you again,’ she whispered, her breath warm against his ear.
Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away as quickly as she could.
Kairos watched her leave. The sway of her hips and the warmth of her kiss made him ache for her.
* * *
Kairos sat alone for some time. For once in his life, he didn’t feel unlucky or cursed. He revelled in the night’s events, replaying the conversations with Althea over and over again in his mind. He especially revisited the memory of her kiss.
The night was getting colder, and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of a nearby tree, carrying the smells of roasting meat from the food vendors. Kairos smiled as he caught the timbre of another bard’s voice, rising through the noise of the festival.
He stood up. It was time to go back and check on Mr. Dubose, maybe even help him pack up the stall. He walked back to the festival grounds, slowing his p
ace and skirting around a couple entwined on a blanket. He pressed on, suppressing a smile, finding a stone path that led directly into the heart of the festival.
As he neared the lights and sounds, he stopped. He thought he heard something behind him. For a moment there was nothing beyond the buzz of the merry-makers at the festival. A pair of lovers groaned in ecstasy somewhere off the path and Kairos was about to move on when he heard something again. It was close. The sound of footsteps on the stone path.
The back of his neck bristled and his body tingled. He peered into the darkness behind him. Another sound. Directly from the direction he came. There was someone skulking nearby.
Kairos turned and faced the unknown adversary, taking a fighting stance. He felt naked without his dagger and newly acquired staff, but Mr. Dubose was adamant about leaving weapons behind at the workshop.
The footsteps drew closer. It was a tall and stocky man. No, a boy. ‘Why are you posturing like that? So eager to fight me, are you?’
It was Vaughn’s voice, slightly slurred by drink. A sliver of moonlight filtered through the trees above and illuminated the wooden tankard in his hand.
Kairos could smell the drink from several paces away. He sighed and turned away. He was still in a good mood from his meeting with Althea and didn’t want to ruin it with this.
‘Where are you going, coward? I have some unfinished business with you!’
Kairos moved away, closer to the festival where the lights were brighter. He could barely see Vaughn here in the shadows. If they were to fight, he wanted to see his hand movements.
‘I’m not a coward, Vaughn,’ Kairos said, edging towards the festival. ‘I don’t want to fight you. You’re drunk. It wouldn’t be a fair fight.’
Vaughn continued approaching. The path became brighter as they neared a magical street lamp, its ambient light revealing Vaughn’s angry face, his eyes shadowed. ‘Fair fight?’ He laughed, staggering. ‘I think you’re just too scared to fight. Now prepare yourself, you git.’
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