by J. M. Kearl
Boaden shakes his head. “We’re not swords for hir--”
“If they stole all your silver, how can you pay?” Madison asks.
The old man’s face lights up. “I buried most of it and only left out small treasures.”
“Madison,” Boaden says sharply.
“We need money to get back to Delhoon,” she says with a tongue just as sharp. They have only a half of a gold chain and a ring that Boaden won’t part with. That is not enough to get them home. They must have more food and may need to pay off some crooked people.
“How many raiders?” Jordane asks. He’s sitting with his bare feet in the water, and Daelyn beside him. She stares into the water seemingly oblivious to the conversation around her.
“Fifteen at most,” he says. “I know it’s a large number and I understand if you don’t want to risk your lives.”
Daelyn turns, drawing back her hood. “I could take down fifteen men by myself. We need the silver.”
The old man’s eyebrows raise high on his forehead. “However would that be possible? These are ruthless killers.”
Daelyn shrugs. “Magic.”
“She won’t have to,” Boaden says looking at Daelyn like he’s confused. “How much?”
The old man totters slowly toward two penned up camels and points his spear to a pile of dung. “No one looks in a pile of shit for treasure. I have a pure silver goblet with green stones in there that will be worth your troubles and will certainly get you home.”
“Where are these raiders?” Madison asks.
“In a small village about a half a day’s ride from here. I can’t say for certain they will be there now but that is where they call home. Bring me the leader’s head and the goblet is yours. You can’t mistake him; he has a large half-moon tattooed on the right side of his face.”
“What’s to stop us from just taking the goblet now?” Madison says with a half-smile. Neither she nor any of her companions would do that to someone who’s lost so much, but it’s tempting.
The old man smiles. “Nothing but my faith in the people of Delhoon.”
“We’ll sleep tonight and then leave to take care of these raiders for you in the morning,” Boaden replies. “May we sleep in one of your tents?”
“Of course,” the man answers. They tie up their horses in the shade and the old man shows them to a vacant tent with five beds. “This was my youngest son’s and his family.. the raiders killed them all, not just my son. His wife tried to fight so they punished them both by killing the children in front of us.”
Madison feels an emptiness in the pit of her stomach looking about the tent. There should be five people in these empty beds. Five innocent souls that were taken too soon. With the anger that now burns inside of her, she’d kill these raiders even without the promise of a reward. Anyone who kills children deserves to die a slow and painful death.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Daelyn says softly.
“We will avenge them,” Madison says and clenches her jaw looking about the tent.
“I am also sorry you have suffered such a great loss,” Boaden says placing a hand on his shoulder. “And we appreciate your hospitality.”
The old man nods with tear-filled eyes, closes the flap of the tent and leaves to let the four of them catch up on some much needed sleep.
9. Boaden
When Boaden wakes, it’s early morning the next day. He peeks out the tent flap; the stars are still shining bright and his breath can be seen on the air. They’ve all been sleeping for at least ten hours. None of them had slept much in days.
He watches Daelyn as she lies peacefully on her bed, snuggled in a blanket. She’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, and the more time he spends with her, the more attractive she becomes. Yet she’s angry with him and he needs to settle it. He should let her sleep but they haven’t had much time alone and he wants to smooth things over without an audience.
Debating for a moment, he nudges her shoulder, and her eyes flutter. “What’s wrong?” She rubs her face that’s a little puffy from sleep.
He holds a finger to his lips. “Nothing,” he whispers.
“Then why did you wake me?”
He takes her hand, grabs a blanket from the bed and leads her out of the tent. So they won’t rouse anyone, he leads her away from the shelters. As they walk, he drapes the blanket around her shoulders. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“About?” she asks flatly.
The constant pull he feels for her is there even when he wonders why this woman he loves so much has to be this stubborn. “I know you’re angry with me.”
She lets out a long breath. “What gave you that idea?”
He chuckles at her sarcasm. “I don’t want you to be mad at me anymore. I don’t like it.”
Daelyn glares.
Those blue eyes could cut straight through a man.
“You can’t go around killing people.”
Boaden clenches his jaw to keep from saying what he truly wants to; Yes I can, and I will. But he knows that she’ll be more cross with him. So instead, he says, “You don’t know that side of me or our kingdom very well, so let me explain. I’m not an ill-tempered man but I won’t let some piece of shit grab you and hold a knife to your side. We didn’t become some of the fiercest warriors in all the lands by being gentle and passive.”
“Yes, but you can show restraint. He dropped his dagger and let me go. He surrendered,” Daelyn says.
“He held a knife to you, Daelyn,” Boaden says not understanding why she doesn’t see what he sees. “He wanted to take you, for money but for more than that too.”
“He surrendered!”
Boaden throws his arms up in frustration. “You’re not cursed with being able to know the feelings of others and at times I can see in my mind what they feel and what he wanted to do to you is not something I can let go. So yes, he did deserved to die.”
“But it was a feeling,” Daelyn says.
Boaden rolls his eyes. “You don’t understand how this world works. You’ve been sheltered for your entire life thinking everything is simple and it’s not.”
Daelyn scoffs. “Was it simple when my father was taken from me? Was it so simple when my mother hit me all the time? When I was forced to pretend to want to marry the Prince of Hesstia? No, I do not think everything is simple, but one thing I know is simple and that is people should not be killed when they surrender.”
“Wow,” Boaden says shaking his head. “I’m just a horrible person, aren’t I?”
“I didn’t say that.” Daelyn folds her arms and looks away. “Promise you won’t kill any more men for having bad feelings towards me. You’ve already done it twice.”
“So you’re going to hold that scumbag from the Moonkissed Wood against me now, too?” Boaden can hardly believe what she is saying. He’d killed that black bearded fool to save her life. To save both of their lives.
“I’m not holding anything against you,” Daelyn says, letting her arms fall to her sides. “I just don’t want you to kill people unless it is necessary.”
“Black Beard’s death was necessary. Trust me.” Boaden knew what that man back in Hesstia had in mind for Daelyn. “I would have thought you’d be happy that I want to protect you. Grateful even. I’ve saved your life more than once. Saved your parents. If I was a different man, a less brutal man, I couldn’t have done it.” Boaden isn’t going to let this one go and he won’t promise anything even though he realizes it was brash to kill the Nordian guard after he surrendered. Maybe smacking him around a bit and tying him up would have been better, but it also would have taken more time.
Daelyn is silent and turns her head just so that the light of the moon shines on her face. Her eyes begin to glow and it catches him by surprise yet again. She’d described to him when they’d first met that his eyes did the same thing. But she doesn’t know about the legend that he does. When one sees the glow of the eyes under moonlight it’s a sign of the magical soul r
ecognizing its mate. Maybe he hadn’t seen this before because her magic had been bound. It scares him a little to believe that she is his soul mate. Someone he is destined to be with, but it would explain why he is so drawn to her. That or the damn love spell she has over her still, in the back of his mind it still bothers him that maybe, it has swayed his behavior. He was willing to disobey orders for her and he doesn’t know if that was his choice or the spell’s.
“Your eyes are glowing,” he says quietly.
Daelyn turns to him putting the moon behind her and the glow fades. “What?” she asks in disbelief.
“Well they’re not now but they were just a moment ago when the moon shone on them.”
Daelyn turns back to the moon and looks up at it. “Your eyes always glow in the light of the moon but you’ve never said that to me before.”
“I think its because your magic was bound,” Boaden says. “And now it’s not.”
“I haven’t seen my mothers or father eye’s glow and my magic has been unbound for a few weeks. So what does it mean?”
“It’s been cloudy or we’ve been indoors during that time.” Boaden turns her body towards him. Nervous butterflies tumble around his abdomen. If he tells her what he’s thinking, will she laugh? What if… what if she doesn’t want to be his soul’s perfect match? “Legend says…” he stops and stares at her.
“Says?” she chides.
“It’s because we’re soulmates. That only you and I can see this trait in each other.”
Daelyn purses her lips trying to hold back a smile but then grins showing her beautiful white teeth. Relief waves over him. He was hoping for a reaction like that.
“So you’ve never seen this in another woman?”
“Never.” Boaden takes her hands. “I love you, Daelyn.”
Daelyn wraps her hands around his neck and jumps and he catches her by the bottom. She wraps her legs around his waist and then kisses him hard on the lips.
Boaden’s lips move to her neck which makes her giggle.
“That tickles,” she laughs.
He slowly lowers her to the ground and they lay on top of the blanket facing each other. He traces the curve of her hip with his fingers slowly along her waist and up the back of her arm, which brings chill bumps to her skin. Ever since he met her that day, he can’t imagine his life without her. How could he have ever guessed he’d find the woman he truly loves, his soul mate in the enemy kingdom? It definitely caught him off guard.
Daelyn’s eyes stare into his, and he swallows hard at the realization of what she is now feeling. Her lips part, and the silence hangs in the air. “I want to… be with you,” Daelyn says softly.
Boaden smiles, he knows what she means by the longing radiating off her but he plays with her hair and acts aloof. “I am with you. Always.”
“I mean—” she sits up and looks around making sure that no one is near. They walked a good distance from the tents and put a cluster of trees between them and the others, so slowly she lifts her shirt over her head revealing her naked body.
Boaden’s heart races faster than it ever had in any fight. Feeling her desire for him didn’t prepare him to see her like this moments later. He takes in the sight of all her bare golden skin, and her round, full breasts. The urge to take them in his hands is one he fights back. His eyes move down to her soft, curvy waist and hips then back to her face.
“You’re staring,” she says with a shy smile.
“I’m admiring you.” He swallows and tries to steady his breath. This time he won’t hold back. He sits up and takes his shirt off, his body eagerly yearning for her. “I should have brought another blanket. It’s cold.” He wraps his long sleeve shirt around her shoulders to cover her back but leaves her front open to him then he pulls her close. He’s wanted her for so long. Stopping himself the last time she wanted him was torture, something he won’t put himself or her through again. He’s thought about this moment more than he’d ever admit and now he finally has her.
Making love to her was indescribable. He didn’t believe it was possible to feel so euphoric. The one other woman he’d been with pleasured him but he never loved her. Daelyn changed everything, the sounds she made, the way her body reacted to his; it was like nothing else in the world, an elation that he can’t explain when their two souls came together as one.
Daelyn trembles slightly. “Are you cold?” he asks pulling the blanket up around them. It’s just large enough to lay on and cover the majority of their bodies if she’s laying on top of him.
“A little,” she says and kisses his lips softly. “I’ve never felt anything like that. Had I known what I was missing out on I’d have made love to you sooner.”
“I have the rest of my life to make you feel that way.” Boaden presses his mouth lightly to the supple skin of her shoulder.
Daelyn runs her fingers through his hair. “We should sneak away like this every night.”
“If we can find the time alone, I’m all for it.”
Daelyn sits back with her legs straddling him. The shirt she’d been wearing is just out of reach for her. Boaden grabs it and plays keep away.
“Give me my shirt,” she says with a giggle. “The sun will be up soon and everyone will be waking if they haven’t already.”
I want to look at your flawless body just a moment longer. “Yes but just lay with me because they’re not awake yet.” He tugs on the golden hair falling in front of her and she lays her head against his chest.
Her fingers slide across the three scars on his abdomen. “Why do you have these scars? Magic would have healed these without scarring.”
Boaden puts his hands behind his head and stares up at the fading stars. “To remind me that I’m not invincible. Before I was attacked by the brockendae beast, I thought nothing could hurt me because I was so good at everything.”
Daelyn kisses the three thick white lines. “I’m surprised they let you. You could have died from these.”
“My teachers and the healers were against it and we did use some minor healing salve and tonic to make sure I didn’t get infection.”
“At least you were smart enough to do that. I can’t imagine my life without you now.” They’re both quiet for a few moments. “I love you, Boaden,” she says. “I realized I never said it before. I love you.”
10. Jordane
Jordane sits up in the cot he’d be given for the night. Sleep crusts have formed around his eyes, he wipes what he can and yawns. That’s the best night sleep he’d had in ten years. It wasn't the bed, that helped, it’s that Madison was right next to him. Though the coolness within the tent combined with the warmth of the blanket feels like heaven.
Madison is watching him from her cot. It almost startles him every time he sees her, as though maybe this is all but a dream and she’ll suddenly fade away. It had happened so many times while he was in prison.
“Did you sleep well?” she asks and pushes a stray lock of hair out of her face.
“I did,” he replies and reaches his arms toward the sky to stretch. He has newfound strength with more food and the return of his magic but he still has the ache from prolonged idleness in his muscles, and his right leg pains him a little. He’d broken a shin bone while fighting in Lanloc; his last battle. They’d set his leg and bound it, but without proper nutrition and care, his leg never healed quite right. The prison guards didn’t think he’d be able to fight anymore with his leg so he was no longer their entertainment but since he’d been there for over a year when it happened, the guards decided he deserved to live. That was their rule after all, so when his leg healed enough to walk on, he went to work the mines.
“Is there anything to eat?” Jordane asks.
Ever since he’d eaten so much it made him sick, he gradually increased his meal sizes but he thinks about food all the time. Maybe that urge is a primal desire since he’d been deprived for so long but he also wants to get his size back, and not be a skinny, weak man.
“I haven’t
left the tent yet,” she replies and props herself up on her arm. “We have some fruit, nuts and dried meat but perhaps these people will have something fresh. I noticed they have chickens. I’d love a couple eggs.”
Jordane’s mouth begins to water at the thought of fresh eggs cracked over a hot cast iron skillet. He can even hear the sizzle and crackling of it in his mind. Madison slips out of her blankets, wearing a loose gray tunic that reaches mid-thigh. Lust stirs inside of him but the strength and will just isn’t there now. He’s tired, hungry and those needs seem to trump sex. Would she even want to lie with me? It’s been so long, and I’m not the attractive man I used to be, but she’s as beautiful as ever. Now that he’s thinking about it, he isn’t even sure his body will do what he wants, given how weak he is.
She combs her fingers through her long golden hair and smiles at him. “What is it?”
Now it’s shyness that holds him back... “I missed you, and I’m just enjoying the sight of my beautiful wife.”
“And I missed you.” She braids her hair and then slides her pants on. “Jordane…” Madison stills in the silence and watches him. “We haven’t had much time to talk. Everything has gone by so fast, and with me almost dying… How are you? I want to know what you went through.”
How does one respond to a question that covers ten years of heartache and sorrow. “I’m—” his mouth suddenly feels dry like he can’t speak. “I don’t really want to talk about that. Let’s go eat, and instead discuss the future.”
Madison arches an eyebrow but shuffles out of the tent without another word. Jordane dresses himself and walks into the bright sunlight, shielding his eyes momentarily. The small children are playing in the water already and the four women are washing clothes in buckets. The old man, whom he still doesn’t know the name of, is leaning on his spear watching Daelyn and Boaden feed the animals.