The Wicked House of Caroline

If Lucian didn’t have his hand on her head, she would’ve flung herself across from them. Her body tensed as an embarrassed flush rushed through her. While Laurence had mentioned changing her engagement partner to one of the twins, and that one time to both of them when he was furious at Luther, it was awkward for her engagement partner, or partners, to confirm it so casually.

Beks closed her eyes and took a deep breath, refocusing her thoughts on the legality of the matter. Even as a noble, a marriage to more than one partner was not acknowledged by the kingdom. Only the ruling monarch could have two spouses, and even then, it had been for practical and political purposes.

There were entire books on protocol for a Spouse of Convenience and a Spouse of Choice. Beks never thought she’d need to refer to anything she read regarding them, as Laurence had no plans to marry anyone else, and she couldn’t even if she wanted to.

For many who married strictly for political or economic reasons, there were often other partners, but they had no legal status nor did any children they had have inheritance rights. With this in mind, she calmed down and reiterated the matter to the twins.

“I’m not allowed to marry more than one person at the same time.” Laurence would decide who to offer up to be her husband. Let him take the burden of deciding; he was the king. That was what he was there for.

“Then which of us do you want to marry?” Laz asked. “Brother Laurence will take your wishes into consideration.” She could make out the teasing tone in his voice and resisted the urge to scrunch her face, annoyed.

“Brother Laurence will decide.”

“You’re the one who will have to spend your entire life with one of us,” Lucian said as he stroked her hair back. “You should have a say. What if you regret who you marry?”

She answered with a small scoff before she could stop herself. Beks was confident. The twins were good to her then, they were good to her now, and every fiber of her being told her that they would be good to her in the future. “I would not regret marrying either of you.”

Lucian’s stroking paused for a moment. She refused to open her eyes and see their expression. “We feel the same,” he answered from above her.

“Beks, we know you had a very strict education with a very clear purpose to become a resource for the kingdom,” Laz said from the floor. “It has been engrained into you to do everything for the kingdom. All your choices, whether you want them or not, are for the kingdom. Twenty years raised with such a mindset won’t disappear because of the circumstances that forced you here. If anything, you see Luther, his father, and that new oracle as problems that need to be resolved for the sake of the kingdom. Am I right?”

Her chest rose and fell as a tightness constricted her. She brought her lips inward and bit them as her hands clenched.

Laz was right. It was not the kingdom that turned on her and her family. It was not the kingdom that wanted them dead. It likely wasn’t the kingdom that forced Laz and Lucian there, either. It was the Third Consort, Luther, and the new oracle. They were a tumor in the kingdom that needed to be forcibly removed.

And why? For her revenge? To avenge her family?

Those were reasons she’d admit to, but the main reason, the one that lingered with her the longest and she was most passionate about, was that they had to be removed for the sake of the kingdom.

Laz was right. Twenty years really engrained a belief that the kingdom must come first.

It was why she had no qualms with a political engagement and subsequent marriage to someone Laurence approved of, as well.

The thought made her frown. If Laurence didn’t want to engage her to the twins, then would she be so willing? Would she have no regrets? The thought never crossed her mind. Her heart sank when she didn’t have an answer.

“Luther doesn’t know how to run a kingdom and he will likely become dependent on other parties,” Beks replied to Laz’s question. “The Third Consort has always liked power and status; it is too easy for both of them to become corrupted.”

“And the new oracle?” Lucian asked.

“I don’t trust her.”

“I can’t blame you,” Laz said. “She did have an affair with your fiancé.”

“Ex-fiancé,” Beks replied in a firm voice, as if to remind him. “I would have too much to lose if I married him.”

“More than you lost now?” Laz asked.

“I didn’t lose anything. I temporarily conceded in order to realign my goals with a different strategy,” Beks replied. She believed her family was alive and though they had no power or influence at the moment, it wasn’t a permanent state. “I don’t regret breaking the engagement.”

Laz chuckled. “We don’t regret you breaking the engagement either.” His voice was low and melodic, still laced with amusement and teasing. “Who knew that a wife would just fall into my arms.”

“Of course, we won’t force you. If you don’t want to, Brother Laurence won’t force you either,” Lucian told her in a comforting voice. “We will respect your decision.”

Beks swallowed. “I trust you.”

“And we trust you,” Lucian said. His cool palm rested over her closed eyes. “But go to sleep.”

How am I supposed to sleep after you tell me that I’m going to marry two attractive men who cook for me, do my laundry, and take care of me so I don’t collapse due to exhaustion in a dark room? Bek wanted to complain, but saying it out loud would only encourage them.

“Laz.” Beneath her head, Lucian tensed once more and his voice became urgent. “Laz, your stomach.”

Her eyes flew open and she turned her head, pulling away from beneath Lucian’s hand. Laz was sitting up, looking down at the cloth wrapped around his stomach. He had removed his shirt and was using it as a pillow, revealing the stained strips of cloth. The morning light filled the rotunda and he couldn’t hide the faint spots of dark markings appearing on the cloth.

“I must’ve cracked the scab when I picked up Beks.” Laz sounded so blasé about the bleeding that Beks almost yelled at him.

She swung her legs over the edge of the ledge. “Do you have any more clean bandages? Take those off to see how bad it is.”

To her frustration, Laz looked up at her with smiling eyes and chuckled. “It’s all right, Beks. It’s just a little blood.”

Does this man take his life seriously at all? The corner of her eye twitched and beside her, Lucian stood up.

“Take off the bandages and get into the pool,” he said. “The bihar-rich water will clean any new wounds and facilitate faster healing.”

Laz rose to his feet, his hands unwrapping the bandage around his torso as he walked towards the pool in the center of the rotunda. Beks also stood up and followed, concerned. Laz chuckled as she hovered around him.

“It’s just a small crack in the scabbing. Hardly anything to worry about,” he told her. The last layer of bandage fell and Beks let out a low hiss as she saw the blood gathering along thin cracks over the dark, healing scab.

Her eyes crinkled up. “This is why I told you not to carry me!”

Laz pooled the length of used bandage on the ground, next to the edge of the pool. “You were less likely to struggle with me.”

She grit her teeth. “That doesn't mean you should’ve exerted yourself.”

“All right, next time, Lucian will carry you.”

“It’s my turn next, anyway,” his brother replied.

“Then it all works out.”

“Why are you so calm about this?” Beks looked pained as Laz’s good hand slipped to the waist of his pants. He glanced at her and grinned.

“I’m going to take off my pants.” She sucked in a sharp breath and turned around, covering her eyes. She heard him chuckle behind her and then the sound of water splashing as he slipped into the pool. “All right, you can look now.”

She held back an irritated groan and turned around. Laz was waist deep in the water. He looked up at her with a cheeky smile and she scowled. “Take your wounds seriously.”

“I am. I need to be calm when I’m hurt,” he told her. “Panic will only make things worse.”

“We’re lucky that the water on the island is incredibly bihar-rich,” Lucian said as he knelt down by the edge of the pool. “On the mainland, we’d need clerics to facilitate healing by forcing biha on to a patient, as there the environment has insufficient bihar to be absorbed and make any difference.”

Beks couldn’t help but kneel next to the pool as well. She stared at the clear water as Laz sat down and leaned back. He closed his eyes and evened his breathing.

“Do you feel it working?” she asked.

“There is a slight tingling, but it’s hardly noticeable for the most part,” Laz replied.

“Beks, can you sense the movement of the bihar in the water?” Lucian asked. “With your biha well, you should be able to sense the movement of the energy and the density of the bihar.”

She furrowed her brows and wanted to shake her head, but she hadn’t done anything to try. Uncertain, she bent forward and put her hand in the cool water. As always, there was something soothing about the water in the pool. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Close your eyes and relax,” Lucian said in a slow, calm voice. “Take a deep breath and when you exhale, relax your body, as if releasing tension.” His instructions were almost hypnotic as she followed them.

The muscles in her upper body relaxed as she released out a low, steady breath. As she took a deep breath and her body contracted, she felt something against her hand. She furrowed her brows, and exhaled and inhaled once more. Every time she took a deep breath, her hand began to feel a tingle, as if her skin were breathing in.

When she exhaled, the tingling stopped, but she could feel something leaving her.

“Beks.” Laz’s voice was low. “Take a deep breath and exhale again. Try to release whatever tension you have through your left hand.”

Beks inhaled once more, but didn’t know how to ‘release tension’ through one hand. She imagined her body tightening and then relaxing from the top down to her hand.

She heard a slight splash and then the water lapped against her arm, wetting her sleeve. She opened her eyes and saw Laz staring at the water with an intense look on his face. “What’s wrong?” She prepared to pull out her hand, but Laz stopped her.

“Do it again,” he said. She repeated her action and Laz looked at his brother. “Put your hand in.”

Lucian rolled up his sleeve and bent forward, dunking his entire forearm into the water next to his brother without question. Beks exhaled once more, feeling as if something was rushing out of her left hand. This time, the sensation was clearer, as if she knew what she was looking for.

“Is that from her?” Lucian’s cry was startled as he snapped his head up and looked at Beks on his brother’s other side. “Did you feel that?”

“The concentration is even heavier than the bihar in the water,” Laz replied with wide eyes. “That’s pure biha coming out of Beks.”

Lucian pulled his hand out of the water and shook it before staring at it. “My hand is still tingling....” He let out a small laugh. “Amazing...I’ve never felt anything like it!” He looked at Beks with awe. “And this is when you’re restrained. No wonder the night I found you, the bihar around you was so powerful, it pushed me back.”

“How big is your biha well?” Laz said as he turned to look at her.

She didn’t know and could only sit there, uncertain. “How do you find out how large it is?”

“The larger the biha well, the stronger your biha skills are and the longer you can use them. The only way to know is to continuously use them and find out how strong and how long you can,” Laz told her.

“In some cases, a biha user is only able to light a small fire and then will need an entire afternoon to regain the biha used in their well,” Lucian explained. “Brother Laurence is this case.”

“Master users, like your brother and father, are infamous for their strength and endurance using biha. Practically everyone in the Legion is envious,” Laz replied. “Fire biha is the most prevalent biha ability, but I heard your father can even do distanced ignition.” He couldn’t help but seem to look impressed.

Distanced ignition was the ability to start a fire by sight. Her father could also stifle and put out a fire the same way. When she was a child and he’d put her to bed, the Duke would put out all the candles in her room at once when he left, though would still leave the hearth lit.

Deo could not do distanced ignition, at least that she knew of yet, but he could do ‘invisible fire’, which their father said was even rarer. Though the radius for use was far smaller than distanced ignition, invisible fire could create the effects of a fire without a flame. It was the far more advanced version of a fire biha variant that controlled localized temperature.

“In order for your brother and father to have such strong biha, they need a large biha well to collect and condense their biha. It’s so large, that I’ve yet to have heard of them having run out,” Laz told her.

“It may also be that His Grace and Lord Amadeo are skilled enough that they don’t need to use their biha for a prolonged period of time. They’re able to end their battles before they can use up their stored biha,” Lucian added. Laz gave him a nod in acknowledgement. “It wouldn’t be surprising if Beks had just as large biha well.”

“But we won’t know until I use it up?” Beks asked. The twins nodded and she frowned. That wasn’t very efficient.

“We can assess this later,” Lucian said. “I think she’s put enough biha into the water. Beks, you should rest.”

“Since we’re already here, I should just continue,” Beks told them. She was a bit curious as to the size of her biha well.

“Some other time,” Laz told her in a firm voice. “You should sleep. I won’t be in the pool for long.”

She opened her mouth, but Lucian was already at her side, helping her up. “Go to sleep. We can push the limits of your biha well later, after you’ve rested.”

“You can’t expect me to sleep now that I’ve discovered I can release biha!” Beks said, even as she was turned around and gently led back to her sleeping mats. “It’s already daylight! I can sleep tonight!”

“Is it too bright for you to sleep?” Laz asked from the pool.

“Cover your eyes with my robe,” Lucian told her.

“The light will penetrate the fabric. Also, it is uncomfortable considering the heat,” Beks told them as she lifted her chin.

She heard Laz let out a heavy sigh and suddenly, the rotunda that was bathed in the light of the morning sun grew dark. Beks stopped where she was and looked around. The space between the pillars had gone dark. Not as dark as it was at night, as she could still see Snowflake curled up outside, but it was as if a curtain had been draped over the rotunda.

“Not dark enough?” Laz asked. A moment later, Snowflake’s glimmering white body seemed to disappear into the night. “How’s that?”

Beks stood in place, her eyes crinkled up with confusion and mild frustration as she looked at the darkened spaces between the pillars. The light pearls in the sconces hadn’t illuminated, either.

“Shadow biha is the rarest of the biha abilities,” Lucian said. “Laz isn’t as strong as your father, but he can at least do this to make you more comfortable.”

“Go to sleep,” Laz said, his back to them as he leaned against the side of the pool. “The sooner you sleep, the sooner you can wake up and go back to your work.”

She was resigned to her fate. Beks lumbered back to her ledge and laid down on the layers of mats. She closed her eyes, thinking she’d simply rest instead of get actual sleep.

It surprised her to open her eyes and realize that she’d lost consciousness. Her brows furrowed. She hadn’t realized she fell asleep.

Beks turned her head to the side and found that the rotunda was still dark. She couldn’t tell if it was day or night. She rolled on to her side and pushed herself into a seated position. It was humid as always and she felt a bit sticky. Usually, she’d bathe before she slept, but lately, she’d been so absorbed in decoding High Berup that she didn’t bathe as often.

Frowning, she lifted her arm to her nose.

Her face twisted with disgust. Laz really must’ve been worried to have carried her on his shoulder when she smelled much too ripe for her taste. Given the circumstances and lack of bathing products, she’d forgive a slight natural odor, but she didn’t want to smell like Lady Eleanor’s leather padding after a day of sword.

“Laz? Lucian?” She called their names and waited, but no one answered. She suspected that they were cooking or gathering supplies, respectively. Jonas and Gerard never came to the rotunda, as it was considered her private quarters.

She stretched her arms over her head and stood up. The space between the pillars was still dark and she approached, stopping in front of one of the spaces. The closer she got, the more she could see through the darkness, but it was no more how much she saw if she looked outside at night.

Glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching, she then extended her arm and slowly moved it forward.

Beks furrowed her brows, unsure what she expected, but was confused. There was nothing between the pillars. No barrier caused by the darkness. Not even tingling from biha. Her arm went through without a problem and from where she stood, it merely looked as if she’d stuck her hand outside at night.

For a moment, she wondered if she’d slept through the day and woken up at night.

She walked out between the pillars and immediately lifted her arms to shield her eyes from the late afternoon sun. “What-”

“Beks, are you awake?”

Her eyes were squinted, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness as she turned her head towards the voice. While they were identical twins, their voices were slightly different. How they spoke also differed, so from their speech, she could tell if it was Laz or Lucian. This had always been the case, even when they were children and before they were sent off to have vastly different educations.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked as she stood in place.

Laz stood up from the ground, where he was surrounded by the two rokh chicks. “All day. Your sleep schedule will be off if you stay awake through the night, so after dinner, try to get some rest again.”

Beks frown. “I’ve already wasted a day.”

“It’s not a waste if your body uses it to recover,” he told her as he walked towards her and looked her up and down. “How do you feel? Are you hungry?”

Her other hand rose to her stomach. “Yes.”

“Okay, do you want to come to the kitchen or eat in the rotunda?” he asked.

She wanted to go to the kitchen, but then remembered that she hadn’t bathed yet. She took a small step back. “Is the food ready? I’ll go to the kitchen, but I want to wash up first.”

He gave her an approving nod. “All right. I’ll bring the chicks back and warm up the food.” He looked behind her and raised his left arm, sweeping his hand across the air. Beks turned around and watched as the dark shadows between the pillars disappeared. “Lucian is trying his hand at decoding High Berup from Classic Esuser in the office below. You can discuss it with him when he comes up for dinner.”

She nodded her head once. “All right.” That made her feel somewhat better.

Laz tilted his head and looked at her with a smile. “You’re surprisingly obedient today.”

Beks shot him a glare. “Once I'm well-rested, I’ll return to the office to continue.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t try to stop me.”

“As long as you don’t cause yourself harm, I won’t.” Laz kept a slight grin on his face and Beks narrowed her eyes. She backed away and returned to the rotunda. “You can leave now.”

He chuckled and turned around, picking up Wisp with his good arm before leading Cloud away. The chicks were losing their fluff and Beks couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. She turned around and climbed up the steps to the pool.

Exile from Kadmus felt like such a fresh memory to her, she couldn’t believe three months had passed. She paused as she looked back out at the horizon as her chest tightened. Was her family all right?

╔═════════════════ ∘◦ ♔ ◦∘ ═════════════════╗

“My lord, are you all right?” Lloyd’s panicked voice rose as Deo dove back into the cave where they were hiding, and slid back on the loose gravel, slamming his back against the cave wall.

Deo clenched his jaw and let out a low hiss as he wondered how Lloyd made it as a royal guard when he would run around like a chicken with his head cut off if he wasn’t given clear and specific orders. He let out a low breath and spoke between gritted teeth.

“I’m fine.” The initial pain of impact would fade.

Lloyd looked back out at the cave and narrowed his eyes. “I thought they said that this back trail wasn’t disputed.”

“Clearly, it is disputed now,” Deo replied. Lloyd looked at him, confused. Deo gave him a deadpan look. “The warring states here are always fighting over territory. Just because one group claims that a portion of the land is theirs and it is undisputed doesn’t mean the other groups acknowledge that claim.”

Lloyd’s face fell. “So not only do we have to avoid ice beasts, but we have to avoid the warring states? I thought they’d leave us alone as we’re not part of any faction.”

“They have no way of knowing that when they first see us,” Deo said as he peered through the cave opening. He narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t know things got so bad here that they’d attack anyone they didn’t recognize. No wonder we haven’t run into any merchants once we reached the mountains.”

Deo was certain if it weren’t for his fire biha, albeit greatly limited, they wouldn’t even have made it to the base of the Giant’s Ridge mountains. In Kadmus, it was approaching late summer, early fall, but in the north, the cold weather came earlier. Much earlier.

Even if there was a break in the snow and clouds, the temperature didn’t rise much. If there was too much snow, Deo would force them to camp. His time at the Northern Pass gave him enough survival experience for the climate and his biha was still strong enough to warm a space ten paces from him.

At the last village they reached before they began up a path that would round the southern tip of the mountain range, they sold the horses they’d brought with them. Deo wasn’t sure what the terrain was and didn’t want to force an animal to its death if the path became too precarious.

In addition, the three warring states in the region could target them for the animals. He didn’t want to deal with such trouble. It was unfortunate that the states of Brekram, Dranga, and Salgul did not agree.

“Did they see you come in?” Lloyd asked, lowering his voice.

Deo took a deep breath. They’d been hiding in that cave for three days after nearly being caught in a skirmish between Brekram and Salgul. While each state claimed land, Deo didn’t know where the territorial boundaries were. If he did, he’d avoid them, but the three states overlapped and were more aggressive than he thought.

The trail they were on was supposed to be considered ‘safe’ and well within the Brekram territory according to some Brekram hunters they passed before they entered the valley.

“I don’t think they saw me, but let’s stay here until night,” Deo said in a low voice as he crouched down and gave Lloyd a small, apologetic look. “I’m afraid I didn’t bring back anything to eat.”

Lloyd shook his head. “Considering the trouble out there, it’s good you came back at all.”

Deo sank down to the floor against the wall. The cave was small with a narrow opening. It was safer to say that it was just a space between two large, fallen boulders, but it was enough for the two of them to comfortably rest. Since it was the first decent shelter they’d found, the plan was to rest there for a few days, gather some food to bring with them, and then continue on.

On the second day, a party of Salgulan men passed through. Deo had waited for them to leave before sneaking out to forage, but what he assumed was a Brekram patrol saw the Salgulans and rather than stop and arrest them, they attacked. Since a scuffle happened, the area was now crawling with both parties, leaving him and Lloyd trying to figure out a way to leave.

“Patrols will likely thin out at night. We’ll leave then and go south.”

“But we’re in the valley now,” Lloyd replied as his eyes widened. “If we go south, we’d hit the mountains. Even if there isn’t as much snow and they’re not as high as the rest of the ridge, there are no known paths. We don’t have the tools to transverse it ourselves.”

If it weren’t for the warring states, the safest route through the region would be in a west to east, curved path that followed the base of the shortest mountains at the southern end of the valley. Because they weren’t too tall, resources like food and water could be gathered on the way for a longer window of time. It wasn’t as cold, either, even in the winters, and ice beasts didn’t come down that far south.

At most, there were a few predatory animals, but they tended to avoid humans unless they were desperate. There was also farmable land at the foot of those low mountains. The climate was temperate for a long enough part of the year to farm. This is what the three states were fighting over.

Deo narrowed his eyes. “Did you see any farms once we entered the valley?”

Lloyd furrowed his brows and then shook his head. “No...there was quite a bit of cleared land, but I didn’t see farms or homesteads. Perhaps it’s too late in the season? You said the cold comes early in the north.”

“But the farming areas are an exception. It’s a rare pocket of land that has a climate suitable for farming, so at this point, we should still see evidence of farms,” Deo replied. His eyes rose and met Lloyd’s. “If there aren’t any, it means that the fight has gotten so bad that a single group can’t take it for long enough to farm.”

“That’s not good, is it?”

“We need to get off this route.” Deo muttered as he looked at the ground. “The area is too volatile. We’ll be caught-”

His voice was cut off as a spear sliced between the gap of the two boulders and impaled itself on the ground between Deo and Lloyd. The two men froze in their spaces as they stared at the spear still swaying between them.

From the entrance, they heard yelling. Multiple voices talking and then went quiet before someone seemed to take control and yelled into the cave.

Deo narrowed his eyes and frowned. While he could identify the language, he wasn’t fluent, and had no idea what they were saying. Lloyd looked at him with frantic eyes and Deo raised a hand to calm him.

“I speak Jasper!” He wasn’t fluent, but he could at least say Kadmus’ common language in multiple languages.

The voices above seemed to grow more excited and Lloyd glanced from the entrance to Deo and back. “What are they saying?”

“I don’t know, I can’t understand. This should be Higer, the language in the area,” Deo replied in a low voice. “But I only know a few words.”

“Who are you?” His heart calmed as he heard an accented voice call down in Jasper.

He slowed his words to reply. “We are from Kadmus. We are trying to go to the High Desert.”

More chattering came from above. “Come out!” The decisive voice ordered from the entrance. The spear was pulled out of the ground with a tug of a leather cord attached to the end. Deo watched it be dragged out before looking at Lloyd.

“No sudden movements, keep your arms out in front of you, so they see we’re not armed.”

“But we are armed.”

“Don’t touch your sword.” Deo gave him a firm look and rose to his feet. “Stay behind me.” He saw Lloyd nod before he walked towards the narrow entrance. He grabbed the rock ledge and pulled himself up. He made a point to be slow even as the crowd of people surrounded them.

As he rose to his feet, he held his palms out and stood in place, following his own instructions, and making no sudden moves. His face remained as neutral as possible as his eyes swept across the half dozen women and three men in animal pelts over woven, striped cloth. Heavy leather boots were lined with animal fur and they had swords and spears.

Lloyd climbed out after him and let out a sharp breath as he saw the near dozen people surrounding them with weapons drawn.

“My lord....” he whispered as he held up his arms. “Who are they?”

“Dranga, I think,” Deo replied. He tried to meet the gaze of the person who seemed to stand at the front of the group; a tall, pale middle-aged woman with dark hair.

“What are you doing here?” Before he could ask any questions or introduce himself, the woman spoke, narrowing her eyes as her gaze bore into Deo as if waiting for him to lie.

“We are trying to find my father,” Deo said in measured words. “He is in the High Desert and we must pass.”

“Can you let us pass?” Lloyd asked eagerly. Deo shot him an annoyed look from the corner of his eye.

“You are from Kadmus?” the woman asked, raising a brow.

Deo nodded once. “From the north. It is fastest to go through this valley.” At least, it was when he couldn’t return to Kadmus.

“It is dangerous here. Go back,” the woman said in a low voice.

Deo frowned. “The High Desert is on the other side of the mountains.”

“The east is taken by Salgul. They will not let you pass,” the woman said.

“There are no caravans that have passed through here since Salgul sealed the eastern routes.” A younger woman gripped the spear in her hand and scowled. “They will not let foreigners pass.”

Lloyd looked at Deo. “Then...how will we get to the High Desert?”

“Can we climb through the southern mountains?”

The older woman frowned. “I do not recommend going through the south mountains,” she told them in a low voice.

Deo frowned. “Why not? Another territorial dispute?”

The younger woman shook her head. “Did you not know?” she asked. “Two sister volcanoes have erupted.”

╔═════════════════ ∘◦ ♔ ◦∘ ═════════════════╗

Deo let his shoulders slump down as he lowered the eyepiece he’d been lent by the head sentry of the Dranga camp. Two pillars of smoke were coming from the south, and though they were many days' distance away on foot, the southern mountains would still be too dangerous to travel over.

Lately, he had been questioning his luck. He was alive, but honestly, for how long considering what fate was tossing at him? His sister’s worthless ex-fiancé and the fiancé’s wretched father got them exiled. His family was cast to the four winds, he faced a snowstorm, had to keep Lloyd alive, his initial route out was blocked, and now this.

Aside from any volcano fallout, there were earthquakes and the ground was unstable. One wrong step and they’d tumble to their deaths.

“I’d rather fight my way through the east pass,” Deo muttered to himself. Beside him, Lloyd looked defeated.

“We aren’t going back, are we? The border....”

“I know,” Deo replied in a low voice. He was limited in where he could go. The option to go back would take up too much time, not to mention that doing so would put them back where they started with limited places to go. Going through the Giant’s Ridge was the best option, else he risked getting too close to the Kadmus border.

The biha suppression marking only limited his ability, but the exile marking would indeed kill him if he tried to force his way back.

He took a deep breath and turned to the young woman, the daughter of the sentry leader. “How long has Salgul closed the pass?”

“We are unsure of the exact date, but the caravans that go through in the summer did not come this year,” the woman replied in a steady, even voice. “We trade with them, so when they did not come, we sent riders to check. That is when we found out Salgul took control of the pass. Brekram took control of the west pass.”

Lloyd let out a low breath. “That was why they told us that the area we were in was undisputed and we could pass. They claimed it as theirs.”

“You can claim anything is yours, but if you can’t keep and defend it, is it really?” Deo said with a frown. “If Salgul has the east and Brekram has the west, what does Dranga have left?” The young woman took a deep breath. Her eyes reddened as her jaw clenched. “Dranga maintains the south, but with the volcano, we have been forced north. They will not let us move further nor will they allow us temporary settlements.”

Deo raised a brow. “But they must want something from you.”

“They want to absorb Dranga into their states. We are the smallest faction in the valley. Both Salgul and Brekram have demanded we join their side. We have refused to join up until now, but they have begun encroaching on the territory we have left.”

“Why are they only encroaching now?” Lloyd asked.

Deo let out a tired breath. “Dranga is a matriarchy and of the three warring states, they have significant biha users.”

“Our ancestors traveled north from a bihar-rich region in the coastal south, after tragedy befell the area,” the young woman told Lloyd. “Even now, we birth many biha users.”

“That’s why in the face of aggressive neighboring groups, they’re able to survive being the smallest,” Deo added. He sighed. “But there are limits to their abilities. They are still outnumbered.”

Lloyd lowered his eyes. “Then, they’re cornered here, as well.”

Deo lifted his hand and rubbed his forehead. “Temporarily,” he said. “If they can wait until the eruption subsides, they can go back south.”

“But they don’t know when the eruption will stop. Even then, it could erupt again at any time!” Lloyd said with indignation at the unfairness of the situation.

“Then, another option is to broker some sort of agreement with one or both of the other states.

“Impossible,” the young woman said with a proud look on her face. “Their terms are pure madness! How could we consider such a thing?”

Deo looked at the two of them and frowned. “Then why don’t you fight for more territory and try to reopen one of the passes for your people?”

“We are outnumbered!”

“Then use your biha! It’s what your group is known for, isn’t it? You should be able to utilize it.”

“Even if we did utilize it, we do not have enough people to go attack Salgul and Brekram at the same time,” a woman’s graveled voice said from behind them. Deo turned around and saw an older woman with a head of white hair walking towards them on the jagged rock. She squinted at Deo. “You are from Sagittate.”

“Yes, Madam.” He gave her a respectful nod. “My accent?”

“Yes, we used to get more merchants from Sagittate when I was younger,” the old woman said. “I was told that you are traveling through.”

“My friend and I were trying to cross here to get to the High Desert, but now we’ve found that not only are there skirmishes everywhere, but the passes are seized and we won’t be able to pass,” Deo replied. “Does Madam have any suggestions?”

The older woman chuckled, her dark eyes turning into crescents as she smiled. “Young man, if I had the answers, would we be in this predicament?”

Deo bowed his head again. “I’m sorry if I came off as rude-”

“No, no,” the old woman said, waving her wrinkled hand at him as she smiled with amusement. “In fact, I’d like to talk to you more. Do you have time to talk to an old woman?”

Deo lifted his head and gave her an amused smile. “While I have time to spare right now, I don’t see an old woman in front of me, just a charming lady.” He offered his arm and the old woman tossed her head back and laughed.

“Oh, you are a flatterer! I remember seeing a young man from Sagittate many years ago. He claimed to be exploring the world before he was forced to settle down by his parents. He had quite a...silver tongue, I believe it’s called. That flame-haired devil enchanted half the villagers,” she said with both nostalgia and humor. Deo offered her his arm and she took it. “I do hope he was able to see the world as he wanted.”

Deo smiled and looked over his shoulder as he escorted the thin old lady away. “Lloyd, don’t stray far from the camp.”

Lloyd scoffed. “I am not a fool. I won’t simply wander off into the forest.”

Deo stared at him for a moment longer before continuing on his way. The old woman led him through the village. Originally, it was one of their northernmost sentry posts, but after the eruption, the majority of their people had to move north. As a result, the northern sentry posts and satellite villages were flooded with people.

Most villagers went to find extended family and to accommodate them, a new wall of cut trees had been created to enclose a larger space. The structures within the old walls were made of wood and stone, but the structures between the old and new walls were large tents of leather and woven rugs.

But they were expertly put together.

The Dranga had territory, but they were herders and often moved their flocks of long-haired goats from place to place. There were a few fixed villages and sentry posts, but many families spent their lives wandering around. Their tents could withstand the winters in the valley.

The old woman brought him into the old walled area and to a large, wooden building. It was likely a communal building for meetings and when they entered, he saw several elders and people his parents’ ages already seated.

“You are the young man from Sagittate?” A white-haired woman seated at the head of the room spoke before Deo could be told to take a seat. He stood in place and bowed his head.

“Yes, I am.” A few murmurs came from around the room, but as they were in a different language, he couldn't understand. The old lady who had brought him in had him take a seat on a wooden stool beside her. He did as he was told. After all, he was a guest in the village.

Before they arrived, the patrol that found them fed them. Deo was not a man who did not know how to be thankful.

“If you are from Sagittate, are you a biha user?” an elderly man asked.

“Yes,” Deo said. To make his point, he raised his hand and a flame danced over it. It wasn’t big, but it was enough to be seen across the room. “I use fire biha.”

More murmuring came from around the room. Deo looked around and moved his hand, dispersing the condensed biha fire.

The woman narrowed her eyes. “Your name is Amadeo?” He nodded and made a mental note to tell Lloyd not to address him as ‘my lord’, though he didn’t have the most faith that Lloyd would remember.

“Do you know Robert of Caroline?” a woman asked unexpectedly. A middle-aged woman was seated across from him with a scrutinizing expression and for a moment, Deo tensed.

What did that old man do this time? He kept his thoughts to himself and gave another, respectful nod. “Yes. He is the Duke of Caroline.”

“Is he still alive? He is doing well?” The woman almost jumped in her seat, her eyes glowing with earnestness.

“He is.” Even if paladins surrounded his father, he’d be able to walk away without a scratch on him, suppression marking or not.

“You said he is the Duke of Caroline,” the man seated beside the woman said with narrowed eyes. “Then, he married?”

Deo felt a strange tension in the air as they waited for his answer. Though his face was calm, inside he was yelling at his father. “He has indeed married.”

There were audible gasps and small cry and a few people who raised their hands to their chests or mouths with disbelief. “Impossible....” The woman’s voice was quiet, but Deo still heard her clearly. “He said he’d never marry.”

“Shirin, it has been over thirty years....” Someone said to the woman to try to placate her. The woman frowned and shook her head. She turned her sharp gaze back to Deo.

“Who did he marry?”

Deo swallowed a bit. At this point, I’m afraid to say it's my mother.... “The Duchess of Caroline, the daughter of a former magistrate in the West Islands.”

“The West Islands? So far?”

“Enough!” The woman in the center of the room who’d spoken to Deo the moment he walked in held out her arms to silence those around the room. Despite the look of frustration and disappointment on the other woman’s face, she lowered her head and didn’t continue speaking. The woman in the center of the room lifted her chin and met Deo’s eyes. “I am Arash, the Head Elder of the Dranga State. These are elder members of the five Dranga villages. I am sure they have already told you why we are gathered at this sentry post.”

Deo nodded his head. “It was not our intention to trouble you. My friend and I were not aware of how tense things have become.”

The Head Elder nodded her head in return and closed her eyes. “The first volcano erupted less than a year ago and a few months after, a second volcano blew its top unexpectedly. We were forced to come north, but with Salgul and Brekram clashing for control and our own territory now limited, we are in a difficult position. We outnumber them in biha users, but our people have long forgotten how, as Robert of Caroline put it, to teach biha mastery.”

Deo drew his head back. “Are you asking me to teach?” He frowned. “I apologize, but my friend and I need to get to the High Desert.”

The Head Elder raised her hand to silence him. “We know that at the moment, you have no way to pass through the east pass. If you stay, even for a short time, would you be willing to teach our biha-users? We would not accept your instruction without payment. You and your friend will have shelter, food, and water for as long as you stay.”

Admittedly, they did need those at the moment while they thought of a strategy. Deo lowered his eyes and furrowed his brows, thinking. “I don’t believe I can teach your biha users to a level of mastery.” He had always been a student, not an instructor. At best, he’d be repeating what he learned, which might not be understood well.

“It doesn’t need to be a level of mastery,” an old man seated to the left of the Head Elder told him. “What matters is that their foundation is strong. Can you strengthen their foundation?”

With a solid foundation, they could learn and progress on their own, even if they didn’t have a formal instructor.

Deo continued to look at the woven rugs lining the room. “My biha is limited.” For now.

“That’s all right, as long as you can teach them,” the old man replied. “Can you?”

Deo took a deep breath. He lifted his head and looked at the elders ahead of him. “What do you want to do with your biha? Do you want to use it to fight against the other states? It takes years to become battle ready with biha. It isn’t only a matter of strength, but discipline and will.”

“You don’t believe we can remain standing against Salgul and Brekram, do you, young man?” the old woman who brought him there gave him a sad smile.

Deo met her small eyes and opened his mouth, but held back, not wanting to tell them that there was no guarantee that their biha users would even be able to use their biha to fight. “It may be more useful to train your people to use weapons. Then, not only those with biha can defend themselves.”

The Head Elder stared at Deo with an unwavering intensity. “Do you want to leave the valley, young man?”

He sat up straight. “I do.”

“If we assist you in retaking and opening the east pass from Salgul, would you repay us?”

“It depends how you want me to repay you,” Deo replied without flinching. “Once I’m able to reunite with my family and return home, I can send instructors and texts back for your biha users to learn. I can send a merchant caravan. However, while I do not mind fighting my way out, I also do not want to be used as a tool to fight against the other states.”

“That is a fair request,” the old woman beside him said as she looked at the Head Elder. “What do you think, Arash?”

The Head Elder took a deep breath. She was quiet for a moment, her eyes looking at Deo, but her mind elsewhere. As the silence dragged on, Deo prepared to ask what they wanted, but the Head Elder raised her hand. A young man standing behind her rushed forward and knelt down.

The Head Elder spoke to him in their native language. Deo watched the young man look at the Head Elder with uncertainty. She narrowed her eyes and told him something else, which even without knowing the language, Deo was sure it meant ‘do it.’ The young man rushed back and the Head Elder looked back at him.

“Of the three states here, we came last,” she said in an even voice. “A natural disaster sent our ancestors north, and now, another natural disaster does so again. We have little of what our ancestors left us; not even our language is written. All we have are stories. If we push further, it will anger the other two states and we’d risk a war with them. Even with our biha users, we would not survive fighting both at once.”

The young man she’d ordered out returned carrying something in his arms. The bundle was wrapped with layers of cloth and leather rope. Upon the sight of it, several voices rose into the air. From their tone, they were protesting whatever bundle was being brought out. Regardless of their words, the Head Elder held out her hand and swept her eyes over the crowd to silence them.

She responded to their concerns in a firm voice, and the protests ceased, though several elders still wore unwilling expressions.

Deo felt out of place, but didn’t get up. Still, he wanted to respect the people who were hospitable to him and Lloyd. “Should I leave?”

“No,” the Head Elder answered without pause. “This is something that has been passed down from our ancestors. It is thousands of years old, brought back from our ancestral homeland.”

Deo shifted in his seat. “Is this all right for me to see? I’m not part of this state, after all.”

“My request will make more sense when you see it,” the Head Elder told him. She gave a nod to the young man, who placed the bundle in the center of the room. He began to untie the rope and peel off the cloth. There were many layers, and the more that were peeled off, the older the cloth became.

Deo leaned forward, squinting in the dim light of the tent. He heard the Head Elder say something else and then saw a few younger members of the group stand and blow out the oil lamps around the room. One by one, they were snuffed out and the windowless room became dark.

It didn’t stay that way.

As his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the bundle was starting to glow. Another layer removed revealed light at its core. Deo held his breath as he watched the last layer of cloth removed and the room become illuminated as if it were daylight inside.

A warm, yellow light came from a sphere.

He’d never seen one before. “What is that?”

“This is a light pearl,” the Head Elder told him as her eyes gazed with reverence at the pearl no larger than the size of his fist. “Our legend says that it acts as a light source and in our ancestral homeland, candles and oil lamps were not used, as light pearls provided light where it was dark.”

Deo stared at the object, unable to understand how it was glowing. No, glowing was an understatement. Its light was stronger than that of a torch or an oil lamp. It wasn’t large, either, nor did there appear to be any holes to put a flame.

“How...?” He wasn’t sure how to phrase his question.

“It is said that when the disaster happened, many groups fled in all directions, but all had the intention of returning one day,” the old woman beside him said with her scratchy voice. Her eyes were also on the light pearl. “To summon them back when it was safe, large groups were given light pearls. For thousands of years, this pearl did not illuminate. We, and perhaps the descendants of our sister groups who fled, have been waiting...waiting for so long....”

The Head Elder swallowed hard. “When the light pearl illuminates once more, it means that we can return.”

Deo lifted his head and squinted. “Return where?”

“Gah-rhun,” she said with a hopeful smile. “Perhaps you have heard of it?”

Deo shook his head. “No...I’m sorry, I haven’t.”

“Gah-rhun is how we say it, but those on the continent used to call it something else. They couldn’t pronounce the name correctly and it became perverted,” the old woman told him. She thought for a moment. “I remember...Garun...Gurun....”

Deo tilted his head to the side. “Gurani?”

“Is that how they say it?” The old woman chuckled. “It sounds so bad.”

Deo sighed and shook his head. “Madam, Head Elder...I’ve heard of Gurani, but it’s gone. It was an ancient peninsula and it sank into the ocean. I’ve been to the continent’s tip where it would’ve been. There aren’t any land masses there.”

“But we are being called back,” someone else said, motioning towards the light pearl, as if it were an obvious counter to his statement. “Gah-rhun is summoning us.”

Deo wracked his mind to try to explain that their ancestral homeland no longer existed. The natural disaster they spoke of aligned with the historical records that Gurani was hit with major eruptions, earthquakes, and even an underwater sinkhole that swallowed the peninsula. Did they want him to take them back? Even if they wanted to go back, there was nothing to go back to.

“We are not asking you to escort us back,” the Head Elder told him, as if reading his mind. “We will return on our own, but we cannot . If you cannot teach us to use our biha to fight, then we ask for your help in a...mutually beneficial job.”

Deo narrowed his eyes. He was silent for a moment, but he knew what the woman was trying to say. “You want me to help you get out of the valley?”

“We will leave the valley to Salgul and Brekram. If they were reasonable, we would deal with them directly, but now, they are holding us hostage in the valley, forcing us to pick one side or another. They want our territory, our resources, and our blood to strengthen their own biha users.”

“Territory we can give, but they won’t give us a chance to live free,” the old woman said. She shook her head and lowered her voice with distaste. “I will not serve Salgul or Brekram.”

“Our battle experience is limited to defense, so we are ill-prepared to fight our way out,” the Head Elder said. “That is why we are asking for your help.”

Deo took another deep breath. “Head Elder, how do you know I would be of any help?” He grasped his sleeve and pulled it up, revealing the mark of exile on his forearm. “I have been exiled from Kadmus.”

Her eyes began to crinkle up as she smiled. “I know,” the Head Elder said, almost pleased. “And we have been waiting for you, Lord Amadeo of the Noble House of Caroline.”