Wohoo! Welcome, welcome to today's Wednesday Brief's! I'm back with Rodric, the unicorns and the crazy voyage to recover Fergus. If you'd like to go back and read past chapters, please click here and scroll down to Myths, Secrets and Love.
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Myths, Secrets and Love 7
They had eaten and drunk
their fill and still Queen Lenara had to say a word to him beyond polite
formalities. Rodric was restless. He wanted to get out of Arvynen and move on with his
voyage in pursue of Fergus. He endured. He knew better than to rush anyone into
giving him what he wanted, especially when so much hung on the balance.
The servant hovering at
his elbow approached him and filled his glass to the brim. Rodric studied him.
His heart thundered in his chest and his mouth dried as the young man brought
back memories of Fergus. The servant’s build was lighter and his hair fairer
but he had a dusting of freckles on the bridge of his nose much like Fergus. A
blush covered the young man and he moved away. Rodric sighed and veered toward
the table once more. His eyes widened as he realized that while he’d been ogling
the service the table had cleared. The only ones that remained seated were him,
Queen Lenara and Arjä. Even the King had left.
Lenara’s gaze found his
and she smiled, though the gesture did not reach her otherworldly eyes.
“I will be blunt with
you, Rodric Belavue. We are in need of your service, almost as badly as you are
in need of ours.”
“Why’s that?” Rodric
took a sip from his fruity drink and reclined against his chair in a relaxed
pose. So the queen had need of him. That was interesting. Albeit he had the
impression that they were walking on uneven ground and he was on the falling
side. She still had something up her sleeve, though what he could not glimpse. Rodric
made a show of glancing about the glade. “It looks to me like you have everything
you need right here.”
“Except real life
experience.”
“Real life?” He shook
his head, not understanding what Arjä was speaking of.
“We live a sheltered
life here, Mr. Belavue. We can see far beyond time and place. We can see things
that some can never even imagine exist but we lack in day to day interaction.”
“I see.” He took another mouthful and
swallowed slowly. “What does that have to do with me?”
Both the Queen and Arjä
smiled.
“We know where your
lover is.”
“Lover?” Rodric sat up.
“You can’t fool us,”
Arjä said.
“I don’t have a lover,”
Rodric snarled. “If I did I wouldn’t be on this hellish quest sitting in front
of two wenches you presume to know all there is to know about me, I’d be
fucking the brains out of him, I mean her. Dammit,” he growled.
“Sit down, Rodric,”
Lenara ordered.
“You want to know where
your, ah, friend is, and we want to ask you a favor.”
“Well, ask already.” He
slammed his fist on the table making the glasses rattle.
“Take Arjä with you.”
Rodric’s jaw dropped. “"Are you kidding me?" He looked at Arjä who was still smiling at him in the
same state of undress he’d met her in. “Are you out of your mind? My men will
be upon her in minutes.”
“Not if you command
them not to.”
Rodric stood up again,
vehemently shaking his head. “No can do, your highnesses. I will not take a
young woman aboard my ship. Besides, I don’t even know where I’m going. And
surely, you will expect me to protect her and bring her back safely. I am not
the man you need for such a mission.”
“I can take care of
myself,” Arjä protested loudly.
The queen lifted her
hand to silence her. “Leave us,” she ordered without glancing at her daughter. Frowning,
Arjä bowed and left the glade.
“Sit down, Rodric.”
Rodric gulped down the
remainder of his drink and tilted his glass for the servant to fill. He downed
it in one shot before sitting down.
“You long for Fergus, his
camaraderie, his kisses, his touch, his heart. No, don’t deny it. No man would
risk life and limb for only a friend as you claim Fergus to be to you.”
“Men with honor do it
all the time,” he retorted in anger.
Lenara laughed. “We
both know that you have very little honor left in your heart, Rodric Belavue.
Besides, honor and morality have never been a priority for you. You do not
search for Fergus out of an honor bound promise. You search for him for your
own selfish reasons and though your heart and body is quite certain of what it
wants, your mind still eludes the question, and thus you do naught but pretend
to care little for the man whom you’re traveling around the world to find.”
Lenara sighed dramatically. “I care not that you cannot see beyond your nose to
find the truth in yourself. It is none of my concern as you are fond of saying.
I do however, need you to draw upon those rotten heartstrings and rusty honor
and obey the oath—“
“That was I was forced
into.”
“The oath that you gave
earlier today. Arjä has things she must
accomplish in the human world if she is to become queen of Arvynen one day. She will not
be with you the length of your trip. You will separate and she will procure her
own passage back home.” A shimmer of white gleaned on the Queen’s flesh as she
spoke, her violet eyes sparkling brighter under the candles placed all around
them. She blinked and the moment passed.
“What if I refuse?”
“Then your quest will
fail.”
Rodric curled his fists
into tight balls and bit back a violent retort. Did he have an option? He could
send the Unicorns to hell and back and resume his trip, but to where? These people
were his only lead and if he wanted to find Fergus he had no other option but
to do as they wished. Leveling his gaze at the queen, he nodded.
“Tell me where to go.”
To be continued...
Now, go read some awesome flash!
lol - We both know that you have very little honor left in your heart, Rodric - love it.
ReplyDeleteOn to the next one.