The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft
DISBELIEF AND DISCOVERY

CH DISBELIEF AND DISCOVERY

“Now, what message did she bring?” His mother demanded in a cold, stoic voice.

Yurieth quoted, “Tell Adamos and Mina, the darkness comes early, two shadows are here now, Adamos and the remnant of Aetheriamust flee within the year.” He watched his parents exchange knowing looks as the others in the room murmured in disbelief.

“But we are a nearly decade from being ready,” Odinus exclaimed, as he turned the Sword of Odini over and over in his hand, looking between it and the young man asleep on a cot. The resemblance to his younger brother Odini the fifth is uncanny.

“She is here to help us, that is why we sent for her. She defeated the shadows in her time, and she will help us escape them in ours, “Adamos retorted firmly. “But we must get her out of the city tonight before the servants of the darkness realize she has come and seek her out. Odinus, you must hide the son of your house, we cannot keep them together or risk losing both to our enemies before they have completed their quest.”

Yllumina handed the ring back to Oren, who slipped it back onto the Oracle’s finger.

Yllumina stood with her hand over her unborn children, “The last oracle must be protected, she cannot be found those who oppose the Light before she heals. Yurieth, you and Abrieth will take her to the summer manor as soon as Serapha and Oren stabilize her. It is the last place our enemies will expect you to go, my eldest.”

Her tone and glowing eyes forced her sons to both bow their heads acquiescence.

“Lady Yllumina, I fear we will not be able to restore her sight,” Oren announced.

“Healer Oren, an oracle does not navigate the world by simple sight but do what you can. She will understand,” Yllumina said as she looked down on the gravely wounded woman in the golden healing water. “You will find her will is more than sufficient if we can keep her from crossing the Veil of Death’s threshold. My Lords, we have much to discuss, let us leave the healers to their work.”

Shadz woke up with a start. He hurt as bad as he did when Prince Damien’s creature had tried to cut him in half the day they lost Dauntless 6. Stretching, he realized his prosthetic forearm was gone. He tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness forced him to lay back. It was the sickly familiar sensation that came after one used too much magic. His heart hurt horrifically, like it had the times Asha had died and he realized this is what his life would be like if he ever forever lost her. She was too far away for his soul to recognize that she wasn’t dead. They needed to do their job and get back before he got too soul sick to recover.

He was stripped to his undergarments; his pack and sword were gone and he had no idea when the Relic was. There was a Kimono style robe left for him. He pushed out with his numb mind trying to find Daisy. His mind called her name and she didn’t answer. Suddenly, footstep came running down the hall and he struggled to rise. He summoned his sword and startled exclamations came from the hall, he stared in amazement as his Sword of Odini floated next to a much less used one. Reaching out, he took his with his right hand.

A young man who was Shadz mirror except for his eye color, took the other Sword of Odini. “Do not worry, the oracle is safe with the House of Adamos.”

“Grandfather,” Shadz breathed out in shock.

“I am, and you’re called Shadz. But I think you mean Great-grandfather.” Odini said to him as they stared at each other. “I... I saw... The Pools of Destiny showed me, I mean… They showed me your childhood after I die. I... I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It gave me the knowledge to save our people, and you are the reason I did not succumb to the Darkness as my brother did,” Shadz explained, smiling sadly about the memories that kept him going. His great-grandfather had been ancient when he a child, but Odini’s love had sustained him.

“I don’t understand… you were so young, so alone…”

A sudden wave of dizziness caused Shadz to sway and Odini grabbed his arm before he could fall, helping him back to his bed. “Thank you, Odini. If you had not taught me of honor, I would have been as lost to my mother’s evil like my brother, Shade. You saved me. And when I almost fell to the darkness, I saw the things you taught me about in the living souls who came to save our people. I knew I wanted to be one of them, like you were.”

Oren came in with Orion, who was holding Shadz prosthetic arm, “This thing is amazing.”

Shadz grinned, “My soul-brother’s wife designed it for me with the Oracle’s and my wife’s help.” Shadz slipped in on and twisted it to where the neurofeeds under his skin lined up with the one in the prosthetic arm, it tightened automatically. They watched amazed as it moved and flexed like a real hand.

Odini introduced them, “Shadz, this is my youngest brother, Oren and our nephew, Orion. Whenever you are ready, we’ll take you to the house of Adamos.”

Shadz shook his head, “I need to avoid them as much as possible. The sons of Adamos do not remember me coming to this time to aid High Lord Adamos, but they have some memories of Lady Daisy. We have to avoid contaminating the timeline as much as possible. If one of you could be my liaison with her, I would be grateful.”

“Dah-zee? What a strange name,” Orion said.

“It is the name of a wildflower that does not grow on our world,” Shadz explained.

“We will be whatever you and the Oracle need, nephew. It is our duty and our honor to help you,” Odinus vowed.

Shadz turned and bowed to Odinus, the High Lord of Odini. “My Lord Uncle. It is my duty and my honor to serve our house and our people.”

The oracle woke in a strange place, she was warm and comfortable, the after-effect of healing magic. She could feel her wounds were healing and dressed. Her eyes were bandaged shut, her arms and legs, neck and shoulders were also wrapped. Fleetingly she wondered if she looked like a mummy. Her mind was numb as though there was a magical barrier limiting her power or she had used too much power fighting the shadows again. Her eyes felt strange. The Darkness had ambushed them in the timestream, one of the shadows had seized her after striking her across the face while she tried to protect them. She reached up carefully to touch the bandages over her eyes and a gentle grasp caught her hand.

“Be still, my lady. You require much rest.” His voice was familiar, she had known him for over a century.

“Hello, Abe. Sorry to drop in like this. How are you?” She smiled as much as her bruised face would allow.

“I am much better than you,” he chuckled as she nodded slightly. “You have the advantage, my lady. For you know my name but I know not yours.”

“Mina and Adamos have often called me their little flower, my name doesn’t exist in your language yet. It is a white flower that does not grow on your world. Are your parents here? Is my companion okay? We have so much to tell you, it would be easier to just tell it once,” she said and swallowed like her throat was dry.

Abrieth lifted a cup of cool water to her lips and she obediently sipped it. Her hand trembled as they touch his, he could almost feel the pain radiating off her.

“The Mage of Odini is with his house, my parents will be here by noon,” Abrieth informed her.

“That soon?” she seemed surprised.

His brother touched his mind reminding Abrieth that it had been mid-morning when she arrived and she was probably not aware of the amount of time she had been asleep. The huntsman’s ability to cloak himself from magical detection seemed to be hiding him from her.

“My lady, you were gravely injured in the battle against the shadow creature. You have slept for four days. Had my brother not used his healing magic, you would have been forever lost. Was it worth the risk to make such a perilous journey?” Abrieth’s voice was filled with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

“There was no choice, everything we both know and care for is in danger, including your beloved. If the future is to be saved, the past must be preserved...”

The oracle seemed to hesitate then but added nothing to her explanation. Yurieth’s eyes narrowed as he watched his brother trying to get answers. He knew she could not sense him cloaked in his magic and wondered what she was hiding. In his experience with his parents, oracles always kept secrets.

Abrieth looked at Yurieth with worried eyes as he was trying to figure out if the oracle was true or a spy. Many prisoners of the blood mages returned to their families and seemed fine, only to attempt great harm later. Abrieth decided to press her knowledge of the present. “My beloved?”

Abrieth reached and took the mug Yurieth held and pressed it into the oracle’s hands, steadying it as she raised it to her lips. After a few sips, she smiled again.

“Thank you, Abe. Yuri made this; venison broth with brown mushrooms, wild garlic and mint.” She sipped more. “And yes, your sealed one, Lady Serapha, formerly of Xelusia.”

“My brother cooked for you?” His voice held a slight tremor of surprise. No one except Yurieth, her sister Demona, the Odini, and his parents knew that Serapha was his sealed one and Yurieth cooked for no one but himself normally. She referred to them with strange half names and a tone of familiarity.

“Be at peace, Abe. Everyone in our family has cooked for me. It is a skill I cannot master. Everyone jokes that I can burn boiling water.” She yawned. “Don’t worry, I am not a spy, I would never hurt our family. I would die to protect it. And tell Yuri it isn’t... n-nice to always put sleeping potion in... in my broth.”

She felt Abe smile as she finished the cup and let him take it. He couldn’t shake the strange feeling that they have known each other for a very long time as she squeezed his hand affectionately.

“I need to speak with your parents as soon...” she yawned, and he was amazed she was still conscious. “As soon as I can.” She fought the potion.

“My apologies, little flower, you need more rest, they will arrive later. Sleep now.”

“But I have... so much work... to do.” She complained sleepily.

“Not just yet, my lady.” Abrieth watched her as she sank into the pillows asleep. He couldn’t shake the feeling he has heard her say that exact sentiment many times before. It was a strangely disconcerting sense of déjà vu. He looked up at Yurieth who was standing at the end of the bed with his arms folded across his chest and an unreadable expression in his silver eyes.

“Who is this woman, Yurieth? She knows us, she knows us well... and we don’t even have a proper name to call her by.” Abrieth shook his head, perplexed by the enigma she presented.

“Perhaps our parent will be more forthcoming now that we know she will survive,” Yurieth answered without taking his half-lidded eyes off her.

He stared at her for a long time as if he was trying to see through her. His mind wondered about the strange scars that covered her body and what Serapha said about the child that was taken from her. He wondered about her journey. Her armor had been made of the strongest substance he had ever seen, and it was almost destroyed, only her boots could be used again. She had been carved up underneath her armor as if ivy vines made of blades had grown across her skin. It had taken hours in the healing water before she had healed enough for the heart-heal magic to stop using his life glow to keep her alive. But even after the magic had worn off, he could still feel her heartbeat, the way Abrieth described feeling Serapha’s heartbeat.

The jumble of memories that he had seen of the future were fading because they weren’t his, so he struggled to understand them before they were gone. He and this oracle had fought, sometimes violently, against each other, and yet many times, they were laughing together. He was always close to her listening to her sing, protecting her, working with her, fighting beside her against enemies like nothing he knew. Together they made formidable allies. He was with her when his brother died, and when her son was born, a boy he seemed to love as his own.

None of it made sense to Yurieth, they were separated by over ten thousand years and yet he looked no older than he did this morning. His hair was more gray than blond, his eyes more storm gray than silver, and he had none of his scars. If he knew her, if she was of his house, then he should feel a kinship with her, but none of it explained his almost overwhelming need to protect her, or the other feelings that made him want to hold her and never let go. He didn’t even know her name. He shook his head, she was his brother’s, not his. Perplexed, he sat down in the chair Abrieth had vacated, and closed his eyes trying to sort it out. His disbelief was the loudest voice in his mind.

Yurieth woke, she was asleep on her side and he was still in the chair. They were holding hands. As he stared at their intertwined fingers, he didn’t remember taking her hand in his. He felt more at peace than he had in... in ever. Beneath her bandaged eyes, her skin was creamy with pale white lines like lace, her lips were a deep blush color and full. He had the irrational urge to kiss her, but he knew he must resist, she was his brother’s beloved, not his.

“I see you have already fallen in love with her.” His father’s voice caught him off guard.

Yurieth swallowed hard and answered in a troubled tone, “No, I know not what I feel, Father. When she was dying after battling the shadow creature. I used my heart heal magic to keep her alive... But when I first touched her, my mind was filled with decades of memories of a life I have not lived yet. Then I was standing in a room in the Veil of Light and she was there in a lavender oracle’s gown. She asked me what I’d done, she said I’d sealed us. Her magic did something to mine and I do not know how to undo it.”

“It cannot be undone, my son. You are sealed to her and she to you.” His mother said in a quiet voice, coming into the room.

“But I cannot be sealed to her, she is my brother’s wife.” Yurieth whispered harshly, he wanted to rip his hand from her gentle clasp, but he couldn’t make himself. He had never imagined that this is what finding his sealed one would feel like. Abrieth’s descriptions had not done the reality justice.

“No, Yurieth, she is your brother’s widow and he had been dead for over a century when she made this perilous journey. She left her youngest son and her pregnant eldest daughter because she loved them and wanted to save them, and you. She will love you if you let her. She will love you with everything she is, she will hold nothing back because she has loved and lost, just as you have. She knows the value of Time, not just because she can travel through it, but because she has loved one moment and been alone the next.” Adamos words did little to calm the turmoil in his soul. “It is alright for you to love her and be loved by her.”

“I can’t, she is Kaleth’s. It would be dishonorable.”

“Yurieth, my eldest, this is not about your honor. Your heart is so hardened by the war and that day… My worry is that you will not be able to accept her love because you cannot let go of your own pain to accept it.” His mother’s golden amber eyes held his silver blue ones. “Great challenges await you both. You can only overcome them together, if one of you rejects the other...”

“It will be catastrophic for our family and our people. You must love her Yurieth, an oracle’s magic is powered by love.” Adamos reminds firmly.

“You cannot dictate whom I am to love to me as you did with Roserae,” Yurieth snapped. “She is my brother’s. My brother who is not born yet, my brother who has not yet widowed her.” He argued. He stood up and stalked out, snagging his bow as he headed out the door.

He was a Huntsman, he understood that like the flight of an arrow, time moved in one direction. If he loved her now, he was destined to lose her when his brother came of age. Traveling through time made everything complicated and dangerous; it was why the ancients had forbidden it. The thought made him long for the simplicity of his forest and the years after the war when all he did was hunt and enjoy his solitude as he grieved.

Abrieth stared after them as Adamos followed his brother into the foyer. “Yurieth, wait.”

His mother sighed, then requested, “Abrieth, go with your brother and do not let him wander off. I will summon you when she wakes.”

Abrieth could already hear his twin’s mind grumbling from outside, but he bowed and obeyed his Mother.

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