Shadow

Idonia Torbet

The next morning, breakfast is delivered to our room by a servant. Master Hoye sent his regards and wished us the best on our journey. When breakfast was over, the four of us went to the yard where our horses were waiting. As we all prepared to leave, Madam Hoye stops us.

“Iddy,” she lets the word slide off her lips. Then her eyes travel to Rae and she starts again, “Khanelea.”

“You don’t need to do that, Madam Hoye,” I tell her, passing my horse’s lead to Rae and approaching her.

“I need to apologize once again for Gyda’s behavior. She was far from being hospitable and lady-like. She just...” Madam Hoye folds her hands and looks back at Rae, then to me again. “She had her heart set on being his mate and leaving for Bethlianna.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for your daughter, but that is no excuse for her disrespect.”

“Of course, Khanelea, you are correct. Can we expect you to grace our presence on your way back south?”

“No, you cannot,” Rae answers for me. “There are many other Masters who are expecting us.”

“Yes, alright.”

With this, I mount my mare and the four of us leave the Hoyes’ homestead. The air is growing colder the farther north we travel. It won’t be long until the nights are longer than the days

It isn’t a mile down the road that Rikki sighs, “I’m glad to be out of that homestead. Two of those idiot daughters were trying to take me to their bed.”

“You’re mated to my sister, Rikki,” Danal scolds.

“I know! That’s why I turned them down, not that any man in their right minds could get it hard for those high-pitched tarts.”

“Rikki!” I yell at him.

“He’s not wrong,” Rae replied with a cheeky smile. I bare my teeth at him in a playful manner.

“I know those girls though, and while they are annoying--”

“That is an understatement,” Rikki corrects me.

“While they can be unbearable, they are still females that need to be respected to some degree. The oldest may be horrid, but some of the younger few aren’t bad. If anything, the sons are good warriors.”

“Have any of them killed a shadowbeast?” Danal asks me snidely.

I have to think for a moment, remembering the Hoye boys and their names. “The eldest, Cuyler.”

An image of the shaggy, brown-haired boy fills my head. I had been friends with Cuyler when I was younger, he is a reliable male. When Cuyler learned that I had killed a shadowbeast, he came to visit me and celebrate the success. It wasn’t a year later that he made the trip north to kill his own.

“Set to inherit I presume?” Rae looks at me, then back to the road.

“No actually. He forfeited his birthright the day he came home from his hunt. Cuyler told his family that his place in life was not to be a rich Master but a Viker, a protector of his people and lands. He was seated at the end of the table, Master Hoye thinks of him as a disgrace now.”

“That’s...” Rae looks out and into the horizon. The morning sun is still rising, which is what draws Rae’s attention. “I wish I would have known that. A male like Cuyler would be a good Royal Viker.”

“Actually, you read my mind. I think when we get to Bethlianna we should summon him for a test.”

“Then we are agreed,” Rae perks up at my idea. The mention of Bethlianna really got him excited. It is still taking me time, but the more I think about it, the more I can imagine myself in Bethlianna. Before I even step foot off Theris, I need to speak with Father and Mother about being Olen to Bethlianna with me to train him. It’s an odd thought, taking a boy who only has ten years away from his parents and homestead. However, he will be with me and I’ve always been closer to him than any of our brothers or parents.

“We are.”

Our ride continues for the rest of the day. The path is filled with memories of my first hunt. I was young and surrounded by older men. Steadily, the further north we go, the tree turns from barren bark to evergreens. I keep a close eye on the sides of the road, as more and more land goes to the forest than farmland.

Night comes faster, which concerns me as we hadn’t reached another town. While shadowbeasts cannot live in the light, the sun burns their skin, but when the night becomes longer, they stray down south. There have even been sightings in Caesting. That is why Viker are honored when they kill shadowbeasts. It is part of protecting Theris, protecting all of the Bethley Isles.

Danal and Rikki set up camp while Rae and I tend to the horses. I take extra care with my mare. She is special to me because of how I came to have her. I won her in a tournament. Father had forbidden me from going, but I went anyway.

I guess the memory puts a smile on my face because Rae starts talking, “Why are you smiling?”

“Does your stallion have a name?”

“Of course he does,” Rae states, slightly taken aback by the question. “Jarl. What’s your mare’s name?”

“Edilda, it means ‘she who has fought and won.’ I won her at a Viker’s competition right before I left for the hunt. Father didn’t want me to go, so I snuck out in the middle of the night--”

“You what?” Rae looks at me with an image of shock and amusement.

“I snuck out, stole Eske’s horse, and rode down to Pedding, which is a shantytown on the eastern coast. I entered, paid the entrance fee with money I stole from a street performer and won the lot. The prize was twenty ensoel and this filly,” I rub her neck, and my girl whinnies at me. “I gave the money back to the street performer and rode home on Eske’s horse with this girl on my tail. Not six months later I was on my way north for my first hunt.”

“A street performer could live for months on twenty ensoel.”

“To be fair, he was very upset when I stole fifteen uthu to pay the in ticket.”

“Those two prices cannot compare!”

“Well, I didn’t need the money,” I explain to him. “Father refused to buy me a horse and when I heard an untrained filly was one of the prizes I knew I had to enter.”

“I’ll buy you any horse you want,” he says to me sincerely.

“I don’t want another horse, however, I have been thinking of breeding Edilda for a while. It was going to be a training exercise for Olen, his own foal to train,” I shake my head, trying to forget that I won’t be training Olen anymore. Knowing Egil, he will have Father buy Olen a fancy, hard-trained, three-year-old that will be strong and steady but absolutely too much for Olen to handle.

“Hey,” his hand lands on my shoulder. “Olen wants to go to Bethlianna, right? There is no reason that he couldn’t make a great Viker one day.”

I scoff, “One day.”

“What does that mean?”

“It will be another two weeks or so before we’re back at our homestead. Olen hates training with Egil, and I wanted him to train his own horse as I did. But without me there, Egil won’t put that kind of time into it. He’ll just buy Olen a fully trained three-year-old with no connection to the boy.”

His hands run up and down my arms, “If that happens, then I will buy Olen a foal for him to train in Bethlianna.”

“Really?”

“Your brother will be your Viker. He trains the way you want him to train. If I have to buy a foal for all three of your Viker, I will.”

“That is very generous of you.”

“It is time you learn,” his lips press gently to my forehead. “I will do anything for you.”