The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH HIS BROTHER’S SEALED ONE

Yurieth rested of a single day and then he began hunting. As Regulus recovered, Yurieth and Regis lead the surviving assault forces and seized back half the territory they lost in a week. Re-enforcements from Aetheria were sent straight to the battle front. The entire planet had mobilized after hearing the tales of horror from the battle against the sirens’ magic.

Yurieth killed every Xelusian who possessed any magic without regard for their age, gender, type of magic, or involvement in the battle that had claimed nearly 80% of the Aetherian forces. Xelusians who had been grateful for the assistance and protection the Occupying Forces had brought now feared the wrath of the Huntsman of Adamos. Yurieth’s first targets were the cities and temples closest to the last place he had known his brother to be.

A valley entrance that had been obscured by magic was discovered by the Mage Odini. In a small village, were several dozen wounded Aetherian warriors being cared for by Xelusian children. Most surprising was a that they were protected by a single Assassin of the Blood Brotherhood. The Assassin called Sangriel, had willingly disarmed himself and surrendered when he came face to face with Yurieth. Meeting Meteriel’s brother was the last thing Yurieth had expected.

The Black Huntsman pushed into the mountains and toward the capital of Xelusia, the great Temple City. He scouted ahead of his advancing forces, removing all Xelusians who possessed any magic. One day he felt something familiar and after much searching, he found what appeared to be an abandoned estate obscured by magic. The halls were filled with portraits and articles of profane magic. The Mage Lord Odini and Huntsman Seamus followed him carefully. Suddenly, Odini stopped by a wall.

“This passage has been closed by magic.” He turned his head as his fingers brushed over it, his voice breathless and surprised. “Light magic.”

“How can that be in such a place?” Seamus whispered.

Yurieth touched the wall, to his magic it looked and felt solid but beyond it he could feel his brother sleeping and something surprising. “Abrieth is alive beyond this barrier, he sleeps and... and someone is trying to heal him.”

They searched the grounds and could find no way into the hidden passage. So, they waited.

A week after she healed his grief, Abrieth woke to find Serapha, holding his hand and glowing softly with healing magic as she did whenever he slept. She could barely use her magic to do more than sooth his pain, but she tried as best as she could.

“Good morning, my angel.”

She blushed prettily, “It is evening.”

“Can we go for a walk tonight?”

“I’d like that.” She pressed her lips against his, then hesitated, “Are you sure you do not wish to have pleasure?”

“Serapha, I am not going to be intimate with you until we are married. Your body is your own, and I respect it and you. When we are together it will be special and not just because that is the way of your people. My people hold the bond between Sealed Ones as sacred. I want to show you I am worthy of your love and the sacrifice you will make by leaving your family and your people for me,” He said gently as his fingers traced the scars on her hands. “I want you to believe that I will never hurt you or allow you to be hurt.”

“I am trying to understand.” She whispered, looking away embarrassed. “I... I don’t know how to show love any other way.”

“Your care for me shows me your love. Physical intimacy is a part of love but not the same as love. I want you to feel loved first, the rest will come later,” He promised, pressing a kiss into her temple.

Serapha helped him to stand and they slowly made their way to the secret door. As soon as it opened, she peeked around for anyone then helped Abrieth out to the gardens. She had just settled him into a chair and turn to find the blade of a Huntsman’s long knife pressed against her throat. She made a tiny squeak of surprise.

“If you kill my sealed one, brother, I shall be quite upset with you and our mother might even kill you,” Abrieth said slowly.

“Your what?” Yurieth demanded shocked. “She has bewitched you with the siren’s magic, Abrieth. There is no way this Xelusian whore is your sealed one.”

Serapha stood perfectly still, she had spent too many years in her grandfather’s court not to know when someone intended murder.

Abrieth stood and slowly pushed his brother’s blade from her throat. “She is only half-Xelusian and she has none of their magic. Her magic is that of a healer, an Aetherian healer as her mother was. She has kept me alive against all odds and even harvested my grief so I would not go insane from the knowledge that I killed nearly 100 of my own men. She is coming back with us and she is going to harvest the grief of the warriors of Aetheria to save them from soul sickness and insanity.”

“I will not allow it,” Yurieth snapped.

“Then you may go,” Abrieth retorted in cold hostility, “Your heart may be dead brother, but mine beats and is standing before you.”

Mage Odini spoke in his quiet monotone, “Lord Abrieth, you said she harvested your grief?”

Abrieth nodded to Serapha and she spoke in broken Aetherian, “The removing of suffering from a soul is old magic done by combing... The water... No... Liquid that comes out is desired by the... the... priest? As a... a... elixir of suffering... It damages the soul when given in drink.”

Odini’s eyes widened, “A liquid soul poison, is there an antidote, a way to heal it?”

Serapha pursed her lips, “Yes, it is called effervescence of light... I do not know how to make it... I can show you... books.”

Abrieth nodded, in Xelusian he said, “My angel, why don’t you show Lord Odini the library. I am sure he would be very interested in the books on magic you have to read. I need to talk to my brother.” In Aetherian, he added, “Huntsman Seamus, there are also some very detailed books on weapons. Your father was a master weapons maker, you might find them interesting.”

Yurieth stood with his arms folded across his chest. His posture and glare would intimidate most warriors, but not his brother.

Abrieth took a deep breath. “If you don’t believe me, then read me the way mother taught you.”

Yurieth stepped forward and grasped Abrieth’s arm, painful slamming open the link between their minds. Abrieth flinched but didn’t pull away. After a few minutes, Yurieth eased his mind from his brother’s.

“I’m sorry, I... I didn’t realize...” Yurieth started.

“I know, brother. You have lost too much not to be skeptical. Do you now believe what she is to me?” Abrieth asked and was surprised when his brother hugged him. “Did you see what they have done to her? You know what they will do to her if they find out who she is to me, to us.′

“I vow I will protect her with my life.” Yurieth promised, “But first we have to get you both away from this place before the Xelusians counterattack. I am leading the warriors of Aetheria through the mountains, we will be in the Temple City soon. I will not allow the war to be held hostage by the politicians any longer. This war ends and it ends this decade.”

“I hope you succeed. Did any of the other Guardians survive?” Abrieth limped slightly as they entered the manor.

“Only Regulus because Regis and a healer named Oren of the house of Odini discovered they could make the affected warriors sleep if they were wounded enough... What do you mean other Guardians?” Yurieth asked.

Abrieth hesitated outside a large room filled with books. Regret was written on his features. “I killed Guardian Ra-utath of Osirus. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. I could hear Serapha’s voice urging me to flee, to come to her. He got in my way and I removed his head.”

Yurieth breathed out heavily through his nose and shook his head. “He was a fool who allowed those who know nothing of war dictate his strategy. The Guardian of Vulca killed himself after he woke and remembered those he killed, including his brother. Come, let us take your sealed one and leave this cursed place.”

Standing in the Healer’s Hall of the Aetherian Occupied Territory, Yurieth watched as Serapha chanted quietly and combed the grief from Regulus’ soul. Twice she had to empty the enchanted bowl as the Guardian wept and shook. The Mage Odini and Healer Oren studied her technique intently as she finished. She had tears staining her cheeks as she poured the last of the Essence of Sorrow from her bowl. None had never seen of magic such as this.

Last night, she had quietly explained to them the technique and how the Blood Mages used it to harvest the painful emotions from a damaged soul to poison another with. It was a horrifying adulteration of a healing magic that held great value. Regulus had told her he must be the first before allowing the magic unknown to the Aetherians to be used on his warriors.

“I am so sorry, Guardian,” she apologized again as she finished. “I know it still hurts, but the pain cannot be completely taken away.”

Reglus nodded, wiping his tears, “Forgive me for not trusting your magic or intentions. You have made my guilt and shame bearable, my child. I am grateful for your efforts. When can you begin healing my warriors?”

“I will begin immediately.” She stood and bowed, following Oren to the worst of the soul sick warriors.

Dressed in the clothes of an Aetherian healer and face washed clean of the markings Xelusian women wore, she looked no different from any young female of the Healer’s Halls. The white gown and lack of facepaint made her look too young to be of marrying age. Her soft coral colored eyes were strikingly accented by her hair the color of polished copper that seemed to reflect the light like a fiery sunset, she drew many admiring glances. Abrieth was never not looking at her.

“Yurieth, tell me all you know about her,” Regulus intoned quietly.

“She is the half-Aetherian granddaughter of King Apollyon by his fourth son Prince Lucif. She claims she ran away and hid at the family estate because a White Oracle of Light told her to. She felt Abrieth on the battlefield before the killing began and went to call him out of the battle. She has some knowledge of the use of sirens’ magic, but not its power,” Yurieth explained.

“How is it that a daughter of the darkness has healer’s magic and is half-Aetherian?” Regulus asked.

“Her mother was a healer named Evannae who was taken when the Temples of Light fell. Serapha and her twin Demona were born 400 years later as part of a ceremony to provide host bodies for the one they call the Queen of Shadows.” Yurieth frown, the concept was still disturbing to him.

“I thought their queen was called the Dark Queen, it isn’t just a title?” Regulus looked concerned.

Odini shook his head and answered for Yurieth. “The Dark Queen is some kind of separate entity of the darkness. According to the books I have read from Serapha’s family library, the soul of the first Dark Queen has been passed down along the female line of the Xelusian royals for many millennia, possibly since the first war. She... It... indwells the host and is thus reborn in each generation. She is the true ruler of Xelusia and the king, also possessed by something called the Lord of Shadows, is her consort.”

Regulus sat quietly for several minutes, then looked to his master huntsman. “Yurieth, can you get into the Temple City and find this Dark Queen?”

“Yes, do you wish me to end this threat?” Yurieth could already feel himself killing the Queen of Xelusia, the source of his every suffering in life.

“No, study them, find out their habits and what they will do if attacked. We will not lower ourselves to their level of dishonor by sending in assassins to claim victory. We will capture them and barter their lives for the ruler-ship of their world,” Regulus pronounced. “We will act with honor, regardless of how without honor our enemy is. We are Aetherian, the Children of the Light.”

Odini and Yurieth bowed. They did not speak until they reached the outer courtyard, then Odini put his hand on Yurieth’s arm restraining him.

“Huntsman, if they capture you, you must kill them or die trying to escape. She will want to seduce, to acquire a royal child of the House of Adamos,” Odini warned.

“Why Adamos? There are many other Royal houses.”

“Because of a prophesy, if a son of Adamos falls from the Light, the shadow of the Darkness shall fall upon all the worlds. Another prophesy states there will be a son of Adamos who will rule many worlds.”

"How do you know this?"

Odini scowled, "Because I was an oracle and your mother's apprentice before the Pools of Destiny changed my magic the way they changed yours. Like you, I am still part Oracle."

Yurieth clenched his fists, looking back toward the hospital. “What of Abrieth’s future children with the Princess of Xelusia?” Terrified that Abrieth would face the heartache of betrayal.

Odini shook his head, “I sense no deception in Lady Serapha. She could not deceive both Oren and I. She genuinely hates the Darkness. She belongs to the Light as much as any Aetherian.”

Yurieth nodded but resolved to kill his future sister-in-law if she betrayed his brother. “I will be back in a month, take care of my brother, Odini, and learn everything you can from the books we acquired.”

Odini nodded, then added, “I am going to send them to your mother and father. Adamos' ability to discern mysteries is greater than mine and your mother’s understanding of ancient languages surpasses any living since the Temple of Light fell.”

Yurieth’s mouth made a stern line. As Odini turned to leave, Yurieth called out to him, “Say nothing of Lady Serapha. My brother will want to introduce her to our parents himself.”

“If you don’t kill her first,” Odini said in cool monotone.

“As long as she doesn’t betray my brother or our people, I won’t have to.”