The Lord Son's Travels (52 page)

“What
an incredible place,” she muttered to herself.
 
They continued in silence for some time, following the
meandering path past the bright torches roaring against the darkness.
 
From far away came the sound of the
celebration still continuing in the House.

“Well,
I hope you didn’t bring me out here to practice!
 
Not in this outfit!” she insisted, with a tug on her full
skirt for emphasis.
 
He smiled and
took her hand.

 
“I think we can take leave from practice
for the night.”
 
They walked on
farther in a comfortable silence.
 
The quarter moon had risen over the peaks behind them.
 
Elenna since her first day in her new
world had avoided looking into the unfamiliar night sky whenever possible.
 
She kept her eyes on the path in front
of her, or on the tall man who walked nearest the edge, keeping her hand
protectively clasped in his own the entire time.
 
He was torn; he could get an answer to the question burning
in his heart now, or keep on walking and treasuring this time together.
 
They had rarely walked together without
a destination in mind before and it was quite pleasant to amble slowly and
share the exquisite view.
 
He was
beginning to think the whole sorry trip to Evendor was worth it just to have
these few hours of break from responsibilities; Lady of All knew it would be a
long time before he would set down his burdens again.

“Allé-dôn
seems like a good place,” she said suddenly as the culmination of a
 
number of private thoughts.

 
  
“I
think you would find it so,” he answered cautiously at this sudden opening.

   
She shrugged.
 
“I’ll never see it.”
 

   
He stopped her by tugging on
their linked hands and forced her to level her eyes with his.
 
“It is my fondest wish that you do.”

She
took in his discomfiture and almost hungry gaze.
 
“What’s wrong?” she demanded anxiously.
 

He
smiled slowly. “I’ve made some decisions recently that I would like to discuss
with you.”

She
sighed.
 
“No work stuff, not now.”

"I
would hope you would not think of this as work, Elenna."
 
Eagerly he motioned her to join him in
a little scenic nook off of the path they had been following.
 
She complied, trying to study his
expression in the dim light.
 
He
reached up and took her hand in his own, clutching it tightly in his
nervousness.
 

“Elenna,”
he said earnestly, leveling his eyes on his own.
 
“I want you to do something very important for me.”

“What
do you want me to do?” she asked.
 
Her expression was wary, as she tried to understand the direction his
thoughts had taken.

He
took a deep breath.
 
“I want you to
marry me.”

“Adrien!”
Elenna gasped in bewilderment.
 
She
took an involuntary step backwards, almost tripping over the hem of her
dress.
 
He clutched her hand,
refusing to let her go.
 
“No!
 
I can’t…”

“Look
at me, Elenna!” he ordered huskily.
 
He reached out to gently clasp her chin, forcing her eyes up to meet his
own.
 
“Do you refuse because of
your heart or your head?”

She
swallowed deeply and clenched her eyes closed to avoid the intensity of his
expression.
 
“I love you,” she
stated firmly.
 
“You know
that."

“And
I love you,” he answered.
 
Her head
swam as he wrapped his arms around and pulled her close, resting his cheek in
her hair.
 
“And so I will not
accept your refusal.
 
We will fight
this evil together, and when we have won we will then rule together as Lord
King and Lady Queen.”

Elenna
tried to pull away, ignoring her braying emotions to cling to rationality.
 
“Lady Queen?
 
Adrien, that's not even possible,” she argued.
 
“I’m a stranger, and…”

“You
are Neda Alia,” he replied stubbornly.
 
He continued as she shook her head violently and tried to
interrupt.
 
“You've demonstrated your
loyalty to me and to
Allè-dôn
countless times during this bloody war.”

“The
people will never accept me,” she continued desperately.

“They
will have no choice!” he exclaimed in exasperation.
 
“When I return with Evenral, my place on the throne is
incontestable.
 
And then I alone
will have the right to choose my wife.
 
I know now that I would only choose you.” Suddenly a thought occurred to
him that brought panic.
 
“It would
mean never returning to your home.
 
Could you love me enough to stay?”

She
paused, feeling her eyes fill with tears, “Yes, I want to stay with you,” she
whispered.
 
“I didn’t think that it
could ever be possible.”
  

He
smiled at her, wiping away the tracks of a fresh tear from her cheek with his
thumb.
 
“I will not let you
go.
 
I have spend the last
fortnight terrified that I would lose you when our work is done.
 
Please, Elenna.
 
Stay and be my wife.”

She
beamed at the devotion in his eyes.
 
Then her face clouded again.
 
“You are engaged to Isabeau.”

“I
have sent word to my father that I have revoked the marriage contract.
 
I will tell the King of Roden in person
at our arrival.
 
Nothing stands
between us except your answer.”
 
That answer he found as she hugged him tightly, tears streaming down her
face.
 
He grasped her hand tightly
and brought it to his lips.
 
He
kissed her fingertips, sensing the roughness of the calluses from the hours of
practice with her sword.
 
“You are
the finest student I have ever had,” he admitted.

She
pulled his hand into hers, interlacing their fingers.
 
“You are the best teacher I have ever had.”

“I
never thought… “he started and sighed as she smiled up at him.
 
Then he took her into his arms again.

Chapter 49

Adrien
awoke the next morning when the first rays of the sun shot through the small
window of her chamber.
 
Groggily he
pulled himself up on his elbows, and turned to observe the sleeping form beside
him.
 
One arm still lay across his
chest.
 
He picked up her hand and
kissed it gently, then laid it on the blanket as he slipped from
underneath.
 
As he dressed quickly
he watched her, waiting to see if she would
 
awake as well.
 
She didn’t stir as he picked up his boots and carried them to the door,
so he gingerly slid open the door and exited silently to the sitting area.
 

When
she finally opened her eyes he was already gone.
 
Elenna lay in bed clutching her sheets to her chest, smiling
at her memories of the night before.
 
His cloak still lay draped over the chair next to the bed.
 
She reached out and stroked the soft
material.
 
Finally she pushed away
her blankets and shivering from the morning damp chill reached for her
robe.
  
She rushed through her
morning routine and peeked out of her room.
 
All of the men of her traveling party were gathered in the
sitting area, debating something about the morning's itinerary.
 
Nervously she slipped into the room and
took a seat in the corner.
 
Brendan
caught a bit of movement out of his left eye, tracked it, and smiled in
greeting.
 
She responded
automatically, her attention focused wholly on the leader of the
expedition.
 
Adrien was dressed in
his usual travel gear, completely unremarkable to anyone else in the room.
 
He perched on the sofa next to Tomas,
holding a map and discussing their route to Roden.
 
At Brendan’s greeting his attention flickered to her.
 
He smiled widely at first then quickly
reassumed his normal stoic expression.
 
Elenna turned to the display of breakfast breads to cover her resulting
fluster.

They had decided to keep their
engagement secret until the upcoming battles were over, not wanting to cause
any unneeded distraction from their main concerns.
 
Until then they resolved to keep all outward appearances the
same as before.
 
Neither had
realized how difficult that was going to be in the flush of their new
happiness.
 
“We leave Evendor in
one hour,” Adrien declared to the assembly.
 
“I have been summoned by the Lady to speak before our
departure.”
 
His pursed lips
summarized his feelings about the upcoming interview.
 
The men scattered to their preparations; Tomas to the
troops, Brendan and Tarien to finalize their packing.
 
Elenna caught his eye and shook her head in warning.
 
"Don't believe anything you see is
magic."
 
Adrien nodded
briefly, then took advantage of their rare time alone to kiss her.
  
He tried to deepen the kiss but
she gently pushed him away.
 
"Go, get that meeting over with so we can get out of this place
already." Elenna ordered.
 
He
complied with her wise advice.

As he crossed the campus to the Lady's
House, he thought again about her warning about the Lady and her false claims
of magic.
 
He loved Elenna and
would never again distrust her strange knowledge, but part of him had harbored
worry about her since the confrontation a week ago.
 
His kingdom had rejected contact with the School since the
Beginning because of their immoral control over magic.
 
He could accept that the magic they had
always claimed to hold over everyone else was false; because of Elenna he had
learned that some objects could be incorrectly labeled magical that were
not.
 
His worry was that sometimes
he sensed she secretly believed there was no true magic at all.
 
This was of course ridiculous; the
Bearer of Midiral had to realize what she held was a powerful magic gift from
Eva Lady of All.
 
He had not yet
broached the subject because he was afraid of confirmation of his fears.

His
dark thoughts made him hurry; he nearly raced from their quarters to the
House.
 
His footsteps echoed in the
empty halls as he made his way through the House of the Lady.
 
A guard directed him to a wooden door
next to the Lady’s Chamber, unnoticed on his previous visits.
 
He pushed it open, steeling himself for
the coming discussion.
 
Surprise
superseded his thoughts as he gaped in wonder at the marvelous sight before
him.
 
The door opened outside to a
large sunny courtyard, bursting with colorful exotic flowers cascading from
hanging vines and planting beds.
 
At the center a circular stone fountain spurted jets of water playfully
into the air.
 
Next to it on a
intricately carved wooden bench sat the Lady, tending to a large orange bloom
in a clay pot.
 
She glanced up as
he entered.

“You
should not marry her,” she said in greeting.
 
He continued on his journey inside, dropping to a seat next
to her on the bench.
 
He merely
raised his eyebrows in curiosity.
 
“The Lady Elenna would not be an acceptable Lady Queen of Allé-dôn.”

“You
believe these my plans?” he replied mildly, reminding himself of the importance
of the items she provided, and the relative unimportance of any feelings he
held about her.

She
smiled slightly, only a slight incline of the corners of her lips.
 
“Only Truth is spoken here, Lord
Son.
 
Do you disavow these
notions?”

“I
question your concern with the matter,” he replied.
 
“or the possibility of these issues coming to pass.
 
I lie behind three others in the line
of succession.”

She
laughed.
 
“Lord Adrien, you may not
hide your purposes from me.
 
You
seek even more than the destruction of your enemy.
 
He has something you want.
 
You seek Evenral.”

“I
will admit that is one of my goals,” he answered.
 
“Evenral is the rightful talisman of Allé-dôn.”

“I
understand your reasons,” she said.
 
“Many of your land have followed this quest.
 
Why do you think you will succeed?”

“I
hope,” he declared, “for success.”

She
leaned forward slightly.
 
“From
where comes the Lady Elenna?” she asked.
 
He smiled.

“I
could not explain to you, my Lady.
 
I do not understand the land myself.”

“She
is a stranger to the Eastlands,” she continued.
 
“With strange ways and ideas. Why do you trust her?”

“Elenna
has always been truthful with me, and loyal when that had not been the safest
choice.” he replied.
 
“I trust her
completely.”

“With
your heart?” she retorted with a smile.
 
“There will be a great battle ahead, Lord Adrien.
 
Armies are gathering in Roden and the
West.
 
They will need a leader to
bring these armies into battle, yet you will leave Roden before the fighting
starts.”
 
Her correct assumption
started him.
 
He had not spoken of
his plans to anyone, even Elenna.
 
“You will go and seek Evenral in the very midst of your enemy.
 
Why do you believe this is a wise
choice?”

“Evenral
is the source of much of his power,” Adrien answered.
 
“Without it in his hands, our armies will find their tasks much
easier.”

“I
have met some of the men who have proceeded you in this quest,” she said.
 
“All were heroes of the highest regard,
and all of their failures resulted in their deaths.
 
Why do you believe you will succeed when so many have not?”

He
sighed.
 
“Because I must.
 
If Evenral remains in the West, our
armies will meet defeat and Allé-dôn will fall.
 
I will not allow that to pass.”

She
considered this.
 
“You are a good
man, Adrien Lord Son.
 
If you
succeed then you will be remembered among the greatest Lord Kings of the royal
line of Allé-dôn.
 
Be wise and
brave.”
 
To his surprise, she
kissed his cheek as she rose to her feet.
 
“Give word to your Lady that she is in my thoughts.
 
I give my blessings to your
marriage.”
 

Without
out another word she turned to disappear into a labyrinth of rose-covered
trellises in the corner of her hidden garden.
 
He exited through the wooden door back into the custody of
the Lady’s servant, and returned to the front of the guest house, where the
rest of the traveling party was assembled and impatiently waiting for him.
 
He mounted his horse and without a
glance behind him gave the order to depart.