The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH A BOY AND HIS DESTINY

Yllumina and Adamos shared an anguished look as the healers tended their eldest. Yurieth was pallid-faced as he vomited again into a basin. His hair was sticking to the sweat on his brow. Abrieth watched in horror as his brother, who had been ill for days, suffered. Yurieth laid back on the bed, clutching the oracle stone his mother had placed around his neck the hour of his birth and prayed to the Light that he would get well.

Later, Abrieth overheard his parents’ murmured conversation as they argued about his twin.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Adamos. Yurieth should be an Oracle, the waters gave us his stone and laid it over his heart when he was born. I won’t accept that it is otherwise.”

“Mina, be reasonable. He has some affinity for oracle magic, but everyday, it seems less and less. Perhaps the stone was meant for Abrieth,” Adamos said.

“No, Abrieth is to be a protector, like Odini is now. The signs are all there, he will be a great warrior.” Mina insisted. “I... I just need to work with Yurieth more. He’s just sick.”

“He isn’t going to be an oracle; he’s going to be something else. The pools changed his destiny to what would be needed from what was expected. And he isn’t just sick, he’s seasick. Oracles never get seasick. Mina, you need to accept that he may not be an oracle and that the stone may be meant for someone else.” Adamos sounded grieved but accepting of the fact his son would never follow in his footsteps.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t have chosen this time to come out of seclusion.” Mina suggested crossly.

“My angel, we have kept the boys and you hidden for 82 years. The kingdom needs you, and Lady Xena of Athenos is about to become Queen. She needs an oracle as an advisor more than ever.” Abrieth could hear his father pacing as he eavesdropped on his parents. “And we need to secure allies beyond the Houses of Remus and Odini if we are going to succeed.”

“I still think Yurieth will be an oracle, the Sacred Waters don’t make mistakes,” Mina insisted

“Perhaps it wasn’t the Waters’ mistake, but yours,” Adamos said tiredly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Mina huffed.

“Like I have said before, perhaps the stone isn’t meant for Yurieth...” he paused taking a resigned breath, “Perhaps it was meant for someone close to his heart,” Adamos finished but Abrieth didn’t hear the last part, all he heard was his father’s assertion that Yurieth’s oracle stone wasn’t his before he crept away to see his brother with a heavy heart.

Yurieth was laying on his side, looking very pale. Abrieth sat across from him, frowning.

“What is it, little brother?” Yurieth’s voice sounded weak.

“Mother and Father are fighting again.” Abrieth chewed his lip for a minute, “They are fighting because Father thinks the waters made a mistake or Mother did...”

“Abrieth, I’m too sick for riddles...” Yurieth complained, raising up on one elbow.

“Father told Mother that perhaps your oracle stone wasn’t meant for you.” Abrieth saw and felt his brother’s horror at the assertion and wished he could take the words back.

Yurieth clutched the white stone amulet around his neck. “But the Pools of Destiny gave me this stone. Mother told us the story. The waters put the stone on my chest, over my heart. That means I have the heart of an oracle. I’m going to... to...”

Yuri stopped mid-sentence and began to vomit again. Abrieth held his brother’s shoulders as he finished being sick and offered him a damp cloth.

“Yurieth, oracles don’t get seasick. Ever. Neither do Guardians nor Mariners, so you aren’t one of those. Father thinks you’re going to be...”

“Shut up, brother! I’m an oracle, I am the first... born of two oracles from two high houses.... It is my destiny,” Yurieth grated out between gagged, ragged breaths.

“But Yurieth...”

“Get out! Get out and take our Father’s lack of faith in me with you.” Yurieth rolled over and faced the wall of his bunk so Abrieth won’t see his tears, which began to fall before the door latch clicked.

His father’s lack of confidence was like a knife to his soul, but somehow it rang of truth. Yurieth had been learning the ways of the Oracles since he was fifty with his mother’s help, and yet had failed in every attempt to use his own magic. Every time he tried he felt like he was crashing into a wall. He could tell the weather days before a change, find a path through the forest where there was none, and shoot a bow far better than his brother who was destined to be a protector. In the last year, he had discovered that he could see through the densest fog from the sea and heal or soothe animals. Having clear site and healing abilities were traits of an oracle, but somehow when his mother spoke of them, she talked about them being a more spiritual thing than a physical thing and Yurieth was confused. As he clutched his stone, he prayed to the Light that someday his magic would prove his worth to his father and validate the faith of his mother.

Eighteen years later...

Yurieth snuck through the halls of the Winter Castle of Adamos with a bundle under his arm. He was glad they were spending the fall in the mountains and not sailing to the island of his mother’s birth. But he could feel an early snow coming and so he was sneaking his secret into the castle to keep it warm. He was almost to his room when he sensed his mother and father coming down a side hall. He slipped into Abrieth’s room, willing himself to be invisible. He felt the vibration of their footsteps hesitate and he stashed his bundle in his brother’s closet.

“Shhh, be quiet little one.” He whispered.

He barely made it to the bookshelf and pulled a random book when his father opened the door.

“Yurieth, what are you doing in your brother’s room?”

Yurieth looked up, trying to pretend surprise. “I’m just borrowing a book, Father.”

Adamos expression said he didn’t believe his eldest, and he held out his hand for the book Yurieth had pulled off the shelf.

“And you are borrowing a book on ornamental wood working for weapon making?” Adamos asked coldly. He obviously knew his son was lying and wanted him to admit it.

“I... I... ” Yurieth suddenly felt flushed and angry.

His father never seemed to tire of degrading him since his magic had failed to manifest itself when he turned one hundred orbits, and his sea sickness was the reason they would not be going to the Island of the Angelus this year. “Yes. I need to learn some sort of skill since I’m not going to be an oracle like you and Mother or a warrior like my brother.”

“Yurieth! Don’t speak to your father in such a tone,” his mother scolded.

“It’s the truth, Mother. Don’t you always say tell the truth, but you and father lie all the time.” He reached up and yanked the stone from around his neck. “Did you lie about this too?” He demanded as he held the smooth stone in his hand. He had never been able to get a single glimmer of magic out of it. His mother and father’s oracle stones glowed faintly all the time but his was as dull as an eggshell. He slammed his brother’s door as he stomped out into the hall and thrust his oracle stone at his mother, “Just throw it away, it is as useless as I am.”

Her tears as her fingers closed around it told him the hard truth, his mother didn’t believe in him any longer either. He could see the oracle stone, his oracle stone, glowing in her grasp and a tear ran down his cheek. His father caught his shoulder before he could storm away, pushing the book back into his hand.

“I expect to see your first attempt begun by tomorrow’s sunset. Vlast the forester can get you any wood you need. But Romel will be here for you and your brother’s archery and sword lessons within the hour, after that I expect you to begin learn this skill you so desire to have.”

Turning on his heel, Yurieth stormed away with the book. He had no interest at all in learning to carve wood, but now he would have to just to keep from being proved a liar. Instead of going to his lesson, he left the castle and walked down the river to the waterfalls. Climbing down the rock face with freakish agility, he landed next to the pool at the bottom then made his way to the old forester’s cot. Vlast was the only person he felt comfortable talking to, not that they talked much. They mostly just sat and listened to the river or to the forest. Yurieth had picked a place about a day’s hike down the river where he wanted to build his own house someday or perhaps he would build on the lakeshore near the family’s summer retreat.

“You’re more fidgety than normal, Lord Yurieth. What is troubling you?” The old forester asked as Yurieth shifted for the twentieth time in five minutes.

“I’m not an oracle.” He answered in a defeated tone.

Vlast nodded thoughtfully, puffing his pipe.

Yurieth felt compelled to continue. “I don’t have my parents’ magic, I can’t see the future or predict how people are going to act. I mean I can see how they are going to move before they do, like how a flock of birds is going to shift before it does, but Mother says it isn’t the same thing. And I... I can’t make my oracle stone glow. No matter what I do or how hard I meditate or pray, nothing happens. I’d have more luck making a piece of river rock glow. I... I hate myself because I can’t be what they expected me to be. I have failed my destiny. And... .and I hate them because they cannot tell me what I am supposed to do. They are oracles who cannot help their own son.” He sniffed and wiped his hand across his face. “Now I have to start doing the things in this stupid book that I just grab so I wouldn’t get in trouble for hiding... oh no...” Yurieth surged to his feet.

Vlast raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem, lad?”

“I may have left an orphan baby animal in my brother’s closet?” He said it more like a question than a statement.

“I see, and what manner of orphan was it? A squirrel or rabbit?” Vlast asked.

Yurieth chewed his lip like any boy his age would at being caught doing mischief. Vlast’s intense gaze pulled the answer out.

“A cub.”

The forester was on his feet in an instant, “There are no orphaned cubs on Adamos land, bear or mountain feline. Which is it?”

“It is a bear cub.” Yurieth confessed in a rush.

“Come, we must get back before someone in your family gets hurt or its mother comes to seek it. Can you reach your twin and warn him?”

Yurieth stretched out his mind and could feel his brother shooting targets.

‘Abrieth... listen to me...’

‘No, big brother, you listen to me. Mother and Father are angry that you aren’t at our weapons lesson.’ Abrieth snapped at him through their twin link.

‘I don’t care. Look, don’t go...’ Yurieth started.

‘Oh, I know you do not care. I know you think you’re better than me, but you cannot just skip lessons. So, you better have a good excuse cause I am not going to cover for you anymore.’ Then Abrieth was gone. He shut Yurieth out completely.

Yurieth looked at Vlast with wide eyes, “Abrieth wouldn’t listen.”

Vlast nodded, “Then we best get to your brother’s room and get that cub before his dame seeks him out.”

They took the old forester’s flyer and quickly went to the Castle, only to find everyone standing outside. As soon as they landed, Yurieth ran into the house, ignoring his mother shouting at him. Protector Romel was standing with a bow drawn taut in front of Abrieth’s room. Yurieth tackled him just as the arrow was loosed. The vicious snarling was coming from inside Abrieth’s room silenced and was followed by a bear cub’s crying.

“No. Don’t hurt them!” Yurieth shouted as his father seized him. “Please, it’s not her fault. Please, don’t kill them.”

“Yurieth, control yourself.” Adamos ordered as Vlast came up behind them.

“My Lord, please. Let the lad, handle the bear cub. ”

Both Romel and Adamos looked at the old forester like he was crazy, but Yurieth had already begun creeping toward the door. Inside he could see the mother bear, she was on her side with three arrows in her and Yurieth could feel her dying. He went to her on his hands and knees. The cub crawled into his lap as the mother watched. Yurieth placed his hand on her side, trying to soothe her pain. He could feel the bear’s life, like the vibration of a bow string, growing weaker.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. I’m so sorry... I’m so sorry,” Yurieth sobbed.

She made a chuffing sound in her throat as if she understood and then died.

“By the Light, the beast understood him,” Romel declared, as Yurieth cried with the cub and said soothing words to the baby animal.

“Vlast, what is happening to my son?” Adamos demanded.

“Nothing is happening to him, my Lord Adamos. Your son, Lord Yurieth, is a Hunstman. He is using his magic.” Vlast announced as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“But there has never been a Hunstman born to either my house nor his mother’s house,” Adamos exclaimed quietly as he watched his eldest sitting on the floor cradling the small bear cub.

“It is what he is, I am sure of it. Perhaps you should contact the House of Remus or the House of Artemus, they are the Houses with the most Huntsmen and Foresters. Romel, your twin is a Huntsman, isn’t he?” Vlast asked as if he already knew the answer.

“My brother is on the front lines of the war, but I will send for the Guardian of our house,” Romel answered.

“What should I do with him in the mean time? What do I say to him, his power drew the poor beast here and to her death?” Adamos asked. As an oracle, all life was sacred to him, but he had helped Romel kill the bear to protect his household.

“If it is satisfactory to you, my Lord, I would take young Lord Yurieth and his pet to my cot and help him begin to understand his destiny better.” Vlast suggested and Adamos gave him a curt nod.

Vlast entered the room and knelt on one knee next to Yurieth and the cub. “Come, Lord Yurieth, let us bring the cub to my home and I will teach you how to care for him.” Vlast took the cub from Yurieth’s arms and held it gently. The small bear laid against the old forester as if they had known each other forever.

As they walked out of Abrieth’s destroyed room, Yurieth hung his head in shame, pausing next to Adamos. “I am sorry, Father. I am sorry I am not what you wanted me to be.”

Adamos hugged him tightly. “Yurieth, you are what the Light meant for you to be. No matter what your destiny, I will always love you.”