The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH LOSING HIS HOPE

Yuri had come to Jura for a memorial and was staying with Jenna. It had been eight days since he last visited Daisy. He had been shocked to see Vole in Asha’s office. The young mariner seemed older, empty, pained, and it only took a moment for Yuri to realize his sealed one Meara had gone into the Light. Vole had said nothing more than accepted Yuri’s condolences, then Vole asked him to come to Meara’s memorial at the end of the tenday. Hundreds of people were there, Karstien spoke with heartfelt pain that he was grateful to have been Meara Garrett’s friend for the time they shared. The memorial went late into the night. The next two days, Yuri helped with the animal evacuations from the wildfire area and many had congratulated him on being named Lord of the House of Yophriel.

For Yuri, changing houses was a first step in building a life beyond being the Huntsman of Adamos. He still hated himself for how he treated Daisy when she was Fleur, as he had since he was restored. But the trip back to that time and the way she had looked at him then... It made his guilt more acute, like a fragment of a thorn buried too deep to dig out and painful with every step.

Tomorrow, he would visit Daisy and tell her about Meara's memorial and the fires. Daisy had spent decades restoring Jura's biomes to make them suitable for Davin Jeong's legacy; the Genosaurs of Epoch Industries Cretaceous Creatures division thrived on the temperate world. He slept fitfully dreaming of Daisy as Fluer asleep among the Alpinefluer, then being consumed by the Devourer. The sound of humming relaxed him into a deeper sleep. He dreamed they were back in her crumbling Room of Light, laying on the floor, with his head in her lap. He couldn’t move.

Her fingers kneading his short, silver blonde hair in time with the hummed tune, as she had often done while he recovered from being in the Dust.

She stopped humming, as a tear tracked down her cheek, “You look so different here.”

“I am different here. The man who hurt you died before he became a ghost. The ghost who revived only remembered how much he loves you.” Yuri declared quietly, then he begged. “Please, don’t leave me.”

“I... I can’t live like this. I’ve lived too long already. I have to go. I need to forget... I... I can’t forgive you if I don’t forget.” She cried as she said it, “I love you, Yuri. Find happiness. Find hope. You promised...”

“But you are my hope,” he whispered, interrupting.

“I’m nothing,” she breathed out painfully.

“Please... I love...” He tried to lift his arms or raise up but couldn’t move.

Her finger on his lips stopped his words. “It’s over, you’re free. You’ve done your duty. You don't have to lie to me or yourself any longer.”

“Daisy... No... I...” He struggled to find more to say, to make his body obey so he could hold her.

“I’m sorry for everything Adamos made you do.” Then she pressed her tear-wet lips to his. “Goodbye, Yurieth.”

Yuri inhaled deeply as he woke, he could still taste her tears on his lips. His heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of his chest. His portable comm was chiming loudly. Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed, he felt like he had drunk too much ale or taken too much sleeping potion, but he hadn’t had either last night.

Suddenly, his nephew Kalen and niece Jenna burst into his sleeping chamber.

“Where is she?”

“Where is whom, nephew?”

“Mom! She was here last night... I mean I think she was here. She sat on my bed and sang to me and there are moonflowers growing outside my window this morning.”

Yuri must have worn and odd expression because Kalen insisted, “I didn’t dream it! The flowers are still there.”

“Uncle Yuri, I had the same dream,” Jenna insisted. “She told me to take care of Kalen, and to help you find happiness. You have to believe us.”

“No, I believe you. I also dreamed about your mother. It was like she came to say goodbye. Like she...” Yuri was interrupted by the comm chiming again. “Huntsman Yuri, here.” He snapped at the offending device.

“Lord Yuri, it’s Rheema, you... you need to come to the Healer’s Hall.” She was sobbing.

“Rheema, what is going on?” Yuri demanded, suddenly he felt very afraid.

“It’s the Oracle, she’s gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Yuri’s heart was chanting the word no, over and over.

“Just gone. According to the scans, she was there and then she wasn’t. Her sarcophagus is empty with her clothing just laying in it. She’s not in the Hall or the city or... or anywhere... Regis says he can’t track that she left the building, but she isn’t here. The King and Queen are having a fit, like they think someone took her.” Rheema sounded afraid.

“I’m on the way.” Glancing over, he saw Kalen and Jenna were clinging to each other, so he amended, “We are on the way, from Jura.” He hung up on his brother huntsman’s wife.

“Uncle Yuri, are we orphans?” Jenna asked in a tiny voice.

He hugged them both tightly, “No, never. You belong to a family who loves you. You are my children as much as your father’s, I vowed to him I would take care of you as my own and I never break a promise. Get dressed, we are going to Aetheria.”

As they went to their rooms, Yuri stared out the window at the fiery red sunrise. Wildfires on the southwestern continent had tainted the air with smoke and ash. As the sun rose above the bloody horizon, he prayed Daisy was alive somewhere.

The scene at the Healer’s Hall in the Crown City was chaotic, just as Rheema described. Kalen and Jenna ran to Asha and Allura, while Regis and Abe walked straight to Yuri.

“What have you discovered?” Yuri demanded.

“Nothing.” Regis said with such finality, Yuri cocked his eyebrow. “Nothing?”

Abe frowned, “Brother, did you feel the oracle’s passing?”

Yuri shook his head, “I could not sense her after she was put in the sarcophagus. But last night, I dreamed of her. I do not believe it was just a dream. Jenna and Kalen also told me they dreamed of her too, they were convinced she visited them last night at Jenna’s home on Jura.”

“Come, Yuri. You need to see the feeds.” Abe led him to the security surveillance room.

Karstien was already there sitting in a chair, intently studying a video. Yuri’s breath caught as he watched Daisy’s healing sarcophagus open on its own. There was a brilliant flash of white and gold, as the optics adjusted, a glowing figure rose from the bed and vanished in wisps of light.

Karstien rubbed his watery eyes, “That’s it, Uncle Abe. I’ve been over every angle for the last twelve hours. Asha and Healer Miles left at day’s end, Healer Milo was here until morning. He said there were no alarms, nothing unusual. He was downstairs in the pharmacy preparing burn healing creams and clear breathing medicines for shipment to Jura. He went up to put the invoices on Asha’s desk and discovered Daisy gone.”

“I want Lara’s Techs to go over the recordings for signs of tampering.” Yuri ordered, “Have the Master Mage run a detection enchantment for magical trace and...”

“I already have, Huntsman. Three times.” Shadz answered in his cold, deep voice. “There was nothing beyond Asha and her healers.”

“Run it again, Lord of Odini,” Yuri snarled.

“You do not have the rank to order me around, Lord of Yophriel,” Shadz retorted just as angrily.

“ENOUGH!” Karstien shouted at them both. “Whether you two like it or not, we are family and I will not allow you to rank each other. Not right now!” Karstien looked ready to attack them both. “She’s gone. We’ve lost her. Shadz, take Asha and our siblings to the Palace. Uncle Abe, Hunstman Regis, I am bringing Vole and Colby in to investigate this event and make the report without bias.” When they all opened their mouths to protest, Karstien held up his hand. “We are all too close to it. We would chase every flight of fantasy to... to not accept what happened last night.”

“My king,” Shadz said after a minute of silence. “The Master Healer and her staff, except Elder Miles, are leaving to take the medical relief supplies for the Jurian wildfires on the Seeker. It can’t wait.”

Karstien’s mouth pursed in a thin line. He grumbled under his breath, “To care for those who do not have the gifts we have.”

“Begging your pardon, my king?”

“If my sister is up to going, then go. Don’t let her overwork herself to avoid her grief like her mother does... did...” Karstien sounded strangled as he finished. “We will have lunch at the Palace, go.”

Shadz bowed and walked out. Yuri stood there, staring at running image of Daisy’s empty healing sarcophagus. Regis discretely left the sons of the House of Adamos alone. Abe toggled the screens, so all had the same time stamp as they played forward. There were surveillance feeds from all the sections in the round ward and Asha’s office. Only three had a direct view of the only active healing chamber on the floor. All were momentarily blinded by the brilliant flash, the images fuzzed and inverted as the optics tried to recover. By the time the images were completely clear, there was nothing left to observe.

“And Milo didn’t notice anything?” Yuri asked around the lump in his throat.

“He was in the basement pharmacy making the medicines to go to Jura,” Abe answered.

“Uncle Yuri, she went into...”

“Don’t... Don’t say it!” Yuri interrupted violently, his whole body shaking in denial.

Karstien and Abe both looked at him with such pain and pity that he turned and stormed out. Yuri found himself standing by Daisy’s chamber; the chair he normally sat in was in the corner where he left it. He reached into the bed to pick up Daisy’s gown, but Asha’s hand stopped him.

“Colby will want everything untouched,” She whispered.

He turned away and hugged her tightly and they cried together.

“Do you want to come to Jura with me, Uncle Yuri?”

“I... No... No, I have students for the summer term, and I need time to consider some things.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I am sorry you lost your mother, Asha.”

“I’m sorry you lost your sealed one, Uncle Yuri,” She replied.

“I just wish...” He inhaled deeply trying again to fill the emptiness with air, the ache had existed since they had gotten back from the Cataclysm time. “I wish I had cherished her when I had the chance. I wish I was able to tell her the whole truth the moment the war was over.”

Her brow creased above her watery eyes as she asked, “Why didn’t you? Father saw what happened between you both in the past, he said to wait for you to choose to make it right. Why didn’t you tell her you loved her sooner?”

“I tried. She said we needed to wait. She was afraid what we felt was just residual from the soul-spider trap, then she left to start the environmental reclamation of Terrearth, and when she came back, we were just friends.” He sighed regretfully, “I should have ignored her wishes and my father’s command and... and just told her I loved her.”

Someone called for Asha and he let her go. “Jenna needs you, like when Betha and your father died.”

Asha nodded, blinking against new tears. Walking away she paused and turned back toward him, “Uncle Yuri, will you ever forgive grandfather?”

He closed his eyes and admitted his truth to his healer niece. “I would have to forgive myself first.”

It was only a matter of hours before word had gotten out about the strange occurrence at the Healer’s Hall and the disappearance of the War Oracle. From the circulating descriptions, many believed High Lady Daisy of the House of Adamos had gone into the Light. Soon bouquets of moonflowers began showing up at the War Memorial Wall, and at the Guardian Lord Kaleth’s empty tomb. A ten-day of mourning was declared and the Kingdom came to a standstill. Yuri stood with the Royal Family of Adamos for the final day of mourning. He couldn’t make himself breathe properly while Asha sang the song her mother had sung at her father’s memorial.

Many talked about Kaleth and Daisy as if they had never been separated by his death over a century before. Bitterly Yuri realized Daisy had been correct when she told Yuri that the love story of the Guardian and the Oracle would become a thing of myth in the days after his death. After the war, she had said they needed to put time between who they were in the war and the future they wanted, it was a future that would never come now.

Another year passed and try as he might, Yuri couldn’t convince his heart that Daisy/Fleur, his hope and beloved sealed one, was dead. The more he thought about that last night, the more he was sure it wasn’t a dream or a vision. He needed to believe she had really been on Jura, but where she had gone after, he did not know. He even quit speaking to Abe about it, after his brother had discovered the research board Yuri had made for that night and questioned his sanity. He began seeing her, his memories projecting images of her as both Daisy and Fleur in the gardens and forest around the Academy for Huntsman and Foresters. When he asked Asha, she only offered one solution. It was the same change Daisy had made after Kaleth’s death, to live in a place that held no memories of the dead. So, he set an appointment with the King.

Karstien grinned at him as he came in. “Here to plan the next hunt on Meridian or Olympia?” The King asked hopefully. The twice-yearly hunts for the descendants of the mutated creatures that Damien had been released on most of the colony worlds was his escape from the bureaucracy of ruling the Kingdom.

Yuri gave him a half-smile and shook his head, before his expression became somber again. “Neither but actually this year’s hunt will be on Dauntless Six. The environment restoration crews are having issues with python-sized burrowing snakes that spit venom, and aggressive ocean dwellers attacking the fish farms. Regis will be leading the hunt for the cave and crevasse dwellers while Regulus will be leading the sea-faring hunters.”

“So, Regis can’t sail either?” Karstien made conversation.

“No Huntsman can, but Guardians are as comfortable at sea as Mariners. Kalen is already begging both Regulus and I to allow him to go.” Yuri revealed. “Daisy used to say if he wasn’t born to be a Guardian, he’d be a fish.”

Karstien laughed aloud, nodding. “When I was his age, I was just as bad.”

Yuri just nodded, “Abe loved the water too.” They were quiet for a moment as a servant brought in refreshments.

“Dauntless Six and you won’t be joining us?”

“No, I have something else I wish to accomplish.”

“Aren’t most of Xelusians the new Dauntless settlers?” Karstien asked but he already knew.

Yuri favored him with a bland look. “I do read the thousands of pages you have forwarded to me, nephew. I do not stay behind because of them. I actually came to talk to you because Arborea is becoming too crowded, and many times in the last several years, we have had visitors stumble into our training areas. I want to move the Academy.”

“Sure, where to?” Karstien seemed unsurprised by the request, “There are some excellent locations in the northern mountains. Or you could have the space war base on Sword Island. With the space fleet no longer using the Chronos FTLs after the loss of the Relic of Time, the number of Aetherians joining the space exploration fleet has dropped greatly, no one wants to wait out the trips when the portal system will take them to the colonies in seconds.”

“I was thinking more remote. I want to move the school to Meridian 4.” Yuri sipped his coffee, he had started drinking it black since Daisy’s death, the bitterness suited his moods.

“Meridian instead of Aetheria ?” Karstien eyed him curiously. “Is it just the isolation and terrain, or is it something else?”

Yuri nodded, admitting, “Asha and Abe think I need to live somewhere where I have fewer memories of her. Short of finding another habitable system, Meridian Four is the only choice.”

Karstien blinked a few times and nodded curtly. “Very well. I’ll make the arrangements. With your Academy there, the farmers, miners, and lumbermen may feel safe enough to return.”

“Thank you, my king.”

“I just want you to be happy, Uncle Yuri.”

“Karstien, a person must have hope and love to be happy. I have lost mine.”