700 years later
Mira enjoyed her time alone in the forest. It was her quiet time. Her time to decompress. Especially with the festival tomorrow night. Tonight unfortunately was the ball, and she was not looking forward to it.
Walking through the forest, she smelled something spicy. Amber, smoke and maybe lavender? It called to her and she could not quite find where it was coming from.She searched for an hour thinking that it was maybe a flowering plant that she had not yet discovered in her walks. While searching for the source of the scent she came across something deep in the forest that she had never seen before. It was stone ruins of what had obviously been a very massive structure. All the remained were a partial wall and an arched doorway.
Looking on it in wonder, Mira reached out her hand hesitantly, not sure if she wanted to know it's history.....
When her hand made contact with the stone ruins she felt everything. The love the generations of inhabitants of the castle had felt, because it could only have been a castle. She felt the weight of rule, the anger of injustice and tyranny, the hate.....Mira snatched her hand away at the intensity of the emotion. The rage was horrifying in it's depth. It felt unreasonable and unjustified. Like there was not any reason behind it, it just was. The absolute malice was almost smothering.
Trembling from the effects of her encounter with the intense emotions, MIra stepped away from the ruins. Remembering something else, she gasped and put her hand over her mouth and gazed at the ruins in a new light. A strange, soul-deep sorrow overtook her and she began to mourn. For what, she couldn't really say. But she felt the sorrow in the depths of her soul. Then she realized. Soulmates had died here. Together. It was the sorrow that she had felt. The beast of the castle had lost his love in a final battle and his grief had caused his death. What that beast had been was unknown to her and she was intrigued with the idea that a race of something not quite human had lived and loved here for many millennium.
In a way, she was sorry that she had never met one. Perhaps one day....No. She was being fanciful. The former inhabitants were obviously extinct. That's why no one knew about them.
Mira sighed and turned to go back home and get ready for the party tonight. Gods knows she hated attending them. But as the daughter of one of the wealthiest merchants in the region it was expected of her to participate in the social circle of the area and to pick a suitable husband for herself. She was very thankful that her mother and father had not pushed her into a loveless marriage, but allowed her to chose for herself.
At 20, she was considered an old maid. She was also considered to be quite the catch because of her family's wealth. However, she could not bring herself to accept any of the men in her region as a marital partner. Young and old alike, for some reason, they repulsed her. She was fine as long as they were merely friends. But beyond that, her skin would crawl. When she had spoken to her mother about this, she had gotten a misty eyed look and utter some strange words under her breath. It had sounded like, "Thank the Gods. It won't be long now." Then her mother had pulled her into a fierce hug and told her not to worry about it, that when the right man came along, she would know beyond any doubt that he was for her.
Walking out of the forest, she was met by her friend John, walking his horse after a hard run. As they walked side by side in companionable silence, she could feel John's eyes of her and could feel his desire to say something he felt was very important.
"Yes John? You want to say something?" Mira asked.
John drew a breath to steady himself. Only with Mira did he allow himself to be natural. Knowing he was struggling, she stopped and turned to him, laying a hand on his bicep, she looked him in the eye. "Take you time John. No one else is here to hear you and they cannot make fun of you if they cannot hear you." Mira was angered somewhat. John was the youngest son of her father's closest friend and was born with a mild stutter. Because of this he was the target of bullies. Sometimes even his own family would laugh at him. Never realizing that their reaction to his affliction was painful for him.
"A sp-sp-special man is c-c-c-coming to the party tonight. I overheard my f-f-f-father telling my m-m-mother his lineage was older than the village or town itself. His f-f-family lived here over 500 years ago or more. The ruins of his f-f-family estate are in the forest. It was destroyed in w-w-war." John stopped talking as Mira's eyes grew round with excitement.
"Someone new is going to be there? Perfect! We must get to my house so that I can start getting ready. You know how mother is about these things. It will take her and Mary the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon just to help me get ready." Mira was unaccountably excited. She couldn't say why the idea of this stranger excited her, it just did.
John waved bye to her as they reached the gate of her home, promising to see her tonight.
"Mira! Where have you been? Never mind. Get in here and have some lunch so you can start getting ready for the tonight's ball. Mary already has your dress steamed out and your mask sewn. All we need is you." Her mother scolded gently.
As Mira was bathing, she began to tell her mom about the ruins she came across that morning in the forest. "It was so old, Momma." Looking to make sure that they were alone, even though Mary knew about her gift. Mary was often uncomfortable with her discussing her gift, so she made sure not to do it around her. "I touched the ruins, Momma. There was so much love in the stones that it was outweighed any other emotion." Realizing the idea that came to her when she touched the ruined stones, she looked at her mother in incredulity. "Momma, I don't think that they were completely human. I'm not sure what they were, though." MIra frowned in concentration as she remembered.
Turning in the tub to look at her mother over her shoulder she asked the question that had been plaguing her all day. "Do you know anything about them?"
Mira watched emotions chase themselves across her mother's face. Realization, fear, love, doubt and finally, acceptance.
"Yes, I do. Before I married your father, our family was the lore keepers of the village. We are the only ones who know the whole story of the ruins. The inhabitants came here over 2000 years ago when we were still living in caves and huts. They educated us. They taught us to use tools and to build homes. We became creatures of higher learning because of the Clutch. The founders were beasts in the form of men. They settled near us because of the mountains and the rivers and the large lake close to the outer edge of the forest. It is said that when times are rough they will always come to our aid. The festival that we are having tomorrow night originated from them. It was the males way of choosing a mate for life. The village elders would put bring the eligible young women before the beasts blindfolded." Mira's mother's eyes were alight with the story and history of the village.
"Why would they be blindfolded, Momma?" She asked.
"Because only the sense of smell could determine a true mate. The eyes that are often blinded by false beauty could make a disastrous match. No. Only the scent of each other would reveal a true mate." Her mother paused and Mira watched a tear roll down her mother's cheek from the corner of her eye. "it is said that the last pair were so much in love that they were inseparable. However, it was the greed of man that was the downfall of their kingdom. Ending it with them dying together as the castle collapsed around them."
"What happened, Momma?"
"One of the village elders had a son who was favored above all. He was favored to the point of being spoiled. It poisoned his mind and his heart. When the girl he favored for his bride was chosen by the beast as his bride, Ragar could not accept that. Sheiria and Erwan were true soulmates, and Ragar set out to turn the people against them and destroy them in any way he could. He brought war to the land in his insane jealousy. Causing their son Tine to disappear from the castle and was never seen or heard from again. Even to this day no one knows his fate."
Mira wanted to cry. It was sad that the two lovers lives were ended so abruptly. Then she realized what her mother had said about smell and her mouth fell open. "Mom! I smelled something incredible in the forest today. It was what lead me to the ruins." She stood quickly and grabbed the towel to begin to dry her body as Mary came in to begin to fix her hair while her mom went to get ready. But not before she saw her watching her with a speculative look on her face.
Tine watched the people filter in to the main hall of the assembly house. It was the largest building in the village and was used for parties, weddings and other types of gatherings. Tonight was a ball to kick off the festival of The Chosen. Even though his kind had not been in this area in 700 years, the villagers still honored their traditions. It appeared that even the mate pairings were sometimes chosen on this night every year. Although the Clutch have not been present the villagers saw fit to continue the mate pairings, after a fashion. The village elders had paid attention to the young people all year long and had made notes of how certain females acted towards certain males and vise versa. Tomias sought him out where he stood in the shadows and bowed as he came to stand in front of him. "My Lord, she will be here tonight. Her family lives on the large estate on the edge of the forest and are usually some of the last to arrive. However, there is some competition for her hand.
Tine continued to watch from the shadows. It wasn't time for he and his mate to meet. He had disappeared from sight during the chaos that had occurred with Lord Anton and his son, Ashton. if would seem that their society had become somewhat matriarchal. He had not realized that the women ran the households and the town. But looking around, he began to notice that the men deferred to the women and that the older the woman, the more deference was paid to her.This was very different in the way he was raised. The clutch was very male-oriented and very much male ran. Women are the ones who paid deference to men in his society. Not the other way around. It would take some adjusting, but he and his mate would rule together and teach the villagers to as well. It had been that way with his mother and father. They had ruled well together. His memories of them was few, but when he did think about them, he felt their love surround him. Even now, 700 years later, the remembrance of their love wa
Mira stood in her bedroom with her mother as she was getting ready for the evening's choosing. To say she was nervous was putting it mildly. Her stomach had finally stopped rolling but her heart was still racing. It had slowed somewhat with the 2 glasses of wine her mother had given her with her supper. Mira almost snorted in a very unladylike fashion. Supper indeed. She had struggled to get the food past the tightness in her throat. She was so badly shaken from the thought of finding her husband tonight that she had barely managed to get soup and a small bit of bread into her stomach. While the wine had gone down easily, the food had not. And Mira was now in a state of relaxed chaos.She frowned to herself. Was that really a thing, she wondered?"Mira, darling, perhaps a bit more of the soup? You are swaying somewhat. I think, perhaps, you have had a little too much wine and not enough food." Mira turned to see her mother speaking to her but in her head, she felt vaguely disconnecte
His lips touched hers in the briefest of touches as they brushed across hers. Sensations, emotions, raced through her like the heady wine she had earlier in the day, and just as strong, sending her swaying into him for more. Hearing him chuckle at her reaction, she felt his large, warm hands move from her face to her shoulders and pull her into his body. Mira felt her body soften and try to mold itself to her mate and soon to be husband. Laying her head on his broad chest, she whispered in the dark, "I want to see you."She felt him remove a hand from her back and snap his fingers. Suddenly, flames appeared to dance on his fingertips. Gasping,she took a step back. Tine refused to release her and kept one arm wrapped securely around her waist. Looking up at him, she realized several things at once.One, he was at least a foot taller than her 5'5 height, Two, his hair was a burnt bronze and his eyes were the deepset, purest emerald green she had ever seen. Three, his features were someh
Tine watched as the Clutch Elders assembled in the Hall of Ancestors for the Reading of his bloodline. As the Master of Records read his lineage starting with the first of his line and going forward for twenty generations, he felt his chest swell with pride. His line was one of the oldest and strongest of all of the dragon clutches scattered about. Thanks to senseless and fearful hunting in some parts of the world, his kind were fewer and fewer. Most humans were fearful of things that they did not understand or could not control. Realizing the Master of Records was waiting on him, he cleared his throat and asked him to repeat the question. Several of the male elders nudged each other in the ribs and openly laughed thinking he was thinking of his soon-to-be mate. He didn't bother to correct them. They wouldn't believe him anyway."I asked if you are preparing a
Mira lay in bed, curled up on her side in misery. She didn't understand what was wrong with her. She would cry at the slightest inclination. The feelings she had were over whelming her. She felt so lost and alone. She felt abandoned. She knew that Tine would be gone for several day, but had no idea that it would affect her so radically. She was so miserable that she didn't even bother to turn over her pillow that was wet, soaked, from her constant tears. They rolled down her face in a silvery trail, leaving her eyes red and swollen.As she lay there contemplating the depths of her misery, she heard her door open and heard a familiar step. Her father sat down on the side of the bed and took one of her hands in his and raised it to his lips."My darling daughter, it is time for you to
Mira could see the memory of the final battle at the old ruins in the forest. The woman clothed in an odd armor that was black with a gold sheen to it in the sunlight. Her arms were bare to mid-bicep. She had boiled leather sleeve attachments to cover her vulnerable shoulders. On her head sat a helmet of the same black material. Her back was covered the same way. Her legs were covered in leather trews that laced up the sides from knee to hip. Mira was slightly appalled by this showing of skin. But she also guessed it was the only way to get them on. She was standing in the middle of the keep bailey talking to several soldiers, giving orders and directions. No man sneered at her. She wore her authority as easily as she wore her armor. As she directed each group of men, they departed to do her bidding. Some stayed with her, these flanked and surrounded her in the back to guard her vulnerable spots and to fight at her side. Pride shown in the eyes of the men. Mira didn't know if it was
Raptor uttered one word, a name, "Amelia..."Amethyst stopped and looked from Tine and the elder to his uncle. "I'm sorry. I have been told that I look just like her. Amelia was my grandmother"Amethyst watched, along with Tine as Raptor absorbed this information. Watching the blood drain from his face as he mumbled some excuse and left to go back to the inn."What was that all about Tine?" Amethyst asked to anyone in general. "I have my suspicions, I'm afraid, but it is not my story to tell. At least, not until I find out for sure. But, I also suspect Lady Amethyst, that you already have some inkling of the answer yourself. However, I am not going to pry." A that moment, Mira could have happily melted through the floor as her stomach growled loudly. As loudly as Raptor had growled earlier."Heavens, it seems that someone is hungry. We should probably go in to dinner. I believe Tine that you and Mira are especially hungry."Amethyst turned and led the way toward the dining room where