Whispers and Promises (restarted)

[heartofcourage]

"If he could gather the courage to tell me that it would be appreciated." Kyra said as she placed a fond kiss on her teacher's cheek.

She gathered her books and papers, following the guard as he led the way back to the prince's room. Once she entered, she move to the dressing table which she had pretty much claimed as her own and placed her books upon the surface. It was only then that she approached the prince.

"You sent for me, my prince?" She asked softly as as moved to the side of the bed and gently took a seat.

 

[DrStein]

Rath had not improved much in the two days since his return from the battlefield. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin was damp with sweat. He placed a hand on Kyra's and looked her in the eye. "Can you sing?" His normally strong, authoritative voice was soft and weak, rasping out of his throat like he had just woken up and he couldn't shake the sleep from his brain. "I wanted to hear your voice again."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra looked down at his hand holding hers and she glanced back at the man who had been felled in battle. "Can I sing? I'm afraid that there are limitations to my talents, my prince."

She glanced towards the books and papers that she had just placed on the dressing table. "But I would be happy to read for you if you wish."

 

[DrStein]

Rath nodded gently. He took a breath in and his face scrunched up. He exhaled in a pained sigh and touched his bandages as Kyra went to get her books. He watched her move and took her hand again as she rejoined him on the bed. "I apologize for interrupting your lessons. The pain is easier to bear when you are around." He sat up slightly with some effort and sipped from a cup of water before lying back down again. "Please... read. Anything you wish."

 

[heartofcourage]

"As you wish." Kyra said as she stood to get her books before she returned to her spot beside the prince.

She decided to read him a story from her country. It was a fairy tale about a clever fox who thought he was wiser then any other animal in the world. It was a children's story, but it had always been one of her favorites.

 

[DrStein]

Rath laid still and listened. Foxes were something he'd only heard stories about. He'd never actually seen one. Not that it mattered. Kyra's voice soothed him and the pain seemed duller and less intense. His hand stayed on her thigh throughout the story as he watched her through half-lidded eyes.

When she finished, Rath looked up at the ceiling. "Thank you..." He wiped some of the sweat from his brow and looked to her again. "I want to tell you something I haven't told anyone. About the attack the other day.

"We descended on the Enshar camp at dawn. Amidst the battle I saw him, the false prophet Issamu... I ran him down on foot. He took the blade of a fallen man and fought with me. In that moment..." Rath hesitated. He reached for the cup of water again, choking slightly as a drop ran down the wrong pipe.

"In that moment, I felt an anger I've never felt before. My blood turned to fire in my veins. The sounds of battle were all around, but distant as if leagues away. I felt the arrow land in my chest. Then another. Issamu slashed me across the chest." The prince touched his bandages absently as he remembered the events.

"I fell to my knees in pain as a third arrow struck me. I saw Issamu raise his sword for the killing strike. And I thought of every village burned by his order. The slaughtered children, the women he raped... Somehow I found the strength to stand. I deflected his blow, turned... and severed his lying head from his shoulders.

"My men routed the Enshar easily after that. The survivors who did not escape into the desert are awaiting their trial now. It's over." The prince took Kyra's hand in both of his. "But for a moment... For a moment I felt that if I had died in that battle, I would rise again to drag Issamu into the underworld with me. Not because of his crimes against me and my house. But what he had done to my people. And I find myself wondering... is this what it means to be king?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"I guess it depends on what kind of king you want to be." Kyra said softly. "Some kings only want to strike fear into the minds of their citizens. Some kings want to be benevolent and be as open as possible."

"You care a great deal about your people, my prince. War weighs heavily on your mind. I think that means that you will be a great king when your time comes." She didn't mention that she had once been the daughter of a king. She didn't think that was information that he needed to know.

 

[DrStein]

Rath continued holding Kyra's hand and was quiet for a long time. At last he looked at her again. "When I'm healed, I want to go out into the city and see my people, how they live." There was a sincerity in his eyes and voice, a vulnerability he had never shown before. "My father is a great man and the people love him. But he's distant. Untouchable. He leads by strength and instinct.

"I have to be my own man. It's why I ride on the front lines. I've inspired a loyalty in those warriors that my father never did. It's tradition for the king to be on the battlefield to direct his men, but I am the first of my house to lead the charge." He said nothing of the obvious pain it had caused him to do so. The previous scars and these new ones were testament to the risks he took. "To inspire that loyalty among the people, I should walk among them."

Rath pushed himself back against the silken pillows into a sitting position and cupped Kyra's cheek in his hand. "Would you like to come with me when I do?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra listened to the words of the man that she had grown fond of. He was right. He needed to be his own man and make his own way in life and with his people. When his time did come, she knew that he was going to be a great king.

"It would be my honor to come with you, my prince." She said softly as he cupped her cheek and invited her with him.

"You are haunted by much. It isn't my place to know exactly what has happened to cause you to think so deeply, but I will say that I am here for you." There was little that she could offer him in her position, but she was willing to be the person that could lend an ear when he needed it.

 

[DrStein]

Rath gently pulled her to him and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. Not a passionate, urgent kiss like she had seen when his passions flared. This was a tender, affectionate kiss. "In the short time you've been here, you've become... important to me. I will see that you want for nothing."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra gasped as she was pulled close and he put a lingering kiss on her lips. She relaxed in his grip, her arms finding their way about his neck. When the kiss ended, she was looking into his eyes and listened to his gentle words. She was stunned to hear him say that. She was nothing but a concubine, but he seemed so sincere.

"And you're important to me too...Rath." She hadn't called him by his name in all the time that she'd been in his home. It felt like the right thing to say in that moment.

 

[DrStein]

Rath's features softened. He kissed Kyra again before letting himself sink back into the bed. "If you want to continue your studies I won't keep you. But if you could stay with me a little longer... I feel... calmer when you're around. The noise of the world and the court seems more bearable." It was as if he had completely changed. The stoic, severe warrior-prince she had first met weeks ago had melted away to reveal a young man with his own ambitions, uncertainties, dreams and fears.

 

[heartofcourage]

"If you want me to stay, then I'll stay. I think my teacher will understand if I skip a few lessons. It will give him a reprieve of my constant questioning." Kyra said with a smile, teasing Rath as he opened up to her with incredible vulnerability.

"Perhaps, my prince, you could teach me about the stars." She offered, trying to come up with an idea that would keep him occupied. "Since you seem to know so much about them."

 

[DrStein]

Rath offered a rare smile at that. He looked over at the stacks of books near the pillows and cushions. He pointed to a tome bound in black leather. "Hand me that book over there." When Kyra gave it to him he opened it to a section that seemed to simply part on its own, as if the book had been opened to that page many, many times before. It was a star chart showing the night sky and the constellations.

"I was born in the month of... I think in the Dathish calendar they call it Stormrise. When the sign of the eagle is highest in the sky." He pointed to the stars the made the sign of the eagle. "It's said that those born under such a sign are headstrong and independent. They insist on doing things their way and show little patience for being collared or restricted." He smiled ironically at that. "So as you can see, it's clearly an old wives' tale."

His fingers scanned the star chart. "What month were you born in, Kyra?" It was the first time he had used her name like that.

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra snuggled up against his side as he opened the book to the expansive star chart and explained to her about his sign. She smiled as he told her that he was like an eagle, headstrong and stubborn. It made sense, she thought to herself as his fingers scanned over the well worn page.

"I was born in Wintertide." She murmured softly as he asked what was the month of her birth. "I'm not sure what you would call it here."

 

[DrStein]

Rath thought for a moment. "Wintertide... I believe that is what we call... Moonglory. That is the time when the sign of the archer is ascendant." He pointed to the sign on the star chart. The way the stars were laid out, the eagle seemed to be following the same line of sight as the archer, as if they were both hunting the same quarry. "The sign of the archer is said to be clever, patient and keenly aware of their surroundings. They're intelligent and intuitive, quick to learn. A fair description I would say."

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra actually blushed as he told her that he thought the description of her sign was pretty accurate. She looked at him with a small smile and then back at the chart. Could the stars really tell him so much about her?

"I like to learn. I've always been very serious about my studies." She admitted, brushing back stray hair that had fallen into her eyes.

"If I'm not mistaken, Stormrise isn't far away. How old will you be on your next birth day?" She asked him, glancing up into his eyes as she waited for his answer.

 

[DrStein]

"It will mark the beginning of my 24th year." His lips curled in an introspective smile. "I completed my rite of passage earlier this year. It's rare for someone to wait as long as I did to take it, but... somehow I just knew I needed to wait. If not for Master Ithros and the priests vouching for my instinct, I would have been made to take it much sooner. As I said, it's rare... but not unheard of. I certainly would not have been allowed to take the throne if I hadn't completed it. That is our way."

He pointed to a small cluster of six stars on the chart. It seemed that they were the point where the eagle and the archer were focusing on. "This is known as the Eyes of Fate. Several of the signs depend on them. When the sign is ascendant, the royal astrologers watch the heavens and the desert for corresponding omens. If a comet passes the path between the sign of the sword and the Eyes of Fate, it signals the death of a leader. If the moon is eclipsed while the sign of the archer is ascendant, then the Eyes of Fate are about to reveal to one born under that sign the identity or weakness of an enemy."

 

[heartofcourage]

"That happened recently, didn't it?" Kyra asked softly, thinking about the death of her father. She had never spoken to anyone there at court about her past. They had no idea of her royal blood, but the fact that the prince was talking to her about the signs of fate that ruled their lives...it was enough to get her thinking.

 

[DrStein]

Rath looked at Kyra with slight surprise. "Yes. A comet appeared during the sign of the sword last year. A month later, we heard news of a coup in Dath." Rath frowned at that. "The diplomats the old king sent in the past were stuffy, but polite at least. The ones the new monarch sent... jackals. Spent their entire visit looking down their noses at us."

He pulled Kyra a little closer to him. "But you need not live under such dishonorable men now. Besides..."

Rath turned to the book again and turned the pages to a diagram of comets of varying lengths and tails. He pointed to one that had two tails. "The comet that crossed the sky was like this one. It is a sign that the leader will be killed by a usurper, but the usurper's reign will be brief. The last time it happened was in the south about 400 years ago. The king of Shansul was betrayed by his brother who stole his throne. But the false king ruled for only a few short years before he was poisoned by the former queen. The heavens often find a way of balancing things out."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Has such a balance occurred in Dath?" She asked softly, looking at Rath as he talked about the way the cosmos had in making things as they once were.

"Because the old king was a good man, if out of touch with his surroundings. He always had a smile and a kind word for his subjects. He didn't deserve to die the way that he did." The passion in her voice was rising, but still, she did not let on that she was that man's daughter. Such secrets very well might get her killed.

"I can only hope that the usurper's head lies uneasy at night." She ended her passionate little speech before she fell silent again, her head resting against Rath's shoulder.

 

[DrStein]

The passion in Kyra's voice surprised Rath. She quieted herself soon but it set the wheels in his head turning. She spoke as if she had met the king but she wouldn't say anything more. It occurred to the prince that he had always simply assumed she came from a peasant background, but never knew for certain. Was there something more? He tucked this away in his mind and formulated the beginnings of a plan to see what, if anything, was hidden from him. "We have received no news of such, no," he answered. "I..." He hesitated.

He looked to the door before turning Kyra's face to his and dropping his voice to a whisper. "You have eased the burden on my heart, so I will do you a favor in return. We employ a royal spymaster from among the courtiers, though only my father and I know his true identity. Tomorrow I will ask him to find a way to infiltrate Dath's royal court and keep tabs on the usurper and report his movements directly to me. I will pass what I know to you."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You do not need to promise me such things, Rath." Kyra said softly. "Please forget what I have said. It is simply me being bitter about the state of my homeland."

She suddenly felt a little tinge of fear at the idea that he was going to find out who she was. "What about these stars?" She pointed on the map, struggling to change the subject quickly.

 

[DrStein]

She was quick to change the subject and Rath felt as if he had touched a nerve somehow. He decided not to press the subject but resolved to ask the spymaster to keep tabs on the court in Dath regardless. He turned back to the book and the two of them continued to converse about the stars until the servants arrived with dinner.

The two of them ate together of mutton, figs, rice and wine. Rath's demeanor had changed greatly in the time they were together. He still winced when his wounds complained and he adopted a stoic face when the servants were around. But when it was him and Kyra alone, he seemed a different man. After a pleasant silence following their meal, Rath asked her a question. "You do not wish me to spy on the usurper, but I still wish to thank you for the relief you've given me. Is there anything I can do to help Rhagal feel like a home for you?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Kyra had just taken a sip of red wine when he asked her that question. She nearly spit it back out as she looked at him with wide eyes. Tilting her head to one side, she thought about that question for a long moment before she felt confident enough to speak.

"I had a few kyra birds when I lived in Dath that always made me smile. I know that they are rare here, but I miss their cheerful songs." She said softly, knowing that her request was probably too much, but Rath did deserve to know the truth.