Snow Fields - Book Two of The Fields of Mendhavai Trilogy

Chapter One

 CHAPTER ONE

I had to admit, this was not what I was expecting. But now that I thought about it, perhaps I should have been. I let the parchment slide from my fingers to settle on the desk before me and looked up to study the captain of the Keep Guard. He was standing stiffly at attention and would not meet my gaze with his one eye. I stood with a sigh and went to the window that faced east; faced the homeland of the woman who was stealing my captain away.

The keep in which I stood had been built generations ago at the top of a rise just east of the Wrongway River. Though the building had another wall of stone wrapped around it, encompassing also the stable, animal sheds and barracks, the hill lifted the keep high enough that every window had a good view of the land surrounding it, unobstructed by the fortification. I gazed at the sharp peaks of the Navro Range to the south east, just visible beyond the thick stand of tall pines that made up the Aller Forest. The sun had just reached its zenith, no longer shining warmly into the room, and it seemed a bit chiller in the shade inside the thick stone walls. I shivered.

Truth be told, I envied the captain. He had the option to leave his position so that he could join his own betrothed in Navora where her duties to their ruler kept her. I, on the other hand, was bound here by birth and blood. Should anything happen to me, my position as Queen of Raldia would not so easily be filled; even if I had recently borne an heir to replace me, the child would still be too young to take on a newborn country, however small. The captain’s was a position that could be vacated and filled rather easily, though in truth, no one could ever replace this man.

I turned back to the room and sat in my over-stuffed leather chair behind the oak desk. Brushing my fingers along the edge of his letter of resignation, I looked up to the captain again. The well-muscled man had not moved since I’d had my back to him. His length of salt and pepper hair was tied neatly behind his head at the nape of his thick neck. But then I noticed a slight tic in his badly scarred cheek below the patch which covered his empty eye-socket, betraying his unease.

I smiled sadly at him. “I’m sure you know how much it will grieve us all to have you gone from here, Captain.”

He glanced at me and jerked his head in a nod, but did not speak.

I sighed again. “I am so happy for you and Nivetta, that you have found each other. Also… I envy you.”

“M’Lady?” He was looking at me now, somewhat astounded.

I smiled crookedly at him. “You, of course, may leave your position here. Do not think, even for a second, that I ever would have prevented it. The choice is yours to make, and you have made a worthy suggestion for your replacement. I, however, must remain here with a gaping distance between myself and Danu.”

“Beggin’ your pardon, m’Lady, but I’m sure you’ll think of somethin’…” He trailed off when I shook my head.

“Perhaps. For now, I count myself lucky to have the use of the Portals. Otherwise, I’m afraid our future together might be entirely hopeless. Ah, but let us not speak of such unhappy things.” I went to the sideboard and poured two glasses of pear brandy, handing one to the captain before I sat again. I gestured at the seat in front of the desk and waited for the man to settle himself. He relaxed now that I had affirmed his resignation. “I am not surprised at all by your suggestion to promote Peps into captaincy. I’d have chosen him anyway. You will stay for his wedding and his promotional ceremony?”

“O’ course, m’Lady. I sent for Nivetta ‘s well.”

“Excellent!”

The captain and I sat in companionable silence for a few minutes while we sipped the brandy. Then he cleared his throat.