The duelist 9, p.16
The Duelist 9, page 16
Nemis snorted and waved his prison bar again.
“That man is no family of mine,” he said as he pointed to Bodin. “The cousin I loved died. I mourned him. I wept for him. He is an insult to the boy I loved, an insult to the very family he claims to have been protecting. I will not stand for it!”
“Nemis,” Bodin said in an even tone of voice. “Can we not wait? This is meant to be a happy day. And there’s a dinner later this evening--”
“I don’t care about dinners and weddings,” Nemis snapped. “And I know better than to give you time to slip away so you can run off and hide and continue to bring shame to the House of Hana. Duel me, right here, right now!”
“Alex, we have to do something,” Amaya said, and she tugged on my sleeve nervously.
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I thought, but I came up empty.
“I really think the best course of action would be to let them fight it out,” I admitted. “I don’t think Nemis is at the point where he could be talked down by anyone.”
“But he could hurt Bodin,” the oryx-woman insisted. “He could kill him. We have to help.”
I knew the rules for interfering in Duels, and as annoying as Nemis was, I didn’t want to help kill him. Especially not at my wedding.
I stepped forward.
“Prince Bodin of House Hana,” I said in my most important-sounding voice. “Captain Nemis of the Soaring Light. You have come here on the day of my wedding and insist upon a Duel. If this is to be the case, I demand the right to preside over that Duel, as a Rank-Six Asher and master of this House.”
It sounded a little bit Godfather-ish, but hopefully it would do the trick and avoid anyone being actually killed.
Bodin immediately bowed to me, since he no doubt had an idea of where I was going. Nemis, a few seconds later, reluctantly did the same, and when they both straightened, I continued.
“I think it would be in poor taste for the occasion of my marriage to be marked by a death,” I told them. “So, this Duel will not be to the death. You will also fight without weapons. Hand-to-hand only. The victor shall be whomever first persuades the other to concede defeat.”
I could see Nemis wanted to protest some of this, wanted to argue he should have the right to run Bodin through with the bar he was still holding, but since both the captain and Bodin were No-Ranks, they didn’t have a leg to stand on, and Nemis knew it.
“If you insist on our fighting, cousin,” Bodin said to the captain. “At least let me fight with honor.”
“You have no honor,” Nemis spat, and he literally pounced onto Bodin and tackled him to the floor.
It was hand-to-hand, so I couldn’t really object, but I did have to jump back out of the way as the two men grappled with each other on the ground. In between grunts of exertion and muffled cries of pain, I could make out the two of them arguing with one another.
“--did what I had to do--”
“--believe I ever loved a coward like you--”
“--no one believed a word I said--”
“--spouting your lies, just like when we were children--”
“--had to leave for the sake of the family--”
“--don’t expect me to believe you now--”
After several minutes, Bodin appeared to have the upper hand as he pinned Nemis to the floor with his weight, and his hands fisted in the captain’s shirt and prevented him from standing up.
“I never meant to hurt any of you!” he cried out desperately. “None of you! You didn’t believe me, so I had to go!”
“Didn’t believe you?” Nemis scoffed. “About what? All you spouted were lies and nonsense!”
“Exactly!” Bodin told him, and he shook Nemis as if for emphasis. “No one ever believed a word I said!”
I noticed a shift in Nemis’ expression then. Anger and hurt became a slow, careful realization. Bodin let go of Nemis’ shirt, and the captain fell back flat onto the floor with Bodin standing over him. Then Bodin outstretched a hand, and to the surprise of everyone watching, including myself, Nemis took it and allowed Bodin to pull him upright.
“There are… feuds, between the families of Leen,” Bodin explained, and it seemed like he was speaking more to me and the others than to his cousin. “For generations, these feuds have been acted upon with everything from harmless pranks to dangerous murder attempts, depending on the severity of the feud and the ranks of the families involved. I was the victim of one such… attack. When I was a young boy.”
“What?” Nemis murmured. “But… you never said.”
“I did,” Bodin told him desperately. “Often, and repeatedly. I said again and again that they had done something, but none of you believed me. Because that was it. They… they cast some kind of spell. On the family. So none of them, none of you, would believe a word I said.”
Nemis stared at Bodin owlishly and was stunned completely silent.
“I told you I wanted to leave, to keep everyone safe, to avoid having the family at risk,” Bodin said. “If I was gone, it would be as if there had been no curse, no… spell. Everything would go back to normal. The only one who was immune to it was Mel, and I think that’s because he wasn’t a member of the family proper.”
“Mel,” the captain muttered. “You mean the gardener?”
“He was the only one who believed what I had to say.” Bodin nodded. “So, I left with him.”
Nemis put a hand to his face and very slowly dragged it down. He seemed to age decades in an instant. All the rage and hurt had left him, and now it was just sober realization.
“So… why do I believe you now, cousin?” he asked. “Is it because we’re too far away from Leen?”
“Actually, I think it might have something to do with the Sisters Mec,” Bodin said, and he looked over first at Amaya, then at Anwaar.
Anwaar stepped forward and bowed her head respectfully, looking every bit the mage priestess. Her red dress seemed to ripple around her, like she was caught underwater.
“I removed the block on your mind placed there by Luhrmann and Aiken,” the ibex-woman explained to Nemis. “I wasn’t looking for a specific magical signature, so I simply removed any mind blockages I came across. I must have removed whatever spell was placed on your mind that relates to Bodin, too. I… didn’t even notice it, really. It wasn’t a particularly strong spell. No subtlety to it.”
That, I could understand. No wonder Bodin had left if every time he’d tried to make a statement, he’d been met with a simple ‘no, that’s just nonsense.’
“So… all these years… you really did just leave to protect us,” Nemis said quietly, and Bodin nodded.
“I thought if I removed myself from the family records, the blow would be… lesser,” he said. “There would be less evidence of me. I could have still been used against the family, even if I wasn’t physically present for it. So, I tried to cover it-- myself-- up as best I could.”
“Then,” the captain said in a heavy voice as he reached out to place one hand on Bodin’s shoulder, “I suppose there is only one thing left to do. I am sorry, cousin. For everything.”
Nemis reached down, and for a split second I could see him picking up the prison cell bar he’d been waving around as a weapon earlier. I called up my time-trance ability in an instant, ready to leap into action to save my friend, but then I saw what Nemis was really doing.
From a pouch at his belt, he pulled out a hip flask.
“Asher Brightwood,” he said as he turned to me. The hip flask had been flicked open and, still with his free hand on Bodin’s shoulder, Nemis tipped the flask toward me in a toast. “You have my thanks and my congratulations!”
He drank deeply and then passed the flask to Bodin, who tipped it toward Amaya and me in a slightly more sheepish toast than his cousin’s, before he, too, drank.
“So, that’s it?” I asked Nemis, and I dared to let my voice turn a little cheerful. “Bygones are bygones?”
“Leenian family spats are common and cruel,” Nemis sighed. “Honestly, it makes a lot of sense that the cousin I loved so dearly would have left under those circumstances. I have to admit, though, a false-tongue curse is particularly insidious.”
“I bet,” I murmured. I couldn’t imagine living in a world where everyone I loved was convinced every word out of my mouth was a lie. “But, fortunately, Anwaar knows how to remove them. You might be able to go home, Bodin!”
“Oh, that would be wonderful,” Bodin said wistfully as he passed the flask back to Nemis. “But not right this moment. We’ve completely interrupted your wedding, Alex.”
“We have!” Nemis gasped. “You have my deepest apologies, Asher! I… well. I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“We’d noticed,” Amaya said with a giggle. “But all is forgiven, Captain. Please, take up some flowers. Join the festivities.”
“There aren’t any festivities just yet,” Jenner interjected pointedly. “I haven’t even begun this actual ceremony Shay gave me.”
“Thank you!” Shay cried out and threw her hands up in exasperation. “Now that we’re all satisfied Bodin isn’t going to be killed, can we get back to making a fuss over my darling husband and his new wife?”
“Agreed,” Zoie spoke up, and she looped her arm through Shay’s to pull the phoenix-woman off to the side, which left the aisle clear again.
Amaya and I retook our places in front of Jenner and faced one another. The oryx-woman’s smile was even more blinding than before, and behind her, Bodin took his flowers back from Vel-Rala and passed some of them to Nemis to hold. Now that everything had been ironed out, the captain was smiling cheerfully and seemed as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
I might have been a little freaked out by how completely his demeanor had changed if I hadn’t also been relieved.
Jenner then cleared his throat and began to read, and it was immediately clear Shay had tried to recreate traditional Earth wedding vows based off the snippets she’d seen in Amaya’s mind.
“We are gathered here today, before friends, family, and Mercedes, to witness the union of Alex Brightwood and Amaya Mec,” the koala-man read. “Alex, do you take Amaya as your wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, ‘til death you should part?”
“I do.” I nodded firmly and grinned when Amaya flushed.
Jenner smiled at us both indulgently.
“And Amaya,” he continued. “Do you take Alex as your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, ‘til death you should part?”
“I do,” Amaya parroted my earlier response with an enthusiastic nod.
“Then by the power imbued in me, by the laws of Aventoll and the grace of Mercedes, it is my pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss.”
Amaya lurched forward and wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me down into a deep kiss. I was only too happy to reciprocate, and I hugged her around the waist tight enough that when I leaned back, she lifted clear off the ground. Around us, I could hear everyone else clapping and whooping, and when I finally managed to tear myself away from Amaya, my new wife, I was immediately set upon by Zoie and Shay, who began showering the oryx-woman and I with kisses.
“Congratulations!” Shay cheered, and it was clear she was trying very hard to keep back tears. “Oh, Maya, darling, you’re officially part of our family, now!”
“She’s right,” Zoie said with a wide smile, and she kissed Amaya on each cheek, then the lips. “You’re stuck with us now-- ‘til death you part!”
“That reminds me, did I get it right?” Shay then asked me, and her emerald eyes were wide and eager. “I couldn’t remember everything in Amaya’s mind, and she was remembering what she saw from your mind, so I was worried I might have missed something important!”
“You didn’t, Shay,” I promised her and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “It was beautiful. It was perfect.”
“Well, the second go was perfect, anyway,” Zoie teased, and she kissed Shay’s cheek when the phoenix-woman pouted.
“I just wanted it to be special,” she said to Amaya and me with an earnest expression. “I love you both so much. You deserve to be spoiled!”
“Well, mission accomplished,” I said. “Now, I imagine Elder Elmer and the rest of the Omish are just about to arrive outside. We should get ready for our party.”
“A party after a wedding is an important part of marriages in your culture, isn’t it?” Amaya asked me, and I nodded.
“It’s not a strict requirement, but it’s certainly a lot of fun,” I said. “And that’s what a wedding should be above all else-- fun!”
“Well, I don’t know if Bodin and Nemis brawling was ‘fun’ necessarily, but it was certainly memorable,” Zoie said as she leaned up to kiss my cheek. “But I am definitely looking forward to a proper diplomatic dinner.”
She and Shay then took Amaya by the hand, along with Nova and Anwaar, so they could all get changed into dresses that weren’t quite so Obviously From A Wedding Celebration. By the time the five women returned, they were all wearing different colored dresses, and while they were still all totally gorgeous, they looked like they were dressed for a gala rather than a wedding.
“How do I look, husband?” Amaya asked with a grin as she sidled up to me in a dress of shimmering silver.
I was just about to open the doors to the Manta to let our guests in, but I paused a moment to drag my eyes over her lithe, glittering form.
“Radiant,” I promised her before I threw open the doors, and the Omish delegation filed in.
“Alex Brightwood,” Madam Morta said cheerfully, and she walked alongside Elder Elmer, who made a few signs that, by this point, I had come to recognize meant ‘hello’ or something similar.
Kohen followed shortly behind them, and the lemur-man gave me a fond smile as he stepped forward to shake one of my hands with both his own.
“A pleasure to see you again, Asher Brightwood,” he said. “Thank you for opening your home up to us for this celebration.”
“No thanks needed, Overseer,” I said warmly, and I used my free hand to pat his shoulder. “I think we all needed a chance to let a bit loose, and we have a lot to be thankful for right now.”
Myself most of all, I thought, as I looked over at Amaya, who was chattering happily with Madam Morta.
“I could not agree more,” Kohen said with a laugh. “It’s a relief to know I won’t be killed and my face stolen by that awful Krev man.”
“It is,” I agreed. “In fact, I wanted to specifically thank you for that. With an honorable man such as yourself overseeing the quarries now, I feel confident my family and I can head out to Eng in a few days’ time to continue our Ambassadorial duties.”
“You most certainly can,” Kohen promised me. “I have every intention of seeing the Omish treated kindly and fairly, for once. Elder Elmer and I have a great deal in common, as well as similar plans for how to improve Om further yet.”
“I look forward to seeing the results of those plans,” I said, and I meant it.
For all Aventoll’s magic and intrigue, it was technologically pretty underdeveloped. I didn’t have an intuitive knowledge of how lightbulbs or laptops or internal combustion engines worked, but I was still eager to help this world improve and evolve in any way I could.
And, who could say, maybe one of the Omish at this party would turn out to be Aventoll’s Einstein, or Wright Brothers, or Alexander Graham Bell.
Kohen drifted off into the rest of the celebration, presumably to find Sha-Kane and have a proper conversation with his old friend. Elder Elmer had found Arvid, and they were speaking to each other in that slow, Omish way of theirs. Horus and Anwaar were having what was clearly a very private conversation off in one corner, and Amaya had just finished her chat with Morta and was turning toward me.
“Have you seen Shay and Zoie?” she asked. “I haven’t seen them since they came down.”
“Neither have I,” I realized. I could see Nova, though, because her green skin and midnight-blue dress were eye-catching even from across a room. She was chatting happily with Ozrid. “I mean, I’m sure they’re both fi--”
Suddenly, two hands wrapped around my elbows from behind and dragged me backwards at the same second as two more hands did the same to Amaya. I twisted my head around and caught a flash of bright red hair, and I couldn’t hold back a grin.
“Are you kidnapping us?” I asked Shay and Zoie, who had grabbed Amaya.
“We are!” the cat-woman answered with a sly grin, and she and Shay half-led, half-dragged Amaya and I down the hallway.
Such was the size of the manor that, even despite the fact it was mine, I didn’t actually know every part of it. I knew my bedroom, the library, the family room and the hallways, but I didn’t spend much-- or really, any-- time in the other parts of the building, so I was unfamiliar with them.
Zoie and Shay were evidently leading Amaya and me to one such part of the house, though, because I didn’t recognize the hallway, and I definitely didn’t recognize the small, low-ceilinged chamber they directed us toward, which was lit with candles and hung with diaphanous red and pink silks that cast a hazy atmosphere over the place.
There wasn’t furniture as such, rather it was an enormous pile of pillows, even larger than the nest Zoie had made for herself in the family room. In fact, I suspected some of these pillows had come from that very nest.
“What’s this for?” Amaya asked Shay and Zoie. “It’s very cozy. Do you intend to have your kittens in here, Zoie?”
“Oh, Mercedes, no,” Zoie answered with a grin. “This is just for you and Alex.”
“I remembered the wedding night is an important part of your culture’s marriage rituals,” Shay said importantly, and she raised one finger in the air. “The consummation of marriage is what officially seals it in the eyes of the law and your gods. You are not yet husband and wife until then.”
“But we’ve already consummated our love,” Amaya pointed out with a little smirk at me.
“Not since you’ve been ceremonially married, you haven’t,” Shay told us. “Now, come on, get to it!”
