In The Blood of Roses
Kenlei
Summary: It was a time when the code of chivalry bound even the strongest knight, in a land where only the savage ruled..
Bethrothed to a man she barely knew, in love with a man who had pledged to see her untouched across his untamed land…Yolei Inoue was trapped within the fiery coil of passion, and an icy shield of honor…
AN: The men and women in this story must fight, defeat and persue love before love destoys their very souls…

Part 1 / Chance and Consequence.

"Do not father! Do not I beg of thee!"
"Sadistic wench! Ungratful child! Hast thou no shame!"
A snap flung her lavender hair swishing into her face as her impact with the stone floor left her prone.
"Nay sir! Stop this now!" A strong hand grasped the old man's gnarled fist, the protectors blue eyes burning.
"She hath done you no wrong, Milord. Mayhap you should think twice before damaging that which belongs to me."
The man's mouth dropped, and an indignant shout filled the hall.
"Why you ungrateful spawn of hell! If it t'were not for me-"
"If it t'were not for you, the women I love would not be lying on the floor. Have care I do not crush your skull, if you but lay one finger upon that which is mine again…"
Lowering his fist, the girls father spat upon the floor near his unconcious daughter.
"Take her! Take the bitch and be gone before I return. I denounce you both, scum! I will not have you besmirching the name of this house!"
The younger man turned as the enemy left, quickly kneeling beside the girl, lifting her into his arms.
"Oh, beloved…I am sorry I did not come to thee sooner…But I would not put in beyond yonder sire to sink his dagger betwixt my shoulder blades…"
The girl moaned, stirring, and the man lifted her ito his embrace, carrying her out of the keep to where his men waited…

@------

4 Months previous

The early morning vibrated with life and prosperity across the sunlit lands and snowy mountains..
Lakes gleamed like copper coins, beneath the light, babbling brooks tumbled over glistening silver fish and the emerald grass offered comfort and solace to a young maiden escaping her life.
The girl, yet a maid, slid off her pastel hued slippers which matched the foliage, taking a moment to breath in the fresh air away from the keep.
"Sweet solace, I have found thee…"
She giggled, skittering over to the brook to play with the glinting goldfish beneath.
"Hello my friends!"
A mischevious fellow nibbled cautiously at her fingertip, and she laughed.
"Cease creature! I am not a tender tidbit sent to soothe thy hunger!"
Teasing, she sat back and dipped her tiny feet into the cool water.
"Lady Yolei!"
Slumping, she blew out a long breath and rolled her eyes. Thinking quickly, she threw herself backwards to splay across the mossy ground. Mayhap the girl would not see her…
"Lady Yolei!"
This time, the handmaiden sounded worried, and she took pity on the gentle soul.
"Come Kari! I am not but a foot step away!"
She rose, peering over the shrubbery so as to allow the brunette to see her.
"Oh! Heavens milady! Why hast thou come this far into the gardens! One cannot find a slender thing such as yourself if you wear the trees colors!"
Yolei looked down at her simple green dress, raising a lilac brow.
"I should think dear maid, that my hair should be a beacon within these emerald woods."
Huffing, Kari sat down and arranged her dainty pink skirts.
"That hair would make the lilac faeries green with envy, Milady. And then thou shant be able to hide even within their fields as you would be the only violet in their garden."
Yolei laughed, playfully patting the intricatly coiled strands of auburn upon Kari's head.
"Thou seekest me out, now seeks to turn my head with pretty words! Come my friend! Tell this humble maid why thou hast sought me out within my last sacred haven! I would not want my father to follow and find, for I would keep the peace here with my last breath!"
As the melodrama ended, the tiny handmaiden stood, brushing off her rosey skirts.
"I have sought you out at the insistence of thy father, Lady Yolei!"
Stopping, Yolei suddenly turned serious, looking over her bare shoulder to the poised maid behind her.\
Eyes the shade of sunshine laden shadows darkened even further within the copse of trees that speckled rays of light upon her ivory visage.
"Come now…Heed my words dear friend, for I die as much to say them."
She turned fully, frowning in trepidation.
"Do not taunt me, Kari. My father does not seek me out for any reason. Quickly! Tell these burning ears the news, fair or foul! I would hear it now!"
looking away, Kari felt her throat clog with tears.
"Word has come of impending nuptials…That which were arranged before thy fairest hand was able to hold the flowers you keep so dearly…That which hast been kept in secret under lock and key by thou father and step mother…"
Frustrated, Yolei stamped her small foot, anxious to hear the words that would change her world forever.
"Thou father has received word that thou betrothed has summoned you to his castle."
Her eyes widened, shock sinking inside her.
"Wha-what speakest thou of?!"
Kari looked her in the eyes, tears slipping past her lids.
"After seeing my lady at the midsummer gathering, thou affieanced was captured by thy beauty. He hath called upon the papers signed less then a score ago, and he now finds it in his right to claim you…Even now, his men have been sent to bring you cross the badlands to thy future husbands arms…"
With a devestated shriek, Yolei flung herself from the comforting hands of her friend.
"Nay! I shall deny it! No marriage have I sought nor seek! I shant acknowledge this man who does not show his face before me!"
Kari desperatly tried to cool the tempered sobbing of her best firend.
"Milady…Come, we must find your father now…Mayhap thou can appeal to his gentler side and not be bound to the man, Lord Davis Motomiya…"

"Girl! Thou hath been nought but a burden 'pon my back since thou was two days on this world! I would be rid of you before the words are even spoken!"
Downcast, Yolei listened to the tired ranting of her father. She could not speak, she would not beg.
"Motomiya's guard shall be here to claim you before the sun sets on this third day past! Heed this wench! Doth thou hear me?"
She raised tearful eyes to her disgusted father.
"Yes, sire. I hear you louder then any day before…"
Grumbling, he sank into a high backed chair, reaching for a full goblet of wine.
This faeiry child that stole the light from beneath him would no longer plague this keep with her beauty and laughter, distracting his knights and laborours…
Ever since her mother had died giving life to the girl, he had hated her…Hated his own child as much as he had loved the mother before her.
"With the upcoming party, my pain shall be taken with them…Your mirrrored face, so much like the women who bore you, shall not haunt me! You shall be gone, daughter mine! Gone!"
Raising gracefully, Yolei tilted her head, defiently eyeing the man who dared to call her daughter.
"Gods grace hath then been bestowed upon me to. For I shall be gone from under thy hateful thumb…"
With a muttered curse and a wave of his shaky hand, she was dismissed.
:As the door closed behind her, the old lord took another swallow of the wine he loved to purge his pain with.
"Your mother would hate me so…"

@--\----

"Halt men! We have reached the Inoue keep! God is forgiving to let so bloodstained a group as ours find solace in this here stone wall…"
Much clanging and banging ensued, as the advane party of 15 of Motomiyas finest knights lept off steeds and removed armor in order to hurry into the welcoming walls.
Verbose shouting and gesticulation filled the bailey with utter chaos as the men eagerly unpacked.
"Milord!"
A tall, shaky voiced boy looked up at the even taller men.
"Yes boy?"
With a quick, jerky bow and nod, the young man introduced himself.
"I am Theo Fouray, and I have been sent to be your squire while you adjourn her. Milord sends me to gather you and bring you to the armory. The others shall see to your gear if it is permissable."
With a nod, the leader took his broadsword and followed the boy with the eager grey eyes into the stone mason.

The old man was eccentric and furious looking in his red tunic and leggings. Silvery hair puffed up round his wrinkled face like grey fronds caught in a storm. Cold steely eyes, faded by years, burned from the grimace he bestowed upon the knight sent to take his daughter.
Surprisingly, the old man suddenly grinned, shaking the armor clad hand.
"Hey now man! Formality shalt be thy name if thou refuses to remove thy heavy armor!"
Chuckling, The black clad knight apologized.
"If I offend you good sir, aplologies are mine, for I dare not remove my armor for reasons of conduct. 'Tis not your men I distrust, nor you. I have been a knight so long,…Man must protect his self to protect others as well…"
Nodding the old man turned away.
"Aye good sir, I bare witness to thine own dilemma…"
I sudden knock on the door alerted the man, and with another grin, her clapped a hand upon the knights back.
"Aye! That shall be my dear daughter! I sent for the girl to introduce you to what you shall bring to Motomiya! Come in girl! Come in!"
The heavy portal was opened, and a slender vision took the very breath from the man beside the father.
The girl's violet hair fell, unfettered round her shoulders in tantalizing defience. Ivory skin taunted his senses, bare shoulders haunting his eyes.
She was clad in a pale, pastel mauve dress, gossamer and sylph-like. It clung invitingly to the smooth length of her body, and his hands ached to touch her.
But this was not what captured him.
She raised proud, honey hued eyes to his own, and he lost his breath.
He had seen those eyes before.
In a million tortured dreams. Eyes that had cried and laughed and feared and loved him.
Eyes that had comforted him and left him longing since he was a wee bairn.
Clumsily, he reached up to undo the bindings of his helm. With shaking hands, he tore at the clasps without removing his icy blue eyes from her own, equally stunned orbs.
"M-milady…"
He strode to her, surprising himself, to fall into a bow at her feet. With calm poise outside, and haunting longing inside, he took her white hand and raised it to his lips.
"M-milady…I am honored that you would grace us with your prescence…"
She seemed to take a moment to find her tongue, opening her rosy lips to speak, closing them, then opening them again.
"I t-thank you, milord…The pleasure is mine…"
He stood, eyes never leaving her face, even when the father cleared his throat angrily.
He shook himself, curiously stepping away.
"Forgive me for my ill manners Lady Yolei…I am Lord Ken Ichijouji, first knight of Davis Motomiya, sent to begin your journey this very day's past…"
All the girl heard was the name, and she blushed, glancing away.
"Aye, milord Ichijouji…I must leave you now…T-to prepare…"
With a last desperate glance, she fled the room, and the glowering eyes of her father….


"Lady Kari! Lady Kari!"
Yolwi tore up the steep stone steps to her tower room, frantically searching for the little handmaiden.
"Milady? What presses thee on so?"
She stumbled, at breakneck speed, into the knight, Matt Ishida.
"Oh! Heaven forgive me Lord Matthew!"
With a raised blonde brow and hearty smirk, he realeased her.
The girl rubbed her sore arms, where is sturdy grasp had bruised her.
"Apologies, Milady. The contact was so sudden, I fear I may have bruised thee…"
Shaking her lilac head, the girl offered Matthew a smile. "'Twas my fault, good sir. I shall be more careful the next time…"
Frowning, the young knight looked at the beautiful women. "I fear the next time shall be farther to the future, dear girl...I have heard of thy wedding, and of thy journey through the badlands…"
Her golden eyes grew pained, and she turned from the stalwart protector.
"Cease, Sir Matthew…Remind me not…I share the fear, for *I live it soon…"
Without another glance, she darted past her friend, to continue her trek up the stairs.

"Milady?"
Kari turned when her mistress burst through the portal, throwing herself tearfully upon her feather tick.
"God mocks me! I know it! I feel it like daggers within my breast!"
Hurridly, the little brunette set down her sewing and rushed to the girl.
"Nay, dear Yolei! God does nothing so!"
With a hiccuping sob, Yolei gathered a downy pillow to her breast and sat up.
"I have found him!"
The girl frowned, confused. "Who, Yolei? Who hath thou found?"
Her purple hairfell in waves round her cherished face, smudged with the dew of tears, and eyes older then her 17 years burned to the center of Kari's compasssion.
"The one I have oft' told you of in my dreams…The man who I have lived with in my heart for as long as I can remember…"
Kari giggled. "Whay speakest thou of? The young knightwho would sweep thou off those tiny feet and bring thou t'wards the sunlight?"
Throwing herself angrily off her bed, Yole spun, chin hight.
"You dare jest with fates mocking hand! Cease thy laughter! Desist 'afore I send you wth…me…"
Suddenly, she eyed the laughing girl with malicious intent.
"Oh dear maiden, I fear you have chortled thy way into a long, hard journey…"
The brunette stopped, growing wary. "Thou would not dare!"
Spinning, Yolei pranced over to the maids small dresser of belonging, opening the drawer and collecting a few. "Aye, I would dare, and I do…Thou shall journey with this hurting soul to Castle Haldane!"
Stuttering, the brown haired lady jumped off the bedding, mind racing.
"But Milady! What of…We…I was…"
Softly, Yolei arched a purple brow at her best friend.
"Thy worries over your Tk for nought. The cleric journeys with us anyways, for holy support."
Blushing, the brunette turned away.
"Come now, Kari. He hast yet to tell thee of his journey? Well, the joy of surprise shall be left unto thy shoulders. Go! Seek out thy sinful cleric and tell him of thy trip! Go!"
Kari spun, fleeing the roo, and Yolei once again sunk into depression.
"I have found to lose the very thing I sought to find and keep…"

@à---

"I tell thee Tai! This maid I hath met before!"
The chestnut haired archer lay sprawled lazily across a thick, comfortable rug, his ever present bow not but a handspread away.
Wild, unruly hair abounded over the handome young mans forhead, and laughing foresty eyes peeked from bebeath.
"I say, dear friend, in the kindest way, that thou art mad."
Throwing himself up, the brunette gave his commander and friend a lengthy perusal
"Nay…Not mad, but smitten, which may be worse then any case of insanity…"
Running a slender hand through his navy hair, Ken sighed.
"In this case, mayhap, Sir Tai. I cannot afford to be smitten with my best friends bride…"
Easing backwards, deceptivly relaxed, the archer put his hands behind his head.
"From what my wee sister hath told me of thy fair lady…Yolei Inoue is a spitfire when riled…Best not try her temper…"
Rolling eyes the color of gods encased in the ice of decades, Ken huffed.
"I fear it within me Tai…No jesting…Thine own words cannnot deter me in this foolish quest."
Abruptly sitting up, Tai seriously watched his leader.
"A foolish quest is a quest one needs not follow. Do not tell thy friend and comrade that one such man as thyself would throw it all away for some women!"
Ken stood, unsmiling, before the bowmen.
Nay, friend. I throw away all that I have, and that in itself is nothing. But fear not. I shall do all I must to stay away from her. I only seek to speak with the girl…"
Standing also, the now unjoking young archer faced the leader.
"Careful with thy words, Lord Ken. 'Tis not only the marriage of this girl to thy friend that hangs on the arms of cortesy, but also the kinship of three kingdoms. Civil war is just what the enemy needs to destroy our lands…"
Of course, what the man spoke of was true.
If the three kingdoms, Motomiya of Haldane, Inoue of Taldin, and Ichijouji of Clerid broke ranks, the enemy kingdoms of the north would invade and conquer before the month was over.
"I have joined as a knight of Haldane only to complete my training. When I return to rule Clerid, I shall have to chose a bride to my liking…Mayhap then, this emptiness shall fill…"
"Do not go then, Lord Ken."
The words had come from Izzy Izumi, who had satm unseen in the shazdows.
"Must thou always sneak up unwarrented, Izzy?"
With a smile, Ken greeted the small redhead. The inventor, mage, genius and wise man that had accompanied the entourage to the Inoue castle Taldin, stood and joined the embrace of firelight.
Tai was not so forgiving.
"Bah! Take thy magic elsewhere you plotting little mole! We need no such council from a man who keeps cow dung in jars!"
Laughing, Izzy turned to Sir Tai.
"And you, dear friend. I am surprised thy hast yet to jump the journey to seek the warm embrace of a certain leggy barmaid…"
Tai grinned, patting the shoulder of the mage.
"Ah, Mole…Is that a hint of jealousy in thy girly voice?"
With a raised coppery browm the short man turned. "If it is jealousy, it is only because the maiden Sora has a never ending supply of dung where thee is concerned…"
A hand came up and rubbed the chestnut locks, as Tai blushed.
"Aye…My dear girl does have the unseemly habit of throwing angry projectiles at my head, does she not?"
Izzy smirked, shaking his head. "Mayhap, if thou would learn not to tempt her hand, by chasing any skirt that passes by…"
With a groan, Ken watched the proceedings. "Cease, men! Thy prattle makes my head sore! Sleep now, for our journey begins at dawn!"
As he approached the door, Tai sttod, shoving the heavily robed redhead to the ground in the guise of an accident.
"Ken! Sleep we shall, but what of thee?! Where is thy off to?"
Raising a blue brow, Ken loked the now scuffling two over.
"I do not bed down in the nursery…I must seek council with the stars…"
Grumbling, he left the short inventor smacking the much taller brunette in the arm, while he laughed…

The blonde cleric, sat pensivly in his chambers overlooking the stars.
His forbidden thoughts were not on God as they should be, but on a tiny maiden who would meet him in a matter of moments.
"Tk?"
Turning, he quickly embraced the girl in the darkness, clinging to her for dear life.
"Tk…What makest thou embrace me so?"
He looked down at the Maiden Kari, seeking out her soft lips in the darkness.
She reached up, clasping her hands around his neck to deepen the kiss.
It was, to him, like heaven and hell meeting.
He kissed her for all he was worth, even as he felt the betryal to his parents strong and true.
For a moment after they broke the embrace, all he did was hold her, words needed to e spoken, bu f he could just have her in this moment…
"Tk? Please, what ails thee, my love?"
He held her tenderly, smiling at her beloved beauty in the moonlight.
"Kari…I betray my God for you, I betray my parents for you, but I betray my heart for no one…"
Fear widened her cinnamon eyes, and she tried to draw away.
"What doth thou speak of, Tk?"
With a chuckle, he hugged her.
"Only of my heart, and that belongs to you…."
Snuggling against him, she spoke into his robed chest.
"Tk, my news is both good and bad. For I journey with thee to Haldane castle…"
Ecstatic, the blonde lifted her, swinging her around.
"Truly! Oh beloved! The Gods may smile upon us yet!"
With a laugh, he set her down. "Aplogies, dear Kari…What of the bad news?"
Looking away, Kari sighed. "I fear my lady is going to grow infatuated by the very man who must protect her virtue…"
The cleric frowned, tilting her chin up.
"Come now Kari…Why must thou always speak in riddles?"
"I speak not in rhyme, dear Tk…I must warn thee…Yolei believes that a man has been found that matched the one from her dreams…"
The dreams had been forevver. A million painted storiues had reached this young, reluctant priests ears on more then one occasion.
"The one with the sky blue eyes and the gentle voice? The one she has told thee of forever?"
At her nod, Tk thought deeply.
"There is only one man I can see as her dream lover, and that is the face and ancient blue gaze of Kenneth Ichijouji…"
At her indrawn breath, he thought only to ease her trepidation.
"Nay! I have known Ken for many a year past, and I have often compared the two…But fear not! He is at his own kingdom…And Clerid is far from-"
"-Nay!"
Kai looked up in astonishment and surprise.
"Nay Tk! Lord Ken has led the men here! Remember? To complete his taining, he joined Haldane as First Knight!"
With a gasp and a laugh, Tk shook his head.
"It is impossible or it is fate, Kari!"
Looking into the darkness, Kari lowered her voice.
"Fate…It seems her hand is well divided betwixt the group of us…"
She stepped away, slipping into shadow.
"I must away, for I have a journey to prepare both Milady and I for.."
Tk nodded. "Aye…As do I…Kari?"
He took a step closer, bringing their lips into soft contact once again