I don't own anything. I just like to write.
Visionaries
Out in the Open
Feryl glanced across to Arzon. "It's unlike Chase to be late for a training session."
Arzon agreed pausing in his work to direct his gaze towards the training area of the castle. "And she's going to make Ectar angry."
The Spectral Knight in question was already passing back and forth glancing up every other second.
"Have either of you two seen Chase?" He demanded tersely.
"Ectar we're as confused as you are." Feryl placated.
"Witterquick may have seen her." Arzon suggested.
"I'll go find him." Ectar nodded at them. "Stay here. If she shows up tell her she's late and that I'll deal with her when I get back."
Arzon and Feryl exchanged looks, neither one wanted to be in Chase's shoes at the moment.
Ectar pretended he hadn't seen their look as he strode through the castle. His demanding of discipline was a common joke among the Spectral Knights. You can take the man out of the police... He'd heard that comment made about him more times than he could count. He allowed a grim smile to cross his face. It did the youngsters good to be always on their toes. And he had to admit to himself that they came up to scratch whenever they were called upon to perform. He wanted to keep up that standard. Chase was new but he'd pretty much whipped her into shape, no cause for her to be getting sloppy though.
Chase worried him. She was young and impulsive, prone to stupid stunts. Her talent was unquestionable and Merklynn had chosen her himself. She deserved to be part of the Spectral Knights. But that didn't stop him worrying about her. That was the price you paid for family, he may be her uncle but sometimes he felt more like her father. Delkin had died so young, he'd missed so much of Chase's growing up. It wasn't enough that he pushed Chase to be as good as the other Knights, she had to be better. She had to prove that she could succeed on her own merit, not just the bond on family. And she had risen to the task that he set her, risen to it and bettered it. He had no fear that she was capable, but still he worried for her.
She had one overwhelming disadvantage that had been completely unforeseeable. Duncan. The boy, man, he was a grown man now Ectar made himself realise, was obsessed with Chase. He targeted her in ever clash between the two groups, as though beating her in a battle would win her favour. Ectar had his own opinions on what Duncan's actions would be should he ever have Chase at his mercy. She needed to be able to fend him off, something she had proven herself capable of time and time again. Still Ectar pushed these training sessions. He knew that he didn't have to worry. Chase was competent and she Witterquick, Feryl and Arzon were almost inseparable. Any one of them would gladly sacrifice for each other. Not that he Cryotek, Leoric of Galadria would hold back either. The strength of the Spectral Knights lay in friendship and trust.
His ire at Chase's tardiness was slowly fading and he could grudgingly admit that he was behaving like a father again. Sometimes he felt like a parent trying to control an unruly brood. The younger Knights sometimes reminded him of nothing more than pups, gambolling, playing and daring each other to more and more dangerous feats of daring. He trusted them not to let any harm befall each other, but a little restraining of their exuberant natures wouldn't go amiss. It was hard to think that Chase wasn't the little child he had once bounced on his knee. To him she was still the little girl who had cried when she scrapped her knee running to greet her uncle when he had paid them a rare visit. He reached Witterquick's sleeping quarters, he knocked but received no reply. He opened the door and stepped in, his amusement abruptly left him.
The two of them lay together in bed; Chase lay protectively enclosed in Witterquick's arms. Both were asleep although Witterquick was waking, reacting to Ectar being in the room. A detached part of Ectar recognised the training in Witterquick's alertness, he had learned his lessons well. Meanwhile his image of Chase as a child was shattered forever. He was furious at both of them, he couldn't decide who he was madder at. As Witterquick sleepily opened his eyes Ectar's anger found a target.
"What do you think you are doing?"
Witterquick went from sleeping to awake almost instantaneously. "Ectar... I..." He floundered, the older Knight's presence clearly throwing him.
Knowing it was petty Ectar refused to help him; he simply stood silently waiting for an answer.
Witterquick finally became awake enough to state: "I was sleeping." When Ectar didn't respond he asked: "Is there a problem?"
"Only the one I see before me. This is a problem."
"Why." Witterquick's quick temper was rising as he stared Ectar down.
"Have you even considered your actions, or the consequences of them?"
"Of course I have. We have. We're not children."
Ectar could not argue with that comment. As he glared down at Witterquick he saw Chase stir. The sound of raised voices had clearly roused her, she opened her brown eyes and took in the scene in front of her. Her startled gaze flew from Ectar to Witterquick, back to Ectar.
"You're late for practice." He told her before striding purposely from the room.
O
"Why did you hide this from us?" Leoric asked.
Witterquick and Chase stood before him, heads bowed. The other Spectral Knights sat around the room watching, waiting to comment if it became necessary.
"We didn't mean to hide anything." Chase answered, her eyes pleading for understanding. "We didn't really realise that there was anything ourselves, until a few days ago."
"We didn't set out to deceive any of you." Witterquick added.
"Leoric," Chase suddenly stared straight at him. "We shouldn't have kept any secrets, but we've done nothing wrong."
Leoric sighed. "Chase, I just wish you had come and talked this through with us."
"What is there to talk about?" Witterquick asked.
"You know that Duncan always centres his attack on Chase. Witterquick you may be placing yourself in great danger, should he be made aware of your feelings for Chase."
"Duncan doesn't scare me." Witterquick answered his eyes flashing. "He should leave Chase alone."
"It's not my fault." Chase joined in. "I've done all I can to dissuade his affections."
"True." Leoric agreed. "But it can not be denied that, given his temper, if he became aware of your relationship Witterquick would be a target."
"He tried to killed you Chase. And he claims to love you. Think of that anger directed at a person he doesn't love." Galadria said softly from where she sat.
"Do you see our concern now?" Leoric asked.
"So I should never feel for another person? Never care about anyone in case Duncan hurts them?" Chase asked heatedly. "I won't give him that control over my life Leoric. I won't!"
Her eyes glittered with repressed rage and her totem pulsated wildly. Leoric wondered idly why it was that they wanted to change to their animal form at moments of great passion. Perhaps man was not as far from beasts as he would like to think. He pushed this though away to ask his power staff at a later date. For now he needed to focus on the discussion at hand.
Witterquick was calling out to him. "Leoric! Chase should be free to do as she wishes. Not bound by the unwanted attentions of a Darkling Lord!"
"We're thinking of your best interests." Cryotek shouted, goaded into speech by the attacks on Leoric.
Witterquick turned his anger to face him. "And what if someone tried to tell you that you couldn't see Galadria?"
Galadria looked shocked to see it discussed so openly. The mutual affection between her and Cryotek was widely known, but rarely spoken of. She placed a calming hand on Cryotek's arm and he subsided.
"Leoric, you can't honestly be proposing to keep Witterquick and Chase apart?" Feryl asked in disbelief.
"Aye." Arzon assented. "Do the Darkling Lords really have that much control over us?"
"No." Leoric shook his head as they all turned back to face him. "No they don't control us. And I don't want to control you. I can not force you to do anything. We have merely voiced out concerns and opinions. I ask that you take them away to think about." He nodded and they knew they were dismissed.
Witterquick put an arm around Chase and gave her a squeeze as an offer of comfort. Feryl and Arzon joined them and all four of them left the room.
Leoric looked across to Ectar, he alone had said nothing. Ectar shrugged. What was there to say?
He felt acute embarrassment at his earlier display of anger. Who was he to dictate to either of them what they did? He'd remained silent to better understand the views of everyone present. And still he couldn't see which way was right. If Chase and Witterquick wanted to be together then nothing should stop them. Yet he could see the danger that they were both quite calmly walking into.
O
Chase set an arrow in her bow and focused on the target in front of her. Her attention was elsewhere. Her mind went through the conversation she'd shared with Witterquick last night.
O
"It's not fair." She'd railed.
It wasn't fair. She and Witterquick had always been close, and the flirtation that had sprung up between them had been an ongoing game. They had both been surprised when it turned out to be more than a game. A lingering hand, brushing past each other more than was needed, feeling the gaze of the other.
She hadn't realised that he felt the same way until she had gone to his room to borrow his book on falconry. He'd let her in with his lazy smile.
"Come to tell me my bed time story?"
"It's alright it's a short one. I know your attention span isn't up to much."
He'd laughed and pointed to the collection of books in the corner. "It's one of those."
She'd rolled her eyes and started rooting through the pile. She'd found the book and turned to go. He'd been closer to her than she'd thought and she'd been positioned between him and the wall. His nearness had made her heart skip, her eyes had darted to his lips before gazing up into his eyes. The emotion she'd seen in them had almost scared her. He'd leaned in to her, paused for a moment in case she'd told him to stop, then kissed her. The passion with which she had returned his kiss had surprised her, Witterquick had given a grunt of surprise before deepening the kiss and holding her body close to his. When he had finally let her go she'd been breathing heavily and there was dark colour in her cheeks. They had looked at each other for a silent moment, then both started to speak at once. They hadn't stopped talking all night long. The sun had started to come up before they had both fallen asleep curled up together. Then Ectar had woken them and they'd been hauled before the rest of the Knights.
"It's not fair." She had repeated the words to Witterquick as they stood staring out into the night, as though her saying those words could make him understand it all.
"I know." He'd told her. And she knew that he did understand it, at least part of it. The feelings they had were new. The idea of them being together was new. The problems that it caused were new. It was unfair that it should all come at the same time without allowing them time to adjust.
"What if they are right?" She'd asked in a small voice. "What if I'm putting you in danger. She'd turned to face him. "I don't want anything to happen to you. And they are right about Duncan's temper."
"I'm not scared of Duncan." Witterquick had replied. "What scares me is never being able to hold you again. That we would give up on this. We don't even know what this is. The fact that we might give up and never find out. That scares me."
She'd met his clear blue eyes squarely, trying to see if this was bravado talking. He'd met her gaze without flinching. Then opened his arms to her, she had crushed herself against him, seeking comfort in his arms.
"Don't worry." He'd whispered in her ear. "They aren't really mad, they just want to look after us."
She'd nodded, kissed him lightly then headed to bed. She'd expected Ectar to punish her for her missed training lesson. She had arrived a full fifteen minutes early. As if he'd known she was going to be, Ectar was waiting for her.
O
"Chase!"
Ectar's voice snapped her out of the thoughts and brought her back to the now. She had taken too long. She flinched and let the arrow fly; it hit the target just off centre. He couldn't fault her for that. Could he? She didn't know what his feelings were towards her at the moment. He hadn't spoken to her since he had found her and Witterquick together. This morning he had only barked orders at her, urging her to do better and better. She missed being able to talk to him, she had always been close to her uncle, and she didn't want this to come between them.
"Are you still mad at me?"
If her question caught him off guard he didn't show it. "I wasn't mad."
"Liar."
He gave a small chuckle. "Fair point. No, I'm not still mad at you."
She grinned at him, he'd laughed, he wasn't mad at her. She judged that he was ready for some gentle teasing. "Not that I could tell the difference of course. You always behave like that."
Ectar crossed his arms across his chest and looked pointedly at the target. She followed his unspoken request and hit the bulls-eye.
She glanced at him for praise and he nodded with a smile. "Good enough I suppose."