Hi! Did you miss me? :3 Anyway second part up. My lovely beta is doing an awesome job so thank you a lot Dragonflamecrystal!
Also, I forgot to post this on the last chapter but, for information about runes you can go here: http: / / www. sunnyway. Com / runes / meanings. html
Please enjoy!
Dream of eternity
A Denmark / Canada Halloween Special
Part 2
Matthias approached the bowl with herbs, macerated them while repeating the words over and over again before lighting them on fire.
Fire that lights the way and keeps warm the heart of festivals
-0-0-0-
He didn't see the other for three summers the campaign lasted. The siege was successful and the kingdom expanded bringing more wealth to them and a warning to their enemies. The welcome fest was nothing he had ever seen before. The Hall was richly furnished; tables were filled to the brim with a never ending feast so delicious that they couldn't stop eating even if their stomachs already felt full. Rum and wine and alcohol was never missing from a cup and when the wind threatened to sneak inside the doors were closed keeping the festivities intact.
Minstrels were retelling epic feats of before their kingdom rose, and once they were finished, their king stood up and thanked them. The generals kneeled before him, kissing the rings on his fingers in gratitude that was reciprocated.
All in all it had a sense of grandeur that left the knight -still recovering from some wounds- amazed. When the initial shock passed he started to notice the king was sitting by his lonesome, and instead of a chair for the queen there were two, one on each side him both occupied by the princes: one clad in pure blue, the other in pure white.
The blond with the blue robes laughed gregariously, passing the ham down some warriors and cracking what he supposed were jokes, the men around him laughing heartily. The other blond, with longer hair talked calmly in amused hushes with his father, answered some questions from the generals and stood up to probably retrieve a jug of wine.
It was the first time he saw the interactions of the royal family up close. It wasn't as weird as he thought they would be. He did a double take when the prince approached him with the jug of wine. This prince had violet eyes -the sign of a seer- and had it not been for that trait he would have never guessed who he was: he had changed so much, grown taller, slender, his skin paler and... His hair was now long, below the shoulder.
"Thank you so much for coming back to us, bringing glory with you" his voice was still soft, but sure. He kept doing his royal duties as the prince with confidence, and for once the knights did not mock his antics - none of them did, those that were in the fight and heeded his advice, and those whose life it had saved knew better now. But it was still a little strange for them to talk with such indifference - as if they had never seen each other at all.
Which was true. It had to be true; else they would get in trouble.
He kissed the prince ring finger that was being offered to him - it had a delicate ring, with a pale violet stone on it. He tried hard not to frown, what was all of this feminine demeanor? It didn't sit well with the knight, "Thank you for the advices left." He answered courtly letting the hand go.
The long haired blond nodded "are you the one they call Matthias? I've heard stories about you,"
He had the decency to blush. His actions on the war were by no means epic feats (he had just taken the kingdom's mage out of the way and made way for the other's to imprison the king) but during the journey back the stories had taken a bit of a fantastical turn and now they said he had fought-
"He fought a three headed dragon with just his hands" interrupted a slightly inhabited minstrel. "I can relay it to your highness if you please!" The king nodded and with a jubilant call he started.
It was an epic tale that left Matthias himself wanting to emulate such a hero.
Once dawn started to peek from the horizon did the festivities end. Only then Matthias had a brief chance to talk with the prince without any suspicion
"Please do not tire yourself prince." He murmured passing by, he wanted to tell him so much more, but now wasn't the time. Maybe when they started their lessons again he could thank him properly, but for now that was it.
"I won't, thank you for your concern."
-0-0-0-
"But you didn't, did you my liege?" he complained bitterly watching the other from the corner of his eye. But there is no time to mourn in solitude yet, he has to continue the spell go to the next desk, prepare the ingredients set them of fire, let the room, and the magic of the night and the moon mix the scent and create the door necessary to wake him up.
And so he does, with the impatience of a lover reaching his limit, but steady. He cannot muck this up, magic is a fickle thing - that he had learned over the centuries- and if he botches something up, he may end up killing them both. As he waits for the third ingredient to be ready -boiling water with a very specific flower and a purple gemstone inside- he can't help but remember when things started to go wrong.
-0-0-0-
"I will never be king," the prince complained one day, long hair on a braid that now reached his middle back. The master knight knew better than to remark anything about the other's appearance. It was a sore spot with the prince. "It is as if they are trying to forget I'm a man!" he had complained once a few months after they got back into routine "The herbal baths are great but, I'm not a woman! I hate my appearance so much right now." Practice had been cut short that afternoon, they ended up discussing about sacrifices and different ways one could still be a man and manly with long braided hair.
This was a new topic however, and Matthias wasn't sure if he wanted to tread in there or not. Though knowing the prince as well as he did now - they were friends, once someone saves your life they immediately become friends in their book- he wouldn't have any other option but be some sort of voice of reason. The life of a royal was very complicated.
"You are a seer, you could lead an army - but you could never fight along them," Matthias said frankly, without any softness. He spoke with the nonchalance of one who knew a practical truth, even if he felt a bit sympathetic for his friend.
"But I wanted to-!"
"You can help your kingdom by helping your brother and counseling him," he cut swiftly, even if he himself was dubious of his advice. The older prince was a bit of an attitude case sometimes.
"My brother is too stubborn for that, he would only listen to me when it's too late and the Kingdom is on ashes" the prince mumbled moodily, but the knight (already used to his soft voice) heard him perfectly. He paled, his prince never lied about possibilities... and the possibilities he was mumbling were not great. Did he see it on his dreams? The fall of it? But they were doing so well - Was that why he was getting more tired every day? "Hold On! Is the kingdom-?"
He stood up with regal elegance, and patted him on the shoulder, mauve eyes smoldering on the spot. "It is the duty of royalty to make their kingdom prosper, but if it falls, it is the duty of the royalty to save their people." his voice was hard brow creased his hand was heavy on his shoulder as the words he just uttered "Rest assured it is safe for now, but if our kingdom does fall I will save you."
He should have found that conversation fishy, but he dismissed it as his friend being dramatic.
He shouldn't have.
-0-0-0-
The familiar scent of sandalwood wakes him up from his reverie, he doesn't need to look down to see the water is now the color of a stark purple. He rolls up his sleeves over his elbows and approaches the next bowl. The scented powder inside is white, and fine, practice has helped him mould the spelling circle with the perfection of someone familiar with it.
That's the only spell circle he can make.
Once he is done he shakes his hand free of the powder on the bowl and lit what remains on fire. Immediately the room is invaded with a powerful scent, but he is too absorber on the little flakes of dust that still fall on the burning bowl.
'Just like snow.'
-0-0-0-
"I like snow. It is the only thing that kills that I'm allowed to touch without losing the sight." his friend blurts one snowy day. The master knight, already used to his random outbursts, knows better than to pursue the information. But this time he can't just smile and nod.
It's the first time they are together officially without having to hide, they are on a scouting travel, looking for some kind of castle that was said to augment the power of a seer - or that all seers had to sleep a night there as a rite of passage, he wasn't sure on the reason to be honest. But the thing was they were placed together on the quest (and escort missing, him escorting the prince), and they were alone.
They were milking their adventurous time together for all it was worth.
His friend had seemed livelier now, than how he was been lately. He was practically giddy when they rode through the snow and bathed on a cold river and camped under a tree near a fire. Matthias was really close on pulling a prank on him. Just to see his face.
But returning to the topic at hand, "There are other murderous things that you are allowed to touch" he quipped amicably. His friend only raised an eyebrow "Lava for example-"
"I can't touch lava!"
"Really?" he stopped his hose eyeing the other curiously "even with whatever magic you all have?"
The braided man snorted impolitely "Our magic, as you put it, only affects the realm of dreams."
"So no walking on lava or anything?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but you won't see me summoning a dragon with three heads," he mocked circling him. The knight couldn't help but notice they were under a tree, if he just shook it a bit then...
"Then why snow?" he inquired, his friend looked away, grabbing the handles a bit tight on a clear sign of embarrassment
"Because it is white, and it disappears on my fingers," he mumbled.
"You don't make any sense," he concluded truthfully, "white and melts," "really, was that the reason?"
"Say the knight that trained a see- COLD! Matthias!" he howled in outrage and indignation shaking the snow out of his garments and horse. The named was howling with laughter sprinting away to escape his friend's wrath. In that way they passed the days until they found the castle.
In the end, the so called "castle" was actually a cave just under a valley between the ginormous roots of some trees. It didn't mean it was less majestic than a castle, but it was just a cave - even if his friend glared at him nastily when he made the remark. Matthias just stood outside while letting his dear friend do all the weird magical work. Only when he was sure that stepping inside wouldn't damage some ritual of sorts did he enter.
The ritual passed silently, he created a fire, lead the horses inside so they could sleep in a warm place away from the falling snow. They slept on the cave that night. His Highness' head on his lap, the knight's cape shielding them from the cold.
His friend had a troubled sleep that night. He thought of it as a nightmare and accommodated the cape again.
He should have done more than that.
-0-0-0-
"You don't know how much I wanted to pass my hand through your hair like this," he breathes on the other's cheek, tucking a curl of hair away, his other hand brushing soft golden hair lightly before caressing the royal's neck -pale just like the rest of him, had it been warm with life he wouldn't have hesitated on kissing a mark against it. "Now I only want you awake," he orders instead, leaving ingredient number five on his love's right hand.