13, April, 2010

Two Queens and Dice

Writer: Hand Steroids

Number of Words: 2,068

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Firekeeper Saga. (Although it would be amazing if I did.)

A/N:The Firekeeper Saga is an amazing series that everyone who enjoys magic, politics and romance along with intelligent animals should read. You can view the books at janelindskold. com where you should look for the first in the series; Through Wolf's Eyes. If you have any questions about some of the Hawk Haven settings please feel free to send a message, and I will do my best to clarify it to you and make my stories better using what you have pointed out.

Summary:Although Harry Potter was taken to the Dursleys, he did not stay there. In fact, the Dursleys never even saw the boy. When Harry, now Damien, is raised by a society that treats magic with fearful disdain returns to England, how will the wizarding world take to this new adult Harry?


Chapter 4.

"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along."

-Terry Pratchett


Damien was in the stables when news of his brother came from West Keep. Although the letter was directed towards assistance, it seemed to inquire into an additional body added to their group. Damien now was prepping his horse for traveling west to West Keep to join his brother.

Although the letter did not willingly give information, it seemed to pose as a curious nature, words implied within their written bounds. The letter was what drove Damien to travel to his brother. Although it was still early in the spring, the roads should not be bad enough to pose dangerous to his horse.

Damien did consider not leaving Eagle's Nest, simply because the stable was loaded with customers. He simply reasoned that Damita and Brock could take up a few chores around the stables to ease the stable hands. But the prospect of discovering what Earl Kestrel's expedition found was full in his mind, not besides the point that finding his way into the graces of the Great Houses could bring more business to his family.

Damien's mare Loraine jittered eagerly beside Damien as he bid his parents farewell. Vernita gave him a bundle of travel food that Cook had prepare, which he tucked into a saddle bag. Damita tapped Brock over the head when he complained about not being able to go along. Colby Carter gave Damien a small bag of travel coin and a finely made long knife.

Damien thanked his father and mother, and said his farewells before mounting and making his way west. Out on the street, he nodded to several people he knew well before exiting the city. He traveled in the company of a trader his father dealt with often, catching up with the man about business before parting ways.

The roads, which had just suffered rain, were bad enough for travel by wagon, but by horse it was just firm enough to avoid having to take detours around every dip in the road. He ended up helping a few people haul their carts out of soft mud, if not just to take pity on the beasts who hauled the carts.

Damien made good time, arriving at West Keep within three days. He had stayed in an inn for the two nights on the road, but managed to find places with familial ties, which eased the price down.

The first thing Damien noted when he approached West Keep was the tenseness of Loraine. It seemed as if some large predator was about, but no signs of the beast were visible. Damien whispered calming words to Loraine and urged her forward.

He was greeted by a scout, who announced himself as Race Forrester, one of those who traveled west with Earl Kestrel. Damien politely returned the courtesy. When Race Forrester caught his name, he examined Damien with a close eye, noting the differences between Derian and Damien.

Race led him to the stables where he took his tack off of Loraine and took his saddle bags up to his quarters after seeing that Loraine was tucked safely within a stall. The room he was given was not large, but private enough for a visitor not under the service of the Kestrel family. He was able to freshen up and change into appropriate attire; he was called upon by a Earl Kestrel.

Damien followed the servant to the ball room, where Derian, Earl Kestrel and two other men. Derian was dancing, or attempting to dance, with a young girl, perhaps around fourteen. Damien bowed as he approached Earl Kestrel. The servant did not leave the room after he delivered Damien to the Earl.

"Good day, Lord Kestrel." Although Norvin Norwood was Earl Kestrel, his appropriate title was Lord, given to him when he passed infancy. Children did not become title holders until they survived their first two years. Earl Kestrel nodded to Damien, before calling out a different dance.

"Damien Carter, I trust your travels were well." Earl Kestrel examined Damien, his hawk-like nose and careful, perceiving eyes inspecting even the slightest expression on him. Damien couldn't help notice the prominent amount of silver amongst the dark black of the Earl's hair.

"The roads were fair, my lord. I stopped to assist some travelers with stuck carts, but nothing more serious than normal traffic." Damien recounted the few days on the road honestly. The Flinn River was thick with the spring thaw, causing, on top of the rain, to cause quite a few soft spots in the roads.

"Good to hear. You may perhaps be wondering why I would have Derian call for you?" Damien nodded acceptance.

"I have had him call upon you because of your grammar and political education. As you well know, I traveled west over the Iron Mountains to search for Prince Barden and his colonists. We found, who I believe to be his daughter. Dancing with Derian is Blysse Norwood, sole survivor of the fire that took the lives of the colonists."

Damien examined the girl with a new eye. Her hair was ratted, but it appeared that someone had attempted to trim it into a manageable form. She had deeply tan skin that was covered in pale scars, some of which must have been fairly painful. She wore a loose dress, without long arms, it seemed that she was irritated by the loose material restricting the movement of her legs. She was also barefoot. What no one could miss was the knife at her hip and the small bag around her neck. The knife was a fine piece of craftsmanship, at least as far as he could tell from this distance. There was a garnet set on the hilt-end of the knife that would throw off throwing aim though.

The Earl began speaking, explaining exactly why Damien was here. "Although Derian has done a fine job with Lady Blysse, her education and speaking skills need to be finely honed, so that she is presentable in court."

Damien turned to the Earl in surprise, taking his eyes off of Lady Blysse. "You wish for me to become her teacher?" Damien thought back to the years he was tutored, about how many of his fellows and those younger had come to him for help with their words and letters.

"Precisely that, in fact, I am offering you a full-pay job should you accept." Earl Kestrel pointedly nodded towards Lady Blysse, who was tripping over her dress. Damien felt pity for the girl. Learning to move in a dress was no easy task. He had once had to wear skirts on a bet for a whole day while doing business at the barn. After managing to tangle himself in the skirts on multiple occasions, he felt a greater appreciation in the skills women had when it came to skirts.

"I intend on accepting your proposal, Lord Kestrel. I must say, so far you have managed a great deal in the short amount of time you have had with the Lady Blysse."

Earl Kestrel nodded agreement. "She seems to have taken rather well to your brother. He is the only one she truly trusts in our expedition. He actually has been the one teaching Lady Blysse these few weeks."

Damien nodded carefully. Derian had always been an honest lad, although when he put his mind to it he was decisively sly. But it did not surprise him that Derian had been teaching the girl. He had a way with explaining things in a certain light. But Derian learned that specific skill from Damien when they were still but young lads.

"Well, we shall introduce you to Lady Blysse." He called for the dancing pair to him. Derian smiled brightly when he caught sight of Damien, but Lady Blysse held her face to guarded wariness. She bowed in the fashion a man would as did Derian.

"Blysse, this is Damien Carter, Derian's brother. He is to be your teacher." Blysse had a look of concentration on her face, as if the words she heard did not form the correct meanings to her. When she understood what was being communicated, with some help from Derian, she changed her attention to Damien. She looked back and forth from Damien to Derian, clearly trying to see familial resemblance.

It was Derian who spoke up first. "Firekeeper, Damien is my older brother. He is a cousin, like a wolf from a different pack but his father originally came from your pack."

Blysse nodded at the explanation. Damien was thinking about the ways she would need to be taught. Clearly she learned by parables to her previous life. But it seemed that she learned things that she felt were necessary.

"Good to meet, Damien." Blysse's speech was choppy, and untrained. It seemed as if she had never spoken before a few weeks ago. Damien figured just as well that teaching her to write would also be a difficult problem.

"A pleasure to meet you also, Lady Blysse," Damien bowed at the waste towards her. There was something in those steely eyes that Damien couldn't help but be wary of. He felt like he was being placed in a rank. Damien hoped he had some semblance of dignity amongst her ranking.

"You dance?" Derian quickly corrected Blysse's grammar, saying "Do you dance?" instead of "You dance?" Blysse sighed, heavily, retorting, "why, when easier?"

"You say things a certain way because that is how it is. You would not want to error in a hunt. Think of it as making sure you make the kill," Derian responded. Blysse narrowed her eyes, and Damien thought she might have growled slightly at Derian but she nodded none the less.

"If you say." Derian nodded with a slight smile on his face. "I do."

Damien couldn't help but smile at the remark. It was almost as if they were home at the Prancing Steed Stables reprimanding Brock of his words and manners. Despite the fine muscle on Blysse, there was but a child's knowledge of civilized humanity in her mind.

"Yes, I do. I taught Derian to dance actually." Blysse turned on him wide-eyed. "Then dance."

Blysse grabbed Damien and pulled him onto the dance floor, eager to begin. Damien gracefully led off, choosing a simpler step to gage her ability. It was perhaps a good thought to choose a simple step, because as much as Blysse was graceful when it came to normal movements, she was rather clumsy, her skirts tying her up and restricting her ability to move gracefully.

"Take smaller steps. It will be easier to maneuver with the skirts. Use the momentum from the material to help pull you along in the dance." Damien explained to her, pausing slightly as she shortened her stride. Although she was not par say graceful, it was better than before.

"What momentum mean?" Blysse asked, her tongue struggling with the foreign word. "It means to have movement, a force against you use."

Damien twirled her slightly, and as she came back to him, he continued his explanation. "When you climb a tree, you push off the branch to get down, correct?" Blysse nodded. "Then when you land, you can either roll with the force of the movement or you can brace yourself for a hard landing."

Blysse nodded reverently. "Like when squirrel jump from tree onto other tree, use branches to make faster."

"Exactly." Damien could tell that she liked this kind of explanation. She seemed to prefer to use wild life to come to terms with human ideals. But when her face lit up after understanding the word, Damien seemed it would be worth teaching her.

"Blysse-" Blysse cut Damien off. "Firekeeper. That is what wolf call me."

Damien stared at her slightly before nodding. "Firekeeper, perhaps you could show me what you know about wood-lore. I am always looking to learn more, and perhaps you will enjoy being the teacher for once instead of the student."

Firekeeper's face lit up in something akin to a mockery. Damien did nothing, because despite his many achievements with horses and grammar and politics, he had almost no experience with wood-lore and he figured that should he be left without supplies, it is always good to be able to use the woods to his benefit, and not to his death.

"I show you. You learn much. But you teach me to dance." So they danced.


A/N: It seems that I have made a few errors with my information.

New Kelvin is in the north, bordered by the Sword of Kelvin (mountain range) and the Iron Mountains. To the east of the Sword of Kelvin is Waterland. Bordering New Kelvin, the river is not called the Barren River, it is acutually the White Water River.

Hawk Haven has only one port, Port Haven, and the port enters the Barren River which branches off into the Flinn River, where Eagle's Nest is located next to.

Thanks to lovely Microsoft 2007 it unbeknown to me, changed Derian's name. It was Darien in the first three chapters, but the correct spelling is Derian.