Winds of Destiny: Converging
Once Upon A Time... Chapter Three
Two weeks had passed since their reconciliation in regard to Misaki's disastrous seduction attempts. Both of them had acknowledged their own failings in the debacle and had moved on from their misconceptions about how to initially approach one another, relaxing into a more natural, communication-based courtship. They had developed an open door, open mind policy in which either one of them was welcome to seek out the other's company at any time, for any reason, and they could openly discuss their feelings without any fear of judgment or reprisal.
But things between the lady and the Count were not always so serious. Misaki had found Keigo to harbor a subtle sense of teasing humor to go along with his quick wit. He seemed to delight in her exasperated reactions, and he often strove to make her laugh at least once during many of their conversations. But Misaki was quite capable of giving just as well as she received. She wasn't able to catch him off guard as often as he did her, but that just made the few times that it did happen that much sweeter for her. They both understood that the good-natured jesting was all in good fun and served as a necessary break from the sense of expectation that lingered around their daily interactions.
One of which the two of them happened to be engaging in at that very moment.
Misaki and Keigo walked arm in arm through the expansive fountain garden to the west of the manor. The manicured array of hedges and flower bushes was in a sparser area of the forest that surrounded the estate, and they would often take a walk through the cobbled pathways after their midday luncheon.
She had discovered during one of their many talks that he was able to individually control each of the feathers which made up his impressive wings. Other than being a determent to the magic of the forest, he could also use them to lift objects, like her bag which he'd chauffeured to her room on the day she'd arrived, and the cloak that had found its way over her shoulders immediately prior to their first impromptu flight above the estate. He could use them to cut things too, like the hedges that surrounded them or the ingredients for the meals he often cooked. They allowed him to sense vibrations in the air which he had learned how to interpret as words or movements over the years, along with giving him the ability to fly.
He'd told her many stories about the people he had met during his travels throughout the land, both kings and paupers alike. Some of them had been so completely farfetched that she had initially refused to believe them. Every time she had refuted one of his claims, however, he would simply smile and tell her that she was welcome to believe what she wished before insisting that he would always rather hold his tongue than tell her a lie. Of that, at least, she could be certain. He still hadn't explained to her about his motives behind his issuance of the betrothal to Eri, and she was finally getting to the point in their relationship where she was comfortable enough to broach the subject again. If he couldn't tell her why he had issued the betrothal, she hoped that he would at least give her some insight into why he couldn't say.
"The way you speak about The Great Magic Wars is incredible. I can almost believe that you actually lived it," Misaki remarked in open admiration at the ending to the tale he'd been telling her as they walked back toward the manor.
Keigo chuckled under his breath before commenting, "I've been told I have a knack for storytelling."
"It's quite true, you do," Misaki heartily conceded. "But there's another story I'd like to hear you tell."
"And what is that?" He amiably replied.
She stopped walking, letting her arm slip out of his as he continued forward a couple of steps before halting in his own tracks and looking back at her quizzically. She held his gaze as she asked in a soft but serious tone, "Why you asked for the betrothal to Eri?"
His eyes widened a second before they swiftly shifted down and away. Misaki dropped her own gaze in regret. It appeared that it was still too soon for her to ask about that. She prepared herself to tell him that it was alright if he still didn't want to talk about it when she heard his even-toned voice suddenly say, "Because I knew it would lead me to you."
She looked up at him in shock. "How could you know that?"
He stared right back into her eyes as he told her, "I can see the future."
She let out a short scoff, taking the ridiculous statement as one of his typical jests. "I was being serious."
"As was I," he replied, his voice taking on that resigned, melancholic tone from the first time they'd spoken about his motives. "I have been dreaming of you for so many years. But you were always in shadow, just out of reach. I could never fully grasp your face or your name, but I could see that betrothing myself to Eri would bring you to me."
As farfetched as it sounded, the sincerity in his tone and expression told her that he was telling the truth. Of all the reasons she had dreamed up as to why he had agreed to accept her in place of Eri, she never could have expected it to be something like this. But as she thought back on his previous, vague explanation, it actually fit. He'd said that he had known the Princess wouldn't be coming, he had been adamant that the child they were meant to conceive was going to be a boy. How else could he have known those things unless he was somehow able to see the future?
It was incredible, yes, but perhaps not as unbelievable as it sounded.
"Why would you not try to find me yourself?" Misaki timidly asked, willing to give his story the benefit of the doubt.
He walked over to the stone bench situated between two neatly trimmed hedges and she followed, taking a seat next to him, and turning to face him as he spoke. "Over the years, I've learned how to interpret the meaning of my visions. Some are meant to warn, to be shared with those to whom they pertain so that they may be overcome. Others," he lifted his solemn gaze to hers as he continued, "like the ones I had of you, are meant to guide, not to be opposed or avoided, but followed with integrity and patience. I could be sure of but one thing in all the years I've been seeing you in my dreams; that you were the only one who could finally set me free from this wretched, lonely existence."
He reached out to cup her face in his gloved hand. "You held my heart before you ever stepped foot on these grounds, Misaki. And in your hands is where it shall ever remain."
She could feel herself being drawn into his penetrating gaze like a moth to a flame. Her lips parted to take in a breath, and he promptly dropped his intense stare to her mouth as it happened. She wasn't sure if he was leaning in or if she was, but her heart began to quickly hammer in her chest as they drew ever closer to each other. When his mouth was barely a hairsbreadth away from touching hers, she slid her eyes closed and surrendered to the anticipation firing through her body. His gloved hand slid into her long, dark hair at the nape of her neck, gently cradling her head as his lips finally covered hers.
A bright flash of sensation passed over her at the contact of her very first kiss. It was everything her romance novels had described it to be and so much more. She felt both lost in the sensation yet hyper-aware at the same time of the feeling of his lips softly caressing hers. A flutter of butterflies erupted in her stomach and permeated through every nerve ending in her body, or so it seemed. She lifted her hand to rest against his chest as she leaned further into his embrace in an effort to bring herself closer to the source of the delightful feelings currently rioting through her mind and body.
All too soon for her, Keigo gently ended the kiss and pulled away. Misaki let out a soft, forlorn sigh at the sudden loss, heavily swallowing down the saliva which had accumulated in her mouth as a result. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and opened her eyes to gaze up into Keigo's almost glowing golden stare, feeling her blood begin to heat in her veins at the sight of the sensual slant of his hooded eyes. She'd always found them to be one of his most attractive features, but when they looked at her like that, she felt like she would be set ablaze from the passion his stare ignited within her. It stole the very breath from her lungs and all manner of coherent thought from her mind, leaving her little more than a puddle of liquid heat.
He looked to be leaning in for another kiss, which she was more than willing to allow him when he suddenly stopped and turned his gaze to the north. She gasped as he swiftly stood and raised his arm to catch the incoming talons of his winged messenger. She raised her own arm to shield her face as the bird swiftly beat its powerful wings to steady itself on its perch before lifting herself from her seat on the bench. He quickly removed the rolled piece of parchment from the bird's leg and sent it off again before carefully unfolding the message.
Noticing the suddenly troubled look on his face, Misaki cautiously inquired, "What is it?"
"It's a summons," he explained, "From the Kingdom of Fire and Ice. The prince has requested a private audience with me. Immediately."
He folded the parchment back up and slid it into the inner breast pocket of his coat as she asked, "You're leaving now?"
"The prince and his family have been very good friends of mine for many years. If he's requested an audience, it must be important." He reached back to pluck a feather from one of his wings and held it out to her. "Should you have the need to leave the grounds for any reason, use this to call for the eagle. They'll both protect you from the magic of the forest."
Misaki carefully eyed the feather for a moment before stepping forward and reaching out to take it. Before she lifted it from his hand, however, she reached up to clasp her other hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down into a firm kiss. She felt his hand press against the small of her back and hold her to him as he readily responded, pressing his lips tightly against hers and moving them to match the sensual caress of her own before she reluctantly broke it off and whispered, "Be safe."
He tilted his head down to rest his forehead against hers for a moment as he softly replied, "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Stepping back from her, he lifted up to hover in the air in front of her, offering her a small, reassuring smile before turning and taking off into the sky in the direction of the Kingdom of Fire and Ice.
Misaki sat in the open window of Keigo's study with an open book in her lap, staring up into the cloudless sky with a faraway look in her cherry blossom colored eyes. The wind ruffled the pages of her book, but she paid it little heed. A soft, melancholy sigh escaped her lips as she leaned her head back against the windowsill and continued to stare listlessly out across the horizon. It had been two days since Keigo had left her standing alone in the garden and she hadn't seen or heard from him or his messenger eagle since. They had just begun to get close enough to pursue a more passionate aspect of their new relationship when he'd suddenly been called away, and she was feeling the separation even more now because of it. It had worried her that she hadn't heard from him after the first night, but she was certain that if something had happened, someone would have at least sent some word.
She'd been keeping herself busy with cooking her own meals and cleaning the rooms here and there. When she wasn't doing chores, she would select a couple of books from the library and head up to the study to read. She felt closer to him there for some reason; perhaps because it was where she knew him to spend most of his time when they weren't together. Of course, there were also his sleeping chambers, but she hadn't trusted herself not to get too carried away in there, imagining all of the things that would eventually transpire between them and his sheets. After the steamy kiss they'd shared, she had begun to find her imagination often running away with her when she wasn't paying attention.
She let out another despondent sigh before muttering aloud to herself, "Where are you, Keigo?"
The resounding cry of a bird drew Misaki's attention to the east. Her heart leaped in anticipation at the sight of the familiar eagle swiftly approaching the window she was currently sitting in. She immediately stood and backed into the room, just as the great bird entered the study and landed on its perch behind the Count's expansive desk. Cautiously stepping forward, she peered down at the bird's leg in search of an attached message, only to find both of them bare of any parchment. Her heart sank and her shoulders slumped. She wanted to believe that no news was good news, but she thought he would have been considerate enough to at least let her know why he hadn't returned home for the past two days.
She let out a heavy sigh as she wandered back over to the window, staring dejectedly out across the grounds when her eyes caught sight of a carriage making its way out of the forest and up the pathway toward the main entrance. Shock suffused her. They hadn't had any visitors since she'd arrived at the manor. Of course, they would have chosen a time when the Count was away, and she was there by her lonesome to pay a visit. Heading for the study doors, Misaki quickly made her way down to the entryway to greet the caller. She wasn't worried about them being anyone dangerous, as they had likely been led through the forest by one of Keigo's feathers and the assistance of the eagle.
By the time she stepped out the front doors, the man was already climbing down from his seat at the front of the supply wagon. He threw back the hood of his cloak, revealing his handsome face and tied light brown hair, and cheerfully greeted her as she approached. "You must be the lady of the house!"
She tipped her head to him and smiled graciously. "I am."
The man swiftly approached her and took her hand in both of his, shaking it enthusiastically and offering her a joyful grin. "It's so nice to finally have a woman's touch around here. My wife's been trying for years to get that stubborn man to take a bride. And what a lovely bride you are!"
"Thank you," Misaki bashfully replied as she carefully removed her hand from his.
He stood up straight and placed his hands on his hips, announcing enthusiastically, "Kisuke's the name! I tend the grounds while the boss is away. So nice to finally meet you!"
"I am Lady Misaki. It's nice to meet you as well," she courteously replied before carefully inquiring, "May I ask how you knew to come?"
"The master sent Taka to get me," he frankly replied.
Misaki blinked and asked, "Taka?"
Kisuke lifted his hand to the back of his head and sheepishly admitted, "That's what I call the bird."
"I see." Misaki nodded in understanding, finding it a bit interesting that he'd chosen a name often given to hawks for an eagle. "You wouldn't happen to know of the Count's whereabouts, would you?"
Kisuke lifted a hand to his chin and a thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Hm… I believe he mentioned something about delivering a message to an operative that the Prince of the Kingdom of Fire and Ice has working in the Land of Dragons. I burned the message as soon as I read it though, as per the master's instructions."
The Land of Dragons? She hoped he hadn't gone to such a perilous place on his own.
"Did he mention anything about when he might return?" She asked, concern heavily coloring her tone.
Kisuke's expression turned grave, and he bowed his head. "It's a pretty treacherous journey, to be sure. As the bird flies though, it probably shouldn't take more than a day to get there, then he's got to locate the operative and deliver the message, then another day back to report to the Prince, so I'd say no more than three or four days at the most." He smiled at her reassuringly. "But don't worry! The master knows his way around. He'll be in and out of there in no time!"
She made an effort to appear reassured as she replied, "Right."
"Oh! I almost forgot!" He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small, rolled piece of parchment, holding it out to her as he said, "I believe this is for you."
Widening her eyes, half in delight at the sight of the familiar missive and half in irritation that it had been presented to her as an afterthought, Misaki hastily reached out to accept the parchment, swiftly unrolling it and reading the neatly scrawled message contained therein.
'By now, Kisuke has explained the circumstances of my absence to you. I apologize for not sending word sooner, but I should be home within the next few days. Should you have need of anything, Kisuke will kindly oblige. I will be missing you greatly.'
It was signed at the end with an intricate-looking 'K'. She clutched the note to her chest and let out a relieved sigh. It still worried her that he was traveling in the Land of Dragons, but she trusted him not to have made the journey without being cautious of the dangers it entailed. Her mind wandered to Eri briefly, as it often did when she came upon anything that reminded her of the girl. She hadn't heard anything of her travels, but she trusted Shota to keep her safe. She could only hope that the rambunctious teen had found happiness in her new life, the same way that she had in her own. Slipping the note into the pocket of her skirt, she quickly moved to assist Kisuke with unloading his cart full of provisions.
Three days had passed since Kisuke had arrived at the manor, and there had been no sign of Keigo's return. Misaki flipped the hood on her black leather coat up over her head and hefted the bag of provisions she'd prepared over her shoulder, making her way out to the stables where Kisuke was waiting for her. She walked right past him into the stall of a beautiful black mare and slung the saddlebag over its back, securing it to the saddle as Kisuke made yet another fruitless attempt to dissuade her.
"Mistress, please! I'm sure he'll be back any moment! He wouldn't want you to go out there on your own!" The man desperately pleaded with her, practically shouting over the sound of the pouring rain pounding against the roof of the stable.
Never halting from her task, Misaki darkly replied, "He should have been back two days ago, Kisuke. Even Taka's restless."
She turned her grave stare toward the bird currently soaring in circles around the perimeter of the grounds. Every day that had passed without word had made both her and the bird more and more agitated. She'd had a bad feeling about all of this from the moment Taka had arrived with the message from the Kingdom of Fire and Ice. Knowing that he'd gone to the Land of Dragons had only served to increase her anxiety level, and by the time the third night had passed, she'd made up her mind to go after him. Kisuke had been trying to talk her out of it since he'd found her packing up a bag of less perishable food in the kitchen after breakfast.
"I can't just sit around here doing nothing when he could be hurt out there somewhere, or—" Lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, followed immediately by a booming crash of thunder. Casting a wary glance at the raging storm, Misaki thought to herself with dread, 'Or worse…'
"I have Keigo's feather and Taka to guide me." She swiftly climbed up onto the back of the horse and maneuvered the animal around to face the unhinged door.
"At least wait until the storm passes!" Kisuke urged, holding the stable door steady so that it wouldn't be thrown around by the heavy wind.
"It might be too late by then!" She protested sharply, urging the horse out of the stable and into the pouring rain as she anxiously considered in her thoughts, 'It might be too late now…'
Glancing down at the man, she told him with remorse in her voice, "I'm sorry, Kisuke, but I have to go."
Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and the horse reared up onto its hind legs with a loud whinny as a large black mass suddenly descended from the darkened clouds to land in the middle of the grounds. Quickly settling the horse back down, Misaki turned her attention to the intruder. She couldn't quite make it out in the dark and the rain, but judging from the way it had flown in, it appeared to be a large bird of some kind. She could vaguely make out the two silhouettes mounted atop the back of the creature, but when the lightning flashed again, she could clearly identify a familiar form sitting astride the bird in front of another birdlike humanoid man.
"Tsukuyomi?" She vaguely heard Kisuke inquire, but her focus was fixed entirely on the man she recognized hunched atop the saddled bird.
"Keigo!" Misaki exclaimed in a hushed cry as she scrambled off the horse, tossing the reigns to Kisuke for him to wrangle the animal back into the stable as she made a mad dash across the wet lawn.
She had just reached their side as the birdlike man Kisuke had referred to as Tsukuyomi was carrying the mostly unconscious Count down from the back of the large bird. He had the man slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but he let him down when his feet touched the ground. Misaki hurriedly moved to hold up his left side while Tsukuyomi handled his right.
She sent an anxious glance toward the man and asked, "What happened?"
Tsukuyomi met her gaze and gravely replied, "Let's get him inside."
Between the two of them, they managed to carry the Count up the stairs to his sprawling master suite, carefully laying him down on top of the made bed in the middle of the room. She ran into the bathing chamber to get some towels and fresh water, along with a warm change of clothes and the first-aid box from the linen closet. By the time she returned, Kisuke had joined them. She handed a towel to Kisuke and Tsukuyomi respectively before using another to pat dry Keigo's face and hair. After quickly removing his boots and gloves, she started to remove his jacket, but Tsukuyomi stopped her. Quickly unfastening the clasps on the Count's vest, he reached down to pull back the edge of his shirt and jacket to reveal a nasty-looking wound on his right shoulder.
Misaki pulled back sharply, covering her mouth with her hand as she let out a horrified gasp.
"We were ambushed on our way back from the Land of Dragons by a tribe of cannibals. He was shot by a poisoned arrow," Tsukuyomi grimly explained.
"Do you know what kind of poison it is?" Misaki asked as she quickly got her wits about her and leaned forward to carefully inspect the wound.
Tsukuyomi pulled a bulbous glass vial from inside his dark cloak and set it on the nightstand. "I was able to procure the antidote from one of the cannibals, but it won't work."
"Why not?" Kisuke's imploring voice asked.
"It's cursed," Misaki observed gravely, noticing the faint purple curse markings surrounding the angry-looking wound.
Tsukuyomi nodded with a solemn expression on his birdlike face. "Unless we can lift the curse, the antidote will be of little use."
Misaki hastily removed her riding gloves and announced with conviction, "I can do it."
"You can break the curse?" Tsukuyomi asked with a hopeful lilt to his shocked voice.
It wasn't a talent that she practiced often, as there were rarely those who encountered curses within their kingdom, but Misaki had always had a natural aptitude for curse breaking. It was an affinity that ran within all of the female members of their family, and it was the reason that their kingdom had always been a matriarchal society. The position of the King was more that of a political figurehead when dealing with other kingdoms throughout the land, but the real power behind the throne belonged to the Queen; Misaki's older sister, and Eri's mother. Of the three of them, Misaki's power was the weakest, but a curse of this level would be no challenge for her to break.
She took a deep breath and centered herself, focusing on calling out the ancient magic that flowed through the blood in her veins. When she began to feel the power start to course through her, she reached out and laid her hands around the edges of the wound. The poison began to fester, and the cursed markings began to glow, sending Keigo into a fit of convulsions. Kisuke and Tsukuyomi quickly moved to hold his limbs down to keep him from struggling while Misaki worked on breaking the curse, something she appeared to be encountering a bit of difficulty with. The spell's design wasn't intricate enough for it to be as powerful as it seemed; it had to be drawing power from some other source.
Concentrating all of her energy into unraveling the woven magic, Misaki burned away the enchantment in the poison, leaving only the power source remaining. The sound of a deep resounding chime rang out in her head just before an incredibly intricate golden spell erupted from the center of Keigo's chest. It spun and ticked like the gears of a clock, spell upon spell woven together and all interconnected with each other. She widened her eyes and slowly drew in an astonished breath. She knew this magic. It was the same kind that flowed through her own veins: divine magic. Before she could examine the spell in any detail, it quickly began to recede back into a faint, diamond-shaped gold marking in the middle of his chest.
Misaki moved back in a daze and Tsukuyomi quickly took her place to pour the antidote over the wound. The poison immediately began to evaporate, bubbling up out of the opening in his skin and disappearing into the air. By the time the potion had finished clearing out the poison, Misaki had gotten her wits back about her and went to work on cleaning and dressing the wound. For as deep as it had appeared when she'd first seen it, once she'd gotten an unobstructed view of it, she had decided that it would probably be alright without any sutures. After taping a bandage over the laceration, she wrapped a length of gauze around his torso and right shoulder.
Kisuke walked up to her after she was finished and quietly addressed her. "I didn't know you were a sorceress, mistress."
Misaki kept her gaze fixed down into the bowl that she was washing her hands in. "I'm not. I'm just a bit skilled at countering curses."
He smiled at her warmly when she looked up at him. "Thank goodness you are. You saved the master's life."
She returned his smile and nodded her head to him as she dried off her hands before quietly excusing herself from the room. Leaning back against the door as it closed, she covered her mouth with her hand and thought back on what she'd just witnessed. From the look of the intricate spell that had been woven into Keigo's body, she wasn't exactly sure that she had saved him at all. Never in her life had she seen a spell as sophisticated and complex as that. It would take her days to decipher the number of incantations that had been interwoven to create it. Of one thing she was quite certain; somehow, Keigo had been cursed by a magic that existed for the sole purpose of countering curses.
TBC...