Ok, here is chapter two. Hopefully there's a minimum of typos. My love and thanks go out to Melissa for my very first review! Anyways, please review, any comments would be wonderfully welcome!
Mianu looked longingly out the window of the carriage, sighing as she took one last glimpse of her home. The manor house stood tall in the morning sun. As she looked at her bedroom window, a glint of light sparkled off it, causing her eyes to water. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, the house was gone, out of sight behind a copse of trees.
Her father was not with her in the carriage. He had opted for riding alongside on his stallion, Thunderstorm, with the guardsmen. Mianu watched as he talked and joked easily with his men. They roared with laughter just then at some story Lord Bowen had told. No doubt it was about some lightskirted woman he had once known. Her father had known lots of lightskirts. But then he met Soena Heret, a dark haired beauty from Saldaea. Almost immediately, she caught him in her net and in no small voice made it known to every other woman in the world that Lord Innis Bowen belonged to her. They were married within the week and nine months later, Mianu was born.
Sometimes, Mianu wished her mother were alive so hard that every bone in her body ached. But nothing Mianu could do would bring her back. Oh Light, she thought, why did Mother have to die then? Why did her mother visit the glass shop on that particular day? Why had the roof of the shop collapsed just when Soena Bowen had stood underneath it? Couldn't it have waited one minute more?
The laughter of the guards brought her back to reality. She glanced outside again and saw that the party was about to cross an old rickety wooden bridge. The carriage jolted her up and down as it passed over the wide stream. Mianu swore when she realized what huge bruises she would have at the end of the day. As she murmured under her breath, she didn't notice a figure ride up beside the window. A red haired man with a neatly trimmed beard and mounds of freckles dotting his proud face smirked down at her. Green eyes, virtually duplicates of her own, the origin of hers in fact, chuckled when the man heard what the girl was saying.
"Now, now, my dear daughter," he sternly said, "those aren't words a young lady should be using. Shame on you."
The look of irritation on Mianu's face changed to one of dismay as she turned to look upon her critic.
"Father!" she gasped in mild alarm, "I didn't realize you were there!"
"Apparently not," Lord Bowen commented, sounding fairly amused.
"Lord Bowen," a boyish voice urgently spoke as a rider pulled up beside the red haired man. Mianu couldn't see his face, but she thought she recognized one of the younger guards. Lord Bowen instantly became serious as he leaned in to the other rider and listened intently. The news must have been of a significant nature, because Lord Bowen briskly nodded to the young man and rode ahead of the carriage, where Mianu assumed some other guardsmen were riding. Mianu, still looking ahead, her head at an awkward angle out the window, asked the messenger, "What's the matter? Is something wrong?"
She heard the young rider cough before he spoke.
"Nothing for my Lady to worry about. All will be taken care of," he said somewhat nervously. She twisted to look at him and he quickly looked down, but she caught him eyeing her before his head bowed. His face looked vaguely familiar.
"Are you a new soldier?" she questioned, "What's your name, if you please?"
"I am Relc, my Lady," he responded, "and yes, my Lady, I am a new soldier. I arrived at the manor just last week."
"Please, Relc, not so many my Lady's," she clumsily laughed, "I really don't deserve that title. After all, I'm only fifteen. And you can't be that much older than me."
She watched his eyes slowly look up at her. They were brown and appeared to be relieved. Her mind rolled, wondering what he could possibly be relieved about. Surely he wouldn't be nervous about meeting her?
He coughed again and replied, "I am 16, my La…I mean…um…" He stumbled for words, obviously lost on what to call her.
"Everyone just calls me Mianu," she said reassuringly, "Except Treina, of course. She does call me my Lady. Did you meet her?"
"If you mean the tall one who, well, bosses everyone around including Lord Bowen…" he hesitated.
"Oh, that's Treina alright!" Mianu giggled. "No one is too good for her scoldings. I suppose even the Queen herself would get browbeaten by that woman!"
She was rewarded for her comment with a smile. No, not really a smile, she decided, more of a boyish grin. Relc had a sweet boyish grin. His eyes lit up and golden flecks twinkled like fire within them. She could almost drink him in, he looked so alive.
His coat was deep blue, lined with silver cording. The other guards wore the same, but somehow, the coat looked different on him. More distinguished-looking. On the front was the Bowen House symbol, a silver oak leaf surrounding the red Lion of Andor. She proudly smiled at that. House Bowen was a minor house, but it had served Andor almost since the first Queen took the throne.
Relc sat well on the horse, like he belonged there. She scanned the bay gelding he was riding and identified it as Jak, a dependable horse with just a touch of spirit. Mianu had ridden Jak many times herself in the lands around the manor house. Jak loved to run, and sometimes, Mianu thought that all Jak wanted was to defeat the wind in a high-stakes race.
"My Lady…I mean, Mm...Mianu," Relc's voice released her from fond thoughts of the beloved animal, "I need to return to my post. Perhaps I will see you again later."
"Yes," she made her voice sound friendly, "I'm sure you will. We are traveling in the same group."
"Right," he said. His face turning slightly red, he rode ahead.
The countryside of Andor was lush and green, spring creeping right into summer. A breeze was blowing over the grassy hills and it cooled the travelers all through the hotter part of the day. Mianu dozed off and on, the swaying of the carriage finally lulling her into a deep slumber. She awoke again when the carriage unexpectedly jerked to a stop.