1Dripping Wings

As a note to the readers, I have noticed that many of you are confused by my spelling. Please, allow me to clarify a few things. First of all:

One, on the descriptions of the Goddesses, yes, I did make a mistake in the listing of Kyanah and Kyaneh. I apologize for that, and as I have said, typos are my ultimate bane. Because of the delay in updates, I wanted to get it up as soon as possible. I will go back and fix the problems and re-post the chapter with no typos in it.

Second:

Many of you were confused about the use of the term 'aybu.' You must remember, this is Sekesha. They don't have Japanese there of any kind. I liked the term of aibou, but I do not like the pronunciation, so I adapted the original pronunciation of 'I-bo,' to 'a-boo.' I prefer this pronunciation better, and now use it under the dialect of 'Asalyaseh', which is the resident language of the magi in Sekesha. The error was on purpose. Sorry for any confusion.

And, other than the blatant typos of good old-fashioned English, I don't believe there were any other issues to address. Thank you! Enjoy!

xxx

Yuugi tied a slipknot on the end of the rope, pulling it open enough to fit easily around the horse's head and then some. He was, by no stretch of the imagination, sure about what he was about to do. Atemu had to be insane to let him loose in an area with nearly wild horses, armed with only a silver-white rope and minimal magickal skills. Couldn't this have waited till next fall? When he could at least begin to manipulate physical matter to his own means? As it was, all he could do was guide the rope to a particular area, and he didn't know how fast he was going to be able to guide it. Had he more skills, he might even be able to force the rope-the very matter it was made of- into another form entirely. He could even make it invisible so the horse couldn't see it, but when it tried to move, whoops! It would find itself lassoed and unable to run.

Nope. No such luck. He was going to die. Of this, he was deadly sure.

The mare seemed to be glaring at him as he began to swing the lasso in his hand. He would need to build up a bit of momentum before he could throw it properly. He may have never seen a horse in real life, but he did manage to somehow see those horrible old western movies from America a good few times. He had the basics down, right? Lasso the horse, jump on its back, and ride into the sunset.

Gods, why didn't life just have an easy button to push?

Yuugi's right foot moved forward to gain a firm grounding for launching the rope, and the mare neighed with unhindered excitement and darted off to the left. She was a skiddish little thing. Before she could move far, for in her folly she had placed her back in Yuugi's direction, she could not see where the rope was coming from, and Yuugi released and imagined it landing firmly around her neck.

The rope landed, tightened, and she squealed. Yuugi's heart jumped into his throat as the horse shot off down the arena. He felt his feet start to glide along the dirt and clumps and grass. He weighed nothing compared to her. 'Hold your ground,' Atemu had said. How in the seven hells was he supposed to do that?

Magick.

Yuugi summoned a mixture of shadows that could snuff out flames, for their solidity, and mage capabilities that caused inter-dimensional travel and object levitation, and shoved all of it down his feet and into the ground, rooting him to the spot. He instantly became a solid block of concentrated magick, so firmly grounded to the spot a bulldozer wouldn't have been able to move him. The mare suddenly found herself unable to move, and in her haste caused her legs to shoot out from underneath of her as her body was vigorously jerked backwards, and roll on the ground. She gave a cry of anger and a snort that promised revenge, got up after struggling with the rope around her neck, and headed in the opposite direction. Straight towards Yuugi.

This is it, he thought. Time to jump on her back, or I'm going to find myself ground into a fine pulp. His heart took on the same beat as the pounding of her hooves on the ground. Suddenly, his vision narrowed to focus on that long head bent towards him, and all of those muscles working and pumping with the pure intent to incapacitate him. Yuugi hadn't felt like this in a long time. He was used to the feeling of his vision suddenly sharpening, his senses heightened, he reflexes unbelievably fast. He was used to fearing for his life and the adrenaline rush that so many before him got addicted to.

But it was the first time he could ever remember slightly enjoying it. He would be healed if something happened to him. His pendants would make sure he didn't die. If he succeeded, he would get to keep what he fought for. How could it get any better than that?

He could almost feel her breath falling down upon him. She snorted once...twice...Yuugi pulled on the rope hard, got a firm grip, and used magick to lift himself off the ground to launch himself onto her back. She neighed angrily at him, not expecting him to have veered off the side at the very last minute before impact. Yuugi's mind, however, began to register that something was very wrong. His left leg was still hanging dangerously low, pulling him down and making it difficult to pull the rest of his body up. He felt a hoof dig into this shin a couple of time, which in turn caused the mare to stumble in her full out run. Yuugi cried out and used the rush of pain to pull himself the rest of the way onto her back.

She picked up the pace still.

"Enough of this," Yuugi cried out, raising a hand that light began to extend from in the shape of yet another rope. It wrapped around the mare's delicate white neck, formed a make-shift bridal around her muzzle, and he pulled back. Her head was forced upward, throwing off her balance and causing her to lose her concentration. Her legs stopped moving instantly, but the speed was already there, and they kept sliding down on the ground till they came to a screeching halt inches before the fence.

Both Yuugi and the mare were panting heavily when Atemu and his stallion swiftly trotted up to them. "Yuugi," the Prince called. "Are you all right? I heard you scream, but my goddess Yuugi- that was amazing to watch."

Yuugi glared at his lover, then held up his bleeding shin which he himself had yet to inspect. "Oh, I'm just peachy, dear. Peachy keen." He looked at his leg, seeing red running all of the way down to his ankles. He winced. Those cuts were deep. He looked down at the mare who had her head lowered. "Damn you," he growled. "You see what you did?"

It seemed that she attempted to snort, but in her weariness in sounded only like a muffled cough.

"Hellfires, Yuugi, what happened? Damn, that looks bad."

Yuugi sighed. "My own fault, I suppose. I didn't get up fast enough. I'll be all right, though."

"I still can't believe how well you did. I didn't know you could move that fast. Yuugi, catching a horse that easily-you'd be a marvel if others could watch you. That technique at the end was amazing with the light. Most people ride till the horse is winded, and that could last a half an hour at least."

Yuugi growled, leaning forward slightly. "That's wonderful love, but please, could you help me get down?"

The Prince chuckled, his horse walking up next to them and poking his midnight black nose above Yuugi's wounds. The mage-in-training was nearly positive that he was being shown concern. He glared back at his new mare. "That's all your fault, horse."

She snapped her head back up, grunting at him.

"What's her name," Atemu asked him.

"Astarte," Yuugi said. "It's perfect for her."

"Where is that name from?"

"A pagan religion from a long ways away where I am from. Astarte is the Queen of Heaven. Bright, pure, and powerful."

It seemed the mare lost a bit of the haughtiness she had displayed earlier, gaining regalness instead.

"I think it's perfect for her, too."

"Bloody hell!"

Yuugi and Atemu both looked up when a new voice filled with shock cried out.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Yuugi saw a young man with a messy mop of blonde hair on a bronze horse looking out at the now still horses lazily strolling about. His back was to them, but Yuugi could see that he wore armor that was similar to the style that Mai had been wearing the first time he met her. This man must also be apart of the cavalry, or at least a soldier at that.

"Jono, over here," Atemu called.

The young man turned his head, and caused Yuugi to lose all sense of reason. It was Jou. It had to be. Those green eyes...that blonde hair...not to mention his use of cursing.

"Atemu," Yuugi said. "That's Jou."

"What," the Prince asked him.

"That's Jou," Yuugi reiterated. The young man was too far away to hear their quieter side conversation.

"No, Yuugi, that's Jono. He's our Equestrian Master, and Cavalry Captain of the First Royal Battalion. He's been here pretty much since birth."

"But," Yuugi said... "he looks like Jou. Just like Jou."

"Your old roommate? The one who always got drunk?"

"Yes," Yuugi stressed, still in shock. "How...?"

"Dimensions have duplicates, love. The key is to find the differences between them. Goodness sake, look at the tan that Jono has. Did Jou look like that?"

Yuugi looked hard as the Captain rode their way. "No...I suppose not..."

"And the muscles?"

He frowned hard. "No, he didn't look like that. Jou was lanky and skinny."

"Hey, Sire, what's with all of this," Jono cut in, seemingly unaware of the conversation that had been at hand.

"Yuugi caught himself a horse," the Prince replied.

The Captain looked at the brooding mare, and at Yuugi, then his leg. "That bitch?" He asked in shock. "Goddess! No one's been able to catch her, even as a foal! I see she gave you hell for it, but you'll clean up all right. What's her new name?"

"Astarte," Yuugi said. He smiled, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Yuugi."

"Jono," the blonde man replied, leaning over and catching his hand for a shake. "Cavalry Captain of the First Royal Battalion. Excellent to finally meet you, Sire." He looked at Astarte again. "Well, at least I don't have to refer to her as 'The Bitch' anymore. I'm sure she'll appreciate that."

Astarte snapped at him, then whinnied. Jono laughed.

"Yuugi," Atemu said, "ride on up to the stables. One of the hands will let you down and help you with your leg. We're going to round up the rest of the strays."

"All right. See you in a few then?"

"Yes you will."

"Bye, Jono. Good to meet you. I'm sure we'll see each other more often now."

The Captain saluted him. "Yes Sir!"

Atemu watched as Yuugi steered Astarte in the direction of the massive stables, some barely heard grumbles making themselves quietly known. He chuckled a little bit, gazing now at the leaves falling down from the trees. "How's it going, Jono?"

"Fine, Sire. A little slow. A lot of the owned horses are starting to get fat and lazy. Of course, that's happening to my men, too. Not enough excitement."

"Hm." Atemu looked over at him pointedly. "I've had a tiny little inkling lately that I can't pinpoint. I want you to pick up the work again. Sunrise revile, training courses, meal monitoring. I want buffets to only be on Sundays. Pick up the leather production. Keep the armor shined up, work the horses like they've never been worked. Keep a silent eye out for new recruits. I also want more falcons trained for silent message relays. I trust you can handle all of this."

Jono eyed him with a thoughtful gaze that hinted at excitement. "Foresight kicking in, is it?"

Atemu looked at a couple of the horses that were now rolling around in the dirt like children. "Put Astarte in a stall next to Senke's, would you? I'm sure my stallion wouldn't mind the company anyway. And put the Royal Seal on the stall door."

Jono saluted. "Aye, Sir!"

Atemu nudged his horse in the sides gently, and the stallion trotted off towards the stable doors. Jono kicked his horse into gear, chasing after all of the lazy strays lounging about the arena. "Hya!" He cried, loving his job now more than every as a dust cloud began to rise once again.

xxx

It was late. The moon was full again, the night not as dark it had been the past few weeks. Yuugi stretched out on the bed, watching the stars twinkling outside the balcony door. He hadn't noticed them before, but there were shutter-type doors that closed in the winter, keeping the heat in and the cold out. Winter had descended upon Sekesha nearly two months ago. The Prince said that the winter would span anywhere from four to six months, depending upon the severity the season decided to bring with it from the frigid far northern regions known as 'Northis.'After months of studying the geography of the new planet he had come to, he realized that they were indeed very far north. The total acreage that Sekesha inhabited was possibly larger than that of Earth's own continent of North America. Not even Russia could be compared justly in size to that of Sekesha. Yuugi wondered how order was kept in such a large area without the use of the modern technology. Now, here, he was the only one who knew of such things. Magick, he supposed, had a lot to do with it. With the transportation abilities of mages and the way points that had been set up for the average person, speed of delivery of information was really no problem. But so large! Why hadn't any other countries succeeded in gaining just a little bit of that land? Sekesha's borders were long and vast. Somewhere there had to be a weak point.

It didn't matter much, he supposed. Sekesha had never lost a war. The point itself was rather moot. There had never been any problems before, there was no real reason to worry much about it now. There were no threats to speak of. There were no pockets of stirring activity in the cities or countryside that spoke of plotting takeovers or murder of the crown. Not to mention there were always men and women and guards and priestesses that were working to keep defending their country even in times of peace. Anyone in their right mind would laugh at his worries.

The marble doors creaked open as Yuugi heard Atemu enter the bedroom. He didn't bother to avert his gaze at the moment, watching as snowflakes drifted lazily about, but he did reply. "Hey." He heard the Prince sigh in weariness.

"Hello, love."

"Long day?"

"Hm." The bed's surface lowered as Atemu sat down on one side, facing away from Yuugi, as he kicked off his sandals and removed his jewelry. "There was a particularly nasty mercenary from goddess-knows-where today that was outraged a woman was allowed to walk past him with her head raised. Then there was the eight hour filibuster in the Council of Laws today, all because someone wants it to be legal to have multiple wives and/or husbands."

"Sounds like it was a laborious and patience taxing day."

Atemu collapsed on the bed, rolled over, and pulled Yuugi into his embrace. "How was your day?"

"Long," he said. "I summoned the earth goddess today, and I learned that she enjoys both freezing her summoners and burning them at the same time. I also wrestled with a Ruby Dragon today."

Atemu chuckled. "Who won?"

"Neither of us. We both passed out in the snow."

Now the Prince laughed. Ruby Dragons were really not that much bigger than a large dog, and for the most part harmless. They breathed a fire that was a deep garnet and ruby in color, and were mainly used as pets and guardians for children. The dragon Yuugi was speaking of most likely belonged to one of the women in the palace, and the Prince had a strong feeling that it either belonged to Mai or Isis. That was a pet he wouldn't put past either of them. "Now what, love, sparked this rivalry?"

"He stole my lunch, and Daemon thought it would do me some good to get some exercise."

The Prince tightened his hold slightly, then sat up. "I'm afraid, aybu, that our evening is not quite over yet."

"Huh," Yuugi whined.

Atemu chuckled as he got off the bed and walked over towards one of the dressers. "You'd better bundle up."

Yuugi rolled over, sat up, and gave his lover a slightly dirty, slightly curious look. "What's going on?"

"Just a little something I want to show you." He threw warm clothing on the bed, and Yuugi grabbed some of it and started to put it on.

It was but a few minutes later when the two of them were finally ready to head to wherever it was that Atemu had in mind. The Prince smiled at him, then led him to the balcony. Yuugi's eyes widened in curiosity when the Prince extended his wings from his back and opened up the glass doors. Tiny snowflakes began to drift in. Yuugi took notice as the moonlight played across pale gold wings, the feathers appearing as though tiny shards of light-reflective crystals were imbedded everywhere. Glowing garnet eyes starred at him intently, tanned skin looking darker still in the pale light. The growing teen was suddenly struck, once again, at the beauty of his lover. "Ready love?" the Prince's deep voice rumbled smoothly through his senses.

Yuugi smiled softly, wrapping his arms loosely around Atemu's slim yet firm waist. "I'm ready."

He felt his stomach drop with the loss of the ground as those huge, powerful wings beat furiously and lifted the two of them off the ground. Yuugi, for the first time, was seeing what a part of the outside of the palace looked like. Silver and white marble was reaching far up into the heavens. Tiny ledges held small architectural touches, such as imitation vines, small faeries, and prancing horses with wings shined in the moonlight. Yuugi noted that statues of the Goddesses were standing tall in a slightly protective stance on lower level roof lines, these statues bearing large wings. They were glowing with a light that was brighter than the moon. The ground stretched out before them, billions of lights from the Divine City, the capital of Sekesha, sparkling like the stars above. Yuugi saw huge circular buildings placed in random areas throughout the city, lights of every pastel color glowing and vibrating in and around them. Beyond the city's borders it was dark and featureless, all but for the dim glow of blue and white that it seemed to merely echo. Yuugi knew that it was Tranquility Lake, possibly the largest mote ever created. At the deepest it reached, as the books said, six hundred staves. (Yuugi equated this to being about six hundred or seven hundred feet deep.) The shallowest area was at least a hundred staves deep. It stretched, circularly, seven or eight leagues out. The only way to the city was either by boat or transportation through a way point. (A new term Yuugi learned for the transportation rooms)

Atemu landed at the large ledge of the bell tower, located at the very top of the Eternal Palace.

"What are we doing up here," Yuugi asked him, keeping close as the wind blew past.

"There's something I want to show you."

Yuugi felt some relief from the cold gusts of wind as the Prince wrapped his wings around the both of them. The feathers were large and soft, sparkling even more as drifting snowflakes landed loftily upon them. Atemu pointed to the largest building below them outside of the palace walls which was glowing a bluish-silver in color. "Those round buildings are temples, Yuugi, and the largest ones reach seven stories high. What you are seeing now is the High Temple of Tranquility. To your left, the temple that appears to have a liquid mirror poured over it, is the High Temple of Divinity."

Indeed, Yuugi was enthralled to see the temple appear as if continual heat waves were obscuring the marble structure. There were other temples, smaller ones, placed all throughout the city, some of them glowing red, some purple, some pale pink and yet others gold. Something in the corner of Yuugi's eye caught his attention, and he averted his gaze, watching curiously as women were ascending to the top of their temple, the colors of their clothing and hair matching that of the temple they were on. "Priestesses," he asked Atemu, watching closely as the women at the top of the High Temple of Tranquility now stood in a perfect circle on the roof.

"Yes."

The Prince said no more yet, but he didn't need to at the moment. Suddenly, the priestesses dressed in silver and white raised their arms, and when they moved them down to their sides they started to dance. It was rather hypnotic to watch. It involved a lot of turns, a lot of dips, and every priestess moved in time with the next. Yuugi couldn't even tear his eyes away to see the other temples populated on their rooftops with priestesses who served other goddesses doing variations on that same dance. And always, throughout the whole thing, the circle was never broken.

"They've been doing this nightly ritual for the past fortnight," Atemu began again. "The Winter Solstice is coming soon. It is a winter celebration that has been celebrated as long as anyone cane remember. For thirteen days we dance, sing, hold tournaments, and create the Trees of Light, which shine as hope in the coldest, hardest part of the year known as the Heart of Ice. The temples are extremely biased on who they let take part in the ritual you are watching now. Only High Priestesses are allowed to do this, with at least thirty years experience under their belts. They dance every night after the rise of the first full moon after the seventh snowfall, and wait for the signal from the goddesses that it is time to start the celebration."

Yuugi wasn't sure if the complexities of this world were beginning to hurt his head or not, but the more he knew, the more he was amazed.

The air suddenly felt heavy as it weighed down upon them, and the earth was deathly silent. It seemed even the birds were afraid to chirp, and the stars were afraid to shine. Slowly, gently, a soft rumbling noise reverberated from beneath the palace foundation. Yuugi almost jumped when the priestesses stopped dancing, and from the center of their circle a beam of light ten feet in diameter shot up into the sky. Other beams of varying colors came up later from other temples, most smaller, and most a little less bright than the one from the High Temple of Tranquility. The only other temples that could compete were that of the High Temple of Divinity, and the High Temple of Eternity.

Just as suddenly as they came, the lights went out, and Yuugi was left breathless.

Atemu hugged him firmly. "That, my love, was the signal that we have been waiting for. The celebration begins tomorrow. We've already been planning this for over a month. Things are about to get extremely hectic around here."

"I never would have been able to dream of a place like this before coming here. It's...impossible. I can hardly believe a place as wonderful as this exists."

The Prince laughed. "Just you wait. There is so much you have yet to even see."

Yuugi looked up at his lover, a hint of knowing in his eyes. "How did you know the signal would come tonight?"

Indeed, the Prince smirked. "Royal intuition."

xxx