A/N: Here is the next part of Ancient Vows. I promise that I will be continuing this, and won't put this on any more too-long hiatuses. I have a better idea of how I wish to write this fic, so it will be easier to write. Technically this chapter comes before 'The Upstart', but I'm not going to bother rearranging the chapters right now. I will later, when I've written more.
Anyway, here's the second chapter of the 'Adin' section of Ancient Vows. Hope you enjoy, and I'd love to know what you think! :)
Zara
For all her loyalty and love for Adin, Zara was a Toran, through and through. Wherever she went, she could not hide it: her Toran lineage in her dark hair, slightly slanted eyes and pale skin, and her immense pride at the knowledge. Her Toran magic, although weakened so far from its home territory, was not as obvious to others, but was seen clearly when she sewed beautiful clothes for the people of Del and for her own family, with threads gifted from her Toran relatives as part of her dowry. The fabric shimmered with magic, woven carefully, and though Zara knew that she was breaking a sworn vow of Tora, she did not care. These were her people, and she would do whatever she could to care for them.
Her children would be half-Toran. They would inherit the magic that was in their blood, though they would not be able to use it as they could have if they were to live in Tora. No matter. They would have to make do. She was happy, there in Del, with her belly swelling with life and the love of her husband, the king of Deltora. Her children would be happy as well. She would make sure of it.
Adin knew what it had cost her, to leave behind her family, the full strength of her magic, in Tora to join him in Del. He made no comment to her aloud, but she saw in his eyes how grateful he was for her presence in his life. If she had so dared, she would have told him that her choice had been made long ago, when she had ventured out of Tora to follow him, after her father had refused to give him the great amethyst to place in the Belt. It had been confirmed for all to see when she had given Adin the gem at last, on the Hira Plain, just before the beginning of the battle for their land.
She had never regretted it, although from time to time a part of her would yearn for minds that were unreachable and magic that could perform stronger deeds than the sewing of special garments. Betimes she would touch her swelling belly, and wonder: if she had stayed in Tora, what would her life have been like? What would her children have grown up to be, with Adin's blood and Toran mixed in their veins? What would they become now, raised as they would be in Del, in the forge cottage? These were questions she knew she would never have the answer to. Only fate knew what was in store for them all.
Each day, before dawn, Adin would work in the forge, shaping metal into swords, axes, horseshoes and other things which Zara knew almost nothing about. During the day, he would see to the running of their new kingdom, with Zara by his side. Although she was becoming bigger and bigger with child, she still insisted on accompanying him to these meetings with the tribes' representatives.
'I am the queen,' she told him firmly. 'I am entitled to be there. How can you expect me to help you to care for our people if I do not know them and their troubles?'
Adin, knowing that she would not be moved, merely laughed and shook his head. 'My love,' he said, smiling. 'You are right, of course. You are always right. Do you think I would ever tell you what you should be doing?'
No, he would not, Zara knew. He never did. All his life, he had prayed to find a woman worthy of marrying, a woman he could wed for love. A woman strong, brave, and true. Zara was all that, and more. She would never have condoned a marriage in which she was the submissive wife, obedient to all her husband's whims. No, she wanted a wedding between equals, between a king and his love who would be queen in name and deed. She had one. And Adin had brought her home to Del, to the forge, and they had promised each other that theirs would be a marriage of equals. They would respect one another as king and queen, husband and wife. Not once would they tell each other what they should be doing, as if they were ordering a servant or a child. Months later, the vow remained unbroken. Now new life was growing in her belly, and though he would be tempted, he would not break his promise, however much he wanted to. Adin was honourable, in that way.
So Zara accompanied him to all of his meetings with the people of Del, with the leaders of the Jalis, the Dread Gnomes, the Ralads, the Torans, the Mere, and the people of Hira. Some were surprised to see her, a slight Toran-born noble lady, big with child, sitting proudly beside her husband the king, presiding as much over the events as he. They muttered at her audacity. She ignored them. It was a matter between her and Adin, and they could do nothing about it. Only Greer the Jalis Knight, Az-Zure of the Dread Gnomes and her own brother Shim accepted it with no complaints.
'Good on you, lady Zara,' Greer said to her as one such meeting dispersed, leaving herself, Adin, Greer, Az-Zure, and Shim sitting together in the empty city hall. 'They are fools, if they dare speak against it. In Jaliad, women are as able fighters as we men, and perhaps even more. We would never keep them from the battlefield!' He clenched his hand into a fist, and pressed it against his chest. 'Lady Zara, I swear that if I see one person dare say that you should not play the part of a proper queen I will duel them and force them to say otherwise.'
Zara hid a smile and looked away, feeling herself flush slightly. 'Thank you, Greer.' At her side, she saw Shim bite his lip and choke back a laugh. In Tora, talks of battlefields and violence were unheard of.
'My wife does as she wills,' Adin said, holding Zara's hand. 'I will not gainsay it.'
'But truly, Adin,' Shim said, frowning. 'My sister is with child now. Your heir. Should she not stay in the forge, and not move about so much? What if she were to lose the child?'
He spoke in a matter-of-fact voice, as if nothing mattered except the child in her belly, the future king or queen of their land. It set Zara's cheeks aflame to hear it. Lose the child? What nonsense! What was her brother playing at, that he should wish to curtail her freedom in such a way? He was the only one who had truly known how stifled she had felt in Tora, how she dreamed of seeing outside of the marble walls of their city. Finally she had gotten her wish, and it was everything she could have dreamed of. Now he was suggesting that she confine herself to her home?
There was silence for a long moment. Greer stared at Shim, as if he were truly considering challenging him to a duel in Zara's honour. At first, Zara's heart burned with helpless anger, and she knew that at that moment she would have willingly allowed Greer to duel Shim in her name, no matter the consequences. Then she met Shim's eyes and saw the love, and concern, there. Concern for her. He truly did care for her, she knew, and not just the survival of the heir to Deltora. She felt her anger die, and when she finally spoke it was with a calm certainty.
'Brother,' she said quietly. 'This is my choice. My people need me. I cannot shut myself away because I am with child. There is so much to be done—Adin cannot do it alone! And you know that I could never endure two seasons of being trapped in the forge cottage.'
Shim half-smiled wryly. 'I do know.'
Adin squeezed her hand gently, and she let a small smile curve her mouth. 'Trust me, Shim,' she said to her brother. 'You have nothing to fear. You will be uncle to the first prince of Deltora.'
She was sure now that it would be a son- the babe kicked too strongly for it not to be. Beside her, Adin, who knew of her prediction, smiled, his face soft with love.
Shim looked at them both and shook his head in mock dismay. 'It is just as well that I am not wed yet. Be off with you, both of you,' he said, as if he were not speaking to the erstwhile king and queen of Deltora. 'You both look like you long for the privacy of your bedchamber, and not these four walls.'
They went, gladly, laughing at Shim's boldness. There had been a time, once, when he would not have said such things. The unification of Deltora and Tora's introduction into the wider world had changed him greatly, and for the better. It made Zara's heart glad to see it.
Zara continued as she willed, acting as a queen in deed, and in time the people of Del became so used to the sight that the mutters were silenced completely. Zara was the queen, and had every right to do as she willed, after all. And she was a good queen, acting in the best interests of Deltora, truly caring for her people. She carried the child which would be king after Adin. The people knew that, and respected her for it.
In time, the babe was born, and it was a boy. Zara had not minded either way, and neither had Adin, but the people had prayed that it would be male. If it were a girl, Zara would have named her Leah, after her mother, but it was a boy. Adin had the naming of him, and chose 'Alderic' as a name.
The people rejoiced at the birth of a new heir. Zara rested, her back and abdomen aching from the hard labour, rocking her child to sleep against her breast. It was hard to believe that this small thing was to be the next king of Deltora. Indeed, all Zara could do was hold him close, gazing at his miniature perfection. By fate, he had eyes just like Adin!
'And his mother's will,' Adin said with pride, as he gazed with love at his wife and new son. 'His cries have woken half the street!' There was no censure in his voice, and when he pressed his lips to Zara's cheek she could feel the immense joy and relief at a safe birth and their beautiful child.
The next time, she thought with elation as she drifted on the edge of sleep that night, it would be a girl.
Yet, their joy was clouded, clouded with the knowledge of the evil that lurked just beyond the Barrier Mountains, in the place called the Shadowlands. The Shadow Lord had attempted to invade already, once before. How long would it be until he tried again? Not for a long time, the tribe leaders said. Not until centuries after Adin's death, and that of his heir.
But still, Adin was afraid. At times, deep in the night Zara woke to find his comforting presence gone from their bed, and heard the metal being hammered furiously in the forge, as if Adin were attempting to melt away his troubles. The forge was a safe-haven for him, the place which symbolised his life as it had once been. For all he was now a king, he was also a blacksmith, and plying his trade comforted him and reminded him that not everything had changed in his world. In times of fear and worry, when the Shadow Lord's Ak-Baba were spotted, preying on the dragons of Deltora, when the people sighted the fearsome Greels crossing the border during short raids, as if the Enemy was testing the mettle of this new king, Adin would retreat to the forge, to think, plan and settle his anxiety. The rhythm of work in the forge helped him, he told Zara often. It helped him to conceive solutions to the problems the people presented him with each day, and not give in to panic and despair.
It did not mean, she knew, that Adin did not need her support. He did, and she gave it whenever she could. She was a king's wife—she could do no less. And she loved him. She loved him with a passion. When he needed her, when he yearned for her support and her comfort, she was there to give it. She would always be there. She had vowed it, on the night they had wed, with all her heart.
Adin had admitted to her his fears, his feelings of unfitness for the role fate had thrown him into, as they lay together in their wedding chamber within the marble walls of Tora.
'What if I cannot do it?' he had whispered into her ear, as if the whole of Tora could hear his words. They both knew that there were not secrets in Tora. What one Toran knew, all knew. But Zara could trust her people to keep silence about all that occurred during this special and intimate night.
It hurt to see the uncertainty in his eyes, and hear the thinly-veiled fear in his voice. This was Adin, who had traversed the land in answer to a dream, who had faced and defeated the Lord of Shadows himself on the battlefield. She could not bear to see him falter now.
She had cupped his face in her hands, and smiled, though her mind was filled with sorrow at what must be, and longing, longing for him. 'Adin,' she said gently. 'The Belt chose you, and no other. You can do this, I know it. All of Deltora knows it. I will be with you, every step of the way. You will not carry this burden alone.'
For a burden it was. Neither Adin nor Zara denied it. The king of Deltora would always need to be on guard against the Enemy who resided in the Shadowlands, would always have to watch out for any signs of treachery or invasion. This Adin did, with determination and every ounce of his being. He would not allow his beloved kingdom to fall into the hands of the Shadow Lord while he lived.
'Truly?' Adin had said softly. Shadows flickered on the chamber walls, bathing his face in fragmented light. He leaned toward her, and Zara's heart fluttered at the wonder plain in his eyes as he gazed upon her. 'Truly, Zara?'
'Truly,' she said, stroking his cheek. 'I swear it, I will always be there for you. Nothing will change that.'
So she had promised, and as far as she could, she had kept her promise. Adin returned the favour, every so often. Neither of them would ever be alone with their burdens.
And so, such was their life together. Zara would not have asked for anything else, and knew that Adin felt the same. Whatever shadows the Enemy cast, whatever burdens they carried, they had each other, and their child. That had to be enough.
In her heart of hearts, she knew that it was.
