Zorian entered away from the towns market, finding all that he needed, the sweet aroma of spices still lingered close to his nose as he found his horse, dropping all his newly acquired items into the saddlebag, being careful with the few jewels he was told fetch. The rest were simple things, brushes, combs, perfumes and herbs. It had taken him longer than he expected in the market for the price of silks and linens had been far more than he wanted it to be, and took several minutes for him bargain it down to a reasonable price. He had told the man to deliver the fabrics to Harwood castle, the man chuckled and snorted revealing his missing and rotted teeth, “‘arwood, theses ain’t for that lady ‘arlingway is it? I’d sworn to never do business with that cunt again,”
“No,” Zorian lied, “it’s for some other lady staying in there.”
“Poor lad, workin’ for a bitch like that, i’d rather be eaten by dogs then ‘ave to serve her.”
Zorian shrugged, “it isn’t too bad,”
“Is it true?” the man began to ask, “does she cut peoples eyes out for the fun of it? i ‘eard she cuts off ‘er servin’ maids fingers when she gets bored.”
Zorian creased his brows in surprise, “she has a temper, but i don’t think she’d do something like that, i mean she has had people whipped and-” Zorian stopped for a moment, “gods,” he muttered, “i never realized it, but she dose hangs a lot of people,”
“And beheads ‘em,” the man added,
“I did once see her stab a girl with a needle because she had made her tea too sweet.”
“Bloody ‘ell,”
“I know,”
“Lady of blood indeed.” the man whispered to himself but Zorian had heard and even when he was climbing on his horse, the words drifted in his mind, “lady of blood,” he said aloud, “makes sense, she wears red far too often,” his horse snorted at that, Zorian patted it’s neck, “i hope one of them catches that princes eye, at least then i wouldn’t have anyone to look after, they'd have to move to court.” Zorian scoffed, “you know,” he said to his horse, “Will, nothing but complains about that prince, calls him a decrypted goat, apparently as dumb as a rat, arrogant is what he calls him the most. It’s annoying, all he does is Remulus this and Remulus that, it’s fucking irritating.” Zorian grumbled, “and he had the shitting balls last night, to make me pay for his time with that whore at the brothel. I don’t even care if i broke his stupid nose, he deserved that punch.”
Zorian began to take a short cut through the forest traveling through the dense rows of trees. Zorian breathed in deeply, going into a canter, his head falling back to look up to trees canopies, the sun blazed through the green, transparently, it was memorizing and Zorian allowed a rare smile to spread along his lips, bathing in the sun's light, hearing chirping of birds near and far, and the sound of his horses hooves against the woodlen floor as it tramples on fallen leaves and twinges alike.
He was reminded of his young childhood, the days before his father's death, he and Rob as children were near always found with each other, playing in the keeps grove, hiding and running pass and through the trees, in the centre of grove was his mother's tree, her ash infused within the roots, the tree was of foreign origin, from her homeland, across the sea on the southern isles that are said were where the old gods are worshiped and men and woman are born with sorcery within their veins, his father had told him once when he was small that his mother was meant for priestess-hood, but chose instead the path to leave the isles and serve as a witch-woman, or healer to a kings or queens court.
His father said that seed she had planted in the grove was of magic and it was why no matter cold or warm the petaled flowers would always be in bloom, but no day sooner after Zorians father's funeral did his stepmother cut down the tree, and had a chair carved from it’s wood in a large throne like seat, which Zorian thought to be an eye sore in the great hall. But it had not lasted long for not even a month later did the chair begin to rot and riddle with insects. Only a stump reminds of the tree, and Zorian had not gone back to grove for many years, but still the thought of the tree lingered, a tune long forgotten.
But his thoughts were stopped, as he heard in the distance sound of dogs barking and horses galloping. It began to come closer, and Zorian knew to keep his hold on the reins tight, for his horse was not a hunting horse and was easily spooked by dogs and hounds, Zorian shushed his steed, stroking its neck, “it’s alright,” he soothed, but sounds of the dogs got closer and he saw a hunting party afar to his side, his horse panicked, and Zorian wondered if it was his stepmother or step brother who had decided go hunting, but the group he saw were too large to come from Harwood. The horse whined loudly it’s hooves stepping back, “whoa,” Zorian tried to calm the creature, as he jumped off, holding its face within his hands, “it’s just some dogs, boy.” he looked back seeing the hounds running in another direction away, and could hear the sound of the men as they raced after the hounds, he took a breath of relief, “there, they’re gone,” he cooed to the horse stroking it some more.
“Had our hounds frightened it?” a boyish voice asked, Zorian turned to the voice seeing a boy no older nor younger than him, his hair blazed in the sun's glare, a colour of auburn red, but as the boy came into the shade it took a dulled brown colour, his eyes were a honey brown, and he had small but faint freckles on his cheeks.
“He is alright now,” Zorian answered,
the boy came closer, “i had seen you from my horse and thought to stop, are you lost?” he asked in a playful grin.
Zorian snorted, “lost?” he questioned, “furthest from it, I live in the keep just up there,” he pointed ahead, the keeps towers looming over the trees.
“Harwood isn’t it?” the boy said,
Zorian nodded, “you know you’ll lose your friends if you keep standing here talking to a stranger.”
The boy turned back to look at the trees, he shrugged gazing back to Zorian, “they’ll come find me.” he said with certainty,
“Cocky,” Zorian commented, “don’t start crying if you can’t find them again.”
“Do you work at Harwood?” he asked,
“You could call it that, but it’s more of a living arrangement if anything.”
The boy stepped even closer coming up to the horse, “he’s handsome,” the boy said patting the horse, “what's his name?” he smiled looking at the creature,
“Pirate.” Zorian scoffed, looking at the boy and the horse amused, “he was my fathers before he died, he was a wedding present from my grandfather.”
The boy began to smile dimly, “I have lost my mother too,” he carried on to stare at the horse, “pirate,” he sniggered, “why do you think he called him that?”
Zorian snorted, “my father was always a bit of fool, he had tried to convince me once that before he met my mother whilst he was a pirate,”
“Could have been,” the boy said.
“I doubt it, my father had never stepped on a ship in his life, he was deathly afraid of water.”
“Well,” the boy smiled, turning to Zorian once again, “I bet he was as handsome as you.” it was silent as both stared at it each other, something intense growing in the air as the boys eyes softened on Zorians face, Zorian snorted after a moment,
“You have all the charm of a snake,” The boy frowned, “quite unoriginal if you ask me, if I wanted someone to tell me how handsome I was, I would go to the brothel and get my money's worth.”
The boy began to rub the back of his neck, “i hadn’t meant in away to-”
Zorian groaned, “you’re nice, and if you hadn’t used such an absurd little line like that, i would have liked to know you as a friend, but now i think you're just a bit of cock.”
“A cock?” the boy mumbled,
“Yes, you know an oaf, a idiot, a-”
“I’m a cock because I called you handsome?”
“I’m not the one who decided to get lost so you could flirt with a random boy.” Zorian uttered.
The boy then all too suddenly began to laugh loudly, and breathly, lunging forward as his hands pressed to his side, holding himself up, wheezing in breath, coughing on chuckles, he ceased his laughter after a moment wiping his eyes of moisture. “I do not think I have heard anyone speak to me like that before.”
Zorian raised one of his brows, “really? Not even once in passing? Not even arrogant?” The boy shook his head grinning, “then no one has ever told you that you're a bit strange.”
The boy smiled, “no, should i be worried that no one has?”
Zorian shrugged looking to his side, “depends i suppose, for all you know they could find you strangeness irritating or have a fondness for it,”
“Which one do you think?” the boy smirked, his eyes not leaving Zorians that made him feel unsteady and conscious.
“Um, well,” he found it hard to come up with words staring into the boys eyes, like a mumbling fool, he told himself, thinking of the times he had watched Will trying to impress the girls in town with no avail. “Your hunting party,” Zorian jumped, “where had you traveled from?”
“The castle, we are the-”
“You know when people go hunting, they’re expected to actually you know hunt,” a grumbling voice interjected, Zorians head leaned over past the boy, seeing a familiar face, long dark hair a beak like nose, that red and bruising, eyes darker than night, and skin as pale as snow, the approaching boy carried many bags layered on his both his shoulders, he narrowed his eyes on the boy, who gulped next to Zorian.
“Now get your bloomin arse back to the hunting party y-”
“Mule!” the boy shouted cutting off the other, Will gave Mule an odd look,
“Mule?” he questioned,
“Yes, that's my name, Mule.” he said turning to Zorian,
“Mule like the donkey?” Zorian asked,
Mule opened his mouth as if wanting to speak but then close it, “yes,” he said proudly,
“Right..” Zorian aired, he looked over to the other boy, “you know him Will?” he asked,
“Will nodded, “er, yes,” he said sounding unsure,
“we work for the prince,” Mule said, “his um, man servants.”
Zorian nodded, “oh, really? Will never mentioned he had someone else who-”
“He hates me.” Mule quickly spoke, “with a passion, wishes me dead all the time, that's probably why he has never said anything about me to you.” he explained, “so..” he started awkwardly, “you two know he each other?” he said his finger swiping between the two.
“Since children,” Zorian replied.
“That’s so nice,” Mule chuckled nervously,
“Um, well i think i’m going to-” Zorian pointed behind himself to his horse,
“Yes, i need to go too, you know get back that arrogant stupid prince,” Mule chuckled,
Zorian chuckled softly, “good luck for that,” he climbed up upon his horse, “the name Zorian by the way.” he smiled, and he was shocked that it was genuine. Zorian began to move away from the two boys, making his way back to the keep, keeping himself from laughter at Mules odd behavior.
“Mule?” Will questioned,
“Shut up, i had not the time to think.” he defended himself frowning,
“Why didn’t you just tell him who you were?” will sniggered,
“I panicked,” the boy groaned,
“Panicked?”
“Yes, he was very unnerving.”
“Unnerving? Zorian?”
The boy turned to Will, “he is god like, i would not be surprised if the very gods themselves had made him.” the boy sighed foolishly,
Will gave the boy a strange look, “are you sure you were talking to Zorian, Zorian Harlingway?”
“Zorian harlingway,” the boy repeated in a wisp. “He was perfect, witty, smart, funny, handsome, truly made by the gods.”
“He won’t think that, and i'm pretty sure your first to think that,” Will grumbled.
Mule snapped from his dream like state, “you must tell me all you know of him, immediately,” the boy said forcibly charging to Will,
Will held up his hands, “steady on, you only talked to him for a second,”
“A bliss filled second,”
“Knowing Zorian, I know that isn’t true. Beside he’ll want nothing to do with you, your highness,” he said in a mocking tone, ''I have already told him too much about you.”
The prince frowned, “then i want nothing but praises about me from now on,” he gritted through his teeth.
Will rolled his eyes, “I shall do so, but not without a price.”
The prince sighed, “alright, but do not spend it all at the bloody tavern.”
Will grinned, the prince looked over behind himself up to the tower of the keep, his heart feeling light and giddy at the thought of Zorian, he felt all at once glad he had decided not to go to temple that morning, his father's displeasure will worth their fires, for now he had a new flame in his chest, that he’ll do all to keep a light….
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