Snippet #2529774

I followed my brother, Tanis, through the winding streets of our city taking comfort in their familiarity. My elder brother was ever good at sensing when I needed a pick me up and knowing nothing pleased me more than sneaking out of the palace to roam the city. As he guided me along toward the market I let my mind wander to what had been troubling me.

It was nothing shocking really. Just that my parents had informed me that within the next year I would need to choose a suitor for the ceremony. The ceremony where he would kill one of the monsters that plagued our land to pledge his acceptance of the position of Captain of the Guard and announce his betrothal to me. No pressure, its time to pick a husband.

That was the gist of the lecture I had been given for my eighteenth birthday yesterday anyways. It wasn’t like I didn’t know our culture and I had been looking for a potential suitor for the past year up until now… it’s just I didn’t actually like any of the ones I met. Most of the men in my company that my parents would approve of were all charm and wit when people of power were watching but away from expectant eyes they were all loathsome pigs, arrogant fools and plotters. Not one of them were interested in me as a person, but were fixated on the prestige of the title Captain.

I should explain.

I am the princess of the planet Eridian. A small world tidally locked with one side facing the sun, with three moons in orbit. One side is brutally hot from the sun’s gaze and the other frigid cold and covered in cold, dark ice. We live on the border of both of these extremes in the temperate climate band that we call Eros. Walls line either side of our city, which stretches around the planet, to protect us from the other of our planet’s inhabitants. Monsters of scales on the God Solaris's side and beasts of fur on the Goddess Celest's side. Since the creation of our stone walls neither beasts had met each other but both fought us for the right to the milder temperatures of our city. We had been fighting them for centuries, or millennia, depending on which text you read.

Our civilization also has two extremes. The matriarchal and the patriarchal balance keep us alive. Men protected the city, fighting for our safety and keeping the monsters at bay until their retirement. While the women kept the city alive by running their households, governing businesses and tending to the immense farms our walls protected.

The monarch was much the same. What you would call a King we call the Golden or Captain of the Guard – he commands the soldiers and ensures the protection of the walls. The Silver is our Queen, who commands the city and its people and at times her husband’s troops if they are needed. It will be my duty as princess to choose a mate suitable and responsible enough to protect my city.

Only all of my options were crap.

I had just about a year before the solar eclipse when my suitor would have to fight a monster from each of our borders to prove his devotion.

You might be wondering why I am burdened with this and not my elder brother. Well that comes down to the whole matriarchal thing too – the firstborn daughter is responsible for choosing a mate to lead. Sons weren’t forgotten, they held high positions in court but they cannot rule. The Golden must be chosen to ensure the best means of protection for the city.

They used to hold a tournament to decide the suitor and that was that, but the wise Silver Donna put and end to that by proving that the strongest of men were not always the smartest. Since there have been smaller tournaments held to collect suitors to choose from, but in the end it was the next Silver’s choice of which man to lead. I was to have eight total, but only seven ever showed up to the parties my parents kept throwing to help me get to know them.

I didn’t need to though, I knew enough about them from my excursions with Tanis. He had assured me that one could not trust first impressions and had led me to watch them in secret. Sure enough there wasn’t a gentleman among them. If I was going to have a man at my side I needed someone I could trust to be kind to my people when I wasn’t watching.

“Eir are you in there?”

I blinked out of my thoughts and looked up at Tanis, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he tried not to laugh at me. Tanis was a good two eclipses older than I was. He had the same auburn hair as me but his eyes were darker and he had a beard growing in that made him look older than he was. I blushed and shook my head a little before apologizing.

“Sorry, I was thinking about-”

“Oh I know what you were thinking about!” he teased. “And we’re here to forget about it for a while Silver Light Eir. So wake up. I figured we’d go watch the bar fights tonight.”

I shoved him. “Don’t call me that out here or the guards will be onto us,” I hissed pouting. Being the ever-precious eldest daughter I wasn’t meant to be outside the palace. It was too risky with thieves and criminals roaming the streets, papa said. But I had been sneaking out with Tanis since I was a child.

“Oh relax, no one will recognize you in this get up,” he replied winking and running his thumb along one of the sandy building walls and then across my freckled cheek. “There, an extra smudge to hide you.”

We laughed.

He was right though. I looked vastly different from the princess they knew.

In the palace I was expected to be graceful and perfect so I was always under a layer of makeup that make my skin pale like the moon and accentuating my features making them the focal point and my hair was always pulled back neatly in complex styles that always needed a handmaid or two to complete. My figure was mostly hidden in wrap around silk dresses designed to make it look like I was floating everywhere I walked because no one ever saw my feet. I used this to my advantage most of the time actually and wandered the halls barefoot.

But outside the palace today I wore a pair of soft winter creature skin pants, with worn-in knee-high boots and a burnt orange sweater made of a material that felt like kittens. My auburn hair was tucked into a puffy navy blue knitted beret to be safe. Even my own mother would really have to be looking to realize who I was.

“Just the same Golden Ray Tanis, I urge you to keep your big trap shut,” I warned not bothering to wipe at the smudge. “You’re lucky I’m letting you off with the bar fights. Like I didn’t see enough fights from the tourneys.”

“Oh come on you’ll love it!” he cheered. He meant he’d love it. Nothing amused him more than sweaty half-naked guys. That was another reason he couldn’t rule. Tanis wasn’t inclined to pick a wife due to his preference for men. We walked along with him carrying on about how great the pits would be. I didn’t believe him until the fights began.

One man dominated the competition. He cut down his challengers as though they were stalks of wheat. I watched him, mesmerized while my mind rampaged with a new idea. I would fight in the ceremony myself for the right to choose a man when I was ready. Before I could help myself I asked Tanis who the man was. Tanis grinned mischievously and promised me that he would introduce me after the fights.

So at the end of the events Tanis pulled me along to the nearest tavern and sure enough the champion was sitting having a drink in the corner from the biggest mug I’d ever seen. He led me there and greeted the man cheerfully before waving me over.

“This here is Silver -”

“Just Silver,” I interjected quickly. It wasn’t uncommon for the townsfolk to name their daughters Silver in honour of the Queen. Tanis regarded me with a raised eyebrow that I met with a smile. “I’m his friend. I saw you fight. You were amazing.”

The man only grunted flexing the fingers of his bloodied knuckles. He was even bigger up close and I couldn’t deny that it was rather intimidating. Muscles rippled over his forearm with every movement his fingers made and I didn’t realize that I was staring until I happened to look up and find him staring at me. I blushed for the second time since I’d left the palace. It wasn’t often someone who wasn’t family looked at me so boldly.

“I’d like you to train me,” I blurted.

“What?” Tanis yelped turning on me now, his fingers curling at his sides.

The man looked up raising both brows and I took it as an invitation to proceed. Sitting down at the table I didn’t hesitate. I rested my chin on my fists and smiled. “You heard me right, I want to learn how to fight.”

“I don’t train little girls,” he grumbled. “Women don’t fight.”

“Well I want to. I can pay you. I’ll give you double what any of your male students pay you,” I offered. When he didn’t budge I raised a brow. “Triple then.”

He sat quietly for a moment mulling over my offer. Tanis had told me that he owned a training school where mothers could send their boys to prepare them for military training. Grooming them for higher command. He was the highest rated in the city apparently. I could feel Tanis’s gaze burrowing into me. Finally the fighter spoke.

“Fine. Triple. And you pay for tonight’s tab,” he grunted and looked to Tanis. “Is she yours, Golden Light Tanis?”

Tanis looked mortified at the suggestion of incest that the man didn’t even know he’d made. “Ugh, Solaris no.”

The stranger nodded and motioned to the tavern waitress to bring more cups. “Drink with me then. Mayhap I’ll owe you a few lessons after this night,” he said, the seductive nature of his comment making me shiver.

I was used to men flirting with me, but never in such a crude manner. I couldn’t afford to piss him off yet though so I smiled peering through my lashes at him. “Mayhap, but I wouldn’t count on it,” I said sweetly back to him as Tanis sat down beside me eyeing the fighter warily now. “It’s frowned upon to sleep with a teacher, is it not?”

He snorted and downed the last of his drink as the waitress brought over three more mugs. “Pity that.”

I chuckled and leaned back in my chair, having won. “So, teacher, what is your name? I need to know who to sign the payments to.”