NaNoWriMo Day #3, 1974 words
This story might require a bit of explanation. You guys know that I'm taking a lot of my unfinished stories and attempting to finish them or get a lot closer this month. This story I've been known to call my "Paladin" story. Here is a section of part three of the story arc. The necessary backstory:
Pelerine is a paladin and a divine champion, Lareli is a mage, and David's Lareli's familiar. They are currently in the midst of a war against the demons that's been building for a while. The world is based, in a lot of ways, on our world. Religion is more important there, though, in a D&D importance level. However, I haven't fleshed out all of the religious beliefs yet. There are a number of athiests, but David's atheism is weird because he has personal experience with deities and still refuses to worship them. There are reasons for this. Most of the overall story will be in David's first-person POV, but this starts with Lareli third-person. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them--there's a lot of backstory here that I haven't said.
“Wax, please.”
A lump of wax was placed in Lareli’s hand. She frowned at it. It was hard and cold. She needed soft wax.
“David, hand-no, light me a match.” Her familiar knew the ward-spell as well as she did by now. He should have remembered the components.
The smell of smoke hit her, first in her mind, then through her nose. “Thank you.” If she looked away now, everything would explode. She held out the wax. Nothing happened.
David, the wax! Now!
“What?” her familiar finally snapped to attention. “Oh, right....”
Lareli felt the wax soften in her hand while she moved the silver dust in place with her mind. When the wax was soft enough, she took it back, raised it over her head, and threw it down. “Ara si-DAF!”
As the wax hit the ground, she felt the spell magic fade into the earth, turning the encampment into a field of enchantments. There was nothing that felt better than a well-cast spell. She heard David sigh behind her.
“Feeling better, now?” She turned to her familiar. David was, like all of his kind, wiry, pure, compact muscle. She had realized lately that this made him rather pleasant to look at, or perhaps it was his dark brown hair and yellow eyes. Then again, it could be the way he moved, like he was dancing and fighting and hunting prey at the same time. He never let his guard down, which had saved their lives more often than any debt could repay.
And now he was distressed, for a reason that he was trying hard to conceal. His mind was less perfect than his body, full of still-unhealed sorrow and anger at the world. She never pried too deeply, but of late he had shown more and more an emotion she had never seen in his mind, though she was sure he saw it often in hers.
“So, who is she?”
“She? She who? Oh, you mean Danielle? She’s Raoul’s mate, I was teaching her that trick I learned the time we went looking for the bones of the Magus-“
“And found an entire army of demons, yes, I remember. That’s not what I meant-at least, I hope it isn’t. Who’s the girl you were daydreaming about so intently you forgot the ingredients of the daf-ward?”
“I don’t...I’d rather not...” David stopped and looked up at her. “I’ll tell you about her if you tell me about whoever it is that keeps you coming to fighter practice every day.”
Lareli tried to keep her thoughts of “anything but that” inside her own head. Normally, as soon as David realized she was dating someone new, he would stalk them, learn their life’s history, and then hunted them down when they inevitably, as David put it, “ripped out your heart and smashed it into pieces. Just like your parents.” Lareli couldn’t even keep a boyfriend long enough to worry about how to explain to them about David, and she’d often wondered about the lengths to which David went to protect her from them. This time, however, things were far more complicated. This time, Lareli’s crush was a bit more difficult...especially if David had fallen for someone. She allowed herself a bit of hope, before reflecting, once again, that no nice guy liked her.
“Sure they do. They’re just scared off by seeing you with losers.”
“No, they’re scared off by you. And why did you feel the need to read my thoughts?”
David shook his head. “Every time you contemplate a relationship failure, you do that funny thing with your nose and then I hear you screaming that you don’t deserve a good guy or that you disappoint everyone.” David reached out, his strong arms pulling her tight against him. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again-you’re good enough for them. You’re better than them, and better than your parents, whatever they thought about you.”
Lareli leaned into his chest, and felt within his mind as his wolf-side took over. The wolf-mind was calmer, more stable, and its presence made her feel at home like no one and nothing ever had. “All right.”
“All right what?”
“I’ll tell you about this guy, if you tell me about the girl. Fair’s fair. I give you a tidbit, you give me a tidbit.”
“All right...but individual’s choice, then.”
“That’s not fair-you’ll be able to find out whoever it is readily, but I can’t.”
David sighed again, releasing her. “Trust me, you will know far too easily who I-who I’ve been thinking about. She’s...simply amazing. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve seen.”
That was a promising start, although a bit obvious. “Beautiful how?”
“Nope. Not in the agreement. Your turn now.”
“All right, fine. He’s strong, powerful. When I’m near him I feel at home.”
“She’s ethereal, otherworldly-I know she’s always focused on something greater than herself, and I envy that loss of attention.”
Lareli stared at David, hoping, wondering...he’d always taken issue with her religious leanings, and he had never quite trusted their friend Pelerine’s attachment to their God. If he now found that an attractive trait.... David was staring at her. “Oh, um...he’s an amazing track-fighter, I mean.”
“Tracker and fighter? You have to be careful of men like that-most of them have no ability to deal with people.” David grinned. “Take me, for example. Would you want to date me?”
It was, all of a sudden, too much. Lareli winced, and David lost his smile. “You would, wouldn’t you?” She nodded, and David turned his head away, looking towards the barely-crescent moon. “Damn.”
“I’m sorry, David, you know I am. I didn’t mean-“
“I know...and I’m the sorry one. Lar, you’re wonderful and intelligent and pretty...but I’m in love with someone else.”
“Do you think she’s your mate?” The certainty in David’s voice precluded any other option, but Lareli had to ask. She had to be sure she had no hope.
“I think so.” That was all he said, but the sadness underlying it mirrored Lareli’s own.
“Why is that a bad thing?”
“Because she’s human.”
“So? Since when has that ever bothered any of us?”
“Since humans can change their minds.” David looked up at her. “The mating bond is our curse, if we don’t mate with another werewolf. Wolves mate for life, but a werewolf knows that a wolf can never truly feel the same emotions behind the mating. But at least they know that they’ll never lose their mate. You know-you’ve lived through it! The guy who wanted you to sleep with him-“
“Who turned out to be married, I know. But is your love truly so fickle? Can you not win her somehow?”
“She...already has given her heart away, to one I can’t compete with.”
“As I can’t compete with her.”
“I wish you could.” At times like these, I wish I were human. “Some people say that the transformation is the curse of the werewolf, but it isn’t. It’s the mating bond.”
“Greatest curse and greatest blessing, I’ve heard them say.”
“It is.” David finally looked back at her. “My father could have been the alpha of our pack with no contest, but his wife-my mother-was lame from childhood. She was the pack priestess, but couldn’t have maintained a position as alpha, since she could barely hunt.”
Lareli felt the darkness swirling in David’s head, and leaned back into him, stroking his hair. He’d never spoken much of his family, nor had he indicated that his mother was devout. He was an atheist, the only atheist werewolf in the world from what she’d seen. Suddenly Lareli wished for Pelerine’s healing power, wished to earn David’s love by healing his broken heart. But her powers were more destructive, and she listened instead.
“Father claimed a beta position in the pack very young, and maintained it for the rest of his life. Since mother was a priestess, she could wield enough influence to support his position, even though she could not claim it herself. He sacrificed his power for her love. I don’t think he ever regretted it.” David leaned into Lareli’s head-patting, and was silent for a moment. Then, abruptly, “She was a partial-shifter too, you know. I got that from her.”
Lareli wondered why David was so willing to speak now, and she watched the pain in his heart grow with each word. “Shh...David, it’s OK. You don’t need to tell me any more if you don’t want.”
The torches from the church were being lit as they watched. David finally broke the silence. “You should go down to services. Rene will be disappointed if we both miss.”
“You aren’t coming? Even to please Pelerine?”
“I-can’t. Not tonight.”
Lareli squinted through the faint moonlight and torchlight to see his face. “It’s Rene, then? You love Pelerine?”
“You see why it’s hopeless. I can’t compete with a god.”
And I can’t compete with a beautiful warrior-priestess. What are we going to do, David?
I don’t know. I...I can’t take too much longer, being so close to her and unable to do anything about it. You understand.
I do. Perhaps...Lareli hated to say it, hated to give up one of the two people she’d relied on for the last eight years, but she had to do it. Perhaps you should go away for a time. Give yourself-and me-time to deal with our feelings.
I can’t leave-
The fighters can train without you for a while, I can spellcast without you sometimes...though I wish I didn’t have to, I think this is the only way.
I...fine, then. Fine. You’re right, I’ll go. Ask Rene if there’s something I can do which requires a lot of travel.
The next morning....
“Are you certain you wish to go, David? I could send someone else in your place.” Pelerine du Boita, eighteen-year-old de facto commander-in-chief of the Crusade against the Demon Invasion, etc., etc., and whom I had known since she was thirteen and she had decided that Lareli and I were her promised mentors, had changed a lot in the last five years, but still relied on Lar and I a lot. That was part of the reason I didn’t want to leave. I was afraid she’d need me and I wouldn’t be there, even more afraid that she wouldn’t need me. But...every day I stayed here I’d be shoving the knife into Lar’s heart that Rine drove into mine whenever I saw her.
“I’ve been in this for eight years without a vacation. As long as you and Lar promise not to get yourselves nearly killed for once....”
Rine smiled, and my heart shifted to triple-time. “I think we can manage that. I’ll keep an eye on Lareli for you.”
“Good. Oh, and do me a favor? If she falls in love with any of the stupid idiots around here, lock him up and send for me to deal with him.”
“They’re not all worthless, David. Give them a chance for once. She might find someone that even you can respect.”
“Without us arranging the match for her? I doubt it. She’s not so good with meeting nice guys. But let me know anyway, please?” I’ve grown used to the pain, but Lareli needs time to get over me. When she’s fallen for someone else it’ll be safe to come back. Knowing her, things will blow over and she’ll have another bad boyfriend in a month.
“That I can do. Good luck and blessings upon you, David. Come back safe.”
“I will, if you command it, my lady.” Lar likes the formalities, but Rine and I both find them stupid. So, with an overly-deep bow, I left the tent to the sound of her giggles.
Pelerine is a paladin and a divine champion, Lareli is a mage, and David's Lareli's familiar. They are currently in the midst of a war against the demons that's been building for a while. The world is based, in a lot of ways, on our world. Religion is more important there, though, in a D&D importance level. However, I haven't fleshed out all of the religious beliefs yet. There are a number of athiests, but David's atheism is weird because he has personal experience with deities and still refuses to worship them. There are reasons for this. Most of the overall story will be in David's first-person POV, but this starts with Lareli third-person. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them--there's a lot of backstory here that I haven't said.
“Wax, please.”
A lump of wax was placed in Lareli’s hand. She frowned at it. It was hard and cold. She needed soft wax.
“David, hand-no, light me a match.” Her familiar knew the ward-spell as well as she did by now. He should have remembered the components.
The smell of smoke hit her, first in her mind, then through her nose. “Thank you.” If she looked away now, everything would explode. She held out the wax. Nothing happened.
David, the wax! Now!
“What?” her familiar finally snapped to attention. “Oh, right....”
Lareli felt the wax soften in her hand while she moved the silver dust in place with her mind. When the wax was soft enough, she took it back, raised it over her head, and threw it down. “Ara si-DAF!”
As the wax hit the ground, she felt the spell magic fade into the earth, turning the encampment into a field of enchantments. There was nothing that felt better than a well-cast spell. She heard David sigh behind her.
“Feeling better, now?” She turned to her familiar. David was, like all of his kind, wiry, pure, compact muscle. She had realized lately that this made him rather pleasant to look at, or perhaps it was his dark brown hair and yellow eyes. Then again, it could be the way he moved, like he was dancing and fighting and hunting prey at the same time. He never let his guard down, which had saved their lives more often than any debt could repay.
And now he was distressed, for a reason that he was trying hard to conceal. His mind was less perfect than his body, full of still-unhealed sorrow and anger at the world. She never pried too deeply, but of late he had shown more and more an emotion she had never seen in his mind, though she was sure he saw it often in hers.
“So, who is she?”
“She? She who? Oh, you mean Danielle? She’s Raoul’s mate, I was teaching her that trick I learned the time we went looking for the bones of the Magus-“
“And found an entire army of demons, yes, I remember. That’s not what I meant-at least, I hope it isn’t. Who’s the girl you were daydreaming about so intently you forgot the ingredients of the daf-ward?”
“I don’t...I’d rather not...” David stopped and looked up at her. “I’ll tell you about her if you tell me about whoever it is that keeps you coming to fighter practice every day.”
Lareli tried to keep her thoughts of “anything but that” inside her own head. Normally, as soon as David realized she was dating someone new, he would stalk them, learn their life’s history, and then hunted them down when they inevitably, as David put it, “ripped out your heart and smashed it into pieces. Just like your parents.” Lareli couldn’t even keep a boyfriend long enough to worry about how to explain to them about David, and she’d often wondered about the lengths to which David went to protect her from them. This time, however, things were far more complicated. This time, Lareli’s crush was a bit more difficult...especially if David had fallen for someone. She allowed herself a bit of hope, before reflecting, once again, that no nice guy liked her.
“Sure they do. They’re just scared off by seeing you with losers.”
“No, they’re scared off by you. And why did you feel the need to read my thoughts?”
David shook his head. “Every time you contemplate a relationship failure, you do that funny thing with your nose and then I hear you screaming that you don’t deserve a good guy or that you disappoint everyone.” David reached out, his strong arms pulling her tight against him. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again-you’re good enough for them. You’re better than them, and better than your parents, whatever they thought about you.”
Lareli leaned into his chest, and felt within his mind as his wolf-side took over. The wolf-mind was calmer, more stable, and its presence made her feel at home like no one and nothing ever had. “All right.”
“All right what?”
“I’ll tell you about this guy, if you tell me about the girl. Fair’s fair. I give you a tidbit, you give me a tidbit.”
“All right...but individual’s choice, then.”
“That’s not fair-you’ll be able to find out whoever it is readily, but I can’t.”
David sighed again, releasing her. “Trust me, you will know far too easily who I-who I’ve been thinking about. She’s...simply amazing. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve seen.”
That was a promising start, although a bit obvious. “Beautiful how?”
“Nope. Not in the agreement. Your turn now.”
“All right, fine. He’s strong, powerful. When I’m near him I feel at home.”
“She’s ethereal, otherworldly-I know she’s always focused on something greater than herself, and I envy that loss of attention.”
Lareli stared at David, hoping, wondering...he’d always taken issue with her religious leanings, and he had never quite trusted their friend Pelerine’s attachment to their God. If he now found that an attractive trait.... David was staring at her. “Oh, um...he’s an amazing track-fighter, I mean.”
“Tracker and fighter? You have to be careful of men like that-most of them have no ability to deal with people.” David grinned. “Take me, for example. Would you want to date me?”
It was, all of a sudden, too much. Lareli winced, and David lost his smile. “You would, wouldn’t you?” She nodded, and David turned his head away, looking towards the barely-crescent moon. “Damn.”
“I’m sorry, David, you know I am. I didn’t mean-“
“I know...and I’m the sorry one. Lar, you’re wonderful and intelligent and pretty...but I’m in love with someone else.”
“Do you think she’s your mate?” The certainty in David’s voice precluded any other option, but Lareli had to ask. She had to be sure she had no hope.
“I think so.” That was all he said, but the sadness underlying it mirrored Lareli’s own.
“Why is that a bad thing?”
“Because she’s human.”
“So? Since when has that ever bothered any of us?”
“Since humans can change their minds.” David looked up at her. “The mating bond is our curse, if we don’t mate with another werewolf. Wolves mate for life, but a werewolf knows that a wolf can never truly feel the same emotions behind the mating. But at least they know that they’ll never lose their mate. You know-you’ve lived through it! The guy who wanted you to sleep with him-“
“Who turned out to be married, I know. But is your love truly so fickle? Can you not win her somehow?”
“She...already has given her heart away, to one I can’t compete with.”
“As I can’t compete with her.”
“I wish you could.” At times like these, I wish I were human. “Some people say that the transformation is the curse of the werewolf, but it isn’t. It’s the mating bond.”
“Greatest curse and greatest blessing, I’ve heard them say.”
“It is.” David finally looked back at her. “My father could have been the alpha of our pack with no contest, but his wife-my mother-was lame from childhood. She was the pack priestess, but couldn’t have maintained a position as alpha, since she could barely hunt.”
Lareli felt the darkness swirling in David’s head, and leaned back into him, stroking his hair. He’d never spoken much of his family, nor had he indicated that his mother was devout. He was an atheist, the only atheist werewolf in the world from what she’d seen. Suddenly Lareli wished for Pelerine’s healing power, wished to earn David’s love by healing his broken heart. But her powers were more destructive, and she listened instead.
“Father claimed a beta position in the pack very young, and maintained it for the rest of his life. Since mother was a priestess, she could wield enough influence to support his position, even though she could not claim it herself. He sacrificed his power for her love. I don’t think he ever regretted it.” David leaned into Lareli’s head-patting, and was silent for a moment. Then, abruptly, “She was a partial-shifter too, you know. I got that from her.”
Lareli wondered why David was so willing to speak now, and she watched the pain in his heart grow with each word. “Shh...David, it’s OK. You don’t need to tell me any more if you don’t want.”
The torches from the church were being lit as they watched. David finally broke the silence. “You should go down to services. Rene will be disappointed if we both miss.”
“You aren’t coming? Even to please Pelerine?”
“I-can’t. Not tonight.”
Lareli squinted through the faint moonlight and torchlight to see his face. “It’s Rene, then? You love Pelerine?”
“You see why it’s hopeless. I can’t compete with a god.”
And I can’t compete with a beautiful warrior-priestess. What are we going to do, David?
I don’t know. I...I can’t take too much longer, being so close to her and unable to do anything about it. You understand.
I do. Perhaps...Lareli hated to say it, hated to give up one of the two people she’d relied on for the last eight years, but she had to do it. Perhaps you should go away for a time. Give yourself-and me-time to deal with our feelings.
I can’t leave-
The fighters can train without you for a while, I can spellcast without you sometimes...though I wish I didn’t have to, I think this is the only way.
I...fine, then. Fine. You’re right, I’ll go. Ask Rene if there’s something I can do which requires a lot of travel.
The next morning....
“Are you certain you wish to go, David? I could send someone else in your place.” Pelerine du Boita, eighteen-year-old de facto commander-in-chief of the Crusade against the Demon Invasion, etc., etc., and whom I had known since she was thirteen and she had decided that Lareli and I were her promised mentors, had changed a lot in the last five years, but still relied on Lar and I a lot. That was part of the reason I didn’t want to leave. I was afraid she’d need me and I wouldn’t be there, even more afraid that she wouldn’t need me. But...every day I stayed here I’d be shoving the knife into Lar’s heart that Rine drove into mine whenever I saw her.
“I’ve been in this for eight years without a vacation. As long as you and Lar promise not to get yourselves nearly killed for once....”
Rine smiled, and my heart shifted to triple-time. “I think we can manage that. I’ll keep an eye on Lareli for you.”
“Good. Oh, and do me a favor? If she falls in love with any of the stupid idiots around here, lock him up and send for me to deal with him.”
“They’re not all worthless, David. Give them a chance for once. She might find someone that even you can respect.”
“Without us arranging the match for her? I doubt it. She’s not so good with meeting nice guys. But let me know anyway, please?” I’ve grown used to the pain, but Lareli needs time to get over me. When she’s fallen for someone else it’ll be safe to come back. Knowing her, things will blow over and she’ll have another bad boyfriend in a month.
“That I can do. Good luck and blessings upon you, David. Come back safe.”
“I will, if you command it, my lady.” Lar likes the formalities, but Rine and I both find them stupid. So, with an overly-deep bow, I left the tent to the sound of her giggles.