Natasha Luepke - Blood Innocence

Now it was Leonida's turn to sink into an unnatural silence. After the barest of explanations as to where they were going and why, she had lagged behind Fenris on the road, her distraction evident in the fact that her skirt and hair kept catching on low branches and high thorns.
After Fenris had pulled her loose for the tenth time in hour, he gritted his teeth and leveled with her. "Vixen, what is it? Tell me again where we're going, tell me again the reason why."
Leonida readjusted her pack.
"Aw, c'mon," he said softly, using the same tone he had when they'd first met, coaxing and soothing. "You woke up in the middle of the night in tears. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
Leonida turned her head away, running a hand through her disheveled hair. "Where to begin?"
"You know all about my family. I can handle anything you've got."
"Okay: Fenris, long ago, your aunt Virginia met Snow White, who was her fairy godmother of sorts. Snow White told Virginia that one day she-Virginia, that is-would also be an advisor to lost girls. And ever since I arrived at your farm...months ago...She's been appearing to me, in dreams."
"My aunt, whom I've never met, has been appearing to you in dreams?"
"Yes. She told me...that creature was a manticore. And that it killed my mother."
"I didn't..."
"No."
Fenris shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Leonida shook her head. "That's not who you should be sorry for."

We were just children by the sea. We would sit on the beach, amid the rocks and fallen branches, repeating the tales the sailors told, watching the surf, watching the gulls. Oisin hated the gulls. He said they were too noisy. I found them friendly. Vati, my father, had taught me that if you were ever alone in the sea, and you saw a gull, you knew land was close by.
I remember...One night, we snuck out, Oisin and I. We stood at the back door, trying to decide whether to walk down to the beach or to our little hideout in the woods behind my house. I think...I think I heard a wolf howl, and I got scared. I wanted to go back in. I was probably twelve, and I had never been in the woods at night, not without Vati. Oisin put an arm around my shoulder.
"Look, Leo," he said pointing up, between the trees. The moon was beautiful and full that night. "Do you see the face?"
"Yes."
"Do you know whose it is?"
"No."
"That's Bil. The Moon was all alone up there, ignored by the Sun and stars. The Sun and stars had wolves to worry about, you know. The Moon saw two children, Bil and her brother Hiuki. They were drawing water for their father. And the moon stole them, lifted them right off the ground, in a black chariot drawn by the wolves and bats and owls, and other creatures of the Night. And the Moon thought Bil was so beautiful that he kept her forever, and loved her, and allowed all the heavens to admire her."
I gazed at the moon. "Oisin, where did you learn that?"
He shrugged. "One of the women in town."
Oisin knew a lot of stories and always knew the right one to tell. I never feared the night after that; if I grew scared, I'd look up to see Bil gazing down at me.

"A wolf howl?"
"Fenris, I was twelve! Growing up, there were a few things you knew to fear: sea monsters, bad storms, and wolves. Wolves were the hardest to avoid."
"Still afraid?"
"Fenris, there is a difference between you and your kin and the wolves that lived beyond my backdoor."

Names are important to me, which was why I asked Moon-Thorn the names of her parents. Names tell you who you are or who you are trying to escape.
I lived in the biggest house in the town of Zdravo. I lived with my father, Noicz, my mother the Lady Hlin Seafarer, and Vati's mother, my grandmother, Majka. We lived in the Sixth Kingdom under the wise Queen Skadi. When I was about ten, Oisin Donner came to live with us.
My mother was an advisor to the queen. All of the queen's advisors are female. Mother was usually at court, so I don't have many memories of her from when I was young. Whenever she'd visit home, she'd ask about my lessons, for the job is hereditary; I would one day take my mother's place. I should add, my mother's family is an old one, and the Seafarer family is next in line to the throne, after Queen Skadi's. Mother's best friend was the Lady Saba Donner. When Saba died, her daughter Niamh took over. At 16, Niamh was the youngest royal advisor. Niamh was too busy to take care of a younger brother, and their father had died many years before, so Oisin came to live with us.
I was smart, but hated my lessons. I much preferred being out in the sunshine. Oisin was the same way. We'd run away from our tutors and play on the beach or in the forest. We knew every inch of my mother's land. As I grew older, I realized I needed to learn something, so I consented to lessons. Oisin fell in love with words, and would spend hours with the newspapermen in town, learning how to set type. He would inquire about the town's history and gather stories from the women.
I don't know if you can fall in love at ten. But we adored each other, and there was never any discussion of splitting us up. Indeed, my mother encouraged us, for Oisin was not much beneath me on the social ladder. When I was fifteen, Mother and Niamh drew up the marriage documents: The Lady Leonida Seafarer to wed Oisin Donner as soon as they came of age. Eighteen, in my country. We would be lucky, marriage to someone we loved.

Leonida paused. She was back on that beach, drawing stick figures in the wet sand. She was listening to wolves howl and Oisin's voice telling her about the wolves that chase the sun.
"Vixen?"
She shook her head. "The crows. I should have known when Oisin told me about the crows."

I had finished my lessons for the day and had set out to find Oisin. He came running in, nearly knocking me over. "Leo, come quick, please."
I followed him out onto the beach, "What? What's wrong?"
"Those black birds..."
"Those are crows, that's all."
"Have you ever seen crows before? Here, with our gulls?"
"No--"
Oisin shook his head. "Crows are messengers, Leo. They fly around the world, spying."
"Oisin! That's silly."
He shook his head. "Leo, you're probably right."

Two days later the black ships were spotted. Marauders, pirates, renegade sailors come to destroy our existence. We thought, at first, they were honest traders, come to peddle their wares in our port. They set fire to the port.
There was chaos in the town. It fell to my family to lead the defense, since we had royal connections. I never expected the army, never expected government back-up. Our town was small, with not a lot to offer. My mother was at court, so there was no worry over her safety. At the same time, I kept waiting for word from my mother, even a letter saying, "Be careful. I love you."
Vati was wonderful when it came to arms and defense. He had taught me as soon as I was old enough to wield weapons. Swords, knives, staff; I could use them all. But Vati was old; he could not lead the attack. So, I gathered all the able bodied townspeople I could find, even if all they could handle was a fishing line. I told Oisin to stay home-he knew a little about swordplay, but he wasn't very good. He refused. He poured over every map he could find, marking what areas needed to be defended, and in what way. The boy who talked of fairy tales and town history now focused all of his attention on war.
The morning of the attack, the attack I would lead, we stood on the beach together, alone for the last time. The sea mists rolled in, hiding us from the black ships. We embraced and clung to one another.
"Oisin," I whispered, "tell me a story. Anything, even my grandmother's story about the Little Mermaid."
He took a deep breath. "Leo, I can't. I can't...remember anything."
I froze in his arms. "Oisin, please reconsider. You'll be safe if you--"
He looked at me, meeting me eyes. His eyes were soft and sincere, like a deer's. "Leo, I can't. I have to see you through this. I know what you're thinking. I'll be okay. We'll be okay."
And the mists began to clear.

Oisin was sure everything would be fine. And that morning, as men poured out of the black ships, I had to believe him; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to protect my town and my people. And midday, in the heat of battle, sweat and blood pouring down my brow and back, one of my advisors came to me.
"Captain Leonida," he said, "it's my sad duty to tell you..."
I don't remember what happened after that. I can't even be sure that man said Oisin's name. I don't know if my heart broke in two, or if my blood turned to ice, or if I stared numbly off into the distance. There was still a battle to fight, that would continue on the next day.

And when it was over, and the ships, what was left, sailed away, I changed into Oisin's second doublet and hosen, took his lute, and left. Vati tried to stop me, as did my grandmother, but I decided it would be easier to fly. Fly away, like a gull, adrift at sea. For if you see a gull in the middle of the ocean, without land nearby, it has come to die.

Fenris stopped and looked at Leonida. "Vixen, I--" She just stared back at him. "So, you're royalty?"
She smiled. "Yeah, I am. Now c'mon, we have to get a boat. We have a magical sword to find."
Leonida pressed on, but Fenris remained rooted. Magic sword?