“Yes of course, but…”
“So only if there is a problem they can’t handle, would you or any other Lord be involved because they trust who they have chosen.”
“Yes, but that is not the way here.”
“I know, Bertos probably did decide what rooms were cleaned when but that was because he trusted no one. That’s why this House fell apart at his death. Your manno’s wouldn’t.”
“No, Ull would become Lord as he has been trained to do his entire life and if he couldn’t Vali would.”
“They have both been trained to be a Lord? Why both?”
“In case one met the Goddess before they became Lord or were able to have offspring.”
“But not you.”
“No, I trained to be a Warrior.” Ynyr let out a heavy sigh, this was getting them nowhere. “It is late Abby. Let us rest. I will just have to try and work harder.” It was what he had done in the past.
Abby lets him pull her back down to his chest, thinking. There was no way Ynyr could work any harder than he already was. It was just too much for one male to do when he hadn’t been trained for it. Abby felt her anger start to grow at Wray, he had thrust Ynyr into a position he was ill equipped to handle without the proper support. Abby had the greatest faith that Ynyr was meant to be a Lord, a great Lord, too many things had been discovered for him not to be. The bed. Varick’s mark. The doors. The kril. Ynyr had even met the God and Goddess themselves. Yes Ynyr was destined to be a great Lord, he just needed some help… someone who had been trained… but who…
“Ynyr?”
“Hmm…” he replied half asleep.
“Contact Ull.”
“Ull?” His eyes shot open. “What are you talking about Abby?”
“Ull has the skills you need. He is not currently a Lord and he is your brother. He can help you.”
“He would see it as an admission that I am not worthy of being a Lord.”
“He would be wrong. If the Emperor were to send you into battle, but gave you nothing to fight with and yet you fought anyway how can you be unworthy Ynyr?”
“I will need to think about it Abby. Ull and my parents are still on the Hunter, it will be another day before they reach Betelgeuse. And there are other things to consider.”
“Alright.” Abby knew Ynyr was talking about Ull’s anger that she had chosen him. Well, he would just have to get over it. Ull was going to help Ynyr even if Abby had to sic his mother on him.
Chapter Twenty-One
“My Lord.” Paganus rose from the chair he had been waiting in as Ynyr crossed towards the Wing’s entrance doors. He had known his Lord would be leaving before first meal and wanted to speak with him privately.
“Paganus. What are you doing here so early?”
“I needed to speak with you about something that happened yesterday my Lord.”
“Can we speak as we walk?”
“I would prefer not to my Lord.”
Ynyr raised an eyebrow at that. “Alright Paganus. Proceed.”
“Yesterday I ordered Woodworker Cairbre to appear so he could inspect the bed frame my Lady was so interested in.”
“Abby told me this Paganus. She also told me how she made him her Master Woodworker tasking him to build new furnishings for our Wing and that he was the one that knew about the original doors. It is fine.” Ynyr turned to leave.
“Did she tell you that he was allowed entrance into this Wing without acknowledgement or being searched?”
That had Ynyr spinning around growling out “What?!!”
“He entered with the trainees carrying the new mattress. Neither Warrior Menawa nor Warrior Oscosh questioned his presence with them or searched him before he was granted entrance. I also believe from Warrior Navon and Warrior Morio’s reaction that they were never informed he remained behind when they took their posts.”
Ynyr felt his anger grow. A male was allowed to get close to his Abby and no one bothered to search him? She could have been attacked… abused… and no one would have come to her aid until it was too late.
“Thank you for bring this to my attention Paganus.” He gritted out through clenched teeth. “I will take care of it.”
“Yes, my Lord.” Paganus bow was received by Ynyr’s back.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Ynyr stormed into his command office still fuming over what Paganus had told him. That two of the Emperor’s Special Warriors had been so careless with Abby’s safety enraged him. Moving to his desk, he jabbed a button on his comm.
“Warriors Menawa, Oscosh, Navon and Morio report to the command center immediately!” Ynyr’s last word echoed through the halls of the House. Sitting back Ynyr rested his elbows on the arms of his chair and waited.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
All four warriors were entering Ynyr’s command center within minutes, followed by Captains Dai and Korin, who had come to see what the problem was.
“Lord Ynyr?” Dai started, but the look in Ynyr’s eye silenced him. Never had he seen Ynyr so enraged.
“Warriors Menawa and Oscosh you were posted at the door of my Wing yesterday were you not?”
“Yes, Lord Ynyr.” They both responded.
“Until Warriors Navon and Morio relieved us.” Manawa added on.
“Both of you were on duty when the trainees arrived.” Ynyr’s eyes pinned them.
“Yes, Lord Ynyr.” Oscosh informed him.
“How many?”
“My Lord?”
“How many trainees did you allow to enter the Wing where my Lady was?”
“Five Lord Ynyr.” Oscosh immediately responded.
“And you searched them. Verified they were trainees.”
The two males glanced at each other for a moment before answering before Menawa answered. “No, Lord Ynyr. They were obviously trainees.”
“You assumed that for what reason?”
“They were carrying a mattress.” Menawa told him.
“So you did not search them.”
“No, they were struggling with the mattress. We just opened the doors.” Oscosh said.
“I see.” Ynyr’s eyes traveled between the two. “So when did they leave?”
“Right before the training practice began.” Oscosh informed him. “They were running so they wouldn’t be late.”
“How many?” Ynyr asked quietly.
“Lord Ynyr?” Oscosh asked, his eyes widening at the question.
“How many trainees left the wing?” The quiet calmness in Ynyr’s voice in no way hid the deadliness of it. The hair at the back of Dai’s neck began to rise. Something was definitely wrong.
“All of them Lord Ynyr.” Menawa informed him.
“And you informed my Lady’s Guards, Warriors Navon and Warrior Morio who was inside the Wing with my Lady when they arrived.”
“Of course.” Menawa said arrogantly.
Ynyr stared at Menawa for a moment before looking to Navon and Morio. “Warrior Navon?”
“Warrior Menawa did inform us that Master Paganus was in the Wing with Lady Abby while she took her midday meal, my Lord.” Navon saw Menawa’s mouth jerk in satisfaction at his reply.
“I see. Continue.”
“My Lord,” Navon knew Menawa would be losing that smirk. “It was nearly an hour later, after Master Mare arrived and tried to force his way into the Wing that we discovered there was another male in the Wing with Lady Abby and Master Paganus.”
“What!” Menawa shouted spinning to look at Navon in shock. “You lie!”
Navon refused to take the insult from the other male, Emperor’s Special or not. Turning, he bumped his chest against the other male. “A male named Cairbre was in the Wing with my Lady and you never informed me about it!”
“Warrior Navon you will stand down.” Dai demanded knowing Menawa was the hot headed one of his men.
“With all due respect, Captain Dai,” Navon’s eyes flashed to the Captain. “I am a member of Lord Ynyr’s House and I take my orders from him. Not you.”
br /> “You dare!” Menawa growled, his hand going to his sword.
“Menawa! Stand down!” Dai shouted at the same time Ynyr demanded the same thing from Navon. Both males instantly took a step away from each other.
“Warrior Morio.” Ynyr looked to the silent warrior.
“My Lord?”
“Was there a male you were not informed of in my Wing?”
“Yes, my Lord. Lady Abby later introduced him as Cairbre, her Master Woodworker.”
Korin’s eyebrow raised, he knew Mare was the Master Woodworker, but he remained silent.
Ynyr turned hard eyes to Dai’s Warriors “You challenge what two of my Lady’s Guard discovered as they fulfilled the duty assigned to them? A duty you failed to do?”
“We are members of the Emperor’s Special Guard.” Oscosh bit out through clenched teeth. “We came here to serve Captain Dai, not to guard the female of a third…”
“Warrior Oscosh! You will be silent!” Dai command moving to stand eye to eye with the other male, his eye as hard as flint, rage rolling off him. Never had he believed one of his males would speak like this not only to a Lord but about a female!
“Let him finish Captain.” Ynyr ordered still sitting behind his desk. He refused to let Oscosh see how his words affected him. “Female of a what?”
Oscosh had paled before the obvious rage of his Captain and the contained rage of Ynyr. He knew he should never have spoken, but his disbelief in who the Emperor had chosen as Lord of the House had gotten the better of him. Dai deserved the position.
“I apologize, Lord Ynyr I should not have spoken my words were…”
“Your truth.” Ynyr quietly finished. “You believe the Emperor was mistaken in choosing me as Lord. Tell me something Oscosh, who was the male that bested you in hand to hand?”
Korin, Navon and Morio’s heads turned to Oscosh curious to hear his answer.
“You, Lord Ynyr.” Oscosh choked out, his blue skin darkening.
“And who was the male that bested you with the sword.”
“You, Lord Ynyr.” He forced out again.
“And who was the male that bested you in every test given?”
“You, Lord Ynyr.” Oscosh’s face was nearly purple by this time.
“That is correct. Me! A third male. One you look down on not because I am an unfit or unworthy male but because of a chance of birth.” As Ynyr said it, he finally let the weight of it that he had carried his entire life fall away. His Abby was right, a male’s chance of birth in no way reflected on his fitness.
“So we both know as a Lord, I have the right to challenge you and that I would defeat you for insulting me.”
“Yes.” Oscosh found he had to lock his knees to keep them from trembling.
“I will not do that though.” Every eye in the room flew unbelievingly to Ynyr, none more so than Oscosh. “For what you think of me matters not. You are allowed to think whatever you want.”
Oscosh had just begun to relax when Ynyr continued.
“But for the dereliction of your duty in guarding my Lady both you and Menawa will be returned to Torino.”
“What!” Both males shouted.
“I will have no male in my House that believes the protection of anyone’s female to be beneath them.”
“But… we will be returning in disgrace.” Menawa whispered.
“Others are allowed to think whatever they wish Menawa.” Ynyr told them. “You will be out of my House within the hour. Captain Korin.” Ynyr looked to him.
“I will see to it my Lord.” Korin turned steely eyes to Oscosh and Menawa. “Males,” he said, refusing to use their titles as he gestured to the door, indicating they should leave.
“Captain Dai!” Oscosh turned pleading eyes to his Captain after all he had just been defending him. Dai couldn’t allow him to be punished for that! He would stop Ynyr from sending him away in disgrace.
“I will notify Torino of your return. It will be up to the Emperor to decide if you are to remain a member of his Special Guard.”
Both males paled at Dai’s words. The thought of the Emperor knowing what was said here today, to a Lord that he personally chose… turning they followed Korin out of the command center and knew their lives as they had known them were over.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Navon and Morio.”
“Yes, my Lord!” The two Warriors quickly responded.
“As of right now you will no longer guard my Lady together. I want each of you to go and choose another male that you not only trust to stand with you but trust to protect my female. The four of you will split the time needed to protect my Lady until Elite Guards are decided on. As of this moment you are both Captains in my House.”
“Yes, my Lord!” They said and crossing an arm across their chest they bowed and left.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Dai stared at Ynyr silently for several minutes in the now empty room. He was a male of over forty years. He had trained hundreds of males, had led them into battle had watched most of them meet the Goddess. Yet in all those years, with all those males, Ynyr was the one that had stood out the most, had impressed him the most.
Dai hadn’t wanted to take him on, had been biased against him, for he should have been another male’s offspring. But even as a third male he was still a Lord’s male and his training scores had been more than above average. That had worked against Ynyr too, for Dai had believed his scores had been over inflated. It was one of the reasons Dai had been so hard on him when he first arrived in Tornio. Ynyr had quickly proven he had earned every score reported and Dai had hoped to entice him into not returning to Betelgeuse, but instead staying to become a Warrior in the Emperor’s Special Guard.
Instead, he was now a powerful Lord, a position Dai doubted he was prepared for. But from what he had just seen… the control Ynyr had just demonstrated… Dai would not have handled it that way. He would have beat Menawa and especially Oscosh into the ground, he was a Warrior after all. Ynyr had handled it as a Lord… after just three days of being one and with no training... how great would this House become with him as Lord?
“Lord Ynyr, may I speak?” Dai moved to stand in front of Ynyr’s desk. While he had been lost in his thought Ynyr had sat back down.
“Yes, Captain?” Ynyr asked, leaning back into his chair.
“I feel I need to apologize for what my males have done and said.”
“Did they do it under your orders Captain Dai?”
“NO!”
“Then you owe me nothing.” Ynyr told him dismissively.
“They are my males. Under my command. Everything they say, think, and do is ultimately my responsibility. You need to know that never once did the Emperor suggest that I would be made the Lord of this House. He ordered me to come here. I came.”
“Of course you did. You are the Captain of the Emperor’s Special Guard. A legend among the Warriors. All want to serve under you. All want to be like you.”
Dai felt his skin flush at Ynyr’s words. “Be that as it may but what they said is still my fault. It was joked about on the flight here that the Emperor had to name a superior Warrior as the Lord of this House to fix what Bertos had broken and that they would all be the first to serve him. I should have quelled the gossip as I knew they were talking about me, but I did not.”
“I understand, Captain Dai.”
“I believe he did Lord Ynyr.”
“Did what?”
“Name a superior warrior.”
“What?!!” Ynyr couldn’t hide his shock.
“You have always been an exceptional Warrior Lord Ynyr. The most talented I have ever had the honor of training. I will admit that I had my doubts when the Emperor first informed me of his decision. It shames me to admit that I had started to think about what the others were joking about.”
“You would have made an exceptional Lord, Captain Dai.”
“No. I would not have. I know who I am and it is not a Lord. I am a Warrior. A lead
er of Warriors. A Lord must be more than that. He must be able to lead more than Warriors. He must be able to deal with and solve problems that no Warrior would ever consider. I am not able to do that. That was more than proven to me in this room. I would have challenged and ended Oscosh for his insult. I would have ended Menawa for having been so careless in protecting my female. You did neither.”
“It would have caused strife within your ranks Captain, dividing an already fractured House.”
“Yes, but I would not have realized that until after it was over and done with. You instinctively knew it. It is something only a true Lord would recognize.”
“I… thank you Captain Dai that means a great deal to me coming from you, a male I have always greatly admired.”
“I am just speaking truth Lord Ynyr. I will do everything within my power to help you create a House so strong that every male presented in the future will wish he could have served under you.”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Abby tilted her head slightly to the left, then taking a step back, tipped it to the right. Did she like that statue there? Was it too much? Too little? Did the light hit it right? Goddess she wished Lisa was here. She would know exactly what to do.
“I think it looks amazing there.” Paganus told her. He had been watching her move this glass statue several times in the last few minutes. “The morning light passing through it is amazing.”
“You think so?” Abby turned her smile brighter than the sun.
“Yes, my Lady that is a statue of the Lower Goddess. She is said to represent light and warmth.”
“What was her name?”
“Name my Lady?”
“I’ve noticed how you always say ‘the Goddess’ and now you say ‘Lower Goddess’ but the lower God Daco, he has a name.”
“I… I do not know for sure my Lady. It is just the way it is.”
“Oh, turning back, she looked again at the statue.” It really wasn’t shaped like a human form it was more an oblique shape, but within it, as the light hit it you saw golden shapes appear that could be human. “Why do you speak of her like you are not sure what she represents.”