Gods and Guardians

Chapter 10: The Missoline

The cue sounded twice. The sun's golden rays slanted through the main window. The curtains ran the full length of the wall; the bottom was lined with gold tassels. Kiyanna asked if she should draw the curtains.

'No, thank you.'

'Nina asked after you at the gathering this morning.'

Nimrod kept a vacant face. 'What did you tell her?'

'I said you were a bit out of sorts—'

'Come on? Why didn't you just tell her I went to bed late or—?'

Kiyanna snorted childishly. 'How long will you keep treating her like this?'

Nimrod didn't answer. He rubbed the ointment on his chest dulling its brightness, checking the pain. Kiyanna sank beside him on the cotton-stuffed bed.

'What's with the two of you anyway?' she pressed.

Nimrod glared at her. 'Nothing.'

'I'm not sure I understand.'

'I just don't feel like seeing her. I have a lot on my mind.'

'Hum?'

The door opened and Dasirus walked in with Haneya.

'Nimrod, oh gosh, you look so sick,' Dasirus said in an almost motherly tone. He sat on the opposite side of Kiyanna. 'Look at your eyes, ;they look starved.'

'Father, I'm fine,' Nimrod said slightly upset.

'My lord, you worry too much,' Haneya said. 'Nimrod, how's your chest? How is the pain?'

'Haneya, my son looks like this,' he gesticulated at Nimrod, 'after an accident and I worry too much? Can't you see?'

Dasirus alone was seeing something that Kiyanna and Haneya were not.

'Has Pratous been here yet?' Dasirus asked, eyes on Kiyanna. Pratous was the royal physician.

'Yes,' Nimrod replied instead. 'He said the pain was only from impact. No internal injuries, no broken ribs.'

'But why did you go riding in the woods?' Dasirus asked. 'I've told you to get used to riding Saunda before you think of using her on adventures. I don't know why you love doing dangerous things. Horses are not like men; they take time to train.'

'Didn't you say that Islander horses are only tamed by adventure?'

Dasirus remembered saying that. But those were words spoken to inspire young boys.

'Well... it's not quite the same as the adventures you and Damian embark on...'

'Fa-ther?' Kiyanna chided. 'You worry too much. Nimrod is not a child. You cosset him as if —'

'Nimrod is my child. That includes you, Massey and Breth. No matter how old you all are.'

But he treats none of them like Nimrod.

'My Lord, Dasirus—'

'Am I wrong? Haneya, tell me.'

'You worry about Nimrod too much,' Haneya said. 'Give him a little space. Come on?'

'Well,' Dasirus sighed, retiringly, 'thanks to the Great Lord, something bad did not happen, like Saunda stepping on you...' His voice took on authority suddenly. 'But I might have to return Saunda. I can't have you riding a wild horse.'

'No. It was my fault.' Nimrod didn't want to lose her. Much less when she was innocent. 'It was a mistake,' he explained, 'It was I who... who...'

'It's all right, then,' his father said. 'I was worried that Saunda could have gone wild. I'll call on the animal physician to have a look at her. It may have contracted some of those diseases that make animals insane. You know, like the horse that Xexa killed.'