Savage Flame

Chapter 4

It had been almost three weeks since the wedding, and the kingdom was back in its usual flow. Njal and Amund, however, never ceased their dramatic whining about the princesses from Milan and Cairo. Vidar and Baard stuffed wax in their ears and continued on with their training to block them out.

Leoric was strangely quiet within himself. Finally at peace. But, he hadn't seen his bride since the wedding, and the need to see her was gnawing at him. The counsel had emphasized consummating the marriage immediately after the wedding, but an attack on the Northern region of the country prevented the necessity. The newly crowned Queen remained in the castle, tutors and ladies-in-waiting teaching the foreigner their customs including their religion, fashion, and monarch duties. Aelfraed had informed him, though, that the Queen was spending a lot of time with his war general, along with The Four knights except for Sir Baard and Sir Njal, who had strange distrusts for the Queen. "There's something about her eyes, Leoric." Njal had commented one day when they were sparring in the ring. "It's unsettling." Baard had agreed.

"Indeed, Sire. Her keen and insightful gaze is strategic, as if calculating an enemy." Leoric, although stubborn about his own opinion about his Queen, listened to his knights and observed the woman from afar, seeing if their accusations were correct.

One morning, while entering the stables after a ride to see the sunrise alone, he caught sight of her. His heart leaped in his throat at her bare arms and back, save for a leather chest band. Her feet were bare, and her legs were clad in similar leather trousers. It was her hair that struck him: it was a rich, auburn-brown hue, blazing almost like mountain fire in the heat of the sunlit training ring. A straw dummy was supported by a wooden mast in the center of the dirt circle, and the woman was hacking into the figure with two blades as long as her forearm with effortless proficiency. What stunned him the most was the contour of her muscles. The anatomy of her body was as chiseled as marble architecture from Rome, and glistening with sweat. But she never faltered. Her mark with the blades was deadly, and soon, the dummy and mast were hacked to pieces on the dirt.

The stable boy approached the king and greeted him with a bow. "Your Majesty." Leoric dismounted and gave the leather reins to the lad, eyes still trained on the Queen's rising and falling shoulders as she panted and wiped sweat from her brow. There was a distinct pull towards the woman, a tugging at his heart that prompted him to enter the space surrounding the fighting ring. His Queen's body stilled and she turned towards him almost mechanically, her eyes catching in the rays of the sun.

He gasped, his heart skipping a beat. He'd been mistaken. Her eyes had not been hazel, but an odd emerald green, the spirit inside raw and untamed. "Beautiful," he muttered, not completely aware that he'd spoken aloud.

"My Lord?" Her voice was low and rough, the female mirror of Vidar strangely enough. He cleared his throat to center himself. Yet, just as he was about to answer, Aelfraed found him and ushered him away to discuss more important matters.

Vidar found his king in a deep pondering, eyes burning a hole into his desk whilst his mind drifted into unknown universes. The knight was then startled as Leoric shot up from his chair and declared into the air, "A gift! I will give her gifts!" The man whirled to his friend beside him and shook his shoulders. "But what should I give her?" Baard appeared in the library, reading from a thin book.

"Flowers, Sire?" Njal strolled in as if he was listening to the conversation the entire time.

"Exotic dresses? To accentuate her-" Vidar slapped his hand over Njal's mouth and rolled his eyes. The Viking wiggled his eyebrows and Vidar jerked back, face contorted with disgust as he wiped his hand on his trousers.

"Did you just lick me?!"

"What about jewelry?" Amund entered the library from behind the curtain leading to the servant's passage. "Surely she's never seen what intricacies our kingdom has access to." This was true. As the kingdom was located in the Valley of Mount Dalsnibba, caves were common. The deeper into the earth they mined, the more priceless stones they discovered. It was one of their most famous trading goods within the Northern European hemisphere, stamping their existence permanently in the world of currency and business.

"Yes." Leoric turned to Amund with a smile.

"Our access to the sea from the Fjord also rewards us with mother-of-pearl," Baard mentioned. "Send her a necklace, Sire."

"Your Majesty." Leoric had been patiently awaiting his Queen's response to the gift, but was awoken by a servant from his hunched position with his head on his desk.

"Yes?" The servant looked incredibly nervous as he placed a finely carved box on the wooden surface.

"She has sent it back, Your Majesty." Leoric wasn't sure he'd heard the servant correctly.

"Pardon?" The servant gulped.

"She dismissed it."

"Oh," he muttered, defeated. But then the king smiled. "Then, I'll send her something else!"

Njal and Amund watched from the cracked doorway their king's reaction to the dismissed gifts. This was now the fourth time the Queen had rejected the sweet notions. By now, their suggestions were purely comical, as Leoric was desperate to win his Queen's affections. Baard shook his head disapprovingly at them and entered the room to comfort his king. The knights snickered at their friend's burnt red face of frustration as another gift was sent back.