Forced Bond

        "What?"
        The servant trembled. "A messenger from Xoralin is here, your Highness, and he has high demands."
        The Queen stared at him. After a moment of the uncomfortable gaze, she said, "Show him in." Then, calling to another servant, "Run, find my husband and tell him I have need of him in the Throne Room."
        Both servants ran from the room. The Queen touched the sword at her side. :What is this, Radiance?: she asked it.
        :I don’t know.:
        If Radiance didn’t know, then the Lady didn’t know. This could be serious.
        The first servant came back first, a big man in his wake. "Your Majesty, may I present Mister Midor Chaulk, Royal Ambassador of Xoralin."
        Irene frowned. He was Xoral, all right. Broad in the shoulders, thickly muscled, a heavy, curly beard covering his face. His brown hair was unkempt and filthy. The Queen wanted nothing to do with him.
        "Your Majesty," he smiled, and she noticed he was missing a few teeth. "I have a mes-sage from His Royal Highness, King Sarraan of Xoralin." From behind his vest he pulled a rolled piece of parchment and handed it to her.
        Irene unrolled it as the King stepped up beside her. "What is it?" he asked.
        "Look," she said, her frown deepening.

            To Their Majesties of AeaTr.
            This demand is being made by King Sarraan of Xoralin. We request an alliance by marriage of your first-born and my newborn son, Myall. If this request is not met, we shall assume that you are not an ally and therefore an enemy and will attack as an action of defense. Sincerely, King Sarraan

        :How does he know my first-born will be female?: Irene fumed.
        :It does not matter how he knows,: Radiance said gravely, :because she will be.:
        Surprise washed over her. :Are you certain?:
        :As certain as the Lady herself. She believes that their god, whom the Lady is not fond of, has given him that information.:
        Irene looked at her husband. His whole face had transformed into one of exhaustion. They both knew that a war now would devastate them. They had just finished the war with Giali, and they could not hope for more help from Qiar while they restocked their own re-sources. :What can we do?: she asked both him and the sword.
        Stormshadow gave no answer, but Radiance did. :The Lady will make sure things work out. What you can do is leave it to Her.:
        Irene did not like to be so helpless, and she felt through the Bond that neither did Storm-shadow. But Radiance was right. The Lady would make everything all right. She always had in the past.
        She changed herself back into the Queen and looked out at the repulsive figure waiting below. "Go back to your king," she said coldly, "and tell him that we have no choice but to agree to what he asks. But you must remind him that his son will not hold position as king, only as a high lord. Anything more and we will be forced to use what we have left to wreak damage on your land. And make sure he knows that we have strong allies behind us."
        He seemed satisfied. "With that message I shall be on my way." He turned and left the room.
        Irene was glad. She did not want to house anyone so vile. As soon as the Throne Room doors had closed behind him, she ripped the paper into shreds, lit it on fire with her ElementBond, and blew the ashes away with a gust of mage-wind.

        Eighteen Years Later

        Diana sat to the right of her father on the dais, looking over the Royal Court. Well, not really; she was daydreaming. Daydreaming about the man who would become her husband.
        She had known since her birth about the engagement. Her parents had not dared keep it from her, for fear of the consequences when they finally told her. For the first few years of her life it had just been an object of curiosity; then she had found out about the HeartBond.
        When that happened, she became angry. Not at her parents, so much, because she knew of the stress for their daughter and their country that had been put on them from the de-mand of engagement. No, she was angry at the Xoral government, especially at it’s king. He had obviously known that in order to marry the heir one had to be HeartBonded to them. Her own mother had ignored the love her Personal Guard had had for her for so long, but when her HeartBond forcefully showed her that it connected them, she finally discovered that she had the same feelings for him. But when she discovered it, she had no other obli-gation to anyone else. Diana wondered what would happen when she was married and she met her HeartBonded.
        She had always dreamed of what her future, and unwanted, husband would be like, but now it fully occupied her thoughts, for word that the Xoral royal party was on it’s way had come five dais ago. So now she wondered about him even more.
        Her first thought was that he’d be tall, dark and handsome. He’d arrive with a single red rose and present it to her like a perfect gentleman. Then the dream was destroyed as she was reminded of the typical Xoral: big, barbaric, unshaven, unclean, and unappealing. If he brought her anything it’d be a dead animal.
        Her nose wrinkled involuntarily in disgust. Oh, what a life she was to lead. If he ex-pected anything of her in bed, she’d slit his throat while he slept. Then, of course, she’d have a war on her hands, but they were almost fully recovered from the war with Giali, and with Qiar, Zorthalia, and Giali, now that Cheyla and David’s descendants ruled, to back them up, they had a good chance at success.
        :Thinking bad thoughts, my child?: came a voice in her head.
        She recognized it. It wasn’t the first time the Lady’s avatar had spoken to her. :Yes,: she admitted defiantly.
        :You shouldn’t. Remember that the Lady has taken pity on your poor soul.:
        :I will,: she promised, but she was doubtful. She knew the sword could sense her doubt, but there was nothing she could do about it.
        One of the Throne Room doors at the end of the hall opened slightly, and a little boy ran down the aisle. He stopped at the edge of the dais, remembering his place, and approached cautiously when Queen Irene waved him on. He went straight up to her and whispered something in her ear shyly. Her eyes widened, and she thanked the boy and sent him on his way. Then she stood and repeated the whisper in her husband’s ear. He nodded slightly, and together they straightened before the Royal Audience.
        "I have just received word," Irene announced, "that we have visitors just at our door."
        The entire crowd gasped, and Diana’s heart fluttered. They all knew just what "visitors" meant. The Xorals had arrived.
        And they did it with as much Xoral style as they could muster. Clearly trying to be im-pressive but failing miserably, both the king and queen were brought into the Throne Room on a carried chair, while entertainment danced as best they could in the small aisle between the chairs for the Audience. Several of the entertainers knocked the heads of court members unfortunate enough to be sitting near the aisle with their batons and ribbons.
        Diana, who could barely keep her repugnance behind a mask, stood up next to her father and became the distant High Princess her mother had taught her to be. She watched the procession make it’s way to the dais, wondering where the Xoral prince was, since there was only the big raised chair for the king and queen.
        "Cheyanna," the Queen said diplomatically, but not kindly. "We welcome you to AeaTr."
        Their king grunted. "I came here for one reason: to see my son arrived here safely and is treated properly as the prince he is."
        A caller stepped out and announced, "Prince Myall."
        A young man with black hair and bored, green eyes stepped out from behind the chair and bowed. Diana could not help but discreetly stare at him. He was built more like his mother than his father. His shoulders were not as broad as a normal Xoral man’s, nor was his midsection as thick. He was clean-shaven, stood upright, and had no dirt on his person that Diana’s vigilant eyes could spot. And yet, he looked nothing like his father, and had bore little resemblance to his mother.
        He did not look at her. Diana did not blame him. It wasn’t that she was ugly; just she would be defiant as well if she was in his position.
        The Queen looked at the King for half a second, then asked, "We invite you for tea in the Royal Quarters. Will you join us?"
        The Xoral king considered, then nodded. "For a short time," he agreed. "We must be on our way soon."
        "So be it." The Queen projected her royal voice and called, "Royal Court is dismissed."
        She turned to her Healer, Victor, who stood at her left side as always, for a few short words, then nodded to the Xorals and led them out of the Throne Room.

        The Xorals sat down cautiously on the sofa. The king and his wife were examining the public room of the Royal Quarters while they caught their breath. Not used to having to climb stairs, they had had trouble ascending to the third floor. Even Myall was breathing a little more deeply than before.
        Diana’s parents sat in the armchairs facing the fire, and Diana took her seat on the loveseat that faced the couch. The Queen began right away.
        "I must speak to you about the wedding," she said, frowning slightly. "Royal weddings in AeaTr are different than those in other kingdoms. Because our children are not HeartBonded, they will not perform that ceremony. They will perform in a traditional side-by-side wedding, much like those in your country."
        The king did not seem to care.
        As her mother went on, Diana ceased to listen. She already knew all of what her mother was telling them. She’d heard the speech so many times that Irene’s voice was a familiar drone. She carefully observed the foreigners again, so strange to her eyes. Especially the prince. He looked nothing like a Xoral. Neither of his parents had black hair, or green eyes. His nose was straight like his mother’s, and he bore her high cheekbones, but other than that, there was no resemblance to either parent. Xorals were typically broad-shouldered with thick waists and large midsections, and most had some shade of brown for both their hair and eyes. They grew long, grisly beards and never kept them clean, nor the rest of themselves either. This prince was so un-Xoral that Diana thought she had an idea of why his father was sending him away.
        She was thinking about whether or not his cold disposition was his real guise or not when her mother suddenly stopped talking right in the middle of her speech. Diana was so accustomed to the seemingly endless hum of her mother’s words that it startled her when it stopped. Her mother was staring straight ahead, completely still, as was the King. The Xorals were looking at her curiously. Suddenly Diana’s father stood erect and the Queen al-most tripped on the coffee table as she cried,
        "Dear Lady!"
        Then they were rushing out the door in a flutter of robes. The king and queen of Xoralin followed them hastily, and Diana was left helpless with her future husband, looking after them in dismay.
        Prince Myall stood up and asked, "What was that all about?"
        She blinked. "I have no idea. Mother must have heard something."
        "Heard something?"
        "With telepathy."
        He nodded. "Well, now what do we do?"
        She sighed. "I don’t know how long they’ll be gone. Do you want to wait for them awhile?"
        "I suppose that would be the best thing to do." Then he muttered, "What a strange kingdom this is."
        She glanced at him. "Excuse me?"
        "Well, I’ve never witnessed telepathy before."
        "There are a lot of other things that you’ll have to get used to, then," Diana frowned, irritated.
        The prince looked at her, sensed her annoyance, and said, "Sorry, but at least you don’t have to move to a completely different country!"
        She felt the heat in her face. "If your father hadn’t demanded this, neither would you!"
        "What the king of Xoralin did was not my concern when I was one year old! How could I have done anything? I was barely speaking!"
        "I would think that a king would have some concern for how his son felt, even years after he made this contract! He was the only one in position to break it."
        "First of all, in Xoralin the royal families care only for what is good for themselves, not anyone else. And second of all, he’s not my father!"
        Diana’s ready retort fell flat before she said it. After a moment, she whispered, "What?"
        "He wanted to get rid of me because my mother had conceived me with a visiting foreigner," Myall said, sounding tired. "As soon as the king found out, he hung my father. But my mother was already showing signs of pregnancy, so despite my real nature, I was named the third prince of Xoralin when I was born. This was the king’s way of ridding himself of his false son, and you were convenient."
        His last comment destroyed all of the sympathy that she had been feeling for him. "How can you be so—so—unfeeling?!" she cried. "I was convenient? That’s a wonderful way to—"
        She couldn’t finished. A legendary earth-shake threw them both to the ground, and rolled them around until they were almost unconscious.

        When he finally could, Myall looked up cautiously. Things had fallen around the room from the earth-shake. Books were scattered everywhere, the glass on the coffee table was shattered, and only by luck had the flames on the candles gone out before they fell.
        Myall crawled forward, expecting an aftershock, looking for Diana. He found her curled up in a ball behind one of the armchairs, shaking. He touched her shoulder, and she whimpered. "Diana?" he asked, but she didn’t respond. Then the aftershock he was anticipating hit, and he instinctively covered her small form from anything that fell. When he sat up again, he found her clinging to him, so frightened that he knew it went beyond just the earth-shake.
        He lifted her from the ground carefully, wary of another aftershock, and carried her out of the room and down the stairs a flight. He turned the hallway, and, sensing that one of the rooms must be hers, tried the first and discovered he was correct. Opening the second door and finding a bedroom, Myall sat Diana on the huge bed gently and knelt, looking at her. She looked up, and in her eyes was such turmoil that he knew he had to get a doctor.
        "Stay here," he pleaded, hoping she understood, "and I’ll return soon."
        He ran out of the Royal Quarters as fast as he could, and by luck almost bumped into the man in green robes he had seen next to Diana’s mother as she sat on the throne.
        Guessing, he asked, "Are you a healer?"
        He nodded. "What is the trouble?"
        "The Princess is hurt mentally, I think, from the earth-shake," he gasped out.
        The man’s eyes widened, and he demanded, "Where?"
        "In her room."
        "Follow me!" he cried, and together they reentered the Royal Quarters and took the stairs two at a time. Myall was amazed; the man seemed to be in his sixties.
        The healer rushed into the room, not worried about intruding, and got down on his knees before Diana, who was rocking back and forth in panic. He took her face in his hands, looked into her eyes, and sighed.
        "What she needs is something I cannot give her," he told Myall.
        "Then what can be done?" he demanded.
        The healer stood and looked at him carefully. After a moment he replied, "Look for your self, and tell me if you see anything I can do."
        Myall took the healer’s place before Diana, and wondered what he would see. Diana raised her head and saw him, and her eyes filled with relief as she slid off the bed and hugged him tightly to her. Confused, he embraced her cautiously, not understanding what was happening.
        He heard the faint click of the door shutting as the healer left the room, but the noise seemed so distant, so far away. Everything else from then on was a blur.

        Diana rose from the bed quietly. She had a little trouble walking, but she assumed it was from the hazy surprise her mind was sending through her body. Unsure of her coordination at the moment, she slowly took herself to mirror on the desk next to the door. Carefully she sat down, gazed into the mirror, and broke down into silent tears.
        Nothing was making any sense. She remembered the earth-shake, how it terrified her, how her memories resurfaced. They hurt so badly, the memories. The earth-shake thirteen years ago had taken her best friend, Abby, and the loss had devastated Diana. The earth-shake last night had opened the wound again. But even stranger was what healed it.
        She vaguely remembered Master Victor, the Queen’s Healer, searching her eyes, but she was too shaken for it to really register in her mind. Then, suddenly, Myall was there. She didn’t know how it happened, but she felt safe, protected as he held her to him under the covers of the bed.
        She looked into the mirror again. Her face looked so old! It was lined with weariness, and completely lifeless. Diana just didn’t understand.
        And Myall! How was she to explain that? Was she falling in love with him? That’s what it felt like. But there was nothing to base it on. She hadn’t known him a dai. He had shown little kindness aside from fetching Victor to her aid. And she knew better than to think that what happened during a first night could be love.
        She turned around on the chair to look towards the bed. He slept so peacefully. He really was very handsome, now that she looked at his face without prejudice. She frowned. She had felt sympathy for him before; could her emotions be mistaking that as love? Possi-bly, but not probably. There was no logical explanation for this.
        Unless. . . .
        No, Diana thought, it couldn’t be. Could it?
        And when she explored it, she found her thought to be correct. Deep within her was her Column of Traits, where she found her SoulBond and the HeartBond within it. She reached down it and found the slumbering Myall at the other end.M
        Well, she had wanted an explanation, now she had one.
        But it’s not the one I want!
        She faced the mirror again and stared at herself in horror. Had she not wanted to be able to marry her HeartBonded? Well, she was. But she was also being forced to.
        Yet, if the king had disowned Myall in the first place, why would he care if Myall was tossed into the dungeons?
        Not that she planned to do that; it was just an interesting thought.
        Diana sighed and buried her face in her arms. After a moment she let out a moan of discomfort, and a hand on her shoulder startled her into sitting up again.
        "Are you all right?" came the whisper.
        She closed her eyes as tears ran down her face. "Not really."
        He was obviously at a loss for words. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked timidly after a minute.
        She stood slowly, still not convinced of her own strength at the moment, and walked back toward the bed. She stopped at it’s foot and replied quietly, "Just listen to what I have to tell you. I think it may confuse you even more than it’s confusing me."
        Diana did not face him. She couldn’t bear it. "Last night—Myall, I was scared. Truly frightened. I took you for granted. You offered support; I took it without considering what you might have expected back from me." She stopped.
        "So you’re saying this was all just a mistake," he said after a long silence. She couldn’t miss the hurt in his voice, even if she had wanted to.
        "You didn’t let me finish," she scolded. "I don’t know how long ago it was that I awoke, but when I did, I did a lot of thinking. I was trying to sort out my emotions. And I found something, something even I barely understand."
        As she said it, she did an experiment. She pushed what she was feeling for him down the Bond and hoped it worked like her mother said it did.
        Myall gasped sharply behind her, and demanded, "What was that?"
        "That was something only the Kings and Queens of AeaTr experience," she tried to explain. "It happens because they are connected to each other so strongly that they can feel each other’s emotions."
        And she realized it was true. She could feel his surprise. And then she felt as he tried to comprehend.
        "What are you saying?" he asked.
        Now Diana turned. "Myall, did you know that you wouldn’t become king, even though you married me?"
        "Yes."
        "Did you understand why?"
        "Yes. We don’t have a Bond, as you call it."
        "Well, I discovered . . . that we do."
        His face went completely blank.
        She felt she had to go on. "The Lady’s Avatar, the Star in my mother’s sword, told us that the Lady would take care of everything. Instead of doing something like killing you with a disease or giving my parents another heir, She gave us the HeartBond, a much more difficult task." Diana couldn’t read his expression. She was beginning to become frightened. Even the Bond wasn’t revealing anything. "Myall, what I’m saying is, it was inevitable, but . . . I love you."
        His features softened, and his eyes were suddenly filled with care. "Diana," he whispered, and he was close enough that he reached out with one hand and cupped her face in it. He didn’t remove it even as her tears fell again, but instead pulled himself close to her. "Diana," he said again, "I’m afraid."
        She closed her eyes and leaned against his comforting figure. "So am I," she agreed. "But I think everything will be okay. You know, our wedding won’t be side by side, now."
        "Did you think I would mind?" he replied, and she felt him smile. "I’d much rather be facing the love of my life when I devote my all life to her."
        And for the first time in Diana’s life, everything was perfect.


        Copyright © 1998 Katie Feetham All Rights Reserved