Page 94 of The Kingdom of Flames

“Then you won’t be.” Azure continued walking. The large Lord of Summer didn’t don his armor. He wore a simple tunic, breeches, boots, and belt. Stuck in his waistband was a knife in a leather throng. His knightly trappings were left at camp.

“No helm? No standard for your honor?”

“Not today. My honor knows where I am. It is when men forget where their honor is that calamity occurs.” Azure didn’t turn when he spoke. “My people became knightly. They became creatures of honor, but many return to the plains, leaving their arms behind to spend time beneath the sky. When they first came to this realm, they sought peace. Once they had it, they created a conflict of another kind. Contests of skill and bravado.”

Celestine continued walking after him. Some moments, Lord Azure was a knight of great poise, a being of chivalry and honor incarnate. Here out among the plains, he was a nomad-king, at home with his hawk and the sky.

They walked for another hour. Celestine’s slippers fared well among the long grasses, but her muscles ached.

“Here he is,” Lord Azure said.

Celestine looked up at the top of the hill. The sun rose with the blowing wind, and a splendid horse stood before them. He was multicolored, patches of white, brown, black in a myriad of his skin.

“He is from many realms, many lines, like you.” Lord Azure turned to her. “Men and women bear terrible wounds, and many die. But the greatest failure is not allowing themselves to be healed, because, secretly, they think they deserve their fate. But no being deserves to suffer. Despite what that yellow-crowned fool may have made you believe.”

He doesn’t speak his name because he knows it bothers me. I am ever waiting for him to reveal his own monster within.

“What do they deserve?” Celestine asked.

Azure stared into her eyes. “Freedom.”

Celestine turned, staring at the standing horse. “This is my healer?”

“If you allow it. And you will be his. He is a coarser, in truth, a young colt. But he lost his way. He has been wild for a year now. An impatient hand attempted to train him. Thus, he is here. ”

“I don’t know how to break a mount.”

“None truly do. The colt joins with the rider. It is the illusion of men to think they control that. The same with lovers. Remove your footwear. You need to feel the earth when you get near him. It’s your union to one another.”

What she had hoped for was a great healer. A kind woman, like what she imagined her mother would be, somewhere in these long grasses. Yet she had come this far. Celestine withdrew one boot, then the other, hopping from foot to foot. “And I can leave at any time?”

“You can,” Azure assured her. “I will take you to Calendar or Aidric whenever you wish. He waits.”

“I’m surprised he isn’t here, watching.”

Lord Azure smiled. “What makes you think he isn’t? That one always watches. ”

“I don’t see him.”

“Perhaps because you do not wish to. Your previous suitor’s attentions were a laceration on your soul, Celestine. Go to Garo. Today, all I want you to do is stand close to him. To see him.”

“That is all?” Celestine asked.

“That is all.”

Celestine walked forward, her bare feet flexing on the ground. The grass felt cool, reassuring.

Garo snorted, turning to her.

“Slowly,” Lord Azure said from behind her. “Treat him well. Do not rush him. You wouldn’t touch him before he was ready, would you?”

No, I wouldn’t.

Celestine kept her eyes on Garo, the brown eyes of the beautiful creature, his flesh such an amalgamation of colors.

She walked one step closer, and he startled. For a moment, she thought he would run away.

“I’m sorry,” Celestine whispered. Her voice seemed to draw Garo in, and he snorted, then whinnied, allowing her to draw nearer.

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