Empire of Man

Lyla was roused by birds singing at daybreak. There were few soldiers up yet besides those who had been set to guard duty. They swayed unsteadily as they tended the cookfires. She approached one of the fires and the man tending it, smiling tentatively. He smiled back with a toothy but tired grin.

“Hi.” It was a cheerful rested word and the apprentice healer immediately felt guilty as the man she had addressed yawned in the middle of his mumbled return greeting.

“Morrrorning…” He rubbed a tearing eye with the back of a fist and grinned back at her. Lyla couldn’t help it. She giggled. It was the young soldier who had been guarding her when she woke up the previous evening. “Finally managed to get away from your guardian, hey?” His question immediately sobered her.

“Yes. I guess.” There was an unusual feeling tingling at the back of her mind. Her guardian. A darkness settled over her thoughts and made a home in the pit of her stomach whenever she paused to think about how abnormally comfortable she was with that man touching her. And that realization, that she didn’t notice when he sidled up to her – or wrapped his arms around her, or nuzzled her ear – that realization she’d had while she was sleeping last night brought with it a heart-pounding terror.

Because she didn’t know why.

Why? What made this guy different from every other man she’d ever known? Lyla sure as hell would smack the shit out of the grinning young soldier across the fire from her if he tried to wrap his arms around her without permission. So why in the name of the Absent Gods was she letting jerk-face that kissed her without permission continue to touch her body in, well, not intimate wayssss….no…

No!

He was trying to be intimate. That pompously sexy kissy-face soldier who’d been like…like a tumorous shadow since she woke up to the raging fire of attraction and desire from his kiss…. That guy, he was definitely trying to be intimate and she wasn’t going to fall for it.

Lyla hated men. Okay. Not all men. But she wasn’t attracted to them. She wasn’t interested in dating. At least, not yet. Maybe in the future. Absent Gods! She was supposed to get her life sorted before things like boys started distracting her. And men were just gross pigs in the village she came from.

Any guy who wasn’t a family member was trying to get her to run off into the forest to ‘get to know each other better’. And Lyla knew better than to take them up on the offer. A girl couldn’t spend any time alone with a man in her village without someone noticing and assuming that things had happened. Heck, Lyla already had a reputation for being willing to do…things…and she’d never even accepted any invitation from anyone to do anything despite the fact that the persistent rumors meant that nearly every man, married or not, in her village had propositioned her at least once. Lyla had to be extra careful with her reputation.

So, this kisser-of-sleeping-woman that she’d been salivating over needed to back the hell off of her before they got to her village or things were going to be even worse for her. The more she turned men in her village down, the angrier they got since each one assumed that he was the only one she’d turned down and therefore must have something personally against just him. The whole lot of them could go suck an egg.

“Did I say something to offend you?” The timid kind soldier who she was not in the least bit angry with questioned nervously. Lyla realized that her expression had turned to a furious glower and smoothed her face with a conscious effort.

“No.” She reassured him with a hasty smile. “No. I’m just thinking about…I’m not looking forward to returning home.” She surprised herself with her correction. Lyla had just wanted to make sure she didn’t say anything about her ‘protector’ that might offend his comrades. He had, after all, saved her life and they were about to risk theirs to protect her village and others of the High Passes. But now she realized that she really wasn’t looking forward to returning to the stiflingly patriarchal community.

“Ah. I can relate to that.” His worried concern melted, and his timid smile returned. “For a moment I was afraid that maybe Pr…erm…Lan had done something that I’d have to get my butt kicked trying to rectify.” A sheepish laugh escaped his mouth as he ran a hand nervously through his hair.

“Noooo.” Lyla reassured him. “Not…yet…?” The young soldier perked up at the slow hesitant way the young woman spoke and bristled indignantly on her behalf.

“If he ever does something that you told him not to do, you let one of us know. The Commander…that’s Wroth…will put him right in his place. That sort of thing isn’t tolerated from people in Lan’s station. If he even makes you nervous, you speak up and it will be dealt with.” She had to smile as he went on, a timid nervous soldier filled with righteousness for a damsel in distress. “Probably not by me as I’d most likely die in the trying if I ever challenged Lan. He’s quite good with his sword never mind all the mage-y stuff, you know.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” It was a bit absurd picturing this slight young man in a fight against the tall, strapping, and very robustly muscled Lan. She could hear the laughter in her voice and immediately hoped she hadn’t insulted the boy she was talking to. “Not that I wouldn’t be honored for you to defend my honor, but….”

“Hey, I know I’m no match for one of the Im…for someone of Lan’s caliber.” That was the second time the soldier had changed what he’d intended to say about Lan, and Lyla’s eyes narrowed only slightly with suspicion. Interesting! There was something about the handsome mage that she wasn’t supposed to know. “Oh! I just realized I never introduced myself to you. I’m Caleb. Caleb Von Notten the third. Duke of Terrace Mons currently serving my mandatory term with the Imperial Army to maintain my Right of Inheritance.”

“Really?” Excitement shot through Lyla and she immediately forgot all her suspicions. Not excited because she was sitting with nobility, but because she had heard of Terrace Mons and was terribly excited to someday see it for herself. “Is it true that the farms of Terrace Mons really do produce the finest medicinal herbs? The village healer says nothing the world over compares in quality.” Caleb grinned.

“Oh, Madam. You have not lived until you have seen the great terraces of cultivated plants on the Mons. I daresay nothing the world over can compare to any plant our Druids sing to.” And so the conversation progressed as the young Duke extolled the virtues of his home, its exports, its beauty, and its people.

Climbing through the steep game trail was difficult and slow. Many times, the wagons needed to be levered over large boulders and deeply creased but tiny streams. When Lan had seen the terrain that the group would have to traverse to reach the village, he had immediately known that Lyla would again not be able to sit in a wagon. She was the only one who knew the way into the labyrinth of mountain passes that connected hers, and all the other little hidden villages of this land in the clouds.

Taking Lyla by the hand he pulled her to the front of the file where his horse was picketed. Was it wrong to feel such joy that he could be near to her for any reason? A better man would have had the woman he desired ride with another man so as to avoid the temptation to take advantage of her trust in any way. But Rengard Lan was not a great man, most of the time he wasn’t even sure if he was a goodman. He was just a man who tried his hardest to do right by the majority of his people.

It would have been a physical pain to let another man near her. With undeserved satisfaction, Lan mounted his stallion with the ease of many years of practice. Knowing that Lyla watched his every movement with her solemn golden eyes, brought a smile to Lan’s lips as he reached his hand down to her. The large sturdy Imperial White took Lyla’s added weight without complaint.

As she settled tentatively in the saddle Lan reached around her to grasp the reins. Then Lan pulled her almost slight (compared to his) body back against his chest. Relieved that Lyla didn’t protest, Lan let his lips rest against her ear and kept her head snuggled in the crook between his neck and shoulder.

With years of familiarity, Lyla pointed out the way to forge the path. Sometimes it seemed as if there were easier ways to go, but patiently following her instructions showed that while her way might seem more difficult, ultimately, she was right. There were hazards in these mountain passes that could only be known from years of travel.