FanStory.com - A Wedding in Wahalandby Roxanna Andrews

Jarle walked slowly about the camp gathering firewood and moved ever closer to a dense grove of trees. Though dressed in fur, it was ragged and still let in the bitter cold. He slipped into the grove where Augdon's man waited.

Jarle was Augdon's father and had been captured by the horde when spying on them two years before. He quickly realized little attention was paid to slave warriors once they had been with the horde several months. The guards believing them too beaten down to have any will to escape, all but ignored him.

Jarle used it to his advantage. He'd become a spy for his son and his men. Being a strong man, physically as well as mentally, he was able to keep his wits about him engaging in mind exercises taught to him by his father. They kept him from being brainwashed or giving in to despair. He had taught the exercises to many other slaves desperate to escape and willing to do anything. They were forming a plan to join the fight against the horde once Joshua's army engaged them.

He found Brock, his grandson by marriage, waiting in the grove.

"I thought they would never make me gather firewood," he said as the dropped what he'd gathered on the snow covered ground. "There is a new threat in the camp. Lucas's brother, Hamish, has joined him. He is not a warrior, but is cunning and together I fear they are a force to be reckoned with."

"Yes, Hamish left Wahaland a few months ago. We now know he is related to Lucas." Brock said. "Joshua and the council of Wahaland have decided it is time to come against the horde. They are moving rapidly towards the sea and must be stopped this side of the Purple Mountains."

Jarle nodded his agreement.

"All those of Wahaland unable to fight are being moved to the fortress and the warriors will begin to move in a few days. We hope to take the enemy unawares. They will move the horses first, then the men will come by dragon."

Jarle raised his eyebrows with a questioning look. "Why use the dragons to bring the men?"

"It will be faster and the men will not have to trudge through snow. We know not what the weather will do. Should more snow fall, it would slow us down. It will take some time to bring them all, but still much faster than if they marched. When all the army is assembled, the dragons with riders and mountain cats will go in first, followed by men on horseback. If Lucas sends out the black dragons, we hope our archers can bring them down before they can report back to him. Look for us within the next week."

"Riding dragons. Never heard of in battles of the past." he shook his head in wonder. "I will pass the word. I have almost three hundred men ready to join you. They have been impatient for this day to come. I must get back before my absences is noticed." Jarle picked up the firewood he had gathered, nodded his farewell to his grandson and returned to camp.

******
Joshua paced the roof of the fortress in nervous anticipation of engaging the horde. The warriors had returned to the fortress to make final preparations for battle.

Was he ready to lead these men? Most of the vast army stood below him waiting for a word from their captain. Lyse stood beside him. She smiled and took her husband's hand. "Talk to your warriors, you are their captain. Most have never been in battle and they want to hear words of encouragement."

Joshua and Lyse had married two weeks before in Wahaland. Lyse had insisted they be wed before going into battle. Her father was not keen on the idea.

"She is too young yet," Augdon told his wife.

"She is the same age I was when we wed," she reminded him. "She is ready to be a wife and will do it anyway. You know how she is. She will find a way to bend Joshua to her will and they will go off on their own. I want to be there when they wed."

Augdon, knowing he was defeated, reluctantly gave in. It was difficult for him to admit his youngest daughter had grown up.

"It is how she wants it." He told Joshua, who was resisting the idea. "And she will not give in. She is a stubborn lass and there is no point in arguing with her. There is really no reason why you can't be wed now. It is for the best." Augdon slapped Joshua on the back and left him to his thoughts.

Lyse wanted desperately to be wed before battle. Whatever happened, whether they lived or died, she wanted to be Joshua's wife and at his side.

"I want to be your wife. If we live or die in battle, we will be together. If one should die, I would forever regret we had not wed, and you would feel the same."

Joshua seeing the desperation in her eyes, agreed. He thought himself a fool for resisting. What did it matter when they wed? She was his perfect match, strong, intelligent, fearless and beautiful. He had known it from the day they met. He feared for her going into battle. He felt a strong urge to tell her she must stay at the fortress. But he knew she would not be left behind. Though the thought of losing her weighed heavily on him, she would not be denied and would be at his side.

"If I owned nothing and were but a beggar in this place, if I had you for a wife, I would be as a wealthy man." He drew her close and kissed her a long while, then pulled away. He placed his forehead against her's. "It will be as you wish."

Lyse had come prepared for a wedding. She had decided long ago she would wed Joshua before battle. Her mother made her a fine gray gown some months before. The fabric was something Lyse had never seen before, and though not one given to girlish thought, she longed to wear it. She had packed it carefully among her things when she left for Wahaland.

When Hamish's servants heard about the up coming nuptials, they brought her one of his exquisite hooded, white fur capes.

The women of the clan and Lyse's mother took control of the wedding preparations and began arranging a grand affair. Lyse was happy to let them. She was exhausted from relentless training and her nerves were raw from the stress of soon going into battle.

The cape was altered to fit and opals added. When the day came, she dressed in her fine gray dress and boots. Her hair was made into a thick braid and opals were wound round it attached to silk ribbon purchased from the same trader as her wedding gown fabric.

Lyse's mother brought her a jeweled brooch in the shape of the family crest, and pinned it to the cape. A gift from her father. Nyla gave her soon to be daughter-in-law her dearest treasure. The opal necklace Dak, Joshua's father, had given her on their wedding day.

Joshua had sent for his finest garments and looked splendid in his pale buckskin shirt with a wide leather and rabbit fur vest. He wore leggings and leather boots just below the knee. His white hair was pulled up in a ponytail that fell from a silver band with the clans crest engrave in the soft silver, a gift from his grandfather.

Lyse took Joshua's breath away as he watched her walk towards him on her father's arm. It was as if the sun radiated from her and the opals on her cape gleamed in the light.

Nyla insisted that Father Bart perform the ceremony, and had gone on Dyster to bring him. He had refused to get on the dragon, but when his children did so without hesitation, he gave in. He clung to Nyla the whole way and was relieved when the dragon landed.

Nyla's eyes filled with tears as she watched her son say his vows to his bride. She was taken aback by how much Joshua looked like his father.

The couple married outdoors as there wasn't a building spacious enough for such a large assembly. It was a mild day, but still cold and bonfires were lit all around to keep the couple and guests warm. A huge feast had been prepared, venison, turkey, chicken and lamb were heaped on platters in the council hall along with vegetables and fruits.

The smell of the cooking meat had permeated the village for days and driven the warriors mad. Ale and hot cider were served as well, and the guests drank more hot cider than ale for a change, to keep warm. They loaded their plates and stood around the bonfires telling stories and laughing. Relaxing for the last time before going to battle.

***********
Lucas stared out the opening of his tent into the vast darkness. Out there was his next conquest, the Wahaland village. He was looking forward to killing the inhabitants and taking over the opal mines. He stroked the hair of the woman who came to stand at his side.

"Out there is the village where I was born." He pointed at the blackness beyond the tent door. "Soon I will take possession of that village. I have no good memories of it, but one thing does bring me some measure of happiness, the rich opal mines."

He turned and smiled at the woman. "And you shall soon have new jewels to add to your already vast collection." He kissed the top of her head.

She smiled in return, eager to please him as she feared her husband. She thought him rather mad and had shed many tears when told she had been chosen as his bride. She wondered why she needed so many jewels when she had no place to show them off.

Lucas stroked her full belly, it carried his child that was due any day. He would wait until the child was born before they began the march to Wahaland. He would rather wait for spring, but it could not be helped He planned to use the fire spitting black beasts. He hated them, but they were very useful.

He put his arm around his wife and squeezed. He did not love her. He did not love anyone, but toying with her emotions gave him a perverse pleasure. He enjoyed terrorizing her.

She had better have a son, he thought as his fingers dug into her shoulders.