A note from the author : The author would like to make a few dedications and disclaimers at this time. I would like to dedicate this story to my very close friends in chat 1, you know who you are, especially my most critical of editors (your help was instrumental in this story's development). One of the biggest influences to me has been Prudence Walker, and I would hope that she feels bit of motherly pride when she reads this first part, and not be too critical.

The parts that follow will very in degree of violence and sexual content, this first part is mostly designed for primary character development. I intend for there to be more intrigue and "heat" in following parts.

While this story is set in a medieval time - atmosphere it by no means reflects history or does it intend to. Saying that, this story is pure fantasy,,, mine, It is set in the world of Polamon. There will be dragons and wizards,,, oh my! So please if you offer critics, reserve it for the grammatical and plot line and not the technical regarding what the character is wearing, or what type pf clothing that they may wear.

Please remember that this is my first attempt at any real form of fiction,,, be gentle.

Thank you,

The Horseman

 

A New Knight - The Soul Mates

by Robert the Horseman

 

Part 1

 

Chapter I DEATHS

Dawn was breaking, the lambent orb that was the sun, shone its piercing rays through the nearly cloudless sky. Its crimson rays highlighting the carnage in the valley, as it cleared over the horizon. Moans and cries of mercy from the mortally wounded could be heard through the mists that gathered in the knolls. Shadows of the carrion birds loomed over the field, waiting for their chance at the spoils of war.

On a ridge overlooking the field of battle was a lone knight in black and silver armour, the black cape fluttering in the slight breeze, the open horned helm revealed the flowing blonde hair and the once carefree young face. Resplendent, he sat upon his huge black mount with his two-handed sword lying across his thighs as it was wiped clean; his armour speckled with the blood and gore of his rivals.

The knight felt deep remorse that it had finally come to this, death and destruction (a sad smile). He had come to revere life, to him it was now the most precious thing in the land to have, and one did not give up life so easily! He had gone into this battle conflicted with new alien emotions, three moons ago he would never of considered the thoughts that had been going on in his mind.

That was before Dania, he smiled slightly as his mind drifted to images of the two of them. Gods! How he cherished those stolen moments they infrequently had together. She was the one that changed his mind about the glory of battle, and showed him the beauty of life.

The romance had started innocent enough, but then it was like she had bewitched him with her feminine charms, she made his loins and heart ache, how he longed for her. He yearned to be free of his oath to 'THE FOUR,' but they both knew that to be impossible, the only way to leave 'THE FOUR,' was through death in battle.

He had known from the start that their love was doomed, she was the King's cousin, and he was of the FOUR.

Sighing he sheathed the great sword, tossing the bloody rag aside. Throwing his right leg over the front of his stallion, he lowered himself to the ground with practiced grace. Looking once again into the sky he knelt with his head bowed, slow tears started to gather on his cheeks, as he prayed to the gods for forgiveness for the many lives that he had taken the day before, and for the strength to carry on knowing that his love for Dania would go unrequited.

"Sir Robert, Sir Robert, sir come quickly!" The silent introspection was broken by the loud voice of his young squire. Turning to face the lad, he rose.

"What is it Mica?"

"Sir it's the King!! I think he may be dead!"

With that statement, the Knight was forged into action, drawing his sword he sprinted to the tent of his liege; he saw something that enraged him so fiercely he saw red.

The king was on his back, where a short dark cloaked figure was leaning over him holding a bloodied knife!

Where was the royal guard?

Where was the First?

He did what was his duty, what the royal guard or the First should have done, he just hoped that the king would live long enough for him to deal with this threat.

With a thrust of the heavy sword, the cloaked assassin was impaled through the chest on cold steel, heels dangling in the air as the great sword lifted him up. The scream of pain and surprise shattered the dawn mists. The figure slowly fell away from the deadly blade with life slowly fleeing as it went to the hard ground.

The assassin's hood fell away, exposing long black hair and porcelain skin and full red lips that had been kissed too few times.

"Dania... What the..." Throwing the bloodstained sword to the side as if it's hilt had suddenly grown thorns he fell to his knees pulling the collapsed form to him.

What had he done?

Beautiful golden eyes looked up at him, the small form smiled through blood speckled lips as tears rolled down pale cheeks. "Robert, wwwhy?"

The foreign feeling of tears began to drip from his eyes, as he clutched her to his chest. "I thought you were the assassin, my beloved. Oh Gods! Hold on! We'll get help for you and the King!"

"Ttttthe King will liiiive, I maaaaaanaged to saave him..." The words were coming slowly, and her breath was getting increasingly more shallow.

Bellowing in a frustrated rage fuelled by despair to Mica, "Go get the healer and her ladies in waiting NOW! Your life depends on it!" After making his threat he knew it was empty as he held the still warm lifeless body.

The startled youth nearly disappeared form the tent, he was moving that fast!

Looking back down shame wrapped the knight in a cold blanket.

The healers would be too late.

Reality reared its ugly head. HE had just killed the only love he had ever known.

His Dania.

Great sobs filled his chest as he clutched her lifeless body to him, he cradled her head in his hands as he tenderly kissed her for the last time, he felt their tears mingling as he tasted the copper of her blood upon his lips.

For what seemed like long moments he stayed there like that. The retching sobs heaving in his chest. Rocking her in his arms.

Finally he rose with her still form in his arms, walking from the tent, not seeing the royal guard or the First's narrowing eyes as they rushed to the king's tent. They parted to let him by as they sidestepped him rushing to the aid of their king.

He walked till he reached her tent; he did not notice the gasps coming from Dania's ladies in waiting, as they were rushing about to go to the Kings tent to help him and their lady. He did not hear their loud moans of pain and loss as they took in the sight of the still form in his arms.

Going over to where her blankets and firs formed the bed that she had slept the night before, he lay her down.

As he was letting her go he felt it!

He closed his tear-filled eyes as a pain more intense than anything he had ever felt, crept up his arm, and exploded into his chest! Arrows that had pierced his body in previous battles had never hurt as much!

The searing pain would not end there; he felt it spreading to every part of his body! It felt as if he were a tree being hit by lightning, splitting him apart and setting him on fire.

Clutching with pain filled fingers, he tried to rip his armour from his body, he felt as if he were burning alive in the armour! He succeeded in getting the helm, gauntlets, and breastplate off, before he collapsed to the ground thrashing in agony tearing with clutching hands the clothing on his body.

His mouth dripping saliva at the corners, opened in a silent scream.

Rebecca was the first to react, overcoming her shock at the sight before her; she went to the convulsing body, pulling the mail shirt off. "Girls, I could use some help here!" she nearly shouted to her younger sisters who were still looking on in stunned open-mouthed silence. Upon hearing the pleading voice of the eldest, they went to her aid, helping to hold down the knight and remove the armour and under-clothes that were starting to smolder.

Rebecca turned her head to the recently arrived dumbstruck squire, "Mica, go get a bucket of cold water, and be quick! Your knight's life depends on it! Say nothing to anyone!"

Mica was staring in open-mouthed shock as he saw what was happening to his master. He had just returned from the king's tent retrieving his master's thrown down sword, and was breathing quite heavily, looking between his master and Rebecca almost dumbly.

"GO!"

Adrenaline kicked in and once again the youth was running, this time to save the life of his master! By the time he returned, his master was almost naked, though he couldn't tell for sure, as the three women shielded him from seeing his master.

It was at this time that Rebecca noticed the tattoo at his hairless groin; it was that of a small silver dragon clutching a lightning bolt in its claws. Saying nothing to her sisters she covered his sex back up with his loincloth, blushing crimson.

Prudence did not noticing her sisters' discomfort as she gathered up the bucket setting it to the side. She then grabbed a blanket, ripping it into strips with Richelle's aid, dumping the strips into the bucket of icy water. After wringing them out, they placed them on any and all exposed skin of the knight. By the time she and Richelle had finished, Robert was swathed in the cooling strips from head to foot.

The cooling affect helped the knight considerably as his spasms of pain were reduced to slight twitches then on to stillness.

"Mica, you are to leave now, you saw nothing here! Do you understand? Sir Roberts life, yours, and ours depend on it!" Seeing the grim drawn look on Miss Rebecca's face firmed the boy up, he was not used to taking orders from a woman, but he knew that this one was to be obeyed.

"Yes Miss Rebecca... Umm... do you need me to do anything else?" Hoping that she would see that he wanted to help, and that the secret would be safe.

"Get another bucket of cold water for us then come back at sunset, not before." Dismissal was in her tone as she turned back to the youth.

The thrashing had stopped completely now. The three young women leaned back on their haunches and collectively sighed in relief that this crisis was over.

Getting to her feet, Richelle the youngest sister went to the still form of Dania, and she wept anew as she took in the wound on her Ladies chest. The tears came out like a thunderstorm as she was racked with the pain of loss. "Damn him..." she was muttering under her breath, she had seen the fresh blood on the blade of his sword. She felt a new emotion that day, it scared her, and it was rage. She didn't notice Prudence and Rebecca looking strangely at her; all she saw was the ceremonial dagger on the chest at the other end of the tent. Going over to it she hefted it into the air and lunged at the covered body of the knight.

The other two women knew it was coming, they knew how emotional the young fiery redheaded sibling could get. They both reached up and after struggling for a moment, they managed to rest the dagger out of her hand.

Richelle was weeping, consumed in her own fire that was of loss and the need for revenge! "He killed her! She loved him! Why! GODS WHY!" She was wrapped in the tight embrace of her two sisters as she wailed and as they consoled her, cooing and saying soft words, tears filled their own eyes again.

They were disturbed from the collective easing of pain by the sound of a throat being cleared behind them. Turning, the three women's eyes bulged out as they gasped in awe.

That was no knight that had cleared his throat. The person that was looking up at them from the floor was a beautiful blonde haired woman with yellow eyes!

Richelle fainted dead away.

 

CHAPTER 2 EXPLANATIONS

This time, it was Prudence to come out of her shock first, although Rebecca was only a second behind her, they both forgot about their still unconscious sister, that had luckily collapsed back onto her own bed roll. The two women went to the figure trying to lean up from the floor.

"Don't move sweetie, lie back down." Was the gentle command from Rebecca.

The blonde with the golden eyes, with flecks of blue started to say something, but was overcome with weakness, and slumped back in exhaustion. 'Gods! I feel weird, my body feels tight, and yet soft, and my thinking is cloudy. What happened? Oh... Gods...' These thoughts and others raced through the blondes mind as she drifted off, back into unconsciousness.

"Rebecca, what are we going to do?" Prudence was truly scared, she had noticed the fear in the woman's eyes as she had looked down up at her.

Woman, funny, that woman was one of the most feared knights in the realm! Oh Gods! This was not something they could easily hide! Darn she didn't even understand yet herself!

"Ssssh! I knew that this would happen!"

Prudence nearly screamed at her sister, "What! You had better start talking! I am pretty close to the end of my rope on this!" Prudence was near hysterics.

Going to her, Rebecca took her into a tight embrace, and whispered softly to her, "You knew that Dania was different, didn't you? Well didn't you?"

As Rebecca pulled back from the grip of Prudence's arms she saw the lass nod her head. "Then you know that she was a Cleric. They have many ways, though, this is beyond what even I could imagine."

Prudence still had a flabbergasted look on her face as her older sister explained the way things were to her. "Prue, what we just saw was the 'Soul Mate' it is rare, very rare."

"But that is only legend!" Prudence for some reason could not wrap her mind around the idea that a person for some reason could change form.

"I know that its strange, but the way that I understand the soul mate legend is that the one that has stolen the heart of one will in turn have theirs stolen, and only then will their heart be whole. I think that is the way of it. There is another part, what is it..."

Rebecca looked down at the woman, thinking, she then remembered, looking back up to her sister. "Ah yes, the one that was stolen first, will take the form of the one that it steals back, something like that, darn what a confusing legend! I didn't know that one had to kill the other for it to work though."

"That makes no sense!" Even though the all three sisters were from a healing Cleric family, only Rebecca carried on with their ways, though she was not as advanced in her knowledge of the faith as Dania had been.

Richelle finally came to looking slightly pale. "Prue, did what I think happen, happen?" She had reverted to calling her sister to her child hood name, something she always did when put out of sorts.

"Yes, what you saw was real. Rebecca... tell her." Prue, being the middle sister, had the traits of both, the patience of her elder sibling and the fiery impatient temper of the younger.

Rebecca, once again went over what she thought had happened to their Lady, and her love.

A soft buttery voice made itself heard, "You are right my ladies in waiting, though I did help it along somewhat." The three sisters looked down at the blonde. A smile crept across her face. "Rebecca, you were the only one that knew I was an Angleniarin cleric of some portent, though I thought you would have told your sisters before hand. Oh well that doesn't matter now. The stones foretold that this would happen. Robert and I did and do love each other. Though I don't think he quite imagined this (a bitter chuckle escaped her lips). We are truly one now. This woman that you see here is both he and I."

Rebecca nodded her head, taking in what she was hearing, but the other two were still having difficulty with the turn of events, and had gone pale.

Richelle, though still confused and light headed again was the first to ask, "Where is Sir Robert? Is he in there with you?"

"He is in here with me, but he is trying to come to grips with what has happened, he is in a lot of pain, and is quite confused." The Blonde sighed sadly, and started to get tears in her eyes. Drawing a deep breath and sighing heavily, she carried on with the new development in their five lives. " This is still Robert's body, I just have the power to enter it when I want."

Rebecca, being the eldest of the three sisters was the first to grasp the idea. "What your saying is you're a ghost? Are you doomed for all time?"

Prudence and Richelle exchanged fearful looks and then returned to looking at the two blondes. Though the three women were sisters, and had very different personalities, they were still often able to read each other's thoughts.

"No, I am not doomed, nor am I a ghost. I will live on in the plain of existence that I am in now until Robert dies, our souls are linked, where ever he is, I will be close to him, and the way I understand the legend, he is the only one who can see me in my spirit form. I think there is more to it but I can't remember right what yet."

Falling back down to rest a bit from the exertion Dania continued on tiredly, "We will need to get out of here soon, we will go to your mother, in The Far-Reaches. Rebecca, you are going to have to help me with Robert, he will need your help, if he has to get through this, and he will need your help a lot!"

The blonde Dania smiled as she drifted off again as she heard all three former ladies in waiting pledge with their lives to help the new woman that Robert was to become.

 

CHAPTER 3 REVELATIONS

The instant pain he had felt while putting Dania down had been all consuming, at the time when it happened, he felt his heart break, shattering into fragments as small as particles of dust never to be whole again.

Never to be his alone again.

Then everything went black.

He woke again to see Dania's ladies in waiting in a tight embrace, groggily he tried to speak, and so he cleared his throat.

Everything seemed to go a little faster then. He saw the three women turn to look at him. He saw Richelle faint, he saw Prudence, and then Rebecca come to him, they were both deathly pale for some reason.

He saw Rebecca speak to him but could not quite understand why she called him sweetie. Robert felt the two women gently ease him back down, when he was finally able to speak of what was racing in his mind he asked, 'Gods! I feel weird, my body feels tight, and yet soft, and my thinking is cloudy. What happened?' OH NO! I sounded like a woman! I must be dreaming, this whole day has to be a dream!

Blackness returned.

' Robert, my love. ' A faint voice.

' Robert, I'm here with you, you're not alone. ' the persistent voice was becoming stronger.

He could feel the cobwebs of his mind being slowly parted to the soft voice of his beloved. ' That's not right, I, I, killed her. '

' Robert, don't be afraid, I am with you, now and forever. ' The voice was talking patiently with the tones of sadness, love and fear mixed together all into one.

Dania had to break through the barrier that Roberts mind had built; he had to understand what was happening to him and not let the sorrow of his mistake take him down into the abyss of emptiness.

After much coaxing, she was able to get to him in his shattered mind. Going to him, she gathered him into her arms whispering her love to him and soothed his fears, she could tell that he knew of the changes that had happened to his earthly body, but didn't know why.

The two spirit forms clutched at each other in the mind of the once formidable dark knight.

Finally drawing a deep breath Robert's mind spoke, ' Dania, I have so many questions that I need to know. Why were you in the King's tent? And foremost, why in the name of the Abyss am I in a woman's body? ' He could not keep the agitation and fear out of his voice.

' Robert, what happened was the soul mate it was something that I didn't think would happen, but it did. ' She saw the look of confusion on his face, and went on. ' When you pierced my heart with your sword you formed a spiritual link between the two of us. You had completed the second half of a prophecy.'

' What prophesy? Soul mate? Make sense will you! ' Robert was nearing the edge of his comprehension of this unearthly conversation; it was creating more questions than it answered.

Sighing, ' We had a bond of love between us, the gods saw this, and they stepped in. They only stepped in because I pleaded with them that it was a mistake. The ironic thing is they like to add a little twist when the soul mate is done. '

She saw that his spirits mouth was opening to ask another question. She waved him to silence. Gods how she loved this man, but he was so daft sometimes! ' Robert shut up and listen! The reason that I am here with you in your mind is the soul mate. I had taken your heart emotionally, and you took mine physically! The soul mate doesn't just happen all the time; the gods actually sit in judgment for what qualifies as the soul mate. Then they decide whether to grant it or not. '

Robert took in what she said then shook his head with a wry grin. 'Just our luck, we have gods with a warped sense of humour looking out for us. '

Dania finally knew that Robert was over the hump of understanding what had befallen them, now she had to tell him of darker, more dangerous plots to them and their realm.

Once again she told him of something he would not want to hear.

' Robert when I was in the King's tent... I was there to try and stop his assassination! '

The dark paladin was furious. ' What! Who tried to kill him! AND why didn't you get me? I could have stopped all of this! '

' Beloved, it is so complicated! You are not going to like this... but the person that I saw try to kill the King was the First, and the worst of it is I think he saw me.'

END OF PART ONE

 

 

Authors note, for any that care:

The FOUR has obviously four members; the eldest is 'The First Horseman', the second oldest 'The Second Horseman', and so on down the line. These are men raised for battle since birth; they give no quarter, and expect none. They are the iron gauntlets of the king. Their only allegiance is to the king.

The First Horseman is the Kings royal bodyguard, and his chief advisor, and is General of the North

The Second Horseman is in charge of training hopeful boys into the Four, discipline for the boys is swift and cruel, his other duty is that of General of the South.

The Third and Fourth Horsemen are the Generals of the East and West respectively.

Our hero is the Fourth Horseman.

Legends abound about the FOUR are many but this one is the most significant to modern earthonian times, after all where do you think the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse came from. In the days that these men rode that is what they stood for.

  

  

  

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