The Red Glaive

Caius was an idiot.

“The miss, misc, misc. . .hive. . .us.” Caius fumbled through the word. He was an idiot for allowing himself to believe Adelaide, an idiot for taking it out on Videl, an idiot for doing absolutely nothing with all these new feelings. It was always Ariel he could open up to. Not this time.

An idiot for being unable to stay angry at Aeria for his rejection. She had confronted him about his idiot behavior, but he couldn’t be mad at her when the fault was his own. He brushed it off as being slightly put off by her much, much more feminine appearance. She seemed saddened - he was an idiot for being unable to come up with something better - but he had assured her it had passed.

Most of all, he was an idiot for not being able to read a single damn sentence. “The misc-hiveus god,” he said. Aeria walked over to him and he knew he had said it wrong. She sat next to him on the bench and looked down where his finger rested on the word.

She was Ariel again, dressed as an adept and yet she looked nothing like a man. It was strange to have seen her as anything different before, but that was how the magic worked. Strong enough to fool everyone around her. Or so he was told.

But it wasn’t just the magic. He was perfectly content to see her just as a more feminine version of Ariel even after he’d found out and accepted it. It was the dress, and just having her look like so much more than just a dirty, sweaty adept training in the arena, and it had been Adelaide feeding all these nonsense ideas into his head that caused him to switch the way he had thought of her.

Before he could even decide what she meant to him, she was gone. He never should’ve gone with her to her sister’s then nothing would’ve changed.

“Mischievous.” Aeria said simply. “Mis-chiv-ee-us. Just like that.” The change in her voice had been the most shocking. Softer than he had ever remembered yet impossible to forget now.

“That’s not a word.” Caius said with a scowl.

“It means troublesome sort of like you.” she said with a grin. “and it’s in a book isn’t it?” Aeria said leaning over Caius to look over the sentence it was used in.

Her eyes scanned the page, red like rubies. There was nothing he felt when he saw those eyes other than sweet fondness. She was the only person other than Reimar that he had spent so much time with. The closest he was to anyone.

Aeria was so close to him, scanning the page in the book sitting in front of him, he wondered if her lips were as soft as they looked. He had leaned in closer, almost unconsciously, close enough to-

There it was, hidden behind slightly mismatched makeup at the base of her neck.

Caius grumbled pulling away. Aeria hadn’t noticed anything. “This book is too difficult.” he said. It didn’t even even have any images.

“You already know all the children’s stories that they have here,” Aeria said, “you’ll get used to it.”

He wanted to hate her. When he found out he had lied to him, not just about being a woman but being a Baron’s daughter at that. A lady. Nobles like her always assumed they could get their own way with those beneath them. She had been Ariel before, a commoner just like him. Then suddenly she was Aeria Finch, a baron’s daughter.

Niko, however, had taught them that not all of the upper class were that terrible. Stupid kid was just too friendly and impossible to hate. So, as much as he tried, he couldn’t hate Aeria. Not after knowing her as Ariel before. That feeling resurfaced after he had learned she was with another man, he wanted wanted so much to hate her then, but he just couldn’t. Instead, he focused that hate on that unknown man who had beat him to her. Already, he just knew it had to be some upper class noble. Someone better than him. A knight probably or a lesser lord.

“Try this one.” Aeria said sliding a book across the table. Caius looked up at her, it didn’t seem like he’d make any significant progress, not like Telfer had. He could swing a sword better than anyone, but he’d never be proficient at this. Not that something so trivial like reading could ever be that important.

But Aeria stared at him expectantly. She believed he could learn, but things like this came easy for someone who had been educated like she had. Yet she believed in him so he had to try. For her sake.

Caius stared at the cover, sounding out the letters one by one until he could put them all together. “Corvo and the Ten Braves.” Caius said. “Is it as hard as this.” Caius said closing the massive tome she had him reading.

Aeria laughed. “Well, it’s an epic.” Caius stared at her blankly. “It’s long and wordy but it has a much easier narrative than the Cosmogony.” Caius scowled. He missed the easier books, with large letters and images on every page. At least with those he could piece what was happening based off the images. “I think you’ll like it. I read an excerpt of it back home, it’s about a warrior from the time of Champions and it has illustrations occasionally.”

“So you’re going to make me read something you haven’t read.”

“Niko’s probably read it. So he’ll know if you don’t read it.” Aeria’s eyes grew distant. She was thinking of something. “You read it, I’ll be back in a while.” she said dashing out of the cluttered glaive library knocking over a few books as she rushed out.

It took it a lot more than he thought not too ask her where she was going. He felt a pang of jealously when he thought that perhaps she was going to go meet him again.

“That girl is going to be the end of you.” Set said emerging from under the table. His voice was surprisingly deep for a such a small fox.

“I’ll get over it.” Caius said hoping he wasn’t lying to himself.

What was it about Aeria that had him suddenly so stuck. Perii was beautiful. . . for a bar maid. Aeria was a different kind of beautiful. No, Aeria was a lady. Therefore unattainable to someone like him. Maybe that was it, Adelaide had dangled the unattainable before him and he jumped at the opportunity. Now that he couldn’t have her he pined for her even more.

He wished that was the end of it but there was more. Aeria was more than that. She was his best friend. She was the only thing that made sense to him, the closest thing to family he could think of. But she’s a lady.

“You should just tell her what’s on your mind.” Set said sitting on his haunches on the table.

“It’s not that simple Set, she already has a man.”

“You could be her man.”

Caius smiled at the thought. He couldn’t do that to her. She would never pick him over whatever little lordling she had found herself. By the looks of it, she was happy where she was. Why, then, would he interfere with that? With their friendship? He would rather leave things as they were than to risk losing her completely.

Caius flipped the book around for Set. “Are you going to read this to me or not?”

“This is why you aren’t getting any better.” Set said.

“Read.” Caius ordered and with a sigh Set began.

Set would read a sentence or two then stop to explain what he had just read expecting it to stick with Caius. He was far worse at explaining things than Niko. Niko would always go off with explaining concepts expecting Caius to already understand a few of the writing concepts. He understood none of it. Set treated him like an idiot explaining concepts by breaking them apart then explaining those before returning the broader concepts. Caius ignored him. Just as well, Caius didn’t understand the concepts Set tried to explain anyway.

Caius listened, but only barely. His mind distracted, he thought back to that the last time he had pined over a lady. The scar on his thigh still ached when he thought of it.

Hilde Stout was the daughter of a the city lord of Dimrest, a lord rich from breeding griffons, and she was the first woman he thought he loved. She was two years older and the most beautiful woman his little fourteen year old brain could comprehend at the time.

He was living in a ramshackle cabin on the outskirts of the city and they had met by chance. The city lord had organized a hunting party, the kind where his court rode along with all their servants and foldable pavilions. More of an extended picnic really where they would hunt, kill, then feast on captured hog. They never came his way, but on this particular day they had.

Hilde rode in the back with the women and she saw him watching them pass by from a seemingly abandoned cabin so close to the forest. She had cared enough to come back and warn him that it would be dark soon. Caius had to explain, as he so often did as a child, that he was not alone.

“Reimar’s away on a contract.” he said, “He’ll return eventually.”

“But you’re so close to the forest. What if a devil comes before he returns.” she said from atop her fine bred horse. She sat side saddle, her dress cascading off her side in series of ruffles.

“Then I’ll kill it.” Caius said returning to his stances. He knew a devil wouldn’t approach a lit city unless it was really desperate, he just wanted her to go away. There was a reason Reimar had chosen to leave him in a cabin so far away from everything; he had a knack of finding himself trouble.

“What do you even eat?” she had asked incredulously. Her long brunette hair was partially hidden beneath hat and she had the brownest set of eyes he’d ever seen.

Caius shrugged ignoring her. Reimar had left him some glaive rations and told him to get used to them if he wanted to be a glaive. Those rations were just barely enough to fend off starvation so most days he was hungry. Reimar had left a chest filled with coin buried in the forest and told Caius only to fetch it if he really needed it, but Caius could deal with a little hunger. It kept him focused. He staved it off by practicing with the sword Reimar left him. It was a dulled blade and heavier than normal, but it was all he had.

Hilde left that day and he thought that was it.

The very next day he found a fruit basket left outside his door along with messenger boy who proclaimed his rudeness on behalf of the Lady Hilde. Caius had never been given a gift before and certainly never been insulted by one. Either way, he had resolved to be as stubborn as possible. So he personally dropped off her basket at her mansion gates, only to have her personally come and return it.

So began their strange secret courtship borne out sheer stubbornness and unrelenting will to give in. The fruit in that basket had long since gone rotten when Caius finally accepted it. But by then he’d grown fond of Hilde and she of him.

Reimar, determined not to return to the area for a while, picked up a all of the contracts in the area so Caius was there for the longest period he ever spent anywhere. Nearly six full months.

Six months of sneaking around, six months of sleepless nights bathed in quiet sighs, six months to love her. Six of the best months of his life ended when Reimar returned one day, freshly dug out chest in hand and proclaimed they were leaving.

“We can’t.” Caius said instinctively earning a raised eyebrow from Reimar. Caius was always indifferent to their departures, more often than naught he was eager to leave.

“I can’t stay here when Jago’s requested aid.” he said packing up all the rations from their shed. “There’s something big in Scalburgh, possibly a manticore and I’m the closet contract glaive, we gave to help.”

“Scalburgh?! That’s all the way in Aestus!” Caius said. From Flumina it was a long way away, but they would travel hard, nonstop without any sleep with Reimar switching for fresh horses every few outposts, to get there as soon as possible.

“There will be no discussion, get your things and we’re leaving or stay if that’s what you want. I won’t be returning for you.”

He could stay, he wanted to stay, try to find work as a mercenary or bounty hunter. That way he cold stay with Hilde. But Caius wanted to be a glaive, that would never change. It was one of the few times Caius wished he could write, he knew his numbers and a letter or two. Not enough to leave a message.

So Caius left angry at Reimar for taking him away so suddenly and vowing to return as soon as he could. It took them nearly a year to return to Flumina, to a small village less than a days ride from Dimrest. The second Reimar left him alone Caius took his old mare and rode for Dimrest to Hilde.

Angry at Reimar all over again, Caius dug up his hidden coin and took a generous portion before leaving. Determined to spend at least few days in the city before returning to the village.

Caius snuck into the Stout Estate the same way Hilde had always snuck him in. Late at night no one asked questions. It wasn’t until he after he had knocked on her door that he wondered if maybe he was out place. She was a lady, a lady he hadn’t seen in over a year.

He turned to leave, but then she was there.

“Caius?” she said dressed in nothing but her night gown.

The only thing he could sputter out was the meekest “I’m sorry.” He’d ever heard.

Then she kissed him, picking up exactly where they had left off. It was as if he had never left.

At some point, in the wee hours of the morning, Hilde roused him. “Caius, you have to go.” She said softly as she always had. Caius opened his eyes to see the light beginning to appear over the horizon. Reluctantly, he got up. He was not to be seen with her, especially not in her room. He had to leave before the servants started their rounds.

Caius kissed her before he left. “I have a room be at the Orchid Tavern.” He told her.

“I’ll find you there.” She promised and Caius left the same way he came. A few of the servants saw him, but they figured he must be some other servant’s son going about his job. No one really asked any questions.

So he waited for Hilde to come, two whole days but she never showed. He got to the point that he was ready to go find her had he not heard word that the Lord of Dimrest was to host a hunt in honor of some other lord. His guest apparently.

He chose instead to casually bump into Hilde during this hunt as a reminder of how they first met. He even went as far to go into the market and buy her a winter rose. The merchant had said it was early for them, but these particular batch had grown early. Caius had remembered Hilde talking fondly of them and how they only come into bloom every couple of years, so when he saw them he knew that he had to get her one.

They were expensive but with Reimar’s coins Caius was able to afford one. This time he wouldn’t come to her empty handed when he apologized to her yet again.

He had missed the party as they left, so instead he waited on the path he knew they’d return by. It was mid afternoon before he heard the horns of the hunting party approaching the city. There was a clamor within the walls, when the city lord was successful the rest of the city feasted too.

At the head of the party the city lord rode with the head of a massive elder stag tied to his saddle. The ancient beast itself was carted in by two horses just behind him. An animal that large would be more than enough to feed the party and the servants. So the people cheered as their city lord passed them.

Caius waited just outside the gates. Waiting for Hilde to pass with the women at the end. There were strangers among the group, people Caius didn’t recognize from the time he had spent at Dimrest. The city lord’s guests he assumed. Near the end, by where the women usually rode, a lordling rode upon one of the City Lord’s griffins with a long wooden spear in hand.

Strange things, Caius had only seen them from afar, mostly flying high above his head. Never ridden like a common horse. Stupid things really, and difficult to train and had to keep. If accidentally set free a griffin would go feral and never returned. Still, many took the risks for the chance to fly upon one’s back. Though the city lord Stout claimed his were as docile as any horse Reimar had told him to never trust anything said by the dealer. Even the one being ridden by this lordling bolted forward occasionally only to have it’s rider jerk it backward before it spooked the horses of those ridding ahead of him. It would unfurl it’s wings as it walked as if debating to take flight or not.

Caius shook his head. A griffin was usually ridden to battle, not for a hunting party. The cleanliness of clothes and the smoothness of his spear told Caius that this lordling probably didn’t even dismount during the whole hunt. This lordling looked to only to show off he had one of the city lord’s griffins and rode it as if he was some grand warrior returning from battle.

Finally, at the very end Hilde rode with her hand maids and few other noble women. Caius approached her with a smile, the rose nestled safely in its box. “Hilde.” He called just before she passed him and through the city gates.

The women around her giggled when they saw him and Hilde smiled softly as she turned away her horse toward him. She approached him with such a friendly demeanor that he was a bit taken back when she said, “What are you doing here Caius?” With an indifferent tone.

“You haven’t come to the Orchid Tavern. I thought I’d surprise you by coming to you.” He felt small beneath her gaze and the giggles of the women behind her. Hilde said nothing to bring him the comfort she usually brought him. She just stared at him expectantly. “I bought you something.” Caius blurted out. He didn’t even know what to make of it. He didn’t know what to say or how to win her over.

But she stayed eagerly eyeing the box in Caius’ hand. He pulled out the rose and held it out her.

“You’re sweet, but I’m getting married in a week.” She said indifferently.

“But the other night. . . “

That got something out of her. She jumped off her horse and was right at Caius’ face. “You shut your mouth about that. About everything.” She whispered harshly.

“I thought you and I. ..”

“You and I?” Her face “You’re nobody, why would I ever bother with you?” Caius felt like someone had struck him in the belly. His whole world turned upside down and all he could look at was the stupid rose in his hand. Money wasted. Time wasted. “There is nothing between us. Never has been. Got it?”

She turned to leave but Caius couldn’t let her go, not after everything they had been though. He grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “I thought you were different.” He told her. “Different from all of them.” He nodded to where the women watched with amused eyes.

“You were fun.” She said. “A good fun time but I have a fine man now so I don’t need you.”

Caius blinked. He couldn’t believe what has happening. “Let go.” She demanded, but he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t. . .

He felt something strong hit him from behind. He had been so focused on Hilde he didn’t notice the beast coming at him. The sheer weight of the griffin pushed him to the ground as one of it’s talons dug deep into his thigh. Caius made a move to sit up, but felt the blunt end of a spear roughly push him back down. “I should have his hand for the way he touched you my lady.” The lordling said twisting the blunt end of his spear painfully against Caius’ shoulder but that was nothing next to the massive talon of his griffin. It flexed it’s talons as if trying to pull him closer. No doubt hungry for a snack.

Hilde laughed. “I think he’s learned his lesson.” She said climbing atop her horse. “He knows know what awaits him should he approach me again.”

Her lord pulled back his griffin and Caius cried out as it’s talon ripped free of his flesh. He stayed on the floor bleeding as they left. Inside the city walls cheers rang out as the lordling entered with his lady by his side.

That very night after he paid a good doctor to see to his injury and while the rest of the city feasted. As the city celebrated the marriage of the city lord’s virtuous daughter, Caius spent the last of Reimar’s coin on the finest whore in the city. He had wanted to hurt Hilde as she had hurt him, make her feel the pain of loosing to someone else. It wasn’t until after as he lay next to the most beautiful whore he’d ever seen, that he realized that Hilde had to care for him in order for him to be able to hurt her as she had hurt him. She’d never come looking for him again.

Had all it been a farce? Had she been pretending this whole time or did she stop caring the movement she found something better? Caius only knew one thing. He resolved to never let it happen again.

He had only been of fifteen then, still just a boy. Since then, Caius had grown into a man. A strong man that most women pined for when they looked at him. He’d learned, however, to use them before they used him and it worked for him. Sure, sometimes they cried when he told them he wasn’t interested in them, but it wasn’t like they had invested all that much time with him. Most women knew, just by looking at him, the type that he had become. Those were the ones Caius loved best. Usually they were gone before he even woke up.

Now here he was pining over another lady. Aeria Finch. Aeria was no Hilde but even she had her own little lord. Caius ran his hand over the scar on his thigh, he could feel it even though the rough fabric of his pants.

“Are you paying attention?” Set’s voice rang in his ears.

“Not really.” Caius said.

Set grumbled then hopped off the table vanishing before he hit the ground. Caius sighed and turned the book back to his side. Set had gone over twenty pages. Caius thumbed the pages. Reading was what the nobility, people like Aeria and Hilde, did for their fun. Caius was not like them. But Aeria wanted him to learn how to read. She wanted to make a better man out of him.

He smiled, then turned to the first page and started again.