A Warrior's Dance

II – Lost Love

Hilmer swung the door wide open and stiffly bowed his head. “Lady Avery,” he greeted.

Her white satin dress flowed like fluid water, fitting her curves beautifully. Her black hair was tucked into a braid, her round dark brown eyes reaching his face. Hilmer looked away, as it was not a good manner to stare too much to a lady like her. As much as he wanted to, he just couldn’t.

“It’s late, my Lady.”

Her kind eyes seemed to smile. “Are you turning me away, Hilmer?”

He shook his head at once and led her inside the cabin.

“Lady Avery!” Sanne called out, a grin on her face. The lady smiled at her, pleased to know she was elated seeing her.

“Sanne, that’s not a proper greeting,” her father said, correcting her again.

Realizing her mistake, she hopped down from her seat and walked toward them. She bowed her head, mirroring his father’s curtsy.

“I’m glad to see you, Sanne,” she said, gently caressing her face. She always liked it when the lady did that. It was motherly and touching, something that made Sanne’s little heart to warm. “Can I speak with your father in private?”

“Of course, my Lady,” she answered immediately. “Do you want to speak here or into his quarter?”

Blush tainted Avery’s cheeks. Hilmer just shook his head. “Sanne, can you go to your chamber, please?” he said.

And though he posed it as a question, the little girl was smart enough to know it was an order. Quietly, she locked herself into her room, ears pressed into the wooden door, trying hard to hear even just a whisper.

After a moment, Avery told Hilmer she would be marrying Nari, the Valkan tribe’s second captain. Their wedding would be held tomorrow at sun down.

“This should be our farewell, then,” he said after letting the news sink in.

She pushed the lump forming in her throat. She could see his vacant eyes, but there was hurt lurking on the surface. “You must be thinking that you’re a good pretender, Hilmer. But you are not. You cannot fool me.”

“What you want me to do, then?” he asked, chest heaving. He had lost a lot of people he valued so much in exchange for his daughter. Losing Avery was just another, something he wouldn’t regret. “I won’t give up my daughter just to marry a lady.”

“And I told you many times,” she argued, voice on the verge of breaking, “that you do not have to do that. I love Sanne. I love that little girl like she was my own! You just have to stand for me. To fight for us.”

It was against the law, every people of Barren knew that. Their tribe had a different culture. Chieftain’s daughters could marry a common man as they wish, could marry a prince or an official or even a warrior just as long as they bore no children from another maiden. The blacksmith honor that tradition, as well as everyone in their tribe.

If you vowed yourself to someone, you vowed to be with them even in the afterlife.

Since the day Sanne came to his life, he made a promise to protect her, to take care of her, and fight for her. He knew right then that he could never marry a woman he desired but it didn’t bother him that time. He actually didn’t care.

But things change.

He fell in love with Avery for the second time. He fell in love again without realizing it. And choosing side was the greatest thing he hated the most.

“I fight for you once, you remember?” Hilmer said after a while, the memory playing in his head like an uninvited ghost. “Before I had that little girl, before I even knew that you’re the chief’s daughter, I risk myself fighting for your love. And you turn your back.”

“But we don’t know any better.” Her forehead creased, tears building in her kind eyes. She hugged herself as if she’d been accused and Hilmer wanted nothing but to wrapped her in his arms to make the hurt go away. “We were both young and careless. Now is different and you know that!”

“If I were to fight for us, Avery, I have to give up my daughter. I have to let her go. She will have to be adopted to another house or another tribe, away from us. Or knowing your father, he will have her killed if you insist marrying a man who already have a daughter.”

Avery’s mouth hung open, the absurdity of his imagination made her furious. “You know I won’t let that happen!”

Hilmer raised his eyebrow. “And you think your father will let her be?”

She didn’t answer. Her father was the chief of the Barren tribe, and an ambitious man. She honestly didn’t know what her father was capable of doing. She just let her tears ran down, her quiet sobs barely escaping her. She hated arguing with him.

“I love you,” he whispered, voice broken, his vacant eyes now full of grief, as if mourning an unreachable love. He needed to let her go. And doing so would kill a part of him. He knew that long before they started their secret love. They had reached an end, facing a crossroad, where one would have to walk the other way. “But I love that little girl even more.”