The Fire Maiden's Desire

  Morven’s Legacy

  Book 1

  The Fire Maiden's Desire

  Written By: Steven Sterup Jr.

  Copyright 2017 Steven Sterup Jr.

  Legal Disclaimer - This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Special thanks to all the people that helped with this book

  My daughter Brittany Szydelko for her help with the cover art.

  My wife Tammy for her help with pretty much every step of making this book.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Rachel walked across the market square in Dahring, eyeing everyone around her. She was average height for a woman so peering over the men milling around wasn’t really possible. She slid between two very large, heavy men who smelled like ale and sweat. They seemed like farmers, kind enough but not people she could trust. Farmers were broke in this kingdom, very broke, and even a kindly man with a family would turn her in for the bounty on her head.

  The dirt covering her face did a good job of hiding beautiful features and her brown, hooded cloak protected her from prying eyes. Unless the person was very close they would never notice she was the attractive woman who matched the wanted poster. She had her fiery red hair stuffed up into a cap so anyone at a distance might mistake her for a farmer or traveler. On closer inspection it would be easy to tell, because even though she wore men’s pants, she was definitely not a man. She couldn’t wear a man’s shirt, not unless it was very large on her. Her chest just wouldn’t fit.

  She pushed behind a tall, thin man who reeked of pigs and then noticed an attractive young man arguing with one of the shop keepers. It was Jack Craylet, her partner and friend. He was at least a head taller than her and well built. She wouldn’t call him burly but his muscular frame was very appealing. If it wasn’t for her situation she might even be bold enough to call him handsome.

  “You can’t possibly charge that much for a trinket like that,” Jack said to the shop keeper while he quickly pocketed a watch from the other side of the table.

  Rachel snickered as she made her way through the crowd. Jack was a talented thief. Jack and Rachel had been partners for over a year now and although she knew he was an adept thief, even she was surprised at how easily he had stolen the watch. Her part of the deal was hunting for free food and cooking it. Even though she knew Jack thought he was getting the better end of the deal, she was not so sure. It was true that he was a poor cook and an even worse hunter but Rachel knew the last year would have been a lot tougher without him by her side.

  “I tell you what. I’ll trade you this genuine bear tooth necklace created by the forest folk for that ring,” Jack said with a smile.

  The merchant eyed him cautiously while glancing at the necklace.

  Jack stuck out his hand.

  “Name’s Jack,” he said while his other hand lifted a necklace from the table and quickly hid it in his pocket with the watch.

  “Ok, Jack, it’s a deal,” the merchant said and swapped the bear tooth necklace for the ring Jack had been eyeing.

  Not only was he a thief but a decent conman as well. Rachel could tell, even from this distance, that the teeth were canine. Jack must have taken the teeth from the wolf skull they had found earlier that week. Jack was always running some kind of scam or game when they stopped at a town.

  Rachel bumped into a burly man and looked at the ground quickly while she spoke. She recognized the boots right away. He was one of the king’s soldiers. This man would recognize her if she gave him enough time. She needed to get out of there and fast.

  “Sorry, sir, t’was not watchin were I’s a goin,” Rachel said trying desperately to come off as a farmer’s wife or daughter.

  “Keep moving,” he snapped and pushed her. She fell into a puddle of mud and he laughed loudly while he rejoined the other soldiers he was with.

  Rachel looked up from the mud puddle with a self-satisfied smile. She blew the wisp of red hair out of her face while she reveled in her deception. She got up, not even bothering to remove the mud, it added to her disguise quite nicely.

  When she was on her feet she noticed Jack was gone and the merchant was yelling for the guards. She normally abhorred stealing but this merchant was rich compared to all the others around him. She knew his kind very well. The jewelry he had for sale had been stolen from the slaves he sold. She recognized the bracelet he wore, a slaver’s band, used to brand new slaves. It was steel with a circular insignia on it. If anyone deserved to be robbed, it was him. She rarely approved of Jack stealing but for this man she would make an exception.

  Rachel quickly ducked into a rundown shop. No guards would accidently stumble in here, not unless they figured out who she really was. No king’s soldier would be caught in a seers hut. The seers were often thought to be fakes and thieves but Rachel had discovered that roughly half of them were legitimate seers of the future. They couldn’t get specific but they could, with a certain amount of accuracy, reveal what was coming.

  Rachel fished through her pockets and pulled out her last two silvers. Jack had poor luck lately and she hadn’t found anyone interested in animal pelts for nearly two months. Why hadn’t she taken more money when she ran away eight years ago? Honestly, it was a silly question, she was thinner and weaker then. At eighteen she had carried as much as her thin body had allowed. Since then she’d put on quite a bit of muscle. Not only had she gotten stronger but she had finally grown into womanhood. Her hips had widened and, to her dismay, she had inherited her mother’s large chest. This made hiding more difficult and caused her to be the target of many obscene propositions.

  Rachel put one coin on the counter across from the white haired, wrinkled woman. The woman had one blind eye and all her teeth were missing. She looked the part of a seer, now to see if she really had the gift.

  “It’s two, my child,” she said softly as she reached for the first. Rachel tossed her last silver on the counter and placed her hands face up in front of her.

  “I see you have done this before,” the old woman said with a toothless smile.

  Rachel nodded and didn’t say a word. She didn’t want to give away her secret, not until she was sure this one wasn’t fake. This woman seemed legitimate enough. At least, she wasn’t spouting nonsense about her true love or the man of her dreams yet. Most of the fake ones did that.

  The old woman looked into Rachel’s green eyes and didn’t grab her hands. This was strange for a seer, unless this one really had the gift.

  “You’re lost, my child. So lost,” the old woman sighed.

  What did she mean lost? Rachel had never heard that one before. Was it a rouse to get more money? She didn’t feel lost.

  The old woman grabbed Rachel’s hands and gasped loudly as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Rachel had seen this trick before. She almost laughed. If this woman was fake Rachel would grab her coins and be out of there before the guards could be called. She wasn’t wasting her last two silver on a fake.

  “Your future is cloudy and uncertain,” the woman started and fear swept over her face.

/>   This was also a trick that all the fake ones used. Be vague and never give the customer a clear sense of anything too definite. Spout nonsense about a hidden love just around the corner or riches that could be had if you bought a map. The map was usually sold somewhere in the town by the fake seer’s accomplice.

  “Someone seeks you,” the old woman continued then was quiet again as the fear grew deeper.

  Maybe this one wasn’t a fake.

  “He wishes…he wants…NO!” The woman’s eyes shot open and she released Rachel’s hands then pushed the two silver coins back at her. “I don’t want to see this.”

  “Please,” Rachel begged. This one was real! Only the real ones would have this kind of reaction. Her future was cursed and this woman had seen it. “I need to know if I changed it yet. Please help me.”

  The old woman looked at Rachel with kindness. She grabbed Rachel’s hands and started again.

  “You…you have changed it. It is not definite but you have pushed things in the right direction.” The old woman stared off into the distance not seeing Rachel at all.

  “Will I still have the demon child?” Rachel asked nearly in tears. “Please! I need to know!”

  “You have altered the path but the outcome is still uncertain. You will give rise to the devil himself if you fail to choose correctly.” The woman paused and fear shot across her face then a calmness that Rachel couldn’t ignore. This one was different than all the rest she’d seen, even the ones with the gift didn’t act like this.

  “What is it?! What do you see?!” Rachel begged.

  “There is a man. He is near now,” the woman started.

  Oh great. Not this again. The mysterious man who walks the path. How the hell was one man going to change anything? What was more, how would she find this one man?

  The old woman focused on Rachel with her good eye and released her hands.

  “The man walks the right path. If you follow him you will be saved. He will show you which way to go. Do not be afraid to follow him.” The old woman grabbed the two coins and stared at them curiously.

  “Yes, the man on the path. Is he supposed to be my true love or something?” Rachel laughed condescendingly. She had never met a man worth caring about. Not a single man she’d ever met while running from her curse, except for Jack, but Jack was complicated to say the least. All the other men wanted her to either give birth to the demon or lay down for a quick roll in the hay, which would only lead back to option one. Only Jack treated her as more than a vessel or conquest. Jack was very complicated and so were her feelings for him.

  “That is uncertain, child. I just know he will lead you down the only path that keeps you away from the demon. His intentions are elusive but his heart is true. In the end he will be willing to give up everything to save you from the demon. He has already given up much for you but he must be willing to give more, more than he ever thought possible.” She paused then tossed the coins on the counter. “Only then will you really know it is him. Let him give up everything for you. It will bring you joy.”

  “Don’t you want your coin?” Rachel asked. This old woman was worth the two silver. She’d given out more information than Rachel had received in a very long time.

  “You will need them to find him.” The woman turned away and started toward the back room holding her head. This seer was one of the best and most informative that Rachel had ever met. This woman could actually see what was ahead of her.

  “I don’t understand? Do I need to pay him?” Rachel looked on as the woman didn’t stop and then she was gone behind the curtain. “How will someone dying give me joy?”

  The woman didn’t return or even reply so Rachel grabbed the two coins and shoved them in her pocket. She headed out of the hut and looked down as she walked. She was so close now, she couldn’t afford to get caught.

  Now she was even more confused. At least she had changed her path. The man was near, whoever he was, but what had he already given up? This man could save her by giving up his life. That settled that. He couldn’t be her true love. You can’t love a dead man.

  Rachel thought about this phrase and laughed. True love? She’d seen love and she wanted no part in it. Your true love usually ended up in a brothel, screwing a whore after, at most, two years of marriage. She’d seen many true loves get their asses handed to them by their wife’s brother, cousin, father or whoever was looking out for her. If that was true love she’d stick with loneliness any day.

  To be fair she wasn’t lonely. She had Jack, her best friend and partner. He was a quirky man who always had a joke and a smile for her no matter how depressed or upset she got. If only she wasn’t cursed. Maybe things could be different with Jack. He did make her happy. Her thoughts were interrupted as Jack went sprinting by. He looked at her and mouthed the word ‘Help’ as he ran by but she couldn’t help. Not in a town like this. Jack was fast, he could outrun the guards. She’d meet him at their camp after he’d lost them. She had complete faith in Jack’s abilities, his cry for help was more for show and she knew it. Maybe he was trying to make her laugh, maybe he was just being silly. Either way, Jack would be there at the camp just like he always was.

  She continued on toward the camp slowly, with her head down, as she thought more about this strange new prediction. She needed to keep an eye out for someone wanting two silvers. Some man that could lead her down the path. She was not about to give birth to a demon that would destroy the world. Not that she’d be around to see it. Giving birth to the demon would kill her. Every reputable seer had said something similar, all except this last one. Rachel smiled just thinking about the new prediction. She had changed her path, not much, but enough that the man was near.

  The original prediction, the one she’d gotten when she was eighteen, was almost as cryptic. The attractive, dark haired woman had told her ‘Find the man, the one willing to give up everything for you. If you do not you will give rise to the demon and your life will be forfeit.’ She remembered the words as if she’d written them down. That was the day she realized that she wasn’t safe at home. She left the next morning, hoping to find a seer with more details and started her search for ‘the man’.

  After walking another few miles, deep in thought, revisiting the same questions over and over again, she saw the camp fire. Jack was safe, just as she’d assumed. She could see his outline pacing around the fire. When she got closer Jack stopped and yelled.

  “Who’s there?!” he cried out.

  “It’s me you jackass! If I was a guard you would have given yourself away!” she yelled back.

  “Shit! Why do I always fall for that?” he asked rhetorically. She smiled as she got close enough to see the smirk on his face. He’d known it was her. He was a doofus and sometimes he really was a jackass but he wasn’t stupid. Somehow he knew the bad mood she was in and that had been his attempt to cheer her up. Much like asking for help when he really didn’t need it, this was for show.

  “So?” she asked as she got closer to the fire. It was getting pretty cold out. The warmth of the fire felt good. The mud had soaked her pants and her legs were freezing.

  “So?” he asked back, looking silly.

  “What did you get? That slaver had a lot of good stuff. I could see it from where I was,” she explained.

  “Umm…that’s the bad news,” he cringed.

  “You got nothing?” Rachel asked, exasperated. How had he lost all the stuff he’d stolen? She saw him steal two pieces while she was close by. How could he have come away with nothing?

  “If you’d be my straight man…err woman. This would go a lot better. You could show a little skin and the dude would drool while I cleaned him out.” Jack smiled, clearly avoiding her question.

  “So, you got nothing,” Rachel said dejectedly as she plopped down on the ground near the fire.

  “I’m sorry. The guards came out of nowhere. They grabbed my jacket which…” he held out his arms and Rachel noticed that his jacket was gone.

 
“They got your jacket…with all the stuff in it,” she replied half-heartedly. “And you know why I can’t be your straight woman.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that stupid bounty.” Jack paced back and forth then stared across the fire at her. His dull grey eyes pierced through her. She hated it when he looked at her like that. She knew exactly why it disturbed her so much and she knew the question he was thinking of asking. If only things were different, but they weren’t.

  “I’m not going to tell you,” she replied and her smile started to return. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep it away. Jack just had that effect on her.

  “Did you kill someone?” Jack asked with a smirk. He knew that she would never tell him but he wasn’t really asking. It was his way of teasing her. She was in a bad mood and he felt it was his responsibility to fix it.

  “It’s me. Do you think I’d kill someone?” She paused and noticed the impatient look on his face coupled with the silly smile. “Someone who didn’t deserve it?”