Chapter 1: The Naming
"Durango,you're going and that's final!" He heard as the door slammed shut on his guilded bedroom. The tapestries quivered from the shock. He sighed. Why would his mother force him to marry someone he didn't even like? Serabi's piercing green and golden flecked eyes always seemed to hypnotize him. He would always find himself losing their arguments and this often made him brood long into the night.
He shook his medium length sandy blonde hair in frustration. Standing up, he looked out his window. He reached around his shoulder to grab his shirt from the bed. Apart from his soft looks Durango gave the air that he knew exactly what he was doing and the best way to do it which made him quite a tough one to argue with. This was one reason he had found it absolutely baffling that his mother and fiance could resist his remarks. With women he always seemed to have the upper hand and an edge with his good looks and polite behavior. "Yet, they don't pay me no mind", Durango pondered. " I cannot be made to visit tonight. I won't do it." With that, Durango proceeded to undress and change into a rather inconspicuos outfit.
* * *
"Ladies, Merchant Gordai has the jewels that fit!"
"Fresh fish and vegetables!"
"How about an apple scented candle?"
"Jasmine perfume here!"
The noise was deafening and Durango liked it. He coal grey eyes swept the street for an easy picking but instead caught sight of a cloak swirling around a dark street corner. Intrigued and mesmerized, Durango nimbly leaped over a flower stand and eased into a comfortable jog all the way to the alley. Durango closed his eyes and felt with his mind around the corner. He probed the darkness with his thoughts and found something waiting and watching with a rather dark look about it. Durango stepped around the corner and when he was sure the thing was watching he flashed his eyes trying to lock the creature in a stare but was taken aback by the power of the eyes before him. They were like none he had ever expierienced before this day. They were dead. No life was looking out of these eyes. It was more of a harnessed cold power that could break loose if it wanted.
The man stood and walked up to Durango as sure and strong as anything that can be imagined. Color drained from Durango's face as the figure stretched out his gloved hand. Ragged hair struggled from it's bindings as if this power were killing it and blood caked his chest. The creature opened its mouth and moaned. Durango snapped and grasped the hand and drove his eyes deeper into the creature's soul trying to find a part of a man in there somewhere. He searched and searched and when he found that one part of this creature who was once a man he dragged it to the surface with as much force as he could muster.
A light flickered in the man's eyes as the memory- for Durango was sure that was what it was- came to life. The man covered his face and howled a howl that curdled Durango's blood. The man fell to his knees and his cloak billowed around him as he sobbed and moaned. Durango collapsed beside him though not from greif but from exhaustion. He had no idea his seeming ability to control thoughts had this power. He had saved a man from becoming a shell for life. Just a place to hide power and whose only mission was to serve his master to the death.
Hands probed Durango's side and rolled him over. The man's tear streaked face held his eyes for a moment and everything went black.
* * *
Meanwhile as Durango slept, the unknown man picked Durango up and carried him to the nearest inn. It was a cozy place with a thatched roof and a very plump and jolly owner who fussed over Durango as if he were her own son. "What a handsome boy," she would comment regularly. "In my day, I was a fine young lady myself." The man soon tired of hearing this phrase and attempted to talk to her.
"Madame, we kindly thank you for your generous hospitality. I will pay for your troubles of course,"the man concluded.
"Oh, well if you insist", she said quite merrily. "I really have no objection to your spendin' the night. Your quite a very noble bit of folk and I'd enjoy ya'll stayin' the night. I'm sure your son would love to meet my fair Emily. She and him would get along quite well." Her eyes bounced and twinkled all the while as if she were bringing the best of news to a couple of lonely travelers. "Oh, he's awake! I'd better go start dinner if we're to eat."
Durango sat up drowsily as his uninvited companion jumped up and bowed. "I owe you my life ,good man. And will do you great honor", the man stated breathlessly. Durango rewarded his hard work with only a blank stare. Eventually, recognition lit his eyes and he leaped from the pallet that had been laid on the floor. As he sprang toward his cap, the man clasped his arm.
"Sir", the man pleaded,"Your too tired. Stay and rest awhile." Durango noticed the hurt in the man's eyes and oblidgingly plopped down on a stool.
"I can't stay",Durango muttered.
"I know", the man said. "You are free to leave tomorrow morning. You really should rest."
"Who are you'", Durango probed.
"I don't know", the man pondered awhile. His eyes were a deep black and seem to match rather well with his black leather vest, trousers, and cape. His hair seem fuller now and was the deepest gray with an almost silver sheen on it. Absently, the man took a guilded comb from a fold in his clothing. The comb was studded with emeralds, diamonds, saphires, and amethyst in a mesmerizing butterfly pattern. As he ran it through his hair his face lit up."My last master called me Mitti. A rather strange name don't you think? I remember him telling me it meant "the dead" and how well that suited me. What is your name?"
"Durango", he replied. Mitti wrinkled his nose. "What", Durango asked.
"In my language that means sheep dung. You should have a more heroic name. You did save me. How about", Mitti paused,"Kinnu? That means just! Yes!" Mitti clapped his hands together in enthusiasm and beamed a smile at Durango.
"Just", Durango pondered thoughtfully. "Yes! Kinnu it is!"
Mitti beamed proudly as if he had just named a new pet. The newly named Kinnu grinned a little foolishly at the elegant creature whose feelings changed like the wind and thought he had found a friend at last. A friend that would stay by his side and help him meet Destiny and greet him with an open mind. Mitti's foolish grin turned toward Kinnu and infected him. So, they sat laughing and joking until dinner came and they stumbled downstairs to have a dinner that would lighten their hearts.
"Good day ,sirs",a young girl timidly whispered as she saw them coming down.
Mitti turned that intoxicating smile on her but noticed her timidness and instead politely took her hand and kissed it gently. The girl's smile was emboldened a little by his polite actions. "Good evening ,maiden. This is my unusually shy friend Kinnu and what might your name be?",Mitti whispered.
"Emily", she murmurred and bowed her head."Your food is ready." She quietly led them to a table stocked with rice, trout, and brandy. "I hope you enjoy it." Then, she hurried out the door.
"Quite the lady charmer aren't we ,Mitti", Kinnu joked.
Mitti put on a puzzled face at this. "I don't know how I knew what to do. It seems there are many things I don't know I know." Mitti's strangely pointed ears perked up and he sniffed the air. "I know that scent. This way." Mitti wound his way through the kitchen into the pub and around many occupied people."There", he pointed to a young woman with green eyes dressed in a tunic to match with leather boots and vest. Beside her chair lay an ornately fashioned bow and quiver filled with golden feathered arrows. "There it's your turn." Mitti clapped Kinnu on the back and went to take a seat at a nearby table with a sly smile.
Kinnu looked around for an excuse but did not seem to find one. So, he gritted his teeth and strode forward to take a seat beside the girl. A hand slapped down on the seat. "This seat is reserved", she said.
"Oh, I'll only be a minute",Kinnu grinned.
"A minute and no more", she glanced.
Kinnu took the seat and ordered a brandy. Then he turned to the young woman and opened his mouth.
"DON'T talk to me",she stated.
"Why not?"
"I despise fools who think they can do anything",she spoke clearly.
"My lady, you are bit hostile to the boy. Don't you think? I should think his heart to be broken by now",Mitti winked at Kinnu and grinned.
"The boy is foolish. I should be going",she stood with her quiver and bow.
"Wait",Kinnu called and started weaving through the chairs and merry making guests. He burst through the door only to scramble around the corner of the inn and ram into the young woman. Her reflexs worked with ease as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and strung it to point it at Kinnu's throat. When recognization flitted across her face, she lowered her bow and stared an icy stare at him. She knelt by Kinnu's side and brushed her lips across his ear to whisper,"Who is your friend?"
Kinnu struggled within himself to resist her touch. Mitti's words struggled to burst free of his lips and it became near impossible to struggle on when a cold touch across his neck persuaded the girl to lift her head and gaze into the fierce eyes of an angry Mitti. "You have questions. Ask me",his lips moved but his voice was not his own cheerful voice. It was a deep cold voice that seemed to pierce the soul deeper than any dagger ever could.
"A Guardian? Or more", she laughed as gracefully as a brook's melody.
"What do you mean", Kinnu countered.
She glanced rather calmly down at the sword. Mitti lowered it but still held it at the ready. She calmly bent to gather her weapons though when she stood a fire raged in her eyes. "I'm going too",she stated and dared them to disagree.
"We aren't going anywhere",Kinnu said in a confused manner.
"I can see it in your eyes. I will meet you here when your quest begins",she demanded as she turned away and sauntered down the street. With a swirl she turned the corner and left a bewildered boy and a fierce man standing star struck.
"Well I guess we should head to my house",Kinnu sighed and bowed his head to the ground.
"Your home", Mitti brightened. "I can't wait to meet everybody!"
"I wouldn't call it home. It's just my house",Kinnu spat. "My family? Ha! Like they even care about me! All they want is a fortune from my wedding." Kinnu rubbed his head as they walked through the closing market square. People funneled towards their homes happily on their way to dinner with a loving family who cared about their day instead of their social status. Kinnu felt lost and homeless when he saw scenes like this and he dreamed. It couldn't be a hope because it wasn't possible. It could only be a dream. He wanted to be like these people and have a happy home to return to instead of a guilded cage.
"Idiot! A home is a house",Mitti radiantly replied.
"Yeah. I must be an idiot",Kinnu grinned back at his friend and let him delight in his discovery.
They spent the rest of the walk laughing and joking each trying to lift the others spirits. Kinnu went along with his friend as he joked and smiled but Mitti only appeared to be that way. Underneath his apparent happiness, he wondered where the voice that was and wasn't his had come from. It seemed as if someone he knew long ago had spoken that way too. Yet, his memory was only now beginning to return to him so he couldn't place it.
