#daramethe

“There is something to be said for knowing you cannot possibly be worse than your predecessor.”

Jason looked up from his small workstation as his wife walked in. Dara was gowned in white today, which set off her milky skin and raven-black hair strikingly. A small, glittering tiara was pinned into her hair, and she looked both frustrated, and exhausted.

“You’re doing a good job,” he offered, dropping a cloth over his current project before she could see it, and came cover to wrap her in his arms. She sighed and pressed her face into his shoulder as the tension slowly faded out of her small body. “I hear it down in the forges, and at the market. The people don’t know what to make of you yet, but they’re tentatively hopeful.”

“The nobles are not,” Dara mumbled as she tried to burrow her way under his shirt. “I may have ot kill some of them. I don’t want to.”

“Why will you have to kill them?” Jason asked as he ushered his wife towards their bathing chambers. After a month in the castle, they were starting to get used to the luxuries that surrounded them, but the bathes were something special. “Turn around. I’ll undo your gown.”

She turned and lifted her hair out of the way so he could unlace her gown and ease it off before going for the tight-laced corset under it. “I think they are planning a coup.”

“That might be trouble.”

“Not if I cook one or two of them in their own armor in the middle of court.”

Dara had gotten significantly more bloodthirsty since they took the castle. Jason would worry, but to be fair, he sort of wanted to cook them in their own armor too. Most of the nobles were accustomed to doing whatever they wanted, and generally that wasn’t good for the common folk.

“Let’s try talking to them first,” he offered instead, and Dara sighed in relief when the corset finally came off. “You think they’re bad, or just misguided?”

“One of them told me to kill you, because I needed a noble husband for the people to accept me as queen.”

No wonder she was so angry. The quickest way to get Dara’s temper going was to threaten her husband. Jason was both amused, and somewhat annoyed.

“They know we’ve been married for nearly ten years, right?”

“Apparently marriage means something different to the nobility,” she said dryly, and he nudged her forward again.

The bathes were a dream that almost made up for the nobles and their stupidity, and the one in the royal suite was spectacular. As it turned out, the castle was built on natural hotsprings, and some clever engineer had designed the castle with water flowing through copper pipes in the walls. That water formed an ever-warm, clean pool in a polished-stone tub, and drained slowly through another series of pipes.

“Go on,” Jason told his wife, only a little distracted by her nakedness. Her relieved smile was enough to keep him on task, and he stepped back through the door as she sank to her neck in hot water with a blissful sigh.

He had planned for tonight. Corryn tipped him off that the council was being difficult, and after all, he had a promise to keep.

When he returned to the bathing room, it was with a bowl of fresh strawberries in one hand, and a bowl of beaten cream in the other.

“What-“ Dara sat up to look at him, puzzled but smiling. “Jason, what is that?”

“I promised,” he said, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “That when we took this castle, I would find you a bath, and feed you berries.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she protested incredulously, and he just proffered a berry towards her with absolute seriousness. “Husband-“

“Wife,” he told her seriously, laughter barely under control. “You don’t think I would break a promise to you, do you?”

“No, never,” she said, and let him feed her the berry. “You make it hard to replace you with a noble windbag.”

“Part of my devious plan.” Jason grinned and offered her another berry. “My wife is the Lightning Witch, and if I want to feet her berries while she washes off a bad day, I’m gonna do that. Those nobles really don’t know what they’re about, do they?”

“They don’t,” Dara said, and leaned up to kiss him, tasting of strawberries and cream. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jason said, and kissed her, and then the tip of her nose. She scrunched up her face and giggled, but let him feed her another berry. “Besides, I’m supposed to be holding back the darkness, and all that stupidness. If you throw me over for some nobleman, how can I do that?”

“It is prophesy,” Dara agreed, still giggling. “Are you getting in with me? You also promised that, if it was big enough, and it is.”

“Well,” Jason said, and set the bowls where she could reach them herself before standing to undress. “If the Lightning Witch commands.”

Dara smiled and lightning crackled across her fingertips when she beckoned him. “She does.”

+++

The Lightning Witch:

Static Charge

First Strike

Black Lightning on the Horizon

Storm Breaking

Copper Pipes

Crash Down

Husband to the Queen

When the Wolf Star Rises

+++

 The gates of the castle rose up huge in front of them, and Jason tried to wrap his mind around the path that brought them to this moment.

The moment that turned his sweet witch of a wife into the terrible Lightning Witch that was so dreaded.

“we don’t have the resources for a siege.”

Corryn was at his side as always, ready to advise him and, more importantly, Daramethe.

After all, she was the reason they stood before the gates of the Golden City, capitol of their kingdom and home to the king who, only weeks earlier, tried to have them killed for the crime of existing.

“we don’t need to hold a siege,” Dara said in the terrible, cold voice that sent a shiver down Jason’s spine. Lightning crackled over her hands and down her cascade of hair. “Stand back.”

Corryn’s men, called up from his duchy and those of his allies, scattered away as the hair rose on their arms and the blue sky clouded over.

Jason, didn’t move, even when Corryn tugged at him.

He was the Hammer of the Sun, and more importantly, he refused to believe that his Dara would ever allow her magic to harm him.

Thunder roared overhead as Dara lifted her hands to the sky, and a bold blasted down into her. The hard dirt under her feet fused into glass, and she turned the force of nature against the barred gates. Metal liquified as lightning blasted along it, and the wood exploded to fall in burning chunks around them.

The wall of men behind the gate caught the next blast, and purple sparks leapt from metal breastplate to metal breastplate and left glowing almost-trails behind them.

No one ever thought about how much metal there really was on an average soldier.

Well, Jason did, but he was a blacksmith. It was his job to think about metal.

Dara was the wife of a blacksmith, and she thought about it too.

Lightning crashed down from the sky over and over as their small, determined army pressed forward with their Witch at the head. They were good fighters to a man, and there was no motivation like seeing their leader blast through gates that had held against countless armies before theirs.

Jason stood beside her through every bolt, used to the heat and armored in absolute trust for his beloved wife. When one enemy soldier got brave enough to shoot at them, he lifted his shield and felt the bolt bury itself deep in the wood.

Daramethe saw it too, and her scram of rage was almost lost in the thunder of a nearly-black bolt that vaporized the unlucky archer.

Jason bent to kiss her because battle or no, he would be at her side until they died. She managed a tremulous smile that told him there would be nightmares to weather tonight.

That was alright. They weren’t the first.

“Move forward!” Corryn bellowed, a capable commander and one of the few Jason really trusted. “To the castle!”

Troops cheered around them and Jason just fought to stay close to his wife. Dara was starting to get tired, and it would be easy to lose her in the crowd. Battle  mages trained for war, but Dara hadn’t been anything but a green-witch until that fateful Second Strike that woke her real power.

“Are you alright?” Jason yelled over the cheer, and got an arm around Dara’s shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully and twined their fingers together like she never wanted to let go. “Dara?”

“Ready to be done,” she admitted when he pulled her into a protected doorway. The fighting could go on without them for a minute. Corryn saw them pull aside and got their small command group to form a protective circle. After all, if Daramethe went down, so did their best chances at victory. “Jason, I’m so tired.”

“I know,” Jason murmured and kissed her tenderly. “Just a little longer. When we take the castle, I’ll find you a hot bath and feed you berries until sundown.”

“You say the sweetest things,” she teased back, smiling for real despite herself. The lightning took a lot out of her, and he was doing his best to keep her spirits up. “I’ve never had a bath in a real copper tub before.”

“Maybe they’ll even have a stone one big enough for us both,” Jason suggested, and peppered her face with kisses. “Ready to go find that bath?”

“Show me the way,” she replied and straightened. Jason felt a welling of pride fill his chest at her determined face. “The time has come to make this kingdom a good place to live

+++

The Lightning Witch:

Static Charge

First Strike

Black Lightning on the Horizon

Storm Breaking

Crash Down

Husband to the Queen

Jason cursed as he burned himself on the hot iron he was supposed to be turning into nails.

In his defense, Daramethe just walked past, he was seventeen, and she was beautiful.

Not that a journeyman mage had any use for an apprentice blacksmith, but he could dream, and dream he did. It wasn’t like she would ever notice him anyway. She deserved a lord, or a mastermage. Someone special.

He rescued his iron bar from the floor and shoved it back into the forge with a sigh, and waited for it to heat up again.

Nails. The endless task of any apprentice. Even horseshoes would be better, but their town was too small to need that many, let alone the more complicated work that the

By the time the iron was hot, his focus was back where it belonged, and he resumed his work with only a little resentment.

“Excuse me? Your name is Jason, yes?”

Jason burned his fingers on his iron again and cursed even as it hit the floor with a clang.

When he turned, it was to see Daramethe watching him with a concerned expression on her pretty face. He felt his cheeks heat. Bad enough to burn himself, but in front of the pretty mage? He wished the ground would open up and swallow him. But she knew his name. He didn’t know she knew his name.

“Are you alright?” she asked and immediately set her basket aside so she could take his hand in both of hers. Blisters were raising on his reddened skin, and she hummed softly. “This is a nasty burn.” She was holding his hand! Maybe getting burned wasn’t so bad!

“It’s just part of the job,” Jason hurried to reassure her and tried to get his teenaged brain to work when faced by the young women he admired so much. “I’m a smith. Burns are expected. I mean, I don’t like them, but it’s alright.”

She smiled and looked up at him, face shrouded by her cascade of black hair. Her hands were very small compared to his and Jason was careful to keep his strength under control. He forgot himself sometimes, and the last thing he wanted was to hurt her.

“I could heal it,” she offered shyly, like she wasn’t sure how he would take it. “I know most people are afraid of magic, but it’s really a very small magic and you need your hands to do your work-“

“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” Jason cut her off gently, willing to do just about anything to keep her talking to him. “I mean, I might be used to it, but they still hurt.”

“Just so,” Daramethe murmured, and closed her eyes. Soft green light glowed around her fingertips and coolness soothed over Jason’s skin as she eased away the sting of his burns- both the new one, and, to his surprise, every other bump and bruise he had collected in the last week.

“You didn’t have to do all that,” he told her, taken aback, although pleased. “It was just bruises and bumps.”

“I… I didn’t mean to,” Dara looked up at him, suddenly nervous of his reaction. No need to wonder why. Magic was viewed with a great deal of suspicion, and the unexpected healing could get a very poor reaction from the wrong person. “You- your body takes magic very well. I mean- you’re easy to heal-“

Jason couldn’t help but laugh as she stumbled over herself and curled his fingers around hers. “Thank you.”

The quiet thanks stopped Daramethe’s stammering and brought that sweet, shy smile back to her lips. She had dimples when she smiled for real, and Jason was completely charmed by her. She was still holding his hand and he didn’t want her to let go.

“Could I- would you maybe-“ now he was stammering, but she was still smiling so it was alright. “Can I take you for a drink this evening? It would just be at the tavern, but I mean-“

“Yes,” it was her turn to cut off his stammering with a simple answer he never expected. Her eyes seemed very, very blue and cheeks were pink. “I would like that very much.”

She said yes.

She said yes!

Jason managed not to jump for joy, but he did smile brightly and ignored the way his fellow apprentices were laughing at them behind his back. It wasn’t like they were blind to the pretty apprentice mage, but they hadn’t gotten the nerve to talk to her, and he had.

Daramethe could see them too, and her smile dimmed when she heard the laughter.

“This… isn’t a joke, is it?” she asked hesitantly and Jason’s heart sank. “If it is, please just tell me.”

“it’s not a joke,” he told her quickly and stepped to block her view of the other apprentices. “It’s not a joke. I’ve been trying to get the courage to talk to you since you arrived and they’re assholes and you’re so beautiful-“

“Do you promise?” she asked carefully, intelligence bright in her eyes as she watched him, but her cheeks were pink again when she realized he had called her beautiful. “Jason…”

Jason wanted to take his hammer to whoever played such a cruel joke on her, but he didn’t think telling her that was the very best plan. Maybe it was. She might like the thought, even if he wasn’t able to actually do it.

“I will never lie to you,” he promised instead. “I understand if you don’t believe me, but I promise I really do want to take you for a drink tonight, and maybe every night after that if you’ll let me.”

Finally, finally her little smile came back, and she squeezed his hand gently. There was a faint buzz to her skin and Jason realized it must be her magic.

“Let’s start with tonight,” she murmured shyly, taken aback by his honesty. “But if we still like each other after tonight, maybe.”

“Maybe is all I ask,” he told her, and reluctantly let go of her hand. “Now, you came over for a reason, and I don’t think it was to see me burn myself.”

“It wasn’t,” Daramethe straightened, more confident now that they were on safer ground. “I need iron shavings, and a dozen nails.”

“Does it matter how big they are?” he questioned, and went for the nails he made only minutes before. Iron shavings were easy, the forge always had a wealth of shavings waiting to be melted down into bar-stock.

“No, as long as the head is large enough to scribe a rune.”

He handed her one of the nails for her to look over, and collected eleven more when she nodded her approval. “How much of the shavings do you need?”

She produced a small glass jar and proffered it even as she tucked the nails into her basket. Jason filled it quickly and handed it back to her. “Perfect, thank you!”

“Of course,” he said cheerfully and leaned against his anvil. “Coin or trade?”

“Trade,” Daramethe replied, and pulled several smaller jars out of her basket. “This is burn ointment. I thought it might be helpful before, but now I know for sure.”

“You’re right,” he agreed, and accepted the trade willingly. If it was a bigger transaction, he might have called his mastersmith to oversee, but any apprentice could sell nails. “Let me know if you need more; we’re always making nails.”

“It’s like burn ointment for mages,” Daramethe giggled as she settled her basket over her arm. “Apprentice-work is always in demand, even after you’re done being an apprentice.”

“Always,” Jason agreed wryly. “Let me know if you need nails with bigger heads. It’s easy.”

“I’ll do just that,” she said and hesitated before standing on her toes to kiss his cheek, blushing furiously. “I will see you tonight?”

“Tonight,” he promised, one hand going to where she kissed him even as a stupid smile spread across his lips. “I’ll be there at sundown.”

“Sundown it is,” she beamed, and then she was gone, off on her other errands. Jason watched her go for a long minute, and turned back to his work, far to smug to be angry when the other apprentices immediately began teasing him.

Jason ignored them even as he shoved his iron back in the forge and started to whistle.

She kissed him.

Maybe he had a shot after all.

+++

The Lightning Witch

First Strike

Black Lightning on the Horizon

Crash Down

Husband to the Queen

When the Wolf Star Rises

+++

"Happy birthday, beloved."

Jason  opened his eyes to see his wife- beautiful and sleep-rumpled with her  cascade of black hair fluffing wildly out of its' braid.

She didn't look much like Daramithe the Lightning Witch- feared far and wide for her incredible power and ruler of the land.

Admittedly,  Jason didn't see much of The Lightning Witch. He married Dara, the  pretty apprentice mage, new to town and shy, who accepted clumsy  courting gifts from an apprentice blacksmith when they were both too  young to know better.

She smiled down at him and he returned it, and reached up to cup her cheek tenderly.

"You know, I forget every year," he replied softly, and leaned up to kiss her. "I never know how you keep track."

"At  the start of Summer, when the moon and the wolf-star rise at the same  time," she told him fondly. As a sorceress, she kept careful track of  the stars. "Rise, darling. The people are eager for the festival."

"If  it's my birthday, I don't have to go anywhere," Jason laughed back and  pulled her back into their pile of blankets. She shrieked and struggled  playfully, but without magic, he was far stronger than she, and  determined to linger in bed. "The party can't start until we say,  right?"

"I believe the party started last night when I declared  today a feast-day," Dara giggled back when they were buried in blankets  again. "If the drunken singing I heard last night is any indication."

Jason  snickered. "So much for getting anything out of my apprentices today,"  he said mildly, and got to work undoing her braid (so long it bushed the  floor, even braided tight) despite her noise of amused protest. "What  do you have planned?"

"A tournament of sword and lance and bow,  with games of skill and craft before and after," she replied cheerfully.  Her silk nightgown slipped down her shoulder when she sat up, and he  was momentarily distracted. "The usual festival games, and dancing, and a  grand feast tonight out in the gardens."

Jason pressed a kiss to  her bared shoulder and got up himself, hiding a smile. It was far too  grand for a simple blacksmith, but he was husband to the Lightning  Witch, and she liked to spoil him when she got the rare chance.

"I  don't suppose I could convince my wife to save me a dance?" He said  hopefully, and dug in his clothing chest for whatever was clean.

"I  will ask her," Dara told him slyly, a wave of her hand producing a gown  for the day- in his favorite shade of deep, shimmering forge-red- that  fit her slender form to a stitch. "But considering the occasion, I  believe your chances are quite good."

Dressed in the plain linen  he preferred (despite her repeated attempts to get him into something  fancier) Jason sat at his desk to watch his sorceress finish getting  ready. Slippers matching the dress appeared by magic, and she added  twisting gold and ruby jewelry he made for her.

"You look  beautiful," he told her when she was finished, although he preferred  that soft, sleepy-eyed woman he woke up with to the Feared Sorceress  Queen. "Shall we go kick off the festivities?"

"We shall, my  husband," she replied regally, but with a twinkle in her eye. "And if  any more silly prophets try to carry you off, I may even wait until  tomorrow to deal with them!"

Jason laughed and kissed her. "They  will never tear me from your side," he promised. "And who knows, maybe  the next one will look around and see that the people are already happy!"

 +++

First Strike

Black Lightning on the Horizon

Crash Down

Husband to the Queen

+++

The man was tall and strongly built, but old. He carried a heavy, beautifully carved staff and wore a jaunty cap. Charms jingled at his belt.

“No,” Jason said, pointing a finger at him warningly before the man could open his mouth. “I am not The Chosen One, the Holy Warrior, the Bringer of Light, or whatever else you’re trying to sell!”

The man paused, staring. He seemed taken aback. 

“I- ah,” he hummed, eyeing the heavy blacksmith’s hammer in Jason’s hand with new caution. Jason stared at him for another minute and went back to his task- making nails for the Gora’s new barn. “It was to be the Chosen of Aket-Ra, actually.”

“I’m not that either,” Jason said pointedly and threw his next nail into the bucket of water a little harder than he really had to. The hiss startled the old man. 

He was probably a wizard.

Jason didn't care.

The last one was a prophet. 

“But it’s your-“

“If you say destiny, you’re going in the forge,” Jason pointed at the huge, blazing forge that served him and five other smiths. “I have a good life. I love my wife, who will definitely kill you if she catches you here- she crucified the last one- and I am not going to help you ’restore justice’ or whatever you think I ought to do.”

“You are the Chosen One!” The wizard protested. He was beginning to sound whiny and Jason pondered the difficulty of actually pushing him into the forge. “You can't refuse!”

“Sure I can,” Jason told him bluntly. “I’m not betraying my wife and home.”

The wizard raised his staff- now glowing, Jason noted absently. That was a bad idea, and the pendant around his own neck shimmered brightly with black fire as a shield erupted around him. 

“Don't say I didn't warn you,” he sighed, and snapped off another nail with a sharp tap of his hammer. The other smiths- all too used to this sort of thing- ignored the drama. “You’re the fifth one in as many years, and she’s starting to get annoyed about it.”

The wizard stared at him as the air around them suddenly became charged with magic. Black lightning cracked down out of the cloudless sky, leaving a purple-gowned woman in its place. Her black hair was so long it trailed behind her when she walked, and her lovely face was twisted with rage. 

Jason smiled at her, and then at the wizard, who was growing pale very quickly as the furious sorceress advanced on him. “Wizard- I never did catch your name did I?- be known to Darameithe, The Lightning Witch. My wife.”

 +++

First Strike

Black Lightning on the Horizon

Crash Down

+++