Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn by Douglas R. Brown

mighty wave. The most legendary Epertasian artists had toiled their entire lives trying to create landscapes to rival such beauty, mostly without success.
    It couldn’t be a more fitting day for Princess Alina’s seventeenth birthday. She celebrated by arranging a picnic with her future husband, Blair. As they rode across the edge of the plains toward the forest of Concore, she stared at him. His face was soft and feminine, more suited for paintings than for war, and though he was the most stunningly pretty man she had ever known, that was not her reason for loving him. She loved him for his kind heart and gentle ways and her belief that he would make an honorable king for her people.
    They picked up their pace. The breeze strengthened, blowing her long, dark hair into her face. She imagined how she would one day lop it all off and if the people disliked a “boy’s haircut” on their princess, well, they would have to adjust.
    She dug her heels into her mare’s side and shouted, “Race you to the tree line,” as she pulled away. Even pushing his steed to its limit, he was unable to catch her as Alina’s mare Allusia was a fine mare, to be sure.
    “No fair,” he whined. “I have all of the supplies on my back.”
    She laughed off his complaints as she approached the forest edge. A farmer and his wife led a bare-backed donkey toward Thasula, no doubt for supplies. The couple bowed as she and Blair passed.
    “G’ morning your highness … Sir,” the old woman said. She tried to lift her head but her arthritic hunchback prevented her from looking at their faces for more than a glance.
    Alina replied, “Good morning, my friends,” and sat up a little straighter.
    Blair was soft and polite when he spoke. “Have a nice day in town,” he said.
    The farmers nodded and thanked him before continuing on.
    “Where do you want to have our picnic, my love?” Blair asked.
    “By the mountain falls,” she replied. She saw his confusion and added, “Near Shadows Peak?” He nodded that he remembered, though he probably didn’t.
    The two lovers traveled into the tree line and onto a path of matted leaves and broken twigs until they were deep within the forest. Much of the morning crept past before they saw sunlight again and the mountain pass ahead.
    “It can be rocky and dangerous for horses,” she said. “We should leave them here to graze.” Blair nodded his agreement and the two lovers dismounted.
    Alina caressed Allusia’s snout and whispered for her to stay close. Blair snatched her hand.
    The forest opened into vast mountains that appeared to touch the clouds. A narrow, man-made path in the rocky terrain surprised Alina and she caught a questioning glance from Blair.
    She snapped, “How was I supposed to know there would be a path? It wasn’t here before.”
    He grinned and asked if she wanted him to fetch the horses, to which she replied that she didn’t.
    The path led up a rocky climb. At its top, Blair stood with his mouth agape at the scenery.
    “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Alina asked with a smile even though her words were drowned by the roar of the rapids.
    The violent, rushing water thundered past, racing along the base of Shadows Peak before disappearing in the distance. Mating coppafish sprang into the air in a futile attempt to fight the current and return to their spawn.
    This is a fine place for a picnic, she said in her mind.
    That it is, my love, he answered back.
    He dug into his bag and retrieved a green-and-blue plaid blanket that he spread onto the rocks. He removed his sword from his waist and laid it at the bottom of the blanket to hold it down against the growing breeze. With his bag of picnic supplies at the head, he plopped down on the covered rock.
    She held a sandwich of bread and squashed grapes out for him, but he answered, No, thank you , in his mind and removed a leftover leg of lamb from his pack.
    After dinner, they cuddled while watching the suns float across the sky. The