The Salt Twins
Two hearts of salt… two souls of fire.
Two kindred spirits… twins in desire.
Born on the same day… two curses from above.
Lives forever entwined… a fate without love.
So they grew together, yet quickly torn apart.
A single dream, hope and pride, imbedded in each heart.
So hails the bringing of the Salt twins, destroyers of the green.
Taken from the scripture of Estial Tre’stor.
First servant of the High king of Ehtorias.
Wielder of the sanguine quill
Thirteenth age, twelfth year.
As with all things in this word, there had to be a beginning. The tall youth that that was licking a minor cut barely remembered his beginning. His current life was that of struggle, death and as always the salt. The only constant thing in his life was salt. Today marked his twenty third name day, one he celebrated by sacrificing iron to the salt god. No such religion existed in the known world, yet he and his kind had taken up to praying to one. No one knew why; sense of purpose perhaps? Or simply boredom. Lance simply did it because it felt right. There had to be more in life than a salt desert that did not end. He and his brethren were officially part of the southern frontier Guard division. They themselves called it the Endless watch. From their main base one could see for hundreds of leagues in all direction, only spotting the tops of the rock borders in the north. If you were wanted, sentenced to death, a bastard or simply one of the insane, you were quickly ‘recruited’ to the honorary post of Watcher. He himself was raised in this desolate place, ever since the age of twelve. As soon as he could hold a weapon, he was deemed ready for the post. He did not like the position, nor did he despise it. He simply knew only the endless watch. When the order came for him to return north, to the ever green fields, he was… hesitant. Suddenly deeply buried memories came back from his past. He did not know why, yet his gaze went towards the North West.
The kingdom of Ehtorias was simply put perfect. Its northern borders were completely isolated by mountains, to the west an torturous ocean and its south was a never ending salt desert. The only safe entry way in was through the east, one constantly guarded and fortified by the King’s army. Yet the kingdom was not known simply because it could be well defended, no, the kingdom was heaven itself. Never ending green fields, rich soils and the most exotic plants and wild game. Throughout the kingdoms life a single bloodline has been burdened by the task of safekeeping and protecting this perfect land. The Ehtorians, owning their name by their constant service and sacrifice to this perfect land. Their bloodline had always been strong, constantly having numerous daughters and sons to protect this land. It was the tenth age, one with little bloodshed so far. The current king Robertus Tre’es Ehtorian had been ruling for twenty years so far, keeping the eastern countries easily at by, ye keeping traffic and commerce constantly open. The green clerics prayed to the heavens and received word of their salvation, nine months a son was born. The young boy was everything the country represented, calm, trusting and fair. The priests quickly decided it would be the salvation of the country and the continuation of a perfect rule. Prince heir and future ruler of the Ehtorian dynasty, Birus sempervirens Ehtorian.
Yet the priests were plagued with dark and troubling visions five years later. A storm of red blood rained down on the lands while salt infected the earth, draining and corrupting the very soil itself. Nine months later was a black day. The current queen died while giving birth to twins. The delivery had been hard and lengthy, in the end she barely had enough life left to hold them in her arms before she was taken to the earth. The priests informed the king of the dark fate surrounding these children, even insisting that these children were darkness opposite he light. Struck with grief and love for his wife, the King disregarded the Priests, insisting that these children were his wife’s final gift to the world of men. So for twelve years these twins were raised as one of the noble blood, learning how to live and behave as proper noblemen and women. Yet unlike their perfect older brother, these children were different. Quick to anger and stuffed with pride, they sought out conflict like a magnet attracting iron. They fought against children from all stations, preferably a few years older. Yet, nothing excited them more when they fought against each other. Boy and girl, sacred twins, they fought each other like banshees. The only thing that kept each other from going at each other’s throats was a direct command of the king. The fires of passion were simply too strong for these children. No such gift nor burden should be placed upon a living person, let alone two. No one in the world would ever understand or fully love a being like this. At his final days of rule the king was becoming more and more alert of the nature of these twins. At their twelfth age he decided to protect his kingdom for the last time, signing a royal order of banishment.
The young prince would be send to the endless desert while the young princess would be sent to the forbidden sea. Both would grow up in the army or navy, learning the ways of the military and receiving the burden of protecting these lands. While the young prince became a legend in the south, the desert wraith or simply the salt prince, his twin sister would be known as the sea witch or salt princess. Even in banishment and exile these two found a way to compete against each other, not knowing how tightly their strings of fate were intertwined. When the king died, leaving his twenty eight year old heir as the next king. The kingdom wept from both sorrow and joy, seeing as how great a new king would take the place of the last. The first order of the new king was the return of his siblings, deciding that kinship mattered above all else. Little did the new king new why his father had banished them in the first place.
-Four weeks later-
Dear brother,
I hope this letter reaches you in safety. To long our blood been spilled in the southern wastes and the western sea’s. It warms me and saddens me to inform you that I, Birus sempervirens Ehtorian, am now rightful king to the Ehtorian kingdom. As my first act of king I hereby release you to from your bonds of warfare and come back home, as well as your sister. Too long have we been without the embrace of another. Join me in the green lands as I greet you as blood.
Birus sempervirens Ehtorian,
High king of Ehtorian,
Keeper of the royal seat.
The letter was crumpled and showed wear and tear on the edges. To many times he had read the letter, seconds later violently stuffing it back into his pockets. Four weeks since that blasted letter, four weeks since the command to return home came here. It wasn’t that he hated his brother, nor did he really like him, it as what he wrote in the letter. He knew his older brother was heir and would rule the kingdom one day, yet he had secretly hoped all these years that his sister would have drowned. He shook his head once more before he stuffed the letter back into his pocket once more.
He sighed as he peered out of the window, seeing the lush green lands, the farmers working their plows and herding their animals. A peaceful could sit and watch this picture for decades, finding peace and comfort. Lance himself thought it was too quiet, seeing as he was raised in the southern waist. There was always something going on, sandstorms that would simply sear the flesh of your bones, strange creatures that carried poisons, the southern barbarians that never seemed to run out of men to throw at you, and the salt… always was there the salt. He let his hand run over his now smooth jaw, finding it strange that the hair that had once marked him as a man was now gone. His long grey, almost silvery hair, was now cut short. He slid his eyelids over his bright grey eyes, finding the notion of ‘looking good’ as childish.
When he had received word of his brother he had packed his things and simply walked towards his former home. Four over three weeks he had traveled alone, making great time and distance, when he was spotted by the royal army. So mere hours later he was almost forced into a luxurious carriage filled with grooms and physicians. His 6 feet tall frame was already aching to get out, yet he knew he would only disappoint his brother. He liked that quality of himself, to always try and do the right thing. He considered himself a good man, for all that was worth. So when the carriage stopped and horns started blowing, he forced open the carriage door and stepped out. The man was tall and muscular, yet in a slender way, like a snake curled up to strike. His skin had a deep tan, something that was strange in the green lands. He was garbed in a fine cut, expensive dark silk, the sleeves adorned with silver. He kept his jaw locked in place as he made his way towards the royal palace. To the side men with trumpets, horns and drums stood at attention, seconds away from joyfully bursting into song at the return of a High blood. Lance simply strode past them with his long legs as his gaze shifted from left to right, daring anyone the make a sound. He’d rather face a drunken stupor than hear this lot playing.