"Good boy, Merlin," Clark said the next day, as he slipped from the horse's back.
He breathed a sigh of relief. It was a weight off his shoulders to finally be back in his new home of Lane Manor. Wanting to speak with Lord Lane as soon as he could, he rushed through his tasks of getting Merlin in his stall with food and water. One of the younger grooms in the stable, a teenager named Dennis, offered to unsaddle and brush down the animal. Clark thanked him and allowed Dennis to take care of Merlin. Merlin, for his part, didn't seem to mind. If anything, to Clark's eyes, the horse looked happy to be home again. Clark nodded to himself, pleased. Then he was off to find Lord Lane.
He found the man with Lady Ellen in the main room of the manor, sipping hot tea in front of the massive stone fireplace. Clark knocked on the open door. Both the lord and lady looked in his direction.
"Ah, Clark!" Lady Ellen said by way of a greeting. "We were just wondering if you'd returned yet."
"I only just got back, milady," he said with a slight bow of his head. "The storm last night forced me to take a room in an inn, though I sorely wished I could have ridden through the night to get back sooner." He looked to Lord Lane. "My thanks, milord, for the means to rent a room for the night." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the unspent money that had been left over. He placed the coins in Lord Lane's hand. "This is everything that was left."
Lord Lane took a quick glance at the money. "Did you even buy any food? This seems like far too much left over."
"I did, milord. I just knew of a cheap inn to stay in, that's all."
"Well, I admire your thriftiness. How did the trip pan out?"
"The animals arrived safe and sound," Clark reported. "I had no trouble with them at all."
"Good to hear," Samuel said with a pleased nod of his head. "You have my thanks for bringing them to their new home."
Clark nodded in turn. But he hesitated to either say more or to take his leave, suddenly feeling afraid and very uncomfortable with the news he carried. Lady Ellen noticed.
"Was there something else?" she asked, concerned.
"Actually...yes, milady, there is something else," he admitted.
"Go on," she urged. "You know you can speak freely here."
"I know, milady, but it doesn't make it any easier to say this," he replied respectfully. "I'm not even sure how to begin." He thought for a moment before speaking again. Then, "Remember the other day, milord, when I showed you how my family's brand was on Lord Luthor's messenger's horse?"
Samuel and Ellen both nodded. "Of course," the lord replied.
"Well, when I was in Lord Luthor's stable, I took a moment to admire the beasts he keeps. Three more of my family's horses were in his stable. A silver mare named Aurora, a black stallion named Ronin, and a light brown mare named Butterscotch."
Samuel frowned deeply. "So he has at least four of the animals that were stolen by Lord Tempos' men. What are the odds of that?"
"Unfortunately, very high," Clark responded. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the letter he'd taken. "While I was there, I saw something I shouldn't have. I chanced to see a meeting between Nigel, Lord Luthor's right hand man, and another man. One of Lord Tempos' men, to be accurate," Clark said, extending the letter to Lord Lane.
Samuel took the letter but did not open it. "How do you know it was one of Lord Tempos' men?"
"I heard him say it, milord. He and Nigel spoke briefly. Nigel gave the other man that letter," he said, pointing at the paper in question, "saying that Lord Luthor expected a response upon his return."
"And how did you come by the message?" Lady Lane asked, peering at the folded note in her husband's hand. "If Nigel did indeed give the letter to Lord Tempos' man?"
Clark understood her concern. "I knew I wasn't supposed to witness what I had, so I hid. When I went to saddle up Merlin to come home, I found that on the floor. I can only assume it slipped out of the man's saddle bag from a rip or tear or something. Anyway, I picked it up and something told me to break the seal. When I read it, I knew I had to bring it straight to you. If I was wrong to open the letter, I'll gladly accept whatever punishment you deem necessary."
Clark waited while Lord and Lady Lane opened the letter and read the contents. Two pairs of eyebrows raised together as they read. Identical looks of shock and horror crept over their faces.
"Is this real?" Samuel asked. Clark had never before heard his voice shake like that.
"I'm afraid so, milord."
"Are you positive?"
Clark wasn't offended by Lord Lane's need to question the legitimacy of the letter. After all, it was no secret that Clark hated Luthor and was in love with Lois. It made sense that, on some level, his master might question if the letter was an elaborate ruse meant to stop the impending wedding.
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "As far as I know, the letter comes directly from Lord Luthor and was meant for Lord Tempos' eyes. Although, I suppose Nigel could be doing this behind Lord Luthor's back, without his knowledge or consent. But, milord, I highly doubt that. The script is too neat. From what I understand, Lord Luthor does not allow his servants to become educated in reading and writing. He prefers his servants to be more...helpless, I guess is the word. They are less of a threat to him that way."
Ellen nodded her head. "That does make sense, Samuel."
"As much as I hate to admit it, this does look like Lex's handwriting," Samuel said slowly, his eyes never leaving the paper. "Clark," he said suddenly, after lapsing into a short-lived silence.
"Milord?"
"I want to thank you for bringing this information to me. Once again, you've proven yourself invaluable to our family. If this is true, there is no way my little girl is going to marry that warmonger."
Clark felt the iron chains that had been squeezing around his heart since Lois' engagement loosen and fall completely away.
"I have to be careful about how I handle this," Samuel said, more to himself than to either Clark or Ellen.
"We have to be careful," Ellen told her husband. "I want to see that man face justice just as much as you do."
"I'll take my leave, if you wish," Clark said.
"Yes, yes," Samuel said distractedly. "Take the rest of the day, if you'd like. But be ready tomorrow. I'll likely be sending out a messenger to the king."
"As you wish, milord."
Clark bowed his head and made a quick exit from the room. He immediately returned to his chambers and bathed the travel dust from his body. The steaming water refreshed him and helped him to feel like he was finally leaving his dealings with Luthor in the past. His skin still tingling from the hot water, he dressed and wondered what he should do next. Lord Lane had given him the option of taking the rest of the day off and away from his duties in the stable, but he wasn't sure what he would do with himself if he took Lord Lane up on that offer. In the end, he went to the stable and checked on the horses.
He stayed in the stable for a couple of hours, but there wasn't much to be done. And he didn't want to go for a ride in the countryside, not after spending two days on the road as it was. He went back to his chamber and worked on his animals for want of something to do. Not long after, there was a knock at his door.
"Come in," he said distractedly as he finished the wooden dog he was carving for James.
The door opened on silent hinges, and Clark was surprised to see not only Lois entering the room, but also James pushing Lucy in a wheeled chair.
"Milord! Milady! And milady!" he gasped, standing up and greeting them.
"Don't get up," Lois said, brushing off the formality. "Can we talk? Are we interrupting anything?"
"No, of course you aren't interrupting anything," Clark said. "In fact, I was just about to come find you, milord. I just finished the last detail on your carving of Brutus."
"Really?" James asked, excited. "Can I see?"
"Of course, milord." Clark crossed the few steps and placed the figurine in James' outstretched hand.
James immediately inspected Clark's handiwork and smiled. "It really does look just like him! Thank you, Clark. As always, you've proven that your skill is without parallel."
Clark felt his face heat up with a blush. "Thank you, milord."
He always felt pride in the things he made, but having Lois' family praise his work never ceased to make him feel good inside, like he really was worth something, despite his humble lineage.
James turned the dog over in his hand, again and again as he sat on the footstool, leaving the chair for Lois. After a few minutes, he looked up at Clark. "We need to have a very frank talk."
Worry blossomed in Clark's heart, but he tried to force it down. "About what, milord?"
"Take a seat first," Lois encouraged.
Clark dragged a heavy cedar chest out from where it sat flush against one of the walls. He sat on it and clasped his hands, waiting for one of the nobles to speak first.
"What happened at Luthor Manor?" Lucy asked bluntly, breaking the silence.
"I'm not sure..." Clark began. What if Lord and Lady Lane didn't want him to speak?
"Look, you're not in any trouble." That was James. "We know something happened that really upset our parents. But they're holed up in their bedchamber and won't answer us when we knock."
"We've only seen them do something like this in the worst of situations," Lois added. "So we know something awful must have happened."
"Were you mistreated at Luthor Manor?" asked Lucy, concerned, peering at him as though checking for injuries.
"I'm fine, milady," he began. "It's just...something did come up while I was there. But I'm not sure how much I can say. I don't want to betray your parents' confidence."
"If they get mad, I'll say I ordered you to tell us," James said with a conspiratorial smile. "Now, please, tell us."
Clark sighed. What could he do? If he still refused, one of the three was bound to command him to tell them what had happened anyway. And he didn't want that at all. He was proud of the fact that no member of the Lane family had had to command him to do anything yet. Instead of master and servant, the arrangement had always felt more like employer and willing employee.
"All right," he conceded after just a few heartbeats of internal debate. "But I'll warn you, milord, milady, and milady, it...it won't be easy to hear. Especially for you, milady," he said, locking eyes with Lois.
"I can handle it," she assured him.
Clark nodded. "All right then. This has to stay between just us and your parents," he said, trying to stress how sensitive a topic it was.
"Agreed," Lucy said, speaking for all of them, it appeared. Lois and James nodded in turn.
"The thing is," Clark began, searching for the best way to break the news, "we have evidence to support that Lord Luthor isn't exactly who he claims to be."
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"He's in league with Lord Tempos," Clark said confidently, but still lowering his eyes to stare at the floor. "While I was there, I witnessed Lord Luthor's right hand man and one of Lord Tempos' men having a meeting."
He quickly told them of what he'd seen and overheard at the meeting, how he'd found the note, and of its contents. He told them about finding his horses - the ones Tempos' men had stolen in the raid on his farm - living in Luthor's stable under new names. When he was done, the three of them just stared at him in mute horror, much as their parents had.
"Well," Lois said after a few minutes where no one made a sound. "That's a relief."
"A relief?" Lucy asked, incredulous.
Lois smirked. "At least I won't have to marry Lex."
"Let's all take a moment to be thankful for that," Clark said.
They continued to discuss the matter before moving into more idle conversation. But soon it came time for the nobles to take their leave and - presumably - meet up with their parents for dinner, unless the lord and lady of the house were still working on what they might say and do about Luthor's betrayal. As they made ready to leave, James hung back for a minute, letting Lois wheel Lucy out into the hallway.
"Clark, I just wanted to thank you, again," the young man said. "Lord Luthor had us all fooled, I'm ashamed to admit. Even me. I had my doubts about him at first, but after meeting him, I thought he was a morally upstanding man who would make an excellent husband for Lois, even if the circumstances of that marriage were less than ideal. It turns out he was merely a great actor." He paused for a heartbeat, thinking. "Too bad Lex wasn't more like you."
"I'm flattered, milord," Clark said, bowing his head, humbled by the nobleman's words.
"Our family owes you a debt of gratitude. If there's anything I can ever do for you, don't hesitate to ask."
"Thank you, milord. I appreciate that."
His eyes strayed to the door for one beat of his heart. There was only one thing he would ever truly want or desire, but she would forever be out of his reach. James followed his eyes and smiled sadly.
"If there was something I could do to help you and Lois be together, I would do it," James said softly.
Clark winced. Had Lord Lane told everyone about his and Lois' mutual love?
But the smile on James' lips went from sad to bittersweet. "Don't worry. I've known for a while now. Since the night you escorted us back home from Lex's lands, actually. I thought she was crazy for falling so fast for a complete stranger, but I can see in you now what she did back then. It's obvious that you both share a love for one another."
"As I told your father, I know my place," Clark said. "It will have to be enough for me, knowing that she will never be married to that monster in a lord's clothing."
***
"Clark? Are you in there?" Lois called out from the other side of the door, later that same evening.
"Come in, milady," came the reply from within.
"Hey," she said as she entered.
As usual, Clark was sitting in his chair. But this time, he had neither wooden animal nor book in his hand. He was simply watching the flames dance in the hearth. He looked kind of peaceful, she thought. A little thoughtful too. Even a bit...different in her eyes, as though in the day and a half he'd been away from Lane Manor, he'd grown up in some intangible way. She liked the change in him. It made him look almost like a wise lord, not a young stable master.
"I brought a new book, as promised," she said as she closed the door behind her.
"Huh? Oh, thanks."
"Should I come back another time?" she asked, noting his distraction.
Clark pulled his eyes away from the writhing flames. "No, no. I'm okay, really. I was just a little lost in thought."
"About Lex?"
"Yes," he admitted with a sigh.
"Come, let's sit," Lois offered, nodding in the direction of his bed.
"Sure."
He followed her across the room and they each sat in their accustomed places. Lois set the book to one side. She reached for Clark's hand and was relieved to see that he wasn't shy about taking it. As always, his hand was warm and comforting, callused with years of hard work, but gentle in the way that he touched her.
"I wanted to thank you, again, for discovering what Lex was up to," she said. "You saved our entire family from a really bad decision to ally ourselves with him."
"Yeah," Clark said, somewhat gloomily.
"Hey, what's wrong? You should be proud of yourself. You just potentially saved countless of other lives and livelihoods. Not to mention the fact that you saved me from what would have been a disaster of a marriage."
"Oh? So now it would have been a disastrous marriage? You seemed determined to make it work not two days ago," he said bitterly.
"What would you have had me do? I was trying to convince myself as much as anyone else that I could find...I don't know! Some hope in an otherwise hopeless situation. Some promise of better things to come in what was becoming the darkest time of my life," she said, letting her raging emotions spill out into her words. "You know that I never wanted Lex!"
Clark sighed, looking defeated. "I know. I know you never wanted to be Luthor's bride. I know that you would choose a very different life if given half a chance. But I still can't help but to feel guilty."
"Guilty?" she asked, surprised. She felt her entire argument come stop short and vanish into nonexistence.
"Well...yeah," he stammered. "Logically, I know what I did had to be done. Luthor and Tempos both needed to be stopped. And you deserved to be freed from a marriage arrangement that was based on complete lies. But I still can't help but to feel...I don't know. Dirty? I've never been the reason why someone has been locked away in a jail before. I've never been the one to break up a couple of any kind. It's just...uncharted territory for me and I guess I'm having trouble reconciling things in my own head."
"It's the way you were raised," Lois said gently, rubbing his forearm. "From everything you've told me about your parents, and from knowing you on a deep, personal level, you were raised to be a good man with a sensitive, caring heart. But you have to realize, none of what happened or will happen is your fault. Lex and Tempos chose their own paths. All you did was to shine light on the atrocities that were being committed."
"That doesn't soothe the sting in my heart," Clark mumbled unhappily.
Lois stayed quiet, unsure what she could say to ease Clark's guilt.
Clark ran his hand through his hair. "Why is this so hard?" he asked miserably. "Why can't I just...I don't know. Be happy."
"Because you're a good man, who I've never seen wish ill on anyone. Even Lex."
"I hated him. I still hate him. I've seen such bad things happen to good people, and they all happened at his command. My father died because of him. Oh, I know it was Lord Tempos' men that raided the farm and ran my father through with their weapons, but if Lord Luthor hadn't been allied with Tempos..." He let his voice trail off with a shudder. His shoulders drooped and he sighed hard. "Yes, I knew Luthor was a despicable man. But I never believed he could be capable of such evil...of using you."
Lois shook her head. "I don't blame you for hating him. I hate him too, for the same reasons. And I wish every day that I could have met your father. I wish I could thank him for raising such an amazing man as you."
"You know what the worst part of it is for me? Now you're free to marry whoever you wish and it still can't be me," Clark confessed in a near-whisper.
She merely nodded her agreement.
Silence blanketed the room, broken only by crackling sounds from the hearth as the fire consumed the wood there. Outside, the wind picked up, moaning against the window panes. Lois shifted a little, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"Forget it," Clark finally said, sounding like he was speaking to himself. "What's done is done," he said louder. "I can't change what's happened and I wouldn't even if I could." He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. "So, what book did you bring with you tonight? After all, I have your patient reading lessons to thank for my ability to put everything together. If I hadn't been able to read that message...who knows? Perhaps I would have chalked up the exchange I overheard as something completely innocuous. But, because of you, I was able to read it and understand what, exactly, was going on. I owe you more thanks than I can ever properly say."
Lois smiled and reached out, touching his warm cheek with her hand. "I'm glad to know that these lessons came in handy. And I think you'll like the book. It's about the gods and goddess worshipped by the ancient Greeks."
For the first time since Clark had returned from Luthor Manor, Lois saw a smile ghost over his lips.
"Sounds interesting," he said. "Where do we start?"
"I think," Lois replied, a happy smile on her face and with a soul that felt lightened by his change in attitude, "we should start with the story of Prometheus. He alone dared to steal fire from the gods and gave it to humans."
"Stole from the gods?" Clark asked with a mischievous grin. "That can't have turned out well for him."
"Well...no," Lois admitted. "The gods punished him harshly, until he was freed by the hero, Hercules." She thumbed through the book until she found the myth in question. "Here."
Clark took the book and began to read aloud, sounding out - with accuracy, much to Lois' delight - the unfamiliar names. They didn't stop there. They backtracked and read about the creation of the world, the reign of the titans, and the fall of those same titans at the hands of the Olympian gods. They read about Hercules and his twelve labors. Lastly, they skipped through the book to find the tale of Orion - a renowned hunter who was placed in the stars upon his death. Lois had always loved the story of Orion, but hated that the scorpion who'd stung the hunter had also been placed in the stars, even if when Orion rose in the winter, the scorpion set until the summer, so it could never sting the hunter again. Clark seemed to love the story as well.
"I think that's enough for the night," Clark said, rubbing his eyes. "I'm beat. I barely slept last night in the inn. My mind kept going back to that thrice accursed message."
"I can imagine. Get some sleep. You've more than earned a rest. We'll talk again tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Lois," he said, rising from the bed as she did.
"Goodnight, Clark," she replied. "I...I hope you know, I still love you. I always will."
He smiled at her - one of his blindingly wonderful smiles that lit up the whole world. "And I love you. I will spend the rest of my life loving you."
Lois leaned in and kissed him on the lips. "For all eternity," she whispered, just before he kissed her back.
"Forever my soul mate," he murmured.
To Be Continued...
