☾ Cingulomania A strong desire to hold someone

Sometime the next day, Ethyn and I were called to a meeting with Stefan, Wren, and Cornelius. And, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I was there. Stefan and Wren were the leaders, Ethyn was the messenger and translator, and Cornelius had rapport with the redhead runaway. But I was no one. So, I sat awkwardly in a chair, tail and arms curled around my scrunched-up legs.

“I got him cleaned up, at the very least,” Cornelius was saying. “It’s been a long time since he’s had a friend, so he already seems pretty attached to me. I got him settled in his new room with a proper meal; just some pork and greens.”

“Did we get any more information about the emperor?” Wren asked.

Cornelius sighed, “Augustus says he was sold to the royal family at age 13, and he thinks he’s 27 now. The emperor would give him things on his birthday; that’s probably the only reason he knows how old he is.”

“14 years,” Wren muttered, arms crossed as she leaned on the wall. “Damn.”

“Oh, also, he can read,” our resident explosions expert added. “Not very well, but it seems like a skill that could easily come back to him.”

“W-wait, a family that could afford to educate their child sold him?” I piped up.

“Probably because of his ability, whatever it is,” Stefan sighed.

“Ability?” I questioned. “What ability?”

“It would appear that Augustus is a lust beast,” Stefan explained. “And, apparently, he requires flesh to survive. So those stories are true.”

I let out a shaky breath. I glanced at Ethyn, who had a similar expression. “An actual lust beast? Here?”

Stefan solemnly nodded. “It’s imperative that we keep him isolated. Cornelius is the only one to have face-to-face contact with him.”

“Damn,” I lowly whistled, although it came out more of a growl.

“And, if he was 13 when he was sold, it was probably when his abilities began to develop with his body,” Wren slowly nodded with a thoughtful expression. “Either way, our task now is to get information on the emperor out of him.”

“I did ask him about that,” Cornelius said. “I didn’t want to push too hard, since he was in the pools, and therefore naked, and we still don’t know each other very well, but I did ask.” He took a breath; he could really be a talker sometimes. “Emperor Bianor used Augustus to ‒ ahem ‒ sway people. And, if he didn’t want them around, he let him… feed. Which is probably where all the blood came from.”

“So, Emperor Bianor likely took Augustus all the way out here to get rid of some noble he didn’t want around,” I said. “And Augustus took his chance and escaped, only to fall down here. If Augustus was used to keep people in check and satisfied, the emperor will probably be looking for him.” I looked at Stefan, “There’s a small city with a noble family branch, right near the pass, that Augustus might’ve escaped from; soldiers might be on the lookout for him around there. We should increase stealth patrols in the pass, at the very least, if not send in an informant or two down to the city. And we should lay low for a while, especially if the informants report a visible effort to find Augustus. Might make it difficult to get the emperor’s older child, if we do choose to go down the path of kidnapping him.”

Stefan looked at me with a mixture of surprise and pride. “The stealth patrols we can do.”

“Revisiting this kidnapping idea…,” Wren said. “What makes us believe that the bastard prince of the Ussuni Empire would cooperate? Or that we could even get to him? I know he goes on hunting trips, but….”

“He’s called the bastard prince for a reason,” I reminded her. “That plus the frequent hunting trips inclines me to believe that he’d rather spend his days as far as he can from the palace and his family; he willingly spends his time off in the forest with commoners, three-day’s travel away from the palace. Although he may not cooperate, it’s worth a shot. He might be able to give us a peek inside the palace, and the emperor’s plans. At worst, he tells the emperor that we have Augustus; which won’t be much of a threat, especially if we keep him blindfolded and don’t tell him a lot.”

Wren sucked in a breath, “Sounds risky. We’d have to locate him on a hunt and then isolate him in order to trap him, at the very least. Then we’d have to find a way to get him back here. All in a decent amount of time so they don’t call for a full-on search of the forest and mountains.”

“Our informants within the palace can alert us to when he leaves with the next hunting party, and where they’re headed,” Ethyn offered.

“So, we’re really going the kidnapping route?” Cornelius confirmed. “I’d like to be on the team that grabs the prince, if that’s alright.”

“I think it’s our best option if we want to find out more about Augustus without pushing him too hard,” Stefan said with a nod. “And, if the prince doesn’t cooperate, it’s no big loss to us, nor does it endanger us too much. I’ll question him myself.”

“If you stay out there, and they realize that he’s gone, they’ll go mad searching the forest,” I found myself saying. I was talking a lot today. “It would be more secure to take him to the caves.”

“As in here?” Wren scoffed.

“Not here specifically,” I shook my head. “There’s plenty of cave systems in the Dragon Crest Mountains; old mine shafts like this one. And, I can get the stealth team there and back quickly; it’ll be easier with the winter cloud cover, and even easier if we strike in the morning or evening, when it’s dark.”

Wren chuckled, head rolling to look at Stefan, “You were right.”

Stefan smiled, at both her and me. “So. Ethyn will send letters to our informants within the palace, and they’ll let us know when the emperor’s step-son is leaving with a hunting party and where they’re going. In the meantime, we’ll increase stealth patrols around the closest mountain pass. When we locate the prince, Elkan will carry Cornelius and me to the hunting camp to grab him. We’ll hole up in one of the caverns in the mountains while we interrogate him.”

“I’ll send the messages,” Ethyn nodded.

“Cornelius, keep trying to build rapport with Augustus,” Stefan ordered. “You’re the only one that can look at him properly, but be sure to treat him gently. Wren, organize some stealth patrols and informant missions into the village where Augustus might’ve escaped from. When the time comes, we’ll further discuss the plan to kidnap Emperor Bianor’s step-son. Dismissed.”

“You coming?” Ethyn asked when I didn’t get up and follow him out of the room.

“I-I’ll just be a moment,” I smiled. “I’ll join you soon.”

“Okay,” he simply said, with hints of concern in his eyes.

When the room was empty save for Stefan, I carefully approached him and dared to ask, “Stefan? Why…. Why did you request my presence?”

He looked at me oddly, “Elkan, did you hear yourself?” He said it with almost a laugh, almost amused if not for the confusion in his blue eyes. “Elkan, you have a brilliantly strategic mind.”

I looked at him oddly, head tilted.

He sighed, “When we spoke last night, I started thinking about what skills you have, and how I could possibly help you see them.”

“And… I have a strategic mind?” I questioned.

He laughed, “Yes! Yes, you do! Brilliantly strategic! Don’t you see, Elkan?” He took my shoulders, “That’s your skill. You look at the landscape and see how you can use it to your advantage. You look at tough situations and put together solutions quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen. I think you just need more opportunities to put that mind to work.”

I thought back to what I said, then shook my head, “Someone else would’ve come up with an idea eventually.”

“Yes, but that person was you,” Stefan said. He frowned, “Why are you so against being useful? Being praised for your ideas, being told that you’re important?”

I looked down, fumbling with the hem of my long black tunic. “I just…. It just seems so impossible to me, I guess. Most of my life, I’ve just been… a beast.” I choked at the memory of my shifts, of the sound and feeling of cracking bones and tearing muscles as my body changed. “Almost 20 years of being avoided, getting nothing but glares and harsh words. That…. It’s….”

“It can have an effect; an effect that can take forever to unlearn,” Stefan nodded in understanding; he knew the treatment well, and still bore mental scars that were only visible to those who really knew him. He firmly yet gently took my shoulders, and I glanced up at him. “You’re not a beast, Elkan. You didn’t ask to be born this way. For what it’s worth, if it’s worth anything….” He gently took my chin, tilting my head up to look at me evenly, “You are worth so much more than you believe. And not just because of that mind of yours. You are a person, and you deserve happiness.” He smiled, patting my shoulders, “Now go find that lover of yours; I know he makes you happy.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, shakily nodding. I whispered, taking a step back, “O-okay. Thank you.” I left the room.

I took a deep breath once outside, momentarily leaning on the wall. I shook my head clear and began making my way back to my and Ethyn’s room.

As I walked past one of the spare bedrooms near ours, I heard crying. Loud crying. I opened the door, the scent of salty tears practically assaulting my nose and his cries assaulting my ears.

“What’s going on?” I asked, quickly taking in the scene of the redhead runaway kneeling on the floor and bawling his eyes out, with Cornelius standing above him and looking panicked.

“I-I don’t know, I kissed his forehead and then‒” As he tried to move away, the redhead just grabbed onto his coat and sobbed into it. “H-hey, Augustus, please, please don’t cry, I-I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry, it was just instinct.”

“Oh my moons, why is he freaking out over a kiss?” I breathed.

“Uh, lots of unwanted ones, I think,” Cornelius said, still desperately trying to calm Augustus down with no success.

“Okay, come ‘ere,” I knelt down beside Augustus, wrapping one wing around him and pulling him close. I engulfed him in my wings, and he nuzzled against me, seemingly on instinct. “It’s okay. Nothing can hurt you here, Augustus.”

He sobbed into my shoulder, gripping my tunic with trembling hands. He reeked of tears and a touch of blood. I tried not to look at him too much. Above, Cornelius paced, clearly still panicked and reeking of guilt.

Augustus’s sobs soon ebbed, having spent all his tears. He lay almost limp against me, sniffling, head still firmly in my shoulder and hands gripping my tunic. Cornelius seemed relieved, but still concerned, and he still smelled of guilt.

Augustus shifted in my arms, and I pulled them back to let him leave if he wanted to. His head shifted up, looking past me to find my wings. He softly gasped. I tensed as one bandaged hand reached out to feel at the purple webbing and thin black feathers and the bony structures. His touch was surprisingly gentle, despite the torn fingertips. There were bruises around his neck, and likely more hidden below the grey tunic and pants. His feet were bandaged as well, and so bruised they were almost entirely a deep blue. His vibrant orange curls sprung every which way, tangled and matted horribly.

“...Dragon,” he eventually rasped, voice weak and quiet.

“...Yes,” I softly replied, uneasy. “I…. I’m a dragon.”

“Thought… all dead?”

I scoffed, “Apparently not.” I sighed, “Although I may very well be the last.”

Augustus hummed, leaning against my shoulder.

I sighed, gently trying to push him off, “I-I should go, before I accidentally see your face.” I turned my head away, resisting the morbidly curious urge to look at him directly.

He hummed again, sniffling, and pulled away from me. He quickly turned away, hiding his face with his tunic and hair. I sighed in relief, getting to my feet and turning to leave.

“Thank you, Elkan,” Cornelius breathed.

I just smiled at him. Then I looked down at Augustus, who had his back turned to me, and was playing with his hair. “I’m told this almost every day, but you should hear it from someone who’s like you, in a way: you’re not a beast.” His breathing hitched. “You’re a person, and you deserve happiness.”

If only the message could get through to me.