“It was so good of you to come all this way to witness the recent conception of our third child,” Dicion said to Akil as they wandered the castle grounds together at midnight. “Many have said
that you were dead, or had been captured by Humans. I knew that was untrue. You are the most powerful of us all.”
“Ah, old friend, rumors are just that—rumors. Where I go concerns no one. Be sure that I am trying to do everything in my power to end this Great War.” Akil clapped Dicion on the shoulder and smiled. “And it was so good of you to house me as I arrived—malnourished, haggard, dressed in rags.”
“You are you in robes or rags, brother. You will always have a home here.” In the distance, Dicion could hear his two sons, Peter and Christof, roughhousing in the garden that lay ahead. He shook his head and sighed. “Boys. They have escaped their tutor again, no doubt.”
Akil laughed. “Boys will be boys. Give them time to develop their abilities, Dicion. Knowledge will come in time. That is not all there is to this world.”
Dicion nodded. “You speak the truth. I just need them to learn our history and Human history so that they can understand our place. And perhaps they will grow up to help bring about the peace we so desperately need.”
“Your unborn, is it male as well?” Akil asked.
“We had a Seer come just before you arrived to tell the child’s future. Yes, it is male. We have chosen the name Layrion.”
“I like it. Good. A legacy of proud, strong boys. They will make great warriors. You do our race a great favor, Dicion.”
“I hope they grow to be skilled. Peter is better at weaponry, while Christof is particularly adept at controlling his beast form. He has developed great powers.”
As soon as Dicion finished speaking, an earth-shattering growl erupted from the back garden, and suddenly, the two Elders saw the tops of trees burst into flame.
“What in the Originator’s name...?” Akil exclaimed.
“Speaking of powers, that would be Christof the beast. He has a strong affinity with fire.” Dicion ran toward the conflagration. “Christof! I told you no fire-breathing within the first week of your brother’s conception! You’ll throw your mother into a fit and jeopardize the birth!”
Akil heard the boys’ taunting shouts as they ran back towards the castle, passing him with great speed, and with Christof still in beast form, looking very similar to a large black wolf.
Dicion reappeared moments later, jogging lightly and shaking his head. “That boy might not live to be a skilled warrior if he keeps this up.”
Akil doubled over in laughter. “Dicion, my friend. Had I known your family was this entertaining, I’d have visited you much sooner.”
Dicion crossed his arms. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not.” He smiled.
Elysia watched her husband and Akil walk around the garden from her bath chamber in the very top room of the castle. Her handmaids were washing and combing her hair.
“I don’t trust that Lord Akil,” the youngest maiden, Fae, whispered. “He seems nice, but there’s something about him that’s evil.
“You watch your tongue,” one of Elysia’s older maid, Hannah, spit. “Lord Akil knows more than you think he does. He can hear everything that surrounds him.”
“Oh Hannah, I think you’re overreacting just a bit.” Elysia rose from the bath tub and wrapped a towel around her. “Personally, he’s not my favorite creature either, but that doesn’t mean we can be nice to him while he’s here. The Elders of the North shouldn’t gain a reputation for being rude.” It was true that Akil was different than others of their race. Due to not being able to be in the direct sunlight, every Icchorian was of a pale color in complexion- but Akil was of a dark creamy complexion. It was as if he roamed in the sun, embracing it each day although it was impossible for their kind.
Hannah and Fae helped her out of the bath and dried her off. Elysia waved them away when she was ready to get dressed, dismissing them for the evening. She walked down the hall to their bedroom and climbed in bed, feeling worn out from the small creature inside of her. She had only been pregnant a week, but the unborn baby was draining her energy faster than either Peter or Christof combined. Elysia wondered what this meant. Could her third child possess some kind of great power unlike any living Icchorian? The Seer had been very vague and unsure of his visions of the child’s future, whereas he had been to the letter so far about Peter and Christof. Elysia wondered if it had anything to do with Akil. Did the child have sensitivity to him?
And so Akil stayed in the North with Dicion for the next nine months as the child in Elysia’s womb developed. Even Elysia warmed to him, allowing him to become her close friend. Dicion’s devotion to Akil grew during this time. The three of them were rarely seen apart in the later months. It was during these happy months that a mysterious force penetrated the castle and became one with the shadows. As they slept in the daytime, this mystic force began to change the unborn Layrion. Elysia began to wake up in feverish sweats and in great pains from the baby, unlike any she had ever experienced with her first two boys. The greatest Icchorian healers were called from all surrounding lands to be at Elysia’s bedside at all times. She grew very weak as her belly swelled. Dicion could only sit helpless and watch his wife suffer with his child. He neither slept nor ate, not even the thirst for blood could persuade him to leave the castle walls.
Akil left the castle’s study and found his way to Dicion’s private office, where his friend had stayed shut in for five days. “Dicion, if you wish it, I will leave you. You are going through a difficult time. Your wife needs you. I will return to my home in the South.”
“I don’t want to kick you out, my dear friend. You will always have a home here, as I have said countless times.” His breathing was ragged, and his eyes were wild. He was losing his will to look Human. His gold jewelry shook with anxiety, and his muscles sagged with the weight of galaxies. To lose his wife meant to lose his purpose for living.
“No, it is best I return home. You can draw no comfort or strength from me. What Elysia is going through is a mysterious and private affair. I will interfere in your lives no further. I’ll leave at once.”
Dicion didn’t try to argue with him this time. He didn’t care. He loved Akil, but he loved his wife more. “Take whatever supplies you need, my Lord. Take one of my golden carriages and four of my fastest horses. Have my servants give you my best traveling clothes, and tell the cooks to prepare you food for your long journey.”
Akil approached his friend, who had sunk into a large armchair and all but melted into it. “Your kindness overwhelms me. I’ll need but one horse, and a few small rations will get me through just fine. I am sure that I will have the opportunity to hunt on the way.”
Dicion closed his eyes. He was so tired and so weak. His mind could think of nothing but his beautiful wife, who was reduced to screams and tears as healers forced medicines down her throat. It was as though his whole destiny, the destiny of his whole family, was being ripped apart. Even his two strong boys no longer played in the gardens, but listened to their father and threw themselves at ancient histories and literature.
He barely whispered goodbye as he heard the door close. Sometime later he heard the whinny of a horse and the clatter of hooves, and soon after he fell into a deep sleep like that of death.
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