Disclaimer: This work is fiction, featuring a same-sex relationship between two consenting adult males. If you are under the age of 18, or if it is illegal to view/read this in the city/state/country in which you live, please do not continue reading. The characters, locations and plots contained herein are strictly fictional, and no relationship to any actual person, place or thing is implied or intended. This work is from my imagination, and no one may re-use/reproduce/re-post it without my consent. Feedback is welcome at pon_farr07@yahoo.com.
I stood, looking dumbly at the closed door that separated me from a man that I had quickly developed feelings for. It had all happened so fast. Maybe the feelings of gratitude for what he had been doing for me and my family were overwhelming. Maybe it was not anything at all, but lust or infatuation. No matter, my heart still felt the pain of his leaving. I had hurt him. Even through his smile, I could see the pain my rejection had caused him. How could I explain that I had just saved his life?
As I bent over to pull up my breeches, a loud pop reverberated through the cabin and a rush of displace air slammed into me. Quickly I jerked the breeches over my hips, ready to defend myself. I knew the signs of a teleportation spell.
"Mervlyn! What are you doing back so quickly?" I rushed over to the mage and helped him steady himself.
He smiled his gratitude at me. "Prince Zadron is hastening to your sister's side. He left as soon as I delivered the message regarding Genev." He paused, looking around the room. "You are well?"
Releasing my hold on his shoulders, I sighed and, turning, plopped down on a wooden chair, grabbing the pitcher of ale and draining the last drops into a cup. "As well as can be expected. Things almost got out of control, Mervlyn. I almost forgot to stop Kradyn before...well, you know."
"Indeed, I do," he acknowledged. "Your Majesty--Ruldaan--I know that it is difficult for you, but we shall find a way to overcome this. No spell, no matter how powerful the caster, is without its flaws. We shall defeat it."
I nodded, more out of habit than agreement. How many times had we had this conversation? I had lost track. I could just kill the bastard who had put this curse on me.
"What a family," I muttered, sullenly. "My sister is bewitched by some unknown malady, and if I have sex with anyone-- Well, you know."
Mervlyn cleared his throat. "Uh, there is something else." He hesitated, waiting for me to look up at him. When I finally did, he said, "There is something about Kradyn that is truly baffling to me. I swear that I have seen him before, years ago when--as I mentioned on deck a few days ago--a young apprentice loosed a fireball spell that killed him. If it is the same person, he should be dead. Please, guard yourself, my king. Should Kradyn be more than he appears to be, you may be in grave danger."
"Thank you, friend. I appreciate your concern." I drained the ale from the cup. Standing up, I went about my cabin gathering clothing and pulling it on. More presentable now than I had been when I met the bronze dragon, Rofek, I moved toward the door. "Come, let us find First Mate Biddon and Kradyn and determine what we should do. We should be mooring in Nwansk harbor this evening. We must have a plan"
I sat at the edge of Genev's bed, holding her pale hand in mine. Fever wracked her body, and she muttered continually. On occasion she would cry out, pain coursing through her body, sending her forward away from the pillows backing her, only to collapse a few seconds later.
"She is getting worse," my mother lamented, pulling back the curtains surrounding the bed. She stared down at her youngest child, holding back tears that threatened to flow. "Who could be so monstrous as to inflict this on a mere child?" She looked at me then, and I could see the dark circles beneath her eyes. "I'm going to lose her, aren't I, Ruldaan?"
Releasing my sister's hand, I made my way to the other side of the bed and took my mother in my arms. "Don't say things like that. I will take care of this. I promise you." I felt her body jerking as the tears finally broke through and sobs controlled her. I let her emotion run its course before I held her back at arms length. "Go; get food and rest, Mother. If you don't, you shall be the next one in need of medical aide."
Mother nodded, giving me a weak smile. She kissed me lightly on the cheek and then left me alone with Genev.
I strode to the window, staring down on the gardens that Genev loved so much and where she spent much of her courting time with Prince Zadron. Already I knew that if she died I would have the whole lot slashed down and turned over into the soil
A throat cleared on the other side of the room, and I looked up as a butler stated, "Your Majesty, your lady sister has a visitor." At my nod, the butler allowed Prince Zadron into the chamber.
The distraught prince barely spared me a glance and nod as he rushed to his beloved's bed, taking her hand in his. I gave them time alone, choosing instead to look out the window and mull over the plan that my compatriots and I had discussed while still at sea.
Mervlyn, Kradyn and Biddon walking into the room interrupted my thoughts. I motioned for Zadron to join us, and after--he thought--surreptitiously wiping tears from his eyes, he joined us at the window.
"Rofek sends word from the Great Library at Elemkur," Kradyn stated without preamble. "The High Wizard of the Moon has been able to scry the past for what has occurred. It seems that Genev has been cursed by a sorcerer named Timon."
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "No, not Genev, too. That bastard!" I turned, punching my fist though a pane of the window.
Kradyn immediately pulled me back, staring in shock at me as he pulled my hand up to see. Bits of glass dug into the flesh, and blood ran quickly and freely over the stone floor. Mervlyn wasted no time in calling for a cleric-healer, and Biddon helped Kradyn pull me from the window. I am ashamed to admit that I had begun shouting and cursing loudly, all the while thrashing about and attempting to put my other fist through another windowpane.
"Calm yourself, Ruldaan," Kradyn shouted at me repeatedly.
As the cleric-healer came rushing into the room he stared in bewilderment at my behavior. Shocked gasps filled the room as Kradyn, who had been unsuccessful in calming me with words, turned me to face him and punched me in the jaw. Biddon, appalled to see his king treated so, immediately drew back his fist to defend me.
"STOP!" The shout, commanding and full of power, filled the room and froze everyone in his tracks. My mother came stomping into the room, pushing Biddon back from Kradyn and looking at me as I rubbed my cheek with my un-bloodied hand. "What in the Name of the Mother has gotten into you great louts?"
"Forgive me, Your Highness," Kradyn said, giving a low bow. "I only meant to protect your son from causing himself further harm."
"By beating him senseless?" Mother glared at him for a few seconds, not expecting an answer, before she turned to me. "Why have you begun behaving as a madman, my son?"
"Timon." As I uttered that one word, the color drained from her face. "Exactly."
"Cleric, see to my son," Mother commanded. She turned to Kradyn. "You love my son, don't you, in your own...bizarre way?"
Kradyn merely nodded his head.
"Men," she muttered. "Three days together, and you think you love someone. If you ever find out what true love is--and I guarantee you that it's not something that you find at the end of your penis--I suspect that you just might die."
"Mother!"
"Oh, shut up, Ruldaan. And let the cleric see your hand. Already the servants are going to have a time getting your blood out of the stone. Foolish child." Mother ordered everyone out of the room, with the exception of Kradyn and the cleric. I could see that Zadron thought of refusing, but a look from Mother sent him hastening after my first mate and mage advisor. "Once you have seen to my silly child, Cleric, you, too, may leave."
The man nodded his head, bowing it at the same time in a feat no one could accomplish except in the presence of my mother. His ministrations quickly ended, and he made for the door and sanctuary beyond.
Mother looked from me to Kradyn, her gaze boring into us. Neither of us could keep eye contact with her. Finally giving one last "tsk," Mother walked over and took my wounded hand in hers. She inspected it closely, talking to herself about commending the cleric-healer for such fast and fastidious work.
"Better?" she asked, forcing me to look in her eyes. I nodded. "Good. Now, I assume that you share this man's feelings?" I nodded again. "I see. Ruldaan, you have long known that I do not care about who my children love, so long as they truly love them. That is why I whole-heartedly support Genev marrying Zadron. I can see that they love one another.
"Your father never wanted his children to be used as pawns for alliances and treaties. He wanted you to know love, as well as obligation. I am by no means disparaging what you might feel for this man, but you must be sure that it is not just lust or infatuation." Mother stared up at Kradyn, smiling. "Though I can see how that would definitely turn your head." She chuckled as Kradyn blushed. "Now then, if you truly love him, I suggest that you give him all the information that he needs to make an informed decision in regard to your little...problem."
I looked at Mother, and Kradyn looked at me. I did not want him to know, and Mother knew it. Nevertheless, she was right. If I truly loved him and wanted him to truly love me then I had to be honest. I stepped forward and kissed Mother on the top of her head. "I love you."
She patted my hand. "I love you, too. No matter how moronic you behave sometimes." She smiled up at me to take the sting from her words. "Take Kradyn and have a long talk with him. When you are finished, return here and we will finalize your plan."
I nodded, and then, taking Kradyn by the hand, I led him outside to the gardens whose demise I had been planning only minutes earlier. Finding Genev's secret hiding spot, I gently forced Kradyn onto the little bench that she used while Zadron read his love notes and poetry to her. I smiled as Kradyn's massive frame dwarfed the tiny piece of furniture. My smile faltered though as I remembered what I had to tell him.
I cleared my throat and paced back and forth in front of the man I told Mother I was coming to love, deciding best how to tell him this. Finally, as a plan failed me, I simply stopped in front of Kradyn and looked him in the eye.
"When I was 20, I met a young apprentice sorcerer named Timon. He was so beautiful, I thought, with his long brown hair and grey eyes that melted my heart even from a distance. I could tell that his shyness kept him from being able to approach me, especially since I happened to be the Crown Prince. Therefore, I decided to approach him.
"I had been so sure of myself, until I stopped in front of him, and he looked into my eyes. Then words failed me. I could not speak. After a few minutes, we both started laughing because we felt the same thing, and neither of us knew how to express it. From that day forward, we began a very steamy, hot affair.
"Before long, however, I discovered that I didn't love Timon. I just loved the sex. Without thinking of his feelings for me, I sent a message to him that I would no longer be seeing him. I ended our affair without the courtesy of doing so in person. It crushed Timon." I stopped, wiping tears from my eyes. "Poor Timon," I whispered.
"Ruldaan, you don't--"
"Please, Kradyn, this is hard enough." He nodded at me, so I continued. "I failed to realize that Timon had fallen in love with me. For him, it was not just about the sex. It was about his heart, and he gave it to me completely. When he read the message I had sent him, his heart broke within him. He made haste to the castle, but I refused to see him, ordering the guards to remove him if he would not remove himself.
"When Timon realized that his pleas were falling on deaf ears, he took to magically sending me messages. However, I burned all of them, unopened.
"Eventually, Timon gave up on his attempts to contact me. Eventually--and by eventually, I mean within a week of his last message appearing--I forgot about Timon and moved on. Soon, I met another man, a knight, named Sir Jullain of Fallnagard. One night, while we were in my chambers, the room filled with a thick, black mist, and Timon stepped from nowhere to stand in the center of the room. He stared down at us. Jullain had me on my back, and he had just pushed himself into me. We had frozen in place when we saw Timon appear from nothingness.
"For the first time, I saw how truly I had hurt and devastated Timon. Just as quickly, I saw that pain turn to anger and bile. At a word from him, the mist engulfed Jullain, entering him through his ears, mouth, nose and eyes. Within seconds, he screamed, spasmodically jerking himself out of me, falling on the floor. He was dead before his head split open on the stone.
"I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't even call for the guards. I could only stare in disbelief at the poor man who I had so thoroughly crushed. And at the man who I had killed.
"'That is the last man that shall ever be inside you,' he told me. He started casting a spell, and the stygian mist that that penetrated Jullain began pouring from his dead mouth. It coalesced into the form of a man that bore a resemblance to Timon, and I knew that it intended to kill me. However, to my great shock it simply disappeared.
"Timon looked at me with great disgust and loathing and said, `Know this: From this day forward, any man who is foolish enough to allow himself to become infatuated with you will suffer the same fate I have. This invisible assassin is my last gift to you, Ruldaan. I loved you, but you simply used me and cast me aside, all because you are the son of a king. So, until the day you die, no man may consummate his love with you, or he will die in the same gruesome manner you just witnessed with Jullain."
Great sobs wracked my body as the full story came out. I still felt the pain I had caused Timon, and I still regretted it. "After his proclamation, he simply disappeared so I couldn't apologize. Not that it would have done any good. The damage was done." I stared down at Kradyn, seeing him through my tears. "Now you know. That is why I had to put a stop to you on the ship. If I hadn't, you would be dead."
Kradyn sat, staring up at me in quiet contemplation. He finally stood, and I feared that he would leave me standing alone in the midst of Genev's garden. Slowly, he took me in his arms, pulling me close to him and allowing me to cry into his shoulder. His hand stroked through my hair and patted me on the back.
"You must leave me, Kradyn," I said when my tears finally stopped flowing. "I can never allow you to truly love me, neither physically nor spiritually. Either way will mean your death."
"Frankly, Ruldaan," he said, pulling me tighter to him, "that's not your decision to make. Let the damn sorcerer and his assassin come. They shall find me more than ample to the task of kicking both their asses."