Short Story 1: Father Before Ruler
Theb-Saar sat on his throne and he listened to his advisor about an emergency at the border of the desert, his blue tail was twitching nervously.
"There's a conflict at the border of our territory with the Overworlder again," Tianne told his king.
"What happened this time?" The mipedian king asked his advisor.
"It's about the neutral territory. The overworlder are claiming it as theirs and are ready to fight to claim it," Tianne resumed.
"This again," the king sighed. "Send my brother and my sister in law to deal with them and forced them to remember that this territory is neutral."
"This will not work this time. The Overworlders really want this territory and I believe that diplomacy is needed,"
"So I have sent a diplomat. I think I know-"
The door to the throne opened and a servant came in.
"My king! Your mate is delivering right now!" the servant shouted.
Theb-Saar raised his head and stood up.
"My king! We haven't finish the-"
"I'll deal with it tomorrow. I'm busy right now."
"You're duty-" Tianne was cut again.
"Later! Order of your king!"
Theb-Saar rushed out of the room and left the advisor alone. Tianne smiled despite the rebuttal.
Theb-Saar entered in his chamber when he heard his mate screaming on her bed. By her side, the healer was helping her delivering.
She is a thin mipedian with red scales covering her body and an oversize belly from their future baby. She has small arms and smalls muscles covering her body. She has black long hair. She has a few horns getting out of her head and points to the back.
She cursed him for making her suffer so much right now. Theb-Saar stopped himself from chuckling when he remembered that his sister in law said the cursed his brother from making her pregnant.
"I'm here Bastet," the king whispered with a smile.
Bastet grabbed his wrist and squeezed it when she shouted in pain. Theb-Saar didn't flinch and he used his other hand to hold it.
"Maybe you are here! GUARH! But you are not the one screaming in pain right now!" she then said a few things not worth remembering.
The night came when the delivering was over. There were some blood on the bed were Bastet rested tired. The mipedian king sat by her side and watched their baby. His scales were white and he looked a lot like his mother.
"He's beautiful," the king commented.
"Yes," Bastet said weakly. She closed her eyes in exhaustion and the healer picked the baby mipedian.
The healer took out a healing mugic and played it for Bastet.
"How is she?" Theb-Saar asked.
"Tired. She lost more blood than normal, so she needs to rest. It will be best to let your son watched by a nanny," the healer said.
Theb-Saar watched his new born albino's son. His eyes crossed his son.
"I'll watch over him," the king replied. He raised his hand before the healer replied. "It's your king orders."
"As you wish," the healer nodded.
The mipedian king picked his son and he held him in his arms. He couldn't sleep in his bed with the blood over it so he went elsewhere. As he walked, it was getting colder fast in the castle without the astral light warming the desert. The armor of the king was getting cold for the little prince who shivered in the arms of the king. Theb-Saar reached the throne room and he decided to sit on it for a moment. He sat on it and he took out his chest armor. He looked at his son who didn't appear tired.
"It is late," he told his son.
His baby raised his hand and he grabbed one vine of his father and pulled it. The king chuckled at first before he laughed. He moved his snout at the chest of his son and nuzzled it. It made him giggle. He stopped after a while when he saw his son too excited when he needed to sleep. After a while, his baby stopped pulling his vine and shivered again. Theb-Saar held him closer to his chest and his heart played his music in the ears of his son. Even so, he still felt cold.
The king felt the shivering on his chest and he took out his cape and covered his son with it.
"This shall keep you warm my son," he said with his soft voice.
Eventually, his son felt asleep against him and the king just smiled at him.
"You are beautiful," he told his son with a fatherly smile. "You may not know, but we already choose your name a while ago. Welcome in the family Iflar. I'll always be there for you."
20 solans later
"How much you grow up Iflar," Theb-Saar said while contemplating his son far away with his cousin Mudeenu. He was under the watch of his brother and his mate. "It's just too bad I cannot spend time with you."
He entered in the throne room and saw many mipedians waiting for him to listen to their problem and solved them. Each of them was the representative of a village in the mipedian desert and spoke in the name of their village. This is not a part of his duty he hated, but it was time consuming and also consuming a lot of energy. Today was the day he had the longest line outside of the throne room. He sat on his throne before he listened to them and he realised fast the general situation when he noticed it was oddly similar after hearing 10 of them.
"Hold on!" he ordered. He stood up and he walked near his subject. "How many villages have been raids?" Almost all of them shouted it. "Alright. I'll deal with the three that hasn't been raid and I'll speak with all of you at once. I'm afraid it isn't simply a raid,"
He finished his duty fast with the representative of the village and he listened to those who been attack. Theb-Saar remained calm in the outside, but hearing this made his tail twitch lightly and his chest boiling furiously when he heard what happened to his people.
"This will be presented to the council," Theb-Saar said frowning. "This situation is serious. I'm afraid the Underworlders are attacking. I'll send more soldiers patrolling in the desert and with the council; we might decide to send retaliation against the Underworlders."
The representatives were satisfied and walked away. Theb-Saar knew he had nothing left to do. It was the afternoon and he smiled.
"I finally have some time to spend with my family," he said joyfully.
He walked outside and he saw his son alone with his mate. He looked around and didn't saw Mudeenu and his brother. He remembered that Mudeenu was growing up and he was training so he'll be a powerful warrior.
Theb-saar sat near his mate. "Hello," the king said as he kissed her. "How is he doing?"
"Iflar is perfectly fine," Bastet replied kissing him back. "Our nephew continued his training. He's becoming an adult and soon, it will be Iflar turns."
Bastet signed sadly, not wanting it to happen so soon.
"We should enjoy the time we have with him," Theb-Saar replied. He stood up and he walked near his son who was reading a papyrus. "What are you doing?"
Iflar raised his head at his father before he went back to his papyrus. "It's easy to see father,"
Theb-Saar was taken aback by the reply of his son. He sat by his side.
"Is something the matter?"
"Nothing father," Iflar replied without looking at him.
"Come on my little one, do you want to play with your dad?" Theb-Saar asked unsure,
"No. I'm alright by just reading," Iflar grunted a little annoyed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing wrong father. You surely have something else to do anyway."
"I have nothing else. I just want to pass sometime with you."
Iflar glared at him.
"I don't think so. I'm sure you have more things to do than be with me. I almost never saw you and you are always busy," Iflar clenched his fist and showed his teeth at his father.
"I assure you that everything is done for today."
Iflar rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Sure," he said with sarcasm.
The mipedian king put his hand on the shoulder of his son. "Son. If there is a problem, you have to tell me."
"Now you are interested in me! You never ask me anything! You are always in the throne room to accomplish you're duty as a ruler! When you spoke with me, you are always interrupted by your advisor or anyone more important than me!" Iflar shouted at his father. He stood up and he turned his back to his father. "Why don't you do something more important than me?! I'm sure there are plenty of things!" A tear felt from his eyes before he turned invisible and ran away.
The king stayed there silently and didn't try to search for him. He sat on the ground, he dropped his head and sighted. "He grew up without me."
His mate saw the interaction and she sat by his side. "Are you alright my love?" she asked before kissing his sensible ear.
"You know it's not the case. I think he grew ill of me,"
Bastet nuzzled his neck. "You do not pass a lot of time together. He's feeling resentful of this, but he doesn't understand that your duties are extremely important."
"It's not my fault that the Underworlders are so aggressive and that the people had so much problems. I cannot be inactive or it might turn bad," Theb-Saar replied.
Bastet put her hands on his back and started massaging his shoulder. Theb-Saar purred with a smile, but his eyes were still depressed about his relationship with his son.
"I'll talk to him later," Bastet said with her soft voice. "You do not have to worry about it. I'm sure you'll figure something out. You are smart and if you can deal with the other tribes, I'm sure you can deal with our son."
"I'm not sure I'll have the time with my duty," he replied uncertain about her suggestion.
"I'm not worry about it. I'm sure you will manage," Bastet said before she nuzzled the snout of the king.
The night came and the dark cloud started covering the sky of the desert. Theb-Saar was outside and watched the sky.
"A storm? Those are extremely rare here."
Thunder can be heard in the distance and the king raised his head. He thought about what he should do and decided to see his son and tried to speak with him. He started to believe that his son thought he was neglected. Theb-Saar wanted to show him he was wrong. The dark clouds covered the sky and it was only darkness outside. The torches hadn't been light up and the king couldn't see anything around him. As he walked closer to the chamber, he saw some strange shadow exiting the chamber of his son. The tail of the king twitched with uneasiness when he saw this and told himself that it must be the servant exiting the room of his son.
That was until the lightning stroke and illuminated the palace for a second. The king saw two underworlders with his son in their arms. Iflar was debating with his mouth shouted by vines.
Theb-Saar saw this and when the darkness reclaimed the palace, his red eyes shined through it. He turned invisible and he charged at the kidnappers. When he was closer he raised his hands and he grabbed the two underworlders by their neck. He hit their head together. They were confused for a moment. The king picked his son and he put him behind him and freed his mouth.
"Are you alright son?" Theb-Saar asked worried.
"I'm...fine father," Iflar said with his voice shaking and slowly. He grabbed his arms together and backed away.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Theb-Saar said while his tail gave a hug to his son. He let him go and walked to the two underworlders. His pupils were small and showed the fury of the mipedian king. "You dare entered in my palace," he said calmly, with his fury burning like a volcano behind his eyes only. "You tried to kidnap my son. My most precious treasure I hold! You will not get out of here alive."
The king called the power of the wind and threw twin tornado at the first underworlder and crushed him. He flew in the air and when he landed, the sound of the bones cracking resonated. The spine of the kidnaper broke at his neck and killed him instantly.
The lighting stroke again and Iflar saw his father grabbing the second underworlder and punched his face. He saw blood flying in the air when the nose was crushed under the fist of the king. The darkness returned, but the sound of the battle resonated. A fire ball came out of the hand of the underworlder and hit the face of Theb-Saar. Iflar saw this and he backed away and hid at the throne room by instinct, which was close to his chamber.
Theb-Saar stood up and he touched the skin of his face, lightly burned by the fire. The lighting stroke again and the underworlder saw the face of the king. He couldn't describe it, but it broke his courage to fight him. Only death was written in the face of the king. The kidnaper tried to ran away, but the king extended his arm and grabbed the kidnaper. He pulled him in front of his face and their eyes crossed.
"You will not escape me underworlder," the king snapper his fingers and the royal guards appeared around him. "You will say everything about the attack against the villages and also the instigator who wants to kidnap my son! Guards take him to 'the room' and make sure he doesn't escape. I'll be the one to make him talk later. I'm needed elsewhere before that."
The guards were about to drag the prisoner when Theb-Saar punched the stomach of the underworlder. The kidnaper felt on his knee and vomited on the ground while the king walked away in the throne room. The guards took the underworlder to 'the room'.
Theb-Saar was in the throne room and he looked around. He didn't see anyone. He stayed there and he waited for his son to manifest himself, but he didn't. He heard a sob echoing in the room.
"Iflar. My son. Come here." Theb-Saar said gently.
No one came to him. Theb-Saar used his ears to search for his son location and found it quite easily. He walked at his throne and looked behind it. He saw nothing, but the sound of someone sobbing could be heard. He knew his son was invisible behind the throne. The king took off his cape and he put it around his invisible son. Iflar turned visible and looked at his father. His eyes trembled and he tried to back away from his father who grabbed him and put him in his arms. The king sat on his throne and put his son on his lap.
"Don't be afraid son. You are safe," Theb-Saar told his son with a king and soft voice. His son looked at his father with fear. He tried to maintain some little distance from his father. "What is it?"
"You...You killed them," Iflar said with fear in his voice.
"They wanted to hurt you. I have to fight them so I can protect you. Also, only one of them is dead," Theb-Saar replied. "If you think I'll hurt you, then you are completely wrong."
He embraced his son against his chest.
"Are you sure?" Iflar asked unsure.
"Why are you unsure?"
"You are never here for me. You never had time for me," Iflar told him again, but without anger this time.
The king closed his eyes when he heard his son wimping. He was still young and he knew he needed to cry.
"Do not hesitate to cry son. I'm here for you," Theb-Saar said softly. He moved his hands on the back of his son and rubbed it.
His son didn't cry loudly, but his tear felt on the chest of his father.
"I was so scared of you." Iflar said quietly. "I don't know you. Mom always told me you are nice and kind. Yet you killed someone and you were mad."
"I was mad because they hurt you. I couldn't stand seeing it and I had to send them a message to not attack my family. Especially you, my most treasure one,"
Iflar didn't replied and they said nothing for a long time. Iflar calmed down. Outside, the sound of the storm came in and the rain felt on the ground.
"Dad. Why are you always busy?" his son asked.
"I'm the king of our tribe. It is my duty to rule our tribe. I tried to raise you the best I could."
"Then why mom isn't busy?"
"Because her situation is different than mine. You see, when I fall in love with her, I created such a scandal with the council because she didn't have any noble blood in her. She was living alone in the desert as a nomad. One day, out path crossed and when I saw her, I felt in love with her instantly. I didn't care about her origin. I loved her from the bottom of my heard. I married her and I have you. Because she is considered a commoner, they do not want her to rule and she wanted to raise you because her mother raised her. She and I lived grew in different world, but I prefer hers to mine. I didn't have the chance because I have to rule."
Iflar looked at his father.
"Dad. Do you love me?"
"Of course," Theb-Saar answered immediately. He also smiled when he heard his son calling him dad instead of saying father coldly. "I love you. I always looked at you and my mate when everything is difficult for me. I often wish to be with you more often. Today, we had the opportunity."
"But I waste it," Iflar dropped his head. "I barely know you."
"I always ask Bastet what you are doing together so I know what you do," Theb-Saar said. He then nuzzled the neck of his son. "You know. When you were born, we were together for the first time in this very throne room. I held you in my cape, kept you warm during the cold night nuzzling you and letting you sleep against me."
"Dad. Can we have another opportunity to be together?"
"The chance will be low sadly," the king replied. His son sighted sadly, but Theb-Saar had an idea. "But, you might be with me during the day. You will see the job of a king and we will be together. After work, I'll play with you until bed time."
"Yeah!" Iflar shouted.
"For now, I think we should both sleep," Theb-Saar told his son. He patted his back and they both closed their eyes. "I'll told you again. I'll be with you and I'll always protect you son."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The end.
AC: This is the end of the first short story. I decide to put short stories too so I can made some complete already. I tried to balance Theb-Saar between his kind spot with his family and his darker side against his enemies.
'The room' in the story is the torture chamber. Theb-Saar didn't explicit say it in case Iflar was listening.
If you like it enough, I might give a sequel to this one and put more detail of Father Before Ruler.
Next one: Marquis Darini vs Vitar'zu.