Disclaimer: I do not own Ai no Kusabi or any part of the franchise.
I own this storyline and the characters unless otherwise noted.
Names and characteristics of characters are all fictitious and are no reference to any real live person.
This will be a BxB, Boys love, if you do not like it don't even start reading.
~~The Depths of Love~~
Prince Iason walked the market with his entourage, basically his best friend Raoul and Raoul's bodyguard Katze. Normally he was not let out of his castle by his overprotective mother, Queen Jupiter, without less than five bodyguards. But thanks to a little escape hatch he and Raoul had snuck out and were now in the dock markets looking at the new exotic imports.
Iason could not say much for the inventory all the new pets were dull looking. Dull eyed creatures that cowered in their cages. They did nothing for him, even if he was interested in purchasing one.
"Oh, Iason look a Sphinx child," Raoul pointed out a young female Sphinx from the Land of Golden sands. A rare pet for only the wealthiest in the land.
Iason went and looked the Sphinx over, the little thing cowered, silent tears drawing down her tawny skin. Her fur was ruffled and did not gleam in the sun like it should. She looked hollow as she pulled her long lion's tail about her human like body trying to ask for some protection. Iason spied traces of blood on her legs as she shrank further away from Iason's inspection.
"What do you think?" Raoul asked leaning on the cage with a smile on his face.
"I think she was taken too early and is now ruined to be a pet," Iason said coldly giving merchant who just came up a scathing glare.
"Come look at my wares. This Sphinx child is only a display piece, I have two more Sphinxes a male and a female, perfect for breeding," the man said beckoning them in towards the buildings that housed the merchant's goods.
Iason looked at Raoul asking the silent question, should we?
Raoul shrugged and pushed on curious. Although Raoul like to look he would never touch, he already had his bedmate, though he would never admit who it really was and Katze kept tight to his master's secrets though Iason suspected that it might be Katze himself.
Sighing Iason followed, he was not really interested. Nothing kept him interested these days. They entered the first room where a cacophony of sounds abruptly halted when they entered. Iason saw in two plush cages the other Sphinxes lounging near each other, just out of reach. In another cage, a green scaled Serpentess had herself coiled on the tree stand provided. She was agile, quickly unwinding herself and pooling down the stand to come to the front of the cage. She flashed teeth showing the missing incisors that made her breed deadly.
Behind her was a cage of nymphs, their tangle hair glowing, and the scents of juniper and ash wafting about like incense.
Raoul snorted, "This is it? I would have thought that there would be more," he said coming to examine the nymphs whose giggles echoed like a breeze.
"This is not all of my stock sir," the merchant quickly said fidgeting a little.
"Then what else do you have?" Iason asked glancing over the stock.
"I also have a lucky catch, just recently come in from the Emerald isles. I just have not been able to set up the cage in here, sirs. But if you come this way you may see the rarest creature of all," the merchant led them out by a side door into a narrow passage.
They followed at a leisurely pace, noting that this was towards the water and warehouses.
AT the end of the passage the room expanded into what they had gathered would be a warehouse, there were more pets here but they did not look as healthy as the ones in the show room. Following the man to the center, they spotted what looked to be a large tank twice as large as a man five men across and five men deep. It was not the tank that was extraordinary, it was what was inside.
Curled up on the bottom of the tank was a merman. His tawny dark skin covered muscles made strong from swimming in the depths of the sea, dark black hair floated ethereally about the merman's head. The fish part was an elegant dark brown tail slightly darker than his human skin.
The merchant came up and knocked on the glass, "Wake up you have an audience."
The Merman raised his head in annoyance, his beautiful features that had been a scowl quickly softened into a cold look. His dark eyes glared at the four land walkers, without warning he shot forward with his powerful tail crashing into the glass wall, a loud thud echoing across the room and the tank shook, water spilling from the mesh top causing Raoul to take a step back laughing.
"Wow, quite some spirit wouldn't you say Iason," Raoul said trying to banter with his friend, but Iason did not answer. Instead Iason was drawn into those dark eyes of the merman who bared his teeth before flipping away and attacking the other walls of the tank.
"As you can see we still have yet tamed the beast," the merchant said.
"How much?" Iason asked.
"A few weeks, it always takes that long to get the pets to realize who their masters are," the merchant explained.
"I did not mean the training, I meant how much to take him right now." Iason corrected.
"Ah, oh, um, five thousand gold Amoin coins, good sir," the merchant was taken aback he named the first sum that came to mind.
"Is that the price for a trained pet," Iason said though it was not a question.
"I am sorry sir, I meant four, no thirty-five hundred gold Amoin, without training," the man was sweating no doubt he was not making much from the sale if Iason took it.
"Really Iason, are you sure your mother would let you bring home such a creature. I remember the last time Aunt Jupiter found out I had brought you those Dancing Lilies she had them tossed out remember," Raoul said, more in concern for any punishment than the fate of the merman.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt anyone. Iason reached into his jacket pulling out a book, "do you have a pen?" he asked. Iason never carried a pen on him for they were messy.
"Yes, the merchant rushed to a table where a pen sat, checking to see if it had ink he rushed back as before Iason put the book back. In a few flourishing movements Iason had the page filled out and carefully removed from it.
"Wax?" he asked and the merchant quickly handed him the wax stick realizing that he was about to receive a letter of credit to be turned in at one of the banks in Midas.
Iason dripped a dab of wax and then taking the ring off his finger pressed it into the soft wax leaving the crest. Handing it over the merchant looked at it, blanching he stuttered. "My Prince, where would you like your pet delivered?"
"Raoul how long do you think we could convince mother to let me take some time to go to Eos Palace?" Iason asked ignoring the merchant.
"A week, I can say you have been looking wan and should get some clean air away from the heat of the capital," Raoul said a grin on his face.
"I wish him to be delivered within the week," Iason ordered taking one last look at the merman who had retreated from the glass, settling on the floor glaring murder at Iason. Iason had the feeling the merman knew he had been sold, and if he had not been raised as a prince would have thought that the merman was laying a death curse on him.
With the exchange of purchase, the papers that the merchant quickly filled out and signed turned over to Iason. Iason with Raoul grinning and Katze trailing behind in the stoic manner of a bodyguard left the shop and headed back towards the inner city of Midas and Tanagura palace to prepare to meet Queen Jupiter.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Jupiter sat at her desk going over paperwork. Her silver hair tucked up in a tight bun and a thin circlet of silver with a ruby with the royal insignia, a lightning bolt with a sword and scepter behind it crossing, the only thing she allowed to denote her rank as Queen Regent.
The latest document was about the food shortage in the western mountains, near the Eos Palace. There had been a harsh winter and a late snow killing many crops before they had begun to mature. It would be lean this year, already there was call for a drought in late summer. She was going to have to lower taxes this year.
Sighing, she put aside the edict not sure what she wanted to do yet. She began to read a report on heavy naval maneuvers occurring near the Emerald Isles, a naval country which Amoi had often been at war with in the past but in the past eleven years had a delicate peace between them. Amoi was too wealthy a neighbor buying goods with clout with the other nations around the Sea.
Especially since the last fight had claimed the life of her husband, King Argos [RB1] and the five sons of the Emerald Isles. Jupiter hoped that the peace would continue after Iason finally married the old emperor's grandchild, but she still had heard no word from the Emerald Isles about the young Princess who was only twelve. She hated to force Iason to marry a child compared to his twenty-three years, but as Crown Prince and future king he had to marry for politics and not for personal amusement.
She began a note to the naval commander when a knock on the door of her study interrupted her. She looked up as her maid went to answer the door. As soon as the maid opened it, her sister's son walked in and bowed low.
"Raoul what is it? Did Iason take off riding without you again?" she said a smile twitching at her lips at the memory of a much younger Raoul coming to complain that his cousin had gone riding with a company of soldiers during his military training.
Raoul grinned, he was never going to live down that memory, but it was fine. His aunt had been a mother to him, ever since his own had passed away of the night chills when he was only a child. His cousin and best friend a brother where he had none.
"Aunt Jupiter, I come to beg you to send Iason away from Tanagura. He is starting the chafe at the bit, if you take my meaning, he feels like he has learned all he can here in the capital and wants to learn some other things. He would never approach you, because he know that with the approach of his twenty-fourth birthday he will soon have to take upon himself the mantle of king," Raoul said hoping his Aunt would understand the nuances of his speech.
"So your saying this is his last summer as Crown Prince and the two of you want to go have some fun before your tied down to real work," she said going back to her note scribbling quickly.
"In a sense, but I know he still wants to learn. We thought about maybe taking a turn over at the king's forest for some hunting," Raoul suggested and his aunt looked up, she knew what he was doing.
"You know there is a ban on hunting in the king's forest for sport. Only the locals may hunt, and only if they pay a tax and show that it is necessary to their survival," she said scrutinizing him.
"Then how about the Cliffside palace? Learning to fish?" he said still playing the game.
"Not with the Emerald Isles running maneuvers around there," she said remembering the reports.
"Then what about Eos, we can take a load of grain for the granaries and help layup supplies for those in the area for winter. After all there was that weird snow storm last month," Raoul said finally getting to the one place he wanted to go.
Jupiter stared at him thinking. Raoul had made a point, for Iason to go to Eos meant that she could get food to their people there. Also he could take stock of what was needed to help get the people suitably supplied for winter. If it stayed late this year, it might come early next. It was far enough away from the coast that the Emerald Isles would be no trouble. Yes this might work, the small little used palace would be perfect.
"Alright, you may go," Jupiter said putting aside her note and drawing another piece of paper and writing instructions.
Raoul was taken aback, he had thought he would have to argue harder to get Jupiter to let them go.
"Aunt Jupiter, this will be great," he said a true smile coming to his lips.
"But you will take an entourage of tutors with you. While you are there, continue your studies, I will have one of my advisors there to write me about the work you do. Also, I want both of you to call upon the militia and do some drills as the last time a company was in the area was two years ago. They could use a refresher," Jupiter said writing it all down.
"When may be leave?" Raoul asked.
"Within the week. Packing the grain allotment will take a few days so take your time getting packed. I would suggest the two of you beginning your duties today as this whole trip is to prove yourselves. Julia, have the reports copied for Iason and Raoul and check with Gideon to see which company is available to go to Eos," she said finishing the note and handing it to her maid.
Raoul bowed as the maid left in a graceful hurry. "Thank you Aunt Jupiter, I will inform Prince Iason that he may escort the supplies to Eos for the summer," he said and with a brisk nod from Jupiter left the room closing the door behind him.
Jupiter put down her pen and took a deep breath before rising and turning to the window to look out over the garden. She was worried to hand over the reins to Iason, but knew that eventually he would have to manage affairs of state and would be a test of what he could do. In the western mountains, they were right beside their neighbors which made for most of the revenue from there. The trading was regional, but Iason would be place into a position of having to wield and deal with the people there as much as request supplies from Midas. Jupiter wished to see what her proud son could do.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Iason stood in the middle of his study directing a pair of servants towards packing of trunks. Books that he wished to take he knew were not in the extensive library in Eos. Clothes that were necessary to the mountains. A few formal outfits for any local nobility and foreign dignitaries. His personal man Darryl would come with him, Darryl was his confident, as much as a servant could be.
The last writing chest had been locked when Raoul came in seating himself in his usual chair in a flutter, with Katze taking post at the door just out of earshot. With a wave of his hand Darryl ushered the other servants out under their burdens leaving Iason and Raoul to talk.
"So what did mother say?" he asked as he poured wine from the service into two goblets left there for the purpose.
"How did you know she would let us go? With all her approval might I add," Raoul said eyeing a book on the stand beside him looking at the title before opening it to the first page.
"Because mother is predictable," Iason said bringing the goblets over and handing one to Raoul who was pretending to be preoccupied.
"No, I mean, how did you know that she would let us go to Eos. Did you know when you had me prepare that little speech?" Raoul accused putting the book aside twirling the goblet in his hands.
"Believe it or not, I get all the same reports mother does, sometimes before she does," Iason replied taking a sip of the wine.
"How?" Raoul asked his eyebrow raised in question.
"That is for me to know," Iason said with a brief glance over his shoulder towards Katze.
"So you have your own spy network. No wonder you had Katze doing your bidding before you assigned him to be my guard," Raoul said an implied meaning of he would talk with Katze in private.
"I don't spy on you Raoul. WE have been friends since we were children and I don't need to be in your bed to learn everything that I want from you," Iason said in a non-threatening tone. "So what other chores did mother assign to us?"
Raoul choked as he sipped his wine, eyes darting up into laughing blue ones.
"We are taking a company of men and drilling the militia," Raoul said putting his glass down before he dropped it and dabbed his mouth with a napkin.
"That's it? I would have thought she would have had us do more," Iason said.
"Well, I believe she will send us more orders as the summer wears on but for now we are to deliver the supplies, and get the locals back on their feet and prepared for an early winter," Raoul said.
"So this should be a fun summer, in the cool air away from Midas. Our marriage prospects put on hold, I doubt we will have a summer like this again," Raoul said raising his goblet.
"To our last summer of true freedom," he toasted and Iason raised his goblet and they both drained their glasses.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Riki was angry, disgusted, and sick and swimming in his own filth, not that he had much to swim in. For seven days he had been locked in a glass box with holes in the lid, with a bucket of water a day and something like kelp and some type of fish that was the most horrible thing he had tasted.
The back of the wagon, he had heard the land walkers call it, was not pleasant. The jostling would have drained the box of all water, had it not been seal shut around the edges and the breathing holes not on the very top.
Riki had thought ship travel was bad, locked in a hold chained down, but this was worse. I still cursed himself blue for getting trapped in that fishing net. Then he remembered why he had been caught and sighed resignedly and waited.
He had no idea where he was going, wherever Eos was, he knew that he had been bought by that blonde land walker. Though he had a feeling that Eos was far from the ocean, within the first day Riki could no longer smell the salty air of the sea, instead a stench of decay had permeated everything. The smell was not pleasant but it was not unpleasant either. It was slowly turning crisp, like the waters to the north turned crisp in flavor, but the aromas here were much different.
Trying to turn to work a kink out of his tail, Riki suddenly felt sloshed around the box when the wagon suddenly stopped. Riki tried not gag, but with nothing to come up he just choked. This was not a pleasant way to travel. While disorientated, he did not hear voices come near, they were indistinct and he could not understand the language of these people, different from the cant of the Emerald Isles.
Then the wagon moved forward again, but this time, Riki was braced for the movement. He tried to catch a glimpse of where they were. Riki was confused at the jostling of the wagon. For the past few days they had not stopped except in the deep of night and a few times in the day when they fed him. This was different.
The wagon rolled forward for a little while until it jerked to a stop again. He felt the rock as the land walker who drove the wagon got off his seat. There were more voices and Riki looked trying to see where they were. With the flaps down, Riki could not see where he was, but was then blinded when the flap was thrown aside and two large land walkers stood before the wagon grasping the box and hauling it out of the wagon.
The action jostled Riki, coupled with the blinding light, he found himself disoriented. The water pulled at his body, dragging him back and forth across the box. If it were not for his gills, he would have probably been choking with his land walker lungs. Riki rolled trying to find a frame of reference to orient himself to. He finally found purchase with his hands against the box sides to keep him from being sloshed around.
They were passing the wagon, a weird contraption of a land ship. Riki saw rock beneath him before a floor of green. It was weird, but looking at it, it only stretched several lengths until it reached the edge of something Riki recognized and knew very well; Water. They were at the side of small, his brain searched for the term, lake. If he could only get to the lake, maybe he could get home.
Riki was trying to think of how to get out when the land walker in front jerked his side of the glass box and Riki slid forward, grunting as his tail was pinned between his torso and the end of the box. He was about to stretch out when he froze. This was it, this was how he could escape.
"Man this mermaid is heavy," the one land walker said.
"It's because your jostling has him braced on your end," the other one said with a grin. The water in the box shifted back and forth, pulling at him beckoning him to relax. He counted: 1, 2, 3, shift, 1, 2, 3, shift. He had it, with the next shift Riki pushed out hard with his tail his arms up braced to hit the glass on the other end of the short box, but it was enough. The sudden change in weight, and the force of his movement caused the second land walker to lose his grip and the box fell hard. Glass shattered and Riki rolled away from the land walkers, momentarily stunned.
He breathed the freshest air he had had in days, it helped bring clarity and sitting up he saw land walkers shouting and running towards him and the two who had carried him. Rolling onto his stomach, Riki looked for the lake. It was there six lengths away.
He pulled himself forward using his hands and jerking his tail he managed to gain half a length. The shouting got louder. Riki pulled harder and wriggled some more, a full length, he found the easiest motion. The green beneath him slick against his scales, his hands burying into the ground for purchase. Riki covered half the distance in moments.
Glancing back he saw other land walkers almost on top of him. The first one half a length away. Riki pulled forward, but the first land jumped at him, pinning him. Riki rolled and his strong arms hit and the land walker lay stunned, blood dripping down his face from where Riki's blow had landed.
Riki was a length away. Just a little more, there were more shouts on him, his hands were in the lake. He flipped his tail eager to be in the water. He was up to his waist. He was almost there, his tail was sliding in when suddenly hands grasped his back fin. Riki scrabbled for purchase when he was dragged backwards.
"Shit, no," he screamed in the water. He felt his nails break as they scrabbled at the rocks in the clear water.
He wriggled but the land walker had a firm grip. Riki reached for something, anything, a rock came up. Rolling on his back, Riki took aim and threw the rock at his assailant. He was let go, wriggling he pushed himself into the water, his whole body was in but it was shallow. He struggled a moment before finding the ledge and swam straight down. The water was cool, it was clear, and it was not the same as the ocean.
Riki swam to the bottom, his heart pounding like the waves on shore during a great wind storm. A boulder protruded from the bottom and he sat atop it trying to relax. He was free, as much as he wanted to return to the sea, he had to force himself to relax. There was no way they could get to him down here. The surface reflected a clear blue fifty lengths up. Where he lay there was a small valley between the shore and a small island in the middle of the lake.
Relaxing Riki sensed the water around him. It was far different from the salty sea, he felt heavier but the water was clean. He could tasted the minerals in the water, like the deep jets in the sea that spat fresh water, laden with minerals. The sun reflected differently here, steady with little waves, other than a brief breeze that ruffled the surface.
Suddenly he felt what he had been looking for. The slight tug of the water on his skin, the call that directed him towards the sea. Staying towards the bottom, Riki swam away from the rock that had been his perch. Flipping his fins lazily he played with his buoyancy until he noticed that the bottom slanted upwards. Going to the surface, Riki cautiously came above the surface, the tug of the currant stronger here. He gasped at what he say.
Before him was a wall three times his length and the lake flowed to it, a small gate imbedded in the wall, let the water flow through. Swimming slowly towards it he came to the gate, realizing that it was imbedded in the rocks below and the wall above, with no gap larger than Riki's hand. But that did not deter him. The wall had grooves and handholds that with his superior arm strength. Riki had pulled himself to the top of the wall and sat on it looking out into open air. The stream went for about a length and a half before plummeting over the edge of the earth. Riki swallowed knowing that the height was too great for him to jump down from.
Riki, was furious and felt the agony of having his last hope torn from him. An agonized scream ripped from his throat before he began weeping.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Iason was riding at the head of the column of soldiers just entering Eos' Eastern gate. The lake was seen just through the trees and the road ran alongside the lake until it reached the palace. A blood curdling scream echoed across the lake, spooking many of the horses and the men. Iason quickly shouted orders and with Raoul at this back galloped up the road to stop when he saw the merchant caravan picking up shards of glass.
"What happened?" he asked and a burly man approached him, his brows furrowed in shame.
"My lord, I regret to inform you that your pet escaped. WE were carrying him to the main residence when the carriers lost control and dropped the box containing him and he managed to slip into the lake. I supremely apologize for our mistake," he bowed expecting a lash as many other nobles had done before.
Raoul snorted, bringing a brief smile to Iason's lips. "Man you don't know? This lake is surrounded by walls and the western edge flows off a cliff that no man in his right mind would challenge. I don't see that pet escaping this place any other way than the one he arrived, being carried in a litter and water," Raoul stated as Iason turned his horse to the water's edge looking towards the far side where he could see the wall and he thought he saw a lone figure moving on the top, a dark figure against the white of the wall, and then a splash back into the water, told him his pet had returned to the lake.
"It will be fine, I was going to have him released into the lake anyway. I hope you like your new home, my little pet. Raoul direct the men to the barracks and have the servants begin unloading the wagons. There is much to do before we lose the daylight," Iason ordered spurring his horse past the merchant caravan and into the palace square towards the stables where a stable boy ran up and grasping the bridle as Iason dismounted.
With one more glance towards the lake Iason entered the Palace.