Kaerzye was escorted by several armed guards to the decaying hut that Maylnor insisted be built away from the manor where the rest of Alderon's court lived. He chose to dwell in a place made out of mud and straw rather than having to deal with men who did little but argue about things that never mattered to begin with. He always made a point to complain about their incompetence to Kaerzye because even if he was only a child he seemed to be the only one who would listen to Maylnor other than Alderon.

Malynor always did say that children had more sense about the things that really had any true value in life.

The men stopped nervously several yards from the front door and shifted sword and shield as their eyes lingered in the skies. Kaerzye also peered upward to examine the clouds, though they seemed to be empty other than the occasional bird. The prince hardly ever saw the palace guards so rattled but something had obviously spooked them.

It was then that the boy caught a glimpse of something over the horizon of trees that led into the forest. He was certain a black form was dancing between the branches closest to the sky. The men had not seen the beast before it once again disappeared without a trace.

A voice coming from the doorway of Maylnor's hut startled the boy back into reality.

"Ah! Kaer, Kaer! I've been waiting for…goodness, it's had to have been at least ten minutes since I called you up here! Or down here rather, I suppose. The palace is uphill then, isn't it?"

Maylnor clasped his hands together jubilantly as he somehow managed to escape the complete mess of crackpot inventions that lined the walls of his house. Some were even scattered around outside on his lawn. One of the devices was shaped like a dragon but instead of fire spewing out of the mouth and nostrils of the wooden beast there was water. Its thick neck swayed back and forth, throwing the liquid at least twenty yards and much to the delight of Kaerzye it even managed to give the four of them standing there a spray.

Maylnor did not even seem to notice that he was now sopping wet.

The two guards however shuffled back toward their horses as quickly as possible after grumbling to the man that they would be back for the prince within that next hour. After a cheery wave to the retreating men, Maylnor rather unceremoniously shoved his charge into the hut and slammed the door as if he were afraid someone unwelcome might see what lay inside.

"Blue today, Maylnor? Is something the matter?"

Kaer had asked because the hut that the rather eccentric man lived in served as a gigantic reflection of his mood thanks to an ingenious charm he had created during an experiment of crossbreeding squirrels with clams. Kaerzye had made a point to ask where in the world the correlation lied between the two but he thought it best not to try and pry into his teacher's mind.

"Oh yes, oh yes… You should have seen it earlier! Bright red, it was. Your cousin came by, you know. The hissing daisies still give him a bit of a scare I think. Oh, and Mildred bit him again."

He nodded sagely as if it was a grave situation, but Kaerzye knew better. Maylnor had probably trained Mildred to attack the man long before he had ever arrived.

"He's going to make you get rid of her if she ruins anymore of his clothes. By the way, have you even figured out what she is?" Kaer warily eyed the ball of fuzz that was lying in a pile of mismatched silk patches across the room. Mildred was a mess of tangled fur, dirt, leaves, twigs and the home to a few fleas judging from the way she constantly scratched herself. The fur was so thick that no one could tell what it really was hiding beneath it and not even Mildred could see clearly. She was always running into things.

Maylnor always insisted she did it simply because she was the stupidest creature ever to exist.

"Won't let me get close enough to her to shave off all that hair, so no. She wandered out of the forest so there's really no telling what she is. Not very many people have documented whatever lives in that place but they apparently have sharp teeth. Mildred has made a lovely bed out of all the scraps she's ripped out of your cousin's pants. Would you like to see?"

Maylnor shuffled off to the opposite side of the hut and Kaer had to strain to peer over all the objects surrounding the table he had taken a seat at to get a good view of what his mentor was doing. The boy winced when the man began kicking at the creatures side, though for all he knew, it could have been her head. His prodding was followed by a growl and a snap and a string of obscenities that the man quickly apologized to the prince for letting escape.

"She's only cranky, that's all. Anyone could get that way after Karnakh visiting them without an invitation. But I didn't ask you to come to discuss the shade of my mood, Kaer. It is blue for a reason, yes. I wanted to talk to you about the disease. So sit, sit, sit! And have some crocodile tea! Tastes like a dream when you get passed the scales."

Before Kaer even had a chance to protest against drinking the essence of anything that lived in a swamp, Maylnor had shoved an entire pot of the stuff in his direction.

"No cups, Kaer. I believe the squirrel has taken them again! Really, I would take the invisibility charm off the poor thing, but I never thought about about not being able to see it once I had cast the spell. Anyway, about the disease…How much has Alderon spoken to you about it, Kaer?"

Maylnor heaved a sigh as if he had been working heavily all day and plopped down into one of the four clashing chairs that lined the table. He never did wear shoes, so when he propped his feet up on the table in full view of the child, Kaer felt the strongest urge to set his tea down and not take another sip lest he vomit right there.

"I've hardly seen my father since the disease starting getting to be a problem. I guess he would be busy taking care of people."

Kaerzye finished that off quieter than he had begun, and his eyes settled down into the dark liquid quivering in the pot he had set in his lap. He could see in his own reflection how much his expression gave away that he was upset about the time he and his father had spent apart. Kaer was not used to being so alone, and even if he did have Maylnor to visit whenever he wished it was somehow not the same. He always needed someone beside him to hold his hand when he was afraid.

"He lets Karnakh tell me everything, I think. Everything he thinks I should know, anyway. Why does he always hide everything from me, Maylnor? Aren't I old enough to know the truth?"

Malynor's face became uncharacteristically solemn at the sudden and short but important questions the boy had so abruptly thrown at him.

"Kaer, there are a many of forms of truth. There's more to this whole thing than you could ever imagine right now. It's best if you know the basics until you're old enough to really understand. Now, don't look at me like that. You know how highly I think of you, Kaer. I know how smart you are, but don't you see? That's the very reason why your father wants to keep certain things a secret from you. You're different than other children your age. You're different than other children completely. Knowledge can sometimes be a dangerous thing, and for now it's just best if you listened to me and your father, and not your cousin, hmm? He's not the freshest fruit in the stand, if you know what I mean."

Malynor's wise eyes were pleading silently with the child to understand why he needed to be kept in the dark. Kaer caught the man's gaze momentarily glancing down at the strange pendant that hung loosely around the boy's neck. Maylnor let another great sigh of frustration escape and he forced himself to tear his eyes away from the necklace. It was a mistake of Alderon's to allow the child to wear it but he was never heeded when it came to that matter. Kaerzye thought it was harmless enough, especially with all of the precious gems somehow carved out of the many empty sockets that surrounded the larger green jewel in the center. For some reason it had been left unmolested.

"Listen, Kaer. This disease is not something we can stop. All of my alchemy and sparse magical knowledge can't put a stop to this thing. One way or another it eventually kills everything it comes in contact with and the only way we can really fight it for now is to pray. It's something none of us want to hear, I'm sure, but it does no good to hide in empty lies, now does it?"

Maylnor could almost predict what Kaer's next reaction would be.

"But maybe I could do something to help! If someone just explained it to me a little more, then maybe I could make a difference somehow."

The differences in opinion from all of the adults and their way of expertly dodging real answers to all of Kaerzye's questions was beginning to annoy him into a state where he felt he wanted to just beat each of them in the head with a blunt object.

"If you won't answer that question then maybe you can help me with this one. Right before you came outside earlier, something scared the men who were with me. I didn't see anything at first, but... There was something strange in the trees. It was black and long. I didn't see its face before it disappeared again. Was it something you created?"

For some reason, the mysterious being had left a lasting impression on the child. It sent chills down his spine thinking about how it weaved its way through the branches like a snake in search of prey. Maylnor looked as if he had seen an apparition behind the boy and he struggled with piecing together what he needed to say next.

"You know, I have no idea, Kaer. Creatures from the forest of that size hardly ever wander to our borders. In all honesty it might be the scent of death that's attracting it. That is, if you really saw anything at all. It's nearly dark. Your eyes sometimes play tricks on you at this time of night."

Maylnor had been white ever since Kaerzye had mentioned seeing the beast but his voice remained even so as to not alarm the child in his care.

"I think it's about time for you to return to the palace. I've said all that I have to say and you should have a few words with your father."

Kaerzye nodded in agreement with his mentor. It had been a long time since he had a chance to see his father, after all.

"Listen, Kaerzye. I want you to stay in your room. I want you to stay there and not come here anymore, do you understand? Not even with the guards escorting you. And I want you to forget you ever saw anything in those trees. It was nothing."

This change in Malynor's behavior caught the child up in a state of confusion but when the man decided to end their conversations Kaer knew better than to push him for more information. Maylnor had always had Kaerzye's best interests in mind and he realized that. Even so, he was now concerned that something more serious than he thought was being hidden from him by everyone. The silence between them during the remaining time they shared together before the guards came to fetch the young prince only worsened Kaerzye's concerns.

Maylnor was too busy shuffling through stacks of books and muttering frantically to himself to notice the child had said goodbye to him.

The entire ride back to the gates of the castle Kaerzye's, thoughts were plagued with visions of the beast lurking within the trees so close to their home. Maylnor might be in danger if he actually had seen something vicious then and that worried him terribly. The boy wandered the halls of the palace for hours alone except for the companionship of his imagination that was starting to run rampant within him. Maybe it was best to visit his father and discover what he might have to say about the beast and his son's feeling on being left in the dark about everything happening to their home. When he finally reached his father's quiet chambers in the black tower, the child swallowed hard as he shoved the images into the back of his mind.

No, he last thing his father needed was to be burdened with more disconcerting news.

This would be nothing more than a routine conversation – a friendly visit to a father he had hardly spoken to since this all began. As the child reached for the handle to enter the room, a voice interrupted him. There was someone else in the room other than his father.

"You can't be serious, Alderon! You see what's happening, don't you? He needs to be removed! For his own safety and for everyone else's he can't stay here!"

The voice belonged to Maylnor. Whatever he was discussing with the king had obviously upset him judging by his tone.

"This matter has nothing to do with him or that woman! Your superstition may have had a place there, but this is my kingdom! There is a very simple explanation for the deaths of my people and they have nothing to do with this fantasy of yours, Maylnor! I will not have my only chance at having an heir destroyed by your mythological nonsense! If that's all you had to discuss with me then you may leave. He stays here and that's my final word!"

The room was silent for a few moments. Maylnor was probably biting his tongue to keep himself from saying anything else that would further upset the king. He was allowing his fear of his family losing their place on the throne to interfere with his logic. True, some of the information Maylnor had given him was far-fetched but given Kaerzye's background, the tales were more believable than the king was willing to admit.

The man was old and had always been unsuccessful with producing an heir of his own blood. The rest of the kingdom knew nothing about the child biologically belonging to another and he gladly left them in the dark on that subject. As far as they were concerned, the boy was the rightful heir to Alderon's throne. Kaerzye's adoption was his only hope and he would have no other.

"An agreement was made, Alderon. I understand your feelings, but you must understand her own."

"Until I see it knocking on the front door of my home nothing changes! Just because you are her servant does not mean you have jurisdiction over the decisions I make for my own kingdom!"

Maylnor was about to retaliate when the king broke down into a coughing fit and shivered violently as if a draft very suddenly swept over him. Maylnor sighed and refrained from speaking. The man was acting like a fool but Maylnor was not about to argue him right into his grave over the matter.

"When that woman abandoned him here with me she forfeit her right as a mother! It's been nine years, Maylnor. She's not coming for him. For all you know she's already dead."

Maylnor had planned on leaving well enough alone for now but the king had reopened an old wound with his harsh words and the man finally let his true feeling spill with his raised tone.

"Plans have changed since then! It was a desperate situation, Alderon, and she had no other choice! Her intentions were never to leave him in your care for so long! For God's sake, look at your people! You were warned that this might happen. If you don't want the rest of your legacy to disappear as Hallan has then give up your childish, stubborn view on the situation and listen to reason!"

"Enough! At this point I have little concern for her intentions, and mark me, Maylnor, if you dare try to make off with my child in secret I won't hesitate to have you killed without a trial. I hope I'm making myself extremely clear."

Kaerzye had been listening to the whole argument with his green eyes wide and his breath held in anticipation of what would be exchanged next. Never in his life had he heard his father or Maylnor raise their voices to such an angry level, especially at each other.

And now he had reason to question his origin.

If Alderon was not his father, then who was? And who was this woman they kept referring to that was apparently his mother? Kaerzye gasped when the heavy footfalls of one of the men came closer to the door. The boy tumbled behind one of the two grand statues guarding either side of the door and clamped his hands over his mouth when it finally opened. Out stormed Maylnor looking more furious than Kaerzye or perhaps anyone had ever seen him. His pace abruptly slowed until he came to a momentary halt a few yards beyond the open door leading to the king's audience chamber. The man gave a half-glance over his shoulder at nothing in particular before moving on and out of sight down the hall.

Kaerzye breathed a sigh of relief, leaning his head back against the wall while contemplating whether or not it was a good idea to confront his father about the encounter with Maylnor. In the end he decided against it so soon after the verbal war had taken place. He feared he would be barred from seeing Maylnor entirely or punished by his father for questioning him.

"Kaerzye."

At first Kaerzye thought his heart had stopped beating in his chest but he relaxed when he realized his father's tone was not at all threatening. He was no longer angry, at least not at his son. Kaerzye had done no wrong in his eyes.

"Come here, boy. I'm not going to eat you."

"Father? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…I mean…"

The trembling whisper was barely audible to the elderly king, yet it wrought the brightest of smiles. Here in this dull, dismal chamber was a ray of sunshine and hope Alderon was not at all ready to let go of. His love for the child had blinded him to the world outside of the castle. The child who he would be proud to let carry on his legacy stood timidly inside the open doorway.

"You are dismissed."

The king lifted a weary hand to wave the attendant at his side away so that the two of them could be alone. Kaerzye eyed the servant quickly slinking from the bedside to gather dishes. It was then that the child realized that he recognized the man as someone who had been at his cousin's side from time to time as well. Karnakh must have ordered him to care for the sickly king in the absence of his own attendants. He was about to comment but the suspicious servant was already long gone and his father's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Kaerzye, come to me."

A velveteen valance was tugged to the side, allowing him to crawl up onto the soft bed beside the sickly man to snuggle within the frail arms outstretched and waiting to receive him. These arms were not the sturdy things Kaerzye had always. It was most likely due to the illness. Even without a strong hold, the certainty of a father's embrace could never be lost.

"Kaerzye..."

Alderon trailed off a moment. Perhaps he was allowing the graveness of his tone to settle in the child's mind. The end result of all this struggling would be so harsh on one so young.

"Father, am I making you sick? I heard what Maylnor said."

His question was abrupt and to the point. Alderon may have been keeping secrets from him but Kaerzye felt safe opening up to the man he had always remembered calling his father. The boy never directly responded to his name. Only a short, absent breath and miniature hands tightening around his father's neck let the speaker know that he had his full attention down to the last word.

"Kaerzye..." the sickly king began again, "You and I shall forever be bonded heart and soul and I shall forever love you. Please understand that I…"

He was interrupted by that small voice.

"Can't be here with me? Don't say things like that. You're going to get better…"

It was the child's turn to be at a loss for words. There were only choked sobs and whimpers that issued forth after a determined plea.

"Please, if it's my fault, just tell me! Maybe if I go away like Maylnor said I can fix it. I want to know the truth!"

"Nothing that's happened is your fault. Maylnor has buried his nose into too many of his books. His imagination has gotten the better of him, that's all. The sickness is nothing to be taken lightly, but there's no mystery behind its origin. Searching for supernatural excuse for its existence will do nothing to stop it."

Alderon angrily knocked the pages of notes Maylnor had left for him off the dresser beside his bed and sighed. As strong as the king might have appeared at the time, it took all he had not to follow in suit with his son's fearful tears. The already dim lighting in the room only continued to die that moment. It was like a horrible signal for them both. Alderon always seemed to be the kingdom's breath of life; a stronghold that was quickly fading. The sun's light almost never rose to greet them anymore. There was nothing but the cold, silent death. A sudden chill crept over the bare skin of the child's arm. It was the cold, cold death that would bring with it an unbearable loneliness.

"Kaer, I'm very proud of the way you're growing up, and I'm very sorry you had to hear all that. I never intended for you to know if I could help it. You will always been my child."

A shaking hand abruptly closed tightly around a smaller one, and it finally came -- the inevitable defeat. But only in body, for the good king still wore a smile even after his physical form had failed him. He was still trying to comfort his little son.

That was it for him. The plague had come to claim Alderon as it had so many others. His pain and suffering were ended and he felt nothing. Not even the steady pitter-patter of tears now streaming down Kaerzye's cheeks would affect him. The boy's strength had run dry and he too fell into a state of complete numbness. The despair was too much for someone so young to handle.

Kaerzye was welcomed back to reality by an agonizing stinging sensation stemming from the palm of his hand. The empty gaze shifted to stare at the hand the lost king had so desperately clung to. Blood was trickling from between his fingers, meshing with salty tears. With a wince, Kaerzye pried his hand open to reveal a red gem.

His eyes went wide with wonder.