Hephaestion hurried to the village, hoping to get help as he searched for his babe. When he finally reached the small gathering of huts a little distance away from the hill on which the palace sat, he began pounding on wood doors and calling for help.
"Help, help me please! My baby! My baby's missing!"
Several people came out to calm him, and formed a circle around him. Suddenly, Hephaestion heard a voice he recognized in the crowd.
"Hephaestion?"
"Lutfi? Lutfi!" Hephaestion searched frantically for the man that belonged to that voice, a sparkle of hope in his now dark world. And then Lutfi broke through the crowd, securely gripping the hand of a man Hephaestion didn't recognize, "Lutfi!" Hephaestion rushed into the smaller man's arms, relieved. He then realized that Lutfi was heavily pregnant.
"Hephaestion, what are you doing here? Whatever is wrong?"
"Alexander took Khalis. He left him up on the mountain, and he's so young- I need to save my baby!" Hephaestion panicked.
"Okay, all right, breathe," Lutfi took his friend's hands and looked him in the eyes, showing him how to breathe, "Kareem, darling," he got his husband's attention, while keeping eye contact with Hephaestion, "Get Faris. We need to head up the moutain, and fast," The man holding Lutfi's hand rushed into a nearby hut, and appeared with another man on his heels, "Hephaestion, this is Faris, my brother-in-law. Now, let us head up the mountain. We have a babe to find."
They headed up the mountain. It was slow going, as it had began to snow this high up, and Lutfi struggled to climb with the extra weight of his child, but he and everyone else were determined to save Khalis, even those that did not know him. As they arrived closer and closer to the top of the mountain, they began to hear very faint wails.
"My baby!" Hephaestion tried to rush ahead, but was held back by Faris.
"We can not hurry," he whispered in a deep, smooth voice, "If we hurry, we risk hurting him or ourselves. Just stay calm. We will reach him soon enough. Do you understand?"
Hephaestion nodded silently, looking up the mountain, toward his babe. He nestled deeper into Faris' side as the man hugged him closer, helping him up the steep rock. A few hours later, they had reached the top. Khalis, wrapped haphazardly in his wolf fur blanket as Alexander had left him, was situated precariously on an overhang of rock, and Hephaestion did not dare to think of what was beneath it, or what was not.
"My baby!" he tried, yet again, to move forward, but yet again Faris stopped him.
"I will go. Be ready."
With that, Faris began to crawl toward the outcropping and the child it held. Hephaestion watched with bated breath, tears standing in his eyes. Soon enough, Faris had come down off the jagged rock, babe safely in his arms.
"Oh gods!" Hephaestion ran forward, unable to contain himself any longer.
"Wait," Faris ordered when Hephaestion stood before him, "He is very, very cold. We must take things slow, lest we hurt him."
"I would not hurt my own child, Faris! Give him to me, he needs his mother!" Hephaestion protested, desperate.
"Kareem, have you the extra blankets?" Faris turned to his brother.
"I do, Brother," Kareem came forward and the two of them very gently began to wrap the babe while Hephaestion watched anxiously with Lutfi by his side, "Now, let us get off this mountain of Hades before we all freeze to death. Especially you, Lut," Kareem wrapped his gravid lover in his arms from behind and Lutfi turned into his chest, a small smile on his face.
"The babe and I are fine, Husband. You fret too much."
"I fret because I want you both happy and healthy. Now, you look tired. I will carry you, yes?"
Lutfi shook his head, smiling at his husband's worry, "All right, you may carry me. But I do not need it."
"It is not a question of your needs so much as your wants, Lut. Up we go," with little effort, the man had lifted Lutfi into his arms.
"Oh, my gods!" Lutfi exclaimed in surprise, a hand going to his abdomen. When the shock had passed, he laughed and then Kareem began to walk down the mountain, the two of them completely forgetting about the world around them.
After watching the two of them play and then begin the trek down the mountain on their own, Hephaestion turned back to Faris, who had also been watching his brother and brother-in-law.
"Faris, give me my child. He needs me."
Faris seemed to think about it for a moment, and then inclined his head in acceptance. Very, very gently, he handed Khalis to his mother.
"Oh, thank the gods you're all right..." Hephaestion hugged the baby boy close and let the tears in his eyes fall down his cheeks. After a moment, Hephaestion felt Faris start to lead him down the mountain, but all of his attention was on his son.
Khalis was blue-skinned as Hephaestion and Faris trekked down toward the village. They soon found Kareem and Lutfi again and the four of them decided to stop for the night, as it was getting late.
They soon found a cave and decided to stay there for the night. Faris and Kareem built a small fire and situated Lutfi, Hephaestion, and Khalis nearest to it. As soon as he was by the fire and somewhat warm, Hephaestion settled on his side and began to nurse Khalis without shame. The little boy shivered and whined, but after a few soft touches and kisses from his mother, began to nurse weakly.
"He's not latching, why is he not latching?" he panicked.
Faris came over to him quietly, kneeling down and checking on the babe, "His hold is secure. It may be that he is weak from being in the cold for so long. Give him time."
After a while, Khalis turned his head away from his food and began to wail, shivering violently as he did so. Faris snatched him away quickly, ignoring the astounded, outraged gasp from Hephaestion. Instead, he paced around the cave, bouncing the babe on his shoulder.
Kareem, hearing this exchange, wanted to go and help, but also did not wanted to leave his husband's side.
"Go, Darling," Lutfi encouraged, "I promise going up and down the mountain was not stressful to either the babe or I, I -we- are fine. See what Hephaestion needs."
With a solemn nod and a chaste kiss, Kareem made sure his lover was comfortable enough to sleep and then moved over to Hephaestion.
"Are you all right?"
Hephaestion stared at him for a moment, and, once he was sure he was not being mocked, complained, "He just took Khalis away from me! Without asking! He is my child! He should have asked first!"
"Hush. If you cause yourself undue stress, your milk will not come, and then Khalis will not be able to heal. Shh... I will deal with my brother."
"Thank you..." Hephaestion gasped, taking in a huge breath of air.
Kareem got his brother's attention and drew him to the back of the cave, where they could talk in private. After a few minutes, Faris walked over to Hephaestion and silently knelt down, presenting Khalis to his mother. With a suspcious glance up at the man, Hephaestion took his son into his arms, setting him to his breast once more.
It was now late at night, and the four men and the babe were fast asleep, when a loud wail jolted them all awake.
"Huh?!" Lutfi sat up quickly, his free arm going to his belly in surprise and pain as the jolt had caused him to suffer a pain.
Kareem sat up with his husband, his arm slung protectively over his lover's abdomen, "Lut? Are you all right?"
"Fine, I'm-" breathing deeply to relax, he exhaled, "I'm fine... Just startled me is all. The pains are false, I promise you. Shaman Hafid said this would occur later in my time, remember?"
Kareem nodded slowly, the concern evident on his face.
"I'm sorry-" as Hephaestion went to reach for his crying child, said child was snatched up from the cave floor.
Hephaestion looked up, only to see Faris' angry gaze turned downward, onto him.
"Vat mayr..." he mumbled, but it was loud enough for everyone in the cave to hear.
"Now Brother-" Kareem tried to come to his husband's friend's aid as Hephaestion lowered his gaze to the ground in shame, "He is doing-"
"Vat mayr! Arzhani ch'yen! Na arzhani ch'e!" the man turned to his brother, screaming now as dark spots began to litter the gray stone on which Hephaestion lay.
There was a scrambling of hide and skin on stone and then came the slap of feet on hard stone before Lutfi pushed his way past his husband and stood in front of his brother-in-law. All five-feet-three inches and one-hundred-twenty-six pounds of him was held as straight and as regally as possible. Then came the smack of Lutfi's open hand hitting his brother-in-law's cheek hard.
"How dare you! Cursing Hephaestion like that! He is a good mother! In fact, he is the best mother I know! Did you know that Khalis was given to him without his consent? And yet he carried him the six months he was allowed by the gods and birthed him alone! He is now separated from someone he holds very dear to his heart, and all to keep his babe safe! So don't you dare speak of him in that way! Don't you dare!" his brown eyes snapped and spit flames, and his entire body trembled in anger.
"Dearest-" Kareem tried to hold and calm his beloved.
"DON'T touch me!" Lutfi flung his lover's hands off of himself before putting his hands on his hips and fixing Faris with one last deadly glare and walking over to Hephaestion after taking Khalis from his brother-in law's limp-from-shock arms. In the course of the heated argment, Hephaestion had bowed his head to the ground and began to whisper a prayer to the gods under his breath, "Dear, are you hurt? Yes, come here. The babe won't mind I promise you," as Hephaestion began to sob into his shoulder, half sitting on his lap.
After a few minutes of sobbing and trying to control his emotions- which was primarily anger- Hephaestion gave up, and standing up from Lutfi's nearly filled lap, stormed over to Faris.
"You think I don't know who you are? You think I haven't met men like you before? I have, trust me. Quite a few, actually. Alexander, Cassander, Darius, and a whole slew of other men have tried to do exactly what you are doing right now. Each of them failed. I have been ridiculed by words from people I thought were friends and allies, tortured during war, and raped by the enemy, and I am still standing tall. So there is absolutely nothing Faris, nothing, that you can do to put me down, no matter what you say or do. Now give me my child before I kick you so hard between the legs that you'll sound like you never have and will never again reach manhood."
Faris smirked, and then began to laugh, a hard, full-body laugh. Khalis startled and began to cry as his balance was thrown off when Faris bent in half with the strength of his mirth. Hephaestion stood frozen a moment, shocked at the man's reaction.
"Arryuts..." the man was flushed with laughter as he stood to his full height once more, "Haydar," he nodded, a little breathless.
"Brother..." Kareem began to walk closer but stopped, all of the rest of the cave's occupants stunned by the usually stoic man's behavior.
"What?" Hephaestion turned to both Kareem and Lutfi, who were staring at the man before him, "What is he saying?"
Lutfi answered hesitantly, not taking his eyes off his brother-in-law, "He is calling you "lion." In fact, he has named you so."
Faris nodded again, then pointed to Hephaestion, "Haydar," and then looked down at the crying boy still nestled in his arms, "Usaym."
In a moment, Hephaestion's stunned features twisted in anger, and he grabbed Khalis from Faris' arms, "Don't you dare bring my son into this!"
Lutfi was quick to go to him, "No, dear, he means Khalis no harm. He has named him "lion cub."
Khalis cooed and giggled in Hephaestion's arms, as if giving his approval of the name. Hephaestion shushed and bounced him briefly before turning him toward his still exposed breast, looking up at Faris as the toddler began to feed once more.
"I do not like you," he stated seriously, "but I guess I will have to put up with you."
Faris nodded once, making a sound of agreement low in his throat.
Translations:
Vat mayr! Arzhani ch'yen! Na arzhani ch'e! = Bad mother! Not worthy! He is not worthy! (Armenian)
Arryuts = Lion (Armenian)
Got these off of Google Translate, so I am sorry if they are not correct!
Arabic Name Meanings:
Kareem = Generous, noble, friendly, precious and distinguished
Faris = Horseman, knight, cavalier
Haydar = lion
Usaym = lion cub
Hope you enjoyed it!