Well, here we are. Chapter 2. I'm probably going to post Chapter 3 tomorrow, so look forward to that.
Please let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.
Jeralt's horse struggled in the desert sand, but he urged it on. The letter from Indech was safely in his pouch. He had never been to the Sreng Region, but that was where the letter needed to go. He could only hope that Macuil would let him talk.
Upon reaching the temple, he looked around. It seemed to be empty, but he knew that the person he was looking for was inside. Dismounting, he walked inside and explored a bit until he found the bird-like dragon.
"Halt, human! Leave now or be culled!" he roared. Jeralt was undeterred and walked forward.
"You are Macuil, right? Indech sent me here. It's important." he said, bringing out the letter.
"Indech? What is it?" the dragon asked, irritably.
"Seiros did something to my son, her grandson. The letter will explain a bit more, but he wants to talk about it in person." he said, handing over the paper. The dragon huffed and shifted into a humanoid form before snatching it. As he read it over, his expression turned murderous.
"Where is he?" he growled. It wasn't quite the reaction that he was hoping for, but it was good enough.
"Lake Teutates. My wife and son are with him." He turned to leave, hoping to get back to his family as soon as possible, but Macuil stomped after him. When he made it to his horse, he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him from mounting.
"There's a faster way there." Macuil said, casting a spell. With a flash of light, they were outside of Indech's temple. Without waiting another moment, he turned and went inside, Jeralt tying up his horse quickly and rushing after him.
"Indech!" Macuil called inside. Indech emerged after a few seconds, looking relieved. Jeralt nodded at him and then moved past him to go to his wife.
"I'm glad you came, Macuil.
"Spare the pleasantries, Indech. What did she do? You only mentioned her trying to resurrect Sothis." he demanded. Indech sighed.
"She took a newborn, the son of her own daughter-which now I am wondering what she did to HER as well, considering her health-and placed Sothis' heart in his chest. Now the child is not reacting to much of anything and his own heart doesn't beat, if it is even still in his chest. The parents managed to get him away from her, but they need our help." Macuil crossed his arms and gave him a skeptical look.
"I hope that 'help' would be verbally haranguing her for what she has been attempting." he said irritably. Indech shook his head.
"If we do that, she will realize that the child is alive and will keep trying to find him. It will be more dangerous for him as he grows up. We can do that once the boy is grown and can protect himself. For now, there are other priorities."
"Please tell me that we will not be helping them raise their son. Cichol is the only one of us who has raised a child."
"Macuil, please." Indech begged. "They have to make sure Seiros doesn't suspect anything, and they need our help."
"Fine…" Macuil relented after a minute of staring. "But I'm not going to get attached to him."
Indech smiled thankfully, then went back to check on the family. Macuil followed him. In the back room, Jeralt was just sitting next to his wife, holding her hand while she held their baby. It seemed that he had just woken up. Indech had given them a room that the priests used to live in, but he added something for their son.
"Did you really build a crib?" Macuil asked.
"He needs to sleep somewhere." Indech responded casually. Macuil was surprised, if a little incredulous. The only crib that Indech had made was for Cethleann when she was born. And that was because Cichol was like their brother, even before the war. If this family was enough for him to make a crib for them, then something had to be wrong with him. Sitri looked at them at the door and smiled tiredly at them. Indech walked in closer to talk with Jeralt, but Macuil just followed a bit behind, looking at the two of them. Then the bundle caught his eye. Violet eyes were staring up at him blankly, but there was something about him. The mother noticed.
"His name is Byleth." she introduced. Macuil just stared at him a little. He wondered how early he would start asking questions about them, how soon he would train with a weapon, if he would learn reason magic…
Great. He was already breaking his word.