***
~My liege,~ Helios said, ~where shall I fly to? The Thessalians are quite hospitable, and that's the farthest kingdom from Erebus; however, it's also quite far from us. King Lucifer's son was once in your guard and he will no doubt give you asylum – Endymion? Are you listening to me?~
The pegasus turned his head and looked at his prince. The poor man's eyes were half shut and glazed over, his pupils drastically dilated. His face was deathly pale. The king's grip on the pegasus' mane loosened.
"Serenity..." he whispered, and promptly fell from the pegasus' back.
Highly alarmed, Helios swooped down and caught the prince in midair, wincing from the weight of the man slapping against his back. He was shockingly hot to the touch. ~King Endymion?~ he said fearfully. ~You must stay awake! It's imperative! He's unconscious,~ Helios realized.
Turning the other way, he noticed the burn on the man's shoulder. It was larger than he thought, and turning purple. ~Oh dear, it must be infected.~
Besides that, the young king was probably tired from flying all this way and lovesick for his dear wife.
Sighing heavily, Helios prepared to land. He must at least tend to Endymion's wounds and see what he could do about the infection.
*****
Serenity leaned over the back of her unicorn as it galloped over the land. The saddle basket slapped against the horse's flanks. She had been well stocked with food, water, and medicine in case she should take ill.
Ceres, Vesta, Juno, and Pallas had seen her off with the healthiest, youngest, and spryest of the unicorns, knowing that their queen may be gone for quite some time. Although they could not go with her, they enchanted her with many magic spells and added their potions to stave off illness. Smirking, Ceres had added one more potion to the mix. "A love potion," she said. "Give some of it to Endymion and he will love you as he's never loved you before."
Armed with her supplies, the young queen had set out, having no idea where to go but following her heart, trusting that it would lead her to her husband somehow.
She'd been riding for hours, asking various people along the way if they had seen her husband flying overhead. She'd turned around a numerous amount of times, following the trail of people who'd seen the white pegasus flying across the skies with the king's capes billowing behind him. Although the unicorn was magical and swifter than normal horses, the pegasus had much more magic and could fly much faster than the unicorn ran. Only the gods knew how far he had gotten in the night and day he had to fly.
"Come on, Silvanus," Serenity whispered to the unicorn. He was one of her favorites – he seemed to try to run faster just by her soft whisper. "You love Endymion as much as I do. You can feel him; I know you can. Help me find him, Silvanus."
*****
"Endymion, please, open your eyes." Helios tipped a cup of water to his master's lips, attempting to get the young man to drink. He'd transformed back into his human form. "It's dangerous for us to be here for too long."
Endymion choked on the water, and his eyes slowly opened. They were still severely glazed over. "Helios...Serenity?"
"You don't remember anything? The fire, the knife, she tried to see you?"
Endymion closed his eyes as if in pain. "No," he moaned.
"Whoa – wake back up. You'll slip into unconsciousness again. Look, the burn she gave you got infected."
"Wasn't her fault..."
"You lovesick fool, there's no tricking you, is there?" Helios shook his head in amusement.
The king smiled weakly. "Love her," he replied.
"Well, since you love her so much, you want her to stay alive, don't you?" Helios stared at the king. "I hope Beryl doesn't discover the queen in the palace, and if she does, I hope those four maidservants we put in charge of her spin a good tale. I know they can do it...they've probably sent her away at once."
"Beryl...no...palace...where..."
"King Endymion, you're sicker than a three-headed dog," Helios replied, understanding the young king's broken speech remarkably well. "You really don't think your magic is shielding the palace any longer? Mine isn't nearly as strong as yours; I can only protect it, not render it invisible."
"Where...we..."
"We're in a tall-grassed savannah, about three hundred fifty kilometers away from the palace. We're still a long way from Thessaly – closer to Babylon, I'd say. Queen Semiramis may not take well to our coming to her kingdom. She is very afraid of Queen Beryl since the Babylonian army is so small, and if she knows that you are fleeing Beryl, she will turn you out..." Helios gazed down at his king. "You're not really in the mood to hear this, are you?"
Endymion shook his head. "I want her," he sighed.
Helios sighed, too. Endymion's first full sentence had been in reference to the queen of Elysian, not Semiramis, who although pretty had never been too kind to the prince of Elysian. The poor young man was distraught and delirious, but the only thing his mind could comprehend clearly was his beloved young wife.
"We'll find a way," Helios said. "Right now I've got to bring your fever down so we can continue."
***
"Well, well, well," chuckled a voice above the king. "Look what we have here."
Endymion's eyes shot open and he groaned loudly. There was a sword pointing at his neck. Holding it was a tall, dark-skinned man with silver hair and grey eyes.
"Kunzite?" Endymion shook his head. "My fever must not have gone down. You're dead."
The general chuckled again. "Far from it, Prince Endymion," he replied. "I'm not dead at all. I'm alive and kicking."
Endymion tried to sit up, but the point of the sword dug into his neck. He cried out and fell back to the ground. "It's real!" he exclaimed. His eyes widened. "But...Kunzite...you died over three years ago."
"Correction," said another voice. A blond-haired general, wavy hair confined in a ponytail, strode up to the place were Kunzite had the sword at Endymion's neck. "We died to you over three years ago."
"Zoisite?" Endymion squinted, still woozy from his bout with infection. He spotted the insignia on the side of the general's uniform. "The Erebese military?"
"Good boy," said Zoisite.
"I'm delusional," Endymion said. He turned to the side. Helios was bound, hefted onto the back of a monstrous horse. The priest had unfortunately been found in his human form. His mouth was gagged, but he made wild gestures to the prince anyway.
~Your highness,~ he said, ~you are most certainly not delusional.~
"Let me get this straight," Endymion said, mostly to Helios. "You're telling me that two men who died three years ago are not really figments of my imagination but are somehow standing before me and are ready to kill me?"
~Just about.~
"One thing wrong," General Zoisite replied, smirking. "Queen Beryl-sama doesn't want us to kill you."
"She...doesn't?"
"Oh, no," General Kunzite said. "She wants you very much alive."
Endymion's eyes rolled back in his head, and he chose that moment to pass out, fever rising back up to dangerous levels.
***
"My head."
"Yes, dear. You must have a splitting headache."
Endymion smiled. Serenity! She had found him in the savannah. The dead men were visions; they weren't real. Serenity had come, found him in the savannah, and she was now tending to his wounds and his infection.
His smile faded, however, when he opened his eyes. Welcoming him was not the sight of his
lovely wife but instead the pulchritudinous queen of Erebus, Queen Beryl.
Endymion shot up. "What the hell
are you doing in my bed?"
Beryl laughed uproariously. "The question, my dear prince, is what are you doing in mine?"
Endymion looked around. Indeed, he was not at home in his own bed. The golden curtains didn't greet him; he instead was on a pure crimson bed, in a huge room decorated in shades of crimson and yellow.
Endymion looked up at Beryl, his eyes narrowed. "How the hell did I get here?"
"Oh, I don't know! When I came home from my exploits I was greeted by the sight of you laying in my bed, all wrapped up like a Christmas present! Of course," she said, with a sly grin, "the better present would have been you unwrapped."
Endymion ignored her quip. "Let me out of here," he said. "You've no claim on me."
"Wait a minute!" Beryl said. Endymion noticed what she was wearing – a slinky dressing gown – and turned his eyes away. The sight of her in such a state of undress made him sick, and he longed for Serenity in her lovely negligees. "You're a prisoner of war, dear Endymion, I just can't let you go."
"A prisoner of war?"
"I've decided to declare war on your country," she said sweetly. "But hey – when you capture the king, doesn't that mean you win? And from what I hear," she said, her voice souring, "you're not just a rook anymore."
Endymion felt his anger flare. "You're crazy, woman," he said, rising. He walked towards the door—
—and felt a terrible pain course through his body as he reached it. He collapsed to the floor, unable to stand the pain anymore.
"Oops," Beryl said, rising and striding to where the king lay. He rose, backing away from the door. "Did I forget to mention? I have a little magic of my own, lying in these talented hands of mine." She smiled seductively. "Shall I show you how talented they are?"
"Don't even think about touching me."
"I forgot, you're a married man now." Beryl shook her head. "Pity such a man should be unavailable so early in life. No matter, though – I'll take care of that soon enough."
A messenger came to the door. "Your highness," he said, "the generals say the girl has been found. They haven't touched her, per your request."
"Ah," Beryl said. "Where is she?"
"She?" Endymion looked at the messenger. "Serenity?"
"The princess is located about twenty kilometers outside of the capital, traveling south southeast."
She was following me, Endymion thought. I must go to her!
"Here's where the fun begins," Queen Beryl said, clapping her hands. "I'm ready to leave. I want an envoy to accompany me only partway – I want to have a heart-to-heart with the dear queen. Girl talk, you know." Beryl smiled and followed the messenger to the doorway.
"Oh," she said, turning back to the young king of Elysian inside the doorway. "I wouldn't try that escape maneuver again, your highness. You know, they say a sign of insanity is trying the same thing over and over when it doesn't work?" She smiled. "Look at your wrists."
Endymion did. Two thick black wristbands had been placed on them.
"They read mental impulses. Go through any doorway with the intention to escape and you'll be zapped by about two million volts of raw dark energy," Beryl said. "That hurts a lot, as you well know. The higher the intention, the higher the voltage. That can get to be pretty deadly."
She smirked, cocking her head to the side. "Which leaves you sort of imprisoned in my bedroom."