This chapter is shorter, and they will be from now on. We are nearing the end of this story, there will be 2-4 more chapters, I'm not sure yet. Either way, enjoy this one for now.
After that eventful day, Magnus and Alec spent the next day in bed as well. Magnus did eventually heal Alec, but when it was time to get moving again neither of them was really motivated. But they knew they had to.
Neither of them knew where they were going next, they just knew they had to keep moving until they could get back. Alec hadn't bothered to check where they were, they didn't want to know. They just wanted to keep traveling randomly.
The nature changed as they traveled, from big, flat meadows to tall mounts to endless beaches. They followed the main path, expecting it to lead somewhere. It took a few days, but after a while, the road got wider, it split into smaller paths more often, and soon they could see yet another village in the distance.
Magnus felt like there was something familiar about this, but he couldn't quite place it and figured it was just his imagination. But as they got closer and closer there was something bugging him. Not before they passed a sign with the name of the village did Magnus freeze. No way, it couldn't be. Magnus couldn't believe he hadn't recognized it. It has been so long. It was only a few months, but they had felt like a lifetime.
"Magnus, are you alright?"
"Yeah. It's just that… this is my hometown," Magnus said and looked at Alec.
"This?" Alec asked surprised, turning to look at the village again. "What a coincidence."
"Yeah… I didn't even recognize it till I saw the sign. It's definitely about time I come back." Magnus set Jem into motion again. "Come on, let's go."
"Hey, Magnus! Will we visit your mom?" Alec asked as he got Shadowhunter to move.
"Of course. I'm sure we can sleep at her place. If you don't mind sleeping in the barn."
"I don't mind at all. It'll be nice to meet her."
"Yeah, it will. I haven't seen her in so long…" Magnus sighed. He hadn't even written her, he'd been too busy. He'd asked Luke to say something from him every once in a while, they sent letters to each other at least twice a month.
"Let's go then. Lead the way."
"I don't know how much she knows about you, but maybe we introduce you as a friend first?" Magnus suggested.
"Why? Do you think she won't accept us?" Magnus shook his head.
"It's not that. It's just… let's not give her all the news at once. We'll tell her slowly, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Fine," Alec said.
"We will stay a few days and we will tell her, I promise"
"It's fine, Magnus. She's your mother, we'll take it at the pace you want to take it."
"Thank you, Alexander," Magnus said. He put Jem into a slow canter and steered for the village.
The closer they came the more Magnus recognized. All the houses, the little market in the center, even some of the people that looked weirdly at them when they passed. Magnus was pointing out things and places to Alec and he slowed down the closer they got to his mother's house. He felt bad for not writing often enough and he didn't know what she would think about him and Alec. He hoped she would like Alec and that she would be happy for them when they told her that they were dating, but he just didn't know. He didn't want her to react in the same way Alec's father had. Magnus's mom meant everything to him, she had been the only one in his life for so long. She had raised him alone and they had such a close relationship, he didn't know if he could handle it if she was against his relationship with Alec.
Alec must have noticed he was nervous, he smiled encouragingly at him. "Don't worry, Magnus. She'll be happy to finally see you again, and we don't need to tell her at all if you don't want to," He assured him.
"I want her to know about us. You are important, I love you and I want her to know that," he said. "She means a lot to me and I want her to know everything. She deserves to know about you."
"In that case, we'll tell her. But slowly, as you said," Alec said and smiled. "Just relax, okay? Everything is fine."
"Yeah. Everything is fine," Magnus repeated. "Come on, it's this way." The village was quite small, by horse you could see the whole thing in two minutes. Magnus's mother's house was on the outskirts of town. Magnus led the way and hopped off Jem once he could see the house.
As he arrived he bound Jem to the fence and waited for Alec to do the same with his horse before they went to the door. Magnus took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
Magnus waited, weight shifting from foot to foot as he stood in front of the door. It took an entire minute for the door to open. Magnus couldn't help as he stared at his mother. It had been so long since he'd seen her, he wanted nothing more than to just hug her. But he held back, and instead just greeted her. "Hey," he said, looking down at the ground.
"Magnus?" He looked up and was immediately embraced tightly. "Oh, Magnus. I've missed you so much."
"I've missed you, too, mama," he smiled and held her tightly. She had the power to immediately make him feel better. She pulled back from the hug and kissed his forehead before turning to Alec.
"And who might this be?" she asked, looking him up and down.
"This is Alec," Magnus said. "You might know him as Alexander Lightwood, prince of Idris."
"Oh… the one you are working for?"
"Yeah. Luke told you about that?"
"Yes, he told me how you were doing, what you were doing. I can't help but want to know. I heard you had to leave, you are welcome to come back now," she said.
"Mama, I would love to, but I can't… we are just here to visit you," he said.
"In that case you are welcome to stay as long as you want."
"Thanks, Mama. We can sleep in the barn, none of us will mind," he told her.
"Magnus! You want to have a prince sleeping in a barn?"
"I really don't mind, Mrs. Bane. Magnus and I are used to sleeping outside. We've been sleeping in a tent for a while, so a barn will be just fine."
"We need to get the horses in the stable at least," she said, looking past them to where Shadowhunter and Jem were tied.
"Yes, they would need a better place to stay," Magnus agreed and nodded.
"Magnus, why don't you take the horses to the stables while I go prepare food for you? You must be starving," she said. She went inside to make food, and Magnus turned to get the horses along with Alec.
"She seems very nice," Alec smiled as he untied Shadowhunter.
"She is. I love her so much and… I think she likes you."
"I hope so. Now, take us to the stables," Alec requested.
The stables hadn't been used in years. They'd had a horse before, but she'd died of age when Magnus was still just a child. After that they'd never had money to buy a new one, nor did they ever need one. The stables had space for three horses, but it was still very small. Each room was at least half the size of the ones in Idris, but it had always been enough, so Magnus was sure the horses would be okay with it for two days or so. Magnus led Jem into one while Alec brought Shadowhunter into the stall next to Jem.
"So... what do you think so far?" Magnus asked and turned to look at Alec as he closed the door.
"It's nice. It's such a big contrast from what I'm used to. This is the life I always wanted, you know? To just be an ordinary person."
"It's fun. You know, there are plenty of animals to take care of all the time, there's no limit on what you can do or when to do it, I used to go bath in the lake at midnight, I could just look up at the sky and see all the stars while I was swimming, it was fun. We could do that," Magnus suggested.
"Sounds fun. Do you have any animals here?" Alec asked.
"Yeah, we do. At least when I left we had two cows, four pigs and seven sheep. I don't know about now though, she might have sold them."
"Oh? Because she doesn't have time?" asked Alec.
"No, it's not about time. It's about the money. That's why I left in the first place. We lived of selling milk and wool, and sometimes we sold piglets when we had many. Then one of the cows stopped giving milk and two of our sheep disappeared, so we had to live on much less than we were used to. She figured it would be better if I stayed with Luke for a while, that way she only had herself to care for. Anyway, she might have sold some of them to get some money."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you came to Idris, but I don't like the reason. Maybe I could help? I mean, I am the price… she could come to Idris as well? Or I could buy here some more sheep if she wants."
"No, Alec. Keep your money. It's very generous of you, but then she wouldn't rest till she had paid you back. And I think she's doing fine now, she did say I could come back."
"Okay. But just know that I'll be more than happy to help if she needs it."
"Thank you, Alec."
"Of course. And she really can move to Idris. That way you two would be together and could see each other more… but we should wait with that offer until the Lilith thing is through," he mumbled.
"I don't think she would want to leave this place. She's lived here all her life. But it's only about a three days ride by horse, I could come to visit more often," Magnus suggested.
"Yeah of course. I think I should give you Jem… I mean at this point he is technically still mine, but you two are obviously close and he's more yours than mine, so... yeah."
"Thanks, Alexander. That's really nice of you," Magnus smiled. He had to hold himself back from kissing Alec.
"Of course. You're welcome."
"Let's go inside now, see if we can help with anything."
Alec followed Magnus inside. The house was nice, but Alec could see it was old. Magnus showed him around, showed him his old room, which was almost as small as Isabelle's closet, the living room, which was smaller than Alec's room, and finally the kitchen, where Magnus's mother was.
She asked Magnus to go get potatoes for the soup she was making, so Alec followed him outside. There was a small garden there, and Magnus went right to where the potatoes were. Alec followed, but he realized he really had no idea how to do stuff like this. He watched Magnus and figured it was pretty simple.
"Do you need help?" He asked.
"No. She'll only need three, it's faster if I just do it," he said, handing Alec one he'd already dug out of the dirt.
"Okay, yeah... if you're sure," Alec mumbled, as he took the potatoes from Magnus. He felt rather useless. It took only a minute for Magnus to be done and they went back to the kitchen together. Magnus handed his mother the potatoes and then sat down on a chair, talking and catching up. Alec stood awkwardly by the door, having no idea what to do or say. He just needed to give them some time, they hadn't seen each other in a while, after all. He didn't feel comfortable standing there and he slowly moved out of the room to give them time.
He made his way back to the stables, where he fed Shadowhunter and Jem some apples before sitting down by Shadowhunter's side. He didn't say anything, just sat there. He felt comfortable in Shadowhunters presence, and this way he wouldn't be holding Magnus and his mother back.
Magnus noticed that Alec left the room, but didn't think much of it. He had probably just gone to the bathroom, or to get some air. He only started worrying when Alec didn't come back.
He waited a while, a good ten minutes before he couldn't anymore. "I need to go check on Alec," he said, interruption his mother mid-sentence. He didn't say anything else, but left the kitchen. He looked for Alec in the house first before going outside. In the end, he found Alec in the stables.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently as he approached Alec and laid a hand on his back.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Alec said. "I just wanted to give you some peace."
"You didn't have to leave, Alexander. You weren't disturbing us."
"It felt like… not like I was disturbing you but like I was just there and didn't matter. I felt useless, and I don't like that."
"You are not useless, how can you think that?" Magnus shook his head, sitting down beside Alec. "I'm sorry if you felt like that. I was so happy to see my mother again I didn't think that you would feel left out, so I'm sorry," he said, taking Alec's hand. "It won't happen again, okay? I promise." Alec nodded and smiled.
"I get that you want to be with your mother, of course you do. But thank you, Magnus. I love you," he said.
"I love you, too," Magnus said and kissed Alec. "Do you want to come back in?" he suggested.
"Yeah, sure," Alec nodded. They both stood up, and Magnus pecked Alec's lips before they went back inside. Magnus's mother was back to focusing on the soup, and Alec and Magnus settled down by the table. They started talking between each other, and Magnus made sure to include Alec in the conversations.
They sat in the kitchen for a rather long time, eating dinner and then just talking for a while about all the things that had happened in Idris and on their way so far, of course they left out a few things, like the magic and that they were a couple. After that Magnus stood up and smiled at Alec.
"Come on, I'll show you where we sleep," Magnus said happily as he led Alec into the barn. It was far from what Alec was used to, but Magnus hoped it would be alright. "Well… what do you think?" he asked.
"It's nice here," Alec said. "The house is beautiful and your mother is very nice, just like you." Magnus smiled.
"I'm glad you like it. But we won't stay for long, we need to keep moving," Magnus said.
"And training, I know… but you deserve it to spend some time with your mom after being away for so long."
"Thank you, but your mission is even more important," Magnus said.
"Maybe, but you and your mom are important too, so, it's okay if we stay a few days, we can still train daily."
"We'll see how it goes, but not more than a week. We can always come back after we've finished our work, what we have to do."
"Yeah, we can. But let's stay for a while anyway… in case something goes wrong."
"What do you mean, if something goes wrong?"
"We're gonna fight the queen of hell, Magnus, and all we have that could hurt her is my sword and your magic. You know it's possible that one, or both of us, won't make it."
"No, that's not possible," he told him. "Because I won't let that happen. And we also have your runes."
"Either way, it's the queen of hell. We can't know what will happen, and we can't know if we'll make it out,"
"We will, Alec. You have to believe we will."
"I hope so at least," Alec said. "Let's just go to sleep now, I'm tired."
"Okay. For today it was enough but tomorrow we should really look at those runes and maybe give you a few more already? So you can learn where they are and it would be easier to activate them when you need them."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. But tomorrow, after training. Sleep now," Alec repeated. He grabbed the blanket Magnus's mother had given them. Magnus was supposed to sleep in his own room, but just as he was going to prepare the bed it had "broken". Alec suspected there was something else there, especially considering the blue sparks he'd seen and how he'd caught flashing eyes in his side view. But Magnus didn't say anything, just smirked when his mother said he would have to sleep with Alec.
They had collected a bit of hay to make it more comfortable, but Magnus suggested to keep their clothes on tonight. It would probably be more comfortable for them. They snuggled in and Magnus held Alec in his arms. "Sleep well, my love."
"With you by my side I always do," Alec mumbled, closing his eyes. "Good night."
In the end they did stay for a week. Magnus was happy back where he'd grown up, and he showed Alec around, taught him how to care for the animals and work the plants and vegetables. Every day Magnus told himself he would tell his mother the next day, but he never did. This part hurt Alec. He enjoyed everything else, the learning about the plants and animals was great, the training was good and the new runes seemed to work perfectly, but to know that Magnus was not telling his mom about them was bad. It hurt him, even though he had said it would be okay if Magnus took his time.
Magnus didn't tell her though, and Alec didn't say anything. Soon, almost too soon, they were leaving. They were leaving the village behind, in only a few hours it was barely a dot on the horizon. Alec didn't know where they were going, but they were going north.
"Why didn't you tell her?" he finally asked as they rode into a forest.
"Tell her what?" Magnus asked, his face revealing that he knew what Alec was talking about.
"About us, Magnus. Why didn't you tell her?"
"I don't know," Magnus mumbled, avoiding Alec's eyes. "It was going so well, I didn't want to ruin it, I was just scared I guess."
"But do you think she would react badly?"
"I don't know how she would react. That's what scares me."
"Be honest… will you ever tell her?"
"I don't know, Alec," Magnus shook his head. "Let's just talk about this another time."
"Fine. But we will talk about it," Alec said.
"Yes, just not now. We have to focus on that fight."
Alec nodded, he didn't want to talk another time, it was bothering him, but he could sense that Magnus would not talk to him that day so he accepted it. He didn't want to start a fight.
When night settled around them they found a spot that was good enough for a camp. It was already dark so Magnus set up the tent and they both went to sleep quickly. The air was loaded with tension around them, so thick it was hard to breathe though it sometimes.
"It hurts me, Magnus. That you won't tell her. I'm trying to not be upset, but I am. I just think you should tell her, and I hope you do some time," Alec said before they could fall asleep, hoping that would ease the tension between them a bit.
"I love you, too, and I... I want to tell her, I really do. I just need time. I… I don't know what I would do if she reacted badly… I mean you and your dad already had a lot of difficulties, but me and my mom? We have always been close and I don't think I can lose her, you know?"
"Yes… of course and I don't want you to choose between me and your mom. I honestly think she would be okay with it, that she'd understand and be happy for you," Alec said and reached for Magnus's hand. "She is such a nice woman, she deserves the truth, we deserve the truth, and I really think that she would be happy for you Magnus."
"Yeah… I just don't know."
"Well, We are on our way now so you can't tell her now anyway, but when we come back, please think about it," Alec requested and squeezed Magnus's hand, he felt better already and was glad that they had talked about this a bit at least, he felt like he'd be able to sleep now.
"Yes, I'll think about it,Alexander. Now let us sleep, yeah? It has been a long day."
"Good night, Magnus."
"Night, Alec."
When they woke up the next morning they had a quick breakfast before they trained a bit then studied the runes a bit more. Well, Alec studied the runes while Magnus tried a few spells and almost set a few trees on fire by accident.
In the following few days they came back into a routine of training, studying, eating, and sleeping. In between they always made time for each other to talk about other things and to cuddle, and to keep exploring themselves and each other, trying out all the things in Izzy's letter. The first few times it was a bit messy again, but soon they got the hang of it and it was just pure pleasure for both of them.
After a week they saw the silhouette of something that looked like a castle in the distance. Something was not normal about it. It was like they could see it, but somehow when they started to look directly at it, it wasn't there anymore. They decided to investigate it and rode closer. Or they thought they would get closer. They were moving, but the image didn't get any clearer or nearer.
"What is this?" Magnus wondered and looked over at Alec.
"I have no idea," he mumbled and shook his head. "But apparently we cannot get closer like this… let's try to ride around it."
"You think we might see it better from a different angle? Yeah sounds like a good plan," Magnus agreed, and so they changed the direction of the horses.
In a way, it worked. They didn't get closer, but other things started to appear around the castle. There was a dark wall, tall and seemingly never-ending. It reminded Magnus of the wall around Idris, it was the wall of a kingdom. A big one.
"Hey, Alec. Do you have a map?" Magnus asked. They hadn't used one in a while, but Magnus hoped they still had one so they could find out where they were. Magnus had a suspicion, but he wanted to be sure.
"Uh, yeah, I think so," Alec said, jumping off his saddle to look through one of the saddlebags. "Here it is." He handed Magnus the map.
"Okay, so my village is here," Magnus said, pointing at a spot on the map. "We've been riding this way for about a week, so that means that is…" Magnus moved his finger over the map as he spoke, and now his finger rested over a city illustrated on the map with a big, dark wall, and a castle. "Edom."
"Edom? But why can't we reach it then? Isn't Edom where Lilith lives?"
"Yes, Lilith lives in Edom. But this Edom is just a glamour, the real Edom is in another dimension."
"If it is in another dimension how are we supposed to get there?" Alec asked.
"I honestly have no idea," Magnus replied, shaking his head.
"Well, if that isn't the real Edom there's no point in trying to reach it, is there?" Magnus shrugged.
"I guess not." So they changed direction again, this time going in the opposite direction, towards the woods. They reached the woods a few hours before sundown and decided to keep riding. They followed the main path, and soon the trees started to get thicker, the woods darker.
"I think we should stop and set up the camp," Alec said after a while.
"Yeah, as soon as we find a place where there's space for a tent between the trees, I haven't seen one yet," Magnus pointed out.
"Well, we really need to stop. We can't ride in the dark, and the horses are tired."
"Well, I can't help the horses, but I can make some light," Magnus said, holding up his hand and letting a blue ball of magic float out of his palm. It didn't give much light, but it was better than nothing.
"Still, the horses are tired Magnus," Alec said. "Um, could you make us a camp somewhere in the trees or so?" he suggested.
"Well… yeah, I think I can actually," he sighed. "Okay, let's look for a big tree that looks very stable and strong."
That's exactly what they did, and after a few more minutes they found a fitting tree where Magnus created a hanging tent for them. Magnus also set up his usual wards to protect them before they climbed into the tent to sleep.