The Throne of Flame: Chapter Nineteen

Julien was only a few paces behind Maurice as the older lemur strode ahead of him. They both hurried along the jungle floor, dark save for the patches of sunlight that filtered down through the trees like holes in a cloud. Inwardly, Julien was rather frightened. He wasn't sure if venom interacted any differently with the penguins than it did lemurs, but the spiders around Madagascar could kill a simian with one bite. He didn't want Private to meet his fate like that, right then, and on his homeland. Not only had he known Private for a few years and had taken a mild liking to him, but he also knew how that would deeply hurt Skipper.

Masikura would surely know what to do; she could predict the future, she could surely cure a venomous spider bite, couldn't she? He was sure of it. She'd never let him down in the past. The only times she'd allowed death when consulted with it was with his parents, when they mysteriously became terminally ill. An odd mix of fever and chills, constantly vomiting even when they had nothing to vomit. They were always tired around that time, exhausted from existing, fatigued by their constant headaches.

Julien was never sure what it was, but he secretly believed it was karma for them having been so careless towards their lower population. Though his father, Julien XI, was never technically king, he was still royalty and treated himself as such. In any case, Masikura allowed their deaths to happen. She had claimed that it was prophecy, that it was as the Sky Gods predicted. And, though sullen and aghast by this, Julien's mother and father accepted their fates.

But then they healed. Miraculously so.

For a fleeting period of time, they were astonished, smug even, about having proven Masikura's prophecy wrong. Only then were they eaten by the fossa, quite brutally so. Maurice, who had been assigned the role of watching over little Julien from birth, had taken care of him since then.

Regardless, Masikura could fathom the depths of the universe, could see what lurked within the murky distances of time. If anyone could save Private from his nasty bite, it was her.

His thoughts were so frazzled that it took him an extra moment to realize that Maurice was taking a very strange path to Masikura's home. She lived on a branch in the Eastern part of his territory, but Maurice was heading South. He was just about to mention this when they entered a clearing, stumbling through the thicket of trees and into the open. Before the pair laid a grassy patch, not more than a few yards in circumference. At the end adjacent to them was the opening to a cave.

"Come on," Maurice urged as he began to walk forth.

Julien took a step into the grass, hesitant as he watched it sink beneath his foot. His brow furrowed in apprehension as an ominous, discontent feeling washed over his body, eliciting an unpleasant shiver. There was something wrong with this clearing, something bad. He immediately got the sense that he would find something awful within this area, and his reluctance caused him to freeze up. Even though the sun was shining, the area felt so isolated, so concealed from the rest of the world. Anything could happen there, and he didn't like that.

"...Are you sure that this is where she is?" He wanted to clarify, and his hesitation showed through his words like they were paper thin.

"Yeah!" Maurice responded with no concern and dragged him by the hand, pushing him over to the entrance to the cave. "She always comes here to mediate."

The lemur king leaned in to get a good look into the cave, but all he could see was what looked like an abyss of darkness. It was a pit; there was an immediate drop from the opening, which led down into what must have been twenty feet. He could just barely see the ground, but it gave him that awful forbidding sense once more, as though he was staring into the mouth of a predatorial beast. Like he was on the edge of death itself.

Another shiver tore through him, and he realized Masikura couldn't have been down there. There was no way for her to get down that far, being that lemurs were the only jungle creatures capable of making jumps like that. That aside, he was sure that someone with her level of consciousness and awareness of spiritual aspects would never reside in such a threatening place. Just as he was about to pull back, however, he felt a force push him off balance and into the entrance of the cave.

With a gasp, Julien plummeted into the dank, black, gaping maw of rock.

Julien had fallen great distances before, as was custom for lemurs when growing up. He retained the ability to land well, but only had a moment or so to process the fact that he was falling. As a result, his landing wasn't perfect; he fell for a solid second before he hit the ground with an awful, awful thud. Immediately he felt a surge of pain spike through his ankle and he yelped, his voice echoing into the depth.

He glanced around in horror, realizing where he was. At the bottom of the cave.

Around him was completely rock; it seemed as though the cave was more of a tunnel that cut off than anything else. He was closed in. He attempted to move, but the pain shot through his ankle once more. He winced when he took a look at it; it was definitely sprained, something he was familiar with from constant feverish dancing and frequent jumps.

It didn't look severe, and it probably wouldn't take long to heal. He would no doubt be able to put pressure on it again within a few days. Still, it meant that he couldn't jump from the bottom of the cave upwards (as lemurs were meant to take great leaps).

Julien turned back towards the opening, looking up at Maurice in petrified agony. "Maurice! Help, I'm hurt!"

Maurice stared down at him, expression eerily blank, before a smile slowly spread across his lips. "No you're not, Julien. I made sure that no one would hurt you."

"What?" Julien blinked, growing even more anxious. "I need help!"

"I love you. I've always loved you." Maurice admit openly. "I love you more than anyone could ever know. I'm doing this for your own good, Julien…"

"What are you talking about?" Julien felt fear digging at his heart, a looming sense of terror.

No, it couldn't have been. His loyal advisor and trusted, lifelong companion would never...

"Anyone else would have made it painful! I'm just letting nature take it's course in the nicest way." Maurice explained, his happy expression ever perpetual.

Maurice was… Betraying him.

Frightened, hurting and baffled, Julien whimpered and began to cry. His pupils dilated as he stared up at Maurice, who was smiling kindly throughout his speech as though what he was saying wasn't dark and twisted. He attempted to shift, but pain surged though him once more, only causing a sob to wrack his body.

"No! No, Maurice, no!" Julien shrieked.

Maurice continued on as if he hadn't even heard him. "And when you're gone, I'll make sure to bury you with your parents. That's why we're here, isn't it? I made sure to take you all the way back home so that you could follow the tradition, just like your dad would've wanted."

"Please don't do this!" Julien pleaded. The tears were running down his face, matting his fur by this point.

"Clover will be here to make sure no one comes for you soon enough. Don't worry, she'll make a good queen." Maurice nodded to himself at the thought, and his eyes were glassy as he did so, as though he wasn't truly content with that decision.

"Maurice!" Julien cried.

"Tiako iano, Julien. Mirary soa indrindra e!" Maurice called down, his face relaxed and elated, even as a single tear shed from his eye.

With that said, the aye-aye turned around and disappeared from sight.

"Maurice!" Julien shouted pitifully, his voice obstructed by the sniveling sobs. "Maurice! Oh, Maurice, come back!"

He gave up on calling for the lemur he'd entrusted his life to, instead curling up into a ball and resorting to tearful dread. How could Maurice do this to him? Maurice had been plotting to kill him, in addition to all the others that wanted him dead? How long had he felt this way, and why? What had Julien done to make Maurice want to kill him like this? Why, why, why?

Julien must have done something wrong along the way to anger even Maurice. He knew that he was beloved amongst his people, to the point of evoking lust in many. He prided himself in the fact that he could seduce almost all he came across, but the matter came that he hated the way it felt. There was a certain confidence garnered from being constantly adored, but with it came an air of dehumanization.

He was no longer seen as a real person, but as someone to objectify, someone to sexualize and romanticize to a point at which they no longer saw who he was. He was bitter about that, silently detesting those who treated him as if he were not a person but instead an object. He had always trusted in Maurice, that Maurice would never fall in love with him, but apparently that was not the case.

All it meant was that Maurice hid his love away until it festered into what must have been the urge to kill the king; bloodlust at it's finest. And, despite it all, Julien blamed himself. Had he seen it, in retrospect, he could have spoken to Maurice about it, worked the aye-aye out of his feelings. Could have set him up with Clover - those two had some great chemistry. Anything to prevent what had occurred. But Julien hadn't.

Now his country was left with Clover to rule - which would have been fine if not for the fact that he wasn't even entirely sure what policies she would implement. Though she followed every rule he put into place to a T, when left to her own devices, he couldn't know what to expect. And after her, there would be another ruler, and then another.

Julien was supposed to be the king to end all kings, the one to ease the Malagasy culture out of rulership and into something that focused on equality. But he was going to die before he could ever do that. He had come to realize, long ago, that life was short and expiring, a match flickering to flame and then drawing into smoke, before it faded altogether. All he wanted was to use his match to set flame to the throne, to bring a new light to his country that had been shrouded in darkness beneath crowns of royalty. He would not get to do this, not if he died now. The lower class would continue to suffer, Maurice was a broken shell of what he used to be, and Julien was going to die.

He wept for himself, for his shortcomings, for all the pain in the world that he could not fix.

Julien knew he couldn't get out of the cave, not by a longshot. He couldn't just jump out, not with his sprain. Though the walls were rock, they were far too smooth for him to climb up - no doubt corroded from moisture -, and even then, his ankle prevented that too. He tried calling for help for a long while, but when combined with all the crying he'd done, his voice faded into hoarseness, and was eventually swallowed up by the darkness of the cave. He felt helpless in this situation - if only Skipper had accompanied them!

His heart felt pain anew when he thought of Skipper. He'd seduced the bird with the intention of having Skipper protecting him unconditionally, but behind it, there was sincere admiration. He'd always liked Skipper's presence, and after seeing how strongly Skipper avoided objectifying him, how strongly he truly cared, Julien couldn't help but reciprocate. He wanted to be with someone genuinely and romantically for the first time, and he wanted that someone to be Skipper. Now, he would never get that chance, and Skipper might never know what truly happened to Julien.

As he reflected on the despondent situation, a figure blocked some of the light from the mouth of the tunnel. When Julien looked up, he saw none other than Clover, peering down at him.