Yuugi stepped lightly as he was led through the hallways of Hold Forescythe. There was an indoor pathway that led to the stables, and every stable in Northern Reach was indoors and heated. Atemu refused to let go of his arms, his hands soft and warm as they offered support. His head still felt like it was swimming, perhaps with a hammer plunging away inside of that fish bowl that held his brain. Oh, it hurt so much...
"Easy, love. We're almost there."
Two Healers were hovering closely by their side. As much as they disapproved of this venture, they also didn't want to put up with the complaints and injuries the stable hands were enduring at the hooves and teeth of Astarte.
Finally a door came to view at the end of the hallway, and one of the Healers rushed towards it and opened it, the smell of hay and grain beginning to flow their way.
There was a lot of noise inside. It sounded like a demon steed was busy attacking the very floor itself. The noise started pounding away at his already massive headache. "Astarte," Yuugi called. "Knock it off, you know Sacred stall doors are charmed to be unbreakable."
Immediately, the pounding stopped and a hearty neigh responded to him.
Atemu chuckled, standing closely behind him to make sure he didn't fall. He nodded to one of the Healer's and they walked over cautiously and opened up her stall door. The poor woman barely had time to get out of the way before the white horse flew out of the stall and ran up to Yuugi, stopping only inches before him and pushing her nose into his hair. Yuugi laughed, wrapping his arms around her silken muzzle. "I'm okay," he stated, rubbing his fingers through the top of her mane. "Stop being mean to all of the people here. They might be tempted to let you starve, you know."
She grunted at him, but otherwise was unaffected by his usual teasing.
He lifted her head up and looked into her olive green eyes, making sure that she understood him. "I'll be okay. Don't worry, but I need to go lay back down again. My head hurts like Hell, and my body needs more rest. I'll be back in to see you again, okay?"
She snorted and pawed at the ground, bobbing her head. A begrudging acceptance.
Yuugi sunk back into Atemu's strong arms, his energy drained. "I'm tired."
The Prince picked him up bridal fashion swiftly. "I think we're done here. Don't worry, love. We'll get you back to the bed." Yuugi ignored the Healers as they grumbled to themselves and admonished the Prince for insisting on bringing their patient out and causing him strain. Atemu's chest was warm, and his head was groggy. His fingers clung on to the Prince's shirt front, the lights seeming too bright to his now sensitive eyes. He didn't remember how long the trek was back to their room, but it came as quickly as he could have hoped, and in one smooth motion Atemu had placed him back in bed and pulled the covers back up over his body.
The two healers came up to him, bustling and clucking about his condition. They held their hands over his head and he felt a soft, warm glow seep into his skull. The relief was immediate, and he sighed with appreciation. "Give him another week," one of them said to the Prince. "He shouldn't walk for a couple more days, but no hard activity for a week, minimum, and only that time line so long as he continues to receive treatment."
"As long as you're sure," Atemu replied.
The two bowed, then left the room. Once the door was finally closed, the Prince sat down on the bed with Yuugi. His face was quiet, his eyes somehow less bright than they had been before. Yuugi mustered up the courage to say what was on his mind and his heart. "Your eyes look haunted."
Atemu frowned, picking up Yuugi's hand and holding it. "I'm sure they do."
"You look...older than before. It pains me to see you like this."
The Prince smiled at him sadly. "I'm sorry, my love. I'm not sure what to do, though. This whole ordeal just...it doesn't seem right. It doesn't feel right. I'm groping through darkness to find the answers. I have thousands of lives resting on my decisions. If I make the wrong choice, or if I didn't see something..."
Yuugi squeezed the hands holding his. "Everything will be okay. I know it will."
Atemu nodded. "Of course it will, but-"
"No," Yuugi stressed, cutting him off. "I mean it. Everything will be okay. I can feel it here." At this, he put his hand over the Prince's chest were his heart was. "I know things are going to work out. I have confidence in you. Even if, if, you do fail, I will be there with you, no matter what happens. Even if Sekesha fell to blood and tears, I will be beside you until the end."
Atemu sighed, bowing his head. "I hope you are right, Yuugi. I have had no Foresight about these battles, or who is behind them. I feel so uneasy about it, I just want to scream whenever I think about it. Who is attacking us?"
Yuugi sighed as well, thinking. "Whoever it is, they are a coward. They haven't shown up to any of the fights. And have you noticed about the enemy men? Their eyes look dead. I think they're... I don't know, dead or something."
"They are."
He didn't reply right away. The idea just didn't seem to sink in at first. "What?"
"They are dead. Our enemy is a Necromancer. A magi that can summon dead bodies and make them act like they're living. That's why they don't freeze to death up here, they're already frozen and dead."
"Sweet Jesus Christ."
The Prince ignored the strange profanity that Yuugi conjured up. He never really knew what half of them meant.
"That's just...sick."
"Not only that, but it's illegal within Sekesha's boundaries. Whoever it is attacking us is an outsider, for they couldn't have learned that magick here."
Yuugi shuddered. He tried to shove the terrible images from his mind for now. "Kiss me goodnight? I'm about to fall asleep."
Atemu smiled. "Always, Yuugi." He leaned forward, delicately brushing his lips against Yuugi's. No physical activity. "Sleep well, darling."
"I love you," Yuugi whispered back. "When are we leaving for Kyanah's?"
"In about twelve hours from now. We'll be rigging up a covered sled that Astarte will pull for you. You'll be able to lay down the whole time."
"No way points up here."
He shook his head. "There are from here to Kyanah's, but I have to stay with the troops, and wherever you go, by default, I go with you."
Yuugi nodded. He really wasn't thinking completely in his wearied state. "Love you..." And with that, he fell asleep.
Atemu brushed Yuugi's bangs back behind his ears. Deep down, he was glad that Yuugi wasn't fit to fight. It was one less thing he had to worry about. He didn't know if he could handle the panic of losing Yuugi again. It nearly broke him. "I love you too, aybu."
xxx
Kyanah's Hold was huge. He wasn't sure if his reckoning of space was up to par yet, but Yuugi was nearly positive that it was at least the size of the Eternal Palace. People were everywhere. There was so much noise, Yuugi was glad when the shuffle of moving him was over and he was back in a bed in a secluded room. He and the Prince were given a 'proper' room this time, complete with its own bathing chamber and breakfast nook. They'd been living without room service for nearly a week now. Not that Yuugi had really noticed. He was still unaccustomed to being waited on. At the moment, though, he didn't have any choice. The Healer's wouldn't hear otherwise.
Atemu was busy with the Head of Council and the other officials of the place. Yuugi wouldn't see him for hours. He had been told from some news source that the scouts stated the next batch of corpses would show up on their doorstep within a few hours. If they didn't find the source of these armies, they could end up battling for months on end, until every dead body in the earth was finally conjured up to fight. Even those that they had already lost. Ultimately, it was a path to self-destruction. The longer they fought, and the more men they lost, the longer they'd have to continue to fight until there were none of them left.
What were they going to do?
Yuugi drifted in and out of sleep for a few hours, relatively bored. He had nothing to do, and he certainly couldn't expect anyone to spare precious time before a battle to entertain him. So he was very surprised when a green-clad Healer knocked softly on his door before entering. Atemu had come and left earlier, kissing him softly before heading out to war. The Healer was a woman with powder pink hair and bright blue eyes. "Hi there," she smiled brightly. "I'm Karehlinda. I was told that you were probably a bit lonely in here."
Yuugi smiled back. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Yuugi."
"So I've heard. Congratulations on the Betrothal."
"Thank you."
Karehlinda sat down in a chair next to the bed and pulled out a deck of hand made cards. Yuugi had only seen Sekeshan cards briefly, knowing instead of numbers they had magickal symbols on them to represent different things. It was a game of strategy that people often played, pitting one particular spell against another. Simpler games were similar to 'Go Fish', where they attempted to make as many matches as possible. "Game of Sennah?" She asked, holding up the deck.
Yuugi shook his head, not feeling like thinking about anything. His head still didn't feel quite right. "No thanks." He noticed the snowflakes still on her shoulders. "What's going on outside?"
"The fight started, I believe, about a half an hour ago."
Yuugi realized before he could stop himself that he was scratching behind his ear. Damn that habbit! "No word so far, I take it."
"None."
Yuugi squeezed his hands together. Something was telling him that he needed to make it outside. "I hear there's an enclosed walkway with windows around the Hold, kind of like a catwalk. Can I see it?"
The Healer pursed her lips together, shuffling the cards. "I'm not sure what a catwalk is, but I know the walkway you're thinking of. I don't see the harm in showing you." Standing, she put the cards back in her pocket. She offered her hand for Yuugi to take, which he did end up needing a bit to get enough leverage to get out of bed. "A little bit of walking never killed anyone, unless they had heart problems, which you do not!" She smiled again. She was a kind person, but Yuugi had other things on his mind.
"Any sunshine yet?" He asked, making conversation.
"Never in the winter, I'm afraid."
"Hm, that's too bad." He pulled on some puts and put on a cloak, deeming himself dressed well enough for a short little jaunt around the Hold.
The hallways were empty, nary a person to see walk past them as they ascended some stairs to the elevated walkway. Only a couple of quiet children whispering to themselves passed by them, and other than that there was silence. "It's a beautiful place here," Yuugi commented, marveling at how the walls shimmered much like that of the palace.
"It's been my home for nearly a decade. I can't imagine myself anywhere else in the world."
"It reminds me a lot of the palace."
The Healer smiled widely. He knew a statement like that would be a huge compliment, even if it was mostly true. "We try our best. Look, the windows have started." She pointed to the ice covered windows, the panes thick and triple layered. They were most likely covered in magickal spells to protect them from the cold and wind. They wouldn't break for probably a hundred years or so.
Snow was falling outside. Again. It always snowed up here. Yuugi held his breath when the Hold walls came into view. He stopped for a moment, taking in the scene. The battle was huge, possibly three times larger than anything he'd ever been in. The white Guardians and soldiers below were like giant snowflakes zig-zagging across the battle field. Drab colored enemy lines were swarming them, overflowing...
No...
Yuugi couldn't tear his eyes away. It couldn't be.
"Sire, perhaps we should move on. There's no real reason to watch this."
He ignored her. His mind was still numb with what he was watching. Yuugi's heart felt like it had stopped beating for a moment, then rushed to pound so hard he could feel it in his ears. He couldn't speak, or breathe anything but shallow breaths, and he felt numb.
They were losing. More corpses seemed to simply stand up after getting killed again, and he knew that he even saw dead Guardians start to fight their once comrades. No, it wasn't them anymore. They were now just bodies attacking. The soul was gone.
It couldn't be. They were being suffocated out there!
His eye was drawn to the center of the battle field, the gleam of a blood-soaked sword swinging into the air to hack at another corpse. Atemu... Yuugi's eye shot to the front of the fight, where a lone figure sat astride a still mount, a sick energy radiating off of him. The Necromancer. He came. And there was no way anyone could reach him in time to kill him before every body on the field was under his control. We'll all die here.
"Sire," Karehlinda pressed. "Please, we need to press on."
"I have to get out there."
"I'm afraid that's quite impossible. There's no way to open the Hold gates, and you're not allowed out there because of your concussion. Really, the idea is just prepos"-
"I have to get out there!" Yuugi said again. He could feel panic begin to grip his chest. "I have to! You can't keep me in here! We'll all die!" Karehlinda backed up bewildered when Yuugi's eyes began to glow a vibrant silver-white. His hair danced in waves of energy as he called upon his gifts out of sheer instinct. His feet left contact with the floor.
She couldn't believe her own eyes when glorious, magnificent wings sprouted from his back, his cloak flung off without a thought. His light Gift shattered the walkway around him, opening up clear sky for him to fly. She cried out, falling backwards from the overwhelming power that pushed her away as Yuugi took flight. "By the Goddesses," she breathed, watching him depart to the fight below.
xxx
He had this fight down. Whittle down their numbers, boost their confidence, then crush them. The plan to attack Northern Reach, what a stroke of genius! After obtaining all of the Holds, he'd have an indomitable fortress the Prince could never hope to breach.
Ah, the Prince! The fool actually showed up too! Betrothed hand in hand, practically begging to be usurped from their rule! Ah, so young. It was by a stroke of luck the current ruler was indeed so young, untrained in the art of war.
Oh well. It didn't matter now, anyway.
It was difficult to make out at first, the white on white in the sky slowly heading his way. He in fact dismissed the object at first, thinking it perhaps a dragon that was about to get shot down.
But the object continued to grow in size. And he suddenly realized those wings didn't belong to a dragon. They had feathers.
Energies stronger than he'd ever felt washed up in waves against his magickal shields and crushed them, like a horse stepping on an ant. "Monster," the thing above him hissed. It couldn't be... Were the rumors true? "I'll skin you alive before I hang you up by your intestines." The vengeful. The feared. The wicked.
The beautiful.
Shadows and light intermingled, so sultry it could cause even the coldest of bodies to blaze with want. "Die."
It was. The only one left living. He'd have never stood a chance, fighting something like that. Something that only survived in fantasy novels and children's nighttime stories.
It was an Assai.
xxx