The crossing of the border was subtle, nary but a shift in the air about them to show for the trespass from within the governed lands of Seelie into the untamed wilds. The flowers nested in Zagan's hair blossomed angry red and alarming sapphire, their hearts bright with poisonous pollen. Beneath his feet the earth began to twist with cunning nettles, soon devoured by pale fungi that followed the prince's path. These in turn were crushed to the earth under the heel of the changeling, tucked close beside his lover as they traversed the shadowed brush.
Belial watched. It was what he did most often, watching. His countless eyes, always winking in and out of existence as they pleased, all observed the world around him with the detached watchfulness of one who had lived too many lifetimes to be surprised by the oddities of existence. No one thing could ever occupy him, he had seen too much to find a single point of focus of any interest, yet a great many of his roving eyes trained themselves upon the young changeling.
What, he continued to ponder, could his prince see in this boy? The enraptured awe he regarded Sidhe with bordered on naivety, his seemingly boundless curiosity naught but a detriment. Zagan seemed to find him amusing, which Belial supposed he was, but amusement had never been a priority for the prince. These attributes he couldn't see piqued his dormant curiosity, akin to an itch just bothersome enough to be scratched. The deeper they delved into Sidhe, the more may be uncovered about this peculiar boy his prince had brought home with him.
When the border had disappeared behind them and the air had settled, the party paused so that the prince's wolves may be summoned. Belial blew a whistle made of bone, which carried a single silent note. It echoed unheard through the trees and across the wildlands, carried on wind and river current, over borders and through settlements, until it reached the wolves' ears.
They came with the swiftness of the northern wind, powerful legs churning against the earth as they raced across the distance between themselves and their master. Only minutes passed from when the whistle was blown to when the first howl echoed through the trees.
The prince turned towards the direction it had come from, his elegant ears twitching gently, as a second howl joined the first. He smiled, then cupped his hands around his mouth and howled in return. A chorus of lupine cries filled the woodland as the wolves all followed their master's voice, rushing through the underbrush until they reached him.
In the olde times, dire wolves had very few natural predators and ruled a vast portion of the lands that would become UnSeelie court. They were ruthless hunters able to track their prey across any distance, prowling at their heels if they couldn't catch them, until their prey was too exhausted to go on. Harsh climates left them unaffected and their bodies could withstand physical and magical assault long enough to kill almost any attacker. Mab, the first Queen, earned their respect and took many of them into the court with her, but even now the wolves who roamed free were to be avoided.
The sight of five dire wolves emerging from the shadows, led by a beast with fur of ash turned almost pitch by the light, was a chilling one. Yet the moment the wolf laid eyes on Hakuryuu, his tail began to wag and the image of a vicious predator melted into an excited pup. Hakuryuu dropped to his knees and opened his arms, embracing the wolves as they bounded over to him, licking his face and snuffling at his clothes between excited yips and whines.
The prince had been given his first wolf when he was but a babe, raised alongside his beastly partner so that they formed an unwavering kinship. His pack was as much his family as his blood. And like his blood, a certain amount of etiquette was required to approach these creatures; etiquette the changeling surely lacked.
Sure enough, Judal neither distanced himself from Hakuryuu nor averted his eyes when the first wolf caught sight of him. Her ears flicked back, tawny hackles raising as she gazed at the unfamiliar figure before her. The wise thing to do would be to bow to the beast and step back, and Belial could have told the changeling as much, but why bother? He would encounter far less forgiving dangers than the beasts his own lover commanded.
Could he not sense the raw power exuding from the creatures before him, Belial wondered. Were his senses so dulled that he had no inkling of worry when he gazed into the eyes of a predator so vastly more intelligent than anything that lived in the mortal realm? What could possess this boy to stand there, undeterred, and have the gall to extend his hand to the beast?
All Belial could think was that the changeling was as oblivious as a newborn and driven by childlike curiosity. Had he not been covered in the scent of their master, the wolves would have most assuredly devoured him by now. It was merely luck that seemed to see him through.
He expected the beasts to begin snarling and bearing their teeth, but instead they circled the changeling with interest, pressing their noses to his extended hands and huffing as they brushed against him. Their curiosity was abnormal, and startled Belial enough to make him blink. Zagan watched the proceedings with an airy smile and a quirked brow, and the prince seemed to be the only one unsurprised.
Forget obliviousness, the changeling was a fool. He knelt to greet the wolves like they knew him, dared to stroke his hands through their fur and open his mouth to share breath with them. Belial waited for the satisfying scream of pain and crunch of bone beneath powerful jaws, but it simply never came. The wolves, like their master, saw something in Judal that Belial could not.
Hakuryuu settled astride the leader of the pack and without hesitation, the changeling swung himself up behind him. The wolf shifted beneath their weight, yet neither he nor his pack mates protested to their new rider. Judal hooked his arms around Hakuryuu's middle and offered him a smile that could pass for giddy, if one didn't pay attention to the sharpness at its edges.
Something bright and nearly devious glinted in the changeling's eyes; mortal bravado, Belial reasoned. The boy had been raised in the world of men, where magic and all that came with it neither existed nor belonged. Only stupidity could explain his unflinching awe in the face of the unknown.
Yet, the more he watched the changeling, the less foolishness seemed a trait that fit him.
With the prince and his lover no longer traveling on foot, their speed increased significantly. Zagan continued to lead them, disappearing and reappearing between the trees at different distances, further and closer at the same time. Belial remained behind, moving through space as one swam through water, more than able to overtake the pack if he wished.
The dire wolves raced through the brush with vicious elegance, bounding over fallen trees and across small streams. They moved in a coordinated group, encircling the riders while still being led by the beast they rode. One or two wolves broke off from the pack now and again, disappearing into the trees, only to return with bloodied maws and wild eyes. Few living things crossed their path, but some more daring creatures howled and cried from the shadows.
The changeling continued to smile.
A fool had not the awareness to be observant, or the consciousness to control any impulses they may possess. The changeling was infinitely curious; his eyes always roaming, head swiveling, lips spilling questions that passed as mundane to the fae. But even as they rode his posture mirrored the prince's, shifting subtly to match his lover's whenever he moved. His eyes lingered on plants, branching pathways, and flickering lights in the distance, but he never indicated a desire to stray from where Zagan led.
Hakuryuu entertained his lover as they traveled with stories of his escapades with his closest companion, the prince Alibaba. These were ill-advised adventures and youthful dalliances the prince recalled with amusement and fondness, all told with gilt embellishments he did little to hide. The changeling laughed and teased between his recounting, plucking the gold from his stories and digging for the less flattering truth beneath.
The changeling began to take on a clearer shape in Belial's mind. He saw it in his wide smile and the glow lighting his crimson eyes, but moreso in the wickedness of his tongue. When beasts cried from the darkness, the changeling looked towards them rather than flinch away, and when the prince pressed fruit to his lips he ate it without question. All actions of a fool, had there not been such alarming perceptiveness in the words that fell from his sweetened mouth.
The boy was fearless. Not the kind of fearless that walked hand in hand with obliviousness, but the rare kind that coexisted with cunning and wit. He knew danger, had looked into the face of it before and found himself unimpressed by its terrible jaws. Before him stretched a world he had never inhabited occupied by creatures all older and wiser than him, and tens of times more deadly, and yet he laughed. Curiosity ought to have been his bane, but spurned by fearlessness it became a dangerous combination.
Most worrisome though, was that the prince seemed all too aware of this. He had made no effort to shield Judal from the wolves or warn him of the dangers of the wildlands. When they crossed through trees hung with the half-eaten carcass of some serpentine beast, he brushed it off with bemusement that drew laughter from his lover. This fearlessness that Judal possessed was not foreign to the prince in the least.
"You seem preoccupied, old friend. Shall I lend an ear for you to spill your troubles to?"
Belial's eyes roamed over the image of Zagan that had appeared beside him, another set focused on the chartreuse figure leading the way.
"Focus on ensuring we reach the encampment by the morrow, Zagan."
"You know me well enough to know I am able to be in far more than two places at once, Belial."
A scowl twisted the pale fae's features, which only amused his companion.
"The changeling." he offered brusquely.
Zagan raised a brow.
"Oh? And here I thought you were the fondest of him, between the two of us." the blond fae taunted, amusement curling his mouth.
"The boy sees what is meant to be unseen and hears what is meant to be unheard. When I called the wolves he flinched, as if the whistle's tune met his ears as well."
"Peculiar, indeed! Perhaps he is some sort of beastial fae."
"He yet wears a mortal skin, have you forgotten? No mere beast's ears are that attuned."
"Yes, yes, I suppose that is true. Quite strange, quite strange."
It would not be unlike Zagan to have come to mock his brooding thoughts, but despite his tone that did not seem to be the case this time. Though they fell silent, the fae's double kept pace beside Belial, eyes trained forward on the backs of the riders between them. He too could sense whatever uncanny atmosphere surrounded the boy their prince seemed so enamored with.
"There are few things these eyes of mine cannot see." Belial said once their silence had stretched over miles. "Yet, this boy clouds the vision in all of them. What lies at his heart, or even just beneath the skin he wears, I cannot say. The longer I look upon him, the less sure of him I become."
"You suspect him of duplicity?" Zagan asked, sharpness cutting the amusement from his voice.
Belial scoffed.
"Were he not what he claims to be, the prince would have known it far before now. And since he must be what he says; he is far too young to play the games our prince is capable of."
"I suppose a mere babe would be unlikely to deceive him, if we are almost incapable of such."
The coldness drifted from Zagan's voice, and when he spoke again the airy bemusement had returned.
"If you are unconcerned for the prince's wellbeing, then why dwell on it, old friend? Are you so enraptured with his new conquest? I think he will be disinclined to share this one."
"Hold your tongue, Zagan." Belial snapped, eyes narrowing across his body. "If the prince hears you speak that way of his lover, I doubt he will take it well."
Zagan acknowledged his misstep with a nod, but continued to smile with barely contained mirth. The scowl returned to Belial's visage, and he turned his gaze back to their charges, still sharing stories as the wolves carried them through the wilds. Another silence passed in shifting landscapes before the vassals spoke again.
"I choose to wonder no longer on the changeling's nature. I do not think I will understand it for some time to come." Belial admitted. "What I dwell on now is what twist of fate it was that led our prince to the threshold, and into the arms, of this peculiar creature."
"Serendipitous, wouldn't you say?" Zagan chortled with uncontained delight. If he had made a joke, Belial didn't catch it. "In a moment of his most dire need, our prince finds himself at the door of a forgotten changeling."
"Perhaps it was serendipity, perhaps it was something else."
"Something else?"
Belial had finished speaking and would reply no further, Zagan could tell as much with a single glance. He clicked his tongue, murmuring something about his companion's standoffish nature, then vanished between the trees. Once more, there was but one of him, far in the distance.
The eyes that had trained themselves upon the confounding changeling began to wander once more, some closing to be replaced by others that opened on undisturbed patches of skin. Belial regarded the lovers, now trading playful words in a game of wits tinged with innuendo. He had rarely seen his prince quite so at ease in the presence of another, never so willing to be outwitted.
Serendipitous, then, that the one he fell into the arms of was such a perfect match for him. Serendipitous, indeed.
Notes:
How do I begin to apologize for how long this chapter has taken? I'm so sorry everyone. Real life became entirely overwhelming and I honestly lost track of how much time had passed since I last uploaded a chapter. I feel horrible, and I know people are upset.
I'm going to try to get back to my Monday updating schedule as I was before, but it may take me a little time. This time, please believe me when I say that weekly updates will be returning. A massive chunk of the coming arc is fully fleshed out and just waiting to be written, so I'm going to tackle that right away and get to work.
Thank you everyone for your abundance of patience, and I really hope I haven't lost any of you in the interim. I'm still without internet where I reside, but I'm planning to set up a Twitter soon to hopefully be more easily reachable by anyone who wants to contact me!