So we existed like this for half an Earth decade. Mother only asked once about my sudden withdraw from her affections. "To protect you... to protect Xelan I must be strong."

She never pushed me, but her eyes watched with sadness. I'd never open my arms to her again, and there were many occasions where I wanted to take her shaking hands in mine. To tell her I knew of the pain she bore so privately. That, if she held on long enough, there would come a day when I'd free her of his obsessive tyranny.

But we never spoke of this. I feared the Tritan's warning.

I allowed myself contact with Xelan once a day while he was a youngling. I wanted him to trust me. For him to know he could tell me anything. Especially if our father took up abusing him again.

I fed my diminishing countdown by hunting game. Every beast from your nightmares I tore into with my bare hands, drawing out the pain. At first, their wordless pleas for mercy twisted my insides. But if the countdown fell below fifteen days, visions haunted me. Dreams of destabilizing and reducing my brother and mother to ash. So the wildlife suffered until, eventually, I felt nothing for them at all.

One day, I prepared for a hunt as foresters attended father's pathetic excuse for court. Umbra half-listened to our people's concerns. If he couldn't solve their issues with his army, he didn't attempt a solution at all.

"But, your majesty, the demon killed three Icari. One possessed the gift of wings, and still she could not escape."

A challenge.

Umbra rapped his nails on the arm of the throne. Bored. "Commit fifty thousand of your best Icari to the Warrior caste, and I might consider--"

"I will slay it." I stepped up to the people on their knees before the throne.

They gaped at me.

For the first time in my life, I smiled at someone outside of my family unit.

They shrank away.

Father leapt from the throne and shoved his face in mine. Attempted to anyway. At Earth-age thirteen, I already towered over him by two heads. He growled at me, "How dare you undermine your King at court?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. I simply desire a hunt. Would you deny your son an opportunity to slake his warrior instincts?"

Umbra narrowed his gaze, measuring my motives. Without looking back at the people, he called, "Bring me two of your prettiest maidens, and you may employ my son for your chore."

I clenched my jaw but gave no other sign of my disgust.

He relented and walked back to his throne.

I gathered my pack and approached the foresters. "Greetings. I--"

"Take your brother," Umbra ordered.

I spun on him with my throat closing tight. "What? Why for?"

"Why not?"

I ground my teeth again. Xelan was only Earth-age eight. While I was sure he'd enjoy a trip with his older brother to slay a legendary beast, he was too young. Someone to look out for, not to help. A liability.

"Mother will protest--"

"Leave her to me. Besides, she will have plenty to do preparing the maidens to sup with me."

We set out immediately. If I spent one more second in the Spire, I'd unintentionally assume the throne. Mother saw us off with provisions and kisses goodbye. She weakly clutched Xelan to her. I didn't mind. He was the baby, after all, and he was embarking on a dangerous adventure.

"I never walked this far before. How far must we travel?" Xelan skipped over a rock in the road. The charred tree canopies above us contrasted sharply against Li's ever-present blaze. The deeper we went into the forest, the more it smelled of ash and decay.

I grunted. "I know you follow me to the desert."

He winced.

"The forest is closer, so fret not over your aching feet."

"How did you know--"

"I told you before we left to wear boots, not your slippers."

Xelan crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

I rifled through my pack and handed him the very same boots he refused to wear.

The boy grinned so wide I could almost count all of his teeth.

I miss being his hero.

A forester remarked over his shoulder, "The Night Prince differs from what I expected."

Once again, I tried for a reassuring smile.

They didn't shy away this time, but they didn't return it, either. I had so much work ahead of me to reverse my father's mistreatment of our people. And I wasn't sure if the Physician was teaching me what I needed to do so.

A small hand squeezed mine. It cost me half an entire day of the countdown. "My brother will make an excellent King, someday," Xelan called to their party.

I blanched at his bold proclamations amongst strangers. What he said was treasonous--

"Well, he certainly cannot do worse." The group laughed at the Icarus' joke.

I relaxed.

One man ribbed me. "Between you and me, those were not our prettiest maidens. Those were the prettiest who volunteered."

Another man stretched and groaned. "Yup. Lady Savis deserves better."

Xelan gave a big nod. "Absolutely."

The men and women laughed again, enamored with Xelan's genuine warmth.

After a time, the party approached a clearing. The forester who appealed their case faced me. "This is where we leave you, Night Prince."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Xelan gaped. "Will you not assist us?"

I squeezed his shoulder and shook my head at him. This was a leader's burden. To the Icarus, I held out my cupped hand.

He clasped it, and we saluted. The gesture stole twelve of my stabilized hours. "You know, I think you might turn out just fine with Lady Savis' influence. I wish good fortune on both our young Icarean princes."

In silence, we traveled deeper into the pitiful forest. A pair, no longer a party.

Xelan fidgeted with his pack. "What do you think it looks like?"

I shrugged and glanced down at him. "Beastly."

He rolled his eyes in that way that's only cute when one is young. "I mean what kind of beast, Nox?"

"Oh, is that what you meant? Well, let's see." I gripped my jaw as I considered. "Horns. And many limbs. It can fly and even breathe fire."

Xelan giggled and shoved at my thigh. Thirty minutes. "If it can do all that, I'd make it my pet."

"That sounds like an excellent idea--" I stopped and sniffed the air, pulling Xelan close to me. Another thirty minutes.

Blood. Icarean blood. And it was old.

Xelan clung to me as if he smelled it or sensed the shift in me.

"Do as I say."

He nodded against my hip.

We made our way into the woods not but thirty paces through the scorched treeline. The rot and gore reached my nose before we broke the clearing. "Xelan, do you see that boulder right there?"

He turned toward it and nodded, still uncertain.

"Can you go there for me and count the different minerals? Collect some for us? Name them off like you do in your studies, but aloud so I can hear."

"Is there a body, Nox?" Xelan kept his back to me, but I noticed the tremor in his shoulders.

"Yes."

He shuddered and walked to the boulder.

I waited until he called out the first mineral before I found the body. An Icarean woman armed with a strong bow. No arrows in her quiver. Her pack was full of supplies and robes for her journey.

"Iron. Mica. Amethyst."

Two days dead, at the most. The beast hollowed out her soft middle. It left nothing but a torn ribcage behind. "Where is her nacre?"

"It ate her nacre?!"

"Stay back. Mother would scold me if I let you see this."

"Nox?"

"What?" I glanced over my shoulder at him.

"The body was a girl?"

"...Yes."

Xelan shook his head. "Then I would rather not see, anyway."

The tender boy wouldn't want to see the body either way. But, as you know by now, he was always more protective of the fairer sex. Possibly compensating for our father's mistreatment of our mother.

I gripped his shoulder, startling him and costing me six hours. This demon had better live up to its reputation, or I risk wasting my time. "We make camp."

"Here?!"

I pointed to the cliff beyond the boulder. "There."

I built a fire, baiting the trap. Xelan slept. I pretended to do so. This was my usual method for hunting. Recklessly endangering myself so the beast would find me. I abhorred risking Xelan, but I trusted myself to protect him. What a fool I was.

The carnivore with a taste for nacre-stuffed Icari stalked us in the treeline for an hour. I observed its potential in that time and discerned that I woefully under-prepared for this hunt.

Twelve nacres peppered its charred skin. Horns swiveled like strange limbs. It snarled with a reptilian snout, baring teeth longer than my arm. Rows of them. As if mocking my earlier humor, it prowled on six taloned feet. When it stood to knock a tree into our fire, it was twice my height.

I covered Xelan's mouth before he could scream and snatched him from the camp. Quiet, but urgently, I instructed, "Be quick and be quiet. Slide down the cliff and wait for me."

My brother's dark eyes swam with tears, and I hated my father even more. "The time has come to see if you learned anything with mother and Karter, soldier. Now, go."

I turned my back on him and faced the demon. No more testing the waters. It emerged from the darkness, walking on its four hind legs. "Xelan?" I knew he lingered at my back, afraid to leave me behind. "Go. And wait no more than half an hour. If I have yet to reach you by then, return to the foresters and ask them to send for me." I couldn't bring myself to say, "for my remains."

Xelan ran off in the cliff's direction, leaving me with the big beasty.

From my pack, I uncoiled a whip with sharp prongs. I found this weapon most satisfactory to feed the depleting countdown. After this time spent with Xelan, I'd need a good supply. Six, maybe seven days' worth.

I lashed at the monster, catching one of its ears and ripping it off. It lunged for me with renewed vigor. As I uncoiled to snap again, it bounced back with striking agility outside of range. "Smart one."

"A... way..."

My heart stopped. Did it just speak?! Never had I killed anything before with enough intelligence to speak. "Speak again."

The demon stalked around the clearing on all six limbs. Spittle foamed at the corners of its mouth. Its red eyes rolled in their sockets high on its head. From this angle, I glimpsed four arrows protruding from its back.

"A... way..." It repeated in a hoarse alien voice. If I listened closely, I swore the words were layered in languages other than Icarean.

"A... way... Now."

"Why?" There's something absurd about attempting to communicate with an animal that shouldn't speak.

"Go..."

"Why are you killing Icari? They must travel this road. How can you speak?"

As if in answer, Li flared, and the light caught in the twelve adorning nacres. Oh, but why else would it be able to speak?

It roared, "GO!" Then it pounced at me with an impressive front flip in the air. If it had wings, you and I would've never met.

I dodged and leapt onto its back. The arrows prod into my legs as I rode the monster through fits. Wrapping my whip around its neck, I tried to rein it still. I only angered it.

The beast bounded to the cliffside with me along for the ride. I retrieved a knife and stabbed it in the eye. We went over the cliff and tumbled down the rough rock with the demon's howls in my ears. Two of its limbs caught in crags and boulders on the way down, breaking them. Unfortunately, the creature landed on top, crushing me.

We both laid unmoving for a moment. I appreciated the recovery time. I healed faster than it, but with that many nacres--

"Nox?"

Shit.

The beast stirred with a groan and flailed. I spat blood with many busted ribs and tried to wrench my arms free. A few cracks from the woods marked Xelan's proximity. "Stop." I tried for a hoarse whisper, but it came out as a snarl.

"I apologize for startling you. I found some mushrooms--"

The creature shrieked a high keening shrill and erupted onto its feet at the expense of my legs.

"Xelan! Run!"

Small feet trampled away over the brush. The beast followed after Xelan. I couldn't pursue with my legs broken below the knee. Only one option left to me, and I never tried it before without the Physician's guidance.

I closed my eyes to concentrate and discharge the weapon. When I opened them next--

Rayne, have you shared what it's like with anyone? You're the first person I've ever told. Pristine vision. Beyond keen hearing. Every muscle feels ready and perfectly coordinated with the rest. Honing in on the enemy's anatomy, you instinctively coordinate attacks to derive the most pain. Prolong it, even.

My shins healed, and I caught up with the animal before it found Xelan. I pulled it off balance with the whip and ripped out the talons from two of its feet. With a grip I couldn't fathom before the weapon, I pulled out two nacres and tossed them away. I tore the knife still jabbed in its eye--

"...Nox?"

I stopped. He couldn't see me like this. "Xelan." My voice was Atramentous and the depth of it startled him. I closed my eyes to keep him from seeing. "Xelan, look away," I urged as I calculated exactly how much the beast's pain could contribute to my countdown.

I tried to reach my brother, "Please. Count for me. Count the gills on the mushrooms. Count aloud. By the time you finish, I will be done."

"One. Two. Three..."

The beast howled until I ripped out its larynx to spare Xelan the strangled sounds. Concerned with my brother's presence, I ended its suffering sooner than I needed. I rinsed my hands in a pond nearby before clasping him by the shoulders.

"325... Is it done?"

"Yes." I patted him once and released him before I lost more than half a day.

"Good. Do you think the baby will eat the mushrooms?" Xelan opened his pack wider to show me the fruits of his foraging.

I frowned. "Baby?"

"Follow me." Xelan walked along the base of the cliff to a clearing with a cave. All along the clearing were markings. As I examined them more closely--

"Icarean," my brother explained. "They say 'go away.' And look." A heavy rumble emitted from the cave where he pointed.

Cautiously and at his insistence, I stepped inside. Xelan went ahead despite my warning. He giggled in the darkness. When I found him, he curled around a miniature of the intelligent beast I murdered for following its parental instincts. It purred at his touch.

I wanted to vomit.

So that's how we walked home. I delivered the wrapped remains of the female huntress to the foresters on the way through their village.

Xelan beamed as he toted his new pet. "I named her. Many Feet. She likes mushrooms."

As we approached the citadel of our shared Hell, I reflected on the words of our people. Their distaste for my father. I wondered if they'd harbor us. If I could steal Xelan away, raise him, and garner support to eventually usurp my father when I was ready.

But...

Mother. Kind smiles and small trembling hands. I couldn't take her baby from her.