Chapter 557: Entrustment
The sun shined down on the scarlet leaves of Vulture Woods, casting the grass in a warm shade of red. A cool breeze ran over the gurgling sound of the river. The titan of the moon, Lunae, sat on a giant boulder next to the river bed. Her arms were splayed to the sides, supporting her weight as she leaned back, head tilted up, eyes closed, her chest rising in quiet slow breaths.
A blue goblin no older than 10 sat on her lap, he was small for his age, but next to her stature, he seemed like a newborn. He held a fishing rod between his tiny clawed fingers as he waited, patiently—
“AURAAGGGH!” Stryg threw his arms up into the air in frustration. “I can’t catch anything! These fish are cursed!”
“Mm,” Lunae grunted.
“We’ve been at this since dawn! Why can’t I catch a stupid fish!?”
“Mm.”
“What should I do?”
“Mm.”
“Lunae?”
“Mm.”
“Are you sleeping?”
“...”
“Are you listening?”
“...No.”
Stryg frowned and scrambled up to his feet, careful to not lose his balance. He grabbed a fistful of her silver strands in each hand for leverage and began to climb up her chest, imagining himself a brave Sylvan warrior scaling the cliff sides of the Rupture Mountains. It only took a moment before he reached her sternum and he quickly maneuvered to the side and sat on her shoulder.
“Hey, are you listening? Lunae? Mom?”
“Mm.”
He frowned and poked her cheek. “Mom. Wake up. Mooom. ~Waaaake uuup~” He poked her face incessantly to no effect. Finally, he leaned over and peeled back her eyelid. A silver eye rolled down and stared right at him. “You’re awake!”
Opening both her eyes in a half-lidded gaze and a tired frown, Lunae pinched the scruff of his neck and lifted him up, inspecting him like a pesky mouse.
Stryg dangled in midair, swaying from side to side, and smiled sheepishly. “Hi, Mom.”
“I was never asleep. I was simply resting my eyes.” She put him back down onto her lap. “Now, what is the problem, my fastidious child?”
“What’s uh, fasta… Fuste—dee…?”
“Fastidious.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“It is what you are, Little One. Now, speak.” She poked his cheek.
Stryg picked up his fishing rod from her lap. “I can’t catch a fish. We’ve been here for hoouurs but I can’t catch anything! Are the fish cursed!?”
Lunae glanced at the river. She could see the occasional fish darting across the water. “The fish are fine.”
“Then curse them!”
“What?”
“For refusing to get caught!”
“I’d be quite a petty goddess to do so.” She furrowed her brow, none of the fish seemed to gravitate towards the fishing hook. Lunae leaned over and pulled the fishing line out of the water. The steel hook glistened with water and nothing more. “…Stryg, my dear sweet stupid son, where is the bait?”
“The bait?”
“The worms I gave you.”
“Oh, I put it on the hook—” He glanced at the bare hook. “Oh.”
“Did you tie the worms on the hook?”
“Huh?” He blinked up at her with clueless puppy eyes.
Lunae stared at him flatly. “Did you tie a worm to the hook? Like how I instructed? Yes or no?”
He grinned sheepishly. “Yes…?”
“You are a terrible liar.” Lunae pointed a silver finger at the river and a patch of water froze under her aim. With a flick of her finger, a block of ice shot up into the air, a large frozen fish within.
“Yes! Dinner!” Stryg threw his hand up in triumph.
“You mean my dinner,” she taunted.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“What!? But—!”
“I am the huntress who caught it. Therefore it is mine by right.”
“That’s not fair! You used magic!”
“Oh? Like this?” She twirled her finger in a circle and Stryg yelped as he floated into the air on a chilly breeze.
“Mom, stop!” He flapped his arms from side to side like a baby bird.
She laughed.
“It’s not funny!”
She laughed even harder. “It really is.”
Stryg couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile and soon he began to giggle, her laughter was infectious. Lunae leaned forward and touched her forehead to his as they both giggled, a light mirthful sound.
The world fell apart into the shadows of nothingness. Suddenly, the world fell back into focus, but it was no longer the same. The sky was dark, the moon nowhere to be seen. The ashen trees of the forest no longer seemed warm and welcoming, but foreboding and eerie.
A blue goblin, a young teenager now, was crying, his voice broken amidst the sniffling. Lunae stood over him, looking down with a gaze full of pity and pain.
Stryg held up his hand, and a thin silver line of a scar ran down his palm. “I won’t! We're Sigte! We’re bonded forever! I won’t—!” he sucked in a shaky breath and looked up at her boldly, “I won’t forget you. I promise.”
Lunae fell to her knees and cupped his face between her hands. Tears flowed freely down her silver skin. “I love you, my son.”
I entrust you with the safety of my son. Protect him well. The goddess’ voice echoed in the air, like thunder in the clouds.
Protect him well.
Protect him.
PROTECT HIM!
Gale shouted in a panic and sat up in her bed, covered in sweat. She clutched at her chest, it felt cold as if a shard of ice had slipped between her ribs. The vampiress looked around anxiously, she was in her bed chambers.
Why was she…?
She tried to remember where she had last been, but the memories, no, the dream was still so vivid in her mind. It hadn’t been real. It couldn’t have been. It felt as if she lived it; carried a small blue child in her lap as he fished and looked up at her with an innocent smile that could level mountains.
Gale shook her head. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was escorting her ward into the meeting of the Sylvan Tribes. And then, there had been a girl, a teenager really, with dark silver skin, hair as white as starlight, and silver-white eyes that seemed to shine with an inner fiery glow.
“I need to find Stryg…” she muttered.
Her ward was all that mattered right now.
She threw off her blankets, opened her closet, and threw on the first pair of garments she could find. Her sword rested on the sword rack next to her bedside and she grabbed its hilt with a comforting sigh, before heading out the door.
As she walked down the stairs, Gale considered looking for her uncle first. Gian usually spent his time sitting under the old yew tree in the gardens, but recently he had been spending more and more time at Lady Aurelia’s bedside.
Despite their white mages’ finest treatment, Lord Veres’ mother had yet to awaken. Whatever wounds the dragonbane had inflicted upon her had been worse than any of them had realized.
The sounds of the front doors opening pulled Gale away from her thoughts. Besides the guards, under the doorway stood a young human woman. Though her arms were covered in bandages she still carried her one-year-old son in her arms.
Gale’s throat tightened at the sight of her nephew, he looked so much like her brother, Clypeus.
Nora met her eyes and she smiled hesitantly, “Good morning. I’m sorry to bother you, Lady Gale.”
Gale rushed her and embraced them both. “Never.”
~~~
Gale found Stryg at the stables, sitting on a bench near the giant beast that was quickly devouring their food stores. Lady Feli stood not far away, though Gale found it odd that she wasn’t sitting next to her husband, until she spotted Elise on the bench as well.
“Lord Veres!” Gale called out without hesitation.
Stryg looked up, surprised. “Gale?”
She bowed and stepped aside, “You have visitors.” Behind her stood Nora and in her arms, Kamilo.
“We’ll finish this talk later,” Stryg said to Elise without even glancing at her.
Kamilo noticed Stryg as he slowly approached and his tiny hands stretched out restlessly. “A-ba!”
Stryg broke into a sprint and picked Kamilo up into his arms.
“A-ba!” the toddler cried happily.
“Kamilo!” Stryg held him up and twirled him in the air, smiling brightly as the child giggled.
Nora smiled at the sight. Feli walked over and hugged her, “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“As I am of you,” Nora replied warmly.
Gale looked over at the bench, but Elise was already gone. She caught the edge of her black cloak disappearing back into the gardens that connected both their manors. Gale would deal with her later, for now she needed to speak to her ward about what had happened last night.
And her dreams… No. Gale shook her head. Her dreams were her own, just apparitions of a difficult night’s sleep. None of it was real. Stryg had no scar on either of his palms. Sure, his hands would swelter and even sometimes bleed during their sword training sessions, but the next morning they were always perfectly fine. Her ward didn’t even have calluses, let alone a scar.
“Kamilo’s missed you,” said Nora.
But Stryg did not hear her. His attention had been entirely taken by the toddler.
“It seems Stryg has missed him dearly as well,” Nora said wryly.
Feli chuckled, “I’m quite certain there is no distance nor danger that would keep Stryg from getting back to Kamilo.” Her gaze softened, “He’s Clypeus’ legacy.”
Kamilo tried to reach into Stryg’s pocket with his pudgy little hands. Stryg smiled and pulled out a yellow muffin he had stuffed into his jacket pocket at breakfast. “You have a sharp nose too, huh?”
The little hybrid stared at the muffin with hungry dark purple eyes.
Stryg grinned. “Too bad, it’s mine.”
“Auuagh!” Kamilo cried.
Stryg channeled Yellow and flicked his wrist. A wind spell wrapped around Kamilo and floated him into the air. It seemed simple, but the fact that he was holding the child up without creating a turbulent blast spoke volumes of the control behind the spell. His control over his magic had grown significantly since Gale had last seen him battle in Undergrowth.
Kamilo cried out in surprise as he floated and reached out for the muffin longingly. Stryg laughed and broke the muffin in two, before giving one half to the baby.
Nora’s jaw went slack in surprise. “My gods, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Stryg share his food with anyone.”
“He usually doesn’t,” Feli chuckled.
Stryg smiled as he shared the muffin with the babbling baby. He drew Kamilo close and touched his forehead to Kamilo’s, then closed his eyes with a shared laugh.
The icy feeling in Gale’s heart clenched and a shiver ran down her spine. It had all been a dream… hadn’t it?