“What are those?”
Nil-Savadin leaned forward with a smile on her face. “We spend a lot of time in bed. We cannot run a Kingdom from there alone, though. We will learn about what happens in our Kingdom as we take our people into our beds to empower them with our doses. I have always taken great pride in forming bonds with them, so they trust me to tell me needs, wants, and dreams. We need someone to see necessary changes through. Ilkil and Lokil-Nol, or Nil in my case, are the ones we trust to take this task upon themselves. Your Lokil-Nol will work solely with matters of your Kingdom, Ilkil-Nol will aid Lokil-Nol but also be the one who communicates matters of other Kingdoms to you and Lokil-Nol.”
Foldon had been easy to choose. He’d been thrust upon Elakdon’s new Royal urges. But how to choose two people for such important tasks was a different matter entirely.
The Queen interrupted his early thoughts on the matter. “They take time to find, and for the time being, I shall take the place as your Ilkil-Nol while I educate you in all matters of a Royal, too.”
“I don’t even know how all this works.”
“When did you last feed?”
“A few hours. I was hoping my new bed was ready, soon.” Elakdon couldn’t help his smile.
“Oh, you have plans of sharing it with someone in particular?”
“Styrk. He’s the one making it, too.”
She smiled. “I shall take you to a different bed, then. The Royal Empowerment of one Royal to another is more than feeding the body. It is also the time alone where I will feed your mind with secrets that are only for the Royal and our very closest to know. Like the Fountains. They are heavily guarded secrets as they would be as much as targets for our foe as we are, as only we can empower our people to become stronger. You will even, upon developing your dose fully, learn that with your dose, new traits will allow your people to feed or hunt.”
Elakdon hoped it would help his people in the troubles that lay ahead. He didn’t know how he felt about knowing that his rise was a warning of upheaval.
Nil-Savadin stood. “I’m sorry to be so hasty about getting you into bed, but I really am famished.”
Elakdon smiled and stood, reaching for her hand. “Then let me show you the way and take care of your immediate hunger. My mind is hungry for all you have to feed it, too.”
They went to Harrodon’s bed and wasted no time getting the Queen’s physical hunger out of the way.
“I suspect your own bed will be finished during the time you and I are here,” Nil-Savadin said, poking a raven’s skull, hanging from a bedpost, with her toe. “Tell me of the bird it belonged to.”
“That one is Thought, and this one is Memory.” Elakdon pointed to the other raven’s skull. “They are Odin’s birds.”
“Your god, yes…I like that your High Father has them on his bed. I, too, have decorated my bed with paraphernalia that reminds me of who I am and what I am.”
“How so?”
“I come from tribal land. Each tribe has a god or spirit, yet we do not bring them with us to keep worshipping them. Each spirit protects his or her area, and we will revere the one that protects the land we are on no matter how we got to be on that land.”
“We have something like it, too. We must coexist with spirits everywhere and please them.”
“I like that idea because we, the Royals of the Cubi people, function much in the same way. So does our Fountains when given the responsibility for an area.”
“So they protected my Kingdom until I was born?”
“Yes and no. I and the King of the East divided this Kingdom to secure your people until you were born. I dispatched a rider immediately upon receiving your letter, so he will soon, if not already, know of your birth. He will come here, too, to give you back your full Kingdom.”
“Just like that?”
She chuckled. “Just like that. It is exhausting to travel here to tend to so many in bed, so I am not sorry to see you born now that my own Kingdom sees the rise of a new religion. One that threatens us.”
“Like we do?”
“Yes, but differently. Same God, different name. He…they destroyed the tribal center and claimed the place for their God. All of our spirits were defaced.”
Elakdon felt sadness at her tone, and he hoped, no he swore that he would never let whatever new God the humans were bringing in destroy his heritage and love for his gods.
He closed his eyes a moment and felt deep within himself for the connection to the gods. May Thor give me the strength to fight, Odin the wisdom to know which battle to choose, Tyr the strength to sacrifice my own comfort to strengthen my people, and may Vår keep me to the promise I make now—to always honor the gods, the Vanir, and the Vættir.
Nil-Savadin turned onto her side and propped her head up on her hand, staring at him. “Did you pray to them?”
He drew a deep sigh. “Yes. I feel I need them for everything that lies ahead.”
“You do. I won’t lie or make it sound less serious than it is. But that is why we must find people around us who can help. And…your need to feel many around you. We all do that when we rise. With us, our people rise. So hoard all those whose eyes change, seek them out by force if necessary, and keep the rest to feed your people as they become many.”
“Keep? It is considered an honor to be asked to bed us, freemen as well as a thrall. They hope their eyes will take the color of the gods, too.”
“For now. Soon, the only honor they must meet for their new God is to not be touched by us. We are called demons now.”
“Is that bad?”
“This kind of demon, yes. We are called predators who steal from the humans something sacred.”
Elakdon couldn’t fathom what that could be. “Their word of honor?”
She smiled and stroked his cheek. “Their pleasure. It’s what they seek to avoid.”
Elakdon felt horrified. That was…cruel. Only a cruel god would deny humans pleasure of any kind. Elakdon loved the wisdom of his gods and the Allfather as they all called for balance between pleasure and plight, instead of banishing one.
“The humans are already meddling some places, wanting a say in how many a High Mother or Father may take in to empower,” Elakdon said. “If the Cubi begin to take humans to feed us, then that will definitely start a war with them.”
“Yes.”
It sounded so matter of fact, and Elakdon wondered if a warrior had not been a better Royal than he. Yet, Foldon sharing his own shortcoming at striking first and considering the prudence of it later was probably not a trait needed. The dreamer was. The strategy.
Elakdon sat up. “I need someone well versed in war and strategy, then.”
She giggled. “So lucky that I brought one. Yet, he must be aided by someone who knows these lands. Find one of those, and my councilor will teach all that he knows and hope to learn from yours.”
Elakdon nodded, no closer to coming up with a name than before, yet he found comfort that the Queen had brought so many competent people with her.
“I would like you to contemplate three questions, and you may of course ask those you will to help you reach conclusions.”
Elakdon laid back down and mirrored her position. She was stunning, yet the gold color in her eyes seemed too foreign not to be a bit freaky. He wondered if that was how humans saw the many colors of the Cubi eyes for the first time. “Which is?”
“Where do you see your Kingdom in one hundred years?”
“That depends on the humans, I guess.”
“Absolutely not. Nothing outside your House will ever be in the hands of the humans. It will only mean that you have to revise your plans for how you get there as you go. The destination does not change.”
He liked that. It made him feel less of a hunn. The thought made him chuckle.
“What?” Nil-Savadin asked.
“I just had a thought about being a pond in a boardgame we play. A strategic board game, actually, called hnefatafl.” Why hadn’t he thought
of at least training his skills there? “Anyway, the attacking and defending pieces are called a hunn. The King is Hnefi.”
“And that would be you?”
“I just realized that, yes.”
“You must teach my councilor this game of strategy.”
“That’s just it. I’m not very good at it. I never played it much. I enjoyed crafting more than games.”
“I see…a tournament then?”
Elakdon chuckled. “I think I know of someone who is good at Tafl. I will ask him to teach your councilor.”
“Good. Second thing I would like you to consider. Which geographical and social aspects promotes or hinders your people from not only feeding but living structured enough for the older Cubi to be able to strengthen the younger?”
Elakdon thought about it a moment, then remembered she’d said that everything was in his hands and out of the humans’, yet he couldn’t see two societies living that close and not be of influence, no matter how well he planned things.
She smiled as if she looked right through him.
“This time, humans are necessary to factor in,” he said.
“Indeed, so you must constantly revise. It is also why I ask this question right after the first because it is one of the most important factors to consider when making a long-term plan, too, yet it is not the most important aspect. Your will to change your surroundings is.”
Elakdon nodded, thinking he understood, yet it definitely needed more contemplation. “And the last?”
“Where do you see your people in a hundred years?”
Elakdon frowned since that was pretty close to the first question. He then realized that only external factors had been considered, and now she asked him to look at those most affected by what he could envision in the first two.
“You got it, it seems. Good. Now.” She toppled him and dosed him, and whatever thoughts he’d thought were aligning to something useful fled to a corner of his mind as an all-consuming lust took over his system.
Chapter Twelve
He’d seen the sun rise twice since Nil-Savadin had dragged him off to bed. This morning, he hadn’t. He’d been too tired and slept in. It was just after noon when both he and the Queen left the High Father’s bedroom to join the world again.
The three questions she had posed were still at the forefront of his mind, but so was finding someone who was good at hnefatafl. He knew Father was.
Upon entering the great hall, smelling meat on the hearth made Elakdon’s stomach growl. He hadn’t eaten at all those days.
“Oh, I hear that I have neglected to point one thing out. I’m sorry, but I stopped eating human food many years ago. As Royals, we can stop eating when our iris takes on a full red color.” She cupped his face, smiling. “So in your case…soon.”
Elakdon gasped. “My eyes? They…they’ve changed already?”
“Red shows in them now. Not enough to be seen at a distance but give me a few more days.” She winked and left to join the people at the long table. Elakdon noticed his mother being one of them, yet she looked concerned as she smiled at him.
He quickly joined them.
“How are you feeling, young Prince?” Father asked.
“Hungry, but my mom looks nervous, so I find it prudent to find out why.”
She smiled saddened. “I will fetch you food, darling.” She stood and kissed the top of his head on her way.
“Earl Trygve came back while the two of you fed,” Father said, looking like his patience was running out. And that was never a good sign. He was a stern man on an everyday basis, yet when tested, he would take things to a level where no one wanted to be in his focus. Elakdon had only seen it twice. One was a traveler who didn’t understand that being taken inside did not equal free roaming rights in the Succubis’ beds. Upon the third reminder, Father lost his temper and killed the straggler. He was buried out back during the night, and Father did that labor himself, and no one ever mentioned it again.
The second time was a Cubus of the House who didn’t accept the claiming of a breeder that crossed feeding patterns, but it was love that held the two together, and pure energy was possible.
In that case, Father didn’t lose his temper enough to kill, he merely made feeding something to be earned, meaning the Cubus was shackled to his bed all day and night, and when he fed, it was done with Father standing next to the bed, scowling. Oh, and a physical punishment that took the blue-eye a week to get over.
The worst Elakdon had ever tried was a spanking. He’d had a few of those, though.
“What will you do?” Elakdon asked.
“Well, your mother is worried since this time he came to ask about the Cubi that Malte had seen arrive here. He wanted to tell me that he thought there was more than enough of us here, so he wouldn’t allow me to take in new Cubs to be empowered.”
Elakdon felt anger simmer in the pit of his stomach, yet he’d heard that before.
“That’s not a first. Are humans having Ting without us?”
“It seems that way, and it is, in fact, a clear violation to our standing agreements with the sitting Earls. But a new human King has changed that.”
“Is he a…did he submit to this new human God?”
Father worried his lip. “I don’t know, but I think your question is valid. I shall find out.”
“And why is my mom worried?”
“She is your mother,” Father said, smiling. “There is no other merit needed.” Then his smile fell. “She fears that we soon have to reveal your existence to the humans.”
Elakdon sat back, thinking. “I need a lot of things in order before we do that.”
“Yes, but time may not permit that.”
Again, the three questions posed by the Queen of the South came to him. Where did he see his Kingdom in one hundred years? He had to contemplate the social and geographical aspects, and the social was the most important. The human part of society was growing increasingly hostile, and not just in his Kingdom.
“Is the resistance of the humans the same in more Kingdoms than yours and mine?” Elakdon asked the Queen.
“No. The East sees much less of it, yet Nol-Plydon is aware of it since he governs half your Kingdom until you are crowned.”
Which would be…a hundred years, roughly. Now he understood the timeline in her questions.
“So, of the three Cubi Kingdoms in the world, two are now threatened by humans,” Elakdon said. He was so far lost in thought that he didn’t notice his mom returning to the table before steam piled up into his face and made him cough. Then the hunger pangs remind him why they’d finally left the bed, so he scooped up the bread and dunked it into the stew. “Thank you, Mom.”
“As the human rules are different from ours, they will not recognize your sovereignty before you are crowned, so we are going to…lie,” Nil-Savadin said.
“I’m not fond of that idea,” Elakdon said.
“Why not?”
“Honor,” he said quietly, not looking up. Could he afford that? Had he not just asked the gods to help him put himself aside for his people? “I am Nol-Elakdon no matter what, and Nol means a male sovereignty. That will be all they need to know, and we have not lied. That the word points to more than power is merely a translation they don’t understand because of our cultural and societal differences.”
A glance at his mother showed an expression full of pride.
“How did Earl Trygve take it that we have fifteen guests?”
Nil-Savadin raised her brows. “Oh, we are more than fifteen. I brought five hundred thirty-two Cubi and three hundred twelve humans.”
Elakdon gaped.
“But only fifteen followed me to your village. If anyone were to travel five kilometers from here, they will think the village besieged.”
“Is it?”
“That depends on the Earl.” She poured herself a cup of beer. “I have been informed that my Royal Guard will stop anyone from leaving after his meeting with High Father Harrodon.�
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“How many Royal Guards do you have?”
“Three hundred. Twenty of the ones with me are trained for you. The ones already in your Kingdom are the ones who stayed after your predecessor died. They will be arriving soon. Seventeen so far has camped with my troops.”
So he had thirty-seven Royal Guards, and one he soon had to become strong enough to empower. It was over his time to be empowered, and Elakdon wondered if he was being selfish to make Foldon wait.
“Oh, and I have asked Lokdon to follow Malte around to listen in on his conversations,” Father said. “With the wind picking up outside, which could reveal his hiding, he is mostly able to listen in at night from within the Earl’s halls.”
Elakdon’s mom let go of one of her worried sighs. He knew her so well, and he was happy to be back with her. “Don’t worry, Mom. We have competent help.”
She smiled at him, then gasped. “Your eyes! They’re…red.”
“Finally,” Harrodon said, turning Elakdon’s face to look at him. “I shall dose you more myself to see that you rise faster. Your claimed Youngling is masturbating too much. We cannot have his manhood worked down to a knob before he is able to feed.”
Elakdon chuckled, yet he once again felt selfish for holding Foldon back from his Empowerment. The young Cubi body was getting ready to feed, and the insatiable need rose.
“Snow will come in about a month. Will they be warm enough out there?”
Elakdon looked up at the sound of his mother’s voice.
“I truly hope so,” Nil-Savadin said. “If not, we will build and invade. One Earl can easily disappear.”
Wow.
“Unless he is popular,” she added.
“No man with power is liked,” Harrodon said.
“You are liked,” Elakdon said.
“I am respected. There’s a difference.”
Elakdon grumbled. “You’re still liked. I know that for a fact. We fear you and respect you, yes, but we also like you.”
History of Beauty Page 10