History of Beauty

by Meraki P. Lyhne

  “In their eyes, evil.”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “May…may I stay with you, Nol?” she asked.

  Elakdon both saw fear in her eyes and heard it in her voice. He glanced at Nil-Savadin, who gave a small nod.

  “Of course you may. I am happy to welcome you to my land.”

  “Thank you, Nol.” She bowed her head.

  “What is your name?”

  “Madin, My Prince.”

  “Welcome, Madin. Please, continue.”

  “I don’t think I know more to tell you.”

  Elakdon nodded, thinking. “Will you draw me their cross? Is it like this?” Elakdon drew an x on the table with a finger.

  “No.” The blue-eye rummaged through a small purse and produced a wooden cross in a leather string. She handed it to him. “I took this off of one of the men that a purple-eye killed for giving me sour energy.”

  That explained the fear he sensed in her. He took the symbol of their God and stared at it.

  “They have a book, too,” Madin continued. “But they only read from it in their sacred buildings, and they read it in a language I don’t know. I don’t think most of the people who are forced to attend understand the scriptures of their God.”

  “Then how can they know if that God is worthy of their respect, if they don’t understand what he says?” Elakdon asked.

  “It is not a question of respecting that God,” she said. “Believe and worship. Or be killed for idolizing others.”

  “Do people find personal strength in being subdued like that?”

  “They find power in the splendors of the sacred places,” Nil-Savadin said. “If you saw their buildings and all the splendors inside them, you too would be in awe. I am every time I cross paths with one.”

  “I have heard from some of the Cubi who travel through here that some merely takes this…Christ in as another strong god,” Madin said.

  “Their God’s name is Christ?” Elakdon asked.

  “No, that would be God’s son,” Nil-Savadin said.

  Elakdon stared at the symbol in his hand, not knowing what to say to such customs. He knew too little and wanted to learn.

  “I want to talk to one of the men in cloths. I want to learn everything there is to learn about his God and the Christ son.”

  “Why?” Father asked.

  “Ignorance serves no man but the fool,” Elakdon whispered, yet everything in him made him want to toss that cross in the fire. Instead, he pocketed it for later contemplation.

  When he looked up again, he noticed that the blue-eye had left the Hall.

  Nil-Savadin sat forward and took his hand, looking at him with a sorrow-filled gaze. “I felt as lost as you look now, which is why both I and Nol-Plydon come to you immediately.”

  He tried for a smile and squeezed her hand.

  “May I give a piece of advice?”

  “Always, dear Queen.”

  She smiled. “Go enjoy your people and the games you started. Go see your Claimed fight for the Guards’ respect and awe.”

  The prospect of watching Foldon fight for his place to become a Guard Lord was one he most definitely could see as the necessary distraction from his many negative thoughts.

  “Why do you call them Guard Lords?”

  “Or Guard Ladies. It is a title we use for purple-eyes.”

  “It is among the study material any House Mother and Father prepares for the ones we empower,” High Father said. “Knowledge of our history is one we teach once the feeding frenzy calms.”

  “I look forward to it.” Elakdon stood. “But I will take my allies advice and go watch the games now.”

  “I will join you.” She stood and took his hand, and they left the Hall together, followed by the Guards.

  Every step felt heavy and sluggish, or was his heart merely weighed down by everything he’d just heard?

  Foldon was on the ground, struggling under the weight of another Cubus.

  “He started already,” Elakdon said, speeding up.

  Nil-Savadin hurried after him, and Elakdon plopped down at the feet of his Guards gathered closest to the two fighting for dominance on the ground. Of course, Elakdon was rooting for Foldon, but it wouldn’t be fair if he did it out loud.

  Foldon was on the bottom, the other Youngling trying to hold him down.

  As he struggled, Foldon’s gaze met Elakdon’s. Determination shone brighter in his eyes, and he then shot out his legs and twisted his lower body, roaring as he finally managed to shake out from under the Youngling and get a tight grip of his arm.

  They landed with a pained grunt in front of Elakdon, Foldon grinning as he’d managed to turn his situation around.

  “Very good. Stop,” Dendon said, waving the two Younglings to their feet.

  Foldon stood and reached to help up his opponent. He took Foldon’s hand and got up, both looking a bit tussled and out of breath.

  Dendon grabbed Foldon’s face and turned it, inspecting it. “That will take color.”

  Foldon didn’t look like that was bad news. He looked proud, and he kept glancing at Elakdon.

  “I’m sorry. I had other business to attend to and didn’t witness your battle from the beginning. But I’m sure I will see more of both of you,” Elakdon said, happy that his remark put a smile on the other Youngling’s face, too.

  “Now go to Umidon and let him see what you can do with a bow and arrow.”

  “Yes, Guard Lord!” The two Younglings dashed off together.

  Dendon smiled at Elakdon. “With a name like Foldon Gunnfúss, I was interested to see if he had given himself that name.”

  “And?”

  “And he has what it takes to make that name stick and be remembered. But he has a lot of work ahead of him. You made a good choice when claiming him.”

  Elakdon felt proud on behalf of his House Brother.

  “But him.” Dendon pointed to another couple of struggling Younglings. Upon a closer look, they were red-eyes, but no more than himself. It was no problem determining which of the red-eyes that didn’t impress Dendon. He seemed to have excuses all the time for why it wasn’t his fault he lost.

  “So you will try to drive the other one insane on your dose tonight?”

  Dendon looked caught off guard at the comment. “You will never let me forget that, will you?”

  “No, it’s too funny.” Elakdon looked at the two red-eyes roaming around on the ground again. “And too delicious a memory to let go.”

  “Oh, well, in that case, may My Prince never forget my boldness.”

  “I like that you take the responsibility of making red-eyes rise so close to heart even if you do get off on watching us suffer through your very potent doses while you do it.”

  “Not suffer, My Prince. I have merely learned that suffering through my dose is also what will make you come so hard that you cannot stand afterward, and that is what I get off on.”

  Elakdon looked at the Guard, and his eyes grew darker. “Your appetite seems to rival my own.”

  “That is the curse of a Guard. Or any Fountain. That is what your dose will do to us.”

  “Curse? You find your hunger a curse?”

  “No, not in that sense, My Prince, but the need to feed four times a day can intervene with our focus on training. It often ends up in…well, that.” Dendon pointed to another two red-eyes who’d been struggling to get the upper hand, and one had lost all focus on anything but dry-humping his opponent.

  “You should definitely go help out that red-eye.”

  Dendon chuckled. “Unfortunately, he is for women. Jadin is like myself, though, and he has her attention.”

  Elakdon looked around the Guards watching, and one Succubus seemed to be weighing the red-eyes hunger to see when he would be the most fun for her.

  “My Prince.”

  Elakdon looked up, finding Lokdon next to him.

  “Makdon is now watching the human, Malte, because I come with news. It is not good news, yet it is not pr
essing news, so you may watch your games first.”

  But Elakdon couldn’t truly focus on the games with news of more he had to learn. At least he was happy to have been let in on the secret that all Royals felt as lost and overwhelmed upon their rise. And, as hoped, watching Foldon and the other Younglings fight to honor him and the gods had lightened his mood. He felt ready for more.

  “Tell me now.”

  “Here, My Prince?”

  Elakdon glanced at Nil-Savadin, and he had her attention even though she looked like she tried to hide it. To give him rains to feel like he was taking charge of his own Kingdom? He appreciated that, yet he was sure he’d need her.

  “Nil?”

  She looked at him, a perky smile on her face. “Please, skip the title. We are allies and equals.”

  “Will you help me with something.”

  “Of course! I hope it’s something naughty, though, because I am getting a bit hungry.”

  Elakdon chuckled. “We will have to see if we can find someone fun.”

  They stood and moved to the Hall, and Elakdon got High Father’s attention as they made their way through the many spectators having fun. He had such an expressive face, and the do you need me stood clear enough for Elakdon to merely nod.

  They made it to a corner where not a lot of people were, yet they could sit and still watch the many Cubi milling about, talking. Most had a somber expression on their faces, yet others brawled for fun, and others again cheered on the ones trying out for Elakdon’s ranks of Guards.

  Father looked at Elakdon, who in turn looked at the purple-eye who had been with him since he left Mother’s House. The quietest of Incubi Elakdon had ever met.

  “Malte is not as liked by the Earl as he would like to think, yet the sudden rush of Cubi in the area means the Earl feels threatened. Malte uses that as his opening by laying it on thick, furthering the bad blood the Earl feels for not being in total control over even his human part. This can be quelled quite rapidly, if you don’t mind my take on it, My Prince.”

  “I would love your take on it, since you have first-hand knowledge of everything said and done. And Makdon’s too.”

  “I shall convey your wish to him. But what the Earl feels is that High Father is dominating the area, taking away his say. Whenever High Father comes to Ting with all his votes, he vetoes everything and only for the Cubi peoples’ advantage.”

  “Aha.” High Father looked unimpressed.

  Elakdon couldn’t help but smile because that was what Elakdon had grown up thinking about the High Father, too. He was glad about it, though, since it had always meant the Cubi in his area lived in prosperity. Yet, as a rising King, Elakdon had to think about more than one area, and with the threats lurking in the peripheral, he feared the Earl would turn to that religion to gain strength so that he could make a move against what he felt was a force subduing his area.

  With what he’d heard from the blue-eyed Succubus, traders of their faith had renounced the gods verbally to be allowed to even trade on the trading sites around Europe, yet he was glad to hear that many did it verbally only and still thanked the gods in private.

  “Your take on how to quell it?” Elakdon asked Lokdon.

  “Call Malte out on his doings, then give the Earl something to show willingness.”

  “The man will take an arm if you offer a hand,” Father said.

  “I believe you are right in that assessment of the human, but still,” Lokdon said. “The man does have power, and more dangerously, he likes having power. Challenging a man who has both can be a dance on a sword’s edge, My Prince.”

  Both points held merit.

  “What does he feel that High Father takes the most of?” Elakdon asked.

  “Influence, and he is not fond of how much humans offer the Cubi in terms of riches that he doesn’t share in. He feels the Cubi people live like overlords, yet the treaty for the area is to share the land as equals.”

  “If we start giving what is offered to us back to the humans, then we will become caretakers of leaches,” Father said.

  Another valid point. How to balance that?

  An idea struck. “So we make something to be shared equally that they contribute to with other than the wealth that can lay the foundation.”

  Father’s brows furrowed, and he studied Elakdon for a moment or two, thinking. Elakdon had always liked that side of High Father. He never spoke before having contemplated what new had been laid before him by any Cubi on his lands.

  “What will you share with them, My Prince?”

  “A hall? And we will focus it on our young. We will feast together, celebrate together, celebrate each other. We will bridge the gap that makes it seem like we are separating more and more.”

  Father sat back, still with that contemplative frown on his face, yet he seemed open to it. “How will it be a joint effort?”

  “Our strength is needed, of course, yet I would like this offer to be one used to gauge the Earl for myself. I have never had the privilege of Ting with him, so all I know is from watching your face as you told the other high level about what happened.”

  Father smiled. “I see now the mistake of not letting Younglings learn earlier. Had I known my rising King would sit ignorant after growing up in my House, I would not have done that. The fault is mine alone, and I accept that. Your idea for a compromise is generous, yet I think it an even more screwed bait to get a reaction. Do contemplate three possible outcomes, though. One, he’s thrilled, and we get to work. Two, greed takes over. Three, he spits your offer right back in your face because of pride.”

  Elakdon nodded, trying to imagine all three outcomes. The first seemed a bit too optimistic to be a result, and he could imagine a mixture between the three. Of course, Father pointed out the extremes, and Elakdon’s planned reactions were only important as he would have to balance his responses to fit the balance of the extreme reactions.

  Yet, he loved the idea of making a neutral zone as they already lived pretty separated. It had been like that for many years, yet he knew from stories about their village that it had not always been the case.

  “If he spits in my face, I fear I may start a war.”

  Nil-Savadin chuckled. “Then it’s a good thing that the village is already surrounded. We can stop it before he runs for help.”

  “Let’s hope that it won’t come to that,” Elakdon mumbled, still thinking about the balance between the three possible reactions. There could be more, he guessed.

  “I shall send a rider to Earl Trygve and inform him that we will hold Ting,” Father said.

  “May I suggest a different approach?” Elakdon asked.

  “Of course,” Father said.

  “We ask him to hold Ting once the King of East has arrived, and you present Nil-Savadin and Nol-Plydon as being the ones who have asked to meet the human who leads the humans that we share area with. They, in turn, present me. That should make the Earl feel like you honor the treaty of cooperation between our races.”

  Father cocked his head. “I like it.” He looked at Nil-Savadin.

  She smiled as she looked from one to the other. “You don’t like it, Harrodon, admit that much.”

  “I don’t like it because I am already not fond of the man whom I find pretentious at best, but I do like Elakdon’s suggestion as it is not groveling in any way. It is…respectful, although I don’t think the human deserves such respect.”

  Elakdon didn’t know all that had led up to the two squabbling the way they had for years, and he hoped he wasn’t about to step on Father’s toes. “I have to earn his, though, so I have to start fresh.”

  Father merely nodded. “You are right, of course. I will keep to myself what has caused this feud between us. No matter what, the story is not mine to tell.”

  “Growing up under you, I have learned something important. Whenever we Cubs were at odds with each other, you would always ask for both sides, and somewhere in the middle you would find the truth as it wasn’t tai
nted by ego or the need to look blameless.”

  Father smiled. “Did your mother explain that to you?”

  “Yes, she did.”

  “Wise woman.”

  Elakdon agreed, yet she was far more kindhearted than wise on how to run a House as big as the one they lived in.

  Again, the great diversity he was surrounded by made Elakdon feel rich.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Foldon spoke non-stop about the games, and Elakdon was easily as thrilled on his House Brother’s behalf as the Youngling was about his wins and losses. Losing only meant he knew what he had to improve, after all.

  They spent hours watching the others battle, and the games that Elakdon had set in motion weren’t merely a one day or two-day spectacle. By the looks of it, and listening in on his Guards plan during dinner, it would be a month. They’d be well into winter, and snow would fall before they were done, but that didn’t matter in their eyes. It only meant they got to test the candidates under different harsh circumstances, and apparently, a Guard was to be levelheaded and ready for combat even when freezing their asses off.

  It gave Elakdon a new level of appreciation and understanding of what kind of people the Cubi selected for the ranks of Guards. It also gave him a new level of understanding regarding his own place and importance to his people as one to empower them and keep them strong.

  He was, as a Royal, the epicenter of strength.

  As time went on, he also learned of the kind of hardship he had to endure, bedding that many Cubi, and his Guards had passed him around to be dosed and humped to a point where he barely remembered what life was like before being lost in what seemed like everlasting throws of horniness.

  One took him hard enough for his teeth to rattle, and he loved it. However, another needed so intimate and slow a lovemaking that the world stood still as he built her pleasure to the point where their world seemed to implode and leave them at the bottom of the hole they got sucked into when the earth opened up under them as they quaked in orgasm. And he loved that just as much.