by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 2
King Frederic wandered alone through the vast halls of the grand palace. Crossing his hands behind his back, he walked with his head down and a prominent scowl on his face. He didn’t stop or even look up when a passing servant bowed with a ‘Your Majesty’. He had just been down in the courtyard, watching his son’s training session. King Frederic hadn’t wanted Orion to become a warrior, and refused to train him. So what does Orion do? He finds someone else willing to train him. King Frederic snorted at the thought of how disobedient Orion had been. Although, he thought, I’ve never really done anything to stop him. Orion’s evening training schedule was the same every night. In his effort to become a warrior and to overcome his pyrophobia, he began with strenuous exercise round dusk, after he was finished with his daily studies. After that, he sparred with his friends, followed by Chris brandishing the fire baton. Every training session ended up with Orion passing out at the sight of the fire. Ever since the day he lost his eye, his pyrophobia got worse. Every evening, King Frederic would go down to the courtyard to watch, hiding in the shadows. He knew that Orion thought he was busy with paperwork at that time. He used to do it then, until he heard about Orion training in the courtyard at that time. He had planned on putting a stop to Orion’s training, but was amazed at how persistent he was. He decided to let Orion train, and watch him every evening after that. After all, Orion couldn’t become a warrior without King Frederic’s approval. King Frederic would watch Orion train hard with his friends, only to be disappointed at Orion’s reaction to the sight of fire. Every evening, after the results were the same, King Frederic would haunt the halls of the palace in an effort to relieve his frustration at his son’s failure.
After he had recovered from losing his right eye, Orion had begged his father to teach and train him to become a warrior, so that he could fight alongside of him and the other warriors the next time the lunimorves attacked. King Frederic had said no. Orion had kept pestering King Frederic about it for days, and wanted to be given a real reason why he couldn’t train. Finally, King Frederic got fed up with his son’s annoying reasoning as to why he should be allowed to train, and told him that he’d never be anything worthwhile with only one eye and the inability to be near a flame. It wasn’t the truth and it hurt King Frederic to say it, but at least it seemed to do the trick. King Frederic couldn’t tell his only son the real reason he couldn’t become a warrior. Orion never bothered King Frederic again with wanting to be trained. Instead, as King Frederic found out a couple of years later, Orion had found someone else willing to teach and train him to be a warrior, and to help him overcome his pyrophobia. The woman’s name was Bertha, and she had recently begun training five other boys about Orion’s age. She was more that happy to train Orion, too.
Since finding out about Orion’s training schedule, King Frederic had shown up in the courtyard every night to watch his son grow stronger. He kept well out of sight, knowing that Orion still believed that King Frederic thought he was worthless. What Orion didn’t know was that King Frederic had always wanted his son and heir to the throne to be a great warrior, but Orion’s blonde-haired, pale-skinned condition was the reason he would never be a real warrior. King Frederic watched every evening, out of sight, as Orion, the youngest of the five boys, and much smaller besides, steadily became stronger that each of them.
He also noticed Orion’s odd habit of wearing a simple, white and gold silk jumpsuit with heavy gold gauntlets, inlaid with gems, all the time. The only times Orion would wear anything fancier than the jumpsuit was when King Frederic forced him to for a party or ball. Orion absolutely refused to take the gauntlets off, though.
King Frederic stopped in front of a large, carved-oak framed portrait hanging in the great hall, where balls and parties usually took place. Tonight, however, the large room stood empty and useless, with heavy, black velvet curtains hanging in front of huge fancy windows, blocking the night from coming in. He looked up at the three smiling faces overlooking the dimly lit hall, one belonging to himself, one of his son, and the third of his wife, Patricia. The portrait was at least ten years old. Orion was just a little boy in the picture, two bright blue eyes watching out over the empty room expecting people to suddenly appear out of thin air and start dancing and laughing. Orion’s pale skin and light blond hair stood out against the dark skin of his parents. Both King Frederic and his wife had black hair and dark skin, just like every other telblec on the planet. Most people puzzled at the fact that Orion was so different, but King Frederic knew the answer. He also knew that if anyone else found out the truth, Orion would be in great danger, so he never told anyone. King Frederic always feigned ignorance when asked.
His gaze swept up to his own, ten-years-younger, smiling face. He had been so happy back then. He wasn’t worried about Orion’s pale skin and hair. Everyone had accepted the boy the way he was, and besides, Patricia had been pregnant at the time. King Frederic smiled to himself, remembering his excitement over having another child. Grief settled in where the small spark of joy had been when he remembered that Patricia had died trying to bring their baby into the world. The baby, a little girl, had died shortly after birth. He closed his eyes and looked away at memories of what might have been. He had been planning on giving his crown to the little girl instead of Orion, since she would have had dark skin and black hair, just like a normal telblec should.
Now, with Orion as his only heir, he was worried about what people would think about having a king that looked like a lunimorf. Of course, nobody knew that the lunimorves looked almost identical to telblecs, and that, King Frederic believed, is the only thing that had kept Orion safe his entire life. The biggest difference was that, while telblecs had dark skin and black hair, lunimorves had pale skin and pale hair that ranged from light blonde, like Orion’s, to deep red-orange. Telblecs were also larger and stronger than lunimorves, with a more muscular build. In turn, lunimorves were faster and more graceful. Of course, since lunimorves were shape-shifters through a magic called fysimae, they usually hid their true form from the telblecs, appearing instead as ugly monsters with claws and wings. King Frederic knew what they truly looked like because of the year he had spent as a captive with the lunimorves on Lunspae, the moon that revolved around the telblec’s planet, Olhoe. He shivered as he recalled some of the horrible things that happened to him there.
He allowed his gaze to shift over to that of his smiling wife, Patricia. His thoughts followed suit, bringing forth wonderful memories of the two of them together, taking walks in the courtyard, having picnics on the beach, or sitting outside on a high balcony, watching the stars until late. In the portrait, her hair was done up in curls and ringlets, and the sleeves of her pale blue dress were resting on her shoulders, showing off the diamond and sapphire necklace and earring set he had given her for her birthday. It had taken her hours to find the perfect dress to wear with that necklace for the picture. She was the only thing in the world that had made his life worth living, and now she was gone. Over nine years had passed since she died, and King Frederic still felt the hole it left in his heart. The pain of it wouldn’t let him marry again, even though he knew it would have been best for his kingdom if he did. He sighed and placed a hand on the lower edge of the portrait’s frame.
“If only you were still here, Patricia,” he let his voice trail off as he closed his eyes and bowed his head in a silent prayer