by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 5
The boys decided to tour Lunspae’s only city on horseback, since that was what Orion preferred. The familiar clip-clop of hooves on stone reassured Orion as he explored the unfamiliar city streets with his brothers. There were shops of all sorts in the city. Orion saw large general stores that sold all kinds of things, little specialty shops that focused on one type of item, and tiny carts pushed by hand or pulled by horse that were full of merchandise. Shops that sold fragrant flowers, tiny glass beads, wooden clocks, colorful toys, polished furniture, beautiful clothing, and fruit in every shape and size, littered the streets. There were many people in the city, too. Merchants calling to passers by advertising their goods, shoppers talking amongst themselves and carrying large paper sacks, people in suits carrying briefcases walking hurriedly to or from work, noisy children running about, and important-looking people on horseback trying to control everyone else, crowded any available space. No matter how busy everyone was, they all turned to see the three princes ride through the cobblestone streets. The only times Orion had seen so many people was when his father had organized a royal ball. He disliked all the staring, and began regretting the idea of agreeing to wearing this dazzling medallion with its heavy gold chain around his neck and jeweled crown upon his head, as his brothers did.
Being five years older, Rick won the argument of where to start and decided to take Orion to a half-hidden shop that sold weapons and armor. After the hustle and bustle of the city, the quiet little shop seemed too quiet. The bright glare of the sun on glass cases sparkled Orion’s eyes. There were shields, swords, daggers, breastplates, crossbows, and arrows of all kinds in the cases and on the walls, some had matching stands for display. There were weapons that Orion didn’t recognize, too.
“May I help you?” A dusty, old voice floated out of the shadows. Orion jumped, not realizing that anyone was there.
“Mr. Aimer,” Rick turned to face the shadows, where an elderly man had appeared. He was bent over an ancient wooden cane and walked with a limp. His face was wrinkled, but clean shaven, thin wisps of white hair still clinging behind his ears. “How are you today?”
“Hanging in there, Prince, just hanging in there,” he coughed. “What can I help you with today?”
“I’d like to buy a throwing dagger for my little brother,” Rick motioned towards Orion, “Prince Orion.”
“I am not little!” Orion stated, matter-of-factly. He stood at his full height of nearly six feet, which was five inches taller than Rick.
“So I see, Prince Orion,” the old man chuckled wheezily. He looked Orion up and down. “Yes, yes. You are a fine young man, Prince.” He coughed again. “Come on over here. I have this little beauty...” His voice trailed off as he hobbled over to a corner of his shop. Orion was about to follow when he heard a tiny squeak from his feet. He glanced down to see the largest pair of eyes look up at him from the tiniest fuzzy face. The creature squeaked again and started to climb over Orion’s toes, but got it’s claws stuck on his laces. He had never seen such a creature before. Orion picked the poor creature up with one hand, and turned it over to examine it. The animal was covered in black fur, while it’s underbelly was cream-colored. The cream color ran up the underside of the animal’s chin, over it’s tiny snout, and finally coming to a point between it’s eyes. Orange fur outlined the cream fur, and the creature’s eyes. Over size ears stuck out of the top of it’s head, with long, furry antennae between the ears. It’s legs were a decent size for the tiny thing, and ended in very sharp claws. It’s front paws looked to be finger-like, and could grab small things. Large tufts of black fur stuck out of the middle of the creature’s back. A tail that looked pretty useless stuck out of the animal’s back end, and had a bit of cream-colored fur outlined in orange at the tip. The animal was so small it could take a nap on Orion’s hand. Orion pondered the strange creature as a woman came in through a back door.
“So that’s where you got to, you naughty little thing!” she exclaimed. All four of them looked at her as she approached Orion. He gave her a look of utmost bewilderment.
“What in the world are you talking about? How have I been naughty?” he paused, waiting for an answer. “And I’m not little!” he added quickly. She looked at him in surprise. He noticed that she had been staring at the animal in his hand. Embarrassment flooded through him and his cheeks began to redden as he realized that he was not the subject for her intrusion. “Or do you mean this guy?” He asked, smiling awkwardly and holding up the animal as it cried for freedom. She smiled. Rick and Joshua roared with laughter.
“I’m sorry, Prince,” she glanced down at the animal still struggling in Orion’s hand. “You see, our zupzie had babies a few weeks ago, so now we’re trying to find homes for them.” She looked back up at him. “And this little sneak slipped away when I wasn’t looking.” She rubbed the baby zupzie’s head with her finger.
“That’s okay.” Orion looked down at the furball wrestling with one of his fingers. “So this is a zupzie, huh? Is this one for sale, too?” She nodded. “Then he’s mine. I’ve never seen one of these before. There aren’t any on Olhoe.” Orion held the baby up to look at it more closely. “Do you guys think Mother would let me have a pet?” Orion knew that his father would never let him keep an animal, but he didn’t wait for an answer. The baby squealed and held on to Orion’s fingers for dear life. “Let’s see. What shall I call you, fella? A tough, masculine name would be nice.”
“It’s a girl, Prince.” The woman said. Orion gave her a what-are-you talking-about look. “It’s a girl,” she repeated. “See for yourself.”
“You’re gonna feel stupid calling your pet ‘Killer’ once she’s had babies of her own, you know,” Joshua was wiping the tears from his eyes as he stepped over.
“Alright, alright.” Orion turned back to his zupzie, who had just decided that maybe she doesn’t want to fall after all, and began crying again. “He- uh, she,” he glanced at Joshua and back down at squeaking fur in his hands, “looks like she has a star here on her face, where the white fur comes up,” Orion thought it over, then continued, “so how about I name him- I mean her, Star?” After unanimous approval, the boys left the shop and continued their tour of the city. Rick had bought Orion a steel throwing dagger, with small diamonds studding the silver plated handle and three large sapphires, one at the top of the handle, and two smaller ones on either end of the shaft. He also bought a black leather leg strap for it. The leg strap was soft, but it felt very odd to Orion, who wore it just above the gold anklet, to match his gauntlets, on his right leg.
The boys stayed out all day, stopping at different shops and meeting people. Everywhere they went, people were staring and pointing at the three of them, whispering excitedly. Orion found it difficult to guide the horse he was riding and hang onto his zupzie at the same time. The baby had managed to squirm out of Orion’s hands as they were passing a flower shop, and half jumped, half tumbled to the ground. Luckily, a kind stranger picked her up before she could be trampled by the horse.
“Thank goodness!” Orion exclaimed as he slid off the horse, “Thank you for rescuing my zupzie,” he breathed a sigh of relief as he scooped the animal into the safety of his arms.
“You’re welcome, Prince,” the girl who retrieved the baby was very giggly, “but you need to hang on to her better.”
“Yea, I know, but she won’t...” the zupzie was trying to climb up Orion’s shoulder, “stay,” she was now getting her claws tangled in Orion’s long braid, “still!” The girl giggled again, and helped to untangle the zupzie.
“You aught to have a carrier for her,” the girl said. “By the way, my name’s Sandra.”
“A carrier?” Orion was puzzled.
“Yea, you know, a small cage with a handle.” She looked at him as he tried to get Star under control. “I don’t have a carrier, but you can put her in this box. I’ll go cut some air holes so sh
e can breathe.” Sandra walked away. Orion stared after her. Rick and Joshua, realizing that Orion was no longer with them, came riding up.
“Hey, Orion, what’s up?” Joshua asked.
“Yea, why’d you stop?” Rick chimed in, annoyed.
“Sorry, guys,” Orion looked down as Sandra came back out. “I, uh, dropped my zupzie.” Rick noticed Sandra walking up to them.
“Sure you did, Orion.” Rick said, watching Sandra as she approached Orion. Joshua snickered. Orion blushed.
“Here you go, Prince.” Sandra handed the box over. He mumbled ‘thanks’ as he tried to get a struggling Star into a container that she didn’t want to go in. “You know, you’re pretty cute, Prince,” Sandra cooed as Orion tried to climb back on his horse and inadvertently slipped, dropping Star’s box, and smacking his head on the saddle. A terrified Star screamed as she fell out of the box, bristled, and ran up the closest thing to her, which happened to be Orion’s leg.
“Yaaa!” Orion yelled as the zupzie’s sharp claws dug into his leg. He tried throwing her off, but he only managed to make her cry louder and dig her claws in deeper. “Get off me you-aah!” Orion yelled as he stumbled and fell over backwards and hit his head on the hard cobblestones. Orion’s horse turned it’s head and looked at him with raised ears.
“Oh, my head,” Orion moaned as he raised himself to his elbows, massaging the growing goose egg on the back of his head.
“Oh, you poor thing!” Sandra exclaimed as she bent over Orion. He half smiled and reached out a hand, expecting her to take it and help him up. Instead, she turned her attention to the frightened ball of fur still clinging to Orion’s knee.
“It’s okay, little one,” she cooed as she pulled the unwilling zupzie off of Orion and cuddled it.
“Ow!” Orion yelled as the zupzie’s claws were pulled across his skin. Sandra ignored him.
“Don’t be afraid, it’s okay.” She stood up and stepped back, trying to comfort the baby.
“Yea, I’m alright,” Orion said sarcastically as he pulled himself up. “No need to worry, really. I’m okay.” He rubbed his head again and looked around. Both Rick and Joshua had gotten off of their horses and were talking with Sandra, who was trying to explain proper zupzie care. None of them were even looking at him. The only one who seemed mildly interested that Orion just had a very embarrassing and painful moment was his horse, who seemed torn between watching Orion and nibbling on a weed.
“Good to know someone cares!” Orion angrily yelled at the three of them, climbing back onto his horse properly. “Give me my zupzie. I’m going home.” He grabbed Star from Sandra, making the baby squeal, and started to ride away, but Rick was too fast and took hold of the horse’s reins.
“Careful! Don’t squeeze her too tightly!” Sandra said, “Or you’ll hurt her.”
“Yea,” Orion’s voice was rising, “well look what she did to me!” Orion motioned towards his left leg, the pant leg completely shredded and blood dripping down to his boot. “Let go of the reins, Ricky.” Orion glared at him.
“That looks really bad, Prince,” Sandra said sympathetically as she inspected the wound. “Why don’t you come inside and I’ll fix you up?” She touched his knee and smiled sweetly at him. He felt his anger draining and his face reddening. He glanced at Rick who stared fixedly at him, then looked down at Star, who was still squealing. Sighing, he got off the horse.
“This is all your fault,” he whispered to the squealing zupzie before handing her over to Joshua, and followed Sandra inside.
She led him in through a brightly lit shop filled with flowers of all shapes, sizes, and smells. She continued through to the back of the shop. The sunlight coming in through the large windows danced among the flowers. Orion lost all sense of himself as the fragrance swirled all around them. The shelves and pots completely disappeared, while the flowers grew and multiplied, enhanced by the sunlight. Lost in ecstasy, Orion began to sway with the flowers in their strange dance. He reached out to touch a blossom, and as he did, it smiled at him. He turned and touched another flower, and it smiled at him as he did so. He smiled sleepily as he reached for another flower.
“Orion! Lunspae to Orion!” Rick’s voice broke through the flower’s dance. Orion turned towards the sound. “What in the world are you doing?” Orion’s mind was still swimming. “And wipe that dopey grin off your face.” Rick added, “You’re giving me the creeps.” Orion suddenly snapped back to the real world, the flowers having stopped their dance and shrank back to their pots on the shelves. The fragrance was still overwhelming, and Orion realized that his head was pounding.
“Ooh,” Orion moaned as he put his hand up to his forehead. Rick gave him a questioning look, but remained silent.
“Hey, back here!” Sandra called from behind the back door. Orion and Rick made their way through the rest of the shop and through the back door where Sandra and Joshua were waiting. This room was cluttered with papers and filing cabinets. Sandra steered Orion to a chair behind a desk that was covered with official looking papers. There was a vase holding some beautiful orange and yellow flowers that Orion had never seen before. He set his sore leg on an up-turned box as he sat down. Rick closed the door behind him as he came in, which, thankfully, cut off the fragrance of the flowers.
Orion leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. He was vaguely aware that his sore leg was very warm. Then hot, very hot. He opened his eyes to see Sandra kneeled down, pressing her hands against his knee. He watched as a red-brown light trickled out from under Sandra’s hands and down his leg, healing Orion’s wounds as it went. He realized that the light was the source of the heat. Before he knew it, the light faded, the pain was gone, and cool air ran over his leg, making him shiver. Orion was speechless. Sandra had healed all of the scratches in an instant, and had mended his torn clothes.
“Good job, Sandra,” Rick commented, smiling at Orion’s shock. “We’d better get going. Where’s Josh?” He looked around. Joshua was playing with Star, pulling a string and laughing as the baby dove madly for it. Rick joined him.
“I guess I’ll see you later, then, Prince,” Sandra whispered, almost disappointed. Orion, who was watching Rick and Joshua, turned to face her.
“Yea, I guess so,” Orion looked down. He wanted to stay with her for a while. He wanted to tell her that he thought she was pretty, but all he said was, “Uh, thanks for healing my leg.”
“You’re welcome. You know,” she smiled at him as she picked a bright orange flower from a vase on the desk, smelled it, and stuck it behind his ear, “you really are cute, Prince.” Orion blushed, but didn’t look up.
“You gonna kiss her or what?” Joshua asked, making Orion blush deeper and glare at him. “Well, come on,” he was holding a shaking box with some difficulty. “I’ve got your zupzie.” Orion glanced at Sandra one last time before heading out the door with his brothers.
“You like her, don’t you, Orion?” Rick asked once they were on their way. Joshua looked at him.
“No!” Orion said too quickly.
“Yea, okay,” Joshua chimed in, “And you kept that flower she gave you behind your ear because you don’t like her.” Orion blushed as he grabbed the flower from his ear and looked away. “Orion’s got a crush!” Joshua chided, “Orion’s got a crush!”
“Shut up, Josh!” Embarrassment flooded through Orion, yielding to anger. “Let’s just get home.”
Later that evening, his anger subsided, Orion agreed to play cards with his brothers. They had stopped at a spare guest room that was to serve as Orion’s room. It was pretty much the same as his mother’s room, except for all the art glass lamps. There was one crystal chandelier and a few floor lamps, but none of them were art glass. This room was set up similar to his own on Olhoe, but the furniture was Lunspae’s traditional red wood, rather than Olhoe’s ebony. Each piece had black highlights on the trim and knobs. The couch set w
as red, too. Orion filled a vase with water and set the orange flower in it. He also let Star out of her box so that she could play. Satisfied that the baby would be alright on her own, Orion followed his brothers to Rick’s room, where Rick promptly began building a fire.
“What are you doing?” Panic began rising in Orion’s chest.
“I’m making a fire since it’s freezing in here,” Rick was leaning over a pile of logs in the fireplace, “what’s it look like?” He turned to look at Orion. He froze at the look of terror on Orion’s face. “What’s wrong, Orion?”
“I-I don’t like fire, Ricky,” Orion whispered, on the verge of tears. Rick stood up.
“Why not?” Joshua asked. Orion proceeded to tell them about the time he lost his eye, and how he couldn’t even be in the same room with a fire as small as a candle flame. Rick had abandoned the logs and got out a deck of playing cards.
“Pyrophobia, huh?” Rick thought for a moment. “There’s got to be a way to conquer it. You’re deal, Orion.”
“There isn’t.” Orion shuffled the cards. “We’ve tried everything back home.” He began handing out the cards. “We’ve tried reverse psychology, ignoring it, dealing with it, starting small, starting large, even hypnosis, and nothing’s worked.”
“Have you tried controlling the fire?” Joshua asked, surveying his cards.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean like making it grow and shrink, changing colors, or making it change shape.” Rick picked up another card. “That sort of thing.”
“Huh?” Orion started at him, utterly confused. “Fire is fire. You can’t control it like that.”
“Sure you can. Here, watch.” Joshua held out his hand as if he was holding an invisible ball. Orion watched as a small flicker appeared less than an inch above Joshua’s palm and grew to almost 4 inches high. The small flame turned green, then purple, twisted in a spiral, then became flat and wide. Orion’s jaw dropped s the purple flame became a red square with flickering corners, then a blue circle before it went out. Joshua put his hand down. Orion was speechless.
“Well, what do you think?” Joshua smirked, “Pretty neat, huh?”
“How-?”
“It’s simple, Orion,” Rick piped up, now with his own green pyramid-shaped flame.
“That is so neat!” Orion exclaimed, leaning closer to Rick’s odd fire. “Can you teach me?”
“Sure.” Joshua thought for a moment. “And I’ll teach you the rest of fysimae; how to heal, morph, and make illusions, too.”
“You will?” Excitement bubbled in Orion’s chest as he faced his twin. “When? Can we start now? Please?”
“Well,” Joshua was surprised at Orion’s enthusiasm. “How about we start first thing tomorrow? Right now, we have a game to finish.”
“All right!” Orion wasn’t interested in the card game anymore. He kept asking his brothers questions about fysimae, and didn’t mind at all when he lost spectacularly. Rick and Joshua walked Orion to his own room for the night.
“Well, good night, Orion,” Rick said, sleepily.
“‘Night, Bro,” Joshua yawned.
“See you in the morning,” Orion wasn’t too sleepy like the other two. “Don’t forget about those lessons, Josh.” Orion reminded him. Joshua smiled and left Orion alone. Orion found the bedroom easily enough, it was located behind the same door as in his old room. He lay there awake for a while, rethinking about all that happened that day. First was the letter and taking off to Lunspae to see his mother and brothers for the first time. He was overjoyed that they liked him, and didn’t care that he was half telblec. Then finding out that not only was he half lunimorf, but a lunimorf prince! He had enjoyed meeting his brothers and going out into Lunspae’s only city. He had never been allowed to travel in any of Olhoe’s five cities before. Sandra’s face swam to the top of his thoughts, her warm expression making him smile. She was so pretty. And I had made such a fool of myself in front of her. He thought as he remembered falling off the horse and smacking his head on the cobblestones. Her smiling face replaced that embarrassing moment, and he relaxed. I wonder if she likes me? He pondered as something fell on the bed near him. He forgot everything as panic took it’s place.
“Who’s there?” He called out to the darkness. A tiny squeak answered him. “Star!” He said, relieved, as he turned his head to see his zupzie crawling towards him in the moonlight streaming through the window. Wait a minute, he thought, I’m on the moon, now, so what’s casting that glow? He got up and looked out the window, to the source of the light. He saw what looked like a moon, but much larger and blueish, floating where a moon would have been. With a jolt, he realized that what he thought was a large moon was actually the planet Olhoe. A sense of longing overtook him as he stared up at his home of sixteen years. This is my home now, he thought, smiling. He scooped Star up and held her near him as he lay back down, but she had other plans. She squirmed out of his grip and began playing with his hair. He laughed and turned over to watch her, pulling the end of his braid along the bed and letting Star tackle it. He fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of zupzies, flowers, and his upcoming lessons of fysimae.