Taming an Immortal Ch. 14

He didn't even give her a chance to say goodbye, simply disappearing before she could protest.

That of course left her trapped with the wolf prince whom the concept of personal space meant nothing. He had closed the gap between them in a heartbeat, the towering form of his crowding all available breathing space around her.

"You do not look pleased to be in my company." Soft hands played with a stray strand of her hair.

"Perhaps you should show me to my room," she replied sharply without turning towards him. "I do not wish to burden you any longer with my presence."

"Oh, but of course," he replied, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. "You know the way to my chambers."

***

Today, like any of the other days in the past month, was spent horizontal on her bed; feet propped on top of a pillow and her head resting on another fluffy one plumped against the headboard.

However, unlike the other days of compulsory bed rest - as ordered by her physician and Anzer - Rose didn't have her usual breathing difficulties. In fact, the tightness in her chest seemed to have been lifted... only to be replaced by this constant urge to relief herself in the bathroom.

Groaning, Rose rolled to the side and got into a seating position for the third time that hour - a feat, considering that she was carrying a whale. And now, the baby whale was resting comfortably on her bladder which meant a torturous ritual of getting up, finding her balance and then feeling her way to the bathroom.

She could do this. One step at a time.

With a hand grabbing the headboard, she pushed herself into a standing position and then took tentative steps forward, all the while keeping a hand on the adjacent wall. From her estimation, she had at least ten more steps to the bathroom but the pressure down below was too much. If she could only hold on...

The light gush of liquid trickled down her leg.

Under usual circumstances, she would have simply bent over and cleaned herself up but seeing that she couldn't even see her toes, that was going to be a problem. So she did the next best thing by dragging herself back to bed.

Seated, she ran a dry towel between her thighs, hoping to get herself in order before her morning check up with the human physician. It was bad enough that another woman checked her from time to time down there, but having Anzer around as well always made her wish she could just shrivel up and disappear. It wasn't his fault really. While he was fantastic with medicine, he was no midwife. But it didn't stop him from staying by her side throughout the daily checks - much to her frustration.

Lying back, Rose closed her eyes and prayed that her baby would come soon. She couldn't wait to meet him and it seemed that both mother and child were equally restless, if not impatient that there was still a lot of waiting to -

The splintering pain came to her in such a rush that Rose had to grip the edges of her bed to stop her body from buckling upwards. But when the next surge of agony came, Rose all but screamed before everything turned a hazy cloud of darkness.

From a far, she heard doors slamming - or maybe it came unhinged. A male and female rushed in. Hands, so many hands touching, caressing, assessing...

"Damn it, when did her water break?" said the female voice. Rose didn't think she broke any glasses -but she'd right that once this seizure comes to pass...

Someone was holding her hand, squeezing it hard. A male, calling her name over and over and over...

More exchange of words. Insistent, important.

"Forty-eight hours." "Labour." "Lord Etienne."

"No..." she managed to croak. "No Et -"

With the remaining strength she had, Rose clamped her eyes shut and willed all thoughts of him away from her mind; her pain an effective block shoved down her mating bond, piling the entrance until she was sure nothing could pass through.

Then she stepped willingly into the darkness, shutting out everything around her.

***

Something in the air made Etienne snap his head up suddenly; his nose wrinkling as he tried to scent the change in the atmosphere.

"My Lord? Is something the matter? Is it the hyenas?"

It didn't smell like it... but he was sure that he scented a shift of power somewhat just seconds ago but now it was erased.

"No, we move on," he forced himself to say. If indeed it were the hyenas, then the pair better move fast before they lose track of their scents.

"Watch where you step," warned Eulalie as they continued their search. "The soil is soft down the edges. You don't want to end up in the ravine."

It wouldn't have mattered to him for his wings were capable of flight but just as a precaution, Etienne kept his eyes to the ground, watching the way even the leaves bunched away from the edge of the cliff.

In front of him, Eulalie was clearly in her element - hopping from one rock to another, clambering over tree roots and fallen logs. Despite her insistence that he wore something warmer, she was barely covered except for the pleated leathers wrapping her body where necessary. It made shifting into her animal form easier he supposed.

"These hyenas, their scents are so strange," said Eulalie, stopping for a minute to stand on top a rock. When he caught up with her, Etienne saw the deep valley she was staring at and knew instantly that hyenas used to live there.

The land was completely barren, as though death itself had consumed everything in its path. Cracked soil, parched from lack of rain stretched on for miles and miles.

And the huts left behind were a memory of a once peaceful pack of hyena families, likely gathering around a campfire with their communal carcasses.

"What happened here?" He had to ask.

"The neighbouring wolf packs have moved further out into the forests. Human settlements up ahead," she replied, as though that in itself was explanation enough. "The wolves had always shared their kill and with them gone, the hyenas were forced to search for other... means."

Etienne didn't need to be reminded. What he didn't understand was why only take the young? And if it was for sustenance, why then did they return some of the dead above ground?

"Come. The last time I tracked them was at the base of Qlyhm peaks itself. We always knew there were caves but wolf Changelings never make homes in them so we assumed they were left empty all these while..."

But there were clearly signs of life - and death in those caves. Though he sensed no hyenas, Etienne didn't want to take his chances. Holding out the light higher for both of them, they ventured deeper into the caves.

"It's been abandoned," whispered Eulalie, pointing out the haphazard pile of weapons strewn all over the ground. "Like they were clearing out."

Indeed. Something must have happened between the battle of Seurri and the return here with his uncle and granduncle. Had the Ancient wiped out all the hyenas?

Picking up one of the swords by his feet, Etienne examined the craftsmanship. Flawless. It wouldn't make sense to simply leave behind all these weapons even if they were planning to disappear.

"Where do these tunnels lead to?" he asked, knowing full well that nothing surrounded the mountains except more forests and open plains.

"That's what I hope to find out," she replied. "There is no way an entire mass of hyenas migrated without any of the wolves noticing. They have to surface at least once for these caves are not continuous."

Nodding, he followed her as they walked further into the darkness, stepping over more weapons, cooking utensils, bedding, even bones...

"Oh Etienne!"

Eulalie was no longer in the immediate glow of his torch but he saw her as clear as day. Both hands were covering her mouth; her shoulders hunched up and her eyes roaming wildly at her feet - at the lifeless body of a child.

Stepping closer, he passed her the torch and crouched down.

At one glance, it looked like the child was sleeping, his long eyelashes merely sweeping the top of his cheeks. But at a touch, his skin was icy and his heartbeat long gone. Decomposition had taken its time down here for the cold had seemed to preserve the body somewhat.

Turning the boy, Etienne tried to look for any signs of injury but found none. Not even a bite mark or a lashing. Nothing. An estimate put the child at about two years old so his death was likely from natural causes. Perhaps.

"Can you tell what type of Changeling he is?" asked Etienne, looking up at the stricken expression of the princess. If the child had been alive, he would have sniffed out the scent fairly easily. But in death, there were no identifying markers for the Pureblood to trace.

Eulalie however could recognise just fine but her body was still frozen in place and only her eyes dared to swivel to look at him.

"It... it is not..." she stammered as she lowered herself shakily to her knees. "It's impossible."

He waited for her to continue, silently watching as she brought the child's head onto her lap. It had to be a wolf from the looks of it. Did she know the child?

"Hair course and slightly spotted," she whispered, fingering the strands so he could see what she meant. Indeed, the dark brown spots on black were so faint, he hadn't realised it at first. Hyena then.

"But..." Eulalie raised her eyes to him; the gold in them shimmering with tears. "See here."

Impossible!

Etienne would recognise that set of canines anywhere and they surely did not belong to the Changeling type. It looked more like the kind he saw in his own reflection every morning.

"Nature claimed him," said Etienne, getting to his feet. It was unnatural for the two species to have mated, much less produced an offspring that survived pregnancy and infancy; the two dominant genes often crossed out each other's, unlike that between a human and a Vampire or Changeling.

It was therefore not surprising when they found more hybrids at various stages of infancy lying cold and abandoned, just like the weapons. This part of the caves must have been some sort of nursery and that only meant that someone was trying to breed them and failed.

The question now was who would be that despicable to put Changeling women through the arduous task of birthing a hybrid? How many had died before the perfect dose of Vampire venom was calibrated to produce these children?

Oh there was no doubt the perpetrator was male. If Ulrich had kept his harem of Pureblood women for centuries without ever fathering a child with them, then these hybrid children here could only be a result of the reverse pairing. And Etienne had a feeling that he knew the father of all these young. Wasn't his uncle proud to claim the hyena Changelings as his own?

But more troubling was his suspicion that Johannes had known about it all along - and said nothing. When he had disappeared with his uncle after the confrontation in Seurri, was this where they went? Had he taken all these innocent lives to spare their suffering during adolescence?

"Eulalie, we must leave now. Come back again with a bigger scout team and take these bodies for a proper burial."

He didn't wait for her to respond; simply scooping his hand under her back and carrying her out where they came from. Like a doll, she flopped lifelessly in his arms and for the first time, Etienne truly understood the Changeling's reverence for the young.

All births were celebrated regardless of whether they were pure of half breed Changelings - their mothers well treated and their offspring cherished. Ulrich himself had probably sired enough children to make his own army and the mandate was clearly shared amongst his kind.

So to see so much death of innocents must have ripped her heart right out - even if the children were that of another Changeling kind.

How truly selfless to love something that defied laws and nature.

Like his son.

***

Only when they stepped into the light at the end of the cave entrance did he put her back on her feet. A quick look to the sky told him that a snow storm was brewing. It might still be safe to travel at lower grounds but any higher, only a Pureblood could likely survive the altitude.

"My Lord? Is... is the princess alright?" asked his loyal Noble, getting quickly to his feet.

"Keiko, you may wish to return with Eulalie to her brother's. I will journey hence forth on my own."

"But my Lord! I can make it all the way. It is just this air that is too difficult..."

"Your human half suffocates in this low oxygen," he replied, looking further up to where Johannes's dojo lay barely hidden by clouds. "Return to Prince Eirikr's now.

Do not follow me," a final look at them both. "That's an order."

He had seen what he needed to and now he must have the talk with the Ancient. Wings unbound, Etienne flew against the howling winds, aware that a miasma of cloud and haze were fast approaching, enveloping him in a cocoon.

It dawned on him that the snow storm was merely a cover - perhaps a test of his strength and determination to go beyond the clouds and up to where most would never dare venture. But as his wings gave another determined push, Etienne crossed the belt of clouds into a calm serenity where the sun shone from all corners, illuminating the compound crowning the tip of the mountain peak.

With his chest heaving, Etienne allowed himself to land quietly at the edge of the dojo's fence; his feet resting on the precarious wooden railings.

"Granduncle, it is I, Etienne Arceneaux, son of Montgomery Arceneaux of the Western Lands. I have come to seek your wisdom."

He didn't see nor hear anything at first but then from a shimmer in the air before him, the Ancient materialised, dressed in white with his hair flowing like snow in the wind.

Johannes was as he remembered -his face bearing a single jagged gash on each side of the cheek and one down the middle of his forehead.

"I know why you are here." He moved so fast, Etienne felt himself tipping backwards in shock when the Ancient's face lay inches from his. "I have no interest in your concerns."

A light push. A slipped foot.

And Etienne felt himself falling head down into the snowy emptiness down below...

***

Rose was breathing in and out, in and out - following a rhythm taught to her by the midwife.

"That's it Rose, just breathe in with me." Anzer was holding one of her hands while the other dabbed a cool cloth over her forehead.

"I'm dying aren't I?" Her voice came out like a squeak as the next wave of contractions hit her hard.

"No, be calm Rose. This is normal," he soothed, pushing back a strand of her fringe from her face. "All we have to do is wait. Seems like our baby boy's not ready to come out yet. Why don't you lie back and we'll talk to him softly?"

Oh god. She's been like this for hours now! Rose could barely even breathe, what more to talk?

"Come on Warin, I named you to be a protector and guardian to your mother. Surely you wouldn't want to cause her more pain now?" Anzer was whispering to her belly, his warm hands caressing gently. "Ah, of course, you're stubborn like your father, naturally."

Rose managed to lift a finger to jab in his face. "Don't you dare Anzer." She was going to deliver this baby without Etienne even if it killed her.

"Rose my beloved sister," said Anzer coming back up to sit beside her. "I know what you're doing and it is not helping. You're causing the baby distress. He needs to know his father is there even if he is not physically here. Don't shut him out for the sake of your son."

"No!"

If he wanted to be here, he should have been here a long time ago. Six months ago, a year ago, hell five, seven years ago! He should never have left her in that human village in the first place! Now, it was too late. Etienne has everything and if he took even this one thing that was truly hers...

Then Rose wouldn't have anything to live for anymore.

***

His wings flared out instinctively, sweeping upwards and against the downward wind currents. Etienne knew he had not fallen by much, but the ascend felt much longer; his granduncle appearing smaller and smaller by the second.

If only he was faster...

Ignoring the ache on his back, he struggled harder, pushing relentlessly against the incoming blizzard. Johannes was sending a flurry of ice rushing down towards him; every drop razor thin and designed to kill.

Does he wish me to fight him?

Etienne felt his fangs elongating at the challenge; eyes burning gold as he drew his swords. A wide open sweep from the seven-branched sword sent a blast of embers upwards, melting the ice into raindrops on his face.

Thrusting his body forward, Etienne gave another blast of fire -this time as hard as he could; aiming the flames at the Ancient standing watch from his fortress.

"You dare to attack me in my own home?" bellowed the Ancient.

Yes, if it got Etienne the answers he needed. With the dispersing cloud, he took his chance, giving that final push; leaping up and over the golden-eyed Ancient; swords at the ready. He didn't know why, but instead of his dominant hand, he wielded his left hand - Masamune completing a figure eight descending like a clasp around Johannes.

But the capture lasted less than a second.

Breaking apart his invisible chain, the Ancient somersaulted over Etienne, his double-ended sword slashing down, goring a deep wound down Etienne's chest into his stomach. Blood spurted like a geyser but Etienne kept his focus on the Ancient, choosing to charge straight ahead instead of retreating.

Throwing his seven-branched sword backwards, he freed his claws for a forward thrust-

"Why you..." Johannes looked down at his abdomen, the bloom of red staining his white robes. Lifting his head slowly, his lips curled as he loosened his grip on his sword. "It seems... we are even."

Etienne held back his breath as Johannes dislodged the blade currently wedged through his stomach. Pulling away, the two Purebloods stared at each other; eyes locked in a deathly match.

Breathing hard, Etienne held a hand over his stomach, channelling healing power to close the wound. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that Johannes was doing the same; his healing, faster naturally.

When he removed his hands, Etienne jumped backwards in anticipation of another attack. But the Ancient merely spat to his side, breaking eye contact.

"Is this the gratitude that I deserve for all that I've fought for?" Eyes of gold -a permanent feature of an Ancient -glared down at him. "Would you be this privileged if not for your bloodline?"

There was no answer to that.

"I come here out of deep respect for you Granduncle," said Etienne, his head bowed low enough not to be rude but high enough to have his cautious eyes on the Ancient.

"And yet you disrespect my granddaughter with your presence. She is but a fitting mate is she not? A queen who loves these lands and her people."

Etienne would not dispute that. But Johannes was not blind. He knew. Haven't the last six months proved what a failure their marriage had been?

"Do you not love Zahara?" asked Etienne.

"No more than you... But -I do not wish to be disappointed," said Johannes quietly.

"Times are changing Granduncle... These lands are no longer only ours. Humans are fast expanding beyond their territories. Will we someday be like the Changelings? Driven to the mountains for preservation sake?" He paused to look up at the Ancient. Johannes was as expressive as a blank wall but he could tell that he was affected by his words.

"Keep your human on the side if you wish," was his reply. "When she dies, perhaps then you could do justice to my granddaughter."