Haruki, Pt. 9
#9 of Haruki
I was lying on my back. It was dark. I could not see anything.
"You are going to weep" someone whispered.
I sat up quickly, tried to look around.
"Your happiness is coming to an end"
I tried to speak, but could not.
"Your bastard brother will die"
I covered my ears, trying to block out the voice.
"Look" the voice whispered, and a small light appeared a little off to my left. I turned, and saw Akakios lying on the ground on his side. One arm was against his stomach. The other was reaching out to me. I began to walk towards him.
As I got closer, I saw he was covered in blood. I started to run, but it seemed as if it was taking forever to reach him. Akakios coughed, and blood dripped off his lip. I got to him just in time to catch the drop.
"Haruki" Akakios whispered.
"What is wrong, Akakios? What happened to you?" I asked, looking at the drop of blood.
Akakios moved the arm on his stomach, and I saw it had been torn open; blood was rushing freely.
"Gods, what happened?" I said quickly, trying to stop the blood flow.
"You did this to me" Akakios said.
"What?" I asked.
As Akakios was about to speak again, his eyes became wide, and he grasped his throat. Blood began to run from beneath his hands. A few seconds later, his eyes became dull, and he fell onto his back. As he did so, his hands fell to his sides. Something had slit his throat.
"No! Oh Gods, no! Akakios, answer me, please!" I yelled, scooping my brother up in my arms. He did not answer.
"Please, say something" I whispered, raising his head up to mine. I began to sob.
"You are going to die!" my brother whispered, and an intense pain erupted from my stomach.
I looked down to see a sword sticking out of my gut. Gasping, I dropped my brother, tried to stand. I could not, however, and fell to the ground beside my brother.
A figure approached me, and I saw he had horns and wings. It was about my height, and lean.
"And..." the figure started, before kneeling beside me. It gently lifted me and cradled me in its arms. It then lowered its head, and I felt its breath on my neck. I could faintly feel that the figure had scales instead of fur.
"You shall burn in the fiery pits that are the Home of Ahriman for eternity" the figure said, before biting into my neck. I tried to gasp as I felt the figure's teeth pierce my skin, but my windpipe was being crushed. I attempted to push the figure away, and I heard it chuckle. It then jerked its head back, ripping my throat out.
I felt as if I was falling. Grasping at my throat, I tried to scream. Nothing came out except a gurgling noise.
Suddenly, I landed roughly in a stone room. I was then thrown against a wall by unseen forces, and chains wrapped around my wrists, ankles, and what remained of my throat. I could not move.
I heard growling, and I saw a huge feral creature walk towards me. It was easily 9 feet long; very muscular; and its head was huge, even compared to its body, and had orange fur. As it came closer, I saw its eyes were black.
Walking up to me, it sniffed my stomach twice, then slowly opened its mouth, I briefly saw teeth that were three inches long, with fangs that were five.
As it bit into my stomach, I tried to scream, but could not. It ripped my skin away and began eating my insides. The walls of the room erupted in flames, and I felt the rest of my skin begin to boil. But I could not die.
I realized that I would be forced to suffer this for the rest of eternity...
Sitting up quickly, I yelled and grabbed at my throat. It was still night, and I could feel the sand of the desert under me. I looked frantically for the winged figure.
"Haruki, what is wrong?" Akakios asked, resting a hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, and sighed.
"Nothing, Brother, just a dream" I said, and rested a hand on his. Akakios leaned forward and kissed me, then lied back down on his side. Sighing again, I settled in behind Akakios and wrapped an arm around him. My brother licked my hand a couple times, and fell asleep.
The next day, as my mate and I were eating our morning meal, the dream was still on my mind. I had not gotten anymore sleep after waking, and something the figure had said kept coming back to me.
"Akakios, have you ever heard the name 'Ahriman'?"
"Uh... no, I do not think so; why?" he said, looking at me.
"Well, it was in that dream I had, and it sounds familiar." I said.
"Wait. You said it, when I first told you about the pack being taken, remember? You said 'Either answer me or I swear to Ahriman, I will come find you, and you will regret it'." He said, forgetting about his meal.
"Yeah, I remember now." It felt like my stomach was in my throat. "How do you think we could contact that shadow thing? The one that helped us escape."
"Ask, and you shall receive, my masters."
"Gods! Do not do that again!" Akakios yelled. The shadow had appeared right beside him.
"Sorry, young Master. How may I be of service?"
I looked the shadow over. It was a thin shadow floating in midair, its edges blurring to nothing. Where the eyes would have been there were three holes, the middle one higher than the other two; just as it had appeared the first time, with my uncle Beowulf.
"Do you know who Ahriman is?" I asked.
The shadow jerked around and looked at me. "Do not speak that name!" it shrieked.
"Who is it?" Akakios asked, standing up.
"You are better to stick to your ignorance" the shadow whispered, and disappeared.
"A lot of help that was" Akakios said, sitting back down.
"We might as well get moving. Staying here will not do us any good." I said.
We packed up and began to travel in a random direction, since we had no idea where to go. In order to entertain ourselves, we picked on each other; using pulling the other's tail or nudging each other.
As we stopped for a break under a rare tree, Akakios tore off a dead limb and began swinging it around like a sword. Smiling, I got up and retrieved a branch of the ground.
"You are swinging wildly. Slow down, control your movement" I said, and began teaching my brother how to fight with a sword. He caught on fast, and we were soon sparring. It was easy for me to block his attacks, but I acted like I was having difficulties until Akakios began to feel more confident.
"Good!" I exclaimed as Akakios performed a fairly difficult move I was showing him. As he tried to transition into another, however, I inadvertently tripped him, and he fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" I asked, bending down to help him up. As I reached down, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the ground. He then got on top of me and held his branch to my throat.
"I win" he said, smiling.
Congratulating him, I threw my "sword" to the side, and he did the same, then lied down on top of me, with his head on my chest. I wrapped one arm around him, and petted his head with the other.
"Haruki?"
"Yeah, Akakios?"
"What we did yesterday..." Akakios started.
"What about it?" I asked.
"Was it wrong?" he asked softly.
I sighed. "Well, it depends on whose standards you use; if you go by what we grew up with, yeah. You are young, and we are brothers. Both of which would get someone kicked out of the pack. And the fact that you were next in line for alpha would have been jeopardized."
"Yeah..." Akakios said softly.
"However, Fallon's pride would have been very accepting of what we did" I added.
"True" my brother said. He adjusted his head a little, and relaxed. Soon, he was breathing softly. He had fallen asleep.
As I continued to hold my mate, I started to wonder if the life he was now living was the right one for him. I was the only family he had left; that could not be helped. But the constant travelling was not something he should have to do. It was too much to ask of my nine-year-old brother.
And our relationship as mates. He was too young for that too. I was robbing him of his childhood.
He deserved to be around other children. Maybe we could find another wolf pack that would adopt him as one of their own. But seeing as he was of Alpha blood, most other alphas would see him as a threat. The only place where he would be truly accepted and loved would be with Fallon's pride.
Maybe I should stay with them too. I was happy there. They accepted me. I thought. But by me staying with the pride also, Akakios would attempt to keep our relationship as mates going. And I could not let that happen.
"Akakios, wake up" I said, shaking him softly. Akakios raised his head and yawned, then looked at me. Smiling, he licked my nose.
"Get ready. I know where we are going" I said.
"Oh? Where is that?" he asked, getting up.
"We are going to see Fallon" I said softly.