***
Back at the prince’s manor, the beast stood on Luca’s back, inanimate. The Nonio made sure that everything was calm before proceeding with its intentions. The Nonio was a dastardly creature, about a foot tall and vile in its features. It was humanoid in shape with skin like dark leather, and its skin, especially on its face, seemed to have been stretched and flattened, as to maybe hide its true age. It had a pseudo-boyish face, and its small mouth sported two curved teeth that stretched to its chin. Overgrown muscles were bountiful on its frame with distinctively manicured hands, as if trying to hide its ugliness. On the center of its head was a small horn curving upwards, and the Nonio had unkempt hair, black as night. Its mouth had an abundance of saliva whenever it spoke, and every word that came out of its mouth ended with a fading belch. And when it moved, one could hear the sighing sounds of the beast, like the soft moans of a newborn baby enjoying the warmth of its mother’s milk. The beast’s tiny arms were spread out as if it was balancing itself on some type of log that was spread across a deep ravine, and it took its first few steps as soft as those of an assassin’s.
Once the Nonio reached the top of Luca’s back, it sat down with his legs spread in a split; the creature was quite nimble. From its belt, which was fastened around one of its legs, the Nonio took out a small, curved dagger and a pouch with some sort of liquid in it. It took the dagger and made a slit on Luca’s undershirt, so as to gain access to his skin. Next, it took the tip of the dagger and used it to make a small incision on the boy’s skin, so as to draw a good bit of blood. The blood began to spill out, and the Nonio could not resist but lick its two saber teeth in anticipation.
But the beast was not there to lick the blood or even suck it out of Luca. No, it was there to taint it with the poison it had brought. Once the Nonio saw that it had enough blood drawn from his victim, it took his dagger and dipped it in the solution it was holding in the small pouch. It put the dagger to its mouth and mumbled some inaudible words to itself, probably an old Esterran language of chanting, the type only used by dastardly beings.
After it had chanted a number of unclean words, it raised the dagger up and readied itself to thrust it into Luca. Little did it know that things were not to go as it had planned, for another visitor had reached Luca’s chambers, a visitor surely there to thwart the Nonio’s plans. The Nonio turned to its left and saw something it had not anticipated.
A large hound sat on the windowsill with its huge blue eyes staring back at the beast.
The Nonio was baffled. Why is this dumb creature looking at me? What business is it of this thing what I do to this child? The Nonio remained calm at first, but knowing that the animal was larger than itself and endowed with sharp claws and pointy teeth, after some time, it became cautious. The Nonio waved its hand at the striking animal, as if to say shoo, shoo, but nothing happened, and the hound just kept staring at the wrinkled beast. Alas, the Nonio became fed up.
“Scram!” the Nonio whisper ed, ending with a gross belch. And now louder, “Scram!” Luca moved in his bed but did not wake. “What is wrong with you, stupid beast? Can you not see that I’m busy? Leave us be!”
But the hound was not going anywhere. The Nonio leapt off Luca’s back and onto the side of the bed. It reached for Luca’s wooden leg just underneath the bed and took it and threw it at the dark hound. Instantly, the hound’s mouth grew wide and took the wooden leg into its mouth, swallowing the leg whole. A few seconds passed, and the hound gave the Nonio a sly grin.
“What did you do!” the Nonio said with the echoes of belches ruining the sound of language. “You can’t just go around eating people’s wooden things. What are you?” The Nonio sat cross-legged on the side of the bed, putting its head on its fist to ponder for some time. I’ve never seen anything like you before. No dog has ever swallowed a wooden leg as long as I’ve existed. You’re a strange dog, yes you are. Or are you a dog at all? You’re certainly much bigger.
The Nonio snapped his fingers. “You’re not a dog at all, are you? What do you want from me? Tell me, now!”
The hound stood quietly amongst the backdrop of the moon. It licked its chops like most dogs do, but after a passing moment, the hound’s eyes began to shake, and the Nonio saw, or felt, that is, that something brewed inside the hound, something terrible and magnificent.
The Nonio sensed that the being in front of him was no ordinary animal but something abnormal. The beast stood up, raising his dagger to the animal. “I have come for the child,” it said, and as if it was listening to the hound talking to him inside its head, the Nonio replied to it, “No, he’s not yours. You cannot stop what’s coming.”
The Nonio shuffled back on top of Luca’s back, and the boy fidgeted some more. “He’s mine,” the Nonio insisted. “His blood will be fully tainted like it was meant to be, and he will be shadow, and there’ll be no hope. The sun will die.”
The hound spoke to the Nonio once more in its thoughts.
“No, he was born of the night! You’re wrong.” And reacting fiercely to the animal’s last words, the Nonio’s eyes increased in size due to the rush of fear that had come over it. “You’re what?” it said. “It can’t be. You’re not real. You are not supposed to be real!”
As a response, the hound opened a small slit of its mouth, and a gust of wind blew like a hurricane against the beast’s small mass. “I am as real as you!” spoke the hound with a giant’s voice.
The Nonio jumped back, scared out of its wits, and it retreated back to its cage up on the corner of the wall. Closing the gate, the beast pointed its dagger out between two of the bars. “I will kill you!”
Finally, the beast disappeared into the wall, and the room that was home to the fallen Jubahn breathed once again with a sense of tranquility around its space.
The evil had been vanquished, and now it was time to be rid of the shadows as well. The hound sitting on the windowsill blinked its eyes, and all the candles in the room came to life, and the room was bright once more. The warmth of the flames would keep the sleeping boy protected for the time being. After this, the hound disappeared into the grayness of the night.
All of this had transpired, yet Luca had failed to wake. Moments later, when all was quiet after the dangerous confrontation between the Nonio and the hound, Druuk burst inside Luca’s chambers. He darted to his boy’s bedside and saw that he was still asleep, so he let him be for the moment. He discerned the space around him and knew that something had occurred. He waved his hand back and forth a few inches above his son’s body, and he put the hand to his nose and took in a great whiff.
“Nonio,” Druuk said with an aggravated scowl.
He discerned the space some more and was led to the windowsill. He poked his head out and surveyed the land below and around the manor. All was dark and peaceful. He put his nose closer to the windowsill and slowly took in the unseen scent. “Smells like dog,” he said with lively eyes. I wonder. Druuk stood in the stillness of his snoozing son, and he thought for a moment. It’s time.
He turned to the window and peeked out, making sure no one was around. With a wave of his fingers he silenced all the candles in the room, and they all flicked off into the darkness. Only the moon and shadows remained. Druuk did this not because he wanted to extinguish the light, but he knew that they needed to escape in the cover of darkness.
“Son?” he spoke. “Wake.”
Luca snapped his eyes open, and with a sluggish way about him, sat up and made a great effort in focusing on the mass standing before him. “Father?”
“Yes, son,” Druuk said. “I’ve awoken you from your sleep.”
Luca stood up to meet his father and immediately felt shame for his failure earlier that day. Druuk felt his suffering, and he embraced him like only a father would.
“Are you ashamed of me, Father?”
“Absolutely not!” Druuk replied. “You did the best that you could do, and you stood in the aftermath of your failure like a true Davinian. You will e
arn your Rasplendur someday—but not yet. Now, go and get dressed. Where is your leg?”
“My leg?” Luca said thinking. He looked under the bed but saw nothing.
“There it is,” Druuk said, spotting the wooden leg leaning against the wall just underneath the windowsill. “Strange, I don’t remember seeing it there. No matter. Put it on, quickly.”
Luca was just as dumbfounded as he stared at his wooden leg neatly leaning against the wall. But he needed to get dressed, so he thought about it no longer and got up to retrieve it. After he fastened the leg to his body and put on all of his garments, he was ready to go.
“Where are we going?” he said.
“Luca, we must go into the darkness. I need to show you something. Stay close to me.”
“Lead the way, Father.”
***