Ekleipsis (Fantasy Romance - LGBT, manXman)

8.6.

Kintaro sullenly paced the small room. The morning had passed, and the afternoon too, and the night drew near, but Chevalier Ahayrre still hadn't showed up. One would think he was perfectly safe within the walls of the ancient temple, in the peaceful sanctuary for both great civilization of Pandeia, men and elves alike. But Kintaro's feral instincts made him inexplicably anxious.

"If we try to break open the damn sorceress's door, the redhead will forgive us, like, never. After all, it's his right to get some fun too."

"And it's our right to know where is he and who with," Ithildin reasoned. "At least that's what Lielle had always said about you."

As if answering his question, the mirror in the sitting room began glowing with a soft silvery light. When the elf, better accustomed to magic than the nomad, pulled off the brightly coloured Jarsh kerchief from the mirror, Chevalier Ahayrre's face appeared behind the glass.

The young Chevalier was pale, there were shadows under his eyes, and his brows were knitted together, forming a vertical crease. Once again his face was as clean and beautiful as it was when they had laid eyes on him for the first time − under the lavishly bright sun, framed in the vast blue skies and the cool green hills of the Wild Steppe. Even his southern tan came off without a trace. The famous eye-candy, the delight of the Trianess court... But there was obviously nothing delightful in what he was about to tell both his lovers, and their hearts were wrung with anxiety. In that moment the elf and the nomad were like one being with one heart − and their beloved was about to drive a dagger through that heart.

"Forgive me," Chevalier Ahayrre said in a dry, lifeless voice. "I have to leave you. The situation turned out to be... a little more complicated. I'll spend some time in Dame Tallian's tower. Half a year, maybe. I have to re-evaluate my life and learn a lot. Don't try to find me or contact me, or else you would only postpone my return."

Dame Tallian had warned him, "A physician cutting off a sick organ is cruel. You should be cruel too, Alva, for the sake of your lovers." And Alva was cruel. He neither let his voice catch even for an instant, nor allowed even a tiny bit of warm into his cold demeanour. Only his sad eyes could have betrayed him, but he prudently kept them downcast.

The mirror went empty and dark, as if the curtain dropped.

If Chevalier Ahayrre was an actor, that would be his worst role. Even though he was as honest as possible, remembering the ability of elves to discern lie, his every word sounded false and affected. That's why his forced speech made two completely different impressions on the elf and the nomad.

Ithildin's legs gave way. He sank to his knees, clasped his hands to his chest, and his hair curtained his face.

"He left us. I have always known he would, but I haven't thought it would be so soon."

"Wake up!" Kintaro shook him by the shoulder, looking down at him with his eyes sparkling with excitement. "You think he would leave you and me for that broad? How could you, an Ancient, be so naïve? You don't know him at all, doll-face. Didn't you see his face? I'll bet my own panther skin that she is forcing him to stay!"

"If so, I would know it, feel it!"

"Well, maybe not as much forcing as coercing," the nomad readily amended. "Wizards are masters of deception, any fool knows it. We have to find the redhead, that's all. At least, to make him repeat all of that in our faces."

"But he had said not to look for him, not to contact him..."

"What kind of man are you!" Kintaro drawled condescendingly, and the elf didn't even correct that he was not, strictly speaking, a 'man'. "You lose heart after every little thing. Look, you've got our sweet redhead for free, on a silver platter, and never parted with him. Me, I had to fight for him, woo him, clench my teeth and wait for almost half a year while he was telling me to go to hell. But I always knew he was fated to be mine, and I couldn't care less what he was saying and thinking."

Ithildin was so astonished by his words, even the pain of despair had somehow abated.

"But shouldn't we respect the freedom of our loved ones?" he asked, doubtful.

"Freedom from love? Like hell we should!" Kintaro declared in his savage poetical style, and the matter was settled.

Wasting no time on small fry, they went straight to the Master of the Mages Guild Jaffar Iskenderuni. Some unfortunate petitioners had waited for their appointment for months, but the High Magician received them the very same day. The words 'Chevalier Ahayrre's kidnapping' produced a genuinely magical effect. No wonder, because the Guild Master had been an old and close friend not only of the present High King of Creede Daronghi Dancennou, but of his late father as well, and he had even met Rudra Ruatta, Chevalier Ahayrre's father, more than a couple of times.

Lord Jaffar received the elf and the nomad quite cordially, although there was some doubt in the look he gave them − after all, one could have been hard pressed to find two more strikingly different companions. He heard out all the facts of the matter and promised to investigate it immediately and personally.

He did make good on his promise. The very next day Ithildin and Kintaro were visited by the Attorney of the Mages Guild. He handed them a parchment stamped with the Mages Guild seal and Jaffar's personal seal, which was inscribed with bureaucratic dryness:

The Creedan Chevalier Alva Ahayrre is staying at the abode of Dame Tallian, Water Sorceress of the First Rank, lawfully, in compliance with the oral contract between the two aforementioned parties. The existence of the contract is verified by the Ring of Truth on Chevalier Ahayrre's finger, which is the evidence of unfulfilled obligations on Chevalier Ahayrre's part and simultaneously the guarantee of their future fulfilment.

It was a devastating blow. Even Kintaro was at a loss for words for a moment. They asked for the second audience, but were firmly denied.

The fact that Jaffar didn't announce the results of his personal investigation personally, but only gave them a formal run-around in writing, clearly indicated some kind of foul play.

"Wizards!" Kintaro hissed with enormous contempt. "One hand washes another!"

Ithildin discreetly stepped on Kintaro's foot and inquired politely, "Can you please tell us the whereabouts of the Water Sorceress of the First Rank Dame Tallian?"

"The Mages Guild doesn't divulge such information," the young man in a dark-blue mantle answered dryly and hurriedly took his leave.

Kintaro growled under his breath. Ithildin stepped on his foot harder.

"We won't get far this way," he warned him, and the nomad reluctantly suppressed his feral rage. "You can't change form anyway, Naith Saihn is shielded against the lower kinds of magic."

"I can still tear anyone to pieces with my bare hands," Kintaro declared sullenly.

"Brute force has nothing on mages. We have two choices, either of returning to Creede and appealing to the High King..."

"Now you're talking! The old man is tough, he will rip those mages a new one!"

"...or using our brains. The higher-ranked magicians aren't many, and they all know each other."