How Familiar - 9. Ellis - The Crown Prince of Odesh

Ellis Alae

The Queen of Odesh looked utterly regal in the clothes of mourning. A black gown that fit her slender figure well and expanded below the waist. She walked alone up the long, purple violet carpet scattered with petals of roses; red, blue, white and purple, Violet behind her, horn glittering in the sunlight and back draped in a black, velvet cloth. The sweet, evocative smell of the flowers mixed well with the odour of the ocean outside the throne room windows. Ellis watched quietly as she approached, sitting in one of the four smaller chairs further up the staircase, a few steps lower than where the Queen's throne sat behind him. He wore black clothes as a sign of respect as well. Geoffrey, twenty-nine years of age, sat in the tallest of the four smaller thrones, his golden Unicorn by his side. Wesley, twenty-two, perched in the one next to him, red Unicorn with him. Varo, the youngest of Erika's three sons, was in the next throne with his indigo Unicorn nuzzling his cute, smirking face. On the end, as Erika's adopted son, Ellis was with Nulli, the red Unicorn-Pegasus hybrid he loved dearly. It wasn't a funeral service. It was merely a show of respect. Queen Tyffane died several days past, murdered by Soren Alae's hand. Ellis laughed out loud when he heard the news, only to be slapped in the face by his foster mother.

"We may have seceded from the rest of Ytia," Erika had told him harshly, gripping his cheeks with her hand. "But that does not make us free from its laws. It does not matter if we had nothing to do with her. We will show our respect, and if you dare mock her again, I will strip you of your position, and the monarchy will fall to Geoffrey and his wife. Do you understand?"

Ellis did not believe that Erika would do such a thing. She had reshaped Odesh for him. She walled up the borders of Iralia and Eodanira and ceased all trade and contact with them. She closed all docks that hosted ships from Ulisse and Alaeyas. They were totally isolated - all to keep Ellis safe. Anyone willing to come to Odesh could only ever cross the guarded borders if Erika gave permission herself, and people leaving were not permitted to return. As far as everyone in Odesh knew, Ellis was an orphan adopted by Queen Erika after his mother, a friend of the Queen, died in childbirth. The few who had seen Nulli for themselves believed he had only been adopted because of his unbelievable Familiar - a blessing from the Goddess. With Palona dead, only Ellis and Erika knew the truth. He was Palona's first child, a bastard born from a fling with a relative of the Ode Royal family. Her Pegasus blood mixed with the man's Unicorn blood in one of very few documented anomalies with Familiars at birth. He didn't think she would throw all her efforts away because he was impertinent during a midday meal.

Ellis watched as his foster mother walked, head bowed and hands folded, past the four Princes and took her seat on the high throne. It was a gorgeous chair. Lilac coloured marble imbued with amethysts and vines with pretty purple flowers climbing around the legs. For one week, all Royal Families would wear black clothes of mourning after the death of a Queen or a Princess. This was not a service, however. Queen Erika had something she needed to say to the members of the court and her sons.

"Thank you all for gathering today," she had a loud, booming voice when addressing the court. It didn't suit her small, ageing body at all. "You may all take your seats. As you all know, Queen Tyffane has tragically died in the Eodaniran Palace. Murdered. Reports say that Prince Soren of Alae is responsible, others say that he is innocent. Whatever is true, the Queen is dead. Her first-born daughter, Charlotte, fancies herself as Queen of Alaeyas, and as such, she cannot inherit the throne by the ancient laws of Ytia. Queen Ashi, a mere eight-year-old, now rules in Eodanira. Ridiculous, don't you think? She is barely weaned off the teat, yet now she is the most powerful person in Eodanira. Tragic. Illogical. It has brought my mind to my own legacy. I have no living daughters to inherit my throne. Both tragically died in my belly before birth. But what the Goddess takes with one hand, she gives back with the other.

Where is she going with this? Nulli asked nervously, moving closer to Ellis.

I think she's finally going to make the announcement! Ellis replied excitedly, turning his neck to watch the Queen. She looked tired.

"I will not live forever," Erika continued, gripping her chair with her black gloved hands. "Queen Tyffane's death has reminded me how fleeting life can be, and how unpredictable. It is for this reason that I intend to discuss my lineage. My late husband, King Stefan, gave me three beautiful sons. Geoffrey, Wesley and Varo. Geoffrey is the eldest, and as the laws of Ytia dictate, he is to inherit the Odesh throne upon my death, and his wife Maree will assume my place as Queen." That caused a lot of murmuring from the court, and even a couple of objections. Ellis glanced at Geoffrey, who looked smug up there with his already greying strawberry-blond hair and long moustache, but he kept his eyes on Maree to witness her reaction as Queen Erika continued.

"But the Goddess saw fit to bless Odesh with Ellis, and I saw fit to bring him to the Palace and raise him as one of my own. He is as a son to me, as much as Geoffrey, Wesley and Varo. Brothers. He and Varo fed from me together when they were young. I have personally trained him to rule from the very beginning. He has suffered as the lowest of the common folk have suffered, and he has fought as the elite of the Odesh army. He understands diplomacy, strength and fairness. Why should Queen Ashi rule Eodanira when she is an empty-headed babe of eight? Why should the rule fall into the hands of those who were lucky - or cursed - to be born with the duty? Why should the burden not pass to whoever is best suited for the job? I have done my part of creating the ruler that Odesh deserves. That is why I am formally naming Ellis as my heir as of today."

"What?" Geoffrey cried out in outrage, standing up.

His Unicorn angrily reared up and stomped on the ground. The court was in an uproar. Many supported the Queen's decision, but many did not. A divided reaction to be sure. Geoffrey's wife, to Ellis' surprise, did not seem to be angry. She seemed relieved. It was Geoffrey who was furious, and Ellis could understand why. Since Geoffrey was born and no sister survived, he took it for granted that he would rule Odesh through his empty-headed, meek little wife. It must have been a big shock for him. Wesley wasn't outraged so much as confused, but Varo thought the whole thing was hilarious. He laughed, playing with his long, pink ponytail and sitting nonchalantly with his feet up on the arm of his throne. Ellis narrowed his eyes. Death notes had popped up from time to time in Ellis' private quarters for a little while now, and he had no idea who was intending to kill him. It could absolutely be Varo, the little sociopath. The first one appeared right after Varo overheard of the Queen's plot to name Ellis as her heir. It had to be him, right?

"Enough!" Erika roared, and everyone stopped talking and returned to their seats. Everyone except Geoffrey.

"Mother, this is some jest, surely!" Geoffrey baulked at her, taking steps to close the gap between them. "Every Ytian law names me as your successor and Maree as the Queen!"

"If I were making a jest, you would be laughing," Erika told him coldly. "Sit down. Nobody speaks to me like that, Prince Geoffrey. Not even you."

"No! I will not!" Geoffrey shouted at her. "You cannot be naming some street rat as your heir just because he is a genetic freak!"

"The Goddess has given Ellis her blessing," Bishop Lamina reminded the rebellious Odeshi Prince from her place in the front row next to Maree. "He was born for such a purpose."

"I was born for that purpose!" Geoffrey roared, his olive-skinned face turning purple with rage and spittle flying from his mouth. How debonair. How Kingly. Ellis loved Geoffrey, but his eldest foster brother was a spoiled, hot-headed brat. Strong and clever, to be sure, but he wasn't King material. I am. "What about you?" He turned to Wesley, who, spineless oaf that he was, shrunk in his chair. "Surely you're not okay with this!"

"It's Mother's duty to make decisions and ours to endure them," Wesley replied quietly, indicating that he was upset about being passed over by an adopted son, but not enough to defy his mother.

"You?" He turned to Varo, who smiled cheekily.

"What do you expect from me?" Varo replied in his sweet voice. "I'm the little brother. What hope do I have in the line of succession? What do I care which of your wives sits on that chair when our dear mother has passed on?"

"Unbelievable," he turned to look at Ellis, who stood to meet his gaze. "You're all unbelievable. Especially you. Fuck you, Ellis!"

"Come and try your luck!" Ellis challenged him, but he stopped to wonder. Was it Geoffrey who left those notes? Hearts stuck into the walls and doors with daggers. Did he know ahead of time that Ellis was taking his place? Did Varo tell him?

"Sit down, or get out!" Erika barked at the two of them. Ellis sat obediently, but Geoffrey was close to foaming at the mouth.

"I don't accept this!" He stomped down the steps, and his beautiful golden Unicorn followed. "Come, my dear."

Ellis watched as Maree meekly followed him, her peacock strutting behind her. A peacock. Geoffrey and Maree's children would have peacocks for their Familiars. The Royal Family of Odesh would have Peacocks. No wonder Erika wasn't keen on that idea.

"Why don't you ever let me try my luck?," Varo whispered to him as the throne room again broke into chatters, gasps and mutters. The adorable little Prince winked at him and ran his tongue suggestively along his lips discreetly. Ellis didn't like that the boy he thought of as his brother was madly in love with him. Maybe it could be exploited, though. He could think of nobody else who would leave him those threatening messages except his younger foster brother.

"Come to see me tonight," Ellis replied, brushing strands of deep red hair behind his dainty ears. He would not be shaken by Varo. Not today. "Alone."

Varo's mouth opened wider, and he almost seemed to climax in his britches right then and there. The gape soon turned into a cheeky smile and a nod. Time you learned a lesson, you little dog.

"Ellis is to inherit my throne upon my death, and when he marries, his wife will be your Queen. Let it be known," Erika finished, disheartened by the reaction of her eldest son, and stood up.

She slowly strutted her way down the steps and walked the long stroll back out of the throne room. When she left, it was the Princes' turn, and Julia joined them from the front row, grasping Wesley's hand and cradling their young daughter in her arm.

"Do any of you have a problem?" Ellis asked the three of them immediately when they were away from the rest of the court.

"Hey man, I'm not touching this," Wesley shook his head and kissed his wife's hand, then he put one on her stomach. She was six months pregnant. "I have my own family to worry about. Whatever happens between you and Geoffrey is between you. I don't want any part of it. Good luck, El. Watch out for any... unfortunate accidents."

"Congratulations, Ellis," Julia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

With that, Wesley tugged Julia's hand, and the two of them walked down the hallway, followed by a Unicorn and a fox. Wesley is such a coward, Ellis thought. Yet Varo is much too bold for his own good, and Geoffrey had not enough boldness to be stupid but just enough to be dangerous. Erika threw three very different rolls of the genetic dice when she made her children. He remembered even as an infant, only a few months old, Varo would scratch and scream at him when Erika fed them both from her breasts, eager to have more than his share. Ellis was four when the Queen finally ceased to feed him from her teat, but that wasn't uncommon by Odeshi standards. Children often fed from their mothers until even five years or more, but Varo became so aggressive that she had no choice but to stop feeding Ellis. The priests and priestesses often spoke of how the Goddess fed the First Fourteen from her breasts until they were five years of age. Varo, the greediest babe of all of them, smirked at him as he left Ellis and Nulli alone.

Go and talk to Geoffrey, Nulli nudged him with his nose and Ellis stared into the great beast's blue eyes. Nulli stood ten feet tall, his back eight feet off the ground. Bigger than any man or Unicorn in Odesh. He wondered how Nulli stood when compared with the Pegasi of his younger half-brothers. He'd often wondered if he'd ever like to meet his little brothers.

Treat with Geoffrey so he can bait me into beheading him? I don't think so! Ellis retorted. Can you fight his Unicorn?

I can fight anyone or anything, Nulli replied arrogantly, licking Ellis with his tongue. I am the strongest Familiar alive! Even that Zyrian Wyvern stands in my mighty shadow. Perhaps we should kill Geoffrey before he can create a plan.

No, Ellis and Nulli walked away as they heard the commonfolk beginning to vacate the throne room. If Geoffrey is the one who is leaving all these omens for me, then he already has a plan. If he is not, then I have someone else to worry about first.

Varo? Nulli sounded worried, and Ellis grimaced. Geoffrey was a threat, no doubt, but Varo... he was an entirely different breed of person. It was as though the Goddess genetically hardwired him differently from everyone else.

He's a little freak, he replied, walking with his back straight and head held high. I would not put it past him.

Although Varo was one of the three sons that Queen Erika birthed and Ellis was the one adopted into the family, it often seemed as though it happened the other way round. Varo was different. Geoffrey and Wesley were both promising duelists in their own right, not as good as Ellis of course, but enough to pose a threat. Varo, meanwhile, trained more as an assassin than a duelist. He knew many ways to bring death to his enemies that Ellis, Geoffrey and Wesley did not. He did not bother with honour, happy to poison or kill his targets from behind. I will beat him bloody in a fair fight, but Varo doesn't like to play by any rules. The boy was a menace. He loved pain - both causing and enduring it. He embraced it and often used his own bejeweled dagger to draw blood from himself so he could lick the wound clean. He would be sixteen soon, and ready to marry, but Ellis knew Varo only wanted boys. Well, one boy. Ellis, to be specific.

"Can I help you?" Skye asked as he approached the door to the Queen's quarters. She had her hand on the enormous zweihander notched to her belt and a suspicious look in her indigo eyes. Her alligator snapped its jaws menacingly by her feet.

"What's it to you?" Ellis replied scornfully. He did not appreciate anybody giving him attitude, especially now that he was the official heir of Odesh instead of the one in secret. Yesterday, he would have obediently let Skye turn him away, but not today. Not anymore. This isn't Eodanira. This is Odesh, and I don't answer to you just because you've got teats. I'm the Crown Prince now. The only person who has authority over me is the Queen herself. "I want to speak to my mother. Leave us."

"The Queen," Skye emphasised those two words angrily. "Is busy with Prince Geoffrey. You will wait."\

"I will not," Ellis was not armed with his rapier, but Nulli was more than a match for this insolent woman and her scaly little pet, and the horned Pegasus stamped his feet. "The Queen will tell me to leave if she wishes it so. You will mind your own business."

With that, he rapped on the oak door with his knuckles, keeping an eye on Skye, who narrowed her eyes at him. It must be hard for her, he thought. To one day order me around and the next, she can't do anything to me.

"Piss off!" Geoffrey's angry voice yelled through the door, but Ellis heard his mother afterwards.

"Shut up, Geoffrey," she yelled at him. "Who is it?"

"Ellis Alae," he answered smugly. "I wish to speak with you concerning your words to the court."

"Come on in," Erika yelled, and Ellis did so, smirking arrogantly at the woman who guarded the Queen's chambers. The gator snapped its teeth at him, but he merely rolled his eyes. He could not and would not be intimidated by that woman. I am the Prince. The only Prince. As Ellis strolled in, Geoffrey was on his way out. The bigger man, eleven years older, shoved Ellis roughly on his way past.

"You haven't heard the last of this!" Geoffrey promised, his blue-indigo eyes stained with fury and malice.

"Don't touch me, former Crown Prince Geoffrey," Ellis mocked him, the smirk ever present on his pink lips. "I mean to speak to Mother."

The word 'Mother' did exactly what Ellis intended it to do - Geoffrey's brown face turned purple, and he began shaking with rage. He looked between Ellis and Erika, then he left the Queen's chambers, slamming the door behind him.

"You could not wait until I sought you out?" Erika asked, sitting down at her desk and examining her ageing face in the mirror. She began to take the clips from her grey-blonde hair, letting it fall to her shoulders. "Was that little display there for my benefit? Are you intending to slay my eldest son?"

"I thought I could use some diplomacy," Ellis chuckled, strolling to the Queen's side and pouring a glass of wine for each of them from the flagon she kept on a table by the door. "Now that I am the Crown Prince of Odesh! Geoffrey needs to learn his new place!"

"It's good to know that none of that has gone to your head," Erika couldn't help but giggle at him. She gratefully took the glass from him and sipped long and deep. "I miss the wine they make in Ulisse. It's sweeter than anything we can harvest. Oh, when I think of the sacrifices I've made for you, my boy. Drinking this crap for eighteen years? The nightmare of secession from the rest of Ytia? Even my own three sons. Geoffrey no longer loves me, I fear, but that only proves that I was right about him. What about you, Ellis? If I stripped you of your place as my heir and gave it to Wesley or Varo, would you stop loving me?"

"I've never thought about it," Ellis sipped from his glass too, picking up a chair from the corner and sitting next to his foster mother. "I suppose I would be angry, of course, but I trust you, Mother. You've drowned me in the rivers by the Palace many a time and brought me back yourself. You have taught me to be strong, honest and fair. You have filled me with so much that there is no room for modesty. If you told me right now that Wesley was to take my place, I would call you a fool to believe in a craven. If you told me that Varo was the Crown Prince, I would call you an idiot to believe in a psychopath. Geoffrey may have made a good heir. He is honest, fair and strong too, but he is not me, Mother. I am the jewel of Alaeyas and the Crown Prince of Odesh, and I owe all of it to you. When you are gone, I will make sure the whole continent knows who saved them. It was not me alone, Mother. It was you."

"There's the modesty," Erika turned in her cushy seat and smiled at him, reaching over and affectionately combing his red bangs over his ear. "Mistake me not. I adore my children, even if they are not perfect. You, though... you will make me proud in ways my trueborn sons would never be able. You have flaws too, Ellis, but you are our best chance for survival."

"But what now, Mother?" Ellis asked her, the question that had been circling in his head for far too long. "Crown Prince or no, Ytia's laws state that my wife would be Queen and I her King. I have been fit to marry for two and a half years, yet you have not picked a bride for me. Please, tell me!"

"Trust in me, my sweet," Erika looked at him fondly, but she looked sad as well. "Timing is everything, and... my plans for you have been placed on hold for now. If you fulfil one more duty for me, I will tell you everything you have ever wanted to know about yourself."

"Oh? You've been keeping secrets?" Ellis felt himself get angry at that revelation. By what right does she hide things about me? Queen, Mother or no, she disrespects me by not giving her full trust. "What would you have me do?"

"You need to protect me," a tear welled in the corner of her eye, and she pulled him closer, almost off his seat. "Geoffrey is not like to forget what I have done to him today, and although you have been named my heir and Crown Prince, he will not stop. You and I know that both. Geoffrey and Varo are dangerous men, and even though I am the mother that bore them, I will never be safe now that I have chosen you. I am not afraid of death, but I must not perish before my plans for you come to fruition. Promise me that."

"You may not be my mother," Ellis put his hands over hers. "But I love you as one. No harm will come to you! I swear it. They will have to go through both Nulli and me, and there is no man or woman alive capable of such a thing."

"I know you believe that to be the truth," Erika turned back to the mirror and downed the rest of her glass in nine big, long gulps. "But," she continued, putting her hand over her lips briefly. "Queen Tyffane was killed in her very own Palace. Can I trust you to keep me breathing just for a while longer?"

"Anything!" Ellis reassured her. "I will do anything for you. You have my word."

"Ellis... is there anything you wish to tell me? Or ask of me?" Erika made eye contact in the reflection of the mirror.

"Um..." Ellis thought to the omens of death that had been chasing and haunting him in the past weeks. He thought to what Erika wished of him. Why he had not married. "I want to know why you're keeping secrets. But... I trust you."

"I have kept secrets from many people, my dear. Everything I do, I do for Odesh. Be on your way," Erika feigned a smile, her crow's feet wrinkling by her eyes. "I will be quite safe here with Skye guarding the door, but when I leave, I need you with me."

"Send word, and I will be here for you," he nodded and kissed her gently on the cheek. "But... why are you so frightened?"

"Geoffrey told me that I may throw his claim away in one day and be dead the next," Erika sniffed and wiped more tears from her eyes. Wow. That bastard! Ellis grimaced. I'll kill him if he even speaks to her that way again. "I have never known my eldest son to break a promise."

~

It was night when Ellis finally made it to his bedchamber, and he wasn't surprised by what he saw. He'd invited the boy, after all. Varo, clad only in skimpy velvet undergarments, his hair braided and full of flowers, laying on the purple bedspread.

"You kept me waiting!" Varo complained. Even in the bed, he spun his favourite dagger around his fingers. "What took so long?"

"You're a horny little freak. Did you know that?" Ellis shut the door behind him and immediately pulled his shirt off by the hem, exposing his hard, muscular frame to the boy who coveted him so.

"Oh, my!" Varo giggled and beckoned with a finger. His long, pink-blonde hair shone beautifully in the moonlight through the open window, and it fell to his bellybutton. He looked prettier than nearly any of the girls Ellis had ever brought to his bedchamber for the night, and that was uncomfortable for Ellis to think about. Varo, for years, had presented himself almost as a woman. He does so in hopes that I will bed with him, Ellis thought.

"Hey, beautiful brother, why don't I show you something?" Ellis cocked his head seductively, and his younger foster brother's mouth curled into a grin. "Come. I feel like a bath first. It's been a long day."

"A bath? El, it's not my birthday!" Varo didn't pause, though. He slipped from the bed, throwing his hair over his shoulder. He was a very slender and lithe boy. He trained in the assassin arts rather than the duelist or soldier, so he did not develop the muscles that Ellis, Wesley and Geoffrey did. He almost had a woman's figure. Ellis could not deny that he bore some attraction to him, but Varo was his brother, even though they shared no blood. It would not be right. Varo followed Ellis into the adjoining room, full of flowers and succulents and smelling ever so sweet, and all of a sudden, Ellis grabbed him and shoved him hard against the wall, much to Varo's shock... and arousal.

"You see that?" Ellis pointed towards the door. The heart cut from parchment, stuck to the inside of his bathroom door by a simple iron dagger. "Now who the fuck keeps leaving me these messages, huh?"

"You like it rough?" Varo panted, and Ellis could see blood trickling from his cheek where the hard, sudden contact with the marble wall broke the skin. "Hee hee... I always knew you would be the top when we--"

"Oh, I can do rough!" Ellis snapped, and he grabbed Varo's hair, pulled the boy's face back and slammed it again to the marble wall. "What do you know about this? I'm not fucking around, Varo!"

"Ooh!" Varo giggled, his blue-purple eyes glimmering with ecstasy as his tongue swiped his cheek to lick at the blood trickling from the wound the Crown Prince had inflicted on him. Ellis felt nauseous watching him. Varo sensed his discomfort and laughed at him. "Well, if you don't like foreplay El, we don't have to."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Ellis whispered into his ear. Varo loved pain. Physical and emotional. He thrived in it, and Ellis realised that trying to torture information from him would never work. It would only make the boy happy. "Are you going to kill me? Is Geoffrey putting you up to this?"

"Mm, is this turning you on?" Varo asked, spinning around so that his back was to the wall. The wild look in the boy's pretty eyes was nothing less than horrifying, and blood smeared across his feminine features. "I like to play games! I can play with you, Elly!"

"I want you to stop this shit!" Ellis roared, tired of being on edge all the time. The Goddess gave him resilience, but his resolve was being shortened considerably by whoever could sneak into his private chambers so often and leave these marks of death. "Are you the one who wants me dead or not?"

"I want you, silly brother," Varo continued to lap at the blood that trickled to his mouth, his tongue stained red. "Why should I want you dead? Then I could not have you at all."

"You won't ever have me if you don't tell me who is behind this!" Ellis warned him, and that got the response he wanted. Varo seemed subdued by that threat.

"Someone who understands the arts of the assassin," Varo kept his eyes locked onto Ellis'. "Someone who would gain much from your death. I assure you, sweet Elly, I would never bring harm to you... unless you asked it of me."

"It's not you?" Ellis asked, now confused. He was sure it was Varo, but he couldn't help but believe the smaller boy. His words made sense. "Geoffrey?"

"Geoffrey is slow as molasses and twice as thick," Varo giggled as Ellis loosened his grip on the boy's arms and he didn't even let them rest by his side. He stretched further, his pretty young body on display. "If he were behind this, he has paid someone to do it. Now, enough about him! Geoffrey bores me! Why don't we do something more interesting?"

"Get out," Ellis took a step back, disarmed as always by Varo's incredible persistence and charm.

"...Have you been leading me on, sweet Elly?" Varo asked, shaking his head in disappointment and anger. "If you wanted answers, I would have given them to you without the need to play with my heart."

"Get out!" Ellis repeated angrily, and Varo shot him a look of pure acid.

"You know, if you want Geoffrey dead, I'm sure I can arrange that," the pink-haired boy promised as he slowly walked towards the archway that separated bath chamber from bedchamber. "You know what simple thing I would ask in return, don't you?"

Ellis paused for a moment. Varo was a killer; that much could not be denied. Dozens of women and men had fallen to his daggers and poisons. He moved silently as a shadow and twice as quick. And yet, he'd kill his eldest brother if it meant I would fuck him, Ellis thought. Is that too steep a price to pay? How much power would I surrender to him by granting his request?

"No, Varo," Ellis decided, and the boy scowled at him before leaving in a huff. What is going on in this Palace?

Thank you to anybody who reads my stuff.