Seeing Double - 9. Chapter 9

MATT-

I saw the pool of blood slowly spreading around his body and I snapped from my trance and laid him down as gently as I could on the ground whilst ensuring a thin layer of Energy rested between him and the ground to stop him getting cold.

I looked at him with Energy in front of my eyes and I could see within him.

I could see his heartbeat quickening as he tried to fight the Dark Energy.

“Oh Dan, please be strong!” But he had lost consciousness a little after I had laid him down on the ground.

I thought the best thing to do first was to stem the bleeding; that way I could work on removing the Dark Energy afterwards, but I had to be quick.

Focussing on the wound I made a thin film of Energy that looked like fabric. I placed it carefully over the wound and it settled preventing the blood from seeping out.

When I was happy that no blood was able to escape, I concentrated my efforts towards the Dark Energy in Dan’s body.

For this I needed to look with my Energy. I had used it just as a way to see how his heart was, and at that point, the Dark Energy hadn’t spread far enough to affect his heart directly. Yet.

This time I summoned Energy to my eyes and kept it there.

A headache had already begun to form; the liquid inside the vial hadn’t worked for as long as it was supposed to; although I guessed it was down to using more Energy straight after a large working rather than recovering.

Nevertheless I had to push on, and merely blinking at the headache I focussed my mind away from the pain and kept my eyes firmly on Dan.

As I found a centre of calm, I could see where the Dark Energy was, I could see into his body, I could see every bone, every blood vessel, his heart, his brain, everything.

And the Dark Energy was spreading.

It was in his veins, the dark red of his blood was mingled by the slight violet florescence of the Dark Energy.

I devised small films of Energy once again and gently allowed them to slip through Dan’s skin into his body.

The films were tiny, and I had to concentrate hard to place them in Dan’s aorta and Vena Cava. The films slotted in well and I felt slightly relieved when, as the Dark Energy hit the films, it stopped.

The Energy I could wield was stronger than the Dark Energy, and very slowly, my Energy started to neutralise the Dark Energy that touched the film.

The Dark Energy, being sentient itself started to become wise to my solution and all of a sudden, Dark Energy that had obviously invaded Dan’s cells burst open, flooding his body, and headed straight for the major blood vessels.

I quickly poured more Energy into the films and when the flood of Dark Energy hit them it sent a jolting pain up my body as I felt the Energy buckle under the strain of its twisted ‘counterpart’.

Some of the Dark Energy was still neutralised but eventually the films gave way and the Dark Energy started to flow around his blood vessels once more.

I cursed at this set back. Now there was even more directly moving around his body.

To add to this, I could feel a slight cold permeating me. I had been warned of this, but Dan needed treating so I ignored it, pushing any responses of my body past my conscious level.

I tried to construct more films and place them in, but the Dark Energy worked like a swarm, attacking each film and destroying it before going back to its original function.

The Dark Energy started to invade his cells once more, behaving like a virus, entering and reproducing before destroying the cell.

I started to become nervous; I really hadn’t studied healing intensively. This sort of thing should be beyond me. I knew basic functions of the body but to perform healing with Energy was a skill, one that I hadn’t learnt fully.

I tried another tactic. I allowed tendrils of Energy to enter Dan’s bloodstream and wondered if I could fight the Dark Energy directly.

As the tendrils interacted with the Dark Energy, they weren’t strong enough and the Energy was slowly neutralised by the Dark Energy.

Another stab of cold overrode my senses for a split second bringing me back to reality, but a grim determination had settled over me and once again I gritted my teeth and continued.

All this time Dan had had a thin layer of cold sweat swathing his body and his pulse had quickened.

As my mind raced trying to think of something desperately, it stumbled upon something that was, in effect, quite desperate.

It was stupid, it was probably forbidden, or at least rarely practiced, but I was going to go through with it anyway. I had no time to think of anything else.

I removed any Energy I had left in Dan’s bloodstream and instead sent it to his gallbladder, since I had remembered that it isn’t a primary organ. I then forced a large amount of Energy into his gallbladder, and Dan stiffened to which my heart nearly stopped, but he was still alive.

The Energy stayed in his gallbladder but, for some reason the Dark Energy wasn’t attacking.

I thought for a moment before realising, the gallbladder must not be a priority. So I made it an attractive place for them to come.

I drew in a breath and immediately the Energy split into two parts, one was a portal to my own body. As soon as the Dark Energy sensed this, it rushed to Dan’s liver.

More and more came and, as it thought it was going to invade my body, I enclosed the Dark Energy in the second part of Energy. I could feel my body tightening, but I held firm.

As all the Dark Energy was captured, I held it prisoner inside my shell of Energy. I had to pour nearly all my reserves into that shell in order to contain the Dark Energy that was raging inside.

Once again I berated myself for using so much Energy during the firework display. I could have dealt with this easier, but I had put us in danger.

I looked down at my hands and knew I had pushed myself too hard; crystals were appearing over my skin, glinting under the street lamps. The turquoise colour would have been calming if I didn’t know what that heralded.

‘Ailarha!’ I managed to scream before I could feel myself drift towards unconsciousness; I focussed everything I had left in maintaining that shell of Energy inside Dan.

Then, at this moment, the sound that occurred next was joyous to hear.

With a scream from the air as reality was torn apart, I could sense two figures approach.

‘Let go, Matt.’ One voice said, and I relaxed and the shell disappeared. The other figure knelt over Dan.

Then, as I felt my consciousness fade, I saw the one figure picking up Dan, whilst I myself was picked up and we were carried into the portal of torn space and then I finally blacked out.

It was an effort to open my eyes, like my eyelids were made of lead. As I opened them I could see the layout of a very familiar room; an unfortunately all too familiar room.

As I took in the pristine white walls and the oblong traces on the floor, I knew we were in the infirmary. It was Ailarha’s infirmary.

I tried to move; I could tell I was upright. But I couldn’t.

I panicked as none of my muscles would respond, and I could now feel a slightly recognisable tingling racing up my legs.

‘Fuck!’ I thought.

I quickly tried to go back to when I was healing Dan. I remembered the headache, the cold sensation, the loss of consciousness as I was doggedly trying to heal him, to repay the sacrifice he made.

Dan. Just thinking about healing him brought back all the memories that were going on before the incident with the assassin.

The frustration at him, the fear I had done something wrong. Then the dread when the assassin’s blade entered Dan would have made me shudder if I could move.

I refocused back on why I couldn’t move. I knew it was because I had over exerted myself healing Dan; my Energy reserves had become too low, my ability to tap into it diminished.

As a result the Energy had cocooned me in the last of the Energy I had left at my disposal. I would stay like this until a small pool of Energy had reformed for me to use then I would be released from the prison it had made for me.

I looked round as far as I could from the position I was in, which wasn’t as much as I would have liked. I could see no sign of Dan, but then again I didn’t expect to. Each of the oblong tracings on the floor represented a ‘bed’.

In reality, the ‘beds’ were pods full of a strange liquid that emitted blue light, but the person could breathe in the liquid even when fully submerged.

I knew Dan would panic and I couldn’t do anything to help him. That is if he survived at all. I couldn’t reach out with any Energy to try and detect him, my immobile form being a hopeless testament to that fact.

I wondered where Ailarha was, or where any of the Lords were. I assumed one of them would be here as soon as they learned of my awakening.

They would probably want answers.

I went to close my eyes to fall back asleep when I had a flashback to the morning before all this happened.

I had not paid much attention to this dream as I was too preoccupied, but I knew the Council would have to know of Arensha’s plans soon. We couldn’t afford him being able to mount a surprise attack.

The way Arensha killed the messenger was sickening and I quickly skipped past that portion and, for some reason, I had been able to hear what he was saying, even though the messenger, who was the conduit for this dream, was dead.

I had plenty to think about until Ailarha or anybody for that matter came to check up on me.

DAN-

I was at peace. I felt warm, I felt surrounded by something. I couldn’t open my eyes for a few minutes, even though I was desperately trying to command my eyelids to obey me.

I didn’t bother for a few moments more. Instead I tried to figure out what I was in. Something was surrounding me and I felt suspended, then I realised that I was suspended in a liquid of some sort.

My eyes shot open at this revelation and all I could see was liquid. It shone with its own light, a pale blue light.

I moved around a little in a circle trying to decipher what was happening.

I looked up and found that apart from the blue light coming from the liquid itself, the space I was in was windowless and felt underground, or below the surface of something anyway.

I became slightly claustrophobic at this thought and felt trapped. Well...I was trapped but there was nothing I could do to help myself especially as I didn’t know what was happening.

Another thing made me panic, and I thought it stupid I hadn’t noticed earlier.

I was completely submerged under the fluid, but there were no tubes in my nose or mouth, and nothing that seemed to obviously give me air within this chamber. If it wasn’t for the fact I could breathe, I would have been sputtering and drowning at my surprise.

How was I breathing? What the fuck was going on?! And where was Matt?

It was a spur of the moment thing when I stepped in front of Matt to stop the assassin landing her strike.

I recalled with some grimacing the pain that I had felt when her blade passed through my flesh. Shit it had hurt!

It had felt like my entire body had been plunged into an ice bath. The cold pain that exploded from my stomach was terrible and I had had to cry out. Almost immediately after that I could feel something starting to seep into my blood and I only got colder.

I truly thought I was about to die and I felt awful for leaving us on such a difficult note. I started apologising, the ramblings of a dying man.

But Matt had waved them all away with tears in his eyes. I couldn’t comfort him, couldn’t look after him. And then I slipped from consciousness.

And yet here I was, alive, feeling quite well in fact.

I went to touch where the blade had entered. As I felt down my body, just above my stomach, I could feel a scar. It wasn’t large, but it was still an angry line across my torso, although I guessed it would fade with time.

Now I was awake, I wondered when I would see people, or those figures that Matt met with.

I hoped that these chambers were only supposed to be for patients that were unconscious. Otherwise this would be near total sensory deprivation.

I needed Matt, I needed to feel him in my arms and feel his arms around mine. I needed him soon.

MATT-

‘What you did was incredibly foolish.’

No hint of a hello as Ailarha came into the infirmary. Her face was stern but I didn’t care. They needed me. Nothing was going to happen.

‘You wasted your Energy on a ‘show’; you made yourself vulnerable in spite of what we have told you.’

I decided to test how much Energy I had now by trying to communicate.

‘Ailarha, I realise that the usage of Energy, in that amount, was foolish. On the other hand I showed I can use large amounts of Energy in one go.’

‘Yet you are in this state.’

‘Because I was trying to heal Dan!’

Well at least I had some of my Energy back as I could keep a conversation going.

‘That shouldn’t have had to be necessary in the first place!’Ailarha shouted in my mind.

I reeled mentally and a sudden stab of annoyance flared through me.

‘I realise that! However I could not have foreseen those circumstances! The assassin used a moment of opportunity that won’t happen again.’I shouted back mentally, which made Ailarha stagger.

She glared at me to which I replied ‘If you are going to shout in my head then you deserve nothing less.’

‘I am your...’

‘Superior? You were my superior until I was made a Lord of the Fortress. I have always had to put up with whatever measures you put in motion in order to train me.

Never forget that it was you that caused this, you chose me as the host for this Energy.

You saw me fall in love with Dan, you should have realised that I would do anything to help him and him for me. Your outrage, whilst well placed, would never have had to arise had you not done a better job of recognising the dangers that lay ahead.’

Ailarha looked like I had slapped her. But, as she digested my rant, she slowly nodded.

‘I will make sure you are protected when on Earth. In the meantime, I will tell you to limit your usage of Energy. Your wasteful display will also have caused you to need another Releasing soon.’

‘I appreciate that Ailarha, and I am sorry for the usage. I don’t intend on using that much until...’

She nodded as I didn’t need to continue with that sentence.

After my apology she seemed to soften somewhat.

‘Matt, the hold your Energy has you in should ease soon. I will also tell you that Dan is alive.’

‘Thank you so much Ailarha, for taking Dan in.’

‘Matt, we know you can withdraw your support and we know how strong your feelings for Dan make you.’

‘Like when I let my rage get the better of me?’

‘A little bit of anger, if directed in the right way can boost your powers. If it‘s anger for the sake of anger then it can destroy you.’

‘Is that what happened to the Dark Energy Manipulators Ailarha?’

‘They let their emotions spill over with no outlet in which to pour their feelings. As a result, the Energy became corrupted by the dark thoughts and emotions of the Galwrons who didn’t let go. And so yes, they became Dark Energy Manipulators.’

I nodded. Those who manipulated Dark Energy were dangerous; they had abandoned all ethics, nothing was immoral, and nothing was beyond them.

And their Energy was only too happy to participate. Drawn from a different network to the untainted Energy, the Dark Energy didn’t need releasing, the deeds of the Manipulators enough to satisfy it.

I had faced off against Dark Manipulators, or, if I were to use the Galwron word, Aartla. It was a scary time. The appearance they took was the stuff of nightmares and I had had to dispatch them as part of my training.

It was gruesome work, and I would face many more before my task was done.

It took several more hours until the Energy finally relented. I nearly fell as I could stretch out.

After several minutes stretching my muscles, I felt better, although I could agree with Ailarha, the Energy had tensed somewhat.

I knew the Releasing wouldn’t be as draining this time. Ailarha wouldn’t let me abstain too long.

Instead my attention soon turned to Dan. I wondered where he was once again, and this time, with Energy at my disposal, I could locate him.

But, before I could start to locate him, Ailarha’s chief healer gently glided through the doors, his grace extraordinary.

It was then I remembered he was a battle healer as well as a peace time healer. He had to be skilled in combat as well; his physique spoke of extra time practising recently.

“Good... afternoon my Lord.” He said, obviously having to think of the English after so long speaking to me.

“The same to you dear, Awan.” I replied addressing him by his respectful title, to which he looked humbled.

“I’m sure you know the question I am going to ask you.”

“Yes my Lord, and I can safely say that...”

“You may call him Daniel.”

“Yes, my Lord. Daniel is perfectly well, although he has woken slightly earlier than he should have, so he might be a bit...scared.”

“He is awake? Whilst still in the chamber?”

“I’m sorry my Lord, but we had to take urgent measures. Considering the time we had the duration we set for him to awake was quite accurate.”

He went to apologise more but I raised a hand.

“It is I who should also be sorry; I know what state Dan was in when he was brought here.”

He nodded.

“So, where is he?”

“Oh yes.” And with that Awan gestured to a pod seemingly at random.

The pod started to rise and, as it reached knee height, I could make out the top of Dan’s head.

Slowly I could see Dan appear before me and the sight nearly made me cry with relief.

He was facing in the opposite direction whilst the pod was moving, which allowed me, through the liquid, to admire his butt, which was wonderfully curved.

I sent Awan a mental probe and he increased the opacity of the liquid from Dan’s waist down sparing his dignity.

I couldn’t help but have a stupid grin on my face for seeing him again.

Dan began to stir after a few moments and disturbed the liquid violently as he realised he was above ground.

He turned himself round and, as he realised who I was, because I had to resume my ‘true’ form, gave a huge smile which I returned.

I ran up to the glass and pressed my hand against it. Dan did the same and I needed to feel him, to hold him.

Recognising our need Awan said “I will check him over then I will release him, clean him and robe him as soon as I possibly can.”

“Thank you Awan.”

He smiled in acknowledgment.

“May I suggest you get some air whilst I am tending to Daniel my Lord? Allow yourself and the Energy to breathe.”

“Yes Awan, I will do that. Thank you.”

Another smile and with that I mouthed goodbye to Dan, to which he looked quite distressed.

Awan had obviously sent a message to Dan telepathically, because his expression changed to one that was quite amusing before he relaxed somewhat.

With that I left to allow Awan to get on with his business.

I made my way down through the fortress to the cloisters, and through them to the main quad in the centre of the fortress.

The quad was brightly lit, as always, by Galwrock’s suns, and plenty of trees provided shade and balance.

I leisurely walked around the quad, which in total took over 20 minutes. And even though I knew Awan wouldn’t be finished yet, I couldn’t stay here. Though the quad was beautiful, it paled to what I had left in the infirmary.

I walked quickly back up to the infirmary, using my Energy to find the two of them quickly.

Awan was standing outside the showers; he looked up and couldn’t hide his look of surprise.

“My Lord? Is something wrong?”

“I can’t wait to see him Awan. Is it ok for me to enter?”

“I can’t see why not my Lord.” Awan replied with a wicked smile.

I returned the wicked smile and thanked him.

Dan-

As I let the hot water cascade onto my body I let out a sigh.

It was good to be out of that chamber. When I realised the chamber had been raised, my hopes had too.

To see Matt again made my heart ache. The smile he gave me soothed me and I was hurt when he turned to leave, until the healer had told me he had sent Matt away to get some air.

Matt’s expression told me he would be back soon.

After being quickly looked at by the healer, I was given what looked like a bath robe before being escorted to the showers.

I started to lather up, hoping to finish the shower quickly in order to see Matt quicker.

As I turned back to face the shower door, however, I jumped out of my skin before strong arms quickly enveloped me.

“Hey gorgeous.” The deep voice whispered into my ear, making my knees tremble.

“Ma...Matt?” What are you doing in here?”

He backed away a step to look at me.

He had stayed in his ‘true’ form, the form he had been changed into.

The water trickled down his body and as I slowly followed a particular drop of water, I had to look away before it reached too far down. His body was incredible.

“I can’t believe you earned this but you never show it to anyone.”

He shrugged, it was still Matt under there for sure, his shyness even now was endearing.

“I want you to whisper in my ear again Matt.” I cooed.

He smiled stepping towards me, wrapping his arms around me once more and whispered “What would you like me to say?”

“Anything you want.” I whispered back.

“I would say how much you turn me on but...”

He pressed himself into me, letting both our erections tell each other how aroused we were.

“...I’m sure you can feel how much you do.”

My mouth went slightly dry, before Matt went slightly sheepish again and I wrapped my arms round his neck and kissed him softly on the lips.

“I know what you want Dan but...”

“Matt, what have I said about this? I don’t mind if you don’t want to do anything. Yes, you have just made me incredibly horny, but if you don’t want to do anything that’s fine.”

Matt thought about this before images flashed into my head which only turned me on even more.

“Did you want to do that?” I asked quickly.

Matt looked down at me slightly, which was such a weird feeling as he was taller in his ‘true’ form than me.

He nodded before adding “Please take the lead Dan.”

I nodded and smiled before pulling him further under the shower.

I pulled him down to my level before devouring his mouth, our tongues dancing as I let my hands fall to his arse, gently feeling the curvature.

Matt used one hand to play with my hair whilst the other went exploring. He was thorough; his hand slowly inched its way down my chest, lingering occasionally before moving on, wherever he touched tingling afterwards.

He snaked his hand round my back before it eventually reached my arse as well. Again he was painfully slow in his movements and I groaned as he grabbed and squeezed with no warning whatsoever.

“Sorry.” He said.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for Matt, that was a groan of appreciation.” I squeezed his butt in return to which he sighed softly before he leaned down slightly to kiss me.

We stayed like that for a while, just gently wrapped in each other’s arms lightly kissing, until, when Matt was very relaxed, I slowly stroked down his chest till my hand lay only a few inches away from his erection.

He looked at me and it seemed some of his inhibitions had gone for now because he smiled and said “I want you to continue Dan.”

I kissed him quickly before sliding my hand down the rest of the way and gripped his cock.

He moaned at my touch, which only turned me on more.

I stood to the side of him slightly before whispering “Is that ok?”

He could only nod whilst blushing.

I kissed him once again and slowly began to stroke him.

I started with long, very slow, very deliberate strokes. Matt leaned back as I worked on him. I gently sucked at his nipple whilst increasing the speed a little.

Matt was enjoying it immensely; I placed my hand on his back for support as he leaned into me.

Whilst I was continuing this, Matt suddenly turned and gripped my cock as well which made me stop stroking him.

“You didn’t show me this image.” I said gently.

“I want to give you as much pleasure as you are giving me.” He replied slightly hoarse.

I smiled at him before starting to stroke him again.

This time though I could feel Matt’s hand slowly stroking me as well and it was my turn to start moaning as Matt matched the pace at which I was stroking him.

Our other hands were buried in each other’s hair as we locked lips, each other’s moans playing across our lips.

After so long with no attention, it didn’t take much until I felt a familiar sensation.

“Matt, I’m close.” I whispered.

Matt couldn’t speak; instead he reached me telepathically ‘So am I’.

We both increased the speed, making each other’s legs buckle.

Matt broke the kiss and started to moan loudly as he came; he arched his back slightly but kept his hand firmly on my cock.

Only a couple of seconds later I cried out as I had my own orgasm.

We gently kissed for a few moments before washing each other down.

I turned off the water and we stepped out the shower.

“Wow Matt. That was incredible.”

“I can’t believe I did that.” He said, a look of amazement on his face.

“You don’t regret that, do you?”

“No, not in the slightest; I’m not ready for anything more yet, but I can’t believe I couldn’t think I could go that far before.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“I’m sorry I held back before, thinking I couldn’t go further.”

I silenced him with a kiss.

“Shh. Before you ever apologise about anything like this, remember what I keep repeating to you.” I said, hoping my eyes would emphasise my sincerity.

“It was in the shower as well.” I added grinning. We both laughed at the fact our first act together had been in the shower.

“But just out of curiosity, what made you want to move on?”

Matt paused before speaking with a slightly wistful tone said “Because when I saw you lying there, after the attack, then being able to see you alive and well, I promised myself to make an effort to get over my inhibitions, especially when I’m with you.”

I couldn’t speak in response to that so instead I hugged him close, although I’m sure he could read me like a book.

We dried each other down before changing into traditional robes of Galwrock.

Matt wore an outfit of darkest midnight with gold trim and purest white trousers.

I wore the reverse; I had a white jacket inlaid with gold trim, and trousers that were a deep black.

“I had nothing to do with the way we’re dressed.” Matt said.

I raised an eyebrow.

“It’s true!” He exclaimed before slugging me on the arm.

I feigned a hurt look to which he laughed and duly kissed me.

“Does that make up for it?”

“Always.” I replied.

“I’m very sorry to have to break this up my Lord, but Mistress wishes to meet with you and Daniel.”

“Of course, Awan. Send a messenger to tell Mistress Ailarha that we are on our way.”

“Will it just be Ailarha?” I asked.

“No, it will be the other Lords of the Fortress; they will have convened to discuss the war. And I’m afraid that, for now at least, you will have to address Ailarha and the other Lords by Mistress or Lord.”

“Do not worry Matt; I know I am not of their stature.”

“But you are to me.” Matt said firmly.

I felt a stab of pride as Matt viewed me so highly. Then I thought back to why we were here in the first place and that pride was replaced by the cold stab of guilt.

I kept it hidden as I walked hand in hand with Matt up to the command room.

“Won’t those here be judging us holding hands?” I asked, wondering as something like this would have attracted attention on Earth.

“No Dan, for a start they are servants so they must keep their opinions to themselves. Secondly and most importantly, homosexuality is normal here. Galwrons are only judged on the skills they hone and the love they show. The military doesn’t care so long as you have the skills in combat. The people here recognise that no two people are the same and why should they be?”

“They are a lot freer here.”

“Yes, yes it is. I love to escape here every so often to marvel at the beauty of the world and to feel comfortable with who I am.”

“Being a ‘Lord’ helps people to be friendly to you though, doesn’t it?”

“You could stroll down that street.” He pointed to a large road outside the main gates of the Fortress. “If you walked down that street with guys on each arm, no one would care.”

“I can’t believe...”

“Yeah, this world is full of surprises.” Matt smiled.

We reached the command room and Matt nodded to the guards and the door started to open. I suddenly felt very vulnerable once again and tightened my grip on Matt’s hand. Matt squeezed back in reassurance and we entered.

Matt-

I smiled at Dan’s expression once the doors opened and revealed the command room. Its opulence was not lost on Dan.

Dark panelled walls were inlaid with a thread that I had learned could only be produced once every millennia. Vast windows punctuated the dark walls, letting the light stream in from Galwrock’s suns.

I turned to Dan who had to shield his eyes. He looked into mine and whilst he did so I placed a tiny film of Energy over his eyes so he could see in the bright light and he stared more in awe once he could see everything.

In the centre of the room, the large burnished table sat atop thick carpet.

Sitting around the table, in a semi circle, were the Lords and Ailarha, the Mistress.

Dan tried his best to hide his nervousness, but I could sense it and so could Ailarha and the other Lords.

‘Hi gorgeous’, I said in his head and he nodded slightly for me to continue.

‘You shouldn’t be so nervous; you’re here now by invitation. You’re not intruding this time.´I finished with a smile.

Dan nodded but I could tell he was still nervous.

I took my place at the table and Dan sat to my left and on a chair slightly lower than mine. That annoyed me somewhat but I wasn’t going to argue yet over Dan’s status.

The other Lords’ lovers or partners were on similar chairs to the left of each lord. Dan looked around and his eyes widened slightly when he saw that Drackhir, whom I had pointed out already, had a male lover.

‘I told you it was accepted.’

‘I’m sorry for not believing you to start with.’

‘Dan, don’t worry, it’s weird I know being somewhere with entirely different concepts.’

“If we could bring this council to start.” Onai, the Lord of Flame, said roughly.

Ailarha nodded.

I stood up first.

“I would like to bring to the Council’s attention, a vision I had a few nights previous.”I was speaking in the tongue of Galwrock, but I was translating for Dan into his head so he could keep track of the conversation.

“And what was it you saw?” Tashar, the Lord of Nature, replied.

“I saw Arensha, in his throne room, talking about plans, plans to speed up his preparations.”

The Council nodded.

“Why are you nodding?” I asked suspiciously.

“One of Ailarha’s acolytes received a telepathic link from a messenger taken captive by Arensha. The messenger had told Arensha that we expected his attack, which didn’t please him. Obviously the link was severed once Arensha devoured the messenger.”

“That doesn’t explain why you nodded to my news.”

“Because we had already presumed that he would speed up plans. You just confirmed it; although when he attacks is a different matter.”

“Did the messenger relay anything else?... Wait...I think I saw the messenger die in my vision. My vision directly followed after his!”

“That is a rare case, for a sequence of events to be crossed. Anyway, the messenger showed Arensha speaking to an assassin with blades dripping Dark Energy.”

A thought occurred to me and, if the answer was what I feared, then I wouldn’t be happy.

“When did you know about this?”

“It will have been the same time as your vision Matt.”

“So you knew!” I said loudly directing my anger at Ailarha.

“You knew and you didn’t warn me, you knew and you decided to see how I’d do? Was that it?”

“Had you had your full powers at your disposal, the assassin would have been little effort for you.” Ailarha said coolly.

“Had you have warned me I never would have participated in that fireworks display.”I replied equally as cold.

“Well, I think we should stop focussing on the past events and look to how we can bolster our defences for an attack waiting to happen.” Ynana, Lord of Light, rarely spoke, so for him to come out and stop this argument made people listen.

“It will not do us well to sit here and argue when Arensha could strike any day now.”

I nodded and apologised for my outburst. Ailarha, however, remained aloof, but nodded to end the argument.

“How far along are the preparations?” I asked

“They are further along than we expected Matt. Many of the protective wards are in place, and the walls of several minor fortresses have been reinforced with supplies being hoarded as we speak.” Ballantor replied. As Lord of Earth, he was primarily responsible for physical defences, as well as pacifying the earth for a plentiful harvest for the coming war.

“When are the defences of the Gleaming Fortress being completed?”

“They will be soon.” Drackhir and Welagana said together. Drackhir was the Lord of Storms and Welagana the Lord of Flight.

I sat in contemplative thought when Dan made an interesting suggestion.

‘Is there any way of getting in a pre-emptive strike?’

I relayed the message to the Council.

“We have no idea what portal or what planet Arensha is on. And even if that were possible, we can’t commit resources to such a strike.” Onai said bluntly.

“Maybe we could.” Ailarha said carefully

“You all have your own special forces, but I also know that within that there are an even more shadowy group.

You each have your own elites that operate outside the laws of the military.”

The Lords, whilst annoyed, didn’t look shocked. Ailarha was the Mistress of the Mind though; she could find these things out without much effort.

“And what do you propose Ailarha?” Welagana asked.

“Take one member from each of your groups...”

“We must first locate the planet.”Drackhir said casually.

“I will devote acolytes to the location of Arensha. Then once the planet is located, I will select an easy target to start with which we can destroy. If successful, we can plan several raids to disrupt Arensha’s plans.”

“I still think we should wait until Arensha shows his face. We have the upper hand here, and what happens if our strike force is killed? All of these members we are talking about are worth about a hundred normal soldiers. It is a horrible idea.” Onai protested.

“Reducing Arensha’s ability to attack in force will outweigh the risk of loss of the strike force. If he can’t send his full army in when he wants to, the war of attrition will be less in his favour.” Dan said and I was as shocked as the Council was when he spoke.

Switching to English Ailarha spoke. “Whilst normally you would be barred from such a meeting that is a good point and one that I will accept. Onai, Daniel’s point has just won me over.

If we can disrupt the numbers we face, then the sieges will not be so severe. I vote that all Houses contribute one elite member of their force to form this strike team. All those in favour let it be known.”

Since now the table had been obsolete but now, in front of each one, lay a small glass globe. As one by one the Lords voted, all the globes except Onai’s went green.

“It is decided. Choose a member of your team. I will find Arensha’s planet.”

“What will happen to Dan?” I asked as nothing had been said of this yet.

“As he is here, he should train and become a soldier.” Onai replied with a cruel smile.

“As he is my lover, he doesn’t need to do that.”

“What if I do though, Matt?” Dan answered, which made me nearly stumble with the shock.

“Dan? What are you saying?”

“I want to learn how to fight, if only to be able to protect myself if something goes wrong.”

I chewed over this. I didn’t want Dan to put himself in danger, but who was I to dictate what he did?

“I just don’t want to lose you.” I said quietly.

“I don’t expect to fight on the front line Matt; I just want to be able to hold my own until someone can help me if I get caught up fighting during the battle.”

I still hesitated over an answer.

“Please Matt; you can even say what goes into my training.”

The other Lords were sitting, patiently waiting for an outcome.

“Ynana?”

The Lord of Light looked up and fixed me with a gentle gaze.

“Yes, Matt?”

“Can you see whether Dan is ready?”

“I could do later, but I would have to do that privately. It is a very personal thing you’re asking me to do, normally a trusted family member does that.”

“I understand that Ynana, but if I may ask you to, could you be the one to train Dan? Or one of your instructors perhaps?”

“I will train Dan when I can, if he is ready, when I am unavailable my instructors are more than capable of teaching him. Although, Dan...”

Dan managed to look and keep his gaze on Ynana, to which Ynana gave Dan a gentle smile.

“I must warn you Dan, the training isn’t easy. You will be pushed and the instructors will expect more and more as you progress.”

“I understand, my Lord.”

Ynana looked back at me and nodded.

“If I find he is ready, Matt I will meet with you to discuss a training programme for Dan.”

“Thank you, Ynana.”

“If we are all in agreement, let us disband this meeting and continue to make the necessary preparations.” Ailarha said.

We all bowed in agreement to each other and the Lords and Ailarha left with their lovers in tow.

I led Dan to our chambers and smiled at the expanse of bed we had.

“Impressed with my size?” I said grinning.

Dan laughed. “Yes I’m impressed with the bed!” And I promptly picked him up and threw him onto it as well.

Dan seemed to remember something because he became serious quite quickly.

“Matt, what did you and Ynana mean about me being ready?”

“Ynana is the Lord of Light; it gives him the ability to look at a person, both outside and inside their soul and check for anything that may hold them back. A secret that eats at someone, a troubled mind, all can inhibit a person’s ability to train in the arts of war on Galwrock.”

Dan seemed to whiten slightly, before repressing what had just sprung into his mind.

“What happens if Ynana finds anything?” Dan asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Then you will have to confront what is stopping you before you continue.”

Dan nodded as if expecting this answer.

“I think we should go to bed now Dan.” I said gently.

“But it is still light outside.”

“Apart from maybe one or two hours a day, and it is day thirty-six hours here, there is constant sunlight from the two suns. Wear a pair of these.”

I handed Dan a pair of thick blindfolds.

Dan raised his eyebrows.

“It’s not like that Dan, silly. They will block out nearly all of the light, so you will have a better chance of falling asleep.”

He smiled at me and we started to undress and climb into bed.

I found Dan and curled up around him before placing the blindfold over my eyes and could see Dan do the same before the blindfold took my sight.

“Goodnight Dan.”

“Goodnight Matt.”

But, as I faded into blissful sleep, I could make out sobbing, but I couldn’t stop myself falling to sleep. I hoped Dan was ok.