From the minds of Aeor, a Series of Shorts
The Braleigh Affair
There was a pounding at the door, late in the night. The gatekeeper tried to ignore it at first as it was too late for visitors, and too early for the morning deliveries. That only left one possible cause for such an incessant knocking: trouble.
The Magus Institute was greatly appreciated and respected by most, but there were still some who feared magic and wanted to drive them out of town. Therefore, the gatekeeper felt well within his right to let the hoodlums banging on his door freeze in the cold night wind for however long it took them to finally give up and leave. That is – until he heard the baby cry.
“Please, sir, I beg for your help!” The woman spoke up as soon as she heard him pull the lock from the door. The child wailed on, and he could hear the chill wind blowing fiercely. He opened the door and immediately saw the screaming chid in its mothers arms, its skin turning a pale blue.
“Get your arse in here, you daft woman, before that thing turns to ice against your bosom!” He grabbed the woman by her arm and roughly pulled her inside, slamming the door behind her and bolting it once again.
“What were you thinking bringing a babe out in this weather? You’ve nearly killed the poor thing! It’s turned blue!” He was furious, ready to take the child from her and flay her alive.
“Sir, please, be calm,” the woman said. “My son is perfectly warm, see?” She held the baby out to him and he noticed that it was swaddled well and tight in a fur lined blanket. It should be quite warm, but its skin was still a pale blue hue. He reached out a hand and put his fingers to the now calm child’s forehead. It was, indeed, warm.
“My boy may be an abomination, but he is still my boy. I would not let him die so easily and carelessly.” There was such determination and pride in the woman’s voice that it was impossible to not believe her. However she felt, she would die for her son if she had to.
That was when the rest of her words sank in. “Abomination?” He looked closer at the child and could just see the starting of horns at the boys hairline. So, the color was natural?
“Please, I must see the Grand Magus. There is obviously some magic at work here and he must know how to fix it!”
The gatekeeper looked at this proud but desperate woman and nodded. How could he deny an ailing mother. He would send word up to the main keep and he would keep them both safe and warm. That was the best that he could do.
***
The woman held the child close to her chest as she walked the large halls of the institute. It hadn’t been long before a young man had come to collect them at the gatehouse. He walked before her now, supposedly leading her to the Grand Magus’ study.
It was hard to look away from the soft ball of light, gently floating beside the young man’s head. She had seen very little magic in her life and it was fascinating how casually he had summoned it.
More fascinating was her sons reaction to it. He had been sleeping soundly but as soon as the spell was cast, his eyes shot open and were glued to the light. It was as if his newborn mind knew that the light was not natural, that it was magic, and it was calling to him. So, she held the babe close to her breast and followed the young man quietly.
She was eventually led to a room that was cavernous inside and covered with books. If she hadn’t been told that this was a personal study, she would have assumed that it was the entire institute’s library. Her escort showed her inside and left, taking his ball of light with him.
She expected darkness once the ball faded away, but found there was a soft light being cast down from the ceiling high above. It was painted like a night sky and the stars were somehow glowing bright enough to see by.
No one else was there. The Grand Magus must have still been on his way. She decided to wait for him comfortably and walked to an empty chair beside the dark fireplace. Her son had fallen back into an easy sleep and was smiling at his dreams. She silently vowed to find whatever had turned her son into a monster and destroy it.
So wrapped up in her quiet plotting was she that she did not notice the door open behind her or the man who approached her. From out of nowhere, it seemed, a gout of flame shot over her head and into the fireplace, setting it ablaze. She jumped so high, she almost dropped the baby.
As it was, she jumped to her feet and spun to face the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She attempted to speak, but was only able to splutter.
“Ah,” the man said in a soft and melodic voice, “please forgive me. I did not mean to frighten you. I had thought you heard me come in.” He chuckled a little and motioned to the chair she had just left, taking the one opposite for himself.
“I am Kieran, Grand Magus here at the institute. And you are?” He brushed his long black hair behind his long pointed ears and relaxed into his chair. He had pointed ears. He was an elf. She had never met an elf before. No wonder he was so beautiful. Today seemed to be a day of firsts for her.
“I am Felicity Braleigh, and this is my son Katon Braleigh. It is an honor to meet you.” She gave a small bow of her head, remembering the hours of etiquette training she had received. “I apologize for the late hour, sir.”
“Oh, what a beautiful baby boy you have there! He looks to be in excellent health, from what I can tell. And by that smile, I believe he is quite content. If there were any complications, I could recommend an amazing cleric at the temple down the road.”
“Sir, my son is blue. And he has these nubs on his head! Some foul magic is at work here!” She uncovered more of her son and showed him to the elf, almost hysterical. Why couldn’t he see there was something terribly wrong here? He simply sighed and shook his head sadly.
“I know the name Braleigh. Yours is a noble house in the country side, is it not?” When she nodded, confused, he continued. “I assume, as a noble, you were well educated, yes?” She nodded again, her confusion only growing. “Tell me, then, what you know of tieflings.”
“DEMONS!” she screamed. “Has a demon stolen my baby and left me it’s own? No doubt it will try to eat my boy! What can I do?” The woman was almost crying at this point.The Grand Magus only shook his head again and frowned, rubbing at his eyes. It was almost as if he were crying, himself.
“My dear lady, your SON is a tiefling.” He held up his hand, forestalling her interruption. “A tiefling is not a full demon, but a half-demon. Some time during your pregnancy you must have run across a demon or some vestiges of demonic magic. The demonic energy was absorbed by your developing baby and it changed him. Your son will grow up to be a powerful magical being. Whether he embraces his demonic
side or not, is entirely up to him.”
Felicity sat in her chair, facing the Grand Magus, with her mouth hanging stupidly agape. Everything he said was ringing a bell inside her mind. There was a time during her very early pregnancy that she had visited a circus with her husband.
There had been a man there who had been telling fortunes. He had worn a deep and dark hood and his hands were covered in purple paint and drawings of feathers. What if it wasn’t paint? What if his skin was actually purple? What if he was hiding horns under that hood?
There was magic in her son’s blood. That could explains his reaction when the young man had cast his spell. He wasn’t doomed to be an evil creature, though. He had a choice. That gave her a small sense of peace.
“He will be treated differently. You should be prepared for that. Other than that, though, he should be able to live a perfectly normal life.”
If only that had been the case.
***
Katon shook his head in disgust. His brothers and their cousins were playing some ruffian game in the meadow along their manor. When he was a much younger child he would beg to be allowed to play their games. They never let him of course. He was the family freak. Now that he was a sharp ten year old, he didn’t need their games. They were barbaric anyways.
Katon preferred to spend his time in the library. He loved books. He could get lost in the pages of his favorites. Tales of daring adventures, dashing heroes, and of course magic. Tales of places where a freak like him would be accepted and even respected. He dreamed of being able to cross into those lands. He prayed to wake there every night.
Only two people looked at him like a person. His mother, of course, and his only sister, Adela. Adela was only four years old and had the most fanciful imagination. She loved it when her special brother would read her stories. She would beg for another every time he had to stop. Before long he just taught her to read. She was quickly able to out read her other brothers, but she still preferred to hear him read the tales.
Sometimes their mother would join them. She marveled at the voices Katon would use and smiled at the connection between the two of them. He was happiest when the three of them were together. It was one of the only times he was truly safe.
He would never tell his mother, or even his father, but his brothers picked on him mercilessly. If he dared venture away from his books alone, it was a good bet he would run into one or more of them. They would call him names, at first, and it hurt him. Before long, though, the words began to lose meaning, and words without meaning couldn’t hurt him. Sadly, his brothers figured this out as well. If words couldn’t hurt him anymore, maybe their fists could. They started hitting him whenever they could.
He hardly ever left the library anymore. When he did, it was because Adela or his mother came to fetch him for one reason or another. He even started sleeping in there. No one questioned it, not even mother. They just assumed he fell asleep reading, and most nights they weren’t wrong. There was already a large, overstuffed, comfortable chair in front of the fireplace. All he had to do was bring in a few blankets and a small pillow.
***
Years went by like that. Katon became more and more secluded and quiet. It was getting difficult for even Adela to pull him from his own thoughts. By the age of sixteen he was barely more than a shadow in the house. His brothers still picked on him from time to time but they hardly ever bothered. Most times he just glared at them until they went away.
He struck an intimidating figure now. He had grown exceptionally tall, taller than any of them, and while they were more muscled than him, his horns gave them pause. They were no longer nubs on his forehead. Now they arched and curled over the top of is head, ending in sharp points. Even his skin had changed. It had faded from his pale blue to a darker and more rich shade.
Add all of that to the long tail that had grown out quickly during his eleventh year and you are left with a very intimidating young man. A long glare from his ice blue eyes and an agitated swish of his tail usual had them backing down anymore.
On the few occasions it did not, he refused to make a sound as they struck him. He didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing what hurt. And still, no one knew; or if they did, they did nothing about it. If he happened to get a visible bruise showing black on his blue skin, he would laugh it off and say he got clumsy with a stack of books.
One day when he made a rare venture outside of the library, he heard Adela’s voice yelling down a hallway. He moved to investigate. From the start he knew she was furious. He knew her voice well enough to know her emotions on instinct alone. She sounded so angry he almost felt sorry for the recipient, until he heard the laughing.
His brothers were there as well and their cruel laughter was ringing in his ears. When he heard his sister cry out in pain he bolted forward and crashed through the door. Adela lay sprawled on the floor, crying, with a welt on her cheek; his biggest brother standing over her holding his arm.
Katon didn’t waste another second, he ran in and tripped his brother with his tail, throwing him back. He stopped in front of Adela and turned, spreading his arms to block her from them. He glared the iciest stare he could muster to the point he could feel heat all across his eyes.
His brothers looked at him first in confusion then in rage. As a group they charged at him with their fists raised. Normally he would silently take the beating, but when he saw his precious sister crying on the ground, something inside him snapped. He dodged the first few punches then spun, lashing out with his tail. It smacked them all across the gut and they doubled over. He had landed a blow but he knew he couldn’t keep it up, he wasn’t built for brawling. His only hope was that Adela would snap out of it and run, then he could give up.
Swinging his heavy tail, he kept them at bay for a few minuets but eventually one slipped passed and was able to punch him in the stomach. He instantly folded over for a moment but then he dove forward and rammed the boy with the round of his horns. Both of the boys fell to the floor in a pile of flailing limbs, each trying to strike the other. Katon was getting hit more than he was hitting and his head was starting to throb.
When a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled, his body reacted instinctually. A heat flared in his core and raced to his hands. He spun around, lashing his hand at the body attached to the hand on his shoulder, yelling as flames surrounded his attackers body.
A body that was much smaller than he expected. A body with flowing blonde hair. The body of his dear sister. She must have tried to stop the fight by pulling Katon away. He had assumed it was his brothers trying to join in. He had attacked the one thing he cared about in this world.
All of the heat and anger in him vanished and he collapsed further to the floor. As he did the flames fell away.
Adela fell to the ground in front of him, flushed, crying, and with skin so dry it was cracking. Her sobs were half choked as she struggled to regain the breath that the fire had ripped away. The skin of her face was cracked so severely that blood was seeping out and pooling with her tears.
Katon crawled over to her and tried to sooth her.She jerked away and cried out in pain as her skin cracked even more. Their brothers had run as soon as the flames had appeared so they were alone in their individual pain. Judging from their brothers shouts fading into the halls, they wouldn’t be for long. Katon hung his head and cried quietly as he waited for the axe to fall, for his brothers words to come true, for the noose that awaited demons like him.
There were shouts at the doors as people began to arrive. He didn’t dare look upon them. He feared the hatred he knew that he would see there. He didn’t even react when hands grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet. He hung his head so low he couldn’t see who was gently leading him away, or where they were taking him. He could still hear Adela’s wracking sobs so either they would haunt his mind for eternity, or someone was carrying her behind him.
He didn’t look away from his own shoes until he heard the horses whinnying and the carriage door opening. His mother was holding the door open and holding out an arm to help him inside. His father was standing beside her holding Adela. Both wore sad smiles as they looked at him with concern. He hung his head again, confused. They should hate him, should have him in irons, should have him on his way to a deep dark dungeon, should have him far away from his frail little sister.
Maybe they thought he would attack the guards and they could keep him calmer, safer. Maybe they were sharing a coach to save time in the rush to the temple’s healers. Father would leave Adela there with mother and then take him to the guards. That had to be it.
He climbed into the carriage and curled into a ball in the corner, fully expecting his family to sit as far away from him as they could. Surprisingly his mother pushed up beside him and rested her hand on his knee, patting it gently. Confusion burned through his mind.
It was a long ride with no one speaking. Or if they did, he couldn’t hear them over the blood rushing in his ears and his sister’s quiet sobs. Each one felt like a stab through his heart. At least she was able to breathe again.
They finally pulled up in front of a gate and stopped. His mother poked her head out the window, spoke with the gatekeeper, and was allowed to pass in seconds. It was as if they were expected. Perhaps they had sent ahead a runner? Where could they be? It couldn’t be the temple, it wasn’t gated. Maybe they were stopping at the guard house to hand him over first. In which case, he should get a good look at the sky, it may be his last chance.
When he looked out the window, however, he didn’t see the sky. He saw a castle-like building so big it blocked out the sky. This couldn’t be the guard house, it was too fancy. Where were they?
As they rolled to a stop his mother looked at him with that sad smile again. She placed her hand on his cheek again and said, “I will always love you, son.” He looked to his father, expecting to see his own confusion mirrored there; but he was nodding along with her! What was going on?
“Come along, Katon,” his father said as he climbed carefully from the carriage still holding his sister. “It’s high time you met someone.”
Katon looked after his father dumbfounded. This wasn’t the time for introductions! “What about Adela? She needs a healer!”
Father simply nodded and looked at his daughter as he said, “They can take care of her here, no need to worry.” Katon was dumbfounded by their actions and reactions but all thought faded from his mind when he followed his parents over the threshold of the castle.
As soon as he passed the door his blood began to sing and he felt a familiar heat in his core as well as across his eyes. He snapped his hands to his sides and froze on the spot. “You have to run,” he said as his parents stopped ahead of him. “I already hurt Adela, I won’t hurt you too!”
“You need to calm down, Katon, you aren’t going to hurt anyone.” The voice drifted down from the top of a set of stairs and was more akin to music. “There is a lot of magic here calling out. The fire you are feeling is your blood answering that call.” A tall and slender man in red and gold robes drifted down the stairs smiling at the family. “It is lovely to see you again, Katon.”
“You’re an elf,” Katon said as he noticed the pointed ears sticking out of the man’s raven hair.
“And you are a tiefling, yes,” the man said smilling with good humor. “If you all would please follow me, we can get dear Adela settled away.” He walked down a hallway without looking back.
Katon noticed his mouth was hanging open and shut it with a click as he followed behind his mother. His fell behind multiple times as one thing or another caught his attention, each new thing stirring up an unexplainable feeling within him. It was as if each object wanted him to touch it, to hold it, to know it. He had to rip himself away every time.
They eventually reached a grand doorway engraved with runes and creatures, all practically glowing with power. The elven man waited until Katon was directly in front of the door before he pushed it open with a flourish. Katon gasped and began to tear up at the sight beyond. The walls were lined with books. There were books covering every surface. There were even books stacked higher than he was tall set on the floor. He was viewing his paradise.
“Do forgive the mess. I’m researching a new theory at the moment. Bring her over to the fire, please.” The man rushed about, moving stacks of books and papers to free up space to sit and to place Adela.
“My name is Kieran, by the way,” he said as he passed Katon with an armful of large tomes. He was practically drooling at the sight and unable to respond. “I am the Grand Magus here at the Magus Institute. I am also, coincidentally, your godfather.” That pulled his attention away from the books.
“It was decided when you were a newborn that, should you show signs of powerful magic, you would come here to live with me so that I could teach you to control it before you hurt someone on accident. I see that time has come.” Katon’s eyes went to his sister and fell instantly to the floor.
“No, no, no, my son. She will be just fine. A very simple healing spell will have her right as rain. Your fire isn’t strong enough to do too much harm, and once I’ve trained you up, you’ll never hurt anyone on accident again. How does that sound, my boy?”
Katon looked at his parents as they nodded and smiled at him. He looked at his dear sister as Kieran cast his spell and her skin quickly healed over. He looked around the room at all of the books.
“Yes, please.”
**
About the Author:
Aeor Odinson
Aeor Odinson is a relatively young person from the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Having grown up in a very conservative area, his life was bound to end up one of two ways. Option one was to become one of the many and follow the stifling traditions of everyone else. Option two was to break out of that mold and become the eccentric, colorful, and happy person that he is today.
Aeor started life as a Christian but was troubled by their overall hatred for homosexuals, as a gay man himself. One day he asked a wiccan friend what their view on people like him was and was told the age old phrase, “And it harm none, do what ya will.” That’s all it took. The next several years were rough and filled with hardships but during that time Aeor found Odin and Freya. Through them and following their path for him, he overcame every obstacle set before him and has been a practicing pagan for two decades. Aeor is now living a life of beauty, love, and creativity, striving to share his experiences with the world through his writing and art.
