Dragging Atreyu through the forest and into the village was a daunting task, but Diho wasn’t going to let his guardian go that easily. The poison was something he was sure the doctors at the palace could cure, but he hadn’t wanted to go back home due to the… growing issue. He knew his father would blame Atreyu for what was happening and throw him in prison, not even trying to understand what happened or why it happened. All he would see was Diho as he was, blame Atreyu, and try to cover up the scandal. The queen would probably be disgusted and his brother would make fun of him… It was a nightmare to think about, but Atreyu was more important than any of them. This man had been through thick and thin with him, never leaving, and Diho would do the same.
“You still with me?” Diho asked over his shoulder.
“Yes, my prince.” Atreyu answered softly.
Diho nodded and walked over to the owner of the shop that he had seen earlier. He wasn’t sure if he lived at the shop or not, but he had to take a chance. He knocked on the door loudly and felt Atreyu press his face into Diho’s shoulder. The noise must have been too loud for him. A few minutes later, the door opened a crack and the owner looked out. Seeing Diho, he opened the door wider and looked around.
“Your Highness, what brings you by?”
“Remember when I said that I didn’t want to be discovered?” The man nodded. “Now I do. My friend is dying and I need to go back to the palace to get him treatment. Do you know where a royal guard may be posted in this village? Or someone who can take me into the capital?”
The shop owner looked behind him and then looked at the two of them.
“Your friend doesn’t look like he will make it if I try to get a royal guard to help you. You need a horse, milord.”
“A horse will do. I don’t care as long as it moves and is fast.”
The shop owner pointed. “I can lend you my horse. She’s stored over there in the stables. Give me a moment and I will meet you over there.”
Diho nodded and made his way over to the stables. Atreyu moved his head and coughed, moaning a little as he did.
“Hang on, Atreyu, I’m getting us a ride.”
Atreyu didn’t answer and Diho was getting very worried. The man almost let himself die while he was out a moment ago and he could tell that he was having trouble keeping himself awake. Diho waited for the shop owner to meet them at the stables and a few minutes later, he really came. He unlocked the door to the barn and led them to a small stable where a strong mare was sleeping soundly in her hay.
“Her name is Flower. She’s fast but she’s sweet. I hope she is swift enough for you, milord.”
“I hope so too. Would you please help me get my friend onto the horse? He’s practically dead weight and I’ve been dragging him for miles.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
The shop owner woke up Flower and touched her muzzle to calm her down from waking her up from her dream. She sputtered but seemed like she was awake now and the shop owner saddled her up. He directed her to lay down again so that they could get Atreyu onto her without too much difficulty. She stood back up and the shop owner helped Diho mount her as well. It was a good thing he helped because Diho wasn’t sure how he was going to get on the horse with his center of gravity messed up. Of course, the shop owner didn’t know that and was just doing his duty as a citizen.
Diho thanked the man profusely and told him he would have Flower returned to him as soon as he got back to the capital. The shop owner told him to take his time and it was an honor to serve his prince. With that said, Diho moved Atreyu so that he was leaning back on him and kicked the horse into a trot.
It took three days to reach the capital and Diho forgot to pack food and water and he also took no account of the fact that they would be moving rather quickly at a height he wasn’t used to while in his predicament. Every few miles, he would have to stop the horse, get it to lay down so he could dismount, and he would run to the trees, vomiting and usually urinating. He found a good source of water on the second day and found a leaf that was steady enough to hold the water while he drank it. He carried the leaf to Atreyu, who was going downhill fast, and made him drink the water. He also splashed water on his friend’s face to try and cool him down, but it wasn’t really enough. His fever was raging and most of the time he was quiet, focusing on staying alive and not passing out. 170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscbpcp72lb
Finally, on the third day, they made it to the gates of the capital of Culla, Rodulian, and one of the royal guards recognized Diho immediately.
“My lord! You have returned!” he exclaimed in happiness. “The king and queen have been looking-“
“I need you to inform my family that I’ve come home and to call the royal doctor. Immediately.”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZpfYJOuLp0
“Of course, my liege.” He said, saluting and opening the gate. “I will use the communication array to let them know.”
Diho nodded, heading into Rodulian as soon as the gate was high enough. He squeezed Flower’s sides so that she would go into a gallop and raced through the city up to the glittering castle above. By the time he got to the gate of the castle, there was a small entourage waiting for him at the gate, including the royal doctor. He got Flower to lay down to let him dismount and he pulled Atreyu down.
“Doctor, I need you to help Atreyu immediately. He’s not only wounded but has been poisoned. He’s at death’s door.”
The doctor moved her sleeves out of the way as she bent down to look at Atreyu. She narrowed her eyes at him and then looked at Diho.
“Your Highness, Sir Thorn is barely alive-“
“I know. He almost died on me a few days ago but he’s been hanging on by a thread. Please save him, Doctor.”
Cessna Ironshine, an elven doctor that had been with the royal family for generations, looked at Diho with a grave expression.
“My lord, Sir Atreyu Thorn is being charged with kidnapping.”
Diho’s gaze got dark. “Excuse me?”
“I-“
“I don’t care what he’s being charged with. I am your prince and I order you to save him. I will explain what happened to my parents when I see them but for now, the priority is Atreyu. Do I need to pay out of my own coffer to get you to move any faster?”
Cessna gave a nod. “Of course not, my prince. Is… is it okay if he’s in the dungeon though?”
“I don’t care if you have to do it here. Just do it.”
Cessna nodded and then motioned for her helpers to get Atreyu onto a gurney. Watching his friend be taken away to the dungeon was hard but he knew that Cessna would cure him. She had been around for far longer than he or his parents, so she knew how to cure a lot of poisons that even he had never heard of.
“Your Highness.” Diho turned to Cessna. She looked at her prince for a moment and then met his gaze. “I think you should also come with me to get a proper checkup. You’ve been gone for months.”
Diho hesitated for a moment and then sighed, knowing that it was inevitable that this was going to get out, so he followed her into the castle.
Cessna had Diho sit on the table and she started to untie his robes. Diho stopped her hands.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6cghXbaDD
“I’ll do it.”
Cessna nodded, letting him undress himself. He slowly took off his outer robe and it was clear from the inner, tighter robes that he was not as fit as he was when he left. Cessna never took her brown eyes off of his stomach as he untied the inner robes and exposed what was underneath. To his surprise, Cessna seemed to keep her cool, despite her eyes widening at what she was seeing.
“You’ve seen this before.”
“I’ve… read about it. This is my first time ever witnessing something like this.”
“I see.”
“May I?” she asked, gesturing to his stomach.
“You’re the doctor.”
She nodded and reached out her pale hand to his stomach, touching the taut skin. It had a strange feel but she touched the other side with her other hand, examining him.
“How long ago did this happen?”
“A month.” Her head shot up. “We were trapped for longer. Well, I was trapped for longer.”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4nhMTbV2v
This is just a month? Cessna thought, looking at her prince’s stomach in worry. If it was this big already, what would it look like in another month? How long would it be there anyway?170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHWbRLiBcQ
“Do you know the gestation?”
Diho shrugged. “Nope.”
“You are oddly calm about this, Your Highness.”
“There was nothing to be done.”
Cessna had a theory but she didn’t want to broach the question so blatantly. It seemed Diho already knew what she wanted to ask and leaned back on his hands.
“It was Atreyu.” She looked at her prince as he watched her calmly. “There was no choice in the matter.”
“I… don’t see how that’s possible.”
“The dragons gave Atreyu some weird elixir thing called barence and there was nothing to be done… well, except me I guess, haha.”
“Your Highness.”
“If I don’t make light of the situation, Cessna, I will probably go insane.”
“Did he force himself upon you?”
“If I hadn’t volunteered he would have. As I said, there was nothing I could do. He couldn’t help it and he tried as hard as he could to withstand it, but that barence stuff is pretty potent and he was going insane. Then he got poisoned…”
“This is very unfortunate. The king and queen will not be pleased. You’ll be a pariah, Your Highness.”
“I figured as much. I was prepared for it but I don’t really care; Atreyu is the one who is important. He knew nothing of his heritage, of his blood, and he was forced to participate in something he didn’t understand. He has stood by me through everything and so if I could help him, I would, so I did.”
“This is very different than what he has done for you.”
“If I were in this situation, he would have done the same. Do you not think so?” he asked, turning his head at the doctor.
Cessna sighed, putting her hand to her forehead. “I just… I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain this in a way that makes Sir Thorn look less suspicious.”
“There’s isn’t going to be one. Don’t worry about the finite details. As long as you cure him and keep him alive, I can figure everything else out. Please, Cessna… please don’t let him die.”
Cessna sighed again, seeming to be doing that more in the last hour than she had in the last few months.
“I will stabilize him and then see if I can figure out the poison. You said he was wounded?”
“Yes, in the leg. I tried to care for it as best as I could but it soon got too hard for me to search for herbs. Plus, I figured that my measly knowledge wouldn’t do much good. I did try to clean it every day…”
Cessna went to the bottom of the exam table and pulled off Atreyu’s boot and pulled up the leg of his pants. There was a pungent odor coming from the wound and Cessna put her sleeve over her nose to block out the smell. Diho put his hand over his nose as well, more to not vomit than the stench itself.
“You said you cleaned this?” Cessna questioned.
“As best as I could…”
Diho was the Crown Prince, what did he need to know about herbs and what they did? What good was he with wounds? He knew some from when Atreyu had been hurt before and the doctors gave him things to help with his scars, but other than that, he was at his own brain’s mercy.
Cessna grabbed a knife and cut the pant’s leg away, revealing a red, swollen thigh with an arrowhead still lodged in the bone. Cessna gave a small sigh of relief to see the projectile still in place.
“I see you at least knew not to take the arrowhead out.”
“Atreyu forbade me,” he said, wobbling off of the table and slowly sliding off of it. While he stood, he began to wrap his robes around him again. “Can I trust you to handle this?”
“Of course, my prince.”
“You won’t abandon him, right?”
Cessna blinked a little. “Of course…”
Diho nodded and scratched his head a little. “Well then, I guess I should get a bath and get something to eat.”
“You should be going to tell your parents that you are alive and well.”
“I’m sure someone has already told them that. There was a message sent over the communication array, so I’m sure someone has told them I’ve returned.”
“I’m still not done with you, Your Highness.”
Diho waved her off. “I’m fine. Atreyu is your priority until he is out of Death’s hands and then you can do whatever you need for me. I’m fine.”
Cessna watched him leave the medicine chambers and pursed her lips together. She turned to Atreyu and brushed his hair out of his face. As she did, she could see that his eyes weren’t completely closed and had been slitted the entire time.
“What are we going to do with our prince?” she said softly.
Atreyu said nothing but she could tell he was thinking the same thing. She had been treating this man since he was a child, as well as the prince, and she knew that he was loyal to Dihojad to a fault. She needed to know what this barence stuff was, what it did, why Atreyu would take it, and why he would allow himself to do what he did to his closest friend. There had to be a reason but she wouldn’t know until Atreyu was much, much better.
As Diho headed to his room, a guard ran to him yelling for him to stop. He obliged as the guard leaned on his knees to catch is breath. Even though Diho was in the situation he was in, apparently he was still light and quick on his feet. Eventually the guard got his strength back and Diho waited for him to right himself. He immediately saluted.170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERLSwEXcgP
“My liege, the king and queen have been made aware of your return. They would like for you to please meet them in the private council room.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
Diho sighed and then gestured to the man to lead the way. The guard bowed and led his prince through the halls of the castle to the council room. It wasn’t really a council room for making legal decisions, but more like a family room for the royal family to convene when they didn’t want to make a big show of something. They could easily convey internal affairs or announcements in private through the guise of ‘important matters’. The guard stopped at the door of the private council room and Diho turned the knob, going inside.
There, both his parents and his younger brother, Zubrick, were sitting in the room waiting for him. Hearing the door open, everyone looked up and seeing his disheveled and dirty self, the queen threw her hands over her mouth.
“Oh, my son…” she said softly.
He gave a small nod. “Mother.”
“You’ve returned.” The king said, seeming a bit distant.
“I have.”
“Looks like with a little extra friend.” Zubrick snickered, looking straight at Diho’s midsection. “Someone fucked you hard!”170Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxa4QZqui9
The sentence itself was appalling but the words were even more so and the queen practically fainted, needing to hold onto the couch to keep herself from falling. The king looked over at his youngest son.
“Zubrick, can you please be a little more conscious of the people around you?! Why are you so rude?”
Zubrick shrugged. “We would have pussyfooted around if I hadn’t came out of the gate with it.”
Diho stared at his brother with a bit of annoyance as the king looked at his son in trepidation.
“What um… what happened to you?”
Diho didn’t really care anymore and decided to take his brother’s advice and get on with it. He pulled his outer robes apart, exposing the tight inner robes hugging his distended torso. Zubrick crinkled his nose in disgust as the king’s hazel eyes widened in alarm, fear, and disgust. The queen actually did faint and she slumped over on the couch she had sat upon moments before.
“What is the meaning of this?” the king asked softly.
“It’s quite obvious what it is, Father: I’m with child.”
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