Conquer Me.

Gregory learned a lot over the years. He learned a lot about Elrik’s family, a lot about people in general, but this was asking too much. How could he agree so easily to treat Elrik’s eldest son when Elrik, himself, was the reason Gregory was stuck out in this isolated cabin only called upon when the problem was too severe to turn down his help.

“You cannot ask this of me, Little Bird,” he said. His head shook back and forth as he cleaned her blood from his cloth only to soil it again.

“I would not ask you if it were not for my women! Please, Gregory! You have to understand the situation.” Josselyn’s voice held misery Gregory had heard many times before on many different people, but never this woman. Her eyes seeped in desperation he could not ignore. This was not just for her women. She wanted answers.

“He will not give you what you seek, Josselyn. Rowen is the son of Elrik. You will not…” Gregory trailed off as Meredith’s small knife dented the wood in his table.

“You’ve said your fill. We love you like a father, you know that, Gregory, but we need that man fixed. Elrik will be dealt with soon enough, Maa will see to that!” Meredith’s voice grew cold. He almost forgot about this part of her. She was always so strong. Her time of weakness was coming, and fear racked her icy eyes, though she tried hard to cover it.

Gregory said no more. He wrapped Josselyn’s shoulder with a thick bandage, before he cleaned the cut on her leg. Meredith took the bandage from his hand, caressing Josselyn’s leg as she did so, and began wrapping that wound.

These girls were the closest thing he had to family now. They were daughters to him. Elrik could, nay, would not take these sweet young women, who helped him in his gardens during their visits, from him. Gregory already lost too much to the monster to let him affect these girls too.

“I suppose I will give him a look.” Gregory nodded. He took his time standing from his chair. He may have been a medicine man, but there was still the ache of old age creeping into his bones, an ache he could not fight nor stop. Besides, Gregory remembered a promise he made to a dying woman once.

Her blonde hair was tied up now. The long locks made her skin crawl as they dampened with sweat. A bitter scent filled the air, an odor Gregory recognized all too well. Maa was coming for her daughter; it was only a matter of time.

“Seraphine, come on! You have a baby to get into this world before Maa arrives,” Gregory encourage as he watched for the crowning of a head. Seraphine pushed, but nothing happened. She pushed harder, and a small red blot appeared before Gregory’s eyes. “Good girl!” He cooed at the suffering woman.

“This child will be your legacy. It will bring a new part of you into this world.” Gregory explained as he made her push again.

“I have to tell you something, Sir. Please, don’t hold it against my son, for Maa has told me and Balor agreed he will be a golden haired boy.”

“What is it?” Gregory prompted, grasping the birth riddled child’s head gently.

“First, you must promise to look after my boys, Gregory! Do not let Elrik’s hatred pervert their innocence!”

“I swear by Maa to do everything in my power, Seraphine!”

Gregory never told a soul what she said on her death bed. She took her last breath as he pulled that golden haired little boy from her body in the nick of time. He took a deep breath and pulled the curtain back. This action was not for the son of Elrik; it was for the son of Seraphine!

His shoulder was swollen, turning nearly black. Green puss leaked from the wound. Gregory had seen this war many times before. He glanced over his shoulder to his Little Bird. Though she smiled now at the woman who saved her life, she once came to him, laid on this same cot, with the same ailment this man suffered. His eyes returned to his new patient.

“He may not make it,” Gregory warned, “but it will not be for lack of trying to save his life. You might want to go out, eat something, tend the garden, but you won’t like what you see here.”

Meredith took Josselyn’s hand and led her to the door. “Thank you, Gregory,” Josselyn whispered before he took one last look at Rowen’s fever burdened face and left the boy to the one man who would try his damnedest to save him, one way or another.

The older man poured something into the wound that made Rowen’s body pull the chains taunt. A grimace crossed the boy’s face while Gregory scraped the wound until he saw nothing but the crimson liquid that came naturally to the body.

~~~

Rowen felt lightning flow through his veins. Every muscle in his body went ridged with the pain of the words that lingered in the air. The announcement was wrong! His father promised the night before…

“This year’s betrothals are as follows; William and Katelyn, Edward and Esme, James and Marie, and Hadrian and Josselyn…”

Nothing else the announcer had to say made any sense. Josselyn stood ridged beside him, his hand wrapped around hers and squeezed. No, Rowen would not let this happen to her. Anyone but Hadrian…no one but himself.

“I thought you said…” Josselyn trailed of as she pulled her fingers from Rowen’s. Hadrian with his freshly twisted mustache and greased hair neared his bride to be.

“Elrik promised me,” Rowen whispered.

“You should learn by now, Son of Elrik, I always get what I want!” Hadrian licked his lips as his eyes travelled over her body. Rowen’s fists clinched before he realized what he was doing.

“I won’t let you have her, Hadrian,” Rowen growled. Josselyn’s eyes pleaded with him, though he didn’t understand if she wanted his silence or his saving. He took the option of the later.

Rowen’s fist connected with Hadrian’s cheek. Redness pooled on the left side of his face before his fingers wound around Josselyn’s upper arm. “She is mine, you imbecile, and there’s nothing you can do to take her back.”

“NO!” Josselyn screamed. Her free hand reached for Rowen. She begged him to come for her but he couldn’t move.

“Don’t worry, Love,” Hadrian promised. “You’ll never have to see that madman again.”
Rowen’s feet finally moved forward, but they felt like buckets of led. He could barely move, couldn’t breathe. His life dissipated before his eyes while his heart laid in shattered pieces before him.

He took a deep shuttering breath as his eyes opened. Everything blurred before his senses except for one thing. A man who never looked at his face; the man just kept his eyes focused on Rowen’s shoulder.

He had wide almond shaped eyes the color of smoke. His short beard, that matched his salt and pepper hair, moved slightly each time he moved his lower lip in concentration. Rowen felt a knife inside his shoulder.

“I remember you,” Rowen whispered. He watched the man’s smoky eyes move to his own black pits of despair.

“Is that so?” He asked before moving the knife from his shoulder. Something rancid filled the air as blood trickled down Rowen’s arm.

“You were there,” Rowen whispered. He took in the man’s round nose and wrinkled forehead. The chain that held the round emblem on the older man’s neck was one from Rowen’s father’s private collection. “My mother…” Rowen breathed. The man shook his head.

“I was, but you need to rest. There are monsters in that head of yours, Boy. Dangerous creatures are coming for you.” He tried his best to smile at Rowen, though it killed a part of him to smile at someone who resembled Elrik so much. “I’ve done my job, cleaning your wound and sterilizing it.” Gregory stuck a hot coal to the wound he so carefully cleaned. Rowen gritted his teeth, but never made a sound.

“I deserve each of them,” Rowen croaked as he stared into the man’s eyes.

“No, Boy,” Gregory shook his head. “Your father deserves this for what he did.”
Gregory left the room as Rowen’s eyes fell. The boy needed his rest while the man needed to get his thoughts settled. Elrik stared at him in that room, but that had not been Elrik’s voice, Elrik’s thoughts. Nay, the voice coming from that boy on that cot was Seraphine. While Elrik fought with his cruelty, Seraphine would win the war yet. She would win because of her eldest son.

“Maa has saved you after all, my dear friend…” Gregory whispered to the sky.