The Taming

A Shattered Man

The awful sound was such a cry of pain and suffering, that it would've likely woken every Forever Knight in the country.

Bast felt the pain of the confused animal, tearing through his mind. Ripping his heart asunder. He'd heard that kind of agony before. Usually from The Alpha.

Once from Calisto Merlinus when she'd lost her mate.

But never from...Mardichi?

And he was certain that was who he'd heard mournfully howling tonight.

Bast ran out into the hall where Elsabet intercepted him, fumbling for a grip on his clothes in an attempt to stop him.

She heard it. She felt it.

"Whatever it is, don't go!" She grasped for his sleeve, but he danced from her reach and ran past her. Catching the banister, he swung himself around and jumped the railing to land in the foyer below.

"It's something horrible. Pain has happened. Don't go!" She screamed. Her voice shrill and terrified.

"I will come back!" He shouted up to her, from the door. Unable to leave without offering her that small promise.

She leaned over the railing. Having followed him that far. And now gripped it white-knuckled.

"There'll come a time you won't!" She called brokenly to his back as he yanked the door open. Leaving a wisping trail of snow on the marble floor while he stood outlined in it.

He stared back up at her.

"I'll always come back for you. Never be gone forever." He vowed. He passed through the door and slammed it behind him. Swallowed by the now and wind that howled on the mountain so late into the summer.

Down in the flatlands the sun will yet shine.

The snow always reached the moutaintops first.

Especially WaterRose.

Bast found his way to the edge of the primary peak. Then took the downhill slope at a breakneck pace.

The shortest route into Mane Country. Which rested at a higher elevation than much of the others. Bordering the mountain territories.

***

Mane & Grier Country Border

Sebastian found the cottage at the border of the Grier and Mane Country, where Mardichi had been residing.

As Bast approached at a breakneck pace, he was slowed by the stench of Cimmerii.

Again.

They're everywhere these days.

Hearing Mardichi's cries louder now, Bast turned into a man. Footfalls quiet as he eased through the open cottage door. Following the shouts and roars into a narrow room in the back. His pace slowed. He knew sneaking up on an upset barbarian could prove dangerous.

He found Mardichi on his knees rocking back and forth. Murmuring forlornly to something small clutched in his hands.

No. Not that. Bast urged. Circling his friend as his stomach fell through the floor. Please no. Don't let it be...

Mardichi was shirtless. Back split by red dragon spines. Pulsing and rustling as the skin on his shoulder blades turned to red scales. Then melded back to pink flesh before splitting and emerging again as he fought the beast trying to arise from his body.

Bast was filled with dread. He was happy for so long! How could this have happened?

He was walking on clouds these last few years. Truly happy for the first time. Bast's eyes slid sideways as he glimpsed the carefully made crib carved of rough wood and smoothed until so pale it was nearly white. Decorated with dark knotholes.

It was empty. The blankets crumpled at one end.

Oh, no. Bast felt his entire body slump in misery. That little boy filled the holes in Mardi's soul.

Bast swallowed.

"Mardi?" He asked warily. Aware if the tiny thing in his arms was what Bast feared...

He'll lash out at anything alive.

Mardichi's head flew up. Mouth filled with thin pointed teeth and eyes flashing ruby. He met Bast's look. His vibrant red hair sparking in flame and his blue eyes burning as red as hot coals.

Sensing danger, Bast's eyes flashed gold, his own animal prepared to defend itself should the barbarian descend on him with all that rage.

But instead of violence, Bast found tears coursing the man's broad face. In all the time he'd known the barbarian, he'd never seen him cry.

He's utterly shattered. And Bast ached for the barbarian's pain.

Mardichi sobbed uninhibitedly. Gaze falling brokenly to the bundle dwarfed by his thick forearms. Black mucus still surrounded the infant's mouth and his eyes, so much like Mardichi's, were open. Absent any light.

It was a nightmarish thought. A dead infant...

Even more so, this precious child, one of the few of their entire pack. We so rarely find our mates.

"He's gone." Mardichi murmured confusedly. "H-how can that be?"

"What-what happened?"

Who would've done this to your family?

"I don't know." Mardichi climbed to his feet. Sniffling hard.

"I just came in the door." He gestured to the front. "I called for her but I can't-she's not...I can't find her. Then I came to check on him and he's..."

Her? His wife. Bast was quiet. Echoing pain tearing across his face, as he observed Mardichi's clear agony.

"I-I-Where is she?" Mardichi asked in uncertainty. Looking from side to side as though his wife might suddenly appear.

Bast looked frantically around, peering in doorways and leaning around walls before responding slowly. "I don't know, Mardi."

Mardichi delicately set the baby back in the crib, giving him a long-pained look before tearing his face away and turning his back. Unable to bear the sight, just now.

I can't imagine such agony. Bast looked away. He couldn't imagine a worse scenario.

"Why would she leave him?" Mardichi sounded unsure as his eyes dried, and he looked to Bast like a small child begging for answers. "Did they take her?"

He wants answers I don't have... Bast swallowed. Striving for the right thing to say.

"It's unlikely a mother would abandon her child." Sebastian realized instantly that he should've bit his tongue.

He needs answers. Not my speculation.

"She would not have-wouldn't have...left him. She wouldn't." He said more decisively as if convincing himself.

I hope not.

Bast was still as a statue. "What do you need me to do?"

"Where is she? Is she here? Did they take her?" For a man so huge, he sounded very tiny just now.

I don't know. Bast gave Mardichi a long look.