A Tale Of Queens

Kafaldi

TW: Drowning.

Kafaldi was the son of a servant.

His father worked as a butler for a former general. The general and his wife were influential and wealthy and both led very comfortable lives. Unfortunately, they were unable to conceive a child despite having been married for decades. They were well into their middle age when all of a sudden, the wife became pregnant.

The couple, their friends and even their servants were all ecstatic about the news. They all hoped that the child would be carried to term. The pregnancy went extremely well and by the ninth month, a healthy boy was born. There was a massive celebration and the baby was named Falhud.

The following year, Kafaldi's father got another servant pregnant. She was a sickly girl and only managed to deliver him successfully then died shortly after. It was an unfortunate incident and the general's wife took pity on his father and offered to take his child in and raise him to be her son's personal servant and playmate.

The man, although unhappy with the fact that servitude was all his son was ever going to know, weighed the options and came to the conclusion that he could have a much better life than he could ever provide if he accepted the offer.

It was settled.

As both boys grew older, they were taught the same things by special tutors and were exposed to the same opportunities.

However, Kafaldi was made to thoroughly understand his purpose; to remain relegated to the sidelines, to live under Falhud's thumb and act to solely on his whims because from the moment he was born, his destiny had already been chosen for him. Falhud was his master. And he was Falhud's servant.

To live under Falhud's shadow was not a hard task.

It was simply impossible out shine the boy. As he grew and blossomed, it became more and more evident that he was a rare kind of human being. Different .

Falhud possessed the kind of beauty that could easily be classified as feminine without taking away from his masculinity. His features were symmetrical and came together perfectly on a smooth, angular face. It was hard not to take a second glace whenever one came across him.

His intelligence was as astounding as his looks and he spoke and acted in ways that surpassed the bearing of his peers. Coupled with his charisma and charm, Falhud seemed too good to be true.

And he was.

What other people, even his parents, were too blind to notice was that there was an entirely different side to Falhud. A sick, demented side. He was a master manipulator, even at such a young age. And his face was used interchangeably as a mask for the monster that emerged only when he and Kafaldi were alone, and as a tool to get others to do his bidding.

It was indeed unfortunate for Kafaldi to be the only person to know who Falhud truly was, to be the only person to experience his cruelty firsthand. He tried, many times to get others to see it; to understand why he had so many unexplained injuries. Injuries that, if they paid just a little more attention, could not have been gotten from merely horsing around.

All his attempts fell on deaf ears. His own father scolded him for trying to get such a wonderful boy into trouble, warning him to beware of jealousy. He could understand why people assumed that he was envious of Falhud. Where he was tall and elegant, Kafaldi was short and slight. Where he was as sharp as a knife, Kafaldi's intelligence was mediocre. Falhud was confident and charismatic while Kafaldi could not hold a conversation with strangers to save his life.

Of course, nobody believed him. Sometimes he did not believe that the splendid creature that was Falhud was also the demon that would not leave him be.