“Master Yudarh...”
"How many times have I told you not to come here?" His tone was as hard as his look. In a clawed hand he held a staff which surface was clad in strange black symbols. He always walked with it and Lysa suspected it was magic. In his other hand was a closed bag.
"I know... but I really need your help," the teenager noted, looking down at Ayalal. "I needed you to help me take care of this baby. I'm not sure what to do with him... he does not eat, Master”.
Yudarh took a deep breath. Behind Lysa, the door latch swiveled by itself, unlocking it. He passed near the girl and opened the door, leaving it as it was as he advanced inside. Lysa hurried to follow the tip, before he changed his mind, and walked in, closing the door behind her. As he made his way down a narrow corridor, the lamps hanging from the ceiling lit up, illuminating their passage.
She did not know the house well, but visited it enough times to know that everything could be potentially magical and dangerous, in the words of Master Yudarh himself. They passed by three closed doors, and ended up in what was a mixture of bedroom, living room and kitchen. As soon as he laid a hoof inside the compartment, the fireplace before them crackled and the flames burst from the wooden logs. Yudarh threw the bag into a darker corner and leaned the staff on the wall to undress the black cloak he wore on his shoulders.
Lysa waited in silence, casting a glance at the shelves set on one side, filled with ancient tomes and mysterious flasks. The light of the flames touched them, producing reflections of other colors. She smiled a little. It was just as she remembered, when she had lived there, after Yudarh had found her in the mountains.
"I'm not a healer, do you know that?"
The question caught her attention, causing her to stare at him. A red tail oscillated behind his back. The great majority of the people in the city considered him a demon, and it was indifferent to them that he had never harmed anyone, that he lived in an isolated tunnel, alone with himself, away from trouble. Only his very existence was enough to wish him death. Lysa believed that this was why Yudarh did not want her there, so that they would not see her associated with a creature who was, in fact, a son of some demon.
"But you’re wiser than many," she noted, moving closer. “And more... understanding”.
He sniffed, rolling his eyes.
"The baby, you say he doesn’t eat," he said, going straight to the point. “Where did he come from?”
"He was left at the orphanage's door. I found him two days ago, in the morning," she explained. "I don’t know if he has any disease, but he's rather pale."
Yudarh took him from her arms in a swift movement that made her startle, afraid that Ayalal might get hurt. He walked with him to near the flames, watching him closely. The baby's face twitched a little, keeping his eyes tightly closed, in an effort Lysa probably didn’t notice. Yudarh moved away from the stronger light, noticing the baby’s face relaxing. He laid him on the table, unrolling it from the blanket that protected him from the cold.
"Does he have any marks on his body?" He glanced at Lysa.
"No, just this pallor. That I have noticed”.
“Hm”. Yudath turned away from him and went to one of the shelves with flasks. He looked at them for a moment and took one, uncorking it on the way back. Yudarh poured a single drop over his forefinger.
“What is that?” Lysa murmured.
There was no answer. Yudarh took Ayalal's arm, rolling up the sleeve of his ruffled clothes, and touched his skin with the finger.
Suddenly, a piercing scream of pain cried out from the newborn's throat. Lysa acted on instinct, tearing the baby of the table and hugging him against her as she glared at the half-demon, shocked.
Yudarh sighed and shrugged, corking the bottle again.
"It's painful, but that amount will not kill him. And it was good to have me testing it on purpose, than to be taken by surprise by it," he remarked, putting the flask back to the others. "What's in here is not supposed to be anything... for a normal baby. It’s holy water.”
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| Yudarh and Lysa, by Aergia |
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