The Shadow of the Accursed Executioner

Chapter 23: Beyond the Parting Heart

The morning had peak till like day already, the sector's greens of the grasses between the cobblestone paths had shone as bright, and as deep, by their flourishings throughout their field trims. For as Ghen had continued, to had force out over from the edge of the opened carriage be a crate, then along, another momentary toss out the doors, be a knapsack, then another, yet smaller crate, to of outed from the edge now, too, from inside, this carriage...
        As there, were but a halt now, to against this next crate...
        "Ghen." He smiled, without, to any face of worry. None, accepting, while as he, yet father, were of always this way.
        Lennel, be the name. He continues. "Now, what will your mother think of you?" Brightly wonders, his father. "Come, at least give your mother a kiss before we depart." He said.
        To as Ghen had froze from his opposed side of the carriage, and said. "No!" He had shouted, high and authorised, then resumes, to force his weight from his side against the crate, once more. "Nnnnnnnrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!" He pushed and pushed, and pushed, and only father standing his weight against the crate nonchalantly, had been enough for Ghen to had pushed not even of a creep along the floor, from inside this carriage...
        "Come on, little man." He smiled, warmly spoken, and sensing for Ghen had given up now, by due to his seating, behind the crate.
        But now who would appear, were Ghen's mother before the cart, the Famous Mother of Apothecary. Csuelee. Csuelee Kenward. Whom, had come in contact, with a Chosen Being of Light, the Bee of Light. Yet, who had sold all her vials from the extracted bee, to the king, so to venture now beyond the walls and to see to the mysteries of the outer-lands, then to return back soon for the realm. They, would promise.
        She would call, then. "Ghen, my darling, come out!" She had spoke out, fruitful and wishful to Ghen within the carriage. "What type of boy couldn't kiss their own mother, let alone before her journey?" She says, humbled by her son and is hid behind the crate...still.
        Where now, eventually...he would emerge from beyond the crate, with a proud stance, folding his arms, like he were the king of this carriage's back wagon, amongst within his mother, and father's belongings...
        "Then tell me." Ghen, replying. "Tell me! ...W-Why, you're really both leaving!" He demands, within sulks of cry.

(Where whilst, as another boy had dashed and, had hopped, toward Kiah's sector like a blaze of wind. His hands unfree, and, his pale face, displays of an excitement grin of anticipation. Deep, blue eyes like piercing crystals, so mesmerising that they were like a jolt, by all sights to had saw...)

        Which to Csuelee then, would widen her hands out to a span, and says. "Let us make a deal then, shall we?" She replied heartily, into Ghen's, frail eyes. "If you come out of the carriage, to at least give me a hug, I'll tell you what your father and I, will be doing, beyond the walls." She says, to admit. With a smile, and with a smile, broader than Lennel's. Warm and carefree, be as both.
        ...As he would exit out through the carriage in a low head of shame, to had pass beside Lennel, while he would rub down atop onto Ghen's darkly brown hair. Till along now to had plant his face into his mother's stomach, now, in an agony of whine... Muffling, into the apparel of her body. A busty figure of broad shoulders of varying heightened lanes of necklaces, of the lowest of her necklaces be as lows as till, it had sunk into the crevice of her thick, and plump breasts.
        As Csuelee were touched by to the moaning cries of her son. And to therefore, now, she would grasp to his back then in firmness well...
        "...T-Tell me." He would muffle, quivering, broken. Rise, his pouring eyes, till his mother would see. "Tell me," He repeats, "or...! I'll refuse to let go of you!" Ghen, to had said. "Or... I'll refuse...! ...Refuse, to-o, leave this carriage! ...Refuse to... leave you. And father! ... ...For youse, to leave me......"
        His voice, a grow a tire. And whilst Lennel would re-slot to the crate back in for the carriage along too. Now then, for returns as well, he would place back in of the knapsack, too, whilst as Csuelee would remain in her place for a time within silence... Until eventually, she would speak back down into Ghen's glum expression...
        Announcing. "You're going to have a younger sibling..." She, expressed, freely. Proud, and without a gaze down onto Ghen. But rubs to his back along continually whilst she had peered vague ahead, then, as she would kneel down for Ghen, with her skirt up to her knees. "Now, my sweet..." She would say, voice warm, and lifting. "I, would like to tell you something." She says. Beginning. "...There is a spirit of belief, beyond the walls, my darling... This spirit, being it...to the very existence of nature. Will create to a child a sense of destiny... Of a child," She, to proclaim, "who, will achieve anything..." She had said, wishfulness to had fill her voice. "For it is to become one with nature is to mean, one, shall achieve anything. We believe..." She thought. "...Because even...if you had placed him within the walls of his life, he had known that there were none." For she had said. Adding. "Exactly. To what had happened..." She implies, anticipates as she pulls down onto Ghen's hands, answering, "with you." Then to had leaned in, and to had kissed, against Ghen's left cheek, as the shell bracelets down her broad arms began but to have slip by to the sounds of rattles. "Now." She, proposing, in of a care smile. "Repay this kiss for me then," she says," when I return with your father."
        She said.
        Now, for Ghen to have hugged and to have kissed his father, and with soon before known had the carriage and with their single horse were to depart out, through this sector. To off, they had go and to journey, for the outer-lands, of this realm...
        "CHILD!!!!!"
        But now to had screamed out over this sector, were Kiah Furswall. The lord of this sector, the old woman beginning now but to have brisk in fury toward Ghen through this sector as she would call out. "Stop pestering your damn elders, boy! Now they're gone, you're the man of your own home, so get cleaning through that darkly forsakened larder first before its rats appear, to eat out your damn eyes then down that little twat of yours! Since, you had just gone, and act, like one!"
        She would scold, that a rebuke, hers were brittle and cold.
        "?!"
        Yet—but in the air, however, whom were to emerge out like a pale blaze... to had land down off from the roof of a cottage. His hands unfree, they, be shelled together, with his legs into a stance of slyness by from the landing of his drop. As he had faced his back, toward Kiah. To thus therefore now, to had brought her... till a halt.
        Now, as he had rose his eyes and Ghen, but had watched within startle.
        "Oohh, for time's sake..." Groans Kiah, knowingly.
        "This...will not be long..." For was Ayu, who had said. "I, have something to show him. Lord Kiah." He said, within heart, a faint queerness fills his childling voice.
        "Fine." She replies, with resist. A grump. "...You little white scoundrel..." She says, within deathly remark. "TEN. MINUTES." She, enforcing. "However, ten. If, you were no prince, neither." She warned, beginning now to had depart up through her sector...
        Now, as Ayu approaches beside Ghen like swift wind till he had said. "Didn't that HURT??" He, had expressed in a confliction of fascination, and in bounding horror.
        "No, I am pale line, you know this, grab my arm, quick. Quick!" He insists along in speedy reminder whilst smiling queer throughout our move.
        To along to have roam now, toward a rise of wall that which had loom over a lane of cobblestone pathing. Till here above, would be an earth of spanning grasses. Till Ayu to had lead Ghen up so they to sit upon to the rise of the wall, together.
        Now, and he had said. "Will? An apology, be suitable?" Says Ayu. "I...had only just missed, to your mother and father's departure, for the outer-lands..." He had said, within tame acknowledgement.
        But as Ghen were constant to have peered throughout this whole time, to had saw into the sectors through ahead of its laid streets, appearing like gaps from beyond between, the many cottages, afar. Until, they had appeared for a moment, like a dull flash, to had pass through, were, to the horse, and to the carriage, of Csuelee, and Lennel Kenward.
        "Oh! Look!" Ghen, to have called out, in curious spout. "Not late!" He would add. "...I, just saw them! Passing over!" To had cry out, in truth.
        "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeerre...?" Till Ayu would reply in mockery, in his voice, as he had watched to the passing of the carriage too...
        Whilst, he had saw to the sight, with his hand shaped like a monocular through a single eye.
        "...It doesn't matter, now... —Drake-arse..." Says Ghen, in low remark. But now he to have reached out over—and to had pull down onto his rightly arm with both his hands. "Wha—? What, do you have in there??—WAAGH!"
        But he have fell by from the sudden force of a pivot with Ayu's body, to of went over the rise, beneath the stone wall. Down... onto the cobblestones...
        "Ah-ahahahaha!" For Ayu had laughed maniacal yet amused by his fall. A short-lived fall until a clap against the cobblestone.
        "No fair...!" Ghen rose, his hands, stung reddish by the fall. "You're really strong!" He says. "Being the prince and all, and...being different..." He said, admitted within intrigue, up at Ayu's place along the rise.
        "Yes..." He said. "I. Am different... In comparison. To you." He announced proudly and, mischievous. "Yet. Between us both. Are we not such mysterious things?" He had thought. "So. It is at least here, that we...are the same..." He had said, in wonder.
        "Does that... M-Mean!" As Ghen to have climbed back up onto the rise of the wall, to eventual, roll upon, over the grasses, to beside Ayu... And, continuing. "Does that mean—wh-what, you are holding in your hands, holds... an answer??" He, to had thought. Curiosity, woke his interest.
        But as swift, goes Ayu to had upped from his stone seat along the wall. To then stance over the grass with his joined hands. To conceal of the secret...still within his fingers as he would express to along in a lightness giggle. "Hmph, hmnph...m-may...be... Hnhm, hmnhmnhnm. They are, awfully, ticklish, they are—"
        "I want to see! ...Your hands! Just, show them to me!" Begging, yet demands—as Ghen would charge toward Ayu's hands, once more... However...
        Woooooooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssssh!
        Yet, but as he had leapt, high, into the air, now, until, he were topside down. His expression, shroud by his long and silver hair, as he had pass to beside Ghen's expression now, of fastly regret. His pale face, be etched within seems of threat, and of wonder...
        Then...
        Froze, now he were, Ghen. By due being afraid—petrified, to see even beyond, to the air and to the rest of being and resides, existing...
        Where Ayu now would land back down onto the greens of this sector.
        ...To of which now Ghen, were to turn, and in steadiness, like if his life were to come in till a brink of dark, within of few moments. With his eyes, shunned, by the appearance of Ayu's back. As he had continued to stand, and to remain, within of completeness silence.
        Till eventually, he, were to confess. "...I, will reveal my hands to you... Ghen..."
        For he, to have said. Softly. Then continued.
        "If...you listen to me... firstly." He said. "Listen... ...For what...I shall have...to say...to you."
        He says.
        "......"
        As Ayu now turns to reveal of his eyes which were like a stone-like gaze... As his hands had remain to conceal of the secret, from beneath his fingers. As he would approach up close, then closer now, to before Ghen's stand. And to say.
        "If your wish, which is you, were to die, Ghen? Would this mean, that I, am to die, as well?" He theorised, till in peak of ponderance, through his voice. "Or. If I, was to die, instead. ...Would I...to no longer, possess my own dream, of true peace? That I had strived for, for ever since, my first witness, of the crown and throne, of my own family?"
        He had said, and, to had thought.
        "..."
        As Ayu, would stop his approach, before Ghen. Resuming. "You must know, Ghen." He, to have said. "If I...were to die..." He thought. "It, would mean, as much, as I am dead, as if, all, would be, perhaps." He said. "However. You must know... —Truly of me..." To confess, he have said. "That I will continue to pursue the meaning, to create true peace... Together. To merge all people into peace, as this, as its purest form." He said. "Even... if I know. That I, will never see it myself—until its...grand meld in the end." He of said, plainly yet accepting. "As... It will take time. Regardless... ...Generations, be it. Likely, least many..." Admitting, bit coldly, he have say. "However. ...Understand, this, Ghen." He. To digress. "That the meaning of my dream, will be as equal as my dream for true peace. When until, the day I die." He says, absolute promise, by his voice. "Because, I...... Will know...... You... And its people... And...the realm..." He said, reminisce, now fills his dream voice. "...Will continue to remain even beyond the final moments of my own life..."
        For he, to had said.
        And already, now Ghen, had begun, to have quivered and to have wobbled and to have squint, by from the inevitable floods, beginning now to have stream by from the bottoms of his eyes until it had force he too, to had mumble and to had moan now beyond, past even the will of his own, small, and yet damply shattered heart, with his hands gripped into the culms of the grasses like two claws become of such, his knees spiked by the grasses where until they had be like reddened marks. As he had downed his sight into the earth of passing, small Un-kin, of worms and of mites, as they had continued to crawl through along in of these lively greens.
        As, he would weep. "All you said was... ...Th-That. That...you would die... Do-Doing what... wh-what...—you would do as... as...... —AS A KING SOME-DAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!" He had cried, and had cried, till he have brought up his eyes, up at Ayu's loom before him.
        And now his tears to have streamed down—lows as till his neck...
        With along too despite Ghen's tears... Ayu, however, had begun now...to had smile...
        Of a kindly smile... A graceful smile.
        Until, had he had ultimately now, to had reveal his hands. To unleash out a scatter like a raised summon, by from the base of his palms.
        Revealing... Of a bloom, of white wings. Swarming all forward as a caress of many butterflies, freeing now across by the sides of Ghen's cheeks and his nose, with of one, had even went, and to had land upon his nose for a momentary pass of time, as the butterflies continued to flit and to flutter within the airs of the bright, and sun-reigned skies. The skies, devoid of even a thread of cloud, above.
        Where Ayu now have grabbed onto Ghen's hands as he would kneel, his slender, and pale hands, now to have clutched onto the fairer complexions of both Ghen's hands. Forming their hands now to look, like the seems of an amalgamate, of brown and white unity of flesh, together.
        "No." For Ayu, to had answer, within soulful promise, and concern. Down into Ghen's sob, and soak expression. His reply, causing Ghen, to had bear in all his pain but so to make he focus to he rather... Ayu... "Even. If, I become king, or to be no king and die..." He had said, to resume, yet, what been said, to have leak Ghen's eyes, till in squints of furthermore tears, once more. "I... will always be joyful... of the sights, of the people..." He thought. "...Their final sights... To become the very peace, that I, am willing to die for, for this realm." He expressed, in a sincereness, through his blue, and crystalline eyes, admitting. "And to die... Knowing... You, will have forged a path... As a betterment, to us all..." He had said, as his smile spanned wide like he had been in a field of dreams, now, to conclude. "For the purest... Of true peace..."
        For he, to have said.
        ...As the butterflies had fluttered as high above the skies, until none, had bare to see any. Scattering as a disperse through the skies like grey glints through the bare blue. Whilst birds would sing from within the tips of trees and cicadas singing from in the lays of patch greens. As Ghen had watched toward Ayu's eyes now in a blank of silence. Until, had he had begun then, for to have fade, from his place, of smiles. For until then his hands were to have fade off the holds of Ghen's palms... Until, he had begun then, for to have fade away completely... Before, his froze eyes...
        ...Still, Ghen, remaining, as a stare in his place. Pause, within a freeze, however. Now his skin, to have envelop now over by a purity of grey...throughout his whole entire body. Until, he had turn then, into a statue, of harden stone... Regardless... He, continuing, to have watched from within his place, of suddenly turned stone... As he had watched, through his greyed eyes... With his greyed hands paused by the envelop, that had displayed to the fits, of two missed hands... ...As he had continued to have watched, regardless from beyond his stone, greyed eyes... Watching as if he... Would still be here...