Light and Shadows
by K.S.T.

Book: A Magravandias Chronicles fanfic/vignette
Rating: Slashy.
Characters: Tay/Khas/Val   Tay/Bayard  Tay/Almorante  Khas/Ren  Khas/Purna?
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Storm Constantine. This is postd with her gracious
permission.
Notes:    Feedback: Please, but be gentle...:)
 

        I chase after him. I am a light, burning away the shadows.
        The Malagashes reach out for me, try to grab me. They hunger for my
light.
        Bayard, the burning fire, snarls at me. He becomes an angry fire
drake, clawing at me, trying to devour me. His fire cannot consume my light.
I flicker out of reach, laughing at him.
       Almorante tries to hold me in his powerful claw. His touch is strong
and reassuring. I can feel his adoration warming me. I could stay here, safe
in his claw, but I won’t. We both know this. I feel his regret as I dart
away from him.
       I am still searching for him, my lost beloved. My wounded Caradorean
lord. My shy, woodland mage. Khas, where are you?
      I see him. He’s hiding in the shadows. His grief and confusion make a
beacon of him.
      A woman reaches for him. She is a mirror of my heart, my own love for
Khas is reflected in her face. She, too, can see the pure and gentle soul
lurking inside the angry, frightened man. She opens her arms, offers her
healing touch. For a moment, he is tempted to give in, fall into her arms,
but he does not. He turns away from her and flees into the shadows. I see
the pain in her face and emphasize with it, but I cannot stop to help her.
If I stop, I’ll lose him in the shadows.
      I pursue him. He tries to hide in a boy’s arms. Part of me is angry,
the other part wants to laugh. Does he really think he can escape me here? I
was the one who introduced him to such pleasures. He could lay with a
hundred boys and I would still be with him.
       The look of love shines from the boy’s eyes. He is enchanted with my
Khas. He wants to follow my love into the shadows, but he cannot. Poor boy.
I am torn between pity and vicious satisfaction. Only I can pursue Khaster
through the shadows. Only my light is bright enough to find him.
       “No, not only your light. Our light. I have always been able to find
Khas when he hides in the shadows, ever since we were children.”
      A cold light reflects and intersects with my own. I am warmed and
seared by it. Fire roars around me. Water, cool and inexorable, tugs at me.
All of these forces are in the hands of my lord, my king. His beauty shines
in the shadows. Valraven Palindrake.
     He has been hunting both of us in the shadows. He stretches out a hand
to me.
     “Come, Tayven. We’ll find him together, you and I.”
     My light and the king’s. Together, we burn away the shadows. There is
no where for Khaster to run.
      We find him trying to hide in a corner, a small patch of shadow.
       “Get away from me, both of you. I’m tired of love and being hurt by
love. I no longer wish to feel. Let me bury my heart in this patch of
shadow.”
      “Khas, how can you want to bury your heart? It is your strongest
attribute. You are a creature of feeling!”
      “Yes...foolish, weak Khaster, neither strong nor brave nor clever, but
he’s all heart and as easily broken. Go away!”
      “Not brave? You alone would stand up to Bayard, and save me from him,
when everyone else would have looked the other way!”
         “Not clever? You alone saw into Bayard’s heart, while I let mine be
beguiled by him.”
        “You were the one good, pure thing in my life. I may be light, but
Khas, you are my light.”
         “Madragore twisted me into a monster, but you never let it touch
you. You never wavered in your loyalty or love. My constant Khaster, when
you stand by me, I always know I am doing the right thing. How can I rule
without you? Pharry is my soul, but you are my heart.”
         “We love you, Khas. We’ve never stopped. Come back to us.”
         “I...I love you, too...both of you...I love you so much it
frightens me...you both have so much power over me...”
        “No less than you do over us.”
        “Don’t hide your heart in the shadows, Khas.”
       “Come out of the darkness. Let me heal you. Let me love you.”
       “Come back into my heart. Let me enter yours.”
        Tears are in Khaster’s eyes. Will he yield?
        He stretches out his hand. We take it. We pull him out of the
shadows...
        ...into our arms.