Edwyrd coughed. He’d have to come up with something that would convince the guy. He tried to dredge up some of what Boggy had told him about souls and planes and other junk he’d read in fantasy novels. “Well, actually. Rupert did a lot of the work himself.” That was certainly true. Maelen looked on, skeptical.
“What you saw was true. His spirit did leave; but Rupert is capable of projecting his spirit out of his body via astral projection. When his body got so damaged, he did this, and used everything he had to keep his silver cord connected, tenuously, to his body. I noticed this when I went to him. So I just took him to the cabin to work and then just healed his flesh. Something most anyone could do.” Edwyrd had no idea if this was true about animages, but... “When it was sufficiently healed, he was able to reenter his body with me providing a little extra energy.” Edwyrd shrugged, trying to decide if the intent stare meant Maelen believed or not. “Naturally it was very traumatic, he’s a little bit tired now, and needs to regain his strength.”
Maelen turned his head, looking out over the sea. He chewed his lip, deep in thought. Edwyrd had no idea if what he’d said made any sense at all. From Boggy, he knew that what he’d done at the party was basically astral projection, the wizards had severed the silver cord tethering him to his body. Maelen tilted his head and looked back to Edwyrd, scowling slightly.
“What you said could have worked, I suppose.” He paused for a moment, then started pacing slightly in the cramped hallway. “It is certainly-more plausible than you being the greatest animage on the face of the planet. Further, given that Rupert also seems to share an aura similar to yours, and I know what you can do, I won’t disbelieve he could do what you claim. However for a little kid to be able to know so much...”
“Well, he is older than he looks, and he is extremely bright.” At last Edwyrd was able to say something that was true. Maelen stopped, looked at Edwyrd, shifted his jaw and shrugged.
“Ok, I’ll at least allow myself to believe this for now. It is better than anything I can come up with. But I would like to look at the boy after he’s rested.” Edwyrd nodded in acknowledgement of the demand, what else could he do.
This seemed to satisfy Maelen as he nodded his head in satisfaction. “Fine then, do you have any more clothes? or would you like to borrow some of mine?” He glanced meaningfully down at Edwyrd’s blanket wrapped torso.
Rupert lay on the bunk. He’d have liked to roll over on his back, but his new wings made that a bit difficult. He closed his eyes in contentment. The aching was disappearing. He felt a bit strange still, but it felt right. He’d gone for so long suppressing his true nature, his true self, that he hadn’t even noticed how bad it was until he’d shed his old self.
He hadn’t realized the constant tension, the pressure he’d put on himself. Now he could relax. For the first time, he was as he was meant to be. A demon, he was a true demon, just like his father. Rupert smiled. True, Tom hadn’t reacted quite as positively as he’d hoped when Rupert had revealed what he knew, but he hadn’t denied it, hadn’t laughed. Of course, it would be pretty hard to deny it. Tom himself said Rupert looked just like him. Tom hadn’t rejected him, he’d even gone out to keep Jenn away, to help Rupert.
Even though Rupert had known, or hoped he knew why Tom had come, known that Tom had come to claim his half-demon son, he’d still been afraid he’d been wrong. Afraid that Tom hadn’t come for him, hadn’t even known Rupert was his son. Worse yet, been afraid maybe he wasn’t Tom’s son at all. Now though, it was clear. Since no two demons ever really looked alike, how could Rupert be anything but Tom’s son if they looked so much alike.
All those years as a child growing up with only his mother to ease the pain of the taunting of the other children. Children mimicking the fears of their parents. Then when his mother had died from the stoning, he hadn’t know how he’d go on. All he knew was that he’d have to find his long lost father. Before she’d died, his mother had described his father. That was one way that Rupert had been able to recognize Tom. Oh, true, a few small differences, but given the time, the circumstances and the fact that she’d been on her death bed, there could be no mistake. Especially after he’d come to Rupert in his hour of greatest need.
At first he’d been overawed by Tom’s size and might. Then to find out what a really great person Tom was as well as being the most ferocious looking creature in existence. Rupert wished he had a mirror. He wanted nothing more than to be able to see himself. See himself in his full glory, his true form. See himself as the gods had intended him to be.
Thinking back on it now, it was hard to believe he’d managed to suppress this for so long. It just felt so good! While in reality he was really drained, quite tired actually, his limbs and whole body still felt supercharged. He felt better than he had in a long, long time. In fact better than ever. Actually, he really rather dreaded changing back.
This was him! He really didn’t ever want to be human Rupert again. It was as if he’d lived his entire life in some sort of trunk or wardrobe. He’d finally broken free and he didn’t want to get back in it. He felt as if his new self wouldn’t even fit. He had the crazy urge to get up and go out on deck and say, “Hey world! I’m the demon Rupert, son of Thomas! Look on me and live with it!”
Jenn of course would fall through the deck and out the bottom of the ship. Gastropé would jump overboard. He was sure Tom would be proud though. Proud, at least until he got after Rupert for making Jenn go through the floor and sink the boat. Rupert smiled, his tongue running over the back side of his unbelievably long teeth. He knew it was crazy.
Even though it was crazy, he really kind of wanted to do it. He twisted his head to look out the window behind him. He’d love to just be able to go out there and fly through the sky. He’d never flown before on his own; Tom had carried him, of course. He could imagine soaring through the skies, like a giant bird of prey. Rabbits and deer running like mad as he swooped down from the sky. Tom would be there, they’d fly high, up until the sky turned to night. They’d then soar at high speed toward the ground, pulling up at the last moment, only to do it again.
His wings twitched. He stretched as best he could, it wasn’t easy on the small bunk. Rupert looked down to his feet. If he stood up, he was sure he’d be nearly six feet tall. Someday, when he was full grown, he’d be as big and tall as Tom. As he stretched, he tried to wiggle his toes. It was weird not having any toes to wiggle; or only two sort of toe hooves on each foot.
He swung his legs over the edge and tried to rotate himself out of bed. As he brought his head up, his head suddenly jerked. It wouldn’t go any further, but he hadn’t hit the top bunk. He pushed again, wood creaked and his head seemed to get stuck. That was weird. He raised a hand towards his head, admiring his beautiful ebony claws. He got shivers of joy just looking at them. Feeling carefully above his head he quickly realized the problem. His horns were stuck. He’d forgotten about them. They were long enough above his head that they gouged into the wood of the top bunk before his head hit it. He had to jerk his head down a few times before his right horn came free, but it did. He twisted his head to look at the bunk above. He’d left a really big gouge in the wood. He would need to be more careful.