Chapter Text
Almost a week passed when the Emperor and his butler met with the third child.
It was only at dawn break when a scream launched from the depth of the west wing corridor.
Not again, Valdor thought. He half sleepily walked to inspect the source of the panic. Along the way, he met a few maids who ran into him. He managed to grab one by her tonearm and asked. She jerkily mumbled something about ‘the eyes’, ‘the metal pieces were twisted’, and ‘that was a cursed child’ before escaping his holding. Her reaction alerted him, completely shaking him off his dizziness as he rushed to the scene.
Valdor easily concluded that the maids’ panic had come from the nurturing chamber where the rest of the granting children were sleeping. Why did he think this? That is easy. How could any normal child walk and communicate within a few days after waking up? And that was only the ‘normal one out of the two’ because another woke up with canine teeth and fangs (and he did not speak human language yet. His only communicative ways were biting and chasing his brother around. Now the only improvement was starting to bite and chase after everyone and everything that moves)
When he reached the nurturing chamber and entered, everything seemed normal.
Well, almost everything. Except for the crippled and broken legs of some baby carts.
He stepped in carefully to examine the twisted and transformed baby carts. Luckily, most babies slept soundly, then he counted their numbers.
Fifteen.
Valdor counted again, still fifteen. He realized the baby in the ‘X’ cart was missing.
***********
Yes, it was only at dawn break when the Emperor felt his second son moving under his loosely wrapping arm. Dazedly awake, he saw Leman Russ roll off the bed and go to the front door on his four. The Little Wolf silently opened the door, sneaking out. At this second, his eldest son sat on the bed and looked at him. Horus nodded once before following his brother.
The Emperor smiled at the sight of his first two awakened sons. These two had bonded deeply with each other. Horus was a reliable brother and son he could count on. Leman was a little wildling and adventurer, always eagerly exploring things for his elder brother.
The two children were gone when the Emperor exited from his bed chamber. The faintest running steps of the two babies were nearly faded.
***********
“Leman, where are you going?”
Horus whispered to his leading brother, observing Leman Russ lurking up and down with his nose sniffing at something. The Little Wolf paused at the intersection of the corridors, right was the north wing, and the left was the south wing where their father resided.
“The smell comes from that way,” Leman spoke, turning back to wryly grin at his brother. Horus was the only person this Little Wolf allowed to hear him speak. “Into the West.” His furry brow danced with excitement as he rushed into the darkness of the corridor to the west wing.
“Wait!” called out his brother, Horus speeded up his pace after the running Wolf.
The two wandered deeper into the west wing area, speeding through the dim corridor at the darkest hour before morning. Then Leman stopped and Horus partially hit his brother from behind. Both collapsed on the floor, railing up upon one another with the face turning up. Their eyes looked at the end of the pathway, locking with a pair of lights.
The lights hung above the floor like two weirdly bright dots and slowly swung from left to right and vice versa. Then they spotted another peculiarity. There was another shiny stuff. There were the shiny pieces of stuff, they were the pair of arms.
The arms that looked silvery bright.
“…” Horus’s jaws dropped in awe while Leman Russ purred with raw excitement. The boys’ reaction alerted whatever or whoever that was, scaring or stimulating that one to sprint away.
“Hey!” not sure whose voice was, but the Wolf pushed his brother away. He dashed after that stranger. “Leman!” the left one shouted, gathering himself up and running after those two.
Leman Russ’ most favorite play had begun with the new player.
The Little Wolf barked happily as he speeded up. He chased the owner of shiny eyes and arms who was incredibly fast ahead of him in his high speed. Horus was not far behind, despite starting to sweat and pant. The three boys chased after each other back into the nurturing room where Valdor used to inspect about half an hour ago. The elder brother closed the front door after him. He looked after his second brother as Leman Russ stalked into the cornered stranger with silvery eyes and arms. That one already curled into a defensive ball.
“What are you?” was Leman’s first question. He did not slow his step down, now two arms slowly widening with the clawing palms. Horus knew his Wolf brother meant to catch whatever or whoever retreated at the end of their sight, leaning against the wall. “Why did you run away into here?” was the second question.
That stranger started to loosen his position. Now his posture had changed from hunching to straightening. With his back straight, Horus could spot his height. This one was higher than Leman and even himself.
“Leman,” Horus felt something was about to happen. He feared it would be nasty, to say the least.
In the next half a second, his guess was proved right with the unexpected actions.
First, Leman Russ sprung towards that trapped one.
Second, his Wolf brother landed his wide-open jaw on one of the lifting arms.
Third, less than a blink, the small feral bounced, no, was blown back like a ball hit by the batch across the room. Horus turned with lightning speed after his second brother, witnessing a big crash and hearing the roar of the surface crushing from the impact.
Fourth, Leman Russ coughed while falling from the hit spot on the wall to the floor, covered with dusk.
“Halt!” that was it, Horus stepped in between before the fifth could happen.
The stranger seized his proceeding and stayed in his former position, letting the bright-tan boy check on his dizzy brother. Now those two silvery palms turned into silvery fists. Those silvery eyes looked at them, burning quietly in the fading darkness of the last hour of the night.
“He hit me.” Leman Russ snarled, gritting his teeth and grinning slyly. He had no wound nor bleed, yet his expression worried Horus. “You did bite him, didn’t you?” he asked his Wolf brother. “Father tells you more than a hundred times not to do that with anyone you meet.”
“And everyone is okay to let me bite.” Turning to his worried brother, Leman argued nicely. “It is a sign of bonding, you know.”
“Now it’s not everyone anymore.” Horus sighed, turning back to the one still standing by.
Russ snarled quietly at his elder brother and gently pushed Horus away so he could resume his ‘bonding’ with this new strange boy. He moved his muscle and one silvery index finger was pointing directly at him.
The Wolf grinned; his eyes sparked widening with a stimulating urge. The Silver-eyed baby looked more anguish and cautious. Only Horus knew they would crash again.
“I like him.” Was Russ declaration and leaped. Horus wrapped him, holding his rocketing brother at bay when the other baby jumped into them instead. That clenching fist almost hit Leman’s face when Horus threw himself upfront, hissing a warning signal, and the fist stopped at his nose tip.
Looked confused, the new baby stood still and stared at the protective one. There was no harmful or provocative intention in this guy, not like the long-haired, so he held himself back.
The dispute should have been settled if Leman had not stolen the moment and sneakily bit on the right silvery arm on the new boy’s side.
“Argh!!!” but it turned out he only got himself hurt. Leman cried curling and rolling with his mouth covered on the floor. Horus heard a loud crank sound when Leman’s teeth sunk in. It was like he bit on the pure solid material. So now he was on his knees to check on his Wolf brother.
“What are you?” Horus tilted up, asking curiously and frustratedly.
The new baby silenced only blinked at the sight of the other two.
“I asked what are you!?”
The eldest one roared with the heightening concern, slowly and threatening raised to meet those silvery eyes.
“Boys!” this is when the Emperor and Valdor barked in through the locked door. Both adults walked to the babies, eyes on all three of them, one by one.
“Father,” Horus turned to his father, kneeling to pull Russ up on his feet. He was about to report the incident and almost sued the newest one because his Wolf was hurting. Yet, he thought better of it.
“My lord, it seemed this is…the one from the Tenth cart,” Valdor whispered to everyone’s ears.
Then the Emperor looked at the newest awakened baby, eyeing how high he was compared to the previous two. He looked at how intimidated he was by the faded silvery hue of his eyes and the glittering silvery of his arms. Another moment held in silence between them, and then the words were stated. “Ferrus Manus,”
Valdor and the two boys tilted up at the Emperor.
“I will call you Ferrus Manus for these wonders you possess.” The man in his long tunic clothes settled on his knee, towering over the Third Awaken baby with a smile. It was a smile of admiration for something extraordinary. “May I touch your hand?”
Ferrus, as he was just named, lifted his left arm to the man and was touched with the big, a little rough, and warm palm. He blinks slowly, meeting with the eyes of the bigger being wonderingly. He felt his small hand being squeezed and engulfed in a pleasant pressure, now soft even. It felt…good and unthreatened.
“Are you okay?” the Emperor asked again, whisperingly. Ferrus nodded. The man also nodded before turning over his shoulder to the waiting sons. Horus still had Leman by his side, both were looking intensely at the newly named brother. “He is one of your brothers, sons. Come here.”
Then the boys approached as instructed with Valdor following closely.
“Now, this is Horus.” The father waved at the taller among the two, pulling him by his waist closer to Ferrus. The overprotective, almost aggressive, expression vanished entirely from the young, bright-tanned boy. Horus looked at Ferrus, noticing that this brother’s eyes were, actually, not silver.
“Hello. I am called Horus.” He reached a left hand upfront. Ferrus stared at him, no word spilling, but he took that hand a bit firmly. “Will you not tell me your name again?”
“Ferrus.” He answered plainly, feeling questionable as to why he had to say so.
Horus nodded and smiled. He left Ferrus’s hand and let his brother come close.
“And this little naughty pup is Leman Russ.” The Emperor stepped back when the Wolf baby was at his side, trapping him in the middle between him and Horus. “Before you do anything, Leman, make sure you say sorry. Understood?”
Leman lowered his head apologetically. He reluctantly lifted his left hand, but Ferrus took it in surprisingly fast. He squeezed it too, but not too tight nor in a threatening manner.
“I am Ferrus.” Evermore surprisingly Ferrus greeted Leman Russ first. Horus shot a quick glare at him and his Wolf brother, signaling something only the three of them knew. He then spoke on Leman’s behalf. “His name is a little longer, so calling him only ‘Leman’ or ‘Russ’ is fine.”
Ferrus nodded once, letting Russ’s hand free.
This was when Leman gave him a pleading look, his lips were nipping and twisting.
“Can he bite you?” Horus took care of asking again. Ferrus shot him a clueless glare but allowed the action, lifting both arms in an inviting gesture.
The sadness disappeared within a blink of an eye when Leman Russ grinned widely. He looked at Ferrus before taking a new bite on his right-toned arm, just above his wrist. This time with no sound and no pain he bit on the warm and soft flesh.
Horus frowned a little, turning to pull his father’s rim of tunic. When the Emperor kneeled, he whispered the newest discovery to his father. After listening, the same message was passed to Valdor and all had the same amount of basic understanding about Ferrus’s magic arms.
And the bite of bonding concluded the panic incident of this morning. With the sun fully rising, its light shone through the wall-high window. The golden ray spread upon everyone in the room, especially highlighting the Third Awaken boy and revealing another secret.
Ferrus did not have silvery eyes.
They were green with golden flecks; the hazel eyes were one of the rarest and most beautiful kinds among all variance colors. Now his arms were not silvery also. He had turned to be a simple baby with a little tanner skin than Horus, blackish brown hair, and a strong composing figure.
Everyone looked at him wondrously. Slowly, they smiled.
And eventually, Ferrus returned them with the same friendly gesture.