A Saga of Shadows and Sorcery: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 The Path of Power

 

Belladonna fed Valerian his breakfast, and then she propped him up on her shoulder and burped him. Then she carried him outside and gently set him down on his playmat. Valerian was still feeling the effects of having been woken up by Lord Wifflefluff's barking in the middle of the night, so he took another snooze.

The sound of his mother's voice woke him up. "Valerian," she cooed, "it's time for your training." She knelt down next to the playmat and rolled Valerian over onto his tummy. Valerian could get his arms underneath him and lift his head up, but he struggled to figure out how to move further than that. "You cannot remain weak and helpless," Belladonna attempted to coach her son. "The weak are useless, good for nothing but to be trampled beneath the feet of the strong. You were born into a powerful bloodline, so you must become powerful yourself."

While this was going on, Holly toddled into the tent. She paused for a moment and, with a sour expression on her face, she watched her mother lavish attention upon her younger brother. Then she turned her back to the tummy time session and began playing with the dolls in the dollhouse. Valerian continued to watch his older sister. She wasn't as big or as powerful as the grown-ups, but she was still bigger and stronger than him. By their mother's line of reasoning, she should've been picking on Valerian all the time, but instead, most of the times she interacted with her younger brother, she'd do something silly to try to make him laugh, or she'd make up an impromptu song to sing to him. Even so, Valerian found the look she'd just given him and their mother unsettling -- if she did decide to do something mean to him someday, he needed to be able to defend himself. Valerian stretched and then pushed, and he managed to flip himself onto his back all on his own!

Belladonna seemed immensely pleased by Valerian's progress, but Valerian couldn't understand what she was so happy about; from his point of view, all he'd managed to do was get himself back where he started. He didn't feel any stronger than he was before.

Once tummy time was over, Belladonna picked Valerian up, carried him into the bathroom, and gave him a bath. Just when Valerian was about to finish his bath, there was a knock at the front door. Belladonna picked Valerian up, dressed him, and carried him out as she went to answer the door. Alder was already there, chatting with one of the two men who Valerian knew as "Grandfather."

"Good morning, Mister Canfield," Alder greeted his guest in the crisp tone of voice that he reserved for people who circumstances forced him to put up with. "Or rather, I think it is good afternoon, is it not?"

"Yes, it just passed noon," Garrett Canfield replied. "Oh, Belladonna, darling! Exactly the person I wanted to see. How are you doing?"

"I'm well, Dad," Belladonna replied.

"And have you finally managed to take our gracious host's position as leader of the High Council of Spellcasters?"

"I may be advanced in years, sir, but I am not so old and infirm as to leave the remainder of my work to the young," Alder spoke up indignantly. "Let me hold the child, Belladonna; I shall continue his care for now and leave you and your dear father to plot my downfall."

Belladonna seemed reluctant to hand Valerian over to her great-uncle-in-law, but she did. Alder carried Valerian around the corner of the house, and then gave him a bottle. "Do not let thy mother and thy grandsire cause thee to fret, little one," he said to Briar as he fed the infant, "nor my nephew, thy other grandsire. I have known many who wielded the power of the arcane arts purely for the sake of power, even within our own family. I am more than capable of defending myself from their ilk, and I shall do all I can to defend thee and thy sister as well."

By the time Alder was done feeding Valerian, the infant was starting to get fussy from fatigue. Alder carried Valerian inside the house, brought him to his crib, and placed him in it. Alder kissed the tips of his fingers, then reached down into the crib and passed the goodnight kiss along to Valerian. "Good nap, sweet prince." Valerian continued to fuss, but, comforted by the goodnight kiss, he eventually dozed off.

When Valerian woke up, Belladonna picked him up, carried him into another room, and changed his diaper -- or at least, she attempted to. Valerian's sensitivity to changes in the ambient temperature in the room had other plans. "Oh!" Belladonna exclaimed as she recoiled in disgust from the stream that had just soaked her. "That's going to be a pain in the neck to wash out," she grumbled. Then she returned her attention to her son. "What a devious little warlock," she cooed affectionately as she fastened a fresh diaper on him and picked him up off the table. "You're going to make Mummy so proud when you grow up! Yes, you are!"

Belladonna fed and burped Valerian, and then she brought him back into their bedroom, put his PJs on him, and set him down in his crib.

She kissed him goodnight, and then she left the room. She came back a minute later carrying Holly, and Basil was with them. Belladonna helped Holly put her PJs on, and then Holly crawled into bed. Valerian fell asleep listening to the bedtime story that his mother read to his sister.

Of course, Valerian, being an infant, was awake again in the middle of the night. Basil got up, picked up his fussy son, and gave him a bottle.

Once Valerian was fed, Basil burped the infant and put him back to bed.