The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

"Thank you, Yurivis. Then, shall I love you as well?"

There was no malice in his words, and still, an ache splintered through her chest. He spoke as if she'd handed him a gift, and wondered if she wanted one in return.

His devotion to her made everything so murky. It confused her. It made her forget that his attention to her wants, her needs, and her happiness was not because he cared for her in the way a lover cares for another. It was slave to master, driven by condition and maybe biology.

She couldn't be frustrated with him or angry with him. He had no concept of love. Gods, he might even be biologically incapable of it. None of those reasons changed how she felt. It made it a little lonely—more complicated—but he was hers and she felt she wanted to be his. He was her sun. She was his moon. She would need to accept that love, as she understood it, would not be part of that equation. She could still find happiness in this if she grew beyond the confines of her own views.

She swallowed the knot growing in her throat to make her voice seem as normal as possible. "Only if you wish to, Havi," she said. She hugged his palm to her belly.

---

Laurius fell a sleep with his fingers tangled in Ren's hair and the comforting weight of him draped along his body.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi touched his forehead to her soft hair. Why did it seem like he'd upset her? Had he misunderstood? He didn't know what answer to give her, without knowing her wishes. If only they had more books here, so he could do more research. "I will learn," he promised her gently. "I swear I will only do what makes you happy."

[Emora Deen]

Her nerves and emotions felt so vulnerable and raw in the aftermath of their joining that his silly, innocent confusion made her want to sob and laugh all at once.

“You do make me happy,” she said, and managed to keep the light in her voice, even as her eyes watered. She squeezed his arms to her and tried a joke, “And if you keep making me come like that, I’ll stay very happy indeed.” She lifted his palm from her belly and pressed a kiss to it before returning the touch where she wanted it. “Good night, Havi.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi nodded, relieved by the playfulness in her voice. He would make sure to learn more tomorrow. "Thank you for spoiling me," he whispered into her hair. "Good night."

_________________

It was still well before dawn when Artisuren winced his eyes open. Something was wrong. His head felt like it was splitting, and the tent felt ice-cold. He shivered and pushed himself up, and the pain in his head radiated out to the rest of his body. He caught his breath before he could groan and looked down at his body in the pre-dawn glow. Laurius's thigh was drenched with his sweat where he'd been pillowed. On top of that, the other male's presence irritated him. He felt a strong urge to yank the man awake and drive him from his presence. He was an eyesore. He was a rival.

Ren reached up for his horns as if someone had stricken him. They scalded at his hands. He looked outside again in horror, and realized it wasn't even close to dawn. The glow was coming from his horns. He was growing a new ring.

No. No, not now. Not here!

A charring scent reached his nostrils, and he glanced in horror at the knife. It was scalding its way straight through the green leaves, already half-resting in sand. He grabbed Laurius's pants, the first thing he could reach, and snatched the tool up. Holding it, even through a boundary, made him queasy. He tossed it onto the sand outside the tent, then grabbed his own trousers and crawled silently outside. Every movement hurt. He rose and tugged his shorts on over the worst hard-on he'd ever had. He glanced to the campfire, where Merry was keeping watch over the sea.

She was a Yurivis. Should he go to her for help? No. Couldn't be hers. He wasn't anyone's. Except for Laurius. A male. An enemy. It dawned on him that he couldn't be tamed. He would never be tamed again. Fury and pain welled up in him.

He had to go, he realized. If he stayed here, he was going to kill someone. He needed space to think. He looked back at the dagger. Damn it, if that thing was here, Laurius could call him back. He crept to the overturned lifeboat and undid the bow line with shaking hands. Then he grabbed two flat rocks and staggered back to the tent, using them to sandwich the dagger and lift it. He tied them tight with the rope and then dragged the blasted thing behind him, disappearing into the woods.

_______

A few hours later, Merry yawned at the horizon as it slowly began to glow with sunrise. She rubbed her tired eyes and blinked. Then stood up, and blinked again. Was she imagining it? Square white sails broke the skyline in the distance, pointed this way.

"Ship!" she screamed, dashing for more firewood on the already blazing fire. "SHIP!"

[Emora Deen]

“SHIP!"

Tenara blinked her eyes open and closed again. The voice seemed to be from a dream, but then it rattled through the air again and roused her.

Ship?

She shifted, pushing up from the weight of Havi's arm. Her hand fumbled out, and she nudged his hip. "Havi. Havi, wake up. I think Merry sees a ship!"

----

Laurius shot up at the screeching voice. At first, he thought something was wrong, but then he registered the word. Couldn't be. She had to be seeing things.

"Ren," he said, twisting to wake the man, but he wasn't there. The space was empty. He frowned and reached for his shorts. For some reason, they were outside the flap of ferns they used for a door. He dragged them back in and on. Then, he reached for the dagger...

Gone.

Laurius's hands fumbled around the small space, but he couldn't find it. All he saw as any indication that it had been there at all was a charred mark in the leaves in its shape. He scurried out of the tent and looked around. There were strange marks in the sand, but no blade and no Ren.

Laurius darted for Tenara and Havi's tent, ripping open the flap to find them curled together inside. "It's gone. He's gone."

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi shot upright, startled and looking ready to kill whatever was attacking them. Just as he began to digest what Merry was shouting, Laurius tore into their tent.

"It's gone. He's gone."

He was NOT a morning person. "What's gone? The ship?" he snarled.

[Emora Deen]

“The blade! Ren!” Laurius said, worry clinging to his voice.

Tenara tugged her slip down past her knees as she slipped away from Havi’s body, and it was only then that he registered the state he’d barged in on them in. Instead of apologizing, he twisted and stalked over to Lee.

“Do you have it?” he asked, snatching the man up by his collar and driving him down into the sand. “Where is it?”

[Soran Nightblade]

"What the hell? I don't feckin know!" the man growled, wincing as he scrambled with his bad ankle. "That guy was out here in the middle of the night, takin' my bowline. He was pantin' like a dog in heat, so I kept out of it. You all seriously need to get a room!"

Havi followed onto the beach a moment later, wearing his tattered pants. He didn't know what to look at first; the two men wrestling in the sand, or the white sails growing closer in the distance. Artisuren was gone, with nothing but a knife and a rope? An awful theory formed in his gut. "Did he bring any food?"

"Who the fuck cares if he-"

"Shut up. Did he bring food with him?" Havi pressed. When Lee shrugged, the phage turned and headed for the tree where they hung their rations.

[Emora Deen]

Tenara clamored out of their shelter, uncertain where to direct her attention to. Everything felt like chaos, but she felt momentarily more drawn to the shore. She stepped up alongside Merry as Tabatha joined them. She tried to make the ship out. She couldn’t see a flag to know where it hailed from, or its allegiances. She was probably the only one of them looking at their potential rescue with the skepticism of being approached by a mangy, potentially rabid dog.

“Why would he take the dagger and food?” Laurius called, stalking off after Havitharon. It tore her attention from scrutinizing the ship.

Yes. Artisuren was missing. She patted Merry on the shoulder, thanking her for tending the fire, and hurried to join the men by the food supply.

“We didn’t have a fight,” Laurius said to Tenara before she could ask. “Everything was fine. Better than fine. What does it mean if he took food?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi lowered the pack from the trees, the same thing he did each morning. He wasn't sure if he should answer Laurius's question. It was possible the man hadn't gone far. It was possible he took the knife as an experiment of some kind. But something about Lee's words and the way Artisuren had seemed last night made him nervous. "It doesn't necessarily mean anything. Just that he would take food if he intended to need it," he said the obvious, vaguely.

Right. He could be close by.

He opened the basket and looked over its contents. "Nothing different from last night."

[Emora Deen]

“We should split up and look for him,” Tenara said. “If he didn’t take food, he can’t be far?”

“I’ll look by the creak,” Laurius said.

“I can check near the falls,” Tenara added. “We should hurry. The ship might not want to wait for us to find him.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi looked back at the ship, trying to guess how far away it was. The idea of splitting up was a risky one, even if Tenara was right. "I'll search with you. It decreases the risk of getting too far apart."

"We'll help too," Merry said, holding Tabetha's hand.

"Someone's got to mind the fire," Havi frowned.

"Lee can do it. You can do that much, can't you?" Merry said coolly to the pirate. Lee snorted, but didn't refuse.

Havi hesitated. Leave the entire camp to Lee and split up, with a ship approaching?

[Emora Deen]

Tenara frowned, eyeing Lee. She didn’t trust him not to board the ship and tell them to leave the island before they made it back to shore.

“I can help Lee with the fire,” she said, looking to Havi. He probably found it more comforting for her to stay in the camp than trudge through the forest by herself. “Artisuren can’t be far, right? You’ll be back soon.”

Laurius was already heading into the woods. He seemed to believe he’d stumble on him soon, else he would be shouting the being’s name into the air.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi frowned at the idea of her being stuck alone with Lee, but it was a good plan. "Keep the sword with you. I'll stay close enough that it won't pull me back. If something goes wrong, we can talk through the blade."

He walked to Lee and took his sword.

"Hey!" the man shouted.

Havi ignored him and turned and ran after Laurius. He caught the merchant by the sleeve and thrust the sword into his hands. "Take this with you," he said. "If Artisuren's gone into rut, and you find him... he's going to try to kill you."

________________________

Artisuren lost his footing on a slick rock and tumbled forward, landing chest-deep in seawater. The rocks here rose steeply into cliffs along the shore. He'd chosen the water in hopes of cooling his fever and avoiding being followed, but after following the rocky coast for an hour, he could barely move. He spotted a craggy alcove and staggered to it. Three large rocks met in a crevice just large enough to crawl in and sit.

Ren made it inside and tugged the knife in next to him. Water sloshed in and out with the waves, an inch or two deep, and the crashing waves buried the sound of his wheezing breaths. He sighed, satisfied with his choice of location. From here, he wouldn't have the strength to make it anywhere, no matter how mad he went.

He hugged himself and curled over, shivering. Everything hurt. He felt purposeless, his instincts screaming at him to fulfill his role, to serve, to fuck. He thought of Kishva, and wished madly that she would call him back. His broken bond cut at his mind like shattered glass. Why was this happening now?

Why now!? Last night, he'd finally felt right. He'd been his master's priority, and he'd served him well.

Another voice spoke darkly in his mind. "What a joke. You serve some male who's just excited about his science experiment. A Yurivis would never have chosen you."

He stared up at the stone, horrified. He was hearing voices. He was talking to himself?

[Emora Deen]

Tenara went to the shoreline beyond the fire to watch the approaching ship. She held Havitharon's sword to her like some people clutch dolls. The water washed up around her feet, and she couldn't get any closer to view it without going into the waves.

"Can you see their banners?" she asked Lee. He was a pirate. He probably knew all sorts of colors and who they might belong to. "I can't tell."

Would it matter to him? Probably not. Should it matter to her? Probably not. It was a way out of their impossible situation. She wondered if there would ever by a day she looked at a ship and did not fear it.

---

Laurius blinked at Havitharon, holding the sword. "Kill me? Why would he..." Laurius faded off as he began to connect the dots. Was their kind really so basis in their needs? "What do we do if we find him, then? We should get Tenara. She can do for him what she did for you."