The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren winced with each cut, his breath growing more and more ragged. He didn't care about his arm, he told himself. None of it mattered. He hated how easily his legs moved to obey as Elias ordered him to follow.

"What?" Milandra demanded as she poked her head out of her tent at Laurius's arrival. She looked surprisingly like a sleepy little girl.

[Emora Deen]

Elias showed her the dagger, and then motioned to the Ivis standing with him. “He’s yours for the night. He couldn’t play nice.” He reached out and placed the dagger in her hand. “Bring him back to me tomorrow night, however. I don’t want you breaking him entirely. Also, we leave in the morning. Your wagon will be repaired by then, so you can continue your work while we travel. Hopefully you’ll have some answers by the time we reach the villa.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Milandra's eyes brightened. Suddenly she seemed wide awake. "So he has some fight in him, after all."

"What is it?" Narissa purred, poking her chin over her sister's shoulder.

"Room service," Milandra grinned, pulling Ren inside. She took the dagger from Elias. "Safe and sound," she winked at him, and dropped the canvas shut. She squeezed Ren's damp arm and lifted it to see in the torchlight. "Oh, that looks fun," she smirked at the damage to his skin. "You must have been a very bad boy. What did he write?"

Ren shook his head. "I can't read it. I think he said, "This is my fault."

"Ah. He struck a nerve, then," Narissa chortled, rubbing the blood off with her sleeve to see the letters. Ren winced.

"Well, it's true it's his fault. If you'd just gotten it up like I told you, we might have arranged better treatment."

He shook his head. "That's..." He let the sentence dissolve, looking dazed as he thought he heard the princess scream from the other tent.

"Am I boring you?" Milandra snapped, her voice suddenly like a whip. "Or do you want to give the princess a piece of candy, too?"

He straightened and faced her again with dull eyes. Milandra sighed. She reached out and clenched his horn, twisting him down to the bed with inhuman strength. Ren shouted in pain, going loose onto the bed under the bruising pressure. By the time his senses cleared, something warm pressed down on his face, smothering him. A familiar scent filled his nose and mouth.

"Let's see if your ugly mouth is good for anything. Lick it properly," Milandra ordered from over him. "Let's see if you can at least do that much right."

He obeyed her, but it was hard to breathe properly.

"How is he, sister?"

"He's terrible at this," Milandra sighed. "You're an eyesore, you know. Both your complexion and your personality are like grimy soot." She pressed harder down on him. "And are these shiny things supposed to make up for your limp cock?" She pinned him to the pillow with both horns, and he cried out.

Narissa smiled slowly, catching on to the new game. "I can't even enjoy his screams because he has a voice like a dying pig."

Milandra laughed. She took her weight off his face for a moment. "Was that pervert really into you?"

Ren's expression steeled over. "Don't talk about him like that."

"A pervert is a pervert. Or do you think you're actually his type. I went to school with him. Believe me, you're not."

"He said that he fucked him," Narissa shrugged.

"True. Well, he said it himself," Milandra smirked, clapping a hand against Ren's cheek and looking down into his eyes. "He fucked lots of people."

Ren stilled below her. Anger roared in his ears, but he couldn't seem to say anything in his defense. Was it true? Was he hideous on this world? What if he overestimated himself by thinking Laurius enjoyed him?

"He said they need to be fucked to stay healthy. That's probably why," Narissa posited.

Ren tried to shake his head, as if that would make them stop talking. They were saying the same things Kishva said of him. They had no reason to make it all up. Maybe he'd misunderstood everything.

"I think you're hurting its feelings," Narissa said, wiping a tear from his cheek.

"Needy boys are so unattractive. I bet Laurius had to say all sorts of bullshit just to make him usable.

Ren shivered.

“So good. So very good.”

"That’s it. Every drop. You’ve gotten so good, Ren.”

"Hah... Yess... Good boy. That’s my good phage."

"I'm going to fill that perfect mouth of yours."

He thought of all their moments together, and a pall of doubt suddenly tainted them all. How many times had Laurius embraced him while fantasizing about the princess? Had he always needed to imagine someone else? Even during his rutt, he'd been describing the princess... No, that had been for his benefit.

Hadn't it?

What if it he had simply gotten ahead of himself and heard what he wanted to hear?

[Emora Deen]

Laurius jumped awake when something landed in his lap. The startled, scarred orange cat skittered off of him and hissed. What had Tenara named that infernal creature? Colonel?

Morning light was pouring in through the windows and he jumped up to his feet. No. No no no. He had overslept. He’d meant to head out in the night, but now it was morning and he’d—they’d—lost more time.

He grabbed the sword. Havitharon? he asked, rubbing his eyes to get them to focus. I’m sorry. I overslept. We’re leaving, I just need to… Do you want me to call you out of the sword?

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's presence glowed to life in the back of the man's consciousness. He'd been monitoring the man quietly, noting his fractious sleep and uneasy breath. *No. You need strength, and there's no telling how much blood it would cost. Arken knows less about me in this form. I will be more help as a sword.*[/i]

He reached his senses out over his wielder. "You need to eat, whether you can stomach it or not."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius almost argued, but stowed it. He ate without pleasure, and nothing of real value. Bread to fill his belly and block the hunger, and water as he filled the canteen. He packed everything into a large sack, including a change of clothes for Havitharon should he change his mind, donned his coat, looped the sword through his belt since he no longer had a scabbard, and set off.

The wind whipped bitter and icy outside. His once long, shoulder length hair had been singed so badly it was much shorter—a shag of red curls around his head. He turned toward the fading tracks in the snow, and followed them north.

——

Before dawn they broke camp. The tents were packed away on carts, and an ornate wagon rolled up to the place where Milandra and Narissa's tents had been. It was narrow and long and tall enough for someone to stand inside. A door sat at the back, and there were four windows, one on the door, one on each side wall, and one on the front.

A rolling playground, Narissa had called it. Inside there was a small bed, but also shelves with wire-window doors full of books, and a narrow table along one of the walls for working. A chair sat tucked under it. Glassware and vials and other means for making potions or other magics were locked away, clinking with each move of the cart.

When Vardner returned Tenara to Elias, he was missing the tip of his nose, and the left side of her face was so bruised it had nearly turned black. The whites of her left eye were entirely bloodied, which made the pale blue of her iris eerily bright. Both of their clothes were stained with patches of blood.

Elias was too busy giving orders to notice, and when he saw her he did a double take before reaching out to inspect her face. At first, she flinched away from his touch, but seeing she had nowhere to go, clenched teeth and allowed him to brush pale fingers over her cheek.

"Vardner," Elias said the name like a warning.

"Didn't think Varner could get any uglier," someone joked.

"I think I preferred her sleeping," he said, pointing to the gaping ruin on his face that had finally stopped bleeding after he put a burning blade to it.

"If you couldn't handle her, you should have said so," Elias said.

"I handled her just fine, as you can see. She's proper broke now, I think."

Tenara didn't say anything. She searched the bustling encampment for Ren while Elias inspected her eye. When he was done he sighed, and motioned for another soldier to come to them. "Put her on a horse." Then, he was off, and the soldier was curling his hand under her arm gently to lead her away—too gently. She snatched away and grabbed a knife from his belt and twisted back for Vardner.

"Hey!" she shouted at him to get his attention, taking three quick, limping steps, and driving the knife up into his chin. His good eye widened, rolled back, and his knees buckled. She let the knife go as he fell back into the dirt and snow. "How's that for properly broken, you fuck."

She spat on him and felt the sudden awfulness that came with killing. She hated that she felt the wrongness in her chest like writhing snakes when this bastard so, so deserved what she’d done and more. Tears pricked her eyes, and she wanted to scream at herself for even feeling an ounce of remorse.

She jumped when the soldier grabbed her arm and led her away.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi heeded their surroundings as they hiked. *They have horses. How do you propose we catch up?*


______________

Ren woke up in bed, wedged between the twins like a teddy bear. It didn't take effort to remember where he was. He'd slept in microscopic bursts, waking abruptly each time the images of Laurius burning in his chair shook him. He was gone. He was gone, and these were his new masters. They wouldn't know to bond him, and that was fine. He didn't want to be bonded. He was tired of warring with others for attention. In truth, the thought of sex brought nothing but a dull ache to his belly.

"Awake, pet?" Milandra mused, poking his bruised cheek. He turned his face to her and lay slack while she chewed on his lip. His blood was on her mouth when she pulled away. She surveyed him and sighed. "You'd better repay me for showing me that ugly face first thing in the morning."

"Yes," he acknowledged.

"Help me get ready, puppy," Narissa said, tugging on him to rise.

He rose and helped them. He brushed their hair, fastened their clothing, repacked their bedding. He wiped his own blood from their faces with a wash cloth and cleaned their feet and hands. They were familiar tasks, similar to those he'd been allowed to perform for Kishva. They took little thought, and they allowed him the luxury of silence for the better part of an hour.

When they finally left the tent, a few soldiers were kneeling over a figure on the ground and laughing their asses off.

"Did we miss the fun?" Narissa asked one of them.

"Princess stabbed Vardner," one of them managed to stop laughing long enough to explain. "The bastard must've been too ugly for her. He was standin' there gloating, and she just stuck him and walked away. Funniest thing I've seen in years."

Ren paled. "Where is she now?"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius frowned, not wanting to think about it. The horses were gone from the stables. Commandeered, likely by Arken. He would not catch them on foot. If we come to a village or a home, I will take one, he said, because he had no gold to pay with, either. It was all melted into an unmanageable mass in his home.

Laurius tried not to despair—to focus on how unlikely they were to catch them. No, they would catch them. Eventually, he thought. Eventually they would need to stop for whatever it is they had planned.

——

One of the soldiers appraised Ren, likely wondering if it was a question they should answer, and then nodded off, still grinning like mad. “Flynn’s putting her on a horse. Don’t imagine it will be a comfortable ride after last night, though.”

—-

At the horse, the soldier pulled the tattered scarf from around his neck and offered it to her. “A sling,” he said. “May I? It will be more comfortable to ride if…” Tenara stared at him blankly with her broken face. “May I?” He asked again.

“Why even ask? Don't you lot just take and do as you please?” she asked and bent her trembling arm into position. She hated how much she shook, still thinking of what it felt like to drive that knife up into Vardner’s head. She felt sick.

He looped the scarf under her arm and around her neck and tied it gently.

“I’m sorry for how he treated you,” the man said. He was young, as young as she was. Green to war, she thought—not that she had any experience in it either. She had a lot now, she guessed. Her eyes watered and she looked away.

He seemed nervous, glancing around and taking too long to finish the tie on her sling. “Your cries broke my heart.”

Tenara scoffed, wiping her cheeks. “As if an Arken has one.”

“I do,” he said. He bent closer, as if to inspect his knot. “I can help you escape.”

Tenara didn’t want to believe him.

“Are you thirsty?”

She hesitated, and then nodded. He pulled a flask from the saddle and opened it, tipping it towards her lips. She drank hungrily, having not had anything since Laurius’s home. She didn’t think about it being a trap until a second later and she pulled away. But a minute passed and she felt fine.

“I’m Flynn,” he said.

She mulled the name over and finally replied, “Tenara.”

“We’ll talk later,” he said, and offered her his hands so she could climb onto the horse. She moved gingerly, stiff and sore and settled herself into the saddle with a hard wince and a held breath. He tied her horse to another before she could think about kicking the creature and setting off into the woods. Not that she could. She couldn’t leave Ren.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi thought through the man's words and strained to think of something that might help them. They were outmanned and outgeared. Frankly, he couldn't see how this was going to work, but it hardly seemed helpful to say so. What could they do except try?

It was about an hour later when he picked up movement in the brush up the hill from the path on their right. He focused on it in silence at first. Then he caught something. The faint slip of an arrow being drawn against the leaves. *Laurius,* he warned. Before he could explain, the bowstring sprung. Havi lurched into Laurius's thoughts, showing him the arrow, pushing his hand toward the sword faster than the man probably knew how to draw. *Block*, he ordered, showing his muscles what they had to do, where the blade had to be to protect him.

___________

Ren's gaze darkened like an incoming tornado. "You're all disgraceful pieces of shit." He shoved past him toward the body laying on the ground, earning amused whoops from the men. The Ivis raised his booted foot and slammed it down between the corpse's legs. There was the sound of something wetly popping beneath his sole. The men took a step back, cringing at the sound.

Behind him, Narissa chuckled. Ren whipped around and scowled at the rest of them. If he could decrease their forces even by a few men, wouldn't that give her more of a chance?

More of zero is still zero, he thought grimly. He closed his fingers slowly into fists, thinking of trying anyway.

"Now, now, puppy. You wouldn't last a minute against them. Hide those claws and go mount your horse. Wait there until we join you," Milandra ordered. Ren clenched his eyes in frustration and turned away from the laughing men.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius blocked the arrow. It ricocheted off the blade.

Laurius was not a fighter. As a boy, in the environment he had been raised, he should have been a fighter—most of the other boys were. But Laurius had been taught to read by a regular of his mother’s and he preferred books to fists and had carried that through life, preferring to think through situations with his mind than use his hands.

So the movement flooding through him felt alien. Terrifying. Natural. Natural? He moved with fluidity and purpose and with a knowledge he didn’t possess. And, unlike most people, Laurius thought logically. He knew he wasn’t a fighter, and that Havitharon was, and he gave in to the feel of him coursing in his muscles and bones.

——

Tenara looked at the sling. If happened to perfectly align her hand with the pendant at her breast. She winced as she opened her fist and closed it around the pendant, holding it as tight as her broken wrist would allow.

Havi.

Havi.

Havi.

She wanted him to save her. But he couldn’t. He was gone. Tenara wanted to sob again, but she was tired. So, so tired.

No one was coming. Not for weeks, likely. Her parents thought she was coming home, and they would wait weeks for her to not arrive. Then, they would start their search again, and she wasn’t sure if any of her clues would really matter in the end. Whatever Elias planned would come to pass, and in between now and then horror would greet her every night if she didn’t move to Elias’s beat.

If she wanted to be saved, she would have to do it.

Elias mounted the horse hers was tied to, and a minute later, they set off.

As the company moved out, Tenara looked back at Vardner’s body lying on the dirt and snow. No one bothered to move him or hide him. They left him like garbage, which was fine by her because he was garbage…

Tenara had wanted to leave some breadcrumb behind. Blood in the dirt, or more of her hair—something to mark the way to her. Vardner would have to do. He had just as much of her blood on him as she had his. Her scent was all over him, in fact. She didn’t like the idea of her father finding him… Of knowing. But, she couldn’t afford to be picky with how she left her footprint behind.

Then, Tenara spotted Ren on a horse. He looked battered worst than before. She wanted to hold him and tell him to bite—bite them hard.

[Soran Nightblade]

From the woods, there was the sound of someone scrambling for another arrow and drawing it back on its string. Havi's attention fixed on the attacker's presence and his instincts guided Laurius backward from where he'd been standing. Their attacker had the higher ground, and that wasn't going to work out well for them. Borrowing the man's senses now, he spotted a cluster of roots Laurius could scale to get up the steep bank. *Climb,* he said urgently, *You'll be harder to shoot through the undergrowth.*

It was a relief when he felt Laurius yield to his thoughts and scale the bank. As soon as the ground leveled out, he followed the sound of boots running. After a short pursuit, they got their first look at their attacker. The young figure was clad in simple farmer's rags and carrying a longbow meant for hunting as he bolted. Laurius bent and grasped a weighty stick from the ivy underfoot and slung it at the figure's legs. Their attacker gave up a shout and went down hard.

Laurius was on him within seconds, pinning him on his chest to the ground.

A new sound came from behind him, and the sword flew out and stopped just short of the woman's neck. "No! Please!" the woman sobbed, seemingly oblivious to the sword or the paper-thin line of blood forming on her neck. "Please don't kill my boy!"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius shook his head, and shivered as he seized control of his own body from Havitharon's deadly talents. He took a deep breath, eyes darting, calculating. He'd never robbed someone before. "Do you have a horse?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"We have two!" she choked, gesturing wildly toward something in the woods beyond the road. "A mare and a mule."

The young man wrestling in Laurius's grip hissed over his shoulder. "Ma, don't offer anything to these Arken scum!"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius cut his eyes at the boy. It wasn't exactly a lie. He was Arken—albeit an immigrant—and he felt like very much like scum. "Don't make assumptions, boy. Did you see Arkens come through here? Did they have a silver-haired woman and a..." He struggled to find a way to describe Ren, and hated his choice. "...a demon with them?" It was a long shot. He doubted they had stopped. Maybe the boy had seen them when they came through before, not when they were leaving.

[Soran Nightblade]

The boy growled and thrashed. "You ain't foolin' anyone! Every one of 'em reeked of smoke. Just like you." He tried to kick Laurius sideways, but Havi's hold was iron-clad. "I'll kill you and all the rest that try to use this road. Why can't you stay where you belong!" He began to wheeze, his throat pressed tight to the ground.

"Clifford, for fuck'sake, mind your tongue!" his mother shouted in horror.