Chapter Text
When Sorey arrived at the capital city of Camlann two months ago he never expected that he would wind up in his current situation. He was without a steady income, the roof over his head was sure to leak at any bit of rain, and he had no guarantee that he would have dinner every night. His current reality was so, so far from the one he had imagined.
He can clearly imagine the incredulous cries of anyone who may catch on to his situation. If things are this bad in Camlann why doesn’t he simply go back home to the luscious fields of Elysia? To a place where, while he may no longer have a mother or father waiting for him, he still has an abundance of substitute aunts, uncles and cousins in all of his neighbors? A small village, sure, but safe and secure on the border of Rolance and their neighboring ally kingdom of Hyland?
But the thing is that Sorey has grown to know his home town Elysia like the back of his hand. He can walk around the village with his eyes closed and not bump into a single tree or home, or trip over a misplaced rock in the cobblestone. He can take any person in their village, mainly just the young and curious children, safely to the cliff face and show them every indentation needed to walk safely down to the old ruins. He can trace every mark on the ancient temples walls with his mind and recreate the whole image of the spiraling columns in his sleep. The view of the fields may be beautiful, but he has watched the sun rise over them every day for nearly twenty years, and the view has never changed. And when he left not so long ago Sorey’s life had needed a change, desperately.
After all, what he wants, more than anything in the world, is to explore.
And not just his own fields and walkways. Not merely the towns and cities of Lastonbell and Ladylake, or places such as the Glaivend Basin and the Aroundlight Forest. Sorey wants to see all of it; the entire world. Everything that anyone alive had ever seen, and maybe things no one had seen in hundreds or thousands of years.
He wants to explore the ancient ruins he had heard about from Gramps and read about in his books; namely the Celestial Record. He wants to eat food he’s never even heard of and listen to music made from instruments the likes he’s never seen. He wants to visit crumbling temples and sinking shrines. Sorey longs to feel the wind in his hair as he stands by the ocean for the first time and views the expanse of open water before him. And, if it wasn’t obvious, he also wants to visit ancient ruins at some point in time and explore them to the full extent that anyone CAN explore them.
But to do that he has to have the right gear and the right funding; traveling the world to document it for your own personal gain even if you plan to publish the results isn’t cheap. So that was how he has ended up in Camlann, but to say his plans were shot down quickly would be an understatement.
Walking down the main street of Camlann, Sorey finds himself in awe of the hustle and bustle surrounding him. The marketplace is packed with more life and people than he has ever seen before, including the towns he had stayed at on his journey there. His gaze darts between stalls as busy locals rush by him, sometimes bumping into him in their hurry to complete whatever task they seemed to be on. Yet he still walks slowly, taking in the colorful world he has suddenly stepped into. Sorey wants nothing more than to stop and talk to as many vendors as he can; to ask the merchants where their wares came from, and if the marketplace was always so busy, and if they had heard of the ruins nearby and knew anything about them, and-
Well the point is he has a lot of questions but no time to ask them because he is on a mission. He has to get to the palace before the gates close for the day and request an audience with gramps.
See gramps isn’t really his grandfather, he is just an old traveling scholar who had come to visit the Mt. Mabinogio ruins when Sorey was only ten years old. He clearly remembers watching the old man descend the steep incline to where a much younger version of himself was sketching the wall carvings into his book, as well as the shock on the older man's face when he saw a child before him of all people. Sorey had immediately begun to badger the old man with questions when he found out gramps had spent his whole life studying ruins, and that he had dedicated the last five years of his life to actually going to and investigating the places he had read about. A kinship had formed quickly that day, and though Sorey can’t say for sure, he likes to think it was more than just the ruins that kept gramps in Elysia for almost a full year.
Sorey had cried fiercely when the old man left, wanting nothing more than to go on adventures with him. But he was young, and so unready for the harshness of the world, thus gramps refused to let him journey with him.
“But,” he said while holding a crying young Sorey to his chest with all the tenderness in the world, “if you grow up big and strong and still want to explore the world you can come and find me. All you need to do is come to the Royal Palace of Camlann and tell them I sent for you. There are very few perks to being a royal scholar, but one of them is that I should be able to help you get started in fulfilling your dream.”
And now, years later, Sorey is finally going to make good on that promise. He is old enough and strong enough to take care of himself, not to mention he has so much knowledge about the places he wants to explore memorized that a normal person's brain would spin. He is more than ready to begin his journey.
The gates to the palace are large and looming as he finally makes his approach. A line had formed on either side of people needing to go in and out of the behemoth-like structure. Sorey joins the back of the line and watches as people shows what he supposes are badges indicating their jobs or tasks as they are searched by the guards. All too slowly, person by person, Sorey makes his way to the front.
“State your name and present your badge,” commands the taller of the two guards standing watch on his side of the gate. His gaze is almost bored as it scrutinizes Sorey’s somewhat shabby appearance.
“I’m Sorey, and I don’t have a badge but I was told to come here and ask for Zenrus! He’s a royal scholar who works here.”
A look passes between the two guards.
“Master Zenrus?”
Maybe it is the tone of his voice, or the look on his face, or the way his body shifts from one foot to the other but Sorey is getting a very negative vibe from the guard all of a sudden.
“Yes? Is there… something wrong?” he replies while the hand holding onto the wrap of his pack tightens in response to their reactions.
Another look passes between the two guards and the taller one’s shoulders obviously fall before he straightens back up.
The guard’s voice is not quite monotone but certainly more detached than before as he asks,“An announcement was made to the general public last week. Have you not heard?”
“Heard what? Is something wrong with gramps?” Sorey questions, getting even more nervous, now shifting from one foot to the other. The smaller guard’s mouth falls open and he mouths something along the lines of, ‘He had a grandkid?’ to the taller guard who looks like he has just been told that he has to kick a puppy off a cliff.
“ I was unaware that he had a grandson. I apologize and regret to inform you that Master Zenrus died almost two weeks ago in his sleep. The fact that there was no message of condolences sent to you is upsetting and I apologize on the palaces staff’s behalf for this.” The man may continue to speak but Sorey has suddenly fallen deaf at the news he’s been given, his heart overwhelmed by a wrenching ache.
He turns his back and hurries away, stumbling as hegoes, praying he can leave the truth at those horrible palace gates.
He has lost one more person he loves.
So here he is, trying to find a good job with enough pay to set him up well enough that he can afford the necessities while also saving up enough to start funding his journey on his own. But the whole finding a job thing is what seems to be the problem.
Like back home it appears like people, for the most part, keep their business in the family. The places that aren’t run by families, or run by the government and require the person applying to pass a national exam of some sort, are few and far between. This makes jobs hard to come by. So far he has only been able to pick up a few hours a week at a smallish restaurant doing the dishes and a lot more hours helping at a local hotel doing whatever they needed (cleaning the common areas, and taking care of the small garden and plants on the grounds more often than not). But the hotel work he is doing is in exchange for the leaky roofed room mentioned earlier so it doesn't even feel like it counts, because it wasn’t helping him, just keeping him stagnant.
And all of it just isn’t sustainable.
Sorey doesn’t want to admit it, but he was well and truly out of money, and now he’s stuck.
Even if he did leave Camlann tonight he wouldn’t have the funds to stay in hotels along the way back to Elysia, and while sleeping outside is fine by him it’s the end of summer and it would take all of fall and some of winter for him to get home. Long enough that part way through the journey sleeping outside would no longer be an option if he wanted to safely avoid hypothermia.
Which is why he’s currently walking the market place towards a book store he’s come to frequent, if only to peruse the newest releases he can’t afford. He heard yesterday that the owners daughter is about to give birth so he’ll need an extra hand, and while Sorey won’t know all the books he can read and write as well as any educated man, and that may be enough to get him the job. It’s a long shot, he’ll admit, but it’s one he has to take.
“Hey Sorey!” A voice calls out from the crowd and the boy in question immediately turns his head searching for the person calling to him. It only takes him a moment to spot the red haired girl waving her hand wildly and leaning her whole body out from behind her stall.
Even knowing that he should get to the bookstore Sorey can’t help but to go and say hello. “Rose! Your back! I thought it would take you three weeks?”
“We all thought so too, but this time that old coot apparently knew better than to waste days bartering the price down, so we were done much sooner! How have you been though, keeping out of trouble?” She asks with a mischievous grin while leaning on the counter of the Sparrow Feathers Cloth booth. They had a permanent, much more upscale establishment near the center of the city for their rich clientele, but Rose has told Sorey she prefers to man stall here on the streets more. She may be the stores owner but she confided in him once that she still prefers working at a stall than in their shop that screams ‘rich and expensive’.
“That was one time!”
“And the time near the fountain?” She questions putting up a second finger in a mocking fashion.
“Okay two times!”
A third finger goes up as her grin widens. “And what about when-?”
Sorey grips his hair in mounting frustration. “Alright it’s been a lot of times okay! I just, I mean, I hate it when I see stuff like that! It’s- its-“
“Infuriating?”
“Exactly!”
“Sorey I know you hate it but you can’t keep picking fights with the guards over this.” And then lower, as she leans ever closer to him, so only they can hear, “at least not in public. You know I could use someone like you. Someone who cares.”
There is still fire in his eyes, though it subdues somewhat. “I’ll stop when they stop beating people, beating children, half to death for taking things like a loaf of bread. And thanks for the offer Rose but the answers still no. I just don’t want to join and then bail on all of you to go adventuring later.”
Laughing she waves her hand as she straightens back up and away from Sorey. “No I get it, I do, but your going to get caught one day.”
Placing his hands on his hips Sorey smiles. “Not if no one is quick enough to catch me.”
“I swear, you could give someone like ME ulcers.” Rose says while rubbing a hand over her eyes in a greatly exaggerated gesture.
“Well then all the better i don’t join, right?”
“Ugh! Get out of here! Go run whatever errand that they sent you on for the hotel. Just stay off Vivia street. I have a bad feeling about that place today.”
Ginning over his shoulder as he begins to walk away Sorey shouts out, “Well you know what road I need to use as a shortcut! Thanks Rose!”
He hears her over the top scream of anguish halfway down the block.
Mikleo is SO thankful to be out of the palace he could burst into tears. Not that he will, he is a Prince and not prone to crying much in any case, but he still feels his chest swell with emotion. After several long years he is finally once more in the streets of Camlann without an entire retinue of guards.
Back when he was younger, back when his mother was still well and still had complete control of the kingdom, he had his run of the streets. Often times he would leave the Palace with only one guard at his side, and when he did so it almost felt as if he was normal. As if he was just the son of some rich Lord who had no more on his mind then who would be throwing the next ball and what he should wear to the event. Of course that all changed when his mother started to fall ill and more and more of her duties were taken over by Heldalf.
Although Mikleo is the crown prince he has an unbelievably small amount of power until he actually becomes king. The only things that he really controls are his own personal household, a small duchy out near the border, and some local festivals that occur yearly in the capital. Normally, if his mother was well or his father alive he would be in training to take over and sit on the throne. While none of the final decisions would have been his, per say, he would have had much more input on the government just by standing at his parents side. But his mother is sick and his father is dead so an intermediary had to step up, thus Heldalf.
At first when Queen Muse fell ill Mikleo was more concerned about his mother than anything. He didn’t know what he would do if she left him too after his father's death two years earlier when he was 14. Around a year after the symptoms started it became clear that while she wasn’t going to die she wasn’t going to get any better either. It wasn’t until that time that Mikleo realized Heldalf had taken too much power while he had been indisposed caring for his mother. Mikleo now has to wait to turn 20 in three months before anything can be done about curbing Heldalfs power, but he’s been waiting almost three years, three months should be nothing compared to that.
Waiting almost three years in succession, however, is torturous without something to relieve his stress. To Mikleo having no power is worse than him having all of it. At least if he has power he then has a voice and a chance to make things better, instead of what he’s doing now which is watching things decline and not being able to do a thing about it. And while there may have been other ways to soothe his mind and relieve some stress, nothing was better than becoming a nobody for a few hours.
If Heldalf finds out he will deal with it later, but for now Mikleo is just enjoying walking around other people without them all looking his way.
“Sugar dates! Sugar dates and figs!”
“Three crown? For this whole set?! I won’t go lower than five. Final offer!”
“Fine pots in brass and silver!”
“A pretty necklace for a pretty girl such as yourself?”
The marketplace is as overwhelming as it was welcoming. The sights and sounds and smells pulling at him until Mikleo is drowning in them. Until something catches his eye.
A young boy, no older than five, is carefully counting his coins in front of a produce stand. The youths brown eyes go from his hand to the stall and back again at least four times as he shifts his weight back and forth, like he’s trying to make the money in his hand suddenly become more than it is or the prices of the food suddenly decrease. Mikleo may not be the most street smart person in existence but even he understands what’s happening. Rushing over he takes an apple from the stall, as well as a small box of berries and a cluster of tied together celery.
Bending down he grabs the boys hand filled with coins and turns it into a fist so the scant bit of money is protected. He then gently places his spoils from the store into the boys empty arms, meeting the boys eyes all the while.
“I’ll take care of the bill. You can go.” He says softly as the boys face lights up with wonder and awe. His eyes fill with grateful tears as he hurries away towards another girl Mikleo didn’t notice at another stall doing the same back and forth glance as the boy had been earlier. The children’s eyes meet when the young boy approaches and the boy motions towards him with a nod of his head. Mikleo smiles as the girl blushes and smiles back, then she drags who Mikleo now assumes is her brother, away. It’s a touching scene, one that should not have happened in a city as plentiful as Camlann, yet he is grateful to have helped them.
It’s all interrupted when the stall owner grabs his wrists tightly and forcefully, yanking Mikleo off the ground to face him.
“Stealing are we?!” The shopkeeper exclaims his eyes staring him down.
Mikleo however is not feeling amused by the mans act. “No. I told the boy I would pay and I will. Release my hands and let me grab my coin purse and you will have your payment.”
The eyes looking at him go cold and the grip on his arms tightens. It takes all Mikleo has in him not to wince. “A likely story! The moment I let you go you’ll disappear! Tell me where your money is and I’ll grab it for you.”
“I’m not going to allow you just free reign to touch me.” He says beginning to struggle. “Just let me go so I can pay and you can leave me alone!”
A smirk Mikleo very much does not like forms on the stall owners face. “Do you know what the penalty is for stealing?”
Mikleo does know what it is under Heldalf’s more extreme anti-crime crusade and his face starts to drain of blood. He has to leave before the guards come. He has to break free. He’s going to have to use it, can feel it stirring in his veins. He raises his eyes to match the other mans and then-
“There you are!” A cheerful voice interrupts as a new set of hands takes his arms and masterfully moves Mikleo’s body out of the other man's grasp and behind the interloper. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Did you know your cousin is worried sick! You’re lucky I found you before you got into more trouble.”
The new man is facing Mikleo, stupidly giving Mikleo’s attacker his back, but the strangers face still brings him in. The boy winks no less than five times, obviously meaning to get him to play along before he turns to confront the shopkeeper. But it isn’t just the winking that causes Mikleo’s gaze to linger on the grass green eyes of his potential savior. It’s the look in them. He can’t place it, not now while his brain is still catching up with the situation, but something in his eyes beckons Mikleo to get to know him.
“You know this man!” The shop keeper demands.
“Yes! This is my boss’ cousin. He sometimes wanders off because he’s new to the city and a bit too excited to explore. He keeps saying there is nothing to be worried over but did you know he almost got mugged once? In broad daylight too! Luckily I caught up to him and stopped it in time, but then he just told boss the story as if it was funny. Causes her a lot of grief! You should have seen how she was sobbing when I left to find him. I really do need to be getting him back now. If you’ll excuse us!”
Mikleo has to admit while the lie is simple and rambling it’s the execution that has him excited and curious. Slowly but surely the new man is backing them both out of the stall owners grasp with our being obvious about it. And soon enough their far enough away to make a break for it.
Then new man turns to meet his eyes, tightens his hold on Mikleo’s hand, when had he grabbed his hand, and then runs away from the stall dragging Mikleo along as if his life depended on it.
“THIEVES!!!” The man bellies out yet the two are long gone before any of the onlookers can stop them.
Sorey is very glad he went down Vivia Street even if he never made it to the book shop. If he hadn’t gone he doesn’t even want to know what would have happened to the young man seated on the roof in front of him.
Sorey, knowing that he couldn’t take the other back to the inn, and not knowing where he was from, took him to a place he discovered not too long ago. On one of the side streets is an old house that even squatters won’t touch because everyone says it’s horribly haunted. Sorey however had no idea about that when he had desperately needed a place to stay before finding the inn. He had spent several nights sleeping under the stars on the flat top roof, which appears to have been a patio of sorts at one point, and that was that. Now when he needs a safe place he comes here knowing many won’t follow.
“Are you okay?!” Sorey and the stranger ask at the same time, gazes snapping to each other’s eyes.
For a moment neither speak, and then the stranger clears their throat as they look away and answer. “I’m fine. I appreciate you stepping in before things got worse.”
Soreys eyes trace the parts of the others face that he can see, a large hood hiding most of his features from this angle. His mind supplies the bright purple eyes had had seen glimpses of in the market place earlier and again only moments before. The rest of the picture is still coming together as a puzzle. A peek of his hair, sometimes a light blue and others an almost teal. A trick of the light or is it both colors? Earrings of some sort that had caught the light and then were gone. Sorey can still see the strangers nose from behind the hood, which he has no other words to describe than cute.
A mystery still, but like all the puzzles he has found in the Mt. Mabinogio ruins before this, it’s one he wants to solve.
“That’s good! I was worried I may have grabbed you to hard to get you out of his hands! And you don’t have to thank me. Anyone with eyes and ears could see you had wanted to pay but he just wanted a fight.”
The strangers arms and shoulders descend slightly, releasing tension that Sorey had failed to notice before that moment. Not that he has much information to go on, the entire time he’s known the stranger he’s been under attack or running, neither of which is exactly stress free.
“But no one else did help, so thank you.”
“You really don’t have to-“
“I think I do considering -“
“-thank me I was just doing what-“
“- out of a whole crowd of people watching-“
“- I was taught was right in the situation so-“
“WILL YOU JUST LET ME THANK YOU!” It wasn’t exactly a yell, but Sorey’s attention is now fully on the stranger as it caused the other man to look at him face to face.
Sorey cant help the blush that rises to his cheeks at the person before him. He is just… wow. Just wow. He… he doesn’t even have words. His eyes are stunning and the bow of his lips? Just kill Sorey now because they’re perfect. Even his cheek bones are gorgeous! He can just sit here and stare at him forever. And the stranger must catch on because now he’s blushing and oh no.
Oh no he’s cuter now.
“...you’re welcome?”
“See that - that wasn’t so hard was it?”
Sorey brings a hand up to scratch at the back of his head, a nervous tick he has never managed to erase. “No I guess not. I’m Sorey by the way!” He says quickly moving his free hand in his lap to reach towards the stranger.
There is a moment of hesitation, as if the stranger isn't going to respond in kind, but then their hands are grasped and Sorey doesn’t want to sound like an idiot but it feels like something is slotting into his life that he didn’t know was missing and it’s all very mushy and warm and he’s never felt like this holy -
And his train of thought is interrupted by the the stranger softly saying, “I’m Mikleo.”
Mikleo.
Even his name seems perfect. Sorey didn’t know he could be a goner like this, but here he sits, blushing at learning a mans name.
“Nice to meet you Mikleo.” Sorey says half to be polite and half to have an excuse to say Mikleo’s name out loud.
“You too, Sorey!” And then Mikleo’s eyes gaze down to the glove encased hand he’s holding and his grip tightens. Almost instinctively it seems, he pulls Sorey a bit closer, and whoo boy if that doesn’t make his heart beat faster.
“This design, it’s the cover of The Celestial Record.” Mikleo says as he turns Sorey’s hand over in his own to get a better look at the design.
Soreys heart is now beating faster for another reason because Mikleo knows about The Celestial Record enough to recognize the gloves he had gotten embroidered with the symbol before he left Elysia. No one else, in his entire time in Camlann, has noticed.
But Mikleo has.
“Yes! It has to be the best book ever written about world history! The images in it are so detailed and the places described so wonderful that everyone should read it.”
“I’m taking it you’ve read it a lot then?” A smile graces Mikleo’s lips bigger than any other one so far.
“Only about all the way through once a month since I was 10. So at LEAST a hundred times, not counting all the times in winter when I was able to stay inside more and able to get through it twice in a month.”
“I wish I could say I read it that many times, though I’m sure I’m somewhere close. What did you think about the section on the Rayfalke Spiritcrest? Do you really think there can still be a dragon there?”
Sorey can’t help but lean in towards Mikleo further. “Well there is no doubt that dragons did exist, we’ve found their bones as proof, we just don’t know if there are any left. You would think that they wouldn’t be able to hide if they needed to eat if you think about their size. Whole herds would have to go missing to feed just one!”
“But then think about the glyphs that were discovered in that temple near Volgran Forest that mentioned a long ago dragon attack where the dragon appeared to eat the air itself out of the people’s lungs. Couldn’t dragons then subsist off of their element? An earth dragon would be able to sustain it self just fine from the top of a mountain.”
“But then you ignore the fact that nothing else magical or with the ability to use artes can do that! The Shrine Normin that still exist survive off of offerings AND the land. Even hellions, beings formed by dying men’s need for revenge, need to eat to survive. Granted they seem to eat less than other beings but they still need to eat. And don’t even get me started on seraphs.”
“Seraphs?” Mikleo questions sounding a little worried and skeptical.
“Look I don’t know what your stance on them is but honestly they’re just normal people? The only difference seems to be that they are more attuned with nature and so they can use artes. I KNOW The Celestial Record doesn’t go into much detail on seraphs but I’ve done a lot of research. Did you know you can be born a seraph if you are born in a ley line? Or that if your mom gets a blessing from a Normin within a week before you’re born the chances then become around 30:70 of being a seraph? Like it can happen to anyone! And I know some people think it gives them a hand up in life and makes them like gods or something to worship but-“ And Sorey knows that his voice has grown loud and defensive but he KNOWS seraphs and really can’t help defending them as normal people. The subject really just riles him up.
Sorey stops immediately though as he hears Mikleo begin to laugh. It’s not soft and sweet but loud and boisterous and wonderful. Sorey doesn’t even realize they were still holding hands until Mikleo is removing his and using it to hold his shaking stomach. His head tilts back, as does the rest of his whole body practically, and he looks so euphoric Sorey doesn’t think he notices as his hood falls off.
Two toned hair, a light shade into something darker. The distinct mark of a seraph.
“Um, Mikleo, your hood?” Sorey asks not wanting to break the mood but not wanting the other to stop laughing either.
Mikleo meets Sorey’s eyes and sends him a look. “Well now that I know you won’t bow down to me I don’t really need it that much. Unless my hairs a wreck and looks weird? Wouldn’t be surprised after the day I’ve had.”
“No! It’s fine! I just wanted to make sure you knew?”
“Then it’s fine.”
There is something fragile hanging in the air between them and Sorey wants to cradle it in his hands and look at it and protect it for all eternity. Instead he smiles and leans forward with his elbows on his knees and chin held squarely between his hands.
“If you say so. Now what have you heard about the—“
Sorey can’t for the life of him remember the last time he had so much fun talking to someone. They must have been sitting on this roof for hours talking about anything and everything. It has started with The Celestial Record but they must have spent at least the last hour alone talking about ruins alone. Sorey was having so much fun in fact that he didn’t notice until it was almost too late.
“And so if you look at that information and compare it to-“
“Wait.” Sorey holds up his hand in front of Mikleo’s face. In any other situation it may have been seen as rude, and the other boy looks ready to snap at him, but something on Soreys face must stop him because he says nothing more. Instead his eyes widen and his head starts slowly swiveling from side to the other as if he’s trying to find for himself what caused Sorey to halt their discussion.
Then the sound occurs again, a creak of wood and a hushed sound of someone trying to quiet another. There are people in the building below them and Sorey has no idea who it is or what they want. They may just be squatters as he was once considering the sun is very close to setting, a fact that had escaped him as they talked. Or the shopkeeper could have called the guards on the two of them, and they had finally caught their prey.
Sorey may be kind, and soft hearted, and sometimes naive, but he knows that his face has started to become known within the ranks of the guards. A person can only fight the guards in order to help those less fortunate escape so many times before they begin to remember that persons face and take notice. While there are no wanted posters of him, yet, there very well could be soon. Which is why if they are guards he is one of the worst people for Mikleo to be seen with.
The two boys look at each other and Sorey sees understanding flash in Mikleo’s eyes. They need to leave, and they need to be careful about it. Slowly the two stand from where they had been leaning against the short balcony wall, eyes flickering between each other and the door leading to the roof. It’s their only escape, if you don’t count trying to jump to the building across the alley way, and it’s also the way that the unknown sounds are stemming from.
Sorey is still formulating a plan as the door opens and four guards stand in the archway. For a moment seems to stop as they all stare, still surprised to see each other.
“Capture him at all costs!” The guard in front yells the moment he seems to get his bearing back. The other three join in a chorus of agreement and then their moving.
“They’re after me!”
“They’re after me!”
The two boys look at each other in utter confusion. They throw their fingers up and point at each other.
“They’re after you?”
“They’re after you?”
Sorey is still confused when Mikleo grabs his hand and yells desperately, “We need to go! Any ideas?!”
And just like that Sorey knows he has to do something because Mikleo must have no escape plan if he was asking for one. The guards are close and they have maybe seconds until they are upon them. So with his back against the wall only one plan comes to Sorey’s mind.
“Do you trust me?” He implores his eyes scanning Mikleo’s face.
“Right now? Yes!” Mikleo answers with absolutely no hesitation.
With that confirmation Sorey doesn’t think anymore. He quickly turns in place and all but throws Mikleo over his body so his chest is pressed against Sorey’s back. The other’s arms immediately surround Soreys neck and his legs wrap around his waist as he lets out a small squeak. It’s slightly distressed and confused but not enough for Sorey to stop. Then he is placing one foot on the edge of the balconies walled edge and launching himself to the other building.
Sorey had no doubt he would have made the jump, but he had no such guarantee that Mikleo would have been able to do the same. And with the door certainly not an option it was this or get captured.
Sure enough after being airborne for only moments his feet hit the other roof and his knees buckle to keep them both standing. He turns to stare at the guards to make sure they aren’t still following. Three of them have stopped but one continues on and all but throws himself over the ledge without a hint of worry.
Sorey feels, as much as sees, the wind wrap around the other as it propels him to land gracefully right next to Sorey and Mikleo. His attention leaves the other three guards in that moment; so he doesn’t notice at all that they start to back up to get a good running start at tackling the gap between the roofs. Instead his eyes are squarely focused on the wind seraph in front of him.
“C’mon Mik, don’t make me have to take you back by force.” The guard says, his amber eyes glinting and a smirk in place on his face.
“Zavied.” Mikleo replies and Sorey can feel his spine straightening and his arms tightening even more around him, almost to the point of choking. “Somehow I don’t believe you. You never turn down a fight.”
Ah, so Mikleo somehow knows this guard. Sorey doesn’t feel comforted by this fact however , in fact it only puts him more in edge.
“You got me there!” The wind seraph, Zaveid, boasts bright and loud as a blast of wind jets from his hands towards the two of them.
Mikleo in retaliation tries to pull up a small wall of water to stop it. Tries being the operative word. Sorey opens his mouth, knowing that a seraph attacked with an element will respond in kind, but a warning never passes his lips before it starts. His skin begins to shine a light gold as energy flows out of him and straight into Mikleo strengthening his arte at least ten fold. As the power is stolen from him it leaves Sorey feeling drained and weak at the knees, as it always had when someone grasped it from him without his knowledge. Just because this grabbing of power has never happened on purpose, or with ill intent towards Sorey, it didn’t make backlash any worse. It wasn’t a conscious decision giving up his power to the seraph on his back, it would have happened no matter what, as long as Mikleo was in contact with Sorey.
Thus what should have been a small amount of water turns into a two foot thick wall stretching well above their heads that threatens to blow not only Zavied back, but Sorey and Mikleo as well. It rushes toward Zavied in a torrent that forces him to scramble to get out of the way to avoid being thrown straight off the roof. Sorey on the other hand is so drained that he falls to his knees, and the hands that had grasped onto Mikleo’s thighs to hold him steady only moments before now fall to the ground to hold him and the other up.
When it finally dissipates Sorey and Mikleo are in too much shock to do anything, Sorey trying desperately to keep air flowing through his lungs after the sudden wrenching of his power from him. Zavied stares his mouth open, his eyes trying to make sense of the scene in front of him. Mikleo is torn from his back in short order by the other three guards who had finally made it to them, and before he can struggle Sorey is forced off of his knees straight onto the stomach. He can still feel rolling sick feeling inside of him as his hands are bound in cuffs.
“Shit princey where did you find a Shepard?” Is all Sorey hears Zavied say before he is knocked over the head and all he knows is blackness.
Mikleo’s day has been horrible and amazing in equal measure, and as thoughts tumble through his head at rapid fire speed he can’t stop himself from pacing in front of the closed doors to his balcony.
“Meebo. Stop pacing or I’m going to come over there to sit on you.” Alisha’s guard, Edna, entones from where she is standing next to the Princess currently sitting in his solar.
“Edna!” Alisha swats at the smaller girls arm in a reprimanding, but still friendly, manner. “We came here to make sure that Mikleo is okay. I’m sure that after today he’s feeling very out of sorts and it’s our job as his friends to be there for him.”
Crossing her arms Edna pulls no verbal punches as she shoots back, “Well, as his friend I need him to stop wearing a hole into the floor and tell us how he ended up being kidnapped by a Shepard of all things. Cause if I need to go and kick the man currently in the dungeons in the stomach I would like to do it before midnight.”
That snaps Mikleo out of his stupor and he turns and faces the two head on for the first time since they entered a few minutes previous.
”No! Don’t you go down there Edna!” He calls out spinning on his heels, his eyes alight with a look that dared Edna to hurt Sorey at her own peril.
“Oh?” Comments Edna one of her eyebrows raising.
“Really Mikleo? Shouldn’t we all be concerned about the man down there? Because if he can take you out of the palace then I think he can get out of a cell. And if that’s true then-“
Rushing ever closer to the two Mikleo cuts her off. “Alicia, no! It’s not like that at all!”
“Then what is it like?!” Alicia exclaims jumping up from her seat and slamming her hands on the table. “Because you just disappeared! And then you turn back up with him in cuffs and everyone is saying he grabbed you from the gardens!”
“I grabbed myself from the gardens!” Mikleo yells beginning to pace again in a much smaller but no more controlled pattern. “I was so tired of being cooped up in here all day Alicia and I just wanted for one small bit of time to feel like I wasn’t a prisoner in my own home. So I left! I found a shorter portion of wall and used my artes to throw myself over. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Alicia is much quieter, her gaze still affixed on Mikleo, when she asks, “why didn’t you come to us?”
“Because as much as I trust you two neither of you would be able to leave the palace without being watched. Someone would have noticed. And I did NOT want to be noticed. Which, I know is dangerous, and I learned my lesson okay. I know I should have taken at least Zavied with me but it was a more spur of the moment decision.”
“So then if that Shepard didn’t kidnap you, how did you meet him? Cause that’s like a one in a million kind of meeting Meebo.”
“I was accosted by a vender in the marketplace who was accusing me of stealing” Mikleo admits collapsing in the chair across from the two girls, feeling more drained by his outburst towards them then anything. “I was so sure I was going to have to use my artes and out myself when all of a sudden Sorey swoops in like a knight in shining armor and gets me out of there.” A small smile graces his face, causing the Alicia and Edna to side eye each other. “He sweeps me off to this quiet rooftop and before I know it we start talking about The Celestial Record, and history, and ruins, and time is just flying by. But then the guards come and he must have thought they were trying to arrest both of us for the scene we caused earlier, yet he still tried to protect me.”
The blush that had been rising on his cheeks quickly dies and his hands clench into fists as he finishes. “The guards, Zavied included, were told that I was kidnapped and under Heldalf’s direct orders were informed that anyone found with me was to be sent to the dungeons.”
“And his word is still stronger than yours.” Alisha says completing his thoughts exactly.
“Yeah.”
“Oh Mikleo!” And then suddenly Alisha’s arms are wrapped around his shoulders and the first tears of frustration and sadness leave Mikleo’s eyes. He knows he shouldn’t cry, he hasn’t cried in years and he only met Sorey today, but the floodgates once opened won’t stop.
It wasn’t just that Sorey was being treated this way, it was that Mikleo could once again do nothing to stop Heldalf.
“I’m going to kick Heldalf in the shins.” Edna adds as she places a hand on his head, which is more physical kindness then he thinks she ever shown him. But in light of her comment he can’t help but let out a watery laugh.
In the morning he’ll have to go to Heldalf himself to get this all straightened out. He can not, and will not, let Sorey remain in the dungeons. Until then though it’s nice to have his friends.
“Also, Sorey, really? That’s such a country boy name. He may as well have been named Lloyd.”
“Edna!”
Really, really good.