Silver Eyes

A/N - So, I nearly had a panic attack - I got to the States and thought I had forgotten part of the adapter for my laptop. But, it was just misplaced, I have my adapter, so I have all my notes/etc plus internet. This chapter is kinda short, but the next few are already written down, they just need to be typed up, so there will be more tomorrow. Right now I’m just too jet-lagged to catch mistakes.
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D'rian collapsed onto the bed the second they entered the room they were staying in. The last couple of days had been far too tense and all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep. They had arrived at the inn after the sun had already set, but neither was willing to risk another night outdoors while D'rian could still feel they were being watched. The wizard stayed at the inn this time while Asahi went to the tavern to try to find news. Luckily this was a big enough town, there was a smaller tavern attached to the inn, and a full one across town. While he didn’t want a repeat of the last town, he was at least able to go down and get dinner for himself and Naia, and he listened in on the conversations around him while waiting for the food.

After so long listening to conversations about farming and who was marrying who, he almost missed the one conversation that was important. There were a pair of kids, too young to be called women, yet, gossiping by the other end of the bar. Both were most likely in their late teens, and he had initially ignored the conversation since it was just talking boys. But then the redhead, who looked to be the elder of the two mentioned her beau disappearing a few days ago. Her blonde friend seemed sympathetic, but thankfully still wanted to hear the gossip. The thing that caught his attention however, was that the son had given his love interest a note saying how sorry he was to have to leave like that, but they were leaving the country. He shifted minutely closer, hoping they were talking about what he thought they were.

“So they got another family of them out? Sorry it had to be that family though, I know how much you liked Byron.” At this the first girl looked fairly distressed.

“Yes, so am I; but it’s’ better this way. I mean, he couldn’t even tell me and we wanted to get married! What would have happened if we had kids? All of us could have been killed.”

“They hid this long, you could have too. It’s just so sad! Do you know which country they went to? You could follow him and prove your love and devotion!”

“Tes, I swear, I wish you had never learned to read. Thos books you spend your time with have put such strange ideas in your head. If I could get out of here and find them so easily, why would we need that group for?”

The first girl, Tes, huffed melodramatically “Fine. Ruin all my thoughts of romance, why don’t you. But I suppose you have a point. What I wouldn’t give to be able to travel! Seriously, why can‘t normal people go wherever they want?”

The second girl giggled, “You don’t care about travelling. You just want to get into a bind and have a handsome Prince Charming rescue you!”

The conversation devolved into a debate on their differing opinions on finding a suitable husband, the wizard moved away, grabbing his food which had already grown cold and went back up to his room. Naia dug into the meal, cold or not, and D’rian ate mechanically. If the girls were talking about non-humans, which it had certainly sounded like, was it possible these “rebels” weren’t anything of the sort, and were just smuggling people out of the country? It was something neither of them had even thought about - there had been so many rebel groups that it never occurred to them to question it. But those had been easily caught as every group eventually makes a fatal error. He told Naia to stay put and went over to the tavern Asahi was in. If they wanted to find out anything, he’d have to ask tonight, even though in a town as small as this a missing family would probably be big news for a while, the Fae didn’t want to take any chances with the first lead they had gotten on this journey. He pulled the Knight aside, and told him what he had overheard.

The redhead groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Great. If that’s the case we’ve been looking for the complete wrong thing.” He glanced at the wizard. “And I don’t know if I’d be able to complete this mission anyway if that is the case. Yea, they‘re technically committing a crime, but they‘re not hurting anyone with it, they‘re helping people.”

D’rian found himself ridiculously happy at that admission. It meant that Asahi wasn’t just dealing with him being non-human for the safe of their job, but because he truly didn’t have a problem with him. He squashed his giddy feelings down to deal with the situation at hand.

“So what do we do know?” The wizard looked at the other man expectantly. Technically he was in charge, but it was fairly obvious that as a Knight Asahi had much more experience with things like this.

“We find them still. Then we make sure they aren’t harming innocents. If they’re not, then I report back that I couldn’t find anything. And you’ll be able to get out of here.”

Leave? Get out of this country? Be able to walk around, free, without fear? Perhaps he could even find other Dark Fae, maybe there were family members he could no longer remember that lived in another country. It seemed to good to be true. He also knew that there was only one answer to that.

“No.” The Knight blinked at him, apparently not knowing what to say to that. “Look, I know it would be good to get out of here. But, if I can stay and help others out, then I want to. I’ve spent most of my life just making sure that I’m not found, that I’m not the one hurt. I’ve managed to pull it off, and I can’t even say anything extraordinarily bad happened to me. Yea, it’s been lonely as all hells, and there were a few years where food was scarce, but after we helped Naia, seeing what happened to those people, I can’t let others get hurt because I’m scared of what could happen. Yes, I’m tired of hiding, but I’m more tired of being a coward.”

Asahi just stared at him a minute, and then a wide grin split his handsome face, making his eyes sparkle. “Then I guess they have two new recruits. Count me in.”

D’rian found himself smiling right back, and he felt hope - actual hope that there could be an end to all of this.
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D’rian headed back to the inn, and Asahi followed a few hours later. He confirmed that it was definitely a family of nonhumans from the way everyone spoke, and that they were well known and well liked. The general consensus was that the town was sorry to see them go, but glad they were no longer in any danger. Plus quite a bit of shock that they had been hiding for so long, not that any could blame them.

They tried to get more details about what had happened to the missing family, but if anyone knew anything they didn’t want to share that information. Neither of them was willing to risk D’rian’s or Naia’s safety by trying to hint they were attempting to flee the country as well. If the villagers weren’t being forthcoming there had to be a reason for that.

Sure enough, on their third day in town, army soldiers showed up, ransacked the deserted house and put up signs for the arrest of the entire family. Apparently in all of the people who thought good of the family there was at least one or two who believed the drivel that nonhumans were monsters and turned them in. Unless there was a reward for turning nonhumans in that they didn’t know about. Asahi luckily heard the commotion first, and wouldn’t let either of the other two out of their room at the inn. He told the innkeeper that Naia wasn’t feeling well and Rian was taking care of her. This kept them in town a few more days than the Knight wanted, but it also kept suspicion off of them and lessened the chance of running into the soldiers on the road or following their trio. They already had one stalker too many.

Four days later they finally felt safe to start out again. Asahi had started to get to know a lot of the townspeople in their week stay, and they got a lot of well wishes on their way out of town. The girl (Asahi had found out her name was Sera) who had wanted to marry the missing boy gave them a knowing look when she said farewell and told the Knight to take care of them. He gave her a wink and Naia gave her a hug and they were off once again. It was fairly safe to say she wasn’t the one who snitched, and D’rian hoped for her sake that it wasn’t the girl Tes either.

The sounds of the town were fading into the background when the Knight turned to D’rian. Just because they had a lead on their main initiative didn’t mean they didn’t have other problems.

“Well? Do you still feel like we‘re being watched?”

“Yes, unfortunately. I felt it the entire time I was in town, too.”

“And you’re sure it’s not a person? Or a wizard hiding their energy from you somehow?”

“It could be someone hiding their energy, but they would have to be very skilled. Most are unable to hide it effectively. I would either be able to sense the energy, just to a lesser extent, from the shield they were using to hide their energy, or they’d overcompensate and there would be a blank space which I could also sense.”

“So it’s likely we have another magically skilled nonhuman following us. What is it about you that attracts them?”

D’rian snorted and shook his head. “Power attracts power. Though I think with us it’s just coincidence. With any luck whatever is following us is just curious and won’t attack us. It’s certainly had plenty of opportunities to do so. Besides, it would be two against one,;I’m sure we’d be fine if it came to a fight.”

“I suppose you’re right. I just don’t like unknowns. You have no idea how much you drove me insane” Asahi said with a laugh. “I knew you were hiding something, but I couldn’t figure out what! I won‘t tell you some of the theories I came up with, most were insulting to one or both of us.”

D’rian chuckled. “I’m glad I do a good enough job of hiding my heritage that even a Knight couldn’t figure it out.” The wizard was so glad that the distrust between them was gone and they were able to joke about D’rian’s secrets. Well, one of them at least. They could truly be friends now, the only secret he had from the other man was his crush that still hadn’t abated. He kept calling himself all sorts of a fool - Asahi had become a good friend, and proved it time and again, but he was straight and there was no way he was going to risk such a good friendship for misplaced lust. No matter how…decadent his dreams were getting as of late.

D’rian was lost in his thoughts, which were currently focused on the last such dream he had, and so the burst of power was the only warning he had before Asahi was forcibly ripped off of his horse.

tbc...