Silver Eyes

A/N - so NaNoWriMo was a fail - I only made it to half of the 50000 mark. I do have two important announcements - one that I won't guarantee updates before the end of the year. It's just too busy in my life right now. Two - I would love to get a beta now that NaNo's over. If you're interested, please PM me.
smint45 - don't worry, you're writing makes sense! I am glad you like Kel, he's a fun character to write, and the rebel camp/base/whatever you want to call it is in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy that as well! But unfortunately Rian doesn't learn more about himself for some time yet. He's not a rare breed for nothing ;)
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Kel spent the last night explaining that his group had started as a search for a friend’s sister; and during that search he had found other nonhumans who were hiding and afraid to try to leave. Some were in a situation where they had escaped from their original home, and had to start over elsewhere, hiding what they were from their neighbours. Some of the others had been hidden by their friends and neighbours and so did not have to leave their home, but still lived in fear of being discovered. The Were explained that was where a lot of the humans in the group came from; people who had seen what had happened to their nonhuman friends and wanted to help. Unfortunately that was few and far between. Outside of the cities which had been nearly impossible to hide nonhumans in, the towns were usually entirely human or entirely nonhuman. It was that isolation and ignorance which bred fear. Most towns, once Kel had retrieved a nonhuman family, would be shocked if they found out the truth, and the rumours would start. They would talk about what a surprise it was to find out there were some of them here, and that they were all lucky they hadn’t been murdered in their sleep. Anything vaguely suspicious, or any unfortunate events that had happened in the past would be blamed on the departed family as well. Kel said he had had to restrain himself from punching some of the townspeople at what he heard – it sickened him how people could turn so quickly on others.

His wanderings and assisted escapes continued for quite some time, and then a year ago one of their new recruits suggested a more permanent base of operations and a bigger plan rather than his goalless rescue missions, They had found their current base, and now had an efficient task force to find and help nonhuman families in hiding. Those that wanted to leave the country permanently they helped do so, but some of the ones without children to think of stayed to help. Some of the older ones wouldn’t consider starting a new life at such a late point in their lives, but could no longer help by travelling around, so they stayed at the base to help with the mundane tasks – cleaning and cooking and such.

The biggest revelation came when Kel’s new second in command revealed that he had ties at the palace. With this, they were able to find out when the army had found out about hidden nonhumans, like the ones Kel had just helped, and get there before the army did and get them out. The ‘unprovoked attacks of terrorism’ that the king had told D’rian about were in reality the few attacks on nonhumans they were unable to cover up or the attacks that they weren’t able to avoid with the army. The group preferred to escape confrontations when at all possible. There was no way they had enough fighters to actually go against the army, so stealth was important to them. Both Kel and his second knew enough to realize that they couldn’t do something on a large scale, and that getting help to those that they could would have to be enough.

When Kelian went off to scout the next morning the two had a quick conference. Neither truly thought the Were was lying, so both truly considered their original ‘mission’ from the King to be abandoned. If they never returned it was hard to say whether the King would even notice, but the Captain of the Knights would, and he would simply list them as missing, presumed dead. After all, it wasn’t like any of the Knights would suspect their fellow of joining the ‘rebels’ he was supposed to be looking for. D’rian wasn’t thrilled about Asahi abandoning his life however.

“Asahi, think about this though. I know you said you would join me but you have friends and family at the capital. You are my only friend and I have no family. I am giving nothing up. I had already expected not to return. “A frown crossed the Knight’s face; he knew now that D’rian had already accepted this as essentially a suicide mission.

“Look, I’m not going to say I won’t miss my family, but we were never that close to begin with; they always thought I was strange for wanting to be a Knight rather than Heir, and as a Knight they had to accept that I could get killed at any time.

“And what about your fiancé?” The wizard tried to hide his grimace. Kelian may flirt with him, but he seemed the type to flirt with anything that wasn’t liable to hit him – he had tried once with Asahi but a hand on the pommel of his sword stopped that quickly enough. So now the Fae was stuck with two unrequited crushes. The ironic part was that both knew he was nonhuman, one even was another nonhuman, and still he couldn’t do anything about it.

Asahi sighed at the mention of his fiancé. “Yea, I may be engaged, but you know I’ve never met her. I can’t miss someone I’ve never met, and she would just be betrothed to another once my ‘death’ is official. It’s not like she’d care overly much; one arranged marriage is the same as any other – you just have to hope for the best. Actually, you’ve probably met her – Duke Jalen’s daughter?”

“Oh gods, yes, I’ve met her. You’d have had your hands full with her, that’s for sure. But the last time I saw her she was just thirteen. She would be eighteen by now, I believe, so hopefully she’s matured somewhat! Or at least over her determination to marry me!”

The Knight laughed harder than the Fae really thought necessary at that statement. D’rian glared at him until he subsided. “Sorry, sorry, but you could at least have been kind to the girl and told her she was the wrong gender for you!”

The wizard felt his heart stop. “You – I – wait. You know?”

The Knight smirked. “Very eloquent, my friend. I should try to surprise you more often. And yes, I already know. Even if I hadn’t, the way you stare at Kelian would have been a dead giveaway. I thought you’d need a tissue for the drool a few times. You aren’t very good at keeping your interest hidden. “D’rian blushed bright red that he’d been caught so blatantly staring. It also meant his crush on the knight was probably just as obvious. He appreciated the Knight’s tact, however; this was a non-confrontational way of telling the wizard he knew. The least he could do was return the favour. “Ah, but even someone as straight as you has to admit he’s gorgeous.”

Asahi laughed and fluttered his eyelashes, “Oooh, are you saying he’s prettier than me? How cruel!” D’rian laughed, feeling very relieved that he wasn’t about to lose his friend because of his crush.

“Sorry Asahi, I have to call them like I see them. I suppose you’d be attractive enough for a female to appreciate though.” The Knight managed a fairly credibly pout and both men burst into laughter again. The conversation from there dissolved into cruder and lewder insults; and both men were nearly in tears by the time Kelian returned from his scouting trip. The Were looked at both, and having heard the last comment wisely refrained from asking what they were talking about.

The three packed up camp quickly and headed towards the base, and D’rian noticed several Were’s in their animals forms before they got close to the entrance. It was a really good defence – only a wizard, nonhuman or human, would have noticed. The entrance itself was also well hidden. There was a ‘door’ that D’rian at first thought was supposed to resemble a large boulder; when asked Kel stated that it was, in fact, a boulder. There were several earth Fae in the group who were in charge of moving the door. The door itself was set into a natural cleft in the mountain, so you could only see the door from a certain angle; Kel said it was pure luck he had stumbled upon it. He had taken shelter in there during a particularly bad storm, and noticed that what looked to be just small indent in the side of the mountain was actually the entrance to a series of tunnels. The boulder had been created afterwards, once they knew the caves would work for their purposes. He had had some Were’s with good night vision or those who preferred being underground scout out the tunnels and followed up with earth Fae to dig out new caverns and enforce the walls and ceilings.

The base could now easily hold tens of thousands of people. Not that it did, but this gave types that generally didn’t like each other space, as well as a lot of storage, room to expand, and it also made very few of the residents aware of how many people were there at any given time. Kelian looked grim and said that while he wanted to trust everyone there, he knew better than that. He also had the Fae dig out bolt holes, and each family only knew of a few of the several dozen, all of which were just as carefully hidden and guarded as the main entrance. All of the bolt holes except those that led into Phyla were rigged to collapse should the army ever find the base. It was an incredibly impressive setup and D’rian and Asahi were both happy with their decision to join them.

They were led down numerous tunnels and were quickly hopelessly lost. Kel said they’d be given a guide until it was determined they were trustworthy enough to be given the trick to finding their own way around. Neither could take offense to this as it was only good sense. They were being trusted enough just being shown where the base was. The two were shown to two connecting rooms, and after leaving their bags there, Kel showed them to the kitchen area. He told them hot meals were served twice a day, but there were fruits and other snacks available at all times. One of the kitchen workers cheerfully explained to them that they had dryads and Fae working together to grow food in some of the larger caverns, and there were almost domestic animals kept down there, although they tried to hunt whenever they could, both to give some variety and to save their stock for it there was an emergency. There were water Fae and Naiads to keep clean running water available for drinking and bathing. It was obvious the group could outlast any siege. Throughout the tour it became readily apparent that they were defence based rather than offensive. There were fighters, of course, but it was obvious that they were there for emergencies and for guerrilla fighting. There had also been no hint of any desire for violence against the regular humans of the country, simply against the soldiers they couldn’t avoid.

After their tour Kelian took them back to their rooms, but told them they would also get to meet Alaex, his partner, and their contact in the capital. He was often gone, meeting with his contact in the palace, but they managed to arrive a few days before he would leave again. He showed up at their door shortly after Kel left. It was obvious the man was an aristocrat, even if what he looked like couldn’t be trusted. His face had the typical build, high cheekbones and a long nose, with blue-green eyes that looked too serious for someone as young as he appeared. D’rian felt they could trust the age he appeared – most illusions didn’t change that due to the fact that if someone made themselves too much older or younger than they really were it was hard to not slip and act their true age. His fashionably long, dark blond hair led to his rather feminine appearance, and while his lean, slight build was normal for an aristocrat, his short stature gave away that he wasn’t quite nobility. Even D’rian, the shortest of the three other men, towered over Alaex by a good six or seven inches. Even though they couldn’t trust his face, that fact alone showed he most likely came from the class of ‘titled’ merchants – men and women who had bought their title of “Lord”.

It was a nonsense title, but several hundred years ago there had been an uproar about the fact that there was no new blood in the noble class, so the king at that time had allowed his subjects to purchase the title at an outrageous price. However, he and his council were shrewd, and had several stipulations that didn’t appear until several generations later. The title of Lord was given to both men and women. Men who married a Lord would not gain that title, generally being called Sir, and women who married a Lord would be called Lady, but they were simple honorific’s and not real titles. The title could also only be passed on to the eldest child, the same as the rest of the noble class. The other children, however, were not given the option to become Knights, as none of the nobles trusted them as they did their own kin. Since then, the group had grown, though not as much as it would have if the title had passed to all children, and the title was also sparingly given as a gift from the crown for exceptional service. In the passing centuries, the noble class had also unbent enough to allow marriages between the Lord’s class and the noble class. Alaex’s illusion was clearly based off a mix of noble and Lord’s bloodlines.

Lord Alaex, as he introduced himself, was human, but admitted that he knew several nonhumans still in the city that were unable to get out. They were well-hidden, which is why they hadn’t been caught yet, but being located in the middle of the country it would be impossible to get to the border before their disappearance was noted and called on. The two would have been worried that his help was based on youthful rebelliousness or idealism, or worse that he was planning on turning them all in, except for the fact that most of the ideas for the base had been his, and after talking to him, it was obvious that his earnestness and passion for the cause was sincere.

The young ‘Lord’ also seemed to be unable to keep his eyes off of Asahi, and appeared to like what he saw. D’rian was surprised and pleased to notice that he didn’t feel the normal stab of jealousy he normally did when someone else was openly eyeing the Knight. Instead he found himself actually amused at all of the male attention Asahi was receiving lately. Looking at the Knight, D’rian did a double take. Was that a blush? The Fae wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or intrigued at that. Certainly, he had made an effort to not openly stare at his redheaded companion, like the lord was, but never had he seen Asahi blush before, even at the lewdest comments made by the boldest maidens they had met. The wizard decided he would just tease the other man about his reaction. It was possibly due to the fact that the small lord looked so feminine, so he wasn’t sure how to react. The blond was certainly very nice to look at, if way too petite for the Fae’s tastes. He much preferred a stronger man, if he liked that type he would just go for a woman. And here he could be free to date as he pleased, which would hopefully get his mind off of the straight Asahi and the flirtatious Kel. There was no need for his hood or his illusions as he no longer had to hide what he was. He blushed as he realized he was staring into space, lost in his thoughts, and had missed part of the conversation, and a question that had apparently been aimed at him.

“I’m sorry, what was the question?”

Asahi smirked, having a good idea where his friend’s thoughts had been. “Lord Alaex asked what you were; I thought it polite to let you answer yourself.”

D’rian shuddered, promptly forgetting how happy he was to not have to hide; it was still ingrained in him to keep that secret. But this was something he would have to get over here, if he expected to be able to be social, something he had never had to worry about before. “I am very sorry, my mind tends to wander. I am a dark Fae.”

“A dark Fae? How interesting, I don’t believe there are any others here. Plenty of other Fae, but none have called themselves that. I would love to hear more if you have the time.” D’rian was happy to note that Alaex kept a politely interested tone, but there was no censure in his eyes or tone. But his relief was short lived at the lord’s next question. “What were your jobs in the capitol? Kel has said you came out here looking for us.”

Asahi and D’rian had discussed this, and they had decided that they would have to tell the truth about why they had come looking for the group. Without knowing who Alaex truly was, or who his contact in the palace was, it was impossible for the two to know if Kel and Alaex already knew who the two of them were, so lying was not a possibility. Hopefully telling the whole truth, including their reasons for their changing (or in D’rian case, no longer hidden) loyalties, would encourage the two leaders truth them. The two took turns relating everything that had happened since the wizard had been given his fateful mission, and were shocked but relieved when the lord just grinned at the end.,

“I am glad you decided to join us instead of fulfilling your original duties. We’d be safe here regardless, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, but we can always use new members, and especially two such as yourselves.” Apparently the interview was over as the blond turned to leave. As he reached the door he paused and looked back at them. “Oh, just so you know, I did already know who you two were, and yes, you did pass the test. Well, the first test anyway.” With that he was out the door, leaving the two with that cryptic remark.

tbc...