Silver Eyes

A/N - as promised, back to D'rian and Kelian.
smint45 - as requested more magic ;) I had actually forgotten you asked for that, but it worked out because it was needed. We'll be back in the capital to unravel the mystery behind the Knight's disappearance next chapter.
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Rian and Kelian raced through the forest, pushing their mounts to their limits. One of the rivers they needed to cross had flooded its banks, setting them back. It should have taken three days to get to the town; instead they were on day five, and they had no idea how close the soldiers were to the town; or if they had even been and gone. Kel’s keen eyesight caught the first signs of the town first, and he slowed his mount down to a walk. The Fae followed suit, letting their horses calm down as they continued towards their goal. No matter how worried they were about the family they were rescuing, rushing into town on nearly lamed horses would only bring suspicion to them.

It was with a heavy heart that he saw the soldiers wandering around town. They had arrived too late. It made the Were mad at himself, even though he logically knew there wasn’t anything he could do. Yes, he could have gotten over the river, but he wouldn’t have had the horses or Rian with him, and even though he could have had Rian meet him up, the horses were needed. The Fae wouldn’t be able to move fast enough on their own to outrun the army. Now they would have to do things the hard way; they’d have to find out where the family was being held, and then figure out the best way of getting them out of town. He sighed; he was hoping that Rian’s first rescue mission could be done without bloodshed, but that wasn’t going to be possible at this point.

Kel looked over at the dark Fae; he looked worried, and with good reason. This was the first time he was going uncovered in human society, and it had to be nerve-wracking for him. The Were gave him a serious once over, and determined that unless someone stared at him and noticed the eyes were not normal, he’d pass inspection. The trick would be to make sure no one paid him too much attention; but with soldiers in the town arresting a whole family, it was doubtful anyone would pay attention to two travellers. It was possible the soldiers would, but hopefully not until it was time for them to act.

They ignored everything else for now, going to the inn to get a room. It would be too obvious for the pair to start asking questions right away, but with all small towns, people would talk about it, and it would be easy enough to overhear what they needed to know without drawing attention to themselves.

They ate a tense dinner in the inn’s small common room, and Kelian heard to his dismay that the soldiers had arrived only a few hours before them. The family in question was confined to their house. It was a nearly perfect situation, as the family was located towards the end of the town, and built of rock rather than wood; typical for earth Fae. It made getting them out harder, but safer. They couldn’t break down a wall for the family to make a quick escape, but at the same time, there was no chance of the house being set on fire if the army realized a rescue attempt was being made.

Whatever plans they made would need to be decided and acted on quickly; from previous experience Kelian knew the army would only stay in the town for a maximum of two nights before heading back to the capital. In a town as remote as this one, the captain would probably give them an extra day to relax before heading back, so at least that gave them a full day to act. After they had retreated to their room, the wizard set up a quick enchantment which would keep what they said from reaching unfriendly ears.

“So what do we do now?” Kelian felt bad for Rian; the other man already sounded defeated, and he knew they had to pull this off to boost the other’s confidence in himself.

“We’ll wait until the morning after next; dawn is statistically when most soldiers watch is down. That way we can spend tomorrow wandering around and getting a feel for the layout of the town, the best way out, and where the rest of the troops are located.”

He nodded, but it was obvious that he wasn’t convinced. Kel sighed, and continued to lay out the best method. “We need to get to them while they’re still in the town. It’s harsh, but if we wait for them to leave, the soldiers may just murder them to keep us from getting to them. We’ll also need to make sure that all of the soldiers are killed; I understand if you can’t – just immobilize them and I’ll kill them if you’re not comfortable with it.”

Rian shook his head, “I don’t know. I’ve never...I’ve never killed anyone before.”

That didn’t surprise the Were, who just nodded his understanding. “Not a problem, I understand. Trust me, I wish I could say the same. Unfortunately, I have done and in this case, we either kill them or let an innocent family be murdered. They’re soldiers – they all know when they join the army there’s a good chance they’ll be killed. For now, get some sleep; don’t worry about that part of it. We’ll do our scouting tomorrow.”

They both settled down, and Kelian forced himself to sleep right away. Rian spent more time tossing and turning, but eventually the mad rush of earlier caught up to him and he drifted off, still with a frown on his face.
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The next morning, both were up fairly early, and they went out to the market of the town, ostensibly purchasing supplies to continue their trip. They had already determined where the rest of the soldiers were – they had been practically overflowing the common room of the inn. The problem came in that the family’s house was towards the south of the town, which was the opposite direction of where they needed to go. But there was no help for it, they would have to run south, and then turn back and circle the town once they were a safe distance out. By that time the soldiers would be taken out of the picture, so it was just a matter of making sure none of the villagers could say where they had gone, if any were so inclined. The rumours they had heard so far were mixed; a lot were surprised to find out the family was Fae, some were saying that they were the reason they had good harvests, others were blaming them for every small misfortune. It was the normal things; but at least there was enough of a debate warring that it was likely that any stories that reached the capital would be a nice mix of fact and fiction. It would at least give them enough time to get the family out and themselves back to the base. That was the only time they really needed at this point.

Kel was fairly confident at this point in his ability to get the family out. There were only four soldiers guarding the house itself, with another half dozen in the inn. They would be taken out in their sleep; he hated the idea with a passion, but Rian inexperienced in fighting, he knew he couldn’t take out ten trained men by himself; not while making sure the family survived.

After lunch they went back to the room to discuss final plans. Rian looked as ill at ease with killing the soldiers that way as Kel felt, especially with his active role in it, but there was no help for it. The wizard would make sure the guards would remain asleep, while Kel went room to room.

After that, Rian would make them ‘invisible’ – an interesting trick that he said he used a lot in his youth. They wouldn’t actually be invisible, but anyone who saw them wouldn’t notice them. It would have been nice if they could have done that from the start, but the Fae had told him it was immensely draining as he had to actively maintain the illusion. But it was still a useful ability, and since it would be very early morning, only a few people would be out and about, so Rian felt confident he’d be able to hold it for the short walk across town. They would go to the back of the house, take out the two guards there, and then Rian would wait with the horses. Kel would circle around to the front, take out the guards, and then get into the house to get the family. They would go back out the back door; mount, and hopefully be gone before anyone noticed the dead soldiers in front of the door.

The biggest risk would come when they were walking across town – if someone noticed them then, it was likely they wouldn’t be able to surprise the guards at the house, and it could become messy. But Kelian would just have to have faith in Rian’s ability to keep attention from them.

They got everything packed and ready – the one loophole in the plan was if someone happened to walk into one of the rooms the soldiers were in and notice they were dead, so they didn’t want to waste any time getting across town and getting the family out once the plan was in motion. Afterwards, Kel suggested getting some sleep, so they were awake and ready to go. The Were was perfectly capable of falling asleep anywhere and at anytime, but Rian, obviously, didn’t have that ability. The tossing and turning actually kept Kel awake, so finally, he got up and walked over to the other man.

“Can’t sleep?”

Rian snorted. “Isn’t that obvious? It’s the middle of the day, and I’m worried about tomorrow.”

“That’s why you need to sleep. I’ll give you a massage; that should calm you enough that you can fall asleep.”

Kelian knew it was a really bad idea, that it was only going to make the fact he couldn’t have the younger man that much worse, but he couldn’t pass up this chance. Plus, he wasn’t lying; if he relaxed his muscles he could most likely force himself to sleep. Rian tensed up a bit, which stung, but finally nodded his agreement. The brunet knelt down on the bed next to him and started on his back.

He was only half way through the massage when he felt all of the muscles under his hands relax into sleep. Not wanting to seem like a pervert, Kelian simply sought out the worst of the knots, the ones still present even while Rian was unconscious, and then retreated to his own bed. His thoughts kept him up a little longer, all circling around the gorgeous Fae in the next bed, but even those couldn’t overrule his training, and he eventually fell asleep as well.

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The Were’s internal clock woke him about an hour before dawn, right on time. He woke up quickly, and shook the other awake, silently. The carefully gathered their things, and returned the room to the way they had found it. With any luck, the chaos that would ensue would make everyone forget that there even was a pair of travellers staying here. They had to try a few rooms first, but luckily other than the soldiers there didn’t seem to be anyone else staying at the inn. Not surprising given its small size and out of the way location, but it made it that less likely anyone would stumble on their bodies until someone went to report the other guards dead. The first room Kel was worried about the Fae losing control of his stomach, so the Were sent him to wait in the hallway. The proceeded room to room, and after all ten were dispatched, they made their way to the stables. The two horses were well trained, and barely made a noise as the two saddled them, except the rustling of straw, which was unavoidable. Rian had forced the stable boy to stay asleep as well, though, so they were able to get out of the inn courtyard without a glitch. They made their way through the town, and true to Kelian’s prediction they only saw a few people going about their business this early, and they were able to make their way to the house undetected. The guards were taken out, and Kelian made his way into the house. From what he had been told, it was a couple, with one teenage daughter. The couple was woken up with only a quickly muffled shriek from the woman. He shifted to his half form to calm them.

“I’m here to help you. Gather what you need to survive a journey, and go out the back door. A friend is waiting with horses to get you into Phyla. I’ll go wake your daughter and send her down to join you.”

They both nodded their understanding and without any other urging stood to get dressed and ready. He went to get the daughter; if they hadn’t gotten downstairs by the time the girl was awake he’d push them a little harder. He could understand the desire to bring along irreplaceable possessions, but it was more important to get them out alive than worry about heirlooms. The girl was much harder to wake up; but she did eventually, and looked about ready to scream when he slapped a hand against her mouth.

“Your parents are downstairs packing, get dressed quickly and join them. We’re getting you out of here.”

That’s when things started falling apart. Instead of agreeing and joining her parents, the girl looked sad and rebellious. Kel frowned; he had thought the girl would be younger; at this age she was probably pining over a boy. He had to convince her that she had to leave. If the boy cared for her, he’d prefer her safe, and if he hated her now that he knew she wasn’t human, then it could mean her entire family’s death, and even if not it would hurt her to feel that sort of betrayal. A lot of the people in the base had to deal with similar things, and he could tell from the way they acted the pain from that never really went away. It may only be a childhood crush, but the fact that someone you cared for could sentence you to death because of what you were, that pain didn’t change because of the age.

One of the nonhumans he had tried to save in the first year had been turned in by his wife of thirty years. He had scorned Kelian’s help, and insisted that his wife watch his execution. The Were had later found out the woman had killed herself out of guilt.

He sighed, trying to think quickly. “Who is he? I’ll go and try to find him, but you need to get out of here. “

“HER; and I can’t leave her, you have to get her to come with us.” Kelian felt like tearing something up. Stupid stubborn children.

“Fine – what’s her name?”

“Maiya – she lives on the east side of town, behind the inn.” Grumbling to himself, he barely gave the girl a chance to grab a few changes of clothing before all but shoving her out of the room.

They got downstairs, and he heard the sounds of an argument by the back door. He frowned; what could Rian be arguing with the couple about? Maybe they were trying to bring more than the horses could carry. That was easily solved, and he decided to make short work of that argument before leaving to ‘go get’ the daughter’s friend. To his surprise and adding to his growing headache, it wasn’t the older couple, but another teenager standing outside. Rian looked absolutely out of his depth, and he stepped forward to help.

“What’s going on?”

Rian looked nervously at him. “This girl says she’s friend’s with Brigid and insists on joining us.” Kel manfully resisted the urge the tear at his hair and scream.

“Maiya, right? You realize that if you come with us it would end badly? You parents will come after you, which will put Brigid at risk. Do you want to be responsible for that?” Parents could be scarier than the army; plus there would be the added rumour of nonhumans stealing away human females. The worst part is that it wouldn’t technically be a lie, even if she was leaving willingly.

“No, they won’t. I’m an embarrassment to them; they’ve been trying to get rid of me for years. They...“she blushed, and Kelian raised an eyebrow. What, had the stupid girl gotten herself knocked up? “They don’t understand that I love Brigid.”

Rian looked absolutely lost, but Kel finally figured out what was going on. It was a given that same sex pairings were accepted; but only in the cities and more modern areas. These backwards towns still frowned on it, not out of any moral standing, but because they didn’t lead to children. Unfortunately that meant that if he didn’t allow this girl to come with them, there would be a big scene, and they wouldn’t be able to get out of here quietly.

“Fine, “he practically spat, “you can come with us, but only after you leave a note, both for your parents and some sort of location which is VERY public, that you ran away. I don’t want to deal with the fallout of people thinking you were kidnapped.”

The girl nodded, and hefted the pack in her hands. “Already done. I left a note for my parents and told my best friend I was leaving. Don’t worry, he’s trustworthy. He cares for Brigid too; he doesn’t want anything happening to her.”

Kel nodded, already distracted by the next problem. Transportation. They had two horses – the Were had planned to fly ahead, while Rian would ride with one of them, and the other two would share the other horse. It hadn’t been ideal, but it would have worked. Now they had to move faster, in case someone still came after Maiya, and they had an additional person to move. There was one solution, but it was something Kelian had wanted to avoid. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible now. The family piled out of the house, and with a quick reunion of the two girls, and a rather heartfelt ‘thank you’ from Brigid, the family packed their stuff onto the horses. The brunet had the parents get on his horse, and the two girls get on the other. Rian raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, but Kel just held his finger to his lips for silence, and shifted into his lion form. It would feel good to run like this, even if it made them stand out more. Thankfully his scent didn’t change too much shifting form, so the horses from the base knew better than to panic. Two horses running alongside a lion would make it fairly obvious that there was something odd going on though. He swung his head towards the Fae, who took a few minutes to figure out that he was supposed to ride on the Were. He actually blushed, which Kel found charming and contradictory to the rest of the Fae’s behaviour, but they had wasted enough time with the daughter’s drama, and merely gestured impatiently towards his back. Rian scrambled up rather awkwardly, but as soon as the wizard had a firm grasp in his mane, he took off, the well trained horses following behind him. The sun was just starting to turn the sky pink as they disappeared into the forest.

tbc...