Take Me Away

Chapter summary: For the group, it’s time to get back at moving again, after the faction members have been spotted around town.

Author’s Notes: Just a short transition chapter between the 15th and the 17th; nothing extremely major. Next chapter should be longer, since I\'m going to include how Kieran and Shandaar got together.

Take Me Away
Chapter 16 – Cycle

Both Raya and Dagmar had noticed when Shandaar had left the building, but no one stopped him as they figured out he obviously needed to be alone. They had heard him cry and scream in his sleep, but it had never lasted long. Maybe the prince didn’t have conscience that his lover had gone to his bed and took him in his arms until he stopped freaking out. At least there had been a reaction from him. Whatever was in his head, they didn’t know, and somehow didn’t wish to know.

Near eleven in the morning, the silver-haired man had come back, only to leave a few minutes after, this time accompanied by Kieran. The remaining team members had to wait about an hour before the men came back. No matter what happened there, it made Shandaar happier. They climbed up the stairs and shut the door, then… nothing. They were obviously going at it.

During their little session, Dagmar had decided to go outside and look around the town. The idea of buying a house in this place was way too tempting, and he had begun to look for something affordable yet big enough to house him, his wife, their daughter and two sons. It would be a hard task, though rewarding in the end. This city was quite busy at this hour, since it wasn’t too late in the day. Soon though, they’d go back inside because of the heat.

Being taller than normal, there was no need of going mad because he couldn’t see where he was going, so everything was very easy to spot. And everyone as well. As he made his way around the marketplace, ready to head back at the inn too tell his pals about his little discoveries, a man caught his eye. The blonde man frowned at the sight; the guy was quite familiar, but where had he seen him? Then it all came back to him. They had fought against him and his group, so that had to be Shandaar’s rapist? It took him everything not to kill the man on the spot, calm down and head back to the inn without causing any trouble.

The giant walked to the room where Kieran and the prince were hopefully sleeping – not having sex – and didn’t even knock on the door before opening it. They were in danger, or so he thought. “Kieran, get up. Now” he said through his teeth as he didn’t want to alarm Shandaar. Waking the raven-haired man was risky enough since he was under the stress as well, but he needed him to get his lover ready. “Kieran!”

Of course the adventurer opened his eyes slowly, dismissively turning his head around. Why was Dagmar in the room? Why couldn’t he have waited a few more hours? They were barely done with their quality time and now he had to come and mess it all up. “Ugh… what ya want…”

“Get up. Now” he growled this time, cringing as the smaller man’s eyes fluttered open, only to close right after. Whew; that had been rather close. “Come on, I’m serious here.”

“Serious about what?”

“SHHHH! Don’t wake Shandaar up.” The blonde lifted his hand, ready to smack the guy, but rectified his choice. Kieran would yelp and the heir to the throne would wake up. Bad idea. “Get up, get dressed and follow me. I’ll be outside the inn.” With this, he waited for him to be at least up and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

One last look at the silver-haired swordsman and Kieran swore under his breath, wondering what was so important as to wake him up a short time after he had been sexually involved with the other man. He made sure he had his sword with him and kissed Shandaar’s forehead before leaving, trying to rearrange his hair at the same time. If it wasn’t worth it, he’d make sure the tall man would remember not to bother him anymore. And to tell the truth, he didn’t want the youth to wake up alone in the hotel room, and since Raya wasn’t in sight, he cursed again. “So, what’s so important for you to disturb my time with Shan?” he asked, obviously still annoyed.

“You’ll thank me later, trust me. I’ve spotted that asshole who raped him…”

The smaller man frowned heavily and scanned the area quickly. That Radwan dude wasn’t right there, but it was still scary knowing that this man was still on the loose. This also meant that the faction was rather close. The thought made him shudder and cross his arms over his chest. “Let’s take a stroll around town, shall we?” he suggested, not even waiting for an answer. If possible, he’d kill that man who got his beloved in such a state. “Now where’s that motherfucker…”

Hands balled into fists, he started to walk straight in front of him, barely caring for where he went. His aim was the spearman, nothing else. And if he’d see him, he wasn’t scared in having a fight. Dagmar followed him up close, simply wanting to reach over and catch him by the shoulder so they’d avoid bloodshed. Knowing Kieran, however, it would prove to be hard.

After only a few minutes of searching, the black-haired youth found his target. A man with dark blue hair stood tall in the middle of the crowd that had gathered around a new shop. They were selling food as he could guess… but he didn’t care. This was going to be his last meal… and not just for the day. By the end of the fight, Radwan Jayser would be dead. “I still can’t believe that bastard had the fucking guts to do such a thing.” He was responsible for everything that was happening right now; Shandaar feeling guilty being the main reason. How he hated seeing his lover in such a state. It simply broke his heart. ”Bastard. You’re not getting away with this.”

Slowly, but surely, Kieran made his way closer and closer to the rapist, his left hand still forming a fist, his right hand clutching on the hilt of his sword. And when he was right behind the indigo-haired male…

… Dagmar grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around roughly, looking at him menacingly. No, he didn’t want to defend what Radwan had done, hell no. That act was inexcusable. But the smaller guy was ready to kill in the middle of the streets, blinded by hatred. He had to stop him. “Not here, stupid! You’re not just going to alert Shandaar, but the whole town! And we REALLY don’t want that happening” he spoke through his teeth once again. “What has gotten into you?”

“This man raped my lover! I don’t want him close to Shandaar again, and as long a he’s gonna be alive, he’s gonna be their target. And their job is to kidnap or kill him, and I refuse to let them succeed. I’ll do anything to protect him” Kieran stated, glaring back at the giant, fuming. He had finally given into anger, and only sought revenge against the man who had hurt his lover so much. “He’d deserve the same treatment than what happened to Shandaar… fucking asshole…”

“Alright, calm down. We won’t solve anything this way for now. You go back to the inn to make sure Shandaar gets ready. Don’t tell him why we leave, but tell him to be fast. We don’t want him to go crazy after what he went through these days. I’ll go find Raya.” The giant waited for a nod of the black-haired man’s part, then dragged him out of the crowd.

This day was starting badly as well. The issue between him and the other swordsman was solved, but he still had to take care of Radwan’s case. Never in his life had he felt such anger, such pain at the sight of a broken young man. He saw it as unfair. He knew his boyfriend like the back of his hand, and knew that he’d have never asked for something sexual coming from a total stranger, stranger that has fought against them for reasons that were still unknown. Why were they after the prince?

Kieran took a deep breath, and ran back to the inn. There was no time to waste. He had to his childhood friend ready so they’d leave the town as soon as possible. He wanted Shandaar’s safety more than anything in this world at this moment. The fact he hadn’t eaten since their supper wasn’t on their mind, nor were Raya’s whereabouts. He was focussed on the younger man, who he swore allegiance to. He had promised him that he wouldn’t leave him alone anymore, and scowled himself as he noticed he didn’t warn him… now that was his turn at feeling bad.

Back at the inn, he rushed to the room, swinging the door open, not caring to close it as he made his way inside. The only thing that made him calm down for the first time in fifteen minute was the sight of the smaller body sprawled on the bed, his eyes closed and a smile on his face. This was the portrait of innocence that he loved so much from the man. And for a second, the only thing he wanted to do was to take that body in his arms and bring him into a deep kiss, caressing that skin… but now wasn’t the time for this, no. It was the time to leave, to escape whatever those men had in store for the runaway prince of Kadessa. Rather roughly, which wasn’t his intention, he shook the man until he got a reaction from him.

Semi-startled, still drowsy, Shandaar opened his eyes and groaned. Too much light in the room… plus he wasn’t fond of brutal wake-ups. A second after, Kieran wasn’t even in his eyesight anymore. He had to turn his whole body in the other direction to see his lover picking up clothes and other belongings from the floor, shoving them in a bag. “What’s wrong….?”

“Don’t ask questions. We have to get out of here, so get dressed.” Noticing the tone he had used, he sighed and hung his head. It had sounded like he was angry at the other man, which was far from being the case. “I’m sorry… let’s just leave this place fast. Please.”

The silver-haired youth lazily covered his eyes with his arm, as if nothing was really stressing. “But why? It’s rather early and I’m tired… can’t we wait?”

“No we can’t. Look Shannie… let’s go. I’ll explain everything later, but we really have to leave. I just don’t want anything to happen to you anymore.”

So something was definitely happening. Starting to be slightly more awake, Shandaar got up from the bed and reached for his clothes, somewhat confused. Why did Kieran insist on leaving so much? Was he really in danger again? “Tell me what’s happening.”

The adventurer shook his head, annoyed. Normally he was far from being annoyed by his long-time lover, but he didn’t want him to freak out and live that traumatism again. No more violence… no more rape… no more blood… no more tears… no more Shandaar being afraid. “… I can’t. I can’t because you’ll freak out. Because you’re going to be scared. I don’t want you to be scared anymore.” Even though another pair of his pants were left on the floor, the raven-haired man walked up to the smaller frame and wrapped him in his arms in a protective embrace. “I made the promise I wouldn’t leave you alone anymore, and that I’d prevent anything bad from happening to you. This time, I’m going to stick to it. I want you to get ready, bring everything you need, and then we’ll need to leave.”

Judging from the older man’s plea, it was probably better for him to get ready fast. He grabbed his clothes and hastily put them on, then searching for his weapon and armor, that were scattered around. He’d wait until later to put it back. “I still want to know why we have to leave like this. But I know I can count on you for telling me why right after we have left town” he continued as he closed the door behind him, mentally making sure he wasn’t forgetting something very important in the room. Most likely, he’d never see this place again…

”Okay, right after, I promise.”

That had been enough for him to leave the building and heading toward the stable. The silver-haired man knew that he could trust Kieran, who never had broken a single promise made to him. The other male quickly caught up to him, putting their bags in the cavaran, now able to get up and help his childhood friend on the horse as well. For his effort, he received a quick kiss on the lips and a smile. “Such a gentleman that you are.” And a few minutes later, Raya and Dagmar met up with them, bags and pouches in hand. “Thankfully, we have a big carriage… I bought a lot of stuff. Plus there’s your weapons-“

The black -haired youth interrupted her, patting his sword. “We’re keeping ours.” He glanced at the man, who was looking straight in front of him, his mind wandering off on why a prince was here with him, a lowly traveler and son of blacksmith, but everything vanished as he realized the situation they were in. He couldn’t afford losing Shandaar to the hands of the ones who wanted him dead.

As they left, for one last time, the prince looked around him, admiring the scenery. The white houses and buildings, the oasis and its palm trees… he would surely miss that. And at the moment they were out of the city limits, he spoke up, turning his head slightly so he was able to see Kieran’s eyes from his position. “Why are we leaving so soon?” he inquired, his voice soft as always, almost in a whisper.

“Alright, I’ll be honest. When Dagmar went around town earlier, he spotted the guy who had raped you.” This cause the young prince to worry right away, but he didn’t become clingy for that matter. He simply looked at his lover, his eyes shifting as he thought about what would happen if they had met for a third time. It surely wouldn’t have been good, considering the circumstances. Radwan’s faction wanted to abduct him or kill him, and a high probability of both. “I didn’t want to tell you because you’d have freaked out. I don’t know if they were in the same inn than us, and I’m a bit afraid that they were.”

“Was he alone? Because there was his boyfriend… the one I wounded. I wonder if he survived.” The sky blue eyes lowered to his lap, suddenly feeling guilty again. If he had killed someone, that would make him a killer, and he wasn’t sure if he could live with this on his conscience. Taking the life of someone else was a crime… could he still be a good king if such a thing happened?

Kieran’s voice was heard and the smaller guy got out of his trance after blinking a few times, focusing on the black-haired man again. “Apparently he was alone. Right Dagmar?”

“Well I dunno. If he was with someone else, I didn’t see that person. So I’d say he was alone, yeah.”

“I have a hard time dealing with the fact that they’re still following us, and that they want Shandaar. I don’t think they’ll go easily and that scares me. I don’t want them to hurt you” the adventurer stated as he wrapped his arms around the smaller frame in front of him, squeezing the shoulders slightly. All the things he would do for this young man, everything he would agree to go through in order to be with him…

A smile crept on the prince’s face. Kieran was such a protector… he probably owned the man his life. He leaned on him and sighs, content. That was the life he wanted to live, without all the “running away from the bad guys” part, which was playing more and more on their trip. “Don’t worry” he continued, still smiling. “I won’t let them do anything else to me. Not if I can avoid it.”

The adventurer took his chance to kiss his mate on the forehead and squeezed him once more, then turning his attention back at the direction they were taking. They had gone off a few meters away from their original position, close to the caravan. “Giddy up” he commands, expecting the horse to get faster so they could move in the same range.

As the hours passed, the couple talked, stopping every now and then to grab a bite and exchange with the remaining members of the team. In the end, they would relay so two would be sleeping while two would be awake. If it wouldn’t work, they’d simply get the two horses to pull the carriage and get all inside it. This time spent chattering had been beneficial to Shandaar, as he was less worried and more relaxed. Seeing the man happy again felt like a new beginning, the beginning of another cycle…

~ TBC ~