The apartment was oddly still when Arlan entered his room, freshly opened box of salt in his hands. They shook, just a little, with adrenaline and fear as he made himself a circle on the floor, just big enough to sit in. It looked like a big mess, one he wasn’t looking forward to cleaning up. It certainly didn’t look like any sort of shield he might have imagined but if Elwynn said it would work then it was at least worth a try.

Before he climbed into the waiting space he made sure that his pendant was secure around his neck, quartz stones in his pocket. In theory it wasn’t all of himself travelling to the other side  of the veil, it seemed silly to need them in his pockets but he wanted to follow the instructions word for word. He didn’t really want to know what would happen if he didn’t do this correctly. Maybe nothing, maybe something far worse than just travelling to the faerie realm.

Sitting down in his salt circle he closed his eyes, focusing on only his breathing. He did his best to push all feelings of doubt from his mind, focusing only on the goal at hand. In his right hand he held his gifted stone, thumb running over the top of it again and again as he pictured Mies and the place that held him captive. In this moment there needed to be nothing but the prince, no fear, no moon, no friends. There was nothing but the smell of earth and flowers.

Arlan tried to keep track of his breathing but at some point he lost the count. He could only assume it had been the right amount of time when he started to open his eyes torn between his belief that this would all work and the skeptical part of him that declared he would only be looking at his room. Thick lashes parted to reveal a darkness so thick that for a moment he thought he might have just tricked himself into thinking they were open.

He knew this place, it was the one from his dream though it felt more solid than it did before. There were slight edges to the darkness, a hint that there was more than just shadow this time. The ground beneath him was cool, rough against his hand as he pushed himself back up onto his feet. He would need to be careful not to disorient himself, it would be so easy to get lost in this place. With a slow first step he started forward, squinting hard enough to see what he hoped was the outline of a door.

Arlan nearly ran face first into the wall he was looking for. The slightest addition of sight here had done little to actually help him navigate. Just as in his dream he was able to find a door handle, curling his fingers around it without turning it right away. His pulse was racing, thundering in his ears so loud he swore it was echoing around him. He tried to convince it to slow with a few long breathes but they weren’t even, tense just like every other muscle in his body. This was as good as it was going to get now, he needed to keep moving before he was caught.

Opening the door the light in this room wasn’t as bright as it was the last time. It was more of an eerie glow that seemed to seep in through faint cracks in the wall that were impossible to pinpoint. It wasn’t even strong enough to really illuminate the shape on the floor, the mass of cloth and limb there. It made no movement, even as Arlan crept closer, sinking to his knees slowly. This could be a trap, he needed to be ready to run if it was.

Placing a hand somewhere on the small mountain of fabric got it to move. The form beneath it whipped around, half rolling away as it turned to face him, surprise making  Arlan fall back as well. Even with so little light to see by he still could recognize the curve of his nose, the shape of his cheek. Mies was just as shocked as Arlan was about the moment, eyes wide enough to glint as they focused in the dark.

“Arlan why are you here?”

The prince’s voice was strained, using the human’s name instead of his sweet pet name. The pain in the fae’s voice stung at Arlan’s heart, each beat aching for him. It was the sound of a voice that had lost all hope, all will to go on, a stark difference from the whispers and murmurs he’d grown so used to.

“I’m here to get you, the moon’s almost new.” Despite his words he made no moves towards Mies or the shackles that clinked at his wrists. This moment was filled with so much uncertainty it almost paralyzed him. What if Mies didn’t really want to be saved? What if he wanted to disappear along with the moon? He’d not thought of any of that, he’d just been selfish in his desires to rescue his faerie.

“Get me? It’s not safe. Please Arlan, save yourself. Go before they find you my love.” The prince reached out to touch his cheek, fingertips barely brushing against skin. It wasn’t enough, Arlan wanted to feel those arms around him, pulling him close. It was however, enough to reveal the first of the chains that needed to be broken. In the dark he could see no locks to pick at or break, reaching out to feel the links to try and see that way. Mies tugged his wrist back quickly, trying to pull the chain away from him before he had the chance but he was too slow, Arlan caught the body of it in one quick movement.

In that instant, he knew why Mies had been trying to keep them away from his human companion. He could feel the metal come to life, wrapping around his wrist firmly, like an unwanted fitted bracelet. He tried to tug his way out of it but it only grew tighter, biting at his skin. He was just as caught as the prince was now, a few inches all that separated their hands from one another.

“My love, what did you do? They will have you now too.” There was a cracking in his voice, like he might have cried if there was the time for that sort of thing. The only time he’d heard that much sorrow before was in Corwin’s mother’s voice, at his funeral as they lowered his empty casket into the ground.

“I'm here to save you.” There was panic in his tone now, coating his words with a worry he couldn't escape. He'd come in with no real plan other than a way to enter and exit this world and he was fairly certain these chains would keep him making that cross.

“To rescue me? I told you to forget about me. Now they have you.” Even in the inky shadows he could see the way Mies’ face twisted, looking as though he might cry at any moment. He reached out, hands cradling Arlan’s face, eyes searching for some sort of solution that they both knew he wouldn’t find. His hands started to move, shifting as though they were going to wrap around the human but there was a sound behind them both that made him pull away, lips settling into a determined line.

“What a lovely reunion. Good job Mies, you’ve made up for your previous mistake.” Arlan remembered that voice, a shiver going down his spine as he turned to see the outline of another fae entering the room. They came close, so close that either prisoner could reach out and touch them if they wanted to. It was the fae from the middle of the dais, from that strange night weeks ago. “Why couldn’t you cooperate earlier?”

“I’d rather see him dead than in your hands.” Mies hissed from where he sat, anger bubbling up in his voice.

“He won’t be in my hands long, you know that. We’ll both get out wishes. He really does resonate so nicely, I can see why you chose him.” This particular fae seemed to care nothing for personal space, they reached out to tug on Arlan’s chin, fingers pinching at his cheeks. Even with the dark it seemed as though they were examining him, taking in every inch of him. It made the hair on Arlan’s neck stand up. It felt so wrong. “He’ll be perfect for shattering the veil.”

Arlan didn’t have to see Mies to know that the prince tensed at the statement, he could feel it in the air between them. He had no idea what it really meant but from the faerie’s reaction he could guess that it wasn’t a good thing. His arm ached where he’d been marked before, lessening only when the strange fae let go of his face and stepped back. The distance wasn’t enough. He wanted the stranger to be far, far away, he wasn’t sure that there was anywhere that would even feel far enough at this point in this point in time. Not even the other side of the veil felt safe.

“You’re crazy uncle. The veil is not meant to be broken. I see that now. Stop this please. Let him go home, erase me.” Arlan’s stomach rolled at the pleading. He’d never know Mies to be the sort to beg like this. Even in the past when he’d tried to lure Arlan into his world he’d never sounded this desperate. It was uncomfortable, scaring him at his core.

“Mies. You disappoint me. Where is that fighting spirit you had years ago, the spirit you had to take back the world that was taken from us? You’d grown soft, I told you not to get fond of him.” The fae clucked their tongue, the shape of them leaning against a wall with ease. “Particularly this one. He resonates just right, he’s perfect for this and you know it. If you would stop fighting, I’ll even let you be the one to guide him through it.”

“You’re mad. It will never work. You’ll just kill him.” There was so much that Arlan didn’t understand but he did understand that. He’d put himself at risk to come and save a prince who’ been asked to hand him over just to die. The only regret he had, even now, was only that he’d not figured out how to break these chains and get out of here yet.

“Weak. You’re so weak. He’s just a mortal. Shall I make him bleed for you? To show you the futility of the love you’ve imagined?” The fae sounded annoyed now, pacing the room for a moment before starting back towards the bound pair. Faintly Arlan could see the hand as it raised, realizing too late that it was coming down on his face. He felt the sting of it on his cheek the burn of festering anger but the hit was not the only thing that happened. Once more there was the sound of a crack, not as loud as before, but loud enough to remind Arlan of the quartz in his pocket. The faerie stumbled back away from them, hissing as they clutched their hand cursing in a language he couldn’t understand.

Checking his pocket with his free hand he pulled out the stones he’d been told to bring. One had a crack starting to form down the middle of it, glowing faintly, light dimming with every second. The other was still perfectly whole, at least it was until he brought it closer to the chains that bound them. The metal around his wrist started to loosen as the quartz grew nearer until he could pull his hand free entirely. Mies did the same just at the quartz started to crumble, a pale sand that slipped from his fingers once its power had come and gone. He didn’t stop to question it, Arlan just pushed himself to his feet, pulling Mies up behind him, running before he’d even found his balance.

The fae that had briefly been his captor roared behind them, the darkness that had settled over this place lifted, the light blinding as everything around them cast of their shadows once more. The spots in his eyes were disorienting and Arlan lost track of where he’d come from. The light had trapped them here just as much as the chains had, his feet slowing from despair. This hadn’t been the easy task he’d originally planned for it to be, he was going to get locked away here forever. Corwin would never forgive him.

There was a tug on his arm that got his legs working again, Mies hadn’t stopped, he was still going, wild eyed as he looked back at the human he’d grabbed. It was the prince who led the way through a labyrinth of stone tunnels, each twist and turn looking the same as the last. It felt as if they were getting deeper and deeper in, lost for all eternity, just trying to stay out of the hands that wanted to pull them down. Each breath was full of ragged pain by the time they burst out of the last tunnel, stumbling onto grass and root.

Still they couldn’t stop, there was the sound of feet and shouts behind them that kept adrenaline raising through his veins. It didn’t even feel like himself that was running, he felt as though he was just a passenger in a body that knew only how to move. He didn’t realize where they were until the prince pushed Arlan onto the flat stone in a clearing, tumbling on top of him so neither of them had feet on the ground.

“Think of home.” Mies commanded in a panicked whisper before he covered Arlan’s eyes with one hand.

Arlan protested, trying to pull the palm away from his eyes as he squirmed, feet trying to find purchase. This was not the time to play games of any sort and yet when Mies finally did lift his hand up it was not a meadow that Arlan saw. It was his boring room, salt circle destroyed when he’d somehow ended up upon his back. He wrecked it further when he pushed himself up into a sitting position, looking around at a room that was completely unchanged. It felt like just a strange fever dream, an overactive imagination daydream now. He’d put too much faith in the instructions of a stranger.