“Your hair looks so lovely this short.” Faelix hums in a sleepy voice, spooking me while I cradle Aryones in my arms. The little one had woken me up fussing over being hungry and now seems to have woken his father who needs the sleep more than any of us.

“Thank you, my love, now you should really go back to sleep. I can tell you’re still tired.” I couldn’t help the way I immediately smiled down at his sleepy stare, his half-lidded obsidian eyes admiring my whole being in the low lantern light, roaming down from my now shortened hair to my eyes then lips and on down until they land on the baby suckling at his bottle in my arms.

He hums thoughtfully, clearly thinking over his words before speaking up again, “I haven’t gotten to look at you much since catching up to you all, I would like to admire you just a moment longer.” He moves to lay on his side, facing me better and flashing me a tired and loving smile.

I couldn’t help the quiet giggle that I tried stifling by biting my bottom lip gently, “Oh, well, if that’s how you truly feel, I suppose I can’t really stop you. Though you should really catch up on your sleep rather than ogling me while I feed our little one.” I tell him, looking back down the little one in question. My face felt all flushed from embarrassment thank to the man staring at me and doing just that, staring at me and admiring me as he pleases.

We sat in silence like that for as long as it took little Aryones to finish his bottle, then through me burping him. It was when I went to lay him back down in his bassinet that the silence was broken by the snap of twigs outside the tent, making me freeze for a long tense moment. I turn my head to see Faelix’s reaction to the sudden noise so close to our camp, watching as he started slowly sitting up eerily silently with his eyes locked in the direction the sound came from.

I held Aryones close to my chest protectively stepping away from bassinet, watching and waiting for Faelix to say something. Anything. But he said nothing, his eyes just following something that I couldn’t hear nor see. Then he made a gesture in the direction of Denlen and Nalik’s sleeping forms, confusing me at first until I understood that he wanted me to wake the sleeping soldier. So I moved towards him and Nalik as slow and quietly as I could, gently tapping his leg with my foot to wake him. The feeling of my foot being grabbed by one of his left hands making me jump at how quickly and quietly he was in sitting up and grabbing me.

It was terrifying to see how quickly the two Varyxan men snap into their soldier mindsets the moment they both sense something off. It scared me even more seeing how quickly Denlen and Faelix silently communicated with each other through hand gestures and facial expressions before both of their heads snapped in the direction of another snapped twig. Still silently communicating with one another while following the movement of whatever is outside of the tent.

And in a matter of moments our two Varyxans were blocking me, Ary, and the now awake and confused Nalik and Syrion to protect us from a sudden figure rushing through the tent flaps. I was quick to follow the shouted commands to stay with Syrion, Nalik doing the same in a confused and panicked stupor. As Faelix subdues the initial attacker, pinning them to the ground, another rushes in and attacks Denlen, matching his strength enough to be a clear struggle.

It only took me a few seconds of terrified observation to realize they were members of the Varyxan royal guard. Which meant they had weapons. They had weapons while our partners didn’t.

That was the only thought in my mind as my body moved before anyone could stop me, handing Aryones off to Syrion then rush to grab the gun that the guard fighting with Denlen was now reaching for. I grab hold of the gun before the guard could get a good hold of it. Wrestling with the one arm of the guard proving difficult, but with the help of Denlen, I was able to get the gun out of it’s holster with only minimal bruises. I had no idea how to use the thing, but it was ripped from my grasp before I could struggle figuring it out, a large familiar hand pushing me back behind an equally large and familiar form. Then there was a loud bang, making me flinch at the volume and cringe at the sound of a body dropping as Ary’s earsplitting scream came from the spot Nalik and Syrion were huddled up and holding our little one. And for a long moment, Ary’s crying was the only noise that was heard before Denlen finally stood.

“Please try to get Aryones to quiet down. We don’t know it there are others.” Faelix says, gently pushing me towards Syrion and Nalik. I couldn’t help glancing down at the two bodies on the ground, both lying still while one had their head covered with a shirt to hide the gore of a the bullet wound. It was clear that they were both dead though, if the large blood stain on the shirt and the complete lack of movement was any indication. “Denlen, you need to take them out of here and get them somewhere safe. I’ll follow behind once I’m sure there aren’t any others following us.”

“What? No! We’re not leaving without you!” The panicked words left me before I could stop them.

Faelix turned to look down at me in shock, a mix of emotions warring on his face as he tries to figure out what to say. “I’ll be right behind you, Ivorix. Please go with them. Denlen can keep you safe. I want you to be safe. So please go with them to stay safe.” The way he was practically begging me made me want to give in immediately, but I couldn’t. Not when he’d be putting himself in so much danger by being alone.

“I want you to be safe too, Faelix. I’ll stay out of the way, I know when to run and hide. Please don’t make me leave you alone.” I felt my eyes sting with the threat of tears. “I’m tired of us having to separate. I hate not knowing if you hurt or safe. Please, just let me stay with you.”

There was a long pause of silence between us, it felt like hours passed, even though I know it was likely no more than a few seconds that passed. Lifting his gaze to meet Denlen's, then sighing, “Take them as far as you can move for now, only use the lanterns to light your way and take the gun for protection. Take the blankets to stay hidden in the dark and keep warm. Do not come back for the rest of the supplies until day time, grab what you might need now quickly and leave.” He took my hand and looked down to catch my eyes again while the others grabbed a few things. “If anything happens, you need to be ready to run and hide. I don't want us both getting captured if there happens to be others still around.” 

“I will be.” I promised, despite knowing that it would be the most difficult thing for me to do. A Varyxan soldier was as fast as they are strong, that's been something our two protectors have proven time and time again since the night we fled.

It wasn’t long after Denlen lead the other two away from the tent with Aryones wrapped protectively in his lower arms that I experienced that speed and strength for myself. After Faelix and I watched their three shadowed figures disappear into the darkness, covered by blankets to better blend in with the darkness and keep the chill from getting to them. Then, as Faelix started checking the perimeter around the tent outside and I started to pack things away for them to be collected in the morning, another guard bursts through the tent's entrance and grabs me. Their thick fingers digging into my arms as two hands yank my arms to pin behind my back, one of the hands smashing over my mouth to interrupt my scream for Faelix.

“The pet’s been captured! What’s the status on the prince’s capture?” My captor called out, holding me still with a terrifying ease despite my attempts to loosen their grip, my eyes stinging as tears escape and stream down my face.

There was silence for a long moment before the tent flaps rustled open, my captor turning around to face their partner and dragging me along, the captor’s partner looking like a guard I had seen in the palace halls before our escape. Their obsidian eyes glaring daggers and their mouth snarled up in a disgust. “The other two are still on it. So this is the little thing that bewitched our young prince? Personally I prefer the fair skinned ones, but if this is what he likes, to each their own.” They shrug, looking away to gaze around the tent space around us, catching sight of the two bodies on the ground, now covered by a blanket we didn’t. “I see they resorted to violence. The emperor will certainly not be pleased to hear about this.”

“No wonder the emperor wants the prince and this thing back, they’ve resorted to murder, not just violence.” My captor scoffs, pulling my hair and harshly muttering threats in a futile attempt to get me to stop squirming. “Gods, this thing won’t stop squirming around.”

“Then do something to make it stop, the pet isn’t our main target, the prince is. I hardly doubt the emperor will care if it arrives injured.” The other guard waves my captor off, not caring one bit that they just gave permission to hurt me. Then shocking me with the glint in their eyes and the smirk they flashed me with thier next statement. “Actually, hurting it and letting the prince hear its cries might encourage him to come out of wherever he’s hiding. Then we can do as planned and finally go back to the palace.”

I started to squirm even more, doing everything in my power to try escaping the tight grip my captor has on me, but it was useless. It didn’t matter how hard I thrashed or kicked, the one holding me had such an iron tight hold on me that I hardly even moved. And with the permission to hurt me given, their free hand and the hand that was in my hair forcefully extend my left arm, the one that was holding my arms back now just keeping my right arm pinned to my back. The hand over my mouth moving up to grab hold of my hair and yank my head back. I didn’t even have time to beg for mercy before I’m screaming from the searing pain coming from my forearm.

I couldn’t hear what they were saying after my captor snapped my arm like a twig, I could barely even see past my stinging stream of tears. All I knew was the pain in my arm in that moment, a pain I had never even thought existed until now. Faelix’s yells sounding faint and far away in my ears as his blurred figure bursts through the tent flaps before quickly being subdued by two addition figures. The only free guard approaching Faelix’s struggling figure sticking him with something that quickly made him stop fighting and slump over. Something was said and a hand was waved off in my direction before the pain was finally too much for me, causing me to black out.