WBoS: Chapter Seven
Title: Within Boundaries of Stone (AU)
Author: _dh
Rating: R
Pairing: DM/EW
Warnings: it’s an AU
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about them, I’m not making anything off this, I made it all up.
Summary: Umm…I made up a time and a place and stuck Dom and Elijah in it. Think of it as a fantasy novel with familiar characters ;)
A/N: ...just a little something to help those of us waiting impatiently for ROTK:EE to come out
Dom was on guard immediately as his attention was caught by someone from the inside trying to force the small washroom shutters open. As the shutters were finally opened, he got a glimpse of hands before they were pulled back.
It was Lija.
He had watched those hands, held those hands, even kissed one. It was Lija.
The first opening he got, he took. Almost running across the small open area of yard before tucking into the space left by a turn in the wall.
He waited.
This was crazy really, he barely knew Lija and here he was more than likely about to aide in her running away/escape. Her kisses though, the feel of her lips against his. He wanted more, much more. He wanted to see her out of her clothes and on his blankets.
An arm came through the window, followed by the other and the top of Lija’s head. A few more inches and Dom was there, right below her. She looked up. Saw him, saw his hand reaching for hers. He could see the startlement followed by disbelief, followed by relief. She reached for him and he helped her the rest of the way out of the window.
With her safely on the ground he wasted no time in getting them away from the house. Even then, however, he was almost too late. Only seconds away they both heard a door open somewhere behind them. He risked a glance and saw a large figure coming out the door and obviously heading in their direction.
He almost paused as a shock of recognition passed through his mind. He knew that shape, that man. That was…
He put on more speed, practically dragging Lija behind him. She wasn’t protesting.
The man following them knew the streets almost as well as he did. This would not be easy. He discarded the idea of trying to lose him amongst the houses of the Merchants Village, aiming instead for the Sea Gate and his home. If they could make it there, they would be safe. No one but those who lived there knew it at all. He could hide them there.
Although why were they being chased by…?
He let that train of though go, putting it aside for later as he turned all his attention to their path.
It was late afternoon, the marketplace would still be busy but by now some would be leaving for home. If they could lose him in the crowd they would be home free. But if the crowd slowed them at all…
He twisted and got a glimpse of their pursuer and decided it was worth the risk. They were almost there as well, just another row of houses and they would be able to turn in to the marketplace.
Dom glanced at Lija. She was obviously not used to this but keeping up well. Her breathing was short, hurried. The determination in her eyes, however, helped Dom put on his own burst of speed and they were in the marketplace.
Halfway through he saw a knot of people in their way. It wasn’t going to work…but luck was with them.
Luck, in the form of a small, blond haired shadow that saw the pursued, saw the pursuer, and seemingly effortlessly slipped through the crowd, colliding with only one person.
* * * *
Wolf cursed silently to himself. He had almost had them. The crowd had been about to slow them when he had tripped and fallen. He grabbed whatever it was on his way down and came up with a handful of child.
The first impression of incredibly blond hair stuck with him even after he had determined he hadn’t been stolen from and let the incredibly scared looking boy go.
He kept searching for them. Hoping they hadn’t made it out and he might yet catch his ward.
He didn’t notice the child disappearing behind him. He also didn’t see that same child hidden in a large group of farmers leaving the city.
* * * *
It was quite a shock for Elijah, being all but pulled by Dom, to see Thieves Alley. He had never been outside the city, as far as he remembered. This, this was different. It was a lot to take in; especially at the pace he was seeing it. The buildings seemed to morph into each other and he was very grateful Dom seemed to know where he was going for he was sure he would have been lost the minute he lost sight of Sea Gate.
A flash of blond hair behind them and Elijah realized that was probably the first glimpse of a person he’d seen here.
Their pace began to slow. He realized with a jolt that once they stopped, Dom would probably want to know why he had crawled out the window…oh Hades, unless Dom had a guest room lying around…Elijah cut that thought off. In fact, he tried to stop thinking altogether as Dom finally stopped inside a room.
When had they gone inside?
He crouched and opened a small door in the floor, motioning for Elijah to go first.
Once down it looked like they were in a space between the room below and the floor above. Although…looking behind him he saw a good amount of light shining down. He walked over, realizing that the room above ended a little more than halfway across and, looking up, he saw sky.
They were completely enclosed by outer walls all around them, almost making their own room except for this one gap in the ceiling.
“Beautiful.” He was talking to himself, having momentarily forgotten he wasn’t alone.
“Yes.”
Elijah turned to see Dom staring at him. He felt awkward, unsure. He licked his lips, eyes widening as he could actually see Dom’s eyes focus and darken. An answering spark lit somewhere low in his belly. He was getting warm, body reacting to Dom’s obvious interest.
Dom took a step toward him. The predatory look in his eyes, in his posture, sent a bolt of lighting through Elijah’s chest and down. Fear followed, he had never felt anything like this before, he didn’t know what to do, what to say, he was scared, nervous, he wanted this, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Don’t you get wet when it rains, though?” It took a moment to realize that the question had come from him.
Dom took a step back, looking up at the lack of roof.
No, don’t stop…
“When it does rain, the sandstone absorbs most of it, but yes, sometimes I get wet.”
Awkward silence. Elijah didn’t know what to say and it appeared Dom had taken his question as a sign to give him space.
“Are you hungry at all?”
Elijah nodded even though he wasn’t really. It would at least give them something to do, something else to focus on. He followed Dom back under the overhang; there was just enough space to stand up, the ceiling being only a few inches taller than Dom.
“I have some dried meat, here.” He handed some to Elijah.
They both sat silently and ate. Elijah took this time and looked around more closely. There was a pile of what looked like blankets, and maybe some clothes in one corner. That was it. There was no furniture, no cooking implements, no obvious place to build a fire. No box where Dom could put his things. There was nothing but the pile in the corner that Elijah assumed was Dom’s bed.
“You live here?” He cursed himself inwardly, knowing he sounded like a rich brat.
Dom didn’t seem to take offense, shrugging. “It’s all I need.” Elijah’s confused look had him continuing. “Anything of value I keep with me, dried foods and bread keep best and any extra clothes can double as bedding. Thieves steal, Lija. Even from each other. And if the retch decide to come through here, they will find nothing but blankets and food. They don’t believe someone can live like that so they move on.”
He laughed suddenly. “The richborn actually have a theory that we don’t really exist, because they have never found our homes. Just because our homes don’t fit their definition.”
“But, what about water, you know, for bathing, or the washroom?”
“Each pride has a communal washroom. The woman have it in the evenings, men in the mornings. And there are a few others scattered about on the ground level. Mostly we just cart our own water when we need it, and there’s a pot in the room above. Lija, why was one of the royal bodyguard chasing us?”
what…”What?” Confused at first, not having expected that, he was still not sure what Dom was talking about. “Who was chasing us?”
“He came out of your house after you. He was following us till we lost him in the marketplace.”
“You mean Wolf? He’s the guard Father hired to keep me in the house.”
Dom shook his head, getting up and going over to his bedding. “I know him, all the Thieves know him. That was Isaiah, a member of the royal guard.” Rooting through the cloth, he came out with a pair of trousers and a tunic. “Here,” he tossed them to Elijah. “These should fit you.”
Elijah was having a hard time following this conversation. “What?...Wolf is just my bodyguard. Maybe you didn’t see him clearly; maybe he just looks like that other man.”
They both knew he hadn’t. Wolf was a very distinctive looking man. It was highly unlikely Dom had mistaken him for anyone else; no one else looked like him.
“What am I doing with these?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t look.”
“But…”
“You’re too conspicuous in that dress. No one around here wears those, not even the women. They’ll probably be a bit big, but that should help. It wont make it too obvious that you’re not a man.”
Elijah thought it was probably hysteria, but he had the strongest urge to laugh. He hadn’t dressed as a man in years, he’d almost forgotten how.
Dom turned around and walked out under the open air. “Go on, let me know when you’re done.”
Still feeling the urge to laugh, Elijah began taking off his clothes.
“You didn’t know Isaiah was from the royal guard?”
He paused, “No. I swear.”
“I believe you, I just wonder… I don’t think any merchant is rich enough to afford a man who has been groomed for the last twenty years to protect royalty and their intendeds.”
Elijah sat down hard.
“Lija?”
That was it. That was why he was ‘special’. That was why he wasn’t with his real parents, instead living with Father and Mother.
“Lija?”
It wasn’t because his parents were wanted criminals who had given him to a friend to hide.
“Lija, sorry…”
He was intended for royalty.
“Lija.” The flat tone of Dom’s voice broke through and Elijah looked up to see Dom staring at him in shock and confusion.
He looked down at himself. He had started to get undressed, had only gotten as far as his innermost skirt, but that was enough. He looked much less a girl like this.
He couldn’t meet Dom’s eyes. “Elijah.”
“What?” Dom’s voice was soft, low.
“My name, it’s Elijah.” He stood up, leaving the last skirt on the ground and pulled his padded undershirt off; leaving him standing there in a loose pair of undershorts. “I’m sorry.”
He could feel Dom’s eyes on him again, but this time it only made him feel cold. And ashamed.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Dom moving towards him. He flinched, trying to curl in on himself.
Fabric slipped over his head; the tunic Dom had brought was pulled down, his arms fed through and he dared to look up and meet Dom’s gaze.
“Here.”
He couldn’t read the emotion in Dom’s eyes so he took the offered trousers and stepped into them. They were a little too big but the tie around the waist helped hold them in place.
Elijah couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to do, so he just stood there, staring at Dom as the other man bent and reached under the leg of his trousers. He barely held back the flinch when Dom pulled out a knife.
Dom reached up now, and threaded the fingers of one hand through Elijah’s hair, pulling it away from his head.
He paused there for a second, then brought up the knife and cut off the handful of hair.
He kept going, gently threading his hands threw Elijah’s hair, then cutting it down not far from his head. It was almost hypnotizing to them both, the slow, careful movements.
When he finished Elijah felt lightheaded, as if a heavier weight than just his hair had been lifted. He doesn’t hate me. He still didn’t know what, exactly, Dom was thinking, but he knew there was no hate there.
Author: _dh
Rating: R
Pairing: DM/EW
Warnings: it’s an AU
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about them, I’m not making anything off this, I made it all up.
Summary: Umm…I made up a time and a place and stuck Dom and Elijah in it. Think of it as a fantasy novel with familiar characters ;)
A/N: ...just a little something to help those of us waiting impatiently for ROTK:EE to come out
Dom was on guard immediately as his attention was caught by someone from the inside trying to force the small washroom shutters open. As the shutters were finally opened, he got a glimpse of hands before they were pulled back.
It was Lija.
He had watched those hands, held those hands, even kissed one. It was Lija.
The first opening he got, he took. Almost running across the small open area of yard before tucking into the space left by a turn in the wall.
He waited.
This was crazy really, he barely knew Lija and here he was more than likely about to aide in her running away/escape. Her kisses though, the feel of her lips against his. He wanted more, much more. He wanted to see her out of her clothes and on his blankets.
An arm came through the window, followed by the other and the top of Lija’s head. A few more inches and Dom was there, right below her. She looked up. Saw him, saw his hand reaching for hers. He could see the startlement followed by disbelief, followed by relief. She reached for him and he helped her the rest of the way out of the window.
With her safely on the ground he wasted no time in getting them away from the house. Even then, however, he was almost too late. Only seconds away they both heard a door open somewhere behind them. He risked a glance and saw a large figure coming out the door and obviously heading in their direction.
He almost paused as a shock of recognition passed through his mind. He knew that shape, that man. That was…
He put on more speed, practically dragging Lija behind him. She wasn’t protesting.
The man following them knew the streets almost as well as he did. This would not be easy. He discarded the idea of trying to lose him amongst the houses of the Merchants Village, aiming instead for the Sea Gate and his home. If they could make it there, they would be safe. No one but those who lived there knew it at all. He could hide them there.
Although why were they being chased by…?
He let that train of though go, putting it aside for later as he turned all his attention to their path.
It was late afternoon, the marketplace would still be busy but by now some would be leaving for home. If they could lose him in the crowd they would be home free. But if the crowd slowed them at all…
He twisted and got a glimpse of their pursuer and decided it was worth the risk. They were almost there as well, just another row of houses and they would be able to turn in to the marketplace.
Dom glanced at Lija. She was obviously not used to this but keeping up well. Her breathing was short, hurried. The determination in her eyes, however, helped Dom put on his own burst of speed and they were in the marketplace.
Halfway through he saw a knot of people in their way. It wasn’t going to work…but luck was with them.
Luck, in the form of a small, blond haired shadow that saw the pursued, saw the pursuer, and seemingly effortlessly slipped through the crowd, colliding with only one person.
* * * *
Wolf cursed silently to himself. He had almost had them. The crowd had been about to slow them when he had tripped and fallen. He grabbed whatever it was on his way down and came up with a handful of child.
The first impression of incredibly blond hair stuck with him even after he had determined he hadn’t been stolen from and let the incredibly scared looking boy go.
He kept searching for them. Hoping they hadn’t made it out and he might yet catch his ward.
He didn’t notice the child disappearing behind him. He also didn’t see that same child hidden in a large group of farmers leaving the city.
* * * *
It was quite a shock for Elijah, being all but pulled by Dom, to see Thieves Alley. He had never been outside the city, as far as he remembered. This, this was different. It was a lot to take in; especially at the pace he was seeing it. The buildings seemed to morph into each other and he was very grateful Dom seemed to know where he was going for he was sure he would have been lost the minute he lost sight of Sea Gate.
A flash of blond hair behind them and Elijah realized that was probably the first glimpse of a person he’d seen here.
Their pace began to slow. He realized with a jolt that once they stopped, Dom would probably want to know why he had crawled out the window…oh Hades, unless Dom had a guest room lying around…Elijah cut that thought off. In fact, he tried to stop thinking altogether as Dom finally stopped inside a room.
When had they gone inside?
He crouched and opened a small door in the floor, motioning for Elijah to go first.
Once down it looked like they were in a space between the room below and the floor above. Although…looking behind him he saw a good amount of light shining down. He walked over, realizing that the room above ended a little more than halfway across and, looking up, he saw sky.
They were completely enclosed by outer walls all around them, almost making their own room except for this one gap in the ceiling.
“Beautiful.” He was talking to himself, having momentarily forgotten he wasn’t alone.
“Yes.”
Elijah turned to see Dom staring at him. He felt awkward, unsure. He licked his lips, eyes widening as he could actually see Dom’s eyes focus and darken. An answering spark lit somewhere low in his belly. He was getting warm, body reacting to Dom’s obvious interest.
Dom took a step toward him. The predatory look in his eyes, in his posture, sent a bolt of lighting through Elijah’s chest and down. Fear followed, he had never felt anything like this before, he didn’t know what to do, what to say, he was scared, nervous, he wanted this, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Don’t you get wet when it rains, though?” It took a moment to realize that the question had come from him.
Dom took a step back, looking up at the lack of roof.
No, don’t stop…
“When it does rain, the sandstone absorbs most of it, but yes, sometimes I get wet.”
Awkward silence. Elijah didn’t know what to say and it appeared Dom had taken his question as a sign to give him space.
“Are you hungry at all?”
Elijah nodded even though he wasn’t really. It would at least give them something to do, something else to focus on. He followed Dom back under the overhang; there was just enough space to stand up, the ceiling being only a few inches taller than Dom.
“I have some dried meat, here.” He handed some to Elijah.
They both sat silently and ate. Elijah took this time and looked around more closely. There was a pile of what looked like blankets, and maybe some clothes in one corner. That was it. There was no furniture, no cooking implements, no obvious place to build a fire. No box where Dom could put his things. There was nothing but the pile in the corner that Elijah assumed was Dom’s bed.
“You live here?” He cursed himself inwardly, knowing he sounded like a rich brat.
Dom didn’t seem to take offense, shrugging. “It’s all I need.” Elijah’s confused look had him continuing. “Anything of value I keep with me, dried foods and bread keep best and any extra clothes can double as bedding. Thieves steal, Lija. Even from each other. And if the retch decide to come through here, they will find nothing but blankets and food. They don’t believe someone can live like that so they move on.”
He laughed suddenly. “The richborn actually have a theory that we don’t really exist, because they have never found our homes. Just because our homes don’t fit their definition.”
“But, what about water, you know, for bathing, or the washroom?”
“Each pride has a communal washroom. The woman have it in the evenings, men in the mornings. And there are a few others scattered about on the ground level. Mostly we just cart our own water when we need it, and there’s a pot in the room above. Lija, why was one of the royal bodyguard chasing us?”
what…”What?” Confused at first, not having expected that, he was still not sure what Dom was talking about. “Who was chasing us?”
“He came out of your house after you. He was following us till we lost him in the marketplace.”
“You mean Wolf? He’s the guard Father hired to keep me in the house.”
Dom shook his head, getting up and going over to his bedding. “I know him, all the Thieves know him. That was Isaiah, a member of the royal guard.” Rooting through the cloth, he came out with a pair of trousers and a tunic. “Here,” he tossed them to Elijah. “These should fit you.”
Elijah was having a hard time following this conversation. “What?...Wolf is just my bodyguard. Maybe you didn’t see him clearly; maybe he just looks like that other man.”
They both knew he hadn’t. Wolf was a very distinctive looking man. It was highly unlikely Dom had mistaken him for anyone else; no one else looked like him.
“What am I doing with these?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t look.”
“But…”
“You’re too conspicuous in that dress. No one around here wears those, not even the women. They’ll probably be a bit big, but that should help. It wont make it too obvious that you’re not a man.”
Elijah thought it was probably hysteria, but he had the strongest urge to laugh. He hadn’t dressed as a man in years, he’d almost forgotten how.
Dom turned around and walked out under the open air. “Go on, let me know when you’re done.”
Still feeling the urge to laugh, Elijah began taking off his clothes.
“You didn’t know Isaiah was from the royal guard?”
He paused, “No. I swear.”
“I believe you, I just wonder… I don’t think any merchant is rich enough to afford a man who has been groomed for the last twenty years to protect royalty and their intendeds.”
Elijah sat down hard.
“Lija?”
That was it. That was why he was ‘special’. That was why he wasn’t with his real parents, instead living with Father and Mother.
“Lija?”
It wasn’t because his parents were wanted criminals who had given him to a friend to hide.
“Lija, sorry…”
He was intended for royalty.
“Lija.” The flat tone of Dom’s voice broke through and Elijah looked up to see Dom staring at him in shock and confusion.
He looked down at himself. He had started to get undressed, had only gotten as far as his innermost skirt, but that was enough. He looked much less a girl like this.
He couldn’t meet Dom’s eyes. “Elijah.”
“What?” Dom’s voice was soft, low.
“My name, it’s Elijah.” He stood up, leaving the last skirt on the ground and pulled his padded undershirt off; leaving him standing there in a loose pair of undershorts. “I’m sorry.”
He could feel Dom’s eyes on him again, but this time it only made him feel cold. And ashamed.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see Dom moving towards him. He flinched, trying to curl in on himself.
Fabric slipped over his head; the tunic Dom had brought was pulled down, his arms fed through and he dared to look up and meet Dom’s gaze.
“Here.”
He couldn’t read the emotion in Dom’s eyes so he took the offered trousers and stepped into them. They were a little too big but the tie around the waist helped hold them in place.
Elijah couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to do, so he just stood there, staring at Dom as the other man bent and reached under the leg of his trousers. He barely held back the flinch when Dom pulled out a knife.
Dom reached up now, and threaded the fingers of one hand through Elijah’s hair, pulling it away from his head.
He paused there for a second, then brought up the knife and cut off the handful of hair.
He kept going, gently threading his hands threw Elijah’s hair, then cutting it down not far from his head. It was almost hypnotizing to them both, the slow, careful movements.
When he finished Elijah felt lightheaded, as if a heavier weight than just his hair had been lifted. He doesn’t hate me. He still didn’t know what, exactly, Dom was thinking, but he knew there was no hate there.