Always or Never (3)
Title: Always or Never (Chapter Three)
Rating: Eventual NC-17 (This chapter has hints of not-so-nice things. So. Yeah.)
Pairing(s): YuuRam, some hints at ConYuu, not seen OMC/Wolfram
Summary: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
A Very Actiony Chapter Three
They arrived at the docks of Purgo just as the last bits of color faded from the sky, the few brighter stars that had been flickering since twilight finally joined by their weaker brothers sparkling to life.
The townsfolk were significantly less hospitable the second time around, given the fact that Yuuri had dropped any pretense of being anything less than what he was: a pissed off maou storming onto human territory. War flags weren't drawn, but anyone who glanced at the ship could tell it was from New Makoku and they meant business.
Which Gwendal was beginning to regret.
He knew full frontal rushes had their advantages, but also thought they were as skillful and affective as running into a room of fine china with a large stick. Blindfolded and drunk.
They needed information, and showing up with personal guards and in the maou's personal ship was not the way to go about getting it.
Then again, it was something he should've considered before taking off, so he kept tongue, all too aware of the wide, fearful and always hate filled gazes of the humans watching. Hurrying home, clutching their children closer as if they were the monsters that snatched peacefully sleeping young men from beds in the dead of . . . well, in the early morning.
Perhaps they could send Conrad and some of his most human-looking men out to collect information. A sense of dread settled over him as he realized how very far away they still were from finding out anything.
"I was wondering when you'd bother to arrive." It was spoken in a tone just this side of quiet, but somehow loud enough for everyone on the pier to hear.
"Yozak?" Yuuri asked, clearly blindsided as he stared at the redhead behind them, leaning against a particularly tall stack of boxes that were waiting to be carried off the pier. "What are you doing here?"
"That can't be said in a place with so many ears, Your Majesty." Yozak said with a grin that put even his molars in plain view.
"Where is he?" Conrad asked. It would take a trained ear to detect any level of tension in his voice.
Yozak didn't even blink, "His Excellency left sometime this morning," he paused, straightening himself in preparation for their reactions, "for Brügmoore."
"Brügmoore?" Yuuri had to wrestle his tongue to pronounce the foreign name, blissfully oblivious to the dark cloud that had plummeted on their party, "What's he want there? Why didn't he start for home?"
Conrad flinched. "I don't think he had much choice in it, Your Majesty."
"Brügmoore is known for its skin trade." Yozak explained, a bit too vague for Yuuri but to almost nauseating specifics for the members of the party who knew. "He was seen in the company of two human men. From what I can gather, they'd been hiding out in a run down bakery in the middle of town square. They stayed for about a week and took off this morning."
"You knew all this and didn't stop them from leaving?"
"I just heard of it this afternoon, Your Majesty," Yozak didn't have much trouble letting the righteous anger slide off his back. "I was going to start for Brügmoore if you hadn't arrived by the time low tide came in."
"Oh."
Gwendal turned to his personal guard, "Find us a stable willing to lend healthy horses." Three men nodded curtly and darted into the streets of the nearby town. Knowing the odds of finding a human Mazoku-sympathizer who just happened to run an obscenely large stable was somewhat slim, he began calculating how long it would take if they forgo the horses. It wouldn't do, Brügmoore was a good forty miles inland, six hours on horseback alone.
He was contemplating either buying ranchers off or just stealing when his thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.
"Sir, if I may?" The voice belonged to a rather serious looking member of Wolfram's personal guard -- all of whom had insisted on coming along, but had looked lost and pathetically young next to his and Conrad's own personal guards the entire trip.
"Yes?" Gwendal answered, obviously surprised.
"It will take precious time for all of our party to mobilize for Brügmoore. I would like to request that I take a few men and horses and scout ahead."
"Very good." He said with a nod, specifically not asking where they would obtain said horses and about four members of Wolfram's guard dashed off quickly. "The rest of you will follow under me until further notice." Without a word they assimilated rather seamlessly into Gwendal's serious looking group.
"Richard, take four men and wait at the bakery, detain anyone who enters and keep them there until we return." Conrad said to a member of his personal guard with broad shoulders and stern face. "The rest of you will accompany His Majesty to the inn near the Mermaid docks. We'll be back by sunset tomorrow."
"You're not leaving me here!" Yuuri sputtered, too preoccupied with his shock to actually be offended.
Conrad leaned forward and murmured something that Gwendal barely made out, "The situation we're about to walk in on isn't something Wolfram will want very many people to see."
Yuuri's eyes widened, then hardened just as fast. "But I still have a right to come, Wolfram's my fi--" Yuuri cut himself off abruptly, eyes darting to look at this shoes.
"Your what, Your Majesty?"
"My . . . friend. Wolfram is. So I should come along."
"We don't have time for this." Gwendal let every ounce of his irritation show and the men around him winced. "We aren't bringing along any dead weight and no one will be indulging His Majesty. If he comes, he will have to stand on his own."
"I can do that!" Yuuri insisted, hand resting on Morgif, who'd had a cloth wrapped tightly over his mouth for the past week. "I'm not getting left behind."
The tense mood was shattered by the sound of a galloping horse. One of the men Gwendal had sent out was riding toward them, then gestured to the field where three other horses waited. "It's all we could find."
"That's fine." Conrad said firmly. "It's all we'll need."
Gwendal hadn't doubted Conrad's ability to count in a good, long while.
"If we meet more opposition than we can handle, we'll come back with more men." Conrad said at Gwendal's baffled look, starting for the field.
He wasn't surprised when Yozak started following without a word.
*
The path to Brügmoore was well worn and wide.
There was more than enough room for the four to ride in stride with one another, none daring to stray from the beaten road. The land was unknown to them all and one of the last things they needed was to be slowed by a crook's trap, dug into the grass. They traveled swiftly, silently, stopping only once when the needs of the horses demanded it.
The very tips of buildings began to dot the horizon at the same time the first birds started singing songs of morning light piercing the silence of the dark. Soon they were looking down onto glamorous, fantastically constructed buildings that spoke of a city funded by corruption and sin.
The members of Wolfram's guard had been easy to find, settled outside of Brügmoore's gates, picking at the grass and looking bored. Two of the young men waved them over enthusiastically as soon as the small group came into view, as if they were in a crowded theater and not a completely empty field.
Gwendal dismounted with a grateful huff. Experienced rider or no, an all night journey on horse back was hell on the ass. Yuuri was valiantly not complaining, his lips a tight, pain filled grimace.
The boy who'd organized the scouting trip, or at least brought the idea to them, stood stiffly and saluted. Gwendal nodded tiredly, "Report."
"We've found the man who bought," the boy spat the word, "Sir Bielefeld. He's a respected business man of this town, lives at outskirts of it. We took the liberty of requesting him back, we . . . we assumed that if he found out who His Excellency really was, he might--"
"What did he say?" Gwendal interrupted, but didn't sound sore with the boy's decision, even though it could've critically damaged the mission's success rate. Wolfram no doubt gave grandiose, rash orders at a regular basis and his personal guard was bound to reflect that.
"He said he already guessed His Excellency's nobility and refused."
"I see."
"We've been monitoring his home since and haven't spotted any real weakness in his security, there's even some Houryoku buried in the lawn. He lives more like a noble than a commoner. I recommend a head on attack, with Weller-sama's men leading." He nearly trailed off there, noting the absence of any personal guard whatsoever.
Gwendal nodded, impressed with both the young man and Wolfram's decision to bring him onto his personal guard.
"You can take your men and head back to Purgo." Conrad said suddenly, and Gwendal sighed, trying not to think of all the very obvious reasons Conrad was bent on handling the situation without many spectators.
"Sir?" He looked terribly offended.
"You've done very well, but we'll take it from here."
"What he means to say is he doesn't want there to be too many witnesses," Yozak said, refreshingly uncouth as ever and the boy's eyes widened.
"You've done good work." Conrad said, as if Yozak wasn't even in the same country. "But I think this is more of a family affair."
The boy gave a pointed look to Yozak, his mouth suddenly closing, cheeks filling up with unsaid words. "At least let me take you to his home." He said after a moment.
"Alright." Yozak said cheerfully, before anyone else could answer. The rest dismounted, tying the animals to a large, heavy trunk silently.
The boy was positively bristling as he led them through the awakening town. The streets were barren, save the few men stumbling to wherever they were planning on sleeping off their night of indulgence in sin and the scattered shop keeps either closing or opening their establishments. No one paid their group much attention. Gold was gold in this town, none were in the position to turn away a paying Mazoku if their pockets were fat.
The boy stopped abruptly, gesturing to a large, museum-like building resting on perfectly innocent appearing hillside. "I'd take you closer, but the Houryoku in the yard. . ."
"Weren't you prepared to storm in there with us?" Yozak asked, eyebrows raised at his sudden change of attitude.
He gave a weak smile in return; "I still have a long ride back and I'm not about to deplete myself acting as a tour guide."
"Very well." Gwendal dismissed him and the boy saluted one more time before turning around and jogging back.
"What about the Houryoku?" Yuuri asked in a hushed voice, as if the buildings themselves were straining to eavesdrop of their party.
"I don't think that'll be much of a problem." Yozak said, in that way only he seemed to manage, impossible to tell if he were dead serious or pulling your leg.
A good distance from the home they stopped and Gwendal crouched, touching the ground almost lightly.
Silence, but just for a moment. A low, dangerous rumbling that resembled an livid storm, but the skies were clear. The ground beneath their feet shook as if the world itself had suddenly had a seizure, then Gwendal stood and all movement halted.
"Anything buried in that yard should be near the core by now." He reported, hurrying forward.
"Ah, cool!" Yuuri said, as impressed as ever with anything Mazoku related. Gwendal just hoped he wouldn't start on those 'games of video' and 'final bosses' he so liked babbling about.
"Let's just hope he didn't have any beloved pets buried there." Yozak said.
Locks and chains really mean very little to anyone with maryoku and the group passed through the gates without much pause.
The front door was surprisingly flimsy, the owner probably depending more on the previous forms of security, and was kicked nearly off its hinges. For a moment, Gwendal thought he heard the object give out a girlish scream. Inside, a group of maids were now clinging to each other and trembling, staring at them as they entered as if they'd never seen Mazoku before, a tray of dirtied utensils and plates now scattered across the floor.
In fact, the floor was littered with broken and cracked objects, picture frames resting against walls they previous donned and busts broken into three and four pieces. Gwendal had forgotten what the effects of a manufactured earthquake had on building that was unprepared for them. All the castles in New Makoku had their portraits bound to the walls by now.
"Excuse me?" Yozak asked one of the cowering maids, she froze and decided to do her best impression of a startled deer. "A young man was brought here yesterday. Where would he be?"
She let out a pitiful meep and pointed to a large, winding staircase, which really wasn't much of an answer, but Yozak thanked her graciously anyway.
"Conrad?" Yuuri asked from behind, and Gwendal turned and saw that his brother wasn't following, rather turning down a seemingly random hall.
He gave them a smile, "Stick to Gwendal and Yozak. They'll take you to Wolfram."
Yuuri's brow creased, but he slowly followed after the two men without word of complaint.
The second floor of the building was nothing more than a hall with doors.
An obnoxious amount of doors, surely no one needed that many doors.
"Wolfram?!" Yuuri flew forward, opened the nearest door, peered in, apparently not finding the boy because he moved on to the next. It spurred Gwendal and Yozak into action and soon the only thing that could be heard was calls of Wolfram's name and doors opening.
Yozak's victory cry sent them flying in his direction.
And there he was. Sprawled out in what looked like a servant's quarters; with a mattress, window and sink. Signs of what they'd all suspected had happened were blared before him; Wolfram was nude and there was a mess of white on his stomach. A fair bit of blood stained the mattress he laid on and dark bruises dotted his wrists and hips.
Still.
Still, he was alive, he was safe now and Gwendal would've almost thought it anticlimactic, Wolfram just laying there, completely oblivious to their worry, his bizarre, moist snore filling the room. But nothing could quell the surge of relief at the sight of him breathing, it was enough to weaken his knees.
Yozak quickly covered Wolfram's nakedness and signs of injury with a blanket just as Yuuri burst into the room.
"Wolfram!" Yuuri cried, brushing past Gwendal and into the room. He looked like he would very much like to touch Wolfram, but was afraid of breaking him. "Wolfram, wake up, we've got to move!"
"Do you feel it?" Yozak asked from behind in a low voice and Gwendal nodded. Very faint traces of Houryoku were radiating from his brother's still form. Wolfram probably wouldn't wake for a while if he was sleeping of the affects of such intense poisoning.
As if he read Gwendal's thoughts, Yuuri abruptly stopped trying to wake the blond.
"Hey, there's a . . . a thing on his forehead." He said, brushing back the unresponsive boy's bangs. "Ah, it looks really cool. Like a birthmark for a magical hero or something."
Gwendal once again had his suspicions confirmed that Yuuri was utterly insane, but leaned forward to see what was marking his brother's forehead.
He paled. "Stop Conrad."
"Is it--" Yozak began to ask, turning to obey.
"Yes, now stop him." And Yozak rushed from the room.
"What? What is it?" Yuuri asked.
Ignoring Yuuri completely, he bent down and scooped Wolfram up rather easily. He made a small noise and his face tensed for a moment, but then he relaxed and leaned into Gwendal's chest.
It suddenly struck Gwendal how incredibly thin and lanky his youngest brother had become. His thin, coltish legs dangled limply from his arms, thin neck tucking perfectly into the bend of his elbow.
"Why--there's blood, Gwendal." Yuuri said, disrupting his musing and looking down at the mattress he'd just lifted the blond from with dread.
"Yes there is." Is all he could think to say, fighting the urge to run from the room, that mattress and Yuuri's wide, slowly comprehending eyes.
"But I thought we got here in time." He said quietly.
Gwendal glanced down at the large, black ornament that sat in the center of Wolfram's forehead and started walking back down the hall.
He'd gotten half way down the stairs when Wolfram's eyes flew open and his mouth parted in a horrifying, agonized scream. His body was too weak to wake, but forced to react to painful stimuli. He arched involuntarily and Gwendal nearly dropped him.
"What the hell is going on?!" Yuuri cried, covering his ears.
"Yozak was too late." Gwendal said once Wolfram had slumped back to unconsciousness, limper than before if it were possible.
As if on cue, Yozak and Conrad walked out into the entrance hall.
Conrad was wiping at dark blood from his sword. It spoke of a fresh kill
"It can still be fixed." He said, looking up into Gwendal's face and he had the insane urge to laugh.
It could never be fixed.
*
The carriage was jostling and Yuuri wished it jostle more. Wished it would jostle the blond awake so he could get angry for all that had happened and call him a wimp, maybe get him in a headlock. But Yozak said that was a long time off.
They'd been forced to rent a carriage once they got to the gates of Brügmoore and realized some lucky persons out there were now proud owners of free four healthy horses.
He was somewhat thankful, actually, for the horse thieves. He hadn't been looking forward to having to manhandle Wolfram all the way back to Purgo. This way he could rest properly, at least. And it was more comfortable, Yuuri and Wolfram had an entire bench to themselves, with Wolfram's head on his lap, wrapped tightly in a comforter, while Gwendal, Yozak and Conrad shared the opposite bench, the one in the middle shirtless as he'd donated to the 'Get Wolfram Clothed' campaign.
It was quiet enough in there that Yuuri was sure the driver must've thought they'd fallen asleep or jumped out. And he'd been given promises of explanations for later and this was about as later as he could stand to let it get.
"So what's this mark on Wolfram's forehead?" Yuuri asked, his voice firm.
There was an awkward silence where Yuuri feared he'd have to start yelling or be kept in the dark even longer, but finally, Conrad started talking.
"Some slave buyers want to take drastic measures to ensure that their property never falls into the hands of someone else." Conrad spoke calmly, as if this were a situation that happened years ago in a place he'd never bother to visit.
"So it's a branding?" Yuuri stared down at the exotic design of it, contrasting harshly against the smooth, light color of Wolfram's hair and forehead. It suddenly seemed so large and ominous, obviously something evil and he could feel his cheeks coloring, remembering his foolish reaction to it earlier.
"Not just . . . It's an aftereffect, actually. Just a sign of a very powerful dependency spell." Conrad said slowly. "A slave isn't likely to wander away from an owner who they completely depend on."
"Oh. Can it be removed quickly? Before he wakes up?"
"It would be a very ineffective branding if it could." Gwendal said coolly.
"To get it off him, you'll have to break the bond, which can be done by the caster, who Sir Weller very thoughtfully disposed of." Yozak said.
"Is . . . Is that why Wolfram screamed like that?" Yuuri asked, and only then realized he'd been carding through Wolfram's sinfully silky hair. He stilled his hands, then didn't really know what to do with them, finally crossing them awkwardly. "Because he could feel the man die?"
He took the silence as a yes and Yuuri had the sneaking suspicion that all the men in the carriage were about two more questions away from jumping out and walking to Purgo.
"So . . . what do we do? Is he going to be alright?"
"We'll figure something out." Conrad said, and Yuuri wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure him or himself.
Confused? Previous chapters.
Rating: Eventual NC-17 (This chapter has hints of not-so-nice things. So. Yeah.)
Pairing(s): YuuRam, some hints at ConYuu, not seen OMC/Wolfram
Summary: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
A Very Actiony Chapter Three
They arrived at the docks of Purgo just as the last bits of color faded from the sky, the few brighter stars that had been flickering since twilight finally joined by their weaker brothers sparkling to life.
The townsfolk were significantly less hospitable the second time around, given the fact that Yuuri had dropped any pretense of being anything less than what he was: a pissed off maou storming onto human territory. War flags weren't drawn, but anyone who glanced at the ship could tell it was from New Makoku and they meant business.
Which Gwendal was beginning to regret.
He knew full frontal rushes had their advantages, but also thought they were as skillful and affective as running into a room of fine china with a large stick. Blindfolded and drunk.
They needed information, and showing up with personal guards and in the maou's personal ship was not the way to go about getting it.
Then again, it was something he should've considered before taking off, so he kept tongue, all too aware of the wide, fearful and always hate filled gazes of the humans watching. Hurrying home, clutching their children closer as if they were the monsters that snatched peacefully sleeping young men from beds in the dead of . . . well, in the early morning.
Perhaps they could send Conrad and some of his most human-looking men out to collect information. A sense of dread settled over him as he realized how very far away they still were from finding out anything.
"I was wondering when you'd bother to arrive." It was spoken in a tone just this side of quiet, but somehow loud enough for everyone on the pier to hear.
"Yozak?" Yuuri asked, clearly blindsided as he stared at the redhead behind them, leaning against a particularly tall stack of boxes that were waiting to be carried off the pier. "What are you doing here?"
"That can't be said in a place with so many ears, Your Majesty." Yozak said with a grin that put even his molars in plain view.
"Where is he?" Conrad asked. It would take a trained ear to detect any level of tension in his voice.
Yozak didn't even blink, "His Excellency left sometime this morning," he paused, straightening himself in preparation for their reactions, "for Brügmoore."
"Brügmoore?" Yuuri had to wrestle his tongue to pronounce the foreign name, blissfully oblivious to the dark cloud that had plummeted on their party, "What's he want there? Why didn't he start for home?"
Conrad flinched. "I don't think he had much choice in it, Your Majesty."
"Brügmoore is known for its skin trade." Yozak explained, a bit too vague for Yuuri but to almost nauseating specifics for the members of the party who knew. "He was seen in the company of two human men. From what I can gather, they'd been hiding out in a run down bakery in the middle of town square. They stayed for about a week and took off this morning."
"You knew all this and didn't stop them from leaving?"
"I just heard of it this afternoon, Your Majesty," Yozak didn't have much trouble letting the righteous anger slide off his back. "I was going to start for Brügmoore if you hadn't arrived by the time low tide came in."
"Oh."
Gwendal turned to his personal guard, "Find us a stable willing to lend healthy horses." Three men nodded curtly and darted into the streets of the nearby town. Knowing the odds of finding a human Mazoku-sympathizer who just happened to run an obscenely large stable was somewhat slim, he began calculating how long it would take if they forgo the horses. It wouldn't do, Brügmoore was a good forty miles inland, six hours on horseback alone.
He was contemplating either buying ranchers off or just stealing when his thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.
"Sir, if I may?" The voice belonged to a rather serious looking member of Wolfram's personal guard -- all of whom had insisted on coming along, but had looked lost and pathetically young next to his and Conrad's own personal guards the entire trip.
"Yes?" Gwendal answered, obviously surprised.
"It will take precious time for all of our party to mobilize for Brügmoore. I would like to request that I take a few men and horses and scout ahead."
"Very good." He said with a nod, specifically not asking where they would obtain said horses and about four members of Wolfram's guard dashed off quickly. "The rest of you will follow under me until further notice." Without a word they assimilated rather seamlessly into Gwendal's serious looking group.
"Richard, take four men and wait at the bakery, detain anyone who enters and keep them there until we return." Conrad said to a member of his personal guard with broad shoulders and stern face. "The rest of you will accompany His Majesty to the inn near the Mermaid docks. We'll be back by sunset tomorrow."
"You're not leaving me here!" Yuuri sputtered, too preoccupied with his shock to actually be offended.
Conrad leaned forward and murmured something that Gwendal barely made out, "The situation we're about to walk in on isn't something Wolfram will want very many people to see."
Yuuri's eyes widened, then hardened just as fast. "But I still have a right to come, Wolfram's my fi--" Yuuri cut himself off abruptly, eyes darting to look at this shoes.
"Your what, Your Majesty?"
"My . . . friend. Wolfram is. So I should come along."
"We don't have time for this." Gwendal let every ounce of his irritation show and the men around him winced. "We aren't bringing along any dead weight and no one will be indulging His Majesty. If he comes, he will have to stand on his own."
"I can do that!" Yuuri insisted, hand resting on Morgif, who'd had a cloth wrapped tightly over his mouth for the past week. "I'm not getting left behind."
The tense mood was shattered by the sound of a galloping horse. One of the men Gwendal had sent out was riding toward them, then gestured to the field where three other horses waited. "It's all we could find."
"That's fine." Conrad said firmly. "It's all we'll need."
Gwendal hadn't doubted Conrad's ability to count in a good, long while.
"If we meet more opposition than we can handle, we'll come back with more men." Conrad said at Gwendal's baffled look, starting for the field.
He wasn't surprised when Yozak started following without a word.
*
The path to Brügmoore was well worn and wide.
There was more than enough room for the four to ride in stride with one another, none daring to stray from the beaten road. The land was unknown to them all and one of the last things they needed was to be slowed by a crook's trap, dug into the grass. They traveled swiftly, silently, stopping only once when the needs of the horses demanded it.
The very tips of buildings began to dot the horizon at the same time the first birds started singing songs of morning light piercing the silence of the dark. Soon they were looking down onto glamorous, fantastically constructed buildings that spoke of a city funded by corruption and sin.
The members of Wolfram's guard had been easy to find, settled outside of Brügmoore's gates, picking at the grass and looking bored. Two of the young men waved them over enthusiastically as soon as the small group came into view, as if they were in a crowded theater and not a completely empty field.
Gwendal dismounted with a grateful huff. Experienced rider or no, an all night journey on horse back was hell on the ass. Yuuri was valiantly not complaining, his lips a tight, pain filled grimace.
The boy who'd organized the scouting trip, or at least brought the idea to them, stood stiffly and saluted. Gwendal nodded tiredly, "Report."
"We've found the man who bought," the boy spat the word, "Sir Bielefeld. He's a respected business man of this town, lives at outskirts of it. We took the liberty of requesting him back, we . . . we assumed that if he found out who His Excellency really was, he might--"
"What did he say?" Gwendal interrupted, but didn't sound sore with the boy's decision, even though it could've critically damaged the mission's success rate. Wolfram no doubt gave grandiose, rash orders at a regular basis and his personal guard was bound to reflect that.
"He said he already guessed His Excellency's nobility and refused."
"I see."
"We've been monitoring his home since and haven't spotted any real weakness in his security, there's even some Houryoku buried in the lawn. He lives more like a noble than a commoner. I recommend a head on attack, with Weller-sama's men leading." He nearly trailed off there, noting the absence of any personal guard whatsoever.
Gwendal nodded, impressed with both the young man and Wolfram's decision to bring him onto his personal guard.
"You can take your men and head back to Purgo." Conrad said suddenly, and Gwendal sighed, trying not to think of all the very obvious reasons Conrad was bent on handling the situation without many spectators.
"Sir?" He looked terribly offended.
"You've done very well, but we'll take it from here."
"What he means to say is he doesn't want there to be too many witnesses," Yozak said, refreshingly uncouth as ever and the boy's eyes widened.
"You've done good work." Conrad said, as if Yozak wasn't even in the same country. "But I think this is more of a family affair."
The boy gave a pointed look to Yozak, his mouth suddenly closing, cheeks filling up with unsaid words. "At least let me take you to his home." He said after a moment.
"Alright." Yozak said cheerfully, before anyone else could answer. The rest dismounted, tying the animals to a large, heavy trunk silently.
The boy was positively bristling as he led them through the awakening town. The streets were barren, save the few men stumbling to wherever they were planning on sleeping off their night of indulgence in sin and the scattered shop keeps either closing or opening their establishments. No one paid their group much attention. Gold was gold in this town, none were in the position to turn away a paying Mazoku if their pockets were fat.
The boy stopped abruptly, gesturing to a large, museum-like building resting on perfectly innocent appearing hillside. "I'd take you closer, but the Houryoku in the yard. . ."
"Weren't you prepared to storm in there with us?" Yozak asked, eyebrows raised at his sudden change of attitude.
He gave a weak smile in return; "I still have a long ride back and I'm not about to deplete myself acting as a tour guide."
"Very well." Gwendal dismissed him and the boy saluted one more time before turning around and jogging back.
"What about the Houryoku?" Yuuri asked in a hushed voice, as if the buildings themselves were straining to eavesdrop of their party.
"I don't think that'll be much of a problem." Yozak said, in that way only he seemed to manage, impossible to tell if he were dead serious or pulling your leg.
A good distance from the home they stopped and Gwendal crouched, touching the ground almost lightly.
Silence, but just for a moment. A low, dangerous rumbling that resembled an livid storm, but the skies were clear. The ground beneath their feet shook as if the world itself had suddenly had a seizure, then Gwendal stood and all movement halted.
"Anything buried in that yard should be near the core by now." He reported, hurrying forward.
"Ah, cool!" Yuuri said, as impressed as ever with anything Mazoku related. Gwendal just hoped he wouldn't start on those 'games of video' and 'final bosses' he so liked babbling about.
"Let's just hope he didn't have any beloved pets buried there." Yozak said.
Locks and chains really mean very little to anyone with maryoku and the group passed through the gates without much pause.
The front door was surprisingly flimsy, the owner probably depending more on the previous forms of security, and was kicked nearly off its hinges. For a moment, Gwendal thought he heard the object give out a girlish scream. Inside, a group of maids were now clinging to each other and trembling, staring at them as they entered as if they'd never seen Mazoku before, a tray of dirtied utensils and plates now scattered across the floor.
In fact, the floor was littered with broken and cracked objects, picture frames resting against walls they previous donned and busts broken into three and four pieces. Gwendal had forgotten what the effects of a manufactured earthquake had on building that was unprepared for them. All the castles in New Makoku had their portraits bound to the walls by now.
"Excuse me?" Yozak asked one of the cowering maids, she froze and decided to do her best impression of a startled deer. "A young man was brought here yesterday. Where would he be?"
She let out a pitiful meep and pointed to a large, winding staircase, which really wasn't much of an answer, but Yozak thanked her graciously anyway.
"Conrad?" Yuuri asked from behind, and Gwendal turned and saw that his brother wasn't following, rather turning down a seemingly random hall.
He gave them a smile, "Stick to Gwendal and Yozak. They'll take you to Wolfram."
Yuuri's brow creased, but he slowly followed after the two men without word of complaint.
The second floor of the building was nothing more than a hall with doors.
An obnoxious amount of doors, surely no one needed that many doors.
"Wolfram?!" Yuuri flew forward, opened the nearest door, peered in, apparently not finding the boy because he moved on to the next. It spurred Gwendal and Yozak into action and soon the only thing that could be heard was calls of Wolfram's name and doors opening.
Yozak's victory cry sent them flying in his direction.
And there he was. Sprawled out in what looked like a servant's quarters; with a mattress, window and sink. Signs of what they'd all suspected had happened were blared before him; Wolfram was nude and there was a mess of white on his stomach. A fair bit of blood stained the mattress he laid on and dark bruises dotted his wrists and hips.
Still.
Still, he was alive, he was safe now and Gwendal would've almost thought it anticlimactic, Wolfram just laying there, completely oblivious to their worry, his bizarre, moist snore filling the room. But nothing could quell the surge of relief at the sight of him breathing, it was enough to weaken his knees.
Yozak quickly covered Wolfram's nakedness and signs of injury with a blanket just as Yuuri burst into the room.
"Wolfram!" Yuuri cried, brushing past Gwendal and into the room. He looked like he would very much like to touch Wolfram, but was afraid of breaking him. "Wolfram, wake up, we've got to move!"
"Do you feel it?" Yozak asked from behind in a low voice and Gwendal nodded. Very faint traces of Houryoku were radiating from his brother's still form. Wolfram probably wouldn't wake for a while if he was sleeping of the affects of such intense poisoning.
As if he read Gwendal's thoughts, Yuuri abruptly stopped trying to wake the blond.
"Hey, there's a . . . a thing on his forehead." He said, brushing back the unresponsive boy's bangs. "Ah, it looks really cool. Like a birthmark for a magical hero or something."
Gwendal once again had his suspicions confirmed that Yuuri was utterly insane, but leaned forward to see what was marking his brother's forehead.
He paled. "Stop Conrad."
"Is it--" Yozak began to ask, turning to obey.
"Yes, now stop him." And Yozak rushed from the room.
"What? What is it?" Yuuri asked.
Ignoring Yuuri completely, he bent down and scooped Wolfram up rather easily. He made a small noise and his face tensed for a moment, but then he relaxed and leaned into Gwendal's chest.
It suddenly struck Gwendal how incredibly thin and lanky his youngest brother had become. His thin, coltish legs dangled limply from his arms, thin neck tucking perfectly into the bend of his elbow.
"Why--there's blood, Gwendal." Yuuri said, disrupting his musing and looking down at the mattress he'd just lifted the blond from with dread.
"Yes there is." Is all he could think to say, fighting the urge to run from the room, that mattress and Yuuri's wide, slowly comprehending eyes.
"But I thought we got here in time." He said quietly.
Gwendal glanced down at the large, black ornament that sat in the center of Wolfram's forehead and started walking back down the hall.
He'd gotten half way down the stairs when Wolfram's eyes flew open and his mouth parted in a horrifying, agonized scream. His body was too weak to wake, but forced to react to painful stimuli. He arched involuntarily and Gwendal nearly dropped him.
"What the hell is going on?!" Yuuri cried, covering his ears.
"Yozak was too late." Gwendal said once Wolfram had slumped back to unconsciousness, limper than before if it were possible.
As if on cue, Yozak and Conrad walked out into the entrance hall.
Conrad was wiping at dark blood from his sword. It spoke of a fresh kill
"It can still be fixed." He said, looking up into Gwendal's face and he had the insane urge to laugh.
It could never be fixed.
*
The carriage was jostling and Yuuri wished it jostle more. Wished it would jostle the blond awake so he could get angry for all that had happened and call him a wimp, maybe get him in a headlock. But Yozak said that was a long time off.
They'd been forced to rent a carriage once they got to the gates of Brügmoore and realized some lucky persons out there were now proud owners of free four healthy horses.
He was somewhat thankful, actually, for the horse thieves. He hadn't been looking forward to having to manhandle Wolfram all the way back to Purgo. This way he could rest properly, at least. And it was more comfortable, Yuuri and Wolfram had an entire bench to themselves, with Wolfram's head on his lap, wrapped tightly in a comforter, while Gwendal, Yozak and Conrad shared the opposite bench, the one in the middle shirtless as he'd donated to the 'Get Wolfram Clothed' campaign.
It was quiet enough in there that Yuuri was sure the driver must've thought they'd fallen asleep or jumped out. And he'd been given promises of explanations for later and this was about as later as he could stand to let it get.
"So what's this mark on Wolfram's forehead?" Yuuri asked, his voice firm.
There was an awkward silence where Yuuri feared he'd have to start yelling or be kept in the dark even longer, but finally, Conrad started talking.
"Some slave buyers want to take drastic measures to ensure that their property never falls into the hands of someone else." Conrad spoke calmly, as if this were a situation that happened years ago in a place he'd never bother to visit.
"So it's a branding?" Yuuri stared down at the exotic design of it, contrasting harshly against the smooth, light color of Wolfram's hair and forehead. It suddenly seemed so large and ominous, obviously something evil and he could feel his cheeks coloring, remembering his foolish reaction to it earlier.
"Not just . . . It's an aftereffect, actually. Just a sign of a very powerful dependency spell." Conrad said slowly. "A slave isn't likely to wander away from an owner who they completely depend on."
"Oh. Can it be removed quickly? Before he wakes up?"
"It would be a very ineffective branding if it could." Gwendal said coolly.
"To get it off him, you'll have to break the bond, which can be done by the caster, who Sir Weller very thoughtfully disposed of." Yozak said.
"Is . . . Is that why Wolfram screamed like that?" Yuuri asked, and only then realized he'd been carding through Wolfram's sinfully silky hair. He stilled his hands, then didn't really know what to do with them, finally crossing them awkwardly. "Because he could feel the man die?"
He took the silence as a yes and Yuuri had the sneaking suspicion that all the men in the carriage were about two more questions away from jumping out and walking to Purgo.
"So . . . what do we do? Is he going to be alright?"
"We'll figure something out." Conrad said, and Yuuri wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure him or himself.
Confused? Previous chapters.