A Knight of Fire 6/?
Title: A Knight of Fire 6/?
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yoochun/Junsu, Changmin/Junho
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and I can't even claim the idea as mine because it is all devilaugh's fault.
Summary: Jaejoong is a scribe in King Ahn Chilhyun's court. He is sent to small seaside village to teach the people how to read, and instead finds a lover who has a secret that will end up endangering the entire world.
A/N: This fic is all devilaugh's fault. It was her idea on the post about the picture of Jaejoong, so this fic was partially inspired by this picture
Part 6:
Fanfic poster by back_to_five!!! Perfection! <3 <3
Jaejoong received no further clues to the cryptic note and no other whispered warnings. But he took Changmin’s order to heart and he packed a few bags that he left in his wardrobe, just in case he had to leave quickly. As the months moved closer to spring, he rotated out clothes, keeping a lighter cloak instead of his fur-lined one, and an extra pair of boots.
Spring had always been Jaejoong’s favorite time of the year. This year, he watched Changmin. During the cold winter months, Changmin did his best to say bright and happy (or as bright and happy as the self-absorbed scribe could be) but Jaejoong watched him, with this new knowledge of him being a Knight of Earth. Winter was hard on him, and he looked pale and weak most days.
But one day, with the snow melted and a warmer wind blowing from the south, Jaejoong spotted him in the gardens. Changmin stood under the lilac branches and watched the new buds show themselves with a small smile on his face. The air was still cool, this early in the morning, and Changmin wore his deep green cloak. It was open, showing that he’d foregone actually dressing yet and wore only thin sleeping pants and slippers.
Jaejoong had never noticed just how strong his dongsaeng was, with a firm chest and cobbled abs. He was tempted to touch, a tryst, anything, but it would not be fair when his heart beat for Yunho.
“I know you are there, hyung,” he said suddenly. “Vibrations.” He stopped with that word and turned to Jaejoong’s hiding spot and smiled.
“Perceptive, as always,” Jaejoong said and stepped out from a copse of trees. But Changmin had meant he could feel the vibrations of his footsteps through the ground. “You look well this morning.”
Changmin smiled. “Just woke up and heard ...” He reached up to the tree and touched a bud. It bloomed in an explosion of purple petals and sweet fragrance. Changmin brought the flower up to this nose and inhaled.
“Dangerous,” Jaejoong all but breathed and stepped into Changmin’s body to hide the bright purple flower that had no business hanging from the tree.
“I know, but it’s ... hard to ... ignore the Springtime.” He tore the plant off and slid the flower into Jaejoong’s cloak, keeping his hand against Jaejoong’s warmer skin. Anyone looking hopefully would only think they were lovers, standing together for a moment of love. There were many rumors about the two of them as it was.
To keep up the impression, Jaejoong gave in to the tiny temptation and slid his hands around Changmin’s waist. He leaned against his shoulder for a moment and kissed his cheek. “Come inside, warm up. It’s still cold out.”
“I know.” He returned the peck and whispered, “I’m telling Yunho,” before pulling away and wrapping the cloak around his body. He shivered.
Jaejoong smiled up at him and hooked his hand at Changmin’s elbow. “Stop growing,” he demanded and leaned his head on Changmin’s shoulder.
Changmin laughed. “Now that is impossible.”
They entered the castle and came face to face with the slightly irate king.
Jaejoong quickly released Changmin and they both bowed deeply.
“Your highness,” Changmin muttered, and Jaejoong echoed it and stayed bowed as Changmin straightened.
“Where have you been?” King Ahn demanded.
“I woke early and went for a walk to clear my thoughts.”
The king did not look happy. “We have reports of rebels in the North. I need you to write out orders for more men to support the army there.”
“Yes, your highness.”
Jaejoong did not let his frown show on his face. More men? Where exactly did the king plan on recruiting more men?
King Ahn spun in a flurry of his robe and stalked down the hall, Changmin following close behind. “I need an army. We will not lose this war,” he said, voice echoing down the hall.
Changmin turned and glanced back at him with a very significant look.
But Jaejoong did not need it. War, what war? The war was over. They were living in peace. And the king already had an army. He had soldiers that volunteered their time and were happy to serve. This was indeed a new and dangerous development.
Jaejoong hurried to the kitchens. Knowing where he found Changmin this morning, the young man had yet to eat. He piled a plate with fruit and bread, and made sure to add a cup of coffee. And then he went to the king’s chambers. The king was not there, but a servant let him in.
“I brought you breakfast,” he said to Changmin who sat at his desk.
Changmin waved his hand in dismissal. “Set it there somewhere.”
Jaejoong tutted at him and came right to the desk. “You need to eat.”
“I will later.”
Jaejoong moved the parchment in front of him, despite Changmin’s protest and he read the words upside down as he put the tray in front of Changmin. “Five minutes. Eat.”
He did not linger, but he’d seen enough of what Changmin was writing, and a list of villages set to receive this new order for abled bodied men to serve in the king’s army. An order. Not a request. And Borandoon had been on it, near the top.
“Make sure he eats that,” Jaejoong said to the servant as he left.
Changmin scoffed behind him.
A king making his subjects serve in an army to fight against rebels was not the same as requesting it. The king had many men willing to serve. Where were they? Why did he have to create a draft of all able bodied men?
Jaejoong did not know what to do. He checked his hidden supplies. It did not seem that this new draft was enough of a reason for Jaejoong to leave the city when Changmin said to. Was there more going on? There had to be.
Changmin was smart. Changmin sat next to the king during all of his meetings. Changmin wrote all of the decrees. Changmin was the king’s confidant.
What did Changmin know that Jaejoong did not?
Not being able to do anything made the anxiety and the situation worse.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Spring bloomed beautifully in the city. Jaejoong tried to remember how it had been before King Ahn Chilhyun. He could not conjure specifics, but not nearly as many households had plants in their windows. The cobbled streets had not been lined with flowering trees and grasses that attempted to grow between the stones.
When had Changmin arrived in the city? How many years ago?
Jaejoong did not know, and as he watched the city bustle and thrive below him, he realized that it did not matter. The city grew because of Changmin.
It was a great big clue, but without knowledge that Changmin was a Knight of Earth, many of the cityfolk credited the new king and the lack of fear from invaders. They had time to have gardens. They had time to relax.
But with new green growth also came the shiny metal armor of soldiers. Their numbers steadily increased, and the decrees and rules, all made in the name of having a prosperous kingdom, increased as well. The people here in the city seemed happy to follow them.
Jaejoong did not understand though. If the rule made the kingdom stronger and richer, then why was it bad? If the rule meant that more of the hungry could be fed, then it should be followed.
King Ahn was a great king. He had brought peace to the entire known lands. After the last few major battles with villages and cities, there had been no great attacks, no petty wars between borders of each nationstate.
But still, Jaejoong recalled the missive for more warriors. He recalled the harried look about Changmin’s face as he followed after the king through the halls of the castle. He caught bits of conversation about protecting borders, gathering up those who refused to follow, creating a navy to patrol the oceans. But all in the name of creating a single nation, a single world that was peaceful and rich. It confused Jaejoong’s logical sensibilities regarding government and laws.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Jaejoong did not like being woken up. He especially did not like being woken up when the sun was not even up yet and Shim Changmin, the little bastard, was yanking his blankets off him and slapping at his ass.
“Get up, hyung. Now.”
Jaejoong cursed at him with as many vile words as he knew and in more than one language and dialect.
Changmin chuckled. “Such language for a scholar.”
“Language is the least of your concerns,” Jaejoong snapped and sat up, trying to pull the blankets back. “I am contemplating murder. Why are you in my rooms before the sun?”
“You have a new assignment.”
“What?”
“You’re leaving. For your new assignment. Today. You need to leave the city today. This morning. Now.”
“Why?”
“What did I tell you? Before. Remember?”
“Don’t ask questions.”
“Do. Not. Ask. Questions. They will take too long to answer. Go. While the tyrant is away.”
“Tyrant? But Changmin---”
“Go!” He glanced around Jaejoong’s rooms. “I’ve already endangered myself enough. Go.”
“Wait, what? Changmin!”
Changmin spun and glared at him.
“Where do I go?”
Changmin grinned. “Where you want to go, hyung.” He left Jaejoong’s rooms as quickly as he had entered.
Jaejoong stared after him for only a moment and then sprung into action. He dressed in sturdy clothes, those appropriate for travel. There were already three other packs by his door, and looking through them showed an abundance of travel food and water skins and money. He added a few more things from his rooms, who knew when he would be back, and made sure the king’s crest hung from his neck. He stopped at the doors, hoping he had not forgotten anything important.
And then froze.
If he left and did not come back, that was treason. This was treason. Going away at the word of a young man whose intentions were not clear. Who did he trust? Changmin, or his king? King Ahn was a great king. He really was.
And Changmin?
Changmin trusted him. Changmin did not know for certain what Jaejoong knew, and yet, Changmin had shown him his gift, Changmin had risked capture. And Jaejoong had not gone to the king, about Changmin, or about Yunho and Junsu.
He trusted Yunho. He trusted Changmin.
Changmin knew more than he did about this kingdom. About his king.
He trusted Changmin.
Jaejoong glanced around the room and then spun around and left his quarters. He trusted Changmin.
Servants stopped him to ask him where he was going, and he only smiled and said he was being sent to another village to teach them to read and write. He had been at the castle for almost a year. It was time for something else.
At the stables, he found his mare already saddled and prepared for a long journey. One of the stable boys smiled at him. He was wearing breaches only, and had dirt (or what Jaejoong hoped was dirt) smudged up on his chest. There was ink on his chest and some on his shoulder blade. An eagle in flight on his shoulder blade, a pair of wings spread over his muscle above his nipple, and a feather near his belly button. Jaejoong thought it looked amazing and had he the time, he would have asked the boy where he had the work done.
“Hi, Master Jaejoong,” he said. “Master Changmin said you were leaving.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Another assignment.”
The boy helped Jaejoong put the additional packs on the horse.
“She’s shod and her feet are clean and healthy. You should have no problems wherever you go. She’s a great mount.”
“Thanks.”
The boy kept the mare steady while Jaejoong climbed to her back. He took the reins from the boy.
“See you later, Master Jaejoong,” he said with a smile. “Travel safely.”
“Thank you.” He left the stables and headed through the city. The sun was creeping over the horizon, bathing the richness and prosperity of the city in a pale light.
Jaejoong stopped at the city gates, the soldiers there seemed suspicious of him leaving so early, but they did not have orders to detain him or anyone else. Jaejoong knew that the king would hear of his departure almost immediately.
And he would not be allowed to come back. Unless he was in shackles.
Treason.
The word terrified him, but he needed and wanted to see Yunho. He needed to tell him and Junsu that he knew of the Knight of Earth, and where to find the Knight of Air. He had no idea for what purpose, and he knew that Changmin was using him to gather the four elementals together.
Treason.
Was it worth it?
With the image of Yunho’s laughter, skin and body, Jaejoong knew it was. He hoped it was. He hoped he was making the right decision. Was treason ever the right decision?
As soon as he was beyond the outer wall of the city, Jaejoong clucked at his horse, and the mare cantered down the road.
He traveled as far as he dared without stopping. He had no idea if soldiers would come after him in the night. He ate his meals from the back of his horse and he rode until he worried about his horse, and then made a camp a few hundred feet from the side of the road. He dug through the supplies Changmin had packed and was glad that the other remembered things he had forgotten. Like flint, for a fire. He made a very small one, easily doused if he heard hooves upon the road.
In one bag, he found a note, and he recognized Changmin’s neat handwriting. And the snarky attitude.
You are an idiot for as smart as you are. Why do I endanger myself for an idiot? Go to the Eastern Mountains, ask for directions to the Garden Village where you will find cool, clean air. Now it is the army, but soon it will be taxes. Soon, even the richest of villages will be beggars in a kingdom run by greed. Give Him the other scroll, and it better not be opened when it is delivered. Go, and by the gods of the Earth, burn this note. Idiot.
Jaejoong smiled, but he did not dare to laugh out loud. He had no idea who may have followed, or may still be following. Encouraged, he crumpled up the parchment and tossed it in the flames. It flared orange. He watched until the fire ate up another mark of treason. He spread out his blankets and lay against the ground to sleep for a little while.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Traveling alone on horseback was lonesome. But it was the fear of what was behind him, the fear of what was in front of him, that caused Jaejoong to push his horse almost beyond her limits. Each village he passed had barracks at the outskirts. Men were out in fields later than usual, probably harvesting food to feed the soldiers. Jaejoong was sure that it is the crest of the king around his neck that kept him from being detained at gates that blocked the road. Gates that were not there only a year ago when he had made his way home.
Home.
It had taken almost an entire month with his cart and supplies to reach the city, but he knew he was almost at Borandoon in only two weeks.
He soon passed what would be the last gate and went four days without seeing another one. The army’s reach had not yet spread this far north, but it would. Even after a year, the army’s reach was beyond anything that it had been.
At least, Knights Village had not changed. Not that Jaejoong could see clearly in the dark. But he knew the way, and with dawn not far off, light glowed from the windows of a few houses. The sea breeze blew in over the cliffs, and Jaejoong inhaled deeply. He had missed the smell of the ocean. He had missed the sounds of waves against the cliffs.
Everything was the same.
But the sudden shout to halt, firm and invisible hands yanking him from his horse, and a knife at his throat were very, very different.
Part 7: Rekindle
Part 5: Sprout
Part 4: Burn
Part 3: Flicker
Part 2: Flare
Part 1: Spark
.
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yoochun/Junsu, Changmin/Junho
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and I can't even claim the idea as mine because it is all devilaugh's fault.
Summary: Jaejoong is a scribe in King Ahn Chilhyun's court. He is sent to small seaside village to teach the people how to read, and instead finds a lover who has a secret that will end up endangering the entire world.
A/N: This fic is all devilaugh's fault. It was her idea on the post about the picture of Jaejoong, so this fic was partially inspired by this picture
Part 6:
Fanfic poster by back_to_five!!! Perfection! <3 <3
Jaejoong received no further clues to the cryptic note and no other whispered warnings. But he took Changmin’s order to heart and he packed a few bags that he left in his wardrobe, just in case he had to leave quickly. As the months moved closer to spring, he rotated out clothes, keeping a lighter cloak instead of his fur-lined one, and an extra pair of boots.
Spring had always been Jaejoong’s favorite time of the year. This year, he watched Changmin. During the cold winter months, Changmin did his best to say bright and happy (or as bright and happy as the self-absorbed scribe could be) but Jaejoong watched him, with this new knowledge of him being a Knight of Earth. Winter was hard on him, and he looked pale and weak most days.
But one day, with the snow melted and a warmer wind blowing from the south, Jaejoong spotted him in the gardens. Changmin stood under the lilac branches and watched the new buds show themselves with a small smile on his face. The air was still cool, this early in the morning, and Changmin wore his deep green cloak. It was open, showing that he’d foregone actually dressing yet and wore only thin sleeping pants and slippers.
Jaejoong had never noticed just how strong his dongsaeng was, with a firm chest and cobbled abs. He was tempted to touch, a tryst, anything, but it would not be fair when his heart beat for Yunho.
“I know you are there, hyung,” he said suddenly. “Vibrations.” He stopped with that word and turned to Jaejoong’s hiding spot and smiled.
“Perceptive, as always,” Jaejoong said and stepped out from a copse of trees. But Changmin had meant he could feel the vibrations of his footsteps through the ground. “You look well this morning.”
Changmin smiled. “Just woke up and heard ...” He reached up to the tree and touched a bud. It bloomed in an explosion of purple petals and sweet fragrance. Changmin brought the flower up to this nose and inhaled.
“Dangerous,” Jaejoong all but breathed and stepped into Changmin’s body to hide the bright purple flower that had no business hanging from the tree.
“I know, but it’s ... hard to ... ignore the Springtime.” He tore the plant off and slid the flower into Jaejoong’s cloak, keeping his hand against Jaejoong’s warmer skin. Anyone looking hopefully would only think they were lovers, standing together for a moment of love. There were many rumors about the two of them as it was.
To keep up the impression, Jaejoong gave in to the tiny temptation and slid his hands around Changmin’s waist. He leaned against his shoulder for a moment and kissed his cheek. “Come inside, warm up. It’s still cold out.”
“I know.” He returned the peck and whispered, “I’m telling Yunho,” before pulling away and wrapping the cloak around his body. He shivered.
Jaejoong smiled up at him and hooked his hand at Changmin’s elbow. “Stop growing,” he demanded and leaned his head on Changmin’s shoulder.
Changmin laughed. “Now that is impossible.”
They entered the castle and came face to face with the slightly irate king.
Jaejoong quickly released Changmin and they both bowed deeply.
“Your highness,” Changmin muttered, and Jaejoong echoed it and stayed bowed as Changmin straightened.
“Where have you been?” King Ahn demanded.
“I woke early and went for a walk to clear my thoughts.”
The king did not look happy. “We have reports of rebels in the North. I need you to write out orders for more men to support the army there.”
“Yes, your highness.”
Jaejoong did not let his frown show on his face. More men? Where exactly did the king plan on recruiting more men?
King Ahn spun in a flurry of his robe and stalked down the hall, Changmin following close behind. “I need an army. We will not lose this war,” he said, voice echoing down the hall.
Changmin turned and glanced back at him with a very significant look.
But Jaejoong did not need it. War, what war? The war was over. They were living in peace. And the king already had an army. He had soldiers that volunteered their time and were happy to serve. This was indeed a new and dangerous development.
Jaejoong hurried to the kitchens. Knowing where he found Changmin this morning, the young man had yet to eat. He piled a plate with fruit and bread, and made sure to add a cup of coffee. And then he went to the king’s chambers. The king was not there, but a servant let him in.
“I brought you breakfast,” he said to Changmin who sat at his desk.
Changmin waved his hand in dismissal. “Set it there somewhere.”
Jaejoong tutted at him and came right to the desk. “You need to eat.”
“I will later.”
Jaejoong moved the parchment in front of him, despite Changmin’s protest and he read the words upside down as he put the tray in front of Changmin. “Five minutes. Eat.”
He did not linger, but he’d seen enough of what Changmin was writing, and a list of villages set to receive this new order for abled bodied men to serve in the king’s army. An order. Not a request. And Borandoon had been on it, near the top.
“Make sure he eats that,” Jaejoong said to the servant as he left.
Changmin scoffed behind him.
A king making his subjects serve in an army to fight against rebels was not the same as requesting it. The king had many men willing to serve. Where were they? Why did he have to create a draft of all able bodied men?
Jaejoong did not know what to do. He checked his hidden supplies. It did not seem that this new draft was enough of a reason for Jaejoong to leave the city when Changmin said to. Was there more going on? There had to be.
Changmin was smart. Changmin sat next to the king during all of his meetings. Changmin wrote all of the decrees. Changmin was the king’s confidant.
What did Changmin know that Jaejoong did not?
Not being able to do anything made the anxiety and the situation worse.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Spring bloomed beautifully in the city. Jaejoong tried to remember how it had been before King Ahn Chilhyun. He could not conjure specifics, but not nearly as many households had plants in their windows. The cobbled streets had not been lined with flowering trees and grasses that attempted to grow between the stones.
When had Changmin arrived in the city? How many years ago?
Jaejoong did not know, and as he watched the city bustle and thrive below him, he realized that it did not matter. The city grew because of Changmin.
It was a great big clue, but without knowledge that Changmin was a Knight of Earth, many of the cityfolk credited the new king and the lack of fear from invaders. They had time to have gardens. They had time to relax.
But with new green growth also came the shiny metal armor of soldiers. Their numbers steadily increased, and the decrees and rules, all made in the name of having a prosperous kingdom, increased as well. The people here in the city seemed happy to follow them.
Jaejoong did not understand though. If the rule made the kingdom stronger and richer, then why was it bad? If the rule meant that more of the hungry could be fed, then it should be followed.
King Ahn was a great king. He had brought peace to the entire known lands. After the last few major battles with villages and cities, there had been no great attacks, no petty wars between borders of each nationstate.
But still, Jaejoong recalled the missive for more warriors. He recalled the harried look about Changmin’s face as he followed after the king through the halls of the castle. He caught bits of conversation about protecting borders, gathering up those who refused to follow, creating a navy to patrol the oceans. But all in the name of creating a single nation, a single world that was peaceful and rich. It confused Jaejoong’s logical sensibilities regarding government and laws.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Jaejoong did not like being woken up. He especially did not like being woken up when the sun was not even up yet and Shim Changmin, the little bastard, was yanking his blankets off him and slapping at his ass.
“Get up, hyung. Now.”
Jaejoong cursed at him with as many vile words as he knew and in more than one language and dialect.
Changmin chuckled. “Such language for a scholar.”
“Language is the least of your concerns,” Jaejoong snapped and sat up, trying to pull the blankets back. “I am contemplating murder. Why are you in my rooms before the sun?”
“You have a new assignment.”
“What?”
“You’re leaving. For your new assignment. Today. You need to leave the city today. This morning. Now.”
“Why?”
“What did I tell you? Before. Remember?”
“Don’t ask questions.”
“Do. Not. Ask. Questions. They will take too long to answer. Go. While the tyrant is away.”
“Tyrant? But Changmin---”
“Go!” He glanced around Jaejoong’s rooms. “I’ve already endangered myself enough. Go.”
“Wait, what? Changmin!”
Changmin spun and glared at him.
“Where do I go?”
Changmin grinned. “Where you want to go, hyung.” He left Jaejoong’s rooms as quickly as he had entered.
Jaejoong stared after him for only a moment and then sprung into action. He dressed in sturdy clothes, those appropriate for travel. There were already three other packs by his door, and looking through them showed an abundance of travel food and water skins and money. He added a few more things from his rooms, who knew when he would be back, and made sure the king’s crest hung from his neck. He stopped at the doors, hoping he had not forgotten anything important.
And then froze.
If he left and did not come back, that was treason. This was treason. Going away at the word of a young man whose intentions were not clear. Who did he trust? Changmin, or his king? King Ahn was a great king. He really was.
And Changmin?
Changmin trusted him. Changmin did not know for certain what Jaejoong knew, and yet, Changmin had shown him his gift, Changmin had risked capture. And Jaejoong had not gone to the king, about Changmin, or about Yunho and Junsu.
He trusted Yunho. He trusted Changmin.
Changmin knew more than he did about this kingdom. About his king.
He trusted Changmin.
Jaejoong glanced around the room and then spun around and left his quarters. He trusted Changmin.
Servants stopped him to ask him where he was going, and he only smiled and said he was being sent to another village to teach them to read and write. He had been at the castle for almost a year. It was time for something else.
At the stables, he found his mare already saddled and prepared for a long journey. One of the stable boys smiled at him. He was wearing breaches only, and had dirt (or what Jaejoong hoped was dirt) smudged up on his chest. There was ink on his chest and some on his shoulder blade. An eagle in flight on his shoulder blade, a pair of wings spread over his muscle above his nipple, and a feather near his belly button. Jaejoong thought it looked amazing and had he the time, he would have asked the boy where he had the work done.
“Hi, Master Jaejoong,” he said. “Master Changmin said you were leaving.”
Jaejoong nodded. “Another assignment.”
The boy helped Jaejoong put the additional packs on the horse.
“She’s shod and her feet are clean and healthy. You should have no problems wherever you go. She’s a great mount.”
“Thanks.”
The boy kept the mare steady while Jaejoong climbed to her back. He took the reins from the boy.
“See you later, Master Jaejoong,” he said with a smile. “Travel safely.”
“Thank you.” He left the stables and headed through the city. The sun was creeping over the horizon, bathing the richness and prosperity of the city in a pale light.
Jaejoong stopped at the city gates, the soldiers there seemed suspicious of him leaving so early, but they did not have orders to detain him or anyone else. Jaejoong knew that the king would hear of his departure almost immediately.
And he would not be allowed to come back. Unless he was in shackles.
Treason.
The word terrified him, but he needed and wanted to see Yunho. He needed to tell him and Junsu that he knew of the Knight of Earth, and where to find the Knight of Air. He had no idea for what purpose, and he knew that Changmin was using him to gather the four elementals together.
Treason.
Was it worth it?
With the image of Yunho’s laughter, skin and body, Jaejoong knew it was. He hoped it was. He hoped he was making the right decision. Was treason ever the right decision?
As soon as he was beyond the outer wall of the city, Jaejoong clucked at his horse, and the mare cantered down the road.
He traveled as far as he dared without stopping. He had no idea if soldiers would come after him in the night. He ate his meals from the back of his horse and he rode until he worried about his horse, and then made a camp a few hundred feet from the side of the road. He dug through the supplies Changmin had packed and was glad that the other remembered things he had forgotten. Like flint, for a fire. He made a very small one, easily doused if he heard hooves upon the road.
In one bag, he found a note, and he recognized Changmin’s neat handwriting. And the snarky attitude.
You are an idiot for as smart as you are. Why do I endanger myself for an idiot? Go to the Eastern Mountains, ask for directions to the Garden Village where you will find cool, clean air. Now it is the army, but soon it will be taxes. Soon, even the richest of villages will be beggars in a kingdom run by greed. Give Him the other scroll, and it better not be opened when it is delivered. Go, and by the gods of the Earth, burn this note. Idiot.
Jaejoong smiled, but he did not dare to laugh out loud. He had no idea who may have followed, or may still be following. Encouraged, he crumpled up the parchment and tossed it in the flames. It flared orange. He watched until the fire ate up another mark of treason. He spread out his blankets and lay against the ground to sleep for a little while.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Traveling alone on horseback was lonesome. But it was the fear of what was behind him, the fear of what was in front of him, that caused Jaejoong to push his horse almost beyond her limits. Each village he passed had barracks at the outskirts. Men were out in fields later than usual, probably harvesting food to feed the soldiers. Jaejoong was sure that it is the crest of the king around his neck that kept him from being detained at gates that blocked the road. Gates that were not there only a year ago when he had made his way home.
Home.
It had taken almost an entire month with his cart and supplies to reach the city, but he knew he was almost at Borandoon in only two weeks.
He soon passed what would be the last gate and went four days without seeing another one. The army’s reach had not yet spread this far north, but it would. Even after a year, the army’s reach was beyond anything that it had been.
At least, Knights Village had not changed. Not that Jaejoong could see clearly in the dark. But he knew the way, and with dawn not far off, light glowed from the windows of a few houses. The sea breeze blew in over the cliffs, and Jaejoong inhaled deeply. He had missed the smell of the ocean. He had missed the sounds of waves against the cliffs.
Everything was the same.
But the sudden shout to halt, firm and invisible hands yanking him from his horse, and a knife at his throat were very, very different.
Part 7: Rekindle
Part 5: Sprout
Part 4: Burn
Part 3: Flicker
Part 2: Flare
Part 1: Spark
.