Chapter Text
They went to Ylaving with a quiet prisoner and left with an almost cheerful one.
Eugene did not approve of that raccoon: it was basically feral, didn’t hesitate to bite, and was both lazy and gluttonous. But he couldn’t exactly chase it off, not when he had its boy in custody.
And Varian adored the animal. Even though Eugene did not let it ride with them (Max despised raccoons) he turned constantly around to see his pet wave its tail or chitter from where it was perched behind Tilk (the youngest guard had gotten the questionable privilege to ride with the raccoon: thankfully, his horse didn’t seem to mind.)
It seemed that with the raccoon, some of Varian’s personality returned. For the first time the boy showed interest in the flora and fauna around them, often inspecting this or that flower or pointing out star constellations at night. He had to be constantly watched, not just because of any possible escape attempts, but because he could wander off to see a particularly interesting bush and get lost.
In the end, Eugene settled on Varian finding his pet being a good thing. Corona was only a few days away. Perhaps the raccoon was enough of a distraction that the boy didn’t have that much time to think about what was waiting for them there.
It was a faint hope, but Eugene clung to it, until one night Varian opened his mouth.
“When will we reach Corona?”
Eugene raised his head, just a little, to see the boy. There was so little light he could barely see the silhouette of his head: there had been light rain earlier in the evening so they had set up tents again.
“In five days, I think”, he answered truthfully. “Perhaps even faster, if we don’t stop to make fire at midday anymore.”
Varian was quiet for a while. Eugene wished he had fallen back asleep but knew he hadn’t.
“I don’t want to go back to prison.”
Eugene sighed. “Varian, we’ve been over this. You’re not going back to the dungeons. You won’t actually be free, no, but we’ll figure something out. Rapunzel won’t let you go to the dungeons. She needs you.”
That probably was not much of comfort, Eugene realised. It wasn’t really reassuring to hear that one could be safe and taken care of as long as he was useful. He sighed and rephrased his words.
“You will be safe. We’ll find you a room in the castle, somewhere nice with a good view. You can sleep in a real bed every night and get good meals. Who knows, maybe there’ll even be hot water.”
He meant that as a joke, but Varian didn’t laugh. Instead he turned to him, his impossibly blue eyes shining in the weak light.
“Will you be there?”
“Of course”, Eugene replied, surprised. “I’m the Captain of the Guards after all. I’ll check on you every day. And Rapunzel will be there too, and that pest of yours.”
Varian was silent for a while. Eugene could sense an unasked question hovering in the air, and stifled a sigh. This would take time.
“Do you think she has forgiven me?”
Eugene rose to lean to his left elbow to get a good look on the anxious boy -or as good as he could get in the moonlight. The boy looked at him under his fringe. Suns, Eugene should have borrowed scissors from the matron in Ylaving and cut that off. It was a wonder the boy could even see.
“Of course she has”, he said in a voice that left no room for debate. “She’s the sunshine princess, after all. Of course she has forgiven you. No, head to the pillow and eyes shut, pronto. We have a long day ahead of us.”
Varian mumbled something incoherent for an answer, but let his head fall back to the pillow. It didn’t take long until his deep, calm breathing filled the little tent.
Eugene stared at the sliver of moonlight coming from the tent’s opening and wished someone was here to speak as reassuringly to him as he had done to Varian. He closed his eyes but it took a long time until he could follow the boy to the land of sleep.
The next morning started out promising: the rain had ceased during the night and they woke up to the sunny day that was surprisingly warm for this time of the year. Stan made a good breakfast out of fresh bread and eggs they had brought from Ylaving, and everyone was cheerful and in good spirits when they finally mounted the horses, even John, who had heavily disapproved of taking the raccoon with them. It was only when Eugene had explained that the princess could do little with the alchemist who was crying for his pet day and night, that he grumpily stopped complaining, though he still threw daggers at Ruddigers every chance he got (so far he had thankfully only resolved in figurative daggers, though Eugene worried that would the journey continue much longer, he wouldn’t hesitate to use real ones.)
It was a nice day, nicer than the last ones had been. The sky was clear and light filtered through trees, which already had little green leaves. As they got closer to Corona they started to see more and more signs of spring. At home the bakers were already making first strawberry cakes and children made wreaths from dandelions. Eugene wondered if Rapunzel had gotten time to make at least one.
The guards were in good spirits as well, wondering what had happened at home while they had been away. Varian was quiet but didn’t seem anxious, just looked at the bright sky and all the plants and trees around them. A rabbit jumped in front of them and John already reached for his bow but it jumped away before they had time to react. John sighed frustratedly and mumbled something about rabbit stew. Varian looked at the rabbit and remarked it had already changed colour.
The morning was so easy and blissful, it couldn’t last.
Later Eugene could never understand how anyone could be so stupid they attacked a group of Coronan guards in the middle of a narrow forest road. Especially when there were only three of them against four well-trained guards with big horses and clearly visible swords.
But still, they did.
Eugene could easily see a group of travelers approaching them. The road was straight, with no hills or sharp turns, and anyone approaching them could be seen almost a mile away. Eugene glanced at guards and pointed at the travelers. He didn’t even need to say anything: the other lined up behind him to let the travelers pass. Before that, though, Stan rode in front of Eugene to protect him and Varian. Standard procedure Eugene didn’t think was necessary but well, rules are rules.
“Hello”, Stan greeted the travelers when they approached close enough to be heard. None of them answered. Eugene frowned. This close he could easily see one of them was sweating profusely. Perhaps he was sick?
Before he could say anything, Varian tugged frantically at his sleeve.
He bowed his head a little to hear what the boy had to say. Varian’s eyes were wide, he was clutching the saddle like his life depended on it, and he was trembling in Eugene’s hold. Max neighed worriedly and Eugene could hear Ruddiger hissing from Tilk’s saddle.
“The travellers”, Varian whispered. “They tried to take me.”
Oh shit.
The travellers who had seen Varian’s wanted posters. Who he had to escape from so quickly he had lost his boots.
But surely those idiots wouldn’t try to attack them now. There were only three of them against four guards, and they all looked thin and ragged. They knew how to cut their losses, right?
Apparently not.
“Halt”, Eugene ordered, one hand wrapped around Varian. But the man who was riding closest to them didn’t obey. Instead he drew a small dagger from his pocket and attacked Stan.
The experienced guard blocked the attack easily with his sword and grabbed the dagger in process, which seemed to confuse the man. His horse, who had already started to neigh worriedly, screeched and rose to its hind legs. The other horses panicked as well, turned in their heels and started to gallop back where they had come from, their riders desperately trying to stop them. One of them fell to the bushes growing next to the road and the other didn’t seem to be far from falling either.
For a while it was silent. Then John gave a deep sigh.
“It seems stupidity is an unlimited natural source.”
Eugene had to agree.
Things got unpleasantly difficult after that.
They were still five days away from Corona, three if they didn’t stop to have lunch and rode faster than they had before. Eugene knew Max could easily survive a couple of days of hard pace, as could probably Filly, John’s horse. Stan and Tilk’s horses were heavier, slower breeds and should not be asked to do so.
Eugene played with the thought of letting the travellers go but soon realised they could not do that. They had already proven they were stupid enough to attack them and would complicate things unnecessarily. They could not sleep at night if there were three men constantly trying to attack them.
In the end Eugene decided they would split. He and John would continue the journey with Varian, picking up the pace so they would hopefully reach Corona in three days or so. Stan and Tilk would follow with the prisoners, who all seemed embarrassed more than scared. Even Varian had done a better job at escaping, and he had been injured.
Eugene was not so keen about this idea. He would have much rather left John to guard the prisoners and leave with Stan and Varian. But changing horses this far in the journey would be a bad idea, especially when they had prisoners to guard. He trusted Stan to keep the prisoners at bay, but he didn’t trust John not to spook Varian.The boy was still fragile, and John hadn’t really done anything to put him in ease.
Eugene felt a flash of grief. If Cassandra had been there, he would have left those three idiots with her with a peaceful mind. But Cass was gone, consumed by grief and anger, her mind taken a prisoner by an ancient, mind-destroying rock…
He sighed. He would mourn Cass later. Right now he had to focus on Varian. The poor boy was clutching his pet, who in turn was snuggling against his shoulder, its small, bead-like eyes staring at Eugene, who wondered just how bad the raccoon's claws would sting.
Then something strange happened. The pest sighed, and jumped off Varian’s lap. Its fur bristled like it was about to do something very unpleasant and then it went over where Max was having his lunch of oats.
The two animals seemed to have a short but meaningful conversation, which ended by Max neighing annoyedly and glancing at it’s back. Ruddiger, fur still bristled, climbed reluctantly to the saddle and stayed there, its back arched like it was thinking all those places it rather be.
They organised their supplies and had a brief, cold lunch. Stan examined the prisoners’ things and found way too many weapons and way too little food. Eugene rolled his eyes. He had never been much of a bandit himself, but he knew you could not rob anyone with an empty stomach.
After a lunch of bread, cheese and dried jerky they said goodbye and started moving. Max and Filly started a quick trot, and it didn’t take long until they didn’t see Stan and Tilk anymore.
Varian was quiet the whole journey. Eugene decided to let him be. The boy was probably just anxious and the best medicine for his worries would be to actually reach Corona and see that nothing terrible was waiting for him there. Until then, all Eugene could do was to keep him safe.
They rode until it was too dark to safely move anymore. Eugene made a quick fire and roasted some sausages while John put up tents. Varian sat next to the fire and rubbed two sticks together to create a small spark.
“Stop that”, John grumbled when he passed by. Varian’s eyes widened and he dropped the sticks.
“John, it’s fine”, Eugene said in a calm voice and looked at Varian to make clear he wasn’t in trouble. The boy looked at him, trembling, and then came to sit close to Eugene.
It was going to be a long journey.