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Exhaling slowly, Xenk shifted his back against the stone cell wall, fresh aches blooming in yesterday's bruises. He jangled the cuffs on his wrists again, still finding no flaw to the glinting hoops. Of course, Edgin would have known how –
But no, he was alone. The twinge of regret in Xenk's gut tweaked colder. Parting from Edgin's group had become his habit, for parting had always been his habit, and this mission had seemed simple enough. Confiscating a sceptre from a corrupt marshal ranked fairly low compared to outwitting Red Wizards. But one slip in the marketplace, one question asked too early, and arrest had swiftly followed – neither armour nor sword to hand, magic mostly depleted by charity along the dusty road – and so Xenk found himself imprisoned, daydreams his only companion.
Tilting his head, he caught the late afternoon glow through the windowbars. About this hour, Edgin and Holga and all the rest were most likely on horseback, chatting and chuckling together – making their way to some inn or grassy glade, after a day of honest adventuring. Soon they would be making camp – brushing down the horses, bickering as they erected the tents, bustling to set a meal going... It would be Simon's turn to cook, would it not? The memory of a hearty stew skittered across Xenk's tongue. And perhaps Edgin would unsling his lute and –
Ah, but those ballads. Habit was not his sole reason to leave. The more Xenk had encountered Edgin and friends, the more he'd favoured them as workmates – the more they had worked together, the longer he began to stay – the longer he stayed, the sharper the pang in Xenk's heart when he lingered near Edgin... And so parting became a necessity, the only means to dim the flames a little. Each separation both balm and regret.
Xenk swallowed, eyes narrowing against that distant sunshine. But parting was his habit. He had lived many decades as a lone paladin – had overcome many trials alone. He would deal with this sceptre somehow. However much he longed, he did not need – would not get –
Heavy iron clanked as the guard unlocked the door, pushing Edgin into the dungeon.
A jolt lanced through Xenk's bruised chest, brows shooting high.
"Mm, cosy," Edgin said drily, gazing around at the four little cells. "Get a cell to myself, at least."
The guard snorted, jingling Xenk's cell open. "Sorry. Budget cuts."
Edgin half stumbled as the guard shoved him in. "Really?" he huffed, hands on hips, as the guard slammed the bars on them both.
The guard's cackle echoed as he exited.
Snorting, Edgin flopped down next to Xenk. "Some plays are too easy," Edgin sighed, feigned annoyance melting to a wink. "Hi. Heard you were in trouble."
"Edgin," croaked Xenk, pulse pattering faster at seeing that handsome face again. "Alas, it seems you've joined me in trouble. But I trust you can invent a new plan."
"Oh, no, this is the plan," Edgin chuckled, lifting cuffed hands to tug his jacket collar open.
"We're here to rescue you!" A bright voice thrummed from thin air before Kira wobbled into view, just beyond the bars. The Hither-Thither staff sat in her hand and a grin upon her mouth. "Dad's come up with a whole clever escape."
"I'd even say a genius one," Edgin added, before biting at his jacket lining.
"I did not doubt you," murmured Xenk, stomach swirling slightly. "But if you have the means to traverse the fort unchallenged, your target should have been the sceptre, not me."
"First off, wasn't gonna leave you here to rot," Edgin grunted, spitting a lockpick into his palm, and calmly setting to work on his wrists. "Second... I'll tell you a secret. We figured out where Corris hid the sceptre: it's in the crypt."
Beaming, Kira spread her arms wide. "And the closest thing to the crypt is..."
"The underground cells," Xenk breathed.
"So. Two birds, one stone, if you'll give the phrase a pass," Edgin said, tone light, gaze focused. The lockpick clinked as he expertly wiggled it. "That guard marching me to join you also cleared a path for some sneaky extras."
Xenk blinked. "Plural?"
"Oh, yeah." Edgin's cuffs released, dropping to his lap, and he peeled his jacket open again. "You can come out now, Doric."
A tiny pink nose wiggled from his pocket, emerging to reveal a sleek mouse – which leaped out, fluttering to a finch mid-air – that finch swelling to a spry tiefling, crouched on the dank cell floor. Doric's nose wiggled as she stood, still somewhat mouselike. "Your pocket smells like old chee–"
"Genius. My pocket smells like old genius," Edgin said smoothly.
"Well, if you want to call yourself old," Doric teased, and turned to the paladin. "Hi, Xenk."
"It's good to see you, Doric," Xenk said, warmth bubbling behind his taut ribs. "And all of you. Is this all of you?"
"For now," Edgin said.
Kira grinned again, cloak swishing as she waved the staff. "I'm doing some cool portal stuff once we sneak closer to the sceptre," she declared. "Simon thinks I'm ready."
"She is, and she is, but before we get to that." Edgin arched closer, those blue eyes fixing on Xenk. "Let's skip back to the real beginning. You alright, Xenk?"
Xenk swallowed, a shiver tracing his beaten flesh. "I will be fine."
Edgin narrowed his gaze. "Are you injured?"
The question wormed its way into Xenk's gut. "I'm somewhat bruised," he muttered.
"Lemme get those cuffs off," Edgin said, reaching in, brows taut. "Then you can heal yourself."
Xenk's skin tingled at the brush of those nimble fingers. "I have no magic left with which to cast."
Edgin whispered a swearword, so soft only Xenk's ears could have caught it – though those blue eyes still flicked to Kira.
Doric wriggled a hand into her tunic. "Wait, I've got some easeroot balm on me," she said, plucking out a little pot. "That might help."
"Thank you, Doric," Xenk murmured, as she tossed the balm to him.
"Use as much as you need. Easeroot's not hard to find," she said, already turning to point at the cell bars. "If there's nothing else you need from us, we should get started."
"Stone," Edgin said.
"Oh! Yeah," Kira chuckled, rummaging in a pocket too, producing a sending stone. "I've got all the magic baubles today. Feel like a junior sorcerer."
"My junior wizard, maybe," Edgin said fondly, catching the stone as Kira tossed it through the bars. "As you've never turned me bright purple."
Doric's tail twitched. "I think blue'd look better."
"To match your eyes," Xenk murmured.
A ripple crossed Edgin's tempting face, but he merely lifted the stone and squeezed it. "Holga, Simon, you there?"
"Here and ready," came Holga's voice, echoing from Kira's pocket too. "You found Xenk?"
"Sitting in a cell with him now," Edgin said, mouth twitching to a fragile smile.
"Is he okay?" Simon asked, earnest but distant.
"I will be fine," Xenk assured, leaning in.
"He's in one piece," Edgin said, a little sharper. "We'll get this done."
"Yeah. On it," Doric called, flexing her fingers. "Going dark till we're at the sceptre."
"We'll be ready," Holga said, before Edgin released the stone, squirrelling it inside his jacket.
The conspirators all nodded, Kira eager, Edgin and Doric more steady. As Kira flashed into thin air, Doric swirled back to mouse and scurried to the dungeon door, which was mysteriously creaking open.
Edgin wriggled his wrists back into his loose cuffs, lifting his brows at Xenk. "We better look the part."
Quickly slipping Doric's pot of balm under his coat, Xenk likewise pretended he was still bound.
A few moments later, the scowling guard poked his head through the drifting door.
"Hinges must need oiling." Edgin shrugged. "Budget cuts."
With a grunt, the guard tugged the door closed again.
Xenk swallowed, pulse fluttering as Edgin grinned. Sliding his hands loose again, Xenk retrieved the balm, a sweet-sharp scent blooming as he popped the lid. The goop was clear and smooth upon his fingers, easily sinking into his skin as he snaked a hand beneath his own shirt, soothing the bruises where he rubbed. But with the blows from his arrest, with trying not to lift the fabric too much, Xenk's arm twinged as he moved, prying a wince –
Edgin's blue eyes scanned his expression. "Need any help with that?"
Xenk's hand stuttered. "I – I am capable, thank you."
Edgin nodded, leaning his head back against the wall. Those nimble fingers idly drummed his thigh, almost matching the rhythm in Xenk's sweeps of balm – and Xenk's cheeks warmed, imagining those fingers sliding over his stomach instead – smoothing the goop into his skin, tracing his muscles, honouring his aches –
Inhaling slow but ragged, Xenk palmed a big patch across his torso and then let it be.
"Marai's fine, by the way. Stablehands were still looking after her. She's waiting at our meeting point now," Edgin piped up, nonchalant. "Got your armour too, though that was trickier. Innkeeper was trying to make some coin so we had to steal your stuff back."
"I would not name that thievery," Xenk said, urging a smile to his mouth, fingers still half quivering as he pocketed the balm pot. "Merely retrieval of lost property."
"Just like we're retrieving the sceptre," chuckled Edgin.
"More or less," Xenk muttered. "Marshal Corris certainly did not acquire it honestly."
Edgin hummed a playful note, that blue gaze trailing over the ceiling. His fingers still drummed, pace sharper now, eyes sometimes flicking to the door –
"Given that they've deposited all previous interlopers in these cells," Xenk said, gentle as he could, squashing down his own twinge of guilt, "if they capture Kira, they will not harm her."
"Yeah," Edgin sighed, flashing him a hollow smile. "Just. You know."
Xenk's tongue curled, caught between you did not have to come and I'm honoured that you did, the weight of hidden feelings stoppering his throat. Gaze tracing those handsome features, heart skittering beneath balmed ribs, Xenk had almost wheedled out a more delicate reassurance –
The sending stone blared from behind Edgin and he scrabbled it out.
"We're in the crypt," came Kira's voice, hushed and delighted. "You ready to portal in?"
"Feet ready and spells at my fingers," answered Simon, though his chuckle was a little frayed.
Xenk and Edgin exchanged a glance, the air in the cell coiling thick.
The soft plung of the Hither-Thither Staff echoed through the sending stone. Xenk ached to see, to know, to help –
"Awesome, Bug."
"Glad I spent that time training you guys up," burbled Simon. "You're really getting it."
"I know!" cooed Kira. "Look, this door's warded, the sceptre must be in there."
Doric sighed. "Kira, you're still squeezing the stone."
"Oop–"
As the stone in Edgin's hand cut to silence, the cellmates locked eyes. Xenk's heart jolted.
Edgin coughed and shoved the stone away. "Sounds like it's going great."
Xenk hummed, soft and low, offering a faint smile. "Perhaps this should have been your mission all along."
"Maybe should've been our mission," Edgin tutted, gaze half teasing, half stirring an ache. "You didn't have to try this alone."
"I didn't wish to overstay my welcome," Xenk murmured. "I cannot always commandeer your company."
"Sure you can," Edgin sighed, and lolled back upon the wall.
Forehead twitching, Xenk steered himself through a slow inhale, slower out. The moment rattled through his bones – anticipating trouble in the crypt – but shivering too with Edgin's presence. He'd regretted their parting, soared at their reunion, yet to be confined so close – ah, this was no rescue from the pang in his chest –
The minutes stretched long – Xenk expecting every second some loud alarm or harsh cry or distant clatter of steel – till the stone crackled again.
"We got it, Dad! I'm sending the others out, then me and Doric are sneaking to you. Final phase!"
"Well done, kiddo," rumbled Edgin, blue eyes bright. He stowed the stone, leaned towards Xenk. "Right. Gonna be able to walk?"
Xenk swallowed, limbs still throbbing despite the balm. "I will manage."
Edgin narrowed his gaze. "Could you manage better with some help?"
"I don't wish to burden your escape," Xenk murmured.
"Xenk, you're not a sack full of rocks we're carting along," Edgin huffed, handsome features sharp. "You're our f-friend. The escape is for you."
A fresh ache writhed through Xenk's tense gut. "If you could support my weight..."
"Sure," grunted Edgin, sliding close. Between them, aided by the sturdy stone wall, they'd wobbled Xenk to his feet by the time the dungeon door drifted open again – slower, quieter this time –
Kira rippled into being, grinning brightly. As the mouse beside her flexed into Doric, Kira aimed the staff at the dungeon wall, plinging an enchanted circle upon it. Beyond it, for the first time, Xenk saw his escape – Simon and Holga and horses, waiting just there – and yet the bars were still –
"Right, switcheroo," Kira said, almost bouncing as she thrust the staff at Doric. "You've got this last one!"
Xenk blinked, trembling against steady Edgin, too bruised and too tingling to fathom out this plan. But as Kira skipped through the portal – as Doric slipped the staff through the cell bars, dropped it, fluttered to a finch, fluttered through – swirled back to tiefling, grabbed the staff in hands once more – muttered drily to herself, Edgin's hum softly urging – as Doric activated the staff, portal closing outside the cell, reopening inside –
Xenk finally understood, saw his freedom, allowed himself to hope –
"Holga, c'mere," Edgin grunted, shuffling Xenk to that shimmering oval – and Holga hurried through, slipping in close, hefting Xenk's other side – truly, hefting most of him, more than Edgin, though those bardly hands lingered to set his body singing –
But with both their help, Xenk stumbled through the portal, out to a grassy clearing – beneath a pinkening sky, their horses snuffling at some green clumps, in the shadow of an abandoned mine.
"Xenk. Good to see you," Simon bumbled, smiling. He waved at the mine – at the sheer cliff behind it, presumably now between them and all the Marshal's soldiers. "This is the clever bit."
"It's all the clever bit," Edgin grunted, adjusting his grip on Xenk's torso.
"You have the sceptre?" croaked Xenk, spine sizzling.
Simon patted his bag. "And your armour, your sword, everything."
"C'mon," Holga huffed, not unkindly, as Doric ushered Marai over. "Horses."
With a little more help and a lot more grunting, they seated Xenk upon his saddle – all of them mounting too, exchanging bright grins and relieved glances as they spurred their horses to motion – travelling quick as they could down the mine's old track. Though the balm had soothed his body somewhat, Xenk ached a little on the journey – but Corris might have some way to track them, and distance was the best counter – and besides, with his recent companions near him again, his spirit bubbled higher than it had since the hour he'd parted from them –
Hooves puffing up dust, winding through trees, the sky inching towards dark, they rode till the light was almost gone – till they found a cosy clearing, just beside a stream, screened from the road by a thick row of birches – the perfect place to camp, and so they did.
Doric roared to an owlbear, tugging in thick fallen trees for seats, then returned to herself to settle in the horses. Edgin and Holga helped Xenk shuffle to sit on a log, then Holga flexed and strode away to seek some firewood. Simon scraped a bare circle, ringed it with stones, all the while offering notes to his current assistant Kira. She cooed as Simon demonstrated a fire spell, igniting Holga's newly deposited fuel, and Xenk quivered as Edgin draped a blanket around his inactive shoulders. Xenk tried to stand, to –
"Nope," said Holga, gently pressing him back to his seat. "You need rest."
"But I would like to be useful," Xenk murmured.
"Don't need to be useful," Holga snorted, jerking a thumb at Edgin. "Look at Ed. He's useless and we still like him."
"Thanks. Love you too," Edgin huffed fondly.
"Welcome," Holga chuckled, slipping off for more firewood or –
Xenk wrinkled his nose, shifting in his blanket.
"If you want to do something, you can watch the fire. Just poke it if it looks like it's going out," Simon said softly, handing him a little branch. "I need to grab some water."
It was an easy task, but it placated Xenk somewhat. Soon Simon was dishing up a hearty stew – just as thick and savoury as Xenk remembered, just as he'd daydreamed – and then his stomach was placated too. Though as he gazed around at them all, eagerly supping from their log seats, a fresh wave of guilt skittered over Xenk's skin – remembering he had meant to part –
"I'm sorry to impinge on you all like this," he said, low and heavy. "I know you had other business."
"You're not impinging," Doric said.
"Better here than in that cell," Holga added.
"And we wanted to rescue you," Simon said, so earnest.
"More fun than chasing some enchanted scarecrows," Kira agreed, brightly.
"And more important," Edgin said, with such a tenderness in those blue eyes that Xenk shivered into silence – swallowing down his last mouthfuls as a shield, allowing them to buzz on around him –
And as they finished their meals, as that bustle settled to playful bickering over the tents, as Edgin carefully perched beside Xenk, calling out instructions as he adjusted Xenk's blanket, the warm glow of the fire and their presence seeped into Xenk's weary bones.
"I know I had resolved to leave," Xenk murmured, allowing his gaze to trace their chuckling forms – to drift across to Edgin's face, tracing the planes of his handsome profile. "But I cannot regret another day with you."
Edgin stretched, shuffled, all achingly nonchalant. "You could stay, y'know. With us," he said, gaze gently flicking over. "Not just for a week or two. All the time. I know you need to be doing paladin things, but we're kinda heroes now. We can help with that."
"I'm not accustomed to receiving assistance," Xenk croaked, ribs tight. "Usually I am the one assisting."
"Yeah, but if we're saving the world, does it matter who's assisting who?" Edgin asked, grin half urging, half tender.
Xenk swallowed. "I find that accepting assistance is a more... delicate situation."
"Not delicate on our side," Edgin said. He shifted again, forehead twitching. "I... We all like having you around."
"Were you forced to bear my presence all the time, you may find it loses any appeal," Xenk said, throat creaking dry.
"Think it's the opposite, actually," Edgin chuckled, not quite looking at him. "Couldn't stand you when we first met. But the more time we've spent together, the more it's changed my mind."
Xenk quivered in his blanket, aching with how his own feelings had changed, the words too fragile – all unravelling to a simple hummed note, a soft question on his tongue, an urging note upon the air –
"Turns out, I'm kinda..." Edgin's eyes drifted to the starry sky. "Fond of you."
"Fond?" Xenk croaked, pulse leaping as Edgin's fingers brushed his.
"Yeah," Edgin said, voice soft with amusement, smile so gentle as he caught Xenk's gaze. "Heroics aren't the reason I'm asking you to stay."
"Heroics are not the reason I would choose to stay," Xenk whispered, letting his hand brush Edgin's in return.
Edgin's throat bobbed as he swallowed, those blue eyes lingering tenderly. "You want to stay, then?"
"Yes," Xenk murmured, pulse rushing. "If I am wanted."
"You're wanted," Edgin declared, clasping Xenk's hand properly. "I want you a lot." Cheeks flushing, eyelids fluttering, Edgin halted as a sheepish grin crept across his tempting mouth. "I mean – Well, yeah, that too –"
"That too, yes," Xenk croaked, those flames in him flaring, no douse needed any longer.
"So you'll stay?" Edgin asked, beautiful face so soft in the fireglow, fragile as Xenk's pulse.
"I shall stay a long while, I think," Xenk murmured, and squeezed Edgin's hand.
"Knew my plan was genius," Edgin chuckled, as Xenk leaned upon his shoulder, the fireglow ensconcing them both while their friends finished up the tents.