Chapter Text
His heart was beating like a stampede through his chest. The taste of bile lingered on his tongue, a bitter reminder of the sweet embrace minutes before.
The thicket James landed them in was eerily silent. His head ached, pulse drumming in his ears. His thoughts were racing through his head so fast it felt like it would burst.
"Sarcean, is something the matter?" Will refused to answer. The reality of what he'd just lost slowly seeping through to his bones.
He'd failed.
"Don't call me that." the bitterness of his voice surprised him. It was his name after all.
Will glanced around the tiny thicket. Skinny little trees and ragged bushes were the only cover. His instincts from years on the run were screaming. He had no clue how far James had managed to get them from Undahar, and this place left them both exposed.
"We need to leave" said Will. He took a ragged breath, propping himself up on a nearby tree. "I cant let them see you like this."
"See me like what?" He doesn't understand.
"See me here with you, with that thing round your neck-" He spurt out franticly.
Pathetic.
"Sarcean what's wrong," his voice dripping like honey, "you can tell me."
He wants me to tell him what's wrong?
Everything. Everything was wrong. He had tried so hard to fight back against the very thing he was. Every step he took, every decision made, led him closer to his plans. Sarcean was more than he could comprehend.
His thoughts distracted him from realizing James was slowly approaching. James hand reached for his shoulder. He reacted before he could blink, the resounding slap echoed throughout the desolate forest.
"Don't touch me," Will choked out, "please." The confusion that contorts James face is as sharp as glass.
"I wont." James dropped his had back to his side.
He knows he wont, just like he's done everything else he ordered without complaint. He told James to take him away, its not his fault they're completely lost. That he's completely lost. Its all too much.
"Shit-" He awkwardly shift in James direction "I- did I hurt you… at all?"
'What am I even doing?'
"Its alright," James said, placatingly.
He's too vulnerable with me. He could hurt him, and James would still worship the very ground he walks. He's loosing his composure. Focus on the issue at hand.
"Im going to get the collar off." Will blurted out.
"What do you mean get it off?" Anharion seemed outraged at at this declaration. "You know what it means to remove the collar, Sarcean." The bite of his words linger with the tangible threat.
Will stayed silent. He would find a way. A way where he can return James safely to his friends, to the light. He promised.
"Were going."
He pushed himself off the tree and began to walk. The thicket quickly cleared into an expanse of rolling hills. Other small thickets dotted the land, rocky and plain. He set off down what looked like the path of least resistance. James followed without question.
It was hours before the rugged hills gave way to a well worn dirt road. Roads meant people, people meant opportunities to blend in. Hiding within others shadows was his specialty, after all.
They traveled on foot as far from the Black Valley as he could muster. Small pinpricks of candlelight dotted the distance. He walked until a small village came into view, tiny cottages dotting the land. James finally spoke after walking nonstop for hours, trudging up behind him.
"I thought we were trying to get away from people," James hissed into his ear, "why are we heading directly towards them?"
"We need supplies James," he hissed back, "those trees were so skinny they hardly count as cover." He continued "we wont stay long, a day at most."
Staying at an inn acts as the perfect cover. He could say their horses bolted in the unfamiliar land, leaving them without a way back to their vacation home. He would play the role of James' servant. James looked like an aristocrats son, none would be the wiser.
He walked up to the inn, door creaking as it opened. The air was speckled with dust. It all seemed so familiar. The whole place reminded Will of the drudgery of London. Of all the times he and Violet had stayed at random inns, sneaking around under the stewards noses. Familiar was good. He could work with that.
"James, do you have your coin purse with you?" Will whispered to him discreetly. They stood in the corner of room, counting everything they had. They had just enough for a one-bed room. Will could practically feel the clerks eyes burning a hole in his back.
Will cursed himself for having left all of his belongings behind. He would rather not think of how he departed from his friends. The way Violet looked at him... No, stop. He shouldn't waste his time thinking about that. Destroying the collar is all he should think about.
The key holder led them both to their room and left the key with Will. Playing the role of a servant, he nodded along to the briefing on where to leave the key when they left, when breakfast would be served. Painfully normal. Will stood there until the key holder returned to the front.
James bee-lined for the bed the minute the door was opened. Will knew James wanted him there, though he would rather sleep on the roof than anywhere near the collar on James neck. James never offered, and Will didn't ask. Torture in the finest sense. Is this what Sarcean had wanted? If it was, he did a grand job of achieving it, Will thought dully. Neither spoke for the rest of the evening, an uncomfortable silence blanketing the room. Will settled himself into a chair in the corner of the room, exhaustion quickly overtaking him.
"Mother please its me, its me Will-"
"Hand me the knife-"
"Don't hurt my Girls, Will promise you'll protect them-"
"Kathrine you cant touch the sword, please-"
"Will is the dark king-"
"You gave the sword away-"
A blade twists in his gut. Running him through. It hurts. "It hurts" Stop. "Stop" Please it hurts-
He lurched up in his seat. Seeing familiar blond hair hovering nearby, he rubs his eyes to clear the lingering drowsiness. "Ah," his hand came away wet.
"You were screaming in your sleep." James said, hovering a respectable distance away from his makeshift sleeping arrangement.
"Sorry," his voice raw, "did I wake you up?" He shouldn't be having night terrors like this. What is he? A child? "Why didn't you wake me up? You can if it bothers you."
"You told me not to touch you." James said matter of fact. Of course he did. James looked up at him as if he had grown a second head. This must be so confusing to him. Was it? Is James as confused as he was?
"You, uh- You can just ignore that, honestly I-"
"Is that an order?" a smirk forming on his lips "you want me to touch you?"
"No! I," Will's face flushed "you know that's not what I meant." Will took in a breath. " I don't want to order you to do anything," Will was sure of this. "Ever."
James sauntered back to prop himself up on the bed. "Never?" James said coyly, crossing his legs. "That's not a very good way to treat your general, is it?" The way he looked at me was teasing, as if he was trying to coax out the most entertaining reaction for his personal amusement. Will refused to give him one.
"What was your nightmare about?" The previously playful attitude dispelled. "You were saying it hurt-" he said in a small voice.
"Why should I tell you?" Will cut him off. His words were sharp. Anharion doesn't deserve to know anything more about him than he already dose.
"God, Will I was just wor-"
"Wait," he froze. "What did you just call me?" His heart began to race all over again. It made him sick.
"I called you Will, because that's your name?" James was absolutely flummoxed. Had Will lost his mind?
"I know you never share anything about yourself , but you started wailing out of nowhere, and I didn't know what to do…"
The laugh that bubbled out of Will was unsettling. Empty and dry, like this was the most ironic joke, and only he understood the punchline.
"How much do you remember James."
"I don't know what your-"
"Who put the collar around your neck?"
James reached up, fingertips glancing over gold. There was no way to know if this was really James talking. There was so much he didn't understand about the collar. It was maddening.
"It was Sinclair," James avoided looking in Wills direction. "He was possessing one of his men, after holding the gate open for so long I couldn't…"
"That's enough," That was all he needed to know. He would destroy the collar, and Sinclair along with it. A reward was in order.
"I dreamt of my mother."