As the gentle hearth of Sumin’s hut slowly continued to envelope the small room with its light and warmth, Yunho emerged from the chamber below with the nearly vanished waif, known as Jaejoong, in his arms. Looking from left to right, sweeping the room with his eyes once more, he sighed deeply before taking in the long abandoned bed in the corner of the room. Crossing the room steadily, he placed the young man on the bed carefully, hoping to not exacerbate any other injuries the young man may have with his movements as the rest of his brotherhood filed back in from the chamber’s staircase.

“What’s the plan?” questioned Yoochun as he watched his brother settle Jaejoong on to the makeshift straw mattress and Junsu started inspected the young man’s wounds.

Yunho didn’t respond as he mulled over their options.

“Perhaps it would be best to make camp here...” mused Junsu softly. “The ankle: I can bind it so he can travel, but he’s really weak. He needs food, water, and rest, Yunho.”

“What do you suggest?” questioned Yunho as he looked down at Jaejoong’s face. “How much time does he need?”

“Two days?” answered Junsu questioningly.

“Alright.” nodded Yunho as he turned to Yoochun and Changmin standing behind him. “We’re camping here tonight. Min... rein in the horses, bring them here, and set camp. Chunnie, that fire won’t last much longer; we’ll need firewood.”

“I’ll need...” added Junsu as he looked up at Changmin. “my medicinal kit and bandages for his wounds, and a couple of blankets from my pack.”

“On it.” nodded Changmin as he motioned to Yoochun to follow.

“He’ll need fresh food and water too.” sighed Junsu, turning back to look at Yunho, as their two brothers walked out the hut’s only door and he removed his water flask from his belt. “We’ll need more rations...not only now but also later...if you’re intent on taking him with us.”

“With...us?” questioned Yunho softly.

“That was the plan, was it not?” smirked Junsu knowingly.

“We can’t leave him here...” breathed out Yunho with a confirming nod.

“Ok...” sighed Junsu understandingly as he peeled back the cuff of Jaejoong’s breeches and began to clean off the grime on the man’s legs with a stray piece of cloth and water from his flask.

“Found some firewood.” reported Yoochun as he stepped back into the hut a few minutes later carrying a pile of split wood in his arms and tried to sidestep Kiera as she bolted into the small hut. “There is a large pile of it by the clearing’s edge.”

“It’s relatively dry...should burn fine.” he added as he walked to the hearth and placed the wood on the floor at his feet.

“Good.” nodded Yunho as he reached out and petted his faithful war hound on the head as she panted at him happily.

“Where’s Min?” questioned Junsu.

“He’s securing the horses now...” answered Yoochun as he tossed a piece of wood into the fire.

As Yoochun continued to stoke the fire and Junsu tended to Jaejoong’s condition, Yunho watched the young man before him breathing sporadically with worry stalking his heart. He looked so frail. His eyes were haunted with dark circles. His skin was pale. His lips were almost as grey as the ash that surrounded them and they were cracked and parched as if they hadn’t seen a drop of water in decades. Above his left eye, a bruise of deep purple and blue marred his nearly flawless skin and just below his right ear sat a streak of dried blood from a recently opened cut just under his hair line. His long raven hair was coated in a thick crust of dried and crumbling muck, causing the strands to stick to one another in long clumps. His clothes were smeared with dank filth so encrusted that it made the once pliable fabric stiff as a board and was littered with ratty tears and holes that chased away any warmth that the fabric may have embraced.

“We need to clean him up.” breathed out Yunho softly.

“We’ll need more water.” replied Junsu with a nod as he glanced back at the door to notice Changmin entering with Junsu’s medicinal pack and a couple of blankets in his hands.

“There’s barrels and barrels of water in the hold below.” offered Yoochun.

“We could use it to resupply.” nodded Junsu, taking the medicinal pack from Changmin’s proffered hand and looking back up at Yunho. “There’s plenty of food down there too.”

“It’s...tempting.” breathed out Yunho with a worried sigh. “But...with the air down there...”

“We’ll go down in spurts.” informed Changmin. “No more than ten minutes at a time...that should be safe enough. We can pull out the provisions we’ll need...give our new friend here time to recuperate some of his strength...and restock for the rest of our journey before we head out.”

“Are you sure that it’s all safe to use?” questioned Yunho worriedly.

“The water is potable enough and from what I saw of the grains and root vegetables stored down there...they all look to be relatively fresh and perfectly fine to eat.” replied Yoochun as he stood from his spot in front of the hearth and dusted off his breeches “It’s worth a shot, at least.”

“Alright...” nodded Yunho in acquiescence. “No more than ten minutes at time then. One below, one on guard by the stairs.”

“Necessities only...Water and food first...” added Junsu as he pulled out a little poultice bottle from his medicinal pack and opened it. “then...if you can find any...extra bandages, herbs, and maybe a set of fresh clothes for our little friend here.”

“Understood.” nodded Yoochun “Come on Min.”

After a few short trips to the hold below, Changmin and Yoochun had managed to bring up several bags of grains and root vegetables, a couple crates of mixed provisions, a few small casks of wine, and four medium size barrels of fresh water, before losing the strength to endure the unnatural thinness of the hold’s air anymore. As Changmin set to the task of trying to concoct a stew edible for consumption in a large metal pot he had found buried in the corner of the hut, by the hearth, Yoochun spent his time tending to the horses and unpacking their needed bedrolls from each of the brotherhood’s saddles.

While their two brothers worked on establishing the necessities they would need for the night, Yunho helped Junsu tend to the unconscious young man before them. Over time they had managed to clean away most of the filth from the feverish young man’s body and face and had treated all of the physical injuries they could see, but both Junsu and Yunho couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about the man’s condition. Junsu worried if there was any injuries he may have missed and who the young man really was, while Yunho worried about the man’s metal condition and wondered how he managed to end up in such a remote place. From the words he had uttered in that small cell, and the malnourished thinness of his physique, it seemed as if he had been imprisoned there alone for quite some time but for what purpose? Who was he?

Several hours pass without incident and while the rest of his brotherhood tried to grab some much needed rest atop their bedrolls, Yunho sat on the floor next to Jaejoong’s bed with his back leaning against the wall, as Kiera laid faithfully beside him, and watched over the young man locked in a delirious fever that burned like a raging fire.

The more he took in his delicate features, the more his heart began to fill with concern. The more he listened to his ragged and pain filled breathing, the more he began to worry. The more he watched him, the more his mind flooded with questions.

There was just something about him, a feeling that Yunho couldn’t put into words nor shake. He felt the need to help him, the need to protect him, but didn’t know why.

As the moon in the sky slowly began to make its quiet decent from the enveloping midnight and dawn slowly approached from well behind the horizon, Yunho shook away the thoughts of sleep as he tried to stay awake. Not knowing why he felt he should do so, yet knowing he should, Yunho wondered what the dawn would bring. Since they had set out, their journey had be wrought with perils they had not foreseen and yet their journey was just at its beginning. What more would come their way in the days and nights to come?

Jolted from his inner thoughts by movement, Yunho swept his eyes from the wall across from him down to his faithful war hound who, up until that moment, had been sleeping peacefully at his side. Now, she was standing on all fours, ears perked up and alert, and staring at the hut’s only door.

“What is it little girl?” questioned Yunho softly, reaching out and patting her on her haunches.

Turning to her master, Kiera wagged her tail and panted almost happily before strolling across the small room and scratching her claws against the door.

“Need to go out?” questioned Yunho softly, almost to himself, as he stood and dusted of his breeches. “Ok.”

Making his way to the door quietly, as to not wake his sleeping brothers or their ill charge, Yunho opened the door slowly to allow his little girl to roam outside. The second the door opened, Kiera forced herself through the crack in the door and bolted out in an unbelievable hurry. Finding her reaction quite unusual for the normally well behaved animal, Yunho pushed the door farther open in concern and stepped out. The second his feet met the ground, he swept his eyes up from where he had stepped to see Kiera running at full speed across the clearing towards a strangely cloaked figure standing near its edge. Instinctively grabbing the hilt of his sword that dangled from his waist belt on his side, he squared his shoulders and drew his weapon.

Coming to a skidding stop before the figure, Kiera seemed to tilt her head left then right, somewhat studying the person before her, before immediately sitting down obediently, her tail wagging happily behind her. The figure, hidden behind a cloak of the deepest emerald green, slowly crouched down before the war hound without fear. They both stood there, looking at each other eye to eye, as if speaking to one another with no words, as Yunho inched his way across the clearing apprehensively. As he advanced, the figure came more and more into focus. A slim frame. Delicate, narrow shoulders. Hints of skin as golden as the morning sun. A hint of curling hair as orange as the brightest of pyres peaking from behind a shadowy hood. A flash of red lips and white teeth.

His eyes swept the figure over and over, trying to discern friend from foe, and just as he came within ten paces of his faithful war hound and their mysterious visitor, he halted to a dead stop as his eyes finally noticed an ornate, golden, white-ash recurved bow grasped within a delicately slender hand at her side. Raising his sword in front of him, Yunho readied himself for danger as he watched, what was clearly a woman before him, reach out her unoccupied hand and suddenly scratch Kiera gently under her chin, almost playfully, before rising gracefully and turning her eyes to the young prince before her.

“Who are you?” demanded Yunho, hoping that his voice did not betray the apprehensiveness he was feeling at that moment, as he looked at the woman in green before him.

Without a word, the woman reached up with her hand and slowly pushed back the folds of her cloak over her exposed and bare shoulders, revealing a slender yet muscular frame wrapped in a skin tight, dark leather bodice flecked with hints of chainmail and a pleated leather hip skirt, adorned with metal studs at the end of each pleat, over long strong legs shod in knee high, high heel leather boots. Yunho watched her for a few seconds in near awe. He had never seen anyone like her.

Slowly, she raised her bow. The movement instantly snapping Yunho out of his beatific daze.  Gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, he watched her closely waiting for her to draw, but no draw came. Lifting the bow to eye level, she pulled its string and without even a word draped the bow over her shoulders as if to say he would find no danger here. 

“Who are you?” demanded Yunho once more.

“Your master is worried...” came a lovely, lusciously soft voice, as the hooded woman looked down at Kiera wagging her tail happily before her.  “Go.”

At her word, Kiera instantly stood, joyfully spun in a circle once before cantering back to Yunho’s