It was still the middle of night, with almost everybody awake. Sehun guessed they probably wouldn't get much traveling done tomorrow because of their overall lack of sleep concluding after a skirmish, prisoner interrogation, and the mysterious dead body. Kai had dragged off Max with the help of Chanyeol, Baekhyun was still cringing over his wounds; Luhan, Xiumin and Kris stood on patrol. Only Jongdae had decided he was bored and thus he went back to sleep. Sehun tried as well, but he could not get the picture out of his head, that robed figure he had seen once before, the figure he imagined every night when he tried to dream, and sometimes during waking hours as well. How everything it touched turned to gray, how it killed. 

Every couple of days after it had dragged him away from the bear, Xiumin checked Sehun's skin, rubbing the flesh, inspecting where the mark had been. It never came back of course after it faded, and the mage had determined there to be no other side effects. Sehun was perfectly fine and well, and exactly how Sehun wanted to be: alive and not dying.

An hour after the skirmish though, the marks on the dead body had not faded. They remained there, evil hand prints forever telling the tale of how this man had died, strangled from behind. Xiumin inspected it closely, Luhan hovering right behind him, curiously rubbing one palm against the other. It gave Sehun the creeps, standing around watching them, not doing anything. He whistled for Alistair and went for a walk, not far, just around the boulder where he and Suho had hidden earlier. The dwarf followed him now too. He heard Baekhyun hollering after him, warning the short man to keep Sehun safe. As if they could actually ever be safe from such a thing. If it so wanted to, it might have snagged them at any time. 

“I'm fine. You don't have to follow me,” Sehun told Suho with a grumble.

“You shouldn't wander. It's not safe.”

“I have the dog.”

But the dwarf just frowned. “Alistair is not enough.”

As if he knew they were discussing him, the hound whined, nudging his head into Sehun's palm and giving Suho what might have been a possibly scathing look. 

“Do you really think that thing is after me?” Sehun asked quietly.

“I... I don't know.”

“It killed that man who was trying to sneak up on us. It saved me from a bear. It... It killed some wolves once, when I was out in the forest at night. That was weeks ago. It's still here, and so are we.”

“We don't know anything about it. Not really. I still don't think it's safe,” the dwarf insisted. He bundled his short little arms around his chest, still frowning. Alistair began to wag his tail and the end of it kept smacking Suho on the face until he swatted the dog away and stepped out of the line of attack.

“I just want to sit and breathe for a little bit. Alistair's with me. Please, Suho? Can I just have a moment? I won't take one step farther from this spot, I promise.”

The dwarf only sighed, but Sehun was right about several things. One, the creature hadn't yet shown a propensity for harm, or at least for harming them. And two, Alistair was a fierce attack dog, more than capable of protecting a man, or sounding the alarm. 

“Fine. But breathe quickly, and then come back to the fire. I'll leave you alone for a bit, but don't think the others won't come for your soon enough. Those men weren't out here to loot our stuff; they came for you.”

Sehun didn't need for Suho to voice the actual warning, he knew. He was aware. And no less afraid because of it. Seeing actual men who owed fealty to Sehun's own family, however distantly removed, wasn't so much of a wakeup call as it was a reality check. He knew something was going on, knew his life could possibly be in danger. A few weeks ago though he thought he had more to fear from the creature stalking them. Now, about that he felt strangely calm. It was why he wanted to sit here, stand here, sit again and stare through the fog. On a more beautiful night, maybe he could have glimpsed Redcliffe Castle off in the distance. Instead there was just mist, and Alistair beside him, breathing heavily into the night. 

And the sound of quiet footsteps approaching him.

“Who's there?” Sehun said, just as quietly. He kept a hand on the hound, his neck as he waited to see how Alistair would react. The dog didn't move. Nor did anyone reply. 

Sehun held his breath, ears straining to locate the approaching figure. It came from his left; Alistair crouched low, cautious and alert, but he didn't charge or even growl, and that was enough to keep Sehun from bolting. Through the fog he saw the shadow approach. Not a shadow, but a solid figure, covered head to toe in dark robes and his face concealed by its folds. Sehun tensed, and the figure stopped, the gesture indicating it did not want to alarm him. 

“Who are you...?” he tried this time. 

Behind him in the distance he could hear the others, arguing or chatting, paying him absolutely no mind. Alistair moved before him first. The hound slumped forward on its feet and crept slowly towards the figure, and just as they stood within touching distance, he - Sehun didn't know why he thought of it as a he - held out his hand. It was engulfed by his robes, only a couple of fingers protruding. Not gray either, it was flesh, real skin, mottled and dirty but human. Alistair didn't have to lift his nose; he had to nudge his head lower, sniffing the offering hand and then very subtly, nudging against it. 

The hound retreated, but not with a whimper. Instead, he settled again behind Sehun's heels, and this time it was all on Sehun to approach... him. He stood up, taking a step forward, not offering a hand but observing the figure. He was shorter, possibly slim although the robes obscured much. Whatever fearful thing he might be, Sehun could not tell. This was the creature - the person - who had saved him, who had carried him. Now standing before him, finally. Sehun watched as his cloaked hands lifted slowly, raising to his own face and fingers dragged softly against the hood he wore pulling it back only a fraction of an inch. For the first time Sehun saw his face. Dark eyes and a pursed mouth, sallow complexion. He had small nose that might have been broken once and it sat upon a small round face. Thick dark eyebrows, a hint of dark hair that curled across his forehead. He was definitely human, although his skin was parched, dry, almost poxed and sick looking.  But it wasn't the features that were striking as much as the man's expression. He might have been young, but there was knowledge in those eyes, a very dark sort of insight. He appeared to shimmer between youthful and someone at death's door, and that frightened Sehun more than anything.

“Who... are you?” He asked again. “What's your name?”

A slight commotion from the campsite drew their attention, someone whining and a loud shout - nothing alarming on its own. The stranger's eyes shifted that direction slightly, before he trained his eyes once more upon Sehun's. He made no other movement though, either away or as if to approach him closer. 

“You want my name?” He said instead, in a low, strangely melodic voice, like it was both a trivial thing and also not a question he found common to hear. The sound of it though enraptured Sehun.

“Yes, and who are you?”

The man smiled, a sly expression. His eyes shifted one more in the direction of the campsite, testing for a moment whether anyone might be coming, and then he looked back again. His gaze was direct, appraising. It made Sehun shiver. “It's Kyungsoo.”

He might have said more, but someone called out Sehun's name just then, and in the second wherein Sehun gasped and looked behind him, by the time he turned around, the figure, Kyungsoo, was gone.

Xiumin watched as Sehun lumbered back the campfire, the dog trailing behind him. “See?” he nudged Luhan beside him, “He's fine.”

For a templar who seemed to enjoy following his own undefined agenda, Luhan had been pestering him almost nonstop since Suho came back from the lakeside alone. As if Luhan accepting the partial role of Sehun's protector on this journey was the only thing the templar had that grounded him, giving him an excuse to even travel in this direction with the party. They were cute, all the little lies Luhan tried to tell him, to explain in an overly patient tongue that this was just as good a way to journey as on the eastern edge of the lake would have been. 

Sehun shook himself like he'd seen a ghost and crawled into his bedroll. Then he seemed to think otherwise about it, got out, dragged it closer to the mage's side and climbed in again, all without a word. Xiumin kept himself from chuckling, but he smiled all the same and patted the boy's head. Sehun swatted his hand away just as Alistair joined them and plopped down right between. On his other side, Luhan sat on the ground facing away from Xiumin while he cleaned his blade one last time. It had already been done once, all of the attackers' entrails wiped away while Xiumin attended to Baekhyun with the herbs Suho brought up. The elf archer now wore a compress of mashed elfroot and a few other medicinal powders that he'd carried all on his own. Xiumin was quite impressed with his stash. However, Luhan, having no medical finesse only assisted in the cleanup. They dragged the bodies to the outer rim of their camp downwind, intending to burn them in the morning before they left, the corpse carrying the hand prints as well. 

“Why does my dog have a smudge on his nose?” Xiumin commented suddenly, examining Alistair's nuzzling face. 

“What?” Luhan turned around. 

“He has a smudge on his nose.”

Sehun's eyelids may have flickered, but he did not lift his head. 

“Sehun?” 

“Hmm?” the boy barely murmured into his blanket. 

“What do you know of this?”

Xiumin tried rolling the boy over, but he put up a sleepy resistance and only grunted. 

“Sehun?”

“I don't know what you're talking about? Just dirt probably.”

Alistair, however, didn't seem to think it was just dirt. He rubbed his nose on Sehun's pallet, swiped a paw across his face, but the dot remained. In the firelight it wasn't completely obvious and not one of the others still awake paid them any attention.  Luhan put down his sword and leaned across Xiumin to inspect the animal as well, shoulders touching and practically breathing across the mage's neck. Xiumin elbowed him away, but the templar stayed. 

“You think he met with the creature?” Luhan whispered into his ear. 

“Perhaps,” whispered Xiumin back with another eye to the now sleep-feigning boy. 

“Perhaps it was only curious,” said Luhan.

“What's curious, Alistair or it?”

“Maybe both.”

The dog had given up; he lay his head down and snuffed, and as Xiumin ran a hand affectionately through his fur, he saw the mark was already beginning to fade. Just like the hand prints on Sehun, just like the smudge on the inside of Luhan's palm. Xiumin sighed and sat up, turning away from Sehun on the pretense of fixing their pallet. He nudged Luhan to scoot over to give him room and the templar obliged only slightly. On the other side of the fire Jongin was returning with their new prisoner, now properly tied up. Chanyeol had come back earlier, checked up on Baekhyun, and conversed with Kris. The qunari had been professionally silent all night, only speaking when necessary. Suho lay down to sleep only when he saw Sehun return. 

“Won't you give me some space?” Xiumin poked at Luhan's side. He was still taking up most of their shared pallet, and as much as Xiumin really didn't mind, he kind of wanted the templar to move over, and so put a little distance between themselves and Sehun. 

“I did already, quit nagging or get your own.”

“There isn't another one, unless you want me to sleep out in the dirt.”

“Why not, since you seem to get comfy anywhere,” Luhan teased in a sleepy voice. 

“Maybe I'll do that then. Or maybe I'll just head on down the road by myself and sleep in a tree.” 

“No,” Luhan yawned. “You're not allowed to go anywhere. You're my prisoner remember?”

Xiumin snorted. “Some guard you are too. Are you sure this isn't a vacation excursion? Are you sure you're not the one who doesn't want to return to the Circle?” Even as he , Xiumin bundled himself under their blanket, strangely attracted to Luhan's warm body. He knew what he'd overheard the night before in the tavern. He guessed exactly why Luhan wasn't taking him along with the other templars. 

“So many questions and it's been such a long night,” the templar complained now. He lay on his side facing away, but as Xiumin snuck in close, he pulled on Luhan's shoulder to pull him to his back. Luhan, however, actually hissed, like he'd been hurt and Xiumin immediately let go. 

“What's the matter?” he asked concerned.

“Nothing. Just sore. Did you forget we just fought a battle?” 

“Hardly a battle,” Xiumin tutted. “Quit being so dramatic. What hurts though? Why didn't you tell me?”

“Why do you care? Your only job is to not kill me before I lock you up.” Luhan actually laughed. In the dark Xiumin gave him a rare smile, unseen by anyone including Luhan.

“You're a strange templar, you know that?” he said quietly.

“I know.” Luhan's voice dropped to a whisper. “Isn't that the only reason you haven't run away yet?”

Xiumin lay his head down and sighed. “You think I will?”

“I think you might.” 

Xiumin blinked, something stirring because of the wistful tone in Luhan's voice. His eyes were closed, almost asleep laying on his back, and he no longer squirmed when Xiumin brushed his hand across his sore shoulder. The mage left it there though, lightly, delicately as he settled in to sleep. 

“Maybe I will,” he said softly. “Or maybe not. Maybe I just like traveling. What are you investigating up this way anyway, Luhan?” He leaned in closer to whisper. “More blood mages? All alone and without any templar backup?”

Luhan groaned, eyes still shut. “Can't we just sleep... please?”

“Will you tell me tomorrow?” Xiumin pestered him some more.

“Maybe. I don't know.”

“What's up this way, huh? Huh, Luhan?” He smiled to himself, pleased to see the templar frowning in sleepy frustration. “Hey, don't go to sleep. I wanted to talk to you still.”

“Tomorrow.”

“But, that thing... it's...”

“Tomorrow, please.”

It's something unnatural, Xiumin wanted to finish. He also wanted to discuss its apparent fixation on the party, probably Sehun, and possibly also the reverse since Sehun now seemed to be holding secrets from them as well. None of this would get through to Luhan tonight though, not after the day they'd had.

“Okay, then. Tomorrow. Can I keep the staff though, please?” Luhan hadn't specifically requested that Xiumin return his magical weapon this time.

“Do whatever you want.”

“Alright, I will. Tell me in the morning though if your shoulder still hurts.”

A moan, a groan, a yawn and that was all Luhan would commit to. 

Despite being among the most tired of members, Jongin elected to take the final watch. There was still no moonlight, the fog was so thick around their camp. Jongin sat up by a rock and reclined against it, knees up, eyes alert, head shifting slightly from fatigue but he knew he would make it through another few hours, after which time he'd wake up either Kris or Luhan. He'd prefer the templar of course. After Chanyeol and Baekhyun, Luhan was the most trustworthy in their party, the most known entity he could trust to watch all their backs. But over the course of this long night, Chanyeol had already sat up, properly alerting them to the oncoming attackers, and now Baekhyun nursed a head wound. Luhan would be the next safest bet to awake.

It was becoming clear to Jongin that not everyone could really be trusted. He thought they'd been discreet enough in Redcliffe, not drawing too much attention to Sehun's presence. If a party of warriors passed through, that on its own wasn't a big deal. Lots of fighting men went places all the time. The problem was how the movement of the Arl of West Hills' bastard son was supposed to have been a secret, known only to the Arl himself, Jongin, and then Sehun's mother and grandfather. Jongin hadn't even told his friend Jaejoong where he was off to before leaving for Denerim to collect Sehun. The less people that knew, the better. In case the cousins' got wind of the fact and decided to off Sehun before he even arrived.

And yet somehow, they already had. Somehow, they knew. And how convenient they knew where and when to attack, right as the first day ended from their march out of the city. Which meant there was either a spy in Redcliffe, or a spy within. 

Jongdae was of course the likeliest suspect. A confessed assassin, sneaky and suspicious. Almost too good of a suspect though, which made Jongin wonder. Why had he outed himself so easily with his knife fighting skills? He might have pretended to be a King's messenger for longer and just cowered in fear during the skirmish. What had he to gain by saying he was an Antivan-trained assassin and then not actually do anything that could be viewed as remotely harmful? He was even training Sehun to duel, to defend himself!

The next on Jongin's list was of course the dwarf. Suho was quiet, practically sweet, but he had been laying out in the open and barely injured after his smuggler's caravan was raided, which was almost a little too convenient. He was clearly a member of the Carta, and despite his apparent fear towards the other warriors, he'd gravitated closer and closer towards Jongdae. Yet, he was almost motherly, and it wasn't outside Jongin's notice how he always ran first to try and protect Sehun when anything happened, however useless he might be in a fight. He might just be trying to hold his weight, be useful to the party so he wasn't kicked out or killed, either by them or by someone else.

Was it Xiumin, the apostate mage, wielder of powers unknown including possible blood magic? Jongin knew nothing about him except he had the power to charm and beguile, and Luhan was very nearly besotted. He'd been discovered in the Wilds, a haven for hedge mages and apostates, those who lived on the fringes of the world, the place from where the last Blight originated. Clearly a skilled and powerful mage, yet he too was quiet, considerate, thoughtful. Perhaps too smart.

Then there was Kris, their qunari mercenary. Jongin did not want to leap to suspect him, because a qunari's word was practically an oath, unless the mercenary already had a prior made pact. It was worth keeping an eye on him, no less because he was such a brute force, but also because he was occasionally suspicious, the way he stared at the different members with an indiscernible face.

Jongin could not suspect Luhan, the templar was such an open book. Chanyeol as well, because he was practically the closest member to Sehun, and by all accounts a completely faithful retainer. And then there was Baekhyun. It was in Jongin's best interest to trust the elven archer though. He was a hired man yes, basically a mercenary, but paid and appropriated directly by Sehun's grandfather's contacts, and therefore likely a trustworthy character. Even if Jongin knew absolutely nothing about him, not really. 

The problem was, it could be any one of them, or none at all, and Jongin had no way yet of telling. 

A log on the fire shifted and fell, sparks flying. Jongin crept forward and with a long branch he pushed the other logs over, and left that one on it too so it would burn a little brighter, keep them all warm. Now that Luhan and Xiumin had quit whispering to one another, everyone was silent, either dead asleep or snoring. All except for one.

Max squirmed uneasily, arms and legs bound, a cloth through his mouth to keep him from shouting, one spare blanket over him to keep him alive through the night, and then Jongin would ask the others and decide what should be done. He'd dozed for a little while, but now when Jongin looked at him, the man's eyes were open, burning, eyes on him.

He'd known nothing, or else claimed to, not talking at all when Jongin and Chanyeol had interrogated him, speaking only a few more words after Chanyeol left and Jongin questioned him again. He said they were out to claim something back, here to raid. They thought someone in this party had stolen their lord's treasure, but he wouldn't claim how they knew this or what the artifact might have been. All proof that it was a lie, and they were here for Sehun. But that didn't help Jongin's dilemma, discovering how they knew anything at all. How they'd known to send such a big force. 

Jongin cleared his throat and looked away, because Max's eyes were beginning to creep him out. There was something familiar about the man; he could just not lay his finger on it. He hadn't been around his lord's cousin's family in years, but that didn't mean a hired man from either branch couldn't occasionally trespass through the other family's territories. He might have seen Max before and not known who he was. Or maybe Jongin knew him from somewhere else, and only could not remember. Regardless, he'd give the man one last chance to cough up some details come morning. And then he could lay the matter to rest. For now.

3,780 words

I feel like the whole fandom is sitting here on tenterhooks this week, but regardless, my story goes on. I'm only sorry it's not Tao I am introducing into this chapter, but... here is another mystery halfway solved which most of you have guessed already. I mean, who else could be so creepy than our precious Soo? Also present in this chapter: Xiuhan 'fluff' because why not. Also, Jongin the detective. So, who is it? Who is the spy and/or what is his motive?! And what are we going to do with Max, huh? :p

I've got another short random project for you guys too. Wounded Pride, a 6-part 6-pair ABO drabble series. I'm halfway through it, updating 2 chapters a weekend. Just something fun that I've been wanting to do for a while. Yes, there is Xiuhan in it. :D

♡ Rosie