“Where’s my sword’. Siwon demanded. Henry rolled his eyes as he stoked the fire, as the cool morning air drifted in through the large covers he had set up long ago over the large opening that faced the land.

“You’re not getting it back. You’ve only recently gotten the strength to stand and move around. I’m not about to let you waving a sword! In this state you’re more apt to sever your own hand off than amount to any feasible protection.” He huffed. The past few weeks had been a  test of patience. For so long he had wished for another, more permanent, person. Siwon wasn’t what he had been expecting, but he wasn’t without hope that a friendship could be forged.

“Then my parcel.” Siwon demanded.

“I told you, it’s safe”.

“You’re practically keeping me hostage here.” He growled, eyes narrowing.

Henry hesitated, “You aren’t a hostage.” He assured, gaze falling back to the fire.

“Then why won’t you return it to me?” he challenged. “Give it to me and then I’ll go.” He growled.

“Go where?  How? On foot? You’d sooner die out there on your own.”

 “I have a map!” Siwon shot back.

Henry frowned as he stood up, letting the stick he’d been using fall to the stone floor. “Look, you’re not a hostage, you really aren-“

“Then why won’t you return my things?” Siwon cut in sharply, eyes boring into Henry.

“Because it’s dangerous, that’s why! There are so many things out there, not just the colossi. On foot you’re a sitting duck, and you aren’t well enough to wield your sword. You may have a map, but that won’t help you against predators or colossi. There’s a reason I’m here too!” he snapped.

“You think I wanted this? To be as isolated and alone as you?”

“You chose to come to these lands, no one forced you!” Henry snapped back.

“And what about you huh?” he jerked his thumb to the covered opening. “That beast could take you anywhere, yet you stay here. You made this prison yourself. So don’t you dare compare me to yourself.”

“You think it was my choice to have soldiers come here? When the massacre happened, in its wake very few were left alive. My family had settled where they could. They chose here, where there was a stable food and water supply and where they could find shelter. You don’t abandon that on a whim.” He defended.

“Then where are they?” he sneered cruelly. “You think I haven’t noticed the lack of activity here? Seems it did them a lot of good in the end, eh? Security is never a guarantee. I’d have thought you’d have realized that.” He spat, cold eyes watching as Henry winced and seemed to shrink before him, his stance diminishing in front of Siwon’s cruel attacks. “So what if I’m not a hostage? It’s little better when I’m being used as a child’s shield against loneliness. If you ask me…that’s pretty damn similar.”

“I’m only human. Same as you…” he let out a shivering breath. “If I returned your things to you, how far do you actually think you’d make it? Don’t cut me off, listen.” He implored as Siwon opened his mouth. “It’s true you’ve gotten stronger. You can walk a on your own, but you aren’t well enough to run, not for long. In another weeks time you could maybe, but I know you don’t want to wait any longer either.”

Siwon tensed, eyes narrowing. “What are you suggesting?” he growled.

“I’m not suggesting, I’m offering…I don’t know how many colossi still remain. To be honest, I only know of the three closest to me.”

“Three?”

Henry nodded as he picked the stick up once again, crouching near the fire to draw in the ash. “This is us.” He began as he drew a small circle in the soot. “To the West is Avion.” He murmured as he drew another circle to the left.

“Avion?”

“A flying colossi that guards a flooded town, it’s really more of a lake. I’ve been there a few times in the past. To the North East is Celosia. That’s the colossi that attacked you and your friend. He lives in the temple imbedded into the canyon. He and Heechul guard that temple.”

“Heechul?”

Henry winced. “He was the one who ordered Celosia to pursue you and your friend. He was there that night too.” He informed.

Siwon sneered, “Who’s the third then?”

Henry drew a small circle in front of their own. “He’s to the North. His name is Zhou mi, he’s a,” he trailed off, cheeks flushing, “friend.” He mumbled.

“A friend?”

Henry nodded. “He used to travel a lot. He came from further East, he’ll be your best bet for navigating through the lands.”

“And this, Zhou mi, does he have a colossus too?” Siwon sneered.

“Yes, I wouldn’t worry about him though. As long as Zhou mi’s alive, his colossi wont go rouge.”

“Go rouge? Meaning-“

“It wont attack on sight. After the war, I..heard stories about Colossi that would wander battlefields looking for their fallen masters, but they cared for no one else. In other words, everyone was their enemy. They didn’t distinguish between friend and foe any longer. My Grandpa said it was “like they were stuck, trapped in the mindset of battle”, and unable to get out of it.”

“How comforting.” Siwon scoffed.

“It should be,” Henry quipped coolly, “considering Zhou mi is alive. I can take you to him, he’ll be able to guide you out of these lands.”

“Wont  he need a map?”

“You’re kidding right?” Henry deadpanned, the sarcasm lost on him, “he’s traveled before, he’ll know. If not, we have your map for reference.”

“Ah, ha! You do have it.”

“I never denied having your satchel, in fact, like your sword, I recall saying I wouldn’t be giving it back anytime soon.” He retorted, puffing his cheeks out. “Well then,” he huffing as he stood up, dusting himself off, “now that that’s decided, let’s get moving. It’s going to take a good day to get to Zhou mi, and we’ve wasted enough time. Don’t you think?” he inquired. 

Siwon nodded.

“Great.” Henry beamed, taking hold of Siwon’s hands as he pulled him to stand up. “Let’s get your things and go.” He grunted, once  he helped heft Siwon onto his feet. He followed slowly after Henry as the young man moved into a dark corridor. Pausing as the man turned to an open half circle shelf that had been carved into the stone, large enough for Henry to slip into even as he vanished into the deep shelf to return moments later with his satchel slung over his shoulder and his sword, bundled in rags and furs, held tightly in his arms. Henry slid out from the shelf as he darted back into their makeshift home once more and began to whistle next to the open wall.

For all his good, he may have been a fly on the wall as he used the wall for support and limped over beside Henry. Through the mist he could make out the stone colossi’s form. It’s glowing blue eyes, a spotlight for its location. Henry whistled again as the colossi’s head swiveled towards them, and then turned away dismissively. With a huff, Henry puffed his cheeks out once more.

“Never mind, he’s not listening. We’ll have to convince him to come over another way.”

“Convince him? Aren’t you his master?” Siwon balked, he thought all colossi obeyed their creators unquestioningly. That’s what all the stories said…or made out anyway.

Henry shrugged. “Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn’t. Depends on his mood, I guess. As far as “master”…I wouldn’t say that, more like I’m his….friend? I don’t know, owner sounds too demeaning to me, but I digress. He’s my extremely intelligent, stubborn, aggravating, and loyal companion rolled into one overgrown skeletal stone horse.” He rambled as he walked back into the dark corridor, moving slow to keep near Siwon. “This is the first time you’ve been out here hasn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s dark, but the stairs are wide and shallow, so you wont trip. Not easily anyway.” He smiled.

“How reassuring.” He grumbled as he followed Henry’s lead down the stairwell. The corridor was quite wide, and Siwon realized, the staircases were fragmented. About ten steps a piece before flattening out into a new corridor with no openings in sight before getting to another staircase. He’d always considered himself to be highly observant to his surroundings, now was no different as he peered into another corridor. He could see more of those half circled shelves…only, these ones were sealed shut. The stone patterns didn’t match the rest of the walls design. 

The ground flattened out finally, and now it was becoming obvious what this place was as Henry led him down another corridor, bits of stone crumpled from the walls, turning to rubble on the cobblestoned floor. The grey hue of the early morning twilight filtered down from atop a narrower stairwell, leading directly to the outside through a large doorway. Once they’d ascended, Henry held his arm out to keep Siwon from walking further.

Phaedra’s form loomed much closer to them now, the skeletal horse staring off ahead, into the distance, laying down between two large grassy mounds. Hills that looked cut in half. “Henry…where is it exactly you make your home?” he asked.

Henry smiled tightly, not quite reaching his eyes as he ran a hand over the stone doorway. “My parent’s, are never really far from me…so in a sense, you could meet them sometime if you’d like.” He chuckled. “That’s kind of a morbid thought though, right? It’s a bit early for that, besides, we have a game to play.”

“A game? Henry, I-“

 “Get further insdie,.” Henry ushered, pushing Siwon lightly as he began to whistle. Sharp, and shrill , sounds, which pierced the quiet morning. Phaedra turned his head slowly as he moved his legs. The earth rumbled as Phaedra began to stand up. Henry whistled shrilly again to get his colossi’s attention.

“What are you playing at? “He whispered sharply.

“Exactly.” Henry whispered, a broad grin spreading over his face. “We’re going to play a game with Phaedra: Hide, seek, and flush out.”

“Flush ou—“ Siwon balked as the ground began to shake with every step the skeletal horse like colossi took.

Henry whistled again and Phaedra’s head turned towards them. “go, go go!” he urged, giving Siwon another light shove, keeping his hand on his broad back as they moved quickly down the stone steps of the mausoleum as a shadow blanketed the doorway. Henry stopped once they turned the corner, peering out carefully from around the wall. “He’s looking for us. Good, this way.” He whispered.

“What are you—“

“Listen,” Henry panted, “If he catches sight of either of us he’ll straighten up and try to flush us out by stomping the ground. He’ll do it anyway if we don’t go fast enough. While he’s like this, he has to crouch down. If we sneak behind him, we can climb onto his back by going up his tail. The game ends once he either finds us and flushes us out, or if we get on him first.” He explained, pushing Siwon along the dark corridors, weaving through the mass of halls before ascending up another staircase leading to another doorway.

“These tombs are connected?” Siwon panted, gritting his teeth as the pain in his ribs flared.

“Most are, there are a few that are separated.” Henry informed as he peered outside. “Excellent, he’s still crouched down. When I say; run as fast as you can towards him and take hold of his tail.” He whispered. “There are two stone ridges at the tail base you can grab hold of to push yourself up. The rest is fur and pretty easy to cling to.”

“This isn’t, going—“

“Now!” Henry barked as he gave a hard shove, pushing Siwon outside. Phaedra hadn’t seemed to hear as he remained crouched low, the tip of his tail hovering just over the top of a grassy mound. “Hurry!” Henry implored, eyes wide as he watched Siwon move towards Phaedra. His heart beat madly in his chest. Perhaps this wasn’t such a great idea. Phaedra could play rough, and Henry wasn’t sure Siwon could handle what Phaedra could take out in his current condition. He gave a squeak, hands flying to cover his mouth as he watched Siwon take hold of the first ledge, right as Phaedra craned his neck to the side, and began to stand once more. “Move!!” Henry roared. If Siwon didn’t get up…didn’t reach Phaedra’s fur, he’d be more likely to fall from Phaedra’s thrashing. He paled as he saw Phaedra’s legs tense, shoulders beginning to square, as Siwon reached for the second ledge, fingertips ghosting over the edge of it.

Wetting his lips, Henry gave another shrill whistle, it worked. Phaedra straightened up, no longer at risk of rearing as he refocused on figuring out where Henry was at. The game, was still going.  Again, he whistled, waiting until Phaedra was towering closer to him before darting into the tombs once more. He couldn’t see Siwon anymore, which he hoped was a good sign since he hadn’t seen him fall either…he didn’t think Siwon could survive it at this point. /oh yeah, this was definitely a bad idea/ he winced as the tomb began to shake, bits of rock and dust falling from the ceiling.

For  his part, Siwon was holding on for dear life. The fur on the colossi’s back was sleek and smooth, a blue grey coloring, and while comfortable and soft, was a little harder to hold than Henry had let on, especially considering how much Phaedra moved. It wasn’t until Phaedra began to crouch down again, that he took his next chance to further climb up the colossi’s back and away from the tailbone. “oh thank god”  he heard a voice pant. He didn’t bother looking back, knowing who it was.

“This was a terrible idea.” He growled.

“Sorry, don’t worry, I got this.”  Henry assured as he darted with an ease that came from experience, up Phaedra’s back.

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” he fired back, fingers clutching at the fur between his hands, eyes screwed shut, as once again Phaedra rocked from side to side as he stood.

“Siwon! Siwon!” henry called again, laughing as Siwon finally lifted his head from Phaedra’s furry back.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He muttered as he spotted Henry sitting upon Phaedra’s head, the colossi’s head craned to the side, and Siwon could swear that gaze was amused at his predicament.

“You won’t fall, go ahead, stand up.” Henry assured.

It took a bit of coaxing, and a good half hour, before Siwon managed to make it beside Henry. The top of Phaedra’s head was stone, with a stony railing of sorts around the edge, and Siwon was happy to concede, that up here at least, he didn’t fear falling from the beast back.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad was it?” henry chuckled, no longer panting from his own exertion as Phaedra  stalked forward, out of the grave fields as the sun rose above the horizon.

Siwon glowered, “I’m not so sure I’m any safer with you.”

Henry laughed. “You say that now, but you’ll see.” He assured as he removed the satchel from his shoulders, the sword tucked away in a weak cradle.

“May God help you if that had fallen.”

“It didn’t though, still plan on killing me with it?” he asked.

“We’ll see.” Siwon sniffed. The pair dissolved into silence after that, not until they had fully left the grave fields and moved further into a hilly meadow. “Where’s your map?” Henry inquired, gaze turning to the satchel.

In a flash, Siwon snatched it up. “I’ll get it.” He snapped. He didn’t need Henry seeing more than he should…as it was, he didn’t know what Henry had seen…but Henry hadn’t mentioned anything about the letters..or the documents…so he couldn’t know about his old countries new plans for war. /Besides, even if he did, what does it matter to him?/

Henry made no mention of it, and he wasn’t going to bring it up yet. Later, once he wasn’t so reliant on Henry’s aid…then he’d make him reveal everything he read while Siwon was an invalid. He’d make the vermin tell him everything…but not yet, he’d bide his time.

Henry watched him with rapt attention as he riffled through his bag, fishing out the yellowed map and removed the binding around it to unroll it. “So where are we?” he asked.

Henry frowned, eyes raking over the map. “here.” He said at length, pointing to a spot above a wide river that opened back up into the ocean. Dragging his fingers over the paper to stop at a spot near a rivulet at the beginnings of the river. “These are canyons and mountains. This is where Celosia and Heechul are…your friend fell into the river here…and I found you and brought you down here.” He remarked, backtracking a little. All things considered…you got pretty far.” He mused, dragging his finger straight up. “This is where we’re headed.” He informed, pointing to another ridge with a lake beside it.

“And where are we now?” he asked.

Henry shrugged, “somewhere between. We’ll see Heechul’s canyons soon, and that’ll give me a better gauge of how much longer it will take. I don’t really go by time much anymore.” He explained. “A month. A day. An hour? What’s it matter, I mean really? Time stretches on all the same. With every hour that goes by, a day is gone. When the day is gone soon a week passes. Before you know it, time melds together and landscapes change.But other markers remain. I use them when I travel to see Zhou mi to tell me where I’m at.”

Siwon stiffened as Phaedra gave a cry and came to a halt, gaze turning to the side, and Siwon paled. There, lying on the ground,, was another colossi. “Oh, .” He cursed. “How fast can Phaedra run?” he asked. He didn’t consider himself a coward, but he wasn’t in any shape to fight, nor did he even know where to start with such a creature.

“It won’t attack us.”

“You really want to take that risk? How can you be so—“

“Gaius is dead!” Henry snapped, cutting over Siwon’s complaints and protests.

“Dea-“

“Look!” Henry snapped, extending a hand outwards, pointing towards a stone slab, tiny in comparison near the humanoid colossi’s head. “That’s a stone marker. A grave. He’s dead. He won’t be getting up, ever again.” He gave a trembling breath, turning his gaze from the colossi.

“Dead? You must be right…the things covered in moss. Do all colossi have a grave marker?” he asked snidely.

“No, just their human companions. They’re buried at the sight where their colossi was felled.”

“That so, did anyone in your family know who it was?”

“My Grandpa.” He said at length. “The young man’s name was Yunho…and if it weren’t for him, they wouldn’t have lived at all…” After that the pair fell into silence once more, and Henry never looked back at the colossi or the lone marker, a lonely breeze ghosting over them, as Henry rubbed at his eyes, but not once did he turn his head back.

“Why don’t you travel?” Siwon asked,  turning his own gaze towards the canyons that loomed further ahead. Vowing to himself, that he would avenge Eunhyuk and personally run his blade through ‘Heechul’s” chest the second he could. Even if he had to return alone in the future to do so.

“Hm?”

“If Zhou mi’s a friend, why not go see him more often? Or move entirely to stay?”

Henry didn’t reply, and Siwon was beginning to think he hadn’t heard at all.

“It’s complicated…but that place, it’s my home..it’s where my family was..where they are-“

“They’re dead.” Siwon stated bluntly.

“Their memories live on, and that helps, but more importantly, don’t you even return to visit loved ones after they’ve moved on? Besides, it gives me purpose.”

Siwon snorted, “Purpose? Staying with rotten corpses and skeletons?”

“Yes.”

“And what is that?” he challenged.

“Respect, I tend the graves, keep them in repair so that the ones I loved…the ones who passed before me, and the ones yet to come, can sleep in peace knowing their bodies are being respected even after death…because I promise you, not all of them died with their dignity and respect in tact The least I can do, is ensure even their tombs don’t become a mockery.”

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an: I took liberties with the colossi's placement. Sorry ;_;. This story is slow moving, BUT, the next chapter will have a returning character, and things will begin to pick up. I'm trying to set the mood, and I feel I'm dragging it on too much, so next chapter, things will begin to speed up a bit. I hope no one's bored with this story. I enjoy it, and I think it'd be a shame if no one else was...or at least that i'm failing in my writing somehow (lol).