Part 4

Moonlight




True to his word, Sehun set out at first light the next morning, in borrowed leather armor with his bow strung across his back. Jongin and Jongdae stuck around for one more night, then they were gone the day after, leaving Chanyeol alone in a tiny room in a tiny inn in a tiny town at the foot of a massive range of mountains.

For those two days, Chanyeol rested, and healed, and performed to earn some coin, first with Jongin and Jongdae and then on his own. It was a new experience, working for his room and board, but Chanyeol found he rather enjoyed it. He would have enjoyed it a lot more, of course, if the knowledge that his destiny still waited wasn’t hanging so heavily over his head, but he knew the moment he was well enough to not get killed in a fight, he would have to set out once more.

In the meantime, he gathered his resources and searched for information. Jongin left him the black pants and blue shirt, and he still had his borrowed chainmail, his found sword, and the boots he’d started with, considerably more worn than when he left.

His room at the inn had a mirror, and the first time Chanyeol looked at himself in it was a sobering experience. In less than three weeks, he looked like a completely different man. He was thinner, his face sharp-edged and his body angled and hard. His skin was too pale, dark circles under his eyes prominent, though two days of real meals and sleeping in an actual bed helped that considerably. And his hair was terrible, tangled and dirty and wild. He looked nothing like a prince and it shouldn’t have bothered him, but it did.

It was petty and small-minded of him to think I should look like a hero when I meet my beloved, but he couldn’t help but think it anyway, and spent some of his hard-earned coin on a real bath with real soap. It made a difference, and on the evening of his second day there, Chanyeol decided he would set out the next day to begin exploring the mountains. He hadn’t been able to find a map of the mountains, so he’d have to just guess, but at least the cuts on his hands would be healed enough for him to remove the bandages by the morning.

He performed one last time, to get coin for supplies, and was about to head up to his room when the door opened and a very haggard-looking Sehun entered.

Chanyeol blinked. Sehun didn’t look hurt, but he looked defeated, his shoulders slumped and his head hanging. Chanyeol caught his attention, and Sehun crossed the room and dragged him down to sit at a table, signalling for an ale.

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked.

Sehun’s head fell into his hands. “It was a ing farce,” he muttered. “It was...I’m so angry right now. I came all this way and it wasn’t even…” He blew out a long breath, stirring his blond fringe from his forehead. “.

Shaking his head, Chanyeol took Sehun’s wrist and gave it a companionable squeeze. “Start from the beginning,” he suggested.

So Sehun did. Told Chanyeol about how he’d found the tower, how he’d broken in and snuck up to Tao’s room. About their reunion, which was warm and tearful as expected, and how Sehun realized something was off when he looked around and realized Tao’s room at his uncle’s was not only not a prison cell as he’d been led to believe, it was nice, cushy even. How Tao wouldn’t let them leave until he’d packed some of his things, and how Sehun had stopped to look around and realized that Tao had been provided with everything he could want, not only in terms of basics but books, games, clothes, jewels.

“The worst part was,” Sehun murmured miserably, “I know Tao well enough to know all the gifts were really thoughtful. They weren’t just to win him over, they were genuinely things he would like, things he would want. I thought he was being held in a prison against his will, but he’s being spoiled rotten.” He sighed. “But I thought, maybe there’s more to it, maybe the physical gifts don’t reflect what his uncle is actually like. I mean, someone can buy you nice things and still beat you, right? So once he’d gotten all his things together, I helped him sneak out the way I came in, avoiding the locks and the traps and the spells, but his uncle caught us at the scullery door.”

Chanyeol’s grip on his cup tightened. “Did he attack you?”

The laugh that came out of Sehun’s mouth was ugly. “No,” he said. “He didn’t. He didn’t even get angry. He was just disappointed.” Long- hands dragged down a weary face. “I listened to them argue for about three minutes before I made sense of what I was hearing. Tao wasn’t actually in any danger. Joonmyun - that’s his uncle - he just, you know, had rules. Normal rules, rules that make sense, like ‘don’t stay out after dark’ and ‘don’t go out with anyone I don’t know’ and ‘stay out of my workshop, it’s dangerous.’” He sighed heavily. “A little strict, a little over-protective, maybe, but not evil. Tao called me halfway across the continent on false pretenses. I got so angry, I just...I just left him behind.” Sehun downed the rest of his glass in one shot.

“That’s terrible,” Chanyeol said, full of sympathy. He couldn’t imagine something like that. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah.” Sehun set his glass down with a clang and signalled the barmaid for another. “The worst part is, Tao has absolutely no clue what I went through to get to him. I don’t think he has any idea how dangerous the road is between him and me, how far I’ve come, how many times I nearly died. All because one spoiled brat couldn’t handle having a curfew.”

There wasn’t anything Chanyeol could really say to that, so he just listened to Sehun rant, and after his fourth ale cut him off, paid his tab and helped him upstairs. Sehun didn’t have coin for a room, so Chanyeol brought the younger man, now quite drunk and getting tearful, up to his own. He put him in the bed and curled up on the floor with an extra blanket. Sleep was slow to come, his mind unsettled by what he’d heard.

He’d only just drifted off when a crack of thunder and a flash of light startled them both awake, flailing for weapons to defend themselves.

Where is he?!” a furious and unfamiliar voice snarled.

Chanyeol kicked the blankets off and sat up, looking around. The dim moonlight coming through the window lit the shape of a man standing in the room, stance wide and threatening. Chanyeol grabbed his sword and stumbled to his feet.

“Who are you?” he demanded, as Sehun behind him attempted to do the same but got tangled in blankets.

Light flooded the room suddenly, making them both throw their hands up to shield their eyes.

“You!” the man cried, pushing past Chanyeol to make for Sehun. Instinctively, Chanyeol reached out to stop him, to protect his likely still-drunk friend. He had enough time to note that the intruder was a small, lithe man, not a threatening figure at all now that Chanyeol was up off the floor, before the man gestured and Chanyeol was thrown back, pinned to the wall spread-eagle by an invisible force. Sehun’s eyes went wide.

“Joonmyun!” Sehun said, scrambling to get to his feet. This must be the sorcerer, then, as evidenced by the fact that Chanyeol suddenly couldn’t move. “Wait, what do you mean, where is he?

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Joonmyun growled. “Tao’s gone and I know he went with you.”

That got Sehun’s attention. “What?!” he cried, his bow suddenly appearing in his hand. Chanyeol was rather impressed with that, actually - the younger man was all but unconscious when Chanyeol put him to bed; he wasn’t certain how he’d even known where Chanyeol had put his things.

His fervency made Joonmyun falter, the thunderous lines of his expression furrowing into confusion. “He isn’t with you?” he asked, his tone less angry and more worried.

“No!” Sehun said urgently. “I haven’t had any contact with him since I left your tower.” Chanyeol swallowed around the lump in his throat at the fear in Sehun’s tone, in his eyes. He might have been angry, but the depth to which he cared for his friend was obvious.

“.” Joonmyun ran a hand through his hair, and the invisible bonds pinning Chanyeol to the wall dissolved. He fell to the ground, stumbling forward. “That was my only idea.”

Sehun reached forward and grabbed the smaller man’s arm, as Chanyeol regained his balance and reclaimed his sword. “Take me back with you,” he said hurriedly. “I’ll help you look for him.”

He got a shrewd look. “Even after what Tao pulled on you?”

“He’s my friend.” Sehun declared immediately. Watching the proceedings with wary eyes, Chanyeol pulled on his newly-purchased gambeson, throwing the chain shirt on over it. He had a feeling things were about to get rough. Seeing what he was doing, Sehun looked around the room; Chanyeol silently pointed out the corner where he’d stashed Sehun’s own armor.

Dark eyes considered Chanyeol appraisingly. “And what about this man?” he asked. Sehun and Chanyeol both stopped and blinked at his tone, but Sehun got the implications first.

“He’s also a friend,” Sehun said firmly. “And, if his offer to back me up still stands….?”

“Of course,” Chanyeol immediately assured him.

Sehun nodded, his mouth set in a firm line but thankfulness shining in his eyes. “Then we’ll both come help look. That kid has the worst knack for finding trouble.”

Joonmyun sighed heavily, watching as the two taller men pulled on armor and boots and strapped on their weapons. “That’s precisely my fear,” he murmured. “I have a reason for being as strict with him as I am. He’s a target.”

Brows furrowed under blond fringe. “What do you mean?” Sehun asked warily.

Another sigh. “It runs in the family,” Joonmyun said. “He, like his mother and I, have a particular energy that is...enticing, to certain types of creatures. It’s the same energy that lets us use magic. My sister - his mother - she didn’t want him growing up the way we did, so she protected him, shielded him from the notice of the supernatural, and never told him of his heritage. When she died, I knew I had to shelter him the same way, or else…” He trailed off, letting the threat remain unsaid.

Sehun had gone paler even than usual. “Then we need to go, now,” he said, not even stopping to question it. “Are we ready?” he asked, looking to Chanyeol for confirmation. Chanyeol nodded.

Joonmyun regarded them both for a long moment, looking older, and shrewd, and tired. “If you’re sure you want to get involved,” he muttered. “Knowing my family, it could be extraordinarily dangerous.”

Sehun looked again to Chanyeol, because of course, Sehun himself had long since made up his mind. His total devotion gave Chanyeol courage. “It’ll be good practice for when I have to fight a dragon,” Chanyeol said offhandedly, and Joonmyun’s eyebrows nearly leapt off his face.

“If you’re sure,” Joonmyun said again, “then take my hand.” He held out both hands, small and delicate and pale, but they sparked with visible power in shifting colors. Sehun and Chanyeol reached forward at the same time, and with a very odd yanking sensation at the base of his spine, they were suddenly in a high-beamed sitting room, standing by a massive fireplace.

Sehun took charge instantly, while Chanyeol was still trying to rearrange his worldview. “Where was he last?” he asked, moving already towards the stairs at the far end of the room.

“His room, as far as I know,” Joonmyun called, jogging a little to catch up with Sehun’s long strides. They both started up the stairs, but as Chanyeol moved to follow them, something caught his attention.

A breath of incongruous cold air from the fireplace, brushing past his hand.

Confused, Chanyeol turned to look. Was it coming down the chimney? But that fire was so large - how could a cold breeze like that make it past?

He moved closer, inspecting the fireplace itself, the brick, the bookshelves around it. After a moment, he felt it again, and traced it back to a crack in the wall between the fireplace and the bookshelf, wide enough for him to feel it with his fingers but at the wrong angle to see unless he craned his head awkwardly around the bricks. When he did exactly that, he saw a glimmer of light from between the shelves and the brick.

“Sehun!” he called, his deep voice reverberating oddly in the mostly-stone room. After a moment, footsteps pounded back down the stairs, and both Sehun and Joonmyun reappeared. “I think there’s a secret passage here!”

Sehun looked to Joonmyun, who frowned. “I wasn’t aware of one,” he said, “but this tower’s been in the family for thousands of years, it has all kinds of secrets.” He came right over and inspected the place Chanyeol indicated. “You’re right. And it’s been opened recently, and not closed properly.” He grabbed the bookshelf and pulled experimentally; it jerked like it was latched but didn’t budge.

Sehun was looking around the area, tugging out books and running his hands over the shelves. “How are we going to figure out how to open it?” he asked.

Joonmyun snorted. “We don’t have time for that. Step back.” Sehun hurried to do so, and Joonmyun held up his hands and muttered some words Chanyeol couldn’t catch, and then the shelf was flat-out melting, books thudding to the floor in a cascade as the wood dissolved to reveal a dusty and dark stone staircase. A flick of Joonmyun’s fingers lit the ancient torches lining the walls; the smell of burning dust assaulted their noses but the way was visible enough for Sehun to start down the stairs, bow drawn and arrow notched.

At the bottom of the stairs was a room, circular and rather small, lined in bookshelves on one side and glass cases of oddities on the other. Another flick of Joonmyun’s fingers lit the torches on these walls, and Chanyeol’s breath caught as he realized what he was looking at.

He’d never seen a casting circle in person before, but that was unmistakably what it was, drawn on the old stone floor in what looked uncomfortably like blood. There was no movement, no sign of life in the room, but closer inspection revealed that the liquid on the floor was still wet.

“No,” Joonmyun gasped, staring at the markings on the ground. “That little idiot, what has he done?”

“You tell us,” Chanyeol muttered, because he had absolutely no idea what he was looking at, other than probably bad. (Anything written in blood usually was.)

“It’s a summoning circle,” Joonmyun explained. “Basic-level, meant to bind the lowest class of imp to your service. But he didn’t write the wards correctly.” He pointed at places in the circle that looked like complete gibberish to Chanyeol. “See, here, this is not right. And here, too. Without those wards activating, anything could have come through.”

If Chanyeol thought Sehun looked pale and grim before, he was now witnessing a whole new level. “And you said his ...energy, is attractive to supernatural creatures?”

Joonmyun’s nod was grim. “He may as well have lit a beacon over his head,” he muttered. “Anything like that would leave a mark, though.” He whispered some words, made a gesture, and a trail of pale green light flowed out from the circle, disappearing into a stone wall.

Chanyeol and Sehun exchanged glances. Sehun looked absolutely sick with fear. “I’m sure he’s alright,” Chanyeol said softly. “We just have to get to him as quickly as we can.”

“I hope you’re right,” Joonmyun said grimly, striding forward and melting that stone wall the way he’d melted the bookshelf. “But you’d better be prepared to be wrong. Chances are good whatever came through possessed him. If it comes down to killing Tao or letting a demon loose on the countryside, I won’t have a choice, no matter how much I love him.”

No,” Sehun said, following with a quick stride and a hard glint in his eyes. “We’ll save him.”

Joonmyun gave him an unreadable look, but didn’t answer.

The dissolved wall revealed a narrow ledge outside, overlooking the moat. The trail of light floated right over the water, lending credence to Joonmyun’s fear of possession. But Chanyeol didn’t point that out; he just let the sorcerer float them all to the other side, and they took off into the woods surrounding the tower, following the trail.

It was a tense few minutes, moving at the fastest pace possible through the dense underbrush, all three afraid of what they would find when they got to Tao and more afraid of what would happen if they weren’t fast enough. Sehun was too much in shock to be thinking rationally, so Chanyeol questioned Joonmyun in an undertone as they moved. How demon possession worked, how they would know if all hope was lost for Tao, what they could do to try to save him. Joonmyun answered him in terse, short sentences, holding back more than he was saying, but it gave Chanyeol something to go on, anyway. Our best chance is to get the demon inside a warding circle, he explained. But those take time to scribe, time we might not get.

“There,” Sehun said suddenly, breaking into a sprint. Chanyeol looked ahead to see a figure kneeling on the ground, long, bare arms wrapped around himself and muttering something unintelligible. He raced to follow, but Sehun was faster, skidding to his knees in front of his friend and dropping his bow in the dirt to wrap his hands around the other boy’s shoulders. “Tao? Tao!

“Sehun,” Chanyeol said warningly, not liking the way the boy was trembling. He drew his sword with one hand and reached out for Sehun with the other, intending to tug him away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joonmyun begin scribing a circle in faint blue light, just like he’d said, moving quickly with a wary eye on the two boys in the center.

“Huang Zitao, I am so angry with you right now,” Sehun said, sounding much more fearful and upset than angry. “You had better still be in there. Dammit, look at me!

Tao looked up. His eyes were solid red and glowing, no pupils or whites to be seen. Shocked, Chanyeol froze in place, his hand but a scant length from Sehun’s shoulder.

“Sehun?” Tao said, clear as day in a small, frightened voice.

Sehun let out a broken, dry sob, throwing his arms around Tao’s shivering body and burying his face in his neck. Standing behind Sehun, Chanyeol had the perfect vantage point to see Tao glance to the side and spot Joonmyun. His face twisted, the frightened young man replaced in an instant with something inhuman and hateful.

“SEHUN!” Chanyeol roared, leaping forward to yank them apart. The demon - because that was unmistakably what he was facing now - hissed, and Chanyeol was thrown back, bouncing painfully off the uneven ground.

Sehun started to scream.

“Hold him!” Joonmyun yelled as Chanyeol scrambled to his feet and raced back to them. “Keep him there!”

The demon was writhing now in Sehun’s arms, fighting to get away, but Sehun had locked his hands together and was hanging on with what had to be every ounce of strength he had, even as he cried out in pain. Smoke was rising from the places where their skin touched, and as Chanyeol dropped to his own knees behind Tao and added his strength to Sehun’s, he realized why - Tao’s body was furnace-hot, his clothes beginning to smoulder and Sehun’s skin searing audibly where it touched Tao’s bare.

Chanyeol kept his own arms wrapped low around Tao’s waist, where several layers of clothing protected him somewhat, and held on as Tao bucked, fighting their hold with inhuman strength. He wanted to yell to Joonmyun to hurry up already but he suspected that would be both distracting and really obvious.

A flare of cool blue light around them doused a good portion of the heat, and Tao abruptly stopped struggling. “Got it,” Joonmyun called. “Get ready!”

Ready for what, Chanyeol thought, but he found out in the next moment as Joonmyun raised both hands and began chanting in a powerful, unnaturally resonant voice. This time, it was Tao who screamed, and Chanyeol felt him writhing again, this time in a less purposeful way, like he was in pain. The skin of his back began to shift and move like something was trying to break the surface, and Chanyeol hurriedly pulled away, watching in horror as a monster three times Tao’s size broke free of his skin and ripped out of his clothes.

Holy .

Tao’s sobbing was human now, terrified and agonized, his back a mass of blood. “Get him out of here!” Chanyeol called to Sehun, staring up at the thing now towering over them in the center of the circle. “Joonmyun, can you banish it?”

That’s what I just did,” Joonmyun yelled back. “I can hold it on this plane so you can hurt it, but that’s all! We have to kill it!”

I’d love to see you try, a deep, impossible voice rang in Chanyeol’s head. He heard Joonmyun’s sharp intake of breath, Sehun’s noise of surprise.

Time seemed to slow for Chanyeol, the way it always did when he was facing down danger. He saw Sehun cradling Tao’s broken body and scrambling to get out of the circle, saw Joonmyun’s arms trembling as blue lightning pulsed over his skin. They were both occupied. Chanyeol was on his own.

He lifted his sword and swung with all his might.

The demon, it seemed, had not been expecting it, and only barely raised its massive arms in time. Chanyeol’s sword bit deeply into the demon’s skin, a blow that would have cleaved a human man through. Sickly, glowing green pus welled up around the wound, hissing as it hit the ground. Chanyeol made a vague mental note to try not to get bled upon, yanked his sword out, and swung again.

The demon blocked it and backhanded him. Chanyeol felt his flesh sizzle and his cheekbone crunch as he flew back across the circle and hit the ground for the second time that night. Spitting blood, and unable to tell yet if all his teeth were still in place, Chanyeol rolled to his feet and charged back in.

This time, when the demon lashed out, Chanyeol was ready for it. He ducked, letting the blazing hot arm swing harmlessly over his head, and drove his sword point-first into the demon’s back, aiming for where the heart and/or lungs would be on a human. The demon roared in pain and Chanyeol...stepped on something?

He glanced down. It was Sehun’s bow, laying forgotten in the soil. Chanyeol twisted his sword harshly, opening up the wound as much as he could to let the blood flow, and looked over to see where Sehun was, see if he was paying attention. He was, his eyes wide, kneeling protectively over Tao’s body just outside the light of the circle.

Chanyeol got his boot under the bow, balanced across his instep, just like he did with his sword when he was performing. He flung the bow in Sehun’s direction and had enough time to see Sehun pulling an arrow from his quiver and reaching for the bow before he yanked his sword out and backed away.

“Demon!” he called, more to get its attention than to actually try and threaten or taunt it. It worked, and the demon turned towards him, putting its back to Sehun. Around its side, Chanyeol got a glimpse of Sehun setting arrow to string and drawing his bow as far back as it would go.

Sehun’s bow was large and recurved, meant to be shot a very long distance, and desperation made him strong. The arrow punched through the demon’s neck, protruding completely out the front side. Its glowing red eyes rolled back, a terrible gurgling keen ripping from its ruined throat, but its body stayed up and moving, lashing out blindly.

Chanyeol hooked his arms around the thing’s knee and yanked, and it toppled to the ground. Dodging its limbs, he moved around its felled body to its head, lifted his sword high in the air and brought it down.

It took four hard hacks before the demon’s body stilled, and six more before its head was separated from its body. Ichor gushed forth, searing the grass under the body, and Chanyeol stepped back before it could eat through his boots, his breath coming in harsh gasps.

Silence.

The blue light of the warding circle faded as Joonmyun warily stepped inside, inspecting the demon’s body from as close as he dared. “You did it,” he murmured in wonder. “You really...That’s a pit fiend. That’s one of the most powerful demons that can cross into this plane, and you...you killed it.” He suddenly raised his eyes to the other side of the circle. “Tao.

Tao was a bloodied, sobbing mess, but he was unmistakably alive. Sehun was not much better, his skin blistering where it had been seared, but though his hands were trembling from pain, he was holding Tao with a strength Chanyeol found admirable.

Joonmyun laid a hand on Tao’s head, and Tao went still and limp in Sehun’s arms.

“Is he - ” Sehun whispered.

“He’ll be alright,” Joonmyun murmured. “I just didn’t want him to suffer any more. He’ll sleep until morning.” He held up glowing hands, lighting Sehun’s face and arms and chest to assess the damage. “You are very injured yourself,” he said, and looked over his shoulder at Chanyeol, who was finding it rather hard to remain standing now that the adrenaline was draining from his body. “Both of you. Come, I have medicine back at the tower.”

The trip back was slower and much less eventful. Chanyeol offered to carry Tao, as Sehun’s arms were burnt almost the entire way up, his thin shirt sleeves seared entirely away, but Sehun only glared and lifted Tao’s body with a tender care that had a familiar lump welling in Chanyeol’s throat. It was the way Minseok protected Lu Han, the way his future brother-in-law looked at his sister, and Chanyeol was reminded rather forcefully that somewhere out there was someone he would some day feel that way about.

If he could ever find her.

True to his word, the sorcerer had healing draughts for Tao’s ruined back and salve for the burns, and when Tao and Sehun were seen to and Sehun had carried Tao up to his room, it was Chanyeol’s turn. Some whispered words and a gentle touch set Chanyeol’s cheekbone, re-rooted his loosened teeth. He would still have a massive black eye, Joonmyun told him, and though the burns on his arms were not anywhere near as bad as the ones on Sehun, they would still take a few days to heal, even with salve. He was lucky the blow hadn’t caught him up higher, or it might have been a brain injury rather than a mouth injury, and as it was it would be best if he did not sleep tonight, in case there was a concussion.

So Joonmyun made them tea, and Chanyeol sat with him for a while.

“I never even asked,” Joonmyun said as he sipped. “What’s your name?”

Chanyeol had to smile at the familiar question. “Chanyeol,” he said.

Joonmyun nodded. “You saved all of us tonight,” he said quietly. “Not just Tao, but myself and Sehun as well. You were extraordinarily brave, and to do this for someone you had never met… If you hadn’t been there...” He cut himself off. “Well. I am grateful to you. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Blinking, Chanyeol set down his mug. “What do you mean?”

“I have a great deal of treasure in this tower,” Joonmyun said, “collected over centuries by my family. Or, if you prefer a boon from me personally, there is little that I could not accomplish with enough research and time. What do you want most? I will get it for you.”

Well. That was a heck of an offer. “Can I think about it for a bit?” he asked, possibly a little plaintively.

Joonmyun smiled at him. “Take your time,” he said. “We have all night.”

So Chanyeol thought about it. Thought about having Joonmyun tell him exactly where his destined was, or show him a vision of her face; thought about asking for a dragon-slaying sword or a charm of invulnerability or even just a better set of armor. But everything he considered felt wrong, felt like cheating. This was his destiny and he was going to do it right.

Then something occurred to him, and any thoughts he had of asking for material things or selfish boons flew from his mind.

“There is something,” he said quickly, and Joonmyun raised an eyebrow at him. “There’s...deep in the Enchanted Forest on the other side of the mountains to the east, there’s...well. This hare.”

Joonmyun’s second eyebrow raised to match the first, so Chanyeol took a deep breath and explained about Minseok and Lu Han, about the fairy’s curse that had left them with nothing but each other, how deeply entwined they were and how it broke his heart that they could never be together the way Minseok had hinted he would want. “I don’t know if they would choose to both be deer, or both be hares, or both be human, or both go back to the way things were before they met,” he said in a rush, “but they helped me and I just...I want them to be happy. Do you think there’s anything you could do for them?”

The sorcerer considered him very carefully. “Because you have asked me,” he said, “I will see what I can do. But are you certain there’s nothing you want for yourself?” He looked Chanyeol up and down. “I mean, I’ve seen a lot of adventurers in my time, and you seem like you’re on a mission.”

Chanyeol bit his lip and considered that. “Some of that burn salve,” he said finally, “and the most detailed map of the western mountains that you have.”

Joonmyun actually started to chuckle. “You’re something else,” he said. “As you wish. And I will find your hare and determine what his wish might be.”

“Thank you,” Chanyeol said, and meant it.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



His new injuries set him back a day, but even with the burns and the black eye, Chanyeol had been in that little town for five days and he decided it was high time he start his search.

The mountains were a daunting prospect, vast and numerous and no doubt difficult to traverse, but Joonmyun’s map was very detailed indeed, and while he was resting Chanyeol had determined a pattern of search. There were three peaks with springs that fed the underground river, so Chanyeol figured his best bet was to begin with those, following the river back and up into the mountains until he found a clue. If no hint of a dragon or a captured damsel was found, he’d expand his search to the neighboring peaks, one by one until he found what he was looking for (or possibly dropped dead from exhaustion.)

He was able, with the small amount of coin he’d earned in the last few days, to purchase some supplies and rent a horse. The horse would likely not be able to take him up into the mountains, but alone he could move much faster than Jongdae’s caravan, so Chanyeol was able to return south, to the cave mouth where he’d collapsed, in just one morning. He began the trip upstream at a much slower pace, keeping his eyes opened for anything that looked burned, or like it may have been crushed under a large foot.

By the time the sun was setting, he was reaching the mountains proper, and true to prediction the horse began having trouble with the incline as it got steeper and steeper. He made camp there, by the edge of the river, thankful that this forest was not Enchanted and that his night was uneventful. Leaving the horse securely tethered to a tree with enough lead to reach the river if she wanted to drink, Chanyeol set out the next morning on foot.

For three days, Chanyeol searched. He followed each branch of the river to its spring, examined the area around it for miles in every direction. His black eye was no longer sore, but everything else was, and the total lack of any traces or clues was very discouraging. It was all made worse by his dreams every night, always the same, filled with glimpses of beautiful features that he could never quite piece together into a whole face. So, on the morning of the fourth day, Chanyeol returned to his borrowed horse and rode back to the little town.

Tired, dirty, and very much looking forward to a hot meal, a nice bath and a real bed, Chanyeol stomped into the general store to pay his fee for the horse’s rental. He too exhausted to be paying a lot of attention to his surroundings, and so didn’t realize immediately that there was someone already at the counter making a purchase until they turned, arms laden with parcels, and crashed right into him.

The person made a sharp noise of surprise, tumbling to the ground. Chanyeol reached out instinctively to catch them but stumbled over a fallen parcel and fell himself. Old military training and his newly-jumpy reflexes had him catching himself on his hands and forearms before he could totally crush the person under him.

“Sorry,” he exclaimed reflexively, wincing at the shock to his arms. It was better than falling on some poor unsuspecting sod in full armor, and Chanyeol knew he wasn’t light to begin with, let alone clad in bronze.

“That’s alright,” the person said breathlessly, voice low and smooth as silk and somehow familiar and Chanyeol’s eyes snapped open in surprise. He looked down.

The eyes he dreamed about, dark and wide and kind, stared back up at him curiously. Lips he knew better than his own were softly parted around the remains of a startled gasp. Glossy black hair brushed over soft, round cheeks that were slowly turning pink the more Chanyeol stared, and Chanyeol swallowed hard, because now he had a delicate, heart-shaped face, a cute button of a nose, flawless pale skin to complete his vision.

It was her.

Except, he realized, with a growing sense of shock, she wasn’t a she at all. The person underneath him was small, delicately built, and utterly beautiful, but also very obviously male. There was a prominent adam’s apple pressed against the soft skin of his neck, and though his shoulders were narrow, so were his hips. The grip wrapped around Chanyeol’s upper arms was careful but strong, and the body he could feel pressed against his own was too angled, too firm.

Chanyeol’s entire world tipped onto its side.

Long, dark lashes fluttered as the man - the man - under him blinked, and the break in eye contact broke the spell. “It’s my fault,” the man said, and his voice was too deep for his cherubic looks, not as deep as Chanyeol’s own but soothing and melodic. Chanyeol’s heart was galloping like his borrowed horse. “I wasn’t looking when I turned.” His grip shifted slightly, pushing at Chanyeol’s arms. “Can I…?”

. “Yes, of course, sorry,” Chanyeol babbled, mortified when his voice cracked. He scrambled off the smaller man and knelt to the side, busying himself with gathering up the fallen packages and trying to calm his racing heart, cool his heated face.

What should he even do?

He was just so shocked.

“You don’t have to -” the man said, and small, pristinely pale hands stilled Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol didn’t realize until that moment that he was trembling. Some brave warrior you are, he thought wryly to himself.

“Hey,” the man said gently, dipping his head to catch Chanyeol’s gaze. His dark brows - too thick to be a woman’s, but striking and perfect on his face - furrowed. “Are you alright? You look like you’ve had a bad day.”

Suddenly, Chanyeol was very, very aware of what a mess he must look, how he must smell, after four days in the wilderness. “I’ve had a bad month,” he found himself saying truthfully. “But I’m alright.” Those big eyes made the words fall out of his mouth nervously. “I was on my way to the inn to rest.” You shouldn’t be worried about me, he thought, and in the next moment remembered, wait, I should be worried about you. “Are you okay?” he blurted out, rather more suddenly and intensely than was appropriate.

The edges of a smile curled around the man’s plush lips, crinkling up the corners of his eyes. Oh . “I’m fine,” he assured Chanyeol, and the amusement in his tone made Chanyeol’s stomach do a strange little shimmy. “It was just a little tumble.”

That’s not what I mean, Chanyeol thought desperately, but he couldn’t find a way to get the words out that didn’t sound insane. The man got to his feet and reached a hand down to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol took it, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. He saw the man’s eyes widen when Chanyeol drew himself up to his full height, head and shoulders above him.

He only came up to Chanyeol’s collarbone.

Chanyeol had never wanted to hold someone so badly.

“Sorry again,” the man said, ducking a courteous little bow. “Have a good evening.”

He made to leave, and panic lanced through Chanyeol’s mind, and before he’d considered his actions he’d grabbed the man’s wrist. “Wait!” he said frantically. The man looked back over his shoulder, his dark eyes wide and surprised. Chanyeol swallowed again and managed to get out, “What’s your name?”

The surprise smoothed out. “Kyungsoo,” the man said softly. And then, after a beat, “What’s yours?”

“Chanyeol,” he replied, a little breathlessly.

A nod, and another ghost of a smile. “Have a good evening, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo said.

Then he slipped out of Chanyeol’s fingers, and was gone, leaving Chanyeol staring dumbfoundedly in his wake.









AND THE PLOT THICKENS



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INFTJazm
#1
Chapter 8: INSAAANEE
omaemae #2
Chapter 3: I don't know what drugs you are doing, But keep taken them. I love this story, I never laugh so much. You're a great writer.
Sakuraheat #3
Chapter 8: I just love this.
Alisha0074 #4
Chapter 8: Holy .... that definitely floored chan!!!
poor kris doesn't stand a chance
Jaqueline123
#5
Chapter 8: It's really beautiful. I donno y i wasted my time without reading this masterpiece?
mistymountains 193 streak #6
Nice story!
cappuccinokitty
#7
Chapter 8: I can't believe I'm only finding this story now, that was brilliant. I absolutely adored reading this, not only because of what you did with the characters and plot (including that twist, you totally had me strung along up to that point, urg), but because of the sheer amount of detail and research that went into making this eloquent and believable. I admire your writing and this incredible story, well done!
exoforever259
#8
Chapter 8: Almost fainted while finding the twist >.< This is one of the BEST adventurous chansoo fics ever I've read. The character development of each and every character is absolutely wonderful. It felt as if I personally took part in the adventure to search for my fav person. Wow, I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for writing this story. Plz, write more chansoo fics like this...
BR_exo
#9
Chapter 8: I just finished reading again, I wish there was a sequel. I absolutely love this! It's the best!