A Bards Plight
By: Seiyji
Authors Note: I do not own Valdemar or anything like that. The characters are of my creation, so do not steal them. This is going to be a story about a Shaych/Gay couple, so if you do not like the idea or theme, please do not read it. This is a warning.
Warnings: Mild Language, Violence, Suggestive themes
Summary: Poor Javert can't seem to catch a break. First he is kicked out of his house for loving music, and then he winds up in Enemy Territory. Even after being returned to his home land he still has many challenges that await him. What will the poor kid do?
Chapter 1
Fear ripped through his body like a crashing wave from a storm rocked a boat. His heart that was hammering in his ears all but drowned out the shouting of the men that chased him. He had no idea where he was going to run, with naught but his Lute on him, he had nowhere to hide and no coin to buy refuge in any of the houses. Even if he had the gold to do so it was soldiers that were after him, no sane person would ever let someone that a soldier was chasing into their home. Not when they could be killed for it. No, Most of the houses closed and locked their doors and windows at the first sign of trouble, not wanting anything to do with what ever happened outside.
The young man's eyes searched desperately for a place to hide. He could hear the soldier's heavy footsteps getting close. He was starting to tire out and would soon be caught if he could not find a place to slip into. He did not want to take any of the alley ways. He did not know this place, and any of the alley ways could end in a dead end and he would have no place to hide. Then he would be in an even sorrier position then he was in now.
As the heavy foot falls started to get closer, so did the shouting of angry men. They yelled at him in a language he did not understand. He had somehow managed to get himself into what seemed like another kingdom all together. These people seemed to fear the robed ones and the soldiers that commanded the villages. The young man was just as afraid of them, and wanted nothing better than to be away from this place.
He had been exiled from his own home by his father. After finding out his sons ways he did not want such an abomination in his house and had kicked the boy out with whatever he could carry, which at the time had only been the lute he was using when his father caught him. Playing songs was for the rich, and women, not for manly men who would one day be head of his household. His father would have nothing to do with a musical son, who acted more like a daughter than anything else.
After several days of little food and water, the young man had found himself in this village. He wasn't sure exactly how far he had walked all he knew was it had taken four long days to get to this place. He hadn't even thought about where exactly he was or what kind of people might be in this village. He had found an Inn almost as soon as he had walked into the place. After having a short rest he had decided he would try and play for his dinner and see if he could maybe get room for the night.
He had gone to the inn keeper to see if he would be able to play, but as he spoke he noticed that all of the voices in the small room stopped. The people stared at him as if he was some sort of beast and not a human. The Inn keeper ran from the tavern along with several others, shouting in a language he did not understand, but it didn't sound friendly. The men returned with whatever weapons they could and started the chase, but soon he was being chased by something other than the people of the tavern. They had alerted soldiers and some people in Robes.
The young man spotted a stable window that had been left unattended. He ran over and climbed through the window. He landed hard on the packed dirt surface. He got up quickly and looked around for a place inside of the stable to hide. Luckily he saw the hay loft. He ran over to the ladder and climbed up. His whole body was shaking at this point, and it was getting hard to move. He hid himself in the large pile of hay and hoped to all of the gods that he was not going to be caught.
His heart felt like it was going to stop when the soldiers threw open the doors of the stable. He watched as they searched the lower part of the barn before one soldier turned to the ladder. He did not dare to breathe as the man got up on the ledge. The soldier picked up a pitch fork and thrust it into the hay inches from where the young man was laying. The soldier tried several more places before he said, what sounded like, a curse and climbed back down.
After a few minutes, the Captain gave orders and the soldiers left, leaving a soldier behind to watch the barn. The young man watched the soldier as he paced around, kicking a pebble from one side of the room to the next. He was obviously here to make sure that the boy didn't come barging into this place, but he didn't seem like he actually cared about the current situation.
"Damn these Karse barbarians." He whispered to himself. The young man felt his heart leap when he heard the language that he knew all too well. He was still unsure if he could trust this man or not. It was his own father that had betrayed him. A common language didn't always mean common interests. He remained quiet as he heard the man continue speaking. "One citizen of Valdemar wanders into the wrong place, and he sets this whole place on fire. Hope the kid gets away." The man paused in his speaking for a moment, as if he was hearing a voice that no one else could here. "I know what you mean, but we can't just go help him out or else we will be found out. We have to be doubly careful because the priests have come. Luckily I can pull of a pretty good soldier and no one really noticed that I wasn't one of their companies."
The young man in the hay loft listened to what felt like one side of a particularly interesting conversation. Now he was sure he had crossed over into enemy territory, but how had he managed to do that? After all the borders of Karse and Valdemar were pretty well guarded. He must have found a weak spot in the border without meaning to.
He was broken out of his thoughts when the door to the stable was opened by another man, this one in a black robe. The Black haired male that had been guarding the place spoke to the robed one. The young man wished with all of his heart that he could understand what they were talking about, but the robed one left looking annoyed. The black haired male leaned up against one of the stable walls and breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes got an unfocused look to them for a moment before he came back to himself. It was a very interesting thing to see. The young man got close to the edge and watched the male bellow him. He was trying to figure out if the man was part of Valdemar or some other place, and if he was from some other place, why was he talking in his language? Why was he here? And why did he keep speaking as if he was talking to someone?
So many questions ran through the young man's head as he stared at the black haired man. Yet he was too scared that that man might be something other then what he appeared to be. He could very well be trying to get the young man to come out of hiding. Maybe the robed people knew he was here, but were not really sure where he was exactly? The thought scared him more than anything else. What if they really were just playing with him?
He found himself shivering under the hay as he thought about the possibilities. He knew he should be thinking positive at a time like this, but how could he? All of the people here knew he was a foreigner, and he had to escape this place after the guards had stopped searching for him. That was a task that was going to be very hard. After the Inn keeper had raised the alarm he had run deeper into the village instead of towards the woods. He had thought he could find a hiding spot in the village before he would be able to find one in the woods. With nothing to protect him he had nowhere else to go.
"It looks like that kid was able to either hide or get out of the village." The man's deep voice washed over him, calming him somehow. He wasn't sure how or why, but the man's voice had a soothing quality to it. Again he paused as If someone was speaking to him. Maybe someone was, and the young man just didn't hear them. Or maybe he was one of those people that could talk to spirits. He wasn't really sure, but at least he didn't sound like one of those angry soldiers that had been chasing him.
"As soon as we can I think it would be best if we got out of this place. They are sure to bring more priests after they find out the boy got away. They are going to be looking for him until they can find him and feed him to the fires." The man sighed and brushed his hair out of his eyes. The young man felt his stomach tighten in a knot. He was not safe here, he would have to escape. If what the other said was true, he wouldn't be safe until he was back across the border, but he had no idea how to get back home. With his current luck he would wind up further inside Karse then he wanted to.
"Absolutely not." The young man jumped when the man's voice burst through his thoughts. "You know as well as I do that it wouldn't be a good idea for you to come here. If anyone saw you they would know for sure what you are, and the priests would be on us before I could even get into the saddle."
Slowly the young man inched over towards the edge to see what the black haired man was doing. "Maybe, but that is only if we can find him. I am not going to go searching for someone if I can help it. That would only make me look more suspicious, unless one of the guards tells me to do so." The Unknown Soldier racked his hands through his hair as he moved over to a bale of hay and sat down. "If this job is this stressful I know I am going to be completely gray by the time I turn twenty five." The man paused and his eyes unfocused for a moment. He chuckled at whatever reply his 'friend' had given him. "But without my dashing good looks how am I going to snag myself a partner?"
The young man got as close to the edge as he dared, watching the other. He wanted so badly for him to be an ally that he could trust, and could help him out of this bad situation. He bit his lip as he leaned a little over the edge, trying to catch every word that the other was saying to his invisible friend. Maybe if he listened closely he could hear the voice that the other was listening to. He doubted it. His hearing was very good, but he couldn't hear this being.
"You think so? Well I know it will happen, you just wait and-" The man cut himself off as he looked up towards the hay loft. The young man froze in place. Brown eyes met Green ones as they both paused, both unsure of what to do. The young man felt his heart racing in his chest. The blood from his face drained. This was not good. Not good at all. He had to get out of this place, he had to run. Surely he was going to do something. He was going to call the guards, and he would be caught. He would be sent to the fires that the man had talked about.
It took only a few moments for him to get back his ability to move. Quickly he stood and tried to find a way to escape. There were no windows, no escape from this place. His heart raced as he franticly searched for his escape.
The Soldier was quicker than he was. Before he could think of his escape, the soldier had climbed the ladder, and tackled the boy into the hay. The young man's scream was cut off by the soldier covering his mouth with his large sword calloused hand. He glared down at the boy, who froze underneath of him. He felt as if his heart was going to stop then and there. This was going to be the end of his life. Here in the hay loft. His eyes filled with tears as he stared up at the intense brown eyes of the man that had him pinned to the floor. This really was going to be the end.