Chapter 1
After their little adventure with Myra and Wilmer in the dwarven jester's caves under the mountain, Royce and Hadrian went back to the place where they had left their horses. The night was warm and they could see the stars through the canopy of branches above them as they walked through an overgrown trail in the forest. Hadrian had no idea where Royce was leading them, but he trusted his friend to keep them on the right path.
It took a while to reach the small meadow where they had started from, and with Hadrian's probably broken leg and his left arm still hanging useless by his side, their progress through the dense wildlife only became more challenging.
The horses might be gone - a few days had passed since they had left them in the meadow - but walking back to Medford would take days and without their supplies it would be even more troublesome. After barely escaping the jester's caves with their lives, it seemed that they were finally in for some luck. As they rounded yet another group of trees, they found their horses and Myra's white mare, near a small river not far from the meadow.
Feeling dead on their feet, they decided to stay the night. Once Royce had taken a quick look around to make sure they were alone, he quickly made a small fire to help warm them up and dry their wet clothes. With that taken care of, Royce unpacked their blankets and sat down next to Hadrian to take a look at his friend's wounds.
Hadrian's shirt had been torn in several places and the blood from the claw marks on his chest had left dark stains on the blue fabric. Royce ripped off the sleeve to have better access to the limp arm before he beginning to examine Hadrian's shoulder with gentle hands.
"It's dislocated," Royce announced a moment later just like Hadrian had anticipated.
Knowing what that meant, Hadrian gritted his teeth before nodding and closing his eyes, mentally preparing himself for what was coming.
"On the count of three," Royce said and adjusted his grip. "One…" He popped Hadrian's shoulder back into its socket with a swift move and a loud crack.
Hadrian groaned as white-hot pain shot through his body. Once the worst of it had passed, he opened his eyes again and shot Royce a dark look, which his friend deliberately ignored. Hadrian felt like he could move his arm again, but now his whole shoulder was hurting painfully and he soulfully wished for the numbness to return. That's the reason Royce had not set his shoulder sooner, because while he hadn't been able to move his arm before, at least he was not incapacitated by blinding pain.
Royce cut off a piece of cloth from the hem of Hadrian's torn shirt using his dagger and fashioned a makeshift sling around Hadrian's arm. Then he moved on to Hadrian's leg. Gentle fingers moved over his calve and Hadrian grimaced every time the pain flared up.
"Doesn't look too bad. Probably a clean break." Royce stood up to retrieve something from their bags, and quickly returned to his friend's side with clean bandages and a few sturdy, but mostly straight branches that he used to splinter Hadrian's leg.
Hadrian watched Royce work and his breath caught every time pain shot through his leg, no matter how careful Royce tried to be.
"What would I do without you?" Hadrian asked with a small smile and Royce huffed.
"Die probably."
He regarded Hadrian with a hard look in his eyes and Hadrian put his hand on Royce's shoulder.
"I'll be fine," he assured him.
Even though Royce didn't show it, Hadrian knew that he had been afraid when that beast had thrown him back against the wall of the cave with a swift strike of its claw, like Hadrian was a rag doll.
Royce pressed his lips together and nodded curtly. Hadrian had learned to read Royce pretty well during the six years they had been working together, but Royce didn't seem to mind because it was Hadrian. They spent a moment in silence before Hadrian pulled his hand back.
Sitting up straight once more, Royce glanced at the tattered remains of cloth that were left hanging off of Hadrian's shoulders. "I'll just cut the rest of your shirt off. It's a lost cause anyway."
Hadrian lifted an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, kinky. You know I've always had a thing for Alverstone, and I am pretty much always up for having a little bit of fun, but right now I think I have to insist on you buying me dinner first."
Royce rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly and Hadrian allowed himself a content smile as Royce cut away the rest of the fabric from Hadrian's torso. When the cloth was fully removed, Hadrian looked down only to be rewarded with his first clear glimpse of the damage that had been done to his chest. Seeing the wound for himself, he suddenly understood the concerned look Royce had expressed on his face when he had examined it in the cave earlier. The cuts were deep, still bleeding in places and were jagged at the edges. Even if he got lucky and they didn't get infected, they would surely leave scars.
The burns on his back only got a cursory glance from Royce, before he focused his attention on Hadrian's chest once again.
"I will boil some water to clean the wounds properly," Royce explained and Hadrian nodded.
Heading back over to their horses, Royce filled their kettle with water from the small river and set it up over the fire to boil. Then he went back to Hadrian and gave him a few stripes of salt meat to munch on.
"Here's your dinner," Royce noted. Hadrian barely caught the slight smirk that ghosted Royce's features before he turned back to tend to the fire and Hadrian laughed softly.
Once the water had begun to boil, Royce rinsed a couple bandages and began to clean the cuts on Hadrian's chest. Hadrian gritted his teeth once again at the contact and Royce sent him an apologetic look with his eyes.
When he was done, he wrapped a few clean bandages over Hadrian's chest before pushing himself back to his feet.
"Try to get some sleep. You will need your strength tomorrow. Maybe we can find some comfrey on the way so I can make an ointment out of it."
"Thanks," Hadrian answered and Royce just nodded.
Hadrian laid down as carefully as possible and the moment his head hit the blanket, he fell asleep.
A sound to Hadrian's right woke him up and he groggily opened his eyes. It was still dark, and the small fire had nearly burned itself out, but there was still enough light for him to see Royce under his blanket just a few feet away.
It took a moment before Hadrian realized that the sound that had woken him was coming from his friend. He was still fast asleep, but his eyes were flickering restlessly behind his eyelids and quiet, distressed groans were falling occasionally from his lips.
Hadrian hesitated for a moment before he slowly sat up and, being mindful of his broken leg, scooted over towards Royce and lightly touched the man's shoulder with his good arm. Almost instantly, Hadrian felt Alverstone's blade at his throat while Royce glared back at him with sharp eyes and Hadrian's muscles tensed up in surprise. As soon as Royce realized that it was Hadrian that had woken him, he lowered Alverstone again and took a deep breath.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he asked, an angry tone in his voice and Hadrian shook his head.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about your reaction. You were having a bad dream."
Royce grumbled disgruntledly. "Go back to sleep," he mumbled before rolling over, facing away from Hadrian.
"If you want to talk about it, I'm a pretty good listener," Hadrian offered even though he didn't really expect Royce to say anything, and just as he anticipated, Royce didn't answer.
Hadrian moved back to his blanket and carefully laid down again. He was nearly asleep when he heard Royce's quiet voice reach him in the dark.
"I was dreaming about falling into that abyss back at the cave and landing in the water. You didn't resurface and… I couldn't find you. I thought you were dead."
Surprised by Royce's admission, it took Hadrian a moment to process what he had just heard. Royce hardly ever opened up about his emotions and after six years together, Hadrian just accepted this part of his friend. Instead, he learned to read the looks in Royce's eyes and the small expressions on his face, picking up on the silent cues that gave off the emotions and thoughts that Royce couldn't bring himself to say out loud.
"I'm fine," Hadrian reassured quietly. "I'm right here and I will try my best not to die on you. My mission to make a human being out of you yet is not finished after all."
Royce huffed, amused, and Hadrian allowed himself a small grin. "Maybe you should come over here and make sure that I don't get a fever. The fire is alright, but I'm starting to feel a little cold to be honest."
Hadrian held his breath while he waited. For a long moment nothing happened, but then he heard a soft shuffling sound. Turning his head, he saw Royce spreading his blanket out on the floor right next to him.
Hadrian arranged himself so that Royce could lay his head on his good shoulder if he wanted to. It was a position they sometimes took after sex, when Hadrian could persuade Royce to stay close for a little while. Hadrian's smile widened as Royce actually laid down with his head on his shoulder, and Hadrian put his arm around him. Royce pulled his blanket up so that it was nearly covering his head, but Hadrian didn't care. He felt Royce's warm body next to his, and with a content smile on his lips he fell back asleep.
