He knew it was Cain before he nudged the muzzle of the weapon to the back of his head.
He did it anyhow, just for the selfish pleasure of having the upper hand against this man in particular.
Even a fleeting moment of pleasure was still a prize of pride.
Ahamo grinned smugly that he'd been the one to find the other. A bit of selfish comfort in the fact that he had a gun to this man's head. It was probably the only time he would have control in this relationship and he savored the moment before clicking the safety back on.
"You made yourself pretty obvious." He murmured and stepped back toward the now dampened fire he'd made and then outened. "I heard you coming a mile away."
"Intentionally." Wyatt turned and set his pistol back into the holster with a cocked glance toward the older man. "You enjoyed that."
Ahamo let a laugh cough up from is chest, "I did a little. DG?"
"She's fine." Wyatt watched her father gather up the things he hadn't been able to get to in his hurry to gain surprise. "Get a little lost?"
"My father," Ahamo nodded, "he was an avid hunter. When I was little he'd set me down somewhere in the woods and tell me that if I ever got lost, stay where I was. Someone would come find me."
"That's leaving a lot of faith in the hands of a dead man, isn't it?" Cain asked with squinted eyes.
Ahamo just smiled back at him, "We've both been dead men, Cain. People still have faith in the movements of our hands."
Wyatt cocked his head at the other man's words and followed him as he started into the darkness of the woods. They walked in a lagging silence toward where the older man had tied up the horses. He helped Ahamo loosen them and then thoughtlessly pulled himself up onto the mare, hushing her with crooning sounds and a bent hand to her neck. Cain looked up to find the other man staring at him with a perplexed look on his face, the darkness making it seem more accusatory than it probably was.
"I have no right to say anything about your relationship with my daughter." Ahamo pulled himself up into the saddle and stepped his horse closer to Cain's, handing over the reigns to DG's Pinto.
"And yet," Wyatt took them and spun a knot to his saddle pommel. "you seem to feel the need at the moment?"
Ahamo took a swilling breath, looking out into the darkness while he stowed his pack behind him on his saddle. "I would appreciate it if you could do what I could not."
Wyatt leaned his horse into a slow trot, the older man easily keeping up with him. "I don't follow."
"Lavender was the sweetest combination of both our daughters. Used to be." He continued, "The only thing I gave Dorothy was a sure hand with a pencil."
"Consort - "
"Don't let this break her." Ahamo gave him a sideways glare, jaw twitching in a clenching manner that had him surprised by the intensity.
"I don't control her, Consort." Cain forced his face passive. "I wouldn't dare try."
"Mmmm." Ahamo nodded, a forced smile thinning on his lips, "Of course not."
"If you have a problem - "
"There is no room for me to have a 'problem'." Ahamo reared his horse to an abrupt stop, his voice knifing through darkness, "I have no recourse and no reason, Mr Cain. Am I happy that she's gotten wide-eyed over a common highwayman? Damned far from it."
Wyatt jerked his horse back hard, shoulders sterned back and tight as he gritted his teeth together, eyes pinpointing bright but flaring his temper into the darkness. He didn't speak at first, idling the mare closer to the other man's horse.
"Is it that I'm common?" He dropped the words by each leaden syllable, "Or that I don't even want another worthless title? Or is it that she needs more substance than you've provided in the whole of her life?"
He was brightly surprised by the sudden gritting smile that Ahamo laid between them. When his eyes rose again to meet Cain's it was even wider than it had been. His teeth glared bright in the dark as he leaned forward and caught the younger man's vest lapel. Wyatt didn't flinch at the gripping fingers, just watched in curious silence.
"Never lose that." Ahamo whispered in what rang of pride, the sound of it confusing Cain. "Never give that up when it comes to her. She deserves every ounce of that fervor, Tin Man."
Cain drew his horse back, forcing the older man to break his hold. "Hadn't planned on it."
She hadn't had to go far, not really. Not even three quarters of a mile to the south, along the crumbling edge of the Old Road. She'd dropped the blanket maybe twenty minutes before, knowing she was onto something tangible when the moons had opened enough light for her to see a figure waiting quiet in her path. She knew already… She'd known that he'd been waiting inside their lines for half a day. It was a wonder that her mother hadn't already known…
Azkadellia stopped short of getting close enough to see the white that was highlighting his blonde hair. "You shouldn't be here."
Zero let up a snort of derision, "I shouldn't be anywhere, Princess. I should be dead."
Az swallowed the lump of fear that blocked in her throat, the buzzing behind her ears swelling to a tidal front force. "You will be soon enough."
He gave in another cynical laugh and twisted his body in a gracefully lyrical yet obviously mocking bow. Zero stood back straight and crossed his arms over his chest, blanked eyes slimming as he looked her over in curious scrutiny. His head shook minutely as he let his gaze wander lasciviously down her body and back up to her loose hair. A pleased noise rolled from his throat as he took a step forward. She couldn't help but flinch back.
"Two little Princesses." He spoke, one hand lifting and dancing back and forth with his sing-song tone. "But I only see one. Have I missed the other?"
Zero had taken another step closer and this time she'd found the will to stand still.
"Where's she gone? She's left you again." he stated with hushed malice, the same raised hand falling to reach toward her hair.
Az caught his fingers tightly, holding them in the air, squinting against the way the sound in her ears sailed into a wailing warning. She mentally clamped against it and, surprisingly, the sound hushed to a dull drone in her head. There was a vibrant hum but nothing more. Her fingers tightened and she caught the pleased smile that Zero was leaning over her.
"You're more beautiful now than you were before." His tone still had an edge to it, but his eyes were voided and glossy. "You could still rule, you know? Pretty little princess…"
"No." she sat up hard into the dying firelight, Cain's duster already kicked to the side and off her shifting legs.
It hadn't been a dream.
It had been real.
At least, part of it had been…
DG stood and stepped away from the fire, hands wiping her hair back off her face as she tried to grip onto her bearings. It was mostly quiet. She shook the image of her sister's hand being held down tightly by the flexed palm of a man she could only assume was Zero. The image broke cold over shoulders and she started toward the wagon that was stalled a few yards away. She heard steps behind her and turned sharply toward them when they nipped at her heels.
"Cain." She breathed out the sigh, a hand flattening to her stomach. "I didn't know you were back."
"We got back half an hour ago." He squinted a knowing glance between her and the wagon that stood unused behind her. "We were letting you sleep another half hour."
"You found Ahamo?" the smile that bent her lips was nearly enough to cover the worry that was crowding blue eyes. "He's here?"
"He'd gotten lost after losing sight of the truck." His hand set against the jut of his holster as he looked down over her. "Were you about to ditch us?"
DG breathed in through her nose, a stubborn quality paling her face. "Az… Zero's found her. But…it's strange. He's not hurting her. I don't think."
"Why injure what you can use as the lovely lure for a finely made trap?" Wyatt questioned quietly, glance burning on her. "A trap her sister, or parents, would happily walk right into."
"Don't patronize me." She tossed up before looking away, throat flushing at the realization that he was probably right.
"Don't keep secrets from me."
DG opened her mouth to reply but shut it tight and quick when she saw her father moving from the barely left light of the fire. He looked tired and older than he had since they'd met in the Unwanted. It saddened her slightly and she hooked a forced smile on her face. DG stepped easily into the way he moved to hug her, letting him sigh his arms against her shoulder, face in her hair.
"I'm glad you're safe." She put the same smile on as they leaned apart.
"The Princess thinks it's time we move." Cain said quietly, banking a glance toward the other man.
"Is that why she's halfway into the wagon?" Ahamo asked with a perked brow.
Cain nodded, "Seems to be."
"Yeah, yeah." She lifted her hands and stepped away from them in annoyance. "So I got busted. Can we go now?"
"Be faster without the wagon." Wyatt tipped his hand back toward the fire and watched the excited smile that lit her face when she realized all three horses had joined the one that had been drawing the wagon.
"You brought Jefferson back." She grinned and was already moving happily toward the pony.
"Jefferson?" Cain cocked a glance at her father.
"Slipper thing." Ahamo laughed at his outright confusion. "You wouldn't get it."
Wyatt rolled his eyes and moved in behind her, "Thankfully."
"This isn't the battle." His voice had iced quiet, boots scuffing the brick as he stepped back and pulled his hand from hers. "Not yet, Princess. I was just saying hello. Giving you a chance."
"You think that I'm afraid of you." She said gently after him, the thrum that had been radiating through her body finally settling as she calmed her breathing. "I can't afford fear."
Zero chuckled and stepped onto the crumbling road, letting the heel of one black boot dig up a brick before he toed it away. He looked back up at her and shook his head. One of his hands slipped out and toward her, palm up. Azkadellia shook her head but lifted her fingers so that her palm was in direct opposition to his, facing down. He cocked his head in question and inched his hand forward, trying to touch palm to palm.
She waited for his balance to lean a touch too far before she grabbed at his wrist and snapped all the force she could muster into the stretch of her fingers. The sound of Tutor's calm and urging voice was the simple memory she chose to have faith in as she laid out all the power she could muster into the touch. He howled angrily at her, scrambling to free himself from her scorching fingers, skin singeing at the pulsing touch points.
She took no joy in the pained noise he made as she finally disengaged his hand.
There was no pride either.
It hadn't been nearly enough power to stop him.
It was disappointing…
"Bitch." Zero spit at her feet and stepped back, his body bent over the way he was clutching his hand into his chest. "That was the wrong choice."
"The wrong choice is rarely made when it leads to gutless little bastards licking their wounds." Azkadellia heard something in her voice that mingled between her mother's clear tone and the Witch's angry inflection. The mix unnerved her but she stepped forward.
"You'll be dead soon." Az gentled, putting more stock in the same solid way her mother had always spoken than in the way the Witch had manipulated her voice. "Do you understand that?"
Zero tucked his bleeding and singed hand to his chest and offered up a twisted smirk that stopped her movements. His body backpedaled cautiously down the road, "We all die, Princess."
Azkadellia nodded and watched him slide into darkness, "Soon, Zero."
"Impressive." Lavender said a quietly as she could, voice stirring her daughter's nervous reverie.
Az startled easily in the darkness, jumping from the eerie sudden appearance of her mother. Lavender only offered a supportive smile and a dipping nod before motioning back in the direction the both of them had come. Az shook her head in complete confusion, a flush of hot red painting her throat as she sucked down oxygen in anger.
"Why didn't you… you could have stopped this."
"Not while you were so deftly handling the situation on your own." The older woman stalled her and tried to soothe her but Az recoiled at her mother's words.
"You could have killed him."
"Doubtful." Lavender murmured. "You know how drained I am."
"With the emerald…you could have finished it." Az pushed back and her chest rose hard as her breathing sped. "Why didn't you - "
"With the daughter I finally have back placed directly between me and my quarry?" Lavender murmured quietly and reached for her oldest child anyhow, fingers stroking the ends of dark hair. "Not a chance. Not unless I thought he was truly going to hurt you."
"He could have."
Lavender shook her head slowly, her eyes softening, "He can't hurt you, angel. Trust in that."
"What makes you so sure?" Azkadellia's voice had tipped slightly toward hysterics and her face had paled completely now that she could recount what had happened.
The Queen let both of her hands touch her daughter's shaking palm, lifting it up so that the both of them watched the green hued light fade slowly from a circled mark on her palm. It was a breath and then it was gone. Az was still shaking her head in disbelief. There was still an uncomfortable roiling in her stomach that led her to sway slightly. Her fingers were still tingling oddly.
"Zero is nothing." Lavender laughed a little at the mathematical logic in the statement. "And now you've proven it to yourself."
"I didn't need a lesson, mother." Az snapped her hand away. "You could have stopped this."
Lavender just watched as her daughter stepped slowly away from her, breathing evenly into sadness. "No, darling. I couldn't have."
She pulled the pocket watch out and blankly looked it over, sadly knowing that the emerald wouldn't respond to her touch any more now than it had when Ambrose had first handed it to her… Nothing happened, and so she followed her child silently through the trees and back to the quiet of the encampment.
It still took a few tense hours for them to ride in the direction that Raw had pointed them, his tips for not getting lost all relying on natural borders and outcroppings and creeks and more than likely giant Mobat shits. Wyatt was having a harder time tracking their way through the forest in the dark than he had hoped and finally it was a grunt of annoyed frustration while DG pranced her horse beside his still form that snapped the silent tension.
"Tin Man." Her hand stroked the now heavily stubbled line of his jaw from the side as she leaned down, her other hand leveling the saddle pommel as she smirked. "Get back on your damn horse and let me do this."
Wyatt couldn't help the smirk he gave her back as she cocked a smug glance down at him. He shrugged and whistled the mare, swinging back up onto her easily. Both his hands went up in concession as he relaxed in the saddle. Ahamo was watching them both in quiet interest. He grinned as DG started to her horse at a slow gait, prancing steps.
"She's tracking her sister." Ahamo murmured, "Or the emerald."
"Either way." Cain shrugged as the both of them followed. "I'm inclined to follow her very very quietly."
"It would seem that's the smartest avenue to take, my friend."
"Are we?" Cain hinted a grin at him. "Friends now?"
"I'd say you earned a grace period long before the Witch was killed." Ahamo just let his gaze drift back to his daughter. "She's a firecracker, isn't she?"
Wyatt stared at the straight line of her back and watched her hips as she rolled the horse into a faster gallop.
He decided he probably shouldn't answer with what he was truly thinking.
Az felt Kalm grasp at her fingers, tugging on them as the light began to filter in through the open door. She hadn't slept at all, just laid quiet while trying to breathe herself calm. It had barely worked until the boy had quietly stepped in, shyly smiling at her mother before reaching for her. He gave Az a toothy grin and puffed up his chest a little.
"Az listen." He nodded, "Listen loud."
She frowned and sat up quietly, still holding tight to his fingers while her head cocked toward the pink tinged light that was growing wider into the room. There was a warm flood of something sentimental opening in her chest and if she listened, listened loud as he had suggested… she could hear the rhythmic thumping.
"DG." She stood and felt her mother stand as well. "DG's here."
Lavender watched the boy tug her daughter toward the door and tried to find the same path her daughter had traced… Nothing.
Nothing except heat in her hands and a flush that said…
"Your father's with her."
Finally. Finally she could feel something warm and comforting between the four of them.
"I know." Azkadellia was already through the door and into the morning light.
He stayed back from the way the family met happy and excited. His hand stayed soothing on his horse's side as Kalm stepped away from the four of them and the way they were laughingly trying to talk over one another. It wasn't an uncomfortable separation, he just didn't feel as though it was his place to break between DG and Azkadellia's clenched hands. She needed to lace her sister's fingers and it was just as easy for him to wipe down the mare with soothing and hushing noises before letting her roam a little for food.
"Cain happy too." Kalm noticed it immediately.
"Sure." He smiled and nodded gently before ruffling a comforting hand at the boy's knotted hair, "Just not my place."
"Wants to be." Kalm cast a glance back to the way DG was trailing a sad look of confusion at him.
"Not yet." Wyatt shook his head and aimed a hand at the saddle. "Wanna give her a go?"
Kalm just grinned at him in excitement, one of his hands already reaching for the horse's nose to give her a good natured scratch. "Cain means it."
"Of course I do." He offered both hands and hauled the child up easily, settling him on the saddle before wrapping the reigns loosely around his palm. "Hold on, kid."
"Kalm hold."
It did seem a bit like that, he thought.
His eyes roved toward the royal family and the way they were already starting into a hushed but serious conversation.
The calm hold.
The odd still before the storm.
"Glitch and Raw and Jonah are heading back in the wagon." She offered quietly, their shoulders rubbing together while they shared a meager meal of fresh fruit. "The Guild is still guarding the edge."
"The males have been gone a day." Az nodded agreement, "At the least."
DG finally stared over her sister's face, noticing that there was more strength there than there had been when they had separated, her eyes were clearer, "Did all of it actually happen? What I saw?"
"I would imagine that you were seeing it in my time." The older of the two murmured. "I was reaching for you…"
"Guess what?" DG smiled wide at her and nudged their shoulders together.
"What?" Az was very nearly smiling.
"I reached back."
The older woman kissed her light against the cheek and DG couldn't help the smile that laid comfortable on her lips.
She didn't feel guilty in the least for watching him. It wasn't like he hadn't interrupted breakfast with her sister and told her exactly where he was going, what he was doing, and how long he'd be there. He'd very nearly written it as a gilded invitation.
DG lowered her body down to the edge of the water in a crouch, a stone already caught up in her fingers. She stood again as he broke the surface of the water, wiping it back from his eyes and through his short trimmed hair. Her hand drew back and she put enough of a flick into the turn of her wrist that she skipped the stone directly to the left of him. Cain snapped his head up abruptly, eyes latching onto her and brightening in the reflection of the light on the water. She reached for the gun he'd left on the bank.
"What will you do, Mr Cain?" she teased at him and swung his holster from her fingertips. "Your gun's up here."
"You think I'm afraid of you?" he cocked his head and rubbed water against his chest and onto the shoulder that was still looking a furious red. "Come down here."
"Nope." DG shook her head and set his gun down gently, both her hands setting to her hips, "You come up here."
"I don't take orders from kids." He playfully splashed water up onto the shore.
"Captain Cain." She angled her head, letting her eyes slide over the way the water went in rivulets down his muscled upper body, enough sparse hair spattered over his chest to catch some playful droplets. "Come up here."
"That's my Princess." His voice was hushed enough that she could barely hear it over the rippling of the water.
"You didn't piss in there, did you?" she smirked as he started walking, eyes stuck on the way the water level receded down his trim stomach slowly. "I'm pretty sure that's drinking water."
"You have a crass mouth sometimes, Princess."
"Jesus Christ." Her face flushed when his pale hips broke the surface of the water and she blinked up at his face after getting a full frontal view. "Next time just fucking shoot me."
"See?" he grinned as he stepped higher up the bank and wiped water from off his neck, his eyes bright in amusement. "Did you think I was wearing my pants in there?"
"A little warning." She shrugged playfully. "I could have had a heart attack from the shock of seeing you without…you know."
"My clothes?" Wyatt stepped into the grass, body already leading up on her in a way that said he was winning something. "Sweetheart, how do you think things are going to work out if we don't ever take off our clothes?"
"I'm not embarrassed." Her hand tipped forward to trace a line of water on his stomach.
"Then why are you that same pretty pink?" his hands braced her hips and dug her forward tightly, his head cocked back slightly as he smirked at her.
DG lifted her head at him, eyes lidded as she pressed a palm flat to his chest between them. The other hand teased down his stomach and he breathed through clenched teeth as he let his eyes roam over her face.
"We don't have a lot of time." He leaned in and trapped his mouth against her ear, dropping kisses down to her throat. "I didn't expect much."
She just sloped her hand down and wrapped long fingers around his length, turned her head into the way he groaned her name against her throat. "Enough time."
Wyatt nipped against her neck, sucking down as she started slowly stroking him, one of his hands jerked up into her hair and dug in while the other stayed clenched to her arm, keeping it between them. DG laid a moan into his cheek as he let his breathing go ragged against her jaw as he hardened in her hand. Her other hand lifted to wipe the stubble that he hadn't cleared off his jaw.
"Don't shave yet." She tapped his chin before kissing where her fingers had been.
Wyatt just groaned a nod and leaned his forehead into hers, both his hands raising to clamp at the back of her neck while she worked slick hot skin with quickening fingers. His eyes followed her hand while she pulled him closer, her lips pressing the corner of his mouth. She tried to shift down, tried to move to back up a teasing promise she'd once made and he just groaned tighter into her, forehead driving against hers.
"Look at me, Wyatt." She kissed him hard to draw his attention back, controlling the kiss so that it was her tongue driving in on him while she sped her hand.
He lifted the iced blue of his eyes so that he could watch the lusted heat of hers. She could see his jaw flex as he tried to even his breathing, her own breathing as calm as she could manage while she brought him closer. His hands tightened against the back of her neck and he tried to shift away, her entire front already damp from the water that layered his now scorching skin.
"Don't." She commanded quietly and shifted slightly to his side, one of his hands staying as her neck while the other gripped desperately against her wrist. "Don't go anywhere, Tin Man."
"I'm not a Tin Man." He growled and tipped his head back, hips starting to thrust reflexively into the now quicker movements of her long and soft fingers.
"You are to me." She kissed the words at his jaw. "You can let go any time. I've got you."
His hand jerked into the hair at the base of her neck and his mouth crashed against hers as he came hard. He poured the groan into her mouth as she softened her touches to barely there, her body laying vertically into the way he sagged against her. He broke the kiss as roughly as he'd started it, lungs sucking down as much oxygen as possible. DG smiled into the sated noise he laid out as he swung a hug around her, dragging her hips too close to keep moving as he let his face ride into her dark hair. She tugged both arms up forcefully to loop his neck as he finally started soothing his breathing to a calmer rhythm.
"That's my princess." She could tell he was smiling into her hair.
"You accused me of being crass." Her fingers pinched the back of his tensely chorded neck. "And then - "
"You waved my gun in my face." He countered playfully.
"You waved your gun in my face." She countered.
The laughter he tossed into her hair gave her the easiest smile she'd had since slipping through.
