CHAPTER 81:

King's toy

True to Vinay's word, the group of men plus Jay left the market shortly after meeting. The crew of dealers traveled on foot with no type of animal aid to transport the several bags where they stored their belongings and sales, thus they couldn't carry much food either. Regardless, Jay was fine with a little hunger. The capital was a short two days trip according to the men, plus he'd gained weight during the past months, starving for a little wouldn't affect him as much as before meeting the Maharaja.

The sun shined bright over their heads as the group strolled down the harvesting fields and kept on through the valley. While traveling with Kai, Jay had been too anxious to enjoy the landscape. The constant worry of screwing up and the annoying prickling sensation in his legs had turned what could have been a relaxing trip into one maddening experience for the most part. Now, even though Jay couldn't keep the monarch completely off his mind, his eyes found themselves wandering around, trying to retain all the beauty he had missed the last time anchored up on that elephant.

"So… do you travel a lot, buddy?"

Vinay startled Jay for a second as he elbowed the boy. The expert deal-snatcher smiled at him, Jay returned the grin with not as much enthusiasm. While he appreciated a chatty companion, Vinay's verbosity sort of irritated him. The two men had been talking on and off for a while, and as they did, Jay had noticed the guy's focus in whatever he had to tell shifted as randomly as the sounds of the birds around. It kind of made him reach the conclusion that his older peer wasn't truly interested in his speech and was just trying to act civil towards the person that held part of his pay.

Not like Jay could blame him anyway, his own mind was set on one track as well; to see Kai again.

"Uh, no, not really," Jay finally responded to the question. "I guess you could say this is only my second time."

"Guess?" The other inquired.

"Yeah, uhm… I've made this trip in the past already, but I… I wasn't supposed to," he tried to explain without going into much detail about his abduction.

"Umh, that sounds… mysterious…" Vinay leaned in, touching his fingers to his chin and intensely looking at Jay while he hummed in thought. Jay instinctively craned his neck away. He might have grown used to sharing his personal space with the royal spouses, but not with unfamiliar men.

After scrutinizing Jay up and down like a guard who was trying to catch a criminal, Vinay straightened and cackled.

"Ha, ha! Don't worry, pal! We are all ashamed of stuff we've done in the past." He patted Jay on the back so enthusiastically it made the boy lose his stance for a beat.

Jay giggled awkwardly in return. He didn't feel connected enough to these guys to trust them with all the things he'd gone through over the last months. He might have been lucky with Mr. Tori, but Jay didn't dare try his fate again. Vinay was somewhat friendly, but the other two...

Jay stared at the remaining crew walking before them. Clem and Odeil rarely spoke, and whenever they did, it was a low exchange of whispers Jay had no way to decipher. Not that he was dying to know all about these guys, but it annoyed him how they sometimes acted like he wasn't there at all. Such bad manners for people who were supposed to be experts at socializing!

Jay sighed, he'd been lucky enough with his previous partners. The good side of this was that he wouldn't have to spend as much time with these men —as long as the weather was propitious.

A quick look up to the sky relieved the boy. The few clouds up there were as white and fluffy as the cutest of the lambs.

"So," Vinay said, trying to break the ice again. "I know you said you really need to get to the city as soon as possible but… why all that rush? You have a good buyer there?"

Jay squinted an eye at him, almost guffawing at the fact that his peer could even mistake him for a businessman.

"No, no, I just… I need to see someone there."

"Oh, I get it… A cute chick, uh?" Vinay smirked.

"Uhm, no... Just… some friends."

Why did everyone discover the true nature of Jay's trip so fast?

The man hummed exaggeratedly. "Are you sure? Because I've never seen someone traveling this far for 'just some friends'."

Jay remained silent for a moment before he gathered enough strength to keep lying to the man.

"Well, I guess I'm your first then." He tried adding a small chuckle at the end to lessen his anxiety levels. His hand instinctively reached for the harmony ball, fingers wrapping around it over the shirt. Jay felt himself relax immediately. "They're just some… really… really good friends."

A sheepish smile curved his lips as, for the umpteenth time, he felt Lloyd and the others' presence around him with just a touch of the charm.

"Hey, what's that on your-" Vinay wanted to ask, but his question got cut out when he noticed his companions stopped before them.

The soul-trespassing eyes of Clem stared coldly as ever at them, then the man jerked his head towards the landscape in front of the group. The path split in two directions; one seemingly descending, while the other led to some more rocky formations up the mountain.

"Which way?" Clem spat.

"Oh," let out Vinay, his head turning in Jay's direction. "That would be up to the boss, ain't it?"

Jay flushed a fraction at such a title.

"I don't know these lands at all. Are the paths any different?"

"Oh, yeah. Down there are more fields, abandoned farms... It's easy ground if you don't mind the bugs and foxtails sticking everywhere on you, but it's quite long." Vinay explained. "If we cross the mountain instead... we could get to Ninjago city tomorrow morning or midday."

"Tomorrow?!" Jay shouted, unable to hold back his surprise.

Vinay nodded.

Tomorrow midday…

That was less than twenty-four hours. In less than a day, Jay could be in the royal family's arms again, hugging, joking, certainly crying too.

In less than a day, he and Kai could be… could be...

His cheeks burned at all the images being conjured in his head. Jay's eyes sparkled as he looked up at Vinay.

"Is it safe?" He asked, pointing at the rocky path ahead.

"Yeah, you just have to watch more carefully where you put your feet." The man laughed.

Watch more carefully…

Jay worried his lower lip, gazing again at the path that moved up the mountain.

"Okay then."

••••••••••••

Puffs of air came out of Jay's mouth, his throat felt parched. So far, the way through the mountain hadn't been too challenging. The path was indeed tricky, with many loose stones and potholes that required them to step slower than usual, but what made it harder was the constant incline. It wasn't too steep, but enough to drain their energy —or to be more precise, Jay's energy. It surprised the boy how the other men, despite being older than him, seemed to hold on better. They probably had experience walking through these lands. That or Jay had relaxed a bit during his stay at the palace, which wasn't all that far-fetched either.

As they advanced, the big trees scattered around became less often of a sight. Jay watched ahead, noticing how the sun moved down slowly, getting closer to its resting turn. It was then when, far away, he thought he'd recognized something in the blurry horizon.

Walking away from Vinay and the others, Jay climbed up a clear spot, placing his hand on a tree to keep his balance as he straightened and… he saw it.

His heart pounded like love at first sight —or second sight in this case. Kilometers away, the dome of the royal palace rose magnificent, like a giant cross in a map, signaling the end of Jay's trip.

A renewed passion blossomed inside of Jay. His whole face lit up, yet at the same time his lips started trembling and tears stung the back of his eyes.

This was crazy. Somehow, seeing himself so close to his goal made him more aware of the situation. He had left his home, his city, his life at the junkyard, and crossed miles and miles, thanks to kind people that took pity on him. And for what?

For love.

Jay wasn't scared anymore of his own feelings. It was funny, though, how people said that time was supposed to extinguish the fire, but for Jay, it had done exactly the opposite. Far from regaining his boring straight life, the days he'd spent without Kai and the others had only heightened his underlying affection for them all. Both the royal family and Jay's parents had been right; home was where the heart was. And right now, Jay's was ecstatic to get back to a certain hot-headed monarch.

Dazed and lovesick, Jay almost jumped out of his skin when Vinay yelled behind him and yanked him back. Jay found himself in the man's arms all of a sudden.

"Don't walk away without telling us. These grounds can't be trusted!" Vinay said pointing at the spot where Jay had been standing.

"Th-Thanks," he breathed out, still startled by the guy's concern. He hadn't even been that close to the edge of the mountain.

Jay pushed himself away from Vinay slowly, but the man retained a partial grip on him.

"It would be such a waste for you to fall down now, wouldn't it?" He laughed, squeezing Jay's shoulders like good old friends would do —except they weren't friends.

Jay tried again to separate himself from the man without being too obvious about his discomfort, but by the point, Vinay's hands started to snake down his body Jay couldn't hold himself and snapped on him.

"Hey, easy there." The other insisted. "I was just making sure you were in one piece... Do you want me to carry your stuff for a bit? You look pale and-"

"No! Just don't touch me!"

"Oh, come on, buddy, as if you didn't like that!"

"What?!" Jay finally freed himself and stared at the man with wide eyes. "Wh-What did you just say?" He stuttered, his nerves setting up on fire.

"Uh… Nothing. Nothing at all!"

Vinay took a step forward, to which Jay responded by moving away again. The corner of Vinay's lips twitched, his amicable smile faltering for a split second. Jay didn't like that one bit. The group of four men remained frozen for a long moment, Clem and Odeil watching their discussion in silence.

"Why… did you say that?" Jay inquired anew.

"I… No reason, really! You just… don't look like a guy that would be fussy about being touched…?"

The uncertainty in his voice… It was subtle but enough to ring all the alarm bells inside Jay's skull. Vinay was improvising his answers.

Jay took another step back, slow, feeling every inch of skin in his body prickling with bad omens.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Vinay stretched his arm.

"Don't come any closer!" Jay yelled, arms thrusting forward to recreate some kind of shield.

"Buddy, come on…" Vinay didn't advance, but his tone was as insisting as ever. "Look, let's forget about it and keep moving."

But Jay could not forget. Vinay had insinuated something, something that was completely made up, but… something only Jay was supposed to know about. While the boy was rushing his brain to resolve the riddle as fast as possible, Odeil's head shook under the cloak.

"Screw it." Were the first words Jay ever heard from him, and which left the young man utterly confused.

In a moment's notice, Clem launched forward, getting to Jay's spot and grabbing him by the arms. An excruciating ache followed close as he lost his axis. Clem punched him under the ribs and twisted his limbs around Jay's back as he bent forward with a painful exhale.

What was going on?! Why was he being maltreated now?!

"As pathetic as ever." Odeil's voice manifested again, adding an extra level of confusion on Jay —for the sound wasn't completely unfamiliar to him.

Looking up with difficulty, Jay saw the mysterious companion pull down the cloak that had hidden his face all this time, and he shivered at the sight.

"Hello, king's toy."