Horace was so tired. He was tired of traveling. He was tired of people that he loved and trusted treating him like he was a criminal. He was tired of everything did to fix things backfiring and blowing up in his face. He was tired of the Brotherhood fighting with each other. Most of all, he was just tired of himself, because clearly whatever he was doing was not working, and he didn't know how to make things right.
Horace didn't really want to be yelled at, but he knew that he deserved all of this anger from the brotherhood, so he reluctantly took it. However, just because he had to listen to this didn't mean that Varian did. So when Horace saw Lance lead a stressed Varian out of the room, unnoticed by anybody else, he didn't say a word about it.
This was a lot to deal with at once, and Varian shouldn't have to deal with it. The kid had been very stressed lately, and he deserved to do whatever he needed to feel more relaxed, even if Quirin would probably freak out when he saw that Varian wasn't there.
Horace would do his best to cover for Varian, but he knew there wouldn't be a lot he could do. It wasn't as though the others would listen to a word he had to say about how safe Varian was. It wasn't like Horace had given them any reason to listen to him.
Horace had expected Quirin's anger and distrust, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. Horace was fairly certain that Quirin hated him, which was fair, but it still hurt. The man was his uncle. Growing up, Quirin had always been the one that Horace would go to after getting into a fight with his dad. Quirin had been willing to offer a listening ear, and he'd been understanding, though he also always set Horace back on the right path.
Horace had been so busy thinking about his relationship with Varian and how he might fix it, but Horace thought that things with Quirin were even worse, and there was no chance of repairing it. Quirin was so protective of his son, and nowhere near as forgiving as Varian was. Horace had ruined things forever, and he had nobody but himself to blame.
Everything that Quirin said about Horace was true, and it was all things that he had thought about himself, but it was one thing to think something about himself and another to hear it from somebody whose opinion he cared about.
The fighting and accusations went on and one until Hector's bearcat came limping back to them. Quirin wasn't to be distracted, but Hector and Horace's full attention went to the frantic looking animal. Horace had seen it follow Lance and Varian, who weren't anywhere in sight right now. The bearcat wouldn't leave them alone for no reason.
Hector knelt on the ground to greet his bearcat. "What happened?" Hector touched a rustled part of the bearcat's fur, making it whine and flinch away. The bearcat was hurt. That didn't make Horace feel very reassured about Varian's safety. The bearcats were fierce. If something had hurt the beast, what could it do to Varian?
Horace started to make his way out of the room, ignoring his father's questions. He needed to make sure that Varian was okay. Before he left the room he heard Hector shout out furiously.
"What do you mean the moonstone's gone?!" Hector shouted. Horace cursed under his breath. Hector had set up several systems so he and his bearcats could communicate with each other. Horace didn't know just what those systems were, but if Hector understood that was what the bearcat had communicated, then that was what had happened.
"Darn it, Varian." Horace looked at Nelovko. "Bud, it's time to go." He needed to find Varian, and the fastest and most efficient way of doing that was with the help of the saiga. Nelovko ran to Horace, slowing down just a little bit for him to grab onto an antler and hoist himself onto the saiga's back, and then they bolted. Horace could hear his dad and Rapunzel calling out to him, and Quirin was finally noticing that Varian wasn't there, but he ignored them.
Horace didn't know where Varian was, but that didn't matter. If the kid was still nearby, which he had to be, then Nelovko could sniff him out. Horace let his antelope do all the work. He just held on tight as Nelovko ran through the tree, never stepping for longer than just a second to sniff out the right path.
"Varian!" Horace called out. "Lance!" He could have kicked himself. He shouldn't have let Lance and Varian walk off on their own. He trusted Lance with Varian's safety, but he had been stupid to think that trust could transfer to trust in general. The man was so good with Varian that Horace had almost forgotten what his profession was.
Lance was a thief. The first time Horace had met him had been because Lance had stolen from him. He was a nice guy, sure, but that didn't change the fact that he had no issue with stealing from people. If anything, Lance's kindness could cause them to let their guard down.
Horace hoped he was wrong. Maybe Hector had misunderstood whatever the bearcat had tried to tell him. Maybe somebody else entirely had snuck into the Great Tree while they were distracted and they took the moonstone. It was odd to hope that an unknown threat had struck, but Horace just wanted to be wrong about Lance.
If he was wrong, he would apologize, because Horace knew how painful it could be to be accused of doing something wrong, no matter how justified the suspicion was.
They ran through the tree, and Horace felt a terrible chill the further they went. He felt a strike of fear in his chest when he saw what looked like a trail of black rocks right where they were headed. It looked like the moonstone really had been taken, and whoever had taken it was in the same direction as Varian was.
Please, please, by the moon, let Varian be okay. Just let the kid catch a break for once. Whether Lance was the one who had taken the moonstone, or if it was somebody else and Varian was fighting to get it back, Horace would do whatever was necessary to keep the kid safe.
As Nelovko ran Horace reached for his black rock and bone dagger. He knew it could break if it was hit by a black rock, but it could also cut through other black rocks. It really was his best bet against the moonstone and black rocks.
Horace could see the exit to the tree in sight , and just strolling out into the open, without a care in the world, was Lance. He was wearing a cape now, even though Horace had never seen him wear anything of the sort. Horace thought he saw something glimmer and glint in the sunlight. He had a pretty good idea of what it was, and even though he had rushed out here for Varian's sake Horace couldn't help but feel that rush of fierce protectiveness for the moonstone that had been drilled into him since he was a child.
"Lance!" Horace called out furiously. Lance jumped, startled. He turned towards him and Horace barely saw the alarmed look on his face and the bright teal color in his facial hair before a black rock burst out of the ground right in front of them. Nelovko tried to leap out of the way, but he wasn't quite fast enough. The black rock grazed Nelovko's side and Horace's leg.
Nelovko landed with a whine and fell to the ground, sending Horace crashing harshly to the dirt. He hissed through his teeth as he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the flaring pain in his leg. Horace glared darkly at Lance, who was walking towards him with concern in his eyes.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Lance said frantically. "I don't know how to use this thing." Lance tilted his head to the side, trying to gesture to the moonstone that he was wearing as a large earring.
"I can fix that for you." Horace growled. "Give it back." Horace looked at Varian, who was unconscious in Lance's arms. "The kid too."
Lance adjusted his grip on Varian. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I've got plans, and the moonstone is kinda important."
Horace looked from the moonstone to Varian. He didn't feel ready to deal with this. "I'll tell you what, just give Varian back to me and I'll let you walk away with the moonstone." Horace knew that it was his job to protect the moonstone over anything else, but he couldn't prioritize the moonstone over Varian.
Besides, the Brotherhood couldn't be far behind them, and they were so much more capable of reclaiming the moonstone than Horace was on his own. They would take care of everything. Horace just needed to get Varian out of there.
Lance's now teal eyes darkened as his grip on Varian tightened. "I'm sorry, I really am, but the kid needs to come with me."
"What Varian needs is to be home with his family." Horace said desperately. He didn't understand what was happening. Lance had dedicated so much time, effort, and energy to getting Varian home. Where was this sudden change of heart coming from?"
"With them? You can't be serious." Lance said. There was a frightening amount of fury in his tone. Horace wasn't used to hearing Lance sound like this. "They hurt him."
"Look, I know I messed up, but-" Horace began, but Lance didn't let him get very far.
"It's not just you." Lance said. "I'm talking about Adira, who thought that the best way to protect Varian was by killing his raccoon. I'm talking about the king who thought that the best way to keep his unruly son in line was by branding and brainwashing a five year old child. I'm talking about a father that was constantly disappointed in him. I'm talking about an uncle whose pet attacked Varian."
Horace was thrown off by that last one. "What are you talking about? The bearcats would never-"
"It did." Lance said. He looked pointedly at Varian's leg, and Horace finally noticed that Varian's leg was bleeding quite a bit from what looked like a bad bite.
"What?" Horace didn't understand at all. "Why would the bearcat hurt him?"
"It shouldn't matter why." Lance said. "There's nothing that Varian could do to deserve being hurt by people that he trusts."
"And what about you?" Horace said. "You don't think that taking him away from his family is going to hurt him?"
Lance looked pained, but determined. "Maybe it makes me a hypocrite, but take it from somebody who grew up in an orphanage, surrounded by people who came from bad homes, sometimes people are better off away from their family, no matter how much they want to stay."
"Lance, you can't." Horace took a step towards the other man, grimacing when the cut on his leg flared. "You can't take Varian away from us. You know it would break him."
"It won't be forever." Lance said, and he actually sounded like he meant it. "It's just until you guys can get your act together, and I finish what I've set out to do."
"What exactly are you trying to do?" Horace asked. "What do you want?" He didn't really want to help Lance, but if it got him to back down sooner, so be it.
Lance raised an eyebrow at Horace. "I'm not about to tell you, because you'll do whatever you can to stop me. I don't need to hear you say that this is dangerous, and selfish, and probably stupid, because I know."
"If you already know, then why are you doing it?" Horace asked.
"Because I think it'll be worth it." Lance said. "I know you'll all disagree, and I don't care."
Ruddiger chattered and nuzzled against Lance's leg before looking at Horace. The raccoon's eyes weren't the vibrant glowing green that Horace associated with possession, but they weren't the natural black either. They were a dark green, so even if Ruddiger wasn't completely possessed he was under Zhan Tiri's influence.
Horace grimaced. "Please tell me you're not listening to Zhan Tiri." Lance didn't say anything, but the look on his face was answer enough. "I thought we had an understanding that you could watch Ruddiger as long as you told us if you started hearing voices."
"I didn't." Lance said. "This is a very recent development."
"How recent?" Horace asked.
"A few minutes ago when it told me to take the moonstone to save Varian from being attacked by that stupid bearcat." Lance said. "I didn't really have time to think about if it was a good idea or not. I just needed to help the kid."
Horace wasn't sure if he could get mad at Lance for that, because he might have done the exact same thing. But just because he understood why Lance grabbed the moonstone didn't mean he had to understand why he insisted on keeping it.
Horace slowly lowered his dagger. "I get where you're coming from, but you have no idea how dangerous the moonstone is. I mean, you could have called me because you can't control the black rocks."
"Yeah, not my best moment." Lance said. "Trust me, if I didn't need the moonstone to do what I need to do, I would give it back right now. Lance shrugged. "Blue's not really my color anyway."
"I disagree." Horace said. He thought that Lance pulled off the blue, and not just the teal that the moonstone caused his facial hair to be. Lance's outfit was different now and clearly influenced by the moonstone. Horace thought that he looked like he could pass as a noble from the Dark Kingdom.
Lance's outfit looked similar to what he usually wore, but with shades of blue and gray. The inside of Lance's cape had a pattern strikingly similar to the glow that the black rocks gave off when they weren't dormant.
Lance hummed thoughtfully and looked at his clothes. "Maybe It just needs to grow on me."
Varian groaned and curled closer to Lance, who looked down at him before looking up at Horace. "I need to get going. Varian's not going to be happy when he wakes up, and I can't fight with him and your family."
Horace panicked. He couldn't just let Lance leave with Varian. He knew that Lance wouldn't try to hurt him, but Horace was much less confident about what Zhan Tiri could do. If Lance was listening to her, what might he do?
"Wait." Horace said desperately. He tried to think of something he could do or say to convince Lance to leave Varian alone, but there were almost no ideas. Horace could think of only one thing to say. It might be a mistake, but it was all he had.
"Take me with you." Horace said. He dropped his dagger and held up his hands, just to show that he was unarmed. "I won't try to stop you. I won't try to take Varian from you. I just want to make sure he's okay. Please."
Lance looked uncertain. Horace quickly continued. He had to convince him quickly. "You know that Varian won't go quietly. If I'm there I can try to keep him calm. I know I've hurt him, but I've been trying to do better, you know I have."
Lance's eyes softened. He looked at Varian, glanced to the side briefly, and then returned his gaze to Horace. "If you're coming, we've got to get moving.
Horace breathed a sigh of relief. Thank the moon. "I'm coming, I'm coming." Horace walked up to Lance, pushing past the pain in his leg. The other man watched him carefully, but not unkindly.
"I really am sorry about your leg." Lance said.
"Don't worry about it." Horace said. He'd been hurt much worse than this through training. It hurt, but Horace knew how to work through the pain without pushing himself too hard that he made it worse. "So, where are we going?"
"The Dark Kingdom." Lance said. It wasn't too far, but it wasn't an insignificant distance. Especially with Horace and Varian's hurt legs, and the fact that Varian would probably be fighting them every step of the way.
This was going to be a long few weeks. Horace just knew that he was going to be second guessing his every decision during that time, but right now he stood firm. He may be leaving his family again, but this time he wasn't running away from his responsibilities, he was going after them.
Horace wished that he could do a bit more than just follow behind as Lance took Varian and the moonstone, but he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the moonstone, Lance had all the power, and if Horace upset him he could get seriously hurt and pushed away, whether that was what Lance wanted to do or not.
If Horace wanted to make sure that Varian was safe, which he wanted more than anything, he had to play nice until he could figure out just what to do. Hopefully his dad understood. If not, well, Horace would have to deal with it. This may not be the best decision, but it was the best that Horace could do. He just had to make sure that it was good enough.