Title: Murderer's Touch
Author: I_nv_u50
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer/Claimer: same old, same old…
Warning: Slash!! Whee!!
Author's Notes: Sorry I don't have enough time for personalized notes cause I'm in a huge rush so – Thanks to all my reviewers (ola, The Golden Dragon, etcetera-cat, darkdancer, frizzy and DARKMEW13 ~ I'll write long pieces of random thanks next chapter :D) Aside from that, not much else to say…. Except I still need help determining if the blues liked the Herald trainees in this time frame… This story has about 5 chapters left, and then we're onto he sequel, which I hope you will read as well, cause it'll still have these characters in it! Whee! And, of course, there's always the them to work out. So read, enjoy, and please review!! ^^ Kylan had just finished tending Thaelin's newest bruise and chiding the other boy for provoking the Herald so badly, when the door flew open again, making Kylan leap back without a second thought. If it was Brynn again…He had felt enough through the bond to know that it had been insane jealousy that had made Brynn hit Thaelin, but he couldn't take the chance. Every time he had seen someone get that angry before, someone had always ended up being hurt. He had never known about that side of the Herald.
So he leapt back almost instantly, nearly tripping over his feet as Thaelin dodged away in the other direction. And then they both blinked helplessly at the doorway.
It wasn't Brynn. It wasn't even a Herald. It was a group of guards.
"Which of you is the murderer?" One burly looking older man rasped out.
Kylan's heart froze. He didn't even panic. Time just stopped…
With the strange falter in time though, he exchanged a glance with his friend. Thaelin looked utterly terrified under his habitual grin, and Kylan took a chance.
"I am," he told the guards, putting a hand slyly on his hip. "What's it to you?"
Thaelin touched his arm hesitantly while the guards tried to decide whether they should be rough or give the blonde an option.
"Kylan…"
Kylan grinned at his friend. "They won't kill me. You, on the other hand… Get out while you still can."
Thaelin shook his head stubbornly and settled into a defensive position. "Back to back, remember?"
Kylan blinked, having forgotten that rule. The guards advanced.
"Wait!" he cried out suddenly. "You can't do anything to me!"
"Why not?" the closest guard growled.
Kylan smirked. "It's against the rules. Do you want the king to be angry with you?"
Thaelin blinked, and then paused, waiting for a clue of what he was supposed to be doing. Kylan scowled at the other boy. "Run!" he told him harshly. "Get out! Don't come back here again or they'll catch you!"
Thaelin hesitated. "I can't," he began, but Kylan cut him off.
"Do it!"
Thaelin paused again, and then with a last look at the confused guards, he ran to the garden door and slipped through it. Kylan trusted he'd get away. You didn't get far in their life if you weren't good at escaping.
He turned to face the guards, and scowled when a flicker of doubt shot through him. Brynn was angry with him, so he wouldn't be here to help. What if the King didn't care after all? He chased his scowl away with another smirk, taunting the guards.
"Well then? What are you waiting for? Scared of a child? How utterly shameful." Kylan told them softly, letting his grin turn mocking and disdainful.
The burly guard snarled something at him angrily and advanced, his pride having been hurt by the insult and by the fact that one of them had escaped. "In the name of the King and of the Heraldic Circle, you are –"
"Stop!"
Kylan jumped, startled. He hadn't expected the Herald to return, and he hadn't heard any pounding feet that Brynn should have approached with. He blinked wearily at the brunette, unsure. Brynn was still angry, but he was panting, and leaning against the doorpost. He waited, adrenaline still flooding his body with reactions it so much wanted to do… namely, fight back.
"He's… he's not the murderer…" Brynn panted out. "The other one… where is he?"
Kylan stared suddenly, as understanding dawned on him. His knees threatened to give out, but he locked them straight to remain upright, even when his mind was spinning with shock and misery.
Brynn had turned him in.
Brynn had turned him in.
Kylan swayed dizzily as Brynn sent the suspicious and dubious guards away. He did, however, manage to wait until Brynn had closed the door behind the men before his legs gave way and he slid to the floor. He stared at the floor dazedly. His lifebound had tried to send him to gaol. Well, all right, he had pulled the guards away at the last moment, but if he hadn't returned in time…
Was that why he had taken so long? He was waiting for Kylan to be caught?
Feet stopped in front of his face and Kylan looked away, not wanting to contemplate the blurriness of his sight, not willing to examine too deeply why he felt the way he did.
Brynn knelt in front of him a few moments later and made Kylan look at him with a hand under his chin. Gray eyes searched his, and the flash that chased through the Herald's eyes was surprise, but then they hardened again.
Brynn's fingertips lightly brushed under his eyes. "You're crying."
Kylan jerked back, shocked. He hadn't cried for years. He stared at Brynn, stupefied, into gray eyes that showed concern even as they smoldered with slowly lulled anger, and he felt himself grow angry.
The emotion was familiar, like a friend who had been too late in coming, and he welcomed its defense, using it to build up walls around his grieving heart, still hurt from the betrayal.
"Why do you care?" he snapped back harshly.
Brynn recoiled slightly, and his face hardened. "You're my lifebond, of course I care."
Kylan narrowed his eyes, knowing the less hurt his eyes showed, the easier it would be. "Is that the only reason you care?"
Brynn blinked at the blunt question, then tried to pretend he hadn't hesitated. "No, that's not the only reason."
Kylan waved away the answer with a toss of his head, and wished he could flick the ache away too. "And why did you try to have me arrested again?"
"Again?" There was a cold bite of anger in Brynn's voice, and Kylan felt a thrill of danger. "I'm not the one who tried to get you arrested the first time, remember? That was entirely your fault."
Kylan scrambled back and sat by the fire, turning determinedly to face away from the Herald. "Good night." He said softly, repressed anger and guilt heard plainly in his tone.
There was a short silence from behind him, but Kylan ignored the Herald's pointed stillness and kept staring into the fire. He cradled his guilt and anger and hurt with eagerness, wanting to feel them so the predominant emotion was anger. He knew how to handle that.
Brynn crawled into bed, the sheets rustled with the movement. Kylan kept silent.
If he had been on the streets again, he would have started a fight. His instructors had encouraged the random acts of violence, only getting angry in return if their students brought attention to themselves, or if the students did a move wrong. It was considered an ideal way to get rid of stress and train at the same time.
Kylan had only killed a few though. And he remembered every single one.
"Kylan," Brynn's voice broke the silence after a while, surprising Kylan out of his rather dark memories, and making him twist around with instinctive fright.
"What?"
There was another short pause, then a heavy sigh. "Don't talk to Thaelin again."
Kylan didn't reply, seething inside with indignation that Brynn would even consider stopping him from seeing him.
Brynn obviously noticed his silence. "I mean it, Kylan. If I see him around here again, I'll talk to the guards."
"And tell them what?" Kylan asked, keeping his voice soft, because if he started talking loud, he was going to lose control.
"I'll think of something," Brynn replied after a moment. "They believed me easily enough tonight, after all."
Kylan felt tears fill his eyes again and angrily wiped them away. He turned back to the fire, absently admiring the striking play of colours and illusions that the tears gave to the element. "I might love you," he started softly, and inhaled shakily. "But I don't like you very much."
"What?" Brynn's voice was slurred slightly.
"Nothing."
Kylan sighed a moment later and curled his legs around to the side, leaning on one arm so he didn't fall over. He felt tired… wounded and heart sore. There wasn't much he could do against those feelings, that he knew well, mainly because he hadn't been able to do anything about them after Carlen had died.
He had turned to killing then. The sight of blood eased his thoughts, made him relax, in a twisted sort of way. He had come to rely on it slightly. That had changed now though.
What with being the lifebonded of a Herald and all, he had standards to keep now. He wasn't supposed to enjoy killing, or starting fights, the sight of daggers and knives weren't supposed to ease him… Yet they did. It all still happened.
He grumbled to himself incoherently, suddenly restless, suddenly spoiling for a fight. If it was the only relaxation technique he knew, surely they wouldn't blame him for starting a few fights… Children fought all the time anyway. So what if one or two got cut up a little. They had Healers here, much closer than was possible out in the streets, so why shouldn't he make their jobs easier and give them someone to heal?
He pushed himself to his feet with almost no effort, and crept to the garden door, not even looking back to check Brynn's slumbering state. The deep and even breaths told him all he needed to know.
He had barely started skulking down the pathway, when a white shape moved in front of him. He blinked up at it, disbelieving.
"Not you again," he groaned, upon identifying the Companion. "Why are you always following me?"
Jesalis tilted her ears back.
Kylan glared back in return. "Don't look at me like that. I have every right to be outside."
Jesalis snorted and tossed her head.
Kylan scowled at the ground. "Well, all right, so I don't. But how are you going to stop me?"
The Companion pricked her ears in what looked like eagerness, and butted his chest, hard. Kylan stumbled, then clutched onto her neck to avoid falling, dodging her bared teeth when they aimed at him.
"None of that now!" he told her. "It's all your fault anyway." Kylan blinked and dropped his hands. "Why are you here anyway?"
Jesalis stamped her foot and paced off, stalking towards him again once she had gotten a short distance away. She whirled around again and continued, pacing in front of him… like a guard.
"Are you guarding me?" Kylan asked her bluntly, and feeling rather hesitant.
The restless Companion tossed her head again, laying her ears back to tell him he had gotten the answer wrong.
Kylan scowled at her. "Well, what then? Why don't you talk to me? You've done it before, and I don't see how this is any different. I don't plan to leave Brynn for good, I just want to go out and find some blood."
He blinked at his outburst, then grinned sheepishly as those blue eyes turned on his, glaring.
He held up his hands and backed away a few paces, more than a little alarmed by the dangerous expression in them.
"I don't want to kill anyone! I just… need to cut something, all right?"
Jesalis snorted.
Kylan put his hands on his hips defensively. "Listen here, you. I'm not your Chosen, and you obviously don't intend to Choose me, so why don't you just back off and leave me alone! Go bother some other poor soul!"
The Companion stepped forward again, her eyes suddenly turned gently. Kylan blinked at the abrupt change of mood. And was completely swept off his feet when she pushed him again.
He glared up at her. "All right. Why the hell are you picking on me? Pick on someone else!"
Jesalis blinked down innocently at him.
Kylan was about to rage at her, when she threw her head up, a look of surprise and worry in her eyes. Upon which, she promptly took his collar between her teeth and hauled him up.
He glared at her, and brushed himself off half heartedly, talking wicked amusement in her obviously growing distress. "So can I go then?"
She bobbed her head agitatedly in what was obviously a yes.
Kylan paused, then hesitated. "Are you all right? Seriously, you look far more fidgety than normal."
The Companion merely nudged him forward with her nose.
Kylan scowled over his shoulder at her. "All right, all right, I'm going." He hesitated for a second. "Tell Brynn I've gone out if he wakes up, will you? Don't let him think I'm trying to cut the bond again… I just need some blood, that's all."
He turned around again to sprint quietly for the servants gate, Jesalis' concerned and amused blue eyes imprinted into the back of his eyelids.
She had looked… worried almost.
Kylan shrugged the information away and turned his thoughts to the city, where his key stress relief point was featured. And where he wouldn't get hurt for doing the obvious.
