The Immortality of the Deathless

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: This verse, same as the first

Author's note: Yes, I left you with an evil cliffhanger, but how else will I get you all coming back for more? BWAH HAHAHAHA!

Also, this story has now received more alerts, favorites, and reviews than anything else I've ever written. You guys are all phenomenal! Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, for appreciating this story and your continued support.


Chapter Eighteen

Jack came back with a gasp, struggling to rise.

However, there was a strange stabbing pain in his neck; he reached up, felt the shaft of the crossbow bolt – damn, he hated death-by-crossbow! – and with fingers going quickly numb yanked the offending wood from his body.

He died again quickly, bleeding out from the damage done to the major artery.

The second time he came back, Jack was pissed.

Sitting up, he looked around to see if he could spot who the fuck had shot him. The area was quiet, the only sounds were of insects humming in the dark. Jack scrambled to his feet, his hand gripping the hilt of his great sword.

That was when he realized he was missing someone…someone very important.

Ianto!

Jack realized that the archivist had seen him die. Twice. His eyes found the tree where the young man had been standing, and there was no sign that Ianto had even been there.

Shit!

Had the archivist run off after Jack had been shot? Or had the sight of him resurrecting – twice! – been too much? Or…was the mystery of the missing man something else?

Jack did something he hadn't done in a quite a while…he panicked.

It didn't last long, before Jack realized that panicking wasn't a smart thing to do, under the circumstances. He had no idea if whoever it was who'd attacked him was still in the area, and he couldn't really make up his mind if Ianto being gone was a good or bad thing.

Quite possibly bad, if Jack had to guess.

Very bad.

It was almost too dark to see, but Jack scanned the area, looking for any sign that would lead him to his attacker, or to Ianto. He cast about, finding easily the archivist's footprints in the dead leaves and dirt around the tree where the man had been standing when Jack had found him. It occurred to him that whoever had shot him had to have been a good aim, to hit such a small target as his neck, and in the gloom as well.

He then found Ianto's sword, abandoned on the ground just beyond some bushes a few paces away.

Jack really wanted to panic now. He picked up the sword, knowing that Ianto wouldn't have dropped it on purpose. That led him to the only conclusion he could come up with: whoever had killed him, had taken the archivist along with them.

The mercenary was furious with himself. He'd allowed himself to be distracted, and Ianto had paid the price. Jack knew damned well just how dangerous things were on the open road; simply because the Knights patrolled, didn't mean that the danger was any less. Even though he knew beyond certainty that it hadn't been Weevils who'd attacked – they didn't use weapons, and preferred their meals alive and kicking – there were brigands and such inhabiting the areas between towns, and they weren't afraid to go after isolated travelers if it meant they could gain something from it.

He closed his eyes, trying not to imagine what could be happening to Ianto at that moment. Gods, if Jack had been paying attention to his surroundings, instead of focusing completely on the younger man, then this might not have happened.

Sometimes Jack had to truly wonder where his priorities really lay. Because, to be perfectly honest, he'd really followed Ianto out under the trees in order to…

No, don't think that. Concentrate on figuring out where he'd been taken.

With that thought, Jack grinned darkly. Whoever had taken Ianto obviously hadn't been aware that the mercenary had a way to track him…

He made his way back to the camp, catching sight of their fire through the trees. Jack stormed into the clearing, and his three team members jumped at his sudden appearance.

It was just as Jack had feared…Ianto hadn't made it back to camp.

"What the hell…?" Suzie asked, standing up as Jack moved past her to where he'd laid his packs earlier.

"Either something's happened," Owen added, "or that's one hells of a love bite…"

Jack had completely forgotten that he'd bled out just a short time ago, and that he had to be a mess. "Leave it," he snapped, setting Ianto's sword down so he could rummage through one of his saddlebags.

"What's going on?" Toshiko added her own question, her usually soft voice made a little louder by concern. "And where's Ianto?"

Trust the Elf to figure it out first. "He's gone," Jack snapped, not finding what he was looking for. He cursed in a language that had been dead for almost a thousand years.

He felt a hand on his collar; turning sharply, he saw Owen trying to get a look at where Jack had been injured. "Lay off, Owen."

"Where'd the blood come from?" the battle surgeon demanded. "Let me check – "

"I've had worse from shaving," the captain snarled, shrugging off the man's hands. He really didn't want to get into his immortality with them. Damn, and he hadn't died in over a year…

"What do you mean, Ianto's gone?" Toshiko asked.

"That's exactly what I mean," Jack said, still digging through the clothing in his pack to find what he needed to. "We were talking; I was…knocked out; and when I woke up, he was gone and his sword had been left behind."

"Damnit, Harkness," Owen snapped, "if you have some sort of head injury – "

"I said I'm fine!" With a small cry of victory, Jack held up what he'd been urgently searching for. "I'm not the important one at the moment anyway."

"And if you collapse while we're looking for the coffee boy – "

"His name is Ianto, Owen. I'd appreciate it if you'd actually use it."

He heard Owen mumble something about it being his "time of the month" but Jack decided to ignore it. Instead, he cradled the small device in the palm of his hand, praying to the Gods he really didn't much believe in anymore that this would work.

"What is that?" Toshiko asked, leaning over his arm to see what he was doing.

"Looks like a compass," Suzie murmured, doing the same on Jack's opposite side.

"It is," Jack affirmed. "But it's a very special compass."

"What's so special about it?" his weapons' specialist inquired.

He didn't really want to take the time to explain, but he knew he'd just get hounded if he didn't. "You know that bracer I gave Ianto, when he snapped his wrist with the bowstring the first time?" At the women's nods, he went on, "It was actually magical. And this compass is attuned to the magic."

"So we can track Ianto with it?" Toshiko said.

"Right."

"You've had that thing for as long as I've known you," Suzie put in. "What made you decide to use it now?"

Jack hadn't mentioned the attack in Haven; he hadn't wanted to, it wasn't really his place. But that meant he had to come up with a reason to use the magical bracer in order to keep up with Ianto's whereabouts. "He's…an important resource for Torchwood Castle," he finally answered. "The Baroness would null our contracts if anything happened to him."

"And it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you drool over him at every opportunity?" Suzie asked sharply.

"No, it doesn't." Jack pinned her with a glare.

She managed to hold onto his gaze for a couple of heartbeats, then lowered her eyes.

"And I gave it to him now," he added, "because if I'd done it earlier, he might have been suspicious. I'd prefer he didn't know he was magically tagged, thanks much."

"Why not?"

He glanced at Toshiko. "Because it's sometimes better that someone not know we're keeping that close an eye on them."

Of course, Jack was lying through his teeth. He'd given Ianto that bracer for the specific reason that he'd been worried about the events in Haven, and he simply hadn't trusted John Hart not to pull something else. He'd just had to have a reason to give it away; that much was true. He'd just wondered if Ianto had been able to sense the magic in it.

Thinking of his maniac ex made Jack wonder if, somehow, John hadn't been behind Ianto's abduction. He certainly wouldn't have put it past the man, but at the same time there was no real reason for John to do such a thing, unless it was some form or twisted jealousy.

But if it was, then why kill Jack? That didn't make any sense at all. Unless, somehow John had figured out about Jack's inability to die…

No, the captain was certain that John didn't know about that. There was no way he could. Besides, if he had, then why kill Jack anyway? So that supposition didn't make any sense. Jack was more inclined to believe a stranger had attempted to kill him, then took Ianto away for some reason Jack couldn't guess.

"So?" Owen demanded. "Let's get the coff – Ianto – back. Do your magic thing, Harkness." He made vague waving motions toward the compass in Jack's hand. "I'm not going back to drinking the rotgut you call coffee."

Jack barely managed to control his eye roll. "I need to concentrate. I haven't used this in a long time, so I'm a bit out of practice." That was an understatement; the last time he'd used the tracking bracer had been almost two hundred years ago, back in his bodyguard days. It had been handy when he'd had to keep track of troublesome clients. In fact, the only reason he'd kept it, was because he liked the way it looked on his arm. "Why don't you all start to break down camp while I work on this?"

That got some more complaining from Owen, but his team moved like a well synchronized dance around him, as Jack cradled the magical compass. He began to breathe deeply, trying to calm his mind enough to activate the tracking magic.

It was hard, though. He found himself very worried about what was happening with Ianto. With no real idea why the man had been taken, Jack's imagination was working full-time, conjuring up all sorts of trouble the archivist could be in. He had to get himself under better control, or he'd be of no use to Ianto whatsoever.

Taking another deep breath, Jack was able to finally still his mind enough to touch the compass' magic. It had been so long since he'd done anything like this, it was odd to do it now; he wasn't magical by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes he could use things that were, in ways, attuned to him. He knew he wouldn't've been able to use Ianto's glasses, but the compass and bracer had been around him for so long they were almost a part of him.

It was strange how the Deep Magic had worked on him; it hadn't given him any other power other than the one over death. Some people might think that being Deathless would be enough, but there were times when Jack wished he could do other things. And, the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that Ianto had seen how the Deep Magic had affected him. What that meant exactly, Jack didn't know. He'd been too afraid to ask.

It didn't help that Ianto was pretty damned secretive himself.

Although, Jack did wonder what the young man had meant to tell him, before they'd been so rudely interrupted. And would Jack's own intentions had gotten in the way of any sort of confession?

He'd never know, now. At least, not until they found Ianto.

Jack brought a likeness to Ianto to mind, the better to help the compass locate the bracer's wearer. He didn't really know if it was necessary to do that, but he did anyway.

As he concentrated, the mercenary watched the compass' needle begin to quiver. His heart did a little leap as the device began to work, spinning until finally settling down and pointing in a single direction.

Northeast.

"Got him!" Jack shouted, moving his hand to check the calibration. The needle turned with the motion, continuing to point in the same direction.

"We're almost ready to leave," Suzie reported.

Jack didn't want to wait, but knew he would need help from his team to get Ianto back. So he cooled his heels as his people finished, not wanting to risk losing contact with the magical bracer.

It was another ten minutes before the mercenaries were back in the saddle. Riding at night could be dangerous, but that obviously wasn't stopping Ianto's abductors.

And the last thing Jack wanted was for them to get too much of a head start.