Prisoner

Matthias felt dizzy again and the only thing keeping him standing upright was the death grip he had on Tino's arm.

The young hunter turned around and looked at him in worry, just suddenly realizing Matthias' struggle to stand. "Are you okay?" Tino's earlier anger washed away and forgotten now that the commander was out of sight and his friend was in trouble. Arrows clattered to the ground and he slung the bow over the shoulder with one arm before he hoisted up Matthias with the other. "We better get you to Eir, right now. There is no telling what that magic did to you."

Tino apparently believed whatever was wrong with Matthias was a result of the magical attack alone. That was probably for the best Matthias thought. He had no idea of how to explain anything other than that and defend his connection to Lukas, especially since he didn't fully understand it himself. The world started to spin again and he could just barely hear Tino's panicked call for help before everything went black for the second time that day.


There was a gentle white light and the sounds of several muffled voices that woke Matthias up. He clenched his eyes shut; hoping to hold on to the peace and quiet of his dreams for a little longer, but one of the hushed conversations drew his attention.

"Are you sure you heard right?" one gruff and dark voice, easily recognizable as Berwald asked. "There was a lot of noise and you could easily have misheard something."

"I'm sure" the other voice insisted. Matthias figured it had to be Tino. "He didn't want us to kill that commander, and he seemed so scared. I don't understand why he would ever ask us to spare the man that just tried to kill him, especially when the same man is part of the reason why he lost his home and people he cared about just like the rest of us did."

"I'm sure he had his reasons" Berwald commented softly, trying to calm down the frustrated hunter. "Was probably just confused that's all."

Tino sighed heavily, as if he just realized he had been unreasonable. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I just…" The words stopped before he finished the sentence. "I should go; there is much we have to do before we can move on."

Matthias cracked one eye open and saw Tino march towards a flap in the tent and disappeared outside. Berwald stood frozen in place staring after him for a while before he followed after.

"It's not very polite to listen in on the conversation of other people you know," a voice suddenly said and Matthias jumped. He had not realized the presence of another person right beside him. It turned out to be Eir, the bad-tempered healer. She was rolling up clean bandages in bundles and placing them in a basket, not even offering him a glance. "They would have been happy to know that you are still alive and well."

"Sorry," Matthias muttered, voice hoarse and weak. "I just didn't want to interrupt when they seemed to be in an important discussion."

She snorted and smacked his uninjured arm, making it perfectly clear she didn't believe him for a second. "You were curious just like any normal human being." Her voice was harsh and cold like usual. "You had a lot of people worried, passing out like that. I have no idea of what happed out on the field, but you seem to be recovering just fine now."

"How long was I out?"

"About a day or so."

Matthias took the opportunity to sit up get a better look at the surroundings. It was a makeshift medical tent. Several other people laid spread out on the floor on soft bedding; many of them were covered in bloody bandages and sleeping deeply. A few had a thin blanked covering their face, the ones that had not made it through.

Eir stared at the tent flap where the two young men had disappeared and sighed heavily. "You should have met Tino before all of this happened" She said softly, almost as if she was just speaking to herself. "He was really a happy young boy growing up. Always ran around town with a big smile on his face, kept on trampling through my flowerbed every second day. Now he is trying to grow up to fast." She turned back to Matthias. "You better tell you friend not to give up on him. If we all survive all of this, I would hate to see our youths turn in to bitter old men, angry at the world around them."

"My friend, you mean Berwald?"

"The three of you appear to be good friends." Her eyes sparkled with hidden knowledge. "You have better take care of each other. We are all in this together. Now get some rest. I want you out of here as soon as possible; I have other patients to take care of."

"I can get up right now" he said and was about to toss the blankets aside but the healer pushed him back down. Matthias hissed quietly as the burned mark on his chest stung at the touch.

The healer snorted again. "You are not setting foot outside this tent until I say otherwise."

"But I have to find out what happened." Matthias insisted.

"Like what?" she snapped harshly. "From what I heard you didn't pass out until after the battle was over. You saw everything that happened. If you don't remember then you might have hit your head and your injuries were more severe than I first thought."

"But we caught an enemy commander" Matthias said desperately and pushed aside Eir's hand. "What happened to him, did they execute him?"

She frowned deeply. "If you must know, that creature is still alive. Torleif and Brynjar are still trying to get some answers out of it. If you ask me, they should have gotten rid of it the moment they had a chance. Magic is not to be taking lightly and anyone capable of wielding it are dangerous. That creature slaughtered several of our men. They have it tied up right now, but I would feel safer knowing it was dead." She sighed heavily at seeing his still determined expression. "If you want to go and find out what Torleif and Brynjar are doing, I have to insist you don't go alone. Wait here, I'll ask Berwald if he can follow you."

She gently pushed him back down and then left the tent.


It was first now did Matthias realize that he was shirtless under the heavy blankets. A thin layer of bandages wrapped around his torso and hand and now that Eir had removed her hand, the skin felt pleasantly cool underneath them. He guess the heeler had used some salve to sooth the severely burned skin after having touched the garnet crystal. Panic struck him for a moment when he realized he had no knowledge of where it was and he franticly started searching. Relief washed over it when his pants were still on and he found the pendant safely tucked away in the pocket.

Eir returned a few minutes later with Berwald in tow. "Make sure he doesn't injure himself further" she remarked harshly at Berwald and then turned her attention to her other patients. "If he comes back in here in a worse state than now I wall flay both of you alive, mark my words."

Berwald was quiet as he stepped over to the bed and extended a hand to Matthias to help him get to his feet. His gaze was worried and he seemed eager to get away from the grumpy healer. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

Matthias nodded and determinedly put on his shirt that lay on the ground beside the bed. He sighed at the blood and ash that stained his shirt, but he was more eager to find out what had happened to Lukas than search for clean clothing. Fingers were a bit numb and his body sluggish, struggling to respond to his orders. Every muscle ached but he was not willing to let it show at the risk of Eir tying him to the bed.

"I'll get you a coat," Berwald muttered.


The heavy woolen cloak Berwald had found was not nearly enough to block out the biting cold. The temperature had dropped even more since they had arrived and their breath came out as white fog once they stepped outside. Matthias was relying on Berwald to remain standing up, one arm flung over Berwald's shoulder for support.

The rebels had set up a temporary camp some distance away from the battlefield and Berwald led way through the network of tents. The work of clearing up a bit after the battle was well on the way. A pyre was burning strongly, sending wave after wave of black smoke soaring to the sky. Matthias had to fight back an urge to vomit as the smoke forced tears to his eyes. He was almost happy that he hadn't eaten for over a day and his stomach contained nothing that could come up.

"We had to burn the bodies," Berwald muttered as he realized Matthias' discomfort. "The ground is frozen and there was no way for us to bury them all." Berwald pulled him away from the pyre and in a different direction.

The rebels had covered the blood soaking the ground with fresh snow, but the magical fire that had knocked Matthias over had left a long line of blackened ground behind. There were weapons and armor gathered in piles so they could go through it all afterwards and see what was salvageable for their own use when they moved on.

"What really happened to you?" Berwald asked. "You should have been dead."

"I know that" Matthias replied quietly, voice still slightly hoarse and weak. "I don't know what happened. Was something wrong with Tino? I saw him earlier, he seemed really frustrated."

Berwald sighed. "He almost lost it when you passed out on the field. He said he couldn't stand to lose anyone else he knows. I wish I knew how to help him." He paused. "Are you sure you are okay?" You have barely said a single word since I got you out of the tent, it's not like you."

Matthias snorted dismissingly.

"Let's just get this over with." Berwald muttered.

They moved between the tents, both happy to get away from the sight of the burning bodies and the remainder of the battlefield. "I don't know what you think you'll get out of seeing the king's commander." Berwald commented dryly. "Torleif and Brynjar have been taking turns interrogating him almost constantly since yesterday. He hasn't said a single word to any of them."

They heard loud yelling getting increasingly louder as they moved. After a while, Matthias recognized the voice as Brynjar.

Berwald stopped before a large tent where the yelling was clearly coming from. "I'm not going in there," Berwald stated coldly, glaring at the tent as if it had greatly insulted him. "I'll be waiting outside." He let go of Matthias' arm and stepped back.

Matthias took a few calming breaths before he pushed aside the tent flap and stepped inside.

Two poles had been hammered into the ground in the middle of the tent and the prisoner was tied up between them. He was hanging by his arms and it would seem the ropes were the only thing keeping him upright judging by how badly been beaten.

His head was resting on his chest in exhaustion making it look as if he was asleep, but the sound of Matthias entering the tent made him look up. Face bruised and eyelids heavy. The short look he gave Matthias seemed almost challenging. The arrows in his shoulder and thigh remained, but the shafts were broken off and lay on the ground.

Brynjar was busy pacing the room and did not immediately notice his entry. He was nursing a sore fist, cursing quietly to himself. "Where is the king planning to attack next?" Brynjar roared angrily and landed a punch right in the commander's stomach. It did not have the desired effect and barely earned them a sound from the commander. Brynjar roared in frustration and swung his arms for another forceful blow.

Torleif was standing in a corner, silently observing as Brynjar clearly was the one doing the interrogating. He gave Matthias a quick look once he entered, but soon gazed towards he prisoner again "He haven't given us a damned thing so far" Torleif hissed angrily. "I doubt he ever will. The way he keep looking at us it seems he still has the upper hand. The sooner we get rid of him the better."

In the background, Brynjar kept yelling at the commander and throwing punches.

Torleif sighed and threw angry glare at the prisoner. He walked towards Matthias and lay a heavy arm on his shoulder. "I am happy to see you alive and well dear boy." There was worry in his eyes, like what a parent would have for a child. "You'll probably not believe this, but this thing" he gestured towards the commander and refusing to referring to him as anything that could be considered a human being "I have seen it before. Years ago when I last fought in a war."

Matthias was quick to feign surprise and Torleif seemed to buy it. "We fought another kingdom back then. But this thing was the commander that time as well." Torleif spat out the words as if they were poisonous. "The commander without a last name we used to call him. None of us soldiers knew that was because it he wasn't human, I don't know what we would have done had we known that we was fighting side by side with some supernatural creature."

Matthias struggled not to wince when Brynjar yelled out yet another angry question at their prisoner and landed yet another punch that finally managed to get a response. Lukas coughed and wheezed for breath after a punch to the chest. Then he spat angrily at the ground and glared challengingly at his interrogator.

Brynjar roared angrily and marched out the room almost knocking Matthias over as he walked past to get out.

Torleif sighed and stared after the other man for a moment before he turned towards Matthias again. "I'm sorry I've been distant. We have been quite busy trying to decide what we should do from now on. Was there something you wanted?" There was a fatherly tone in his voice as well as his eyes now that Brynjar had left.

Matthias cast a glance towards the beat up prisoner but couldn't stand to look for more than a few seconds before the guilt became to overwhelming. "I just wanted to see this 'creature' for myself," he said, trying to fake complete and utter despise. It made his chest hurt and his throat constrict painfully. Because whatever it was that he was feeling toward the magician, it was definitely not hate.

The look on Torleif's face was confused and curious. He kept moving his eyes between their prisoner and Matthias as if trying to come up with every possible outcome and consequence of letting Matthias having his wish. The commander looked harmless with his head still hanging low. "I'm not sure what you hope to achieve by this" he sighed tiredly. "I have some things I need to discuss with Brynjar before we decide what to do, we could use a break. You can stay guard here. I'll send someone to look after this creature."

"You don't have to send anyone" Matthias protested, "I can handle this."

Torleif huffed. "He might look harmless right now, but remember he took down almost twenty of our people with a flick of his wrist." The veteran was truly worried. "Do not trust a single word he says should he speak. I probably don't have to tell you that you do not loosen those ropes."

Matthias just shook his head in response, meaning he would do nothing stupid.

Torleif nodded and headed out of the tent in pursuit of Brynjar. Matthias could hear him exchange a few words with Berwald on the outside and then it before that conversation went silent and he was truly alone with Lukas. He felt almost frozen in place and had to force himself to look towards the defeated general again.

Lukas slowly lifted his head to look at him curiously. Dark bruises covered most of his face and the sin around one eye had started to swell. His lips were dry and cracked and his hair disheveled, dried blood had made a trail down his face from a cut on his forehead. "So what are you planning to do from here?" he whispered hoarsely, but still with a hint of dark humor in his voice.

"I don't know" Matthias admitted quietly, aware that Berwald was outside and could hear them should they speak too loudly. He was still vary of the prisoner as well. Memories of the battlefield were still clear in his mind, especially those of Lukas cutting down his friends and new family as if they were wheat for harvest. The commander had been covered in blood and coming straight for him. Now Lukas' eyes was sharply following his every movement.

Lukas tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why didn't you let them kill me?" he asked bluntly. "I almost killed you and still you go out of your way to stop them."

"I just couldn't let them do that" Matthias replied, hesitation clear in his voice.

A smirk made its way to Lukas' lips, "That's not a very strong answer" he teased.

"That crystal you gave me the day before the battle… It's what kept me from dying isn't it?" Matthias almost instinctively put his hand in his pocket to clutch around the crystal and make sure it was still present.

A slow nod came from Lukas. The restraints allowed for little other movement. "As I said it holds powers of protection and I put an enchantment on it before I gave it to you in hopes that it could protect against me."

Matthias cleared his throat trying to come up with a better answer. "You've sort of saved me a couple of times; it seemed fair I returned the favor. I feel like I should save you at least once."

The commander actually snorted at that. "If you really wanted to save me you're almost 150 years too late for that." The words were bitter. "You could have granted my freedom by not stopping them; if I were dead there was no way for me to injure any others. It would have been easier for all of you."

"I refuse to believe it's that easy" Matthias shot back. Then he noticed the way Lukas was straining against the ropes and a sudden realization came to him. "You're hiding something" it was an accusation and Lukas' eyes flashed in distress. Matthias was struggling to stay in control and not raise his voice and not let his words race ahead of his mind. "You were supposed to tell me everything before the battle started and now I realize there are more secrets. I thought we were beyond that. It's about how you came to be in the king's service isn't it."

Lukas squirmed, suddenly uncomfortable; something those hours of beatings and questions had not managed to do to him. "You are right that several man ages of guarantied loyalty is a steep price to pay for one life." He licked his lips nervously carefully trying to pick his words. "It was not truly my life I paid to have saved. I once had, I mean have" he corrected himself mid-sentence "I have a younger brother."

Matthias folded his arms and stared at Lukas, waiting for him to continue the story.

"Back then I was still considered young for my people and my brother just a child." Lukas started slowly. "I used to tell him stories of the light that would dance over the night sky during winter. Our home was deep in the forest where the trees grows so dense you cannot even see the sky, so one night, my brother and I walked far away from our home trying to find a spot where we could watch them together. We thought we found a clearing and he wanted to lay down in the very middle to have the best view." Lukas halted for a moment and took a few breaths to calm himself. He looked down, but Matthias could see the bitterness and shame evident on his face. "It wasn't a clearing and he ran ahead of me." Lukas muttered. "It was a lake and winter had not set in enough to freeze it properly. He was out in the very middle when the ice cracked."

Matthias' face fell. He had not at all anticipated the path the story was taking and felt sad on the prisoner's behalf. "What happened then?" he whispered, and prayed there still was plenty of time for them to talk before a guard replacement came or Berwald decided to check in on him.

"He went through into the lake and I went after" the commander replied, still refusing to look up. "The water was so cold, but I couldn't let my brother drown. I had to dive three times before I finally found him and could pull him to the surface. I don't know how long it took me to get him out of the water, but his lips were blue and he wasn't breathing."

"But you know magic!" Matthias interrupted slightly louder than he had planned.

"Magic is not always a solution" Lukas muttered and finally looked up, eyes cold. His voice was flat and emotionless as he recited his story. Matthias figured it had to be the only way he could finish it. "There is always limit, I was weak and cold and close to dying myself. If I could have healed my brother, I would have used what strength I had left to give him life at least. All I could do was start a small fire so I at least could get some warmth back to him, anything more would have killed me. Then I screamed for help and kept on screaming until my voice was gone and that is when the king found us."

"I begged for his help, said I would do anything for him. The king is a sorcerer like the stories your people have told about him for years, but his magic is of a very different kind than mine. He mostly has a power over the minds of others and my powers drew him to us. He brought us back to his castle and in front of a warm fire. My brother was finally breathing again and getting warm, but the cold water had already made its damage and his eyes wouldn't open. For days he was just lying still, slowly dying before my eyes."

When Lukas took another break, Matthias realized he was biting his own tongue hard enough to bleed as he listened intently. He didn't want to say anything to interrupt and patiently waited for the other male to continue on his own once he was ready.

"I asked the king if there was anything that could be done for my brother and he told me it was but that it wouldn't come for free. I told him I had already offered to do anything for him and he told me promises were well and good but no guarantee. A contract bound by magic on the other hand cannot be broken easily. Mine is valid to the day where one of us or my brother dies. I was more than willing to have the symbol drawn on my skin and say the words that would give my life to the king when it promised life for my brother. He kept his word and he brought my brother back from the brink of death. I was happy to see him finally open his eyes, but the moment he asked what had happened the king ordered his guards to take him away for 'safe keeping'. When I protested, he ordered me to be quiet and not move and that is when I realized the deal had been a trap. Since that day I have not seen my brother and the only reason I know he is still alive somewhere is because the deal is still intact."

Matthias was speechless and it would appear that Lukas had nothing more to say either. They were both just staring silently at each other. Lukas face was still not openly showing any emotions, but Matthias was almost certain he could sense the anger, bitterness and sadness come off him in waves and all he wished to do was to hug the other male and make it all go away. "I still want to help you," he whispered. "I don't know if we will be able to really win this war, but I will do my very best to kill the king and break this magical bond or whatever it is that keeps you in his service. I will free you and you will find your brother."

Lukas' stared at him carefully, is eyes seemed almost soft, but then he tensed. "I admire your courage, but you seem to forget you have to manage this feat before your own commanders take my head and if I am hearing right they are already on their way back and not with the most noble intent."

Matthias was close to panicking. He also heard the raised voiced outside, Brynjar and Torleif were arguing loudly: He heard them exchange a few words with the much calmer Berwald and seconds later the tent flap rustled as the three men entered.

Brynjar had a cold glare aimed at the prisoner and a vicious smirk made its way to his lips. Lukas glared coldly in return. Torleif had a serious frown on his face as he addressed Matthias. "Has he said anything to you?" He asked darkly.

Matthias shook his head slowly, afraid that his voice might betray him if he spoke out.

"Then there is likely nothing more to gain from him" Torleif said firmly. "Alive he is nothing more than a risk to us and we have to move on soon. We cannot have our people stay here in the north for too long, the cold will only get worse and we have other villages to free. Nobody will sleep well knowing this creature is among us" he gestured towards the commander. "It is high time we execute him."