Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
TYOS
I’d thought the man would be warm enough in the wagon with the fur around him, but I woke in the night to see him curled in a ball, shivering, trying to keep himself warm.
Cautiously, so I didn’t scare him, I moved closer, sharing my fur with him and pulling him against my chest. With his fur still around him, I figured he would feel safe to sleep, and when his eyes flew open to look at me, I gave him a small smile.
“Sleep,” I whispered to him. “You are safe.”
He seemed to accept my words, closing his eyes again, though his body remained stiff in my hold until sleep eventually claimed him, and he relaxed again.
I was grateful for the words I’d learned through years of guarding tributes on their journey to the clans.
They seemed to help him relax. Sharing my warmth with him was no hardship, and I let myself drift again, content in knowing he was warm and protected.
When I woke again, the sun had begun to rise and low voices spoke from outside the wagon.
I thought to get up to join them, I was always an early riser, but reconsidered when I shifted and my charge snuggled closer, still using my bodyheat to stay warm.
It would be cruel of me to take that from him.
Instead, I studied his face, taking in his beauty.
He had been covered in mud when we first met.
I’d tried to clean him a little after tending to his wounds, but a proper bath would be needed to truly get him clean.
Still, the mud did nothing to diminish his appearance.
His soft brown hair fell to his ears in waves, and I had seen him tuck it back a time or two the night prior.
He was slender in frame, with pale skin and petal pink lips.
And on his nose and cheeks was a light dusting of freckles I’d thought was mud until I cleaned his face and saw them more clearly.
The addition was sweet, and I found myself reaching to touch them gently.
None of my brothers had such marks. I liked them. They added to his allure.
He stirred at my touch, his eyes blinking open slowly, still fogged with sleep.
When he looked up at me, it seemed to take him a moment to realize where he was.
His eyes widened, and his face flushed, and he jerked away to put distance between us, nearly knocking into Simon in his haste to escape.
I snatched him back, leaning close to whisper in his ear.
“Be easy. To wake Simon is to ask for trouble. He is dangerous woken.”
He nodded shakily, more careful when he pushed away from me.
I allowed him his space, ensuring he didn’t bump Simon, and sat up when he did.
The tiny pink haired man was not one to be trifled with, especially when he was woken before he was ready.
His bondmate, Feigrind, had warned us all about his little menace, and I got to experience his wrath firsthand when I was too noisy one morning when waking.
He threatened to remove my manhood if I did so again, and with the blades he always kept on himself, I chose to take the threat seriously.
I was more cautious now about waking him.
With measured movements so as not to rock the wagon, I helped my newest charge out and ushered him to the fire where he could get warm.
There were a few people awake already, and Einar and Matthew were missing, likely getting rest some distance away.
Einar the Feral would not rest easy amongst the group.
I greeted the townspeople who had joined us from the towns we had visited before and realized belatedly that I never introduced myself to the man who had spent the night wrapped in my arms. I fed him first and sat beside him, pointing to my chest and saying my name.
“Tyos.”
He blinked, his mouth full of food, and took a moment to chew and swallow before answering me. “Is that your name?”
I nodded, gesturing at him. “You?”
Clearing his throat, he straightened a little. “Arlen. Alren Whittaker.”
Another townsperson who sat on the other side of the fire snorted and shook her head. “They don’t use surnames. Given name, then their clan. No surnames.”
“Oh,” Arlen frowned. “Just Arlen, then.”
She leaned across the gap, offering a hand to shake. “Melanie. That big bear over there is my husband, Bram.” She pointed to the quiet man with the bushy beard more interested in his food than the conversation.
I cocked my head with a frown. “Husband?”
While I wasn’t against the idea of helping couples leave for better prospects, I had been under the impression that most of those traveling with us were those who preferred same sex couplings.
She gave me a small smile. “We grew up together. We both knew we couldn’t consummate real marriages, so we married each other and lied. It worked out for both of us, because no one was brave enough to question him.”
“Ah. I understand.”
It still surprised me how dangerous it was for the townspeople to be honest about their interests in same sex relationships.
I hadn’t even thought to ask about that until I met a male tribute for the first time.
It was why we were doing this journey, so that men and women who were too afraid to live freely had the choice to start over somewhere new where they could be safe.
It was a smart plan to marry to disguise that interest to stay safe.
Arlen seemed to agree, nodding his head. “It’s a good plan. I might have considered it if I trusted anyone in my town enough to be honest about my affliction.”
That was a word I wasn’t familiar with, and Uttin, who had come to join us, looked just as confused as I felt. It made me feel a little better, since his common tongue was much better than mine was.
“Affliction?” Uttin asked.
Arlen’s shoulders lifted by his ears, his face red and his voice small when he spoke. “You know… my… interests…”
Turning to Uttin, I asked him in our tongue, “Do you know that word?”
He nodded, still frowning. “I do, but it is usually used in terms of illness. I have never heard it regarding romantic interest.” He switched to the common tongue. “Do you think your interests are illness?”
Arlen shrank a little, his face bright red.
Melanie spoke up for him, moving to sit beside him and rub his shoulder.
“We were all taught to think like that. It’s wrong in the towns.
A sin. Punishable by death in some places, banishment or shunning in others.
They’ve gotten worse recently too. I was so glad I had Bram because anyone unwed at a certain age looked suspicious in our town. The way they were treated was awful.”
Looking up from his lap, Arlen added, “I’m pretty sure the only reason my town wanted me to stay was because I was the only decent tailor in town.
I think the mayor knew of my–” He almost said that word again, then corrected himself with a frown “–interests. He might have seen keeping me around as a punishment in and of itself, since I would spend my life alone if I had stayed.”
Melanie hummed in agreement, and Bram’s face twitched, betraying his disgust over Arlen’s treatment for just a moment before he masked it again.
I was going to ask if Arlen thought there were others in his town who wished to escape when the sound of hoofbeats drew my attention.
I pulled out my sword from where I had rested it against the log, jumping to my feet just as Uttin did the same.
Dras leapt from the middle wagon at the same time, the three of us moving toward the source of the noise headed in our direction.
A cloud of dust marked their approach, coming from the direction of Arlen’s town.
A sense of foreboding settled over me. If it was them, they would bring trouble for us.
Letting out a low whistle to alert the others, I readied myself to protect our charges.
I would not allow any of my charges to come to harm.
Especially not Arlen. He’d suffered enough at the hands of his people.
ARLEN
I hadn’t even noticed the cloud of dust until Tyos whipped his head around and stood.
Fear clogged my throat as the barbarians hopped down from the wagons or appeared from the trees, standing between us and whoever approached.
Matthew followed behind his husband, bow at the ready, and took up a stance near the fire, our last line of defense if someone somehow got past our barbarian protectors.
I wrapped the fur Tyos had given me tighter around my body, wishing I at least had clothes to wear. I couldn’t even see where my dirty clothes were from the night before. It had been such a foolish idea to remove them.
“What’s going on?” someone snapped, and my head whipped around to track the speaker.
A small man with pink hair and a tunic too large for him stood in the wagon I’d slept in, peering out with an irritated scowl.
Behind him, a man with dark and curly hair blinked blearily out, looking not quite awake enough to take in the situation properly.
“Horses approaching,” Melanie warned, rushing over to the other wagon with townsfolk in it to warn the people inside. I wasn’t sure how many there were exactly, but I counted seven or eight barbarians. Surely that would be enough to dissuade anyone from attacking. Hopefully, anyway.
The pink haired man made a tsk sound, disappearing inside and coming back out with daggers in his hand. The sleepy one seemed more alert after the warning and grabbed his own sword, hopping down with the other one to take up their own protective stances around the wagon still filled with people.
“H-Here,” Matthew whispered, handing me a tunic. “I-It b-belongs t-t-to T-Tyos.”
I hadn’t noticed my barbarian protector had been without a tunic when we woke, too startled by the fact that I’d woke up in the arms of a man for the first time in my life.
It felt weird to steal his clothes while he was busy protecting me, but the idea of the camp being attacked with me in nothing but my small clothes and a fur around my shoulders was terrifying and I took the material gratefully, pulling it over my head just as the hoofbeats stopped just outside the camp.
“We’re here for Arlen Whittaker,” a familiar voice boomed.
Marvin, the town marshal, a man for whom I had tailored clothes for more than half my life.
A man I knew hated people with my affliction with a passion.
He was more likely to kill me than bring me to jail like the rumors said. “By order of the king.”
My stomach dropped at that declaration, and I found myself edging around the wagon to see what was happening. They had to be lying. There was no way the king would demand that I return home. Why would he care about one tailor? I wasn’t even that popular. I only ever served my town.
“You’re bluffing,” the pink haired man said. I jumped almost a foot in the air when I realized he’d followed me. He moved around me and stood by the front of the wagon, a sneer on his face as he stared down the people from my town. “Why would a king waste his time with matters like this?”
“When his citizens are being kidnapped and towns left in despair, of course our king would step in,” Marvin snarled. “And if you don’t want war declared, you will return the tailor and any other traitors you have with you.”
The curly haired man with the swords snorted as he moved to join his friends, his words in a language I was unfamiliar with. The pink-haired man translated for him. “Your king wants war with Al Nuzem? Does he wish for death?”
Marvin’s furious glare swung to the man, but he faltered when the man pretended not to notice him, looking at his nails like they were of more interest than this conversation. He wasn’t used to people ignoring his authority.
“Al Nuzem will not go to war over a handful of disgusting traitors,” Marvin insisted. “And even if they did, our king would conquer–”
“Are you sure about that?” the pink haired man asked blandly as the dark haired one flashed a signet ring I hadn’t noticed before.
“Because as a prince of Al Nuzem, Zakai has his king’s ear.
King Zohaib would declare war on your pathetic country for the insult alone of threatening his youngest son. ”
The guards behind Marvin shifted uneasily. I wasn’t sure if what the man said was true, but he didn’t look like he was bluffing. He lifted his chin, standing with the kind of confidence only a royal could have, his expression daring Marvin to make a poor choice.
“The barbarians are part of Al Nuzem now. Which means everyone in this group is now of Al Nuzem,” the pink haired man said, his tone turning deadly.
“Try and take one of them, and it is you who will be declaring war with us. Your king didn’t have the inclination to send troops when you were forced to sign a treaty with the barbarians.
What makes you think he’ll step in to protect you against Al Nuzem now? ”