"Yeosang, love, let me see," Jongho brings a hand around his hand holding the piece of paper in between his tensing fingers, wrapping him with reassurance. But the boy cannot seem to comprehend what is actually written on this piece of paper while his eyes are stuck on their secretive signature written at the bottom of the paper.

He knows that Jongho cannot read, but he hands over the paper anyway, his hands trembling fairly much at the new epiphany. Yeosang feels lightheaded.

The boy swallows troublesomely, bringing a sleeve up to dry his damp cheeks before stalling once more with the fabric pressed hard against his mouth. He cannot believe this being true- how this wrenched kind of luck has brought his fortune to be like this. Suddenly he feels Jongho snaking his hand around his wrist, pulling the fabric away from his face as he seeks his wide eyes again, "What secret message has supposedly needed to be found by you?"

By deep-grown habit, Yeosang breathes the unneeded air with desperate attempts to soothe his fickling nerves. Jongho's attentive eyes are no help in the darkness.

"Wooyoung.." he pushes with rising angst, "Wooyoung, he is not dead - he cannot be!" Yeosang leans forward as he stares right into Jongho's watchful eyes. His fingers reach for the knight's shoulders as he steadies himself into his embrace, "He is alive!"

Careful to not forthput any mistake, Jongho brings his arms around the smaller male and examines Yeosang's expression, "My love, what are you saying? Who is the letter from?"

For a moment, the boy's lips tremble without any words passing them. His sight blurs before him and without realising tears are streaming into his eyesight again. "What does the letter say, hm? You know that I do not master the power of scripture," Jongho encourages him softly, wiping the salt water away from his face in such a caring manner that it makes Yeosang tear up even more.

"Jongho, you know that I love you?"

"Why, of course, I love you too, dear and honest from the bottom of my heart."

Yeosang bites his lip as he glances away from the knight and to the spot where he had found the letter. He swallows the accumulating spit in his mouth before he dares to continue, "Wooyoung has written it. He must have written it a far long time ago considering the date it was signed.. He says that after my departure my father already knew that I would never be sent home again, not that he ever wished for that to happen. Thus he made an agreement with Wooyoung's father that Wooyoung would marry the miss I was supposed to, as some kind of justification for how Wooyoung had conducted me with illness. My father would gain half of the gain from the marriage instead."

Yeosang shifts his eyes at the other man again to conclude this occurrence, "He knew I would find it here if I ever decided to return. After all, this was our secret place."

Jongho's expression furrows and the boy has a hard time reading the emotions displayed in front of him; it is nearly impossible to say what he thinks of the letter. On the contrary, Jongho seems to already know Yeosang's next words.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he questions uncertainly, and the boy knows how the knight must be thinking of all the possible things that may go wrong, "If he is married into a wealthy family, do you not think..."

"Jongho, he is married with force," Yeosang cuts in, "To.. to someone he does not even know! Of course, it will please him to see a well-known face again."

The boy suddenly scrambles across the floor as he chases the door, "We must go now! He has waited long enough- maybe we will be there in time to save him from-from-!"

A strong hand holds him back from going that far, hauling him back into the hut as the knight stares him down with concern written all over his features. Yeosang's mouth hangs a little open as he befuddles at the other's acts of shielding him from egressing into the darkness.

"Yeosang, just.. you cannot expect yourself to be welcomed that easily. Perhaps he may have moved on and forgotten about your sweet memories together. And...you are.. not the same anymore; you have changed a lot. Maybe too much for him to even recognise you," he says quietly, his voice not very far from a whisper supported by full concern. But also sorrow.

The boy knows he feels sorry for him; that the things he is telling him are only because he worries about his fragile heartbreaking another time as if it has not learned to harden yet. But this time, Jongho is wrong. Yeosang will take the rejection if Wooyoung ever is to offer him that. Perhaps, he may shed tears, but he would accept the words in the way that will be the best for Wooyoung. And that is what matters the most.

"I know, but I am adamant about this choice. At least I have to try - and if I am not one to succeed, then be it. I just want to make sure for Wooyoung that I have not forgotten him in any way.." Yeosang trails off, his sight growing out of focus as the interiors in the hut start to blur, "And if it happens he will not be there, then it must be the sign for me to let go, carefully, and treat the wound in my chest thoroughly like he used to treat mine with his dear care."

Jongho tugs him into his chest as he steers them out of the doorway. Yeosang sighs into his clothing piece. "You do not have to worry, I am sure he is grateful for the time you have spent together. But marrying someone you do not know is expected of everyone to happen. It also was with you."

"But Jongho, this was my fault! If just we had not been caught, then his chances of.. Ugh!" he groans into the fabric of the other's shirt, hiding beneath the knight's cloak as the other chuckles at his realisation. No, Wooyoung's chances of finding a free match would not have been better if Yeosang had been the one to marry that girl. Not when Wooyoung presumably must prefer men.

_____

They did not move the distance that Yeosang had hoped would be possible that night, mainly because their horses needs the rest to gain new strength for the following of their travel.

Yeosang cannot sleep. He has turned and tugged at his cloak around him for what seemed to be hours but nothing was helping to soothe his mind. Slowly, he pulls himself up to sit before glancing over at where Jongho lays peacefully on his back wrapped up in the bunches of fabric. Despite his eyes seeming closed in the pitch dark, Yeosang is still aware of how sensitive the knight is to sounds, which gives that he may already be awake and sharply listening to him moving around. The boy sighs a little, leading his back to rest against the trunk behind him. He fiddles with his hands in his lap as tears well in his eyes.

With slow eyes he glances up when he senses the knight moving closer to him, his arm bluntly pulling his fingers apart before holding one of his hands close into his embrace. The pads of Jongho's rough hands trail gentle patterns along his skin and Yeosang can only consider him from the little distance between them. Jongho's hair has been growing way faster than normal hair is able to, which surely must be the reason of immortal abilities. He urges to cart his fingers through the locks spread around his soft cheeks and pouted lips. He looks so young like this. So ethereal.

The tears are sliding down his cheeks before he even realises it. Nightmares are painted on the hind of his eyelids that he cannot escape from. Not even when he is not alive anymore. Yeosang's heart clenches rigidly tight in his chest that if he still needed to breathe, his head would have fogged with dizziness. He sniffles a little, lifting a hand to dry off the saltwater clinging to his face with his sleeve, head pounding after this day of grief.

"I forgive you."

Yeosang glances down at his lap, eyes closing shortly after he senses how the gentle whisper behaves in the rest of his body. How it stirs a deep longing in the roots of his touch the more the timbre resonates within his bones. The feeling is burning the back of his throat like a crave that is reaching for the solace of one who can hold him, and it makes him swallow the accumulated spit in his mouth that tastes of acid.

The boy bites his lip as he keeps his eyes shut, "No, you do not have to. The guilt is all mine and you are fairly free to hold a grudge against me. My acts shall not be forgiven this easily - not when I made it this difficult for you, for us."

"Yeosang, I told you some horrible things back then," Jongho insisted rather firmly, "I deeply apologize for what passed my lips when I could not keep myself under control."

But Yeosang only shakes his head, unaware of the desperation in the other's eyes, glinting at him full of tears in the darkness, "None of what you told me was not deservable, I acted without giving it any second thought."

"Please accept my words as they are," something presses up against the side of his hip, vaguely followed by the touch along the side of his limbs, too.

The stubborn thoughts hold him threaded into his own imagination of emotional punishments, tightening its hold the more Jongho leans over him and adjoins them, bit for bit.

"I understand our nature now," he continues, sliding his gentle hand up around Yeosang's cheek, "and you were not sated enough, neither of bloodstains nor knowledge of the lands we have entered."

The touch makes him quiver, one so doting that his eyes flutter full of affection that pushes his body out into clouds of delight. He can nearly not be in his head. Yeosang's invisible breath stutters and little by little he gives in to Jongho's endeavor, hands feeling up his physique for the rest of the night until he falls asleep with his head resting in the knight's embrace.

He only wishes for them to be safe.

_____

The rising day crawls upon them, glazing them with the fairest light before they figure that moving from those lands as fast as possible must be the better decision. According to Jongho, the templars' knights must have been here only a few days since, which means that they possibly still rummage the area.

They have already packed their things and are on their way out of those smouldering lands.

The silent rain clings to his bangs and slide down over his face, his cloak not long enough to cover his entire form. Yeosang glances at Jongho's straight figure steering his horse with ease. He truly does not hope that Jongho is right about the templars' knights still being in the area, thoughts passing by the imaginations of what torture could be painted into their lives again. It makes him shudder, a bundle of knots tying in his stomach.

The boy shrinks under his cloak, pulling it closer around his body as he licks the few drops of water off his lips. Before moving on, they swiftly discussed what way to travel as Yeosang had told him he had found the faintest spark of memorising the way to the village the lass he was supposed to marry had lived. Still, he is unsure if he has remembered the right route.

At this given moment, they follow the brook, hoping that if they avoid the main path, there would be a better chance of not running into the Lord's men.

Although, Yeosang knows they can never be sure.

The rain is thickening, making it hard to sight enemies hiding in the dense forest. Yeosang presses his horse to the side of Jongho's, soaked hands pulling at the reins, "Jongho, we need to get away from here, I have a bad feeling about this place. If they decide to attack us, we have no chance to fight them back on horseback."

"I am aware, but what other way is there to go? If we first begin crossing the dense trees in the forest, it will be impossible to flee from there if they find us," the knight elucidates. Yeosang perceives how he frowns and it makes him mirror his expression.

Jongho sighs heavily and turns to look at Yeosang, "We cannot just leave the horses; we need them. At least a little more."

The boy swallows when his nerves twitch at a branch snapping underneath one of the horses' hooves. "Alright.." he says, somehow trying to believe the other's words despite his anxious state of mind.

Nothing happens, but the snapping branches seem to be following them the entire way out of the forest.

Yeosang's widened eyes slide across the landscape of hills and trees in the distance. He knows where they are, at least, as the main path is not very far away from here. "Where to?" Jongho asks him, the two different eyes following his own gaze until they collide. Yeosang can feel the tremble of hooves.

"Jong.. Jongho I sense them."

The knight looks at him with confinement, "Sense who?"

Yeosang's hands tremble so much he struggles with holding around the reins, "They are coming, they are- Jongho, there!"

At the call, Jongho twists his body around before the impact of something drilling into his shoulder has him collapsing in groans of pain.

The boy whisks his head around, seeing the archer on the edge of the forest, pointing a new arrow in his direction. Flying around, Yeosang kicks his horse forward while slapping a hand to the hind of Jongho's horse, clicking with his tongue, "Come on, go, go!" He hates he has been right all this time. The boy glimpses at the knight trying to hold on to his horse while they gallop across the meadows, arrow grounded deep into his body as his arm has turned sore.

Panicking, he listens to the four so many thundering hooves hitting the ground behind them like a storm is coming. They must go faster.

Or run them off.

So he steers them toward another forest. Yeosang sees this as the only solution how to get rid of them, as the troop surely won't be able to pass the terrain in there as easily as the meadow. Their horses jump across shrubs and fallen treetrunks, legs kicking off the ground at a pace that Yeosang nearly cannot follow anymore. Twigs and branches whip him in the head as they continue deeper into more dense places. Soon has he lost any sense of direction, not knowing where they are anymore.

His horse is wildly panting when he pulls him to stop, as it snorts agitated with the hunt. A little while after, Jongho catches up on them. Yeosang's eyes still on the blood trickling down Jongho's hand that presses against his shoulder.

"You pulled the arrow out?" Yeosang asks, leading his steed to the side of Jongho's. The knight nods at him, "Yes." Yeosang hesitates, his fingers hovering above the knight's arm as he urges to pull him in closer and inspect the wound with care.

His quick thinking has perhaps saved them for now.

A sudden movement tugs his body out of balance and he is caught by those beautiful eyes he so admires. Jongho kisses him without any pause, his hand splaying around Yeosang's cheek as he holds him dearly close. The rush of adrenaline from before bursts in his chest at the unprepared touch and white sparks flicker before his sight, forcing his eyes to flutter shut.

"You really are my knight," Jongho says with a smug smile to his words, touching the corner of his lips with another one of his kisses. Yeosang has his fingers twirled into Jongho's lengthier hair when he finally realises how the other has been talking to him. The knight is grabbing his chin, pulling his deep brown orbs to rest into his. For a moment are they only staring fondly.

But fear bobbles up into his throat and Yeosang questions him with a taut whisper, "How did they know we would be here when we have been burned.."

The knight averts his gaze, busying himself with sliding the long strands of Yeosang's hair behind his ears. The touch tastes sweet in this sour situation.

He then pulls back, gathering his stance heavily as he adjusts his clothes sticking to his self-healing wound, "I do not know. Perhaps someone saw us escaping the grounds of Lectushire Fortress. It could also be that some heralded the attack on the village, some that you did not kill. Although that is not what matters, I had a feeling Park Seonghwa would hunt us down anyway. That man is not as ignorant as you may believe; he is cunning like a poisonous snake, deceitful in every way."

The name seems to sizzle across his lips, as if Jongho nearly burns himself at just saying it out loud. There is no doubt that Jongho hates that man, deeply.

Yeosang looks away from the wound he figures out he has been staring at. A shadow looms in the treetops and the boy squints his eyes to see through the thick branches of brown leaves. His sight tells him it is only a bird, but he cannot stop himself from thinking it could very well be something else.

"Are.. are you alright?" Yeosang tears his eyes off the treetops, seeing Jongho already nudging his horse forward. "Do not worry, I am fine. A bit sore, maybe, but that should be nothing I cannot overcome."

Silence brings them to the other side of the forest, torches lighting up single dots in the distance and Yeosang shudders at the thought of nearing another village, knowing what happened last time. But he knows they have to ask for help if he wants to find Wooyoung again. Soon they encounter a broad path again, and somehow, Yeosang feels like he has been here before.

Now and then Jongho glances at him with a distant look in his eyes that Yeosang cannot read. The signals have him thinking that Jongho is everything but honest when he tells him that nothing is peeving him.

The wind is freezing cold, whipping his dark hair around his vision. When the pair of knights pass the outer walls of stone, villagers are peering at them astonished by the sight. The boy tastes fear borne by the wind.

They find a stable for their horses before leaving to search for a place to rest themselves.

"This is suicide, Jongho, they must have thought we could only move to another one of the closest villages in the area. We cannot stay here when they surely must have predicted this!" Yeosang hisses into his ear while they slowly look around the different buildings. Jongho merely shakes his head, "That is the thing, they would think we would have figured that out and therefore stayed in the forests. We will be playing their rationality like this." Looking up at the crooked signs, Jongho pats his hand, "Come, this way."

Walking around the next corner, they suddenly encounter a fairly large crowd of people pressing against a single door, a man yelling at people to step back, "We have a full house, there are no more rooms left!"

Lifting an eyebrow, Yeosang turns to Jongho, confounded. "I have no notion of what medley has occurred here," the other voices.

Something seems to be pulling his eyes to the darkest spots of the scene, seeing a single frame working a bucket up from the well. He seems young. His arms pull at the rope with trembling hands that even Yeosang can see from the distance. He decides the matter is too uninteresting but when he merely has moved his gaze somewhere else, he notices the resemblances that hurt too much to be worded.

"Wooyoung...?"

⚔︎