When Charlie awoke again, he was aware of ropes binding his wrists and a heavy ache coming from his head. Vision slightly blurred as they stung in the light of the early morning sun. Charlie shifted from one side to the other, trying to remember the events of the day before. When he caught the familiar scent, it all came flooding back. Arthur.

Looking up, Arthur hadn't noticed that his brother had woken. He was packing saddle bags onto a large grey horse. Who's ears twitched when it spotted movement, alerting Arthur to Charlie. "Good morning, sleeping beauty." He called without looking back.

Charlie didn't honour that with a response. His eyes narrowed as he watched his brother work in silence. "Since when are you too lazy to use your own four legs to get places?" He asked, a distraction as he fought to rid himself of the binds around his wrists.

"A gift from a nearby village, I helped them out with a wild dog problem, and in return they gave me the mare," he replied, almost proudly as he patted the creatures neck. "I call her Lou."

Surprised by this, Charlie couldn't help the growl which escaped. "You named her after mum?"

"Lou for Luanne, not Lucy. After grandma. She's a moody cow just like her," he said with a laugh. "Jeez Charlie, it may have been a while, but I've not turned into a complete monster since I last saw you."

Ignoring the last comment pointedly, returning to working away at his binds. He realised something, he paused. "The nearest village is a hundred miles away, if not more..." he thought out loud. His eyes narrowing a fraction as he watched his brother silently. "How long have you been looking for me, Art?" He spoke lowly, a form of guilt burning in his chest.

He only shrugged, "A while," he said calmly. As though it was nothing at all, "Maybe a month or two." As he spoke he ran his fingers through the mane of the mare, absent minded. "It was lonely, so I accepted the mare to stop me from losing my mind entirely before I found you."

That comment tore Charlie's heart cleanly out of his chest, the guilt now a blaze in side him for what he was about to do. It's for both our sakes, he tried to convince himself, but it wasn't that easy.

Just as he had felt the bindings begin to give, a sword nearly took the whiskers from his chin. He jumped when he found that in the space of half a second, Arthur had closed the distance between them and caught him read handed. "Really Charlie?" He asked with a sigh, kneeling again as he worked to refasten the binds, tighter this time.

"If you really want to hold me," Charlie muttered, his head low in defeat. "Why don't you just use silver, save us both a bit of time."

"As I said before," he said, finishing his work and returning to the mare. "I'm not a monster."

Snorting a little at this, Charlie struggled to his feet without the aid of his hands. "My head disagrees," he mumbled, the ache still present, though beginning to fade. Not that he was going to let his brother know this."

"I could have used the dart gun," retorted Arthur, taking Charlie by the scruff of his shirt, and dragging him onto Lou with him. "But with a journey ahead of us, I thought it would make you queasy."

"How merciful," sarcasm dripped from his tongue like poison from a snakes.

Only a chuckle was given in response as Arthur gathered his reins and sat up. "You ready?"

Whilst Charlie had accepted his fate, if only for the time being until further escape opportunities arose. Now it was time to leave, the pain struck him as he realised what that meant. He would never be able to return. The place he had known as home for the better part of a decade, left behind to rot. The one constant in his life, gone.

Swallowing the lump which had risen in the back of his throat, not voicing his pain to his brother. Charlie only nodded.

Unaware of the torment that leaving was causing his brother. Arthur spun the mare around, and with a quick kick, the pair were moving. Charlie took one last look at the stone cottage in the woods, then turned around. Forcing himself to not look back a second time, as they made their way into the darkness of the trees.

From there, they made quick progress. If Lou had any protests about the extra weight she carried, she didn't make it apparent as they headed north. Charlie had rarely wandered far from home in the ten years. So everything he saw was new, to the point where he jumped at every shadow, as though certain an enemy lie waiting.

By the time they had breached through the forest, and found themselves out on the other side. The sun had made its way to the peak, and Charlie could feel the sweat beginning to drip down his back. More concerning however, was the ache from his belly. As he realised that he hadn't eaten since two days before.

Hunger was nothing new to the young man, more often then not when he lay his head down to sleep at night, his belly was empty. Charlie would've been happy to wait days or so before thinking to complain. However, the same could not be said of the much better fed Arthur. Whose stomach was now emitting a sound which would have warded off a hungry bear.

"Fancy stopping for lunch?" Arthur offered, pulling the mare to a halt before Charlie really had the opportunity to reply.

"I could eat a horse," Charlie admitted. His stomach letting out a grumble as though to agree.

Arthur let out an offended gasp, running his fingers across the mares neck. "Don't listen to him Lou! I'd eat him myself before I let him anywhere near you!"

Had Lou been offended, she didn't make it apparent.

Sliding from the mares back, Charlie watched in silence as Arthur untracked the mare to let her graze. "What do we have?" He asked, willing to accept grass for an answer at this point if it filled his belly.

However, Arthur shook his head. "We catch our own food, Charlie!" He said with a laugh. "What'd you expect? If you don't hunt, you don't eat." Arthur had never sounded more like their father, it made Charlie uncomfortable.

Pausing, he raised an eyebrow, cautious. "Do you really think hunting is the best idea, in my condition?"

Another gasp from Arthur. "You never told me you were pregnant Charlie! Congrats." It was Arthur's turn to sound sarcastic.

Rolling his eyes, Charlie fought the urge to smack his older brother. "You know what I mean, it's risky!" The worry lighting his gaze, he could already count the million different ways that this could potentially go wrong.

"You'll have me to keep you grounded, and we need to eat Charlie, or this journey will be over before it's really even begun." He said firmly, the amusement gone from his tone. Like the sun slipping behind a cloud, his expression suddenly darkened. Charlie watched him, silent for a moment, wondering exactly how much had changed in a decade.

"I'd sooner eat my own foot then risk you in a hunt," Charlie measured his brother's tone with a surprising level of ease. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, trying to pretend that it didn't hurt half as much as it did.

"Good thing you have two," he replied through gritted teeth. "But I know what you mean. How do you survive yourself? If you can't hunt properly without losing it?"

Charlie forced the image of the butchered deer from the night before, swallowing the lump rising in the back of his threat. "Whatever I can find, berries, leftover carcasses, I can trap well enough." He said with a shrug of his shoulders, as though it was nothing. After ten years he was used to eating less then gourmet meals.

Arthur on the other hand looked horrified by this revelation. He didn't speak for a moment, before he vanished the concern from his gaze and said. "No wonder I've seen bulkier twigs, we'll just have to fatten you up a bit."

Like a pig for slaughter, the analogy was fitting. "Can I at least have my hands back?" He muttered, struggling against the binds once again, this time less seriously then before.

For a moment Arthur appeared to deliberate, uncertain. "Promise you won't do anything stupid?"

He knows me well, Charlie fought back the chuckle. "You've promised to feed me, wild horses couldn't keep me away."

Arthur only sniffed at that comment, kneeling as he pulled apart the binds and freed Charlie once again. Before allowing the shift to take over his body until once again he stood on four paws instead of two feet. Looking back, he let out a lupine grin. "I'll be back in a minute." He said, before spinning around, and making his way through the long grass.