AN: Soluc finally makes his appearance! I hope you're enjoying this so far! <3

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Soluc grimaced atthe blood dripping thickly down his biceps. The wolf bone had beenripped straight from its piercing at the tip of his shoulder by hisown carelessness. He supposed that it made him look that much moreintimidating, but the stinging pain was rather unwelcome when he hadso much on his mind.

"Where is mybrother?" he demanded harshly. He kicked the wooden beam of saidbrother's tent in emphasis, sending the whole structure crumplingto the ground.

The youngsters he'dbeen left with, stared up at him. None of them cowered, but they eyedSoluc's impressive form like he was born from the dimmest of ogres.

"Lenroy? He'scatching the prince," one said slowly.

Soluc smiled at theyoung oaf. He was perhaps too young to be a part of the ovesmilitia—or as most others called it—gang. He gripped him by theelaborate stone necklace that draped around his neck and lifted theboy, with one arm, off of his feet.

The boy struggledagainst his grasp, smearing Soluc's blood across his neck. Solucsmiled at the anger in his young eyes and ducked easily aside from asloppy punch, which only brushed his auburn hair.

It was better toteach him now.

"When you grow,perhaps you'll have a chance of over powering me." He tossed theyouth carelessly into the midst of the others who were staring infascination. Several of them fell in a clutter as he landed on them.

"Until then, youkeep in your place."

Some of hisfrustration abated, Soluc turned to catch Ilaj grinning at the scene,baring a set of sharp, spiked teeth.

Soluc rolled hiseyes as he came into step next to his friend.

"I love to watchyou lord over people," he laughed.

"I know," Solucsaid. "You told me that twice today, already."

"Only because it'strue," Ilaj grinned.

Soluc suspected thatit was. The Raven haired oaf enjoyed nothing more than elaboratelystyling his knee length hair and watching people squirm in agony. Buteither way, Soluc was not behaving like the animal that he was, forIlaj's amusement.

"Buttering me upwon't change the fact that Lenroy left with the team yesterday andthey stillaren't back. Not with the prince. Not with food. Not at all."

Saying it made hisblood begin to boil.

"Tuboy!" Hisvoice echoed beyond the scope of their camp and through the treesaround them. A few people glanced at him with that look he'd beenseeing a lot lately, but no one so much as stirred.

Soluc frowned andglanced at Ilaj, finding him grinning that annoying grin again.

"What?" hedemanded.

"Tuboy went on thehunt this morning, remember?" he asked.

Soluc scowled. Nowhe did.

"Memet!" heshouted instead.

There was a moment'ssilence. He glanced at Ilaj about to ask him if Memet had gone too,but his other little brother poked a head out from a nearby tent.

"What?" he askedeasily.

"Are you ready fora hunt?" he asked.

Memet raised a redbrow.

"Didn't the huntleave already?" he asked.

Soluc glowered atthat damn expression. If one more person looked at him like he had nowisps of brain in his skull, he would personally beat them until theywere too slow to judge.

"Not for food,"he growled.

"Ah."

Memet climbed out ofthe tent fully, so that he could face his brother. He was undressed,his long muscular form covered only by the hip length hair that wasleft open and draped over his body.

"More piercings?"Soluc asked, noticing the small clamp that was still attached to theskin on his collar.

"Just a few," hesaid with a shrug. "So are you going to tell me what we'rehunting, or do I have to force it from you?"

"Force it fromhim," Ilaj encouraged. "There hasn't been a decent brawl inweeks."

Memet smiled, butwaited while Soluc shot his friend a scathing look.

"Yes, and what ashame that we have no one too injured to carry on their duties."

Ilaj chuckled.

Shaking his head,Soluc turned back to his brother, who was waiting quite patiently foran answer.

"We are going totrack the hunting team that was sent to retrieve the prince," hesaid. "They're taking too long."

A smile touchedMemet's lips.

"That should befun," he said. "And what do we get to do them, if we find themlazing about in the forest somewhere?"

Soluc grinned. Hehad a wonderful brother.

"I'll tie themup, and you do whatever you like."

The glint in Memet'seyes showed Soluc his consent.

"Ilaj," he saidturning to his friend. "You stay behind and let the hunting partyknow the deal. You'll be the eldest here, so keep charge."

"Of course,"Ilaj murmured.

Suddenly, Memettilted his head, his eyes narrowed.

"Hm," hemuttered with a frown. "It doesn't look like we'll be goingafter all."

"What?"

He tilted his head,attempting to make out whatever noise his keen brother was hearing.

"Theprince-hunting team is arriving," Memet said.

Soluc's heartcareened into his chest with nerves. Had they caught the Tasnianprince? More importantly, was he still alive?

"Let me finishthis," Memet said, indicating the clamp still squeezing his skin,"and I'll join you to greet them."

"Let me do it foryou," Ilaj said at once.

Memet shrugged andre-entered the tent, Ilaj close behind him.

His heart continuingto thunder in his chest, Soluc paced to the edge of the camp groundwondering which way they'd come from.

They had gone westtoward the human towns, the capitol and the palace, but knowing hisbrother, they could return from any direction.

And of course, therewas a loud ruckus, laughter and cheering on the oppositeend of the camp.

With a sigh, Solucrushed to the east of the camp, not needing to shove the crowd ofyoung soldiers from his path, when the hunters did it themselves.

Soluc watched as twoof the oves carried a bundle to the front and dropped itunceremoniously at his feet.

Without moving,Soluc waited for his brother Lenroy to escape from the applauding mixof people and approach his older brother with an unabashed grin and aglint in his green eyes.

"Is he stillalive?" Soluc asked.

"Beats me,"Lenroy said.

The jovial laughterhad Soluc grimacing.

"Check him," hemuttered to Memet, who had just arrived on the scene, newly dressedand with a line of thin bone piercing his flesh in an intricatedesign like the pendant from a necklace.

He bent down atonce, releasing the edges of the rough fabric from the motionlessform and exposing the young human prince. His head hung at an awkwardangle, exposing a smooth expanse of skin on his neck, but his darkhair hid his face, and what seemed like a ridiculous amount ofclothing, hid the rest of him. Everyone was silent in fascination.This was the first time many of them had ever been so close to ahuman.

It was Soluc'sfirst time as well, and he wondered curiously why Prince Allard'shair was so short. Were humans always this small? He had heard thatthey were, but to see it from such closeness... He looked sodelicate. Had they hit him too hard?

He held his breathas Memet leaned a pointed ear to the human's mouth.

After a painfullylong moment, he looked up with a smile.

"He's alive."

The whole camperupted into cheers.

"And the message?"Soluc asked, clapping Lenroy warmly on the back. "You sent it off?"he asked.

"No need to,"Lenroy answered proudly. "There was another human with him. We sentthe thing howling to the castle."

Soluc's smilefaltered uneasily.

He whistled loudlyand after a tense moment, Shaw circled the air above him with a cryand swooped down to grace Soluc's arm, her claws drawing blood,like they often did.

He stroked thehawk's beak softly.

"Did you have funwith my brother?" he asked.

He smiled as shenipped him affectionately.

"Well, if themessage wasn't clear enough, we'll just send him another."

With the arrival ofthe human prince, the camp suddenly had the air of a party. Solucgrinned at all the happy faces.

"Prepare for afeast!" he shouted. Cheering erupted. "And if the hunting teamhas come up short for the night, we'll eat one of them!"

The laughter wascontagious. Soluc turned to head back to his tent and without a wordMemet bent and lifted the prince, fabric and all, from the muddyground and followed Soluc.

He placed the princewith surprising gentleness onto Soluc's sleeping mat and looked upat him.

"We shouldprobably make sure he'll survive," Memet said. "If he isgoing to die before our ransom is met, then we may as well preparefor battle now."

Soluc grimaced.

His brother wasright. They couldn't mess up where it concerned the humans andtheir prince; the outcome would be too unpleasant.

He bent down next toMemet and pulled back the fabric gently.

"Check his headfor bumps or cuts," Memet said.

Doing as he wastold, Soluc stroked prince Allard's hair back, examining his facefirst. For such a small being, he had strong features; a straightnose, square jaw, high cheekbones, but his skin was just too soft.

Soluc ran hisfingertips over his cheeks and neck, feeling it again.

Skin like this didnot belong on an adult, he decided.

He looked up at aripping noise and found Memet tearing the front of the prince'sshirt open to examine his chest.

Soluc raised a brow.Okay, maybe he wasagrown man, despite his small size and smooth skin. Chests like thatdid not belong on children. He was slight but defined.

Shaking his head,Soluc went back to his task, running his fingers deep into the thick,dark hair.

"There's a bumpon the back of his skull, here," he said, "and one at the front,here."

Memet came toexamine the spots indicated and finally, sat back with a sigh.

"No cuts, a fewbruises and two small lumps."

He looked up atSoluc with an amused smile.

"Hard to believe,but it looks like they did a good job."

Soluc grinned.

"Yeah," heagreed. "I definitely did not expect that."

Suddenly thegood-natured noise from outside magnified and Memet stood up at once.

"The hunting teamis back," he said. "I'm going to go to Tuboy."

Soluc nodded,letting him go to his twin and hoping that they had managed to catchbig game for the night.

A soft moan drewSoluc's attention back to the form in front of him. He croucheddown even lower to look at the human as he began to sigh and shift indiscomfort.

Prince Allard moanedagain and it became clear that it was a moan of pain.

Slowly, his eyesfluttered open, focusing on the canopy above them for a moment beforehe shut them tightly again and pressed a hand to the back of hishead.

Soluc smiled.

The little thing wasdelicateit would seem, or a little bump on the head wouldn't have beenenough to knock him out cold for hours.

Finally, his eyesfluttered open again, exposing dark eyes of a depth that Soluc hadnever seen before.

He stared at thecolor—almost black, he was sure—with wonder until they focused onhim.

The prince blinkedat Soluc blankly, until Soluc thought to say something. He wasn'tvery good at kidnapping people, it would seem.

"Hello, PrinceAllard," he said softly. His father had once said that being gentlewas the best way to deal with humans. "Don't be alarmed. Youwon't be harmed as long as your family answers our ransom."

Said prince,furrowed his brow in confusion and then shut his eyes with anotherhiss of pain.

When he opened themagain, the focus was slipping even farther from his eyes.

"I'm not PrinceAllard," he said.

Soluc had misheardhim.

He leaned in.

"What?" heasked. His voice came out unnecessarily sharp but the prince didn'tseem to notice.

"I'm Nemir,"he murmured. "From Suvahl."

And he was out.

Soluc sat in silencefor a long moment, the blood rushing so swiftly through his ears thathe couldn't hear himself think.

One name climbed tothe surface of his mind.

"Lenroy!" heshouted.