Divided (36 page)

“There was a boy!” Aitken volunteered happily.  He had been
nervous around Kilik all sun, and now he seemed pleased that the older boy
wasn’t going to try and leave the house again.  Aitken worshipped Kilik, and
even Taeru wasn’t so stupid as to not recognize that as a fact.  He had
certainly made friends in Telandus.  “She said he was courting her!”

Taeru felt a frown tugging at his lips.  That wasn’t
normal—why were they out so late?  He tossed a glance at Juliet, who nodded her
affirmation of this issue.  So Alyx was alright, he thought, that meant that
his heart should stop beating so quickly.  He would never understand why women
wanted to spend time with men during the evening. 

Well into the evening, it turned out.  For many shifts after
dinner had ended, Taeru paced by the door, jumping at any sound, hoping that
Alyx would return.  Every shift, though, was another empty noise, and Taeru
became more and more worried as he waited.  He knew that it was well past the
shift that he should be in bed when Juliet made her way into the living room. 
Her eyes were worried at once.  “Kilik, what is it?  Why are you awake?”

He stared at the blond woman incredulously.  How had she
slept knowing that her daughter was prancing around with some man?  “I was
waiting on Alyx,” he said dutifully.  “She hasn’t come home yet.”

There was the worry that Taeru had been expecting.  Juliet
had already been to sleep, and something had woken her.  Alyx should be back,
Taeru was certain, but he hadn’t wanted to go out needlessly if this sort of
thing was normal.  He knew very little about courting.  “She isn’t home?”
Juliet choked.

Without any more prompting, Taeru moved back to his room,
and in an instant, he had slipped on the leather gloves, cuirass, and boots. 
The black outfit took only moments to switch into, and he yanked the mask,
bandana, and swords into his hands.  He didn’t need to be exiting the house
looking fully like the Phantom Blade.  He left without even a glance at Juliet,
and once he was far enough away from the house, he slipped on the mask and
bandana. 

He pulled himself up onto one of the rooftops.  He had to
find her.  His heart felt as though it might explode in his chest.  Alyx—of all
people—was someone that he couldn’t bear to lose.  He should have left earlier,
he shouted silently.  Why had he taken so long?  Better that he make a fool of
himself by stalking her than anything happen to her.

He moved along the rooftops.  No one was about at this moon-shift,
and with every street that revealed nothing—Taeru felt his heart falling further
and further.  He wanted to call her name, but if someone was attacking her and
heard him—then he would put her in more danger.  Finally, he heard a shriek and
a cry.  “Alyx!” he hissed.

His body twisted and moved towards the sound without a
single wasted motion.  After a few more rooftops, he found the alleyway where
they were.  Four noblemen, and a blond girl shoved back against a dilapidated
fence.  He dropped down behind them and yanked one of the men back into the
building he’d been on before he spoke.  “You should get away from her,” he said
darkly.

The rest of the men turned to glare at him.  “Do you never
sleep?” one of them hissed.  Apparently, he was gaining a little bit of fame in
the Shining District, which he knew was a bad thing.  Before, the nobles that
he’d run into had laughed and mocked him.  Lately, though, there had been traps
for him—and everyone seemed to know who he was. 

That was the least of his worries, though, as he looked at
Alyx, whose eyes were red for crying.  They were large as they watched him.  Taeru
unsheathed his first sword and turned to cut down the man that was trying to
grab him from behind. 

One of the men launched forward and caught Taeru’s cheek
with the side of his blade.  Then, Taeru caught the blade with his own and
twisted it so that the man was forced to release it.  Next, he pulled his foot
up and shoved it into the man’s abdomen.  Just in time for another sword to cut
over his head, so that he had to duck and slam his elbow into the other
combatant. 

The nobles were persistent, though, and one of them was
still clinging to Alyx.  Rather than worrying with the other three, Taeru moved
forward and grabbed the man by his shirt.  The man fell away fairly easily,
especially since Alyx clung to the fence with a shriek—and kicked him for good
measure.  Taeru brought the man back and then slammed the hilt of his sword
into the noble’s face. 

He caught another blade in mid-swing, angling it so that the
man who’d swung was left with a twisted wrist.  Then, with a flourish of his
blade, Taeru cut upwards and across the man’s cheek with precision.  He then
used his second sword to cut into the man’s torso deep enough so that the fool
crumpled to the ground.

Only one of them was left standing, and Taeru parried his
sword with a quick movement and then shoved him backwards.  After another
exchange of blades, Taeru managed to get the upper hand by grabbing the man’s
arm and twisting it until he heard the snap.  Finally, he tossed the guy to the
ground.

At that moment, though, another of them had regained enough
of himself to place a kick directly above Taeru’s knee—his injury—and he let
out a desperate whimper.  Unexpected, he thought painfully, but he was still
tasked with getting rid of these men.  Though, when he got back to his feet, he
was more than a little shocked at who was standing there.

Even in a brown, upturned cloak, and a tunic that was
certainly not fitting for someone with a name such as his—he was recognizable.

“For all that he could not understand within himself,
this prince could see it like a sun in the light of the moon.”

-A Hero’s Peace, v.ii

Calis glared down at the man who had just managed to kick
exactly where he shouldn’t have.  What were the odds, of the entire length of
Kilik’s leg, that he would have kicked that precise location?  So much anger
ran through Calis in that moment that he wasn’t sure if he could stop himself
from killing them all. 

With great effort, though, he withheld his anger enough to
slam his sword into the dirt beside the offender’s head.  “Go,” he hissed, in a
voice that would have scared him—if he hadn’t known that it was his own. 

They obeyed, as noblemen were cowards, and if they did not
outnumber—or outmatch—the enemy, then they were not good about staying around. 
The men were gone in a few more moments, and Calis turned to look at a moderately
bemused Kilik—or rather, Phantom Blade.  No, there really wasn’t any denying it
anymore. 

Kilik, though, was more interested in the woman that he had
saved.  “Are you alright?” he asked hoarsely. 

Alyx stood, shaking a little on her feet, and observed both
of them.  She seemed just as surprised to see Kilik as she was to see Calis. 
She obviously hadn’t expected help at this late shift, but she seemed to
underestimate just how crazed Calis had been with worry about Kilik—and
apparently Kilik had felt the same about her, Calis thought with a twinge of
jealousy.  “Y-yes, thank you,” she sobbed.  She had been crying.

Kilik took a step towards her, and he was obviously still
intent on being the Phantom Blade, and not Kilik, Calis realized with
annoyance. 

What luck, Calis thought, that he had been so entirely
plagued with terrible thoughts of Kilik in his bed.  Not that he had slept well
at all for the past several moons, but this was the first moon that he had
tried to actively ensure that nothing was wrong with Kilik.

The fact held, though, that Kilik could have handled the situation
by himself.  Of course he could have, but Calis felt a swell of relief that he
had been here.  “What are you doing here?” Kilik asked Alyx gently.

“I-I… I don’t want to…” she cried.  “Just—I need to get
home.  Please.”

“I should take you,” Kilik said worriedly.  Calis knew he shouldn’t
be feeling so jealous about this situation, but he was.  Oh, he wanted to drag
the girl home himself just so Kilik would stop being so attentive.

Alyx glanced from Kilik to Calis with tired eyes.  “No!  No,
please!  I just… just… I can make it.”  Then, she turned and ran away without
another word to either of them.  Kilik took a tentative step towards her and
then sighed. 

He turned on Calis, then, and his blue eyes were noticeable
even in the dark.  Calis wondered how he had ever failed to notice them.  “What
are you doing out so late?” Kilik asked warily.  He was trying to disguise his
voice.  Cute.

“The same as you, I think,” Calis answered honestly.  Their
eyes were locked, and Calis willed Kilik to be honest with him with every fiber
of his being.  But no, the trust wasn’t there, the belief wasn’t there.  Kilik
wouldn’t be honest with him.

Yet, as they stood there, looking at each other, Calis could
feel his regret at having not kissed those lips—so very distinguishable—when
he’d been given the chance.  He wanted Kilik, so badly, and the rest of the
world be hanged.  He hadn’t known that he could feel this—this unending desire
for another person. 

A spasm ran through his body as he watched Kilik.  This boy
stood with such an absurd amount of grace, especially considering his injury
was probably burning with pain.  Still, as he stood there, before Calis now—he
looked so weak, as if one touch might make him crumple to the ground.  He was
strong—he wasn’t going to crack in front of anyone, and Calis was sure that
he’d never been able.  Kilik was brave, but he was fragile.  “I need to go make
sure those men don’t catch up with her again,” Kilik said quickly.

“Is your leg alright?” Calis asked softly.

This seemed to take the boy aback a little bit, perhaps he’d
expected Calis to ignore what had happened to him.  “Fine, thank you.” 

“Who are you?” Calis asked hopefully.  He stepped forward,
and like a cornered deer, Kilik stepped back. 

Within another moment, Kilik was shaking his head.  There
was the strangest sense that he was about to break.  Calis wanted to hold him,
to touch him, to kiss him.  He wanted to do whatever Kilik needed in that
moment.  He wanted Kilik to drop his guard.  But, he wouldn’t.

No, in fact, Kilik ground his teeth together and turned away
from Calis.  He was going to run.  No, no, he was
not
going to run.  He
wasn’t going to run back to Alyx, ignore his own problems, and throw himself so
deep into the pain of another that his own became irrelevant.  He wasn’t going
to do that yet.  Just as the boy moved his foot forward with incredible
quickness, Calis’s hand snaked forward and caught him by the wrist.  “Stop!” he
demanded.

Kilik didn’t though, he twisted and fought against Calis’s
grip.  However, for all Kilik’s skill with a blade, he was little, and Calis
was much stronger.  The two of them fought, Kilik determined to wriggle free,
and Calis determined to keep him there.  “Let go!” Kilik cried.  “Leave me
alone!”  His voice dropped into panic.

Finally, with a definitive tug, Calis brought Kilik back so
that they were standing face to face.  His hand reached without hesitation and
tore the mask from those blue eyes.  “Kilik,” he breathed.

The revelation was not anything that Calis hadn’t already
known.  The visual affected Calis profoundly, though.  It showed him precisely
the face about which he had been worried and fantasized endlessly.  The
entirety of Kilik’s face struck Calis like a blow, the tanned skin, the soft,
blue eyes, and the fear and terror of being discovered echoing within them. 
Then, those lips—those lips.  “Please,” Kilik said weakly.  No, Calis didn’t
care about Lavus, or Lady Avyon, or Tareth, or anything.  All he cared about
was Kilik.  All he wanted was Kilik.  All he needed was for Kilik to know that
he cared about him above anything else.  “Don’t hurt me,” Kilik whimpered, “I
just wanted to help them.”

“Kilik,” Calis whispered again.  Then, with another quick
movement, his lips found their desire.  Kilik’s lips trembled beneath the
passionate touch of Calis’s.  They were warm with panic.  Calis’s mouth pressed
against them with fervor, and as he kissed them—he could feel his desire
morphing into something much stronger.  A fire ignited within him and burned
outward, touching every part of him, consuming him—driving him—owning him. 

In a loss of control, he moved his tongue against Kilik’s mouth
in a very light touch.  Then, he stopped and held the heated lips with an
entranced worship.  Pure hunger.  Pure joy.  Pure happiness.  Kilik’s body had
gone limp against him, and Calis moved his arms so that one hand was on Kilik’s
cheek, and the other held his waist.

The moment was eternal, and then it seemed to end too
quickly.  Calis could have remained there, with Kilik, forever.  He wanted
those lips again, and again, and again—forever.  When they pulled apart, Calis’s
lips were moist with need and with Kilik’s breath.  Kilik was paralyzed, but
Calis—in his hypnotized fervor—knew that Kilik had kissed him too.  With a
final stroke of his thumb over a cut along Kilik’s cheek, Calis stepped back. 
“I could never hurt you, Kilik.  The thought of your suffering causes me a pain
that you cannot possibly comprehend.”

Kilik shook, but some of the guardedness in his eyes had
dropped.  Now, Calis felt like the vulnerable one.  Kilik could run away—away
from him—and Calis’s heart would surely burst.  The idea of being unable to be
with Kilik, or worse, the idea that anything could happen to him, caused Calis
such fear and agony that he didn’t know how to go about considering it.  The
fire that had started during the kiss remained, dimmed, craving more of the boy
before him—but he fought it.  “I-is that what you wanted?  Are you satisfied?”
Kilik asked faintly.

“I’m not sure.  I’ve never felt so entirely satisfied and so
desperate for more in my life,” Calis said warily. 

Kilik seemed uncertain, worried.  “I’m… you’re… why are you
doing this?  Why are you trying to make me feel like this—when you know this
can’t happen?  Why?  I don’t understand.”

“I’m not trying to… I’m… I don’t care that it can’t happen. 
I have thought of nothing but you for cycles—let me make it happen.  Let me…
have y-…”  No, he couldn’t say that.  Kilik would certainly be afraid of a
statement as bold as that.  “I will not hurt you.”

“I believe you,” Kilik said, as though the words confused
him.

Calis laughed, lowering his head and trying to get a grip on
his desire so that he could converse properly with Kilik.  Wanting the young
man so terribly was making conversation rather difficult, but he also wanted to
know more about Kilik, and so he tried to find a balance.  “Why didn’t you tell
me who you were?”

Kilik cleared his throat and turned his head away with that
familiar, indignant expression.  Calis felt it again, that pang of need, and he
smiled.  He wanted Kilik with everything in him, and his entire soul was
reaching out for that desire.  Nevertheless, he would make sure that was what
Kilik wanted first.  “You have your secrets, I have mine,” Kilik told him
flatly.

“You are an enigma, my friend,” Calis whispered.

This caused the slightest of grimaces on Kilik’s face before
he shook his head.  “I need to make sure she is alright,” he said.  Slowly, he
moved his hand upwards to replace the mask.  “If your brother finds out.  He
will not only hang me, but he will hang that entire family.”  Kilik spoke the
words as though the second part of the statement was more important than the
first.  Calis narrowed his eyes at the assertion.

“I will kill Tareth myself before I let him lay a hand on
you,” Calis answered.  The thought of his pompous brother touching Kilik sent a
fire of an entirely different sort burning through Calis’s veins.

This seemed to strike Kilik as more than a little odd, but
he said nothing.  Calis had to physically work to keep his sigh from escaping. 
He hadn’t the slightest clue what Kilik was thinking, and he desperately wanted
to know.  “You ought to spend more time with your brother,” Kilik offered
weakly.  “He takes out his anger on the citizens here.”

“He has taken it out on you?” Calis asked.  He was well
aware of the answer to the question, but he wanted Kilik to tell him.  He had
an insatiable desire for Kilik to trust him.  Kilik seemed to have a wall
between himself and the rest of the world, and Calis, knowing next to nothing
about the wall, wanted to tear it down. 

Kilik looked at him for a moment longer than necessary.  “Of
course,” he said, as if the words were of little consequence.  “I am a citizen
of Dark District just like everyone else.  Not to mention, I bring it on myself
with this…”  Kilik did a quick gesture to the outfit that he was wearing.  When
he gestured, the half-cape billowed out like a pair of wings. 

“The first time,” Calis said, “it was intentional.”  The
matter was a small one, to say the least, but perhaps Kilik would feel a little
more at ease knowing that Calis had wanted to help him from the beginning. 

For a moment, Calis thought that Kilik wouldn’t know what he
meant. Then, those blue eyes flickered with realization.  “You were trying to
help me, then?  But you knew nothing of me, other than the fact that I was
causing your brother trouble.”  The majority of the effect the revelation had
on Kilik was masked by the black material covering his eyes. 

“You saved that young woman,” Calis pointed out.  “I was
absolutely fascinated.”

Kilik ducked his head, which probably meant that his cheeks
were red.  Calis would have told him that he couldn’t tell the difference with
that mask on—but if Kilik wanted to reveal a little more about himself, then
Calis wasn’t going to stop him.  “Fascinated?  I know you say you are not
always so dramatic, but the way you speak says otherwise,” Kilik accused.

Calis tried not to grin.  “I’m not,” he promised.  Oddly
enough, this statement caused Kilik to smile.  The smile felt like some
treasure that Calis had traveled across the world to find.  “I shouldn’t keep
you here much longer.  Should I help you back?  That brute hit your leg
precisely where you were injured.”

“I am the Phantom Blade,” Kilik said dramatically, or he
tried to be dramatic—he wasn’t very good at it.  “I think I can handle a walk
through the dark by myself.  With or without an injured leg.”

Despite the words, Calis found his heart pounding with the
thought of Kilik by himself, wandering through the dark.  “You are…”  No, he
was not going to push the issue so early.  Whatever relationship he and Kilik
had was tentative, and Calis didn’t need to push his boundaries at this
juncture.  Perhaps he would just follow the young man home without his
knowledge. 

That sounded just a tad, more than a tad, obsessive, but
Calis couldn’t bring himself to keep from the idea.  “Very well, then I implore
you to be safe, my friend.” 

With a quick bow, Kilik headed in Alyx’s direction, and
Calis went about finding the easiest way to follow his delicate friend through
the darkness without being seen.