Tools of Terror

"The truth is …"

The truth is that you love me.

She couldn't say the words when he tears away from her so cruelly. When they are not words easily given away, Seol hopes that at least the man would look into her eyes when she does dare to word her own feelings. She reaches out and her fingers bunch on the hem of his sleeve.

"Young master Kang, I have not given you permission to leave."

She tugs at him, hoping that he would turn back. For a moment he remains unyielding, his shoulders taut with resolve. Then, the air stings – cut by the vicious, pointy tip of an arrow. It cuts a path through the motionless air and impales itself into the wooden beam Seol is leaning against – right next to her ear. On its way, it had drawn a hairline of blood. Seo turns with a hiss of an inhale. His frame eclipses her as he stands over her, arms braced on the wood either side of her head.

Three more arrows quickly follow, each missing them fractionally. With the tip of his thumb Seo brushes away a drop of blood trickling down her cheek and her eyes flicker up to his burning gaze. His fury is dangerous. Seol cannot remember where she had learned that, but the fact seems to come to her as she watches the way emotions shift within those stirring silver depths.

He begins with guilt that makes his lower lip tremble – she had called him and he had overridden the urge to respond. Her blood smears into his bow cut thumb and fury begins to bubble. His hand moves to his sword, easily drawn and accessible than the bow he had left out in favor of formal attire and Seol lets out a small puff of air, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"No," she breathes, pulling him away from the path of more arrows. "Move."

They press further into the shadows and he falls easily into her embrace.

"What are you – "He begins only to be silenced by how tightly she clings to him. Seo pulls her away to scan her face, over his shoulder – her eyes are wide and glossy. Her fists bunch into his robes.

They were all children of war. As a toddler, Seol had often been caught in cross fires between warring clans. Some had deliberately wanted to make a target of her – being the emperor's lone surviving child at the time. While the memories had faded away the torment had remained – like an irremovable stain on the fabric of her consciousness – Seol had grown to fear war. Years since then, she'd been sheltered from all possibilities of witnessing anything of the sort again; up until now.

"Seol!" He calls her name, loudly, hoping to snap her out from that torturous trance. Wide, glassy eyes stare at him unseeingly, lit in the firelights, before she shudders and buries against his chest.

"Won't let them hurt you…" her voice is muffled.

"Mama," he presses his mouth against her sweet-smelling hair, nudging his nose against her nape. "I'm not hurt."

She hugs his neck, pressing her cold cheek against the side of his throat. Her palms slide over and her fingers sink into his hair.

"Not going to let them…" She mumbles. "Not going to lose you. Not again – please not again!"

Seo cradles her face, lifting her eyes so that he could stare into them.

"Mama! Mama! Look – here – look!"

She drags in a breath, dark eyes meeting silver.

"They are rebels. Just rebels. This is why I did not want to cross through this village. Mama! Seol – stop shaking damn it!"

Her face had drawn clammy with sweat and her frame shivers as if she had caught a chill. Seo sinks into the ground with her when her knees give away. His arms wrap around her more securely, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder. He presses his hand against her spine, rocking gently.

"Breathe – mama. Breathe…"

She exhales in a loud puff, wet and warm against his throat.

"Nobody is going to take me anywhere. Hmm? I'm here. With you. I'm going nowhere."

"Orabeoni!" Through the chaos of running men, fighting men and general debris, Nari has found them. Her eyes are wide with worry and her face is pale. "Orabeoni…" she stops short, staring at them curled in the shadows. Seo looks at her and shakes his head fractionally, she nods.

"I need to bring princess out to safety," he says softly.

Nari draws herself straight.

"Through here – Orabeoni."

"Come – mama," Seo lifts her in his arms, cradling as if she was a child. Seol clings to him, terrified out of her wits.

"Where are we going?" She questions in a distant whisper. "Where –"

"It's safe. Trust me. Trust me – hmm?" He whispers against her ear, the answer even if vague, seems to soothe her for the time being. Nari brings them to her own quarters in the backside basement. It is already filled with the cooks and the children of inn workers. All terrified eyes turn to them when the arrive. Seo says nothing as he places Seol on Nari's bed in the corner. He moves to kneel and take her hands in his.

"Mama - Yul is still out there," he says without a preamble. He waits a beat for the words to register with her. "I'm going to return. With Yul. Can you wait here for me until then?"

Seol shudders, clings to his hands with ice cold fingers for a moment, her eyes squeezed shut. Then she nods and retrieves her hands. Seo nods at her and stands up, Nari has fetched him his bow and the quiver of arrows. He takes them from her and wears the quiver on his shoulder.

"I leave her highness in your hands," is all he tells her, before swiftly leaving in search of the captain of guard.

"General Kang," the man is by his side in an instant, Seo wastes no time greeting him as he surveys the situation below. The rebels had been raiding the area for a while, yet they had not expected to experience such a close call so soon. The assailants had their faces obscured, he takes one down with a well placed shot and hooks two arrows into the bow. "We are highly outnumbered, my lord…!"

"Where is the prince?"

The man's already white complexion ashens. The limping envoy is wrestling with two men who Seo takes down with arrows behind their knees. The captain of the guard pulls out his sword -

"No," he halts him. "Capture them alive. With weapons."

With the command issues, Seo swings around the railing and jumps into the firelit chaos below. Cutting through men who come to attack him with his short knife, he makes a brief walk towards the envoy, who is half lying and half collapsed on a toppled table, wheezing.

"General!" The man cries. "Good man! Save -" he is cut short as blood sprays on his face. The rebel who had come to attack him collapses on the table next to him. Yul looks like he would be sick at the sight, but he is clutching the bloodied dagger with trembling fingers.

"Seo!" he croaks. "I - I -"

Seo claps the boy on his shoulder, pulling him away from the debris, letting out a sigh of relief as he clasps the boy into a sideways hug.

"Is he dead?" The boy's question is muffled against him and his frame trembles.

"You did well Wangjanim," Seo tells the boy prince. "I'm glad you are safe. I'm glad you are safe…"