Submission and Addiction [Part 18]
I apologize for how long this took..... hopefully it'll meet all your expectations though!
It had taken Kris two whole days to ride from their tent to the palace, when he’d thought he was on his way to bringing Adam home. But tearing across the sand on the back of the Pharaoh’s horse - two of the Pharaoh’s guards trailing him - the trip took him less than one day, without a single slowing of pace or rest. When they reached the tent, Michael was already coming out through the door as Kris leapt down from the horse.
“Adam’s not with you?” Michael demanded, his eyes anxious and concerned.
Kris shook his head firmly. During the trip, he’d made sure that his determination had as strong of a hold on him as possible. It wouldn’t be hard for him to lose his drive in the dark depths of sadness and hopelessness if he thought too much of Adam back in the palace - sick, alone,…dying. Kris would lose himself in the unbearable thoughts if he let himself dwell on them too much. So with his fortitude setting him ablaze, he took the reins from one of the guard’s hands of the fourth horse the Pharaoh had given them, and held them out for Michael.
“I had to leave Adam for now. The illness he has that made him cough all the time has been getting stronger with time. As we speak now, he’s dying. If we are to save him, we have to act fast.”
Michael’s jaw worked soundlessly for a few moments, searching for words, for a coping mechanism against the dagger that had been plunged right through his heart with the news.
“What can we do?” Michael asked as he took the horse’s reigns from Kris and swung himself up onto the strong horse’s back. Similar to Kris, he seemed to be focused on the future, not the crushing blow Kris had just delivered with his words.
“Follow me to the markets,” Kris said, already kicking his own horse into a gallop again. “We have to find that Ahmad guy that always visited Adam.”
“How can that twit help?”
“The Pharaoh had a doctor examine Adam, and he said there’s only one thing that can cure him. A tonic made from an herb that grows only in foreign lands. Ahmad travels and trades in countless different countries, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, I see. So we have to seek him out, and pray to every god we can name that he’ll have this tonic,” Michael said grimly. Michael sped his horse up until he was up beside Kris, and could speak to him more easily. “And what of these guards with us? They’d better not have been sent by that Merrick bitch to spy on us or some other dirty tactic. I’ll beat them into the ground.”
“No, they’re the Pharaoh’s. He sent them with me so they can help make sure Ahmad gives up the tonic. The Pharaoh also gave me gold to use as payment.”
Michael’s brow lifted in surprise, “Adam really got to him good.”
Kris just gave a slight vacant nod, his eyes glued to the horizon ahead. He didn’t really want to think about what Michael had just spoken of. The Pharaoh was obviously going out of his way to give Adam special care, and aid Kris as much as he could. Kris didn’t know what exactly Adam had done to win such loyalty, but he was sure it was nothing he’d enjoy knowing details of. The memory pulsed in front of his eyes of when he’d entered the Pharaoh’s chambers and seen a weak Adam gripping the Pharaoh’s hands in his own. It was a small gesture, but nothing like how Adam had ever been known to act towards any previous customers. Kris had never seen him hold hands with even Brad, whom Adam had been fairly close to. Kris had met the Pharaoh himself … he was handsome, and seemed kind, not to mention his great power and influence. He wouldn’t be a hard man for Adam to fall in love with…
As soon as the full, awful thought formed in his mind, Kris shook his head to banish it, feeling disgusted with himself for worrying about such a thing while Adam’s very life rested on his shoulders. Even if it were true…, while it would hurt Kris immensely, right now it wouldn’t matter. Kris still had to succeed in his search for this tonic.
No matter what, he could not fail.
The world was lost to dark, swirling depths. Adam drifted mindlessly back and forth over the line of consciousness, unable to control the blackness that continually clouded his vision. He didn’t know anymore whether he was awake, dreaming, or perhaps had already died. He didn’t know anymore that he was supposed to be able to tell the difference. For the few rare moments when his eyes would open and he would take in his surroundings, there was only one thing he saw - or failed to see. Kris, …… he wasn’t there. Where had he gone? Why had he left? Why had he left Adam alone? Kris…..
Ahmad was nowhere to be found at the markets. Kris, Michael, and the guards had split up and spent the whole morning searching every corner and street, but the merchant wasn’t there.
“We have to search the trade routes,” Kris said immediately after they all regrouped.
“It would take days. They pass through all the neighboring countries and farther,” one of the Pharaoh’s guards said.
With frustrated, hopeless tears beginning to sting his eyes, Kris asserted, “Then we have to start now!” Michael shifted on the back of his horse, looking around to the dirt paths that extended from the town. He pointed to one.
“Most merchants take that route, since there are several smaller towns along there on the way to the next city. We should start off down that one.”
The two guards nodded their agreement, and nudged their horses to follow Michael as he turned his own towards the path. Kris’ horse trotted beside Michael’s, and Kris rubbed the back of his fist against his closed eyes to get the stupid, frustrated tears to go away. Michael reached over to rub Kris’ back.
They rode the whole day long, and the struggle to keep up hope was taking everything out of Kris. He felt as if each passing minute was taking the life from him, just as he knew time was draining the life from Adam. Each step with no sight of the merchant they were searching for pained Kris so much, he could barely take the next step. But he and Michael were Adam’s only hope, and Kris had to keep going….. he had to…
The sun had just begun its descent behind the horizon when the four men on horseback reached the third village to count. There was a group of merchants who had set up their wares on a street corner. Kris dismounted his horse and immediately went over to search for Ahmad. There were merchants shouting out their prices of grain, fish, oil, and silk, but Kris pushed past every stand and townsperson in his path, his eyes searching for only one man. Kris had almost reached the end of the line of stands, and was breathing hard with both exhaustion and hopeless frustration. Kris turned back to return to Michael, disappointment searing through him like the sting of a blade. Then his eyes glazed over the final stand in line, and his eyes fell on the stand set up behind it. It was small, but overflowing with countless unnamable objects the likes of which Kris had never seen. Behind the stand stood Ahmad. Kris stood completely paralyzed in shock for a few short moments before he jumped into the air with the sheer force of the overwhelming joy surging through him.
“Michael! MICHAEL!” Kris started yelling, waving his arms wildly in the air in Michael’s direction so the other man would see him. Kris was almost hoarse from yelling by the time Michael reached him.
“Good Gods, what?” Michael demanded when he reached Kris.
“Look! Look, it’s him! It’s him! Ahmad!” Kris cried, pointing wildly towards him. Michael was the one who dragged them over, but Kris was the first one to jump into speech.
“You! Ahmad! You know Adam Lambert?!” Kris practically shouted at him, breathless as he and Michael rushed over.
Ahmad looked startled as he turned from a potential customer to the two men who had just rushed at him, both looking panicked and alarmed. He squinted his eyes at Michael.
“Yes, I do know Adam. You’re his guard.”
Michael harbored a rather fierce dislike for Ahmad because of the way he treated Adam, but Michael knew it wouldn’t do in their current situation to make enemies of him.
“Indeed,” Michael answered, “And this is Kris, Adam’s friend. We’ve been searching for you because there’s a very important thing we must ask of you.”
Ahmad’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“The San Qi herb. You’ve heard of it?” Kris asked hurriedly. He swore his heart was about to beat its way out of his chest. He could feel his pulse racing beneath his skin, his palms sweating as he waited both excitedly and fearfully for the merchant’s answer.
“Of course,” Ahmad said with a unconcerned nod, “It only grows in distant places with unusual climate, but it produces an extremely valuable tonic. The tonic is unbelievably rare, but I always try to keep a stock among my wares.”
“So you have some with you now?!”
Looking displeased by Kris’ outburst and watching him warily, Ahmad nodded.
Kris’ legs felt weak. He thought he might just collapse to the ground, he was so indescribably relieved. Maybe everything was going to be alright… they’d bring the tonic to Adam as quickly as possible, and Adam would recover…
“We need this tonic immediately,” Michael said while Kris gripped his arm for support through his staggering relief. Kris fumbled a hand inside his robes and withdrew the small pouch of golden jewelry the Pharaoh had given him. Kris tugged the pouch open and held it out to Ahmad so he could see inside.
“We’ll give you all of this! Whatever the price is. But we need that tonic right now.”
Ahmad took the pouch from Kris and peered inside. He reached inside to paw through the gold items.
“This isn’t enough, not nearly enough,” Ahmad said with a frown as he looked back up at Kris and Michael. “Do you have any idea how incredibly valuable and rare the San Qi tonic is?”
All of Kris’ relief suddenly dissipated, leaving him stranded in desperateness and anger. “W-what? But there’s a fortune in there! How much more could you want?!”
“At least double this. The tonic is probably worth even more.”
“No one can afford that! That’s ludicrous!” Kris exclaimed. “You’ll never sell the tonic at a price like that!”
“I sell plenty, boy,” Ahmad said , narrowing his eyes at Kris. “The San Qi tonic is more valuable than you could even imagine. I won’t sell it for anything less than it’s worth.”
Michael was gritting his teeth at Kris’ side, but he turned Kris towards him by the shoulder. “Maybe we should go back to the tent and empty Adam’s storage chest. Then we should have enough.”
“No!” Kris cried, pushing Michael’s hand away as if Michael’s touch was just as repellent as his suggestion. “We don’t have time for that! It’ll take us a day to get back home, and a day to get back here. Then two more days to get to the palace. Adam doesn’t have that much time! We have to get the tonic now!”
Ahmad quirked an eyebrow quizzically at their conversation. Kris turned from Michael and instead marched right up to Ahmad, until his face was only inches from the other, taller man’s.
“You listen to me, you greedy bastard. We need that tonic now and we aren’t going anywhere until we get it. Adam is gravely ill with a disease he caught from a bedmate. Every second we talk and waste, his condition gets worse. He’s dying! That tonic is the only chance of saving him. For all the trouble and unpleasantries you’ve put him through in the past, you owe him this! … This is the only thing that can save his life.”
Ahmad looked disgustingly less upset than Kris was hoping for. He said with nothing but a thoughtful expression, “It would be a shame, no doubt, to waste a beauty like him…” Ahmad mused aloud, and Kris restrained the urge to hit him right in the center of his smug, rotten face.
As Kris disputed with Ahmad and the man showed no signs of acting favorably towards them, Michael slipped away from them and hurried to retrieve the two guards who had traveled with them.
“He was so good at what he did, too,” Ahmad said with a mockery of a mournful shake of his head.
“Why are you talking like he’s already dead?!” Kris exclaimed, truly outraged now. “I’m offering you all this gold for a tonic that will save a person’s life! Don’t you care about him at all, you monster?” Kris swiped the pouch containing the gold from Ahmad’s hands, to jingle it and its contents noisily in front of Ahmad’s face. “You know who gave me these? It was the Pharaoh. That’s right, Pharaoh Meraten himself! He actually concerns over Adam, unlike you. Adam’s under his and his physicians’ care right now, and the Pharaoh enabled me to come searching for you and the tonic by giving me this gold. It’s not just me who’s trying to save Adam, it’s the Pharaoh too! Do you really want to cross the Pharaoh’s wishes?”
Now, finally Ahmad was starting to look a little unsure.
“You know for certain that this disease will kill him?”
Kris nodded, biting the inside of his lip. “I just saw him recently. He looked…terrible. He was barely breathing, and his skin was red and inflamed.”
Ahmad shook his head, looking frustrated. “It’s a shame. I so enjoyed him, but why should it be my responsibility to cure him? Why should I lose money from my most valuable ware?”
“Don’t you get it?!” Kris shouted, angrier than he could express, “This isn’t about money! This is about a person’s life!! Adam’s life! For all we know, you could have been the one who gave him the disease! Don’t you care at all?!”
“Obviously he doesn’t. Kris, clear out of the way.”
Kris turned, and saw that Michael had returned and was standing behind him, cracking his knuckles and leveling Ahmad with a glare of pure malice. He had brought the Pharaoh’s guards, who stood on either side of him. Michael went on, “Since you won’t listen to Kris’ logic, you don’t leave us any choice but to take the tonic by force. Gotta admit…” his left hand’s knuckles cracked with a harsh, loud crunch, “I’ve been waiting for a long time for the day I’d get to hit you.”
Ahmad took a few stumbling steps backward. Michael compensated, sliding forward quickly and grabbing the front of Ahmad’s robes roughly and dragging the other man up close to him again.
“You’re going to get out a dose of that tonic right now, and you’re going to give it to us whether you prefer to or not,” Michael growled dangerously into Ahmad’s face. Ahmad’s eyes fearfully raced back and forth from the Pharaoh’s guards, to Michael, and back again. He tried to look like he wasn’t frightened, but it was obvious in the way he gulped for his breaths. One of the guards at Michael’s side drew his sword.
“Okay, okay fine! I’ll give it to you!”
“Damn right,” Michael muttered, slowly letting go of Ahmad.
When his feet securely found the ground again, Ahmad turned and ducked down under his stand, retrieving a small wooden chest. He clicked open the lock and then lifted the chest’s lid open. He reached inside, and withdrew a small glass vial, corked with a wooden stopper on one end. Through the glass, Michael and Kris could see the light green, almost yellowish murky substance that swirled within. Ahmad held it out to Kris. “Be careful. You won’t be able to get this anywhere else.” Kris reached out and took the vial carefully, holding it in his palm. It was small enough for him to hold it securely across his palm.
He was in disbelief. This tiny, fragile dose was what could save Adam - who meant more than Kris could even comprehend? But Kris knew it was true, and he was holding Adam’s only hope for survival right here in his hand. Kris pulled open his outer traveling robe, and found the small inner pocket. He carefully slid the vial inside before closing his robe again, resting one hand over the pocket from the outside so he could feel the shape of the vial and be reassured it was there, safe. The pouch filled with the Pharaoh’s gold was still in Kris’ other hand, forgotten. Kris held it out to Ahmad again.
“Thank you,” Kris said. Ahmad may have been a bastard, but Kris owed him everything for providing the tonic, and some gold as payment was better than none. Ahmad snatched it from Kris’ hand.
“So go off now and save Adam,” Ahmad said with a scowl as he tucked the pouch inside his robes. But Kris was sure that somewhere deep down, he could see a hint of happiness in Ahmad over providing Kris with the tonic.
Kris smiled just a little. “Thank you,” he repeated.
Michael nodded and echoed Kris’ sentiment, already ushering Kris and the guards back towards where their horses stood. With one hand placed securely over where the tonic was stashed in his robes, Kris raced ahead of them. He mounted his horse, and set off with a head start back down the path.
When the other three caught up with him, Kris shouted from the back of his horse, “It’s a two-day ride to the palace! At top speed with no breaks, how fast can we make it?”
“If we push it, a day easy!” one of the guards responded.
Kris nodded, turning on the horse’s back to face forward again, his determined gaze locking on the horizon. He gripped his horse’s reigns tightly enough to turn his knuckles pale, flattened his body down against the horse’s back, and set a breakneck, racing speed for the others to follow.
Kicking his horse’s side and nudging the animal to run even faster, Kris murmured fiercely, “I’m coming, Adam.”
The sun had taken up its hiding place beneath the horizon several hours ago, and night had seized the desert expanse Kris, Michael, and the guards raced across. Finally, the palace was coming into view. Kris bumped his heels against the horse’s side, urging the animal to go faster and faster, just for this final leg of the trip. The horse had never run faster in its life.
When they tugged their horses’ reigns to bring them to a halt before the palace gates, something seemed to be amiss right away. There was usually a line of guards that stood at the gates, protecting the palace’s entrance and keeping out intruders. Now, there were no guards in sight.
“This is odd,” one of the guards said with a frown, jumping down from his horse. “There’s a rotation of the Pharaoh’s guards who are always to stand at the gates.”
Kris and Michael dismounted and followed the guards through the unguarded gates. The courtyard beyond the gates was just as unusually deserted. They didn’t see anyone until they stepped inside the palace and spotted one guard standing within the doorway. The guards who had traveled with Kris and Adam stepped ahead to speak to him.
“What’s going on? Why is there no one at the front gates?” one of them asked. The guard in the doorway turned towards Kris and Michael.
“You’re the ones sent on that priority errand by the Pharaoh? He instructed us to watch for your return” the guard in the doorway asked, pointing towards all four of them. One of Kris and Michael’s companion guards nodded in affirmation. “He sent you guys out several days ago,” the other guard continued, “Everything’s gone out of control since then.”
“What? What do you mean?!” Kris demanded. Now, he was craning his head up, looking over the guard’s shoulders and down the palace’s front corridor. None of the guards usually stationed along the corridor were present.
“The very night after you set out, news arrived from the southern border. The Assyrians launched a full-scale attack. It wasn’t expected, and we didn’t have enough troops stationed there to defend the border. The Pharaoh left as soon as he got the news, to lead the rest of his army southward. Before he left, though, he summoned a small group of his most trusted guards, and told us he has that harem boy, Adam, under his personal care, and that Adam was ill and resting in the Pharaoh’s private chambers. The Pharaoh instructed us to keep this a secret, but be aware of it for we were to guard him in the Pharaoh’s absence. We had no idea who would want to do an ill harem boy harm, but we stationed ourselves outside the Pharaoh’s chambers, as instructed. Only the next day, our question was answered.
“Lady Merrick gathered the whole force of her palace guards, and combined them with those of the Lord Dallon. The two of them poised their forces against us, threatening that we had no chance of getting in their way. Lady Merrick proclaimed her intention of killing Adam. But she severely underestimated our strength, and loyalty to our Pharaoh’s orders. He instructed us to protect Adam, and that’s what we’ve been doing…for the past two days. There are only about twenty-five of us, and perhaps sixty or seventy in opposition, but we’re much stronger. Only six of us have fallen, and we’re doing them plenty damage. I’m staked out here to keep Lady Merrick or Dallon from sending out any messengers to ask for help from the outside.”
“They-they want to kill Adam….?” Kris repeated weakly, his face pale. His brain had seemed to stumble over those words, and his hearing ceased to function for anything following.
While Kris looked increasingly stunned and weakened as the guard explained the situation to them, Michael had grown so angry-looking that it looked as if he might blast into the air at any moment like a lit rocket. “That foul. Merrick. bitch! And Dallon! That filthy rat! I’ll kill both of them with my bare hands!”
“But Adam’s safe for now,” the guard told them as he noticed their obvious distress. “Lady Merrick or Dallon won’t be getting through us any time soon.”
“But you don’t understand, he’s not safe!” Kris exclaimed. He withdrew the small vial holding the tonic from within his robes, and showed it to the guard. “Adam’s not just ill. He’s dying. This is the only thing that can save him. This is what the Pharaoh sent us out to get. We have to get this to him!”
“That won’t be easy,” the guard said with a frown. “The fighting’s going on right outside the door of the Pharaoh’s chambers.” The guard turned around, looking down the corridor for a moment before he beckoned Kris and Michael towards him. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
The guard hurried down along the corridor, and Michael and Kris rushed behind him. Kris had replaced the vial safely in his robe’s small inner pocket. His heart was in his throat, and each beat seemed to thunder throughout his whole body with fear.
They reached the end of the corridor and turned to hurry down another. They turned one more corner, and then stopped dead in their tracks.
There was a full-on war taking place inside the palace. Kris recognized the large doors that led to the Pharaoh’s private chambers, and the Pharaoh’s guards, dressed in full-body armor and armed to the teeth, were spread out before the doors. On the opposite side of the hallway, Lady Merrick and Lord Dallon were standing behind their forces, each waving their arms in the air and shouting orders to their guards. Most of the fighting was spread out through the middle of the wide hallway. The Pharaoh’s guards were beating back the opposition, taking on three or four enemies at a time and either shoving them back or cutting them down. The Pharaoh’s guards were clearly much more skilled. The hallway’s floor was littered with the gored bodies of Merrick and Dallon’s guards. Only a few bodies of the Pharaoh’s guards were visible on the floor amongst the battle.
Standing behind most of their allies, three of the Pharaoh’s guards stood firmly stationed right in front of the doors to the Pharaoh’s chambers. Their swords were sheathed at their hips as they wielded bows instead. One guard from the opposition somehow managed to sneak by the Pharaoh’s guards all locked in combat, and attempted to advance on the doorway. The sentry that was closest of the three drew his sword with a quick snap of his wrist, and only crossed blades with the opponent for a few short seconds before the other crumpled to the floor, wounded. The Pharaoh’s guard resheathed his sword and stepped back to his place right in front of the door. The door remained unbreached.
“How can I get in?” Kris demanded, turning to the guard who had led them here.
“I cannot think of a way…..” the guard said with a frown.
“What about servants?” Kris asked, wracking his brain for anything and everything. “Don’t they have to go in to bring Adam food and care?”
The guard shook his head, “The Pharaoh had food and supplies gathered and placed in his chambers before he left. He said he didn’t want to risk Adam being too weak to call for servants when he needed something, so the Pharaoh provided everything beforehand.”
Kris was silent, his mind still whirring with the struggle for a solution. He refused to give up. It wasn’t an option.
“Do Merrick and Dallon know that?” Kris asked.
The guard hesitated, thinking for a moment. “I’m not sure.”
Kris’ face set instantly with determination. “Then that’s all I can do. I need the robes servants wear, and I’m going to try to get in pretending to be one. Merrick and Dallon both know my face, so I’ll need robes with a hood.”
“Even if they’re convinced you’re a servant, they won’t just let you go in. We can do our best to protect you, but letting a servant in would mean care for Adam, and if they want Adam dead, they’d want that servant trying to help him dead too.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have to get in there, and I have to be disguised. If they saw it was me, they would really give everything to kill me.”
From Kris’ side, Michael laid a hand on his shoulder. “Kris… you realize how dangerous this…”
“I don’t care,” Kris avowed, “We traveled and searched for that tonic, and we’re going to get it to Adam. And I have to give it to him myself. I won’t live with anything less.” His gaze fixed on the guard. “Find me some servant robes.” The guard nodded, and turned to hurry back down the hallway, leaving Kris and Michael standing behind one of the hallway’s grand pillars, out of sight from Lady Merrick or Dallon.
When the guard returned a few minutes later, he beckoned Kris and Michael to step into a side corridor, where they could have privacy from the battle.
“Here,” the guard said, handing Kris the white servant robes. He had also retrieved a shield, which he held in his other hand. Kris slid the robes on and made sure the glass vial holding the tonic was secure in his inside pocket before he did up the front of the robes. Kris lifted the hood, and Michael helped tug the fabric down low enough so it would completely hide Kris’ face from sight. The guard lifted the shield in his hand and drew his sword.
“Ready? Stay near me and we’re going to head straight for the door.”
Kris nodded. Michael gripped his shoulder for a moment.
“Don’t be too reckless now, Kris. You’ve got to get in there alive.” Kris nodded, a determined, grim frown set on his face.
As Kris tugged his hood forward again and followed the guard out of the side hallway, Michael found himself thinking back to the first time he’d formally met Kris - when Adam had brought him home a beaten, bloody mess. He had looked so small and timid when Michael had seen him enter the tent behind Adam. Now, watching his back turn down the end of the hallway, Kris looked like the strongest, most resolute man Michael had ever laid eyes on.
“Take care of him, Kris. I know you can save him.”
Kris’ heart was pounding painfully in his chest as he crept out into the hallway behind the guard. The guard held the shield up before him not only to defend them, but also to help hide Kris from view.
“Stay right behind me, no matter what,” the guard hissed to Kris.
Then, they were in the middle of the battle. Kris reached a hand out to hold onto one of the back straps of the guard’s armor, to make sure he stayed close to him as the guard slashed and jabbed his blade expertly at the enemies who attempted to block their way. Kris did his best to keep his attention focused only on the guard’s broad back, and move through the pandemonium surrounding him. He had to step over the bodies littering the floor, keep his head turned away from the sight of the guards locked in violent combat all around him. He did his best to focus on the sound of his own panicked breathing, not on the mess of screams and shouts wrapping around him, not on the bloodshed. They were about halfway to the door, but Kris’ heart was pounding so hard and painfully against his chest that he feared he might not make it without having a heart attack first.
Lady Merrick’s attention was drawn by one of her brother’s guards who seemed to just be slashing and bowling his way through her own forces. Strangely, he seemed to be attempting travel across the hallway - to the door… Then she noticed a smaller figure crouched behind him who was dressed in white. The white garments must mean a servant, but why go to such lengths to get a servant inside the Pharaoh’s chambers? Her eyes squinted in confusion, and she watched closely as two of her own guards challenged her brother’s. They attacked simultaneously, but he held his shield aloft to block both of them. But the force of the combined blows sent the guard stumbling a few steps backwards, and when he did, he jostled the person crouched behind him. He, in turn, staggered. And as he struggled to regain his balance, the hood that covered his whole head fell back off his face. Lady Merrick gasped as she recognized the boy instantly.
“Dallon!” she shouted, turning to the Lord standing near her side. “Look! They’re trying to sneak that Kris boy in! No doubt, he’s trying to save Adam! Stop him! Kill him!”
At her words, Lord Dallon whipped his head around to look out into the melee. He immediately spotted the person dressed in white servant robes, and saw Kris’ face before he managed to pull his hood back up. Dallon started shouting desperate orders to his forces, waving his arms around angrily as he shouted. Lady Merrick’s incensed voice joined the cacophony of frenzied sounds.
Four of Dallon’s guards rushed the guard defending Kris. He shoved one off with a thrust of his shield, and became locked in combat with the other three. He saw more of the enemy advancing, rushing at them with Kris as their obvious target.
“Run for the door!” the guard shouted to Kris, giving him a rough shove in the direction of the doorway. Kris stumbled over his feet for a moment, struggling to get ahold of his balance and his own body again before he just started running. One foot in front of the other, one in front of the other. He had to leap over bodies and shove his way between others, but he knew he had to keep moving.
“Protect him! Get him to the door!” Kris heard his defending guard shouting to his comrades from behind him. The Pharaoh’s guards did their best to clear Kris’ path, beating back Merrick and Dallon’s guards that tried to attack Kris.
One of the opposition stepped right in front of Kris, and he pushed and shoved at him to do his best to go on. Kris saw one of the Pharaoh’s guards rushing forward to clear his path. But before he got close enough, a crushing weight slammed into Kris’ shoulder. Kris cried out and crumpled to the floor, clutching his on-fire shoulder. He looked up to the guard standing over him, who was lifting his sword to slash Kris again. Kris curled up desperately on the floor, trying to move his searing shoulder and lift his arms to cover his head. A loud cry came from over him, and then there was a hand gripping his arm and pulling him to his feet.
The Pharaoh’s guard who had been approaching had cut down the man who’d stabbed Kris. The guard gave Kris just enough of a push to get his feet reeling the rest of the way to the door. The sentries in front of the door parted to allow Kris through, and then stepped in behind him to defend his back. Kris’ hands scrabbled with the door handle, but they were wet and slick with something, and he couldn’t grip it. Finally, he was able to wrestle the door open, and fall through.
The door closed behind him with a thud, and suddenly the world was silent again. The sounds of the battle were on the other side of the door, distant and far away. Kris’ world shrunk painfully to his shoulder. He sunk to his knees as he hissed in pain. He gripped his shoulder, and it wasn’t until then that he realized stark bright blood was seeping into the white servant robes he was wearing. The slickness on his hands was blood. He swore softly, and struggled his way out of the white robes, dropping them on the ground. The pain in his shoulder was almost all consuming, turning his whole world a painful dark red. Then a single thought - a single purpose, weaved its way back into Kris’ mind through the haze of pain.
Adam…..the tonic!!
Kris’ head shot up to look into the room and immediately spotted Adam on the bed. His eyes were closed and he lay motionless. Kris squinted in desperation as he looked at Adam’s chest…and couldn’t see any up and down motion.
“N-no….” Kris gasped. He wiped his hands messily on his robes before reaching inside them to retrieve the vial from the inside pocket. With the tonic clutched tightly in his hand, he stumbled towards the bed. Ignoring the fire in his shoulder, Kris climbed up and kneeled at Adam’s side on the bed. Kris had to take a second calming himself and getting his hands to stop shaking before he could carefully remove the stopper from the open end of the small vial.
“Adam…I-I’m here. ..I-I got the tonic. I can save you…Please…stay here with me…”
Kris held up the vial of green-tinted liquid to Adam’s mouth. Adam didn’t move an inch. His eyes didn’t flutter. Kris bit his lip hard as he reached out with his other hand to hold Adam’s jaw and open his mouth.
“P-please Adam, drink this…” Kris whimpered, tears coming into his eyes and his voice growing shaky. Kris poured a little bit of the liquid from the vial slowly into Adam’s open mouth. “Please, Adam…” He rubbed his fingers against the outside of Adam’s throat, until the liquid was swallowed. Kris kept rubbing, ignoring how red and inflamed the skin under his fingers was. Kris slowly poured out the rest of the tonic, making sure Adam got every last drop.
“Adam….say something. Say something to me, please…” Kris begged in a weak voice.
The pain in his shoulder pulsated, sending Kris’ whole world spinning. Kris’ fingers clenched the material of the robes Adam was dressed in, determined to hold onto him,…to stay with him…
Kris’ vision suddenly blinked out. His weakened body slumped over, and he collapsed on the bed beside Adam. Blood had steadily soaked its way through the robes at his shoulder. Kris laid just as unmoving as his lover, one of his limp arms draped out from his side, and his fingers still resolutely gripping the empty glass vial.
[[Next]]
A/N: My life has been really insane lately, just dealing with lots of stuff. I'm kind of having a tough time and while I don't have much free time to devote to writing, writing this fic is a wonderful escape for me. I had something of a block with this chapter, not sure why...but then a few days ago I tried again and pretty much was able to churn out the whole second half of this. So maybe I'll end up tapping the next part out quickly because I love this fic so much, and sneaking into this world can always cheer me up (even though the story's not particularly cheery right now Dx). I'll do my best! Anyway, my thoughts aren't the important part here. What do YOU guys think?!!
It had taken Kris two whole days to ride from their tent to the palace, when he’d thought he was on his way to bringing Adam home. But tearing across the sand on the back of the Pharaoh’s horse - two of the Pharaoh’s guards trailing him - the trip took him less than one day, without a single slowing of pace or rest. When they reached the tent, Michael was already coming out through the door as Kris leapt down from the horse.
“Adam’s not with you?” Michael demanded, his eyes anxious and concerned.
Kris shook his head firmly. During the trip, he’d made sure that his determination had as strong of a hold on him as possible. It wouldn’t be hard for him to lose his drive in the dark depths of sadness and hopelessness if he thought too much of Adam back in the palace - sick, alone,…dying. Kris would lose himself in the unbearable thoughts if he let himself dwell on them too much. So with his fortitude setting him ablaze, he took the reins from one of the guard’s hands of the fourth horse the Pharaoh had given them, and held them out for Michael.
“I had to leave Adam for now. The illness he has that made him cough all the time has been getting stronger with time. As we speak now, he’s dying. If we are to save him, we have to act fast.”
Michael’s jaw worked soundlessly for a few moments, searching for words, for a coping mechanism against the dagger that had been plunged right through his heart with the news.
“What can we do?” Michael asked as he took the horse’s reigns from Kris and swung himself up onto the strong horse’s back. Similar to Kris, he seemed to be focused on the future, not the crushing blow Kris had just delivered with his words.
“Follow me to the markets,” Kris said, already kicking his own horse into a gallop again. “We have to find that Ahmad guy that always visited Adam.”
“How can that twit help?”
“The Pharaoh had a doctor examine Adam, and he said there’s only one thing that can cure him. A tonic made from an herb that grows only in foreign lands. Ahmad travels and trades in countless different countries, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, I see. So we have to seek him out, and pray to every god we can name that he’ll have this tonic,” Michael said grimly. Michael sped his horse up until he was up beside Kris, and could speak to him more easily. “And what of these guards with us? They’d better not have been sent by that Merrick bitch to spy on us or some other dirty tactic. I’ll beat them into the ground.”
“No, they’re the Pharaoh’s. He sent them with me so they can help make sure Ahmad gives up the tonic. The Pharaoh also gave me gold to use as payment.”
Michael’s brow lifted in surprise, “Adam really got to him good.”
Kris just gave a slight vacant nod, his eyes glued to the horizon ahead. He didn’t really want to think about what Michael had just spoken of. The Pharaoh was obviously going out of his way to give Adam special care, and aid Kris as much as he could. Kris didn’t know what exactly Adam had done to win such loyalty, but he was sure it was nothing he’d enjoy knowing details of. The memory pulsed in front of his eyes of when he’d entered the Pharaoh’s chambers and seen a weak Adam gripping the Pharaoh’s hands in his own. It was a small gesture, but nothing like how Adam had ever been known to act towards any previous customers. Kris had never seen him hold hands with even Brad, whom Adam had been fairly close to. Kris had met the Pharaoh himself … he was handsome, and seemed kind, not to mention his great power and influence. He wouldn’t be a hard man for Adam to fall in love with…
As soon as the full, awful thought formed in his mind, Kris shook his head to banish it, feeling disgusted with himself for worrying about such a thing while Adam’s very life rested on his shoulders. Even if it were true…, while it would hurt Kris immensely, right now it wouldn’t matter. Kris still had to succeed in his search for this tonic.
No matter what, he could not fail.
The world was lost to dark, swirling depths. Adam drifted mindlessly back and forth over the line of consciousness, unable to control the blackness that continually clouded his vision. He didn’t know anymore whether he was awake, dreaming, or perhaps had already died. He didn’t know anymore that he was supposed to be able to tell the difference. For the few rare moments when his eyes would open and he would take in his surroundings, there was only one thing he saw - or failed to see. Kris, …… he wasn’t there. Where had he gone? Why had he left? Why had he left Adam alone? Kris…..
Ahmad was nowhere to be found at the markets. Kris, Michael, and the guards had split up and spent the whole morning searching every corner and street, but the merchant wasn’t there.
“We have to search the trade routes,” Kris said immediately after they all regrouped.
“It would take days. They pass through all the neighboring countries and farther,” one of the Pharaoh’s guards said.
With frustrated, hopeless tears beginning to sting his eyes, Kris asserted, “Then we have to start now!” Michael shifted on the back of his horse, looking around to the dirt paths that extended from the town. He pointed to one.
“Most merchants take that route, since there are several smaller towns along there on the way to the next city. We should start off down that one.”
The two guards nodded their agreement, and nudged their horses to follow Michael as he turned his own towards the path. Kris’ horse trotted beside Michael’s, and Kris rubbed the back of his fist against his closed eyes to get the stupid, frustrated tears to go away. Michael reached over to rub Kris’ back.
They rode the whole day long, and the struggle to keep up hope was taking everything out of Kris. He felt as if each passing minute was taking the life from him, just as he knew time was draining the life from Adam. Each step with no sight of the merchant they were searching for pained Kris so much, he could barely take the next step. But he and Michael were Adam’s only hope, and Kris had to keep going….. he had to…
The sun had just begun its descent behind the horizon when the four men on horseback reached the third village to count. There was a group of merchants who had set up their wares on a street corner. Kris dismounted his horse and immediately went over to search for Ahmad. There were merchants shouting out their prices of grain, fish, oil, and silk, but Kris pushed past every stand and townsperson in his path, his eyes searching for only one man. Kris had almost reached the end of the line of stands, and was breathing hard with both exhaustion and hopeless frustration. Kris turned back to return to Michael, disappointment searing through him like the sting of a blade. Then his eyes glazed over the final stand in line, and his eyes fell on the stand set up behind it. It was small, but overflowing with countless unnamable objects the likes of which Kris had never seen. Behind the stand stood Ahmad. Kris stood completely paralyzed in shock for a few short moments before he jumped into the air with the sheer force of the overwhelming joy surging through him.
“Michael! MICHAEL!” Kris started yelling, waving his arms wildly in the air in Michael’s direction so the other man would see him. Kris was almost hoarse from yelling by the time Michael reached him.
“Good Gods, what?” Michael demanded when he reached Kris.
“Look! Look, it’s him! It’s him! Ahmad!” Kris cried, pointing wildly towards him. Michael was the one who dragged them over, but Kris was the first one to jump into speech.
“You! Ahmad! You know Adam Lambert?!” Kris practically shouted at him, breathless as he and Michael rushed over.
Ahmad looked startled as he turned from a potential customer to the two men who had just rushed at him, both looking panicked and alarmed. He squinted his eyes at Michael.
“Yes, I do know Adam. You’re his guard.”
Michael harbored a rather fierce dislike for Ahmad because of the way he treated Adam, but Michael knew it wouldn’t do in their current situation to make enemies of him.
“Indeed,” Michael answered, “And this is Kris, Adam’s friend. We’ve been searching for you because there’s a very important thing we must ask of you.”
Ahmad’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“The San Qi herb. You’ve heard of it?” Kris asked hurriedly. He swore his heart was about to beat its way out of his chest. He could feel his pulse racing beneath his skin, his palms sweating as he waited both excitedly and fearfully for the merchant’s answer.
“Of course,” Ahmad said with a unconcerned nod, “It only grows in distant places with unusual climate, but it produces an extremely valuable tonic. The tonic is unbelievably rare, but I always try to keep a stock among my wares.”
“So you have some with you now?!”
Looking displeased by Kris’ outburst and watching him warily, Ahmad nodded.
Kris’ legs felt weak. He thought he might just collapse to the ground, he was so indescribably relieved. Maybe everything was going to be alright… they’d bring the tonic to Adam as quickly as possible, and Adam would recover…
“We need this tonic immediately,” Michael said while Kris gripped his arm for support through his staggering relief. Kris fumbled a hand inside his robes and withdrew the small pouch of golden jewelry the Pharaoh had given him. Kris tugged the pouch open and held it out to Ahmad so he could see inside.
“We’ll give you all of this! Whatever the price is. But we need that tonic right now.”
Ahmad took the pouch from Kris and peered inside. He reached inside to paw through the gold items.
“This isn’t enough, not nearly enough,” Ahmad said with a frown as he looked back up at Kris and Michael. “Do you have any idea how incredibly valuable and rare the San Qi tonic is?”
All of Kris’ relief suddenly dissipated, leaving him stranded in desperateness and anger. “W-what? But there’s a fortune in there! How much more could you want?!”
“At least double this. The tonic is probably worth even more.”
“No one can afford that! That’s ludicrous!” Kris exclaimed. “You’ll never sell the tonic at a price like that!”
“I sell plenty, boy,” Ahmad said , narrowing his eyes at Kris. “The San Qi tonic is more valuable than you could even imagine. I won’t sell it for anything less than it’s worth.”
Michael was gritting his teeth at Kris’ side, but he turned Kris towards him by the shoulder. “Maybe we should go back to the tent and empty Adam’s storage chest. Then we should have enough.”
“No!” Kris cried, pushing Michael’s hand away as if Michael’s touch was just as repellent as his suggestion. “We don’t have time for that! It’ll take us a day to get back home, and a day to get back here. Then two more days to get to the palace. Adam doesn’t have that much time! We have to get the tonic now!”
Ahmad quirked an eyebrow quizzically at their conversation. Kris turned from Michael and instead marched right up to Ahmad, until his face was only inches from the other, taller man’s.
“You listen to me, you greedy bastard. We need that tonic now and we aren’t going anywhere until we get it. Adam is gravely ill with a disease he caught from a bedmate. Every second we talk and waste, his condition gets worse. He’s dying! That tonic is the only chance of saving him. For all the trouble and unpleasantries you’ve put him through in the past, you owe him this! … This is the only thing that can save his life.”
Ahmad looked disgustingly less upset than Kris was hoping for. He said with nothing but a thoughtful expression, “It would be a shame, no doubt, to waste a beauty like him…” Ahmad mused aloud, and Kris restrained the urge to hit him right in the center of his smug, rotten face.
As Kris disputed with Ahmad and the man showed no signs of acting favorably towards them, Michael slipped away from them and hurried to retrieve the two guards who had traveled with them.
“He was so good at what he did, too,” Ahmad said with a mockery of a mournful shake of his head.
“Why are you talking like he’s already dead?!” Kris exclaimed, truly outraged now. “I’m offering you all this gold for a tonic that will save a person’s life! Don’t you care about him at all, you monster?” Kris swiped the pouch containing the gold from Ahmad’s hands, to jingle it and its contents noisily in front of Ahmad’s face. “You know who gave me these? It was the Pharaoh. That’s right, Pharaoh Meraten himself! He actually concerns over Adam, unlike you. Adam’s under his and his physicians’ care right now, and the Pharaoh enabled me to come searching for you and the tonic by giving me this gold. It’s not just me who’s trying to save Adam, it’s the Pharaoh too! Do you really want to cross the Pharaoh’s wishes?”
Now, finally Ahmad was starting to look a little unsure.
“You know for certain that this disease will kill him?”
Kris nodded, biting the inside of his lip. “I just saw him recently. He looked…terrible. He was barely breathing, and his skin was red and inflamed.”
Ahmad shook his head, looking frustrated. “It’s a shame. I so enjoyed him, but why should it be my responsibility to cure him? Why should I lose money from my most valuable ware?”
“Don’t you get it?!” Kris shouted, angrier than he could express, “This isn’t about money! This is about a person’s life!! Adam’s life! For all we know, you could have been the one who gave him the disease! Don’t you care at all?!”
“Obviously he doesn’t. Kris, clear out of the way.”
Kris turned, and saw that Michael had returned and was standing behind him, cracking his knuckles and leveling Ahmad with a glare of pure malice. He had brought the Pharaoh’s guards, who stood on either side of him. Michael went on, “Since you won’t listen to Kris’ logic, you don’t leave us any choice but to take the tonic by force. Gotta admit…” his left hand’s knuckles cracked with a harsh, loud crunch, “I’ve been waiting for a long time for the day I’d get to hit you.”
Ahmad took a few stumbling steps backward. Michael compensated, sliding forward quickly and grabbing the front of Ahmad’s robes roughly and dragging the other man up close to him again.
“You’re going to get out a dose of that tonic right now, and you’re going to give it to us whether you prefer to or not,” Michael growled dangerously into Ahmad’s face. Ahmad’s eyes fearfully raced back and forth from the Pharaoh’s guards, to Michael, and back again. He tried to look like he wasn’t frightened, but it was obvious in the way he gulped for his breaths. One of the guards at Michael’s side drew his sword.
“Okay, okay fine! I’ll give it to you!”
“Damn right,” Michael muttered, slowly letting go of Ahmad.
When his feet securely found the ground again, Ahmad turned and ducked down under his stand, retrieving a small wooden chest. He clicked open the lock and then lifted the chest’s lid open. He reached inside, and withdrew a small glass vial, corked with a wooden stopper on one end. Through the glass, Michael and Kris could see the light green, almost yellowish murky substance that swirled within. Ahmad held it out to Kris. “Be careful. You won’t be able to get this anywhere else.” Kris reached out and took the vial carefully, holding it in his palm. It was small enough for him to hold it securely across his palm.
He was in disbelief. This tiny, fragile dose was what could save Adam - who meant more than Kris could even comprehend? But Kris knew it was true, and he was holding Adam’s only hope for survival right here in his hand. Kris pulled open his outer traveling robe, and found the small inner pocket. He carefully slid the vial inside before closing his robe again, resting one hand over the pocket from the outside so he could feel the shape of the vial and be reassured it was there, safe. The pouch filled with the Pharaoh’s gold was still in Kris’ other hand, forgotten. Kris held it out to Ahmad again.
“Thank you,” Kris said. Ahmad may have been a bastard, but Kris owed him everything for providing the tonic, and some gold as payment was better than none. Ahmad snatched it from Kris’ hand.
“So go off now and save Adam,” Ahmad said with a scowl as he tucked the pouch inside his robes. But Kris was sure that somewhere deep down, he could see a hint of happiness in Ahmad over providing Kris with the tonic.
Kris smiled just a little. “Thank you,” he repeated.
Michael nodded and echoed Kris’ sentiment, already ushering Kris and the guards back towards where their horses stood. With one hand placed securely over where the tonic was stashed in his robes, Kris raced ahead of them. He mounted his horse, and set off with a head start back down the path.
When the other three caught up with him, Kris shouted from the back of his horse, “It’s a two-day ride to the palace! At top speed with no breaks, how fast can we make it?”
“If we push it, a day easy!” one of the guards responded.
Kris nodded, turning on the horse’s back to face forward again, his determined gaze locking on the horizon. He gripped his horse’s reigns tightly enough to turn his knuckles pale, flattened his body down against the horse’s back, and set a breakneck, racing speed for the others to follow.
Kicking his horse’s side and nudging the animal to run even faster, Kris murmured fiercely, “I’m coming, Adam.”
The sun had taken up its hiding place beneath the horizon several hours ago, and night had seized the desert expanse Kris, Michael, and the guards raced across. Finally, the palace was coming into view. Kris bumped his heels against the horse’s side, urging the animal to go faster and faster, just for this final leg of the trip. The horse had never run faster in its life.
When they tugged their horses’ reigns to bring them to a halt before the palace gates, something seemed to be amiss right away. There was usually a line of guards that stood at the gates, protecting the palace’s entrance and keeping out intruders. Now, there were no guards in sight.
“This is odd,” one of the guards said with a frown, jumping down from his horse. “There’s a rotation of the Pharaoh’s guards who are always to stand at the gates.”
Kris and Michael dismounted and followed the guards through the unguarded gates. The courtyard beyond the gates was just as unusually deserted. They didn’t see anyone until they stepped inside the palace and spotted one guard standing within the doorway. The guards who had traveled with Kris and Adam stepped ahead to speak to him.
“What’s going on? Why is there no one at the front gates?” one of them asked. The guard in the doorway turned towards Kris and Michael.
“You’re the ones sent on that priority errand by the Pharaoh? He instructed us to watch for your return” the guard in the doorway asked, pointing towards all four of them. One of Kris and Michael’s companion guards nodded in affirmation. “He sent you guys out several days ago,” the other guard continued, “Everything’s gone out of control since then.”
“What? What do you mean?!” Kris demanded. Now, he was craning his head up, looking over the guard’s shoulders and down the palace’s front corridor. None of the guards usually stationed along the corridor were present.
“The very night after you set out, news arrived from the southern border. The Assyrians launched a full-scale attack. It wasn’t expected, and we didn’t have enough troops stationed there to defend the border. The Pharaoh left as soon as he got the news, to lead the rest of his army southward. Before he left, though, he summoned a small group of his most trusted guards, and told us he has that harem boy, Adam, under his personal care, and that Adam was ill and resting in the Pharaoh’s private chambers. The Pharaoh instructed us to keep this a secret, but be aware of it for we were to guard him in the Pharaoh’s absence. We had no idea who would want to do an ill harem boy harm, but we stationed ourselves outside the Pharaoh’s chambers, as instructed. Only the next day, our question was answered.
“Lady Merrick gathered the whole force of her palace guards, and combined them with those of the Lord Dallon. The two of them poised their forces against us, threatening that we had no chance of getting in their way. Lady Merrick proclaimed her intention of killing Adam. But she severely underestimated our strength, and loyalty to our Pharaoh’s orders. He instructed us to protect Adam, and that’s what we’ve been doing…for the past two days. There are only about twenty-five of us, and perhaps sixty or seventy in opposition, but we’re much stronger. Only six of us have fallen, and we’re doing them plenty damage. I’m staked out here to keep Lady Merrick or Dallon from sending out any messengers to ask for help from the outside.”
“They-they want to kill Adam….?” Kris repeated weakly, his face pale. His brain had seemed to stumble over those words, and his hearing ceased to function for anything following.
While Kris looked increasingly stunned and weakened as the guard explained the situation to them, Michael had grown so angry-looking that it looked as if he might blast into the air at any moment like a lit rocket. “That foul. Merrick. bitch! And Dallon! That filthy rat! I’ll kill both of them with my bare hands!”
“But Adam’s safe for now,” the guard told them as he noticed their obvious distress. “Lady Merrick or Dallon won’t be getting through us any time soon.”
“But you don’t understand, he’s not safe!” Kris exclaimed. He withdrew the small vial holding the tonic from within his robes, and showed it to the guard. “Adam’s not just ill. He’s dying. This is the only thing that can save him. This is what the Pharaoh sent us out to get. We have to get this to him!”
“That won’t be easy,” the guard said with a frown. “The fighting’s going on right outside the door of the Pharaoh’s chambers.” The guard turned around, looking down the corridor for a moment before he beckoned Kris and Michael towards him. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
The guard hurried down along the corridor, and Michael and Kris rushed behind him. Kris had replaced the vial safely in his robe’s small inner pocket. His heart was in his throat, and each beat seemed to thunder throughout his whole body with fear.
They reached the end of the corridor and turned to hurry down another. They turned one more corner, and then stopped dead in their tracks.
There was a full-on war taking place inside the palace. Kris recognized the large doors that led to the Pharaoh’s private chambers, and the Pharaoh’s guards, dressed in full-body armor and armed to the teeth, were spread out before the doors. On the opposite side of the hallway, Lady Merrick and Lord Dallon were standing behind their forces, each waving their arms in the air and shouting orders to their guards. Most of the fighting was spread out through the middle of the wide hallway. The Pharaoh’s guards were beating back the opposition, taking on three or four enemies at a time and either shoving them back or cutting them down. The Pharaoh’s guards were clearly much more skilled. The hallway’s floor was littered with the gored bodies of Merrick and Dallon’s guards. Only a few bodies of the Pharaoh’s guards were visible on the floor amongst the battle.
Standing behind most of their allies, three of the Pharaoh’s guards stood firmly stationed right in front of the doors to the Pharaoh’s chambers. Their swords were sheathed at their hips as they wielded bows instead. One guard from the opposition somehow managed to sneak by the Pharaoh’s guards all locked in combat, and attempted to advance on the doorway. The sentry that was closest of the three drew his sword with a quick snap of his wrist, and only crossed blades with the opponent for a few short seconds before the other crumpled to the floor, wounded. The Pharaoh’s guard resheathed his sword and stepped back to his place right in front of the door. The door remained unbreached.
“How can I get in?” Kris demanded, turning to the guard who had led them here.
“I cannot think of a way…..” the guard said with a frown.
“What about servants?” Kris asked, wracking his brain for anything and everything. “Don’t they have to go in to bring Adam food and care?”
The guard shook his head, “The Pharaoh had food and supplies gathered and placed in his chambers before he left. He said he didn’t want to risk Adam being too weak to call for servants when he needed something, so the Pharaoh provided everything beforehand.”
Kris was silent, his mind still whirring with the struggle for a solution. He refused to give up. It wasn’t an option.
“Do Merrick and Dallon know that?” Kris asked.
The guard hesitated, thinking for a moment. “I’m not sure.”
Kris’ face set instantly with determination. “Then that’s all I can do. I need the robes servants wear, and I’m going to try to get in pretending to be one. Merrick and Dallon both know my face, so I’ll need robes with a hood.”
“Even if they’re convinced you’re a servant, they won’t just let you go in. We can do our best to protect you, but letting a servant in would mean care for Adam, and if they want Adam dead, they’d want that servant trying to help him dead too.”
“It doesn’t matter. I have to get in there, and I have to be disguised. If they saw it was me, they would really give everything to kill me.”
From Kris’ side, Michael laid a hand on his shoulder. “Kris… you realize how dangerous this…”
“I don’t care,” Kris avowed, “We traveled and searched for that tonic, and we’re going to get it to Adam. And I have to give it to him myself. I won’t live with anything less.” His gaze fixed on the guard. “Find me some servant robes.” The guard nodded, and turned to hurry back down the hallway, leaving Kris and Michael standing behind one of the hallway’s grand pillars, out of sight from Lady Merrick or Dallon.
When the guard returned a few minutes later, he beckoned Kris and Michael to step into a side corridor, where they could have privacy from the battle.
“Here,” the guard said, handing Kris the white servant robes. He had also retrieved a shield, which he held in his other hand. Kris slid the robes on and made sure the glass vial holding the tonic was secure in his inside pocket before he did up the front of the robes. Kris lifted the hood, and Michael helped tug the fabric down low enough so it would completely hide Kris’ face from sight. The guard lifted the shield in his hand and drew his sword.
“Ready? Stay near me and we’re going to head straight for the door.”
Kris nodded. Michael gripped his shoulder for a moment.
“Don’t be too reckless now, Kris. You’ve got to get in there alive.” Kris nodded, a determined, grim frown set on his face.
As Kris tugged his hood forward again and followed the guard out of the side hallway, Michael found himself thinking back to the first time he’d formally met Kris - when Adam had brought him home a beaten, bloody mess. He had looked so small and timid when Michael had seen him enter the tent behind Adam. Now, watching his back turn down the end of the hallway, Kris looked like the strongest, most resolute man Michael had ever laid eyes on.
“Take care of him, Kris. I know you can save him.”
Kris’ heart was pounding painfully in his chest as he crept out into the hallway behind the guard. The guard held the shield up before him not only to defend them, but also to help hide Kris from view.
“Stay right behind me, no matter what,” the guard hissed to Kris.
Then, they were in the middle of the battle. Kris reached a hand out to hold onto one of the back straps of the guard’s armor, to make sure he stayed close to him as the guard slashed and jabbed his blade expertly at the enemies who attempted to block their way. Kris did his best to keep his attention focused only on the guard’s broad back, and move through the pandemonium surrounding him. He had to step over the bodies littering the floor, keep his head turned away from the sight of the guards locked in violent combat all around him. He did his best to focus on the sound of his own panicked breathing, not on the mess of screams and shouts wrapping around him, not on the bloodshed. They were about halfway to the door, but Kris’ heart was pounding so hard and painfully against his chest that he feared he might not make it without having a heart attack first.
Lady Merrick’s attention was drawn by one of her brother’s guards who seemed to just be slashing and bowling his way through her own forces. Strangely, he seemed to be attempting travel across the hallway - to the door… Then she noticed a smaller figure crouched behind him who was dressed in white. The white garments must mean a servant, but why go to such lengths to get a servant inside the Pharaoh’s chambers? Her eyes squinted in confusion, and she watched closely as two of her own guards challenged her brother’s. They attacked simultaneously, but he held his shield aloft to block both of them. But the force of the combined blows sent the guard stumbling a few steps backwards, and when he did, he jostled the person crouched behind him. He, in turn, staggered. And as he struggled to regain his balance, the hood that covered his whole head fell back off his face. Lady Merrick gasped as she recognized the boy instantly.
“Dallon!” she shouted, turning to the Lord standing near her side. “Look! They’re trying to sneak that Kris boy in! No doubt, he’s trying to save Adam! Stop him! Kill him!”
At her words, Lord Dallon whipped his head around to look out into the melee. He immediately spotted the person dressed in white servant robes, and saw Kris’ face before he managed to pull his hood back up. Dallon started shouting desperate orders to his forces, waving his arms around angrily as he shouted. Lady Merrick’s incensed voice joined the cacophony of frenzied sounds.
Four of Dallon’s guards rushed the guard defending Kris. He shoved one off with a thrust of his shield, and became locked in combat with the other three. He saw more of the enemy advancing, rushing at them with Kris as their obvious target.
“Run for the door!” the guard shouted to Kris, giving him a rough shove in the direction of the doorway. Kris stumbled over his feet for a moment, struggling to get ahold of his balance and his own body again before he just started running. One foot in front of the other, one in front of the other. He had to leap over bodies and shove his way between others, but he knew he had to keep moving.
“Protect him! Get him to the door!” Kris heard his defending guard shouting to his comrades from behind him. The Pharaoh’s guards did their best to clear Kris’ path, beating back Merrick and Dallon’s guards that tried to attack Kris.
One of the opposition stepped right in front of Kris, and he pushed and shoved at him to do his best to go on. Kris saw one of the Pharaoh’s guards rushing forward to clear his path. But before he got close enough, a crushing weight slammed into Kris’ shoulder. Kris cried out and crumpled to the floor, clutching his on-fire shoulder. He looked up to the guard standing over him, who was lifting his sword to slash Kris again. Kris curled up desperately on the floor, trying to move his searing shoulder and lift his arms to cover his head. A loud cry came from over him, and then there was a hand gripping his arm and pulling him to his feet.
The Pharaoh’s guard who had been approaching had cut down the man who’d stabbed Kris. The guard gave Kris just enough of a push to get his feet reeling the rest of the way to the door. The sentries in front of the door parted to allow Kris through, and then stepped in behind him to defend his back. Kris’ hands scrabbled with the door handle, but they were wet and slick with something, and he couldn’t grip it. Finally, he was able to wrestle the door open, and fall through.
The door closed behind him with a thud, and suddenly the world was silent again. The sounds of the battle were on the other side of the door, distant and far away. Kris’ world shrunk painfully to his shoulder. He sunk to his knees as he hissed in pain. He gripped his shoulder, and it wasn’t until then that he realized stark bright blood was seeping into the white servant robes he was wearing. The slickness on his hands was blood. He swore softly, and struggled his way out of the white robes, dropping them on the ground. The pain in his shoulder was almost all consuming, turning his whole world a painful dark red. Then a single thought - a single purpose, weaved its way back into Kris’ mind through the haze of pain.
Adam…..the tonic!!
Kris’ head shot up to look into the room and immediately spotted Adam on the bed. His eyes were closed and he lay motionless. Kris squinted in desperation as he looked at Adam’s chest…and couldn’t see any up and down motion.
“N-no….” Kris gasped. He wiped his hands messily on his robes before reaching inside them to retrieve the vial from the inside pocket. With the tonic clutched tightly in his hand, he stumbled towards the bed. Ignoring the fire in his shoulder, Kris climbed up and kneeled at Adam’s side on the bed. Kris had to take a second calming himself and getting his hands to stop shaking before he could carefully remove the stopper from the open end of the small vial.
“Adam…I-I’m here. ..I-I got the tonic. I can save you…Please…stay here with me…”
Kris held up the vial of green-tinted liquid to Adam’s mouth. Adam didn’t move an inch. His eyes didn’t flutter. Kris bit his lip hard as he reached out with his other hand to hold Adam’s jaw and open his mouth.
“P-please Adam, drink this…” Kris whimpered, tears coming into his eyes and his voice growing shaky. Kris poured a little bit of the liquid from the vial slowly into Adam’s open mouth. “Please, Adam…” He rubbed his fingers against the outside of Adam’s throat, until the liquid was swallowed. Kris kept rubbing, ignoring how red and inflamed the skin under his fingers was. Kris slowly poured out the rest of the tonic, making sure Adam got every last drop.
“Adam….say something. Say something to me, please…” Kris begged in a weak voice.
The pain in his shoulder pulsated, sending Kris’ whole world spinning. Kris’ fingers clenched the material of the robes Adam was dressed in, determined to hold onto him,…to stay with him…
Kris’ vision suddenly blinked out. His weakened body slumped over, and he collapsed on the bed beside Adam. Blood had steadily soaked its way through the robes at his shoulder. Kris laid just as unmoving as his lover, one of his limp arms draped out from his side, and his fingers still resolutely gripping the empty glass vial.
[[Next]]
A/N: My life has been really insane lately, just dealing with lots of stuff. I'm kind of having a tough time and while I don't have much free time to devote to writing, writing this fic is a wonderful escape for me. I had something of a block with this chapter, not sure why...but then a few days ago I tried again and pretty much was able to churn out the whole second half of this. So maybe I'll end up tapping the next part out quickly because I love this fic so much, and sneaking into this world can always cheer me up (even though the story's not particularly cheery right now Dx). I'll do my best! Anyway, my thoughts aren't the important part here. What do YOU guys think?!!