Luck’s descent (BL)

When Nielle found out that Shane had escaped, he didn't know whether to laugh or laugh. He was partially expecting that his Lacrisan wouldn't stay still and wait for him to fulfill his promise, but he really didn't expect him to break through his soldiers and escape. Anyway, he was amused by how funny Shane's effort was. Especially when he had people in every nearby village able to recognize him and catch him at any time. 

However, he intended to find him before he caused any trouble. He was quite pleased with how the Lacrisan himself had given him a reason to punish him nicely again, so he hurried off to find him. He hadn't finished his duties yet, but he didn't think Shane would be too far off, so he took a break for a while.  

On horseback, they covered the distance that an exhausted Lacrisan would walk pretty quickly, and so in less than ten minutes they explored quite a large area near the campsite.

Nielle was quite surprised at how well Lacrisan was hiding, and since he didn't know exactly where he had turned, it was necessary to explore all the roads. But he knew they would find him eventually, and they did. When one group of soldiers shouted that they had him, he went after him.

He couldn't wait to see his expression when he caught him, so he broke into a gallop with a satisfied smile. He reached the trees behind which flowed one of the unpaid rivers.

"Sir! He's hurt!" the soldier yelled ranning towardshim, whereupon Nielle dismounted and casually walked over to them.

He knew Shane was hurt as he had fought with his soldiers in the camp, so he expected some scratches. What he didn't expect, however, was the look he received the moment his eyes fell on his Lacrisan.

Bloody clothing with a long arrow protruded from his back near his left shoulder. His green feathers showed that it wasn't a classic weapon, and Nielle suffered a moment of shock.

"What's wrong with him?" he ran up to Shane and knelt down to him. 

He drew his sword and cut off the longer part of the arrow. Then he put the end of it in his inner pocket and lightly turned Shane to face him, "Hey!" Nielle patted him on the cheek, "Lacrisan! Can you hear me?!" he tried harder but Shane didn't respond, 

"Fuck," Nielle cursed as he tried to assess the situation before turning to the soldier next to him, "run for the medic, tell him I will bring him my Lacrisan, shot with a poison arrow," he touched  the bloody clothes, "less than five minutes ago...feathers are pale green, length...about 85 cm...let him find out who uses them..." he spat out.

The soldier nodded, got on his horse and proceeded to carry out the instruction. Nielle ordered another soldier to help him with Shane. They slowly pulled him to his feet and Nielle let Lacrisan lay in front of him on the horse. Holding his draped body close to him, he spurred the horse into a gallop.

He had no idea what had just happened, he had no idea who had shot his Lacrisan and why, but he was sure of one thing. When his Lacrisan dies, his peaceful life will be in jeopardy as well...because the king won't miss such an opportunity to severely punish him...and Nielle knew it well. 

*** 

He didn't remember anything at all. Rue felt like he was dreaming of something important, but he couldn't remember what. All he knew was that he saw Qie, which in itself lifted his spirits and filled him with a bitter feeling at the same time.

Anyway, he couldn't change it, so he decided not to deal with anything and continued his happy journey with Ylre. However, after about an hour of walking, a painful moaning sound hit his ears. They weren't human moans, but that didn't matter, so before he could even explain where he was going, he turned to the trees by the road.

Ylre looked at him before moving after him. He followed Rue's footsteps and asked, "Where are you going?" he wanted to know.

"Can't you hear that?" Rue asked as he continued to walk.

"I can't hear anything," he said.

"Someone's crying," Rue clarified, to which Ylre listened, but still didn't know what he was saying.

But when they came out from behind the trees after a while, Ylre caught sight of the source of the whining Rue heard. When they were close enough he could register it too, although he usually only looked out for things that could put them in danger.

A wounded fox lay in the middle of the grass, its leg in a trap by local hunters who were enjoying their catch. Seeing what was happening, Rue quickened his pace and spoke to the men.

"Luck with you," he greeted, "what's this about?" he asked.

The men looked up at him incomprehendingly, "Luck with you, boy. Can't you see? Hunting." he nodded to the basket, in which they already carried several animals that had been caught during the night.

"Hunting animals isn't right...you should let her go, living things must protect each other...if you let them live, they will let you live," Rue said calmly. 

The man blinked confused and looked at his guys, "What did he say?"

"Hey!" one man walked closer to Rue, "What's your problem? Hunting is allowed in this part!" he said.

"Your rules don't matter...Luck doesn't allow hunting animals," Rue said.

"Is he crazy?" one of the guys asked the other, who just nodded.

"Look, boy," one of them looked at Rue , "you look like a rich son from a good family, so you probably don't understand, but some people make a living by hunting... so get out while we're being nice." 

"I know that people feed on animals," he said, "but Luck allows eating only animals that a person raises himself. Breeding animals is allowed," he said, "when you give to the animals food, care, serve them all their lives and then they give their lives to you, it's fine...but if you're hunting animals you've done nothing for, it's wrong," he clarified. 

"Not everyone can raise animals," another objected.

"Why are you even talking to him, pack up and let's go," another explained.

The man nodded. He reached for the trapped fox, which snapped at him with its teeth, but by then Rue had stepped between them. 

The guy got angry: "Boy! You're hindering our work...if you have a problem, call the guards, but I assure you they won't do anything...so kindly get out and let us hunt." he stated. 

A soft sigh left Rue's mouth before he looked at the fox behind him, "I'm sorry for them, they don't know."

"Enough, get out of the way!" one of the hunters ran out of patience and tried to push Rue away from the trap. But just as he got too close, Ylre kicked him to the ground.

He gave him an irritated glare and stood next to Rue as the local people  started to annoy him more and more each day.

"Fucking Lacrisans!" the guy growled  and stood up, "You can't do whatever you want in our country!"

"Fuck off, you bastards." one of them pulled out a short sword used for hunting and pointed it in Rue's direction. 

 Ylre grabbed the blunt side of the blade and irritated pushed against it, forcing the guy move the weapon in his direction. 

As their gazes met he said darkly, "Everything here is our land, when he say you can't hunt, you won't," with a rough pull he ripped the blade from man's hand, making it his own. The culpit backed away in surprise and hid behind one of the older hunters as Ylre's blue eyes filled him with a strange shiver.

"What are you talking about?" one of the guys didn't understand what their problem was, but he didn't have time to say anything when Ylre swung sharply in his direction, placing the blade under his neck.

"I'm not in the mood," Ylre said and lifted man's chin with the weapon. The hunter  subconsciously raised his hands and swallowed dryly, "Fuck off." Ylre said to which the guy nodded slightly.

Ylre stared at him for a moment longer, and when it looked like they really understood, he withdrew his weapon. The men took off in a second, not expecting that today's hunt would expose them to danger. 

Ylre threw the blade to the ground and looked at Rue, who just sighed softly, "Why do people hunt animals?" he didn't understand and slowly bent down to the trapped fox. He gently released it and said, "Don't worry, nothing will happen to you." he lightly touched the trap. 

However, as his fingers moved too close to the metal teeth, Ylre said, "I'll take it out." 

"No need," Rue smiled and slowly opened the trap, allowing the fox to get out, "done, you're free." he said. 

The fox snarled at him in terror for a moment, as if it didn't understand what had just happened, and as soon as her body was free, she rushed after Rue. Ylre glared at the animal dangerously and grabbed the blade from the ground again, but Rue just gently touched the fox. 

The fox didn't look like it really wanted to hurt him, and apart from snarling and hesitantly raising paws in defense, didn't do anything.

"You don't have to worry...no one will hurt you," he explained, "his name is Ylre, he just helped you...we are not hunters." he said.

Ylre watched Rue play with the fox for a while, wondering if the animal really understood what he was saying or if it was just what it looked like. However, since everything seemed calm, he threw the blade back on the ground and sat down in the grass where Rue and the fox were having fun. 

After the animal regained some composure and Rue was able to gain it's  trust with a few touches, the vixen allowed itself to be petted without growling. Rue seemed pleased with her behavior, as if he understood her too…and maybe he did, Ylre didn't know.

All living beings were connected by luck, and since the supreme Infey were its direct source, he wouldn't be surprised if they truly understood all living creatures.

He sat there for a while and didn't say anything before Rue looked at him, "You can touch her too."

"No need," Ylre said.

"She won't hurt you," he clarified.

"I know...but I don't like foxes," said Ylre. 

,,Why? You look alike." Rue laughed softly.

Ylre looked at him incomprehensibly and gave the fox a look, "Alike?" he didn't understand.

"You have a similar color...hair and fur...and you both growled at those hunters," Rue laughed softly.

"I didn't growl," Ylre pointed out, staring into Rue's golden eyes in confusion for a moment before looking at the fox. He examined it closely, much to Rue's amusement.

"You're cute," he smiled, after which Ylre blinked confused.

"Cute?" he didn't believe, "Me?"

Rue nodded, "And you're a very nice person...you growl at the bad guys, you defend the good guys," he continued petting the fox.

Ylre objected: "I don't think I'm a nice person."

"I think you are," he pointed out.  

"I'm not," Ylre knew he wouldn't have a problem killing those hunters if necessary and he knew he would kill the villagers if necessary...actually he would do anything...if necessary, ,, but I'll always be good to you." He promised.

A soft laugh from Rue  showed that he didn't understand what he meant, "Thank you," he said and gently stood up, "I'm good to you too, aren't I?" he asked.

Ylre smiled softly, "You always were," he said automatically.

"And I always will...people should be nicer to each other, don't you think?" Rue said.

Ylre thought for a while and stood up, "I don't know." He didn't care. 

"They should... when you live longer, you'll find that it's the best... when people are polite to each other, they understand each other better," he clarified.

Ylre was silent for a moment before asking, "What if I'm good to someone, but he don't understand why I'm with him?"

"You should continue to be nice to him, he'll understand," Rue smiled and walked back to the road.

Ylre looked after him for a moment, smiled softly and followed him, "As you say."

***

Nielle expected that the local doctor wouldn't be as capable as Elyan, but he clearly didn't expect that he wouldn't be able to do anything. All he could do was slow the spread of the poison, but he clearly didn't do anything that would make Nielle wait another day here.

He couldn't even identify what kind of poison was in Shane and Nielle was getting quite nervous. Therefore, he had no choice and had to go back to the capital. With Shane on horseback, it wasn't as fast as he would have liked, but once he got going, he was able to reach the city in six hours.

The doctor told him that it would take about five hours for the poison to start working again. Time wasn't in his favor, so he had to think about how he could get back to the city as quickly as possible. He couldn't go through the main gate as his father would find out he was somewhere and didn't have time to sneak through the hidden entrances. 

At first he tried to get back through the secret entrance in the same way as when he left it, but since he couldn't enter it with a horse and even found out that it was blocked, he had no choice and reached the main gate.

The party of soldiers were considerably surprised when he was allowed to pass, and after he galloped through the streets and reached the walls of the palace, he was greeted with even greater surprise by the second guard. Everyone in the palace knew that he was supposed to sit in the dungeon on the king's orders, so they just let him in without understanding what happened. 

Nielle wasn't worried about word from the city guard getting to the king, since he had a few of his own people there, but as far as getting into the palace was concerned, he was screwed.

However, receiving the punishment for breaking out of the dungeon and disobeying the king's orders was still less than receiving it for killing the Lacrisan he was in charge of...and ruining the opportunity to reveal the goals of the Lacris who had sent him here. Considering that his father was furious when the Lacrisan had collapsed in front of him, Nielle knew that killing him would be pretty dangerous.

However, he had no choice at the moment and hoped that he wouldn't end up being punished for both things at once...however, it wasn't up to him, it was up to Elyan.