forum The Monster, the Princess, and the Rebel // OxO // Closed

Started May 25, 2020 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

"They're safe," Javaid told his brother quietly, watching the wagon leave slowly and unhurried. They stood on the castle barracks, watching as they usually did, without interest, just looking at the sun and the sky. It wouldn't do to have the king suspicious, not now. They had made sure that Rose had an excuse as to why she wasn't there. They had made sure that everyone had seen her accidentally run into a wall, splitting open her head and knocking herself out.
In case the king noticed that the prince was missing, she wouldn't be blamed.
"For now," Damen said grimly. "Are all the pawns in place?"
"Yes. We'll be ready to leave soon."

Rose was sheltered in the wagon, Korain's unconscious body hidden in a space under the floorboards. She kept a hand pressed to the boards, feeding energy to the spell keeping him as deep under as was safe. It would be disastrous if the prince were to awaken in that small space; he'd likely destroy the entire wagon and alert their uncle as to where he was.

The sun had set by the time the twins left. Damen ran a hand through his hair before pulling it back into a low ponytail. He pulled his hood over his face and clicked his tongue, starting the horse he was on to a quick trot. He glanced up at the moon, its dim light illuminating the worn path.

It had been easy to leave the palace. Forging a letter from family, he had informed the king of his and Jav's sick mother. Before, guards had been sent to an old lady's house, someone who claimed to be their mother. In reality, she was a member of the rebellion, the people who wanted someone real on the throne. The old woman was very helpful in situations like this, a master poison maker, and so it wasn't hard to act sick.

Despite his preoccupied thoughts, Dae could clearly hear his brother behind him. Not that Javaid was being loud; the opposite, in fact. Rather, it was some sort of sense he had with his twin, some sort of strange knowing that he had always relied on… especially when his foolhardy brother was getting into trouble.

"Sore yet, Dae?" Javaid asked, amusement in his voice.

Damen was thinking too much again. Jav could see it, in the way his lean form tensed, the way that he let out that breath through his teeth, thinking through every single flaw in the plan. The two brothers were almost polar opposites; Jav was more of an action first, ask questions later guy, while his brother was the opposite.

Despite that, the two were close. He couldn't even imagine what Rose was going through right now, with her own brother as messed up as he was.

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it. He glanced up at Damen, and his lips twitched. Damen, while an excellent thinker and advisor, wasn't used to riding hours upon hours on a horse. He might be feeling the pain already. "Sore yet, Dae?" He asked.

His brother glanced back, sending him a withering look. "Shut up, smartass."

"That's a yes, then."

They rode in silence, following the road for a while before cutting into the woods, starting at a canter that had them moving faster than ever. In case Korain woke up, they needed to be there so that he wouldn't hurt anyone… or get hurt.

They got to a small cabin in the woods a few hours after midnight, and knocked. They had arrived, but to what, neither were sure.

Rose answered the door after a few minutes. She had dropped the glamour and was now returned to her normal look, her dark hair bound back into a bun at the nape of her neck. She looked tired, her mouth twitching into a faint smile of greeting. "Welcome to the humble abode." She said, opening the door. "There is a grand total of three bedrooms, and I'm not sharing." She led the way back into the house, shutting the door and bolting it behind them. "I've been keeping Korain under, but I won't be able to much longer. He's in the back bedroom." The door was open to the room, and an oil lamp cast a slightly flickering glow over the room. The prince lay on the bed, body tense and shifting as he tried to fight off the spell his sister had put him under. His face was drawn, as if in pain, and his fingers were curled into hooks on the sheets. He pitched on the bed, and Rose's eyebrows drew together faintly, strain evident in her expression.

Damen stepped forward into the bedroom, immediately going over to the young man on the bed, slinging his pack from off his back. "I'm going to treat some of his worse wounds. Do you think that you can manage to keep him under for long enough to allow me to do that?" He asked Rose.

Javaid, he noticed, had placed a rare comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. He rarely showed affection, and offering support was next-to-non-existent. It was kind of strange.

"You got this," he told the girl quietly, and Dae's eyebrow rose, before he turned back to Korain, pulling out gauze and some wound cleaning solution.

Rose took a deep breath, eyes on her brother. "I think so. Just, work quickly, if you can? Because I've got to tie him down before he wakes up." If she didn't…well. The magic their uncle had put him under made it difficult for him to differentiate friend from foe; who knew if he would even recognize Rose for who she was, much less be able to exert any kind of control over himself. Tying him down made it safer for the rest of them.

"Of course." Damen sounded distracted, working quickly to clean and bind the wounds.

Javaid glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. She sounded worried, which made him want to comfort her as best he could… which meant saying something dumb and possibly offensive. "How did it feel to ride in a cart for hours on end?"

Rose narrowed her eyes at Jav. "Bumpy and uncomfortable, but probably infinitely better than riding with you would have been." She replied calmly, keeping an eye on Damen and Korain. Korain was still twitching and shifting on the bed, back arching up every now and again as his body pitched and fought against the spell like a fish caught on a line.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, sounding offended. "I are very good company. It hurts me that you wouldn't want to grace yourself with my magnificent presence."

She arched an eyebrow. "I'm sure." Her tone was dry and unconcerned with his supposed offense at her statement. "As appealing as it sounds, no, I would not have wanted that."

"At least you said it sounds appealing." He grinned at her, blue-gray eyes sparking like a storm cloud. "I'll take that as a maybe next time." He leaned against the door post, watching his brother work.

Damen wasn't paying his brother or the girl any attention. He was cleaning the surface wounds, sometimes sewing the worse ones up, bandaging things so that they didn't get affected.

The prince twitched, and Dae lowered his head slightly, sadness filling him. I hate what he did to you, he thought silently, finishing up his work.

He stood. "You can wake him now, if you would like. Thank you, Princess."

Rose's attention flicked from Jav over to Dae, and she nodded faintly. She grabbed ropes, first, wrapping one around her brother's chest and then around the bed so he wouldn't be able to get up from it without someone untying it.

Jav watched her, feeling like he should help her, but not. Damen, of course, as the perfect gentleman, went to make sure everything was steady.

Both of the boys were tense, wondering what would happen - although, for Damen, it was more concern than anything else.

She was worried about what would happen when she dropped the spell. What her brother would do, when it was dropped and removed. She bit her lip, but released the spell, letting her brother go. Korain twitched, pushing against the bed as he began to wake up, thrashing and twisting.

Javaid and Damen glanced at each other, silent agreement in their eyes, and moved as one around the bed, ready at a moment's notice to hold down the prince if he were to try something. Their shared strength crackled between them, and for a moment, it almost appeared as if they were two predators, looking at prey between them.

The prince's eyes snapped open, flashing between the three of them. He looked wild, no recognition in his gaze. Rose placed a hand on his arm, looking down at him and doing her best not to cry. This broken young man was not the brother she had known, and she wished desperately that there had been a way to get to him sooner, before their uncle could break him like this.

Jav glanced at his brother, and his voice filtered into Damen's head, so that only he could hear it. It was just a small piece of magic that they shared, and it had come in use more than once. Do we leave them alone?

Dae glanced at the prince and princess. I think we should, he said finally. They look like they need some space alone. I do think, though, that we should stay nearby. He didn't have to add the part that they were both thinking: in case something happens.

Korain didn't speak, only glared up at his sister, eyes wide and wild and feral. The young prince was not okay. That much was obvious. Rose was silent, just stood and watched her brother.

The brothers left the room. Jav, before he left, brushed his hand along Rose's shoulder, a silent reassurance should she need it, before leaving the room and standing outside the door with his brother.

His twin looked tired, deeply, profoundly weary. It was always like that when he saw something terrible, not being a warrior and soldier like Javaid. He ran his hand through his hair and Jav knew how stricken his brother truly was. Damen only did something like that when he was uncomfortable or worried.

"It will be okay," he said quietly, and Dae smiled sadly at him.

"You don't know that."

Rose sat at the edge of the bed, just watching her brother as he pushed against the ropes, no hint of recognition in those eyes of his. She could sense the magic pushing against the barriers of his skin, knew it wouldn't take much to turn him from his human form to the monstrous one their uncle had "gifted" him with.

(alright!)

It was a few hours later that Korain lost it, body changing as horns sprouted from his head and the look in his eyes changed. Rose had fallen asleep in a chair in his room, and startled awake at her brother's bellow. Her eyes widened, and she straightened, unsure what to do and how to help him.

The door to the room the royals had been in was cracked in, and the Khrysaor twins had taken turns watching and listening in case while the other slept, in case Rose needed help.

Damen was the one at the door when Korain finally reverted to normal, and after a moment's hesitation, he opened the door and stepped in. "Let me help," he said to Rose, who still looked bleary with sleep.

He knelt down beside the bed, in case the prince acted up because there was someone towering over him, and spoke softly, as he would to someone having a panic attack. "Hello, Prince Korain. My name is Damen. Do you recognize who is next to you?" He motioned gently to Rose. "This is your sister, Your Highness. Remember her?"

Korain, in the more monstrous form, had no hope of recognizing anybody. He only pushed and struggled against the ropes binding him to the bed. Rose bit her lip faintly. "He's not going to be…coherent until he reverts back to normal." She said softly. "I've been studying the…the spellwork. I don't know how to remove it." She had been trying to figure out a way to at least return control to Korain but it was difficult, if not impossible, to do so.

"It's all right," Dae told her gently. He glanced at her, and then back at the Prince, laying his hands on Korain's shoulders, pinning him down gently, so that he wouldn't struggle and potentially break the bed. "Was there any clue as to where we could find the cure?"

Korain growled at him, still squirming and struggling on the bed. Rose shrugged helplessly. "Not really. Not…not anything that's really all that helpful." She replied, running a hand through her hair and watching her brother.

Damen nodded slowly. "I know that there are several information posts of the rebellion, only a few hours' ride from here. We can go and see if they have anything about his… curse… in some of the older records."