Blood of the Neko - 16. Chapter 16

They had reached the path that wound through the forest at a slower incline. Saladin finally set Kayden down on his feet, while he checked for signs of the mini army's passage. The grass remained untrampled and the brush crowded the path untouched.

"They haven't gotten this far," Saladin said, then he turned, his ears twitching as if listening to the wind. "They are getting closer though. I can just hear them."

"We'll wait for them here then," Damien stated, stepping closer to Kayden.

"I'll go scout for a clearing to regroup in," Saladin stated. "Hatcher, stay here with his grace."

Hatcher nodded brusquely, standing guard.

Damien watched the boy stretch a bit as Saladin took off down the path, cringing when the boy winced. He wished they had a way to heat up water right now, so he could clean his lover's wounds properly. But that would have to wait.

Damien wrapped his arms around Kayden, letting the boy rest his weight against him. He knew Kayden was exhausted, and just thinking of what he'd been through all night made him exhausted too. They would have to rest another night once Oliver's contingent caught up with them. There was no way they could face Laos and whatever he might have waiting for them without proper rest.

It was only a few minutes before Saladin jogged back up to them. "Sir!" he called.

Damien looked up from the peaceful green eyes to see the guard waving at him.

"There's a clearing just down here around the bend. It'll be a good place to stop. It also should keep us out of sight of anyone who may be keeping watch on the mountain," Saladin said.

Damien nodded. "Good." He moved to pick Kayden up, but the neko darted out of his grasp with a grin. Obviously, he was starting to feel a bit more rested.

The four of them trekked to the clearing. Saladin headed into it to double check its perimeter, while Hatcher hovered by their lord's side.

Damien felt Kayden freeze at the same time that he saw Saladin halt as well. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he sensed tension in the two hybrids' stance. He wanted to ask what it was they sensed, but he knew to keep quiet as Saladin cocked his head, peering into the foliage. He noticed that Kayden eyes were bright, the pupils dilating, darting around, seeking out the threat.

Saladin had unsheathed his dagger and was slowly circling toward the sounds that had captured his attention. "Show yourself, in the name of the Duke of Marsten!"

There was a rustle as two trembling figures held up their hands to the guard. "We ask for mercy!" one called out.

Kayden gripped Damien's arm, his eyes wide. "It's them. The two slaves."

"Stand down," he ordered Saladin as he stepped closer to the two terrified men. He made his voice softer. "You are welcome to join us. I understand from my companion that you had been held as slaves, unwillingly."

The blond's eyes went wide as he spotted the young neko engulfed in the over-large tunic. "Oh, my God, it's you! You got away!"

Kayden smiled shyly and nodded.

The two men rushed toward him, causing Hatcher to jump in front of the neko protectively. The men drew up quickly, dropping to their knees.

"Thank you!" the smaller one gasped, dropping his head. "We are forever in your debt."

"I will willingly sign my life over to you. You saved us from being enslaved at the mines, it is only fair that I offer you a year of my servitude as a slave."

The other slave was nodding his assent as well.

Kayden's eyes widened as he recoiled at the idea, even taking several steps back away from them. "No, no--"

They looked at him in surprise as the duke chuckled behind them at the look on his lover's face.

"That won't be necessary," Damien stated, "although the offer is appreciated. Kayden has no desire to have any slaves, having been one himself."

Understanding dawned in the men's eyes.

"Relax, and wait with us while the rest of our men catch up to us," Damien offered. "We have some food and water left still."

Hatcher and Saladin dropped their small packs and quickly unloaded what food and water they had. Everyone took some as they settled on the thick green grass. The sun was just rising over the trees, and Damien led Kayden over to the far side of the clearing where the sun was starting to spill across the grass.

Damien leaned his back against a tree and beckoned Kayden to join him. He smiled as the boy practically crawled into his lap. With his feet tucked up under him and his tail curled around his leg, Kayden snuggled into Damien's chest. Damien soon felt the tunic that had been wrapped around the boy shoved aside so Kayden could bury his bare chest against the warmth of his master's. Damien sighed contentedly, pulling the heavy fabric of the tunic around both of them as they basked in the warmth of the sun.

He vaguely heard the crunch of the guards' footsteps as they continued to patrol the clearing. The two men that Kayden had freed were talking happily with the guards as they munched on the dried meat. He tuned out the sounds of the others, focusing only on the deep breathing of the boy wrapped in his arms. His adrenaline finally faded as he fell into a peaceful snooze with his feline lover.

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The clopping of a horde of horse hooves jolted the duke from his nap. With the sun beating down on them from high in the sky and the little neko's body curled up against his, he could feel himself sweating now. He shifted as the first horses came around the bend, and he grinned at the sight of Captain Brenner and Oliver Druet.

Oliver had Joseph Nash seated in front of him on his horse, and Damien could see how protective his friend was of the injured man. He was delighted to see that Nash seemed to be faring well; he looked tired, but they had obviously stopped to wrap up his leg more securely.

He saw Oliver and Brenner grinning back at him, obviously noticing the body bundled up next to him. Geoff swung down from his horse, quickly issuing orders to the others before turning to help Oliver get Joseph down from the horse.

Oliver quickly jumped down after Nash had been set carefully on his good leg and inserted himself under the young guard's arm to help him limp over to the duke. Damien couldn't help but notice the look of adoration on the young guard's face for his friend.

Brenner stomped over towards him as well as several of his other men. The noise caused Kayden to stir in his arms, and his head peeked up out of the cocoon of the tunic draped around him. Damien couldn't help but smile at the widening of the boy's green eyes at the sight of Joseph Nash hobbling over.

For his own part, it seemed Nash was fighting emotions of both happiness and guilt when he spotted his neko charge. "Kayden," he breathed in relief when the boy began to uncurl himself from his master's hold.

"Joseph!" Kayden cried, jumping up and rushing toward the man.

Damien instantly saw the shock and horror on the faces of his friend and the other men as they took in the sight of Kayden's bloodied torso. Damien had felt the same way. Kayden halted in front of Nash, looking up at him worriedly. He obviously wanted to grab the man in a hug but was afraid to hurt him more.

Damien rose to his feet as Joseph wrapped his free arm around Kayden, pulling him close. He could tell the injured guard was fighting not to cry, probably feeling his own guilt at letting harm come to the boy.

"Are you okay?" Kayden asked worriedly.

Nash chuckled. "I'm fine. Martin Walsh over there fixed me up. He's apprenticed to a doctor, so he's the acting medic right now. It's actually just sprained, not broken."

Kayden's fingers were clutching at the guard's shirt. "I--I was so scared that they--"

Nash palmed the back of Kayden's head, drawing him closer until their foreheads were pressed together, and Damien realized that he didn't feel any sense of jealousy of another man holding Kayden so closely. "I felt the same way about you," he choked. "I'm so sorry--"

Kayden yanked away fiercely, his eyes blazing. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. So stop blaming yourself. If anyone is to blame, it's me for running off in the first place."

"No," Damien said, coming up behind Kayden, his hand sliding over the boy's shoulder. "It's mine for causing him to run off. So, let's just all agree that I'm the one to blame, and everyone else can stop feeling guilty."

Oliver laughed along with Geoff. "Here, here. Everyone agrees you were an ass," Oliver grinned.

With that, the somber mood was broken, and they all started to settle down. Oliver spread out his cloak for Joseph to rest on, encouraging the man to sleep. Damien noticed that Saladin had a small fire going and quickly retrieved a small pot to warm some water. Damien noticed that Finn was hovering outside their small circle, and he quickly nodded to the man, encouraging him to go to Kayden. The groom looked so relieved when he was able to drop next to Kayden and ask how he was doing. His eyes were quickly assessing what all the blood meant, but Kayden was obviously reassuring him that he was fine.

Damien stalked off to find his and Kayden's things, wanting to get Kayden in some warm clothes as soon as the neko's wounds were cleaned and dressed. Kayden stayed huddled in Damien's tunic until the water was warmed.

As he walked back to the area staked out as his, with Oliver, Brenner, Nash and Saladin joining the immediate circle and his other guards making a protective ring, he smiled as he watched his friend leaning over the sleepy young guard. Oliver affectionately swiped stray strands of hair from the young man's forehead, leaning down ever so slightly to brush his lips over Joseph's temple. When Joseph sagged back against the lord, Damien knew that Oliver had found his match--finally.

"I guess I need to find another guard for Kayden," Damien mumbled to himself, a smile sliding across his face.

"Sir?"

Damien turned to the guard next to him, who had obviously mistaken that Damien had been addressing him. Hatcher was still pacing him, apparently not willing to let his lord out of his sight.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud," Damien said. He'd have to talk to Brenner about it, because it seemed obvious that Joseph Nash would be following Oliver wherever he went.

As Damien laid out his bedroll with Kayden's next to it, Saladin appeared with a bowl of steaming water and some rags. Damien nodded and took them from him, intending to take care of Kayden himself.

"I'll go get Walsh to come over and take a look at the cut. He may also have some pain medicine," Saladin said, and Damien nodded gratefully.

Damien forced Kayden to lay down while he carefully washed away the blood that had been smeared across his torso. Kayden winced a few times, but other than being a little tender the wound actually seemed to be okay. After all the blood was washed away, Kayden didn't look quite so bad. Martin Walsh appeared with Saladin and dropped a bag next to Kayden as he knelt to inspect the wound.

"It looks pretty good actually," he agreed. "There's no infection, and it's not very deep. Just looks worse than it is." He examined Kayden's raw wrists with a frown, looking up at the neko with pity. "I have some salve that will help all of these heal a little better."

The man pulled the corked jar from the bag and smoothed the greasy salve over the cut as well as Kayden's wrists, binding the sore wrists in clean strips of cotton. Kayden grimaced but submitted to the doctoring of his wound without complaints.

After the wound was taking care of, he used a clean rag to rinse off the rest of his body while Damien held up a blanket for privacy. Kayden quickly wiped himself clean, the feeling more than just washing away sweat and dirt, but also the feel of the horrors of the hunters. He slipped into a clean pair of trousers and shirt, sliding on socks and his boots. He may hate the boots, but right now he just wanted to keep his feet warm.

Damien lowered the blanket. Having finally seen the rest of Kayden's body, he felt a little more at ease. He was sure that he would find the boy covered in bruises or worse, but he wasn't. The sleep and rest seemed to have helped Kayden a lot. The more he drank and ate, the more his energy seemed to be returning.

Damien stripped out of his shirt to exchange it for one that didn't have Kayden's blood on it. He also washed briefly, as he noticed several of the other men doing the same around the camp. The extra afternoon of rest was good for the men. As much as he'd prefer to push on to the mines, he knew both Kayden and himself needed to recover from the previous sleepless night.

Damien sat with Oliver and Brenner in a mini-council ring. Saladin, Nash and a couple of Oliver's men were there as well. Damien noticed that Kayden had wrapped himself in his cloak and was creeping closer to Damien's side. The last time he'd tried this, he'd been shunned aside.

"If we head out before dawn, we could catch them by surprise," Brenner was saying.

Damien reached out, wrapping his arm around Kayden without even breaking from the conversation. He pulled the neko in front of him, sheltering him between his knees.

"I think that's a good idea," Damien said, checking Oliver and Saladin for agreement.

"Those hunters said that Laos sometimes has lookouts in the mountain," Joseph piped up.

"Yeah, we probably need to send a couple of scouts up there. See if we can take them out before they report to Laos," Damien stated.

"I'll go," Saladin said, "If I take a few hybrids with me we can move easily in the dark before dawn breaks and catch them off guard."

"That sounds good," Oliver agreed. "We need the best advantage possible to not get caught in the pass."

"I don't think he'd have a lot of fire power," Saladin said, "but if we can avoid losses that would be best."

"His advantage is the mountain pass," Damien stated. "If he controls that, he can bog us down. It won't stop us, not with our numbers, but he could get off enough shots, depending on how many he's got behind him."

"Kayden, do you have an idea of how many men Laos might have willing to fight for him?" Brenner asked.

Kayden turned, obviously surprised they were including him in the conversation. When Kayden glanced up at him, Damien smiled and quirked an eyebrow in question. "Not many, maybe fifteen or so that help him run the mines and manage the slaves."

"And how many slaves does he have?" Damien asked. "His official number is about fifty, but if he has illegal ones..."

Kayden shook his head. "I'd say more than that, maybe eighty or a hundred?"

The others nodded grimly. "Would the slaves fight for him?" Oliver queried.

Again, Kayden shook his head. "I don't think they could. He keeps them chained together, so they can't run off."

"Fuck," Damien growled, feeling angry that they had waited so long to do this.

Saladin rose. "I'll gather a few hybrids to scout with me--six maybe. That way I can send word back to you with a couple of them."

Damien nodded. "Good."

"I should go with them," Kayden said abruptly, causing Saladin to freeze and everyone around them to stare at the young hybrid.

Damien's first instinct, of course, was to yell 'Hell, no!', but he bit his tongue as Kayden looked slowly up at him, obviously worried about his reaction. Damien's arms had unconsciously tightened on his lover, and Kayden reached up to touch his cheek.

"I know those mountains better than anyone else here," Kayden said softly, obviously not wanting to upset Damien, but hoping he'd see the logic in it.

Damien stared into the deep green eyes of his kitten for several long minutes. He'd just gotten the boy back; there was no way he could send him off on his own, back into possible danger again.

"But you aren't well," Damien argued gently, knowing it wasn't much of one, since Kayden had obviously been feeling better throughout the afternoon.

"I'm not hurt, not really," Kayden stated. "A little sore, and tired, but I'll be more rested before we have to leave."

Damien looked up at his men, his friends, somewhat pleadingly, hoping they would agree with him. But Saladin just ducked his head, obviously not willing to be the one to tell the duke that Kayden was right. Oliver raised his brows and quirked his head, probably knowing that Damien was readying himself to order the boy not to go. Brenner just nodded in agreement with Kayden.

"He's right," Brenner finally said, breaking the silence. "He's our best chance of finding any men who might be on lookout in the pass. If we can stop those men from reporting back to Laos of our arrival, then we have a better chance of stopping any rebellion."

"Then I'll go too," Damien stated, earning himself a glare from Brenner and Oliver.

"You know you can't do that," Oliver retorted. "Your presence in our ranks is paramount for asserting the dominion of the king over the mines."

Of course, Geoff Brenner was nodding.

Damien dropped his head. Fuck. He really didn't want to let Kayden go, not without him, but keeping him from helping didn't make any sense either.

"You'll take eight men then," Damien finally growled his consent, figuring the more men who went the better they could protect Kayden. He ignored the fact that the lover in his arms had rolled his eyes at him, but Kayden wisely kept his mouth shut. "Get packs together, prep the others you want to take. I'm going to make sure he rests right now."

"Yes, sir." Rafe Saladin nodded as he darted off. Geoff Brenner rose to help his man prepare.

Oliver smiled as Damien maneuvered to lay down on their combined bedding, tucking Kayden in against his chest. Damien had made sure that his back was to the rest of the contingent of men, effectively blocking his love from the view of others. He didn't want to have to share him yet.

Damien brushed Kayden's hair out of his face, leaning in to kiss him. He focused on Kayden's green eyes and long lashes as he dipped his head to meet the soft lips. His thumb traced down Kayden's temple to his jawline, memorizing the feel of the boy's skin. A pleased rumble came from Kayden's throat as Damien delved into the sweet warmth of the neko, his tongue grazing across the small fangs.

When Damien's fingers slid to Kayden's throat, wrapping around his neck, Kayden gasped abruptly causing Damien to jerk back. The look of pain in the boy's eyes startled him. Kayden's eyes dropped as his small hand drifted to his throat.

"Kitten?" Damien nudged the boy's chin.

Damien was surprised by the pool of tears forming in the boy's eyes. He frowned, worried he'd somehow hurt Kayden, but he was unsure of how.

"They--they ripped off my collar," Kayden whispered. "It's gone."

Damien's eyes softened, as he gently kissed Kayden's forehead. "It's okay, sweetheart," he murmured. He pulled Kayden's head forward, sweeping aside his hair to see raw bruised skin where the chain had been ripped away from the neko's neck. He brushed his fingers over it softly, wishing he could magically make it go away. "The chain's not gone. I found it. But I'll have another one made, one not covered in your blood."

Kayden's eyes brightened, glittering with hope. "No. I want that one, if it can be fixed."

Damien frowned, finding it strange that Kayden would want one that had been torn off of him by the men who'd enslaved him. Wouldn't it just be a reminder of that? "Really? Why? I would think you wouldn't want to be reminded of what happened."

"But getting it back means I won. It brought you back to me, and it still means that I'm yours, no matter how much blood they put on it," Kayden said softly.

Damien chuckled, "Well, when you put it that way."

He snuggled Kayden closer, resting his head on one arm and keeping the other tucked around his love. "Get some sleep, kitten. You've got some work to do soon."

He could feel Kayden's lips smiling against his chest. "Thank you."

Damien scoffed. "For what? Allowing you to run off into a possibly dangerous situation? Again?"

"For trusting that I can handle it," Kayden said.

"Fuck, kitten, I know you can handle it, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to stop you," he said. "You're probably the bravest person I know, but I still just want to wrap myself around you and keep you safe from everything."

"Then... thank you for being able to let me go," Kayden said softly.

Damien fought back his urge to change his mind. Instead, he tucked the boy closer, hanging on to him for as long as Kayden would let him.