Rising Flames | Throne of Glass

28

cuz new year provides a good excuse

and because school starts again soon

triple update :D

please prepare for cliché gooey shit and a whole load of messy dialogue. enjoy !

[210101]

Nesryn was packing her bags the following week.

She'd made sure to pass the first six tests, but deliberately failed on the seventh - knife throwing, a test which had no terrible consequences unlike the poisons test last week, where a Champion had died.

So just before midday, she stood before the door that led to the sewers, a sword tucked into the sheath in her belt, bow and shafts slung across her back, and a bag full of provisions on her left shoulder.

She'd just opened the escape door when Chaol burst into her room.

~

Chaol Westfall was panicking. Internally, and externally.

He'd lost both of Dorian's Champions, and his life could be on the line. And he knew Nesryn had deliberately performed badly to lose - but why?

Pacing round Dorian's study as he waited for the prince to return from court, he grabbed his head and ruffled his hair viciously. 'Shit,' he groaned.

'What's shit?'

Chaol turned to find Dorian watching him, blue eyes curious. 'Me,' he uttered. 'Nesryn's leaving, and she failed, and I don't know why she did it on purpose, and your father is not going to be happy about this-'

'Then leave.'

Dorian's suggestion brought him to an abrupt halt.

'What? How- why- I can't just abandon my duties like that!'

'Yes, you can. I'll just say you had family matters to attend to. For instance, Terrin. He's a big enough problem.'

'And not return?'

Dorian shrugged, the movement simple and unburdened. 'I don't know.'

Dorian. Nesryn. Dorian or Nesryn. Both were risks.

'Listen,' Dorian said suddenly. 'My father is planning to wage war to claim Terrasen. And once he does, that's the end of freedom. Endovier and Calaculla? That will be nothing by the time my father is done. Nesryn has her motives. I think, Chaol, now is the time you follow your heart, and don't listen to your royal-bound duties. This is for the future of Erilea.'

'But-'

'The king's own son turning against him. Absurd, I know.'

Chaol was more than stressed now. 'But Dorian-'

'Chaol.'

'No, Dorian, you listen!' Chaol hissed urgently.

Dorian stilled.

And then Chaol grabbed Dorian's shoulders and kissed him.

Dorian's sky-blue eyes were wide in shock at first, but then they softened and he returned the kiss.

'I love you,' Chaol said fiercely, lips brushing the prince's. 'And I have for a long time.'

Then he tore himself away from Dorian, and practically sprinted out of the door.

~

Rutting Gods above.

Dorian was left speechless, his mind and thoughts and emotions all jumbled up.

Chaol was leaving. Now.

And he loved Dorian. Just as Dorian loved him. He realised that, now.

His kingdom, or his lover and the undecided future?

Feeing very much like the man from Sunset Passions, Dorian grabbed his sword and ran after his lover, out of the door and into the unknown.

~

'What the rutting hell are you doing?' Nesryn exclaimed as Dorian pelted in not a second after. His hair was dishevelled and his blazer was ruffled, for once not the portrait of grace and dignity.

'What does it look like?' Chaol retorted.

Nesryn didn't have the time to care. 'If you're coming, there's no going back.'

'We're coming,' Dorian answered breathlessly.

'Then hurry up. We're heading down to Skulls Bay. If you're discovered, you're alone - but I'll do everything I can to avoid that from happening.'

Then she went through the door without sparing a last look at them.

Dorian and Chaol glanced at each other.

'The world's going to shit,' Dorian sang as he followed suit.

No one could agree less.

~

'Get out of the way, Ress.'

'N-no. I have my orders to report if a Champion tried to escape.'

'This can go two ways: I kill you, or you kill me now.' Nox didn't have the time for this stuttering guard to block his way.

Ress blanched.

'Have you never killed someone before?' Nox asked. 'I've killed once, and it wasn't that hard.'

Ress trembled.

'Get out of the way.' Nox finally shoved past Ress, and took a step forwards.

A searing pain tore through his shoulder, and he gritted his teeth. Nox turned and raised his brows at Ress. 'Quite the devil, aren't you? I never expected you would stab a knife through my shoulder.' He reached over and tugged out the knife, wincing at the movement.

Ress stared, mouth agape.

'No, I'm not dead,' Nox said irritably.

He walked out of the room and down the steps. No one was there to stop him.

~

Originally, only Nox and Nesryn were supposed to meet in the sewer under one of the grates that led to the docks. The presence of a guard, a captain, and the crown prince himself was never accounted for.

'Who's that?' Nesryn asked, jerking a chin at the young man dressed in royal guard uniform.

'Ress. I told him not to come,' Nox said curtly. Then, with a dry smile, 'You seem to have gotten quite the company.'

Dorian and Chaol, looking no longer presentable and covered in sewage waste, offered hesitant smiles.

'We need to get you changed,' Nox said, unimpressed. That brazen attitude with such high royalty could have passed as a reason for execution - but all Dorian did was shrug.

Nesryn hid a smile at Nox's cool demeanour, remembering his squeaking from the meeting with Nehemia a week before.

'What are you laughing at?' Nox asked.

'Nothing,' she said. She passed several coppers to Nox. 'We'll be waiting here.'

Chaol looked extremely sheepish and useless. 'I didn't bring anything.' Apart from the sword strapped at his side and the muddied cloak, yes, he was useless.

Ress looked no better, turning out his pockets to reveal some wrapped biscuits and a glass marble.

Dorian coughed. 'Neither. I only brought a pouch of gold.'

Nesryn swallowed a choke painfully. 'No- no. That's more then enough.'

'What is happening in Skulls Bay?' Chaol asked.

'Rebel rendezvous. We hope to get the Pirate Lord and his fleet on our side, too.'

'The Pirate-'

She glared at him as Nox reached the top of the ladder, eased open the grate and climbed out, and the four of them trailed into silence.