Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree

Aleth reached out to grab Ky's shoulder, fingernails digging into her flesh, but he twitched as Loquitur kept being an ass. He dug his fingernails even deeper into her shoulder, considering his options. There weren't many.

Was Ky even worth arguing over at that point? It'd be hard to ensure they were both together at Serpent's Keep anyway. And they'd have to be careful about letting anyone know they were both literate. Maybe Ky would be more useful here than she would if she went with him. If she could keep her mouth shut.

Little specks of blood were starting to show through her tunic from his fingernails. She was standing stiffly, staring straight at the floor with wide eyes, not breathing.

"Fuck it," Aleth snarled. "Take the little bastard."

With that he gave Ky a shove, sending her stumbling into Loquitur, hard, before Aleth turned and stormed back down the hallway. He'd deal with all this tomorrow. After he'd had a chance to think about it.

Tomhas caught her, glaring after Aleth. "Glad to see you're a man of reason," he called after him, then said under his breath, "fucker." He held Ky at arm's length for a moment, looking her over.
"Right," he said after a moment, keeping his voice to a whisper. "That worked. And it means no more dieting for you. Shall we get you to the infirmary?" His eyes flicked to the spots of blood on her shirt.

Ky stared after Aleth in a terrified silence, barely aware of Loquitur at all, still so scared that Aleth would come back and hurt her anyway. He slammed his door. She was trembling, still so shocked that it actually worked. Then she turned back towards Loquitur.

She didn't know what her emotions were doing.

It felt like she had all of them at once. Terror. Relief. Guilt. Excitement. Dread. Glee. She burst into tears again and threw her arms around Loquitur in a tight hug before she had a chance to consider what she was doing.

Tomhas stiffened as she wrapped her arms around him, and he blinked. Well, that wasn't expected. The shock was only for a moment, though. He quickly returned the embrace, rubbing her back gently as she sobbed.
"Hey, it's alright," he murmured. "You're okay now. It's okay." It wasn't, really. Not just yet. But a little lie like that wouldn't hurt anyone.

She pressed her face against his chest, breathing too-fast and shallowly. It'd been so long since she'd had a proper hug. She and Tadaaki sometimes -- Tadaaki. She'd been so focused on Aleth that she'd forgotten about him. If Aleth could get to her -- or to Tadaaki -- before he left, there would be numerous broken bones, if not worse.

She took a deep breath. If Loquitur could save her, he could save Tadaaki too. And then it struck her what she'd done. What she was doing. She audibly gasped and yanked away, staring at Loquitur with wide eyes. What was she doing? She couldn't touch a noble. "I'm sorry!"

"For what?" Loquitur shook his head. "Gods, this is hardly a time for formality and I'm not one of those stuck-up sods who won't be touched with a ten-foot pole. You're fine, Ky. You're fine." He patted her arm, careful not to touch the injured shoulder. "Let's get you to the infirmary, and then I'll go tell Tadaaki the good news, okay?"

Ky felt herself relax, ever so slightly. So, he wasn't mad that she'd hugged him. That was good. It was hardly a proper thanks to the man who'd just rescued her, to throw all her manners out the window.

"Yes, sir." She nodded, then hesitated, looking down the hall. Aleth had gone back into his own room... but what if he came out again? And saw that he could get to Tadaaki without Loquitur stopping him? She couldn't risk that. Not with how angry Aleth already was.

"Actually, I-I'm okay, it's not a big--" She shrugged. It was hardly like a few scratches phased at her at that point. She looked at him timidly, still afraid to argue, but more afraid of what would happen if they left Tadaaki alone. "Can we get him first? He's more hurt than I am, anyway."

"Right, of course." Tomhas nodded. "If you'd like to go get him, we can go all three together. That's probably wisest." She had a good head on her shoulders, definitely a quick thinker. Tomhas guessed she needed to be in a job like that.

Ky smiled at him, relieved that he'd agreed, then she kicked off her shoes. She wasn't sure if Loquitur could stop Aleth a second time, so it was best if he didn't hear. She crept forward, still a bit weak, but glad for the food. It was helping her feel more steady.

She'd had a lot of practice moving silently. Aleth always got so angry when she woke him up, so she'd learned to creep about at first so that she could wake up to relieve herself when she needed to. Occasionally, she also crept to Tadaaki's room to make sure he was okay, too. And there'd been a handful of times that Aleth had sent her to gather information in someone else's house. Couldn't be discovered.

She gently walked down the hall, eyeing Aleth's door, then ever so slowly pushed open the door open. Her eyes locked on Tadaaki. He'd been woken by Aleth's slamming door, and was sitting on the edge of his cot, clearly not sure what to do. She motioned for him to be quiet, then waved at him to follow her.

His gaze dropped to her bare feet, then he stood up and stepped over his boots, forgoing them as he walked towards her. She kept casting nervous glances at Aleth's door, and didn't step out of the doorway of her own room, afraid Aleth might lock himself in with them if she let that happen.

She stepped backward as he got to her and stepped into the hall, brow furrowed in confusion. He looked around, then his gaze locked on Loquitur. His eyes went wide and snapped back to Ky. She motioned for him to quiet again, then nodded down the hall, wrapping her arm around his back.

It was a ridiculous sight. He had almost a full foot on her and had as much muscle in a single arm as she did in her entire body. He stumbled slightly. She stepped into him, bracing herself to catch him and let him get steadier.

She helped him down the hall as silently as possible, splitting her attention between Tadaaki and nervous glances down the hall towards Aleth's door. They stopped just in front of Loquitur. Tadaaki looked between them fearfully. "Sir?"

"This way." Tomhas led them toward the stairs. "For some ungodly reason most infirmaries are on the third floor. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm not an architect." He nodded to Tadaaki. "Sorry for the hurry; we're not sure if Aleth is going to change his mind."

"Change his mind about--?"

Ky darted forward and grabbed two of the rolls, then held them both out to Tadaaki. "Here, eat."

Tadaaki cast a fearful glance over his shoulder. "We're not allowed--"

"He said it's okay." She nodded to Loquitur, pressing the bread into Tadaaki's hands. "Eat."

"You eat one." Tadaaki pushed one of them back to her.

She shook his head. Tadaaki was so much bigger than she was. And neither of them had eaten tonight. They argued about who was to eat the few berries Aleth left for them -- Tadaaki claiming that Ky hadn't eaten in a few days, and her arguing that he needed it more. Until Aleth got angry and ate the rest of it and hit them both for annoying him with their arguing. He'd hit Tadaaki much more.

"I've had so much food already," Ky lied, forcing him to keep it. "This is all for you. Come on."

She wrapped her arm around his back again. Tadaaki wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, the loaf just off to the left of her face, then took huge bites of the loaf in his right as they followed Loquitur towards the stairs. Then he asked past a mouthful of bread. "Change his mind about what?"

"Well." Tomhas tilted his head, smiling. "I've convinced him to leave you two behind while he goes alone to Serpent Keep. He was rather upset so we aren't sure if he's going to come storming back. If that does happen, I'm unarmed so we'll go to plan B and scream for the guards. That ought to be effective."

"What?" Tadaaki choked on the bread, eyes going wide. He swallowed the bite but shook his head. "No! No-no-no-no." He looked down at Ky desperately. "You know we can't do this. He'll kill them."

"Certainly not. Everything is under control, I promise." Tomhas paused and turned to face Tadaaki. "Ky told me everything. I understand the position you're in and I can fix it. I'm working on it right now; we're going to have you out of here before he returns and at that point he'll stand trial."

He looked between them, distraught. This had been so much to wake up to. It all felt like a dream. Or a nightmare. Or a trap... but Ky wouldn't do that to him... would she? Maybe if Aleth had ordered her to. He couldn't blame her for it, if that was what happened.

"But, my--" Tadaaki took a shaky breath, overwhelmed. "He'll send someone to kill them. He knows where they live."