Demus: The Prince And The Milkman

Searching For Shadows

Janus snatched the poster from Remy's hands, scanning over it with wide eyes. 

There was no question about it-- it was his face. A little more... feminine, mind, and he definitely did not have long hair anymore (he had cut it with a piece of porcelain he had found after accidentally knocking over an expensive-looking vase), but it was still his eyes, his mouth, his face. Why was his face on a wanted poster?

"One Janice Deceit-Garnet," Remy said grimly, meeting Janus's eyes over the paper. He cleared his throat and continued reciting the paper, his voice low and sharp. "Wanted for escaping from the place deemed appropriate by our king and savior. Take into custody alive and report to the Hunting Dogs. Reward: 70 gold." 

Both Remus and Emile took in sharp breaths, their mouths dropping open. Disi flattened his snout to Janus's shoulder, his hackles rising and his wings bristling, extending in a protective motion. Roman looked at Remy with a frown on his face. 

"We don't know when these were put up," he muttered, rubbing at his arm. His eyes darted to Janus and then at the ground, grimacing slightly. "We need to get out of here. Someone might have already raised the alarm." 

Janus's head shot up. Someone probably already did raise the alarm. A prickling sensation started to drip down his spine and he shuddered, lifting one hand to stroke the comfortingly familiar scales of the dragon curled around his neck. 

Remus grabbed Janus's hand, his eyes meeting the prince's with an urgent look in his scowl. "Alright then, let's get out of here." He swallowed, squeezing Janus's hand. 

But Roman shook his head. "No, we can't." 

"Why not?! Come on, let's just..." Remus faded off as he took another look around, his expression growing horrified as he realized their predicament. "Logan," he breathed, worry shining in his eyes. 

Remy cursed, or at least, that's what it sounded like to Janus-- he didn't recognize the word. "Dammit, Logan... I haven't seen him anywhere tonight. I thought the dude was with you guys." 

Emile gasped, a hand shooting to his mouth. "We can't leave Logan here!" He looked around wildly as if the other mage would suddenly appear, but as Janus looked in all directions he saw no trace of him. "He might get caught a-and-- and I don't know..." 

Remy stepped closer, taking Emile by the hand and giving him a gentle look. Moving a little closer to Remy's comforting warmth, Emile looked between the group, a pleading look on his face. "I don't know what would happen to him, but it'd be bad. Really bad." 

"He'd probably get tortured," Roman realized with a tense expression. "You were, like, one of the Lordess's closest. He'd get tortured and then killed." He put his hand on his pocket, where his knife was, and Remus mimicked the moment by grabbing his own large, iron dagger. 

"Well, then, we can't leave him here!" Janus cried, taking a deep, shuddering breath. He lifted his head, glancing between the others. "Let's split up and look. Two people in each team-- we'll find Logan and meet at..." he looked around aimlessly until his eyes landed on the blazing fire glowing in red and orange on top of the hill. "At the fire." 

Remus gave him a concerned look. "Are you sure?" 

Emile let out a shaky laugh. "I'm not just leaving my brother here. So you can leave without two of us, or you can find my brother." 

Remy nudged Emile's shoulder. "Make that three of us," he stated, giving the rest of the group a level stare. When nobody objected, he glanced over at Emile, his gaze softening. "So let's find Gandalf, and get the hell out of Dodge." 

Janus raised an eyebrow, almost laughing. "As usual, I have no clue what you just said. But..." He pulled his new knife out of its sheath, grinning as he hefted it in his hand. "I'm guessing it was something along the lines of, let's find Logan."