Abyssal (ManxMan)

Fight or Flight

His fight or flight instinct kicked in. Kai scrambled to his feet and ran in the opposite direction, forgetting the chain out of sheer fear. Naturally, he didn't get far. 

The chain went taut, keeping him from taking another step, and he very nearly fell backward, but somehow managed to ground his feet.

His heart gave one sharp thump and then time itself slowed.

A haggard breath escaped him once his flight instinct went away. His fight instinct activated instead.

Sweat dripping down his forehead, he whirled around and struck with all his might, putting every ounce of strength into his flying fist.

Marius caught the fist in his palm.

Undaunted, he kicked his leg, but Marius, having somehow seen it coming, caught his thrown leg by the thigh. He pulled him close, holding him by his thigh and fist. He struggled like a hellcat, thrashing in Marius' arms to no avail. His mounting anger piqued new heights. His vision turned red as fury took over.

Their faces were but a few inches apart. Livid, Kai mashed their lips together.

He felt Marius stiffen, shocked.

Their eyes met for a second, and Kai saw the surprise in the shark-like blue eyes. Finally, he'd succeeded in catching the powerful, all-knowing king off guard.

Growling, he bit down on the King's lower lip, hard enough to draw blood.

But instead of pulling away and releasing him like the young prince had expected, Marius let go of his fist and clasped a hand on his nape instead, drawing him even deeper into the bloody kiss.

Kai stilled, seemingly his turn to be fazed.

What the hell is he doing?!

As the Arabic idiom professed, his spell had turned on him.

Marius' lips ground his as if he meant to flatten them against his teeth, brutal and fierce. Kai gasped from the pain and... something else.

"LEHT GHO!" he said against Marius' mouth, but it came out muffled and incoherent. More than the kiss, what made him even more distraught was the strange, inexplicable feelings the kiss was causing in him. His insides had begun twisting at the first contact of their lips. He'd never felt anything like it before.

He tasted the merking's blood mixed with his saliva. Like human blood, merfolk blood was metallic and bitter.

Kai saw Marius' eyes fluttering closed as the hand clasping both his nape and under-thigh tightened, drawing him even closer, deeper into the fierce kiss.

His own eyes began to flutter, in risk of closing.

No! No! Push him away, you fool! You can't surrender to him no matter what!

The Spirit's voice startled him. He didn't even have time to process that the Spirit was now on speaking terms with him.

The natural flow of time resumed.

Blinking to clear his mind from the cobwebs that had suddenly infested it, he realized the wisdom in the Spirit's warning.

Using his free hand, he threw back his hand and then punched Marius on the right cheek. Marius immediately released him and stumbled backward, a hand to his bruised cheek.

****

"WHERE IS HE?!" Ryodan roared at the top of his lungs, shaking the very walls of Erasmus' stone mansion.

"I don't know! He was here lying on the bed a second ago, and then poof, he was gone like he'd disappeared into thin air!"

Ryodan growled like a sea monster from the depths of a trench, the sound rumbling dangerously in his throat. "So help me Gods, Erasmus, I will shove my hand down your throat and up your ass and wring you like a fucking accordion if you don't tell me this instant-"

"Stop your howling, I'm trying to think! Did you check for any magic cast on him?"

"Of course I did! Think me some kind of fool or ammetur?" he said through clenched teeth. "We had him cleaned and scanned in the Palace. The only magic we sensed came from inside him, the Spirit."

"What about leashes?"

"What? Ryodan blinked, the question surprising him.

"A master's chain! Did you check for a master's chain?" Erasmus demanded, purple eyes wide open.

A horrified look briefly crossed Ryodan's face as it dawned on him what Erasmus meant.

"Oh no."

Erasmus perfectly understood why Ryodan and the whole Palace for that matter would never think to look for a master's chain on the Crown Prince of Astria. It was a slaver's tool used on the lowliest of slaves -pets- to summon them to their master's side, wherever they may be. Even the other side of the planet. Someone as loyal and honorable as Ryodan would never have expected Marius to have put such a loathsome tool on Kai, a Prince. It was cruel and unthinkable, and not at all noble. Then again, this was the Black Conqueror they were talking about. He wasn't particularly famous for his magnanimousness, and all too famous for his hatred of Astrians and humans.

And it was quite the wicked tool too. If it wasn't active, the chain was virtually undetectable, even by the strongest mermen. Even he had failed to detect Kai's leash.

Dammit, he should have looked! How could he have forgotten to check the young prince himself rather than counting on the fools in the Palace?

"Are you saying..." Ryodan trailed, unable to voice both their suspicions.

"It looks so. Our Prince has a master's chain tethered to him, and his master summoned him."

"In the name of Sea." Ryodan breathed as the gravity of the situation settled on him.

Their mission suddenly became much, much harder. Actually, if Erasmus was being honest, it just became impossible.

Closing his eyes in dread, Erasmus said, "His master is King Marius." 

*~~~~~~~~~~*

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