everything not forbidden is compulsory

part two

When Spencer and the others come back later that night, they all seem surprised by the fact that Ryan is curled up on one of the upper branches of the oak, alone.

"Where's Brendon?" Spencer asks, brow furrowing.

Ryan shakes his head. "I don't know. Gone."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"I don't know," Ryan repeats, and they all leave it at that.

***

Brendon doesn't actually go far. He apparently stayed on the outer edges of the camp's grounds for the rest of that night, but by morning, he's back.

"Go home, Brendon," Ryan tells him, busying himself with carving out a couple of new arrows.

Brendon sets his jaw, eyes red-rimmed and fixed in a harsh glare. "No."

"It wasn't an option." Ryan's cut arm burns from the exertion of carving, but he pretends not to notice. "You need to go home. You don't have a choice."

"There's always a choice." Brendon says.

Ryan looks up at him then, face grim. He looks meaningfully at Spencer, who is making breakfast with Jon. "I already told you I-"

"Don't be so conceited," Brendon snaps. "This isn't about you, Ryan."

The words sting, and they shouldn't. Ryan doesn't want Brendon to be pining over him anymore than he wants to be pining over Brendon. But he is pining, and the idea that Brendon isn't hurts. "Then what is it about? This life isn't a vacation, Brendon. There's no such thing as fairytales."

Brendon's mouth thins at that, and Ryan knows he hit a sore spot. "I don't want to be a part of what William is doing. The people of my father's land are suffering just like the people here in Nottingham, and I can't stand to sit around and do nothing anymore. I'm here to help, and I'm not going anywhere."

Ryan knows that arguing with Brendon further is useless. They're both as stubborn as they ever were as children.

So he takes it to his men instead. He tells them that he doesn't want them to make any sort of contact with Brendon. No talking to him. No helping him out. No giving him food or shelter. Brendon should be at the palace being waited on hand and foot with a change of clothes at every meal and a feast for dinner every night, not running from the sheriff in a constant game of cat and mouse, wondering every day if today he'll get caught and hanged.

Ryan just wants Brendon to be safe. At night, he berates himself for ever bringing him here in the first place. He'd let emotion get in the way of logic for those few precious moments.

But Brendon will return to the safety of the palace, one way or another.

***

Brendon doesn't leave. During the day, he hangs around camp and tries to make conversation with people who refuse to speak to him. At night he disappears, but he's always back the next day.

How he's surviving absolutely baffles Ryan for about a week or so before he notices that Spencer, Dallon or Jon, at every single meal, is filling up their bowl with twice as much food as they normally eat, then disappearing, claiming they either don't feel well or are tired when asked.

Ryan follows Dallon one day, silently moving from behind one tree to the next. He discovers that Brendon is set up with a little camp of his own not too far away from them. He's got blankets and food, tinder for a fire, a couple of sets of green outfits hanging on a clothesline.

Ryan can't help but feel a little betrayed by his friends, but he can't very well blame them either. They all ultimately just wanted to help other people. How could they refuse to help someone that was right in front of them every single day?