And All the Prince's Men (haikyu)

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 22

Iwaizumi kneels by the river bank, leaning forward to refill their canteens. The morning light filters through the trees, dappling his skin with a myriad of dark spots. Once they're full, he cups some water in his hands, splashing it onto his face and rubbing the clear liquid into his tired eyes.

They had spent the past few days riding, keeping to the dense forests and out of sight. But travel was slow when there were no paths for the horses to follow. That, and Yahaba had to regain his strength. He was exhausted, limbs jittery and still weak.

Iwaizumi glances over to his companions, a few paces away from the river bank, by the tree where they had tied their horses nearby to graze. Yahaba sits, back leaning against a solid trunk, eyes squeezed shut in pain. Kyoutani kneels by him, wrapping clean cloth tightly around the splint on Yahaba's left ankle, securing it with a rough knot. Yahaba lets out a hiss.

Iwaizumi wanders back over to them, offering Yahaba a canteen he greedily takes.

"What the hell did they do to you in that cell?" Kyoutani growls, chewing at his lip once he finishes looking over Yahaba's multitude of wounds.

"Nothing," Yahaba murmurs, swallowing down another gulp of water, "Most of this is from before."

"Before?" Iwaizumi asks, sitting down beside him.

Yahaba nods, sitting up with a new surge of energy, having slept for most of the journey until this much needed break, "After, it all happened. They arrested me immediately, and we still had, you know, three days journey to get back to the castle. And, well, they kept questioning me and I, I had nothing to give them. Well, nothing they would accept."

Iwaizumi grimaces, "Can you, can you tell me again what happened?"

Yahaba sighs, running fingers through his light colored hair, "It's, it's a blur. It was awful. I remember everything was normal, the Prince said goodnight. We were in one of the nicer roomier wagons, and the prince was curling himself up in his bed cot. And then, I think, I went to bed too, on the floor nearby like usual. And then there was like, a scream. I can't describe it. It was just, a terrible noise that cuts right through you. It woke me up and there was blood everywhere and the Prince was gone, Iwaizumi. Just, gone. And instead there was, there was a monster, and we looked at each other and, I felt this, this pressure. It pushed me back I couldn't move! And it, it just, it disappeared into the night," Yahaba takes in a shaky breath, "The monster, it left, it left this dagger in the room. It must have been what it used on the Prince and," he chokes a little, on his words, "I don't know if the Prince is alive or just dea-"

"He's not dead," Iwaizumi interrupts, turning to face Yahaba completely, "He's not dead."

But Yahaba does not look comforted by his words. He looks scared, eyes caught on Iwaizumi's throat, trembling hand rising, "What, what's wrong with your neck?"

Iwaizumi covers his hickey self consciously, his fingers touching his bare skin rather than the bandage he'd  wrapped it in. His face flames up. The cloth most have fallen off when he'd washed his face. Shouldn't the mark have faded away by now? And why would an embarrassing bruise send Yahaba into another fit of panic?

The answer to this becomes clearer when the attendant raises his voice, "Iwaizumi! Why do you have a, a pentagram on your neck?"

"What?" Iwaizumi blinks, lifting his hand away and craning his neck to see. Of course it was physically impossible for him to do so.

Kyoutani pushes his way into the conversation, roughly moving Iwaizumi's face the other way to get a look for himself. "Holy shit," he exclaims, "This is what you were hiding? I thought you just didn't want the world to see your gross hickey."