The Silent Guard (mxm)

Chapter 10

"Huang."

The prince halted abruptly, his body tensing for only a moment before he looked over his shoulder at him.

"Your highness?" he said, annoyance in his tone, no doubt from him having only used his personal name.

"What is our relation?" Qi asked.

Prince Yuen stared at him for several long moments before turning and walking forward. Qi wanted to back away since he was still holding Zen in his arms, and that put him between himself and the other man, but before he could consider what action to take, his attention refocused on prince Yuen as he began speaking.

"It's not important right now," the man said as he placed a hand against Zen's chest.

Qi knew what he was about to do, but this time, he had no argument. The chill from the man's dark magic lowered Zen's body temperature so much that even he could feel it where he held him.

To his surprise, though, within seconds Zen's eyes were opening and he was squirming to be let down. He didn't want to. He'd recovered too quickly. Surely he needed held a little longer...

Regrettably, Qi relented after another moment and gently helped him back to his feet, then held his arm for a few more seconds, making absolute sure that he was steady before letting go. He looked a little tired, but besides that, he was quite aware of his surroundings and had his eyes narrowed suspiciously on the other prince.

Shaking his head and holding back a smile, Qi settled a hand on Zen's shoulder, drawing his attention.

"It's alright. Let's head back now," he said as he looked up at prince Yuen, hoping that he would offer to lead them back to the exit.

He didn't seem all that interested, but eventually he blew out a sigh and turned toward a far-off tunnel, gesturing to them with nonchalant a wave, to follow. Qi hurried after him, grabbing Zen's hand when he noticed him hesitating.

"You haven't answered my question, Yuen," he reminded the other as they walked.

The tunnel they were beginning to traverse had quite a shocking amount of spiderwebs hanging above them, the previous lengths of vines replaced by the arachnid fibers.

Where are the spiders?

"Do you have an invisibility spell?" the other prince asked as he stopped abruptly, but didn't turn to look at him.

Qi felt the hairs on his arms raise as he quickly cast the spell on himself. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of his stronger skills, so he couldn't cast it on Zen unless he had a lot more time to focus.

The sounds of people approaching caught his attention at that moment, and finally drew the other prince's back to them. When he noticed that he'd only been able to cast the spell on himself, he sneered and his body blurred toward Zen, grabbing him around the waist with one arm as his opposite hand dug itself into his hair and forced his head forward until his forehead rested against his shoulder. It was clear that Zen wasn't happy about the sudden situation, but he hesitated fighting against the other prince since he clearly had no way of hiding himself. After only a few seconds, their forms began to waver. It did not look like any kind of invisibility skill that Qi had ever laid eyes upon, though. It almost looked as if the spell was slowly crawling over them like a wave of spiders instead of being draped over them like a blanket. Qi's eyes widened at the sight and he wished that he could move, but he knew that doing so would only be detrimental considering how close the intruders now were to them. 

"Your highness, who do you think the princess was talking about when she reported that the prince had been talking to people in his bog home?" a eunuch, who was holding a small torch and had just become visible as he came around a corner, asked.