The Silent Guard (mxm)

Chapter 32

(Lazy panda from the Atlanta Zoo :))

Security had definitely been raised in the past several days since the royal guard had appeared. Huang also, thankfully, had been given permission to wander around on his own, as long as he remained within the town's limits and didn't go inside anywhere but his or Lee Shaan's residences. 

At first he was confused as to why he couldn't simply walk into a shop or any building in general, but as he moved about the large village each day, he began to feel more and more eyes on him every time he went out. 

The villagers had paid him little mind to him whenever he was with Lee Shaan, but those times had grown fewer and farther in between. Now, without the man as an escort for the last four days, they openly glared at him, not bothering to mask their hatred. He couldn't blame them, though. He had been responsible for the deaths of several people from their village. He deserved their angry stares... and much more. 

Deciding to return to his rooms early, Huang turned, only to feel something hit him in the back, crumbling upon impact. His instincts yelled at him to turn around and confront whoever had thrown the item, but instead, he took a deep, calming breath, then headed toward the bathing pond that Lee Shaan had brought him to several days prior. He could feel the mud beginning to saturate his robes, making him quickly shrug them off the moment he was within the thicker portion of the forest. That left him in just his thin undergarment pants, but he didn't mind. 

The short walk was done in silence, with only one pair of eyes following him along his way. He didn't sense Lee Shaan, though, since he normally made his presence known right away. It also didn't make much sense for a normal villager to follow him, since the area he was in was Lee Shaan's personal space...

Either way, he didn't sense any kind of threat, so he simply continued on his way, assuming that it was just a guard keeping an eye on him as requested by their leader. 

Once he stepped out of the underbrush and up to the water, Huang carefully knelt at the edge and began washing the mud out of his borrowed robe. It would take quite a while, but he didn't want to seem rude or incapable of cleaning his own things. They did have servants in the tribe, but they were all normally very busy and he didn't see his current predicament as being much higher than theirs, anyhow. 

He remained kneeling there, scrubbing the fabric between his hands for nearly twenty minutes before he heard something a few yards to his right that made him give pause and look over his shoulder. At first, he saw nothing, nor did he hear anything else, but then...

The sound of cautious footsteps met his ears and he gently laid down the wet robe before straightening back to his full height. He still didn't have the energy to speak more than a word here and there, so he just waited there silently until, finally, someone stepped out of the forest. 

That's... not possible.

Disbelief colored his face as his love, Han Qi, walked up to him, stopping barely a foot away with an exhausted smile on his face. He could not believe who he was seeing, and clearly Qi was surprised to see him in such good condition, too. 

You're really here. 

Closing the distance between them, Huang stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the other man. The amount of relief that flooded him to have Qi in his arms made his legs weak. Evidently, the other man was tired enough to not be able to hold him for very long, and Huang was needing to rest, too. So, they both ended up lowering themselves down into the tall grass before Qi settled against his chest. 

"I thought that we had lost you forever. I am so glad to see that you are alive and healing well," Qi finally said as he forced himself to lean away enough to look him over better.