For the Prisoner

18. Tromperie

During the day, the gorge looked far less threatening. Some light fell to its bottom and the dance of dust and leaves through the narrow gap was enchantingly beautiful. Insects scuttled over the rocks, deep enough under the surface to be protected by the snow blanketing the lands.

The group moved slowly, wary of the Lou Carcolh and its hungry tentacles. Now that they knew what to look for, they could fend it off easier, but no snail showed itself when they passed its nesting spot. Likely, it slept during the day and didn't mind the sneaking wanderers.

Seonghwa remained on edge to see its squishy body curve the cliffs above their heads once more. He walked side by side with San, protected by the group. Most of them had lost their tension in the monster's absence. According to Yunho, other beasts wouldn't dare stray into its territory, so the silent dwelling of the snail offered protection during the daytime.

Only after the monster and its area full of the glistening slime had been left far behind them, Seonghwa complied for conversation. Their formation loosened and Mingi strode ahead with his mighty antlers on his confident head. Hongjoong tracked him, but he didn't stray off from their defenceless members.

Jongho towered next to Seonghwa like a bastion of fortitude. He was ready to protect them against any snail, any insect, even any stone that looked at them weirdly from the path. Seonghwa felt at ease with him around.

San moseyed by Seonghwa's side. Yunho had left him to catch up with Mingi and tickle the name of the place they were travelling to out of the witch. Though discarded with a pout, San distracted himself with the lock the blond adventurer had given him. His lock picks had yet to figure out the mechanism in the scratched-up item.

With a glance at Wooyoung, who kept falling back because he halted in indignation whenever the peel of the branch he was shredding of its bark wouldn't come off properly, Seonghwa allowed his heart a breather. It had been uneasy with worry all morning, even long after they had left the trails of the gigantic snail behind.

"I saw Hongjoong saving you last night. He did it so naturally, as if it was a reflex," San said without looking up from the lock. He was using both hands and his teeth to get the pick in correctly, but to no avail. Any help offered to him counted as an insult.

"It is. Remember the vow that binds him? He'd be in trouble if something happened to me."

San hummed.

"I think if it had been that, he would have saved you with an eye roll or little effort. But he seized you so hurriedly and carried you to safety. On his wings, even."

Now that San mentioned it, Seonghwa's cheeks warmed at the thought. The gargoyle rarely showed care, only when it was required of him. When interpreting his intervention as a personal interest in knowing Seonghwa safe, it sweetened his actions.

But Seonghwa had learned not to dream foolishly. Hongjoong looked down on him more than enough and Seonghwa's recent mistakes were fresh wounds on the ties binding them. He shouldn't jerk on Hongjoong's chain. An agitated dog only obeyed so long before snapping at its owner.

"It's good to see he cares. Why do you mention it?" Seonghwa diverted the topic before he got caught up in it. His gaze lingered on Hongjoong's back, on the way his skin freakishly stretched over the bones connecting his wings to his back. They sat folded around his shoulder, giving him an air of intimidation without spreading them.

San frowned at his lock, his fingers slowing.

"Yunho didn't try to save me, though he knows best that I am not good at fighting. The second the snail attacked, I couldn't see him anymore. I was worried and told Jongho to protect him instead of me, but when things cleared, Yunho was fine and merry as ever."