For the Prisoner

28. In the Shadows

Mild smut warning

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As Seonghwa wandered the frozen rock with Hongjoong by his side, a wave of dismay overcame him. What if Yunho and Mingi got eaten while they bickered around? What if their calls for help had been stifled by the wintry air? Seonghwa couldn't even fathom what monsters like the Lou Carcolh might lurk in the windy mountains.

On the other hand, Mingi was powerful, the most powerful of their group. If his defensive spells, combined with Yunho's talents at a technical escape, got them in a predicament, none of the others would be of help.

Seonghwa watched his feet, careful not to step outside the path or slip on the frozen terrain. Grasses covered in a sheen of white hung across their feet. The wind whistled in his ears, making it difficult to concentrate, but Seonghwa picked up on the faintest noise permeating the constant howling. His head lifted from his chest, ears strained to pick it up again. By his side, Hongjoong stared into the white landscape just as tense.

"Did you hear it, too?" Seonghwa asked when he couldn't be sure if it had been a trick of his mind. The gargoyle nodded. A moment later, his finger pointed skyward.

"There, Perie. She's circling."

If Seonghwa didn't know the familiar shape of her tail, he would have mistaken the wyvern for an oversized hawk.

"Then they found something!" Seonghwa frolicked, hands finding purchase on a large rock as he hastened to follow the wyvern's call. He couldn't wait to sit at a warm fire and share a meal with his companions. Since the White Lady was dead, he needed to relish every last day with them.

However, he didn't get far. Hongjoong caught his wrist and, with a yank, Seonghwa stumbled off the path he had just been climbing upon. His back collided with Hongjoong's chest, and before he could squawk in surprise, the gargoyle's palm muffled his lips. Stuttering in surprise, his warm breath bounced off the gargoyle's grey skin.

A moment passed as Seonghwa's heart thumped against his ribcage. Hongjoong stood pressed to the rock and his face was turned from Seonghwa, eyes empty as he listened.

Seonghwa couldn't pick up on what he heard. He stood stiff as a board, not bothering the alert gargoyle for he feared something would spring out at them to eat them.

With measured movements, Hongjoong leaned forward. The bent of his body took Seonghwa along and he didn't dare breathe as they curved into each other as if shaped to match by nature. Hongjoong held him in a secure grip, and across his fingers, Seonghwa saw they had halted right next to a cave. Its darkness seemed all-consuming, as if it would have swallowed him had he walked past.

He shivered, about to thank Hongjoong and lead them a different way when movement in the dark had him squint his eyes.

Seonghwa didn't know what he was looking at in the first second. He saw the tangle of a body, many limbs, and a bunch of black feathers. The spread of naked skin flashing briefly mapped out a leg, then blond hair cascaded over the feathers and he could tell he was looking at two people engulfed in darkness.

Another painfully long moment passed before a muffled moan hit him with understanding like a bolt of lightning.

Yunho pressed Mingi's chest to the curved wall of the cave with one arm leaning on the rock to trap the witch there, the other hand held Mingi's waist to guide his body. A groan sounded between them, then Yunho's hand skimmed over the exposed thigh that faced the entrance to the cave. It grazed higher, higher, disappearing under Mingi's clothes, then his hips abruptly thrust their bodies together and Mingi dropped his head to Yunho's shoulder with a moan.