Lean

XV

BEOMGYU

Beomgyu doesn't know how many hours pass as he and Jongho remain tied up at the horse posts with the sun beating down on them. The camp continues to pack to move closer to King's Coast tomorrow. When a few Kang bannermen walk past them, he overhears them snicker. His blood was still boiling after the encounter with the bannermen from this morning, similar to the hot sun that was causing him to be drenched in sweat. His mind was still full of questions, wondering where Taehyun was and hoping he was safe. There was no sign of him in the hours that they were tied up.

He and Jongho talked a little bit, but Beomgyu could tell that his suspicions were still evident from their conversation early in the morning. Beomgyu decided to tread lightly, making small talk and not discussing anything about the war.

To pass the time, Beomgyu sleeps a bit, trying to catch up on all of the late nights he had with Taehyun. Eventually, he wakes up in the midafternoon when a bannerman shakes him awake  with a muddy boot to his shoulder. Beomgyu blinked, adjusting to the bright sunlight, and noticed that he was holding something, a bone carcass, with a smirk on his face. He had been so angry earlier that he forgot how hungry he was. Noticing the bone carcass, Beomgyu felt his stomach begin to growl.

"Food for a prince," the bannerman sneered, dropping the bone carcass to the mud in front of him.

Beomgyu glanced at the carcass, noticing that there was hardly any meat on it. What little protein he'd get from it wouldn't hold him over for long. Besides that, with the restraints around his wrists, he couldn't grab it. It was too far away from his reach. His stomach clenched in rage and hunger as he glared up at the bannerman. They were just teasing him now as if this couldn't get any worse.

"Do you expect me to eat this?" Beomgyu demands.

The bannerman glances down at the small piece of carcass before slowly leaning down to face him. For a moment, Beomgyu thinks that he's actually going to feed him. Suddenly, the bannerman slugs him across the face with such ferocity that Beomgyu reels back, his vision darkening as his body comes in contact with the wooden post behind him. Everything around him seemed to fade away, the dried blood on his face was starting up once again, seeping down his chin.

"You can't!" Jongho's voice comes out, but Beomgyu doesn't have the energy to open his eyes. "You can't!"

"You want some too, squire?" The bannerman threatens.

It's quiet for a moment before he can hear footsteps trailing off into the mud. Beomgyu slowly forces himself to open his eyes, or one of them at least. His left eye was swelling up, making it nearly impossible to open all of the way. In his blurred vision, he can see Jongho with a pained expression on his face.

"My prince, I'm so sorry," Jongho tells him, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Beomgyu answers in a slur, "You can't do anything about it, don't worry."

Jongho nodded slowly, but his guilty expression didn't fade away. He could only imagine how hard it was for him. Jongho had a duty to protect him, traveling from Evergreen and when they got captured, he failed his duty. It was no fault of his own, Beomgyu set him up for failure time and time again.

His head throbbed as he leaned back against the post, feeling his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He felt sluggish and weak. Was this a new chapter in how he would be treated by the Kang bannermen? All along he was treated far better than any other prisoner, even before his relationship with Taehyun began. Despite the rage he felt from the sudden change in treatment, he understood the circumstances. Beomgyu was sure that the Kang prisoners that his father's army captured were treated the same if not much worse.