Prompt day 4: different first meeting (AUpril) / at what cost? (angstpril)
Summary: It is a fair trade; Alox gets his ticket to freedom and Vortalis gets a tool to help his sister. Fair, except to the child that is being bought and sold.
sequel to this domaystic drabble
prequel to I did not mean to be cruel
ao3 link
Vortalis was at peace, more or less, with the way the cards had fallen. Stol was queen and he was her knight, even if he would have preferred the reverse. He had sworn to advise her and shield her from her enemies, even if Stol ignored the former and made the latter difficult with her unforgiving nature. Nevertheless he stood firm and ignored the occasional impulse to smother his sister with a pillow in her sleep.
Despite the various threats, Vortalis was still caught off guard when Lane marched up to his freezing post at the castle entrance, dragging along a teenage boy. So much for their scheduled ost game.
"We've had enough executions today, Lane. I can pay off what he pickpocketed later."
His friend just shoved the youth forward. To the boy's credit, he didn't miss a beat. "My name is Alox, and I can give you the Antari."
That was not something he expected to hear this evening. Past him, Lane gave a small shrug, clearly not as appreciative of his boldness.
"Which one?"
Vor had confirmed Banyan's continued presence in the city, even if he had proven a slippery fish to grab a hold of; if Stol wanted him, Banyan would not make it easy for them. There were the of course the rumors of the younger Antari somewhere in the Kosik but not many of those people were eager to gamble with Stol's favor, despite a fellow penchant for ruthlessness.
The youth faltered but only for a moment. "My brother. He's in the Kosik but you won't find him alone."
He had seen this boy before, Vortalis realized after a moment. A few months before, he had seemingly stolen a fish from the Shal market but it had been too small a catch to be worth throwing a fit over. There had been a younger child with him and though Vor hadn't gotten a close look, they hadn't looked like a dangerous Antari.
Thin dark hair and green eyes. Lean but not gaunt, someone used to going without but not starving. If the parents were dead, he would be in charge of what remained. Could he sacrifice one child to better feed the rest? Vortalis had never been in that position, leaving it to Stol.
"How old?" He asked instead of voicing any of those thoughts.
Alox lifted his chin. "Old enough."
Lane matched his skepticism. "Old enough to fight back and kill half our men before we get through the gates?"
"He wouldn't-" Alox stopped, taking a moment before continuing. "I can drug him. He won't fight back. He trusts me."
Under most circumstances, Vortalis would confidently label this a trap. But what kind of fool would purposefully draw the crown's attention just to kill a few guards?
Vortalis stepped forward, making the boy flinch. "What do you want?"
"I-"
"No one sells out their kin unless they desperately want something in return or really hate their kin. What do you want?"
This time the boy didn't squirm. "Enough coin to buy passage on a ship out of London."
At least he was honest about his intentions. "I'll meet you at the edge of the Kosik tomorrow night. Deliver the Antari to us and you will get your bag of silver."
------
Alox, like many cutthroat traders, hadn't been entirely forward with them.
If the child had been drugged, it wasn't strong enough to stop him from panicking the moment he saw Vortalis in his guard uniform and sword at his side.
"Knock it off," Alox snapped, giving the boy a firm shake.
The child stood still, no longer grasping for his brother's knife, but he glared warily at Vortalis.
Vortalis forced himself to move his hand away from the pommel of his sword, noting the boy relax slightly.
“We are going to the castle.” Alox's words came slow and pronounced. “Now behave.”
The child was a smaller version of his brother, a similar leanness to his face lessened by the softness of childhood. Their eyes were different however, the Antari lacked his brother's alley cat shiftyness, spooked gaze shifting from Alox to Vor's sword and back again. He wasn't a sharp-edged speaker, he hadn't spoken at all in fact.
He did not, as Vortalis had impulsively assumed, look like a boy of twelve years. He didn't look particularly gaunt, though he would probably benefit from extra meals; if he got by as well as other Kosik children, he might nine years old. If he was relatively healthy, the Antari might be as young as seven years.
No older than Luse had been when he left the family years ago. No fiercer in temperament either, not the kind of child that Vortalis would approve running around at night in sleepwear and no shoes.
"He's younger than I expected," he said neutrally.
What else was there to be said?
"C'mon, Holland." The boy didn't resist as Alox clumsily picked him up, the way one would carry a sleeping toddler.
He was doing this for Stol, Vortalis reminded himself. They all had to make sacrifices.
He let Alox take the lead, on the chance that the confidence would settle the Antari. It didn't prevent those eerie mismatched eyes from staring at him the entire walk to the castle.
Angstpril 2026 - Day 16 - Hell of their own making
“Hand”
The end. It's here. It's coming.
There's no need to fight anymore.
Lune's eyes scan the Lumière port, looking for ten thousand avoided gazes, five hundred nothings, and one stolen kiss under a secretive moon. Sciel's eyes are caught, at last.
