“We will,” whispered back Joshua. He knew they should of waited until nightfall to escape the village but then Joshua would have to guide them through the nearby woods in the dark, of which he had never been in before. Therefore it was decided to leave the village at once, with Justin leading them out, since Chris reused to help.
“Thank you,” added Joshua as he gently nudged Freelance forward and the horse broke out into a gallop as it raced across the open field towards the near-by woods that connected O-Town to La. Days it took to past the forest however Lance only had a few days left in him so it was important that they travel fast.
“Hang on Lance,” whispered Joshua as he slightly showed down the horse when they reached the edge of the woods so he could navigate Freelance through the twisting path.
*~*~*
Hours later, long after darkness swallowed up the land, Joshua knew he had to soon stop for the night, despite wanting to continue on further.
“Steady,” commanded Joshua halting the horse and slipping off it’s back before gently lowering Lance to the ground.
Lighting a fire, Joshua made sure Lance was resting was peacefully as possible before tending to Freelance. Finally Joshua was able to sit himself down and rest, however he was unable to rest very long before, the blond-man began moaning in his sleep.
“Raine,” moaned Lance in his sleep, freezing Joshua from rushing to his side. Raine had been he’s sister’s middle name.
“Raine,” moaned Lance again, this time sounding as if he was in pain. This caused Joshua to snap out of his thoughts about his sister and rush to Lance’s side.
“Lance?” asked Joshua placing a comforting hand on his younger man.
“Raine! No!” cried Lance in a panicking voice.
“Lance! Relax!” begged Joshua, knowing Lance was having some sort of nightmare. “There’s no Raine here! It’s just me, Josh!”
“Raine,” sobbed Lance again before falling silent once more, but Joshua could tell that his dreams were still not peaceful.
“Don’t worry Lance,” whispered Joshua stroking his cheek gently and placing a kiss on his temple. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure you get to La in time.”
*~*~*
A day later, Joshua sighed in relief as the edge of the forest lay in front of them.
After the night before Lance remained quiet but from the expression on his face, Joshua knew he was not resting peacefully and the knowing they were almost at their goal was a comforting though to the prince.
“Go Freelance,” commanded Joshua and the horse began picking up it’s pace as it galloped to the village in the distance and soon they were making their way to the inn, like Joey told them to.
“Are you Britney?” asked Joshua to the blond-haired women as he carried Lance inside the inn.
“Yes,” replied the blond woman. “Who are you? Do I know you?”
“Joey sent me,” replied Joshua quickly. “My friend was poisoned and Joey said you’ll find the doctor for us.”
“You’re friends with Joey?” asked Britney and Joshua nodded his head quickly wanting help for Lance, soon as possible. “Put him in the room on the left. I’ll find the doctor and bring him back with medication.”
With those words, Britney raced out the door and Joshua quickly did what he was told and gently placed Lance on the bed in the room.
Five minutes later, Britney returned with a gray-haired man carrying a small black bag.
“Step aside,” ordered the doctor to Joshua who was kneeing by Lance’s side. Joshua quickly did as told so that the doctor was able to take his place and examine Lance.
“Well?” asked Joshua as the doctor opened up this black bag and removed a bottle of a strange liquid.
“He’ll be fine,” reassured the doctor, placing the bottle to Lance’s lips and forcing the liquid down his throat. He then handed the bottle over to Joshua. “Give him the rest when he awakes in a few hours. I’ll be back in the morning to check on him but call me if he takes a turn for the worst.”
“Thank you doctor,” replied Joshua settling down next to Lance’s side again as Britney showed the doctor out of the inn.
“Did you hear that Lance?” whispered Joshua to him when they were alone, stroking Lance’s cheek with his hand. “You’re going to be fine. So wake up and come back to me soon.”
*~*~*
Lance didn’t know where he was or what had happened hours later when he finally surfaced from the darkness that surrounded. The last thing he remembered was fighting Howie, and then talking to Joshua before everything went dark.
Looking around, Lance discovered he was laying on a bed in a cozy little room. He also discovered Joshua asleep in the chair next to the bed, with his head lying on Lance’s chest.
Lance couldn’t help but smile when he saw how peaceful Joshua looked.
He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t help but gently stroking the prince’s hair. He had thought that Joshua wouldn’t have noticed his actions but he was wrong, since a pair a blue eyes opened and stared up at Lance. The prince had apparently only dozed off for a few minutes and hadn’t been in a deep sleep.
“Hey,” whispered Joshua, tiredly. “I was beginning to think that you would never wake up.”
“What happened?” asked Lance continuing to stroke Joshua’s hair since the prince obviously was enjoying it.
“Poison arrow,” murmured Joshua relaxing into Lance’s touch. “We’re at the inn and La. An old friend of mine told me to bring you here. He’s meeting us here in a couple of days.”
“Is that wise?” asked Lance in alarm. “Can you trust this person?”
“Joey? Yeah, he was my best friend before I was locked up in the castle. When you become friends with Joey, you’re friends for life.”
“Good,” sighed Lance. He knew he should probably go back to sleep and regain his strength but he was enjoying talking to Joshua far too much. “Come here,” he demanded dragging Joshua completely up on the bed so that they were resting side-by-side, with Joshua cuddled against Lance.
“Can I ask you something?” asked Joshua nervously after a few minutes of them just lying cuddled together.
“Sure,” replied Lance. “What do you want to know?”
“Who’s Raine? You were calling out that name a few nights ago,” asked Joshua not missing the sharp intake of breath of the behalf of Lance. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” he quickly added, fearing that the mercenary was going to kick him out of the nice warm bed.
Lance however did just the opposite as he clutched onto Joshua tighter. “Not right now,” whispered Lance. “Not right now.”
After that silence fell between the two men. Joshua knew he had upset Lance so he didn’t dare say anything more, not wanting to upset him further. Lance meanwhile was lost in thoughts and memories of the past and of Raine.
His thoughts, nevertheless, eventually turned to the man lying beside him and what was in store for both of them in the future. It wasn’t long, however, before they both were fast asleep.