Leon could feel the cold seeping in under his clothes. He'd been graciously given a coat once they'd started hitting the snowy region of the north. He supposed he should be glad his captors were not interested in turning him into a popsicle. Somehow, he couldn't find it in him to feel very grateful for the small show of humanity, though. He wasn't shackled or tied at all anymore: he didn't need to be. Leon had attempted to run once only to be caught by a man who hadn't even had the good graces to be annoyed with him.
I'll play cat and mouse with you all night if that's what you want, the vampire had said with an amused smirk.
Leon didn't want to try after that.
It was a mystery as to where they were going, though. These were a desert people and the further north they headed, the more snow Leon started to see. It snowed back in his homeland, too, but just flurries in winter that dusted the ground in soft snow that he and his siblings always had fun in. This snow was different, like a permanent fixture. It crunched under the horses' hooves and the wind that swept off it was biting.
"You look cold."
Leon looked to his left where the empress stared curiously at him with her cat-like eyes. Since the moment he'd met her, it felt like he was always under scrutiny, always being studied. The feeling was more akin to a predator watching for his weaknesses than anything else. It sent a shiver straight to his soul.
"It's cold here," he said with a noncommittal shrug. "Why are we going up this way, anyhow?"
"A party," she answered. "Have you heard of Malatia?"
Leon quirked a brow up. "Yeah. I heard of them," he said with a frown.
"Not good things, have you," asked Mahvash.
Leon huffed. "No. Not good things," he said. "You vampires are always doing fucked up shit, though. So is it really any surprise?"
"I don't do anything without good reason, Leon," she told him. "Including keeping you."
Leon frowned, biting his tongue from saying more. Mahvash had a threshold for his so-called insolence, and he wasn't keen on passing it tonight.
"The young prince of Malatia is coming of age, and we are headed to join in the celebration," Mahvash went on.
Leon scoffed. "So we're going to a birthday party," he asked. "Traveling all this way for that?"
"It's rare for one of our own to be born at all. Even more in our royal families," Mahvash explained. "For the young prince to now be of age, there is much reason to celebrate."
"So it's the prince," Leon repeated. "So this is a whole party of the elite or whatever?"
"Yes, you could say that," Mahvash agreed.
Leon nodded, slowly, but there was one burning question he had to ask. "Why the fuck bring me?" As far as he saw it, there'd been no reason to. Mahvash's kingdom had been quite expansive Hundreds and hundreds of people as far as he could tell and they had perhaps twenty on this journey including him.
"Why you?" Mahvash chuckled. "You're my gift to the young prince, of course."
Leon barely had any time to be outraged at this explanation before one of the guards cut suddenly in front of them.
"Stop, my lady. NAME saw something up ahead."
"You are being too careful as usual, I'm sure," Mahvash said, and kicked her horse forward, smiling at the guard. "Let me see what the commotion is all about."
"Wait, shouldn't we..." Leon's voice dwindled off as his horse followed hers forward, anyway.
"Caution, then," the guard advised, and rode close on Mahvash's other side.
It took a few paces before Leon spotted two of Mahvash's guards on foot up ahead, swords drawn. It took another few before he heard the shriek of some large animal. It sounded quite like a bird, but the volume was much too loud to be something so small as that.
"A gryphon," one of the guards called to them. "My lady, you should stand back."
"We really should," Leon agreed with that statement. He had no real say in the matter, though, and as Mahvash continued forward, he could see the large beast moving between the trees. He did not have nocturnal vision as the vampires did, but the dark form of the beast was large where it moved and shrieked its anger at the vampires. He knew gryphons were used as mounts by some, but whether it was wild or tamed, a gryphon could be a very dangerous thing.
Still, Mahvash continued closer until they were finally standing near the guard who'd told them to stand back. Leon let his horse linger back as far as it could. The animal was spooked, anyway, head high and snorting. A horse was not too large a prey for a gryphon, and it seemed the creatures knew it. From behind Mahvash on her mount, Leon could see between the trees and see the gryphon well enough now to make out it was of an owlish breed. Its feathers were poofed up, and it stood with its head low, screeching at the group coming upon it with its wings flared out.
"Shouldn't we leave it alone," Leon asked, nervously.
"You reek of fear, fae," Mahvash told him and hopped off her horse. She strode forward. "It has a saddle," she remarked. "And its rider?"
"We think he's here, my lady," the guard said. "This could be an ambush... I wish you'd stayed back."
"No... I don't think it's an ambush," Mahvash remarked, thoughtfully. "Back up from the gryphon! Give it space!"
Everyone did so, and soon the gryphon faced only Mahvash who was the closest.
"Where is your rider, Gryphon," Mahvash asked it.
The large yellowy eyes of the gryphon stared back at Mahvash, slowly letting its feathers fall back into place. Its tail still lashed slowly behind it. Now that it was calming even a little, Leon could see what Mahvash meant about its saddle. On its back, the saddle sat empty, but there was the unmistakable leather of it.
"Gryphons are very intelligent creatures," Mahvash turned to tell her guard before looking at the gryphon again. "We don't want to harm you. So again, where is your rider?"
She doesn't seriously think a gryphon is going to understand her, does she, Leon thought.
For a moment, it seemed like the gryphon wouldn't. It stared at her intensely, but then, finally, lifted its head and took a step aside. A form underneath it was revealed, clearly its fallen rider. Leon couldn't see their face from where he sat, their jacket covering them, but they couldn't be conscious or they surely would have reacted to their gryphon's screeching and the yells around them.
"Let us help them, gryphon," Mahvash commanded, still staring right into the owlish face of the beast as one of the guards crept in closer to the fallen rider.
Leon watched as they came upon the rider and turned them over, exposing the face of another vampire. He looked... young. If Leon had to guess, he was around his age, maybe even a little younger, but not by much. An adult surely, though, but he didn't know much about vampire aging patterns. They were a long-lived race like his own, and usually, such races took decades to reach adulthood.
"Unconscious, injured... But alive," the guard told Mahvash. "He must be a citizen of Malatia. A soldier, judging by the armor."
"He's lucky to have fallen so close to the road," Mahvash mused. "Malatia isn't far, now, and Jongvale closer yet. Put him in the carriage. Get him warm. Perhaps he'll be conscious enough to tell us what happened by the time we reach Jongvale."
Leon watched quietly as the guards picked the fallen vampire up in that careful way one does the injured, and took him back to the carriage that held most of the supplies they'd been using to make camp along the road. As they brought him closer, Leon got an even better look at his pale face. It wasn't odd for a vampire to be pale, of course, but he'd been traveling with the darker-skinned people of Mahvash's kingdom and was struck by the snow-white skin of the boy pulled from the snow with lilac undertones to his skin, particularly in the shadows under his eyes and the scar on his cheek. His black hair was in great contrast to the paleness of his skin, especially in the dark of night.
"He looks like Demetri himself," one of the guards muttered as they carried him past Leon. "You don't think it's his son, do you?"
"I guess we'll find out," the other said.
Leon's attention was stolen again by Mahvash mounting up onto her horse which had stayed dutifully still as she'd helped with the situation with the fallen soldier. Once upon her mount, she looked curiously back at Leon. "You look spooked, fae."
Leon frowned. "Not every day I see a gryphon," he admitted, glancing at the large beast following its master to where he was being laid to rest. "They're common up here, yeah? In the snow?"
"They are," Mahvash said with a nod. "I understand many of the soldiers of Malatia prefer them as mounts. Stubborn creatures though they may be, they're intelligent and fiercely loyal once you've won them over. They give Demetri's army a tactical advantage from what I understand."
There was that name again. "Who the fuck's Demetri," Leon asked.
"King Demetri Tenepri," Mahvash explained. "The ruler of Malatia. I would have thought you would know that. He's responsible for many of the crimes committed against your people."
Leon scowled at that. "Yeah, well, guess my people lost a lot of our history books in all the genocide and shit." He felt uneasy despite the bravado of his attitude. Mahvash herself wasn't the epitome of kindness and compassion when it came to fae. After all, he was being unwillingly transported across the continent to be gifted to a warlord's son. With the injustices Mahvash was willing to commit, he felt a little spooked at hearing her blame Demetri for the majority of what had been done to his people. "You don't sound like you like him," Leon noted. "So why the fuck are you traveling all this way to go to their party?"
"It's time for a change," Mahvash said, cryptically, as she untied the lead attaching Leon's horse to her horse's saddle. She looked up again and behind Leon, holding the lead out. "Tie the fae's mount to the carriage."
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Leon's eyes widened. "What? I don't wanna be back there! Aren't you guys, like, dangerous and shit when you're hurt? Bloodlust and all that?"
Leon was ultimately ignored, however, and a guard came to grab the lead from Mahvash. He felt helpless as he was taken to the carriage where his horse was tied to it just as Mahvash had asked. He had a half-second thought to get off his horse and insist on walking but had a feeling that would only end with him in the even more helpless state of being tied up and put in the back of the carriage with the injured soldier.
Fucking vampires, he thought.
The caravan started on its way through the snow again in a short time. It was difficult to see the road thanks to the fresh snowfall of the storm that had since passed, but somehow Mahvash's people seemed to lead them through, anyway. Leon sat quietly on top of his horse as it went, trying not to think about the injured vampire he was only a few feet away from. Why the fuck was that, anyways? Did Mahvash want him to be killed before they even arrived in Malatia? What was she? Stupid?
Leon had never actually seen a vampire go feral, though, and so he didn't know what to look for. Movement, he guessed? He'd heard stories of vampires going into a fit of bloodlust. He knew they were more animal than person at that point. Knew they'd do anything to sate their thirst, that they'd slaughter whole villages. Most importantly of all was a piece of information that had stood the test of time, passed down from generation of fae to generation even without their history books: fae blood was hard for a vampire to resist. Mahvash might have ordered for Leon to be left alone, and these vampires might be willing to listen to her, but the injured soldier from Malatia he was a few feet away from? Leon had a feeling this guy wouldn't listen so readily to Mahvash, especially if he woke up feral.
Leon took solace in the fact he wasn't entirely alone with the carriage. Two guards were trailing along behind him, and a few of the group on the sides of the caravan. They'd protect him from an unknown, hungry vampire, right?
In addition to the injured soldier to worry about, Leon couldn't help but glance at the gryphon stalking close by as well. His horse had calmed about its presence thankfully, but both he and his mount couldn't help but still throw it nervous looks as they walked with it. Thankfully, it didn't seem even half as interested in them as it did its master.
As most things did, the overall excitement of finding the fallen soldier and the resulting wariness started to fade and Leon was left fighting for warmth in his coat rather than over-worrying about the soldier. He tucked his head down into the collar of his jacket, rubbed at his thighs, and breathed on his hands. The storm might have passed but it felt like it was even colder than it was before it. Sitting on top of a horse wasn't helping, either.
My legs are gonna fucking freeze in this position, he thought, imagining the implications of being stuck in such a position. He'd have to waddle everywhere all thanks to these fucking vampires!
He rubbed at his thighs again to warm them up. It was at this moment he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he looked up at the carriage immediately, frozen where he sat atop his horse. The fallen soldier was laid on top of some blankets, one of which was pulled over the top of him, leaving only his face in view for Leon. The soldier's face had been peaceful and still, as it would for one unconscious, but now his brows were knitted and his lips pulled down into a grimace. He'd turned his head, and Leon watched as he reached a hand up to touch it. He didn't... seem feral?
The soldier opened his eyes, and Leon leaned back in his saddle, ready to bolt if he looked like he at all thought Leon would be a good snack. The soldier only looked confused, though, squinting and blinking at Leon.
"Who are you," the soldier asked, eyes drifting from Leon and to the carriage around him. Slowly, he sat up, but midway through he stopped with a hiss, clutching at his arm.
"Empress!"
Leon looked over at the guard yelling for Mahvash.
"The soldier's awoken!"
Leon looked forward and saw Mahvash turn in her saddle to look back at them. She turned to one of the others walking up front with her, said something to them, and then turned her horse about to trot to the back.
The soldier was watching them all warily, brow still furrowed but now in confusion. His long ears were flatly back at the sides of his head, but Leon watched them angle more downwards when Mahvash came into his field of view. It reminded him of a nervous dog who knew it was in trouble for chewing up the furniture.
"I'm glad to see you've woken," Mahvash started. Leon felt a little second-hand nervousness flutter in his stomach at the way she eyed the soldier, knowing how it felt to have that piercing gaze pin him in place. "How are you feeling?"
"... I'm alright," the soldier murmured. His eyes swept away from Mahvash and at their surroundings, and the people around her. When his eyes met Leon's, Leon saw him blink, and he had to look away as the soldier's gaze lingered on him a little longer than the others. Had the soldier already realized what he was? Already considering what he might taste like?
"Who are you," the soldier asked, and Leon turned, half expecting the question to have been posed to him. Instead, the soldier was looking to Mahvash again.
"I know it has been a few decades since I was in this part of the world, but you must be young to not know me," Mahvash said, amused. The soldier only looked puzzled, and a little embarrassed.
"You are looking upon Empress Mahvash, ruler of the Underground City," one of the guards introduced, serious as the grave. "Treat her as such."
"Thank you Injirin," Mahvash said, not taking her gaze off the soldier. "But who are you, soldier?"
The soldier hesitated, and his eyes darted around behind them again, at the snowy landscape, and finally the guards and Leon once more. "Have you seen my gryphon," he asked instead of answering.
"You were asked a question," Injirin snapped firmly at the soldier who winced.
"It's alright, Injirin," Mahvash assured him. "Your gryphon was with you where we found you in the snow," she told the soldier. "He is here. I'm sure he will come if you call to him."
The soldier leaned until he could poke his head out from the inside of the carriage and get a better scope as he looked about. "Taizong," he called.
The gryphon wasn't far, having been stalking between the trees, just out of the soldier's sight. It made a small trilling sound that made Leon's head turn to watch as it loped gracefully back to them, bullying his way to the back of the carriage and forcing Injirin to move for the beast. Mahvash even had to press her horse close to Leon's, their legs almost touching between the two mounts.
"Tai, are you okay," the soldier asked, and Leon watched in stunned silence as the creature pushed its large, owlish head affectionately at the soldier. "Ow... Ah... Careful, Tai," the soldier said with a hiss and a pained expression. The gryphon did not seem to comprehend the need to be gentle with his injured, so-called master. From the beast, a deep rumble started that was so loud Leon had to take a second to realize it wasn't some sort of warbling growl, but purring like a cat.
"He was loyally protecting you where you'd fallen," Mahvash informed the soldier. "I feel the storm must have caught the two of you off guard?"
The soldier rubbed the beast's head, smiling widely at the affection this beast showed him. He turned warily to face Mahvash at the question, however. "Yes... Yes, we were in the air, flying back - Flying and became disoriented. We tried to land and I..." The soldier squinted. "I remember a branch coming at me and then nothing."
"You were flying back," Mahvash questioned, clearly not willing to let the small slip go. "Back to Malatia's capital, I take it?"
The soldier sighed heavily and nodded. "Yes... I'm..." The soldier struggled for a moment with whatever he was wrestling in his head. "It's home. Our troop was heading back together, trying to beat the storm there, and had decided to go to Jongvale. I scouted ahead, but didn't make it back to them to help give the directions."
"We're very close to Jongvale now," Mahvash said. "Our final destination is the capital."
"How lucky of you that we happened upon you," Injirin pointed out. "And did not leave you with how troublesome your pet was."
The soldier scritched at the gryphon's chin. "Thank you for pulling me from the snow," he said, softly, eyes on his gryphon again.
"You never told us your name, soldier," Mahvash reminded him at this juncture.
The soldier's ears did a twitch much like a wince. Without taking his eyes off his gryphon, he finally answered the pressing question. "Riccardo," he said, and then added, "Tenepri."
"We had our suspicions it was you in the snow, young prince. How alike your father you look," Mahvash said. "It seems my suspicions were also correct: you are too young to remember me."
So this was him, Leon thought, looking at the soldier - prince - in a new light. This was who they had marched across the continent for? For Mahvash to hand him off to like a slab of meat? Leon had to say, the prince looked more like a vampire than Mahvash did. It was hard for him to see clearly in this lighting, but he swore the prince's eyes were as black as his hair. The scar across his left cheek was proof of a violent past. Malatia was built on violence; not only against the fae, but anyone who wasn't a vampire. This prince looked like the heir to such an abominable nation.
"Rest, young prince. In Jongvale we'll be able to look at your injuries," Mahvash pulled Leon from his thoughts. "Until then, my people are at your beck and call to make you as comfortable as we can."
"Thank you," Riccardo said.
"It's not quite when I wanted to present him to you, but as you clearly are in need of blood, I invite you to partake in your gift, now," Mahvash went on, and Leon felt ice go through his veins as she gestured to him. "My people happened upon a fae, and he seemed like just the gift a young warrior like yourself could use."
"Fuck that," Leon finally found his voice. "I'm not a snack bag."
As close as she was, Mahvash easily snatched a handful of his hair and tugged his head back. Leon's eyes cut to her in their corners, glaring.
"He's mouthy," Mahvash told the prince. "But the fae are not known for their strength. You should have no trouble getting a bit into his lovely, warm neck."
"I... I can wait," the prince said.
Leon was surprised by the answer and turned to look at the prince. He was gazing at his gryphon again, though, and Leon scowled. The prince might not be ready now but later would come when Leon would find fangs in his flesh. The thought made him feel sick.
Mahvash let go of Leon at this moment, and he immediately put a hand to his neck, rubbing at the pain of it being jerked back. He couldn't bring himself to lower it again, though, holding it there, protectively from the gazes of any of the vampires around him.
"Very well," Mahvash said. "When you are ready, then, he is yours."
"Thank you," Leon heard the prince answer gracefully as he glared down at the snow. "He's a great gift."
It seemed Mahvash didn't have much more to say to the prince, or at least she decided he needed to be left to rest, because soon she headed back to the front of their party with her guards. As before, there were two guards left in the back, but they trailed behind. And so Leon found himself mostly alone with his new so-called master and the giant beast he seemed to keep as a pet.
Leon didn't relish this arrangement. He'd hardly gotten time to wrap his head around the fact he was being given over like an object for a vampire's birthday party. Now, he was officially the property of a vampire prince. He supposed not much had changed considering he'd been Mahvash's prisoner even before this. The exchange had merely given him a fresh hatred for these vampires around him.
"What's your name," a question cut through Leon's thoughts, and he looked up at the prince lounging tiredly in the back of the carriage. He wasn't petting his gryphon anymore, but the beast walked so closely now that if the prince wanted to he could have kept scritching him.
"Dinner, apparently," Leon replied bitterly, narrowing his eyes at his so-called master.
The prince's eyes cut to the guards trailing behind them almost warily, which made Leon's eyebrow crook slightly up. "No, really," he said when his gaze went back to Leon. "What is your name?"
"Call me Leon."
"Is... Is that a normal name for a fae," the prince asked, curiously.
Leon snorted bitterly at the question. "Maybe if there were more of us, we'd both know that."
The prince had the good graces to wince at that. "Maybe..."
The wince was intriguing, Leon had to admit. Did he actually feel ashamed of what his kind had done? Guilty for it? Leon didn't ask either of these questions, however. No matter the answer, he didn't feel like talking to the injured vampire prince. It wasn't as if they were going to be friends. At some point or another, the prince was going to stick his fangs into Leon's neck, and once he was being used as a living snack, he wasn't sure if he'd even live to see his next birthday.