Jata Niara sensed something was wrong as soon as the Prince left and she caught a guard whispering in Akhutenan's ears. Akhutenan closed his eyes as if to brace himself before he whispered something back to the guard and waved him off, sitting in deep thought.
"You seem worried," Nwaijaku appeared as if summoned by the gods. "I haven't been recruited properly but--?"
The other woman alpha clutched her long blade in her hand between her arms as if to cover it from prying eyes with the short blade tucked at her side. She wore the typical clothing of a warrior who lived on the borders as she once did. A thickly quilted but airy top with a thick chainmail-like wrapping crisscrossing over her body with loose soubane pants as the brightest, showy part of her clothing. There was only a headwrap holding her hair up tight.
Those foreigners stared in awe at her clothing and Jata Naira internally nodded in approval.
Perhaps it would be the standard of their recruits.
"Find out what has the Commander so anxious," she told her.
Nwaijaku nodded and then disappeared into the crowd, weaving through the people with little more than a sudden glance by the few that noticed her.
"Sister, it seems as if the celebrations have been made solely for the Carolingians now," Lawali's voice and annoyed sigh from Sylas appeared through the dispersing crowds moving forward towards the platform or further into the main area where the feasts were held. "And none of our business."
"This is the sort of celebration that could turn into a tragedy," she told her pointedly. "Who else should watch over but you?"
"Ahmed has officially joined my household," Lawali sighed. "I have things to handle when it comes to him. And what is an alpha who can't keep care of their omega?"
"Not one at all," Sylas finished. "I'll depart as well then."
The two siblings agreed and departed, leaving the sole responsibility to her. She shook her head and scoffed. Useless.
She figured, like Minister Babatu, foreigners and of the like weren't people to deal with. After all the pomp and circumstance at the Ouagadou about their importance, her sister was truly well-practiced at pretending.
Nwaijaku returned and told her what happened about the former Commander's escape.
How could they have let that terrible man free? Her eyes perused who was and was not missing. Gomez. Orellano. Casas. Both the Prince and the young Casas were missing but--wait, her eyes searched around the surroundings.
Where was Wuhayb?
Just by his character alone, it was unlikely he wouldn't have stuck around for the feast. She checked the guests and soldiers until she found the Generals and Captains whispering in a cut-off corner of the Campgrounds, Johannes and Dorian were huddled against the wall. Their gazes switched to her and their chatter ended.
"There's no point in pretending there isn't a problem," she said. "Have you found him already?"
Roy and Akhutenan shared a look before her nephew said, "The guards tried searching in the corridors but they all ended up winding up in circles. He either knows the passages or has gone deep enough that they can't find him. And we can't find Beckett."
She told them, "It isn't him. He just created a verified map for the majority of the passageways and handed it over. If he was guilty, he wouldn't have done that. Not so early, anyhow."
"A map?" Roy questioned with suspicion lining his every word. "What gives you the right to keep such an--?"
She interrupted him then and there, "I think it's an illness of the Carolingian Empire, so I'll warn you now. This land was stolen by your empire and the Zhuong. You have no rights to this land. Period. You have chosen, with the Empress' blessing, to stay knowing that this land will return to our Empire. That's why I have the map and you have not been made aware."
In this moment, they were not old comrades of youth and nostalgia but representatives of their respective people.
Roy flinched at the accusations and said, with glances at the other generals and captains, "What we can do in the meantime is head him off at the surface exits?"
"Nwaijaku has been informed of all the possible exits," she continued on with a hand gesture at the woman at her side, who nodded in affirmation. "I will be going into the corridors, personally."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"That's a shite idea."
"You're a royal."
"Do you even know how to--?"
"Do you see this necklace?" She pulled it up into view but their bewildered glances didn't change. "An alpha princess or prince must hunt and kill a leopard alone. These prints are the paws of the one I killed. Have any of you killed a leopard? No? Then you should hurry on and block those exits. Have someone keep the celebration going and prevent a panic. The last thing we need is death by stampede."
The generals, captains, and commanders began whispering as Nwaijaku joined them in planning their future movements.
She grabbed one of the spears and another, half its size, cradled by the training grounds. A few daggers were tucked in her robes, just in case. Increasing speed, she began running towards the old alchemy cabin. As children, they used to play around there and found out it had a secret passage leading into the prisons. Few people knew but Wuhayb was one of the ones who did. Huddling by the brush, she stalked crouching low to the ground and surveyed the site.
No one was there.
It appeared as if no one had come this way until she heard the distant sound of that creaking ladder. Someone had reached the corridor from this way. She ran inside and tried yanking the door open but it was locked.
The only other known way in was through the prison entrance. She cursed under breath but turned around and ran in the opposite direction.
The Prince leaned heavily on Enzo, who couldn't tell what was wrong with them. Those robes did a better job than he expected them to.
"I don't know why you wanted to come down here," Enzo hissed as he tried carrying the man along but stumbled a few times along the way. "You wouldn't be able to fight him in this condition."
Enzo was dressed in the proper regalia for an infantryman who wasn't quite a recruit but had no higher rank. The colors of the Carolingian Empire in blue, yellow, and white. It reminded him of the garden flowers surrounding the coliseum.
The look was a delightfully handsome shape on him.
His body spasmed and Enzo nearly fell to the ground, with his knee hitting the ground, to catch him. He thought he could hear himself apologizing but the words wouldn't travel from his brain to his mouth.
It was almost funny.
He had never taken pleasures of the body seriously but now it was going to be the thing that killed him.
Well-deserved, he had to say, and rather mean of the gods.
They reached the end of the corridor, missing his secret lab entirely. Not that it was Enzo's fault. He couldn't remember whether he told him to go in that direction or not.
"You!"
He heard ex-Commander Berman's voice hiss.
"How did you get this far?"
"My son is foolish and hopeful," the man spat out and brandished out a makeshift blade. "And this Prince is even more worthless. Laying with alphas, over and over again, but, to what end?! And you, I can't tell if you're the worst for believing both their lies."
"Don't listen," finally escaped from his mouth but his mind was dizzy with confusion. "He hates--everything."
"I don't understand," Enzo fell to the ground under the Prince's weight. "And why are you so heavy now?"
"This is god's punishment for alphas who breed with other alphas," the ex-Commander laughed, pointing at his injured form. "My son has been borderline omega his entire life. But he's been a real man more than he's been a failure. Then he met you, Enzo Casas, you ruined my son. And now, I'm going to make sure you're ruined."
The ex-Commander pulled down one of the lanterns and then knocked into the duo, slamming them into the wall, before sliding back out the way of the revolving door. Enzo reached that slivered opening to try and escape but the heavy stones nearly crushed his fingers. He had to pull back.
Now, they were trapped in a separate corridor, lacking any of the light of the former ones. He could hear the sound of rocks snapping until a small flame lit from Enzo's hand. He carried the flame throughout a room that was bigger than his makeshift lab and filled with the furniture of what looked like a library lost to time. Lush cushions from a bygone era and the aging drawings discolored on the walls. Rotting cabinets filled with frayed sheets.
His hands grappled the floor as he tightened his fists into his hand until his nails spilled blood and the pain brought him back some self-awareness. He could hear his panting in the quiet room.
"What did he mean about lying?"
"I don't know."
Enzo brought the rusted lantern over and illuminated his face, showing anger on his own. The other lashed out, "What did he mean?"
Those words echoed against the wall and brought him to as near to lucidity as he could ever be. All he could hear in his ears was his blood pumping and the sound of his own harsh breathing.
He warily continued, "I had heard about you before arriving here. At that point, I only wanted to cater you to my side. And then--there were books I read--" he tightened his nails against his palms as another spasm burned through him like swords slicing up and down his back. And then he felt a sudden pulse spread through him. Something new.
A haze fell over him.
No.
He wouldn't let the madness take him over and choked out, "To turn an alpha into an omega."
"And you were going to do that to me," Enzo rasped out. "You were going to force my designation! But that's not the lie, is it? It has to do with Beckett. You did something to him. And he changed--and he was here the entire time, wasn't he? Wasn't he?!"
He choked out a yes and his hands, beyond his control, tightened into his robes. It took every bit of his will to hold back.
"Are you changing? Is that what's wrong? None of this makes any sense!" Enzo argued with himself before dropping to his body, checking him over, not realizing the Prince was using every bit of his control to hold back. Until his hand flitted over his cock.
The Prince muffled his groan beneath his arm even as the other man kept searching in his robes until finally he knocked his hands away.
"I--can't," he pleaded as if his body could listen to his words, mustering all his control to twist away from Enzo.
He heard the sound of rustling before hands untangled his robes.
"Heavens," Enzo mumbled before grasping his cock with two hands and his thumbs pressing against the tip. "How did it get so much bigger in a few days?"
His hips rolled into his hands and cried in near relief, but it wasn't enough.
He gritted his teeth until blood spilled over his lips.
"Wait--no--no, no," Enzo thumbed his lips, swiping the blood, and then came to the realization on his own. "This isn't enough for you."
Enzo opened his robes fully even as the Prince kept his hands locked above his head. His fingers danced over his chest and his dribbling cock. The soldier continued speaking to himself, reminding the Prince why he had chosen him above all others, "It doesn't make a difference which end is used, does it? It'll--it'll push the change further either way."
There was a moment when the other man paused.
The Prince thought that was it then.
He was dead.
Until those hands returned to his cock, slipping over and around its sides, from his sack to his tip, and then his mouth swallowed him bit by bit. His hips thrust up on its own and released down his throat. The other man twisting his hands around his cock as he swallowed his cum, draining this release. His baser mind hummed in content.
Enzo wiped his mouth and then leaned over him with his fingers grazing his cheeks. "Did that help?"
He still couldn't speak as a spasm ran through him, but he gave a pained smile that seemed not to dissuade his worries.
"You're not as hot, but you're still burning. And your cock hasn't changed, what am I missing?" Enzo muttered before his eyes rose up to where the Prince clenched his hands above his head. "You're holding yourself back--I see."
He began untying his regalia as the uniform slips fell to the ground from the flag, to his rank stripes, his flared tunic, and underclothes, until he was completely bare. His body was lightly muscular, dusted with a tan, and his hips swept in and out like an instrument. His thick hair fell under his ears like an eclipse. And then he slid his hips over the Prince's as he tried to unclench his hands.
"Jonathon, listen to me," Enzo held his face between his hand. "Let go."
Not even a second past after his hands unclenched that Enzo was thrown off and planted face forward on the stone with the Prince stuffing his cock inside--a whine fell out of his throat. His hands cupped his chest, pinching and prodding, as his hips pounded into the body underneath him, his ass smacking in the air against each thrust. Enzo squirmed in the intensity as the Prince's wider, thicker cock reached deep. His groans pressing into his ear.
He released inside with his hips trembling and then started again with his legs twisting over his thighs to keep him in place as if he were truly breeding him. His newfound strength yanked him over and over onto his cock as if his thrusts weren't enough. Enzo moaned as his cock spit out cum as he was filled with the Prince's fourth release. Their bodies were soaked in sweat now and Enzo wondered how much longer this would last. The slick sounds of his hips as the Prince started up again. A release wrangled out of him again.
Outside the walls, he heard a familiar voice dampened by the thick walls. The Prince panted on the stone flooring as if also needing a break and Enzo with shaky knees tripped over to the wall, listening close.
"Who's there?" Enzo shouted and then paused to listen but heard no reply. "We need--we need water! The Prince is sick!"
The voice shouted back, "How do I get in?"
"Stay back! He's sick!" Enzo repeated and then listened for a reply but nothing was heard. As he waited by the wall, he could hear the Prince groaning from the floor. "Are you there?"
"I brought water!" the voice shouted. "And food!"
Enzo recognized the voice then.
It was Beckett.
His head fell against the stone as he thought whether he could be trusted. If the Prince had done something to truly hurt the other or if it was even consensual. As far as he knew, the Prince hated him.
"Stay there and don't move!"
Resigned, Enzo opened the wall with the wall level and then stepped back as Beckett appeared from the rotating wall.
Beckett ran over, checking his naked body. He scowled. "The bastard left bruises all over you! Are you bleeding? Did he hurt you?"
"No," Enzo shook his head. "But I can't--I need some water."
Beckett pulled over one of the two buckets he carried in. One was full of cold, clean water that Enzo scooped up while the other was full of fruit, cheese, and bread. The other soldier scooped up some water and took it to the Prince, opening his lips to pour the water in.
It looked--intimate.
And not at all hateful.
"Your father was right then," Enzo shook his head in disbelief. "Why?"
His friend froze, and then breathed out, "I don't know. We're still not--I don't think we like each other. But shared suffering and all."
"You weren't off trying to digest your emotions but fucking around in one of these hidden rooms, weren't you?" Enzo laughed. "That's how you found us so fast. Is this a common room that the two of you visit?"
"It's a bit more complicated than--"
"Really," Enzo wiped his face and then laughed again. "If you had gotten here earlier, I wouldn't have had to go through all of this. You're already lost but I still had it!"
Beckett snorted but continued to give the Prince water.
"You think I wanted this?" Enzo retorted. "If I change--"
"Then what, Enzo, you'll be whisked off into a grand gold and granite castle, living as both the advisor and the Emperor's Consort, draped in gold and jewels until you forget what life even looks like outside those walls," Beckett added. "Such a hard life. Poor baby. You've never even cared about being an alpha. The only thing you ever cared about was power and powerful people's respect, well, congratulations. You won!"
Enzo reared back at those words. "I've only wanted the power to protect myself and the people I care about. I didn't want what happened to the Corderos or the Rouyas to happen to my family."
"And all I wanted was to have a simple married life with simple children and a simple rank, I wonder who really loses here," Beckett thumbs the drippings of water from the Prince's mouth before his other hand reaches for his dark red and thick cock, dribbling and drenched in cum. The Prince moans and bends his back as his hands fist tighter around his cock until he shivers into a release. Beckett wipes his hand dry on the Prince's robes before dropping the mug back in the bucket. "I can take over the next wave. And then you can go after."
"Why should it take both of us?"
"You can read his notes whenever we get out," Beckett sighed. "All I know is I've never seen him this far gone, and I've gotten exhausted in a regular run. This is worse."
Enzo prided himself on knowing when to attack and when to retreat.
He took a step back.