If he had been asked a couple of weeks ago if he thought he would ever find himself worried about Nic’s safety, Shaun would have denied it vehemently. As he and Lucas tried to covertly make their way through the brush to their intended destination, he found his mind was on whatever it was the kitsune was doing. All he could think was how they were as deep as they could get in enemy territory, and his friend was off somewhere on his own. He didn’t like having their group separated, and he didn’t even bother to continue his personal crisis over thinking of Nic as his friend.

“He’s smart, and he’s quick. He’ll be alright,” Lucas whispered as he edged in front of Shaun.

As his partner peered through the trees to once more look into the village, Shaun thought he sounded as though he was trying to convince the both of them. Nic was used to working on his own, and Shaun had to take that into consideration. He still would have preferred that he and Lucas had been let in on whatever plan the crazy guy had in mind, but he would just have to trust him. It wasn’t a question of the man’s loyalty, though. Even Shaun had to admit that Nic had done his best to prove himself faithful. He simply didn’t like the idea that Nic was out there without anyone to watch his back.

“And us?” Shaun asked as he followed Lucas.

“I’ll let you know after this is over,” Lucas said, voice tense even as he tried to joke.

Shaun smiled, appreciating the man’s attempt at levity. Even with all of his seriousness, there had been more than a touch of humor to Lucas lately. Shaun thought it had a lot to do with Nic’s presence. It was hard to be serious and pessimistic when you had the guy grinning all over the place. He wouldn’t have thought it before, but having Nic around had done a lot for both his and Lucas’ attitudes in a short space of time. Lucas didn’t seem quite so serious, and even Shaun felt Nic had added a lightheartedness to his own perspective on life. He wasn’t quite sure when that had happened, or how, since he wasn’t normally known for being dour, but he felt it all the same.

They made it about halfway to their destination when Shaun caught the sound of several booted feet nearby. His eyes widened, he and Lucas pushing their heads through the branches to see what was happening in the village. There was a high shrieking sound blasting through the clearing, bouncing off the icy waves of snow to be swallowed up at the edge of the trees. The guards were moving quickly, and the everyday Fae were hustling themselves and their children into their underground homes.

“Shit,” Shaun swore, realizing they had been caught.

“Hold on,” Lucas hissed, grabbing hold of Shaun’s arm before he could leap up.

“Lucas, we have to go,” Shaun protested, though he didn’t try to pull out of his partner’s grip.

“They’re not heading this way,” Lucas whispered fiercely, pointing in the direction of the guards.

Sure enough, a good chunk of them, over half by the looks of it, were moving toward where the three of them had been standing previously. The rest of the guards were spreading out to fill the gaps left in their wake, looking more attentive than before. The sounds of booted feet behind them had faded, and Shaun could hear distant calls between the Fae.

Realization dawned on Shaun. “Nic.”

Lucas nodded, looking grim. “He’s giving us a chance to get to the king.”

Shaun growled. “That idiot! why didn’t he tell us what he was doing?”

Lucas laughed softly. “Probably because we would have argued with him over it. He’s not exactly the type to sit around and debate one of his plans, now is he? We’ll have to work on his teamwork after we’re done here.”

“If the moron doesn’t get himself killed in the process,” Shaun grumbled.

“He’s a survivor. I’d put money on him being the one who walks away from this,” Lucas said, turning away to hurry along the tight quarter of fir tree branches.

Well, that was a dark thought, but not one Shaun could really argue with, either. If he really thought about it, anyone who managed to survive in this world on their own for as long as Nic had, was probably more dangerous than him or Lucas. Then again, it also meant there was no one there to pick you up when you inevitably screwed up. Support might mean extra people to worry about, but it also meant you had someone to keep an eye on you, and help you when you needed it. Yeah, they were definitely going to have to talk to the guy about working together better, after they dealt with this.

Lucas paused at a point in the woods, closing his eyes and breathing deep. Shaun could tell from the tightness in his features that he was doing his sensing thing. Lucas was going to pay dearly for using his ability so much after this was over. Shaun envisioned his partner spending a couple of days in a quiet, dark motel room in the near future. He really did need to see if there was a way to make the fallout easier on Lucas. He hated seeing him in so much pain.

“He’s right in front of us,” Lucas said finally as he opened his eyes, the green of his eyes searching what looked like a decorative mound of snow to Shaun.

“Uh, where exactly?” Shaun asked, glancing around and seeing nothing but the guards.

Lucas motioned at the large mound of snow. “Somewhere down there. Not very far down though. I don’t think this is a place he stays at very much.”

“What makes ya say that?” Shaun asked.

“Because he’s still where he was the last time I felt for him, even with the alarm going off. Either the guy really is ready to do battle if he needs to, or the building we’re looking at doesn’t have a whole lot of rooms to it. This is probably an important place to the Fae, but not a place their king stays at too often,” Lucas guessed, craning his neck to gauge a proper path.

Shaun frowned. “What, like…a king’s personal vacation home?”

Lucas shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I’m not a Fae king. I think the best place to go would be over the top, and through the middle. What do you think?”

It would be the most exposed position, since the mound rose up above most of the surrounding area. There were still guards pacing about anxiously, and they were more alert than before. Yet, even the dome of the mound was covered in the snow and ice decorations that Shaun thought were weird and beautiful. If they kept close to the right decorations on their way up and over, they should conceivably be covered from all angles. It would be risky, but trying to go along the edges would put them right in the path of the patrols, only with far less places to hide.

“We even know where the door is?” Shaun leaned forward, now measuring each guard’s pace to predict when they needed to move.

“Best guess I have is that it faces the center of the village. Unless you want to try to find a window to climb through,” Lucas added.

There had been windows, but he wasn’t about to guess exactly where they were hidden along the walls of the building. Weird décor on the outside made it difficult to predict where they would be. That, and he didn’t want to risk trying to find windows he wasn’t even sure would open in the first place. It would only expose them for longer, and for what gain?

“Up and over to the door it is then,” Shaun said.

Lucas shifted behind Shaun. “Tell me when.”

He waited patiently, watching the paths the guards took before making a move forward. Both of them moved quickly, darting from the safety of the trees and behind a sculpture of upward twisting ice and snow. They crouched down, resting their hands on the dome and slowly made their way up, trying to keep as low to the mound as possible. The snow was densely packed, but there was enough heavy, loose snow covering it that they were able to make decent speed on the ascent.

They darted between sculptures, both of them taking turns to peer at the guards. Their teamwork was seamless, neither having to say a word to the other as they predicted what their partner would do. If communication was needed, a simply hand signal was all that was given, and the two would be on the move again.

When they reached the top of the dome, Shaun spotted movement from the corner of his eye. The sharp sound of a voice caught his attention, and he glanced at Lucas to see if he’d heard it, too. Lucas motioned to let Shaun know it was a guard, and pointed in the direction in which he’d seen the man. They were at the peak of the dome now, in the most exposed position. All they had near them was a sculpture of some sort of upward-facing tube, all the other decorative elements were too far away to offer any cover.

They shifted around the tube when they saw the boots of the man come around the building below. The guard must have seen something, and was pacing the edge of the building trying to confirm what he’d seen. There was nowhere to hide quickly enough that didn’t involve shuffling further around the tube, and eventually they would end up moving enough that another guard would definitely see them.

Lucas glanced at the snow beside them. “Think it’s hollow?”

Shaun reached up over the lip discovering a space. “It is.”

“Up and over?” Lucas asked.

He prayed that the damn thing would hold their weight as they vaulted over the edge. They landed as gently as they could, but Shaun winced at the faint thump he heard as they crouched into the landing. The sculpture did indeed go all the way around, and it made him think of a pipe that stuck out the ground. Strange as it might be, at least it gave them complete cover from being seen.

“Gonna be hard to see where we’re goin’, bein’ in here like this,” he whispered to Lucas.

Lucas tapped the edge of the tube. “We might be able to break away small parts of this if we’re careful, and give us peepholes.”

Shaun winced at the sound of ice cracking. “That’s gonna take too long. Now we gotta worry about how long we’re takin’ so Nic is okay.”

Lucas nodded, grimacing as he gave the wall another tap and was met with another cracking sound. Shaun would have cursed, but he was afraid the sound would be amplified up and out of the tube. They had managed to find a good hiding spot, but it blinded them to the patrols outside. If they had thought to bring tools with them, they might be able to follow through on Lucas’ idea and chisel through the walls around them to get a decent view.

There was another cracking sound and he turned his head to glare at Lucas. He was about to whisper as fiercely as he could that Lucas was making too much noise, but he stopped. Lucas was looking at him in confusion and worry, his hands on his middle.

“That wasn’t you, was it?” Shaun asked, dread sinking into his stomach.

“No,” Lucas replied, eyes going wider as they heard another crack.

Their eyes drifted downward, realizing that the sound was coming from beneath them. Shaun slid his foot side to side gently, pushing the snow out of the way carefully. The snow parted with another sharp crack, revealing a sheen of material that could have been ice, or it could have been glass.

“I think we found one of the windows,” Lucas groaned, not moving.

There was a louder crack than before, and Shaun felt the ground beneath them buckle slightly. “Oh fuck.”

It was all he could manage before the floor gave way, plummeting them both down in a hail of snow, glass, and ice. They tumbled, thankfully not as far as he had dreaded, and slammed into the ground beside one another. The ground turned out to be a hard-packed surface of frozen dirt, with rugs thrown over the top of it. It was far warmer in the ice hut than he would have expected and when he took a deep breath to return the air to his lungs, he found himself breathing in warm air.

“Ow,” Lucas managed pitifully beside him, stirring to try to push himself upright.

“Break anything?” Shaun asked, checking his own body over carefully with slow movements.

“Just my pride, I think,” Lucas groaned, turning over onto his stomach.

“That’ll heal,” Shaun grunted.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” a decidedly male voice, laced with irritation, said from somewhere to Shaun’s right.

Lucas eyes went wide. “Did we…just drop right into the king’s chambers?”

Shaun glanced, seeing a handful of figures standing a distance away from them. “Looks like it.”

“Of course we did,” Lucas huffed as he pushed himself up properly.

Shaun did the same, standing up so he could face the owner of the voice. The king stood in the center of the glittering armored guards that circled him. The king himself wore a shiny breastplate, ornate with swirls of colored jewels set into it. Every part of him was covered in the metal armor, save for his head, which bore only a stark crown of wrought silver. Little diamonds glittered in the twists of the crown, reminding Shaun of horns. Under all the armor, the man himself looked quite up to date: clean-cut, trimmed hair, very well-maintained and exceptionally haughty looking. The prominent cheekbones complimented his shapely jaw and defined nose. Well, only if the man was going for a sharp-edged look, his almost white eyes glittering with repressed anger which was clearly aimed in their direction.

“Would you happen to be the king of these Fae?” Shaun asked, addressing the man directly.

“I am King Artorius Milich Farendel the Great,” the Fae king replied, acid in his voice.

Lucas snorted. “Like their titles, don’t they?”

Shaun shrugged, pulling one of his golden blades free from its sheath. “Well, Arty, we’re the guys who are here to kill you.”