Blaine gained a lot of ground quickly, and was getting closer to Kurt with each stride. Before he could get close though for Kurt to hear him though, he jumped to the side to hide himself amongst the trees and continued to run silently. Foliage hid Blaine from Kurt’s view if he tried to look back, but Blaine could still somewhat make out Kurt’s shape through the leaves.

Besides, Kurt was making all sorts of noise, so Blaine didn’t even need to see him to know where he was. Leaves and twigs crunched loudly beneath Kurt’s feet and small branches snapped as he pushed through them. His heavy panting from running so hard was quite audible also.

Kurt’s legs were beginning to ache and his heart was pounding and his throat burned as his lungs struggled to obtain oxygen. He felt mildly pathetic that he was already exhausted and hasn’t even run that far yet, and could even feel himself slowing down.

Was Blaine following him? He hasn’t heard any footsteps behind him the whole time he’s been running, but he didn’t want to risk looking back to make sure and end up tripping over a tree root. Now that he’s been running for a while though and still hasn’t heard anything, and was getting tired, he decided to risk it.

Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Kurt saw….no one.

His pace slowed from a hard sprint to a run, knowing it wasn’t smart to stop yet. Just because he couldn’t see Blaine didn’t mean he wasn’t still trying to look for him, and Kurt really just wanted to find his way out of these woods.

His eyes looked forward again, feeling almost triumphant that he may possibly have lost his captor already. He could be home in no time. His father must be worried sick-

Kurt barely registered the figure leaping at him from the side in his peripheral vision until a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and threw him off his feet.

As the two fell to the floor, Blaine pivoted at the last second so that Kurt landed on top of him. His father had been very clear that he wasn’t to bring any harm to the prince, and if he allowed Kurt to fall face first on the forest floor it was sure to leave some bruises. Blaine took most of the fall as he landed on his back, but didn’t feel very much pain.

Kurt realized he was squeezing his eyes shut as he had expected to feel pain somewhere, but there was none. He opened his eyes, and found himself staring down at Blaine. He yelped in surprise and began to struggle to get away, but Blaine didn’t release his hold on him. Instead he picked Kurt up with him as he stood and turned him around, easily locking Kurt’s arms behind his back despite the prince’s whole-hearted attempts to fight him off.

“Let me go!” Kurt shouted, refusing to give up his struggle. Blaine held Kurt’s wrists in one hand and locked his other arm around Kurt’s upper chest just under his neck, holding Kurt still against Blaine’s chest. He didn’t want to lock his arm around Kurt’s neck because, again, he didn’t want to hurt him.

Kurt was a couple inches taller than Blaine, but did not have nearly as much strength as him. Blaine subdued him easily because of this, which really pissed Kurt off. He couldn’t stand the feeling of being helpless.

“I don’t want to hurt you, I really don’t, but if you try and escape again, I’m going to have to knock you unconscious. I’m sure you don’t want that, right?” Blaine said calmly in Kurt’s ear.

Kurt closed his eyes and tried very hard not to cry. He felt helpless and vulnerable and angry and scared and, damn it, he hated Blaine so much for making him feel this way, for taking him from his home.

“No…I don’t…” Kurt murmured, trying not to sound as defeated as he felt.

Blaine sensed the change in emotion from Kurt, felt it in the way Kurt gave up and went still in his arms. And it actually made Blaine feel guilty. Kurt was a prince, a man of royalty and dignity…

…whose father caused the deaths of thousands of his country’s men, destroyed so many families, pillaged villages and towns and then took them over for himself. Blaine forced himself to remember why he was doing this, and the guilt washed away.

“Good. Let’s go then,” Blaine said gruffly, releasing his hold on Kurt, except where he grabbed a hold of Kurt’s upper arm and pulled him along as Blaine began walking back in their former direction.

“I can walk on my own, thank you very much,” Kurt spat, trying to pull his arm away, but Blaine only tightened his grip.

“Sorry, prince, but that privilege has been revoked.”

“You should know, I really hate you,” Kurt growled.

“And here I thought we were developing such a great relationship,” Blaine smirked.

The walk to Spade took about a half hour, and was silent except for occasional witty remarks from Kurt and sarcastic replies from Blaine.

Kurt did actually feel quite relieved when the two emerged from the dense forest onto a dirt road. From there it was a very short walk before a large archway came into view that he knew must have been the entrance to Spade.

Stone walls about seven feet high surrounded the small town, and there were two guards standing at either side of the entrance. Blaine didn’t break his hold on Kurt’s arm as they approached the town, and Kurt felt more than embarrassed.

“Welcome, Blaine! I see the mission was a success,” one of the guards said, glancing at Kurt.

“That isn’t a surprise though, from someone as skilled as you,” the other guard chimed in.

Kurt stared at them in shock, and then looked at Blaine, his ocean eyes furious. “Is the whole town in on this or something?!” he hissed.

Blaine ignored Kurt and smiled at the guards. “I appreciate the praise, but don’t congratulate me yet. Any news for me?” he asked.

“Sebastian came in this morning. He said you’ll know where to meet him,” the guard on the left answered.

Blaine thanked him and entered the town, pulling a very shocked and angry Kurt along.

The realization that no one in Spade was going to help him absolutely crushed Kurt. If the guards of the place were perfectly fine with his kidnapping, then he knew that every citizen in this town probably felt the same. After all, Spade was an ally of Vastar. They might all hate Prince Kurt, but the whole time they had been walking through the woods, Kurt had desperately relied on finding someone who might be able to help him once they reached Spade. Now those hopes were shattered.

“Are you ever going to explain to me what the hell you kidnapped me for?”

Blaine looked over at Kurt, a little confused by his tone of voice in the question. The question wasn’t angry, the prince didn’t raise his voice. He actually sounded…defeated, and for some strange reason, it bothered Blaine to hear him like that.

“Yes, but not now,” he answered. Blaine let go of Kurt’s arm. He would catch him in an instant if he tried to run again, but hoped Kurt wasn’t foolish enough to even think about it.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Kurt said.

After following Blaine through the little town a bit, holding his chin up and trying to ignore the stares he received from people, which ranged from awestruck to downright nasty, Blaine had led him to an alleyway between two buildings. Despite the shining midday sun beating upon them, the buildings were close enough that the alleyway was clouded in shadows.

Blaine looked back over his shoulder at Kurt, partially hidden in the shadows. “What?” he asked, confused.

“A dark alley? This is your meeting place? You don’t find this a little clich� at all?” Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Blaine let out a short laugh. “Well, when you put it that way…”

“I’m not going in there.”

Blaine chuckled and rolled his eyes. “What? Are you afraid you might be kidnapped?”

Kurt narrowed his eyes at him, scowling slightly. No, you asshole, actually I’m afraid you might slit my throat, he thought, but kept his mouth shut and reluctantly continued to follow Blaine.

The man awaiting them at the end of the alley was leaning back against the wall of one of the buildings, flipping a dagger into the air and then catching it over and over again. Fear gripped Kurt at the sight, and he was so tempted to turn and run again, but as soon as the man spotted them, he stood up straight and slipped the dagger back into its sheath at his hip.

“Well, it’s about time! I was almost starting to worry about you, Blaine,” the man grinned and came forward to give Blaine a friendly embrace.

“Sorry, Sebastian, there was a bit of a…hold up on the way here,” Blaine answered after returning the hug.

Sebastian was wearing the same uniform as Blaine, but his tunic was white with a red insignia on the front rather than the black with purple insignia Blaine had on. At first glance, Sebastian looked a lot…weaker than Blaine, not as soldier-like. His figure was tall and lanky, but if you looked closely you could see the fabric on his arms was stretched over toned muscle.

The look Sebastian gave Kurt was far from friendly, and he started to say something to Blaine in a language Kurt didn’t understand.

“English, please,” Kurt cut him off, already annoyed with this man.

Sebastian looked at Kurt with an expression that a mixture of surprise and anger. The two stared each other down for a moment, clearly sizing each other up, and then Sebastian chuckled. “Well, isn’t he a fiery one,” he said to Blaine.

“You have no idea,” Blaine muttered, Kurt’s little escape attempt in the woods immediately coming to mind.

“You two going to continue to talk about me like I’m not here or is someone going to explain what the hell you kidnapped me for?” Kurt glared, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sebastian’s green eyes narrowed at Kurt. “I can’t tell if the fact that you can speak with such an obnoxious attitude to two armed assassins makes you incredibly brave or incredibly stupid,” he said in a menacing tone.

Kurt tried to keep on a brave face, but the word ‘assassins’ caught him completely off guard and he knew Sebastian caught the flash of fear in his eyes by the way his lips curled up in a smug smirk.

“If you ask me, Prince Kurt,” Sebastian stepped towards Kurt slowly, his hand resting on the hilt of his dagger,” I’d say you were being kind of stupid.” He stopped in front of Kurt, their faces inches apart.

Kurt summoned every ounce of courage he had to put on a brave face and hide how frightened he was. The word ‘assassin’ repeated over and over in his head. Of course that’s what Blaine was. Kurt knew he was a soldier of some sort, but not in the King of Vastar’s army because he knew what their armor looked like. But the blades, the matching uniforms, Blaine’s incredible stealth…these two belonged to a band of assassins.

“Sebastian, enough,” Blaine commanded.

Sebastian gave one last lingering glare at Kurt before turning back to Blaine reluctantly. Kurt held in a sigh of relief, and realized that, of the two, Blaine seemed to be the one in charge. Perhaps that was why his uniform was a different color; he was a higher rank than Sebastian.

“Right. Well, Devarion successfully gave the king the ultimatum this morning…” Sebastian trailed off.

“And?” Blaine pressed.

Sebastian glanced at Kurt, surprisingly looking almost sympathetic before turning his eyes back to Blaine.

“He refused to forfeit.”