Into the Forest part 8

[krystalkatz.livejournal.com]

MatsuMiya Chapter

Jun frowned watching the men coming back from the hunt fear building when he saw no sign of his cousin. It was almost full dark with clouds covering even the moon from view. Snow would soon be falling again and dreed filled Jun’s heart. The one blessing as far as he could see was that the men showed no signs of distress which might indicate there had been some kind of accident to his kin but there was surely no sign of him or the dappled horse that he had ridden out that morning. Moving forward he reached the first of the men, a squat man with a pug face and a squashed nose and a top row of broken yellowed teeth. He smelt vulgar of stale ale, horse, and sweat and the gleam which flashed through his eyes was completely unpleasant as if he resented him being there at all, even if it was the homeland of his mother.

“Where is my cousin, your lord Sakurai?” He asked drawing himself to full height glad of the extra inches that he had been blessed with. He wasn’t physically imposing like his cousin but he did have the height to look down on people. His own mouth twitched into a scowl when there was a blank look in the man’s face. It was probably his default look but at the moment it grated on the young noble’s nerves. Sho had not wanted to travel into the forest, he was never a man of action preferring always to read of great adventures in books instead of taking part the way that Jun would. That morning he had begged him to go with him on the primitive hunt for the forest sprite but Jun’s mind had been on Nino and the pleasures of his own flesh, wanting to take advantage of the empty castle to take the boy as many times as he would like but now he was terrified. Terrified that his own desire had doomed his beloved cousin to death. “Tell me what happened to my cousin or I will gut you where you stand…”

“I…My lord…He…He rode with us into the forest but…We…We never saw him at the clearing…” The man squeaked losing all his earlier confidence as Jun produced a concealed knife and pressed it to his slightly protruding gut. Jun’s heart sank a little further but he pushed his fear into anger pressing the knife in further as he hissed;

“And you didn’t search for him? Or send word?”

“...I…we…We thought that he would have returned to the castle…That he had gotten turned around in the forest and did not feel the need to continue the hunt, my lord…My lord Sakurai had been expressing his displeasure at taking part at all…Isn’t…Isn’t that right?” The pug faced man asked a friend beside him and Jun was almost irritated when the man nodded backing up the man’s story.

“My cousin has not returned from the forest…He is not a coward and he studied the maps clearly the beast that he rode…It was a sound horse?” Jun asked wondering if he would be better to ask Nino that. The boy was just a stable hand, clearing away the waste and feeding the beasts but he would know if the horse had been a dud. The men in front of him nodded together though both muttering together;

“Yes…Yes my lord…One of the best…It would let no man fall from him…”

“Then something else has befallen my cousin, you men are to take torches and come back with me…”

“My lord! Snow comes again soon…The horses are tired…”

“My cousin is out there…We go and we find him…” Jun breathed knowing that Sho would do the same for him. The man had always been his saviour ever since he was a child.

TBC
A/N: The next chapters are flash backs which should start to make these chapters make more sense? I hope at least >.<