The other concubines at least did them the courtesy of not trying to stop them, and Yuushi assured Orpheus that they would not rat out the runners, not even to save their own skins. At this point, Orpheus was inclined to take his word on their reactions.
They spread the salve as quickly as possible, and Orpheus hoped desperately that it would be enough. Although at least if they were caught by the Beast, they’d probably only be returned to the harem, Orpheus thought as he helped to apply the salve to Yuushi’s back. He couldn't say the same for the guards.
Smeared head to toe - even their hair - with the salve, and each armed with another full container of the stuff, the two would-be fugitives made their way to the entrance of the tunnel.
“Are you sure about this, Yuushi?” Orpheus asked softly.
Yuushi winked at him. “If you’re sure, I’m sure.”
‘Why would you take such a risk just for me?’ Orpheus wanted to ask, but he didn’t. There wasn’t the time now to have a discussion like that. Especially not when they both had to be on their toes. Instead he said, “Alright then,” and grabbed Yuushi’s wrist.
The tunnel curved several times early on, and they were quite soon lost in complete darkness. To move forward, they laid their hands on the wall and felt along the passage. The cool stone was rough and lumpy beneath their hands, although tracts of it were smoother where the Beast had brushed across often enough to wear it down. Orpheus ran his hand along one side of the wall, while Yuushi took the other.
They had walked for maybe five minutes when Orpheus’s hand suddenly broke into open air.
“Hold on,” he whispered to Yuushi, “I think it turned here.”
“No it doesn’t,” Yuushi said, “this wall keeps going straight.”
Orpehus’s mind ran furiously. “It must be a split in the passage.” He hadn’t considered this event. How were they supposed to choose the way? And where would the other passage lead them?
“Do you think they’d have a passage that goes directly to the outside, so that the Beast could leave if it wanted to?” Orpheus wondered.
“If they did,” said Yuushi, “they’d have it guarded.”
“Only when they thought the Beast wasn’t guarding the passage.”
Yuushi was silent for a moment, and Orpheus was about to prompt him when he hissed, “Do you feel that?”
Orpheus stilled and felt the currents around him. Sure enough, water was definitely flowing towards them from the side passage. Flowing, or being pushed.
“Keep going forward,” Orpheus murmured. “Slowly.”
They pressed on, but the current from behind them continued. Orpheus had a sneaking suspicion what it might be.
The suspicion was confirmed when a slimy appendage pressed up against his back, then immediately withdrew in confusion. Orpheus could now feel the presence of the Beast behind them, his moving bulk the source of the current that had been following them.
“It’s the Beast!” he called to Yuushi. “Get the salve ready!”
Another tentacle moved forward, this time sliding towards his ankle, but once again it recoiled upon contact with his salve-covered skin. Before it could leave, Orpheus darted a hand down and grabbed it, eliciting a screech from the Beast.
‘Good,’ thought Orpheus. ‘For all the pain you’ve caused all of us.’ He reached into his jar and grabbed a handful of the salve, smearing it on the tentacle. Another screech of pain, louder, from the Beast. The tentacle withdrew.
To his right, a flurry of movement and another screech. “It works,” came Yuushi’s voice, sounding surprised.
Orpheus reached over, groping, until he came in contact with Yuushi’s arm. He felt a glob of salve dumped onto his wrist before Yuushi realized it was him, and he smiled to himself in the darkness. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s hurry. If we’re lucky, it won’t follow us. But keep the salve just in case.”
Yuushi responded by sliding his arm through Orpheus’s grip until their hands were clasped, and then pulling him forward. Together, they raced through the tunnel towards the opposite side.
Gradually, the tunnel began to grow lighter again. Orpheus and Yuushi slowed their pace, until finally they rounded a bend that put them in sight of Galileo’s study. They halted, and Orpheus peered discreetly around the room.
“It looks empty,” he murmured to Yuushi.
Yuushi nodded. “Let’s hurry then.”
The study was a large, well-furnished room, not dissimilar to the king’s apartments. Along one wall was an archway which led into a huge chamber, decorative but bare, where the Beast entered. The path from the archway to the tunnel entrance was cleared, ostensibly so that the Beast wouldn’t disturb anything on its way through the room.
Cautiously, Orpheus crept out of the tunnel mouth and set foot in the room. This was where the escape would really start to get dangerous. They passed slowly, silently behind a cabinet, to a large clear area in the center of the room. Orpheus realized that Galileo must bring the Beast into this room upon occasion, probably before he made his reports. He wondered if the triton had stood the Beast on this spot and noticed the burn mark left by the salve, if even now he was reporting it.
Suddenly both fugitives stopped short, arrested by a noise. It had been little, a bare scrape of scale against stone, but the two were on their guard. With a single silent look at each other, they moved of a single accord and swam frantically back to the cabinet they had passed, pressing themselves behind it.
Just in time, for a second later, the other door to the room, the one that must lead into the palace, swung open, and Galileo returned.
‘Shit,’ thought Orpheus. If Galileo had returned already, then they would be stuck there. There was no way they could wait back there all day without being discovered. And even if they could make it back to the tunnel mouth—far closer than the archway—there was little chance they could hide there for very long. Heaven help them if Galileo decided to call the Beast to him.
Could it really be over so soon? Could they be so quickly captured? Orpheus felt his heart pounding fit to burst his chest, and he took the risk of peering around the edge of the cabinet, hoping to get a glimpse of the triton.
Galileo was rummaging through a desk drawer, a frown of concentration on his face. Over the sound of his own heartbeat, Orpheus could just barely hear the triton muttering to himself. Then suddenly his expression cleared, and he yanked something from the drawer triumphantly.
Orpheus couldn’t make out what it was from the angle he was at, but Galileo seemed satisfied. He swam towards the door, retrieved item in hand and then, to Orpheus’s great relief, left, shutting the door behind him. Orpheus slumped against the back of the cabinet, Yuushi beside him.
“Is he gone?” Yuushi whispered.
Orpheus nodded. “He must have forgotten something. Hopefully that means he hasn’t been to see the King yet, and he’ll still be gone for a little while. That means it’ll be a while yet before we’re discovered missing, or before anything is done about the state of the Beast. Come on. Let’s hurry before he gets back.”
Yuushi nodded and took his hand once more, and together they cautiously made their way across the room towards the antechamber.
The archway opened up into the tall dome-ceilinged room that Orpheus remembered. At the far end were a pair of enormous gates, ornately carved from a deep bluish-white marble, covered in intricate designs that were too far away for Orpheus to make out. The gates were closed.
“Come on,” Orpheus whispered, and, after a cursory glance around the room, inched towards the doors. It wasn’t as though there was much that could be hidden in the room; it was almost entirely bare, but for some hanging decorations here and there on the walls, oceanic in theme.
They reached the hefty gates and Orpheus grabbed the large stone ring affixed to it. He took a deep breath and pulled.
Nothing happened. The door didn’t even budge. Orpheus took another breath and pulled again, straining as hard as he could, but the door was simply too heavy. No wonder no one had escaped before; there was no way this exit could be used by a solitary fugitive.
“Help me with this,” Orpheus said to Yuushi, but even with the other man adding his strength, and both pulling the ring at once, the door refused to move.
“Damn,” Orpheus muttered under his breath. There had to be a way to get the door open. If not, then they’d have to risk going through the palace hallways. They’d be infested with guards, but maybe if they were careful-
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud scraping noise and he hurriedly grabbed Yuushi’s wrist and pressed them both up against the wall just behind the door as it suddenly swung open from the outside.
Three guards pushed the door inward, laughing about something with each other. As the opening reached its maximum width, two more guards followed behind, pulling behind them a cart of some kind, filled up and covered with a cloth. They parked it at the far end of the chamber, against the wall. Orpheus and Yuushi shrank back further behind the door to avoid being seen.
Where should we put it? one of the guards asked.
Just leave it there. Galileo will do what he wants with it. The guards nodded vaguely at each other in agreement, and most of them left. Two remained, hanging around the cart, showing no signs of leaving.
I hate doing these extra jobs, one of them said peevishly.
Hey, buck up, said the other, slapping him on the shoulder companionably. It may be extra work, but if Galileo notices you, gets to know you, then you’re way more likely to get first dibs on the rejected or retired concubines. Think about it. Your very own concubine to do whatever you want with.
The other guard chuckled, and Orpheus took deep breaths, forcing back the red from his vision.
‘Where did the others go?’ Orpheus wondered. These two seemed to be left as guards, but why? Maybe the others were getting another cartload or something.
The guards were very close to them, too close for comfort. In the case of the nearer one, if he turned around and looked down, he would spot them easily. Orpheus was beginning to grow worried. They couldn’t stay hidden behind the door for long. They would have to move.
‘Shit,’ thought Orpheus once again. ‘I was hoping we wouldn’t have to resort to violence.’
He kneeled down next to Yuushi and put his chin on his companion’s shoulder, mouth next to his ear, so he could whisper to him. “I think we’re going to have to try to jump them,” he murmured. “Otherwise they’ll see us for sure. We must do it while we still have the element of surprise.”
Yuushi nodded, and glanced up at the guards questioningly, then back down at Orpheus.
“You take the closer one,” Orpheus decided. “I’ll go for the other one. I can swim faster than you can, I should be able to reach him more quickly. Remember, knock them out as quickly as possible. We don’t want them calling for help.”
Yuushi nodded, and Orpheus held up three fingers. He took a deep breath and lowered one. A second breath. Lowered the second. And then the final finger and-
“Now!” he hissed, and they sprang forth.
Yuushi was stronger than Orpheus had anticipated. As he shot past his companion, he saw Yuushi clasp both fists together and swing them at the triton’s skull. The triton went down in a heap.
Orpheus, on the other hand, was not quite fast enough.
Help! He- the triton managed before Orpheus was on top of him. He managed a strangle hold around the man’s neck, cutting off his breath. For a split second he remembered that tritons had different biology, and wondered if his actions were actually having any effect at all. But then he felt the gills just under the jawline and the way the triton was twitching helplessly and knew that it was working.
Realizing that he was about to be overcome, the triton made one last-ditch effort at calling for help, and managed another He- before Yuushi appeared in front of him and punched him in the face, making his head loll down against his chest, unconscious. Yuushi rubbed his knuckles absently before reaching down behind the door and picking up his jar of salve, rubbing some into the abused skin.
“We need to hurry,” said Orpheus, looking down at the two comatose bodies on the marble floor. “Someone probably heard that, and even if they didn’t, the other guards might be returning soon. We want to get as much of a head start as possible on them before they see these guys and come looking for us.”
He started towards the door, but Yuushi called him back. “Wait a second,” he said. He walked over to one of the guards and hefted his shoulders. “Grab his tail,” he instructed.
Worried about time, but curious, Orpheus did as he was instructed. Together they carried the triton over to the cart. Understanding dawned on Orpheus as Yuushi lifted the canvas covering the cart’s contents and put the body on top of a heap of – Orpheus peered at the stuff – a heap of white coral, apparently. When he was settled, they went back for the other guard and did the same. Yuushi brushed his hands together in satisfaction as Orpheus lowered the cloth over the two bodies.
“This should buy us a little more time at least,” Yuushi said. “With any luck, the other guards will think they just abandoned their post.”
Orpheus nodded and stared at the lump where the bodies were concealed. Maybe he should have taken their weapons? Brought them along? But… no. The spears would just slow them down, and if it came to a confrontation, even one against two they were little match for an armed triton if he saw them coming. The sea people were far more maneuverable in the water than the humans, and stronger, too. Their best bet lay in getting as far away as possible as fast as possible, and losing their pursuers. They’d leave the spears.
“Come on,” Orpheus said, and he and Yuushi cautiously moved for the open door.
Getting out of the village was not difficult. Though the path from the archway led down a main road, the houses were spaced widely enough apart for the fugitives to slip between them and hare off into the wilderness.
The further they got from the triton village, the better Orpheus felt. He hadn’t really allowed himself to hope much during the escape; it had all happened so fast, and he’d needed to be right in the moment. But as the constructed landscape gave way to reef and the reef to sand, he started to feel a certain expansion in his chest that had nothing to do with the decreasing depth of the water.
They swam for most of a day and a half with only short breaks. Around the second day they were swimming along the underwater edge of a cliff when Yuushi stopped them.
“Look,” he said with excitement. Orpheus turned his gaze to the cliff and, after staring for a few moments, saw that there was an opening in the rock face. It went back at a sharp angle, nearly parallel to the rock face, and the opening seemed to blend in with the cliff itself. But when they swam towards it, it appeared to go quite a ways back into the rock.
“Perfect,” said Orpheus. “At the very least, it’s a good concealed place to rest for a bit. Come on.”
Cautiously they swam into the opening and back into the tunnel, further and further until the light dimmed to nothing. Even then, with their hands against the wall, they continued, until eventually…
“It’s getting lighter, isn’t it?” Orpheus asked, his heartrate speeding up.
“Yeah,” said Yuushi, and the suppressed excitement was evident in his voice as well. They swam a bit faster until, quite suddenly, the tunnel turned sharply upward and then widened, widened, and opened up into a sandy-bottomed pool where light filtered down from above. With a grin at each other, the two young men sped towards the surface.
As he broke the surface of the water, Orpheus took in his surroundings in a heartbeat. They appeared to be in a cove of some kind, fed by the underground tunnel. There were trees surrounding them completely, although they were on the far side of a sandy beach that crept up to meet their trunks. It was secluded, but also beautiful.
That was all he had time to notice before he attempted to suck in a deep breath and abruptly realized he couldn’t. There was a thick, sticky feeling in his lungs and air passage and he bent over, hacking, unable to draw breath. He felt oddly as though he were drowning; his airway felt clogged. Yuushi, to his right, appeared to be having the same problem. Very quickly, the golden head dropped once more below the waves, and Orpheus followed suit.
Under the surface, he thankfully drew in large gulping breaths of water. The liquid felt good filtering into his lungs, and Orpheus came to a realization.
“The ooze. It lets us breath underwater, but it must stop our breathing of air at the same time.”
Yuushi nodded. “But the Beast comes to replenish it every week, so it must wear off eventually, right? So we just have to hide out here until it does. It shouldn’t take that long, just a couple more days. This place is hidden enough, they shouldn’t be able to find us. If we need food, we can just venture back out into the ocean. It’s perfect, right?”
Orpheus nodded. It did seem perfect at that. Almost too good to be true. “Alright,” he said. “If that’s the case, why don’t we catch some food now, stock up, and get ourselves settled in?”
They days passed in an ease that neither of the young men had ever felt before. It was a simple life: eat to survive, sleep at night, enjoy each other’s company. It was around the third day of this that Orpheus felt safe enough to broach the important topic with Yuushi.
“Yuushi…”
Yuushi looked up at him from where he was lounging along the sandy bottom of the lagoon, idly toying with some seaweed. For some odd reason that Orpheus couldn’t quite define, he looked strangely beautiful there, in a way that he never had before. “Hmm?”
“Why...” Orpheus paused, taking another moment to just look at the young man, appreciate the sight of his lean body, still nude, skin pale as the sand on which it rested. “Why did you come with me?” he asked. “You said there was no chance for escape. If you didn’t believe me, why come? Why risk it?”
Yuushi lay back, staring up at the water’s surface a short distance above them, contemplating. “It’s been a long time,” he said finally, “since I had hope. I had forgotten what it felt like. You gave that back to me.” He turned his face to Orpheus and smiled, and Orpheus realized suddenly why Yuushi looked so different—that aching sadness, the weariness, the wariness, that had always been lurking in the corner of his eyes, sabotaging his beauty, was gone. “I don’t know what it is about you,” Yuushi said thoughtfully, “but I’ve always felt like I could trust you. From the first time I saw you, I knew I could trust you. Is that strange?”
“Very,” said Orpheus with a smile. He reached out and touched Yuushi’s cheek. Yuushi smiled at him before closing his eyes and leaning back against the bank, enjoying the warmth of the water, the sunlight that reached them from above, and the gentle stroking of Orpheus’s fingers through his hair.
They waited until a week had passed, and nothing changed. They were still unable to breathe. It wasn’t until nine days after their escape that Yuushi suddenly began choking in the water and flailed a moment before swimming desperately up and forward, towards the surface and towards the shore. From underwater, Orpheus watched as he knelt in the surf, heaving, his shoulders shaking. With a horrendous coughing, hacking sound, he suddenly began to vomit up a thick black substance. Between spasms it dripped from his lips and from his nostrils, splashing down into a puddle in the sand next to him.
Finally, with a last heave that ended in a dry coughing fit, Yuushi collapsed down onto his side in the sand, his chest laboring up and down in huge pants as his lungs filled with air. Orpheus watched him anxiously for a few minutes before Yuushi had recovered enough to sit up, wiping away the involuntary tears from his cheeks. The young man took a few deep, experimental breaths, then smiled widely. “I can breathe again,” he said unnecessarily.
Orpheus smiled at him from under the water, then bent himself backwards in such a way that his lips could break the surface, while his nostrils remained underwater to breathe. It was awkward, but it would work for now.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Hopefully the same will happen to me shortly.”
They spent a few amusing hours while Yuushi attempted to regain control of his legs. He spent a good portion of time falling on his ass in the sand, but the control came back to him quickly.
“It’ll be easier for you,” he said to Orpheus, sitting on the beach with his toes in the surf. “You weren’t under as long.”
When he could walk again, Yuushi struck out into the woods in search of some food that wasn’t fish. He came back with his arms laden with wild oranges, and for the first time in a long while, they had fruit native to dry land. Yuushi sat on the bank and Orpheus hung around in as shallow water as he could manage, and they toasted each other with orange slices.
They waited and whiled away time until sundown, and still there was no change in Orpheus. When it finally came time to sleep, Orpheus came to the surface once more. “We’ll just have to keep waiting,” he said. “Maybe the amount of time the slime lasts varies from person to person. I probably have bigger lungs than you. I bet you it’ll happen within the next day or two. So just sit tight for now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” Yuushi replied. He stepped forward into the water until he was waist-deep and then impishly kissed Orpheus’s lips where they rose through the water. Orpheus smiled and laid a comforting hand on Yuushi’s thigh under the surface, patting it lightly before swimming off to rest, while Yuushi returned to the bank.
It was early the next morning when it happened. Yuushi had gone a ways into the woods to forage for breakfast, when Orpheus heard a clanging sound from behind him, beneath the water’s surface. He whirled, immediately on the alert, all senses scanning the water for anything out of the ordinary. Then – yes! – the sound came again, a metallic scraping, coming from-
‘The tunnel. No. NO!’
But all the denials in the world couldn’t stop the inevitable, as two soldiers topped the final slope in the tunnel and emerged into the lagoon. One called out behind him, obviously to inform others that their target had been found.
Orpheus prepared himself to fight, even though he knew it would be useless. He couldn’t beat two armed guards, let alone however many were following. If he tried to escape to the bank, he’d only suffocate. But nevertheless...
Orpheus thought of Yuushi, of the soft texture of his hair, the sound of his laugh, the curve of his smile and of his hip. The beauty in him that came with his freedom.
He couldn’t fight the soldiers and he knew it. But he would try anyway.
The two guards spread out to either side of him, wary, armor glistening, harpoons in hand. Orpheus kept facing forward, trying to keep both of them in his field of vision at once.
The one on his right struck first, lunging for him. Orpheus responded immediately by grappling with him, making sure to get one hand on the haft of the harpoon to prevent his opponent from using it. With as much strength as he could muster, he swung the triton around so that their positions were switched, just as the one behind him leapt forward. The two tritons crashed into each other, although the one he was grappling did not loosen his hold.
And the other triton recovered fast from the impact, swimming off to the side to get himself out of the range of the weapon that Orpheus still had one hand on. Tightening his grip, Orpheus turned towards the other soldier-
Only to be suddenly yanked backwards as the haft of a harpoon was pulled against the front of his throat. He released his grip on the other triton instinctively to grapple with this new weapon—belonging to a third triton, one he hadn’t seen—trying to keep it from choking him. As soon as he let go, however, more soldiers swarmed in and grabbed his limbs, pulled them back until he was completely restrained. From what Orpheus could see, there were at least six or seven of them, although not all were holding him down.
The one behind Orpheus loosened his grip on the harpoon, and Orpheus coughed, taking in a deep lungful of water. In front of him, another triton approached, and Orpheus felt hands on his face, prying his jaw open. The triton in front reached into a pouch attached to his waist to and pulled out an object Orpheus couldn't see. Moments later he felt it being forced between his lips – a jar, the mouth of a jar – and then suddenly something was pouring into him. He couldn’t see it well, this close up, everything was happening so fast, but he knew it was black, and they forced him down, onto the ground, tilted his head back so it ran into his sinuses, and he felt the familiar sensation of his lungs being coated in slime and knew what it was they were doing to him as they held him down and pressed him against the sand.
Orpheus stilled, knowing that he could not give in yet, he still had one important task. He would have only one chance. He went limp, his chest heaving, letting them think he was too exhausted to fight any longer. Even when they pulled him up, grabbed his hands, he put up no fight, lulled them into thinking he was defeated, and then-
Orpheus pushed roughly against the sand with his feet and shot upwards, taking a deep breath as he sped forwards, until he broke the surface just long enough to scream,
“YUUSHI! RUN!”
and then he was pulled back down. They fought him to the ground once more, this time on his stomach, and he felt his hands behind tied behind him and his ankles tied together, roughly, harshly. The shaft of a harpoon was slipped between his bonds and they tied him to it around his stomach as well until he was fully fastened, like a pig to be roasted on a spit. Then one soldier grabbed the front of the harpoon and the other the back and they swam down, down towards the tunnel, back towards the ocean and the underwater city.
As they descended the ramp into the tunnel, and the light began to diminish, Orpheus dimly thought he could make out the faint sound of his own name being screamed in the distance.