AN: A bit late, but Merry Christmas to all my wonderful readers. I hope you had a wonderful day, and I hope New Year's is as charming. Until then, please enjoy reading~

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Chapter 2:

Bryce was not a patient person. Never had been. He would be the first to admit that. But as he waited outside the examination room at the clinic, he was less patient than ever. Varuna stood with him, pressed against his side as he tried to comfort him, offering reassuring words.

"If Isiah hadn't started barking orders by now, it's safe to say that Blayden is fine," Varuna told him.

And it did give him a bit of comfort. Still, he would not be wholly reassured until he laid eyes on his brother himself.

Finally, after what felt like hours though were probably nothing more than a few minutes, the door to the room opened. And Isiah stepped outside, idly wiping his hands with a white handkerchief.

"Well, he's got a hairline fracture of the femur, a broken bone in the foot, a sprained ankle, several abrasions and a few soon-to-reveal bruises. Other than that, the kid got away relatively easy. Seems like he knows when to dodge an incoming attack."

"He didn't get ran over?" Bryce asked.

"Nope." Isiah shoved the handkerchief into the pocket of his medical coat. "From his injuries, it just sideswiped him."

Bryce sighed with his relief, the tension of his shoulders dissipating suddenly. Varuna shared his relief as he gently rubbed comforting circles on his back with his hand.

His brother being sideswiped by a run-away carriage was not ideal; the damn thing should not have been barrelling recklessly down the street in the first place. But, considering the other side of coin was Blayden being under thundering hooves and spinning wheels, he would take a few minor injuries.

Blayden was ok. He was going to be ok.

"I'll need him to stay at the clinic for a couple of days, though," Isiah added. "Just as a precaution. He won't be exploring until further notice."

With the state that Durriken was in, Bryce did not have any plans of venturing out into the fields for the next few days anyway. As Falkner said before, the kids should hang around the city for a while, with their other teammates.

"Top floor or second floor?" Varuna asked, as he half turned away in anticipation.

"Second. Make it next to Baldur's."

"Right. I'll get it ready."

As Varuna turned to head to the second floor, Bryce slipped into the exanimation room to be with his brother.

Blayden was sat up in the single bed in the room, his left leg wrapped in thick white bandages and was propped up with a pillow underneath the knee. Smaller, lighter bandages were seen scattered about on other parts of his body. Coverings for lesser scrapes and abrasions.

His injuries appeared centred around his left leg.

"Hey, kiddo," Bryce called out softly, promptly Blayden to roll his head in his direction. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right," Blayden immediately insisted. "Just feel tired now. I think Isiah gave me something."

That would not surprise him.

Bryce stood by the bed and idly brushed down Blayden's hair as he looked over the teen once more. He trusted in Isiah's assessment, of course. Still, he was an older brother. Nothing would be able to truly satisfy his protective instincts.

"Told you I was getting faster," Blayden piped up.

Bryce rolled his eyes as he tugged lightly at a strand of Blayden's blond hair. "But not quick enough. You still got some training to do."

"Aw, slavedriver," he pouted childishly, but kept his head still, allowing for Bryce to rake his fingers through his hair.

The gentle motion of his fingers massaging his scalp was relaxing and comforting for him, but he was definitely feeling tired. Isiah or Nitish likely gave him something to calm him down. It was for the best, though. Being injured was no fun. Especially when said injuries forced you to lie still for hours.

Bryce had experience with that, unfortunately.

He was just glad that his little brother was going to be ok.

He...he was the only family he had. The only family he knew of. The only blood relative that mattered.

"Room's ready," Varuna announced as he stepped into the room and moved to stand on the other side of the patient's bed. He spent a moment reassessing Blayden's bandaged leg, nodding his head a moment later. "Now, let's get you somewhere comfortable."

Bryce immediately stepped forward to pick Blayden up off the bed. He had to be careful of his leg, so he moved slowly. Just like he did when he carried Blayden in from the street outside. Thankfully, the padding around his leg only prompted the blond to press his lips together in mild discomfort. Nothing like the whimper he uttered previously.

Blayden had definitely grown from his time spent in the labyrinths, but he was still his little brother, and Bryce could carry him easily.

Nitish was already in the room, placing bottles of medicine and rolls of bandages upon the table under the window. There was a smell of lavender in the air, helping to create a more relaxing atmosphere.

They were probably hoping that Blayden would sleep through most of his recovery. After all, he was young and increasingly active; sitting still was never his thing.

Bryce carefully placed Blayden down onto the bed, helping him to get settled into the thankfully soft bed. He propped a pillow behind his head while he placed another under his leg. Much like the position he was in previously.

Nitish turned away from the table and picked the blanket up from the foot of the bed and gently draped it over Blayden. "Try to get some rest. We can't give you anything to eat just yet as it might clash with the medicine. You can have something in a couple of hours."

"Baldur will just have to handfeed me later, then," Blayden stated with a cheeky grin.

And said prince, who Bryce had not realised was situated just outside the bedroom door, immediately flushed with a bright pink, and bristled. "Don't push your luck!" His indignant shrill only served to amuse Blayden.

It was good that the kid could still make jokes.

Bryce, however, was far from being in a jovial mood. Relieved, yes. He was thankful that Blayden was able to react in time, to push Baldur out of the way while avoiding the danger by the skin of his teeth.

But he was growing silently angry. At that carriage and driver, if there was one.

It was probably an accident, but there was a chance someone just wanted to be a joyriding punk.

Bryce slipped a hand behind the back of Blayden's head as he leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. "Try to get some sleep."

"I'm fine, Bryce," Blayden immediately replied as he sunk down into the bed.

Yeah, he was going to be fine.

Nitish followed Bryce out of the room, pausing long enough to leave the door ajar behind him. He then turned to Bryce and regarded him with his usual peaceful and placid manner. "I'll be in my room doing some research. I'll be the first to know if Blayden needs anything."

And it was likely that others will be popping their head into the room to check on him.

"Thanks, I appreciated it."

Nitish smiled gently at him before he turned and stepped into his own room, leaving his door ajar as well.

Bryce already felt the urge to check in on his brother, but he pushed it aside and made his way to the stairs.

As Bryce made his way down said stairs, he noted that Varuna and Falkner stood by the kitchen table, sharing a quiet conversation. Varuna had his arms folded across his chest, a light scowl on his face. Falkner was probably telling him what happened from his perspective. There was a strong possibility that Falkner had saw more than Bryce had. After all, his attention was focused on his brother.

Whatever Falkner was telling him, Varuna was not happy. "Just minutes after...?"

"Yeah," Falkner replied. "And I think I'm going to take a look. See where that carriage went."

"If you're going to look for the driver, I'm going, too," Bryce stated firmly as he reached the bottom step.

Falkner was momentarily startled by his interruption. "You sure? How's Blayden?"

"Resting, thankfully. He's going to try to get some sleep." And if Bryce did not leave the place for a little while, he might not get any rest with him constantly checking in on him. He then turned to Varuna. "Watch Blayden for me, ok?"

The frown on Varuna's lips unexpectedly deepened. He, however, uttered a sigh shortly after. "Alright. Don't do anything reckless."

That, he could not promise.

"I'll have him back before dinner, promise," Falkner quipped.

Bryce snorted at the mild joke, but inwardly he was grateful that the redhead was to join him. After all, if he found out that the driver had been driving like an asshole on purpose, he needed someone to pull him off the guy, after he delivered a punch or two first.

Falkner was also a hell of a lot more sociable than Bryce was, so if they needed to talk to any eyewitnesses, he would be able to get more out of them.

After taking a moment to reassure Varuna further, the two of them stepped outside. To hunt down that wayward carriage.

... ... ... ... ...

Bryce stood on the street curb; arms folded across his chest tightly as he gazed with wariness at his surroundings. He tried not to fidget as he waited for Falkner to finish speaking with the latest group of eyewitnesses.

So far, all they got were a few accounts detailing what they already knew: a runaway carriage, barrelling through the streets. Others had apparently been in the path of the carriage, some of them not as lucky as Blayden appeared to be.

After a few minutes of impatient waiting, Falkner finally waved off the small group of locals and re-joined Bryce. "Well, it seems the carriage continued on toward the outskirts of downtown. Some folk even say that they didn't see a driver. So, it's possible that the horse just got spooked by something."

Yeah, it was becoming increasingly likely.

Still, since others had been hurt by the same carriage, they needed to find it to ensure that it was just an unfortunate accident. And to ease Bryce's mind.

"Come on," Falkner urged as he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, indicating down the street behind him. "They say it went this way. Let's see if we can find it."

"Right."

The two of them fell into silence as they headed in the direction indicated by eyewitnesses. Bryce found himself more vigilant than usual, constantly checking over his shoulder. It was highly unlikely that there would be a second out of control carriage barrelling up behind them, but low statistics meant nothing when it already happened once.

As they followed the street, making the occasional stop to ask bystanders if a carriage had thundered through, they began to notice pieces of wood scattered across the paving stones. It indicated to Bryce that the carriage began to break up the further it travelled. An assumption that Falkner agreed with.

After a few minutes of walking, they found themselves near the southern outskirts of town, where water canal through the city exited. And there, on the grassy banks of the canal, was the shattered remains of a wooden structure. It clearly had not been there long. The broken tuffs of grass were a potent indicator that it had crashed recently. Hell, the wheel, the only intact thing on the whole contraption was still spinning, albeit slowly.

They had finally tracked down the carriage.

It was unlikely that there was anyone inside the thing, but they had better take a look.

"Where did the horse go?" Bryce mused aloud as they carefully made their way along the muddy embankment and toward the crashed carriage.

"From the way it was barrelling through the streets, it probably broke free," Falkner offered.

Yeah, that made sense. And hopefully it was the case. Bryce wanted someone to blame for Blayden's injuries but was not about to fault a spooked animal.

They quickly reached the carriage and began to inspect it. But the way it was damaged, there was not much for them to look at. It was not carrying anything at the time, nor any passengers. There were no smears of blood that could potentially direct to a struggle of some kind.

All indicators pointed to it being a random act of bad luck.

That did make Bryce feel a little bit better, honestly. A bit of bad luck was more favourable than being it being an act of malice, he supposed.

"Nothing special here," Falkner announced, stepping away from the broken remains as he ran a hand through his hair. He seemed satisfied with their findings.

And there was not anything else they could do, anyway.

"Let's head-"

A loud, but distant cry caused Bryce to drop what he was about to say mid-sentence. Brow furrowing, he immediately whirled around, in the direction he assumed the noise originated from.

There was nothing to be seen at first, until a slight movement from the corner of his eye alerted him to a figure staggering out from a narrow alleyway between two buildings. The figure was unfamiliar but looked masculine. They staggered forward, seemingly aimlessly.

They were dressed in dark clothing, so Bryce could not see if the guy was injured in some way or was just a drunkard attempting to bumble his way back home. Or wherever he slept at night.

Bryce was about to turn back to Falkner, to tell him that they should get back to the clinic, when he found himself pausing. The guy had stumbled their way onto the bridge that crossed the canal.

And then they tumbled over the side of the bridge, into the water below with a loud splash.

Ah, fuck!

"Shit! God damn it!" Bryce cussed as he raced to the edge of the water.

He waded in until the water reached his hips and then dove in. He broke out into a brisk freestyle, quickly making his way to the spot he last saw the guy. The water was cool, but thankfully not icy cold. But the fact that the guy had not resurfaced after his inelegant swan dive was worrying.

God damn, drunkards.

Bryce drew in a deep breath and ducked under the water. Thankfully, the water was crystal clear, even with the canal being so deep. He found the fallen drunkard easily and grabbed a handful of their collar, and with a sharp kick of his legs, he propelled them both to the surface. He broke through with a gasp, taking a moment to spit out some of the water.

With a bit of struggle, he slipped an arm around the guy's neck and chest, and Bryce proceeded to sidestroke toward the grassy embankment. Where Falkner stood, waiting for him. It was not exactly easy dragging a complete dead weight through the water. At least the guy was not trying to fight him off in a drunken haze.

After what felt like a few needlessly drawn-out minutes, Bryce finally reached the embankment. Falkner snared a hold of the guy's arm, momentarily taking the weight away from Bryce. Allowing him a few seconds to catch his breath, resting on his hands and knees on the muddy ground.

He shook off his minor fatigued and helped Falkner to drag the guy up the embankment, to the footpath. The level and solid ground allowed them to properly assess the guy, if they needed to.

Flopping the guy over onto their back, Bryce pressed his palm against the centre of the guy's chest only to quickly pull his hand back when he felt something warm. He lifted his hand and stared down at the palm, to find red splotches against the skin.

Blood?

Falkner seemed to note that the guy was bleeding, too, and without hesitation, grabbed the hem of the guy's black shirt and ripped it up to expose their stomach and chest. Where numerous slashes and tears marred the skin.

What...?

What the hell happened to him?