"Gabe!"
Victoria hadn't expected to see him here, of all places! Why wasn't he in Klain? How did he come so far, alone?
The halflings turned to her in unison.
"One of your group?" Tom asked.
"No, he wasn't with us before. He's Finn's brother, you remember Finn? Who helped break the curse to free you from the Void's slavery?" Victoria bit her lip to keep from saying too much. If they knew she cared a lot about him, it might drastically change the dynamic of the negotiations and discussions at hand.
She only cared about her life so much. If they wanted to put Klain in danger over her, she wouldn't care to fight for herself. However, with Gabriel in the mix, that equation became much more complicated.
"I see." Bran said, in his typical monotone. "Why is he here?"
Victoria wanted to ask what they would do. Would they be all right?
"I have no idea why he's here," She said honestly. "Did you use the sleeping herbs on him? Is he injured?"
She hoped so, dearly. If he was merely asleep, that would be one thing. If they'd hurt him, or he'd knocked himself unconscious somehow, that would be quite another.
"I don't think he's hurt," The female halfling shrugged. "He was trying to take a drink of water from the stream."
"Trying?" Victoria asked with concern. Though they were all watching her, she got up and walked over to Gabriel. She tried to hide her fear, not let her emotions show. Better not to show them how much leverage they had over her now.
"Well, he'd just gotten a handful of water when I blew the herbs at him. He didn't even see me under the low branches of that pine." The tiny woman said. "You humans never think to look for us. As if we're nothing."
"He probably just didn't expect halflings this far North," Victoria felt the need to defend him.
She kneeled down, pulling his head onto her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair, looking for bumps or other signs of injury. He seemed all right, from what she could tell. Just, asleep. She sighed with relief, and leaned closer as Gabriel's lips began to move.
"Where is she?" He mumbled, his brow furrowing.
"Human who talks in his sleep? How ridiculous." Bran shook his head.
Victoria's heart leapt. Had Gabriel been out looking for her? Had he somehow known she was in danger, and come this far, just to make sure she was all right?
"Where is she?" He repeated. "Where's Evey?"
Victoria's eyebrows shot to her hairline. Who was Evey?
"Who is that?" Tom glared at Victoria. "Are there more humans around?"
"I have no idea who that is," Victoria shrugged. "It's no one I've ever heard of."
Had he met someone after she left? Fallen in love, even?
"His mate, perhaps," Bran tilted his head. "Humans are very protective of their mates."
Victoria pressed her lips together and refrained from comment. It had been weeks since she'd seen Gabriel, not years! Surely not that much could have happened… right?
Maybe leaving had not been such a wonderful plan. She thought of how much had changed in Klain while Kyler and Shayn were on their surveying trip. People were married, babies were born… and they missed it all! Victoria didn't want to miss anything important just for the sake of adventure.
Especially if adventure was going to land her in the captivity of some grumpy halflings.
She stared down at Gabriel's unconscious face. He seemed concerned about Evey, whoever she was. Her heart ached, oddly. Shouldn't she be happy? If Gabriel met someone and married, wouldn't that be like getting another sister? More family?
A pit in her stomach told her otherwise. She didn't like the idea. It hurt to contemplate. She swallowed, not liking the sensation. It felt similar to when she'd seen Gabriel dancing with Simone at Kyler and Shayn's welcome home party, though she didn't have a name for it then.
Now that Gabriel was potentially showing great care for a girl who Victoria didn't even know, the emotion returned in full force.
Jealousy?
"He's fine, we need to tie him up before he wakes. He may not be as cooperative." Bran shot Victoria a look, and she obediently slunk away. Besides, she didn't want Evey, whoever she was, to stumble upon the crew and see Gabriel's head resting in Victoria's lap. Or did she?
No. As much as it would hurt, she wanted Gabriel happy.
She scooted away and sat leaning against the base of a tree, examining and nursing her wounded feelings. Which weren't even legitimately wounded! He could have been having a dream about nothing! Evey could be some patient he'd been tending recently!
A very pretty patient. She frowned. Why was her mind so mean to her today? What had she done to deserve that?
The halflings tied him up and blindfolded him. He continued mumbling softly, nothing intelligible. Victoria watched him anxiously while trying to nonchalantly gaze into the trees. She could tell from the halflings' expressions that she wasn't fooling any of them.
It took longer than she wanted it to for the sleeping herbs to wear off, but they must have used a smaller dose. It was less than an hour before Gabriel began to shift and make the motions of waking.
She tensed as he groaned and pulled at the ropes tying his hands behind him. She could tell the moment it dawned on him that he was a captive. His breath caught and held. She wanted to call out and reassure him, but the dark looks from the halflings warned against her interference.
They had questions they wanted answers to, and her interruptions would be unwelcome at best, and severely punished at worst. Victoria held her tongue.
"What is your name?" Tom asked first. Victoria glanced at him. This was clearly a test. If Gabriel answered differently, one or both of them would be thought of as a liar.
"Gabriel," The man said after a moment. "Who are you?"
"That is not important," Tom waved off the question. "What is your purpose here?"
"I'm… searching." Gabriel hesitated on the answer.
"For Evey?" Tom asked, squinting.
"How do you know her name? Do you have her? You didn't hurt her, did you?" Gabriel's words came out in a rush, and Victoria's heart sank.
"We want to know more about your relationship to her," Tom probed. The halflings didn't love, but they apparently knew it was powerful. This was not the first time Victoria had heard them talk about how much human men would do for their mates.
"Pardon?" Gabriel seemed confused, and Victoria relaxed a little.
"Does Evey share your bed?" Tom leaned closer.
Wow! Tom really got right to the point, didn't he? Victoria shook her head. That was an insanely impertinent question, and she knew that Gabriel was a gentleman. The audacity to even ask it!
"You mean my bedroll? Well, yes. I told her she wouldn't fit and it would be too small for the two of us, but it gets cold at night. I tried to keep her out at first, but she kept managing to get in with me." Gabriel answered. "I have to admit, it keeps us both warmer."
Victoria's jaw almost hit the ground. Surely she'd heard wrong. Her face burned red in rage and she leapt to her feet, ready to give him a piece of her mind, but Bran's scathing look reminded her to keep quiet. She clenched her fists, wanting to throttle her childhood friend.
How could he?
"How long?" Tom asked.
"How long what?" Gabriel countered. "Please take this blindfold off. I'm happy to answer your questions, but it's hard when I can't see who I'm talking to. I don't have anything particularly confidential to say, especially in this line of questioning."
The halflings all glanced amongst one another, and Victoria sent Tom a pleading look. If they were planning to get in good with the king of Klain, as she had proposed, it made sense to become friends with Gabriel.
Victoria watched the halfings signal eachnother about the idea. So far, at least, he was alone, and not dangerous. If he proved otherwise, then they could hit him with more sleeping herbs and make a hasty escape with his horse as a prize.
Tom took a deep breath and whispered with Bran. The two nodded, and the latter stepped forward.
"Try anything crazy, and there will be repercussions," He warned.
"Understood, thank you," Gabriel nodded. "I appreciate the consideration."
With a sigh, Bran removed the blindfold carefully, stepping back out of reach as soon as it was off. Victoria wondered at the caution; the man lying on the ground still had his hands tied behind his back and his feet bound. It wasn't like he could do much of anything.
She stepped back into the shadows, suddenly not anxious to talk to him after what he'd just revealed.