Dread settled in his belly as Abel slowly removed the dress and wig he had borrowed. Once they were returned to their rightful places, he slid his trousers and boots on and wandered back down the steps. He had thought about running, but without the skills to ride a horse besides spooking it and holding on for his life, he would only wear himself out and probably get lost in the process.

Noticing that the baroness had returned to her seat at the table, Abel walked over, offering a small smile. "Thank you for trying to help me, Madam. May I help your stable boy with his chores until Sir Squire returns? I do not feel well just sitting about, waiting."

The woman nodded after only a brief moment of thought. Abel quickly thanked her before darting out of the front door. The stable boy was easy to find inside of the small horse barn. He had just finished mucking the second stall when Abel caught his attention.

"Hello, my name is Abel and I would like to lend you a hand with your chores for the day."

The boy eyed him silently for a moment, then nodded as he stepped out of the stable to point toward a large stack of hay bales. "Get one of the bales down from the top and then split it between the two stalls. Sir Squire has taken the horse you brought to return it to his home, so only Madam's two geldings need fed."

Abel headed right over to the bales, grabbing a pitchfork left beside them. He carefully maneuvered the tool to pull down several large forkfuls of hay and deposit them into a nearby wheelbarrow. He was sweating in no time, but the work felt good. Refreshing.

I may be tied up or in jail later this evening, but at least I can repay Lady Lelynn for the trouble I have caused her, he thought as he worked. Once he had the wheelbarrow full, he moved it over to the first stall and opened the door, then carefully began filling the holder as the horse hurried over for the treat. It was a beautiful paint, with white and brown splotches covering it in a random pattern.

"Hello there," Abel said as he gave the horse a pat, earning a quiet snort from the animal as it continued to eat. "Not much of a talker, hm? I get it. I will stop bothering you and finish filling your hay."

Grinning, Abel did just that, then went back to add the other half of the bale to the empty wheelbarrow. He fed the remaining hay to the second horse, then went about doing whatever tasks the boy requested of him. By the time the sun had risen to signal noon, Abel was panting heavily as he finished harvesting several large bushels of grapes the boy had directed him to remove before they became overripe.

"Abel!"

Hearing the boy call for him, Abel hefted into the wheelbarrow the large armful of grapes he currently held and hurriedly pushed the load up to the small building where the grapes were turned into wine. Once he had deposited the wheelbarrow inside, he closed the doors and hurried over to where the boy stood in front of the barn. As he got closer, Abel noticed the small tray in the boy's hands.

I hope that is lunch. I am starving!

Thankfully, his assumption had been correct. When he got close enough, the boy nudged the tray into his chest, forcing him to take it. On the tray was a plate stacked with several slices of cooked beef and onions. Beside the plate stood an apple and tall glass of wine, easily twice the size of what would normally put him out for the night when his father allowed him a rare drink.

"Thank you for bringing me a meal. Do you think Madam Lelynn would mind if I ate in the barn?"

The boy shook his head, assuring Abel that she was busy and would likely not be able to meet him at the table anyway. Relieved, Abel made his way up into the hay loft, carefully balancing his tray of food while allowing his legs and feet to help him on the way up. He then returned for the glass of wine he had left below, not wanting to risk spilling it on the way up if were to fall from the tray. It made little sense to go up into the warmer area, but he just wanted to be away from everything for even the short span of his meal. As he settled down in a soft bed of straw, which the stable boy had clearly made for random naps between work, Abel slowly began to pick at his meal. The beef was bland, with just pepper sprinkled atop it after it had cooked. He didn't mind, though, food was food when you were as hungry as he. When he had finished the meat, he moved on to the onions, enjoying their slightly burnt taste. His father had never let him have them before because they made one's breath smell terrible, even though Abel was told that they tasted quite good when cooked.

When the wine and apple were the last things on the tray, Abel took the fruit and leaned back in the straw, munching slowly as he listened to the horses down below. Soon after the apple disappeared, he began nursing the glass of wine. It was surprisingly sweet, with a hint of bitterness after swallowed.

Delicious!

Downing several more gulps, he sighed, content to feel the warmth of the liquid relax his body. He remained in the loft as the sun began to lower itself in the sky, waiting for the boy to return and give him another task to complete. When he didn't appear, Abel finished off the other half of his glass of wine, then settled in for a quick rest.

Surely the stable boy will come get me when I am needed.

Several hours later, Abel awoke to the sound of conversing outside of the barn. The first voice he recognized as Lady Lelynn, the other soon pushing its way through his hazy mind as Kirin's. The actual words they were saying were lost to him due to the wine still coursing through his veins. Instead of trying to concentrate on them, he looked around the dim loft, the minuscule light now allowed him to see barely a few feet in front of him, coming from the lanterns the stable boy had no doubt placed below him in the stable, their light sneaking through the cracks of the worn wooden floor. He wasn't sure what he was even looking for, but when a glint of light caught his eyes, he quickly crawled over to a small sheathed dagger nestled in the straw but a few feet away, which he'd used to cut the grapes earlier.

It must have slipped from my pocket.

"Abel?" Kirin's voice called from just below him, making Abel jump and nearly fall over as the loft seemed to spin around him. He didn't respond and instead picked up the small weapon and stared at its sharpened blade after removing it from its sheath.

I do not want to go to jail for murder. I am no criminal.

Sighing, he lifted the blade gingerly to his neck. When he felt the cold metal off-center, he forced himself to focus through the haze in his mind to reposition the weapon correctly.

Even if I do not lose my life by some miracle, I will likely lose a hand, if not both.

Neither option seemed worth remaining for. He could kill himself and be done with the worry and fear. There would be little pain, and he would bring his hands with him to wherever his soul dispersed to. After pushing through another reforming cloud of alcohol, Abel tightened his grip on the dagger and started forcing it against skin.

He thought that he was cutting through his own neck, but when he felt no pain, he slowly began to realize what had happened. His mind was far more unfocused than he had realized, because he had not even noticed Kirin stumble up behind him and slip his hand between the dagger and Abel's throat. Slowly, he stopped adding pressure to the dagger, allowing Kirin to carefully take the blade from him with his bleeding hand and toss it aside.

"Dear god, Abel," Kirin whispered as he tugged him into his arms. Abel could tell that it was more to restrain him from trying to get the knife back than to comfort him. "You reek of wine."

Observant.

Abel tried to form words, but for some reason, they were only manageable in his mind. Whatever slurring jumble came out of his mouth, it was definitely unintelligible, judging from the look he was getting.

"Alright, you have had your fun with a good drink. Time to get going."

After Kirin wrapped his hand in a bit of cloth he'd pulled from his pocket, he reached over and carefully tugged Abel into his arms. The trip down the ladder wasn't easy, but Abel did his best to hang on around Kirin's neck. The wine didn't help, but he did manage to hold a small bit of his weight off of Kirin's arm as he used the other to slowly get them down from the loft. When Kirin's boots finally hit the floor of the barn, Abel noticed the blurry figures of Lady Lelynn and her stable boy standing by the entrance.

"What happened to your hand?" the baroness questioned, her voice intentionally lacking worry.

"Just a mishap with a small dagger. Will you sew the wound, Madam?" Kirin asked as he walked out of the barn, still carrying Abel with one arm.

"...Fine, but only because it will cause you pain."

Sighing, Kirin shook his head, and they all made their way up to the house. The stable boy led the way, a lantern in his hand to allow them enough light to prevent tripping over random holes or roots in the ground. When they got back to the house, Abel's stomach rumbled loudly, smelling dinner cooking in the kitchen.

"Yes, yes, young man. I have made supper, and you are welcome to it once it has finished cooking," Lady Lelynn said with a small smile.

Abel looked forward to it, but before he was even told what they would be dining on, Kirin interrupted. "We will be leaving after you have finished stitching my hand."

When Kirin took the middle seat at the table and put his hand atop it, palm up, Lady Lelynn smirked. "Then I suppose I will work on your hand once Abel's belly is full."

"By god, woman, can you not just accept that I am doing my job?"

The woman rolled her eyes as Abel snuggled into Kirin's lap, not bothering to try to free himself but instead just wishing to get comfortable.

"Of course, Lawman Squire, but that boy has been the one a crime has been committed toward, not his father or his daughter."

Kirin seemed to bite his tongue on a response, cutting off whatever he had been about to say. He waited nearly a full minute before finding a reply he thought would work better.

"That is not for me to decide, my lady. Now will you please sew up my hand before I bleed out on your dinner table?"

The baroness turned, a wooden spoon in her hand. "You will stay for supper?"

Sarcasm dripping, Kirin replied with a pointed look at the woman's table. "Are we having blood?"

Lady Lelynn glared and began turning back to the cooking food on the stove, forcing Kirin to growl out. "We will stay until he has eaten. That is all."

"Very good," the woman said before hobbling over to the table and dropping into the seat beside him. After fishing through a small box set off to the side, she pulled out a needle and thread, then got to work without a word of warning. Abel felt Kirin's arm tighten around his midsection, where it had been holding him since they sat down. He wasn't sure why he wrapped his arms around Kirin's neck in a reassuring hug, but when the man's arm loosened around his waist and slowly rose to press against his back, Abel figured that it was the right thing to do.

When Lady Lelynn finally finished stitching up the wound, the food had cooked and she had her stable boy fill four plates with vegetables and pork. As soon as his plate was set in front of him, Abel dug in, munching on the mushy squash and peas hungrily. He had turned back around and, since all of the seats were taken, remained on Kirin's lap as the man slowly ate around him, using his uninjured hand.

"So, now that you have your fugitive back, what do you aim to do with him? Also, how did you figure out that it was him masquerading as my granddaughter? I thought he had been doing quite well."

Abel forced himself not to react to the question and instead just focused on the few remaining pieces of squash on his plate.

"The way he gets when he cooks and also when he defended himself at the table gave him away. Of course, that and the fact that he admitted that he had dressed as a female previously."

Lady Lelynn nodded. "What is to be done with him?"

When Kirin answered, Abel wished he was still feeling the effects of the wine.

"The magistrate was still waiting at my home when I returned, but he had gotten a message from the person he'd put in charge of the jail. Because his daughter has still not been found, Sir Hallerd wishes to press for the death penalty by cage."

Abel wasn't sure what death by cage meant, but when he remembered the skeletons hanging in the cages by the dock, being pecked at by vultures and gulls, he had a feeling that he was suddenly sure what was to be his fate. His stomach heaved, giving him only enough time to stagger to the waste basket before he lost everything he had just eaten into it.

Father would have me pecked to death while burning from the sun in a hanging cage for leaving his plan.

It was not a question but a mere fact. Just thinking about it made him gag repeatedly, even though his stomach was empty of even bile by then. His eyes were also watering as his nose dripped. The only thing keeping him up besides his shaking arms was the firm appendage he felt wrapped around his middle.

"Surely you cannot think to condemn the boy to such a thing! He is innocent! Have you not questioned his father about Abel's side of the story?"

The arm around his waist tightened slightly, telling Abel that it was Kirin who held him and not the stable boy. "How would you expect that to help? He said he has a birth certificate for a female, not a male. He is the one who delivered her. No one has ever seen him with a boy. Even his maid said that Ariella was a female."

For the first time in a long while, Abel felt anger surge through him. His maid had been the one person who had always helped him. Cheered him up when he felt down. Told him that one day he would be free of his father. Now he felt defeated. If his maid would not stand with him, then he had absolutely nothing to prove who he was. Except for the truth. Though that obviously will not help.

Despair sank into his bones as he accepted his fate. His father had planned very well, it seemed. He could do nothing but try to run again, yet there was really no hope in that course of action. He wondered if his father had not taught him how to ride a horse more to keep him from being able to ever get away from him or law enforcement, over the idea that it was unladylike to ride astride.

"I give up."

He hadn't realized that Lady Lelynn and Kirin were talking heatedly until they suddenly fell silent. Kirin leaned down a moment later, tugging Abel against his chest so that he could see his face as he spoke.

"What was that, Abel?"

Feeling his stomach churn again, Abel swallowed and rested his head against Kirin's chest, exhausted. "I am done. I have nothing left to say about my situation. If I am to be punished, then so be it."

Abel could have sworn that he saw a look of worry pass over Kirin's face, but the man quickly steeled his expression and nodded as he helped Abel to his feet.

"We will be leaving now. Thank you for your hospitality, Madam."

Feeling nauseous, Abel let Kirin help him stagger from the room that appeared to sway in front of his eyes. Once outside, they stopped in the dirt beyond the porch and Kirin whistled for his mount. The animal, a pure white gelding, came galloping out of the grape vineyard, a vine dangling from its lips to denote its thieving activity. Kirin just shook his head as he took the animal's reins. Without a word, Abel carefully reached up and managed to hop on, sliding his foot into the stirrup to help swing his other leg over the large beast's back. Kirin was quick to slip in behind him as soon as Abel slid his foot from the stirrup so Kirin could use it. Once they were both ready, the lawman spurred the horse on its way, back through the forest that Abel had emerged from but a day earlier.

"We will ride through the night. I told the jailer to meet me at the facility because Lady Lelynn's land is far closer to it than my own."

Abel didn't respond, feeling no need. He instead focused on everything moving past them as the horse began a slow trot onto a path through the forest. He noted several different kinds of trees, bushes, and vines. Each one had a specific characteristic that made them unique.

Odd. I have never thought to look so closely at plants that could yield no nutritional value.

He also noticed several different kinds of birds. Most appeared normal at first, but then he realized that one had a slightly longer beak than another. While a second bird's colors were far darker than a third's. One that caught his attention the most was a beautiful bird with feathers the color of fire and a call that sounded like the crackling of a blaze built high in the hearth.

"Abel?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Abel glanced over his shoulder at Kirin.

"You have not responded to anything I have said to you for the past several hours. Are you still feeling ill?"

Now that it was brought to his attention, his stomach did still feel unsettled, but not enough so that he might lose control of it again. However, he had no interest in conversing with the man, so he just replied with a simple "Yes," before turning to face forward once more.

"Do you need to rest? We can take a few moments..."

"No" was Abel's dull reply.

It was clear that Kirin was bothered by his response, but when the horse continued at a steady pace, Abel knew that he had decided against stopping. It was a relief, and as they rode into the dark night, Abel let himself return to his perusal of the animals and plants he was able to see. Kirin asked if he needed a break two more times before giving up. The only time they ended up stopping was right before the jail came into view in order to relieve themselves.

When Kirin was finished, Abel was already up on the horse, balancing as best he could without the man's arm around his waist to help. As soon as Kirin was back up on the horse, his arm firmly around Abel's belly, he got them back on their way. When they were only a few acres away from the jail, Kirin leaned over and tilted his head slightly, trying to get Abel to meet his eyes.

"I am sorry that things had to come to this, Abel."

Slowly, Abel turned his head enough to meet Kirin's gaze. He had tried hard not to let them slip, but the tears refused to remain at bay when he saw that one of the cages hanging over the wharf had been lowered and its previous skeletal occupant removed.

Home, sweet home.

They came to a stop in front of the jail. The magistrate was already standing outside, sweating profusely because of his large girth. "Squire! Good on ya! Ya found the murderous brat!"

Abel flinched at his words, frowning as he carefully slid from the horse. The magistrate grabbed hold of his arm and immediately began dragging him toward the empty cage by the water.

"Wait! He gets a last meal," Kirin shouted behind them.

The magistrate snarled something under his breath about a dead man needing no food, but forced himself to stop and turn, jerking Abel to face toward Kirin and the jail.

The lawman offered his hand to Abel with a small smile. "He or I normally cook the last-request meals, but I am sure you would like to cook your own, right?" Kirin asked.

Blinking back more tears, Abel slowly shook his head. He was done prolonging his torture. He would begin to be starved, dehydrated, and pecked to death around sunrise, and if he could skip the meal and make the overall process quicker, he would.

"Looks like 'e don't want nothin'. Good, I like a man that don' waste food."

Kirin looked torn, but Abel was in no mood to humor him, even if it would allow him a short time in a kitchen before he died. For once, the magistrate was right. It would be a waste of food and prolong his life by a minuscule amount, which would only serve to torture him further. He allowed the giant man to lead him down to the dock and even climbed into the small cage without any command to do so.

"'E's the easiest one I had fer awhile, Squire. T' bad the father o' the lass he killed wants 'm dead. Even paid a hefty sum fer us t' split if you ended up regaining the lad."

Kirin's eyes widened as the magistrate slammed the door to Abel's cage shut and then began boisterously hoisting it with a rusty chain wrapped around a circular leverage system.

"Abel..."

Ignoring Kirin's voice, Abel turned and curled himself up just enough to lie down in the cage as it slowly rose from the ground. The sun would be up soon, so he figured he should enjoy the cool breeze and crisp night air before he melted beneath the oncoming heat.

"Abel!"

He was high enough to force Kirin to shout over the sound of the waves around them, as well as the calls of gulls, trumpeting to others that there was a new meal being hoisted up for them. Abel didn't bother getting up or trying to look at the lawman, but he did finally respond as he closed his eyes.

"Enjoy your reward, sir. You have earned it justly."