Doom : Train

If Hav Bach were luring Arnal into a trap, he had plenty of opportunities. This valley was the last of them. Once he and Hav on the train, they’d be beyond the checkpoint that blocked the Headless Mountains off from the rest of Kargast. But while the rest of Threatening Valley was open and quite arid, the train station was built deeper into the chasm that birthed the Orgetos River. 

Danno told him about the station’s unique placement in passing once, placed to circumvent the giant castle made of clear plastic which blocked the higher areas. Arnal disliked the humidity of Eskern, Kargast, and nothing but a rickety, poor-running train that was late for its arrival kept him chained to this spot.

The trees were dense, smooth-leaved, wrapped in vines and supported by a festering undergrowth. Arnal could not have known this was but a fragment of the Iron Horseshoe Koid, more of a copse or gathering of trees than a real forest. He had not grown up around trees, and frankly, he didn’t like that he could hear and feel them breathing. He could feel the breath of the rushing water below through the spray which rose and lathered the rocks in clear water. 

“Of course I can hear the trees,” Hav had said, “we’re from the trees after all. The Deii.”

“I thought your people came from the cave waters.”

"That’s a superstition. Yes, we did roost in caverns before our migratory flight,” Hav responded wistfully, invoking a folk memory Arnal had no way to verify. “But we are like the thousand-armed, we came from the trees.”
“Hm. I wonder what that’s like,” Arnal said.

They reached the station and Arnal steeled himself for an ambush. He wasn’t confident he could take on all of Tyl Hen’s henchlings at once in a crowded place, but in a barely maintained train station in the middle of the woods, well, that was a different story. But none of the few waiting passengers at the station were acting out of place. It was just noisy enough, not too calm but not too crowded. Arnal sensed no threat. He relaxed his shoulders.

“Finally, you relaxed,” Hav breathed out a nervous chuckle, his voice still low for safety’s sake. “Did you really expect I would entrap you?”

Arnal glanced up at the sky, a hint of sun spread over the sliver of rock on which they stood awaiting the train. “You can’t blame a cautious man in this day and age, darling.”

Hav lowered his wide, glittery eyes, and smiled warmly enough that Arnal’s cheeks caught a flush. He said nothing else, nor did Arnal, until the train approached. Even beyond the gorge, the whistling, clinking, clanging, and ringing – there was no mistake their escape route would come to completion. Arnal let his shoulders relax a little more as the front of the train howled into sight, surrounded by vaporous clouds of steam. He inhaled quickly, exhaled, and then Hav grabbed him lightly by the wrist with his delicate fingers. Indicating that he had something to tell him. 

The train roared by them and shuffled loudly and carelessly into the station, and his voice was inaudible, but Hav’s breaths against Arnal’s ear told a story anyway - as did his fingers leaving Arnal’s wrist. 

“Get on the train first, then I’ll hand you the luggage.”

Arnal made a noise of confusion as more passengers gathered around them. He noticed Hav’s hand on his satchel - the satchel that contained everything he owned. Hav had always respected Arnal’s wishes until now, until this moment.

Until this very moment.

“I only have two rules,” Arnal lowered his body into a tangle with Hav’s in the small attic room, the one place they could be alone. “Don’t touch me in public.”

“Not a problem,” Hav shifted his head to the side coyly, wrapping arms around Arnal’s neck. “So what’s the second?”

“Don’t ever touch my weapons.” He gestured to the satchel he kept, pulling away from Hav for a moment before returning to their embrace, “or my belongings.”

Their eyes met, Arnal’s eyes narrowing dangerously on instinct, Hav’s widening with panic.

“Please, Arnal, take the train and begone!” 

The train settled into the station, and using the momentum of the emerging passengers, Hav grabbed Arnal’s bag and shoved the taller man into the crowd. It took Arnal a moment to even register what had happened- that Hav had cut the strap of his satchel with his talons, that he had pushed him into a crowd of confused, rushing people and a cacophony of noise, and that the man who had freed his heart was bolting in the opposite direction.

His lips parted in shock, expression cruel and remorseful, acting on his remaining instinct as the crowd toyed with him. Arnal forcefully shoved the surrounding passengers out of the way and ran against the current to catch up to Hav- but however quick Arnal was, Hav was faster, and he had already left the station. The Eremos prince was gasping for breath as he chased after his lover, not from exertion, nor even panic. Instead, his confusion was slowly being sated by realisations which felt like a projectile was shattering his heart into pieces with each one.

Bang.

The exit door to Threatening Station slammed shut, Hav’s blurry silhouette disappearing behind it, and suddenly it felt like all familiarity had been sucked out of Arnal’s personal space.

Bang.

The train doors slam shut with an ear-splitting screech, and hiss of steam escaping, of foreign tongues and presences. Arnal burst through the exit, and with a final

Bang

He stumbled into the slippery, moist undergrowth of the dark and hostile forest which led to horrors unknown, a prison deeper than the darkest abyss. There was no light filtering through the towering canopies, only their imposing presence and restless rustling. Arnal had no idea which way to go, as with the final bang, the hurried footsteps had tapered off, and had been replaced with a soft and quivering sob that reminded him of a wounded songbird.

He had never heard such a sorrowful and piteous cry, and it was as precious as it was repulsive to his ears. It traveled past the light rustling and rush of the river below, masking the approaching footsteps.