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Innes cursed eloquently as his back hit the hard rock of the sheer cliff behind him. Everyone seemed to be busy elsewhere and the Gorgons had him walled in on all sides. One swipe of the smallest's tail and his bow went flying out of his hands, nulling any hope of him getting out of this thorny situation on his own. He was going to kill Ephraim for suggesting they fight the outbreak of fiends on Neleras Peak, even if it had been a good idea.

"If I manage to survive," he thought out loud as the largest of the sisters advanced on him.
He couldn't avoid her golden tail and it wrapped around his legs and the lower portion of his torso. As she leaned in to leer at him he managed to work his arm free and punched her in the nose. She hissed in fury and began to cast her dark magic. Innes writhed in the grip of her armored tail, which only tightened around him in response to his movements. He wouldn't die if he was hit, he had good resistance to magic, but he'd be royally screwed if he couldn't get away before the other two struck him as well.

He scowled and bared his teeth in anger, mostly at himself for being weak enough to let this happen. The Prince of Frelia wasn't supposed to have any weaknesses, yet here he was in the grasp of Gorgons waiting to die because he wasn't strong enough to break free. His trained ears could tell she was almost done with her spell, he'd heard the incantation enough times that he could recognize when it was coming to an end. Another sound assailed his ears, the pounding of hooves on the cracked stone. He didn't have to wonder long who'd come to save him, as a sharp jeweled lance head emerged from the slithering temptress's face. Her tail grew lax with death and he pulled himself free of it. He was almost instantly plucked from the ground and lifted onto the the rear of the powerful steed he knew it had to be.

'Of all people, why did it have to be Ephraim?' He lamented to himself.

"Hold on, Innes," his savior instructed gently as he readied his lance again.

He was about to protest when the stallion below him surged forward and he was forced to wrap his arms around the blue-haired prince's waist to keep from having a nasty fall. This close, he could smell Ephraim's unique scent; a mixture of sweat, blood, iron and something purely male that the other couldn't quite place. It was making him heady and he was once again faced with the entirely inappropriate feelings he had for his rival.

Out of an entire army, he just had to fall in love with the Prince of Renais. It was so ironic he wanted to kick something. For quite a while he'd hated the man he was currently clinging to, because the lance-wielder was everything he wasn't. He was gentle, compassionate, humble, extremely kind and had great strength of body and character. He read somewhere 'What is hate but love twisted?' which had proved sadly true. Shortly after they started fighting together, Innes realized the reason he'd hated the other prince was because he couldn't accept the fact that he was in love with him. The tightening in his chest and his shortness of breath from being so close to the leader of the army had nothing to do with hatred, he knew that much.

"Innes, the battle's over. You can let go now, I'll get your bow for you if you'd like. I'm sure Sol wouldn't mind carrying double if you want to ride back to Rausten with me," Ephraim offered, turning in the saddle to look at the silver-haired man behind him.

L'Arachel saw her chance, "You really should rest Innes, after that close call you had. You can either ride with me or Ephraim."

He grunted, riding with the green-eyed princess would be ten times worse than riding with Ephraim. The loud woman would do nothing but rant on and on, and would call him a pervert if he had to wrap his arms around her waist to stay mounted, or tell him he should have held onto her when he fell off.

"I'll ride with you, Ephraim," he answered with his usual coldness.

The future king of Renais nodded before dismounting gracefully and retrieving the lost bow, handing it to him before remounting. The Sniper secured it over his shoulder.

"Ready to go?"

He nodded and wrapped his arms around the toned abdomen of the man in front of him again and even allowed himself to lean forward enough so he was resting on the other's back. They left at a light canter, the intelligent steed picking its way among the outcroppings and pits easily. Innes' brown eyes slid closed as the smooth gait lulled him. He noticed something odd, when he was near Ephraim he felt safe. If he wasn't so sleepy, he probably would have laughed at how ridiculous that sounded.

He awoke to someone shaking him softly by the shoulder. When he opened his eyes he recognized the room as being the one he was given to sleep in while they stayed at the palace, and apparently he was in bed. He sat bolt upright when he laid eyes on who had woken him.

"Oh, good, you're awake. You fell asleep during the ride here. I wanted to just let you rest, but L'Arachel told me to wake you just to make sure you aren't injured or ill."

Not only had he fallen asleep on his longtime rival, but the blue-eyed man had also carried him to bed? Innes didn't know whether to kick himself for his lapse in judgement when he let himself relax, or just be entirely embarrassed with the whole situation. Blue eyebrows furrowed with concern when the archer didn't answer.

"You are feeling well, aren't you?"

Of course he wasn't, he wanted to die right about now, "I feel fine. Thanks for helping me...and carrying me here."

If the Greatlord noticed the way he choked out the last sentence, he didn't show it. "No problem, I'll always be there for you Innes."

The Frelian prince found himself blushing madly at the other's words.

"Oh, your face is flushed, do you have a fever?"

He had removed his gloves when he came him so he simply reached up to feel the other's forehead. Which only served to embarrass him more.

"You seem fine..." He said as he drew the hand back, mildly confused.

"Yes, I'm lovely, now could you please leave so I can get some rest?"

He was probably being a little cruel, but he just wanted the lord out of his room before he could further humiliate him unintentionally.

"Oh, sorry," Ephraim apologized, unperturbed.

He picked up his gloves from the bedside table and smiled before turning to leave.

"I almost forgot, Innes..."

The still-blushing man had turned away to avoid eye contact with the other while he left, but he turned towards him again, curious as to just what he could have possibly forgotten.
"What, Eph-"

Soft lips met his for an instant, then Ephraim pulled away, eyes twinkling.
"See you, Innes!" He said breathlessly as he beat a hasty retreat.

The silver-haired man was left open mouthed and wide eyed, trying desperately to bat down the feelings brought on by the action. Did Ephraim actually feel the same way or was he just playing with Innes' heart? He flopped back onto the irritatingly comfortable bed, shoving a pillow into his face in aggravation.

The next day they headed out to the Lagdou ruins to clean up a small percentage of the hordes that resided within. The ancient ruins were infested at all times with monsters horrific and fell, believed to be some of the strongest on the continent. Legends said they even housed reanimated corpses of dragons on the lowest level. Every month the bishops and other powerful magic users ventured to the forsaken place to eradicate the enemies on the first few levels, to ensure they didn't get so great in number that they tried to march on the capital. This time the army was going to do it for them, since they still didn't feel they were quite strong enough to face Lyon they were going to enter what locals called the pit of hell and kill the monsters as further training.

Innes caught glimpses of Ephraim every once in a while, but the other prince seemed intent on avoiding him. By the third level they were struggling to defeat the enemies without taking losses. Even the normally gung-ho princess of Rausten opted to retreat after they exterminated the enemies on this stage. They weren't very far along in the battle when a Wight appeared from the side and unlocked a door that had confined three Gwyllgis and a Gorgon in the room. As the hellhounds rushed out all but Ephraim, Cormag, Gerik, and Innes moved out of range. The former three remained because they had high enough speed and defense to handle the powerful and fast beasts, and the latter one because he was taking out the Gorgon on the other side of the wall that had attempted to turn Cormag into stone.

The Sniper gasped audibly as the Greatlord was torn from the saddle by one of the three-headed dog's magnificent lunge. The beast landed with his right shoulder still held tight in his maw. His lance clattered to the ground twenty feet away, his numb hand having lost its grip midair. The hellish creature bit down harder, causing him to cry out in pain. It dropped him, one massive paw on his chest to hold him down while it studied him. It liked to play with its food, apparently. It watched the blood flowing out of the wound with interest.
Even though his senses were clouded with pain from the burning bite marks, the prince could see that both Gerik and Cormag were absorbed fighting the other two dogs, leaving only Innes to help him.

'After what I did to him yesterday, he''d probably be glad if I got killed. He has no reason to save me,' he thought to himself dismally.

Meanwhile the expert Sniper was trying to find a way to kill the creature currently salivating over the man he loved. At this range, there was only one kind of shot that had any hope of making it, and it was a shot only he could make. He pulled Nidhogg out of his quiver where it had been stored and strung it, he knew the sacred bow would land a killing blow. He knocked an arrow and aimed it upward, carefully calculating the trajectory needed. He let the bolt loose and prayed to any higher power that might be listening that it landed true.

Blue eyes went wide as an arrow fell from the proverbial sky and went through the neck of the Gwyllgi. It fell over, dead on the spot, it's spinal column having been cleanly severed. He knew who the arrow belonged to, only one person could have made such an impossibly difficult shot and struck the mark, but he had trouble believing it. L'Arachel's physic staff healed his shoulder and he walked over to pick up his lance again. Sol trotted up and he mounted his horse again, seeing a certain brown-eyed archer walk up to him.

"You certainly could've handled that better," Innes began coarsely, then more quietly added, "You gave me a bit of a scare."

Had Innes just said he'd been worried about him?
"I'm sorry, I lost hold of my lance. Thank you, you saved my life."
"Well, you saved mine yesterday."

The blue-haired man's spirits fell considerably. So Innes didn't really have feelings for him, he was just repaying the favor.

"Yeah," he returned simply, visibly crestfallen.

'He looks like a lost puppy when he's sad. It's just so...adorable,' the other though to himself as the lanceman eased his horse forward to reenter the fray.

"I almost forgot, Ephraim..."

Fearing the worst he turned to look at his companion, "What Innes-ack!"

Ephraim's bewilderment at his old rival pulling him down by the arm was quickly replaced with blissful amazment as their lips met again.

"I love you too," the frelian said with a smirk as he pulled away slightly.

Already almost all the way out of the saddle and faced with this wonderfully surprising turn of events, he lost his grip on the horse and fell.

"Ephraim! Get off me you clumsy oaf!" Innes complained, the other sprawled on top of him.
There was none of the normal mocking or venom in his voice now, just irritation.

As the one on top began to comply with his request, blushing cutely, Innes just couldn't help himself. He pulled the larger man down for another kiss. Kissing Ephraim felt so right, like the comforting weight of a bow in his hands. The Greatlord deepened the kiss and Innes was only too happy to oblige. As he explored every inch of the knight's mouth he found it hard to ignore the nagging feeling that they really should get back to fighting. As delicious as Ephraim tasted, he knew they'd have to stop soon. He was really going to too, until a gloved hand wound into his silken hair and held him there.

None of the others minded, in fact, they were all giving each other high fives out of the princes' sight. The three princesses had devised this complex plan to get the two to own up to their feelings for each other after the girls noticed the way the pair looked at each other. The rest of the group had gone along with it without protest, since it seemed the whole army knew they were in love. The trio figured leaving each one at the mercy of some foul beast would cause the other to rescue them without hesitation, and if not the rest of the army would be in range to come to their aid. They would be forced to face the fact that the reason they were so committed to helping the other was because they were completely head over heels.

Tana, Eirika, and L'Arachel congratulated everyone for a job well done and they finished off the remaining enemies on the level. The two lords rode back together, and somehow Ephraim never made it back to his room that night after he was seen going into Innes'.