Dragon Prince: Chapter Four
Dragon Prince
Chapter Four
“Where did you get that?” Soojin asked the next morning as they set out once more.
“Micha gave it to me,” the prince’s fingers rose to slide along the cord at his neck.
She hummed in understanding. “Don’t lose it,” she told him softly. He nodded his agreement.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“East.”
“My father’s kingdom runs to the Wild Forest in that direction,” he said, mentally recalling the layout of the land as he had been forced to memorize it years ago.
“Yes,” Soojin answered simply.
“I have never seen it,” he told her as he gazed at the land surrounding them.
“There is a lot that you haven’t seen, Prince.”
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
“Soojin,” a small voice asked from just beside the wagon. Hyunjoong lifted himself and leaned so that he could see the owner of the voice. It was Micha, who was nearly running in effort to keep up with the wagon. “Can I ride with you and the Prince?”
Soojin nodded and handed the reins to the prince. He held them loosely as she bent and lifted the child up to the bench to ride with them. Once the little girl was settled between them, the woman took the reins back from Hyunjoong.
“Good morning Micha,” the prince said politely.
She smiled at him. “Good morning Prince.”
“Hyunjoong. You can call me Hyunjoong.”
She giggled and nodded. “My mother said I wasn’t allowed to know your name. She said I was too little to call you by your name.”
“I don’t think you are too little,” he disagreed. “Can you say my name?”
“Yes, Hyunjoong,” her mouth formed the name easily and she beamed at her accomplishment.
“Then you are old enough to say my name,” he told her.
She nodded and reached into her pocket. From it she removed several balls of cord and a small pouch. After a moment of contemplation she set three of the balls aside on her lap as well as the pouch. “Do you want to make Links with me?” she asked him offering him a ball of teal cord.
“Sure,” he accepted the ball and she smiled.
“Now you have to pick two others that go with that one,” she gestured to the brightly colored lumps in her lap. The prince studied the cord and held it along several of the different balls comparing the colors. His look of concentration amused her and she giggled as he made his selections. Once he had removed a deep blue ball and a black one she tucked the rest back into a deep pocket. “Do you have a knife?” she asked him.
“No. Surprisingly they don’t give prisoners knives,” he said with a smile.
“That is dumb. Even prisoners need to protect people sometimes. Mother says everyone has to carry a knife but I can’t have one yet because I’m too little,” Micha replied. “Soojin can we use your knife.” Smiling the older woman reached into her pocked and removed a small knife in a brown leather sheath.
“Thank you,” Micha said brightly as she accepted it from her. She placed the item on her skirt and picked up one of her balls of cord. “Now you have to measure out two arm lengths. I have to measure out four because my arms are shorter than yours. Mother says pretty soon I will only have to measure three because I’m getting bigger,” as she spoke she unwound some of the cord and displayed how to measure it out with an arm. Hyunjoong copied her motions with a look of concentration, only measuring out as much as she told him and tying a knot at the measured place.
He followed her lead from one ball to another, measuring all to be exactly the same length. Once they were all laid out she lifted the little knife from her lap. Carefully she pulled it free of its protective covering and lifted one of the lengths of cord. “You have to be very careful with the knife,” she said seriously as if instructing him. “Never cut towards yourself, and wait until you don’t think there will be a bump.” She then demonstrated by cutting the cord just below the knot. “See just like that.”
Micha then cut her other two cords and slipped the knife back into its protective covering. She held it out to him and Hyunjoong accepted it, fully aware of Soojin’s gaze studying him. He quickly sliced through the cord, and handed the knife over the little girls head to its owner. As she pocketed the object, Soojin nodded as if satisfied.
“Now,” Micha continued as she tucked both of their balls of cord back into her pocket and picked up the strands she had cut. “You tie them together like this,” she demonstrated a simple knot at the top and Hyunjoong copied her motions. “Then you do this,” she showed him a quick series of knots that took the prince three tries to copy correctly. Even then he got lost somewhere in the process of creating the next knot.
“You don’t do this very often, do you,” she said. Her little voice had a hint of frustration in it.
“I have never done something like this,” he told her honestly as he looked at his mess of cord in his hands.
She heaved a large sigh as if this was going to be quite the task she was taking on. Micha took the cords from his hands and straightened them. “No, this is how you do it,” she said seriously and he watched as her little hands demonstrated the series of movements again.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
By the time they stopped for lunch, Micha had a tightly and beautifully created Link. Hyunjoong, on the other hand, was only half of the way complete and spent more time taking out what he had done at her instance, then making any sort of progress. As they stopped, mostly for the benefit of the horses, Hyunjoong took the opportunity to put the craft aside and stretch his legs.
Micha very seriously had told Soojin that she would, “Accompany the prisoner and make sure he didn’t try anything funny.” Soojin had nodded as if the phrase that the little girl had obviously heard elsewhere was the most important task for the day.
When Hyunjoong jumped to the ground and began to walk down the line, her little footsteps followed him. He wondered again why it was that no one seemed to intent on watching him or chaining him in any matter. Granted there were just rolling hills in every direction, but had he wanted to make an escape he could have several times.
As they walked down the line of wagons and gypsies who were caring for their horses and eating a light lunch he studied them. Children and youngsters played alongside the wagon, the younger ones enjoying the temporary break from confinement. Older children rested in the shade the wagon cast beside it, taking a break from the long day of walking that they had been doing so far. Young men and women alike, climbed down from horse back to stretch their legs and care for their mounts. Hyunjoong found two of the men whose wagon he shared among them.
“This is such boring country,” Jungmin lamented, leaning against a brown horse that was busy grazing and nibbling on a bit of dried fruit himself.
“Not even a wolf in sight to protect the herds from,” Hyungjoon lamented from the ground where he was sprawled. “There is no action; I can’t wait until we get to the forest.”
“Oh look. The prince has lifted his royal rump from his new throne,” Jungmin said with a smirk as he approached. Hyunjoong ignored the man in favor of studying the variety of beasts that were gathered between several mounted riders. It was a strange herd to say the least, but with the variation of animals in it, it would be ideal for the clan to obtain food and other goods from.
“I’m making sure he doesn’t run away,” Micha said proudly.
“You are,” Jungmin said with a grin. “Well you are the best one for the job. Make sure he doesn’t try anything,” Jungmin told her.
“I will,” she replied.
“Good,” he nodded and stretched before swinging back into the saddle effortlessly. “You should probably be taking your prisoner back. The wagons are starting to move again.” Hyungjoon groaned and stood, moving to his own horse.
She nodded. “Come on Hyunjoong. We can’t be left behind,” she said very seriously reaching for his hand. He closed his hand around tiny fingers and she tugged him back towards the direction of Soojin’s wagon.
It only took him a few strides to catch up with her and smile as he realized that her little legs would never keep up with the pace the horses set. He leaned down and scooped her into his arms, lifting her among childish squeals and settling her on his shoulders. Her little hands found their way into his hair as handholds and she giggled. “Forward!” she declared, pointing towards the processions in front of them. He grinned, grabbed onto her legs securely and took off at a run after their ride.
Jungmin, from the back of the horse, shook his head at the squeals of joy that followed their trail.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
The next morning, Hyunjoong climbed from the wagon and stretched limbs stiff from sleep. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon and from their travels so far he guessed that there would be a good half an hour before anyone other than the handful of gypsies that were keeping watch and preparing breakfast would wake. It was a half of an hour he planned to use wisely.
Although he had only been a captive for two days, his body was already beginning to feel the restlessness of not keeping with his routine. On top of that, he missed the weight of his sword, something he always carried unless he was in his room or, of course, in festival garb. That was something he could do nothing about. Even with as lax as the gypsies had been with their containment of him, he highly doubted that they would be willing to put a weapon in his hands. His body however, that was something he could deal with.
He began with a strange hopping lope around the wagon to awaken and loosen his muscles. When he had completed it, he began to work through a series of stretches. They were so ingrained in his being from having been performed since the time he could walk, that he had no trouble paying attention to the life of the camp around him. He noted that as the sun rose, the gypsies began to rise as well.
As expected it only took a few more minutes until the heard the jingle of jewelry and the small footsteps that accompanied them. He opened his eyes and looked through his spread legs as he leaned over and stretched. There crouched and turned so that her head was nearly upside down, was Micha. “What are you doing?”
“Stretching,” he told her calmly, closing his eyes and shifting his body to stretch along the line of one of his legs with his hands around his ankles.
There was the sound of shuffling and a few small grunts beside him. When he turned his head, Micha was stretched out in a position mimicking him and looking at him. “Why are we stretching?”
“It is good for your body,” he told her and switched to the other leg.
“Oh,” she said simply and copied his action. For the next few minutes she followed his every motion, trying as hard as she could to get her little body into the same positions as he was.
“What is going on here?” Jungmin’s voice identified him as he approached.
“We are stretching,” Micha told him proudly, twisting her little body around and sitting on one hip just as Hyunjoong was. “It is good for our bodies.”
“It is, is it?” he said with a smile. “You shouldn’t follow the prince. He is a bad man.”
Micha jumped to her feet and stomped, her stretching forgotten. “Hyunjoong is not a bad man. He is a good, nice man.”
Hyunjoong smiled amused and continued stretching as Jungmin shook his head. “Good man or bad man, you should be helping your mom. She was looking for you.” He turned her in the direction of her home and patted her lightly on the butt. She offered the prince a last hesitant look before running off. Jungmin watched her go before turning a hardened look on the man still on the ground. “I don’t know what you are doing exactly but it won’t work.”
“How do you know that, if you don’t know what I am doing?” Hyunjoong asked simply.
Jungmin took a step forward until he was standing threateningly over the other man. “If you hurt a hair on her head you will regret it, prince or not.”
“I think I am the least of her worries,” Hyunjoong replied calmly.
“What does that mean?” Jungmin snapped.
Hyunjoong didn’t get a chance to answer before Jungmin was called away by his mother. He offered the prince another hard look before turning and answering his mother’s call.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
By the end of the week, Micha had created a pocketful of what she called Links. Hyunjoong had successfully finished his on the second day and although it turned out well enough he had chosen not to join her in the creation of more. To his surprise and amusement, she had insisted on riding with him on Soojin’s wagon all week. She answered his every question just as easily as the older woman did and it seemed to amuse the clan matriarch that Micha couldn’t believe he didn’t know these things already.
Their early morning workouts had continued. Micha had even taken to rising a bit earlier so she could finish her morning chores and then come to join him for stretches. After the first morning Jungmin joined them as well. Although he never joined in on the stretches, he sat nearby and watched them closely as if trying to decide what Hyunjoong’s plan was. From the point of the second morning on, Hyungjoon joined them as well and the pair made a game out of naming the different stretches increasingly ridiculous names as the prince performed them.
Kyujong made infrequent appearances throughout the week, the majority of them during meal times. Even less frequent was the appearance of Youngsaeng. By the third day the only time he saw the man was in the wagon when they all laid down for sleeping. Kyujong was always there with him at that time, the two of them wrapped together in blankets in a way that Hyunjoong knew was intimate. Although Youngsaeng rarely spoke, or even opened his eyes near the end of the week, Kyujong was nearly constantly murmuring to him.
Hyunjoong had gotten so used to not seeing the man that had once been in his dungeon, that he was rather surprised to see him up and about a week after his capture. Although Youngsaeng was out, he wasn’t exactly altogether coconscious. The man sat on horseback, with Kyujong in the saddle behind him. The healer’s arms were around Youngsaeng and gripping the reins while Youngsaeng leaned into his body. The prince studied the strange sight and the look of worry on Kyujong’s face.
“Hey, get up here,” Jungmin’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Mother says we have to take you.” He reached down a hand, offering it to the prince who grasped it and used it to swing up onto the horse behind Jungmin.
“We need to go,” Hyungjoon said as his horse shifted beside the other two. Kyujong nodded and urged his horse forward at a sedated walk.
“Why are you bringing me? Where are we going?” the prince asked. At the slow pace they had started out on he had no trouble keeping his balance on the horse.
“Mother said that we should probably stay at a walk until we are out of sight of the wagons. They will move on towards the forest later tonight. How long does he have?” Jungmin asked, ignoring the questions that the prince had posed.
“Two hours tops. He is fighting as hard as he can and there is nothing more I can do for him,” Kyujong’s voice was filled with worry and his horse skittered to the side as if sensing his unease.
Hyunjoong studied the man whom had, only a week before, been chained in his castle. He knew that although the man had gained several wounds, none would have been serious enough to create a reaction in him like this. The guards were professional. They would never kill a captive just from a beating. There must be something else they had done, something they had intended to reverse but had never gotten the chance. “Something was done to him,” Hyunjoong murmured.
“Brilliant observation,” Jungmin snapped. “What was your first clue?”
“It’s the collar, isn’t it? It is doing something to him,” Hyunjoong brain began racing at a mile a minute to all the possibilities.
“Oh look the prince is great at figuring out that. Now only if we could have put his deductive skills to work on getting the collar off,” Hyungjoon commented.
Together the horses walked over the hill and vanished from the sight line of the clan. Kyujong leaned forward and whispered to Youngsaeng. There seemed to be a motion of understanding pass between them, a feat which Hyunjoong felt should have been impossible due to the state of the man.
“Obviously it is not something that just anyone could take off otherwise you would have and whatever it is doing you can’t fix either,” Hyunjoong continued his line of reasoning.
“Obviously,” Jungmin replied dryly. “Now if I were you I would shut up and hold on.” Hyunjoong had just enough time to throw his arms around the other man’s waist before the horse beneath him lurched forward and settled into a dead run.
Chapter Five
Masterlist
AN: So I have been a crazy writing machine. I cranked out like four chapters over the weekend and earlier this week, so that means that you guys can have another chapter. Is anyone really going to complain that I am updating a little early? ^_^
Chapter Four
“Where did you get that?” Soojin asked the next morning as they set out once more.
“Micha gave it to me,” the prince’s fingers rose to slide along the cord at his neck.
She hummed in understanding. “Don’t lose it,” she told him softly. He nodded his agreement.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“East.”
“My father’s kingdom runs to the Wild Forest in that direction,” he said, mentally recalling the layout of the land as he had been forced to memorize it years ago.
“Yes,” Soojin answered simply.
“I have never seen it,” he told her as he gazed at the land surrounding them.
“There is a lot that you haven’t seen, Prince.”
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
“Soojin,” a small voice asked from just beside the wagon. Hyunjoong lifted himself and leaned so that he could see the owner of the voice. It was Micha, who was nearly running in effort to keep up with the wagon. “Can I ride with you and the Prince?”
Soojin nodded and handed the reins to the prince. He held them loosely as she bent and lifted the child up to the bench to ride with them. Once the little girl was settled between them, the woman took the reins back from Hyunjoong.
“Good morning Micha,” the prince said politely.
She smiled at him. “Good morning Prince.”
“Hyunjoong. You can call me Hyunjoong.”
She giggled and nodded. “My mother said I wasn’t allowed to know your name. She said I was too little to call you by your name.”
“I don’t think you are too little,” he disagreed. “Can you say my name?”
“Yes, Hyunjoong,” her mouth formed the name easily and she beamed at her accomplishment.
“Then you are old enough to say my name,” he told her.
She nodded and reached into her pocket. From it she removed several balls of cord and a small pouch. After a moment of contemplation she set three of the balls aside on her lap as well as the pouch. “Do you want to make Links with me?” she asked him offering him a ball of teal cord.
“Sure,” he accepted the ball and she smiled.
“Now you have to pick two others that go with that one,” she gestured to the brightly colored lumps in her lap. The prince studied the cord and held it along several of the different balls comparing the colors. His look of concentration amused her and she giggled as he made his selections. Once he had removed a deep blue ball and a black one she tucked the rest back into a deep pocket. “Do you have a knife?” she asked him.
“No. Surprisingly they don’t give prisoners knives,” he said with a smile.
“That is dumb. Even prisoners need to protect people sometimes. Mother says everyone has to carry a knife but I can’t have one yet because I’m too little,” Micha replied. “Soojin can we use your knife.” Smiling the older woman reached into her pocked and removed a small knife in a brown leather sheath.
“Thank you,” Micha said brightly as she accepted it from her. She placed the item on her skirt and picked up one of her balls of cord. “Now you have to measure out two arm lengths. I have to measure out four because my arms are shorter than yours. Mother says pretty soon I will only have to measure three because I’m getting bigger,” as she spoke she unwound some of the cord and displayed how to measure it out with an arm. Hyunjoong copied her motions with a look of concentration, only measuring out as much as she told him and tying a knot at the measured place.
He followed her lead from one ball to another, measuring all to be exactly the same length. Once they were all laid out she lifted the little knife from her lap. Carefully she pulled it free of its protective covering and lifted one of the lengths of cord. “You have to be very careful with the knife,” she said seriously as if instructing him. “Never cut towards yourself, and wait until you don’t think there will be a bump.” She then demonstrated by cutting the cord just below the knot. “See just like that.”
Micha then cut her other two cords and slipped the knife back into its protective covering. She held it out to him and Hyunjoong accepted it, fully aware of Soojin’s gaze studying him. He quickly sliced through the cord, and handed the knife over the little girls head to its owner. As she pocketed the object, Soojin nodded as if satisfied.
“Now,” Micha continued as she tucked both of their balls of cord back into her pocket and picked up the strands she had cut. “You tie them together like this,” she demonstrated a simple knot at the top and Hyunjoong copied her motions. “Then you do this,” she showed him a quick series of knots that took the prince three tries to copy correctly. Even then he got lost somewhere in the process of creating the next knot.
“You don’t do this very often, do you,” she said. Her little voice had a hint of frustration in it.
“I have never done something like this,” he told her honestly as he looked at his mess of cord in his hands.
She heaved a large sigh as if this was going to be quite the task she was taking on. Micha took the cords from his hands and straightened them. “No, this is how you do it,” she said seriously and he watched as her little hands demonstrated the series of movements again.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
By the time they stopped for lunch, Micha had a tightly and beautifully created Link. Hyunjoong, on the other hand, was only half of the way complete and spent more time taking out what he had done at her instance, then making any sort of progress. As they stopped, mostly for the benefit of the horses, Hyunjoong took the opportunity to put the craft aside and stretch his legs.
Micha very seriously had told Soojin that she would, “Accompany the prisoner and make sure he didn’t try anything funny.” Soojin had nodded as if the phrase that the little girl had obviously heard elsewhere was the most important task for the day.
When Hyunjoong jumped to the ground and began to walk down the line, her little footsteps followed him. He wondered again why it was that no one seemed to intent on watching him or chaining him in any matter. Granted there were just rolling hills in every direction, but had he wanted to make an escape he could have several times.
As they walked down the line of wagons and gypsies who were caring for their horses and eating a light lunch he studied them. Children and youngsters played alongside the wagon, the younger ones enjoying the temporary break from confinement. Older children rested in the shade the wagon cast beside it, taking a break from the long day of walking that they had been doing so far. Young men and women alike, climbed down from horse back to stretch their legs and care for their mounts. Hyunjoong found two of the men whose wagon he shared among them.
“This is such boring country,” Jungmin lamented, leaning against a brown horse that was busy grazing and nibbling on a bit of dried fruit himself.
“Not even a wolf in sight to protect the herds from,” Hyungjoon lamented from the ground where he was sprawled. “There is no action; I can’t wait until we get to the forest.”
“Oh look. The prince has lifted his royal rump from his new throne,” Jungmin said with a smirk as he approached. Hyunjoong ignored the man in favor of studying the variety of beasts that were gathered between several mounted riders. It was a strange herd to say the least, but with the variation of animals in it, it would be ideal for the clan to obtain food and other goods from.
“I’m making sure he doesn’t run away,” Micha said proudly.
“You are,” Jungmin said with a grin. “Well you are the best one for the job. Make sure he doesn’t try anything,” Jungmin told her.
“I will,” she replied.
“Good,” he nodded and stretched before swinging back into the saddle effortlessly. “You should probably be taking your prisoner back. The wagons are starting to move again.” Hyungjoon groaned and stood, moving to his own horse.
She nodded. “Come on Hyunjoong. We can’t be left behind,” she said very seriously reaching for his hand. He closed his hand around tiny fingers and she tugged him back towards the direction of Soojin’s wagon.
It only took him a few strides to catch up with her and smile as he realized that her little legs would never keep up with the pace the horses set. He leaned down and scooped her into his arms, lifting her among childish squeals and settling her on his shoulders. Her little hands found their way into his hair as handholds and she giggled. “Forward!” she declared, pointing towards the processions in front of them. He grinned, grabbed onto her legs securely and took off at a run after their ride.
Jungmin, from the back of the horse, shook his head at the squeals of joy that followed their trail.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
The next morning, Hyunjoong climbed from the wagon and stretched limbs stiff from sleep. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon and from their travels so far he guessed that there would be a good half an hour before anyone other than the handful of gypsies that were keeping watch and preparing breakfast would wake. It was a half of an hour he planned to use wisely.
Although he had only been a captive for two days, his body was already beginning to feel the restlessness of not keeping with his routine. On top of that, he missed the weight of his sword, something he always carried unless he was in his room or, of course, in festival garb. That was something he could do nothing about. Even with as lax as the gypsies had been with their containment of him, he highly doubted that they would be willing to put a weapon in his hands. His body however, that was something he could deal with.
He began with a strange hopping lope around the wagon to awaken and loosen his muscles. When he had completed it, he began to work through a series of stretches. They were so ingrained in his being from having been performed since the time he could walk, that he had no trouble paying attention to the life of the camp around him. He noted that as the sun rose, the gypsies began to rise as well.
As expected it only took a few more minutes until the heard the jingle of jewelry and the small footsteps that accompanied them. He opened his eyes and looked through his spread legs as he leaned over and stretched. There crouched and turned so that her head was nearly upside down, was Micha. “What are you doing?”
“Stretching,” he told her calmly, closing his eyes and shifting his body to stretch along the line of one of his legs with his hands around his ankles.
There was the sound of shuffling and a few small grunts beside him. When he turned his head, Micha was stretched out in a position mimicking him and looking at him. “Why are we stretching?”
“It is good for your body,” he told her and switched to the other leg.
“Oh,” she said simply and copied his action. For the next few minutes she followed his every motion, trying as hard as she could to get her little body into the same positions as he was.
“What is going on here?” Jungmin’s voice identified him as he approached.
“We are stretching,” Micha told him proudly, twisting her little body around and sitting on one hip just as Hyunjoong was. “It is good for our bodies.”
“It is, is it?” he said with a smile. “You shouldn’t follow the prince. He is a bad man.”
Micha jumped to her feet and stomped, her stretching forgotten. “Hyunjoong is not a bad man. He is a good, nice man.”
Hyunjoong smiled amused and continued stretching as Jungmin shook his head. “Good man or bad man, you should be helping your mom. She was looking for you.” He turned her in the direction of her home and patted her lightly on the butt. She offered the prince a last hesitant look before running off. Jungmin watched her go before turning a hardened look on the man still on the ground. “I don’t know what you are doing exactly but it won’t work.”
“How do you know that, if you don’t know what I am doing?” Hyunjoong asked simply.
Jungmin took a step forward until he was standing threateningly over the other man. “If you hurt a hair on her head you will regret it, prince or not.”
“I think I am the least of her worries,” Hyunjoong replied calmly.
“What does that mean?” Jungmin snapped.
Hyunjoong didn’t get a chance to answer before Jungmin was called away by his mother. He offered the prince another hard look before turning and answering his mother’s call.
‡†‡†‡†‡†‡
By the end of the week, Micha had created a pocketful of what she called Links. Hyunjoong had successfully finished his on the second day and although it turned out well enough he had chosen not to join her in the creation of more. To his surprise and amusement, she had insisted on riding with him on Soojin’s wagon all week. She answered his every question just as easily as the older woman did and it seemed to amuse the clan matriarch that Micha couldn’t believe he didn’t know these things already.
Their early morning workouts had continued. Micha had even taken to rising a bit earlier so she could finish her morning chores and then come to join him for stretches. After the first morning Jungmin joined them as well. Although he never joined in on the stretches, he sat nearby and watched them closely as if trying to decide what Hyunjoong’s plan was. From the point of the second morning on, Hyungjoon joined them as well and the pair made a game out of naming the different stretches increasingly ridiculous names as the prince performed them.
Kyujong made infrequent appearances throughout the week, the majority of them during meal times. Even less frequent was the appearance of Youngsaeng. By the third day the only time he saw the man was in the wagon when they all laid down for sleeping. Kyujong was always there with him at that time, the two of them wrapped together in blankets in a way that Hyunjoong knew was intimate. Although Youngsaeng rarely spoke, or even opened his eyes near the end of the week, Kyujong was nearly constantly murmuring to him.
Hyunjoong had gotten so used to not seeing the man that had once been in his dungeon, that he was rather surprised to see him up and about a week after his capture. Although Youngsaeng was out, he wasn’t exactly altogether coconscious. The man sat on horseback, with Kyujong in the saddle behind him. The healer’s arms were around Youngsaeng and gripping the reins while Youngsaeng leaned into his body. The prince studied the strange sight and the look of worry on Kyujong’s face.
“Hey, get up here,” Jungmin’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Mother says we have to take you.” He reached down a hand, offering it to the prince who grasped it and used it to swing up onto the horse behind Jungmin.
“We need to go,” Hyungjoon said as his horse shifted beside the other two. Kyujong nodded and urged his horse forward at a sedated walk.
“Why are you bringing me? Where are we going?” the prince asked. At the slow pace they had started out on he had no trouble keeping his balance on the horse.
“Mother said that we should probably stay at a walk until we are out of sight of the wagons. They will move on towards the forest later tonight. How long does he have?” Jungmin asked, ignoring the questions that the prince had posed.
“Two hours tops. He is fighting as hard as he can and there is nothing more I can do for him,” Kyujong’s voice was filled with worry and his horse skittered to the side as if sensing his unease.
Hyunjoong studied the man whom had, only a week before, been chained in his castle. He knew that although the man had gained several wounds, none would have been serious enough to create a reaction in him like this. The guards were professional. They would never kill a captive just from a beating. There must be something else they had done, something they had intended to reverse but had never gotten the chance. “Something was done to him,” Hyunjoong murmured.
“Brilliant observation,” Jungmin snapped. “What was your first clue?”
“It’s the collar, isn’t it? It is doing something to him,” Hyunjoong brain began racing at a mile a minute to all the possibilities.
“Oh look the prince is great at figuring out that. Now only if we could have put his deductive skills to work on getting the collar off,” Hyungjoon commented.
Together the horses walked over the hill and vanished from the sight line of the clan. Kyujong leaned forward and whispered to Youngsaeng. There seemed to be a motion of understanding pass between them, a feat which Hyunjoong felt should have been impossible due to the state of the man.
“Obviously it is not something that just anyone could take off otherwise you would have and whatever it is doing you can’t fix either,” Hyunjoong continued his line of reasoning.
“Obviously,” Jungmin replied dryly. “Now if I were you I would shut up and hold on.” Hyunjoong had just enough time to throw his arms around the other man’s waist before the horse beneath him lurched forward and settled into a dead run.
Chapter Five
Masterlist
AN: So I have been a crazy writing machine. I cranked out like four chapters over the weekend and earlier this week, so that means that you guys can have another chapter. Is anyone really going to complain that I am updating a little early? ^_^