The Sting Of Bitter Stars

[Yukio Takamiya]

Finn arrived in town half a day later and stopped in front of the physician's where Deniz had gotten his bandages. Deniz by this time was unconscious and had no way of calling out to the physician. Instead, Finn let out a loud neigh and stomped his hooves to alert the man in the shop. Moments later, the door opened,"what is all this ruckus?!" The physician stopped and looked at Finn wide eyed. Finn turned his body to reveal Deniz and the physician brought him in.

 

When Deniz woke up, his arm had been cleaned and redressed but his fever hadn't gone down. It was almost dark, was Urval safe? "You're awake young man

[Kyte]

Urval gazed down at the ring of bounty hunters below him. They didn't appear to be as hard-boiled as the types that he and Deniz met days prior. Most likely civilians... villagers... Despite their inexperience though, they were thorough, and with the aid of a lantern they easily saw through Deniz's hanging doll trick...

 

It didn't look like they were going to leave anytime soon... He wasn't safe here. Urval checked around, looking for a means to escape. The most he saw were the hay bales, and the ladder he pulled up after him. He'd had to get creative.

 

Sneaking along the loft, taking care he wasn't heard, Urval collected a sizable amount of hay bales from the pile, taking them to the ledge, just above the intruder's heads. He picked up the ladder, gauging the distance on the floor, while his formulating plan solidified into something that felt alot more foreseeable.

 

He breathed in anticipation, steadying his nerves, now waiting for anyone from the group below him to get into proper position. When he spotted one meandering about beneath him, Urval raised his foot up to the bales, and kicked off the plan.

 

The hay bales landed on top of the man with a hard 'whoomp!', and he toppled to the ground. The others turned in confusion, and Urval saw his chance. Wielding the ladder, he vaulted from his perch, dropping down to the barn's entrance, rolling outside just as he hit the dirt. The prince got back up swiftly, pulling the doors shut to seal the hunters in.

 

Urval picked up a rusted prying bar from the ground, sliding it firmly within the handles of the barn doors, fixing them shut. The doors banged, as the men inside slammed against it, trying to escape. Not wanting to take chances of the barn's security, Urval fled the scene, leaving the farm behind him, bolting off into the inky blackness of the night.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Deniz woke up that morning with a start. He remembered the uneasiness he felt last night before losing consciousness, it wasn't to be taken lightly. He glanced at his left hand which seemed to be recovering since the pain wasn't too extreme. Deniz hurriedly flung the covers asay from his body and got up. His fever had gone down and it was time to leave. The physician seemed to be asleep but Deniz placed the fee on the table before leaving the place. Finn was waiting outside ready to be mounted having already been fed and rubbed down by the physician. Deniz mounted Finn and took off.

 

He arrived at the barn as quickly as he could and dismounted in front of the closed doors. Something seemed to have changed, Deniz spotted the prying bars lodged between the door handles. Then he heard the shouting of unfamiliar voices, so something had happened. Deniz cursed, how could he have slept so soundly after feeling so uneasy. Where was Urval? It was undoubtedly the prince who had trapped the bounty hunters, but how far had he gone with no supplies at all. Deniz took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his face covering his nose and mouth before drawing his sword.

 

He removed the prying bar and kicked open the door so that the bounty hunters fell back. Deniz took one look at them and scoffed, they were novice hunters. Villagers to be more precised, how could they use blunt and cheap swords as a weapon. When they attacked, Deniz easily overcomed them with a few swift slices of his sword. Although they were just villages, they had to be silenced. Blame them for sticking their noses into royal business, if word got out about where Urval could possibly be, their demise might come sooner.

 

Deniz hurriedly mounted Finn again and rode towards the forest. Urval would most likely run in that direction if he wanted to lose the hunters had they escape from the barn. But it looks like the prince overestimated them, they hadn't been able to get out at all.

[Kyte]

Fumbling his way through the woods, Urval left alot of distance between himself and the barn. Or at least, he hoped he had... The wilds of the local forest had no discernible tracks or paths to follow, and as far as he could see, each tree was practically identical to the next one.

 

He tried his best to travel in a relatively straight line, but the occasional fallen trunk, or rocky outcrop forced him into taking a whole other direction. He couldn't say where he came from, much less where he was even going. This didn't lessen his shock however, when he felt the ground disappear underneath his footstep, and he fell.

 

There was a short cry, before the prince landed face-first in a soft pool of mud.

 

Urval groaned, as he tried to pick himself off from the ground, wincing while he moved his foot. He looked up to take note of his surroundings, discovering that he fell to the muddy depths of an deepened quarry. Urval brought a sleeve to his face, feebly trying to rub away the muck from his face. This had been the first time he had stopped since he escaped the barn... He couldn't go on like this...

 

What was he even doing here? He had bolted into the woods with no supplies, no clue where he was going, and he far too exhausted to even get up from sitting in the mud. Urval stared blankly at the shadow his body drew upon the soppy ground, feeling more and more hollow, as he continued to think in solitude.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Deniz and Finn hadn't stopped since they entered the forest. Deniz just hoped that he could move faster than Urval on Finn, he cut through every obstacle in his way with his sword and eyes constantly wide open searching for any signs of the prince. Just why was Urval so troublesome? Deniz always seemed to have to look for him. Most of the trees blocked out the sunlight, it made it even worst if Urval couldn't see clearly where he was going. "Urval!" Deniz called out, his voice hoarse from shouting the prince's name over and over again.

 

Finally, Deniz heard a cry after more searching and cutting of vines and roots. He raced towards the direction of the cry calling the prince's name again. He finally came to a large quarry where he saw Urval already half submerged in the muddy water. Luckily, Urval was close to the forest grounds. Deniz cursed and jumped off Finn, going into the water, he dragged Urval out of the water with his good arm wrapped around the prince's torso. Collapsing to the ground, Deniz didn't know what went through him. Unexpectedly, he hugged Urval tightly,"God! Why do you always have to make me worry?" He gritted out. His bandage was muddied and that was the least of his problems, they were also lost in the forest.

[Kyte]

Urval looked up, hearing his name being called. He saw Deniz splashing into the mud, coming towards him. Deniz had miraculously came to save him, yet again. He hooked an arm over the older man's shoulder, his other arm making a pitiful paddle along with Deniz, feeling too exhausted to put any helpful effort. He was drudged up to the shoreline, coming back to solid land.

 

Urval prepared himself for admonishment, maybe even a lecture.

 

He was surprised when Deniz pulled him in a tight hug. He felt his heart clench at the contact, and the words Deniz said to him.

 

"Don't..." He tried to push Deniz away meekly, ducking his head down, so the older man wouldn't see his eyes welling with tears. He wasn't allowed to do that. To make it seem like he didn't care, and then suddenly embrace him as if he felt any sort of affection for him. He hadn't even met Deniz until some nights ago; he even threatened to kill Urval within that same hour of their first meeting. Urval was completely through with enabling Deniz's contrary behavior of him.

 

"You should have left..." He sniffed, his hands smearing the mud on his face as he tried to hide his sorrow. "It can't be worth it, right? All I do is invite trouble, invite hurt..." Urval's shoulders shook, as he fought to contain himself. He just couldn't let himself break down in front of Deniz. "I'm not worth all of that. I can't possibly..."

[Yukio Takamiya]

Deniz felt himself being pushed away but he wasn't surprised. He shouldn't hugged the prince in the first place. His body just took over and before he knew it, his arms were around the prince. "You do invite trouble, plenty of it in fact,"Deniz admitted bluntly. "But I don't anything about hurt," he said quietly and turned his head away from the prince. He didn't know why the prince said that he caused hurt but that was a story for another time. Seeing Urval's muddied face, Deniz almost went to clean it. But looking at his own muddied hands, he figured that he would only make it worse.

 

"You should smear your face with mud in future,"he said trying to lighten the atmosphere even though it didn't fit his personality. "If I can't recognise you, then I'm sure no one else can,"this part was true. With parts of the prince's face covered in brown, Deniz could barely tell who he was. If it was totally covered, no one would know who he was. But Deniz was sure that he would incur many mock laughters.

 

Deniz stood up and grabbed the prince by his arm before hauling him up. "We'd better get out of here before nightfalls or we wouldn't be able to see a thing," he said and went towards Finn, Urval's forearm in his grasp.

[Kyte]

Urval snorted. "I'll make a note to roll around in every sty I see..." He sniffed, combing his caked hair out of his face, breathing a deep sigh, trying to calm himself down.

 

He let Deniz pick him up, he was far to enervated to put up any resistance for his pride. He winced a little when he put weight on his left foot; he hoped it felt worse than it really was. "Do we even know where we are?" He asked Deniz, as he directed him towards Finn. "I can't even remember which way the barn is..."

[Yukio Takamiya]

Urval's wince didn't go unnoticed by Deniz. He looked at the prince's swollen foot and frowned. He probably hurt it when he fell. Sighing, Deniz placed his hands under Urval's armpits and lifted him up onto Finn, grunting when the muscles of his injured arm protested in pain. "Apparently, we don't,"he replied shortly. "But we don't have a choice unless you want to stay the night here. I wouldn't mind personally." He grabbed the reins and started walking, Finn followed with Urval on his back.

[Kyte]

Urval kept a firm grasp on Finn's mane, keeping himself secure on the horse's back. After all those hours he spent absconding, he could feel the ache of his sore muscles, as Finn loped beside his master.

 

"Would it be wise to spend the night out here without shelter?" Urval questioned, as he surveyed the woods. "What if there are hunters out here? Or wild predators?"

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Well, I could sacrifice you to save myself. What is there to worry about?" Deniz said, a smile playing on his lips but hidden from Urval. He hacked at the undergrowth with his sword and strained his eyes to view the forest better under the dim light. If there were wild predators, they probably wouldn't survive. His arm had started to sting again, being wet and dirty. Hunters probably wouldn't enter the forest at this time unless they were courting death once night fell. "Just stay alert and keep your eyes wide open and we'll be fine," hopefully.

[Kyte]

Urval sighed, as he surveyed from his perch on Finn's back. He could hardly see anything within the thick trees, and dense ferns of the forest, and it looked like it was only getting darker. He wasn't convinced that this was the safest place to be at nighttime, though he realized that they seemed to have very little choice, as the scenery grew blacker by the moment.

 

His worries only grew, as a shroud of mist began to lift from the forest floor. Now that the temperature was dropping, the humidity was working against them. "It's getting harder to see anything..." He stated the obvious.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Deniz let out a sigh and watched as a wisp of white fog escape his mouth. It was indeed getting cold. "I can see that,"he grumbled, his mood once again plummeting. The last light was diminishing and they were still in the middle of no where. Deniz stopped walking once they reached the cover of a large tree. He reached up to help the prince down but his arm protested strongly this time. Grunting, Deniz almost dropped Urval but made sure that the prince was sitting on the ground properly before clutching at his wound painfully.

 

After a while, Deniz unwounded the dirty bandage and wiped the mud away from his wound softly. He wrapped it up with a clean piece of cloth after that.

 

Deniz squatted down in front of Urval and lifted his foot, slowly removing his shoe. His brows pointed down when he saw the seriousness of the sprain. "The medical supplies were left in the barn, I'm afraid there's no ointment for the swell,"he said. "This going to hurt." Deniz started massaging the swell softly hoping that it would reduce in size soon. "Tell me when I can press harder,"he instructed.