The trees loomed above him as he meandered through the hunting grounds, thick shadows overlaying the leaf-covered forest floor. Even though it was the middle of the day and the sun was at its peak, the plants overhead did a good job at blocking out the light, only allowing some spots along the ground to be lit up. As Kim Dokja walked, he noticed signs had been nailed to the tree branches to indicate the section of the tournament land he was currently in. He'd been in the forest for two hours but hadn't seen any animals, and he was losing hope that he would catch anything.
When Dokja heard the rustling of a nearby bush, he immediately grabbed his sword and stalked towards the sound. Pulling the branches aside, he was greeted by a rabbit that was munching on a carrot, pausing when he interrupted its meal.
He blinked before saying, "Oh, hello," and reached down to pat its head. Dokja noticed a brown tag on its foot,indicating that it was worth twenty points to kill. He bit his lip and closed his eyes as he considered his options, but in the end he just sighed, patted the rabbit on the head, and decided against it.
"How can I kill such an innocent rabbit?"he sighed out. Sheathing his weapon, he sat on the ground and picked up another carrot, offering it to the rabbit, who eagerly accepted. He just watched the rabbit as it ate, grinning at how adorable it was.
Beside him, a large shadow made itself apparent, moving towards him slowly. Dokja turned back, surprised that something managed to approach him without making so much as a rustle. But when his eyes landed on the thing standing behind him, he froze. A huge, black wolf was standing a short distance away. Its eyes bore onto his body, as if he were prey. When Dokja saw its leg muscles tense up to pounce at them, his instincts kicked in. He snatched up the rabbit and began racing away.
He knew that it was only a matter of time until the wolf caught up to him, but even with his sword, there was no way he could defend himself against it. While his continued sword training had improved somewhat, facing a training dummy was leagues different from a live, ferocious animal.
Suddenly, his foot got caught in the gaps of a large tree root and he tripped over, making sure to shield the bunny from the fall and not crush it. He tried freeing his foot, but to no avail. In no time, the wolf was upon him. Dokja saw it readying to leap on him and he closed his eyes, bracing himself to be mauled and wrapping himself protectively around the rabbit.
Instead of claws ripping into him though, Dokja felt something warm splattering on his face. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see that the wolf was laying still on its side, its face still contorted into a snarl. Blood was oozing from its body. He hadn't noticed while running earlier, but the wolf had a tag around its ankle, marking it as being worth two hundred points.
He flinched when someone suddenly spoke from beside him. "Get up," Yoo Joonghyuk stood with his back to him, cleaning off the wolf's blood from his sword, "Are you going to sit there all day?"
"Ah—" Dokja leapt to his feet and bowed, " Thank you for saving us, You Highness."
At that, Yoo Joonghyuk raised an eyebrow at him, "… us?" he questioned. Immediately, the small bundle of fur still in Dokja's arms made itself apparent, catching the prince's attention. A small pink nose poked out of his arms, trying to smell around if there was any more danger. When it deemed not, its small furry head pooped out fully, looking cutely at Joonghyuk with its beady eyes.
"Oh, sorry for the bumpy ride little guy, hope that wasn't too scary for you," Dokja cooed softly at the rabbit. Yoo Joonghyuk followed his movements as Dokja gently knelt to the ground and released the rabbit from his arms, the man's eyes trailing after the rabbit fondly as it hopped away. Yoo Joonghyuk thought he spotted the ghost of a tender smile gracing the other man's lips. The prince felt an inexplicable motion in his chest, one he'd been becoming quite acquainted with over the past few weeks.
As Dokja braced his hands on his legs to stand back up, Yoo Joonghyuk saw the flash of a silver necklace, the crest that hung on it being all too familiar. If he stared longer at the man's collar bone than what was deemed appropriate,well, that was no one else's business.
"Where did you find that?" the prince promptly asked. Dokja followed his gaze. He questioned why the man would be interested in his necklace of all things, but nonetheless he provided an answer.
"Ah...I found it in the river in the forest, when you sent assassins—" he quickly closed his mouth, not meaning for that to have slipped out. Though, when he glanced at the other man was simply giving him a frown. Right, murder and assassination attempts were regular affairs between the two of them, he supposed they weren't all that special for the prince anymore. So, he continued, "Your Highness, why are you asking?"
After a moment's pause where the prince carefully observed him, he responded, "That necklace is identical to the former empress's necklace, my mother's."
Dokja blinked at that. "Huh? I'm sure this necklace is just a replica of the original."
Yoo Joonghyuk shook his head. "The charm is the crest of the fallen Kaizenix duchy, where the former empress had originated from. No one would dare to make a replica of that necklace, nor would they have any reason to represent a ruined duchy," Dokja listened to what he said carefully, his face slowly morphing into a stunned expression. At first, he thought perhaps the prince was tricking him for some reason, but Joonghyuk isn't the kind to joke.
"I-I didn't steal it, alright!" he exclaimed, holding both his hands up in innocence.
"…" the prince sighed, and extended a hand to him, "…if you give it back right now, I won't question any further how you got it."
"Ah...yes," Dokja murmured out, and he reached to unclasp the necklace from his neck.
Out of nowhere, an arrow whizzed by the both of them, implanting itself into a nearby tree with a solid thunk. Before it had even landed, Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed Kim Dokja's arm and pulled him in closer to himself, putting his other hand on Dokja's upper arm protectively. At that point, several assassins emerged from the trees, weapons drawn. Wasting no time to let the two men escape, the assassins started to charge at them with ferocious yells.
Dokja and Joonghyuk both exchanged glances, wordlessly agreeing to escape before Joonghyuk picked him up in a princess carry in one arm and ran past the assassins, his sword drawn in his other hand as he slashed them away.
In those precious few seconds the prince had been able to put some distance between them and their adversaries, but it was clear that it would be difficult to get them completely off their tails. Dokja held on for his life, wrapping his arms tightly around Yoo Joonghyuk's neck. Looking behind them, he could easily tell that there were at least fifteen pursuers chasing them down. Even as lauded as the prince was, Kim Dokja was worried if they'd really be able to get through this alive.
As if reading his mind, Yoo Joonghyuk spoke, "Kim Dokja, don't think of anything, we'll find a way out." He calmed down a little as he tightened his hold around the prince. He wasn't sure what would happen, but he felt comforted by the fact that they were on the same side for this ordeal.
"Do you have any ideas on what to do?" Dokja asked as he turned to face the assassins who were chasing them.
Dokja bit his bottom lip when Joonghyuk said; "No... I'm still thinking." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw vines shooting out from the ground in front of the assassins' legs and tripping them over. Some of the vines wrapped themselves around the ankles of a few of them, flinging them violently away without mercy. From within the foliage, Dokja thought that he spotted Biyoo, Popo and Griffin hiding amongst the plants. If this was their doing, he could only pray he'd be alive to thank them later.
"What are those?" Joonghyuk asked, also noticing that the roots were attacking their pursuers.
"No idea…" Dokja responded. Recounting the assassins left, Dokja saw that seven were still alive and chasing after them. They were skilled enough to not only keep up with Joonghyuk but also avoid and hack away at the incoming vines.
Hearing flowing water ahead of them, Dokja whipped his head forward to see that they were dashing straight to a cliffside, with the trees lined thickly on either side of them too thick to allow them to change directions. He was relieved when Yoo Joonghyuk quickly skid to a stop before they could run off, but the remaining assassins quickly surrounded them.
As the both of them were backed to the edge of the cliff, Dokja glanced behind them to see that the cliff they were perched on overlooked a large river, its waters running at a somewhat slow speed. It was about a twenty meter drop down from what he could tell.
"Both of you, lay down your swords and get on your knees!" one of the assassins yelled at them, pointing his blade threateningly.
Dokja looked at Joonghyuk beside him, a glint in his eye. As soon as their eyes met, the both of them understood that there was only one way out of this situation. They nodded subtlety to each other. Frustrated at the two men's lack of compliance, the assassin screamed out more orders.
" I'm warning the two of you right now. We all have you two trapped, unless you want to die, I sugge—"
But before he could finish, Dokja let himself be pulled towards the prince's embrace once more, now both of their arms were wrapped around each other's bodies tightly. Yoo Joonghyuk flung the two of them off the cliffside with a strong leap, with Dokja unable to do anything but squeeze his eyes shut and pray that he'd live.