[the tenth day of Vouno, year 468 CE]

The dining hall of the Northern Castle was particularly full tonight. It hosted the entirety of the Northern Knights, most of whom were preparing to set off to Fiilzia. 

Amongst the drinking, laughing, and prepping of armor, one man sat staring out the window, the full moon nearly reflected off his glossy black hair. 

“Valleus!” A voice called the knight's name, followed by the slamming of two large mugs of hot ale against the table. “What are you doing gazing at the sky? You should be getting ready, or at least making merry with the rest of us.” 

Valleus’ longtime friend and fellow knight, Coriund, took a gulp of his ale and set it down with a carefree smile. “After all, we’re going to be working non-stop in a few days’ time, so we may as well enjoy ourselves ‘til then.”

Valleus frowned, looking up at the moon once more. “Something feels off. Doesn’t it seem ominous to you?”

The man took another swig of his drink and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. “Doesn’t what feel ominous? I don’t follow.” 

Valleus’ eyes narrowed. “I’m going on patrol,” he declared, rising from his seat. 

Coriund looked up, baffled. “Alone? Valleus, the patrol team for the hour just came back and said it’s as still as a pub on a holy day, there’s nothing to patrol— and he’s gone.” His questioning trailed off once he realized his friend had completely ignored him and gone off to patrol. Coriund shook his head. If Valleus wasn’t second-in-command, he’d be much more nervous about what he was doing, but if anyone could handle a solo patrol, it was Valleus. Still, he shook his head. “And he didn’t even take a sip of his drink. I don’t know what he’s looking for. It’s not like anything’s happening.” 

-

Aushen realized two things quite quickly. The first was that he was not properly dressed for the snow. The second was that their attackers were no mere bandits. 

The group was certainly not a well-polished military, but they also weren’t common brigands looking for a quick buck. They ignored most of the carriages in the caravan and scanned the people- they were definitely looking for the prince and princess. 

Aushen felt he’d made the right call separating from Odessa- he just hoped he could catch their attention before they found her. 

Unfortunately, it seemed that their caravan was no match for the assailants. If the Northern Knights were with them, there’d be no trouble. Aushen assumed that was why they’d timed their attack to just before they were set to meet with them. 

Aushen looked around quickly, and finally set his eyes on what he’d been looking for. One of the knights had been struck off his horse and was fighting on his feet, leaving his horse without a rider. 

Willing every bit of energy he had into his steps, he clenched his fist around his dagger and leapt toward the horse, attempting to soothe it as he jumped. Once he felt the horse relax a bit beneath him, he directed it to the front of the caravan. “Listen up!” he shouted, dragging out every bit of kingly confidence he could muster. “I don’t know who you are, but you have attacked the caravan of His Highness, the Crown Prince Aushen of Kumbra! This crime shall be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law!”

With that, he turned the horse and galloped up the road towards the Northern Castle. He could see it now, though it looked very small due to the distance. His only hope was to get close enough to catch the attention of the Northern Knights, while drawing the assailants to him and away from Odessa and the others. Even if they got away, his primary goal was to get everyone to safety. Hunting the assailants down and bringing them to justice could come later.

-

Valleus sighed, his breath forming a cloud in the cold. His horse wasn’t too pleased with his plans for a solo patrol, but he couldn’t help it. He’d gotten this far in life by sticking to his intuition, and today, that intuition was telling him to patrol. He hopped off his horse and walked towards an overlook. On a clear night like tonight, one could see at least two miles down the road coming up to the castle. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some movement. ‘Someone’s riding very quickly this way… followed by several other riders.’

He frowned. Protocol called for him to go get back-up and inform the castle of what he’d seen, but his bad feeling from earlier was getting worse. He’d been looking forward to seeing the crown prince and the princess again; he’d been very fortunate to be their playmate when he was young. But as time had gotten closer to seeing them, something had itched at his mind. He felt like something bad was about to happen. Maybe this was it. 

Valleus mounted his horse once more and began to head down the road when he saw the first horse slow down and eventually stop, turning back. He could barely make out a figure lying in the snow- it looked like whoever had been on the horse fell off for some reason. The riders trailing the first rider surrounded the man on the ground in an instant. Valleus bade his horse go faster. 

Once he got to the area, he found they were gone. Further down, he could hear clattering and shouting. Through the noise, he heard a voice shout, “Call the rest back! We got what we came for. We have the prince!” 

Valleus’ breath caught in his throat. ‘No…’

Throwing caution to the wind, he followed them.