The Rose Garden was more of a forest than a garden if Danico was completely honest. He guessed the person who named it was trying to be dramatic. Danico can appreciate that. 

The garden was filled with large black thorns weaving in and out of each other, twisting and turning until they created a dome that covered the sky. The scent of roses covered the smell of rotting corpses and made it hard to concentrate on a single path. All these together made it impossible to tell which direction he was headed. 

Was he walking north? South? East? West? Or was he wandering around in a circle?

Not that it mattered because Danico was extremely bad with directions. It was one of the reasons why he stuck around in the prince’s company for so long. If only he had a view of the tower, it would have helped him a lot.

Flying through the thorns was a death wish because of what will happen to the people pricked by a single thorn. He’s passed by way too many corpses and skeletons that were laying around peacefully, no sign of a struggle anywhere except for some torn clothes where they brushed against the thorns. If his horse hadn’t pricked himself on one of the black thorns, he would have never known what type of curse was placed upon them.

Anyone who so much as pricked their skin would instantly fall asleep with no way to wake them up. Danico could only assume the curse was connected to the sleeping princess. He wondered briefly if those who were still alive would wake up when she finally opened her eyes.

He couldn’t think of a fate worse than that and finding half your body rotted or feasted upon by the wildlings they feared so much.

Danico held a glistening black sword in his hand. It was some sort of magical weapon he found chained in a cave a couple of years ago. He took it because he heard mutterings that the sword can cleave through the sky with a single slash and turn day to night. When Danico went to test out if the rumors were true, he was incredibly disappointed when nothing happened. It just let out an angry glow as if to say it was Danico’s fault it couldn’t reach its full potential.

Danico put the sword in his interdimensional pocket to be forgotten, like the rest of the magical weapons he collected until the day he needed it for something. That day finally arrived for the cursed sword.

When Danico held it in his hand, he could tell the sword yearned for blood. Years of being stuck in the darkness of the interdimensional pocket was much worse than getting chained up in a cave with only the drip, drip, drip of water as its company.

The cursed nameless sword was so excited to be held once more, it shredded the skin of Danicos hand when he pulled it out of the scabbard. Danico didn’t blink an eye as the injuries healed instantly.

With one swift movement, Danico hacked through the thorn bushes and proceeded to walk in any direction. He thought he might be going north, but who knows? It’s not like he had a compass with him. If the sword had a spirit, it would have been crying and spitting out blood right now, because Danico decided the best usage of a powerful cursed sword was as a glorified gardening scissor. 

Danico didn’t know how long he'd been wandering around, but an entire day must have passed by now. He’s yet to see one of those notorious wildlings people in the camp were talking about. 

But Danico must be craving beef stew to some extent because he could smell it wafting through the air. It was odd, Danico did not need to eat anymore, not ever since he gained a skill to practice inedia, but he does enjoy eating food still. After all, life is not worth living without good food.

He wondered if the prince and his entourage finally managed to enter the Rose Garden and the smell was from a camp they’re setting. If that was the case, it would be better if he headed in a different direction, but at the same time, he didn’t know where he was going and that group might have some way to know how to get to the princess’ tower and into the dragon’s lair. 

“Do I want to be in an awkward situation with the prince or not?” he murmured to himself while gently tapping his lips with the tip of his finger.

“Bard?” The prince appeared in front of him, as if summoned by his mutterings. He was pointing a sword at him with one hand and carrying a bunch of sticks on the other. The prince’s usually slicked back black hair was a mess that fell in front of his amethyst eyes.

Danico smiled. “Your highness! Fancy meeting you here.”

The dried sticks that were surely used for firewood were dropped to the ground as the prince strode to Danico with wide purposeful steps. There was a glint in his eyes that made Danico take a step back. It reminded him too much of the moment the prince had dragged him in for a kiss.

The prince noticed the movement and stopped in his tracks. “Why did you leave? Is it because of me? Of what I did?”

“His highness surely is so full of himself,” Danico said. “The world does not revolve around you, my dear prince. No, it’s not because of you. I was planning to leave earlier anyway. I don’t like to travel in groups, they tend to hold me back from my journey.”

“Then why are you here?” the prince asked. “And where did you get that sword from?”

“Oh, I got lost and I picked up this sword from some corpse lying around,” Danico lied smoothly.

“Drop it,” the prince ordered. “That sword is clearly evil.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Danico dropped the sword and ordered it back into his interdimensional pocket. The sword vanished before it could hit the ground.

“I knew it,” the prince said.

“Knew what?”

“That sword is made of dark magic.”

“I guess it is,” Danico replied with a shrug.

 An awkward silence ensued.

Danico debated if he should just leave when the prince asked “Are you hungry? We’ve set up a camp nearby. Why don’t you join us? The wildlings are going to start appearing soon.”

Thinking about it, the awkwardness around the prince wasn’t as bad as he thought. He could also leave whenever he wanted and some stew did sound nice after all. It might be useful to follow them around again to get out of the damn Rose Garden.

“Sure. Lead the way.”

The prince tried to hide his smile as he waited for Danico to walk next to him.

“Who cooked the stew?”

“Sir Faris,” the prince replied.

“Oh, I didn’t take him for someone who could cook. That’s neat.”

“Do you like men who can cook?”

Danico eyed the prince with a raised eyebrow. The prince continued to look straight ahead, as if he hadn’t asked the question. He wasn’t being very slick, Danico knew he was being prodded for what type of man he preferred. “Who doesn’t like people who can cook?”

The camp was small with only a handful of soldiers lying around the fire. Sir Faris was stirring a pot over the flames while a mage healed the poor soldier of their wounds and snapping yawning soldiers awake with gentle slaps to the face.

“Welcome back your-” Sir Faris stopped mid sentence when he noticed the figure next to the prince. “What is he doing here?”

“I was invited to eat,” Danico said with a shrug. It wasn’t a surprise Sir Faris got aggressive at him. He did kind of break the prince’s heart, and from what he heard from the people at the camp before, the two of them were childhood friends. It was normal for the knight to get overprotective. 

Sir Faris narrowed his eyes but said nothing. 

Danico sat by the fire. The fire was a surprising green color thanks to the cursed wood used to fuel it. They were the same type of wood the prince was carrying around when he found him.

“How have you not fallen asleep from the curse?” Danico asked the prince.

The prince clenched his fist to show the leather glove he was wearing. “This was created by an elven mage specifically for this journey.” 

“Elves? How curious, are there a lot of them around?”

“No, most have traveled across the sea when they heard of the curse. This mage is one of the few who stuck around. He should be in the eastern kingdom by now, perhaps you’ve heard of Archmage Vogel before?”

“Never heard,” Danico said. “Is he powerful?”

“He’s as powerful as he is odd,” the prince said.

“Is that a yes?”

“Archmage Vogel is a powerful mage who saw the rise and fall of kingdoms. He’s said to have mastered all types of magic,” Mage Cian said as he joined them by the campfire, “Even the evil sorceress fears him. If he hadn’t sworn to keep himself out of any human politics, I reckon he could have put a stop to this curse a long time ago.”

“He sounds like an interesting person,” Danico said with a grin on his lips.