Howl and the Soulmate Stone

Part Five : The Journey and the Picnic

The woods were a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. As much as Howl loathe to admit it, he never would have survived without the Turnip and his horse. Even five feet off the ground on the back of Sir Barnaby branches caught in his hair and scratched his arms.

Turnip was probably doing his best given the circumstances (horses were a difficult and scary animal at the best of times), but that didn't stop him from complaining about it. Loudly. Constantly.

"Ow! Turnip, I swear to magic you're doing this on purpose! You want to destroy my beautiful face and flawless skin with these vile... nature things!" he exclaimed, pushing the other boy in the back.

Justin took a deep breath. "You mean branches? I can't exactly control that, magician. It's hard enough to follow this ring and steer a horse at the same time and you are not aiding in my concentration," replied the prince.

Howl huffed but stopped talking for the moment. He was still wondering how he ended up in this situation... The Witch, why had she stolen Sophie? Was this some grand plot to cause him even more pain?

What had he done to deserve this?- or actually nevermind. He knew what he had done. He just didn't understand how flirting with someone then leaving her because she was ugly was such a big deal? Also, she had totally lied about her age... He should have been the one who got to be mad at her!

Well either way he was still going to get his true love back! His and Turnip's true love... That prince was always ruining everything. He was so obnoxious and annoying and princely! He had the urge to use the hands on the boy's waist to just... push him off the side of the horse. He would be in the right on that one, correct?

Biting his lip he managed to restrain himself.

It was a few hours later when Justin pulled the horse to a stop in a clearing that even Howl had to admit was pretty for its location. He didn't like these woods at all but this spot seemed less dark and malicious than the rest.

The sun was high in the sky. It was around one o'clock.

"What is it, Turnip? Why are you stopping our valiant quest?" Howl questioned, leaning dangerously far out in his seat in an attempt to see Justin's face. "Is there something wrong with your steed? What's his name again, Sir Bartholomew?"

"Sir Barnaby," Justin exclaimed, blond curls bouncing as he turned to make eye contact with Howl. "And he is perfectly fine. (As though you were really concerned!) I just thought we should break for lunch."

Howl gasped in offence. "Stop in our search for Sophie?! You must be insane! And besides- I'm not particularly hungry myself."

Justin rolled his eyes. "The only reason I stopped at all was because I've been listening to your stomach make the most dreadful noises for the better part of an hour! Did you even eat breakfast, Howl?"

"Of course I did not! I do not have time for such trivial things as breakfast when my true love is missing," he exclaimed. His stomach growled loudly in response.

"Well, I cannot allow you to die of starvation before we reach our destination. Sophie would despise me!" Justin replied, unmounting his horse in a way that was far too grateful to be humanly possible. Howl was fairly positive he was secretly magic at this point. No one could get off a horse like that.

Actually, now that he thought about it- he wasn't sure that he could get off at all! Howl peeked over the side of the horse to look at the ground. It was quite a ways farther than he had anticipated. Oh no. Nope. Absolutely not.

"Are you sure we cannot simply eat on the way?" he asked, sweeping the nervousness out of his voice.

Justin, who had been walking around the clearing, turned back towards him with an surprised, joyful expression on his face. "Oh dear," he laughed. "Don't tell me you're stuck! Sir Barnaby isn't even that big of a horse, Howl!"