~Dionysus~ (Ongoing)

5. Acquaintance.

"Park sunbae...?" Seokjin calls out to the Grand duke, the leader of all the knights, the forces of the kingdom.

"Yes, your highness?" He speaks, as he slows down the pace of his horse to level with Seokjin's mare.

"Not highness, Seokjin. We already agreed on this, sunbae." Seokjin complains. Park Jaehyun was only a few years older than Seokjin, probably 4 or 5, and treated Seokjin as his own younger one. He was always there for Seokjin, no matter how bad the conditions would be. Which was why the two were great friends.

"Alright, what do you want, Jin?"

"I'm hungry...and I think so is Shadow. We should look around for some place to eat... we've been travelling since 3 hours already."

It was true, all the other knights we're hungry too. But they were just on the outskirts of the Empire, and there might be potential daggers lurking around. Dusk was near, and they couldn't afford to stop right now.

"Seokjin, we can't stop right now. There are no crowded areas here where we can rest, so we'll have to wait untile we're sure that there is no threat to your life" Jaehyun spoke, in an authoritative tone. Seokjin had no choice but to comply.

"There is a potential threat to my life right now" Seokjin spoke slowly.

"You won't die of starvation any time soon if that's what you're thinking." Jaehyun pointed out. He knew Seokjin too well now, to understand whe he'd use his emotions card, and was successful in stopping him most of the times.

"You're so mean. I haven't eaten since last night..."

As he revealed this, Jaehyun looked at him in disbelief, as if he was a mad man.

"Seokjin?! It's been almost one whole day!! Dusk is just a few hours away! Why didn't you eat?!"

Jin looked away sheepishly. His father's scoldings and the sudden royal order to leave for the Kim Dynasty had mae him lose his will of eating. Jaehyun sighed deeply, and shook his head before speaking in a much gentler tone.

"Fine. Just a few more minutes and we'll reach a people's market just before the entrance of the Kim Dynasty. It's a very famous market you know? My mother used to take me there."

"Really? What's it's name?"

"Hwagae Market."

"That's a...very...not suitable name?" Jin giggled in a low voice.

Jaehyun smiled. Just a few minutes more before they reached the Hwagae market.

And that was it. No sooner had Seokjin set foot in the market, an arrow barely missed past his shoulder.

Jaehyun took the necessary measures, immediately covering the crown prince, as 4 other guards shielded Seokjin from any outer contact.

The people were in a frenzy as many of them his under the old wooden tables, while some random for their lives in random directions.

Another arrow. This time, it did not miss. The arrow pierced the prince's shoulder, as he groaned quietly and fell off his mare.

He clutched his shoulder in agony, as Park Jaehyun took a shot aimlessy in a random direction.

The guards immediately took the crown prince to safety behind an upturned horse-cart, and started to work on taking out the arrow that had wounded his skin.

The enemy came into view. A horse black as the night, carried a strong warrior on its back. His face masked up only letting his sharp dragon gaze visible.