The Warlock (BxB)

Chapter 17

"Don't just sit there. If we don't get going then they'll wake up." Tristan urged them forward.

Prince Casimir was the first to recover. Unlike Logain, he didn't mind getting caught. He pulled the warlock along with him. Outside on the ground lay the bandits. They were all unconscious. Somehow, Tristan was able to take care of them all on his own. The prince knew the boy well enough to know that he didn't know how to fight and that he didn't have an ounce of magic. It wouldn't have been possible for him to take care of them without any sort of help, yet there was no one else around.

"How were you able to defeat them, Tristan? And how were you able to find us? There was no way that you could have known that the bandits took us hostage." Casimir was suspicious. Something wasn't adding up.

Tristan hesitated for a moment before giving him an answer. "I know a few tricks. You know that I am fascinated with magic. You can learn a few spells with the right ingredients. It's not magic like Logain's, but it works just as well. As for how I found you, I saw the two of you coming out of the woods earlier. I didn't want to bother you, so I stayed quiet. We just happened to be going in the same direction and then I saw the bandits take the two of you. I followed and here we are now. We should get going. The spell won't work for long and when they wake up they'll be looking for you."

He began to walk away. When he didn't hear the two of them following him, he glanced behind him. "Well, are you coming? I can give the two of you shelter for the night. They didn't get a good look at my face so even if they try looking for us they'll never find us. My home is in the next town. We're only a ten minute walk from there."

As much as the prince didn't trust Tristan, he knew that they needed somewhere to hide for the night. The bandits would look for them when they woke up. Casimir was valuable to them because of the amount of money that they could possibly make off of him. Sticking around for too long and not having somewhere to stay for the night would get them caught by the bandits.

Prince Casimir reached out and grabbed Logain's hand. He spoke quiet enough for only the two of them to hear. "I'm going to accept his offer. If he tries to do anything to you when I'm not around then yell for me. I'll be by your side in an instant."

Maybe if there was a tavern in the town then they could stay there for the night. That would have been better than staying with Tristan. Casimir didn't like or trust him. The way that he acted when he first met Logain made the prince dislike him even more. As long as they had somewhere to stay in order to keep away from the bandits then that was fine with him.

They avoided the main road as they walked to the nearest town. Tristan led the way through the forest. There might have been harmful creatures in the forest, but taking the main road would get them caught by the bandits. The bandits would wake up before they made it to the town. The spell only made the victims sleep for a short amount of time.

"So . . . when did you two become a couple?" Tristan asked. No one spoke as they walked and though he knew that this was a bad question to ask at the moment, he wanted to break the silence.

"We're not a couple," Logain answered. They might have kissed, but that didn't mean anything. Right? Logain was trying to convince himself that the kiss meant nothing. He admitted that he liked the prince, but it wouldn't go any farther than that. He didn't have time for things to escalate.

"We're not? Is it because I didn't ask you to be with me? If you want, I can ask right now to make it official." Casimir grinned at him.

He was teasing him again, Logain knew it. "Shut up. You're not going to ask in front of someone else and you know why we can't."

"Yes, I know, because of the curse. I don't want to lose you, though." Casimir squeezed his hand. He never let go, not even as they got closer to the town. It was coming into view from where they were.