Pea Princess

Chapter 1: The Boy with the Grey eyes

**************************************

Prince Raven watched the scene unfold as he stood in the shadows, his keen eyes looking around for the man in charge. It was a full moon night, not the best for a stealth attack. He trusted that his men were more than capable of  handling the guards, who were strong but not very skilled. He knew that word must have spread through their ranks and more support was coming. He wanted to get the prisoners free before that.

Lucius came riding up to him.

'Sire, I believe the leader has gotten word already and fled, leaving his men to die. What a coward!' He spat out.

Raven was afraid of this. He had hoped to catch the leader alive enough to interrogate. If he didn't, it would not take long for the trading operations to renew again, and the next time he might not be able to catch them at all. He signalled Lucius to follow him and rode into the forest.

'The bastard couldn't have gone far. We must catch him today, before he slips through our fingers.'

'Yes sire!' Lucius led the way for his Prince, as passionate about catching the slave traders as his Prince. They could have only gone one way.

They rode about ten minutes towards the sea, till they caught sign of a small group of riders, going faster than the winds.

Raven could see the one who rode in the front, wearing a turban on his head. He was the leader. Surrounding him were about three more lads, all well built. He slowed down till he stopped.

'Lucius! Keep chasing behind them and make them think there are more accompanying you so they keep heading straight towards the seas.'

'Yes sire!'

Raven led his horse towards another direction and disappeared into the foliage. Lucius wasn't worried. There was nobody in the world who knew these forests as well as Prince Raven.

Lucius kicked his horse in the shin, and picked up his pace. Taking out his sword he started clanking them against the metal part of the straddle which immediately alarmed the party in the front to his presence.

'Giddy up! Now we've got them lads! I can see them!' He shouted loud enough for them to hear. He could hear a flutter of activity, and voices rising. They were definitely scared.

As he kept racing them towards the seas, where he knew their boats awaited, he hoped whatever plan Raven had would work. He knew once they reached their boats and set off, they would be out of  their reach.

Just as they reached a clearing in the forest, there was a loud neighing noise and the Prince's beautiful black horse burst out from the surrounding shroud of trees, and came directly infront of them. This startled the men enough that they lost their tempo and stopped very suddenly, causing them to crash into one another. Only the leader was still stably sitting on his horse, but he too was disoriented and looking around.

Before the leader could do anything, a dark figure swung towards him from a tree vine with his drawn sword glinting in the moonlight. Lucius knew this was the kind of sight you had to see to believe. Raven's sword came down and embedded into the leader's shoulder blade. He gasped in pain and fell off his horse, clutching his shoulders.

The Prince landed on his feet and was ducking from the blows of the scabbards of the other men. Lucius drew out his spare sword and threw it at the Prince, which he caught effortlessly.

Then he came off his horse and fell right into the middle of the fighting with a grin. It had been sometime since he and the Prince has fought side by side. These men were about to get a real taste of the Ruar kingdom.