Promise- Minsung

Chapter Sixty Six

"Your Highness," Minho turned around and found that Young Master Bang Chan was standing behind him with concern in his eyes.

"Oh, it's you," Minho rushed to brush the tears away and he went to greet Bang Chan. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with the others?"

"You're my prince, of course I have to make sure you're alright first."

"I'm fine," Minho nodded and glanced over at Cho, who was surprisingly unharmed without a single cut on his pelt. "I was just making sure he was alright."

"He's always been a magnificent horse," Bang Chan agreed as he nodded to Cho. "But he's always been an escape from things that you don't want to face, hasn't he?"

"I suppose so," Minho sighed and dropped his head.

"We're going to get him back, I promise that we will," Chan put his arm around Minho's shoulders. "And he'll wait for us. He'll hang on as long as he can for us to come and get him."

"They're going to kill him," Minho muttered, holding his head. "He can't hold on if he's dead!"

"They're not trying to kill him, he's not their target, so they won't kill him for now. They need to draw the entire army to them so that they can wipe us out all in one and there won't be any stragglers. And honestly, they're trying to get you now."

"What?" Minho's eyes widened. "I'm not even the crown prince, why would they want to get to me?"

"They're trying to wipe out all three kingdoms, remember? And not only that, you're like a secret weapon for us... or at least you were until we exposed you, and since now they know that you're holding our armies together, they're going to try and get rid of you first."

"That makes me seem very important, doesn't it?"

"I suppose so."

"I'm going to rest for a while," Minho nodded to Chan. "I'm going back to the base to make sure Yeong and Hei-ran are alright. I'll be back in a few hours. Please send a messenger if you need something."

"Yes, Your Highness. We will not be proceeding with any plan until tonight, so please rest well for a few hours and then return."

"I will see you when I do," Minho nodded as he returned to Cho's saddle and kicked him off back towards The Mountain, where his kids were waiting for him.

~oOo~

"Daddy!" Hei-ran cried, leaping into Minho's arms as he ran into the base where Yeong and Hei-ran were waiting for him to return. "They took Father!"

"I know, I know," Minho whispered as he gently rubbed her back. "But we're going to get him back, I promise," the words flowed off his tongue before he could stop them.

"They burst into the room and were going to Yeong bu-but Father told them that he was the king and to take him instead..." Hei-ran sniffled, small pearl-like tears running down her face. "And then they put a bag around his head and took him!"

Minho nodded and hugged her to his chest before going to sit over with Yeong. The younger boy didn't seem to understand what was going on as he was just playing with a small wooden toy in his hands. Better that, Minho decided, then scared like his sister.

Master Sang-hyuk walked into the room and Minho looked up.

"Here, just wait here for Daddy, alright?" Minho whispered as he put Hei-ran down next to her brother and went over to Master Sang-hyuk who looked exhausted beyond belief and was clearly distressed that his son had been taken.

"How were they able to get in here?" Minho muttered under his breath so that the kids couldn't hear him. "I thought you said you had this place protected."

"They followed our troops bringing injured men here... there wasn't anything we could do," Master Sang-hyuk's voice faltered. "B-but you have to go save His Majesty. It is vital that you do. If you don't, then Yeong is the next in line-"

"I know," Minho put his hand on Master Sang-hyuk's arm for a second.

Not that he didn't feel or understand Jisung's hate towards his father, but he was clearly grieving and unsure of what to do next. Even if he hadn't raised Jisung himself, Jisung was still his child. Minho knew what it was like to not be with one's child, to not know if they were safe or not. Yeong and Jisung were part of his constant worries in the past.

"The children probably didn't sleep much last night. I'll go tuck them in for a nap," Minho told Master Sang-hyuk before he went back to Hei-ran and Yeong and picked them both up in each arm. "Come on, Daddy's tired. Can you come rest with me?"

Hei-ran hesitated, but then nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Yeong looked up and nodded as well, putting his wooden toy in his mouth.

"No, no, don't do that," Minho laughed as he reached around and let Hei-ran sit up on his shoulders so he could take the toy from Yeong. "Let's go take a nap."

~oOo~

It was dark once more and all the trees surrounding swaying in the light wind looked like dancing shadows. The torches carried by Minho and his men illuminated their way as they crossed silently through the forests.

He was in a small group of people, just himself, Changbin, General Jeon and Captain Jeon, Bang Chan, and Prince Min-hyung. Only six people that had broken off of the main group of thousands of men that were on the other side of the terrain heading straight for the base, King Lee at the head of the group.

The men that were with him were some of the finest men that had ever been trained in the history of their countries. Minho felt pride swell in his chest as he looked behind him and found all their stoic handsome faces watching him, waiting for an order.

Minho nodded to them as they broke through the forest line, covering their light with their arms so that nobody else could see the torches heading their way.

There were maybe ten guards in the back, far less than in the front which was a flaw in the planning of this base. Minho pulled an arrow out of the quiver that hung on his back. The rest of his men did the same, loading their bows and taking aim at the first five on their side. They had to make sure it went straight through their heads so that one, it wasn't a painful death, and two, they did not alert the other five on the other side of the tent.

"Now," Minho breathed as he let his arrow go, flying right to it's target with a soft thump as the body slumped to the ground, already dead.

There were four other similar thumps.

Minho ran quickly through the grasses and pressed his body to the side of the tent as his men fell in behind him and checked that the dead were actually dead and not faking it.

"Your Highness," Changbin pulled his sword from his side and nodded.

Minho nodded back and Changbin's thin silver blades cut through the tent wall in seconds. They were now inside the biggest tent that had been put up within the last few days.

The problem was that they were betting Jisung was in the largest one, but they did not know for sure where the king was. If he wasn't in here, they had to make sure they either were not seen or they wiped out everyone who had seen them so they still could search further for him.

Taking a deep breath, Minho took a torch from General Jeon and led the way inside the dark tent. It was hard to see what was inside, but it looked like a lot of supplies and food rations for the soldiers.

"Alright," Minho waited until all his men were inside. "Let's split up and search. Remember," the flames of the torches danced in his eyes. "The fate of our kingdoms is in our hands."