"WATCH IT!" Minho yelled as another arrow just missed his head. "Aim!"
"Sorry!" The younger recruits who had just joined were training in the area that Minho usually practiced, meaning there were many stray arrows that almost hit him or his horse as he was practicing himself.
Minho was just about done when Master Sang-hyuk came down from the room he usually stayed in that was all the way up in the observatory. "Minho!"
Minho reined in his horse and let him slow to a walk. "What is it?"
"Come up with me. I need someone to go over the final plans with."
"Of course, I'll help revise and edit them," Minho jumped down from the stallion and let him go graze. He followed Master Sang-hyuk up the temple and to the very top of the mountain.
"Here," Master Sang-hyuk handed over a scroll with the plans written down on it. "These ones. Look them over. Let me know what you think."
Minho read them quickly before shaking his head. "The forest would be too dense there. We should send men around behind the target and ambush from all sides. If we try to send everyone from the front, we'll all just be tripping on each other."
"Good catch," Master Sang-hyuk nodded and began to write a new plan down.
"Was that it?" Minho asked, settling the scroll down.
"Yes. You may go back now if you wish."
"I want to ask you something."
Master Sang-hyuk paused. Then set his brush down. "What is it?"
"When are you going to bring in Jisung?"
Master Sang-hyuk blinked up at him. "Soon. Very soon."
Minho was satisfied with that answer. He got up, bowed before he walked back down the mountain.
He would just... go back and practice more?
Nope. That sounded horrible. He was so tired of training. He would go on a ride.
There was a particular horse he liked here. She was all black with a strange stripe pattern on her nose that looked like a cross. Her name was Danbi, because she ran so fast she brought the rain once, people say. She was around Cho's age and they were very similar. Since he hadn't been able to bring Cho, she was his horse now.
People had even challenged him for her. He had won every time.
Minho walked to the cave where the horses were kept. It was brightly lit and sunlight was able to flow well thanks to several openings in the cave walls for them.
"Danbi!" Minho came across her stall, a single rope holding her back from the fields of grass. She snorted at him and pawed at the ground, stirring up dust.
"Okay, let's go," Minho glanced down at his training uniform. "Damn, where is my mask?"
"Hyung!" a young boy tossed one at him, a generic black mask that covered up his face. "Take this one."
"Thanks," he waved to him before tying the mask around his face and throwing a hasty saddle pad and saddle on Danbi's back and then a bridle around her face. He mounted her in her stall and looked around. There was nobody around.
"Okay!" he kicked her forward at a sprint. He was out of the cave before anybody could blink.
With the wind blowing in his face, he relished the feeling of being free.
~oOo~
Jisung stood up on the hill that Hei-ran's mother rested on still, staring out at the grassy plains. He was tired. He wanted to rest. But he couldn't let himself fall asleep peacefully for some reason.
He didn't know why.
His men were waiting at the bottom of the hill. He couldn't go anywhere alone these days. He sighed and began to walk down to where Captain Kim was waiting for him.
The thundering of horse feet echoed around the valley.
Jisung looked up and was shocked to find a black mask running across the plains. With his black horse he looked just like a shadow.
His horse was fast too.
"WOOO!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.
The soldiers's ears pricked. His tongue... was not cut out?
"That's a black mask!" they called out, looking to the captain or the king for an order.
Jisung was still stuck staring at the Black Mask.
Captain Kim gave the order instead. "Catch him. Bring him alive, but kill him if you must."
Jisung was captivated. He didn't know why. There was something about how he was riding that seemed so familiar.
A familiar feeling he hadn't felt in a while.
And he felt a pull.
"That looks fun," he muttered as he ran down the rest of the hill and mounted his horse quickly, joining the chase.
~oOo~
Minho realized his mistake the moment he made it.
He had just been passing the San Palace like he used to on Cho's back. He had let himself go, feel free for the first time in a long time.
And he had... yelled?
Right in front of a bunch of palace guards and soldiers, and the captain too?
And he was dressed as a Black Mask would be.
Damn it, he was stupid. As he ran past, he looked back from where he sat in his saddle and swore under his breath. They were running after him, the captain in the front.
"Danbi, run!" he cried as he lowered himself to her neck as an arrow whizzed by. "Are they trying to kill me?"
"Stop right there!" shouted the guards as they ran.
"Wow, they are," Minho took his own bow from the side of the saddle and an arrow as well. "I won't kill them... just a shot to the leg or arm, right?"
He sent a warning one first.
They didn't slow down and kept chasing after him. More arrows flew by, one nearly hitting his chest before he flattened himself to the saddle. "Ack," he took an arrow and knocked it into his bow. "Hold on," he aimed and sent an arrow flying right by one of the soldier's heads.
"Get him!" they just looked more mad now. "Let's get up there," he muttered as he changed paths and ran up one of the hills.
"They're going to corner me," he muttered as he found that he was running up against a river that Danbi couldn't jump or wade. "Shoot..."
There was one more hill. He ran up the hill before spinning Danbi in a tight circle and stopping her with his arrow pointed right at the person in front of the group.
He froze, his muscles not moving.
What... What was he doing here?
Jisung was staring right back at him with cold eyed, glued on the arrow aimed at his chest.
Minho dropped his bow.
His eyes were wide, and the only thing that could be seen of his face.
That is, until a gust of wind pulled the mask from his face, sending it flying towards Jisung's group of men.
His face now on full view.
And he watched as Jisung's face changed from coolness to shock.
"Catch him!" the captain ordered.
Men jumped off their horses and were running towards him and Minho found that he couldn't look away from where Jisung was sitting tall on his horse.
He snapped out of his trance as the men arrived in front of him. He shook his head and looked away quickly. He reined Danbi in and took off once again, not daring to look back at Jisung, who he knew was staring after him.
But nobody chased him down.
He returned back to the mountain and didn't practice for the rest of the day. Instead he sat on his bed, his head in his hands, crying off and on as he felt a strange shift of emotions. He hadn't cried since he got here but for some reason... seeing Jisung for a fleeting moment like that made his chest hurt.
He... he couldn't control his feelings for some reason. He hated feeling out of control.
He just couldn't help it.
~oOo~
Jisung returned back home in a daze.
Min-hyung and Changbin were there to greet him, shocked with his changed condition from when he had left to when he had returned.
"What happened?" Min-hyung supported Jisung under him as the Captain followed him in.
"Prince Minho," the captain muttered as he followed him into the palace. "We saw him."
"He's... he's alive?" Min-hyung managed to get out as he found himself in a similar state that Jisung was in. "You saw him? Are you sure?"
"He was dressed like a Black Mask," the Captain sat down against the wall. "Perhaps they kidnapped him?"
"He wouldn't, even if they kidnapped him and Hei-ran, he wouldn't sacrifice a full country of people for himself and his daughter. He wasn't that type of person."
"Then you're sure it was him? How could you let him get away?" Yongbok broke in, having heard the conversation as he had walked in.
"He ran off before we could," the captain muttered. "He didn't want to get caught obviously. For what reason, I don't know."
"Track him down," Jisung ordered quietly.
"What?" the captain looked shocked.
"Track him down. That's an order."
The captain blinked before standing up and bowing. "Yes, Your Majesty."
~oOo~
"They're really looking for you now," Master Sang-hyuk tossed a paper at Minho who was closing his eyes, leaning back his head as the practicing men and women passed by.
He looked up and found a reward so high it would make people's heads spin for his return. Alive and unharmed.
"I'm not leaving any more, I promise," he muttered before he closed his eyes once again. "It was a mistake."
"On the contrary," Master Sang-hyuk sat down across from him. "I want you to go to him."
"What?"
Minho sat up and stared at him. "Are you crazy?"
"Maybe. But I need you to bring him here to me."
"Why can't you get Changbin to do that?"
"Seeing as Changbin had to lie that he was kidnapped which was suspicious enough as it is, I don't think Jisung would be willing to come with him. I need you, someone he loves and trusts, to go get him."
"But I left for nearly two years. Why would he want to trust me?"
"Because," Master Sang-hyuk sat forward. "He still loves you."