A/N: Sorry that this second chapter took a while. I usually try to update once a week but sometimes stuff happens and I can't. While I don't want to give anything away, this is not exclusively a Dick Grayson/Robin fic. Other characters from the titans will become very important very soon, I promise! Okay, enough rambling, I hope you enjoy.
Trying not to over-analyze the situation became much harder as the carriage ride lengthened. Richard tried to clear his mind as the cobblestone of his kingdom gave way to dirt paths. Though the countryside's green hill rolled into each other almost hypnotically, his mind refused to reach a state of serenity. Every time he was about to start enjoying the scenery, the back of his head would start tugging on the memory of the king's request. After what must of have been two hours, Richard gave up his position next to the carriage window and with an elongated sigh, slid to its interior to rack his memory for any and all knowledge he had of mythical creatures.
What would have the potential to create such a curse? After making a mental list of what creatures had the abilities required, he came to the frustrating conclusion that nothing could be ruled out, as no being powerful enough to nearly cause the extinction of an entire kingdom would likely work alone. Something so magically capable and malicious was likely to have minions for their manual labor. They may have even cut deals with other creatures to aid them in decimating a kingdom.
These were nothing but theories of course. And Richard could neither confirm nor deny any of them! Even though he knew that the little knowledge he had could get him nowhere, his mind continued speculating as the horses pulled him further from his home and closer to this growing nightmare. The relentless hypothesizes only stopped as the carriage pulled to a stop at a small inn as the sun set. The chauffeur assured him that they were only stopping for the night because the horses had to rest, but Richard was grateful. Perhaps some much-need rest would do him good and quiet his mind. He was happily surprised when he drifted off nearly a minute after his head hit the pillow.
The next morning was better. After eating fresh laid eggs from the inn-keeper's chicken for breakfast and the horses were retrieved from the stable, they were off again to Jump Village. Richard focused on the landscape they were passing. He watched as through the clouds, the rising sun painted streaks of color against the grey tinted countryside. After the sun had risen, the grassy hills gave way to dry flat plains. The grass growing here was tall as his waist and reminded him of the wheat and grain that grew on the farming land of his own kingdom. He tried to picture home as vividly as he could. Richard had found its climate foreboding, as even though it did not rain excessively; clouds never seemed to fully leave the sky around Gotham, as even their brightest days in the summer were framed with grey clouds. These outlying clouds especially refused to bring rain, which made it seem to him as if they had no other purpose than to look sinister. He decided to try to appreciate the sunlight in this kingdom before he traveled back to Gotham.
By noon Richard's mind began to drift back to the thoughts of the kingdom awaiting him and how it had gotten into this circumstance. He tried to keep his mind otherwise occupied. He decided to distract his mind by committing the interior of the carriage to memory. The inside was carved out of dark mahogany, and based on how far Richard could slide his feet back, he could tell that the red velvet covered seat curved back into a C shape to allow more precious carry-on luggage for the elite passengers. He wondered how many times the carriage had actually been ridden in. The interior looked almost new, the lack of even minute fraying on the corners of the seats indicated that at the very least, the deep red velvet had been replaced within the last two months. Such comfort was not foreign to him, but he definitely knew how to live without luxury.
While his father was incredibly wealthy, Bruce had taken him out to the forest and shown him how to find and live on only the essentials. Once, his father had arranged for Alfred to blindfold them both and take them as far as a carriage could go into the wilderness, then walk them a mile deeper into it before leaving them to figure out how to return home. Bruce and Richard had spent the week surviving in the woods with nothing but the clothes on their backs before slowly making their way back to Gotham. Richard always suspected that Bruce had known exactly where they were the entire time, but had continued to feign ignorance until they had both figured out 'together' how to escape the intertwining brush. He looked back on the memory with a smile. While most children at that age would have found being forced into the woods for a week absolutely terrifying, Richard thought it was a nice bonding activity.
By the time the sun was setting, they had reached the outskirts of the kingdom. He tried to memorize it all as the carriage passed. Despite the fact that it was nearing the end of spring, the fields that they passed were dying or already barren. Instead of flowing golden wheat or lively green corn sprouts, nearly everything was a nasty shade of pale yellow. The ground itself was dry and cracking around the borders of the fields from a lack of water. He could imagine that if he were to walk into the field, the crackling husks of the dead plants would sound so intense under his feet that any passerby would think he was setting fire to the ground. If this had been how the famine was before winter struck, Richard could only imagine the size that their food reserves must have been to keep any portion of the population alive.
They slowly passed hut after hut with thatched roofs. While there were many small, single family dwellings, at the end of every grouping was a larger more equipped house. These larger homes seemed to be the only ones that were lit with candles from the inside. Due to the movement still visible inside and outside a few of the huts, this lead Richard to the conclusion that many of the poorer families had used up all of their candles and kindling trying to keep warm in the winter, and now did not have any money to buy more. This was most likely due to the fact that those living in the huts were low class farmhands, who no longer had any crops to tend to after the drought.
Richard tried not to let his heart reach out too far to these people. While he very much wanted to help them, he had little to no plan as to how he would find what had done this to them, or how he himself could stop it. He sighed as he knew that failure would result in not only disappointment from his king and father, but also most likely an end to this once prosperous kingdom. He definitely felt the weight that had been placed in his shoulders, but refused to let it hold him down. He decided that he would not leave Jump Village until he had done everything he possibly could for its people, no matter how long it took.
As he resolved this, the carriage stopped abruptly in front of the castle. Made completely of stone with high walls, Richard tried not to feel small as he was escorted by two guards in light green uniforms through the main hallway and to a room with a bed large enough for two, a bookshelf that spanned across one wall, a small study desk, and a dresser. The guards informed him that in the morning, after breakfast, the king of Jump Village had requested his presence in the throne room. After this, one of the guards advised him that it would be wise to sleep as soon as possible, and then they both promptly left him alone in his new room.
The bed was positioned in the center of the wall to the right of the doorway, its frame carved out of light oak with its four posts nearly touching the ceiling. The blanket and sheets on the bed were light green and white respectively, the same as the guards' uniforms. Richard wondered if those where the colors of the kingdom's flag. This question made him realize how little he knew about this kingdom's history. He decided to rise as early as possible to read the books provided for him to try to gain as much information on the territory as possible. Perhaps they could shed more light on the deep forest that surrounded the kingdom and the creatures that lived within it.
Richard changed into underclothes provided for him inside the oak dresser, blew out the candle on top of it, and slipped quietly under the covers of the bed. As he tried to relax enough for sleep to take him, he recalled that he was going to be meeting another king in an ambiguous meeting for the second time in three days. As he tried to decide if he should feel honored or terrified, the wear of traveling finally took its toll and he drifted into unconsciousness.