Chapter 3: Outlaws in Search of Truth

The armed Lunarion guards were charging at the four Mobians in front of them when they suddenly jumped out of the way of the charging horses. The immediately made a U turn ready to charge at them again when suddenly, one of the guards got shot in his right shoulder and fell off his horse. The other two Lunarion guards looked up and saw Blaze in a nearby tree with her bow and it was missing an arrow, clearly showing that she was the one who launched the arrow and managed to hit her target.

"Impressive marksmanship, girl." The head guard said, a bit impressed. "But you can't hop in trees forever!"

"She doesn't have to." A voice called out nearby them, the two guards looked to their left but one of them didn't see what happened because he was knocked out in his head and by a pair of feet belonging to a blue hedgehog. Apparently, Sonic was able to climb a tree when the guards charged at them, wrapped his whip on the branch he was standing on and waited for the right moment to swing across.

Sonic then landed on the horse of the guard he just knocked out and yanked it at the reigns. The guard who Blaze shot at was trying to use his good hand to fight off Shadow in a sword fight but Shadow had an upper advantage because he realized the guard can't wield his sword left handed.

"Having difficulty wielding you weapon?" Shadow sarcastically remarked as he nearly avoided a deep jab from his opponent's sword. The black and red hedgehog suddenly got kicked straight into a tree, roughly hitting the bark of the tree, the impact made him wonder if he crashed into bark or hard rock. The cripple Lunarion guard smirked victoriously with his sword at the ready to finish off Shadow when suddenly a cyan aura surrounded his weapon and slipped right through his hands like a snake. He turned around and saw that Silver was mounted on his horse, with his sword close at hand.

"Unless you want to mess with me, I suggest you leave…" the silver hedgehog warned him with his sword drawn at the guard's throat. The guard sighed in frustration, knowing he was beat so he had no option but to retreat. He then got on the horse his friend was on, picked up the unconscious knight and rode off out of the forest in pure defeat.

Blaze jumped out of the tree perfectly landing on her feet and went up to the three hedgehogs. She then helped Shadow up and looked at Silver and Sonic, still mounted on the horses they were still on.

"Is everyone alright?" the purple cat asked them as she looked at the three hedgehogs.

"We're fine." Sonic told her as Shadow climbed up on the horse Sonic was mounted on. "But now we aren't safe in the woods anymore, meaning that we have to leave the woods and go to another kingdom."

"So, where do we go Sonic?" Silver asked his blue friend, urging his horse to turn. "We have to move fast."

"Hmm…" the blue hedgehog thought for awhile and then he had an idea. "We should travel to the south, to the kingdom of Rosaria."

Shadow and Silver just looked at him like he was crazy. Blaze noticed this too, but she wasn't surprised because they probably knew of Rosaria's collaboration of Soleanna and her guess was on the ball.

"Sonic, are you crazy!?" Shadow asked like he doesn't even know the blue hedgehog. "We'd probably die if we set foot in Rosaria! They're Soleanna's allies."

"What other choice do we have?" the blue hedgehog objected to his friends. "Do you want get killed by traitors we call our fellowman?"

Everyone became quiet at that subject, but after fifteen minutes of silence, the other two hedgehogs nodded and agreed that they have no other option. They were about to leave when Silver noticed that Blaze was still standing by, then Silver looked at her again and told the others to stop.

"What's the matter Silv?" Sonic asked the silver grey hedgehog, drawing his horse to a stop.

"What about Blaze?" he asked his friends. "We can't leave her here to face a death sentence by those guards."

Sonic and Shadow looked at her then back at Silver, they thought about it for a moment; they know that she can handle herself since she showed the skill of a warrior and Silver's right, they can't just leave her there to die.

"OK, you got us Silver." Sonic said looking at Silver with a smile and a generous look in his emerald green eyes. "It won't be fair to all of us and we'd be even worst that those guards."

"Thank you Sonic." The purple cat said gratefully to the blue hero with a smile on her face.

"But since we're short on horses, it looks like you're going to have to share with Silver." Sonic informed her and pointed to Silver mounted on the horse next to him and Shadow.

"Alright." Blaze said as she mounted on the horse and was sitting right behind Silver, suddenly she felt a peculiar warm feeling in her stomach and her heart began racing. She held her stomach wondering if she was sick in the stomach or something, Shadow noticed Blaze's actions but decided to shake it off as the four rode off out of the woods and on the trail to the kingdom of Rosaria but while they were on the trail, Blaze had a burning question inside her to ask the three hedgehogs, she didn't know whether to ask them or not but she took a deep sigh and asked them anyway.

"So, why are those guys after you?" Blaze asked Sonic, Shadow and Silver as they rode on down the trail to the nearest town after their near escape, but all she got was silence until Silver decided to speak up.

"To be honest Blaze…" the silver grey hedgehog confessed to the purple feline cat, looking deep into her eyes as the four of them rode on. "Even we don't know…"

"All we do know is that our parents were one day alive and with us and the next thing we know, they were hanged at the gallows while all we could do was watch and cry." Sonic added sadly, hanging his head in sadness as he remembered his parents' death at the gallows.

"Hell, we didn't even know what we did." Shadow added, looking at her with his crimson eyes, slightly making her uncomfortable. "We were being hunted down by them ever since we were five, we never figured out what did we do."

Blaze just felt silent as she listened to the pure sadness in the three hedgehog's back stories, feeling the same way since her mother is gone, but she felt new determination in her heart and said something that gave the three some hope.

"Well, if WE are going to get to the bottom of this." She began pulling a determined smile. "We have to find someone who might give us some answers."

"Alright!" Sonic said as they made it to a nearby town with lilacs growing almost everywhere you look and gleaming roofs that looked like they were made out of platinum. "Welcome to Lilac Summit. It's been forever since we've been here."

"Wait, you've all been here before?" Blaze asked in complete surprise at the three hedgehogs, she didn't think they'd left the woods unless it was entering Lunarion for some good reason.

"Of course." Silver told her as they rode into town and checked out the place. "When we were only three, our parents used to take us here every summer."

"And luckily, we have friends here that owned an inn around here." Sonic added as they rode on to town and looked around the place until they made it to an inn where there were a couple of horses tethered up to a nearby drinking trough, enjoying a good drink of water and enjoying their leisurely time. All four of them got off their horses and gently led them to the drinking trough and tied them nearby. Blaze looked at the inn and saw that it looked a bit like a wooden cabin except it was five times bigger than an average cabin.

The four Mobians went inside and saw a couple other Mobians inside making reservations. Blaze looked around and saw a female white bat and a cream-and-brown tipped coloured rabbit come over to them.

"Sonic, Silver, Shadow." The white bat greeted the three hedgehogs with a smirk on her plump, red lips. "So good to see you again, how has it been since you came over to say hello?"

Then the little rabbit girl suddenly jumped in to Sonic's arms laughing and giggling. Sonic chuckled back as he held the young rabbit in his arms.

"Mister Sonic!" she greeted him, cheerfully and hugged him like she was a kid welcoming her dad or big brother home. "It's great to see you again!"

"Hello to you too, Cream." Sonic greeted her and looked at the white bat. "And to answer your question Rouge, we haven't been here for about five whole years ever since this war started."

The white bat; who was named Rouge just shook her head and sighed in sadness. Sonic put Cream down and the cream coloured rabbit went next to Rouge sighing in sadness.

"It's thanks to the war that things here aren't going so well." Rouge told them sadly then she noticed Blaze in the group. "Hey, who's the cat girl with you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Rouge." Silver apologized and looked at Blaze, with a bit of a smile. "This is Blaze." Then he made a gesture to Rouge and Cream to come closer because he didn't want anyone to hear what else he's gonna say next.

"She's an escapee…from Soleanna…" the silver grey hedgehog told them. Rouge and Cream just gasped in shock because they rarely ever heard of anyone escaping from Soleanna…alive that is…

"Whoa…" Rouge said in shock. "That's amazing. How did you escape without getting caught?"

"It was easy really. I just rode in the dead of night and hid carefully in the shadows." Blaze told her; it wasn't exactly a lie or the truth but Blaze doesn't want anyone to know about her being the princess of Soleanna.

Then Rouge led everyone to a table and began to talk with them.

"So, any new information about Lunarion, you guys?" Rouge asked them in curiousity.

"Apart from the fact the king is raising taxes again and the people are so broke, they're living in rotting homes: Nothing." Silver stated sadly while Sonic nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's terrible; the plants around the place are practically taking over what they now call a city." Sonic added in the conversation. "Also the guards are more active than usual ever since they enforced a new village curfew and we almost got captured by the guards earlier."

"That's a shame." Cream said apologetically as she brought large mugs with some milk on a tray and served everyone. Sonic took a few gulps of his and sighed.

"Time is running out on all of us." Shadow said as he drank up his fill. "We have to find a way to end this."

"But how? What can we do?" Silver asked the black hedgehog as he leaned back in his chair. Then Shadow turned his attention to Blaze.

"Sonic suggested we go to Rosaria." Shadow said to Rouge and Cream. "But I say that he's just letting us get killed."

"Don't be so sure of that." Blaze suddenly responded and everyone at their table looked at her, wondering what she was suggesting. "I know everything about Rosaria, that kingdom is also known as The Kingdom of Visions, meaning that there's a rare power there to predict the future or see the past, which is harnessed in the heart of the castle. Plus Shadow, I don't feel they know about you three but just to be safe we lie low. So if we go to Rosaria, the answers to our problems will reveal themselves to us."

"Wow Blaze, you explained that like it was nothing at all." Silver said in awe at her. Blaze just smiled a little and had a little giggle.

"It was nothing really." Blaze smiled.

"But how do you know all this stuff?" Sonic asked her, wondering how she knew everything about the kingdom they were heading to.

"I read about the place and my grandmother used to tell me stories about it." The cat princess explained to them.

"So, it's settled then." Sonic announced to them. "Tomorrow morning, we'll head off to Rosaria and get the answers we need."

"Right!" Everyone said as they raised their milk filled mugs in the air.

~Meanwhile however…~

Shamera was looking out the window, wondering how her sister was doing. She sighed as she hoped her little sister would be alright.

"Be careful little sister…" Shamera whispered to the wind. The older feline cat was looking out the window, wondering if her sister was alright out there by herself. She just shook it off and went to her bedroom. She then took a book from the bookshelf and began to read a book. It was her mother's own story book; about how she and her husband met, it wasn't by betrothed…but real love…Shamera sighed and wondered why her dear father had forgotten that. She feels that he has lost sight of what's really important, which is their feelings.

The lavender cat continued to turn the pages till she made it to an old photo in the book with her mother, father, her and Blaze when she was only 4 and Blaze was only a year old, being held in her mother's arms. Shamera smiled as she remembered her mother. She was a snow white cat with dark purple in her tips and soft golden eyes. Lucile was so warm, kind, loving and generous when she was around and alive. Shamera loved her mother dearly and she was heartbroken when she heard her mother was killed in the war, the king was grief struck but that didn't stop him from raising his daughters and protecting them with all his might. Maybe that's why he needed Blaze to marry the Lunarion Prince to stop this madness... But still, it just wasn't fair, Flame married for love but why can't Blaze? It just wasn't right…Sharmera had to help Blaze find a loophole without her father knowing the truth about Blaze running away.

"Mom, where ever you are…" Shamera said as she closed the book and held it close to her. "Please watch over and protect Blaze on her journey…"