The reviews have been love. Thank you guys. Let's celebrate my completion of finals with a new chap shall we?

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PART TWO

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Peter's clothing was starting to tear and his limbs were getting scraped from all the constant tripping. The horse Olivia was riding was going way too fast for him to keep up.

He would occasionally yell for her to stop but of course, Olivia decided to be a bitch and not listen to him. She was taking far too much pleasure in all of this.

They had been traveling all night and the sun was rising up. The horse had stopped before Peter could react and he crashed into its behind, finally falling and lying on the ground from exhaustion.

Olivia got off the horse and approached Peter giving him a light kick "who said we were stopping to take a nap?"

He could barely look up at her. "Then what did you stop for?"

"The horse is tired. I'm gonna let it rest for now, while I go take a bath."

It was then that Peter realized they were now by a big pond in a murky wetland area. Olivia tossed Peter a bit of bread from her supply bag. "Am I supposed to just sit here 'til you're done?" Peter asked.

"Yes, and don't even think that you're gonna get a free show…I'm going to go behind the taller grass over there."

Peter then gave his devious smile. "Oh…but then how can you possibly watch me to make sure I don't escape? You know what they say: if you can't see them then most likely they can't see you."

She felt cornered. "What…no…I…cause you won't escape!"

"I could if you're not in sight to watch me."

Olivia growled. The stupid pain-in-the-ass royalty was right. Sensing things out of her vision was one of her battle weaknesses. "Fine then," she said. "But if you really are any sort of Prince, you'll avert your eyes away and keep those sick thoughts to yourself."

She shyly took off her armor and went into the pound, making sure that everything below the chest stayed in the water while she was bathing.

And Peter was surprisingly courteous, only taking in a few glances hoping to see some good detail but Olivia was quite resilient about treating his innate and possibly perverted desires.

"So…," said Peter as he used his peripheral vision to take quick peeks. "How did you really know it was me when I wasn't wearing any proof?"

"Intuition," she said. "Plus your personality reveals a reckless, arrogant, an all-around ass. That's a personality fit for royalty. You're pretty much the Prince Peter that everyone says you are."

Peter laughed. "Well, you're right. It is a reputation of mine."

"But you know, the new word around the kingdom now is that Prince Peter is the biggest coward to ever walk the earth."

Peter was shocked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Oh well I can see why they would think that, considering that you chose to ran away and abandon your royal duties instead of facing them like a man."

"That is NOT why I left."

"Oh really? Cause I never thought you would be so easy to drag back to King Walter...let alone capture."

"That's your fault," Peter quietly grumbled and he refused to say anymore.

When Olivia was done, she quickly grabbed new clothes from her bag. "I think you've been punished enough for a Prince."

And she allowed Peter to get on the horse with her. "Well if I'm going home…," said Peter. "…I might see to it that we overlook the first half of this trip…the whole kidnapping and dragging me thing." He put his arms around Olivia for support knowing that the horse was to be fast once it got started.

Olivia's stomach began to feel strange at that moment…it had to be either butterflies or vomit. Quickly, she blocked the emotions out and ordered the horse to go.

With Prince Peter on the horse instead of being dragged, they were getting closer to their destination in half the time. But to Peter's surprise the skies were getting darker. It couldn't have been night already.

Then he caught an unusual stench in the air. "That smell?" he asked. And then he saw an eerie glow to the east. It was clearly a village…in his own kingdom…being burned to the ground.

"It's been a common occurrence…" Olivia said quietly. "…since you've left."

Sure enough, once they were out of sight of the burning village, the skies began to clear up again. Along the way, Peter could see more rubble of homes and towns that had been long destroyed the unusual attacks that began before he left. But that was all he knew about them…that they were just attacks.

They were soon arriving within sight of the castle and Peter couldn't think about what he would had to face once he got home. He had been gone for many years, he might as well have been executed for leaving.

He kept his eyes on Olivia's back and notice a bit of flesh showing. She had the weirdest tattoo he had ever seen. It was a leaf with a triangle in the center of the leaf.

"Nice tattoo," he remarked. "What's it for?"

"Hell if I know," she said. "I've had that my whole life."

…

William the Sorcerer was in the tower looking at the arrival of Prince Peter through his telescope…just as the stars predicted, he was being dragged home. Of course William knew that they would not be heading for the castle right away, he watched as the horse turned…heading towards the direction of the armory, likely to see Captain Broyles.

Through his telescope, he was shocked to notice a small detail on the stranger who was delivering Prince Peter. He saw the leaf mark on the woman's back.

He nearly choked on his tea in near disbelief. It had been years since he had seen one of them. How did the stars not notify him of this?

This changed things entirely. He was certain that this was the woman was whom he had spent many countless years searching for.

Perhaps now there was hope for the kingdom after all.

And now it was a matter of notifying King Walter of this unexpected turn of events.