A twig snaps and Erza and Damon jolt awake. Erza stands up and quietly walks over to Brinly. She calms the horse down and unties her from the tree. Damon mounts Alastair and readies his bow. The captain mounts her horse and they start to quietly walk forward. As the party starts to move, the sound of pounding hooves starts to echo through the trees. Alastair breaks out in to a gallop and Brinly follows him.
Birds take flight as the horses race past. Erza and Damon keep their eyes on the path ahead and try not to worry about the army at their heels. The small party jumps over rocks and tree limbs in their mad dash to safety. No matter how fast they run, the metallic ringing of armor and the thump of hooves on dirt keeps getting closer. Damon realizes that this is no ordinary army after them. These must be members of the King's personnel guild of assassins. They have the fastest horses in the kingdom and there are rumors that they might just be the best fighters as well. They've never failed a mission.
Damon moves his head and catches a glimpse of something up ahead. He does it again and realizes that there's a tripwire in the middle of the path. As he points it out to Erza, he looks up and sees a number of boulders at the top of the ridge. The captain and the prince jump the booby trap and then Damon turns around in his saddle. He fires an arrow at the tripwire and turns back around. The rocks tumble down the steep walls and block the path. Erza and Damon keep an eye out for whoever set up the trip wire.
After they cover some more distance, the companions slow down and try to get a better sense of their new surroundings. Damon jumps down and stretches. He walks around a little bit and tries to find any signs that might indicate that others have been here. Erza stretches but stays by Brinly's side. Something has the mare very nervous. Alastair walks over and nuzzles the other horse. She seems to relax a little bit, but not much.
"What do you think has Brinly spooked?" Erza asks.
"Smoke. Can't you smell it? She got stuck in a burning stable as a foal so the smell of smoke still frightens her."
"How did you find this out?"
"I'm the one that rescued her. I could tell you a lot about her if you want me to."
"That's a good idea. There's so much that I don't know about her."
"Well, you're the first woman that she's ever let ride her. Brinly was abandoned by her former owner who also happens to be the one that set the stables on fire. The other villagers said that her owner was a widow and she was trying to kill herself by setting the stables ablaze. It was really tragic actually. After that, Brinly's never really trust women. Actually, you're only the third person to ever ride her. You're the second person to ride her without being thrown though."
"Really?"
"Yes. She threw Jiro the first time he tried to ride her. It was hilarious actually."
"Anything else I should know?"
"If we come across the source of that smoke, I'm going to have to trade you horses. She loses control when she sees fire and I'm the only one that's ever been able to calm her down. She's also afraid of the dark, which is why I always tie her and Alastair up right next to each other. Alastair and Brinly are best friends, so he comforts her. Also, if we come across any enemies, you won't be able to fight from her back. She'll throw you in a second and that would cause trouble for both of us. Jiro made that mistake once while we were hunting and I almost lost both of them."
"That sounds terrible."
"It was. I'll have to tell you about it sometime. Jiro and I actually laughed afterwards."
"You tow always could find humor in everything."
"We had to. If we didn't laugh, we'd cry."
"Why is that?"
"…I'll have to tell you some other time. Right now we should start moving. Those assassins are probably finding their way over that rockslide as we speak."
"Of course."
Damon and Erza mount their horses and start moving again. Both of them keep an eye out for source of the smoke and for the person that set up that rockslide. As they start to round a corner, Damon throws out his hand to stop Erza and Brinly. He quietly jumps down and nocks an arrow before sneaking over to the rock wall. Erza quietly pulls Brinly back towards Alastair. She watches as Damon carefully looks around the corner. He looks at her, raises one finger to his lips, and then disappears around the corner. Erza listens intently to the conversation.
"Who are you?" Damon asks.
"Who are you?" Another voice asks.
"Answer my question."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because I can loose this arrow before you even have the chance to blink."
"Yeah, if you weren't already caught."
Erza jolts at that and gets ready to dismount when she realizes that someone already has a sword to her throat. He motions for her to get down and she does. The stranger grabs her arm and drags her to his comrades. Damon turns his head and clenches his jaw. Now they're both caught and unfortunately Erza's a bit more recognizable than he is. Why didn't I think to have her remove her armor?
"So, we've got Captain Erza Scarlet of the royal guard and…?" The first man asks.
"And you'll find out if you let her go."
"I'm not going to do that, but you're going to tell me anyway. And you should probably explain why I should keep a knight of the royal guard alive."
"You're going to keep her alive because if you don't I'll kill you with my bare hands."
"You're not exactly in a position to be making threats."
The man holding Erza lightly drags his sword across her chin, causing blood to trickle down her neck. Damon growls and his body tenses. He starts to shake, but he doesn't make a move to escape.
"Prince Damon of the Stroen Kingdom, son of King Judas, elder brother to Jiro, Malachi, and Rex. Currently Erza and I are on the run from a group of assassins and are labeled traitors to the kingdom. Now if you want to live, I suggest you let us go because those assassins are bound to catch up to us sooner rather than later."
"I'm not going to let you go. You're coming with us. We'll protect you, Your Highness."
"Wh-what?"
"I'll explain everything later. Just come with us."
"Alrigh… wait! You're Gajeel Redfox! Your father was one of the King's Lords."
"And I still serve the royal family, but I don't believe King Judas for a second. I'm going to help you because you're the true king of Fiore."
"Th-thank you. You won't regret this."
"I certainly hope not."
Gajeel's men let go of Erza and Damon and allow them to go get their horses. They lead the frightened animals around the corner and continue to follow Gajeel to Castle Redfox. Along the way they learn the names of his two companions. The one who had been holding Erza was Gray Fullbuster, a quiet man with an icy demeanor. The one who had held Damon was Natsu Dragneel and he was about as obnoxious as his hair color. They talked to pass the time, but it was obvious that no one was willing to trust the other.
A/N: So this is obviously a shorter chapter and I apologize for that, but the next chapter will be more interesting! I promise! Aaaannnnndddd we'll get to meet more members of Fairy Tail! Yay! xD As always, hoped you enjoyed reading! And don't forget to check out the poll on my profile! Anyways, see ya til next time!