"Sure as the turn of the world changes night to day, the call of power changes the hearts of men." - The Prophecies of the Light

Hyesung set a fast pace that night, trotting through the city streets and breaking into a canter when they hit the slopes outside of the city, a conjured Magelight lighting the way. Seungcheol had to wonder what the Mage was running from, but he wisely kept that thought to himself. His horse, instead of tiring the more energy he expended, grew more and more hyper as time passed, making sure that the young guardsman had his hands full. He was a good horse, of fighting stock and perfect for a soldier with the ambition of rising in the ranks, but he was young and hard to handle at the moment. Eventually they would bond so that the horse would listen to him better, but for now, it took all of his skill to stay seated as his horse crow hopped as they traveled.

By the time Hyesung called for a stop, they had ridden a good distance from the city, with the lights of the Tower still visible in the distant valley. Seungcheol's horse shook his head roughly as he sidestepped, prancing to try and unseat his rider. The mercenary gave him an amused look as he dismounted from his own calm bay; Seungcheol fought back the urge to tell him that the older horse was typically used for children. The nervous thief half climbed, half fell from his own saddle, his inexperience showing in his stiff movements, but he gathered himself and moved to speak with the Mage.

"High Mage," he said politely, catching Hyesung's attention as the older man worked to unsaddle his own bay mare. "Is there a reason we left Redien so quickly? Couldn't we have waited until morning? It would be easier to travel and to set up camp if we-"

"I have my reasons." Hyseung's sharp tone brooked no argument as he turned his back on the thief abruptly. "Unsaddle your horse and get out bedrolls. We need to sleep quickly, we're leaving as soon as the sun rises." He fixed the Magelight in the air above them, leaving it to cast light for the whole party without him having to move it around. The thief gave himself a shake before he turned to obey Hyesung's instructions.

Seungcheol finally got his horse to stand still long enough for him to dismount, but even as he did so, he pondered the Mage's attitude. As a Tower guard he knew better than to question a High Mage, but there was something that just didn't seem right about Hyesung's actions. He knew that both Dongwan and Hyesung had been studying the Prophecies of Light, so maybe they had found something that sent the younger Mage on an important quest? But they had been studying them for years now and he couldn't quite fathom why it became so important tonight. Though Seungcheol knew a few pieces of the prophecies here and there, as much as anyone else, he knew he wasn't qualified to put in an opinion on the matter. Despite that, he couldn't ignore the instinct that had told him to join in the Mage's quest, the sense that something was wrong. 

He cast a curious look at Hyesung as he lifted the saddle off of his red gelding, deftly maneuvering to avoid a bite from the frisky horse. Hyesung sat now with his head pillowed against his own saddle, bedroll pulled up around him and eyes closed as if trying to catch the sleep that he said they would need. "Should we set guards?" Seungcheol asked, quiet but insistent. The Mage's eyes popped open and he gave the blond a long, appraising look before he finally shook his head.

"Not tonight. We are close enough yet far enough from Redien to not be bothered. Get some sleep, guardsman. You'll need it." Turning on his side, he put his back to the rest of the company in a not-so-subtle signal that he was done talking.

The thief glanced at Seungcheol then, a question written all over his face, but the guard ignored him and finished with his own horse. The Mage had used magic to drive his own picket stake into the ground, but it was a convenience he offered to no one else. Fending off his horse's attempted bites, Seungcheol began to dig through the panniers of the pack horse. A tap on the shoulder drew him up short and he turned to find the tool he'd been searching for in the mercenary's hand. 

"No guard?" he asked quietly, likely not wanting to disturb Hyesung's sleep. Seungcheol began to shrug before belatedly realizing that the taller man was looking to him for directions. He paused before shaking his head.

"We obey Hyesung," he answered, just as quietly, and the mercenary nodded before handing over the small hammer. Seuncheol drew his horse a good distance from the others and drove the stake into the ground there, unwilling to let his sorrel wreak havoc by kicking the others in the middle of the night, then returned to find that a bedroll had already been set up for him. The thief cast him a lopsided grin as he shrugged.

"You were busy. Mingyu took care of my horse. I had nothing else to do," he said by way of explanation. 

Despite knowing to never trust a thief