Sehun could feel the snake squirming, turning round and round his upper arm as he was dragged to his feet.

He snarled as much as he could through the gag, thrashing so hard that one of them had to seize him by the hair. 

The point of a dagger pressing against his throat made him pause.

“Come along now,” the man growled.

The snake was still again when he was led out of the cottage and to a wide eyed horse. The horse sniffed at his shirt as he passed and Sehun swore he heard a whisper in his mind.

Milord.

He felt the snake tighten around his arm and a hissed reply too soft for him to catch. The horse merely bowed its head and allowed the men to hoist Sehun into the saddle like a sack of potatoes. 

It was an uncomfortable ride, slung across the front of the saddle on his stomach. He was jolted back and forth repeatedly as the horse trotted down the paths, caged in by horses on either side. 

They all had the same response when they had seen him, a brief head bow and a whispered milord. 

Sehun wondered when exactly had he become an animal whisperer. He did not remember being able to understand animals before. 

Perhaps it was another one of his powers manifesting? Sivaria was a melting pot of cultures and magic and it was difficult to predict what one might have, especially as the crown prince. 

With his twenty first birthday rapidly approaching, Sehun thought that his powers should have already all manifested. 

The power over air, the manipulation of spells and wards. 

That was the extent of his powers as far as he had known. Perhaps he could add a new one now to the list?

Sehun could feel a strange buzzing in the air as they crossed a seemingly ordinary path, the trees becoming denser all around them. He shivered. 

He had never been this far away from home before. 

Even before his father’s death, he was usually confined to the borders of their kingdom. The forest around the castle never changed, despite the magic imbued deep within them. 

Sehun always thought that was strange as Sivaria was practically magic central, steeped with so much magic that they attracted dragons like flies to honey.

The thought of dragons made him freeze. He wondered what had happened to Jongin.

Last he remembered, the dragon had been following him. 

Was he alright or had he already been recaptured and sent back to the queen? 

He doubted that the dragon would allow himself to be captured again but his stepmother was powerful and Jongin looked so very young for a dragon.

It did not take them very long to arrive at the portal, a glowing, shimmering thing tucked away behind a glade of trees. 

Sehun protested soundly, struggling as hard as he could even as he was lifted from the horse’s back, carried between two men.

He could see the deck of a ship through the portal, dark and wooden against swirling purple colours. 

The leader chuckled, a rough brown hand closing around Sehun’s throat as he writhed, crying out against the gag in his mouth.

Sehun arched, terror riding like a wave through his bloodstream as he was dragged through the portal, the magic rippling like cold water over his face, then his body,

He could smell the salt in the air as he was unceremoniously dropped onto the ground in a heap, jostling the snake curled around his arm. 

Said snake hissed softly at the disturbance, tightening its coils.

I do not like rough men. 

Sehun bit down on his lip as he was manhandled to his feet and dragged over to the main mast. 

Three pairs of frightened eyes stared back at him as he spun around, his back colliding painfully against the solid wood.

He could not hold back a yelp of pain, and the snake in his sleeve hissed even louder.

He squished me.

Sehun mumbled an apology in his mind as the snake uncoiled from around his upper arm. His wrists were attached to the rope already around the mast and his ankles too, were bound together. 

He swallowed down a surprised sound when he felt the snake slither down his arm to coil neatly around his wrist, his body hiding it from view.

“Urgh,” a calloused hand gripped his jaw and jerked his chin up. Sehun whimpered in pain as fingers dug into his flesh, hard enough to leave bruises.

“He’s a pretty one, alright,” the man was a different one, dressed in what looked like a pirate’s hat and a sleezy eyepatch. He was big and broad, his nose crooked and absolutely hideous to look at. 

Sehun tried to yank his chin out of the man’s grip but he held firm, crooked teeth yellow in the sun as he leered. He smelled disgusting too. 

“I’ll take im’,” money exchanged hands and Sehun was almost relieved to be released. 

Almost.

The panic rose higher in his throat as half the men vanished back into the portal and the portal swirled, sealing up into nothing. Now he had no way of going home.

He had no idea where he even was. 

For all he knew, they could be on the other side of the kingdom, on the Ascythe Sea. Come to think of it, it did look a lot like the Darklands. 

The ship was parked neatly in a cove surrounded by rocks as black as night and the air was cold and salty.

Even as the captain shouted orders, the ship beginning to rock beneath his feet, the sky was darkening in the distance, a sure sign of an incoming storm.

Sehun’s stomach lurched. He had never even been on a ship before, much less on one that was about to try and outrun a storm.

He murmured prayers under his breath, the snake around his wrist settling against his skin.

Be still, milord. Help will come. I promise.