Once they were out of the town, it was a short walk until they came to a small dirt road. There were forests on both sides of the road, but neither of them were too fond of traveling through the wooded areas if they had a clear path right in front of them. Plus, this would give them the chance to hitchhike if someone with a wagon came through.

“We can move into the forest when it starts to get darker,” Chanyeol spoke up while they walked. “It will be safer to sleep with some cover than out in the open like this.”

“Well we won't have a lot of time before that since we left later than we thought we would,” Baekhyun added as he looked up at the wizard.

“At least we'll travel farther on this road than having to manage our way through the forest,” Chanyeol commented.

Their conversation turned light as they continued walking down the dirt road, kicking up a light cloud of dust as they did. Molzey ran around them, sometimes going to the edge of the forest but then running back with a leaf in . When she wanted to be picked up, she would come to their legs and paw at them while they walked to signal she was tired. 

The sun soon started setting, signaling that they needed to start heading into the forest to set up for the night. They did not have to go far into the forest before they found a nice clearing and set up their tent. They found the edges of the forest to be quite dense, but it thinned fairly fast with it taking them maybe half an hour before things thinned enough for them to consider stopping for the evening. In order to make their fire to keep them warm during the night, they had to go hunting for branches on the forest floor. Chanyeol went one way and Baekhyun went the other to look for some wood.

Baekhyun ended up coming back with an armful of wood and saw Chanyeol was already back and doing something. The wizard was rummaging through one of their bags, hunched over them so he could not see what Chanyeol was doing. When Baekhyun dropped the wood onto the ground, Chanyeol turned around and closed the bag.

“Were you looking for something?” Baekhyun asked as he clapped his hands together a few times to get the dirt off.

“Just checking to make sure we have everything,” Chanyeol stated as he came over and started positioning the logs so he could start a fire.

“Wouldn’t that have been something good to do before we left the town…?” Baekhyun asked, raising one of his eyebrows in question.

Chanyeol ignored his question and kept working at building the fire. While he did that, Baekhyun found himself pulling off his cloak and tossing it onto their bags. By the time he had pulled it off and turned back to the fire, it was started and going strong. He could only assume that Chanyeol had used his magic to start it but did not mind since that meant he would get warmer faster and they could eat dinner. 

Knowing they would have to eat soon, Baekhyun pulled out a bag of food he had bought and selected two rolls and three sausages. He scurred the sausages on sticks and held them over the fire, handing one of the sticks to Chanyeol once he was sitting down as well. They turned them over the fire until they looked cooked and let them cool. Once one of them was cooled enough, Baekhyun placed it down on the ground for Molzey to eat.

“Don't eat too fast,” Baekhyun told Molzey as he patted her head and watched her take a bite. 

The small fox looked up at him with the sausages juice running down her chin and yipped quietly before continuing.

“Sometimes I really think you two can communicate,” Chanyeol commented. “Are you sure nowhere in your bloodline there is magic?”

Baekhyun giggled and nodded his head. “I am positive,” he confirmed. “Is talking to animals a trait of a wizard?”

“It's a rare one to have,” Chanyeol replied before taking a bite of his sausage. “It's incredibly hard to learn, so it's usually only those born with the ability who are able to do it.”

“That's so amazing…” Baekhyun said with wide eyes. “I want to be part wizard! An...uzmakk was it?”

Chanyeol nodded his head, acknowledging that Baekhyun had chosen the correct word. “You would not want that though, Baekhyun. Now eat your dinner.”

A slight pout crossed Baekhyun’s face at Chanyeol’s stern response, but he did not pry farther. He had a feeling that delving deeper into the topic would ruin their entire night.

They ate in silence for the most part, both being tired and wanting to rest. Even after only half a day of walking, it had taken a lot of energy out of them. Everything was going well and they were having a peaceful night around the fire until there was a loud snapping sound of a branch breaking that echoed through the otherwise quiet night.

“What was that?” Baekhyun asked, straightening up and looking back behind Chanyeol. “I heard something.”

“It was probably just an animal,” Chanyeol simply stated with a shrug of his shoulders. “And put your cloak back on. It's getting colder now and the fire won't be enough soon.”

Scowling at Chanyeol slightly, Baekhyun got up from the ground and went to grab his cloak off their bags where he had tossed it. As he adjusted his cloak back on himself, there was another snapping sound coming from closer by.

This time Chanyeol perked up as well, finding it odd. Just as he was about to say they should just ignore it to put Baekhyun at ease, however, Molzey perked up and darted as fast as she could into the tent. An animal's instincts are far better than a humans so that meant Molzey must have been trying to signal something to them.

“Something is not right…” Chanyeol finally said in a low, weary, voice as he slowly stood up and turned in the direction from which the sound had come from. Animals were smart. If they made a noise like that, they would avoid doing it again to not draw attention to themselves. It was not an animal doing this, it could not be. The leaves and dirt crunched under his boots as his feet shuffled along the ground in uncertainty. “Stay here, Baekhyun. I'm going to go check it out.”

“Chanyeol…” the prince nervously called after him. With both him and Molzey acting on edge now, being left alone was the last thing he wanted.

“If need be, there's a fighting knife in the bag I was carrying,” Chanyeol told him in a serious tone. “Get it out if I do not make it back.”

Before Baekhyun could call out to him again, Chanyeol headed off into the forest by himself. Not knowing what to do, he figured he would be the safest if he stayed by the tent. He nervously paced around in front of the tent, playing with the fur at the end of his sleeve and biting the inside of his cheek. He thought Chanyeol would only be gone for a short time, and was getting unnerved. After all, the sound had come from nearby so it was not like Chanyeol would have needed to go far to find the cause.

Everything was silent except for the crackling of the fire, and the rustling of the leaves on the trees and ground where they scattered about. Sometimes he thought he heard the sound of a small animal running around, but could never be sure that was what the noise truly was. 

“He will be back soon,” Baekhyun said in a hushed voice. “Do not worry, Molzey...he will be back any minute now…” He said it more so to calm himself down, but convinced himself that Molzey also needed reassurance.

Baekhyun paced around a little more before crouching down and wrapping his arms around his legs. He glanced into the tent to see Molzey popping her head up and looking at him with her ears down. Everything went still and silent, giving Baekhyun the chance to listen closely to the things around him.

The only sound that broke the silence was that of shuffling feet nearby. Thinking it was Chanyeol coming back from checking out the surrounding area, Baekhyun gave a sigh of relief. Standing up from his crouched position, Baekhyun started walking around the tent to tell Chanyeol he was glad he was back, but froze.

It was not Chanyeol.

No. It was four men wearing black cloaks with their hoods pulled up to cover their faces. One of the men had Chanyeol slung over his shoulder and he was unconscious. 

‘There's a fighting knife in his bag…’ Baekhyun said to himself as his feet shuffled back towards the tent.

As soon as the hooded man closest to him took a step forward, he bolted back towards the tent. Right when he made a reach for Chanyeol’s bag, he felt a hand on his ankle and was pulled away from the tent with ease. Right away, Baekhyun fought back and kicked his free leg, managing to wiggle away from him. He only managed to get onto his feet and run a few steps before he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. 

Crumpling to the ground and groaning in pain, the last thing Baekhyun saw was a pair of boots in front of his face before he out. 

When Baekhyun regained his consciousness he found it was still nighttime and much darker out. There was a gag tied around his head so he could not speak, his arms were bound behind his back, and his ankles tied together. He shifted his head slightly to find Chanyeol was still knocked out so he did not want to start moving and show he was awake.

“We were told to find more workers and we have,” one of the hooded men, Daesung, said from around their fire.

‘We’re still by our camp sight,’ Baekhyun said to himself, now being able to take a small sigh of relief.

“Will two be enough?” a second man, Seungri, asked. “I thought we needed more than that.”

“Five would be ideal to fill the quota,” Daesung said again. 

“There’s a town near by,” a third man, Taeyang, then spoke up.

“A town?” Daesung repeated.

“A town, maybe half a day walk from here. If we go by horse and set off at a good pace we can make it tonight,” Taeyang, pointing back in the direction from which Baekhyun and Chanyeol had traveled from. 

“We need the workers,” the fourth man, Seunghyun, chimed in.

“Then I guess we need to go now,” Daesung said again. “Three can go and grab people and one of us can stay back and watch over these two.”

Baekhyun continued listening as the four of them decided who was going and who was staying. From what he could heard, the men called Daesung, Seungri, and Taeyang were going to the town. When the three men were ready, the three of them disappeared to go get their horses, and hooves could be heard trampling down the dirt road not soon after.

Seeing the one hooded man left with them was looking away from them, Baekhyun started moving his arms around behind his back to try his best and loosen the ropes around his wrists. He grunted around his gag as he pulled as hard as he could on his binds, begging for them to loosen if only just a little. His struggles, however, gained the attention of the man left at the camp with them.

“Hey! Stop moving around!” Seunghyun shouted before walking over to Baekhyun and standing over him. “You're not getting free so you may as well save your energy.”

All Baekhyun could do was glare up at the man and mumble words to him from around his gag. The man only scoffed at him before walking away and going to stand by the fire again, completely ignoring him. 

The night carried on in silence before Baekhyun saw Chanyeol start to move as he came back to his senses. There was a barely audible groan that came from his lips, probably because he was knocked out exactly like he had been and it was hurting. With a little movement from him, Chanyeol turned his head slightly and saw he was awake as well. 

Right away Chanyeol’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, wanting to know the situation they were in. 

Unlike Baekhyun who had tried to stay still and silent so he would not be noticed, Chanyeol took a completely different approach to things. He started thrashing around and making as much noise as he possibly could. All of the commotion he was causing made the hooded man turn around and walk up to him.

“I already told your buddy here that there's no point in struggling. So stop it,” he commanded.

Being told what to do only made Chanyeol struggle harder. Chanyeol thrashed around and rolled over onto his stomach with the side of his face laying in the dirt. As soon as he did that, the man slammed a foot onto his back to try and make him go still.

“Behave yourself or I will get angry!” the man shouted in frustration. “You won't be able to work if you're hurt, and if you don't settle down I will snap one of your legs!” he threatened.

Panic filled Baekhyun as he listened to the man and started shaking his head, hoping Chanyeol would look his way. Thankfully the wizard glanced over at him and saw him desperately shaking his head as a sign for him to stop. They did not know the situation they were in and if they got injured it would be bad no matter what. 

When Chanyeol finally stopped thrashing around so much, the hooded man saw the glimmer from the light of the fire reflecting off the silver ring on his finger.

“That looks expensive,” the man said while crouching down and painfully grabbing onto Chanyeol’s hand in a bone crushing manner. “No clue how we missed this earlier...but it will cost a pretty penny at any market.”

Before Chanyeol knew it, the man was grabbing at the ring and trying to yank it off his finger. Cries of pain left Chanyeol’s mouth as his finger was practically wrenched from its socket. The man eventually stopped pulling at it and