Chapter Four

Ryder wouldn't look back. He couldn't. Not when there was so much at stake. He knew that Chris would die. It was obvious. With injuries like those, there was no chance of survival. But Ryder was the prince and he couldn't afford to die. No matter how precious his friends were to him, he could not be allowed to die. But despite knowing that, Ryder couldn't stop a few stray tears from flowing out of his sapphire eyes. Remembering where he was and who he was dragging along behind him jolted him out of his depressing state of mind. So he wiped his tears from his face and stopped walking. He closed his eyes for a brief second before opening them to face Mira. He looked at her, noticing how her eyes held that same familiar glint of determination, but there was a small tinge of sadness deep down in her scarlet orbs. Mira looked back at Ryder with curiosity.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Ryder continued to look at her as he spoke. "We can't go back to the cave anymore so we're going to travel to another place where we can stay at for now. We'll lay low there for a bit."

Mira tilted her head. "Where are we going then?"

"We'll be traveling to Basinhorn. It's a city over in Gleacia."

"Gleacia? But isn't that far away? You said we were in Eraythiel back when we were in the cave."

"Yes, we were in Eraythiel. That cave we were in was actually near the border between Eraythiel and Gleacia. We just so happen to have crossed the border when we were running. Now we're in Gleacia. Although Besinhorn is still a few hours..." He paused as he looked around then pointed in a direction towards the north, "...that way."

"So we should be able to get there within the day?"

Ryder nodded. "If we don't slow down or take many breaks then yes, we should arrive in about four hours."

Mira hummed and nodded her head a few times, considering what Ryder said. After a brief moment, she said, "Alright. To Besinhorn we go!"

Mira started to walk away and Ryder was forced to speed up so he could catch up to her. Around an hour or so into their speechless trek to Besinhorn, Mira decided it was time to strike up a conversation.

"So, you're a prince?" she inquired.

Ryder looked at her quizzically. "Huh? Me? A prince? Psh, no way."

Mira looked at him with a single raised eyebrow. "You do know that I heard everything that you and Chris talked about back in the cave, right? He called you 'Your Majesty'. I'm not dumb."

Ryder looked at her with a comically surprised expression. He sighed. "Fine, fine. You caught me. I am, indeed, a prince. But please, I don't want you to treat me any differently know that you've found out."

Mira's mouth twitched in what she believed to have been her face's attempt at a smile. "Even if you were the king of your very own nation, I wouldn't treat you any differently than I have been."

Ryder was stunned. Did she almost just smile at him? Although he had only known this girl for a couple of hours, Ryder could tell that Mira was not the type to joyfully smile about something, so the upward twitch of her lips surprised him. He couldn't understand what the flutter in his chest was when he saw the unfamiliar scene of Mira's tiny smile. He placed a hand over his heart as he stared at his comrade and they continued to walk towards their destination.

Several hours later, the two travelers had passed the gated entrance and finally arrived at the town of Besinhorn. Mira could not believe what she was seeing. The town was absolutely magnificent. She couldn't stop herself from glancing around the entire area. She started to walk, Ryder following after her, watching her wide eyes filled with awe and amazement. She walked down the street, inspecting everything she came across, from the people to the market stands that littered the sides of the street and even the stone buildings. There were banners hanging from one building to another with small but bright fairy lights illuminating the entire town. There were hundreds of people--well, dragons--accumulated on the streets. It looked like some sort of festival. Mira looked to her left and noticed a couple trading with the owner of one of the many stalls. She looked around and realized that a lot of the stalls were doing the same thing.

"Mira," she heard Ryder say from somewhere behind her, "make sure you don't wander too far. I don't know how I'll be able to find you if you get lost."

She turned around to see him happily smiling at her. She nodded in agreement. "You're right. I'll take care not to stray too far from you."

Ryder went to nod his head at her, but he noticed that she was already off to the center square of the town. He quickly followed after her as he realized why she had left him for the square. Mira had stopped walking to stare at a group of people who were merrily dancing with their partners. A huge crowd had gathered around the dancers, watching, smiling and laughing along with everyone else. This was a happy and content town, Ryder noted.

"Ryder."

He turned to look at Mira who now stood next to him as they blended into the crowd. "What is it, Mira?"

"Everyone here is so happy. They don't seem to have a care in the world."

He nodded as he looked back at the dancers. "You're right. But that's only because they're celebrating The Coming of Besinhorn, the day that this town was founded. It's always a joyous occasion on the day when the town you live in was created. They're not normally this happy."

Mira hummed as she watched the dancers, feeling the sudden and intense urge to dart out and join them in their carefree festivities. She stood there for a bit longer as she let herself get in tune with the beat of the drums and the singing of the dragon people, who she now realized all had different types of horns protruding from their skulls. She paid the horns no mind as she let herself sway to the mesmerizing music coming from somewhere in the background, but loud enough for her to practically feel. In one swift movement, she grabbed Ryder's wrist and dashed out into the assembly of dancers. She could hardly hear Ryder yelling her name and the shocked expression on his face actually made her laugh.

Ryder watched her as she laughed for what appeared to be the first time in a long while and his heart tightly squeezed in his chest as he observed her. He stared at her as she began to move her hips and dance to the music, looking remarkably similar to all of the previous dancers he had seen. Ryder was surprised to see that the smile she donned looked incredibly natural yet somehow abnormal on her face. Whatever her reasons were for her seldom expressed smile, Ryder knew that he would do anything to keep that gorgeous beam on her face.

While Ryder had moved to the side of the square so he could watch his friend twirl and spin around, Mira was enjoying her one of her first moments of pure happiness. She was filled to the brim with feelings of delight and euphoria. She's never felt like this before. She was so busy moving to the music, she didn't notice when someone walked up behind her.

On the other hand, Ryder was fully aware of the strange figure making its way closer and closer to Mira. He began to stride over to where Mira continued to dance, but his arms were suddenly tightly grabbed by two men. He snarled--a rather animalistic sound coming from a sorcerer like himself--and he tried to rip his arms free. He struggled against the vice-like grip of the men holding him and he quickly looked towards where Mira had been. Only to see that she had disappeared.

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