"You wanted them to chase us?" Ethyn would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he did not think he would poke his eye while riding on the galloping steed.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Silver was unapologetic. "Remember when we had to take Jarek and his men to the outpost? That was miserably slow."
"I don't remember because I was unconscious with an injury that nearly took both my foot and my life!" the young knight whined.
"That's right. Well then, trust me, this is faster." The Guardian pulled on the reins to slow Daisy down.
"What are you doing now?" The panicked young man looked over his shoulder. The men chasing them were slowly getting closer.
"I just want to make sure they can keep up. What's the point of bringing them along if I lose them?" Silver chuckled.
"You have even more of a death wish than when I last saw you! Which is saying something because we nearly both fell off a cliff into the jaws of a bear that time." Ethyn was not exaggerating. The Guardian had gone to check on sightings of a monster and they both ended up scaling a wall to escape an angry mother bear. It was nearly half a year ago, but the memory was very fresh.
"Don't be so dramatic!" The Guardian was rarely more relaxed than when he was in the middle of a plan unfolding.
The change in focus seemed to remove all the broodiness that generally leaked from his aura. He seemed almost...giddy. He tapped his heels into Daisy and she sped up slightly. Though he did not think it was necessary, Silver also did not want to worry Ethyn too much and cause the knight to make a mistake.
The Guardian tugged playfully at his hood. "I have been in far worse scrapes than this! I once escaped the Baron's manor with a few hundred men following me."
"That story gets more spectacular each time you tell it." Ethyn could retell the story of the grand escape in his sleep. The details always changed slightly, but the harrowing escape from a foolproof trap was still impressive.
"And as for the nonsense about a death wish, I have never had more to live for."
"Ha!" Ethyn laughed bitterly.
Despite their increase in speed, the Lykilian soldiers were still gaining ground. They had fanned out and were trying to encircle the duo in order to stop them.
Silver did not seem to notice. "I mean it! So much is finally going my way. Sage's time in the kingdom of Lakyle might be coming to a close soon, you are a full-fledged knight, Rynnlee is prospering and...well, this may not be the best time to tell you, but I found her...."
An arrow from one of the soldiers coming up on their left whizzed past Ethyn's cheek. He could hear the whisper of death as the feathers of the fletching tickled his ear. "You see!" he cried, ignoring the words of the Guardian. "You are going to get us killed!"
"Must have had the bow stowed with their horses," Silver clicked his tongue.
He pulled back on Daisy and maneuvered her with his legs to go around Courage. While the trusty mare complied, the Guardian pulled out his own quiver and aimed at the offending soldier and let off a shot. A tree intervened and caught the shaft in its trunk.
"Ha!" the soldier laughed, but his victory was short-lived.
Silver nocked another arrow and let it fly. This one flew unobstructed right into the wooden bow of the opposing archer. The force knocked the weapon from his enemy's hands and startled the horse. It reared and fell back behind the group once more.
A third shot was sent directly into the sky.
"Why did you--" Ethyn looked straight up, letting his horse take them ever closer to the border. Or maybe they were already over it, it was hard to tell. The young man squinted. Something was strange about the arrow. It did not have a normal metal tip.
The arrow reached its apex and turned to arc downwards. As it did, the bright red powder contained within it tipped out and colored the sky in a shimmery crimson brilliance. Ethyn could not focus on the strange display as Silver handed something across to him before they parted to go around another tree.
"Here. No reason to lose that head of yours. Take this helmet."
"Where did you get it from?" Ethyn slipped the piece of armor onto his head.
"Sir Kent....he wasn't using it." Silver's eyes flashed with mischief.
"Back to stealing?!" the knight nearly threw the helmet away, but decided the better of it. His head was very important after all.
"It was an extra incentive for them to follow us. No knight likes to lose a piece of his armor." The Guardian could understand. If someone stole his cloak, he would be out for blood too.
"You are crazy!" Ethyn tried to joke, but the truth was all too evident.
"I never claimed otherwise," Silver answered somberly. He looked up at the sun and adjusted his course.
They rode on in silence for a while, Daisy constantly veering to her left as she held onto her speed. With Silver armed on the left with a bow, the men chasing them were less inclined to try to surround them from that side.
Ethyn didn't notice at first what was happening, but when he saw the same set of trees they had passed around a quarter hour prior, he became suspicious. Just as they reached the tree with the arrow protruding from it, the Lykilian soldiers at last successfully surrounded them and brought them to a halt.
"Drop your weapons!" Sir Kent ordered.
Surprisingly, Silver easily complied. He lowered his bow and quiver gently to the ground, motioning for Ethyn to do the same. With a sidelong glance, the young knight lowered his sword, which he had drawn instinctively, and let the beloved weapon go.
"The helmet?" Sir Kent arched his brow.
Passing over the helmet, Ethyn quickly defended himself. "I didn't take it!"
"No, the blame is all mine, gentlemen, and it seems to have brought us all here." The Guardian shook his head sadly. "I am afraid this is where the journey ends."
"Indeed," Sir Kent said. "I have rescinded my offer of a trial. I will deal with you swiftly here and now."
The Guardian laughed heartily. "Oh, you misunderstand. I am not the one who should be worried just now. You see, you have crossed into Birlian lands and are now threatening its subjects, including a well respected knight. That is not to mention that you are the ring leader who is terrorizing the border towns. Both of those are punishable offenses...."
"And are the two of you going to be the ones to administer this justice. You ran from us like cowards." Sir Kent puffed out his chest and winced from the bruising by Daisy's hooves.
"Us? Oh no. We would never think to be judge and jury. There are far more qualified people. And you missed one crucial detail. We weren't running from anything. We were running towards something. Or do you not realize where in Birle you are?"
Sir Kent hesitated. He wanted to believe it was a bluff, but the man in the inscrutable hood was too certain to be kidding. Then the realization dawned on him.
"We need to get out of here now," he said to his men, "we are too close to the fort!"
It was too late. In a moment the ring of men were surrounded by a much more formidable force than the Guardian and his sidekick.