The Prince and the Knight

2.1

With a deep sigh, the unconscious prince slowly woke up, his senses coming to him as quickly as molasses flowed in a jar. Everything felt muddled and heavy-his head throbbed and his body felt like a block of cement. As his chocolate brown eyes fluttered open, Tooru moved his hand to rub them but found that they were still bound behind his back.

So that whole thing wasn't just some bad dream... he thought, worry rising in his chest again. Where was his mother? What was happening to his kingdom? To his father? Where the hell was he?

"Ugh... damn it..." Tooru groaned and lifted his head slightly, fighting the heaviness he felt weighing himself down. He looked down at his shirt to find bloodstains dripping down it. Well that's not going to wash out now. He must've had a nosebleed, which tended to happen when someone hit him on the head hard enough, especially from the front. Slowly, overcoming the dizziness and haziness in his vision, he began to look around and try to figure out where he even was.

Nowhere. That's where he was: the middle of nowhere.

There was a small range of hills off in the distance and he swore he could vaguely make out the castle of his kingdom in the distance, which was merely a darkened silhouette against an overcast sky. On his left there was a wide-open field of brownish grass. On his right there was a forest the seemed to be moving closer.

Wait... why was he even moving in the first place?

As his senses came to him, he heard a steady thumping on the grass beneath him, and, upon looking down, found that there was a horse underneath him. The black horse swayed its tail back and forth as it trotted over towards the forest, set on some route it must've known ahead of time. He tried to move his hands again, struggling slightly against the restraint, and the movement of his body made him realize that there was something pressed against his back.

This something was cold and extremely hard and rigid. He couldn't place what it was, however, and craned his neck to take a look, but this didn't do any good. Whatever it was wasn't within his range of sight. Tooru was tied tightly to this object by another rope around his torso, and he highly doubted that a horse would wander around without a driver, so he assumed that this thing must be a person. He vaguely remembered being snatched up by something, after all.

"Hey..." he murmured, his voice slightly rougher and thicker than usual.

There was no response to his gently spoken greeting.

"Hey."

Still nothing.

"Hey!"

He could've sworn he heard a sigh of exasperation in response to the commotion he was making.

"What's going on here? Who the hell are you and where are you taking me?!" he growled, clenching his jaw as he struggled against the binding around his torso and wrists. Whoever was behind him didn't respond and Tooru grumbled, staying quiet for a few moments. Maybe he could find a way to sneak away.

Soon, the open field disappeared from Tooru's vision as the horse walked into the forest that he'd seen earlier. He was trying to stay calm, but it was hard for him. He could feel panic welling up inside of him. Who was this person? What were they going to do with him? Was he going to die? His heart thumped in his chest. He had to get away-now.

"Get me off this horse right now! I want to go home!" he shouted and struggled harder than before.

As he did this, he noticed the horse come to a stop before he felt the rope around his torso loosen. He didn't have any time to react before he felt a hard shove that sent him flying off the back of the horse, hitting the ground and sending a wave of pain through his body.

"Oww!" he whined loudly, "Is that any way to treat a prince? Do you even know who you're dealing with?!" Since he had landed on his stomach, barely avoiding a face plant, he squirmed and rolled around to try to catch a glimpse of his captor, but it was too late.

They had already disappeared, and the wind seemed to carry away the thudding of hooves on the grass.