Perilous Jaunt Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Peter
When Dante had returned that night with no dinner for us to eat, he was unusually quiet. I didn't say anything, even when he forgot to tie me up before we all went to sleep. Was he sad about that whore dying? _Maybe._Whatever it was that was bothering him, Dante sure didn't seem to be in the mood for talking. He still looked kind of depressed the next morning when Esme left to go hunt for breakfast.
As Dante slowly started a tiny fire with his knife and flint, I couldn't help but notice a numbness in his eyes. They seemed to be unfocused on what he was doing and were covered by a blank haze. I thought about asking him what was wrong, but, knowing Dante, he probably would have just lied and said everything was okay.
When Esme came back with a few dead wild quails, she tried her best to get Dante to talk or to show some sign of emotion. She even tried telling him a few jokes, only to be met with hollow grunts from the wolf. It seemed like only time would be able to pull Dante out of his sullen mood. Despite the fact that Dante had kidnapped me and had been kind of an asshole after we met each other, I felt sort of sorry for him. He was so quiet and withdrawn now. Where were the smart words that Esme and I couldn't understand? Where was the laughter or the recollection of old memories with Esme? At that moment, it seemed like we would be stuck with a quiet sulking Dante for a while.
We set out as the sun began to peek over the tops of the trees. My arms, unlike the night before, were now tied together as usual.
Suddenly, after we had been walking for a few hours, the thundering of hooves was upon us. In front of us, just through the trees ahead, there were about twenty riders, all dressed in armor, which galloped straight for us.
"Run!" Esme yelled, as she turned around to sprint back the way we had come.
Before I could turn to follow the kangaroo, I was scooped up into the air and thrown over Dante's shoulder. As Dante began running after Esme, I stared back at the riders, whose armor seemed to become brighter in the sunlight as they rode after us. Their tamed horses were gaining speed with every step.
Dante had caught up with Esme in a few seconds and ran side-to-side with her as the knights closed in for the kill. They were so close that I could even hear some of them draw their swords. Every step, they seemed to be easing nearer to us, almost as if they were taunting how helpless we were. Blood pounded in my ears and my whiskers twitched as I feared what was going to happen.
Almost as quickly as the knights had appeared, they surrounded us. The tamed white steeds that they rode ran in a circle, keeping us from moving any further. Most of the men held long threatening swords ready, a few gripped onto spears and four of them aimed crossbows directly at us.
After Esme and Dante stopped running, Dante slid me off of his shoulder as he drew his gun. Esme, on the right side of Dante, drew her knife.
Now that the knights were around us, I could now clearly see the crest of the Family that they served. A red eyed deer with stars in its horns. Ulpis.
One knight, who was a deer that wore the violet armband of a City captain around his arm, dismounted his tamed horse and walked forward. He, unlike the rest of his men, did not have a weapon drawn. Also, unlike the rest of his fellow knights, he did not were a helmet, since his antlers made wearing one impossible. His face was very young and the fur along his muzzle didn't have a single gray hair. He couldn't have been older than twenty-five.
_ _ "Lant Ulpis," the helmetless deer introduced himself with a grin, speaking with a voice that was softer than rain. "At your service,"
"Ulpis has his own son do all the fighting for him?" Esme snorted. "Not very smart,"
Lant shrugged. "Second son, actually,"
"Ah," Esme said with a smile. "Now it makes sense,"
"Yes," Lant said. "My father wouldn't dare risk Ivan's neck to even a fever, it would seem. I, on the other hand, am much more disposable,"
"Sounds like you have some family trouble," Esme said.
"Who doesn't?" Lant laughed. "Why do you think I'm just a captain of the City and not the General of my father's army?"
"What are Ulpis' men doing here?" Dante asked, not caring to listen to anymore of the conversation.
The captain locked his brown eyes onto Dante and grinned. "It's our territory, last time I looked at a map. We can go wherever we want,"
"What I mean," Dante spoke again, "is that you're a good day's ride from Ophylius. You can't just be out on a regular patrol,"
"Oh," Lant said. "A rider came to our palace at a late hour last night. He reported that Capres' men were raiding one of our towns, looking for a wolf, an otter and a kangaroo,"
My stomach sank and I began to fear what Lant might do to us, since we were the ones who had led Capres' men to the town.
Lant bumped his head and looked at me. "Are you the otter?"
I stood there, silently, and felt my back burn with fear.
The captain smiled. "Good disguise. It's very convincing,"
Lant then glanced back over at Dante and continued to speak with him. "Our informant mentioned he overheard that you killed three of Capres' knights. Is that true?"
Dante was quiet. Even Esme's mouth was paralyzed by the tension in the air.
Lant, breaking our nervousness, laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you for killing a couple of Capres' knights. I'm sure they had it coming. And it isn't your fault that Capres doesn't respect borders,"
Esme slowly lowered her knife, yet still kept it unsheathed and held at her side, just in case. Meanwhile, Dante didn't seem to be as trusting and still tightly held onto his gun.
"You're going to need a lot more men," Dante warned the captain. "There are at least fifty of them,"
The buck didn't seem concerned. "We split up into two groups to cover both sides of the road. Altogether, we have forty men,"
"Well, good luck to you, then," Dante emotionlessly wished Lant.
"Say," Lant began, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you killed those three Talth a few weeks back, too,"
Once again, Dante was silently stunned.
Laughter bellowed from Lant's throat and he smiled proudly once again. "I'm two-for-two it seems!"
Then, the Ulpis boy turned and began digging for something in one of his horse's saddlebags. A moment later, he turned around to face us with a rolled up piece of brown paper and walked forward.
Dante did not lower his gun, even when Lant stopped only steps away from him.
"Here," Lant outstretched his hand to Dante. "It's only paper,"
Reluctantly, Dante lowered his gun and snatched the paper from Lant's hand. He slid his gun into its holster and unrolled the paper with both of his hands.
"I must say, you've been very busy," Lant said.
I glanced up at Dante, who was transfixed by whatever was written on the paper. His lips parted, yet did not pass words, as if they had forgotten how to speak.
"Dante," Esme asked. "What does it say?"
The wolf took a moment to clear his throat and then began to read. "It says, 'The scents of a wolf and an otter were found on the road in the Danil Kingdom. The pair is most likely heading south. They are guilty of mercilessly butchering three of our dearest friends, whom we shall greatly miss, with a gun. Help me, Osric, the chief of all Talth north of Owl's Overwatch, avenge my friends and bring these two criminals to justice. Anyone who captures these two, dead or alive, must bring them to my hideout, located just off a right turn in the road outside of the Capital City, Ansil. The reward for these two is six...'"
"Six, what?" Esme asked.
Dante lowered the paper and turned his head to hopelessly stare at Esme. "Six-hundred pieces of gold,"
"Shit!" Esme cursed under her breath.
"That's the Talth for you," Lant chimed in. "They always think they cost more than they're actually worth,"
"What the hell are we gonna do?" Esme asked Dante.
"Same as always, I guess," Dante sighed and dropped the paper onto the ground. "Stay off the road and avoid the Capitals as much as we can,"
"Or," Lant interrupted, "you could stay in my palace back at Ophylius, until the Talth give up their search,"
Dante silently stared at Lant, trying to guess if the deer was serious. He then glanced over at Esme, who gave a shrug.
Dante returned his attention back to Lant, his ears standing tall with attention. "What about your father? I doubt that he'd enjoy three strangers staying in his home very much,"
Lant shook his head. "My father would gladly take in anyone who gives Capres grief. I imagine he'd like to meet the man who single-handedly killed three of Capres' knights,"
A moment passed and I looked up at Dante, whose wandering eyes told me that he was thinking the offer over.
"All right," Dante finally answered. "It doesn't seem like we have much a choice,"
"Glad to hear it!" Lant said. "I'm sure you'll be more interesting to drink with than my father or brother. Now, when you get to the palace, tell the guards that you're my guests. We'll probably beat you there, but I'll tell them to keep an eye out for you,"
"We'll be there," Esme confirmed.
"Until then," Lant said, giving a small wave before mounting his tamed horse. He then shouted a command and lead his knights further into the woods, heading north to the town we had just came from.
All three of us had turned to watch Lant and his men gallop away from us, as if they were heroes who had come to life from some fairytale. Even after they had disappeared and the sounds of their horses' hooves faded away, we still stared at the direction that they left in.
Esme was the one who broke the silence. "I bet a hundred gold that he'd love to fuck you, Dante,"
Dante chuckled at the thought. "No way. He's as straight as a sword,"
Our group turned and began walking south again, only now I walked to Dante's left rather than behind him.
Esme, while walking to Dante's right, shook her head. "Bullshit! He was totally checking you out when you were reading that poster,"
_ _ Again, Dante disagreed. "He was probably just inspecting my weapons. I would have done the same if I were him. After all, you can never be too careful about who you invite into your home,"
"I know a cock-lover when I see one!" Esme said and then held a hand against her chest. "Hell, I am one! Why do you think he invited us back to his palace in the first place? He probably wants to impress you with all his pretty clothes and fancy furniture,"
Dante shrugged. "I'm just happy he offered us a place to stay. God knows we need to avoid the Talth as much as possible,"
"Yeah," Esme agreed. "We get to spend a few nights in a palace, drink some vintage wine and you get to fuck a prince. Ain't this the life?"
"He's not gay!" Dante said.
"Here, let's get another opinion," Esme said, just before tilting her head down to gaze over at me. "What do you think, Tiny Prince? Is Lant a sausage swallower?"
I looked up at Esme and thought for a moment. Then, I smiled. "He's light in the hooves, if you know what I mean,"
"Good one!" Esme congratulated me and then looked back at Dante. "Told ya!"
For a second, I thought Dante was going to get mad that I had agreed with Esme. After all, he had gotten very frustrated in the past when I shared my opinions. But, when I turned my head to look at the wolf, he was shaking his head with a warm grin.
"Just because he gives off a vibe," Dante said, "doesn't mean that he's actually gay,"
"Oh," Esme said, clearly not giving up, "you could hear it in his voice!"
"Okay," Dante admitted, "his voice was a little feminine, but that doesn't mean he wants to sleep with me,"
"I guess we'll just have to see when we get to Ophylius," Esme said.
"Yep," Dante agreed.
"Dante?" I called to the wolf.
Dante looked down at me. "Yeah, Peter?"
It was impossible for me to hide my grin. "You don't have to put out, even if he gives you a fancy dinner,"
To my right, I heard Esme roar with laughter.
Dante rolled his eyes and looked ahead, grinning at my joke. "Screw you guys,"
"Tiny Prince!" Esme managed to call me between her breathless laughs.
I turned my head and saw that she was holding out a hand for me to high-five. Slowly, I reached out my right hand and tapped hers with it.
"Come on!" Esme said, still holding out her hand after I had taken mine back. "You can do better than that!"
I raised my arm again and slapped my hand against Esme's.
"Atta boy!" Esme complimented me as she lowered her arm back to her side.
I lowered my hand and rubbed it with my left one. "That really hurt!"
"That just means you did it right," Esme told me. "Same rule goes for spanking,"
"Whoa!" Dante cried. "I did not need to hear that, Esme!"
"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Esme said. "Everybody tries it at least once,"
"I know what you're talking about," I said and shot Esme a look.
"Damn!" Esme smiled, proudly. "Tiny Prince has some experience below his belt!"
"Literally and figuratively," I added.
"Why would you say something like that?" Dante groaned.
I looked up at the wolf. "I talk too much. Or have you forgotten how we met?"
Esme and I continued to mess with Dante's head for the rest of the day. It was strange, actually. Joking around with somebody like that was new to me. I could never talk about sexual stuff so openly or joke about it back in Lowpive, where I was expected to act properly. I couldn't believe that I joked about being spanked, either, especially since I had never even been kissed before. Something about Dante and Esme's friendliness made me feel...safe. I could say something and didn't feel like they would take it the wrong away or try to tell me how "inappropriate" I was acting. There wasn't any judgment between us, just laughter. It was nice, at least, until I remembered that I was their prisoner. That was all. Gold was all they hoped to get out of me, not friendship. Who I was, as a person, made no difference to them at all.
Even as we walked together through the woods laughing, I was alone.