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Hooves clicked on the cobblestone streets, splashed into the little puddles.
As the man rode into town, he glanced around. It seemed like any other rural forest village. People looked at him with distrust. Eyes narrowing behind the dragon’s-scale mask he always wore, he ducked his head slightly. The hood shadowed his face even more. Fingers tightened around the reins of his horse. Fine, then. Be like that.
He focused his gaze on the manor ahead. The cream walls, wooden supports, and black shale roof. Tall, elegant windows. The mark of the Cardinal family carved into the deep mahogany doors. Taking a slow breath, he clicked his teeth, urged his horse into a walk once more. Pale golden flanks twitching, the palomino shook her head as they passed the iron-bar gates barring the rest of the village from the nobles who ruled over them.
Some nobles were good. The Cardinals were…respectable. Decent. Not perfect, and certainly not the best at times—their uncle was sheer proof of that, with what he was doing in the capitol. However, the man had some hope for the son, Velvet. He seemed to have some sense of…well, anything. A shred of human decency and a fine moral compass could go a long way. Conadan was no different from any other city.
Thick foliage, ivy and rose bushes, clambered up the stone bricks of the walls. As soon as the gate closed behind him, he shivered once. Hid it behind his usual mask and lifted his chin. The heads of the noble family, Silk and Catrina Cardinal, were standing at the platform in front of the doors. Behind them, standing to their left, was Velvet. He had his head down, looking somewhat…disturbed. Something’s up here. He determined, glancing between Velvet and the young man’s parents.
As he dismounted, a young man with a red welt across one of his cheeks hurried over. He was dressed in the same cream linen shirt and brown trousers of the average farm hand. Panting, he skidded to a stop, leather boots split at the top and worn in a bad way. Slipping from the saddle, the man looked down at him.
“Sorry, sorry. Do you want me to help you? I can help you. With the horse, obviously. Sorry, sir, I just—” He cut to a stop. “I’m Ant.”
Looking at him, he smiled behind the mask. “No worries. I’m not going to be here very long. But thank you.”
Swallowing, Ant nodded. Striding over to the stairs, he paused when there was another question. “You’re Dream, aren’t you?”
Turning, Dream grinned behind the mask. “What gave it away?”
Ant’s eyes widened slightly, and he beamed. Turning back, Dream walked over to the Cardinals. “Sir Dream.” Silk said, dipping his head once. Half-bowing, Dream straightened up. Against his back, the two halves of his bow shifted slightly. It was meant to be like that, and he saw Silk arch an eyebrow. “What happened to your bow?”
“It’s in the storage form.” Pulling them from his back, Dream snapped the two pieces together, twisted them with a simple movement into the locked form. Tracing his finger around the tip of one side, he drew his finger to the other side in a straight line. As he moved, hard light formed a thin, dark string. The white wood darkened immediately to a deep brown, the gold inlays and green emerald decorations darkening to black onyx and brown topaz. “My friend made it for me.”
“Your friend?” Looking down at the bow, Dream returned it to the storage state with a few movements. The light faded away. Glancing up, he met Silk’s eyes and smiled.
“Well, officially he’s known as my sponsor. Prince Wilbur Soot.” Silk and Catrina’s eyes widened immediately. Behind them, Velvet straightened up.
“Of course. I apologise.” Shrugging, Dream looked out at the forests swarming the area around Conadan.
“Now, why don’t we get this finished quickly? I heard there was an issue with the woods?” Silk nodded, gestured. Quickly, Ant darted up the stairs and opened the door, and he and Velvet shared a look. Velvet smiled softly. Immediately, Ant’s face flushed and he looked away.
Interesting, Dream mused, watching him for a moment. Then, Velvet’s father spoke.
“This way.”
+++
Suffice to say, much like the majority of meetings (and manors as well), it was pretty boring.
So, Dream kind of just ignored it. Well, he knew what was happening, he just wasn’t fully paying attention. Because Silk kept chattering along about the family history that he knew his friend George would love to hear, but he just…honestly didn’t care about that much? So he didn’t particularly pay attention. Which Bad would definitely scold him for because that was “not proper procedure”.
And now, here he was, with a child on a horse behind him, looking for a giant fox.
Well, not quite a child. But he knew that Velvet really shouldn’t be there. Just because he was meant to be a noble didn’t mean that he could fight. And certainly not fight something like the Reynard.
Taking a slow breath, Dream glanced back to look at Velvet. The young man was glancing at the forest around them. The bay gelding he was riding was veering off the path every few seconds. Pulling the horse to a stop, Dream looked at him and tipped his head to the side slightly. “Have you ever been outside the manor’s garden walls?” He asked, smiling softly.
Blushing, Velvet looked at him. “Am I that obvious?” Dream laughed lightly.
“Just a little bit. Don’t worry about it, kid.” Looking ahead, he shrugged. “Besides, you’re not going to be fighting this thing. I’m sure that I’ll be able to take it down before it can touch you. Now, why don’t we talk about this Ant that you seem so interested in?” He slowed down his horse so that he was riding beside the young noble.
Face flushing, Velvet gripped the reins tighter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He replied, shoulders stiffening up slightly. Laughing, Dream reached across and nudged his leg with his own.
“It’s alright, Velvet. There’s nothing wrong with liking someone else. Just like there’s nothing wrong with not liking anyone.” Velvet looked over at him. “What’s stopping you. It’s pretty obvious you both like one another.”
Reaching down, Velvet fiddled with the signet ring on his finger. “My parents have…certain expectations. About who I should marry.”
Frowning, Dream glanced to the side. “So they don’t want you dating him because he’s a stablehand.”
Making a face that looked vaguely like there was a frog in his mouth and he was trying not to let it out, Velvet nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much. I’m the heir of the Cardinals, so…they have a lot of rules. Can’t use my magic, can’t go outside the palace walls—”
“Ew, are they one of those families?” Dream asked, wrinkling his nose. Glancing over at him, Velvet seemed equal parts amused and bemused . “What?”
“For someone who is one of the top generals in the Empire’s army, you…don’t seem to be very professional.”
Waving a hand, Dream started talking, “Professionalism is boring. Where I was born, everyone was so uptight all the time.”
“Where you were born?”
“I wasn’t born in the Empire. Immigrated.” Glancing to the side, even though Velvet couldn’t see it, Dream added, “Sort of.”
There was a soft snort. “Sort of?”
“Well, you know how there was an assassin a couple years back who maybe sort of tried to kill the prince?” He glanced over. Velvet’s expression dropped. If Dream had to guess, the young man was not expecting that. And currently, he was staring at Dream with eyes easily the size of dinner plates.
“That was you?” Velvet asked, almost in awe. “How are you part of the generals’ army and not dead ?”
“Uh…Wilbur? Prince Wilbur, and Prince Techno. And King Phil. They’re nice.” Waving a hand, Dream paused and then looked over at him. Looking him up and down, he paused. “Actually, if you and Ant ever decided you didn’t care, then…you might want to head to the capitol. I’ll vouch for you.”
“Really?” There was a spark of hope in Velvet’s eyes. Glancing down, he looked over at Dream. “Thank you. That…means a lot.”
“No problem.” Behind them, there was a crack. Freezing, Dream turned to look.
There was a creeper behind them.
“Velvet, move!” Reaching over, he slapped the gelding on the flank. Rearing, it bolted. The creeper hissed, and Dream scrambled for the reins, spurred his horse on. There was a loud explosion, slamming into them from behind. Gasping, he tumbled from the saddle, let out a grunt as he smacked into the dirt.
Curling up, he grabbed onto his wrist. Gasped in a breath. “Dream!” Velvet shouted, terror splitting his voice. Glancing over, Dream swallowed. Looked up to see another creeper stalking up.
Then there was a flash of russet, black, and white.
The creeper was thrown into a tree. Upon impact, it split into a pile of dust that filtered down, almost golden in the sunlight darting between emerald green leaves. For a moment, all Dream and Velvet could do was sit there, panting and staring at the creeper’s remains for a moment.
Then, there was a low, growling noise that dragged their attention away.
Swallowing, Dream turned. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting. Another monster, probably. What he found was…not it, though.
There, standing in the trees, was a fox.
And not just any fox. The fox. The Renard of Conadan. “Whoa.” Velvet whispered. Immediately, Dream reached for his bow. The fox straightened up, russet fur glittering a deep reddish-brown in the sunlight. Behind it, the clouds and the sunlight seemed to form a halo and a crown. Intelligent eyes held Dream’s, amber clashing with green.
Blinking, it ducked its head, slipped closer. On instinct, he reached for his bow, nocked an arrow. Aimed between its eyes. Still, the beast didn’t attack. It inhaled, slowly exhaled.
As Dream watched, the injury to his arm knitted itself back together. Glancing back up, he met the fox’s gaze.
“What are you?”
This wasn’t a normal fox. No, this was something else. Something i ntelligent . Something sentient. Something with a moral compass, considering it had decided not to kill Dream and to instead strike the creeper. Now, since he had been paying some attention to the description of his bounty, Dream knew full well what the Renard was accused of. Killing one person, a man by the name of Derrick Holt. Other than that, it hadn’t really done anything. The Cardinals just highly disliked magic and everything that came with it. So they just want me to kill it because they’re scared of it.
But this isn’t… reaching up, he held his hand a couple inches from the fox’s muzzle. For a moment, it seemed as held back as he was. Then, it leaned forwards. Soft white hair brushed against Dream’s palm, and he stared up at it.
“You’re a human.” He whispered in shock. Blinking, the fox dipped its head, closed its eyes. Velvet drew closer, holding the reins of both their animals. Glancing over, Dream asked, “What’s your magic?”
“Uh-uh—” Glancing down at his hands, Velvet supplied, “It’s only got to do with plants, Ant’s the one who has more to do with animals and that kind of thing. And even then he doesn’t have much practice—no one’s allowed to use their magic here.”
Turning back to the fox and studying it, Dream replied, “We’re going to have to have a talk about that later. Your parents and I, I mean.” Because the king is definitely going to want to know why one of his noble families is restricting magic for no reason. And they better have a good reason. Studying it some more, he got a bit closer. There was a gleam of gold around its neck. Making his way over, he placed a hand against the cool metal.
The Renard jerked back with a snort.
Looking up, Dream met its gaze again. “Is this what turned you?” There was a pause. Slowly, the fox sank to its haunches, let out a slow and defeated breath. “Derrick turned you.”
There was a low, mournful noise. Getting up, the fox headbutted Dream’s arm. Then, it turned and padded further into the forest, glancing back to look at the others. Padding into the woods, they found a shattered, burnt husk of a house. In the middle of it all, there stood a dead tree. Striding over, the fox pressed its muzzle against the tree’s bark, let out another mournful noise.
Looking at Velvet, Dream paused. Then, he grabbed the young man’s shoulders and began pushing him over. “What—what are you doing? Dream? Uh, care to explain?” Velvet asked, digging his heels into the dirt. When they got to the tree, Dream stepped back, indicated it.
Turning back to the plants, Velvet seemed to get it. Stepping forwards, he closed his eyes. Planted his hands on the trunk and the rotten bark. Deep, berry red swirls of light painted themselves along his skin, glowing softly.
Dream stood back and watched with a smile.
+++ Bonus Scene LOL +++
When they rode back to the manor, Ant was waiting for them. Velvet jumped from the saddle, ran over and threw his arms around Ant’s neck. Smiling, Dream turned back to the young man sitting in the saddle behind him.
The young man’s name was Fundy. Currently, he had Dream’s cloak wrapped around him. Taking a breath, he swallowed quietly. Ran his hands up and down his arms. Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead against Dream’s shoulder.
“Care to explain who this is?” Silk asked, striding up. Meeting his gaze, Dream smiled coolly.
“Nope.”