That bald-headed bastard is selling me out. I should have seen this coming. No decent person puts that much effort into shining their head. But I happen to be of the opinion that everything in life is a negotiation. And disreputable folk always have a price. They’ve got nothing else to live for. Especially ugly ones like these. I present my palms and say to the ugliest one, “Look, we have money. Lots of it. Hundreds of bullion. How much is the reward for turning me in?”

  The man answers with a sneer, “Fifty thousand.”

  I am so fucked.

  Three minutes later, I’m gagged, tied up, and getting dragged down the hall with the goons surrounding me on all sides. As we pass the room Piper’s staying in, I yell through the gag while kicking the door as hard as I can. It’s probably no use considering the state I last saw her in, but anything is worth trying at this point.

  When we get outside, they pull me up onto a horse and strap my legs to the stirrups before mounting their own. I recognize these animals. These are Diomedes Horses. Damn near immortal. They’re the same ones the Valencian Cavalry uses. I have no idea how these sleazebags managed to get ones of their own.

  The goons finish saddling up and we all start the ride back to Raspian’s. But we don’t get far. We’ve barely made it off the hitching rail when a flaming arrow goes right into the backside of the horse next to me. The animal panics—understandable considering its entire tail is now engulfed in flame. The man riding it leaps off just as Piper lets another one loose, this one landing in the back of the horse’s neck and setting its mane on fire as well. The flaming animal thrashing about looks like a demon out of Hades’ lair.

  One of the goons yells, “Is that the princess?”

  Another responds, “Leave her! Get this one back to the villa! The reward is for him, not her.” Wow, those dumb fucks back at the castle must not have been very specific when they set the terms on the reward for my capture.

  And then we’re off to the races. As soon as we’re moving, I twist around to look backwards over my shoulder and see something I would have never guessed in a million lifetimes I’d see. The goddamn princess has mounted the flaming horse and is now chasing after us. She’s even got her bow out, nocking an arrow as she rides. I was already pretty sure I was in love with her but this is the moment I know for sure that this woman has my heart for good.

  The arrows are still sticking out of the beast while it runs full tilt. Piper has to lean back to avoid its fiery mane as she shoots and takes out the thug in the back. He tumbles to the ground and gets trampled by the flaming horse.

  Now one of the other riders is nocking his own arrow to fire at her. He’s just off to my left so I shift my weight in that direction to steer my horse into his and the two animals get their legs knotted together. Mine buckles a bit but resumes its stride while his goes tumbling forward, crushing its rider when it rolls overtop of him.

  Mazi yells from my waist, “Oh, please don’t do that again!” I didn’t even realize he was here. I must have passed out with him still attached to my waistband last night. He’s got his eye holes shut tight and what might be the biggest frown I’ve ever seen.

  There’s only two riders left. Piper sends another arrow flying but misses her target. After it whizzes by, the goon pulls out a crossbow and starts to load it. Big fucker, too. The kind of weapon that tells you right away that the person using it is not fucking around.

  He’s directly to my right so I try the same trick with my horse but it doesn’t work this time. The animal seems to have learned not to trust me after the shit I pulled with the other horse almost took us both down.

  Looks like Piper’s used the last of her arrows. She has the sword out now and is closing the gap between her and the crossbow-wielding rider on my right. She must not see the weapon since he has it held in front of him. When her horse is only a few feet behind his, he twists in his saddle and points the crossbow straight at her chest. There’s no way he can miss at this range. When Piper sees it, she pulls her arms in and winces with her whole body. I’m throwing myself left and right as hard as I can to get the stubborn animal underneath me to intervene. Mazi is bouncing off my hip as I do it, crying, “Oh dear, I can’t take any more of that! I think I’m going to—BRRRRGHGHG!” A blinding, rainbow-colored stream of magical something-or-other is erupting out of the mask’s mouth, straight into the face of the crossbow wielder’s horse. It disorients the animal just enough for it to stumble and buck its rider in his seat. He had to let go of the reins to aim the crossbow and now he’s lost his balance, tumbling off the side of the horse and falling to the ground.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  There’s still one goon left, just a few feet in front of me. When I turn around, I see Piper a little ways back, leaning off the side of her horse to snatch the crossbow up off the ground. And then she’s back on our tail, closing the gap a second time. Nothing like setting a horse on fire to get the thing moving in a hurry. The goon in the front sees her now. And he sees the crossbow. Piper aims and fires and the only way for the man to avoid getting a bolt through his chest is to abandon his horse. He leaps off and rolls along the ground as Piper races past him. That’s the last of them.

  We ride for another minute or so, just long enough to be sure we’ve lost him, and then Piper gets her horse in front of the other two and slows it down. All three horses come to a stop and she dismounts, running over to untie the straps on my legs as her horse thrashes and wails and eventually runs off into the countryside. The fires are out now but it’s still got those arrows sticking out of it.

  Once my legs are free, I lower myself off the horse and Piper saws through the rope around my wrists with her sword. Then she pulls the gag out of my mouth and yanks it up over my head before wrapping both arms around me and pressing her cheek hard into my chest. We stand there like that for a few seconds, catching our breath. While we’re still holding onto each other, I tell her, “I am gonna get you an entire orchard of olives for this.”

  ***

  We take the horses and trot the rest of the day in relative silence. Not with any destination in mind. Just away. Away from bounty hunters, away from town. Away from any place where people might recognize us. Which at this point I’m guessing is pretty much everywhere.

  We’re passing into the mountainous Ezben Region on the northern tip of Valencia when it starts to rain. When it really picks up, Mazi says, “Oh, if you wouldn’t mind terribly, I would very much appreciate if you covered me up. I’ll catch a cold in this deluge.” Knowing what comes out of this thing’s mouth, I think I’ll do as he says. I don’t even want to know what happens when he sneezes. He gives me a muffled “Thank you” after I’ve wrapped a towel around him.

  Piper doesn’t look anything like she did the last time we were in the rain together. Back in the zombie glen when she was laughing and catching the raindrops in her mouth. Now she’s staring at the ground, swaying side to side on the horse as it walks with a solemn gait. Her hair is drenched. Even the horse looks forlorn. She starts sniffling a few minutes into the rain and I’m not convinced it’s from the cold.

  Seeing her this way does something to me. It’s a feeling that’s hard to put into words but it’s sort of like how I imagine an appointment with the royal disemboweler might feel. The sensation is unpleasant so I clear my throat and do my best to cheer her up, “You know, as far as incredibly impressive things go, that one was right up there with the time you got drunk and jumped from three stories up into a cart of hay.”

  She just shrugs and leaves her eyes on the ground. I say her name to get her to look at me before telling her, “Hey, you know how you’re always trying to make me proud, right? Well, I could not be more proud of the fighter you’ve become. But…” I clear my throat for the second time in less than a minute. “...Being a real princess might not be so bad. I’m sure there are benefits. You wouldn’t have to ride for miles in the pouring rain or go chasing down—”

  “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?”

  She looks at me with water dripping off every part of her face as she shakes her head and says, “Just don’t. Don’t act like we can’t do this. Don’t act like this is gonna end already.”

  “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t know if there’s anywhere else we can go. Anywhere they won’t find us.”

  “I said we could leave Valencia.”

  “Yeah but, to where? Matsuria, Norwüd, Jerrig, they’re all allies of your father. You’d be recognized in any one of those countries just as easily as here and we’d both get sent right back. The only place that wouldn’t…” I scratch the top of my head and squint at the mountains. “...Shit.”

  She pulls on the reins to stop her horse. “What?”

  I can’t believe I’m even thinking it. But not only am I thinking it. I’m saying it. Like, out loud. “...I know where we can go.”