"How were we suppose to know the prince was that good!" protested AJ. "He's a prince! Besides Brian thinks he hit Lance with one of Kev's poison arrows!"
"Quiet!" hissed Lou before continuing with his speech. "That was two days ago and there has been no sign of the prince or the mercenary since then!"
"We're not the only ones who are suppose to be finding them," protested Nick. "The guards are just as much at fault!"
"Shut up!" ordered Lou again. "I don't care what you do, or how you do it, but I want them found and killed!"
The boys grumbled to themselves as they filed out of the room. It wasn't like they hadn't been trying to find Prince Joshua or Lance. But the pair had to have received help in escaping from the village.
"What now?" asked Kevin, which was the question on all of their minds. All they knew was that Lance's horse Freelance had been missing for the past two days which meant the prince and the mercenary could have gone anywhere.
"The closest town to O-Town is La," replied Brian. "However in the opposite direction of La is where a small rebel group has been spotted."
"Didn't Lance have some sort of involvement with the rebels before Raine was killed?" asked Howie.
"Yes," replied Brian. "Which makes sense they would head that way. However if the arrow did hit him he would need medical attention. Since he is no longer in O-Town he would have to travel to La."
"We should crush the rebels!" cried Nick. "Even if they aren't there at least that will be one least group of rebels for us to deal with!"
"Keep in mind, that there is no guarantee that they went to either place," reminded Howie. "They could of gone either North or South of here."
"We go to La," declared Brian. "If they aren't there or there are no signs of them, we head back and check the rebel camp. Once they'll with the rebels they won't leave but if they're in La we don't know how long they'll stay there."
"Got it!" cried the other BackAlly Boys members as they ran off to prepare themselves for their journey.
*~*~*
The next morning when Joshua awoke, he was surprised to discover that he was all alone.
Crawling out of the warm bed, Joshua quickly dressed and grabbed his sword before exiting the room.
"Sleep well?" asked Britney upon seeing him.
"Where's Lance?" asked Joshua confused.
"He woke up about an hour ago," replied Britney. "I think he said he was going to the lake."
"Thank you," replied Joshua quickly exiting the inn and walking fast as possible to the small lake next to the town. There, he found Lance sitting on a rock looking out at the water.
"Hey," said Joshua softly sitting down next to Lance. "You feeling better?"
"Good as new," replied Lance giving Joshua a small smile. "I would of told you where I was going, but you looked so peaceful sleeping, I decided to let you rest. I imagine you haven't been resting much in the past few days."
"I don't mind," shrugged Joshua.
"I've been doing some thinking," continued Lance. "About what you should know. About what you asked last night."
"You don't have to," reassured Joshua gently. "I was just curious since you were crying out that name when you had the fever."
"You should know," replied Lance quietly. "When I was sixteen I was kicked out of my home by my parents. For Four years I wandered land trying my best to get by, stealing and robbing people when I had to. I didn't like it but there was nothing else for me to do.
"Then one day when I was twenty I became extremely ill. I was traveling between towns at the time and I thought I was going to die since I had seen nobody around for the past few days. That's when Raine rode by. She nursed me back to health then she took me back to her camp. Raine was the leader of a group of rebels who wanted to bring down the king, since they knew the king had been corrupted.
"While with the rebels I learned everything I know. Most of it was taught by Raine since we were close, she was like an older sister to me. A year ago, Raine was killed when we were betrayed by a traitor. The rebel group tried staying together but we were now leaderless. The rebels broke apart and now various groups can be found around the land. I however became more concern with finding Raine's killers and getting my revenge. That's when I became a mercenary. It gave me something to do while I plan for my revenge."
"Why are you helping me then?" asked Joshua confused. How could he help Lance achieve his revenge?
"Lance isn't my real name," explained Lance. "It's James. Lance is actually my middle name, I started going by it after Raine died because that's when I discovered that Raine was actually her middle name. Her real name was Taylor. Taylor Chasez. Raine had a dream Josh, and that dream was to free the land from the corrupted king.
"Do I want my revenge? Yes, but I can't sit by while Raine's goal can be achieved," whispered Lance. "You can unite the various rebel groups, Josh. Only you can lead us to victory."
"I need to think," replied Joshua, blinking back his tears. In his heart, he knew that his sister was dead but he had still always hoped that she was still alive somewhere.
"I know," whispered Lance, placing his arm around Joshua's shoulders, and hugging him tightly. "I don't expect for you to make up your mind right now, but I will protect you no matter what you decided to do."
"Thank you," whispered Joshua, leaning into the touch. Soon he was fast asleep in the blond's embrace.
*~*~*
"Are you sure this is the right way, Joey?" asked Justin. The pair had left O-Town a few hours ago in the early morning before most people were up. Joey said he knew the way to La but Justin wasn't so sure he trusted Joey right now.
"Look, if JC could find his way through the woods, so can we," replied Joey trying to lighten the mood. However he knew his younger friend was missing Chris who refused to come.
"Right," sighed Justin.
The pair rode on in silence, until they heard voices somewhere behind them.
"Hide!" ordered Joey directing his horse off the path with Justin right behind him. There they waited and watched as five horse-backed riders rode swiftly pass.
"BackAlly Boys!" whispered Justin when they had long passed. "And they're headed towards La!"
"What are we going to do?" asked Joey. "Now they're ahead of us, which means they'll get there before us, no matter what!"
"Short cut!" declared Justin, thinking fast.
"We don't know a short cut though," sighed Joey.
"Chris does though," replied Justin excitedly.
"Chris isn't here," pointed out Joey.
"We're an hour from O-Town," Justin quickly explained. "We go back and get Chris and ride all night using his short cut. If we hurry fast we should be able to make it La right before the BackAlly Boys."
"Lets go," replied Joey, turning his horse around and they raced back down the path back to O-Town.
*~*~*
"Chris!" cried Justin an hour later as they galloped through the village and stopping their horses next to the short man who had been in the process of picking someone's pocket.
"What?" asked Chris annoyed, while pulling back his hand from the person's pocket before he was caught.
"We need you're help Chris," informed Justin while Joey stayed in the background letting Justin handle his "business" partner. "We need to get to La before the BackAlly Boys. They're currently two hours in front of us."
"No, this isn't my fight," refused Chris.
"Help the prince and I'm sure there will be some sort of reward."
"Reward?" asked Chris. He hadn't thought about a possibility of a reward.
"That's right,"replied Justin. "A reward so big we won't have to steal again. Hell, we won't have to work ever again. All you have to do is show us the short cut to La. What do you say?"
"All I have to do is to get you and Joey to La before the BackAlly Boys?" asked Chris and Justin nodded his head.
"Okay, I'll do it," declared Chris as he climbed behind Justin on his horse who took Chris over to the stable where he stole a random horse to carry him to La.
"Hurry Chris," warned Joey.
"Don't worry Joe, I'll get you there," reassured Chris.
"No it's not that," replied Joey. "The owner of the horse you stole is charging at you from behind with a sword, so I suggest you hurry up if you want out of here with your life."
"Oh shit!" cried Chris, looking behind him to see that Joey was right. Kicking his heels, he quickly followed Justin and Joey out of the stable and across the field back into the forest.
*~*~*
"Hey," whispered a gently voice and Joshua's eyes flashed opened. He found himself still in Lance's arms and they were still by the lake. He deduced he had been asleep for a couple of hours.
"Hey," replied Joshua with a sleepily smile.
"Did you have a good sleep?"
"Yeah," nodded Joshua.
"We should probably go get some breakfast or something," replied Lance, not really wanting to leave the lake.
"Later," whispered Joshua.
"Okay," replied Lance and the pair became silent as they stared out at the water.
"Lance?" asked Joshua after a few minutes.
"What?"
"Kiss me."
"Okay," replied Lance gently, before placing a tender kiss on Joshua's lips.
Soon they both melted into the kiss forgetting everything else around them.