Cinder-knight (bxb) ||completed

14th rule| so

"Please be safe, please be safe..." Eric prayed when the Prince didn't come back even though several minutes had passed. He knew he shouldn't be impatient, yet that didn't stop his head from getting filled with bizarre thoughts.

Like, what if something happened to the prince? What if he got lost? What if someone kidnapped him? Or, what if Henry forgot about his knight?

Truly, he didn't want to seem like a damsel in distress. But at the moment, he was nothing but a damsel in distress.

The clock ticked, people walked. Everything was oddly normal as Eric continued to stay in the same position, waiting for his prince. Avianthan was neighing a little loudly, but the other horse was quiet and mannered, thank god.

"Hey young boy, do you want to buy a painting?"

Eric looked down and saw an old man sitting on a mat which was sprawled over the side of the road. Close to him laid several paintings, all draped with dull colors and hints of coal.

He shook his head, "No sir, I don't have that much money."

"It's okay. I can give one to you for three pennies. Would you like that offer?"

Eric pursed his lips while his gaze raked over the paintings. First was an art of a rose, the second was a sketch of a woman and the third was a rather impressive one with two faces merged, one half being a witch, and the other half being a ferocious dragon. There were few more, but they didn't necessarily stand out.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have three pennies either." he said, making the old man make a face that looked painful.

"It okay son. I can give it to you for a penny."

Eric shook his head, "I don't have any money at all, sir."

The old man didn't annoy him anymore and turned to another person who was scurrying in the streets, trying to sell at least one painting. Eric just stared, being reminded of his own father-

He shook that thought off.

His eyes found the beautiful painting again, and he felt something in him stir. A dragon and a witch. They sure do match.

"Excuse me sir," Eric called the old man again, "What does that painting mean?"

The man looked at his work and turned towards the knight, "You mean, this?" he picked up the painting as Eric nodded.

His scraggy fingers shivered around the frame of his art and he smiled a little, his face looking more gaunt at the movement. Eric waited for him to speak again, patiently.

"You know witches and their dark magic, there's nothing those hags can't do. When I was young, my mother used to tell me about them. I remember listening to how she would go on and on about those witches' many quirks. And one of them is shape shifting."

"Shape shifting?"

"Shape shifting."

The knight whispered to himself, "Interesting.."

The old man swallowed the drool that scuffled to fall down from the corner of his mouth and ran a bony hand up his face. "They can change into whoever they want to be. A dragon, a lion, a cat or even you."

"Now that's kinda scary." Eric mumbled and the elder chuckled. Then by the corner of his eye, he saw how his Prince was coming towards him while waving a rolled map. The Knight smiled wide and greeted the old man before trudging towards Prince Charming, the two horses treading lazily behind him.

As the strangely stippled sky jeered above them, the said scornful sounds that were coming from the upper troposphere boosted the flaps of the birds and their desperation to go back to their sanctuaries. Thin drops of water fell onto the heated ground, steaming away with a hissing sound.

Just when the prince was face to face with his knight, the knight removed his jacket and draped it over the prince's head.

"It's about to rain. We have to find a place to stay or you might catch a cold, my prince." he whispered and waited for Charming to mount over his horse. But for a bit, the Prince didn't move and stared at his subject, his eyes suddenly glinting something Eric failed to decipher. And his cheeks were also tinted red, making Eric confused.

"Your highness?"

"Yeah.. Uh, I'll get on- sorry," Henry uttered before adjusting the jacket over his head and ambling up to his gelding. Eric smiled to himself and watched the prince climb onto the saddle, he guessed that it was his cue to jump on Avianthan's back, who had been snarling at everyone in the road since the second they got here.

Before leaving, Eric fluttered his eyes back to look at the old man who shook like a leaf in the rain, and remembered the dainty painting he had to offer. But he then tried to forget it, since knights shouldn't be so flatterable like some desperate twats.

Yet as he thought more into it, he couldn't help but put pieces together, and his eyes widened all so suddenly.

"The dragon became a cat... Oh wait.." he mumbled to himself and called his prince, "Your highness?"

"Yes Emery?" the Prince got the knight's name wrong for the third time, but it wasn't important to Eric by that moment.

"Do you remember the last time we went on a quest to take on a dragon, but it turned out to be a cat?" he inquired and the Prince hummed nonchalantly, thinking back to it, Eric started to ponder. The whole cat thing didn't make sense because how would a cat make those growling noises? And plus, the rumors were nothing but contrast to each other.

One had said it was a dragon. Another said it was witch. But what they saw was a cat. So if you just put two and two together.

"I think I know where we should be heading."