A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 39; A new basket

Poor Gyu :(

-x-

Beomgyu walked up to the big tree, going straight to the door where he raised his arm and made a fist to knock.

He knew walking outside this late at night was risky, even though there were warriors and guards it was still not entirely safe for him. Rowoon might be dead, there was still a good number of soldiers alive, and it was just a matter of time before they'd attack the palace to live after the King's words.

After knocking a few times he head movements behind the wooden door and then it was opening, revealing the face of the wizard. Pink and purple dust coloured his cheeks and he wore some loose fitting clothes.

"Oh- your Highness," The man said right after his eyes fell on the boy. "What brings you here?"

"I need you to do something for me." Beomgyu said, not hesitating at all. The wizard nodded and stepped aside, creating room to let the other enter before he closed the door behind him.  "Which is?"  The wizard asked, walking to the table at the side of the room and picking up some things. Several glass bottles filled with coloured stuff took up the space on the surface and a large thick book was spread out in the middle. Beomgyu didn't recognise any of the words but he figured it were some spells the wizard was making potions with.

"I want another basket."

The wizard stopped his movements and his eyes flickered back up to the blonde. He slowly lowered the glass he was holding down to the table and sighed, closing his eyes for a second before reopening them and reaching to turn a page of the thick book.  "That's.. not that easy to do, your highness."

Beomgyu frowned, not quite pleased with the answer.  "And why's that?"

"The wood that I need to make the basket comes from four different trees from over the while kingdom. I've already traveled so far not too long ago to sent Taehyun home and I don't have the recourses to go again." The wizard explained as he let his gaze move over the page of the book. "Besides, even if I did have the recourses I couldn't go."

The emperor frowned at that, clearly annoyed. "Why not?" He asked. "The trees can't miss that much wood at once, otherwise they'll die. And if they die out I don't know what would happen." The man replied.

Even though he didn't want to believe it, Beomgyu knew it was true. The trees held so much power - it being the reason a basket made from the wood could travel to other worlds - and it was said an elixer made of the juice from one of the trees could cure any sickness there was. Yes, the trees couldn't miss any more wood and yes, he knew that much. He just didn't want to wait until the trees grew back again, couldn't wait that long to see the other boy again.

"Can't you just do some spells which make them grow faster?" The blonde asked then, furrowing his eyebrows together. The wizard exhaled and shook his head, turning some other pages of the book laid out in front of him. "I'm already ahead of you but so far this book says nothing about such a spell."

"Well isn't there another book?" Beomgyu retorted, turning his head to look at the stellages with countless of books on it, all written in a difficult language he didn't understand.  "This book contains all the magic spells and recipes for potions there are... If it's not in here then I'm afraid it simply doesn't exist."  The wizard spoke, frowning.

The emperor's heart dropped upon hearing that. If there was no spell to make the trees grow back faster then there was no way the older could make a new basket any time soon and it would take ages before he could see the brunette boy again and-

What if he would forget about him? What if Taehyun would forget all about him and would just continue with his life like nothing happened?

"I'm sorry but I can't make a new basket for you right now."  The wizard's words dragged him out of his daydream. Beomgyu pouted but nodded in understanding, his hair bouncing slightly with the movement. He knew he couldn't force it to happen even if he was emperor.

He sighed.  "Thank you anyway."  He said and turned to take his leave.  "I'll let you know as soon as I can do something!"  The older called after him when he slipped through the door. When he stood outside again he proceeded to walk back to the castle, slower this time. It wasn't like he had somewhere he urgently needed to be right now, so he slowed his pace down to a nice stroll.

It had gotten darker, the sun almost completely under now and most of the smaller buildings on the kingdom grounds were lit up by small lanterns hanging from under the roofs and all the kids that had been running around all day were nowhere to be seen now. The only sounds echoing through the air were the several birds chirping and the sounds of metal hitting against metal from the practise grounds not too far away from where he walked. He was deep in thoughts, not paying attention to his surroundings and he didn't hear it.

When the trees rustled, he didn't hear it. When the footsteps appeared behind him he didn't notice it. Even when they approached him and got louder he didn't hear it and only when an arm clad in black reached around him from behind did he notice. His eyes widened in shock and he tried to yell to alarm someone, but before he got the chance to do so a small piece of fabric was pressed to his lips. His instincts told him not to inhale, as he felt wetness from the fabric, his mind yelling at him not to inhale and do something, anything to break free from the tight grip, but soon he couldn't help but take a deep intake of breath.

And then everything went black.