Three Fates Entwined | Dream Team

Chapter Seven

Sapnap hated being a captive. His head hurt and he had a strange taste in his mouth, probably a side effect of the poison used to knock him out. The sack was still on his head. His eyes were closed, and he was, in all honesty, a bit worried about what he would find if he opened them.

"Are you just going to pretend to be unconcious, or are you actually going to open your eyes and look at me?"

"I prefer to be oblivious, thanks," Sapnap replied, unable to help himself. "And beside, did you forget about the sack?"

His captor sighed. There was the sound of a blade swishing through the air, and then the sack fell off, cut in two with the strings no longer connected. Sapnap let out a sigh of relief when he realized that his head was still intact.

"Open your eyes. Now."

Sapnap weighed the chances of him getting killed against him being his usual disobedient chaotic self. I, uh, actually wanna stay alive.

He opened his eyes.

A man, maybe a year older than himself by the looks of it, sat in front of him. His face was hidden by a round white mask with a comical smile drawn on it. A few strands on dirty-blond hair peeked out from underneath a green hood, and a scabbard was attached to a to a strap running diagonally across his chest and back. He was holding a knife in his hands, which was probably what he had used to cut away the sack.

"Er... hello," Sapnap ventured. "Can you release me? Please?"

To his surprise, the man reached over and cut through the ropes binding his hands and feet. Sapnap massaged his wrists for a moment, eyeing the stranger warily.

"You seem shocked," the guy noted, the corners of his mouth quirking upward.

"I--- yeah, I am. I didn't think you'd actually free me."

"Then why did you ask?"

The question made Sapnap want to slap him. He could already tell what the man was like --- smart, high IQ, annoyingly cocky and sure of himself.

"It's a typical hostage line, isn't it?"

"Well, you're not the typical hostage, now are you?"

Sapnap scowled his captor. Hands down, this was definitely worse than that time with the wolves.

He flexed his hands. His sword was right next to him. Maybe if he timed it right, he could grab his weapon and gain the upper hand before the man could react. He had had plenty of practice before, right? It was nothing new.

Sapnap's fingers curled around the hilt of his sword. Because of the stupid mask, he couldn't tell if the man was looking at him or not, but he couldn't afford to wait. Quickly, he brought up his sword, aiming for his neck.

The man's knife came out of nowhere, stopping the blow with the blade. In a single, quick twisting motion of his wrist, he sent Sapnap's sword flying through the air.

"So you can fight," the man noted. "That's good."

Sapnap squinted at him. "Good for who? You? That just means that I can kick your butt any time I want."

His captor laughed. He sheathed his knife and grabbed Sapnap's sword, handing it back to him. "Yes, it is very good for me. You've just made my life a whole lot easier."

That was a first. Usually people were always telling Sapnap that he made their lives a lot harder rather than the opposite. He decided that the man might not have been in his right state of mind to make such a statement.

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"Wha--- oh, Sapnap."

"Sapnap," he mused, frowning slightly. "Huh... I am definitely not familiar enough with House de la Blaze. I can hardly remember anything about it."

Sapnap's heart skipped a beat. "Wait, how do you know my family name?"

"The emblem on your cloak, idiot."

"...Oh, right."

His captor smirked and stood up. "We should get going. Our destination isn't close."

Sapnap got to his feet as well. "We're traveling? Where?"

"To the castle." The man was already starting to walk. "We should get there as soon as possible. Come on."

The castle? "I'm coming, I'm coming."

He knew that it probably wasn't best to follow his captor, especially when he was free, but judging from how fast the man had disarmed him, his chances of escaping weren't really high.

Sapnap took a step forward and a yelp of pain escaped him. He glanced down at his foot and remembered how he had jumped from the tree to escape the people that had abducted him. Knowing his luck, it was probably broken and in severe need of medical attention.

"I wrapped it in bandages," the man said, stopping to wait for him. "It'll take a while to heal, but you should be fine. Just try not to put too much pressure on it."

"How am I supposed to 'not put too much pressure on it' when I'm walking?"

His captor shrugged. "Hobble?"

Sapnap ground his teeth together and stumbled after the man, who had started walking again at the same fast pace. His ankle hurt with step, but he did his best to ignore it.

"So," Sapnap said, just to make small talk, "why are we going to the castle, then?"

The man didn't even bother looking back at him. "You're going to become a knight for the king's army. Easy enough."

A knight? It was as if the guy had peered into Sapnap's mind and figured out exactly what he wanted. Maybe he was his fairy godmother, granting all his wishes.

"Are you an assassin?" Sapnap ventured, keeping in mind that any wrong word would probably end with a sword through his stomach.

"What makes you say that?" the man asked, giving him a careful look.

Sapnap shrugged. "Oh, um, it's just that I was captured by a group of people claiming to be assassins, and since the first person I saw was you, I just assumed that you were with them. And your mask is weird. I figured only an assassin would wear something like that."

The man stayed silent for a minute, his back turned to Sapnap. Then, he turned around to face him. "I'm just like you. I want to prove myself as a warrior, even though I don't know my family's house, and serve the royal family. We can do it together."

He offered Sapnap a smile. Sapnap grinned back. He had thought that the guy was his captor, but apparently, he had been wrong. "Great! Then we can fight off assassins together and hopefully not get drugged again!"

"Oh, we don't have to worry about the assassins," the man said with another small smile. "They won't be bothering us again."