A Warrior's Heart

Chapter 63; My mistake

"Hyung!"  Someone yelled. Yoongi groaned and stirred a little at the sound before he opened his eyes. The light of the sun immediately stung his eyes and he quickly closed them again. He rolled over on his back and placed an arm above his head, enjoying the morning breeze that ruffled his hair. The peace didn't last for long, because soon enough a foot was being pressed against his side.

"Hyung!! Wake up!" Taehyun said, lightly kicking the warrior's side again. Yoongi grumbled and reached out to shove his foot away.  "Wake up or I'll splash water in your face."  The brunette threatened then, but all the older did was snicker. "There's no pond around here, so good luck."

He heard the other sigh.  "Fine, stay asleep. Don't mind me leading these guys into battle. We'll go rescue him with or without you." Taehyun said. At those words the warrior shot up, his head protesting against the speed. He glared up at the younger.  "Don't you dare." He gritted out, voice husky from disuse and thick with sleep. The brunette frowned and turned to walk away.  "Wake up then! You're the one that told us we were leaving at sunrise!"

Yoongi sighed heavily and raised an arm, running his fingers through his black locks. He did tell them that, yeah. He was a rather deep sleeper, he knew that. But he was always sharp. He was able to detect a rain of arrows even in his sleep, so why did he not feel the sunrays on his cheeks this morning? He shook his head and stood up, lightly dusting some sand and dirt off of himself. The other warriors were already tacking up the horses again, his stallion still standing bare. He was about to change that when someone walked up to him.

"You were still asleep when we had breakfast and none of us dared to wake you, so.."  The male said as he handed him some bread. Yoongi chuckled.  "Good call. Next time don't let that kid wake me up, let someone else do it. If you can't face a sleeping me, how are you guys ever gonna face an opponent who's awake?"  He retorted, patting the man's shoulders as he walked past him, taking a bite from the food.

He saw Taehyun struggling with putting the saddle on, and he could step in to save him, but he decided not to, and let the poor boy figure it out on his own. The younger had to learn as well. Without saying anything he walked up to his stallion, swallowing his bite and handing the rest to the animal. The horse took it from his hands carefully, exhaling through his nose and lifting his leg.

"I know boy, we're gonna run again today."  Yoongi said to the horse, and watched as he put his leg back down. He silently tacked him up, deep in thoughts. The conversations of the other men went past him quietly, and he didn't hear anything besides the soft ringing from the saddle as he fastened the belt. He sighed and made sure everything was set well before loosening the reigns from the branch. He led the horse away from the tree a little and looked over at the group.  "Everyone ready?"  He called.

The men gave him a cheer before getting on their horses, the black haired man doing the same. As he gathered the reigns in his hands he watched the youngest of the group clumsily climbing on the saddle, the white mare huffing loudly as if she were saying 'is it really that dificult?'.

Without waiting any longer, the warrior tapped his horse's belly with his heels, walking away from the group. He knew they'd catch up quickly so he wasn't afraid to leave them behind a couple of meters. Besides, they were grown men and there wasn't a threat around here. The warrior found himself thinking back to that day, and he didn't pay attention to much else. Luckily for him, the black stallion had been his comrade for a long time now, so the animal knew he had to keep walking forward, even if he didn't get any further signs from his rider.

Behind him, Taehyun was frowning. Normally the older would've made a comment about him struggling by now, but today he didn't. Something was off, he could easily tell. He knew that when the older was deep in thought, nothing could really bother him and pull him out of it. So he just looked over the group of men and told them to follow them silently, watching for anything that may seem odd to them and report it to him. He knew he couldn't take over Yoongi's position like that, but he also knew he was his top warrior, and he had to take responsibility too sometimes.

He lightly tapped his mare's belly twice with his heels, urging the animal to trot up to the older. When he caught up, he looked over.  "You okay?"  He asked, looking at the man's side profile. He was staring up front, eyes set and unblinking. There must be something bothering him. Yoongi inhaled deeply and shook his head.  "Yes."  He simply answered, but the younger wasn't buying.  "You've barely said anything at all this morning, so that's a lie."

Yoongi looked over at him now, eyes settling on his own. Some strands of his hair fell into his eyes, but he didn't seem to mind them.  "It's nothing, Tae. Just drop it." He told him. Taehyun scoffed and looked away.  "You can't just tell me that after you came to me yesterday."  He said. The older sighed and nodded.  "Fine. I'm just thinking about how this is all my fault."

Taehyun sighed and steered the mare a bit closer to the other, shoving his shoulder.  "We talked about this. It's not your fault. You had men to train."  He told him. The black haired male looked away from him, avoiding his gaze.  "I don't care, they were doing fine on their own. I should've just went to see why he was going to visit the wizard's place." He said, tightning his grip on the reigns. His stallion huffed at the action and he leant down to lightly pat his neck, letting his grip go slightly.

"You couldn't have known. You're a warrior, hyung. You're no magician who can foresee the future. You didn't know it was going to happen and that's it. Stop blaming yourself."  Taehyun said, but deep down he knew he would've followed the boy. He would follow him anywhere. 

A silence settled over them then, and Yoongi took a quick glance backwards towards the group before signing at them and ushering his horse to a canter.