The Dragon & The Prince - A Moceit Story

"Bounty Hunter"

 After weeks of traveling together, Patton and Virgil grew to be quite close. They shared stories about themselves during the long walks in the day and at night they sat together around a fire enjoying some comfortable silence. They learned to get along and got into a good routine so that they made excellent progress towards the Draach Highlands. Virgil estimated that they could make it to the highlands in a little less than two weeks with the help of his magic.

Patton was thrilled to know that he could be reunited with Janus in just over a week. The overwhelming pain he'd felt would soon be replaced with tremendous joy. Every night Patton imagined Janus's warm arms around him once more.

Over the course of the journey Patton started to notice that Virgil was behaving strangely again. At any mention of Janus's name he seemed to shrink away a little. At first Patton thought it was because of the hatred between their two kingdoms, but it became clear that politics had nothing to do with Virgil's discomfort.

One night after they'd set up camp for the night Virgil seemed really distraught. He'd barely spoken a word since Patton told him the story of how he and Janus originally met that afternoon. Patton tried to give him a little space, but he couldn't stand to see his friend so upset.

"Hey Virge." Patton said, calling Virgil by the nickname he'd said he was comfortable with him using. Patton had originally tried to call him 'kiddo' but Virgil didn't like that one bit. It had taken him a few days to voice his dislike but once he did Patton made sure to not call him that anymore.

"Hey." Virgil replied. He avoided making eye contact with Patton feeling horrible.

"I get the feeling that something's buggin' you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Do you want to talk about it?"

Virgil opened his mouth to speak, but shut it after a few seconds. He shook his head and stood up. "It's been a long day. I'm going to turn in early."

"Oh... okay." Patton nodded. He let Virgil go to his tent without bothering him anymore and retired to his own after a little while of sitting alone by the fire. Patton put the fire out before going to bed and dreaming of Janus, who he was certain he'd be seeing soon.

The next morning, Patton woke up feeling that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but something was definitely wrong. Virgil didn't appear to notice and they quickly continued their journey towards Draach.

A few hours into their walk through the forest Patton had been unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He hadn't said anything to Virgil but he could tell that he was just as uneasy, though it might be for a different reason.

"Hey, Virge?"

"What?"

"Do you get the feeling... that someone else is around?" Patton asked scanning the treelines.

"No?" Virgil said, doing the same. Neither of them could see anybody else nearby but Patton spotted something that shook him to his core: an Apollonian flag stuck in the ground among broken pieces of wood that were nearly reduced to splinters.

"Virgil!" Patton gasped. He ran over to the tiny flag and recognized it as the right size for a carriage flag. He took a moment crouched on the ground to think. They were deep in the woods... on the path to Draach Highlands... and found an Apollonian flag. The location, the flag, and the feeling that ran through Patton's entire being all pointed to this being- "This is where Janus was transformed."

"Yeah." Virgil nodded. He looked around feeling extremely uneasy. This was the last place he wanted to be, especially with Patton. They both looked around, not in awe but quite the opposite. It was an incredible feeling to know that they were in the exact spot that Janus had been cursed, but a chilling one at the same time. Patton couldn't help feeling a throb in his heart but at least he knew they were going the right direction.