-Sky's POV-
I shook myself awake, and instantly regretted the movement. My head, neck, shoulders, and legs hurt terribly. I felt as if I'd been dropped off a cliff without something to break the fall. I heard movement, and I felt myself being moved. The sound of the horses' hooves meant we were traveling.
Two things I realized. 1) I was stiff, and had wrapped wounds. 2) I had a hand sitting on my foot. I don't know whose hand, because it wasn't mine, but it was a hand. Then a voice came, and I knew who's hand it was.
"Ya know, those breaks will cost Mark, and I don't even understand why he does this." It's Christie. His voice is moderately wavy, and his grip on my foot is loose and shaky. I can't see his face, but I can only assume it's red from crying. It sounds like he'd been crying.
"Christian?" "Yah." "Where are we going?" "The Barn castle. Why?" "Well, we have their son at the Flower kingdom up in the north."
The horses are stopped instantly. I hear footsteps on the gravel path. "What did you just say?" Mark asked. "I said, we have Vikram Star Barn, their son, at the Flower kingdom up north."
"Why didn't you say so before?!" "You
never gave me the chance! We also have Brice Solace, my brother Seto, and the Flower King- Robert Latsky." Christie speaks up. "You know the Flower King?" "Of course! He's one of my closest friends!"
Mark sounds angry. "You're lying!" "Really, Michael? You think I'm lying?" I hear him tense. "How do you know my name?"
"Are you serious?! I know more about you than you know about yourself, Michael. I know what your parents did to make you act the way you do." I hear him flinch, and walk away. A bigger set of footsteps approaches. The door opens to my left, and a cloth is held over my mouth and nose. I breathe, and pass out.
When I wake up, I can still hear the slow clip- clip of the horses' hooves. Christie isn't next to me as far as I can tell, and judging by Ty's active voice, it's nighttime. Ty clearly notices my movement, and says, "Hey! You finally decided to join us! Welcome back." "Yeah. Sure. Thanks a bunch."
Anthony called out, "How was your nap?" "Well, Anthony. It was a great nap, but it was kinda forced. And I still can't see, so I can't tell you who did it. There wasn't a voice, and the footsteps I heard were heavy, meaning a larger guy. It wasn't Christie, and it wasn't Mark." Christie's voice sounds. "It was Lindsay. He's more of a mindless robot than a man." "Oh... Okay."
"Are we still..." "Yeah. Yeah we are, Sky. I don't know why, but we are. But Mark sent a message ahead of us to the castle with Jonah. I don't know what the message is though. But knowing Mark, it's bad."

-Preston's POV-
I've been helping Rob get over the mourning of his mom, and getting him on track. I've noticed that my presence in the room helps him focus, so I've been standing with him more often than not. He told me the other day that I was practically his partner. But it confused me, so he dropped the subject.
But today was especially hectic. A message came to us via a horseback messenger, and it said- "We're coming for you." No signature, no stamp, nothing to follow on. Just a one line phrase written in Royal purple ink. Rob has the same type of ink, so I'm guessing it's a royalty kinda thing with the colored ink.
Only hours later, in the dark of midnight, I could hear and see a few horseback soldiers approach the gates. They asked for clearance to come in, and Rob gave permission. Mind the fact that he's only my age, 10 years, but he's taken charge of a whole kingdom, and he's doing well with it.
The soldiers ride in, and dismount at the front door. Rob's cloak falls out behind him as he spins and walks out the door of our room. I follow just in case, and he seems to appreciate the company. Here are the three soldiers from outside, standing quietly in the main hall. We stand still at the top of the staircase.
The cloak Rob had given me recently shimmers with the satin inside, and it curls around my body, nearly coating me in fabric. "What do you want?" Rob asks. One soldier takes of his helmet. "We are here for the son of King Barn. His return has been requested."
"No. Vikk stays here. Unless you take everyone here, Vikk goes nowhere and you leave empty-handed." Rob clenches his fist, and his arm shakes slightly. I take his hand, and he relaxes again. Pulling up my lava bandana from my neck, I cover my face, just because it's comforting. "And who is this, Flower King?"
The same soldier is watching me, his eyes flicking between Rob and I. "Why does it matter to you?" "Not to me, to my King. He would love to know." Rob glances back at me, then back to the soldiers. "Never mind him. You take all of us, or you leave now with nothing."
"I don't intend on doing either of those. We want Vikram Star Barn. No one else." "That won't work anyway. You take Vikk and not Lachlan, you'll never hear a word leave his mouth, or ever see him move again. If you don't take any of us but him, good luck."
"Fine. You all come. Wake the others if you wish." "I wish. Preston, get Brice. Seto should be back by now. I'll get the rest." I split ways with him as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I ran down the staircase of the tower, and reached Brice and Seto's open door. Sure enough, Brice and Seto were both there, curled together, asleep.
I gently shook Brice, and he woke. Brice woke Seto up, and I told them the plan. Seto was unhappy, but followed Brice when he took his hand. I followed them up, and found Mitch and Jerome sitting on the marble floor, half asleep again. Rob reappeared from the back hallway with Lachlan carrying Vikk behind him. Vikk was still asleep.
"Excellent. Come now. We cannot rest. We must get him home before tomorrow evening." "Excuse me." I asked. "Why tomorrow afternoon?" He waved off my question.
Rob took my hand and walked to the stable outside. He got others to do it, but they managed to get a carriage ready. Vikk, Lachlan, Mitch, Jerome, Brice, and Seto would be in it. Rob and I would be on Bianca, Rob's horse. The soldiers remounted their horses, and led us out the front gate.
We took a long stretch of galloping without rest. I could feel Bianca slightly heaving when they finally stopped. Vikk had woken up on that long stretch, and was currently curled into Lachlan's chest. But the second we slowed down, I could see a castle looming ahead. Out front, I could see two empty cages, and huge horses attached to a wagon, which held the cages.
We slowly trotted up to the gates, and they opened without visibly asking permission. Going in, the soldiers stopped us, and told us to dismount. Rob got off first, and helped me down. Our cloaks draped to our feet again. Lachlan picked Vikk up, carried him out of the carriage, but didn't put him on the ground.
Everyone was awake now, and dawn was approaching slowly. Rob took my hand into his, and he was freezing. I'm still part lava in this form, so I'm always warm. I held him, and he warmed up quickly. We walked inside with the soldiers.
Inside, the layout was completely different to Rob's, so I was super lost 10 feet in the doorway. Holding Rob's hand tightly, I followed him, and he was following the soldiers. They'd removed their helmets, and were walking down the main hall, almost happily. Suddenly, they split off, and other people came. They didn't have armor on, and so they looked a lot less menacing than the others.
We were led to a throne room, with both thrones occupied. One was a tall man, in a cobalt suit, and a charcoal black cloak. The other was a tall woman, in a very long ebony black dress, and a cobalt cloak. Both sat regally, and somehow, both looked like Vikk. His facial features matched those of the woman, and he overall looked like the man.
I glanced back at Vikk, and his face was pure betrayal, and he looked angry. He refused to look at the people on the thrones. The man spoke. "Vikram. I thought you had died." Vikk spoke to the floor angrily. "Of c-course you d-did. You l-left me al-alone in th-the woods. Re-remem-remember?" "How could we forget?"
Lachlan seemed angry as well. He pulled Vikk into his side. "And you seem happy about that? What wrong with you?! You're psycho!" "We are not crazy. Payment has to be given, or doom will come." "So Vikk was a payment?! Who does that?!" I drifted over.
"Lachlan. Don't. We're somewhere new, with people we don't know. Relax." He settled under my touch, but didn't let go of Vikk, who didn't seem to care. I moved back to Rob's side, slipping my hand in his. I saw a small smile cross Rob's face. But they kept talking.
"Of course, we do. It was a serious payment. And that has still not been payed due to you living, Vikram." "This is terrible for you and us, son." Vikk continued to stare angrily at the floor. "Th-then why di-didn't you just str-straight up k-kill me? W-why leave me to d-die alone and... confused?" They sadly looked at each other.
"We just couldn't bear it. We were already too attached to you. Even to leave you there in the woods... It was unbearably hard." Before they could say more, Jerome asked the question that was on my mind. "What used to be in the cages that are outside?"
"None of your concern, child." The man snapped. I kept the topic going. "No seriously. What was in there? Was it something important?" "Important for us, not you." "But I wanna know. Rob, please?"
Rob shifted. "Now it's serious. What was it?" "A loose set of hybrids and a troublemaker. Happy?" "No. What hybrids?" "I don't know. I haven't seen them yet." "And the troublemaker? Who is it?"
"I do not know that either. I have not been to the cell block yet." "Then can I see them?" The man snapped yet again. "No. You may not."
"So you do know. Or you would have no problem with me seeing them." "I would anyway. This is my kingdom, yours is north of here. Hours away." "Whatever. Come on guys. We're going back home." "Go. But Vikram stays." Vikk reacted in seconds. "No. I'm not."
He stormed up to the man- his own father, and got in his face. "Just because it was a price, does not mean I will die for your stupid actions. I'll live, and you can die for all I care. You two are selfish, and thought to kill me rather than risk your own skins. How rude of you to leave me- a baby- less than a full year old, alone in the woods to die."
"For a price, nonetheless. Think about your actions in the future." And he swiftly walked out, leaving everyone else stunned in his wake. The large front door slammed behind him. Lachlan broke first. He bolted in the direction Vikk went, and the rest of us followed.
We soon found Vikk, sitting with his knees curled into his chest on the grass, crying. Lachlan went over, and hugged Vikk's shoulders gently.
"We'll get through it Vikk. We will." Lachlan said quietly.