Cremyin dashed through the woods. He glanced over his shoulders and only saw trees behind him and a small glint from the silver armor that the guards wore. They weren’t far off from him, maybe twenty yards away. He turned left and right, weaving around trees, hoping that he would throw off their trail, but to no avail. No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the guards.<br/><br/>“Stop, stop! In the name of the Royal Throne of Jugark!” One of the guards shouted. Each time they said the same line, and each time they drew closer to where he was running. The prince was losing ground.<br/><br/>He didn’t listen to them sprinting around the trees, clinging to the hope that just a few more turns and he’d find freedom. An arrow cut through the air and gave an audible thud as it lodged into the tree next to his head. Cremyin couldn’t believe it. The guards had begun to open fire on him of all people. But he pushed the thoughts to the side; they didn’t know who he was and were the protectors doing their job. He could only hope to escape their pursuit with his life intact.<br/><br/>Cremyin glanced all around, looking for a way out of the maze he’d trapped himself in. Why did he have to be born to this life? He never wanted it to begin with. Why was his father living out his final days so soon? He was only forty summer-cycles in life, and already his life was giving way. He cursed sickness to its core.<br/><br/>A sharp pain erupted from his arm, followed by a warming sensation. His other arm instinctively went to where the pain was, and he looked down, he’d been struck by an arrow. ‘Shit!’ He thought to himself. This wasn’t the time to get injured.<br/><br/>“Halt!”<br/><br/>He heard the voice a shout a short distance away. The footsteps behind him grew faint and then went awkwardly silent. He lifted his head over his shoulder again and glanced back and noticed the guards had stopped pursuing him. He kept running. He wasn’t going to fall for their trap.<br/><br/><br/>After running further into the woods and sure that the guards wouldn’t be able to locate him, Cremyin stopped running. It was odd that the guards let him escape when they were so close to capturing him. The prince glanced down to check his wound and found that the arrow had only grazed over his skin. He took the satchel draped over his arms and loosed the drawstrings. He pulled out a small white cloth and tied it around his arm and tightened it to minimize any further blood loss.<br/><br/>Cremyin scanned his surroundings, trying to get his whereabouts, but failed. He was confident that he was still in the forbidden forest but couldn’t be sure. He’d lost track of times when the guards were chasing him. Knowing that they weren’t going to give up that easy, he decided it was best to lay a trap of his own. He moved about the forest and put several make-shift tracks and erased some the ones that led him into the spot where he stood.<br/><br/>The prince moved north once he when he was satisfied with the trap. A few hours into his journey, his arm started to tingle. He brushed it off at first, thinking it was probably because of the sweat dripping into his wound. He also hadn’t stopped for food or water since he left the trap, so he didn’t have time to clean it properly. He continued his track, but the tingle that started at his wound traveled up his arm and then to his neck, eventually reaching his head. His legs began to feel like spaghetti underneath him and his vision blurred like a fogged mirror. The world was spinning suddenly, and he couldn’t tell what he was around.<br/><br/>He moved forward with his arms in front of him trying to find anything that would give him stability. Cremini’s hands found a tree as he used it to prop himself up. His strength was leaving him by the second, and he could only determine one thing. It was why the guard had called a ‘halt’ to his other men. It’s why they quit pursuing him through the forbidden forest. They would have enough time to find him. He fell to his knees and then over onto his side. Black shadows filled the edge of his vision as he looked up confused. He knew one thing was certain. He'd been posioned.<br/><br/>One last breath of air and the prince lost consciousness.