Chapter 5

"I don't care who you are!" Vorbuk growled under his breath as he glared at the crown prince. He was annoyed at how the man kept following him around when he just wanted to be left alone.

"That's kind of rude.." Leo scratched the back of his head as he looked away embarrassed by his own actions earlier.

"You can understand me?" Vorbuk was caught off guard by the mans sudden response to his own words.

"Of course I can. It's just an ability I have. Unlike most people who don't have the ability, as long as a beast tries to speak to me I'm able to understand it telepathically."

"Lucky you..." Vorbuk rebuked sarcastically as he turned to leave again.

"Wait, please!" Prince Leo paced himself to keep up with the wolfs fast walk.

"What do you want from me?" He growled at him again as he kept himself moving forward.

"I was just wondering why you have a collar if you're not actually a companion to someone. Someone had to buy that for you, obviously." He pointed at the Silvervane collar around Vorbuk's neck and smiled wryly.

"I followed an adventurer into the town and he bought it for me so I could get inside. He couldn't understand my words like you can, though. He only knew I wanted in the town, but couldn't go in without the damn thing."

"So basically you used the man to get the benefit of going into town for whatever reason..." Leo thought to himself for a long moment as he gazed up at the sky. He was still pacing himself beside Vorbuk as they walked along the road.

"What?" Vorbuk glared at him as he saw the man smiling to himself.

"Oh, I was just thinking, maybe if you were interested... We could partner up!"

"Partner... up?"

"I've been traveling on my own adventures and you're obviously just using people to get yourself into towns.. so I was just saying we could team up! You fight with me along my adventures and I'll help you in and out of where ever you're going." Prince Leo smiled at the wolf as he spoke out his idea of forming a team together. He could see the hesitation in the wolf's bright red eyes as it glared at him. Leo knew that the wolf could probably make it easy on his own, but he was hoping the wolf would decide to go for it as it would be beneficial to himself to have a beast that could help fight by his side. He knew though that if he spoke of forming a Companion Pact with the beast that with the wolf's attitude it would turn out badly for himself to even attempt to form the contract.

"Temporarily..." The wolf muttered out as it sighed heavily.

"Huh? Really?!" Leo shouted out surprised the wolf went for it.

"Only Temporarily! While I learn more about this world I will follow you, but once I tire of being near you I will leave on my own. This is only mutually beneficial to me while I am learning more of this world. Once I need you no longer you're on your own!" There was a deep growl at the end of what the wolf spoke out at Leo and it made him shudder slightly. The power that was in the wolf was enough to make even the Crown Prince Leo shudder at the growl in it's voice. For a moment Leo wondered if he had made a mistake in pairing up with the wolf, but at the same time the power he could feel from the wolf was enough to make him happy the wolf accepted the idea in the end.

"Of course! Once you want to leave you can... There is no way I could stop you if you tried to go anyways. I can feel the power is enough to kill me if you tried." Prince Leo smiled wryly again as the two of them continued their way down the road. Soon they could hear a merchant cart coming up behind them. Vorbuk wanted to keep walking, but Leo was human after all, therefore they waved the merchant down and paid for a ride towards the next town.

It didn't take long for Leo to pass out on the cart with his hood pulled down over his face. Vorbuk on the other hand was new to the world and interested in everything around him so he kept himself awake the whole time to watch the different sceneries along their journey so that he could try to recognize more of the land and world around him. There was so much to the world that was new to him that he wanted to learn as much as he could as soon as possible. It was detrimental to his chance at surviving in the world without worry of something easily killing him off.

Glancing over at Leo he couldn't help, but wonder how a Crown Prince could find himself wandering around for adventures alone in the world when he was suppose to be in a castle learning for the day when he would take over the crown as the next king. It was no wonder the drunks in the bar used him as common gossip to laugh and talk about. It was like they blamed him for the possible downfall for the kingdom itself. Though Leo had two other brothers that could easily take over the thrown, as the first born son it was natural that the weight of the kingdom would fall on Leo's shoulders as he would be the first son pushed to learn for the day of taking over the crown.

Little did anyone know that the very weight of the kingdom was what made Leo hate his royal bloodline to the point of him running off. He would make sure the king always knew he was alright and out in the world, but every chance he could he would make sure to make himself unknown to everyone around him so that he could enjoy life like a common adventurer. He wanted the life of adventure and being free to live how ever he wished. He did not want to take over the kingdom. He felt he had two other brothers and either one of them could easily do the job as king just as well or even better then himself.

The moment he realized the wolf was really on his own in the world it almost felt like he had been looking at himself in that moment. That was why he felt the urge to bring the wolf over to his side and befriend him if he could. He knew the wolf probably felt disgusted with partnering up with him given he was a human and royalty, but at the same time he felt if he could get the wolf to travel with him it would in the end benefit them both because they were both solitary creatures at the end of the day. They were both alone in the world with nobody else who understood them so they could easily come to understand each other in their own ways. It was something that Leo could feel deep down that they would in the end benefit from adventuring in a group together.