Chapter twenty three:Moonlit Blades

**RAYAN'S POV**

I have been roaming this parts of the woods for a long time mostly when it was work related, there is a particular field, it has a bunch of dandelions and switchgrass the perfect habitat for Fireflies and since princess here has never seen a firefly that place would be perfect for her.

Elena, the strangest royal I have ever seen begging your father not to slap the person who tried poisoning you, you are definitely an imbecile. Like right now her face shines with excitement, I have only seen a woman have such an expression on her face and that was Hilda, a mercenary I teamed up with since she was familiar with the area we were going to, the expression princess has is the same as hers when she sees a bottle of beer.

After a few paces we were finally in the field and it was just as I remembered it Under the full moon's luminous gaze, a vast field stretched before me, adorned with graceful switchgrass and golden dandelions. The slender blades of switchgrass swayed gently as the cool night breeze pass through, glistening like silver threads in the moonlight, while the dandelions blanket the ground in a sea of yellow. The air carried a sweet, earthy scent, and as we walked through the landscape, princess was completely captivated by the tranquility and beauty that surrounded her under the moonlit night.

For the first time, I saw what her eyes looked like when they reflect moonlight, it was a strange it was a mix of her dark blue eyes with the white color of the moon making it seem too good to be true. Her eyes those deep dark blue they almost resemble mother and Sarah.

"I don't see those so called 'Fireflies'" she said as she made air quotes on the words Fireflies.

"give me a second," I said as I bent down and picked up a rock.

I tossed the rock in a straight line with all my strength, at every point that the rock had landed it startled at least five fireflies, soon almost half of the field was covered in the glows of the fireflies.

Elena's face was a sight to behold, what is it with rich people and there fascination of very basic things, she acted like a child and ran through the field her fingers running through the grass as more and more fireflies flew up in the air. A laughter escaped her mouth as she ran.

"are you seeing this?" she asked me as she turned around.

"well I am standing here so what do you think?" I said.

She rolled her eyes at me and started trying to catch one of the fireflies, she was missing horribly, her actions reminded me of a cat playing with a string. After a couple tries she finally gave up and just observed them.

" huh, if I have to," I whispered to myself, I timed a firefly that was flying in front of me and swiped my hands in the exact same direction catching it.

I then walked to where princess was standing.

"here princess, I caught one for you," I said.

I tried placing it on her hand but she quickly retracted it.

"didn't you want to catch one?" I asked her surprised by her sudden actions.

"its not dangerous right?" she asked.

"no it's harmless,"

She hesitantly stretched out her hand and I placed it there, the firefly stayed on her hand and walked around for a bit before it flew off.

"um Rayan, why do they have light coming out of their posterior?" she asked.

"poste what, oh you mean their ass?" I asked.

"no I meant their posterior," she said getting annoyed at me.

"well they glow on their ass, as a warning to predators," I said.

"warning?"

"well that light on their ass signifies the liquid that they produce which tastes bitter as hell," I explained.

"wait you tasted it yuck!"

"I was hungry and didn't know what else to eat," I said.

The moment those words left my mouth I immediately regretted it, her amused look slowly started turning into pity.

"okay now what else was on the list you wanted to do outside the castle wall?" I asked, "cause after I return you home you'd be lucky if your father would allow sunlight to enter the castle,"

"really you mean it?" she asked.

I just nodded my head.

"well first, I'd like to learn how to swim, go to a fair, maybe taste some ale and learn how to ride a horse. Among other things,"

We can do some of the things she said as we keep on walking, I stood up and princess understood that it was time to leave.

We were going back to our campsite, when I heard someone rustling through our things , I stopped princess and told her to wait for me there. I grabbed the hilts of my scimitars and took careful gentle steps, as I got closer I saw something that chilled me to the bone.

It was a man wearing dark purple armor, on his left breast plate was the crest of two scythes, he had two swords on his waist and a really huge sword tied on his back. How could the dark order have found us, I was sure that it would at least take a month before they realized that they were following the wrong tracks but here was one of them.

I stood there and waited to see if any more of the dark order were present but none arrived, this man was alone, I shouldn't let him regroup with his comrades otherwise things would be more difficult for me. I pulled my mask up and wore my hood.

I charged at the man and in a split second he had already unsheathed the swords on his waist and blocked my attack. His swords were doubled edge but shorter than most.

"you must be the grim reaper's assistant, I've heard about, I've always wanted to fight you but you are one hard man to find," he said as we slowly started circling each other.

"attacking me means one of two things, one you like battles or two you have something to hide," he said.

I didn't answer him.

"my gut tells me that it's the second and it could be the bounty, so hand her over," he said.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I faced the man in dark purple armor. The moonlit field served as the stage for our intense sword fight. His swords gleamed menacingly as he taunted me, to be honest I also wanted this fight, I ve always wondered if I could beat a dark order knight guess we'll see today. 

My scimitars clashed with his double-edged swords, and the sound of metal meeting metal resonated through the night. Our faces was close to each other as we pressed the blades against each other, but unlike me his face had a smile on it as if he was enjoying this. 

"the rumors are true you are good," he said as our blades clashed bringing our face closer to each other.

I jumped back and crouched trying to sweep him but he simply raised his foot from the ground me leg moving under the raised foot. He swung his sword at me while I was on the ground but I easily dodged it making him stab the ground and giving me the chance to get back on my feet. 

I didn't seem to be struggling as I battle this man for the dark order I was expecting more. My scimitars glowed with each strike, and some of the fireflies that found their way here seemed to synchronize their movements with ours, as if the very nature around us was watching our battle.

The man's dark armor gleamed in the moonlight. His skill was better than most but I could easily parry his strikes and dish out some of my own, as time went by he was the one with the most injuries while I only had a sore wrist. 

But the tension escalated when another figure emerged from the darkness, draped in a cloak of shadows. It was clear that this newcomer was associated with the dark order, making my task even more challenging.

Their teamwork was phenomenal one would strike me as a feint and as I blocked that the real attack would come, I managed to block this by the skin of my teeth and some of the times it almost managed to nick me in my viral organs.

I dodged a sword strike and I bent down and turned around in a sweep knocking the both of them down, the cloaked man didn't have a lot of armor compared to the first man. I quickly stabbed him with my right scimitar right in the chest, before I had a chance to turn around a kick landed on the side of my face pushing me away as I rolled on the ground and stood up, thank the heavens that I hadn't loosened my grip, the scimitar pulled out of his chest splashing out blood in the process.

"you bastard!" he yelled angry at me.

He charged but unlike before his attack wasn't calculative, the blind rage from seeing his fallen companion made him stupid. He swung both his sword in a downward slash, I side stepped making him strike the ground as I pushed my scimitar through his helmet and right through his head, I pulled out my scimitar and his body fell down like a sack of floor.

I just killed two members of the dark order, I didn't have time to celebrate my achievement, I quickly dismantled our campsite, packed our backs before ransacking the bodies of their gauntlets and arrowheads.

I went to where I had left princess who was sitting down and shutting her ears like before, handed her her bag.

"we have to leave now!" I said and I began walking as fast as I could, I heard her short steps following after me.