Well, crap.

Mai woke to a stinging pain in her leg, throbbing and making her throw her head back and hold in a groan. Her head hurt, the lines of blood on her back were stinging, and of course, her calf was very literally trying to kill her.

She was already not in a great mood, but when she realized her arms and legs were tied and she was moving, it was instantly so much worse.

HOLD THE FXXX UP BISH WHAT-

And then everything came rushing back to her and then she wanted to kill that irritatingly handsome man she had met in the woods.

Mai was moving, draped along something that roiled and woved with muscle and fur. She didn't have to open her eyes to know that she was on a horse. Okay, so apparently she had been transported back in time because no sane person in the 21st century would be riding a horse with armor on in the middle of the woods. It just didn't happen.

A bump made her lurch and jolt, slamming her wound into the horse's flank and she couldn't hold her sharp hiss of pain in this time.

"You're awake,"

Mai also did not need to open her eyes to identify the source of this voice.

"And you're an asshole," Mai growled, finally opening her eyes and wincing as she was met with the light of a torch TWO INCHES from her face.

"I'm actually a knight and a prince and an all-round great person. Didn't see 'asshole' in that definition," the prince grinned.

Her bags were on the horse as well, along with her bow and arrows, but they were farther away than her bound arms could reach. She noted with a barely-perceptible grin that her knives were still in the holster on her arm.

Hmm...

Mai looked up at the prince-knight's handsome, now smirking face. It was dark now, so she had been conked out for quite a while, but she could still see his infuriating face quite clearly in the light of the torch he held. She noted with a hint of satisfaction that there was still a trickle of dried blood on his face.

"I really don't understand why you're so angry," he sighed, giving her a glance down, but his smirk never left his lips. Mai stared at him.

"You WHAT?" she spluttered, eyes widening. "You mean to say that you think that knocking me out and abducting me isn't something I should be angry about?"

He had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Well, you wouldn't come-"

Mai had been wriggling the entire time, trying her very hardest to bend herself around so she could reach on one the knives, but now she truly stilled.

"YOU THOUGHT I WAS AN ASSASSIN!" she shouted, glaring venom. "I THINK that would repel any visitors to you precious king!"

"WELL, you still might be an assassin," he huffed after a moment's silence, his smirk dropping for the first time since she had met him. "And," he added as an afterthought, now glaring at her as well, "it would do you well to watch your tone."

"GODDAMNIT I WILL NOT WATCH MY TONE YOU CRACKHEADED-"

Mai had restarted her quest to get a knife- as discreetly as possible, which wasn't hard since she was yelling right in the pink-haired prince's face, which should have given him enough incentive to not look at her more than he needed to.

"Will you be quiet?" he suddenly hissed, his confident demeanor gone for something much like irritation, "You are being ridiculous. My goodness, how I ever thought this was a good idea-"

Mai glared at him, stilling once more. "Are you seriously mad at ME?" She couldn't help it- she gaped at him. "Because NO. That is not how this works. I am mad at YOU."

Mai gathered that this scene would look rather ridiculous to anyone watching.

Suddenly, the knife she had been reaching for suddenly slipped into her hand, its blade leaving a small welling of blood in her palm as she gripped it tighter to keep it from falling. She let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding and winced as the prince's curious eyes fell on her.

Okay, stop looking so RELIEVED and get to work!

It only took a moment for her to rip through her weak bonds- probably weak because I'm a woman, she noted with severe irritation- and in that moment, she shot another venom-filled glare at the now-silent prince.

"And BECAUSE I am mad at you," she snarled, "enjoy your dose of karma."

A lot of things happened at once. Mai swung her arms and legs up at the same time, slicing through the bonds tying her ankles together (but not without a splitting pain in her back). The beautiful (wait nO, he was ANNOYING), gray-eyed knight didn't even have time to flinch before Mai made the effective- albeit a little stupid- decision to swing her wounded leg at his chest, praying her martial arts skills would not fail her now.

They didn't, and whether it was the surprise or the force, he fell off the horse with a yell. The horse itself whinnied in alarm.

Oh come on. Shush. HE'S the idiot.

It was only then, with a throbbing, searing pain in her leg that traveled up and inwards so she could hardly move, that Mai noticed the shadows in the trees that looked a lot like backup horsemen.

I just kicked a prince. Off his horse.

...

Well, crap.

She did not think this through.

Mai gritted her teeth and rolled over onto her stomach, gasping at the effort, the pain already leeching at her stores of energy.

"Run," she whispered, the voice just a breath of air in the white animal's ear. "Please, just run."

And, be it some miracle or something else, the horse did.

"CATCH HER!" a roar sounded behind her.

"ACKKKKK!" Mai screeched.

She suddenly lurched forward, arms wrapping around the lean animal beneath her. She hadn't ridden a horse in an even longer time that she had shot a bow. There were only a few hazy memories of gripping the smooth flanks tighter with her thighs, clutching the reins so tight they left marks in her hand, or falling off the damn thing and hitting her head on sand that wasn't as soft as it looked. And THESE she only remembered because they had hurt.

Well, brilliant.

And if THAT wasn't enough, the white fur behind her was now stained red.

"Are you kidding me?" she groaned, the blood from her wound seeping out into the makeshift bandages. "It HAD to reopen now."

Mai was bouncing in the saddle even as she managed to pull herself upright, pain rocketing through her with every jolt. It didn't help that there was no path, she had no clue where she was going, branches were getting in her way far more often than she thought was necessary, and there was the all-too-familiar sound of hoofbeats in the distance.

She was freaked out, scared, and in pain, but she couldn't deny the intoxicating rush of adrenaline that shot through her as she felt the wind slam roughly against her face, letting her messy hair stream out behind her, the strands beating at one another. Her heart raced, in a combination of fear and a little excitement.

Now is NOT the time to give into your inner adrenaline junkie, Mai.

She didn't dare let go of the reins, keeping her head as close to the horse as she could without damaging her sight, but she leaned back and glanced at her bow. It was still there, tied to the saddlebags, along with her backpack.

I hope I won't have to-

Mai rounded a bend, keeping on the most-tree-free path, and instantly pulled back, groaning at her own stupidity.

Two horsemen were facing her, eyebrows raised. They had on leather armor, and two thin, curved swords at each of their waists. Both of their eyes were also gray (which was weird, but she paid no attention to it at that particular moment).

"OH, COME ON," she yelled at no one in particular. Her fingers fumbled for her bow, unknotting it quickly as her mare pawed the ground.

"Don't bother with that," one of the men in front of her chuckled, "it's not as if you can use it."

The incensed Mai more than anything so far. Sexist pigs, she growled in her head, glaring but keeping silent for another moment before breaking the stillness with a snarl.

"Wanna bet?"

Mai was in far less pain, at a much closer distance, and at an incredibly higher anger level than when she was half dead and bleeding out against the weird wolf-thing. It was safe to say that this arrow, the one she was pointing at the man who had spoken, would have flown clear and true to wherever she wanted it to hit.

OOH, I have some good ideas...

It apparently became very clear from the way Mai was holding her bow and the focused expression on her face- plus the fact that it was pointing straight at the man's chest- that the girl in front of the two dumbasses did indeed know how to shoot a bow. They shifted uncomfortably, eyes widening and fingers reaching for their own weapons, not sure if Mai really would fire or not.

Try me JUST TRY ME.

But before she could illuminate that thought further by actually shooting at the big-headed idiots, the clopping of hoofbeats behind her became a thunderous roar and that was when she realized that she was trapped.

She froze when it hit her.

Stupid stupid STUPID BEYOND STUPID UGH.

IT WAS SPUR OF THE MOMENT OKAY CAN YOU BLAME ME?

Actually YES I CAN you are ME-

...fair point.

Mai fought with herself like this a lot when she was alone, one of the voices reminding her of Emi and Yuki and Zheng.

Wow. You literally cannot live without some sort of bickering, can you?

Now is nOT THE TIME-

This point was proven when the first horses rounded the corner, led by a pink-haired, gray-eyed, and royally pissed prince-slash-knight, panting hard and also seeming as if he was trying not to glare at Mai.

"You were right as always, Lord Jimin," one of the men in front of her pulled on the reins of his brunette horse, throwing a triumphant smirk at Mai, accentuating the 'Lord' part of his statement more than what seemed to be necessary. Jimin- that seemed to be the pink-haired knight's name- glared nastily at the one who had spoken.

"Goodness gracious," Jimin exhaled slowly, ignoring the man and looking at Mai instead, "why are you so desperate to avoid the king anyway?"

He truly seemed puzzled, despite his anger (which Mai couldn't even blame him for- she DID kick him off his horse), and she didn't have that great of an answer for him. What would she say? She was suspicious and she knew nothing about this place because she fell here in her sleep?

"Well, MAYBE I wanted to escape because you VERY RUDELY tied me up and ABDUCTED ME!" Mai spluttered, throwing the first thing out there that made sense. Jimin looked as if this had just hit him and he looked slightly embarrassed now.

"Well you STILL had absolutely no RIGHT to escape from us!" the scout in front of her- the only one who had been speaking- huffed in a whiny voice. Mai glanced at him, raising her eyebrows.

"Taeyong, be quiet," Jimin snapped, looking as if this particular person irked him quite a lot. He took a deep breath and looked back at Mai as if he expected her to do something to make fun of this Taeyong character, then quickly caught himself. "In any case, I am sorry."

Mai was not expecting that.

"WHY ARE YOU SAYING-" Taeyong piped up again, staring at both Jimin and Mai before the former glared at him with such reverence in his sharp, blue-gray eyes that even Mai was slightly scared.

"Taeyong, just because you are the heir to this kingdom DOES NOT MEAN that you can interrupt me. May I remind you, I am still the leader of this party," he growled. Mai's head snapped around to face Taeyong, this new information making her interest pique.

Unlike Jimin, Taeyong was skinny and tall, with duller, paler gray eyes than Jimin He had narrow lips, big eyes, a slender facial structure, shiny black hair, and altogether a slightly bratty face (A/N: this is not to be taken as an insult to Lee Taeyong the rapper from NCT. This is not him. Okay? Okay). So, if he was the heir to the throne, then he was a prince too. Did that mean he was Jimin's brother? Mai looked back and forth between them.

Wow. They look NOTHING alike.

"I apologize for my cousin's behavior," Jimin sighed, looking at Mai again. "And I apologize for myself as well. I truly AM sorry for tying you up like that."

Hmm. Cousin, then. Interesting.

"Well, I'm not going to say it's alright because it really isn't and you really shouldn't go tying people up like that AT RANDOM, but I'm not pissed at you anymore so," Mai spoke a little quieter now that she wasn't in 'let's kill some idiots' mode. Jimin laughed a little before nodding.

"Good news then," he fell silent for a moment. "BUT you still have to come with us,"

Mai wasn't surprised, but that didn't mean she was happy about it.

"I told you-"

"Hear me out," Jimin held up a hand when she began to protest. "First of all, I don't think you're from here. Women do not bear arms here, but you do. You are wearing strange clothes, AND you seem to have no idea who we are, what Esterie is, or even Aericra is."

This was true. Mai literally had no idea what the strange words tumbling out of Jimin's mouth meant. He noticed this and went on.

"And maybe the king has some answers for you- he did send me where you were, you know. I gather he was expecting you. So, come with us. It may actually help you."

Mai shot him an unfriendly look. He was already acting very high-and-mighty, and the fact that he actually may be right was irritating her a LOT.

Jimin may have noticed this, because he shot her a grin, looking down at her bleeding leg. "That plan MAY work a bit better than running blindly in the forest on a stolen horse that happens to belong to the king."

Mai opened and closed her mouth a couple times before fixing the prince with a solid glare. He broke in once more before Mai could say anything, maybe noticing the fact that she was getting a bit angrier as he spoke.

"And I promise we will not lock you in the dungeon,"

There was a moment of tense silence as Mai pondered this, Jimin and Taeyong both intently looking at her facial expression. It was odd, the way they were staring at her. Almost as if... they expected something from her.

That's ridiculous, Mai admonished, stop making conspiracy theories and say something before they knock you out again.

"Alright," Mai caved, sighing. "I'll go with you."

Jimin smirked. "Good choice, sweetheart."

Mai's temper flared, and her eyes flickered angrily at Jimin.

"But don't think I'm happy about it."