Time passed on their way to Zenda as the two cargo proceeded onwards, according to the road of the journey just as the same as they planned.

The road, however, had to continue through open fields of crops of wheat, in a teasing unpaved way in the middle of vast farmlands surrounding both sides

The head of the men raised his hand, ordering a full stop to the convoy. Scanning ahead.

"Hey, why did we stop?!" Louis complained.

"I sense danger, my young sire. This territory belongs to the Pioneers"

"What!". Louis's hair went straight up, he took the warning seriously.

"Slow down, dear". then she faced the man. "Sir, could you elaborate more on who those pioneers folks are?". Diana was interested to know more.

The man began.

"The pioneers are a widespread gang made of poor strong men, along with their families supporting their back, that opposes the central leadership domain of Wain and all the rich below his hand. We believe that the pioneers are who began a class struggle against all the Patricians in the kingdom. They think the rich are responsible for the poverty and corruption in the country, by using their money as a weapon.

They deemed their very name because they believed they were among the first who could proudly spark the fire of the revolution against the king, leading the angry people to a genociding riot that favours the poor and impends justice over the interest of the top masses. Or that's what they try to convince the people with.

"Ok, what does that have to do with us?"

"They are criminals, miss. Don't be fooled by their fancy idealistic goals. They kill and assault convoys on any road they control especially those who show a semblance of wealth. In other words, they just need to spot my young prince here, and all of us will be one with the dead"

Louis swallowed hard.

"Alright, let's find another path then!" She suggested the obvious solution.

"Negative". Another man responded. "Our lady strictly told us to stick to this very road, because that's where the king patrols will be least threatening. If we turned around now, we would risk ourselves getting caught by his majesty's men"

"Very well, we are completely fucked then" Louis protested, overwhelmed by the sophisticated situation.

"Wait, I have an idea," she said while disembarking.

"H...Hey, wha...What are you doing!!? and why are you gathering mud?!"

"A prince is known for his elegant clothes, correct?"

He felt uneasiness from her look. "Uhm...no, not entirely...why?"

______________________________________

Two hidden Pioneers watching from up the hill Pov:

"What in the name of the world is that girl doing to that boy?" A man said watching over the convoy

"Seems she is sticking mud to his clothes, and he is disgusted by it. The youth these days are difficult to understand". Another person by his side responded.

"I don't know why but I have that gut feeling they are up for something. Maybe they know we are watching?"

"Oh, yeah? So what? They don't seem dangerous in any way and by their looks, they look like deranged common folks passing by"

"yeah, ma...Hold on, Take a Look again at that blonde girl!" he pointed

"What? She is cute. is that your point?"

"No! Her neck, man! That necklace!".He specifically pointed

Following his friend targeting his index finger, he focused his own eyeballs on the small glassy shape of the ruby around the pretty girl's short neck.

"Yes, Yes, I see it. Wait. Are you joking with me, right now?! you want us to ambush 6 decent people for a small necklace around a child's neck, we may be ruthless but don't you think that's a bit extreme?!"

His friend narrowed his eyes, feeling the words picking at him, trying to awaken an already dead feeling inside.

"Do I have to remind you that your family slept without food last night? and you spent the whole night mad about it! Where were their affection hearts back then, ha?!"

One of them dropped his eyes with a sad sigh. "Y-You don't have to wake up the old dogs, man..."

"Then stop being soft yourself and follow me, let us report back to the boss!"

"Report what?" A third male voice caved in, from behind.

"AH!". Both flicked, as their soul was shaken by the unintentional scare.

"Alfred, I mean boss, for the love of your wife, man. Who crawls on people like this?!"

"Hmm. How about a pioneer leader whose men were about to shit their pants a moment ago?"

The two looked at each other as the embarrassment within the crossed words spiked them. The Second one, however, the one who was scolding his comrade earlier stepped forward with a bowing head. "Sorry, boss. we were to come to you to report the passage of those two carts"

The leader raised his sight to the horizon, far from the well-hidden spot on the hill to the left of the road, examining the open narrow road between the vast yellow farmlands of wheat. He noticed the two carts with some individuals over them but failed to notice any good in their sight.

"And?" he trailed, hoping for further catching elaboration.

"That necklace". One of them pointed out. "It would be worth a fortune!"

"A fortune for one, Barely. I won't risk our cover for one piece of jewellery. It won't be enough for one day's meal for each of the men. Keep watching. Bolder, report when you have a bigger prize ahead"

Bolder, the man who expected a better response, was taken aback by the answer. He looked back at his gangmate with a surprising gesture.

"Told you so"

"Just shut up your trap, will ya!"

The leader of the gang shook his head at how immature his men were. Joking around like infants and engaging in their irresponsible quibble-talking.

He fixed his gaze on the road again, ignoring his men for a while. He scanned the two carts with curious eyes as he noticed how afraid their passengers were.

He took the pleasure of seeing them steadily crossing his line of sight without noticing him.

They were a strange bunch but it became even stranger by the time his eye got hold of that girl. For some reason was she was the overly interested person in the whole group...

That girl...

She seemed familiar in a way, even with these maiden's clothes...

Her face that was laughing at that moment joking around with that dirty boy, reminded him of an outraged long gone passed man in his mind...

Her golden stray hair glimpses with the help of the light of the moon. which gave her untold beauty...

That necklace around her neck...

"Oh god..." his eyes widened, his brain jumped with alertness, and his mind flooded him with all the snapshots of her.

He realized her identity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Back to the general POV)

The convoy was on the move again. But running at a slower speed and investing more vigilance of their surroundings.

"Diana, this is ridiculous. You messed up my uniform!". Louis complained about the thick soil on his clothes.

"I know. You can fetch some fresh clothes when we reach Zenda. But I can't buy you another life if you lose your own"

"And do you think that this visual trick will stop some thugs from attacking us?!"

"Nope, it will make us less...desirable"

"Less desirable?! Sniff sniff Holy cow! , I don't think that's mud you covered me with!!!"

She burst into an adorable calm laugh, with her cheeks burning red and her angelic soul triggering the prince to chuckle at his awful figure himself.

"See, haha, it is already in effect". She looked back with a funny smirk at her boy, who just kept smiling at Diana despite how he looked like a hobo rather than Royalty.

"Contact!" One of the escorting men shouted, Like a flash of lightning sparking in a clear sky. He forced the convoy to a full stop and induced full attention to their front. Their fears had come true as they saw three large figures descending from the hill with their mounted horses jogging towards them.

Their riders were dressed in simple clothes and their weapons lay visibly in wait around their loins, waiting for just one mistake to be used.

The leader of the convoy began talking.

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"We...We don't seek trouble, good pioneers. we are just trav-"

"Ah Shut up. Old stinky man, your voice is giving me a headache already". One of the three interrupted with a heavy broken language, while the other two had fixed eyes on Diana.

"A bit clunky road to use, don't you agree, blonde fella" his eyes hopped towards Diana.

"Do you know those guys!?" Louis asked.

She shook her head, with worrying eyes.

"Oh, but the Boss knows you very well". His voice came like the sound of a serial killer.

He continued. "How about this? We make a deal. We take the girl so you can move on. Easy like that. Resist and we will water the field with your blood and will still take the girl alive"

The group was taken aback by the threat. Diana looked with the edge of her eyes as Louis hand's reached for his dagger.

"Oh, yeah?! You and what army?" Louis responded with no idea what reaction those few clichéd words would cause.

The three pioneers exchanged looks and burst into screaming laughs, mocking the prince.

Louis blinked. "Wow, I didn't know I was a natural comedian, finally someone discovered me" he smiled, and his lips went up, turning the seriousness of the atmosphere into a funny nudge and joking contest.

Suddenly a tall sharp object slowly marched between Diana and Louis in the back cart.

Leading Diana to gasp in shock while a huge blade slowly separates between them and takes an arm's shape of the letter V around Louis's neck, with breaths of another person pricked over Louis's skin.

"If I were you I would tone it down, alright?". A very deep and hollow voice groaned from Louis's back.

"Ahem, My bad". Louis's hands went up with all of his sarcastic talks fading instantly. He saw that a fight was not an option so he pulled his finger off his dagger and lifted his hands up in surrender. Reconsidering his behaviour, he tilted his head to look at his ambushing opposing side.

"Eyes front, both of you". The pioneer warned of making a face reveal for the two of them

Diana obeyed, just the same time as she heard a noise rising to her left. Diana looked to her side to see them flushing out of the fields. Like scarecrows made for humans.

They all took advantage of the murky darkness that hid them from the moonlight, their huge numbers terrorized the group and their skinny figures that came like ghosts of the dead gave a revolting sense of danger surrounding them in all directions.

She tried to keep calm despite the intense environment, engaging in a talk with the Pioneer behind her.

"W...Why, Why are you doing this? Don't you want justice? Is that how you pursue it? by causing more harm?!" She demanded an explanation while avoiding the gaze of the pioneer just as how he told her.

No responses were given.

"How about you take me instead?" Louis suggested.

"Louis!" Diana breathed out. Taken back by his sudden irrational talk.

"Oh, and what significant importance would a dirty small youth like you would serve us? And most importantly why are you willing to sacrifice yourself for this specific girl?"

"Because the king personally is after me, Sir. I am a prince, my name's Louis, who besides my exchange love to my girl here, I am from royal blood which logically means that I am worth way more than her, given the right kidnappers..."

The pioneer paused for a while. "Is that right, are you in love with that boy?" The pioneer talked to Diana.

Before delivering an answer, She looked at the multiple men watching the whole scene. Talking about all these private matters in the open public, to some road intercepting thugs, made Diana's lips quiver with shyness, feeling so many piercing eyes watching her. She wanted badly to just punch Louis for this unnecessary talk.

"So?"

She pushed the words of her dry throat. "Y-Yes, sir. We are in love and we are on the run from the king. We were going to Zenda. A town not far from here; to seek shelter"

He listened without giving a reaction and just turned to the prince again.

"And what verify me that you weren't kidnapping this child with the help of those men?". His talk was full of dangerous but straight charges

Louis's eyes narrowed. "Hold on, Is that why you attacked us?". The prince jumped to a quick conclusion.

"That's not an answer, Boy". The sword was tightened around Louis's neck even more, giving the feeling of the sharp edge of the sword very close to cutting the artery of his neck.

"Alright, Alright. Here...". His hand dived into his pocket and brought the letter from Queen Ana up in the air.

The leader gestures to another pioneer to come and take it from Louis's hands. For him to immediately notice the Broken royal seal.

"Read it". The leader ordered his man.

Moments passed, as the lower-rank pioneer silently read the content of the paper with his eyes.

"Boss, He is speaking the truth. Those two are co-"

"What!!" The leader shouted. "Damn it, Diana! You have a disgusting flavour when it comes to men". The man frowned and shook his head in disappointment as he backed the sword away from Louis's neck, oddly breaking him free.

The couple's ears listened to the same thing and had the same reaction as they looked at each other in stunning disbelief.

Diana heeded in alarm, slightly leaning her head a bit to the left, but still avoiding eye contact. "Do...Do you know me, sir?"

"More than anyone here" he smiled.

The girl's heart bumped hard. She didn't expect anyone familiar with this region far away from the palace. She rotated her body slowly, as she swallowed hard, hoping to see a friendly face at best.

Her eyes punched the darkness, to see the man's details in the mirror of the moonlight...

...and she recognized him at once.

"N...No...No, you...That's impossible" she stuttered as all her fears were quickly replaced by a shock, beholding a tall strong man, with only one right arm holding a sword as the size of his body but thinner. His face is full of scars and bruises, with his short brown hair and small beard, and his black void eyes. Along with massive terrifying features and body

He instils the sword tip into the ground, leaving it stuck to the soil, freeing his arm from the blade for a moment.

"Hey, my niece". He smiled.

"U...Uncle Alfred!".She realized that the Pioneer was none other than Alfred. The man was her father's younger brother who was presumed dead 10 years ago.

She couldn't control the tears engulfing her eyes and emotions washing over her as she lunged at the pioneer with both arms, hugging him tightly while crying out audibly.

"I missed you too". Alfred smiled with a sigh. As he wrapped his arm around his precious girl's hair.

The surrounding pioneers had a mixed feeling of happiness and contentment. In a flashback, He already told them who she was before starting the attack. It was supposed to be a rescue operation.

The men of the convey couldn't help but feel safety and security returning again. The danger was gone and their enemies turned to be distant allies.

Louis, however, had a wide open mouth while gazing at Alfred and Diana.

"Wait, Your uncle is a Pioneer ?!"

"Is that a problem to you, charming boy?". Alfred raised his head a bit from Diana's shoulder, lifting a creepy but sharp eyebrow at the Prince in hand.

"Uhm, Well. Given the fact that you were about to slit my throat earlier..."

"and let you use that knife lined within your shirt on my men? Not a chance"

"I was trying to protect her from...". Louis hesitated to continue this talk, It was both pointless and useless. "Nevermind". Louis stated, there was no need to talk now.

"Actually, I do. This is a very dangerous road, I am not leaving your small convey to march on this dangerous road alone. I am coming along"

The past word inspired something within Diana, that made her step back from her uncle's caged hug.

"You...You are coming with us?"

"yep, Good thing I was leading this group of men or you would be in irredeemable trouble. I can't risk leaving you two dorks travelling in the middle of the night through the pioneer's territory without protection. NO OFFENSE MEN". He shouted the last line.

"None was taken. We could use every pair of hands".One of them responded.

Blindly.

The fact he had one, not a pair spiked the pioneer a bit, but he showed no hard feelings about it. He wasn't the type who would easily feel sorry for himself. A character trait that Diana knew quite well about her formidable uncle.

"You will have to do with one for now". He chuckled with fun while showing his healthy arm to the men.

The girl nodded and smiled at her new family member, who appeared out of nowhere and at the right moment. His appearance was like water in the middle of the desert not only it gave her hope that she may return home and see her father again but she also has a piece of wonderful news to bring for her father. She couldn't wait to reach Endora and watch her father's reaction to it.

The pioneers were dispersed and Alfred appointed another temporary leader until he returns.

Not liking the idea of him joining the journey, Louis was kind of jealous of the sudden concern for Diana with her Pioneer uncle. He couldn't bring himself to trust the one-arm man, not after showing a rather dreadful first impression and being this close to murdering him next to Diana.

Nonetheless, he was delighted with Diana's peace of mind whenever she was beside Alfred. His love for her prevents his ego from selfishly intervening between the two, so he just gives them their space.

During the journey

"Uncle", she said while resting her ear on his high shoulder. "Now that I have you back. Can you tell me why did you disappear when I was 8 years old? We found your sword next to the carcass of a dead bear and we assumed the worst. What did really happen?" Diana exclaimed. still gradually consuming the thought that her uncle is safe and sound.

"Wow chill with that investigative attitude. I want to know more about you instead".He twisted her question to another inquiry of his own.

Diana Blinked and adjusted her posture. She doubted he would believe her anyway, so consequently, she narrated everything from Chapter One till now.

"So you are wanted by the king himself, hehe. Stand in the line. Well...my story is less adventurous than yours. You see, your father and I had a very wealthy mother until..."

"...She died of a heart attack, yes, my father told me". Diana sadly completed his sentence.

"But your father didn't tell you what happened afterwards. After our unanticipated mother's death, we discovered that our ma didn't leave a will or any document to declare how should her wealth heritage be distributed between the two of us. So according to the law declared by your mad tyrannical king, the older brother has the right to take the bigger cut. (2:1 cut)

I refused to accept that...

So your father and I fought many times on it,' till one fateful night, I packed everything and all of my money and left the house leaving a note for your father. Its bottom line is to consider me dead until he decides to share the cut 50-50 and told him where I was going just in case his conscience was still respiring.

However, I later discovered that your father never gave a shit about me anyway as that was our last communication between us"

Alfred explained what happened, but of course, biased by his own point of view. One can notice easily the anger and sadness in his voice while he speaks

Diana, on the other hand, had a lot to say. But not before receiving an answer to another important question on her sleeve...

"A-And your arm?" asked Diana. Unsure if she really wants to know the answer to her question.

"When I began my travel, I intended to cross the border, to a nearby Town through a road in a forest. But for how nature is treacherous, and how lonely I were. I was ambushed by a wild beast on my way...a big black bear to be precise"

I didn't notice his eyes spotting me in the woods and then the next thing I saw was, a big fur ball the size of 10 men charging at me on its four legs. Even though I don't remember the battle accurately, I, however, didn't face a challenging battle similar to this ever again.

"I remember his claw drawing scars on my face and his saliva-filled fangs digging holes in my left arm. That said, I eventually managed to stab it in its abdomen and put an end to its life.

Unfortunately, my body was too weak to carry my heavy sword, and I left it at the same spot where the battle occurred, beside the corpse of the bear. Maybe that's why the people of your village assumed that the bear killed me, excuse me but I didn't care about that back then.

I bandaged my arm with scraps of my torn shirt as I pressed beyond my physically destroyed body and my shaking legs.

Till I finally reached the destinated Town. Where I had collapsed at its gates.

The healer who barely saved me told me that my arm was gravely injured and infected to be healed or bandaged and it had to be amputated as a small price to continue living.

All of this happened because of your greedy father"

Now he mentioned it again, Diana was triggered by what he was saying about her Dad for a while now.

This man had to be stopped.

"Listen to me very carefully Uncle Alfred, my father cried for days and even weeks for your disappearance. He didn't believe that you died because they never found a corpse...

...How you could even think about your brother like that? He probably would give all his share just to figure out where have you gone..." said Diana in a harsh tone, her way of speaking was so aggressive that she had forgotten that she no longer was talking in a polite manner to her 40-year-old uncle.

Her happy features were long gone and her eyes were blinking with distrust, that man now isn't the same person she knew back then. He changed and not for the best.

He smirked. "Not surprised that you are defending him, I would have worried otherwise. Yet I don't believe you. I am taking you back to that town then we are done. I am returning to my people and you can tell your father that I am still breathing. But also don't forget to tell him that from where I am looking at it. He is dead to me"

Despite Alfred's hurting talk and his harsh words that were like nails coming from his mouth. He was amazingly calm with an astonishing ability to shake the core of his foe without him putting any effort into it.

Feeling her blood boiling because of her uncle's unjustifiable acts, she opened her lips to speak.

". . . . . . . ."

But nothing came out. Her dropped head showed disappointment and sadness.

It's not that she didn't know the right words. It was the unfortunate past that converted her words into a big knife slicing at an already closed wound filled with infection of hatred and sewed badly by the movement of time and lack of justice.

With consideration that she can not open such a wound without making it bleed more, she let the tense atmosphere disperse with her silence, surrendering to the fact that her uncle will always have a grudge against her father because of the curse that her grandma had left behind.

Money. The source of all evils.

The journey continued peacefully without further incident until they reached Zenda...