The three wanderers are still in their way to the south, the person who was injured and beheaded by the fat and sassy duo is now their aquintiance.
He had not protested against it, since he was concerned for his life now more than any moment–he had tasted death previously and it was bitter.
It has now been 3 days since he found himself in this bleak land that had no sign of life other than the three and dry species like rattlesnakes and scorpions. In this span of time, he had gathered some valuable information by asking some small questions.
"Where are we heading and why?"
"We are heading to the slumber kingdom to deliver the king's property."
"Who are you both?"
"The flower did make him into a madman…I am the prince of the holy kingdom blessed by sun and moon, and this guy… who are you by the way?" the prince pointed at his 'sidekick'.
"I am the greatest scholar ever born! How can you forget it after I said it like thousands of times!" replied the greatest scholar ever born.
Hearing this, the prince and the knight had their doubts, but they kept it to themselves.
'So it turns out, the box named slumber flower is the property of the king of the slumber kingdom. Prince, the scholar and I are supposed to deliver it. One thing doesn't fit in here, why am I here and moreover-'
"Who am I again?"
"Mate shut the hell up! We don't have time for your existentialism." said the prince.
"Maybe he had severe mental problems because of the flower." The scholar added.
"No like, what is my name?"
Hearing this, both the prince and scholar said in unison, "The knight."
…
The knight was silent for a moment, 'what kind of name is that?' he thought to himself.
Then he spilled, "What is my real name?"
It was hard to talk while the three of them were riding horses at full speed, efforts against the flowing sand was futile, some of the sand entered the scholar's eyes making them a little red. The prince was rather experienced perhaps, and lucky, he didn't suffer the same fate as the scholar–and the knight was just lucky enough.
"Mate! Nobody knows anybody's name, we haven't shared our names yet," some sand entered the prince's mouth, making him cough, "Don't make me talk for bullshit reasons!"
This was the last conversation they had before reaching the end of the day, the whole day they were riding in the south direction, on the command of the prince.
And now they have stopped. In front of them, half the sun had set beneath the horizon and half of it was bloody orange. It looked like an entrance you see at a carnival, but this one led somewhere else.
Every horse rider is trained to endure the heat of the sun but no one resists the blessings of the night goddess, and the cold winds at night are one of her blessings.
The three of them put the horses to rest near the fireplace while scorpions and snakes were getting fried. The ones they hunted.
The small and rocky mountains had sheltered many types of snakes, but many snakes that lived in the deserts weren't poisonous, and even if they were, the prince knew how to extract that poison and even use it for other matters.
The prince was watching over their temporary refuge, since he decided to not sleep this night, no one protested.
the scholar was reading a huge book, its width was perhaps 1/4th his waist.
The knight was far from the fire, in his silver armour, because there were no other clothes for him here, they certainly made him itch all over, his back was hurting like heavens have made him carry them, he had removed his helmet and was 'enjoying' the cold winds. At least it felt finer. His moustache moved with the wind, tickling a little, and he stood cause his butt was itching on the boulder.
'The slumber kingdom, the weird box, my own past…' his mind was foggy and it made his thoughts disoriented. Even his own death couldn't clear this fog that loomed inside his head. As so, he decided to not think much and remember the three key-words to research on, once the fog was cleared.
When he looked at the cloud free sky and barren lands, he thought of where he is, he also wanted to know why he is here—he's the knight accounted to deliver the slumber flower to the king of the slumber kingdom—but… whose knight is he?
…
Another hot day came, and the three resumed their journey in the south. The scholar was fat enough to have trouble climbing even the sitting horses, he was perhaps the heaviest out of the three–the strongest was obviously the prince, trained rigorously from childhood until his nature was in being strong, and the knight was built like a malnourished tree.
For some time, everything was silent, except the thudding of horses and swishing, whistling winds.
When the sun was right in the middle of the sky and the heat was almost melting, the scholar had an issue of severe nausea, causing the three to pause for some time. They found a spot near a rocky mountain where the sun-rays couldn't dominate, and the scholar, with the three horses, took that spot.
"Give each horse three petals of the flower, take it from my pockets." said the prince, to which the knight nodded and detached the pockets from the horse.
The flower named blue wine had the properties of water, it was used to keep one hydrated in long journeys where water is needed from time to time, like the deserts.
It had its own side-effects, making the person nauseous and hallucinate. Some people called it slow poison. Whenever someone asks for The flower, without specifying the name, they are referring to the blue wine, which is sky blue in colour and has 9 petals.
After he was done, the knight joined with the prince.
Both were opposite to the scholar with the rocky rocks separating them and another rocky rock above their heads protected them from the heat, a little.
The prince was examining the slumber flower with care since he had nothing better to do and the knight was in a war against the fog in his mind that made him unable to think. The knight was blanking out in the sunny sky when the prince asked him, "What are you thinking so deeply about, knight?"
"Nothing much…" replied the knight, who was in fact, thinking nothing, let alone much.
The prince only hummed softly and looked at the barren area in front, where he saw a silhouette coming their way.
"Knight! Go get the daggers from the scholar, there might be scavengers here."
Scavengers live in empty areas in groups and look for wanderers to rob and hunt, they are mostly cannibals.
Knowing this, the knight obeyed the prince and ran towards the scholar. When he reached, he quickly blurted out,
"Hey! Give me your dagger."
"But why?" The scholar asked in a confused tone.
"Scavengers are here, we have to fend them off or even fight them if it comes to that, since you are immobile for now, give me your dagger." the knight explained in a hurry, he had thrown his head piece on the side since it irritated him too much.
Just at that conjecture, A sudden thunder-like sound caught their attention.
It came from where the prince was, the knight snatched the dagger from the scholar and ran towards the sound.
There he froze, the mountains covered most but he could see one thing, a man lying on the ground, staring at the sky without blinking by the might of the sun and he had the slumber flower in his hands, this was the prince, blood sputtered out of his head where there was a hole and small pieces of brain were scattered around him. The knight backed two step and tightened the grip on the dagger; his foggy mind cleared up for him to see and capture every terrifying element of this scene and he definitely planned to run but,
"Ah, Hello twig" a man behind him covered the path, he showed off his dirty yellow teeths and was in enough range for the knight to sniff his bad breath. It was so bad that it made the knight cover his mouth and nose with one hand.
After seeing the prince's body, his thoughts had become way clearer, and faster. Unfortunately, he didn't get the time to think much when the man pointed a foreign object at him.
It was a small metal stick with a hole at one end and a curved handle, a black artifact he had never seen in his life before, but a smell of death lingered to it, similar to the sword of the prince before it beheaded him.
This was the smell that triggered the knight's instinct, the phantom pain on his leg attacked in full force and his eyes teared up. The knight swung the dagger but it hit only air, the man backed up and got his hands on his 'weapon' and with a click–a loud thunderclap–the knight fell, hitting his head on a sharp rock causing immense pain as if he was summoned in hell to suffer, the pain…
It was loud for a while, then it became silent.
…