"I can't believe I did this!" Dan yelled excitedly, "I can't believe I did this." He repeated anxiously, then with excitement again, "I can't believe I did this!" He basically squealed. "Mother would be so furious." He realized.

For the next hour or so, Dan continued to switch between being excited and anxious about having broken his Mother's rule of never leaving the tower.

"That's okay, I mean what she doesn't know won't kill her." He'd said, sitting on a rock and holding a lilypad.

Then sitting in a dark cave with his knees to his chest, "Oh my god, this would kill her!"

"This is so fun!" He'd screamed running between some trees and kicking up a pile of leaves into the air, all over himself and Ajax.

Standing in a tree and leaning against one of the branches he'd then said, "I am a horrible son. I'm going back."

"I am never going back!" He cheered, rolling down a slight hill and getting his hair wrapped all around him.

Lying down in a small patch of flowers, "I am a despicable human being." He cried.

"Woohoo! Best. Day. Ever!" He yelled, swinging around a tree on his hair.

Currently he was sitting against a rock sobbing into his hands and Ajax was getting tired of the constant back and forth, he sat down next to Dan. "You know, you seem a little... At war with yourself right now." He commented, trying to sound more like he wanted to help and less... Fed up.

"What?" Dan asked, tearfully looking up.

It was almost enough to make Ajax feel bad for what he was about to try. Almost. He offered a smile, "I'm only picking up bits and pieces here. Overprotective mother, forbidden road trip.. This is serious stuff." He told the blond, "But let me ease your conscience." He put one arm over Dan's shoulder. "A little adventure and a bit of rebellion is good! Healthy even. It's part of growing up." He explained, ignoring the fact that the chameleon had climbed onto his shoulder.

Dan wiped his eyes on one of his red sleeves, "You think?" He asked.

Ajax nodded, "I know! You're way overthinking this, trust me." He hoped he sounded reassuring, "Does your Mother deserve this? No. Would this break her heart and crush her soul? Of course. But you just have to do it."

"Break her heart?" Dan echoed, his eyes widening.

The thief was definitely feeling guilty now but he had to continue, "In half."

"Crush her soul?"

"Like a grape."

Realisation hit Dan, "She would be heartbroken... You're right." He felt like crying again. Ajax helped him to his feet.

The boy sighed, "I am... I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm letting you out of the deal, Dan."

"What?"

Ajax picked up the frying pan from where it sat on another rock, it was the only thing the blond had brought with him other than his chameleon, he handed the frying pan to him. "That's right, we'll turn around and get you home. Here's your pan." He picked the chameleon off his shoulder and placed it on Dan's, gently pulling him along by the arm, "And here's your chameleon, who's name I still don't know. I'll get back my satchel and you'll get back your mother son relationship built on mutual trust and then we can part ways as unlikely friends!"

"No." Dan replied, shaking Ajax's arm off, "I am seeing those lanterns, and by the way, the chameleon's name is Buzzy. You should try to remember that because you're stuck with both of us until your part of this deal is complete." He stubbornly glared at the thief. "There will be no backing out."

The dark haired boy gave a defeated half smile, "Fine but please stop having a panic attack every three seconds about how your Mom will be upset if she finds out about you leaving your tower. I can't take any more of it, it's giving me a headache."

Dan grinned, "That, I can do."

Then a rustling sound started up in one of the nearby bushes causing Dan to panic and jump onto Ajax's back in an awkward fear induced piggyback, nearly causing the other boy to fall over. "Is it ruffians, thugs, have they come for me?"

A small grey rabbit hopped out of the bush.

"Stay calm, it can probably smell fear. It might even snuggle you to death if you're not careful." The shorter of the pair joked, stifling a laugh.

Dan jumped off, "Sorry... I guess I'm just just a bit jumpy?"

"Don't worry about it. That will be me when we get to the kingdom." Ajax laughed, "It'd probably be best if we avoided ruffians and thugs though."

The red streaked boy nodded, "Oh yeah, that would definitely be for the best."

They smiled at each other as the rabbit hopped past them. Then they began to continue walking.

"So," Ajax started, "Why are you so interested in going to see the lanterns anyway? Like they're cool and all... But why?"

For a moment the blond didn't respond, simply fiddled with his red stripe as he kept walking, then just as Ajax was sure he wasn't going to get a response, he answered him. "Well.. They only appear once a year, on my birthday. I've wanted to go and see them in person for years now but... I figured it was about time I did since I'm turning eighteen tomorrow?" He answered, seeming slightly unsure of himself. Probably because he was omitting information he didn't want to tell a near stranger or because he was still nervous about his mom's reaction to the whole trip.

The dark haired boy nodded, attempting to ignore the newfound knowledge that he was apparently younger than Dan by a whole six months. He'd been so convinced he was older and that Dan was just taller than him... "Right, that makes sense. If something cool like that happened on my birthday, I'd probably want to see it too." He admitted.

"Right?" Dan exclaimed happily.

Elsewhere in the forest, the horse Lightning was still sniffing around searching for the thief who had stolen the lost prince's crown. He kept his nose to the ground sniffing until he stopped in front of a tree with a poster hanging from a branch. The horse narrowed his eyes at the image shown on the wanted poster. There was something extremely familiar about it...
He lifted one hoof and covered the nose in the picture.
The horse instantly recognised the boy in the picture as the thief he'd been trying to track down.
Ajax.
He grabbed the poster in his mouth and shredded it with his teeth in anger, letting the pieces of paper float to the ground.

Then a noise caught his attention, a branch snapping. The horse's ears fell down and he caught the scent of a person. He crawled to hide behind a rock and pulled down a branch to cover his face. Hoping it would be the thief he was trying to catch so he could jump out at him. Not noticing how the combined shape of the rock and the tree branch made his hiding spot look like a horse of the same shape as him.

The person walked closer and then the horse jumped out startling them with a whinny.

Omnivia gasped and stepped back in shock as the horse let out what was almost a sigh upon realising that this cloaked woman was not the seventeen year-old thief he was searching for. "Ugh, a palace horse." The woman shuddered, looking reproachfully at the spotted brown and white stallion. Then her eyes widened in shock, "Where's your rider...?" She whispered. Fear took over her as she realised what this could mean, "Dan." She spun around on her heel, dropping her basket of food, "Dan!" She ran back through the bushes the way she'd originally come.

Lightning the horse simply tilted his head at her and blinked, unsure what had scared the woman so badly.

The dark haired woman sprinted through the forest at record speed, the hood of her cloak having fallen down in her haste to get back to the tower to check if her flower was still where he was supposed to stay forever.

She arrived at the bottom of the tower, "Dan, Dan! Let down your hair!" She called up.

No response.

"Dan?"

Still nothing. She began to panic again, running around to the back of the tower and ripping a chunk of flowers and greenery off, revealing a bricked up entryway. Her hands slipped over the rocks as she scrambled to unblock the only entrance to the tower other than being pulled up to the window on Dan's hair. As soon as the entrance was unblocked enough she raced up the stairs and pushed the stone trapdoor up until she could climb up into the tower room. It was almost completely dark except for the open window and despite searching through every room, the bedrooms, the bathroom and the main room, there was no sign of Dan anywhere.

Omnivia Sykes ran her hands through her hair, stressing out as it fell loose from her bun again. Then reflected light caught her eye, shining out from a gap in the staircase. Omnivia walked over to it and pulled up the bottom step, surprised to find a satchel inside that she knew didn't belong to either her or Dan.
She opened it and pulled out the largest item inside, the second she saw it, she dropped it in shock. A gold crown encrusted with rubies. The lost prince's crown. She began to breathe heavily. It was Dan's crown. If he'd found this, there was a chance he'd figured out- She grabbed the bag and rummaged inside it for whatever else was in there.
A wanted poster. One that read "Wanted, Dead or Alive. Ajax." With a drawing of a boy with short hair and an extremely disproportionate nose. She'd seen these posters before, every one of them had the boy's nose drawn differently. She'd heard rumours too, the boy was a known skilled thief.
Her eyes narrowed as she pieced together what was going on.

Then she stood up, opened a nearby drawer and pulled out a silver dagger...

It was just past midday and Dan was starting to get hungry, him and Ajax were now walking down a dirt path rather than just walking through the forest, they'd been talking for a bit earlier on but now they'd both gone quiet. Unfortunately, Dan's stomach decided to interrupt the quiet, letting out a loud growl that set Ajax off laughing, "Hey, it's not that funny!" Dan protested.

"They probably heard that in the next kingdom over!" Ajax laughed, setting Dan off into a fit of giggles. Buzzy simply looked confused.

Finally they both calmed down, "Okay, okay. Is there any place to eat around here?" The blond asked hopefully.

Ajax nodded and pointed to a sign up ahead that Dan wasn't sure how he hadn't already noticed, "Yeah, kinda. There's a place there, but I'm not sure you'll want to go there..." He admitted.

"Why not?" Dan questioned.

The younger of the pair shrugged, "It's actually kinda a hotspot for ruffians and thugs. The very things you wanted to avoid." He explained as they stopped beside the sign.

The red streaked stared at the building, it was a little old but it seemed nice enough with the roof in shades of purple and the walls with swirls of red and blue, a few horses were tied up outside implying the place had at least four people currently inside and it was built into what was probably the biggest tree Dan had ever seen. The sign had a carved wooden duck hanging from it with the words The Snuggly Duckling underneath.

Dan laughed, "Ok, you're just trying to trick me, aren't you? There's no way a place like this, called the Snuggly Duckling, could be full of ruffians and thugs."

"You'd be surprised." Ajax responded despondently.

The blond rolled his eyes, "Yeah, no way. I don't believe you." He began walking down the path towards the restaurant? Tavern? Whatever it was.

"Where are you going?"

"To get something to eat, because I still think you're lying."

"Wha-" Ajax spluttered in surprise, "Ok, ok. Don't believe me then." He sulked, "Wait, you don't even have any money!" He called out, chasing after the blond.

Dan slammed the door open, "Hello! One table please." Then instantly gasped in shock and tried to hide behind Ajax as he quickly discovered he'd been telling the truth. There were thugs and ruffians with all kinds of weapons, some with pointy teeth and one even had a hook for a hand.

Ajax took the other boy by the arm and pushed him back in front, "You're the one who wanted to come here, Dan." He whispered.

The blond let out a sigh, that was true. Terrified as he was, he took a step forward, tightening his grip on his frying pan. Behind him the thief smiled, surprised that the other was actually going through with his mistake and not just leaving. Now of course, he could just be nice and stay quiet considering how scared Dan was, or...

"Take a deep breath in, what can you smell? I'm getting part sweat and... Is that blood I smell?" He wouldn't be Ajax if he didn't make bad jokes at the worst possible time, "Overall it just smells like the colour brown, what are your thoughts?" He quipped.

Then Dan jumped as someone took hold of his hair, "That's a lot of hair." A large man with two toned brown hair and red markings on his face commented, as Dan began to pull it out of the man's hands.

"Oh yeah, he's growing it out." Ajax told him, "Oh wow is that blood you've drawn on your face with? Dan, look at the blood on his face!" He called out, snickering, fully aware it was probably just paint.

Dan, having gathered up most of his hair in his arms, walked backwards into someone whilst trying to back away from the last person who Ajax had said had blood on his face. He instantly got growled at by the woman he'd backed into and jumped. Noticing this, Ajax walked over and decided to stop joking around, "You don't look so good, maybe we should just leave, continue walking? Give up on the whole "get food from here" idea?" He suggested, leading Dan back towards the door. They'd almost reached it when a man slammed the door shut in their faces.

"Is this you?" He asked, pointing to a wanted poster on the door, partially obscured by his hand.

Ajax moved the man's hand slightly to reveal the nose on the drawing of himself, this time it was long and stuck out like the carrot nose on a snowman would. "Now they're just being mean." He complained.

"Oh it's him alright." The green haired man with the hook hand grinned, "You, go get some guards." He ordered a man. "That reward's gonna buy me a new hook." He held his hook threateningly up to Ajax's face.

"I could use the money!" A dark haired woman spoke up, pulling Ajax towards her.

The dark haired man who'd shut the door snatched him away. "What about me? I'm broke!"

Suddenly everyone in the room swarmed towards the thief, trying to get hold of him so that they'd get the reward money for themself when the guards arrived. Ajax attempted to struggle his way out of the ruffians' grips but being shorter than all but two of them, he failed. Dan tried yelling over everyone else's voices "Hey, stop! Leave him alone!" He tried, "Give me back my guide!" In the panic Buzzy camouflaged himself and hid.

Nothing was working. Then he spotted a branch and wrapped his hair around it. Pulling so the branch would lift up and then smack the green haired guy directly on the head. Everyone stopped in shock. "Put him down!" Dan screamed, suddenly everyone's eyes were on him. "Ok. I don't know where I am and I need him to take me to see the lanterns because I've been dreaming about seeing them my entire life! Please! Haven't any of you ever had a dream?" He begged.

The green haired man drew his axe and suddenly the only thought on Ajax's mind was that Dan was about to get them both killed. The man walked menacingly over to the blond, who tried to back away but just hit a wall.

"I had a dream, once." He admitted. Throwing the axe into the wall above a man sitting on a chair in the corner with an accordion, stuck there by a ball and chain, who instantly began to play a tune.

Ajax looked on completely confused as the green haired man began to sing. "I'm not the smartest person, of that I am certain. And violence wise my hands are not the cleanest!" He gestured towards a chalk outline of a person on the floor, "But despite my lack of thought and my hook and the trouble I've brought! I've always wanted to open a cafe!"

What? Ajax thought, watching from where the dark haired woman had hung him by the back of his shirt on the wall, as the green haired man brought out a plate of baked goods and tea. What is going on?

"Can't ya see me serving scones with a smile,
Serving all my customers their tea?
Yep, I'd rather be called killer
For my cupcakes and their flavour!
'Cause way down deep inside
I've got a dream!"

All in sync everyone in the building began to sing along. "He's got a dream, he's got a dream!"

The green haired man laughed, "See I ain't as cruel and vicious as I seem! Although I once broke someone's femur, you can count me as a dreamer. Like everybody else I've got a dream!"

Dan started smiling as a chorus of la la la's began. Ajax still just looked on confused.

Outside, Omnivia began to approach the building, for some reason the sound of singing had caught her attention.

"I've been in countless fights and scuffles." The woman Dan had bumped into earlier had begun to sing, standing next to him now. "Which has given me lots of muscles" She flexed, "I've probably not led my life in the right direction! But despite the things I've done and all the fights I've won. I really want to make a love connection." She flipped the longer and lighter part of her hair dramatically and handed Dan a wilted daisy from her pocket.

"Can you see me on a date with a lady? Maybe one beautiful like her?" She sang quieter, basically whisper-singing into Dan's ear as she pointed towards the dark haired woman. "I've always longed to be beside her, so maybe I should quit being a fighter. 'Cause way down deep inside I've got a dream!

"I've got a dream!"

"She's got a dream!"

"I've got a dream!"

"She's got a dream!"

"And I know one day romance will reign supreme!
Though my reputation leaves people screaming,
There's a child behind it dreaming.
Like everybody else,
I've got a dream!" She sang, winking with one red lined eye as she put an arm around Dan.

"Bee would like to quit and be a florist." The man who'd blocked the door earlier quickly built an arrangement from a bowl, some leaves and a rat.

"Cee wants to study falconry." Someone let a bird in through the window and it landed on the gloved arm of the man who'd noticed Dan's hair's length, who Ajax had said had blood on his face.

"Griff is into alchemy." A tall dark skinned boy dressed in green created a mini explosion by combining two vials of coloured liquids together.

"Dee wants to open a gallery!" The dark haired woman who the brunette had called beautiful stood happily in front of a wall of paintings.

"Kage knits, Mia sews." Two teens sat at a table, one a male with purple and blue hair and the other a female with bright pink hair, both were working on projects with their knitting or sewing.

"Juno does little puppet shows." A tall brown haired girl held two puppets on each hand and made one of them pretend to bite Griff's hair.

"And TC collects ceramic animals." The green haired man sang, gesturing over at a boy dressed in blue holding a small ceramic fish and an equally small ceramic dragon.

Everyone in the room turned to Ajax, "What about you?" The green haired man asked.

"Me?" He echoed.

"What's your dream?" Juno asked, lifting him back onto the floor.

Ajax froze, "Oh no. Sorry, I don't sing."

His mind quickly changed when ten knives were suddenly pointed towards his face. "Alright, alright!" He jumped up onto a table.

"I have dreams like you, no really!
Just embarrassingly more touchy feely
They mainly happen somewhere with less worry!
Someplace I can just hang out
Without needing to steal and without doubt,
Surrounded by friends who love me!"

Dan couldn't wait another second, he jumped up onto a different table. "I've got a dream!"

Everyone else in the room, even Ajax, sang back "He's got a dream!"

"I've got a dream!"

"He's got a dream!"

"I just wanna see the floating lanterns gleam!
And with every passing hour,
I'm so glad I left my tower!
Like all you lovely folks
I've got a dream!"

He finished his verse, completely unaware of the window opening on the far side of the room and Omnivia looking through it, her eyes widening in shock as Dan sang about how he was glad to have left the tower whilst surrounded by the type of people she'd warned him about. The ones she'd talked about to try and make him too scared to leave.

Then everyone started singing together, dancing around the room in small groups.

"He's got a dream, she's got a dream,
They've got a dream, we've got a dream,
So our differences aren't really that extreme!
Call us brutal, sick, egotistic
And grotesquely optimistic.
'Cause way down deep inside
We've got a dream!"

"I've got a dream
I've got a dream
I've got a dream
I've got a dream
I've got a dream
I've got a dream
Yes, way down deep inside
I've got a dream!"

Everyone held the final note and then cheered "Yeah!" And burst into laughter.

That moment only lasted another moment before the man that the green haired guy had sent off to get the guards burst back in the door, "I found the guards!"

Ajax grabbed Dan's hand and dragged him out of sight under the counter as the captain of the guards entered the room "Where is he? I know he's in here somewhere, find him. Turn the place upside down if you have to." He ordered, thumping his fist down on the counter, hard, right above where Ajax and Dan were hidden. The pair shared a look before the thief decided to take a look at what was happening outside their hiding spot, multiple other guards had entered the building, a few of which leading in the handcuffed pair of Everett and McQ. Ajax ducked back down, now worried. The guards, he could easily outrun them but if Everett and McQ got loose and found him? They'd probably kill him before he even had the chance to make one last joke about their chosen murder method.

A hook dangled down in front of the boys' faces. They both looked up and were met with the green haired man signalling for them to follow him. The two boys crawled along behind the counter, Buzzy re-joining them on Dan's shoulder. The green haired man pulled a lever, opening a hidden tunnel. "Go, live your dreams." He told them both with a smile.

"Thanks, um, what's your name..?" Ajax asked.

"Aay. And the brown haired girl you spoke with is E, Cee's sister." He replied.

Ajax nodded, "Well, we owe you one." And crawled into the tunnel.

"Thanks for everything." Dan whispered, smiling back at Aay, before following Ajax into the tunnel.

"I believe this is the man you're looking for!" Mia announced, shoving Bee in front of her towards the Captain.

Bee grinned, "You caught me." And held his hands out to be cuffed, knowing the Captain of the guards would know he wasn't Ajax.

One of the other guards came down the stairs, "Captain Short, there's no sign of Ajax."

The captain opened his mouth to respond but stopped upon hearing a loud whinny from outside the building, the door burst open and his horse Lightning burst in. "Lightning." He whispered, knowing that if the horse was here, they were on the right trail. The horse began sniffing around the floor then stopped and parted a crowd with his hooves, trotting towards the counter.

"What's he doing?" A guard asked, before the captain smacked his mouth shut with his hand.

Lightning lifted a hoof and gestured at one of the tap handles on the counter with a carved yellow wooden duck on it. Captain Short just shook his head in disbelief, not understanding. The horse snorted and shot them a look, pushing the handle down with his hoof to open a secret tunnel. "A passage! Come on men, let's go." The captain ordered, "Connor, make sure those boys don't get away." He yelled at the guard standing nearest to the two captured thieves.

Connor the guard raised his halberd at them but McQ quickly headbutted him to the ground, kicking up the halberd and using it to cut the chain on Everett's handcuffs. "Play it safe. We'll go get the crown." The blond smirked, taking the halberd and cutting the chain on McQ's handcuffs to free him too. The pair jumped into the passageway, all eyes on them.

Outside the building, Omnivia narrowed her eyes, trying to come up with a plan. "I've got a dream, I've got a dream.." She spun around to see one of the ruffians walking outside the building, a tall girl with dark brown hair and tan skin dressed in shades of orange, brown and black. The girl blinked, making eye contact with Omnivia, "Oh hi!"

The woman didn't waste a second pulling out her dagger and holding it up to the girl's throat. "Where does that tunnel let out?" She demanded.

The girl's eyes widened in shock and fear.

"Well, I have to say that was extremely impressive back there... Especially considering how scared you were at first." Ajax admitted, holding his lamp out in front of him.

"I know!" Dan yelled happily, then coughed embarrassed, "I know." He tried again, attempting to sound more self assured than he really was. The younger of the pair just smiled at the response, giving Dan the chance to talk again, "So, Ajax... Where are you from?" He asked.

The thief held a hand up in a gesture for Dan to stop, "Woah woah woah! Sorry, I don't do backstory. However, I am becoming very interested in yours." He told the other, "Now I know I'm not meant to mention the hair."

"Nope."

"Or the Mother."

"Nuh-uh."

"I'm not sure I even want to know the story about the chameleon."

"It's a great story!"

"I'm sure it is but here's my question. If you want to see the lanterns so badly, why haven't you gone before? And I know you said earlier that you figured it was about time you went to see them because you're eighteen tomorrow but that explains why you're going now, not why you never went before."

The blond groaned "Oh, well.." He paused, wondering if there was some way to explain that asking this question was also asking about the two things he wasn't supposed to ask about, his hair and his mother. Then a rock fell from the ceiling and the tunnel began to fill with the noise of running footsteps and hooves. "Uh, Ajax?"

A group of guards rounded the corner, bearing flaming torches in front of them, led by the Captain, "Ajax!" The man yelled, catching sight of the golden streaked thief.

"Run." Ajax spoke, then louder and more panicked, "Run!"

Dan bundled up his hair in his arms and the pair raced through the tunnels trying to escape the battalion of guards on their tail.

The two boys finally escaped from the passageway into a dam, Ajax tried to lead them both over to the bridge but it had collapsed, they both froze at the edge of the ledge and looked around into the quarry below below to see if there was an escape route to be found if they climbed down. No such luck, instead they spotted Everett and McQ break out of a tunnel previously blocked off by wooden planks, both wielding swords they'd stolen from somewhere.

"Who's that?" Dan asked.

"They don't like me." Ajax responded.

The guards exited the tunnel behind them, "Who's that?" Dan asked again, more panicked this time.

Ajax winced, "They don't like me either."

The horse, Lightning, galloped out of the tunnel and joined the crowd of guards.

"Who's that?"

"Let's just assume, for the moment, that everyone in here doesn't like me!" Ajax answered, half wondering if the guy he'd robbed last week would show up next.

Dan sighed, "Here." He shoved his frying pan into the other's hands, threw his hair onto an old plank of wood across the other side of the dam, pulled on it to check it was stable and then jumped off the edge, swinging across the chasm to a platform on the other side.

For a moment, Ajax had just been focusing on Dan but then the Captain of the Guards laughed behind him and he spun around to see him chucking away his torch and drawing his sword, "I've waited a long time for this." He told him menacingly, then swung his sword at Ajax's head.
Acting before thinking, the boy swung the frying pan at the man's face, shocked when it made contact and knocked the man to the ground. Two other guards took their turns to attempt to stab him but both failed as Ajax knocked them both to the sides with his frying pan.
A third took a swing at him with her sword but Ajax smacked her in the face with the pan, knocking her down. He paused for a moment to simply stare at the frying pan.

"Oh MAN, I have gotta get me one of these!" He grinned at it, then seeing another sword pointed in his direction, pointed the frying pan towards his attacker.

Lightning glared at him with an aggressive but muffled neigh from the sword between his teeth. Ajax began to duel with the sword fighting horse and despite fighting for his freedom yelled out happily, "You should know that this is the weirdest thing I have ever done!"

Then the horse knocked the frying pan out of his hand and down to the bottom of the cliff. Both boy and horse looked down at where the pan had fallen. "Um.. How about two out of three?" Ajax asked nervously. The horse pointed his sword at his throat in response.

"Ajax!" Dan yelled, having tied his hair to a wooden beam on his side, he threw the rest of it towards Ajax, wrapping it around one of the boy's hands and then pulling, the thief held on tightly to the hair with one hand, waving goodbye to the horse with the other. Lightning gasped, dropping his sword. Ajax swung through the chasm on Dan's hair, "Ajax, look out!" The older boy yelled from above, referencing Everett and McQ who were aiming to swing their swords at the younger thief. Luckily Dan pulled him upwards just in time for him to avoid getting stabbed.

The two thieves looked shocked as they realised they'd missed their target, Ajax couldn't help but laugh, "Ha! You should see your faces because you look-" He slammed into a wooden beam on the side of a wooden track for water from the dam to flow through over the quarry, "Ridiculous." He finished, voice strangled from the pain of hitting the wooden beam and getting winded.

Dan winced, feeling sympathy for the other boy's pain, then heard a noise that caught his attention, the horse was kicking down a large wooden beam, water burst out from the dam as the horse finally succeeded and began walking across the beam. The red streaked boy felt a light tug on his hair, "Come on Dan, jump!" Ajax yelled. Dan nodded determinedly and ran off the edge of the ledge, the horse behind him tried to grab the boy's hair in his teeth but he was a second too late, his mouth snapped shut on air as Dan swung through the quarry Buzzy clinging onto his shoulder in fear of his life, Dan's feet skidded in a puddle of water as he landed on the ground. He pulled his hair down and began running, as the blond and red haired thieves turned their focus on catching him.
Ajax slid down the wooden chute of water, apparently it was older than it looked as whilst he slid down, it began to break and fall to the ground. Miraculously, Ajax landed on his feet as the chute fell to the ground behind him, gathering up the rest of Dan's hair, he began running, still being chased by Everett and McQ and now there was water falling down from the broken water chute too.

Then all hell broke loose, the beam that Lightning had knocked over had caused an instability in the dam and because of that the dam was no longer strong enough to hold back the water. It broke and the whole quarry began to flood extremely fast, taking both the Royal Guards and the pair of thieves under the water.

Dan and Ajit kept running, now away from the water rushing towards them at top speed, then the strength of the water began to push over a giant rock bound to land directly on top of the pair if they didn't escape soon, spotting a tunnel the two boys raced towards it, the shadow of the gigantic rock looming over it menacingly. They darted inside. Ajax then spotted their frying pan floating towards them on the water and grabbed it before pulling his arm inside the tunnel just as the massive rock blocked the entrance.

Water began to flood the inside, as the two turned around to begin looking for an exit.

But the tunnel was completely blocked by a stack of rocks that reached from floor to ceiling.

The water kept flooding in the cave.

They were trapped.