"I wrote a letter to my father explaining the situation. With your approval, Your Majesty, he wants to send my personal guard troupe here. I have no more use for the pixies, so I might be able to apprehend them with my men's help. They all are more trained in hunting those creatures than your knights. If you want to keep your court clear of bloodshed, then I will take the pixies back to my homelands."

Mingi raised his eyes from the chessboard. Onnah did the same, seeking his eyes first before the two of them turned to glance at the sliver of light that travelled from the meeting room and carried the conversation to their ears. Vur next to the door showed no acknowledgement of what he had heard.

"I know you want to ask me not to take Yunho, but-" Before San could continue, Yunho interrupted him. His smooth voice was calmer than San's harshly cutting words.

"I would accompany you, of course. In attacking you, they also hurt a friend of mine. It's no more just my people I seek to protect."

Mingi nervously rolled the figure in his fingers. As usual, Onnah was winning against him, but he clung to the hope of his bishop. He set the figure down, taking Onnah's queen into his focus. She played a regular pawn.

"Yunho already made his prepositions clear. He is willing to risk his rank for these matters. I had hoped that I brought him up more level-headed, but I know these walls won't hold him if he chooses to abandon them. Although I fear a dispute with your father if he loses his horns as well."

"My father knows just how dire the situation is. I wouldn't have lost my horns if it were a trivial matter."

Onnah rolled her eyes. Mingi pushed her rook off the board gently. Both of them knew that San's arrogance had played a major role in his loss, but he was right. The two pixies were no predictable enemy.

"My last plan got disrupted by the vicious ambush on my group. But I suggest using Yunho as a decoy. Of course, he will restrain the pixies before something happens." Through the narrow slit in the door, Mingi could see San throw his head back confidently, his bulging arms crossed. Bandages still wrapped around the flat stumps on his head. Seeing a demon without horns looked all kinds of wrong. He looked small and unprotected, even more so than the draped-horned demons.

The king hummed, the rumble resonating in the room. The advisors kept wisely quiet; only the rustling of parchment under the quick feathers of the writers sounded.

Onnah eliminated another one of Mingi's pawns. He moved his bishop closer as he was still distracted from the conversation.

"The pixies showed remarkable wit. How will you ensure they will fall for your trap?"

San grinned, his fangs flashing in the light. His face looked sinister, like that of the demons' human books described.

"What else is there to have in this kingdom? Either they will come after us, or after you, Your Majesty. And if they infiltrate the palace, they will walk the direct path to the gallows," San purred dangerously. The king grunted, pleased with the praise of his tight security system.

"You may try it if you find the courage. I hope Yunho will return with his horns."

Onnah moved her last knight, that had been lingering around needlessly so far. Mingi's king dropped under her elegantly clawed fingers. Yet another win for the beautiful demon. Mingi gave her an awed smile as he leaned back in his chair.

"I will look after myself and the men involved. Soon, we will see this to an end," Yunho promised. His stable voice convinced the round, although Mingi still wondered how Yunho would have solved the matter if he had free rein. If San didn't push for action.

Mingi promised himself that it was fine. That his worry for Yunho was natural, but that he needed to have faith in his lover. Yunho had countless reasons to return, and his ego wasn't his fall. If aware of the danger, they might win.

"Pixies are tricksters. They are smarter than us demons. I wonder how this will go." Onnah rose from the table when outside, chairs scraped over the floor. Together, they collected the chess pieces and reassembled them neatly on the board in the middle of the table.

"Have you ever seen a pixie before?" Mingi asked curiously. Their kingdom had little to do with them. The pixies came from the forests beyond the Southwestern borders and rarely left the protection of their tree houses.

"I haven't. What about you?" Onnah elegantly wrapped her tail around her arm so it wouldn't whip any items or people when they squeezed outside to return to their lords.

Mingi shivered at the memory.

"I have. And I don't doubt their intelligence," he muttered under his breath as Vur held the door open for the two of them. Yeosang hastened around in the other room, currently busy with collecting the maps the delegation had spread out to consider their next strike.

Yunho appeared by Mingi's side to shield him from the murmuring masses that all squeezed towards the exit. After Mingi had waved his servant friends goodbye, he slipped outside.

San appeared at their side before they could sneak away. He eyed the closeness of their bodies appraisingly, but held his tongue. His chin nodded at the staircase.

"Shall we do some sparring training, Yunho? I can show you what attacks to expect from them now that my body is up for it again."

"Please do so."

They followed San downstairs and through a doorway that Mingi had never passed before. It led down further into the hot mountain. They crossed a corridor that pointed them to the dark dungeons and soon found themselves in an enormous cave. Weapons and armour of all kinds lined the walls. Mingi saw arrow targets, straw dolls, and other training means that the knights could use at practise.

The few people milling around and laughing after their session quickly filtered out when the two princes entered.

Mingi couldn't see the ceiling above them. The four massive fire basins in each corner of the room didn't reach to light them. The emptiness of the air was filled with the usual sulphur scent from the depths of the mountain they sat on. From somewhere came a faint wind that carried it through the room.

Mingi helped Yunho with the leather gauntlets he picked. He saw no need to protect his body since it was just San he was sparring with, only to support his own grip. San did the same, his demon servant looking small next to him despite the lack of his horns.

Not showing his curiosity towards the lack of horns, Mingi orderly stepped back once he had finished. The other servant joined him at the sidelines, where they sat down on two barrels to watch as San and Yunho stepped further into the free space of the cave. Yunho carried one of the mighty long swords he liked to use, while San's fist loosely wrapped around a cavalry sabre.

They faced each other with respectful nods of their heads. San's was jerky; he still wasn't used to the sudden missing weight on his skull. Yunho politely oversaw it.

"The one I fought against had multiple little knives and one of these, if smaller." San circled his wrist. The blade hummed a melody as it cut through the air. "He was double wielded. I defended the sword while a dagger came at me from the left." Swiftly, San pulled the second weapon to demonstrate and pointed it at Yunho's throat. From Mingi's perspective, he had to tilt it far up. Yunho was tall, even for a demon.

"The other one had one of those ruthless dual-bladed scimitars. But he barely used it. One of them did the fighting and the distraction, the other one held the saw." San's grimace contorted into a furious scowl at the memory. Gulping, Mingi fended off the memory of Hongjoong.

"If the Ignizoth attacks you, that big of a sword gets knocked out of your hands easily. Ranged weapons are just as bad of a bet since the villains are so fast. If the same one attacks you that attacked me, it will go like this." When San was sure that he had Yunho's undivided attention, he surged forwards. With the horrible screech of biting metal, their weapons met. Yunho needed both hands to use his sword to block the swinging sabre. He didn't leave his side open, but San's dagger halted just before his shoulder.

"That would mean one arm is out," San concluded as he stepped back. Yunho nodded darkly and pushed his messy hair from his forehead.

"So I need an uncommon weapon for that approach."

"Best a combination, yes."

Exchanging Yunho's long sword for a smaller weapon would mean that he would be protected against the pixies, but Mingi doubted a dagger could do much harm to a creature with claws so big. San still wore the bandages under his cropped black top, and Mingi would hate to see Yunho's beautiful skin marred with them.

Yunho dug through the assortment of smaller weapons and returned with a matching pair of a sickle sword and a battleaxe. With an affirmative nod, San went back into position. He attacked Yunho again, and their slow reenactment of a battle proved that Yunho needed not even a second to adjust to the new double-wielding attack. This time, he could block both weapons San flung at him.

"Chances are they attack you at the same time. Their coordination is eerie. We will do our best to make sure that doesn't happen. If you can impair one of them, the second one will be an easier match."

From what Mingi had seen, Hongjoong was the stronger one. His companion fought well, but he was a decoy for the actual master of the game.

"Did you injure one of them?" Yunho inquired as he tested out the angle of San coming from below to match the pixies' height.

"I did, but they heal with their magic. By the time they attacked the town, he was probably back to full health."

Yunho nodded grimly, once more stepping back from San. When his eyes found Mingi, the man perked up attentively.

"Can you fight?"

Mingi shyly shook his head. The glare San gave him was withering, but Mingi ignored him cowardly.

"Don't count on him as a fighter," San said as he jammed the dagger back into his belt. Yunho shook his head.

"I just want him to be able to defend himself in case he gets caught up in the battle. Keeping him far away from it might not always work." The offer stood in the room, but Mingi shook his head faintly. He didn't trust his clumsy hooves and neither his hands to wield a weapon. His father had taught him that the best way to win a fight unscathed was to run. It wasn't cowardly if he followed no honour codex as a knight.

"I trust my instincts. If I get attacked, a chair to their head must do."

San scoffed at that statement, but some humour swung with it. Yunho smiled softly.

"That's fine. I will protect you," he promised warmly. Then his focus returned to San.

"How do we fend off the horn-cutting one?"

San shrugged.

"He climbs atop of you and clings on anything he can find like a pesky child. Maybe if you wore a spiked armour, he wouldn't hold on to you, but your horns are long enough to hit him good if you try. Seeing him speared on those would be the ultimate satisfaction."

Yunho let his weapons sink to his side and tilted his head.

"San. I hope you know that during our joined plans, I am not seeking to kill them. I want answers foremost and if there is no need, I won't kill them during battle."

While Mingi's heart still melted at Yunho's heroism, San already glared daggers into the prince's skin.

"I have no issues if you want to risk your head rolling by defending your opponent. But I will pull the guts from the one who cut off my horns personally," San threatened darkly. Not even Yunho's brows raising made him reconsider.

"He is the one I need answers from, though."

"Get them from his companions. I will rip that creature apart and leave nothing, so you better go for the other one from the beginning."

A shiver ran down Mingi's spine when he imagined the cruel picture that San painted. Next to him, San's servant smirked playfully at his sinister statement.

Yunho's discontentment still showed on his features, but he didn't voice it out loud. Instead, he raised his fists again.

"Well, fine. In that case, pretend you are him again so I can try to figure out how to attack him and not just fend him off."

"With pleasure."

San lunged at Yunho again and the screeching and clanging of their weapons once more filled the air with an ominous foreboding.