Dusty and Thyra crouched behind a bush on the mainland, keeping watch for people, even though it's becoming night. Speaking of night, they can see just fine. They're dragons crouch next to them.

"Okay, so we can rule crazy cave out of the list." Thyra mutters.

"I don't know what happened, but if it allows us to see in the dark, I'm good with it." Dusty whispered back

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, I have to admit." Thyra says.

Dusty slowly pulls out a map, "According to this, there should be a small village around here."

"Alright, then that's where we'll head," Thyra nods.

They checked their armor and weapons, before they started looking for it, and it didn't take long to find.

"Looks pretty calm." Thyra says, looking down at the village from the hill they stood on.

"I can see a stable, so they have horses, but you're the expert on them. So you deal with them."

"Fine by me! Oh, I haven't been around horses since what feels like forever!" Thyra cheers.

"And your gonna have to do all the talkin, since they don't trust outsiders, especially one with a slight Roman accent." Dusty reminded her.

"Yeah, I know, so let's go, it looks like the farms are over there," she points to a far end of the village. "That's where they'll keep the horses."

"I thought they would be in the stable?" he asked confused.

"Well, we're less likely to be caught if we go to the farms. Think about it, they'll have guards patrolling the stables."

"Or, we can wait till morning, and we go down there and say we want to buy horses, we browse around, see what they got, then steal them tomorrow night.

"That could work," Thyra considers it. "We'll have to be careful about what we say."

Dusty pulls out their escaped slave posters, and takes a look at them, "We look almost nothing like these pictures, they shouldn't recognize us even if they were looking for us, heck, they didn't even put our names down." he said noticing it.

"Wow...not the brightest people." Thyra mutters.

Dusty pulls out his spyglass, and looks at the notice board in the middle of the village.

"I don't see our posters up, unless they have them somewhere else." He said looking at the board.

"That's good."

"You'd think they would send more than one ship full of hunters after us, well mostly you." he said jokingly

Thyra laughs. "Probably. But they're not too smart, clearly." She points to the posters.

"So it's settled, we go down in the morning." he said, putting his spyglass away.

"Sounds good to me. Let's find somewhere safe to stay." She says getting up

"Right behind you." Dusty says following her back down the hill.

Their dragons walk with them, sniffing around the area, before suddenly bounding off into a group of trees.

"I...guess we follow?" Thyra mutters.

They chase after the two dragons, who comes to a small cave that goes into the hill they were just on

"Well, guess this is where we're staying the night. Do we need a fire?"

"It might be risky, we'll have to keep it to a minimum." Thyra replies, walking into the small cave.

"That or we just sleep against our dragons."

"They do give off a fair bit of heat." Thyra nods.

Dusty laid up against Dark, and Thyra laid against Pulse, and they both fell asleep, not even feeling a shiver of cold.

They woke as the firsts light of morning shone into the cave.

"Uhh, does the light have to shine right on me?" Dusty asks himself getting up.

"Haha," Thyra smirks, emerging from Pulse's wings. "Guess you're unlucky."

"What do you want for breakfeast?" Dusty asked looking into one of their food baskets.

"Eh, whatever, I don't mind." She shrugs.

Dusty grabbed her half a loaf of bread and an orange, while he got two apples and a few. blueberries. Dark and Pulse had some of the deer meat.

"So how do you want to do this?" he asked Thyra in between bites.

"I was thinking, we walk in, say we're looking for horses, spend the time browsing, and tell them none of the horses suit us."

"I know that, I meant do you want us to have our armor and weapons?"

"How about weapons but not armour?"

"Works, it'll help us be more believable." he said getting his weapons together. "So what's our story if they ask why we need the horses?"

"Well we need them to show us the right type of horses, so I was thinking we tell them we need horses that can take us long distances, because we're gonna be travelling for business and trade."

"That'll also explain the weapons."

"Yeah."

Alright then, last question, do you want to play it safe and use fake names, or use our real ones?"

"Our names weren't on the poster."

"I know, but word can get around quick about a name, but if you want to, we'll use our real ones." he said, sliding his daggur in a hidden sheath.

"That's...a good point. We should use fake names. Ideas?"

"What's yours?"

"I'll go with Sunniva."

"Ok, I'll go with Ivor."

"Alright."

"Let's go."

They left Dark and Pulse in the cave, while they silently entered the village, which was bustling with activity. Thyra took lead as they headed toward the stables.

"Alright. I'll do the talking." Thyra reminds, before they enter. The stables was lined with stalls, different co,lured heads looking out. A few stable hands buzzed around, leading horses in and out of stalls, mucking out, or untacking for the horse's owner.

Thyra walks up to a stable hand, who was brushing down a bay horse. "Hello. Is there any chance we can talk to someone about getting us a few horses?" She asks, gesturing to Dusty. The stable hand puts down the brush and ducks out of the stall.

"Sure. He's in that stall over there, with the blonde girl." He points to a stall on the opposite side, where a man stands in a stall with a young girl. Thyra nods in thanks and they walk over.

"Excuse me," she calls out to the man, who turns around to face her.

"Yes?" He asks, dusting off his hands.

"My friend and I are after some horses." She says.

"And you are?"

"Sunniva, this is Ivor. He doesn't talk much." She points to Dusty.

"Okay, and what kind of horses are you after?"

"We're after some horses with great endurance, great stamina. Good for long distance travel."

"I might have a few. But why would you travel this time of year?" He walks out of the stall, leaving the girl to brush her horse.

"Business. The boss likes to move us around a lot. We'll need a pack horse, too."

"I have some you can look at, if you'll follow me." he gestured to a few pens.

They follow him to a few stalls. "These horses here are the best for you." He gestures to about five different horses. "They're only a few years old, but they've already been on several long experiences. The pack horses are opposite us."

There were two Thoroughbreds, two Arabians, and a Quarter Horse.

For the pack animals, three mules, a Donkey and two Ardennes.

"I don't think the Thoroughbreds will do it at all. This one looks like a Quarter horse, they're known for their hardiness, but these Arabians look alright too." Thyra mumbles to Dusty.

"And as for the pack horses? Rule the donkeys and the mules out, I can't stand the noise they make." She adds, rolling her eyes.

Is there a problem" the man asked seeing Thyra, or Sunniva, roll her eyes.

"No. I was just thinking of an idiot I saw on a mule once. He ruined the image for me." She lies smoothly.

"Ahh, I understand. So, which ones are you getting?" the man asked

"I was thinking an Ardennes for the pack horse, and the Arabians seem okay. Maybe we can see them in action or something?"

"Sure you can, just give me a minute." the man says before walking toward some workers.

"So we're getting those three?" Dusty asked quietly, pointing at the three horses. Thyra nods.

"Tonight."

"I do like how both Arabians are black, to go with our armor. And is it just me, or do they look exactly alike?" He quietly asked. Thyra nods in agreement.

"What's the deal with these two?" She asks the man as he walks back to them. "Are they used for trick riding or something?"

"Actually, they're twins." The man admits. "It's incredible because they have no health problems, or anything!"

Two workers walk up to them with leads. "Follow me to the ring, and you can see how they move." The man adds, moving aside to let the workers through to the horses.

The ring was basically a small field, with a roof covering it.

They brought the two Arabians out first. And let them do a few laps around the aren, they were pretty good, they never hesitated when a new order was given and didn't kick anyone, but both Dusty and Thyra noticed, no one got on either horse.

"Why aren't they being ridden?" Thyra straight up asks the man, not wanting to be sold horses that aren't fully broke in.

"It's because they hate being ridden, they only let a few people on them, but they ain't here today, and every buyer has been bucked off both of them."

"Don't you think you should have told this to us first?" Thyra asks. "You're trying to sell us dangerous horses!"

"You said you wanted to see them, you didn't say anything about buying them."

Dusty continued watching the two horses, as Thyra and the man continued to argue, and he watched as one came close to them.

"I don't think that's very transparent." Thyra frowns. "Good owners tell the potential buyers anything they need to know!"

"Are you trying to tell me how to run this place?"

Neither of them watched as one of the twins stopped next to them, and looked right at Dusty, sensing something different about him.

"No, I'm telling you how to deal with costum—" Thyra cuts herself off when she feels a nudge to her back, and she turns to see the other horse standing there, looking at her the same way the other horse is looking at Dusty.

"Would you look at that, I haven't seen them do that in a long time." the man said looking at the two horses.

Thyra stretches out her arms and strokes the horses head softly, examining it. "She has intelligent eyes."

"Both of them do, and they seem to like you two." the man says grabbing the reins of the horse with Thyra.

Thyra runs her hand all over the horse, checking for anything wrong, as well as to see if the horse will behave and not nip at her.

"Nice behaviour," Thyra adds, as the horse doesn't back away or bite. "How hard were they to break in?"

"It took a while to train them, but they weren't too difficult to break in cause their sire is inherently calm, and the mare that had them was trained well."

"Okay." Thyra walks around the horse, testing to see if she would panic. "They're not bad. How do they hold up on rocky terrain?"

"Surprisingly well. They practically hop up the mountains."

Dusty tapped Thyra's side, and made a small gesture toward the Ardennes, who was still waiting his turn.

Thyra nods. "The Ardennes? How about him?"

With a gesture from the man, the horses are led out, and the smaller packhorse is brought in, lunged in a circle.

"Well, he's been around for a little longer, he's eight years old, but it doesn't really slow him down at all. He's had experience with long trips, people hire him out a lot, so he's fairly good with it all. He can be ridden, too. But he's mainly just used as a pack horse."

"Alright, I think we've seen enough." Thyra says after a few minutes. "We'll talk it over, well, I will, but I think we'll be back to collect them in say, two days?"

"Alright, I'll put your name on the list and do you want the price now?" the man asked

"Yeah, so we can get the money together." Thyra nods.

"13,000 pieces of silver for all three." he said

Thyra nods. "Alright. We'll have the money ready by then."

"Great, I'll see you then." he says walking towards his hands, whom are hoarding the horses back to the stable.

"Thyra, that is horrendously overpriced." Dusty said quietly.

Thyra turns to Dusty. "I know. But we're not paying a cent of it, are we?" She says quietly with a smirk, before they turn and walk away.

Dusty lets out a sigh before following her.

They walk back to the center of the village.

"Let's hope our friends have stayed hidden." Thyra says quietly as they walk through a crowd.

"I'm pretty sure they did." Dusty says as quietly as possible, "We should head back."

Sure enough, when they get back, the dragons are curled up asleep, but they perk up as soon as they walk in.

"Right. So we just hang here until night?"

"Yeah, and since they didn't hear me speak a word, I think I should do any talking tonight." Dusty suggestee

"Sounds good to me."

As the sun began to set, they put their armor on and climbed the hill to where they first observed the village. Dusty looked through his spyglass at the stable.

"Looks like two guards outside, but one"s already half asleep, and the other looks like he has no clue what he's doing." He observed

"Perfect." Thyra nods with a grin.

"You want to take the half-asleep guy, and come in from that end?"

"Sounds good to me!" Thyra responds, pulling her staff out. "Let's go."

"Try not to kill these guys, they are your people." Dusty reminded her.

"Oh, no, I was only gonna knock them out. As far as we know, they haven't really done anything wrong." She replies, sliding down the hill, but stopping and turning to Pulse, who was following.

"You and Dark stay here and watch for us, girl. It'll be hard to sneak a dragon in." The dragon coo's in confusion but obeys.

Dusty slides down next to her, making sure to drop his mask. "Looks like this is where The Black Deaths start their reign of terror." he joked.

Thyra chuckles through her mask. "Yep. They aren't gonna know what's hit them."

Dusty holds something up, " They will after we leave this."

Thyra laughs, "is that a note?"

"It's our crest, so they know who did it, and don't falsely accuse anyone."

"Yeah, that's a good point. It's like our sign off, and they're gonna be pissed when they figure out who did it."

"Make sure to grab the saddles, as well, and they won't know the crazy girl and her silent friend are these two people standing right here." he laughed through his mask.

"Yep!" Thyra responds. "And I can tack up while you keep watch, well unless you know how."

"Rather play it safe, and I can't remember how to, so you tack them up."

"Sure." Thyra replies, as they walk through the village quietly, trying not to draw attention to themselves.

They make it to the stables, and break off to deal with the guards.

Dusty creeps up on his guard, and using the blunt end of his daggur, knocks him out without a sound.

Meanwhile Thyra swings hard, and with one knock on the head, her guard is on the ground unconscious.

Dusty slowly opens the door to the stable, which was unlocked, and watched from his end as Thyra came in from hers.

They meet by the three horses Thyra taking the lead and leading them out into the isle, tying them up to be ready to tack up.

"I have an idea. To erase suspicion, why don't we let a couple other horses out?"

"Yeah, let's do that after we're ready to go though." Dusty agrees.

"That's what I was thinking." Thyra says, disappearing into a nearby tack room and emerging holding a saddle and saddle blanket. "Can you grab the other one while I start to tack up? It's just by the door." She asks, setting the saddle blanket on one of the horses backs.

"Yeah I got it." Dusty says slipping into the room, and coming out a few seconds later with the other saddle blanket and saddle.

She puts the saddle on, double checking the girth strap, before grabbing the bridle and reins for both horses. Within a few minutes both horses stand, tacked up fully in saddles, while Thyra tacks the other horse up in pack gear.

"Alright. We're ready to go." Thyra nods after checking the girth straps on all horses.

"Alright, lets set everyone loose." Dusty says

"This is the fun part!" Thyra laughs, walking to an opposite stall and unbolting the latch, pulling the door back. They race up and down the isle, pulling every stall open.

"We didn't really need to let them all loose, but as they say, go big, or go home!" Thyra laughs after the last horse gallops off.

"Let's get out of here." Dusty says grabbing the reigns of one of the horses.

"Yep!" Thyra agrees, untying both horses.

A distant shout comes from outside. "Ready? We're gonna have to make a quick getaway?" She asks. She pats her horse on the neck, moves to the left side, and sticks her foot in the stirrup.

"Don't buck me off, please. That would be appreciated." She mumbles, before swinging up into the saddle. The horse shifts, but doesn't protest. Thyra smiles and gathers the reins.

"Alright. So just jump up, and follow our lead." She says, nudging the horse into a walk until they're next to Dusty.

Dusty puts a foot on the stirrup, and hauled himself into the saddle, his horse barely moving as he settled in the saddle.

"So, if I remember right, just tap my heels against her side, right?"

"To walk, yes. But we're gonna be galloping, so you're gonna want to hang on tight, nudge her into a walk, but keep nudging her until she's running. Shout 'Yah!' If you really feel you have to." Thyra replies.

"Alright girl, try not to kill me." He says to the horse as he nudges her forward, dropping their crest on the way

Thyra grins and nudges her horse into a gallop. They barrel down the hall, and burst out the door, nearly running down a man.

But, the same man quickly gets trampled by Dusty on his horse as they burst out. He doesn't look back, and catches up with Thyra as they head out of the village.

"Well, has gonna feel that in the morning." Dusty said, gesturing back towards the village.

"Did we leave the crest?" Thyra shouts over to him as they gallop up the hill, one hand leading the pack horse.

"Yeah, I dropped it right in the middle of the stable, they can't miss it."

"Perfect." Thyra grins, pulling her horse back into a canter once they approach the cave.

Dusty slows down next to her.

"You know what we should do, go back as we did earlier, and spread the rumor about The Black Deaths, and confirm its their crest."

"Haha! I like that idea!" Thyra laughs, pulling her horse to a complete stop, and jumping off.

Dusty stops right next to her, and climbs down out of the saddle.

"I'll take first watch, you can head on to bed." He said, unshouldering his bow. "Where are we putting the horses?"

"I think we leave them out here, away from the dragons." Threat suggests, tying her horses to a sturdy tree branch. "I'll be out to take the next shift in a couple hours." She walks into the cave and greets an excited Pulse, before settling down.

Dusty tied his horse next to them, and climbed into a tree overlooking the cave and clearing, settling in for a long watch.

The next morning, they both walk into the village, only keeping hidden weapons on them. They walk right to the stables, listening in on conversations.

"This is ridiculous! I have a show tomorrow!"

"How could this have even happened?"

"Apparently the guards don't remember a thing."

"They were all gone, every last one!"

"Hey, have you heard? The only person who remembers anything is bed ridden with cracked ribs. Apparently all he remembers is a blur of black!"

They walk into the stables, seeing a whole heap of people gathered.

"Wow. What happened here? Where are the horses?" Thyra asks in shock, looking around. A stable hand turns to look at her.

"The girl after the twin arabs? Sorry. They're gone. All the horses are gone. Let out in the middle of the night!"

"Yeah, the guards were knocked out with blows to their heads, and one guy who heard commotion got caught in the middle. Says he only remembers a blur of black." A young girl adds, probably only 14.

"And they don't know who did it?" Thyra checks.

"No. Well, they did find some kind of trampled fabric, but I don't know much about it. The stable owner has it. I'd hate to be him right now." The worker explains, Thyra glances over at Dusty.

Dusty gives a shrug, not understanding what she wants.

She rolls her eyes, wanting to facepalm. "Well, maybe we should go find out who they think did it?" She says, trying to be obvious now.

Dusty mentally slaps himself for not paying attention, and nods his head yes.

"So this stuff doesn't happen often?" Thyra asks the people. They shake their heads no. She nods and they walk down the hall, looking to find the owner.

They eventually find the owner leaning on a stall and talking to another man.

"Excuse me?" Thyra calls to the owner, who turns to face her. His face shows stress and sadness.

"Sorry. But your horses are gone. Every horse is gone." He apologises, rubbing his temple.

"We know, it's kinda obvious. We just want to know what you found? There's gotta be something that tells you who it was." Thyra asks. The man sighs and pulls out some fabric from his pocket, showing it to her.

"So far no one I've talked to know who it is." He admits, handing it to her. She examines it and hands it to Dusty to look after.

Dusty took a look at it, confirming it was their crest. Then opened his eyes wide, as he was shocked.

"Oh no" he said loud enough for them to hear

"What?" The man asks. Thyra takes another look at the fabric, and nods solemnly.

"These guys are more than lucky to be alive." He says toward Thyra.

She sighs. "They really are."

"What? What do you mean?" The owner asks.

"Sir, this is the crest of The Black Deaths." Dusty said to the owner.

"The what?"

"The last people you ever want to cross." Dusty answered the owner.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you telling me you don't know?! They're insane fighters, brutal, merciless, and they will stop at absolutely nothing to get what they want. They're out for revenge, and they won't hesitate to kill. They took out an entire ship of bounty hunters. And now they're here? I suggest you lock your doors, because if you give them a reason to attack, then this may be your last night alive." Thyra tells him warningly.

"H-how do you know all this?"

"Well, the last few islands and town's we've stopped at have been brutally attacked, leaving bodies apon bodies! I know it seems hard to believe, but are you willing to risk it? They're angry people. Really angry."

"We've seen their work, and it's indescribable."

"Who knew the human body could be stabbed so many times? And you know the worst part? He was still alive. Well, he died soon after, moaning in pain and fear. I never want to see anything like that again! This is us warning you to watch your back, because The Black Deaths will kill you if you give them reason to."

"Do they have a description? Someone has to have seen something." the owner asked.

"People are lucky to see their shadows. But there's a rumour going around that they're dressed head to toe in pitch black armour."

"That's it?" he asked

"Yes. Just...always keep an eye out on the surrounding areas. That big hill on the other side of the village? There have been sightings. Be careful. We're getting out of here before The Black Deaths come back for more." They turn and walk out of the stables, hiding smirks.

They stayed silent till after they left the village.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Dusty asked Thyra

She smirks over at him, "Maybe."

"Let's get everything together, then we can leave, we got a long road ahead of us." Dusty says as they get back to camp.

"Yeah," Thyra agrees, walking into the cave and gathering all her stuff. "Let's go before they find us!"

They get their armor and weapons on, and pack their supplies on the pack horse. Dark and Pulse watch from the cave entrance as they finished packing up.

"You ready?" Dusty asked Thyra, as she mounted her horse.

"Yep. Pulse?" She calls back to her dragon, "Stay Hidden until Nightfall, then come and find us. I don't want you getting hurt by dragon watch towers." The dragon let's out a sad coo. "And don't worry, we'll be fine! We're headed that direction," she points to the distance, seeing her dragon lurking at the cave entrance. "So we won't be hard to find."

Dusty handed Thyra a piece of paper.

"I'm going to put this on an arrow, and put it on the notice board in the village."

"Perfect!" She laughs.

It read:

You won't be lucky a second time.

The Black Deaths

Dusty took the paper and wrapped it on one of his arrows.

"You first your majesty." Dusty joked

Thyra smirks, leaving the pack horse over with the cave, before nudging her horse to walk to the hill, where they stop and stare down at the village.

"Think they can see us?" Thyra asks.

That was soon answered by the whole village going silent, looking up the hill at them.

Dusty drew the arrow back, and let it fly, hitting the notice board square in the center.

"I think they got it." Thyra smirks as multiple screams ring out. "I think now is the time to go!"

"Yeah, let's go." Dusty pulls on the reigns of the horse, turning back downhill, and nudges his horse to a Trott.

Thyra nudges her horse into a Trott, grabs the pack horse by the lead, and nods to the cave where the dragons are.

They got side-by-side before hitting the road, and headed inland.