His spells to weave and steal a heart,
Within his breast but only sleeping…

*

The sun beat down on the man in navy who ran with great purpose. It was only once he saw a peculiar sight ahead of him that made him slow to a halt.

There sat Sebastian behind a rock dressed as a dining table: tablecloth, goblets, and bread included.

And beside him sat a statue-like, blindfolded and bound Prince Kurt with a dagger to his neck.

“So, it is down to you and it is down to me,” Sebastian said smugly. The masked man took a few steps forward to Kurt and his captor.

“If you wish him dead, by all means keep moving forward.”

“Let me explain,” the stranger tried.

“There’s nothing to explain. You’re trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen.” He gestured to Kurt.

“Perhaps an arrangement can be reached?” asked the man, slowly inching forward.

“There will be no arrangement,” Sebastian grabbed Kurt’s arm and pressed the dagger even more into his neck, “And you’re killing him.” Kurt made a sharp inhale, feeling the blade poking him more so. The man stopped moving, not wanting harm to come to the Prince.

“But if there can be no arrangement then we are at an impasse.”

“I’m afraid so,” agreed Sebastian. “I can’t compete with you physically and you’re no match for my brains.”

“You’re that smart?” questioned the man with an amused smile on his lips.

“Let me put it this way. Ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?”

“Yes.”

“Morons,” Sebastian put simply. He certainly thought highly of himself.

“Really?” Surely, this Sebastian was bluffing. Or maybe he truly believed these delusions, the masked stranger thought. “In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.”

“For the Prince?”

The man in navy gave a nod.

“To the death?”

Another nod.

“I accept,” Sebastian told him. He was pleased that he would be able to show off the extent of his knowledge. Maybe he’d impress his pretty hostage on top of it all.

“Good, then pour the wine,” instructed the man and sat down across from the criminal. Sebastian poured the wine into the two goblets. The man in navy revealed a vial from his pocket and handed it to Sebastian.

“Inhale this but do not touch.”

“I smell nothing,” said Sebastian rather unimpressed. He handed the vile back.

“What you do not smell is called Iocane powder. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadly poisons known to man.”

Sebastian made a noise to express his boredom of this knowledge. The man in navy grabbed the goblets off the makeshift table and held eye contact with Sebastian. He then turned his back to him and secretly poured in the powdery substance. Once finished, the man placed a goblet in front of Sebastian and one in front of himself.

“Alright, where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun,” declared the man. “It ends when you decide and we both drink and find out who is right and who is dead.”

“But it’s so simple,” said Sebastian. “All I have to do is devise from what I know of you. Are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy’s? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he is given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool. You would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

“You’ve made your decision then?” asked the man, trying not to appear annoyed. What was this guy’s problem? Was he on something?

“Not remotely. Because Iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows. And Australia is entirely peopled with criminals and criminals are used to having people not trust them as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”

“Truly, you have a dizzying intellect,” the man in navy said while attempting to sound intrigued by his insane responses to this supposed battle of wits.

“Wait ‘til I get going!” Sebastian cried. “Where was I?”

“Australia,” offered the man.

“Yes, Australia. And you must have suspected that I would have known the powder’s origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

The masked man decided to call him out. “You’re just stalling now.”

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? You’ve beaten my giant, which means you’re exceptionally strong, so you could have put the poison into your own goblet trusting on your strength to save you so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you’ve also bested my Asian, which means you must have studied and in studying you’ve learned that man is mortal so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”

“You’re trying to trick me into giving away something. It won’t work.” The man in navy said this with no doubt in his voice. There was no possible way Sebastian would figure out this puzzling situation.

“It has worked! You’ve given everything away; I know where the poison is!”

“Then make your choice.”

“I will! And I choose-“ Sebastian pointed behind the man. “What in the world can that be?”

The man turned around. Sebastian took this opportunity to snatch the man’s goblet and take it as his own. He made the switch just before he turned around.

“What? Where?” I don’t see anything,” the man in navy said, confused.

“Oh, well, I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.” Sebastian quietly began chuckling to himself, clearly unable to hold any of it in. It did not go unnoticed.

“What’s so funny?” the man asked suspiciously.

“I’ll tell you in a minute. First, let’s drink. Me from my glass and you from yours.”

So they did, draining their goblets to the last drop. “You guessed wrong,” the man told Sebastian.

“You only think I guessed wrong, that’s what’s so funny. I switched glasses when your back was turned! Haha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders: The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia. But only slightly less well known is this: Never go in against a Westervillian when death is on the line!” Sebastian let out an enormous and uncontrollable laugh. The man in navy just stared at him, waiting. Suddenly, the laughter ended and Sebastian toppled over and hit the ground. At least he died happy…

The man in navy gave the body a disgusted look and proceeded to untie and lift the blindfold off Kurt.

“Who are you?” Kurt asked him, very confused upon looking at his masked savior…or new captor?

“I’m no one to be trifled with,” he told Kurt, looking straight into his eyes only to look away shortly after. “That is all you ever need knowing.”

“To think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned…” The man in navy whisked Kurt up to stand with him.

“They were both poisoned,” he grinned. “I spent the last few years building up an immunity to Iocane powder.” The man held tight to Kurt’s hand and led him along the path that lay parallel to the valley. Kurt noticed the grip wasn’t tight in the sense that the new captor wished to hurt him. It was something else entirely…

*

Prince Karofsky stooped down to examine the dirt below him. The imprint left there was massive.

“Someone has beaten a giant,” he confirmed. “There will be great suffering in Westerville if Kurt dies.” He then leapt onto his steed and led his band of guards with haste.

*

It felt like they had been running for hours on end. This masked man in navy definitely had excellent stamina.

“Catch your breath,” he ordered Kurt, throwing him to rest against a rock. Kurt was terribly out of breath, but he managed to say,

“If you’ll release me, whatever you ask for ransom, you’ll get it. I promise you.”

The man just laughed at his words. “And what is that worth? The promise of a boy? You’re very funny, Highness.”

“I was giving you a chance. It does not matter where you take me. There’s no greater hunter than Prince Karofsky. He can track a falcon on a cloudy day, he can find you.”

“You think your dearest love will save you?” the man teased.

“I never said he was my dearest love!” Kurt voiced. “And yes, he will save me. That I know.”

“You admit to me you do not love your fianc�,” the man inched closer to Kurt, sounding curious at the news.

“He knows I do not love him.”

“Incapable of love, is what you mean.”

Kurt stood up to meet the man’s eyes. “I have loved more deeply than a killer like yourself could ever dream!”

The man in navy’s hand went up as if to strike and Kurt prepared for agony. But nothing came. Instead, he lowered his hand.

“That was a warning, Highness. The next time my hand flies on its own, where I come from there are penalties when a boy lies.” He grabbed Kurt’s hand again and they started to run again.

*

“Iocane,” Karofsky said after sniffing a vile that lay on the ground by a makeshift rock table. “I’d bet my life on it. And there are the Prince’s footprints,” he pointed out. They appeared to be heading in the direction of the valley.

“He is alive or was an hour ago. If he is otherwise when I find him, I shall be very put out.”

*

The man threw Kurt down again. Kurt felt rather annoyed that he was being treated like a sack of potatoes.

“Rest, Highness.”

“I know who you are. Your cruelty reveals everything,” said Kurt. “You’re the Dread Pirate Puck, admit it!”

The man bowed and smiled coyly. “With pride. What can I do for you?”

“You can die slowly, cut into a thousand pieces,” Kurt said bitterly.

“Hardly complementary, Your Highness,” the man tutted. “Why lose your venom on me?”

“You killed my love.”

“It’s possible. I kill a lot of people. Who was this love of yours?” questioned the man. “Another prince like this one? Ugly, rich, and scabby?”

“No!” Kurt said, disgusted. “A farm boy. Poor. Poor and perfect. Eyes like a river of flowing golden honey…” he trailed off and became lost in his memories. They all flashed before his eyes as if it all happened yesterday. Then he snapped back to cruel reality. “On the high seas your ship attacked and the Dread Pirate Puck never takes prisoners.”

“I can’t afford to make exceptions. I mean, once word leaks out that I’ve gone soft people begin to disobey you and it’s nothing but work, work, work all the time.”

“You mock my pain!”

“Life is pain, Highness!” the man said back. “Anyone who says differently is selling something.” Kurt looked away from this terrible masked stranger. He couldn’t bare to look at him any longer.

“I remember this farm boy of yours, I think. This would be what, five years ago? Does it bother you to hear?”

“Nothing you can say would upset me,” Kurt told him gloomily.

“He died well, that should please you,” the man recalled. “No bribe attempts or blubbering. He simply said, ‘Please. Please I need to live’. It was the ‘please’ that caught my memory. I asked what was so important for him here. ‘True love’ he replied. And then he spoke of a boy of surpassing beauty and faithfulness, I can only assume he meant you. You should bless me for destroying him before he found out what you really are.”

“And what am I?” Kurt demanded, now looking at the man dead in the eyes again.

“Faithfulness he talked of, sir. Your enduring faithfulness!” the man said angrily. “Now tell me truly, when you found out he was gone, did you get engaged to your Prince at the same hour or did you wait a whole week out of respect for the dead?”

“You mocked me once, never do it again!” yelled Kurt in his face. “I died that day!”

The man turned around to look up at the top of the hill. It was surely Prince Karofsky and his men. They were closing in.

“And you can die too, for all I care!” Before the man new it, Kurt had pushed him down the steep valley hill below them. He tumbled hard. But then Kurt heard the man utter the three of the most beautiful words.

“Aaaaaasssss yooouuuuuu wiiiiiiissssssshhhhh”

“Oh, my sweet Blaine,” Kurt whispered to himself. “What have I done?” Without thinking, Kurt leapt and tumbled down the huge hill after Blaine, the man in navy.

*

“They’ve disappeared,” Karofsky noticed. “They must have seen us closing in. Unless I’m wrong and I’m never wrong, they’re headed directly into the Fire Swamp.” The prince and his men made their way along the top of the valley. Prince Karofsky had a plan.