"That looks like a wizard tower from the human books!" Ariel excitedly pointed her finger at it, enthusiasm filling her eyes.
Henry made no effort to correct her. Because the building indeed looks like a wizard tower, minus the run-down appearance. As a matter of fact, it is indeed a wizard tower—after all, the said structure is currently housing a girl with supernatural healing powers that could bring someone back from the dead.
At least that's what the film showed.
'The timeline should still be before she met Flynn Rider considering she was supposed to show up with her hair already cut during Elsa's crowning ceremony. However, the ceremony is supposed to happen a year from now but has been adjusted to a few months.' Henry assumed in his mind.
He turned around and stared at the cavern entrance where they just crossed earlier, 'Then the holden figure should be her kidnapper, what was her name again? Mother—something?'
"Henry, let's go inside! Maybe we might stumble upon an old wizard!" Ariel shook his arm and was practically begging him.
Henry sighed and pointed out, "You know, if you want to meet a wise and old wizard, I could just introduce you to my Master."
Ariel stuck her tongue out and stayed rooted in her place. Of course her reason is beyond just meeting an old wizard, it's her adventurer side dominating her decision-making right now.
A hidden old tower in the middle of nowhere where it can only be accessed by crossing through a dark and damp cavern, and a mysterious hooded figure was spotted earlier. Each is enough to make a thrill-seeker's blood boil in excitement.
"Alright fine." In the end, Henry surrendered in defeat and allowed himself to be dragged by Ariel as they tried to approach the tower.
That is until they heard Boy's familiar shouting from the other end of the cavern entrance, "Get your filthy hands off of me human! Help! Help me! Somebody!"
"That sounds like Boy." The two of them looked at each other in unison, "He needs our help!" Ariel manifested her Ember while Henry dashed forward, dragging Ariel along with him.
As soon as they crossed through the dark cavern, they witnessed a comical scene. A man wearing a brown satchel was trying to climb on Boy's back while the stallion was trying to shake him off by kicking his hind legs repeatedly.
"Get off me! Ah stop! You're tickling me!"
"Goddamit you horse! Just let me on and take me out of here!" The man replied, successfully boarding Boy's saddle, and was about to hold the reins when, all of a sudden, Henry purposely coughed, getting their attention.
The man froze on the spot and when he saw Henry and Ariel, both looking at them with crossed arms and funny expressions. The first few seconds were spent in silent staring before the man immediately buckled forward and snapped the reins on his hand, "Hyah!" His face was full of expectations that the sudden jerk of movement and the reins snapping would be enough to startle the horse and run.
Only for the awkward atmosphere to settle back in when Boy didn't even move an inch, just craning his head to stare at him with a dull expression, the same goes to Henry and Ariel—both trying their best to hold back their laughs.
Realizing this, the man tried his best to act casual, preemptively getting down from the saddle and calmly walking away, as if the interaction must've been the wind.
"Hey, you." Henry's voice echoed throughout the forest, startling the man who jerked and slowly turned around with a goofy smile on his face.
"O-Oh hi there. I didn't see you there haha~" The man scratched his head and pretended.
On the other hand, Henry was already aware of who the man in front of him was. Flynn Rider, the thief who turned into a Prince all because of fate and certain circumstances.
'Didn't expect to run into him here. I guess he's supposed to meet Rapunzel but instead he ran and bumped into Boy and took the opportunity to take Boy to escape the guards.' Henry then realized that he just interfered in what was supposed to be a canon event.
'Should I leave him be and point him to Rapunzel?' Just as Henry was deeply contemplating, Flynn must have noticed this and took the opportunity to start running.
Henry snapped out of his thoughts and uttered a single word, "Ariel."
Beside him, Ariel nodded her head and with a wave of her Ember, a single wave of water mysteriously appeared from the two tips of her bident, coalescing and zigzagging before wrapping itself around Flynn's waist who yelped in surprise.
"What the?!" He looked down and stared at the blob of water in a mix of horror and curiosity as the elongated water rope yanked him back and threw him in front of Henry's feet.
Thud!
"Oof!"
Henry crossed his arms and crouched, meeting him at his eye level, "Where do you think you're going, mister?"
"I-I can explain. You see…I'm actually just lost around this place, you know. I'm sorry but when I saw your horse, I thought I could…borrow him to make my way back to the nearest town haha~" Flynn stuttered, making up a lie on the spot. A valid one if it wasn't for the fact that his eyes kept looking anywhere but his and not to mention, Henry's skin tingled, indicating that the man in front of him lied thanks to his Authority of Truth.
"Mister Flynn, I don't like liars," Henry revealed. He's not afraid of suspicion considering that the man probably has hundreds of flyers of his face plastered all over the forest and nearby towns.
Flynn's face froze as soon as he heard his name, or rather his fake name that he made up years ago. His real name is Eugene a name that he hid before starting his career as a thief just in case he hit a jackpot, got rich, and finally lived as a new man bearing his real name without anyone tracing him back to a thief named Flynn Rider.
'Which is quite smart of him, not gonna lie. Not to mention, he's a good thief.'
Just as Flynn tried to come up with another reason, they suddenly heard a gasp from their side and when they turned, they saw Ariel holding a brown satchel while pulling out a small golden crown, her face was that of shock and fascination.
Seeing this, Flynn snapped his head to his empty hands and realized that he must have dropped it earlier when he got yanked by the water rope.
"It looks so beautiful!" Ariel murmured while fawning over the small crown, she raised it above her head and slowly placed it on top.
"Henry! Does it look good on me?" Facing her question, before Henry answered, Flynn already beat him to it.
Afraid that if the lady came to like the crown, she might decide to keep it so Flynn came up with a good lie, "Sorry to say this but the crown doesn't look good on you, surely there are other crowns out there that will do, so can I please have the crown back? Preferably along with my satchel? Those are my…ehem property." Flynn seemed hesitant at the last sentence.
However, instead of the crown, what he got was Ariel glaring at him, it seems like she focused on his first few words, "Are you saying that I'm ugly?"
"Wait what?!" Flynn got shocked and before he could fully clarify and explain himself, another wave of water suddenly came out of the bident and this time, it wrapped itself around his face, blocking off any air to let him breathe.
On the other hand, Henry was rubbing the bridge of his nose, 'You should've just said that it looked good on him.'
Just as he was about to tell Ariel to take the water away, there was suddenly a familiar voice not far from their place, "Prince Henry! Miss Ariel! Are you here?"
"Prince Henry!"
It was Ser Liam and the rest of the crew that they left behind finally catching up and searching for them. Ariel didn't need to be told once and released her hold over the water, letting it splash on the ground—freeing Flynn from suffocation.
A brief moment later, Ser Liam emerged into the clearing and quickly spotted both Henry and Ariel—still wearing the crown—standing side by side while a man drenched in what the knight captain assumed to be sweat was sitting in front of them with a smile on his face.
"Prince Henry! Miss Ariel!" Ser Liam's face brightened and he looked back, "I found them! They're over here!"
Meanwhile, Flynn's face turned frozen when he heard what the knight just said, "Wait…Prince Henry? From Lioncrest!?" His jaw dropped and he stared at Henry's smiling face. He can already see his entire life flashing before his very eyes.
Realization dawned upon him. He just attempted to steal a Prince's horse. Normally, one would be charged with treason, theft from royalty, and would spend half of their life behind bars but the said Prince is not only a prince from a Great Kingdom, but he's also the Crown Prince, making his status higher than all the members of royalty except for the King.
'Oh, I'm dead. Haha, I'm so dead…' His shoulders slumped and he quickly lost all the will to survive or even attempt an escape. He might not know Prince Henry personally but he has heard of his feats.
The Butcher of Corrupts, the Prince of Justice, a Friend to the Innocents, and last but not the least, The Voice of the Common People. All these titles are enough to describe the kind of person he is, so what could a mere thief like him do but accept his fate?
Unbeknownst to him, his fate wouldn't be behind bars as he's already expecting. Henry had plans for him. If Flynn, who could escape chases from the knights, stole a well-protected crown deep inside a royal castle, and even possessing tremendous luck that always helps him to survive—Lioncrest Kingdom is not lacking resources for talents like that.
It doesn't matter what his past is. So long as he didn't commit any heinous crimes such as killing an innocent, rape, or all the rest of the criminal acts that are against what humanity stands for, Henry is always open to forgiving someone of their past.
"Who is this supposed to be, Prince Henry? He looks a bit familiar. Like I've seen him somewhere already." Facing the squinting eyes of a knight captain, Flynn felt a heavy mountain-like pressure on his shoulders, his heart thumping several times.
"He's just a lost traveler, Ser Liam. We'll take him with us." To the surprise of both Flynn and Ariel, Henry didn't expose the man.
"Ah, I see. You're just as kind as ever, Prince Henry. Although all of our carriages are full, he can hitch a ride behind me." Ser Liam patted the extra saddle space behind his back. Most saddles are always built to carry two people at max.
"That sounds good." Henry smiled and patted Flynn's shoulder, making him flinch before grabbing a handful of his shirt, and lifting him up.
Once they settled Flynn on the back of the horse, whereas the man stayed very quiet all the way, Ser Liam finally prepared to leave, "I'll tell the others now. Oh and Miss Ariel." He turned around and gave a nod of approval to the redhead's appearance, "You look breathtaking in that crown, Miss Ariel."
Ariel gave him a sweet smile, "Why thank you, Ser Liam." Just as ser Liam turned around, her smile vanished and she glared at Flynn on the back in a last second as if reprimanding him for what he said to her earlier while Flynn could only look away and pretended he saw nothing.
Well, at least he's alive and wouldn't be behind bars. Even though he doesn't know why a prince lied for his sake, he'll take it that the man is either doing it out of kindness or perhaps for something else.
'I usually heard around that some nobles would hire criminals to do their dirty work. Am I supposed to work for him and steal something? If so, I need to guarantee my freedom above all else.' Was what Flynn told himself in mind.
As Henry and Ariel both climbed on Boy's back, Henry gave the dark cavern entrance one last look before whispering to himself, 'I'll come back here if I find the time. Now that I disrupted the canon event, someone has to help her and it would be better if it were me, I know the situation the best.'
With that being said, Henry asked for a map from Ser Liam and marked the area on the paper.
"We're going back to the wizard tower, right?" Ariel whispered to his ear while they rejoined with the crew. He nodded his head in reply while staring at the map on hand.
He murmured the familiar name on the map, "Our next stop should be…Kingdom of Corona."