In the Rough, chapter 26/40
Title: In the Rough (26/40)
Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Mature
Characters: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess, Charlie
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
A/N: Okay, so I'm uploading this a little earlier than I normally would be (because I usually like to write a couple chapters ahead of my uploading, so I have a que that I can mess around with if I change my mind about something), because I can't, on good conscience, leave you with that kind of cliffhanger for long! XD
I really want to thank all the people who've consistently left such lovely reviews - you guys are the reason this fic hasn't just stalled and floated into oblivion. I've got so many other multi-chapter fic ideas that have been tempting my attention, but you guys keep me dedicated to seeing this adventure through. It's about to get crazy, folks, so stick in there! I love, love, love you all.
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five,
Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten,
Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One, Chapter Twenty-Two, Chapter Twenty-Three, Chapter Twenty-Four, Chapter Twenty-Five
***
Duchess and Charlie rode Diamond as fast as the mare could manage through the dense trees. Along the route, Duchess found herself wishing fervently that riding on horseback wasn’t quite so bumpy - Hatter’s blood was spattered everywhere along the route, and Diamond’s bouncy steps were not helping her nausea in the slightest.
At first it was just drops and dribbles in the dirt, forming little connect-the-dots games like in children’s books. But soon the trail of blood became a stream… and then puddles… tiny pools collected in the crevasses of roots, and bloody footprints were smeared in the mud. Yet still the trail carried on, blood splashed and smeared across leaves and trunks, the path staggering slightly from side to side.
Duchess tried to swallow the bile she felt rising in the back of her throat.
Then, so suddenly it took a moment for her to register, the trees emptied out and Diamond stumbled to a halt at the edge of a steep ravine. Behind her, she heard Charlie suck in a breath and dismount hurriedly. She reluctantly followed his lead, taking a moment as she dismounted to nuzzle briefly in the respite of Diamond’s mane. Steadying herself for the sight of more blood in one place than she had probably seen before in her entire life, she closed her eyes and turned around.
He looked dead, lying there on the ground. For the first, few, horrible seconds, the Duchess thought he was-- his skin was stark white, nearly glowing against the dark, dark pool of his own blood growing slowly larger around him. Duchess knew that if she were to go over and touch him, his skin would be cold against her fingertips.
Charlie was - good lord - plucking limp, gloppy clumps out of the blood. “We’ve got to get these leaves back in him immediately,” he muttered. “I haven’t got any more to replace them with. I used them all up the first time he got injured!”
His head was turned slightly enough in Duchess’ direction that she knew he meant to be talking to her. “What can I do?” she asked shakily, not moving any closer. She had to grip Diamond’s mane for support even from this distance - two steps closer and she would probably faint.
“We’re going to have to re-sear his wounds, so we’ll need a fire,” Charlie instructed. “Once it’s been started, put the tip of my sword in it and bring it back when it glows red.” He reached for the weapon and threw it in her direction - she caught it by the handle. “And the meantime, if you don’t mind, milady… I’ll need some water.”
***
Hatter was already unconscious, so there was no need for Duchess to hold him down, for which she was eternally grateful. It was all she could do to stay conscious during the process - it would do no good for Charlie to have two prone bodies on his hands. But it did leave her feeling rather useless, standing there while Charlie did all the hard work.
After he had finished with the searing, Duchess helped him move Hatter’s body away from the cliff edge, as the dropoff made them all jittery (especially the horses), and they wanted to avoid getting the red, rocky dust in Hatter’s wounds. They found a lightly wooded area not too far away and laid him down gently, and Charlie fussed and fluttered over his work, muttering the entire time about how seared wounds were never as good the second time around and this time he’d be lucky to not get infected and it would certainly scar, the fool.
Duchess didn’t really know how to respond to these worries, not having much medical expertise herself. For her part, she was just greatful that they had moved away from the smell of blood so that she could think properly. She cast her eyes about the forest and chewed her lip thoughtfully, letting Charlie’s worried monologue wash over her without paying much attention. After a moment, she stood up and walked over to a nearby tree that yielded some particularly springy boughs. Taking her knife out of her boot, she cut some of the thinner, longer, bendier ones down into a small pile at her feet.
Charlie stopped chattering and looked over at her from where he sat, mindlessly cleaning off his armor for the second time that day. “May I be of some assistance, milady?” he asked. Duchess returned his bright smile with a dim one of her own and shook her head.
“No need,” she responded, “but thank you for asking. I just feel so useless sitting here, I thought I’d make him… well, a little hammock or something. He won’t be able to ride a horse like that for awhile, and if we’re going to catch up with Alice’s kidnapper we don’t have time to wait for him to heal.”
“Aah!” Charlie interrupted, beaming. “You’re inventing! Splendid! I’m quite an expert at that you know - what are you planning to use as binding?”
“Well,” Duchess said modestly, dragging her pile of branches over to sit next to him. “I was just thinking I’d weave these together cross-ways. Why, what would you recommend?”
Charlie chuckled, the armor in his hands completely forgotten as he leaned toward the Duchess conspiratorially. She played along, leaning in as well. “Strip the branches first,” he whispered. “The wood inside that species of branch is the strength, and the bark is the flexibility. If you strip the bark into strips first and use them as your binding-“
Duchess caught on. “You can make the hammock using half as many branches!”
“Exactly!” Charlie preened. “Oh, it’s worked for countless Gravity-Assisted Snares, I can tell you--“
“Nice to see you two getting so friendly,” interrupted Hatter’s biting tone. Charlie and Duchess both turned around to look at him in surprise.
“Good lord, how are you up already?” Charlie asked, his face twisted in confusion. He puttered over to where Hatter lay and inspected his wounds. “You young people bounce back so quickly, I must say…”
Hatter let Charlie probe at his sides patiently, but ignored the question. Instead he whispered, in a low, hoarse voice:
“Where’s Alice?”
Duchess swallowed nervously. She had been dreading this conversation, but she hadn’t expected it so soon. “We don’t know,” she said seriously, “But as soon as we rig up a way to transport you without opening your wounds, we’re going to start looking. What did you see, Hatter? Do you have any idea where we can start?”
Hatter didn’t stir, didn’t speak, didn’t blink. He was like a statue, lying there on the ground, all stony silence. His gaze was steadily fixed on the patch of sky just above his head.
“Hatter?” Duchess asked gently. “What did you see?”
A long moment passed in which nobody moved. Then Hatter finally opened his mouth and said, “Charlie, I need a horse.”
“Now listen here, harbinger,” he scolded, hovering his face over Hatter’s and shaking his finger so vehemently that his beard bobbed up and down. “I didn’t patch you up again so that you could go tearing off and rip yourself open! I don’t care how quickly you heal, it’s probably going to take another week now that you’ve gone and--”
“Charlie,” Hatter repeated, his voice barely hiding an edge of desperation that made Duchess’ heart hurt.
“No, you’re not getting one,” Charlie responded, crossing his arms with a childish air of authority. “You’re in absolutely no condition to even move, let alone ride a horse, and you know it! Don’t think you can play the martyred hero card either,” he pointed out with a sharp finger-jab and a raised eyebrow. “I don’t care what you think, you are not the only one that misses her, and you’re not only one responsible for her! I was supposed to be her protector,” he said, in his old, warbling voice, “and look what happened! You’re not the only one feeling guilty.”
The two men looked at each other and something passed between them - the Duchess could feel it happen, and she felt wrong witnessing it, like an outsider. One old, world-weary, last-of-his-kind Knight looked into the face of a younger man who, although not a Knight by birth, had the very heart and spirit of one… and recognized him. It was a look of understanding, and not only that, but it was the look of two men who felt they had failed someone they both loved, very much.
Alice is a lucky girl, said a small, jealous voice in the back of the Duchess’ mind.
She shook the voice away and chimed in, interrupting the moment with some much-needed logic. “Charlie’s right,” she said. “You’re not the only one who wants to find her - we all do, and Alice would never forgive herself if you went out and got yourself hurt in this condition, Hatter, you know that.”
Hatter’s face flushed an angry red at the sound of her voice and he pointedly ignored her, turning his head away and glaring into the forest with his mouth set in a firm, tight line. He hadn’t met Duchess’ eye once since he’d woken up, or spoken to her directly, or answered any of her questions, and it was starting to annoy her. Couldn’t he see she was only trying to help? “Hatter,” she tried again, ”where did Alice go?”
“Like you don’t know!” Hatter spat with sudden rage, struggling to raise himself up on his elbows despite the obvious pain - he was sweating and shaking before he even had lifted himself halfway up. Charlie was there in a flash pushing him back down again. Still, even from the ground the force of his glare was almost enough to knock Duchess flat. He was looking absolutely murderous. “It’s too much of a coincidence that monster found us at the exact same time you did! It’s too much of a coincidence that you led Alice to the mouth of the cave where it could get to her, and within seconds of your arrival! You must have planned this!”
“That… That’s ridiculous!” Duchess spluttered. “Hatter, how can you think-- I don’t even know what took her!“
But Hatter wasn’t done. “Don’t play that game with me,” he snarled. “You may have Alice fooled because she hasn’t been in Wonderland as long as I have, but I remember! You’ve been a double agent your whole adult life, workin’ for the Queen. You’ve never been trustworthy! And believe me,” he said wryly. “I’ve known my fair share of double agents, so don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes just by playing innocent! From where I’m standing, I’ve got no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt. Charlie told us-“
“Oh, please leave me out of this,” Charlie moaned, covering his face with his hands and retreating to the edge of their argument. Hatter ignored him.
“Charlie told us that the Royal Family had the Scree captured and in their possession, so there’s no way that thing could have gotten out without your knowledge. So you tell me, Duchess,” he hissed. ”Where did you take her?”
“The Scree?” she asked faintly. “Oh… oh no… Jack must have… oh no, no, no,…”
“What?” Hatter asked as Duchess turned away to lean against a nearby tree for support. ”What?”
“I was telling Alice before… you know, before, when I had to talk to her,” Duchess started to explain. “I had to leave the Palace for my own protection. Jack has been acting so strangely lately-“
“Strangely how?” Charlie asked, sounding concerned.
“Well, mood swings,” Duchess started, her brow furrowing as she tried to put into words how he’d been acting. “He’s stopped his hobbies, he’s changed his habits, he’s even been shirking some of his duties… he looks so old now, too. He looks like he’s aged about fifteen years in the last two weeks. And he’s gotten more violent,” she admitted. “That’s why I left. He started yelling at me and saying all these things--“
“What things?” Hatter asked sharply, taking in every word.
Duchess hesitated, knowing that the news wouldn’t be well received. “He talked about Alice a lot,” she finally said. “Sometimes I would almost get him to admit that he still loved her and wanted her back-“ Hatter’s face turned a violent shade of red again, but the Duchess continued hurriedly without giving him the chance to interrupt, “-but it wouldn’t sound quite right, and when I questioned him he would change his story and say he loved me, but he sounded like a different person. Like I told Alice… it’s like he’s been possessed or something, ever since the mirror broke. I locked him away, but he must have convinced one of the staff to let him out and then…” She clenched her fist. “I shouldn’t have left!” she moaned. “I should’ve stayed to keep an eye on him, but I seemed to be the only one who could tell that there was something wrong…”
“That’s why I kept getting attacked,” Hatter muttered. “He knew I was protecting her so he tried to take me out… and then when that didn’t work, he just swept in and kidnapped her!” He roared in frustration, slamming his fist futilely against the ground with a force that shook the dirt under the Duchess’ feet.
Meanwhile, Charlie’s allegiance was torn. Technically, as a Knight, was sworn to defend the King and Queen against, you know… treason, even if it was one of his closest comrades in the world and one-half of the royal family that was committing it. He shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, unsure as to whether or not he should intervene. Feeling momentarily at a loss and wishing for a distraction, any distraction, he glanced off into the forest.
A small, dark shape caught his eye. It looked to him almost like a human figure, maybe a child. He squinted into the dark shade and thought he saw, maybe, a glimmer of dirty gold.
No, he thought. It can’t be.
He blinked. She was still there. He rubbed his eyes, and still she did not disappear. He could even see a blurry hand waving in his direction, like she wanted him to come close.
“Hope?” he whispered.
An inexplicable feeling rose in his chest, catching his breath and making him feel rather light-headed. She said they’d meet again. He should have believed her.
And, forgetting entirely where he was, he left his two companions to argue amongst themselves and slipped off into the woods.
***
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Author: alittleoddish
Rating: Mature
Characters: Alice/Hatter, Jack/Duchess, Charlie
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Syfy's Alice.
Summary: "But this is starting to sound like a quest! Quests are such a pain, Alice, they really are. All horseback and food rations and traveling in groups and no truly hot tea, with significantly less sex against trees.”
A/N: Okay, so I'm uploading this a little earlier than I normally would be (because I usually like to write a couple chapters ahead of my uploading, so I have a que that I can mess around with if I change my mind about something), because I can't, on good conscience, leave you with that kind of cliffhanger for long! XD
I really want to thank all the people who've consistently left such lovely reviews - you guys are the reason this fic hasn't just stalled and floated into oblivion. I've got so many other multi-chapter fic ideas that have been tempting my attention, but you guys keep me dedicated to seeing this adventure through. It's about to get crazy, folks, so stick in there! I love, love, love you all.
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five,
Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten,
Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen, Chapter Seventeen, Chapter Eighteen, Chapter Nineteen, Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One, Chapter Twenty-Two, Chapter Twenty-Three, Chapter Twenty-Four, Chapter Twenty-Five
***
Duchess and Charlie rode Diamond as fast as the mare could manage through the dense trees. Along the route, Duchess found herself wishing fervently that riding on horseback wasn’t quite so bumpy - Hatter’s blood was spattered everywhere along the route, and Diamond’s bouncy steps were not helping her nausea in the slightest.
At first it was just drops and dribbles in the dirt, forming little connect-the-dots games like in children’s books. But soon the trail of blood became a stream… and then puddles… tiny pools collected in the crevasses of roots, and bloody footprints were smeared in the mud. Yet still the trail carried on, blood splashed and smeared across leaves and trunks, the path staggering slightly from side to side.
Duchess tried to swallow the bile she felt rising in the back of her throat.
Then, so suddenly it took a moment for her to register, the trees emptied out and Diamond stumbled to a halt at the edge of a steep ravine. Behind her, she heard Charlie suck in a breath and dismount hurriedly. She reluctantly followed his lead, taking a moment as she dismounted to nuzzle briefly in the respite of Diamond’s mane. Steadying herself for the sight of more blood in one place than she had probably seen before in her entire life, she closed her eyes and turned around.
He looked dead, lying there on the ground. For the first, few, horrible seconds, the Duchess thought he was-- his skin was stark white, nearly glowing against the dark, dark pool of his own blood growing slowly larger around him. Duchess knew that if she were to go over and touch him, his skin would be cold against her fingertips.
Charlie was - good lord - plucking limp, gloppy clumps out of the blood. “We’ve got to get these leaves back in him immediately,” he muttered. “I haven’t got any more to replace them with. I used them all up the first time he got injured!”
His head was turned slightly enough in Duchess’ direction that she knew he meant to be talking to her. “What can I do?” she asked shakily, not moving any closer. She had to grip Diamond’s mane for support even from this distance - two steps closer and she would probably faint.
“We’re going to have to re-sear his wounds, so we’ll need a fire,” Charlie instructed. “Once it’s been started, put the tip of my sword in it and bring it back when it glows red.” He reached for the weapon and threw it in her direction - she caught it by the handle. “And the meantime, if you don’t mind, milady… I’ll need some water.”
***
Hatter was already unconscious, so there was no need for Duchess to hold him down, for which she was eternally grateful. It was all she could do to stay conscious during the process - it would do no good for Charlie to have two prone bodies on his hands. But it did leave her feeling rather useless, standing there while Charlie did all the hard work.
After he had finished with the searing, Duchess helped him move Hatter’s body away from the cliff edge, as the dropoff made them all jittery (especially the horses), and they wanted to avoid getting the red, rocky dust in Hatter’s wounds. They found a lightly wooded area not too far away and laid him down gently, and Charlie fussed and fluttered over his work, muttering the entire time about how seared wounds were never as good the second time around and this time he’d be lucky to not get infected and it would certainly scar, the fool.
Duchess didn’t really know how to respond to these worries, not having much medical expertise herself. For her part, she was just greatful that they had moved away from the smell of blood so that she could think properly. She cast her eyes about the forest and chewed her lip thoughtfully, letting Charlie’s worried monologue wash over her without paying much attention. After a moment, she stood up and walked over to a nearby tree that yielded some particularly springy boughs. Taking her knife out of her boot, she cut some of the thinner, longer, bendier ones down into a small pile at her feet.
Charlie stopped chattering and looked over at her from where he sat, mindlessly cleaning off his armor for the second time that day. “May I be of some assistance, milady?” he asked. Duchess returned his bright smile with a dim one of her own and shook her head.
“No need,” she responded, “but thank you for asking. I just feel so useless sitting here, I thought I’d make him… well, a little hammock or something. He won’t be able to ride a horse like that for awhile, and if we’re going to catch up with Alice’s kidnapper we don’t have time to wait for him to heal.”
“Aah!” Charlie interrupted, beaming. “You’re inventing! Splendid! I’m quite an expert at that you know - what are you planning to use as binding?”
“Well,” Duchess said modestly, dragging her pile of branches over to sit next to him. “I was just thinking I’d weave these together cross-ways. Why, what would you recommend?”
Charlie chuckled, the armor in his hands completely forgotten as he leaned toward the Duchess conspiratorially. She played along, leaning in as well. “Strip the branches first,” he whispered. “The wood inside that species of branch is the strength, and the bark is the flexibility. If you strip the bark into strips first and use them as your binding-“
Duchess caught on. “You can make the hammock using half as many branches!”
“Exactly!” Charlie preened. “Oh, it’s worked for countless Gravity-Assisted Snares, I can tell you--“
“Nice to see you two getting so friendly,” interrupted Hatter’s biting tone. Charlie and Duchess both turned around to look at him in surprise.
“Good lord, how are you up already?” Charlie asked, his face twisted in confusion. He puttered over to where Hatter lay and inspected his wounds. “You young people bounce back so quickly, I must say…”
Hatter let Charlie probe at his sides patiently, but ignored the question. Instead he whispered, in a low, hoarse voice:
“Where’s Alice?”
Duchess swallowed nervously. She had been dreading this conversation, but she hadn’t expected it so soon. “We don’t know,” she said seriously, “But as soon as we rig up a way to transport you without opening your wounds, we’re going to start looking. What did you see, Hatter? Do you have any idea where we can start?”
Hatter didn’t stir, didn’t speak, didn’t blink. He was like a statue, lying there on the ground, all stony silence. His gaze was steadily fixed on the patch of sky just above his head.
“Hatter?” Duchess asked gently. “What did you see?”
A long moment passed in which nobody moved. Then Hatter finally opened his mouth and said, “Charlie, I need a horse.”
“Now listen here, harbinger,” he scolded, hovering his face over Hatter’s and shaking his finger so vehemently that his beard bobbed up and down. “I didn’t patch you up again so that you could go tearing off and rip yourself open! I don’t care how quickly you heal, it’s probably going to take another week now that you’ve gone and--”
“Charlie,” Hatter repeated, his voice barely hiding an edge of desperation that made Duchess’ heart hurt.
“No, you’re not getting one,” Charlie responded, crossing his arms with a childish air of authority. “You’re in absolutely no condition to even move, let alone ride a horse, and you know it! Don’t think you can play the martyred hero card either,” he pointed out with a sharp finger-jab and a raised eyebrow. “I don’t care what you think, you are not the only one that misses her, and you’re not only one responsible for her! I was supposed to be her protector,” he said, in his old, warbling voice, “and look what happened! You’re not the only one feeling guilty.”
The two men looked at each other and something passed between them - the Duchess could feel it happen, and she felt wrong witnessing it, like an outsider. One old, world-weary, last-of-his-kind Knight looked into the face of a younger man who, although not a Knight by birth, had the very heart and spirit of one… and recognized him. It was a look of understanding, and not only that, but it was the look of two men who felt they had failed someone they both loved, very much.
Alice is a lucky girl, said a small, jealous voice in the back of the Duchess’ mind.
She shook the voice away and chimed in, interrupting the moment with some much-needed logic. “Charlie’s right,” she said. “You’re not the only one who wants to find her - we all do, and Alice would never forgive herself if you went out and got yourself hurt in this condition, Hatter, you know that.”
Hatter’s face flushed an angry red at the sound of her voice and he pointedly ignored her, turning his head away and glaring into the forest with his mouth set in a firm, tight line. He hadn’t met Duchess’ eye once since he’d woken up, or spoken to her directly, or answered any of her questions, and it was starting to annoy her. Couldn’t he see she was only trying to help? “Hatter,” she tried again, ”where did Alice go?”
“Like you don’t know!” Hatter spat with sudden rage, struggling to raise himself up on his elbows despite the obvious pain - he was sweating and shaking before he even had lifted himself halfway up. Charlie was there in a flash pushing him back down again. Still, even from the ground the force of his glare was almost enough to knock Duchess flat. He was looking absolutely murderous. “It’s too much of a coincidence that monster found us at the exact same time you did! It’s too much of a coincidence that you led Alice to the mouth of the cave where it could get to her, and within seconds of your arrival! You must have planned this!”
“That… That’s ridiculous!” Duchess spluttered. “Hatter, how can you think-- I don’t even know what took her!“
But Hatter wasn’t done. “Don’t play that game with me,” he snarled. “You may have Alice fooled because she hasn’t been in Wonderland as long as I have, but I remember! You’ve been a double agent your whole adult life, workin’ for the Queen. You’ve never been trustworthy! And believe me,” he said wryly. “I’ve known my fair share of double agents, so don’t think you can pull the wool over my eyes just by playing innocent! From where I’m standing, I’ve got no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt. Charlie told us-“
“Oh, please leave me out of this,” Charlie moaned, covering his face with his hands and retreating to the edge of their argument. Hatter ignored him.
“Charlie told us that the Royal Family had the Scree captured and in their possession, so there’s no way that thing could have gotten out without your knowledge. So you tell me, Duchess,” he hissed. ”Where did you take her?”
“The Scree?” she asked faintly. “Oh… oh no… Jack must have… oh no, no, no,…”
“What?” Hatter asked as Duchess turned away to lean against a nearby tree for support. ”What?”
“I was telling Alice before… you know, before, when I had to talk to her,” Duchess started to explain. “I had to leave the Palace for my own protection. Jack has been acting so strangely lately-“
“Strangely how?” Charlie asked, sounding concerned.
“Well, mood swings,” Duchess started, her brow furrowing as she tried to put into words how he’d been acting. “He’s stopped his hobbies, he’s changed his habits, he’s even been shirking some of his duties… he looks so old now, too. He looks like he’s aged about fifteen years in the last two weeks. And he’s gotten more violent,” she admitted. “That’s why I left. He started yelling at me and saying all these things--“
“What things?” Hatter asked sharply, taking in every word.
Duchess hesitated, knowing that the news wouldn’t be well received. “He talked about Alice a lot,” she finally said. “Sometimes I would almost get him to admit that he still loved her and wanted her back-“ Hatter’s face turned a violent shade of red again, but the Duchess continued hurriedly without giving him the chance to interrupt, “-but it wouldn’t sound quite right, and when I questioned him he would change his story and say he loved me, but he sounded like a different person. Like I told Alice… it’s like he’s been possessed or something, ever since the mirror broke. I locked him away, but he must have convinced one of the staff to let him out and then…” She clenched her fist. “I shouldn’t have left!” she moaned. “I should’ve stayed to keep an eye on him, but I seemed to be the only one who could tell that there was something wrong…”
“That’s why I kept getting attacked,” Hatter muttered. “He knew I was protecting her so he tried to take me out… and then when that didn’t work, he just swept in and kidnapped her!” He roared in frustration, slamming his fist futilely against the ground with a force that shook the dirt under the Duchess’ feet.
Meanwhile, Charlie’s allegiance was torn. Technically, as a Knight, was sworn to defend the King and Queen against, you know… treason, even if it was one of his closest comrades in the world and one-half of the royal family that was committing it. He shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, unsure as to whether or not he should intervene. Feeling momentarily at a loss and wishing for a distraction, any distraction, he glanced off into the forest.
A small, dark shape caught his eye. It looked to him almost like a human figure, maybe a child. He squinted into the dark shade and thought he saw, maybe, a glimmer of dirty gold.
No, he thought. It can’t be.
He blinked. She was still there. He rubbed his eyes, and still she did not disappear. He could even see a blurry hand waving in his direction, like she wanted him to come close.
“Hope?” he whispered.
An inexplicable feeling rose in his chest, catching his breath and making him feel rather light-headed. She said they’d meet again. He should have believed her.
And, forgetting entirely where he was, he left his two companions to argue amongst themselves and slipped off into the woods.
***
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