Looking over Orcus’s shoulder, as he carried me away from the only home I had ever known, filled me with a multitude of emotions, some of which I had never experienced. Loss, hatred, anger, dismay, but most importantly of all was the feeling of failure. The failure of being unable to stop what had happened would weigh on me forever. The kingdom my father and mother had built, the people who all loved us, it had all fallen and I had no idea who was responsible. Camelot did not lack in the enemies it had made back in the time of my grandfather's rule, but this was an attack like no other. Infiltrating the castle staff? Knowing the exact location and schedule of my father’s tour? We had been betrayed, there was no other option.

We had escaped with what little provisions and supplies as we could, but how long would that last us? How long before the soldiers found the exit I had formed out of the walls of the castle town? How long was I going to let Orcus keep carrying me like some helpless child?!

“You can put me down now, I can stand on my own two feet just fine.”

Orcus quickly realized he was still carrying the prince and quickly set him down, looking a bit embarrassed at just how long he had held him like that.

“My apologies to your highness, I was unsure if your strength had returned to you just yet. It was out of line for me to ask you to exert yourself in such a way so that we may escape. I should have had a proper escape route planned in case of such a-”

“Oh would you stop it with all of that?” Zanifel quickly interrupted Orcus before his little tirade could get further out of hand.

“You got us both out of the city unharmed and unbothered, take a breather. I’m sure peace and quiet will turn out to be a luxury once they send people after us.”

Zanifel knew that people were most likely already searching for them, but having his only source of protection exhausted from carrying him around would only hinder them in the long run. Even work horses need rest between shifts after all.

“Let’s cover as much ground as we can before nightfall, find a clearing to make camp in and plan our next steps from there. Survival is priority number one right now.”

“Of course, your highness. I shall take point right away. Please follow me closely.”

The two of us traveled through the woods of Caertruim now, they surrounded Camelot as a natural barrier and had their fair share of folktales and legends. Putting stock in such legends had always seemed above me and something I would never have to worry about. How quickly everything changes once you are ripped away from all you have known and thrust out into an unknown world. Traveling these woods before had never filled me with a sense of foreboding, of a feeling of constantly being watched or followed. They had always been an escape from castle life when I was younger and more adventurous, a way to leave behind the worries and stresses of being a prince. So then why did they fill me with such paranoia now?

We traveled in silence for hours, until the last rays of sunlight fell away behind the trees, illuminating the forest with the beautiful glow of the twilight hour. The various shades of reds and oranges of the leaves almost seemed to come alive under the twilight hues. Orcus came to a stop at a small clearing with a babbling brook nearby.

“This should be a suitable camp location. The sound of the running water should help to mask any noise we make ourselves. I’ll go and start collecting some firewood if you wouldn’t mind seeing if you could forage? Making our limited provisions last as long as possible would be good preparation for however long of a journey this is.”

Oh? So he had reverted back to soldier mode? I must have been making a face at him given how he quickly started to bow and apologize for seemingly giving me orders. I didn’t feel like dealing with another slew of apologies and ‘your highness this and that’ so I gave a simple wave of my hand and went off to forage.

“Not even a day out of the city and he’s already forgetting I’m the prince? Then again, what am I the prince of anymore? A single knight who would probably throw himself from a cliff were I to give the order? What a kingdom you have, Prince Zanifel…”

All that time cataloging and studying in my mother’s garden seems to have been good for something as I returned to the clearing shortly before Orcus had with a suitable amount of berries and nuts wrapped in my travel cloak. I had expected to arrive after Orcus had, given that I could see that a fire had been started, which made it easier to find the clearing once more, but it wasn’t Orcus that had started the fire.

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In the clearing sat a short woman with a head of hair the same colour of the fire she was now tending. She looked plain enough at first but when she turned to look at me, the more pronounced features of her face came into focus. The high cheekbones and wide ruby-like eyes that gave off a glow all their own, paired with the snow white skin I had only ever associated with my mother told me everything I needed to know about this stranger.

“You’re a fae…”

Great job stupid, you stated the obvious. Could’ve asked her why she was here, who she was, but no…you saw a pretty girl and lost all sense of self.

“And you’re not the best mannered. It’s rather rude to stare for as long as you have been. If you’ve brought food, hurry and bring it over here. You’re not the only one that’s been traveling all day, not to say following the two of you was very hard.”

So I wasn’t being paranoid, we had been followed all the way from Camelot. That was a problem that would need to be discussed with Orcus once he returned.

“Your Highness! Get back!”

Right on cue.

Orcus immediately dropped the wood he had been carrying and drew his sword, rushing to stand in between Zanifel and the stranger at their camp. He had thought the prince to be the one to start the fire, not this strange looking woman.

“Leave! Or else I may be forced to take your head!”

Something hard smacked against Orcus’s head, causing him to turn and see the prince looking at him with a mix of embarrassment and disappointment.

“You fool, she’s a fae, if she had wanted to harm either of us, she would have done so already, put your damn sword away before you do something we all regret.”

These two were both idiots. She had expected as much from the larger one, he was obviously a sworn knight and had a one track mind of protecting the prince, but did the prince really think the fae as being all powerful beings? Perhaps it made sense given who his mother was but still, idiots the both of them.

“Look, if you two are done bickering like children over there, perhaps you could come and share some of the food you managed to forage while assisting me in keeping this fire alive? We can talk as we eat.”

Zanifel and Orcus both shared a look before giving in and joining the stranger at the fire. It was hard to argue on an empty stomach and they hadn’t the energy to really put up any sort of fight either way. Zanifel was the first to speak after sitting and passing out the various berries and nuts he had gathered.

“Fine then, you obviously think you know who the two of us are, so I believe it only fair for you to share who are, given that you’ve made yourself quite at home in our camp.”

The woman gave a soft chuckle and then spoke as if she were talking to a stupid child.

“This isn’t a camp, it’s a clearing that you put your meager sacks down in, did the two of you even think to pack bedding or proper tools for shelter?”

The two men looked over at the very little they were able to grab while fleeing and neither one of them had thought to prepare any sort of shelter, all they had been concerned about was escaping with their lives.

“I’ll take that as a no, so then it’s a good thing that I travel well prepared. I have an extra bedroll with me, which should serve us fine on our journey as we’ll surely be keeping watches and only have two sleeping at any one time.”

Zanifel had stood up now and was looking at the stranger like she had a spider on her face.

“Now hold on a minute here, why are you talking as if you’re now a traveling companion? We don’t know you, we don’t know your goals and we certainly don’t need to be indebted to anyone right now.”

Viiolet now stood up, she was shorter than the prince by about a foot but her stature and stance managed to make him take a step back.

“Now, you listen here, Prince of Nothing. You just lost your kingdom and people, probably your parents as well and what are you doing? Running away into the forest with no plan of survival or where you’re even going. Perhaps you shouldn’t be so quick to cut off the only good hand the world had decided to offer you?”

Orcus had begun to stand, not liking how she was talking to his prince but a lifted hand from Zanifel kept him in place.

The silence was thick and her words hung in the air, hopefully sinking in and making her point.

“Fine, so what do you propose we do?”