Celestine
I screamed and kicked but I knew that it was too late. Bile hit the back of my throat again and I closed my eyes, awaiting the inevitable result. Just then, I felt sharp fabric lines cutting into my skin and I screeched out loud. Strong arms wrapped around me and I swear I had never felt frailer in my life. More helpless.
The strong arms engulfed me and pulled me off the thing I'd fallen in. I opened my eyes and stared into familiar green eyes. A choking noise erupted from the back of my throat as I rushed to embrace my cousin.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I had fallen in; a fisherman's net. I knew that the ropes had cut into my flesh at some points but I was thankful and relief flooded me the minute I realized that Aiden hadn't meant to kill me. The people holding the net braced themselves for impact as a figure collapsed into it. Long black hair whipped away as I noticed who it was.
"Kendal?" I exclaimed. I was bewildered.
What was going on?
Kendal quickly scrambled off the net and hopped beside me. She was on her toes; alert and impatient as she gazed up at the balcony. I followed her gaze and a gasp escaped me. Ramah lunged off the balcony, only to land into the net too. The minute he jumped out of it, he drew his sword. I visibly shrunk back as Kendal and Karthur did the same. Karthur roughly grabbed my arm and pulled me to his side. The people holding the net sprinted away and disappeared into tents.
"Come!" Kendal hissed and I whipped my head to look at her. She was sprinting towards the forest. We took off after her.
"What's going on?" I asked as I followed the three warriors in their run.
"Later," Karthur said sternly and I knew better than to ask questions.
The woods were dark and it was impossible to see where we were headed. I blindly followed Karthur, who led us to a clearing in the woods. There was a pit there around which were rocks and unlit sconces. It was almost as if someone had lit a fire here- recently.
Karthur dropped to his knees and lifted one of the rocks. Kendal picked something from the ground. After I heard a clicking sound, I realized what she was doing. The flintstones in her hands sparked and she slowly built a fire. Ramah, who had been collecting sconces from the ground, went ahead to light them using the fire that Kendal had lit, while she rushed to help Karthur. I closely watched, feeling more and more useless with every breath I took. Karthur and Kendal pulled out a large, brown sack and opened it under the light of one of the sconces that Ramah held. Ramah passed me two of the four lit sconces he held. I held them firmly, wanting to help in any way that I could.
Karthur pulled out four more sheathed swords from the bag handing Kendal, Ramah and me one each. He swung the sack over his shoulders.
"Let's move," he murmured. We sprinted through the woods. Soon, we slowed down.
"Ramah," Karthur started. "Lead the way."Ramah nodded once and took the lead.
"What's going on?" I tried asking again once silence dawned upon us once more.
"We're escaping," Kendal explained curtly.
"Wh-what? How?" I fumbled. I didn't even know what to ask at this point.
"Walk fast," Karthur snapped at me. I tried to pick up my pace.
"We are escaping," Karthur said. "We're going to Hudson."
I froze in my tracks.
"H-Hudson?" I gasped.
"Fucking move!" Karthur hissed at me. I ran ahead to match their pace.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you right now," Karthur sighed. I kept quiet and waited. My heels couldn't take more of the walking. I slipped out of my heels and held them in my hands. It must've been an hour or so until we slowed our pace. We were still in the forest but Ramah looked as though he knew where he was going. Suddenly, he stopped. My feet were aching and I felt my eyes watering as I reached down to feel my blistered feet. If at all I did get out of this alive, I was going to train under Karthur to be a warrior.
When we were younger, most of the kids of the royals and nobles received an opportunity to either train in the combat field or the administrative field, along with basic education. Being a princess, my parents had urged me to take up the administrative system. I was too young to realize what I wanted. Karthur, however, had chosen combat and had earned his place in Satian as a warrior- among other things. I felt he could be an ideal man for a woman if he gave up his whoring ways. He was perfect in every other aspect. However, the fact that he did lie around with every woman he set eyes on ruined that.
Kendal collapsed on the floor, rubbing her feet with her hands. Karthur looked at Kendal with what I deemed was pity in his eyes.
"We should rest," Karthur finally said. I plopped onto the floor too. I looked at my hurting foot and pulled out a large needle-like thorn from it. I hissed as cold air hit and touched my wound. I found Kendal looking at my foot with a dark expression. I wanted to ask the others about what the hell was going on but my lips were far too dry to even open. I could feel every inch of my dry throat. I finally managed to find my words.
"Water," I croaked out. Karthur looked at me and his brows shot up in realization. He quickly reached into the sack over his shoulder and tossed me a water skin. I gulped hungrily before realizing that I should've saved it for someone else. I looked up guiltily only to find that Karthur was handing everyone else water skins too. This was elaborately planned, I realized. Planned.
"What is going on?" I asked for the umpteenth time. Karthur sighed and he and Ramah sat on the grass beside us too. The faint rays of the sun had started seeping through the leaves overhead and I suddenly understood that we'd been walking all night. No wonder my feet were so sore.
"Aiden suggested that we help you escape," Karthur started. My heart stopped.
Aiden did what?
"Aiden...helped?" I asked, not believing what was coming out of my mouth.
"Yes," Karthur snorted as if he couldn't believe the fact either.
"Why?" I asked more myself than the others but it was Kendal who answered my question.
"He's not a bad person, you know," she sighed. She stared at the leaves above and something shone in her eyes. I felt my gut clench for some odd reason. "Whatever he does, it's usually for a reason," Kendal explained.
She shook her head and snapped out of her reverie. "I'll keep a watch. I'll be around."She got up and left, leaves crunching under her footfall.
Karthur proceeded to explain everything to me. He told me about how he had met Aiden and how they'd struck a deal. He told me about how they had intricately planned every detail of my escape until the very day. He told me about how Aiden had let go of his best friend and one of his trusted guards for me. He told me how Aiden had slipped Tugaru into my water to make me sick and how he had managed to avert the Kythians from the forest. I was dumbfounded as I listened carefully to every word Karthur said. I replayed it in my head to make sure I had heard everything correctly. He finally finished and I shook my head. I looked at Ramah guiltily.
"I-I'm so sorry you had to do it-," I started but Ramah cut me off with a death glare. I almost flinched. This man had been nothing but nice to me my entire while in Kythia.
"Don't say such a thing," he snapped. "What was done to you was unjust and wrong. I always stand by right and just."
I blinked away guilty tears. My eyes hunted for Kendal but she was nowhere in sight. I looked back to Ramah.
"How come you know NoMan's Land so well?" I asked curiously. He had been carefully navigating through the entire forest at night which meant that it was likely that he knew this place like the back of his hand.
"I am from here, Princess," he said quietly. I knew not to push the topic further based on his distant expression. Maybe it was a story for another time.
We sat in comfortable silence. Kendal arrived soon after and sat with us. She wasn't looking at me and that just made me feel even guiltier. It was my fault she had gotten dragged into this mess. I wasn't going to apologize to her because she didn't seem like the kind to accept apologies easily but after a few moments, I decided that I didn't care.
"Kendal-," I started but she held a hand at me, a frown creasing her forehead.
"Wha-," I started when she cut me off.
"Sh," she simply hissed and stood up slowly. She looked like she was straining to hear something.
"Karthur? Do you hear that?" she whispered as she unsheathed her sword slowly. Karthur frowned and then I heard something too.
"Footfall," I murmured cautiously. We all were at our feet, ready to lunge at the intruder. A figure closed in on us and Kendal lunged forward first. I saw a flash of royal Kythian blue and my knees staggered.
"Kendal?" the man said.
"Aiden?" Kendal asked as if she couldn't believe who was in front of her. Her eyes watered visibly and she suddenly slapped him hard against the cheek. Aiden staggered back against the force of the blow, holding his cheek like that was the last thing he had expected.
To be honest, he looked like death. His hair was unruly and unkempt. He had bags under his eyes, probably just like the rest of us and his jacket had been discarded. He only wore his white shirt and blue trousers now. However, despite the obvious changes to his appearance, his eyes held a spark that I was sure I hadn't seen before. They held passion, lust and thirst for adventure. I gazed at him in wonder.
"Jackass!"
Kendal's angry voice brought me back to my senses. I hadn't been sure that the girl was even capable of being angry. She attempted to slap him across the face again when he caught her hand roughly and shoved it to the side.
"I was unprepared, love," he hissed. "You won't catch me unguarded again."
"You reptile! You vile creature!" Kendal screeched at the top of her lungs. I winced and resisted the urge to cover my ears. Her golden eyes seemed to go all kinds of crazy shades of red." I walked a bloody forest with the Princess for you and you had to follow? Do you know what they will do to you?" she hollered. "And what the hell makes you think that your father is not going to kill you once you return to Kythia, huh?"
There was a silence when Aiden gauged Kendal as if she was an animal ready to take another strike.
"Kendal," he slowly started. "I'm not leaving."
Kendal's mouth dropped open and I was pretty sure everyone mirrored her reaction as we stared at Aiden.
"Y-you're not going back to Kythia?" I finally asked. Aiden didn't look at me as he shook his head.
"I'm coming with you," he said in a deep voice.
"What makes you think Hudson will accept the Crown Prince of Kythia into his lair?" Karthur asked, bewildered.
"I'll do something," Aiden said softly. His voice was reassuring but it still didn't explain why he had decided to stay.
"But why did you decide to leave in the first place?" I asked quietly. Aiden still hadn't looked at me.
"I couldn't just leave Kendal and Ramah alone with you two," Aiden said. "I don't trust Satian enough to risk two of my closest comrades for their sake. I am here to make sure they survive."
"But then why did you help me escape in the first place?" I asked curiously. He finally looked at me, the blue in his eyes carrying a foreign emotion which I couldn't place and by the looks of him, neither could he.
"Whatever you went through wasn't fair, Celestine," he explained. "War is noble. I want Kythia to remain noble. It doesn't matter whether Satian is or not."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Karthur asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Aiden glared at him.
"Let's face it- Satian has Hudson. I'm assuming Hudson isn't a very noble way of war, is it?" Aiden snapped.
It was my turn to defend my country. "And before you go about speaking rubbish about our country's nobility, maybe you should brush up on your history. It was the Kythian King who poisoned Satian's Queen wasn't it?"Aiden remained silent but refused to bat an eye as he met my gaze head-on.
"And before you go about praising your country, make sure that you aren't the only one loyal to it," Karthur barked.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Aiden asked angrily. "Are you saying that Kythians aren't loyal to their country?"Karthur remained silent and Aiden let out a low laugh.
"As if," he snorted and walked on ahead of us.
"Ramah," he barked. "Lead the way." Ramah nodded obediently and lead the way. Karthur followed close behind them and Kendal and I walked behind the lot. I heard Kendal giving out a low, frustrated huff.
"How did you know where to find us?" Karthur asked Aiden.
"Tracks," Aiden simply replied. We walked for a minute and a half when we heard a branch crack behind us. All of us jumped out of our skins and whirled around with our swords drawn out. A lanky, blue-eyed boy with black curls stood in front of us.
"What the hell?" Aiden bellowed. Odin smiled a nervous smile and I had the sudden urge to laugh. We heard another crack and Odin jumped. When he did, we rushed into a defensive stance again, only to see a frail red-haired girl standing behind Odin.
"Courage?!" Kendal exclaimed.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" Aiden asked through gritted teeth.
"I don't know about her," Odin said, pointing at Courage. "But I couldn't stay, Aiden. Not without you there. Surely you understand." Aiden's gaze softened and he nodded. I wondered what he had meant by that.
"But Odin, this is dangerous," he warned. Odin simply nodded in understanding but the firm stance on his shoulders said that he was going nowhere any time soon.
"How did you get here?" I asked. Odin looked at me with a glint of mischief in his eyes.
"Followed Aiden," he simply said. All gazes landed on a blushing Courage.
"What about you?" Aiden asked her. His eyes showed that he loved her. Not in a romantic way but almost like a little sister. I frowned. But wasn't she his prostitute?
"I-I couldn't be the only one left behind," she stammered.
"And how did you get here?" Kendal asked.
"Followed Odin," she murmured. I raised my eyebrows. This was crazy.
"Great. We might as well start a Kythian zoo," Karthur sighed and started marching behind Ramah. I stifled a laugh and was almost certain that Kendal did the same. We all walked behind Ramah until we saw the faint outline of the Sea. I looked at the others. They all looked bored, weary and tired. I decided to lighten up the mood and said something that I remembered saying ever since I was a child.
"Last one to the beach is a rotten egg," I giggled and took off faster than a rabbit. I heard Karthur bark a laugh behind me. I was still in my red dress so it was hard to run but I still managed it. Soon, everyone was in on it. Everyone, that is, except Aiden who took his sweet time. The first one to reach the shore was Kendal, followed by Odin. Courage and I arrived next and Karthur arrived last. Well- next to last. But it wasn't a problem since Aiden's strides were long and he reached the beach not soon after us.
"You are terrible at running," I laughed at Karthur but he just shrugged with a lazy grin on his face.
"Running is for people who run away. I was born to stay and fight," he laughed. I put on a grin but something pinched me inside. I wish I knew how to fight. There were a few huts on the side of the beach. They were frail and built out of mud and straw. The sand was pleasantly warm between my toes and I resisted the urge to sigh. It only took me a whole night of running barefoot through a forest to realize the worth of the soft sand beneath my toes. I spotted a vessel approaching us through the Seas.
"What is that?" I asked Karthur who was smiling widely.
"That," he said, "is our ride to Hudson."
The ship approached slowly. When it dropped anchor, I realized that there were Kythian soldiers atop it. My blood caramelized and my heart pounded in dangerous rhythms.
Was this it? A whole night of struggle, only to be caught?
Karthur noticed my reaction.
"They are Satian's soldiers," he said calmly. "They are just dressed in Kythian colours."
My mouth formed an O and I followed the others around me aboard the ship. It wasn't a big ship. It was smaller than the one I had arrived at NoMan's land in. Almost the size that had been used to capture me and bring me to Kythia. We all stood by the rails as the ship turned and started sailing off into the blue.
"Who's Hudson?" Kendal asked. It seemed weird to hear that question again. The last time I heard that question, I was being tortured by Aiden. I still felt a shiver riding up my spine as she asked it.
"Not who, Kendal," I corrected. "What is Hudson."
She looked at me confused. I merely winked at her. After twenty minutes of sailing into the Kraken Seas, Aiden's body jolted in surprise. His eyes turned hard as he faced Karthur.
"Why the fuck are we sailing towards Kythia?" he barked.
"Do you remember what I said earlier in the woods?" Karthur asked with a smug expression.
"You said a lot of things," Aiden hissed. "Sorry if I didn't make a bloody list. I didn't do all this work just to go back to Kythia again." At this point, I was smiling too.
"What's so funny?" Kendal snapped at Karthur and me.
"Remember when I told you to make sure that all Kythians were loyal to your country before preaching about nobility?" Karthur asked. Aiden's eyes widened.
"W-what are you saying?" Kendal stammered.
"Hudson," I concluded, "is in Kythia."
A/N
This is to all my readers...I love you.
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Yours truly,
Sia