Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

GISELLE HAD NO IDEA where the child went. She had no idea where Morgana was either, and it made her chest tighten to think of the danger he could be in. She could still feel Selene and Eurion, though, she still had their names. So far, they were both still alive. She could only hope it would stay that way.
She didn't expect a brothel to have such strong security, but it was taking everything Giselle and Chalice had to hold them back and keep them from finding the others. Chalice kept some on the ground while Giselle did her best to hypnotize others, but there was only so much two people could do.
"Giselle!" someone called from behind her. She turned to see Selene holding Morgana in her arms, and her heart stuttered. Lionel was right behind them, but she was focused on her friend right now.
"Mog, are you okay?" she asked.
Selene set Morgana down and let him fall into Giselle's arms, pulling out her sword and swinging at something behind the princess's back.
Right. They were still under attack.
Giselle let Selene take care of it, though, focusing instead on Morgana. There was a ring of red around his throat, and his face was even paler than usual. "What happened to you?"
His voice came out rough, like his throat was lined with sand. "Just choked a little, I'm fine."
She examined him further before helping him get comfortable on a rock and turning to assist Selene in fighting off the guards. She didn't need to, though, as they were now all a pile on the ground.
"Excellent work, dear," she hummed. "Where's Kit and Eurion?"
She swiped her damp forehead and pointed to something over Giselle's shoulder. She turned to see the prince and the thief dragging the barely conscious harlot closer to them. Blood was running down her arm and it took  Giselle a moment to realize that she was missing a hand.
"What do we do with her?" Eurion asked, looking to Selene.
Selene bent over, leveling her gaze with the woman. She thought for a moment, considering her next words.
"She's powerful, a bit too powerful, and I can only see her using it for evil. She tried to kill a child, nearly killed a sick man, and she's spent her whole miserable life hypnotizing people out of their money."
She clutched her sword.
Kit widened his eyes. "You're not going to—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Selene plunged the sword into the woman's chest, letting her fall to the ground.
"What the hell?" Kit said. "Selene, you can't just--"
"Don't you see, Kristofer? This is a war now. We cannot give mercy to those who will threaten the wellbeing of Avalon." She sheathed her sword and picked up a lantern one of the men had been carrying. "It's her or it's Avalon, these are the choices we have to make when things like this happen."
Giselle watched with wide eyes as Selene pulled the candle from the lantern, catching fire to a bush which rested against the brothel walls. The fire spread to the wooden frames, spreading upwards and out, lighting up the night.
As soon as everyone had gotten it together, they returned to their horses and left the village as quick as they were able. Selene managed to squeeze herself onto the horse with Giselle and Lionel, it helped that they were both small, though she wasn't able to go as fast as she'd liked. Giselle reveled the feeling of Selene's sturdy arms holding her steady.
They returned to the shelter of the woods and searched for a place to stop, settling in a small clearing next to a river. They ate the food Eurion brought from Redbágh, and no one wasted any time in getting to sleep. No one except for Selene.
The knight sat in front of the stream, the bottom half of her armor still on, pulling her knees to her chest. Giselle tiptoed towards her, doing her best to make sound to she wouldn't startle her, then sat herself down on the ground next to her.
"You alright?" she asked. "You seem stressed after today."
Selene looked down at her hands. "Do you think that was wrong of me? To kill that witch?"
Giselle pondered on the thought. "Well, a human might say otherwise, but I don't think it was. You had good reason to kill her, and your intentions were for the greater good of the kingdom. Sometimes that's the kind of sacrifices we have to make in war."
The Lady chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "Is it bad that I agree more with your morals than everyone else's? I used to hate the Sídhe but... you lot are starting to make sense."
"It's not bad," she said, reaching out to take Selene's hand before she tore the skin of it to shreds. "One thing that always confused me about humans was how they thought 'good' and 'evil' were two sides of a sliding scale. But it's much more than that."
Giselle turned so she faced the knight, tilting her chin up so she could see her beautiful, pale face. "I think your heart is focused on justice. There's nothing wrong with that. But you also know how to be merciful when you have a sense of something. I don't think you defended me from the prince just because you thought I was pretty."
Selene studied her face with a furrowed brow.
"My point is that you're a good person, Selene, that your heart is in the right place. Don't think too hard about the witch because you did what you had to do for your people." She clutched her hand tighter. "If there's anyone who knows what that feeling is like, it's me."
It was silent then. Selene was still staring at her, like she was contemplating something. It was the face of a woman who was trying to convince herself to do something. Giselle knew what that something was the moment the knight leaned in.
She didn't hesitate to close the gap, letting their lips collide. Selene's lips were dry, but Giselle didn't mind. They'd been on this journey for awhile now, she didn't expect her to be perfect.
She stopped paying attention to that the moment Selene put her hands in her hair, pulling her closer and kissing her deeper. It'd been quite some time since Giselle kissed a woman, long enough that she'd forgotten how perfect it was. Men tried too hard, like they were trying to impress her, but with Selene, it was natural.
They were forced to pull away after a moment to catch their breath, and Giselle took that time to study Selene. She always thought she was beautiful, but here in the moonlight, lips wet and swollen, hair hanging down around her face, she was almost ethereal.
Selene was trying not to smile, but it forced its way to her lips anyways. "I've been trying not to do that since the first day I saw you. You've got no idea how hard that was."
"Oh, really?" Giselle's heart fluttered. "Tell me more, my dear. Flatter me."
And so she did. For hours, they shared kisses in the moonlight while Selene told her everything she loved about her, until she fell asleep in Giselle's arms while the faerie watched over her for the rest of the night.
When Selene woke up again, she wasn't nearly so panicked. Her cool blue eyes looked up to find Giselle holding her, and she settled in more.
"Good morning, Princess."
"Good morning, my dear."
The Lady pushed herself up after a moment, yawning and brushing her hair back from her face, though it fell back in its place right after. She glanced around the already busy camp before returning her gaze to Giselle.
"Do you think they saw us?"
"I'm not sure," the Seelie replied. "But would it be so bad if they did?"
"Not really, I guess. Just don't want Kit to say 'I knew it.' He and Eurion probably made a bet." Selene pushed herself up further until she was properly sitting, freeing her arm so she could tie her hair up again. She tried a few times before she decided it was good enough.
"I don't want to fight anyone today," said Selene with an exasperated sigh. "I just want to rest."
Giselle pulled her into her side so her head rested on her shoulder. "I know, dear. We'll just see what happens today, yeah?"
"Yeah."
After awhile of sitting, the girls finally stood up, getting to the business of food and preparing to move on.
"Where's our next shard?" Eurion asked, and Chalice was already pulling out the book.
"Wait." It was Kit, working on two fish he'd caught as he sat on a rock. "I was wondering if maybe we could take a quick detour."
Chalice stared at him, waiting for him to go on.
"I have someone I need to see, she's not far from here. I need to know more about my... about Lionel. Something's weird about all this."
Something was weird indeed. That much Giselle agreed on.
Before anyone else could speak, Giselle said, "I think it's a good idea. We need to know more."
She also thought it would be a great excuse to give Selene a break, but she didn't mention that part.
"Then it's settled," Chalice said, closing the book. "We'll continue to search for the shards when we're done."
The seven took a moment to eat then, and Giselle watched Kit try to talk to his son while they ate fish and berries together. It was clear he had no idea how to talk to children, and Lionel spent a lot of the time telling Kit 'I don't know what that means.' He was clueless for sure, but he had the spirit.
Then the group finally left, Giselle holding Lionel as Selene walked the horse. The others went faster, letting them fall behind, but the Seelie didn't mind it.
"So, Lionel," Selene said. Giselle was a bit surprised, the Lady didn't often make an effort to bond with the boy. "What are you thinking of this crazy adventure so far?"
"I almost got eaten by a moving tree," he told her. Giselle expected him to go on, but he didn't.
Selene must've expected it, too, but when she realized he wasn't going to say anything else, she continued. "Yeah, I remember that. So did I."
"It was awesome."
That almost made Selene stop in her tracks, but she regained her composure. "I see. Yeah, I guess it was pretty awesome, huh?"
"Do you think I'll get to see Kit fight a dragon?"
Selene laughed at this. "I don't know, do you think he could even win?"
"I think so," Lionel answered. "He's pretty cool. I think he could fight a dragon."
Giselle was almost surprised. No one really thought Kit was all that special at anything, but Lionel did. And apparently, the Gods did, too. He was the most ordinary of all of them, as ordinary as a bastard prince with a bastard of his own could be, but at least someone saw his potential.
"Yeah, I guess he is pretty cool," Selene agreed. Giselle didn't hear hesitance in her tone as she'd expected, like she really did think Kit was cool.
They started to get closer to a village, and the two horses before them stopped, right before the trees opened up.
"There's guards in this village," Kit said as he slid from his horse. He took the armor from his body, tucking it behind a tree. "Someone needs to watch our horses."
"I can," Giselle volunteered. "And Selene can help me in case we have a run-in."
Kit eyed the women, like he knew what Giselle was up to, but he accepted her offer regardless.
"Alright, thank you," he said. "Lionel, wanna come with me?"
The boy nodded and Giselle helped him off the horse, handing him off to Kit who lowered him gently to the ground.
"You ladies be safe," he told them, and led the others away. Finally, they were alone.
"What do you say we take a day off, my dear?"