Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 42: Chapter 42

KIT'S KNEES WERE WEAK at the sound. This cry felt worse than all the others. He tried to block the cries out in the past, like he blocked out the image of his mother's corpse, but he couldn't ignore them anymore. The sound shook his core and sent him down to the snow, hand clasped over his aching chest.
Everyone else was in tears, but he was feeling the worst of it and they all saw it. This cry was for him. He wished he couldn't hear.
Chalice and Eurion were at his side, helping him cover his ears and whispering whatever words of comfort they could muster in the midst of their own turmoil.
It went on for what felt like an eternity before he was released from the banshee's hold. He looked up to find Morgana in no better shape, to his surprise. He was curled up against Giselle's chest, eyes wide and tearful. Giselle looked at Selene with a furrowed brow, like she didn't know where this reaction was coming from.
Kit didn't stand and Morgana didn't step away for a long while. He wondered what it was Morgana was feeling, and why it was he and Kit that felt the worst of the cries.
Chalice and Eurion helped Kit to his feet, his legs too shaky to do it on his own. Morgana finally stepped away, flipping his hood over his head and hiding his face. His shoulders remained slumped.
"We should get back to our walk," Kit said, dusting off his hands.
"Are you sure?" asked Selene.
"We don't have time to wait for me to feel better," he said. "Let's just go."
Chalice and Selene moved to grab Morgana again, but Giselle stepped in between them.
"It'll be okay for now. Just keep an eye on him," she told them. Kit didn't think it was a good idea to let him walk free, but he was too tired to fight it. He walked behind everyone again, this time because he didn't want them all to see him, but Morgana hung back just in front of him. Giselle knew the way, she'd lead them.
The others were several feet away from the two. Kit didn't want to talk to Morgana, but he needed an answer.
"Why did that shake you up so much?" he asked, voice tentative.
Morgana didn't say anything, and Kit settled back into silence. "Sorry."
"It reminded me of their screams," he finally said.
Kit paused, but Morgana didn't. He had to run to catch up. "Whose screams?"
"My people's. Your brother showed me a vision, but it came from my mother so I know it was true," Morgana explained. "I heard all of their screams, every last one. It felt like that, Kit."
Kit set his jaw. "You know I'd never let that happen to you, or anyone."
"Don't try to change my mind on this," Morgana said. "Until I know for sure that nothing bad will happen to them, I'll do everything I can to keep Camelot from coming back."
Kit swallowed his next words, and they were quiet until they stopped to eat. It was still awkward between the two, but the light chatter between the others was enough of a distraction, just while they were there.
They continued walking until their legs grew tired, and then they walked more. The Winter Kingdom was cold and empty and Kit felt like something would jump out any moment and get them killed. It held an eerie atmosphere, and he missed the daylight the moment it was gone.
There was no moon tonight. It was pitch dark save for Giselle's torch and the faint glow of her hair and Lionel's eyes. It was colder, too. Even Morgana was shivering.
"We have to stop," Kit said. "I can't move anymore."
Giselle agreed and they settled in a clearing with a large fire to warm them. Even with the warm flame, no one sleep alone except for Morgana. Kit wrapped Lionel up in his arms, trying to warm the boy as best we he could.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the boy, threading his fingers through his hair. It was getting long.
Lionel looked up. "About what?"
"Everything," he said. "I wasn't there for all those years. And now you're dragged into all of this and I don't know how to be a father through it all."
"I think you're cool," Lionel said.
Kit brushed the boy's hair back with a sad smile. "Thank you. I'm just... I haven't done all the dad things. I don't know you as a person, not well. We've never played catch and I've never taught you how to fish and there are just... so many things I don't know how to do. I want to be there for you, but there's so much happening and I don't know how."
Lionel nodded, then snuggled closer to Kit's chest. "You can teach me to fish tomorrow. And once we win, we can play catch, okay?"
Kit's eyes welled with tears. "That sounds fun, buddy. Let's win so we can play catch."
They were the last to fall asleep and the last to wake up. The camp wasn't bustling as it usually was. Morgana was messing with his hand, and Giselle and Selene were staring solemnly at the dying fire. Chalice and Eurion were several feet away gathering berries.
"Morning," Lionel murmured as Kit sat up, consequentially stirring the boy from his sleep.
"Morning, kiddo," he said. "Wanna learn how to fish?"
It was the first fun thing he'd done on their trip since he could remember. He taught Lionel what fish were good to eat and how to get them without scaring them away. The boy caught a decent sized fish after several tries, but when Kit offered to teach him how to prepare it, Lionel gave it a hard pass.
"You'll have to learn someday," he told him.
"I'm a kid, I don't need to learn how to gut a fish right now," Lionel said back. Kit rolled his eyes, but he was laughing.
Things were a little easier going after that. That traveled further until they reached a village as the sun settled below the horizon, small and humble but very much alive.
They were pleased to have visitors, even more pleased to be paid for an inn. They accepted honey candies and a blessing from Giselle as payment, and they slept easy that night. Most of them, at least. Kit kept an eye on Morgana between brief naps. He was surprised he never attempted to leave since he was unchained. He could leave whenever, but something was keeping him there.
He finally fell asleep for good, and when he woke up, Morgana was still there. He'd made no effort to escape even when no one was watching. He just looked tired. Which made sense, considering how often he denied a meal on their journey.
"Just some berries, Mog, come on," Giselle urged. He waved her away again.
They left the village without much of a fuss, back onto the cold, exhausting journey. Kit's feet felt like they were going to snap off if he walked any further, so they took a break in the afternoon.
"Why is it so far?" Kit asked, pressing the heel of his hand into his foot. It was killing him.
"There are a multitude of reasons why no one visits. This is one of them," Morgana said, fiddling with his hand again. It was getting stiff, Kit noticed.
"There's also the dragons, but most people don't make it far enough," Giselle said.
"Dragons?" Lionel's eyes got wide.
"They're mean dragons, sorry bud," Giselle told him with a frown. "If you bring enough gold, though, you might be able to get them to be nice."
"Great," said Kit. "Anyone have gold?"
"We used up the rest in the North," Chalice informed.
"Right. Giselle?"
The princess looked down at her belt. There was a bag of gold attached to her waist, but it was hardly enough to satisfy dragons.
"Only a little," she said. "Anyone feel well enough to fight a monster?"
Kit groaned. "Not really, but if we take a break long enough, I might."
"We're still a day away," she said. "If we rest well, maybe we'll be better off tomorrow."
And so they did. They slept all through the night and into the day. They let themselves relax before they finally got up and traveled to the palace.
It was starting to feel like the dark forest the closer they got. Chalice pointed it out just as he had the thought. They were reaching an endlessly dark, dense wood, and they followed the magic. That would lead them to the palace, they were sure.
In the distance, Kit heard a howl. It was deeper than that of a wolf, fuller, darker, louder. It almost sounded like a mountain lion, but far more sinister. It sent a shiver up his spine.
"I guess that means we're close," Kit concluded.
They weaved their way through the woods, passing through pits of boiling mud and deadly icicles and roots of trees that might be tempted to trip a traveler who was unaware. Kit had to kick several away from his ankles and lifted Lionel into the air several times before the plants had the opportunity to flip him upside down.
The howls were back, closer this time. They were nearly there, Kit could feel it in the tension filling the air.
He stopped. "Wait."
The others turned to look at him.
"Are we sure about this? Like, willing-to-risk-it-all-for-an-army-we-know-nothing-of sure?" he asked.
Morgana rolled his eyes back. "Good Lord, Kit, you've never worried about things like this before. You go charging in without a second thought, what changed?"
"What changed is that two faeries screwed me over and helped me get a whole village killed, including the children," Kit spat. "I don't want to do something that might get us tortured for eternity while our people get slaughtered because we were fools."
"We're fools, Kit, but we have to take the chance," said Giselle. "Queen Ti--the Seelie Queen can only be defeated by an army Mab leads. We need all the backup we can get or your people get slaughtered either way. If we go down, let's go down as fighters instead of runners."
Kit took a deep breath. "Alright, then. Let's--"
The next words were drowned out by the vicious howls of the dragon that broke through the trees, screaming relentlessly into their faces. Kit drew his sword without a thought, pushing Lionel behind him.
A circle of fire enclosed them as the dragon spat on the ground, flames licking at Kit's ankles. He didn't know what to say to the beast sneering at them, but he didn't think it wise to go right in and chop off its head.
"I have gold," Giselle called, tossing the miniscule bag at the monster's feet. "We would like to request an audience with the Quee--"
The dragon growled in her face, knocking her back into Selene's arms with the impact. The Lady Knight had her sword out and pointed at its throat, but her eyes were filled with fear just like everyone else's.
"Anyone know how to defeat a dragon?" Kit called. It was then he realized that Eurion was gone, only to find her in a tree above the monster's head. She jumped down, startling the creature as she landed on top of it. It whirled and whipped its head around, but he kept her balance, gripping tight to its horn.
She tied one end of an iron chain to the horn, then tossed the other side to Selene, who pulled at it. Together, they lowered the dragon's head to the ground, but no one made a move to hurt it.
"It's okay," Eurion cooed. "We're friends, we won't hurt you."
Kit was too shocked to wonder how Eurion got iron chains again, watching the dragon struggle against Selene's sheer strength. He dropped his sword and moved to pull at the chain with Selene to keep the beast from moving.
"My goodness," said a friendly voice in the distance. It didn't send a shiver of fear down Kit's spine like he thought it would, but he still froze.
A woman stepped through into the clearing, putting out the flames with a wave of her hand. Her hair was long and dark, save for a silver streak at the front, her face sharp but not intense like Rowynn's. She looked older, but not ancient like most faeries did.
"If I'd known it was that easy to restrain him, I'd have done it ages ago," she told them.
They were silent for a moment.
"Who are you all anyways and how'd you get this far into my damn forest?" she asked, eyes narrowed.
Kit cleared his throat. "Right. Um. We would like to request an audience with the Unseelie Queen."
The woman grinned and gave a chuckle. "Have I really gotten that old?" she asked. "Well, you're lookin' at old Mab herself, whaddya want?"