Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

THE GROUND RUMBLED WITH the pounding of hooves and feet as the knights cut through the trees of the dense forest. They made no effort to be silent until they reached the deepest corners of the woods, where the trees were the thickest and the magic was the strongest.
They tied their horses, lighting torches as they waded through tall grass and ducked beneath vines and avoided swarms of fireflies. The magic was almost tangible there. It left some dizzy, while others had a higher tolerance and pressed on.
"There," Lord Herwarde whispered. He motioned for a small clearing. Right in the center was a ring of fungus.
Lord Herwerde was the strongest and the wisest. Naturally, he took the step into the ring.
For a long time, nothing happened.
"This one's a dud," he said, moving to leave. But just as he lifted his foot from the ring, he was stopped by a sweet voice.
"You're supposed to put both feet in," she said. "You're looking for Faerie, aren't you?"
"We're looking for a faery," he corrected pointedly.
"Well, you found one."
Herwerde looked between his comrades. "And who might you be?"
"I'm a faery, did I not say as much?"
He sighed. Pressing would be no use, but she was his only choice. "Now," he ordered.
The small woman hardly made a fuss as she was apprehended by several guards. The strangest part, however, was her kind smile, as though she knew with certainty that she would be okay. As though she had a plan.
Lady Selene had business to attend to. She had no time to follow her dimwitted nephew and his strange new companions into the woods at night, but she had no other choice. She didn't trust anyone else not to kill him on sight and she had to admit, she was curious about that druid.
The moon was at its highest, lighting up the ground as she sped through the woods on her mare. They would be at the exit of the tunnel any minute now, and Selene had no other option but to cut them off at the exit if she had any hope of apprehending them.
It was fascinating how this boy could make her so angry that she longed for her husbands mild incompetence. At least Conan knew not to run right to the face to the Unseelie who nearly succeeded in assassination. Unfortunately.
She'd figured out what the three were up to when she went to check on the thief. When she noticed her absence, a guard had told her the prince had business with her. It was bullshit, but she knew why the guards believed it. No one disobeyed a Knight of the Round Table, even if he was the most disgraceful prince the kingdom had ever seen. The only reason he was even recognized as a prince was because of her late sister's persuasion.
She missed her sister often, though they didn't know each other well. Keyondra was a decade older than Selene, they were never on the same page. But Selene saw everything about her that she loved—and hated—in that frustrating, golden-haired bastard she was chasing through the woods.
She told herself this was about discipline, but she knew the truth. She was worried for him.
"Gotcha," she whispered as she neared the exit of the tunnel. The druid was in need of a hood if they wished to properly hide in the future. Selene had the same problem with her own moonlit hair, curse her mother's northern genes.
She let out a curse when she realized just how far she really was from them. There was no way to cut them off, but if she was smart, she could catch up to them.
For now, she watched them from afar. The thief was limping more severely now, blood trickling behind her and leaving a trail. Selene shoved down the guilt forming a hot fire in her chest for her treatment of the woman earlier.
Just as she was catching up, her mare stopped abruptly, letting out a dissatisfied huff. She was tired, and she wouldn't go any further until she felt rested again.
"You stupid beast," Selene groaned, sliding off the horse's back. "Fine. You stubborn creature, I'll do it myself."
She tied the mare to a tree and walked silently after them, as silent as one could be in a full suit of armor up to her neck. She kept them in her sights, watching as they searched for something.
The three seemed to keep quiet, other than the the rather talkative thief chiming in every once in awhile, but she was too far to hear what she was saying. Selene thought she was a bit of a weak link, leaving a trail of blood, likely unable to run and talking loud enough to alert anyone—or anything, for that matter—who might be in the mood to hurt them.
They only went deeper into the forest, until the beaten trail narrowed and they had to make one up themselves. Selene was gaining on them, but she didn't want to jump in yet.
This part of the forest was dangerous, everyone knew it. The trees were thick and twisted themselves into knots, leaves were big and grass was tall and some mushrooms grew to her waist. Magic was strong here; it was an entrance to Faerie.
Fireflies buzzed around Selene's face and illuminated the ground, and she tried not to focus on the danger she was in, and instead the danger her nephew had gotten himself into.
She was getting ever closer, but something didn't feel right. She was less focused on bringing them home now and more interested in protecting them. She didn't trust these three amateurs to do it themselves.
Her instincts must've been right. For as the three broke through into a clearing, Kit stumbled into a ring of fungus, and a dark energy filled the forest.
Selene didn't even have to think. She jumped into the clearing and tackled the man to the ground, pointing her blade at his throat.
"What do you want with my nephew?" she demanded.
The man chuckled. His hair was curly and brown, face soft and gleeful. He had vines curled around his ear like jewelry and rings on his fingers.
"Selene," Kit called, but she didn't dare take her eyes off of this man.
"Did you try to kill the King?" she barked. "Or—"
She felt a rough pair of hands on her shoulders, latching onto the folds of her armor and pulling her to her feet.
"Selene, he's a Seelie," Kit said, which only made her relax a little. Seelie or Unseelie, he was a faery and that made him dangerous. She kept clutching her sword and fixed the man with a deadly look.
It was the thief who spoke this time. "He's actually the man I made a deal with, that's why we're here."
The Seelie rose to his feet, brushing himself off like nothing happened.
"Right," he said. "So, have you got my book? Your leg looks to be a day away from falling off."
Eurion rolled her eyes and reached for something in the bag she'd carried. It was an ordinary book, as plain as it could be. "Here," she said. "Now unbind me."
The Seelie took the book with tender hands, sifting through the pages to check it. He seemed satisfied, and with a snap of his fingers the ribbons were gone.
Eurion let out a sound somewhere between pain and relief. It must've been nice to relieve the pressure, but she still had the wound.
"Hey, can you—" When they all looked up to find the faery, he was gone.
Selene let out a sigh of relief.
"Excellent, now let's go back to the castle before your father finds out and you get replaced," Selene ordered.
Kit gulped. She knew how protective he was of his place at the round table, so she thought she might've gotten to him. But shockingly, she was wrong.
"No," he said. "I can't go with you. I want to be the one to find that assassin, I'm the only one with a real clue and I don't want anyone else to catch him."
Selene rolled her eyes, not bothering to question this 'clue' of his. "You know, Kit, you say you want to please your father but all of your efforts involve breaking the very rules he tries to enforce. If you want him to like you, you should just do what he says."
"But it doesn't work, I've tried! I know he'll be mad at me at first but I'm certain once I catch this assassin, he'll change."
"You always say that. 'Once I do this, he'll like me.' And he never does. He only sees the rules you break and that's all he'll ever see. That's all he wants to see."
She knew the King's treatment of him was unfair. But she didn't want Kit to get himself killed trying to change something that will never even bend.
Kit clenched his jaw. "You're wrong, Selene. I know this'll change his mind, I just have to catch this assassin and bring him to justice and he'll see. He'll see I'm worthy of my title."
Selene pinched the bridge of her nose. He got this stubbornness from his mother, but the one thing he had that she didn't was the desperate need for approval. Keyondra didn't care what anyone thought of her, but Kit centered his whole life around it. Every important thing he'd ever done was for the King, a man who would never love him no matter how hard he tried.
She knew she wouldn't convince him to come back home, though. The best she could do was make sure he didn't get himself killed trying to capture a dangerous faery.
"Fine," she gritted with a sour look. "I won't make you go back home. But I'm staying with you, to make sure you don't do anything stupid."
"I'm not an idiot, Selene. I can handle myself."
"Kristofer, I love you like a little brother, but you are genuinely the stupidest person I have ever had the displeasure of knowing."
He looked away with gritted teeth. "You say you love me but you insult me every chance you get."
"Actually I mostly just ignore you, if I truly insulted you every chance I got everyone would think I loved my husband." She scoffed. "Trust me, Kit. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't be here."
She'd totally forgotten about the other two in the midst of her little family feud, but was brought back to reality when the druid cleared their throat.
"We need to get moving," they said.
"Right." Kit ran a hand over his face as if to clear away the expression of wanting to cry, marching along the river that cut through the clearing.
Selene trailed behind the three of them, though this time as less of a stalker and more to protect them, walking along the mossy floor and avoiding anything that might even resemble a mushroom ring.
As they went further and as the sky was starting to lighten again, Selene felt that dark feeling in her chest once more. She thought nothing of it at first, assuming it to be the thick magic of the woods. But as they went further, the feeling got stronger, deeper, even more fearful than the energy which the Seelie had radiated.
Selene didn't like this one bit, but Kit kept marching on, determined to find this assassin. Even if he was Unseelie.
All she had left to hope for was that this man was from the Autumn court. They were the kinder of the Unseelie, if 'kind' could even be used to refer to them. But the Winter court was the darkest of the Fair Folk, with cold hearts and a frozen disposition. They were not the type to change their minds, no matter what circumstances arose.
She could think of two certain men like that.
The dark feeling now came with a chill, and Selene raised her sword. She turned and started walking backwards, keeping an eye out for what was surely coming for them.
She jumped as her back collided with someone else's, and she turned to find that the three had stopped in their tracks.
And before them stood the palest man she'd ever seen.