Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

WHEN THE PRINCE FINALLY awoke, he was surrounded by everyone except for Morgana. His forehead was damp with sweat, the tips of his golden hair stuck to his skin. He was no longer in his armor, now shirtless but wrapped in Chalice's cloak.
"Kit, are you alright?"
He turned to find Selene staring down at him. She wasn't in her armor either, hair damp and hanging down for once. She looked like she'd just taken a bath, as opposed to Kit's dampness coming from sweat.
"Where's Chalice?" he asked coarsely. "Where-"
"I'm here, you're alright," Chalice hummed, brushing his hair back. They didn't seem to mind his sweat.
"You told me you wouldn't knock me out this time."
"I tried not to. I was slower, but everyone's first contact with the Gods takes a toll."
"You sweat like dog and complained every ten seconds, it was unbearable," Selene muttered.
He pushed himself into a sitting position. When he looked ahead, he saw Morgana crouched in front of a fire, but he glared and shuffled away when he noticed Kit was looking at him. "What's gotten into him?"
Selene scoffed. "You cut his leg and threw him against a tree, Kit, you could've killed him. Not to mention you tried to kidnap his best friend and then him."
He only had a faint memory of this. "Oh," was all he said.
"Well, do you remember what you saw?" It was Giselle. It seemed that, despite his attempt to arrest her earlier, she was just as interested in his vision as the rest of them.
He squeezed his eyes shut as if digging for a memory. "I was in a village I think. There were these shadows, they were starting to... to kill the people. And there was a woman, she gave me a map, and it said..."
There was a moment of quiet as he fought for the memory again.
"Well, it didn't say anything at first. Not until I told it I would do anything to... to save my people. And then it showed me... it showed me Camelot."
His words were slurring together, his head spinning. Everything felt funny.
"Morgana, knock it off," Giselle said.
Kit looked up to find the Unseelie leaning against a nearby tree, eyes glowing and fingers twirling.
"I'm just having fun, he deserves it, doesn't he?"
"He does, but now is not the time. He's got something important to say." Giselle looked back at him. "Camelot disappeared centuries ago when Arthur destroyed the sword."
"Yeah," he said, then left it at that. He managed to stand up now that Morgana wasn't messing with him, but he was still disoriented from the vision. He stumbled against several trees on his way to a bush, where he bent over and threw up everything he'd eaten in the past day. He swiped his hand across his mouth and turned back around to face the others.
"Do you know who you saw?" Chalice asked.
"You mean the lady? No idea." He slumped back against the wide tree, wrapping Chalice's cloak tighter around his shoulders.
"What did she look like?"
"Well, I couldn't really tell you. She had a crow with her, though." He shuttered at the thought of the creature on the woman's shoulder.
Chalice's eyes lit up. "I think you met the Morrigan."
If there was one thing Kit knew nothing about, it was the Gods. He was more inclined to believe in the King's church, but he supposed he couldn't deny what he saw.
"What's the Morrigan?"
"Goddess of fate and war. She's rare to see anymore, this must've been important."
Selene, Morgana, and Kit all scoffed in unison, as if none of them believed he was capable of such importance.
"So when do we start looking?" Giselle wondered. "Camelot must be important."
Kit laughed. "No. No, absolutely not. I'm not looking for some stupid magical fantasy land because some ancient Goddess told me to. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened."
"And what do you expect to do when you get home? You expect people to just welcome you back after freeing two of their prisoners and breaking at least a hundred other unforgivable rules?" Selene fixed him with a glare.
"I'll work something out with Herwerde. At the very least he can try to clear my name while I look for something to make up for this. It wouldn't be a problem if you'd just let me turn in that insufferable bastard."
He and the Unseelie shared a biting look.
"Why are you suddenly on his side, Selene? Did he or did he not try to assassinate the king you swore an oath to protect?"
"Don't tell me shit about oaths," she hissed.
"No, I've been trying to keep my oath. That's the whole reason we're in this mess, I was trying to catch this enormous prick and bring him to justice so there's one less almost-successful assassin in the world and suddenly you're all cozied up to him because your faerie princess girlfriend batted her pretty eyes at you."
"She's not my-whatever. You know what, Kit, you're delirious. I'll talk to you when you're not behaving like a bloody drunk."
"So I was right, then?" he called after her. "You know what, maybe this 'darkness' we're supposed to protect against is right here with us. Maybe it's you."
"Yeah, or maybe it's you. Go back to sleep and wake up when you've got your mind back. You're better than this, Kit."
"And you're better than siding with dirty, rotten, conniving faeries that are getting a kick out of manipulating you. You can't change everything you are for a pretty Seelie."
Selene pointed at him. "Don't tell me about changing who I am when you've not found yourself to begin with. Now go back to sleep before I knock you out myself and don't you think I won't."
Kit did as he was told, sleeping well into the afternoon before he finally returned to the land of the living, with a much sounder mind. He didn't want to even look at Selene, he didnt know if he felt more guilty or defensive. Giselle made him confused and Morgana made him want to beat a sick man, so he stuck with Chalice and Eurion. Something about the thief's casual banter was comforting.
He had a much-needed bath in the river, shaved his ever-growing stubble with his blade, and fished with Eurion. Her leg was much better now, and she could finally keep up with everyone else.
"Do you believe all this?" he asked her as he stabbed his sword into the water. Nothing came up. "About Camelot?"
Eurion shrugged. "If I'm honest, I've got no idea what Camelot is. I've heard vague stories about Arthur and Excalibur and Merlin, but I thought it was a children's tale your people never shut up about."
She stabbed her sharpened stick into the water, pulling up a large, now impaled fish with a proud grin. "Gotcha," she said. "Do you need help with yours?"
Kit stuck out his tongue. "I'll get it, any second now."
After Eurion left, it took him another ten minutes before he finally caught something, victoriously bringing it back to the camp where Selene and Eurion were already pulling theirs from the fire.
He could swear he saw Morgana laughing at him.
"So what do we do now?" Chalice asked after awhile.
"Well, I'd like to go home, but Giselle here would rather neglect her duties in Faerie for you dusty lot," Morgana grumbled.
"You're more than welcome to go home yourself," Giselle offered. "I'm not forcing you to stay."
"Yeah, but I promised I would get you back. I refuse to go back there empty-handed."
She shrugged her lithe brown shoulders, popping a berry into her mouth. "Suit yourself, then."
"I don't think Kit going home is a good idea," Selene spoke. "But I don't think we'll be able to do a lot without supplies or horses. Those royal bastards better have my mare safe at home again."
"How do we expect to get our horses from the castle?" Kit asked her with a flat look. "And there's six of us, we'll need to steal at least three."
"Did we or did we not bring one of the most talented thieves in the kingdom?" Selene replied. She shifted her gaze to Eurion. "Could you steal a royal horse or three?"
A large grin split across Eurion's face, like this was the moment she'd been waiting for the entire trip. "Just tell me who I'm stealing, Lady Selene."
Night had long since fallen when the six of them arrived at the walls of the castle. The others all hid, while Lady Selene marched right up to the castle, head high and stride confident, as though the guards were going to let her right back in.
"Lady Selene," one said. "Where've you been?"
"I've been trying to catch my troublesome nephew, Sir Jeremy. Now open the gates."
He gave her a suspicious look, but one icy glare from her and he obeyed, dropping the drawbridge and ordering his men to lift the portcullis.
She entered the castle walls then, making her way to the stables. She thought she was in the clear, until she ran into the one and only Prince Connor. Ugh.
"Lady Selena," he greeted with a judgmental brow.
"It's Selene, Your Incompetent Highness. Now, if you'll excuse me—"
"What are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for my mare, not that it's your place to question me."
"I am your Prince and the heir of Avalon."
"And I'm your aunt who has had enough of the Princes of Avalon. Now if you'll, let me through, I need to see if my horse has returned safely to the stables."
He stopped her with a hand as she walked past. If she thought Kit was annoying, Connor was worse.
"Are you referring to the horse you took to chase after your nephew?"
"Yes, in fact, I am. Let me go."
He ignored her. "How do I know you're not on his side? You're his aunt after all."
"And you're his brother, you insolent prick. I loathe him as much as I loathe you." She yanked her arm free.
"He's my half brother," he corrected.
"Good for you. Now go back to stiffly admiring your own reflection and don't touch me again."
She left him standing slack-jawed in the center of the courtyard. He could've had her executed for such behavior, but he was too much of a coward to hang a Knight of the Round Table.
She moved over to the stables, searching each stall for a certain stubborn black mare. Her heart began to sink until she reached the end and finally, she saw the mare.
"Hello, old girl," she breathed, pulling open the gates.
And then chaos erupted.
At least a dozen horses whinnied, leaping up and charging into the courtyard, scaring chickens and maids and causing a scene under the cover of the night. All that lit up the courtyard were torches, few enough that no one noticed when one 'stable hand' chased two horses away.
Selene steadied her own horse, taking cover under the darkness to escape right out the front door. They let her leave without a second thought, and she rode down to the royal church where they all planned to meet.
Eurion and Chalice rode in just as she did, stopping before the front of the church. Kit and Giselle should've been there, but only Morgana stood at the front of the church.
Selene jumped off of her horse, charging at Morgana with her sword drawn. "Where the hell is my nephew?"
He raised his hands in defense. "Calm down, woman. He's back there. Might wanna approach him carefully."
Her brows knit together, but she obediently sheathed her sword. Around the other side of the church was a graveyard, the one where Kit's mother was buried. He must've been visiting.
Everything moved in slow motion then. When she turned the corner into the cemetery, she felt her head getting hot. She wanted to vomit, and it seemed Kit already did. Giselle was behind him, rubbing his back.
Before him, hanging from a tree above her dug-up grave, stomach cut wide open, was Queen Keyondra's decaying corpse, and a frozen infant at her feet.
The world spun, and the last thing Selene saw was the starless sky above her head.