The King's Remorse

Cool! Two Moms Now!

I scan our surroundings, looking and listening for anything unusual. Brook moves to keep Clap between her and the trunk of the tree. Her ears swivel and her nose twitches. "What's going on?" Clap cranes her neck and places her chin on Brook's foreleg to gaze curiously at her.

"It's alright. Someone's out there and I'm trying to find them. Please, stay quiet." Clap nods in reply.

The snake slithers forward in my mind as I strain to catch anything. Black veins fall from my eyes as the snake's presence grows. It begins to take over, but I hold it back. Dust thrums with energy at my feet, ready to follow what I say.

A flash of color through a break in the trees catches my attention. "There." I point over Brook's shoulder.

"Don't make any noise. Let's see if they'll miss us." Miss a giant blue unicorn? Let's hope so. Dust rattles around me, swirling at my ankles, when the crashing footsteps grow louder. My muscles tense and my fingers curl around the sword buckled at my hip. Moments seem to stretch into hours as I keep my eyes locked onto the direction the footsteps are coming from.

"Freedom?" The creature draws closer, and I immediately recognize her from when I'd run into her before. Her lion's mane is matted and a few of the feathers on her rainbow wings are missing. Chunks of flesh still hang from her frame.

"Oh, my god," she murmurs, drawing closer. Her black eyes are fixated on Clap.

"F-Freedom?" Brook's voice cracks and her mouth hangs open. Her head is pulled back, ears drawing toward the sides of her head.

"Is that you, Clap?" Freedom takes a few tentative steps forward.

"Wh-who a-a-are you?" Clap's nose wrinkles as she tilts her head to the side.

"I'm Freedom."

"Who i-is she?" Clap whispers her question, looking up at Brook.

"She's... she...," Brook trails off.

"I'm your mom," Freedom finishes. Clap looks between the 2 several times, curling her lip as her tail drops to the ground and her ears draw back.

"Wh-what? N-no! My mom... S-sh-sh-she's-she's dead. That's why Brook's my mom. She's dead, she's dead, sh-she's dead. Y-you're n-not her. You're lying. Yes, you-you're lying. She's dead." Clap's flanks shudder, and she paces in circles.

"Come with me, Clap. Let's talk for a moment," Brook says after sending an apologetic look toward Freedom, who only nods. The 2 of them walk away, and Brook murmurs something in Clap's ear.

They stop once they're out of earshot and continue their conversation.

Freedom staggers over to me, stumbling a few times. 1 of her wings snaps outward to keep her from falling. "What are you 3 doing out here?"

"We're, uh. We're keeping a necklace away from the King."

"You need Clap to do that?"

"Yeah, she's the only 1 who can outrun anything that could be done to try to capture it."

"So she's fast." Freedom chuckles to herself.

"She can break the speed of sound. Ask her though; I don't know too much about it."

"I wish I could've been there," Freedom says, ears drooping.

"I'm sorry." I shift on my feet, rotating my ankle and letting it crack.

"Don't be. You had nothing to do with it."

"I'm a Soldier. Was a Soldier? I don't know."

"You're not Bryant."