Between the Veil and Crown

Arvek 6

He was left with no choice

.Crown prince he may be, he didn't have the authority to tell the soldiers stationed in the Veil what to do with only a letter without the king's seal of approval. Masitof would not listen to him. And Masitof would not allow him to send out a guard to find Selim.

The only solution was to go himself.

Arvek could place enough trust in the soldiers there that, even though he could not technically command them to find Selim and declare Lia a criminal, they would be obligated to keep him safe. As well as Selim, should he be found.

Was. As soon as he was found. Arvek could not allow any room for anything having happened to Selim just yet. Certainly Lia would give warning, wouldn't she?

As he left the castle, he checked to make sure all his straps and ties were secured. He managed to hide some food for himself from the kitchens without any of the servants noticing. He kept his footfalls as quiet as possible. He knew that as soon as he reached the stables and began readying his horse he would be found out by the stablehands, but the purpose wasn't to prevent anyone knowing for a long time- he knew that there were a handful of the castle servants who would go and wake his father to inform him. He did not want a confrontation. There had been enough delay.

It would mean leaving Cor and Veran behind, but they had not crossed any lines with their father, nor were they anyone's target. They would be fine.

The thought had barely finished forming in his mind and his foot barely hitting the ground of the stableyard when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and startled him. Instinctively, he grabbed his sword, taking deep breaths to steady himself as he tried to make out what it was that had startled him so.

Cor stepped out of the shadows. His usual deep brown curls were hidden by the hood he had pulled up, his thin frame wrapped in a traveling cloak. Seeing telltale bulges of a travel pack and sheathed sword, Arvek's heart sank.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"Coming with you," Cor answered. He lifted his pointed chin defiantly, the gray eyes that matched their father's narrowing in an expression that forcibly reminded Arvek of when he informed Masitof of his suspicion of Lia's involvement with Selim's disappearance.

"You don't even know where I am going," Arvek said dismissively. He continued on his path to the stables. Footsteps behind him told him Cor didn't take the dismissal.

"Yes, I do," Cor rebutted. "You're off to find Selim. I heard about Father not wanting to do anything about it. I figured you had a plan."

"That plan did not involve you. You need to stay here." Arvek did not stop or slow in order to continue the conversation. Instead, he picked up the pace.

Cor caught up to him and matched his pace when they were shoulder to shoulder. "I don't need to stay here," he retorted. "Anything that I have to do Veran can do."

"Veran already has enough on his plate thanks to Selim's irresponsibility. You don't need to add to it."

"He'll be fine. Besides, I've never been to the Veil."

Arvek gritted his teeth. No one in the family as far as he could recall had been to the Veil. There never was a reason to. Cor throwing that out there as a reason revealed his true motive. He stopped short, whipping around and gripping Cor's shoulder tightly. The force with which he stopped him spun Cor around so that they were face to face. "I'm not going to seek adventure, Cor!" he hissed. "I am going because Selim is in very real danger- not to sate any need to wander! Do you think of this whole thing as a joke? As an excuse?"

Cor returned his gaze steadily. It was clear he didn't have an answer prepared, but he certainly was working on one to shut Arvek up. When he couldn't come up with one fast enough, Arvek pushed him away from himself, and continued on to the stable.

To his dismay, Cor continued to follow. He tried to ignore him until he arrived at his horse's stall. He could hear cor pulling his own horse out of the stall.

"You can't come with me!" Arvek hissed. "Stay here."

"You can't make me," Cor answered simply. "I can either come with you, or we can go to the Veil separately, but together."

Arvek stared at him incredulously. Where was this defiant attitude coming from? He would have expected it from Selim, not Cor or Veran. The only exception being that Selim would make his own path instead of trying to tag along with Arvek.

"Who's there?" The gruff voice of the stablemaster cut through Arvek's thoughts. Both Arvek and Cor turned to see the tall graying man quickly making his way over to them.

"It is just us, Grant," Cor answered. "Arvek and I were headed to the Veil."

Grant stopped when he reached Arvek. His glanced from one prince, to the other, finally landing on Arvek. He didn't need to ask the question, for Arvek knew he was waiting to see if the crown prince would confirm the lesser prince's story.

Had Cor been acting normally, not only would he be in this position in the first place, but he would have felt confident enough that Cor would do nothing than pout for a little while had he made it clear to Grant that he was excluding Cor from the trip. However, Cor was being defiant, which could also mean he would try to prevent Arvek from leaving should he not have his way. Giving a look to Cor to indicate that it was not over between them, he answered Grant, "That is correct. We are off to the Veil to find Selim."

Grant furrowed his brow. "With all due respect your highness, but did not the king say that he would not handle it presently?"

"He would not," Arvek agreed. "But I have reason to believe that waiting is not a good decision for Selim's sake. We will be back as soon as we can get Selim home."

Sighing heavily, Grant said, "Far be it from me to attempt to put myself above a prince, but at least try to heed my warning: You and I both know the king will not take this well."

"I can deal with his anger," Arvek said, guiding his horse out of its stall. "I would rather deal with that than Selim's funeral." He put a note of finality in his tone so Grant would not further challenge him, or "warn him," as was Grant's way.

Grant caught the tone, and said nothing more. He helped the princes get their tack and double checked all the straps on gear. He followed them out of the stables and stood in the doorway as the brothers mounted and took off into the night.

Despite his earlier decisiveness, as the stable disappeared behind Arvek, he could not help but feel a flutter of panic.

What if he failed?