The Fallen Prince: A Prince's Mistake

Fighting for Freedom

Side note, I hate assassins.

As soon as we got into the forest, Leo screamed in fear. Archie followed in pure shock. 'WHAT? Are you dying?' he screamed.

'Of course not! Why is it so dark?'

'Because we're in a forest, you dolt!' Archie replied. 'In fact, it's literally called the Forest of Hell.'

'Why are you saying that as if it's normal?'

'Because it is.'

'Oh whatever! Where are we going?'

I suddenly came to a stop, the others copying me. 'I actually... have no idea.'

From the scatter of early sunlight, I saw a judgemental expression from Archie and Leo. I looked at Archie. 'Well, we thought Huxf was Vuns. It isn't. The map was a fake so we obviously can't trust it now. So now what?'

'Erm. Good question. I guess we could go to another kingdom and see if they have information on Vuns. That map lied about the location for a reason. Either Vuns has been demolished – and no one knows – or the entirety of Highsilver has a problem with Vuns that results in the kingdom not even being on the maps of the country. I suggest we find out.'

I pulled out my map and three lanterns. After lighting each one and passing them out like lunchboxes, I held my only useful light over the ancient, misleading map. Next to Huxf, there were three kingdoms: Aoyt (which reminded me of Josh), Fidt, and Poias. 'We're going to Fidt.'

'As in "feet"?' asked Leo.

I rolled my eyes. 'If you want to remember it that way, yeah. Although, to be honest, we don't know how any of these kingdoms are pronounced. Maybe Vuns is actually pronounced "voons" or something. I dunno.'

Archie slowly rode toward me to look at the map. 'Why not Aoyt or... that one?'

'Because Pwa-Poy-Poias seems weird. Like, who names their kingdom that? And Aoyt seems mysterious. I read that it has some magical island or something. Fidt seems normal – or as normal as it can get.' I looked northwest and pointed in the direction. 'Well then, the only two people I trust, let's go and have a vacation at a kingdom we know nothing about.'

'Fun,' Archie replied.

Leo cleared his throat. 'So, you... do this often?'

'Sadly,' I replied.

'Hell, yeah,' said Archie.

We looked at each other, confused. 'Count me in, then,' said Leo.

I turned my horse into our direction. Before I knew it, were galloping through the darkness, a sudden storm erupting in the sky.

After only a few minutes, the trees slowly pushed out. Eventually, all of them thinned out and a huge field like the one where Archie almost died (a great memory) was lying in front of us. It was a plain field, the blades of grass tipped with frost. A slight breeze blew in my face, making me shiver. Above, the storm shot down booming lightning and vicious rain. Archie grabbed his tent out of his bag and hastily set it up. While he did that, me and Leo tied the horses' leashes to one of the tent poles. I grabbed some of the spare parts – four oversized poles and extra cover – and built a shelter for them. Archie got into the tent and instantly fell asleep. I walked up to Leo. 'I'll take first watch. You get some rest. I warn you, though, it won't be as comfortable as home.'

He sighed. 'Anything's better than home, Castor. I'll stay up with you. I won't be able to sleep for a while.' I nodded and sat down, my back against one of the large poles with enough cover to shelter me from the rain. Leo sat beside me. 'Can I trust you?'