Prince Kiran and The Cave of Ethlone

Chapter Three- The Three Musketeers

The next day was full of walking and more walking, the crisp cold was tingling at their skin. Kiran could feel his fingers start to freeze up like icicles but to him, Theodore was warming their hearts with his unconventional humour even if they didn't understand all of his jokes. There was just a charm about him that Kiran couldn't help but appreciate deep-down, he felt finally accepted somewhere for once even if it was a completely foreign feeling.

The three of them continue their walk through the deep forest, sharing stories about their childhoods- Kiran learnt that Lena was educated in Norway about all of this magical stuff and that Teddy has a weird fear of spiders and snakes even though there hadn't been snakes in Alkirk for centuries but he was insisting that he saw one in his slumber one evening.

"I'm telling you, snakes are somewhere in this country; we just need to find where they are so we can eradicate them for good." Theodore said, his voice full of determination.

"Daddy would always tell me about snakes when I was a little but I struggled to understand if they were just fables or real stories."

"I'll make a deal with you, Theo, you can find a snake in this country and I'll make you a rich man." Kiran decided to challenge him which seemed to make Theodore even more determined to find one of them. "But right now, let's just deal with the task at hand?"

Kiran didn't know how to really have what most would call 'fun'. As a child, he would normally just wander around the castle, poking dead squirrels with sticks to see if they would magically come back to life but it never really worked for him- but at least it was somewhat educational. Teddy seemed like he had a much better childhood than the crowned Prince of Alkirk, even though Kiran had everything that his little heart desired from a young age and Dragon's Peak wasn't really well known for having riches.

"Speaking of the task at hand, do either of you even know where this bloke will be? He could be in Norway for all that we know at this point!" Teddy makes a good point but Kiran doesn't want to hear what he's talking about so he just ignores him. "I am being dead serious, mate."

"There was a note that my father gave to me on my birthday, it said that Malachi would come to kill me on the day that I turned 10 years old- he was unsuccessful, he killed my father instead. People might call it revenge but I call it returning a favour." Kiran said, determination running through his voice. He was already getting sick and tired of Teddy's constant remarks but they needed him as well. "I might have been a little nuisance for the last 10 years but nobody is going to mess with my family, they mean too much to me for me to ever let them get hurt again."

"That's a noble thought to have but remember, everyone is going to die one of these days, no matter how much you want to save them. I will be dead one day, you'll be dead one day, Teddy will be dead one day. That's what my Mummy and Daddy always said to me as a kid." Both Teddy and Kiran looked over at Lena who had an innocent look on her face but her words made the hairs stick up on Kiran's skin. "It's a morbid thing to be telling a kid my age but my parents were more into telling me the truth of what is out there in this world and I know that it's true. But since Daddy lost his life 8 years ago, I have been starting to think otherwise if everything that they told me is true or not."

Her words stung hard for Kiran, they had something to relate to one another as they were both fatherless at that point but he couldn't wonder about what happened to Lena's father so he tried to ask and she seemed happy enough to share the story of her father's demise.

"To put it in short words, he was rather clueless with the work that he did. He worked as a botanist, studying magical plants around the country but one day, he came into contact with a castor oil plant. They are deadly plants that are described like having a sword rammed through your stomach if ingested. He was desperate for food during a long hunt for a magical plant for my grandma's latest potion. They never really told me what the potion was for but they mentioned that it was something to do with your family."