Rogues ➳ A Descendants Story

Chapter 2

They had almost reached the outskirts of Briarwood village when Mint stopped abruptly. The force almost caused Colette to fall forwards out of the saddle. "Woah, girl! What's wrong?" She repositioned herself in the saddle, and dropped the reins, allowing Mint to lead them to whatever caught her attention.

Colette wasn't surprised to see that it was another horse, and not just any horse – it was Outlaw. The dark brown stallion lifted his head at the of Mint's snort, and made his way over. Tied to his saddle was a sack filled with handmade arrows, roughly crafted, made of spindly twigs with poorly-aligned stone arrowheads. Colette reached forward to give Outlaw a gentle stroke on his forehead. "Hey honey, where's your owner gone?"

Outlaw seemed to scoff at the term "owner", as he – just like Mint – had a complete mind of his own. Him and his rider were more like partners than pet-and-owner.

Colette decided to dismount from Mint, leaving her with her apparent boyfriend, and made her way towards a small cluster of trees. She knew that behind them was a small clearing in the woods, which was something of a "secret spot" for Outlaw's rider. "Hey, Russ!" She called, when she caught a glimpse of him through the trees.

Russell Hood stood, bow and arrow aimed at a makeshift target. He stood loosely, almost carelessly, but it was clear from his half-squinted eyes that he was deeply focused. His messy brown hair made it obvious that he had begun practicing his archery as soon as he had woken up. His forest-green tunic was crinkled and was tied with brown laces over his lightweight white shirt. His appearance was unkempt to say the least, but that was commonplace for him.

He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the shout, and smiled quickly before he turned back to the target. He gently released the arrow with his right hand, then used the same hand to shield his eyes from the morning sun as he watched the arrow shoot forward rapidly –– bullseye. He dropped his satchel of arrows on the lush green grass and fixed the positioning of the hat that lay on top of his disheveled hair. It was his father's hat, of course; made from a sturdy, green felt. It was slightly pointed and had a gently upturned brim, decorated with a single pheasant feather, tucked jauntily into the band. It was rare to ever see him without it, as it was all he had left of his father.

"Collie, you're up early!" He chuckled as he jogged over to where she stood between two tall oak trees. He leant against the thick trunk of one of the trees, and turned his face towards her, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "What time are you leaving?"

"In an hour, actually. I just need to say goodbye to Giulia before I go. I think the school's sending a car." Colette's explanation was brief, and admittedly a little strained. It was as if something was holding on tight to the words inside her through, not permitting her to properly say goodbye to her oldest friend. She decided to change the subject to take the weight off of her situation. Russ always had a short attention span anyway. "What time did you start practicing?"

He seemed to shrug the question off, determined to stay on-topic. "So you woke up before her and Geppetto? You were up really early, huh?" His dark eyes twinkled with what Colette could only assume was suspicion. Russell was definitely the curious type, but despite being her best friend, he didn't really need to know what she got up to business-wise.

"Eh, just picking up some ingredients for an order. I wanted to get it done before school started."

"I really hope you start prioritising school over work now you got this scholarship." He fixed her hat again as he looked around at something imaginary through the trees. "You're the only one who has a shot out of all of us anyway." Colette's heart twisted a little bit, staring at his shifting eyes as he avoided hers. It was true. Out of all of the village kids, she might very well be the only one who has a "shot". A shot at education, at wealth... at an easy life. Russell was never the academic type. While she'll be living it up with the royals at Auradon High, he'll be taking on a carpentry apprenticeship, learning how to make a decent wage through his hard labour.