Impenetrable- Sequel to Arcanum

Chapter 41: Harmony

I sat under a cherry blossom tree and stared up at the beautiful petals.
They're honestly quite rare around here. A traveller had passed by and planted it for me though.
A single petal fell off and landed by me and I stared at it. Things seemed a lot more gloomy around here now. Spruce was always coming over and telling me that Colt and his father were fighting a lot more and getting more frustrated easily. I tried to reassure Spruce that things were going to be fine, but he didn't look convinced.
I carefully picked up the petal and sighed. My parents were also sad. I'd try my very best to cheer them up but nothing would work. I feel like I've failed in a way.
"Hey." I heard a voice and I looked up to see Spruce. For a moment I thought he looked like his old self, but when I looked at him for a little longer, I realized his eyes were still dull in a way, and he looked very tired.
"Are you okay?" I asked as he sat down beside me and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"No.. I went on night patrol for the entire night because my father and Colt were arguing so loudly it kept me up." He sighed and I could feel him already falling asleep against me.
"Want to sleep at my place?" I offered, and he nodded sleepily.
I led him back to my house and I saw my parents sitting at the table, looking bored. Frustration welled up in me. Why in the world did this all turn so depressing?
No, I should be asking, why did Kaliska run away?
I closed the door to my room when Spruce laid down on my bed and curled up under the cover and I walked back to the room where my parents were. They didn't move at all or even acknowledge me.
"Alright I've had enough of this!" I exclaim and slam my hands down on the table, making them both jump in surprise and look at me.
"Father we're going to borrow a tracking crystal from the human kingdom and go search for Kaliska and drag her back here if we have to." I announced, and he shook his head.
"We've already tried tracking crystals Harmony. They don't work." He insisted and I glared harder.
"So we're just going to give up like that?! I'm sorry but I'm not going to sit around and watch everybody waste their lives away. Either you come with me or I'm going alone!" I snap, and fear clouds his red eyes.
"No, I'm not letting another daughter leave. Alone at least." He said and stood up.
"I'll come too." My mother said, and I weakly smiled.
"But somebody has to make sure nobody invades the kingdom." I explain, and she huffs.
"Cassidy has been quiet recently.." She murmurs and I nod.
"Spruce might want to come too." My dad said, and I glance at my door.
"Let's have him rest first." I said.
"What about Colt? Will he want to come?" My father asked ad he begun to prepare food for the journey.
"We could go ask." I said and helped him.
Once a couple hours passed and Spruce woke up, we set out for the human kingdom.
We found Colt in his bedroom. What I noticed is there were a lot of drawings on his desk. I took a tiny peek and frowned. They were very dark and menacing looking.
"What?" He asked as he ran a hand through his dark greasy and messy hair.
I haven't seen Colt for a while because he's been held up in the castle, but the biggest change is how he's grown thiner. His skin is pasty white now while he has dark shadows under his dull green eyes.
"We were wondering if you'd like to come on a journey with us!" I announce and smile at him.
"I'd really love to but-" he got cut off by a girl calling his name loudly and he winced.
"Excuse me..." He mumbled and walked past us and disappeared down the hallway.
Spruce sighed and shook his head in disappointment.
"Poor Colt can't sleep a moment with all the things he has to do for Horoko." He explained to us, and I frown.
"Hopefully things will brighten up around here when we bring Kaliska back." I say and take one glance back at the drawings. One was of a heart broken in two. One piece was laying on the drawn ground while the other was faded slightly. Almost like it was fading from existence.
Spruce caught my eye and smiled and kissed my hand.
"Well let's get going then." Spruce said as he picked a crystal off the shelf.
"This is going to be difficult without Colt's help. It's hard enough for him to use a crystal. Let alone, us trying." My father grumbled as he put it in his hand.
"Lucas, you're sword is magical. Isn't it the same?" Spruce asked as he looked at the bandaged sword on my father's back. He took one glance at it and shook his head.
"No I don't harvest magic power from it. It comes directly from the blade. I just swing it around. Of course, magic can sometimes feed off my emotions and make it stronger but even then that's not really using magic. When you use the crystal, the magic power is mostly entering your body and you can use it once you control it." He said.
"Well I guess we have no choice but to drag Colt with us." Spruce sighed and walked out of the room. We both glance at each other before we hear Colt's shouting be cut off. A second later when we walk into the hallway, Spruce is sprinting past us with an unconscious Colt slung over his shoulder.
"Make a run for it!" He shouted as a girl was shrieking after Spruce.
I burst out laughing and race after the prince and we make our way to our horses.
Spruce tied Colt to his horse and nodded at me, grinning. I smile and feel my heart tighten with joy. It's almost like old times when we were all so happy and carefree.
"Here can you carry this for me?" Spruce asked as he handed me a bag of crystals and Colt's bow. I nod and stash the items and we break into a gallop out of the castle, with Princess Haroko screaming after us.
"Alright, which way do you think we should head in?" I ask, and Spruce frowned.
"Maybe we should head for the area beyond the renegades." My father said, and I nodded.
We rode our horses into the renegade's territory, but sadly ran into a patrol.
"Halt!" A strong looking man said in a loud voice and narrowed his gaze at us. I glanced at Spruce who was slowly pulling his sword from his sheath but my father held up a hand.
"Don't worry, he's no trouble." My father was grinning and the other man shook his head.
"I swear every time I see you, you make me feel older Lucas." He grumbled and walked over and ruffled his hair. My jaw fell open.
"Dad who is this?" I demand, and the man looks at me shocked.
"I'm a grampa?!" He exclaimed and I raise an eyebrow and exchange looks with Spruce.
"Why didn't you tell me son?" He asks and puts my father into a headlock who complains.
"I tried to but every bloody time I tried to find you, another renegade would send me away." He said, and his father laughed loudly.
"Anyway, where are you off to?" He asked and my father escaped from the head lock.
"Beyond this territory. We're searching for someone." He explained, his voice growing serious.
"Ah I understand. Best of luck then." He said and turned away and climbed back onto his own horse.
"Maybe I'll come visit sometime." He called and rode off into the forest.
I glanced at my father who shook his head and we continued on.
About an hour later, Colt begun to shift and he finally awoke.
He looked around wearily and sleepily before he looked up at Spruce and recongnized him and anger flared in his eyes.
"What the heck is wrong with you Spruce?!" He shouted, and I giggled quietly.
"Nothing. We simply need your help." Spruce shrugged, and Colt and him argued for around five minutes until Colt realized there was no point and agreed.
We untied him and he took the tracking crystal in his hands and focused.
We all stayed silent as he begun to glow a slight orange color from the magic power, and when he opened his eyes they flashed orange for a moment before they returned to their normal green irises.
"It's telling me Kaliska is possibly in a small village in the territory beyond this one." He said and climbed onto Spruce's horse. Spruce grabbed the reins and nodded.
"Tell us where to go then." He said, handing him a compass and a map.
He quickly drew what he saw and we followed to the village. It was honestly a little small and peaceful, but held a nice quiet and calm atmosphere to it.
An old man greeted us when we rode into the village.
"Hello! We don't often get visitors! What ye be here for?" He asked in an accent I couldn't figure out.
"We're looking for a girl named Kaliska. You wouldn't know anyone with that name, right?" Colt asked in an authoritative tone, and the man rose an eyebrow.
"Indeed I do. She's a young shopkeeper." He said and pointed to the shop down the road.
"Thank you." I smiled and he waved at us as we trotted down the straight road.
We came up to the building and tied our horses before we walked in.
A lady sat at the counter and she smiled at us.
"Hello and welcome!" She greeted cheerfully.
"Is a lady called Kaliska here?" I ask, and she frowns for a moment.
"Yes would you like to see her?" She asks and I nod.
I look over at Colt as the lady disappears behind a curtain over a doorway, and I could see the desperation in his eyes.
Spruce patted his shoulder.
"It might not even be her, so don't get your hopes up." He warned him softly and I turned away to look at the things they have. I didn't have long before I heard a familiar voice.
"Harmony?" I whirled around to see Kaliska standing there looking puzzled but happy.
"Kaliska!" I smile widely and hug her and she hugs me tightly back.
"Hello Kaliska." My father hugs her too and she laughs before she looks at the two princes. Colt seemed to be frozen as he stared at her, while Spruce was very happy.
"And who may these two be?" We all froze when she said that. Colt was already frozen though but now he was even more shocked.
"Y-You don't remember us?" Spruce asked, hurt evident in his eyes. She stared quizzically at them.
"No, sorry am I supposed to?" She asked and Colt ran out of the shop without another word. He was so quick I didn't even realize he was gone until the door slammed behind him.
Kaliska looked slightly scared and Spruce looked at me.
"Uh, I'm Spruce, prince of the human kingdom. That was my brother Colt." He said awkwardly and I pulled her away for a moment when she was about to greet him.
"You seriously don't remember them?" I ask, and she nods.
"That guy that ran out was Colt! You were in love with him and even proposed to him!" I exclaim and her eyes widen with shock.
"What?! That's impossible! I've never even met him before today!" She exclaimed and I stared at her in a daze.
After a long pause when Kaliska thought about it, she glanced back at me.
"If I never met him, how did I propose to him?" She asked.
"Because you're the princess of a catori kingdom. You're princess Kaliska!" I said, and she stared at me in horror.
"I can't be! After I left home when I was old enough, I came here and started this shop here!" She said and grabbed her head, confused.
"Well I'm princess Harmony of the other catori kingdom. My father in there is King Lucas. You're mother is Queen Aiyana. There was a mix up when you were born. You had a twin but she died but somehow mother never knew you existed." I explained quickly and quietly.
"I-.." She tried to form a sentence but she was being overwhelmed.
"Let me go speak to Prince Colt about this then..." She said and walked off to see the Prince but I stopped her first.
"Leave him be for a little. He's been through a lot lately and apparently you have been too. He was forced to marry another Princess so a war didn't start between the two kingdoms and I guess you ran away and somehow lost your memory of everything besides your family." I said and she nods slowly.
"Well.. Let's try to figure this out." Kaliska said and led me back to the others.