The Misplaced Prince[COMPLETE]

Human On Board

It was in the evening, when Kasey had almost convinced herself to forget what—or who—she had left behind, when all hell broke loose.

They were sitting on deck with the rest of the crew mates, laughing and having a late lunch. Kasey was sitting off to the side, absently staring off into space. She shook irritably her head when the brothers urged her to eat, and ignored them when they shared a meaningful look.

A young squire ran into the crowd, looking downright alarmed, drawing their attention.

"I swear it wasn't me fault!" he cried out, his face white with terror as he regarded the crew, "I don't know how it happened."

"What happened?" the captain barked.

"I don't know how—I don't know when—"

"Good God, lad, what are you jabbering about?"

The boy took a deep breath, "There is a human on board."

They all stared at him, nonplussed. They were all, after all, varying degrees of human, the faeries living in isolation within their realm since the last hundred years. Within their realm, they were the humans. And also,there a few purely human beings scattered here and there where they came from, although very rare. It was certainly nothing to be alarmed about.

Not to mention most of their hostages downstairs were, in all effects and purposes, mostly human, aside from their faint traces of suspicious magic which made them candidates for the prince.

The boy's eyes widened,"A human from the non magical realm. Someone aside from all the Princes'."

"There's only one Prince." Kasey said firmly, even as the crew members stared at each other in disbelief. The rest of the searchers shot her resentful looks.

"We'll be seeing whose real and who isn't at the Endlands, won't we?" one of them grunted.

"You're destroying the lives of all these people by bringing them along." Kasey returned, "If you had just let me demonstrate why our Prince is the real one--"

"We all have reasons to believe that our prince is the real one, girl." Another snarled. She opened her mouth.

"Leave it." Dick muttered to her, "The truth will come out soon enough. No need to waste your energy here."

She shut her mouth, sulky.

"Aren't you listening?" the squire cried out, "There's a human on board!"

Several people laughed in disbelief.

The captain glowered at him. "That's impossible,boy. I rechecked the crew before we departed." he barked.

"You missed one—" the boy started, then cowed under the captain's glare.

"Alright, then. Where is this imaginary human, boy? And so help me, if you're wasting my time—"

"I suppose you're talking about me?"

Kasey swayed slightly in shock at the familiar drawl, her breath leaving her in shock.

She whipped around, staring thunderstruck towards the deck. The tall dark haired form of Joshua was emerging from the mist, casual with his thumbs tucked in his pocket. He wore the most insolent smile on his face, and he looked so good she wanted to jump into his arms. After thinking she had seen the last of him, it was difficult to draw a breath at the painful pleasure of seeing him again. She grabbed the railing, her knuckles whitening around it.

He stopped, and she looked around, belatedly realizing at the last moment that everyone had drawn their weapons. Come the transference to their realm, human weapons weren't all they would draw.