Royal

Doesn't Mean We Have to Die

The carriage carries us far fast. The city disappears in the distance as we ride down the road. "So where is your lover boy?" Brendon asks after a long while. A lazy breeze blows across the fields as the sun begins to set the golden hues casting rays of sunshine across us both.

"I don't know," I whisper my throat feels tight and I nearly cough, the fear of not knowing where Pete is, is eating me alive slowly. I look over at Brendon and at that moment he looks so young in the oversized outfit with his hair in a tussle. I look back down at my own hands stained with blood. 

"Well, where should we start? I didn't see any other caravans or horses enter the city gates behind you, otherwise, we wouldn't have left, I heard what you said about him." Brendon looks away when I go to meet his eyes. 

"Brendon..." I whisper and he sighs.

"No Patrick, it was wrong of me to say what I did, I caused a lot of this pain. Hell, I almost didn't make it out of those castle walls alive. Patrick, I did have feelings beyond our friendship, but being away from you for so long, not knowing if you were dead or alive made me realize you are the best friend I ever had. I don't need anything more than your friendship, that is all I ever needed." He gives me a soft smile, which I return.

"Thank you, I am glad to have my best friend back again. But you should know that to me you are more than that you are my brother." I squeeze his knee as we bounce along the road. A smile graces his face as he looks at me. "Perhaps we should find somewhere to stop for the night let the horses rest and ditch this carriage, it is just slowing us down. The place where I last saw Pete cannot be reached with a carriage."

"How exactly will we find him? The forest is a pretty big place, Patrick." Brendon fixes his big brown eyes on me concern filling them. I sigh and look out into the sunset. 

"The only thing we can do is to try again from the very start, the exit of the secret tunnel from the castle, then work out way through the forest and hope we find him there." We continue to ride and then Brendon guides the horses off the road and toward the treeline, the wheels of the carriage bouncing on the wildly uneven ground, when we get into the trees Brendon halts the horses and hops off the carriage.

"You should check and see if there is anything inside the carriage we may need. The castle is quite the distance from here it could be awhile until we can come across more supplies." I nod and hop off the tall bench almost toppling off. I walk and open the door to the carriage,  not much is inside, the sack that was over top of my head on the ride over, I grab that and make my way to the trunk on the back of the carriage and pull that open. I smile when inside are a few days rations and blankets as well. I pile them into the bags inside the trunk as well. As we don't have any saddle bags Brendon and I will have to wear all of it on our backs, or perhaps fasten them to a rope to drape them over the horses back. 

I begin to walk the items over to the front of the carriage placing them on the ground next to the horses while Brendon works on unfastening them from the carriage. His nimble fingers making quick work of all the straps and buckles. 

I finish bringing the things out of the trunk just as Brendon begins to tie some of the bags together with pieces of the straps from the carriage. holding them up to the horses and adjusting the lengths as necessary. The sunlight is barely there, and the forest is turning into a pitch black haze of branches. 

"Should we light a fire?" I ask and almost jump at how loud my voice sounds in the stillness of the night. 

"I don't believe we have any flint, we could sleep in the carriage for warmth tonight.I am sure people from the town are hot on our tails by now so as soon as light breaks we ride." I nod and rub my arms trying to rub some warmth into my chilled bones. Brendon leads the horses over to the closest tree and ties them to it. Then slings the bags, and their new straps over one shoulder and opens the carriage door. "After you your highness." He jokes and I smile at him, just like Brendon trying to make light of the story. 

As I lay shivering under the thin blanket on the carriage bench I think about Peter, how cold and alone he must be out in the woods. I hope he is not lost stumbling around in the dark unable to sleep. The thoughts keep me up the entire night as Brendon lays deep in slumber on the bench across from me, his long limbs tucked up into himself to fit, his executioner disguise discarded on the ground of the carriage. When the early morning light begins to trickle into the windows of the carriage I sit up and begin to fold the blanket I lay with. I throw it onto my shoulders as the air still holds its cold nip in the early morning. I look over at Brendon and decide I can take the bags out and prep the horses before waking him. 

I open the carriage door and jump out dragging the bags, a lot heavier then they appear over to the horses. I sling four bags on the first and six on the other. For the horses, this weight will be next to nothing compared to the weight of the carriage. I go back and wake Brendon and soon we ride swiftly through the forest.

Finally, around midday, we find the stream and begin to follow it up toward the secret entrance of the castle being careful to remain hidden just behind the trees to avoid detection as soon as I see it we turn and ride into the forest following the trail Pete and I followed just a few days prior. As we ride through the clearing I cannot help but to glance at the tall grass and feel a pang in my stomach.

"Peter, you better be safe," I mumble to myself as we continue. When we reach the spot Pete and I got separated when he so foolishly ran right toward the men hunting us I slow my horse and Brendon follows suit. We continue at a slower pace I am careful piecing the scenery together is hard as most of the trees look so alike. For a minute I worry that I have lead us in the wrong direction but then I see it. 

The tree that I had climbed to try and see what they were doing to Pete I turn the horse toward it so fast they huff in annoyment as we sprint over to the spot. I burst into the small clearing my breath stops when I see the blood-stained grass but no Peter.

"Peter!" I scream, "Pete! Pete!" I scream desperately but it just echoes into the forest around me. Brendon finally catches up his eyes scan the forest with unease. 

"Patrick silence your tone, we do not know who else could be hiding in these woods." 

"Brendon he is not here." I look at him my voice desperate. "Brendon he was supposed to be here, what if they took him as well what if we never find him again, what if... what if..." I begin to choke on my words feeling as if my throat is closing, tightening unable to let me get in a breath my vision begins to go fuzzy as I gasp for air my heart pounds in my chest so hard I fear it will break loose. Tears streak my face as I feel myself being pulled off of the horse and toward the ground into Brendon's lap rocking me slowly back and forth it takes me awhile to realize he is speaking to me.

"It will be alright Patrick, trust me that we will find him. I will not stop trying to find him, I will fight any man, I will help you find him, Patrick, I swear my life on it. It will be alright please calm down, come back to me."