The King's Collie

Part III, Chapter 2: High Regard For Life

It was another peaceful day, now in early November, when the leaves started to shift from the lion-mane gold that Felix loved so, to the crimsons and yellow-browns that signified the late fall. The wind was chilly, and the King thus wore a bit thicker of clothes, which he took off once he got into the somewhat warmer castle. In the fireplace of the favorite of the varied living-rooms, there was a nice, roaring fire, to ward of the further chilliness. Now it was much too cold to go out into the garden, and, frankly, who would want to? It was now filled with the leafless bushes and dying trees, and all the flowers had died and withered away, with their seeds set to sprout next spring. There were still the pleasantly turning leaves on these trees to enjoy, and the brisk fall air to savor until the winter arrived, though, and Ophelia and Cameron resolved to stay outside until it was simply too cold to do so.

Felix approached them in the garden, the idea that was recurring in his head now coming out in his words.

"Ophelia, dearest?" he mewed.

"Ah, Felix, what is it, darling?" the lioness replied in a similar mew.

"You've had Cameron in your service since May, and I do say, besides the fateful events last month, I haven't spent much time with him," the King chuckled, nervously looking down. "You wouldn't mind if I 'borrowed him for a little tomorrow? I'm going to hunt, and he seems very skilled with the bow."

"Oh, that sounds fun! Hunting with royalty," Cameron raised his eyebrows in excitement, looking to the Queen he served.

"That's true, Felix," Ophelia meanwhile replied. "I'd been hogging him, in a way, heh. I always assumed you wanted nothing to do with him, especially when you used to say the same. Ah, what'd changed in a matter of months," she reminisced.

"Hunting? Going to put an arrow through a fox or two, Cam?" Marco asked, peeking in. "Not that you hadn't before," he joked. Felix snorted, and chuckled a little at that.

Cameron wasn't as amused. "You know that's different, real foxes, and I've always thought fox-hunting vain anyhow," he whined a little.

"Yeah, yeah," Marco nodded.

"Anywho," Ophelia looked to her husband. "You sure can take Cameron out for a good hunt. I'm sure he'd love it."

The collie was somewhat impatient, and nodded in agreement.

—

"You don't seem so eager for this, Cameron," the King raised an eyebrow as he observed, after seeing the rather worried expression on his dog hunting-partner's face. Cameron had a bow and quiver ready, while the lion, on horseback, had a spear ready. "There, girl," Felix chuckled to this horse, as he took another look at his mount-less canine accompanier. "What's the matter?" he then asked.

"Ah..." Cameron tried to word this right: "It's just the first time we've really spent any time without the Queen, or anyone else..."

"My fault, really," the King regretfully lowered his head a bit. "It's me who pushed you away like that. I hope we can do this a lot more often, now. It's not so bad, is it? We haven't seen anything yet, but the walk is nice, no?"

"I guess not," the collie replied. Spending time with the King who used to loathe him wasn't the main thing that made him nervous, though. He faced his main concern with a little more walking, when what he knew would happen surely did. A rustle of the bushes signified a wild presence, with a large stag then poking his head out to confirm it. This animal looked to its side, not at all noticing the hunters. Its horns were quite nice and a little large for its head, though they were nothing too remarkable. Once Felix recognized it was a feral buck and not a trespassing citizen, he gasped, and smiled, pointing, quietly whispering.