Stolen Truth

20

"Rat is the prince?" Raven asked, "Do you know that for sure? How long have you known?"

"I only figured it out recently," Louis explained, "I had been going through the files of all the soldiers that had first been admitted to the camps, but I couldn't find anything anywhere. I assumed all of the information had been buried or destroyed but that didn't make any sense because I think the plan was to eventually use him for something bad. Except there was a mix-up and they sent the prince away without realising, on the same trip where everyone died."

"But Rat never said he used to be a soldier or anything, we all assumed he escaped from one of your prisons," Dove said, sounding confused.

"I didn't know how you'd react," I admitted, "Viper and I agreed to keep it a secret for a little while and then this whole prince thing came up, so we never really had time to tell you."

"So you lied to us?" Dove asked, her voice getting higher.

"I just didn't know what would happen, and we had more important things to worry about."

"Rat, we just escaped from prison at a blank training camp. In fact, we haven't even really escaped yet, we're still here! What if they recognised you as a former soldier? And if Louis can find your file then I'm sure the rest of them can as well, what if Louis hadn't realised in time?"

"I didn't know I was the prince though," I said quietly.

"Rat, this isn't about you being the prince. In fact, I couldn't care less about that, this is about your life, prince or no prince, I don't know how I would've coped if they killed you. Or worse, if the next time I saw you, it would be when you're trying to kill me."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"It's okay, just please, tell us everything about you when we're out of here."

"I promise," I said, hugging Dove tightly.

"Let's get out of here," Louis said, helping us all get into the trailer.

"So," Spider whispered, looking over at me, "You're the prince?"

"I guess," I said, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly.

"Should we call you something else now? Like surely you wouldn't want Rat to be your name anymore?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, "I've grown used to it now, I figure it would be weird if you called me anything else."

"We've still gotta tell Bear and Owl when we see them again," Spider added.

"Yeah," I said, "I forgot about that."

"You don't seem very prince-like," Fox piped up.

"You can't say that," Spider said, hitting Fox lightly.

"No, she has a point," I said, "I don't feel very prince-like at all if I'm being honest."

"Do you think Dolphin betrayed us like Shark did?" Fox asked.

"I don't think so," I said, recalling Shark begging for his sister's life, "But I do think she was part of some deal, if Shark failed in any way, they would hurt her."

"Why do you think he didn't just tell them that you guys were there too?"

"I think that's why he failed, he was trying to give us some sort of chance. He was always going to end up in a cell but now I think they're going to make him pay for what he did as well."

"We should've brought him with us," Raven sighed, "Whether he betrayed us or not, he's still one of our own, no one deserves to be stuck in those cells."