“Probably somewhere to be up ta no good,” Lucius replied, stroking his beard and glancing up at the sky through a hole in the ceiling.
Aldrus glanced over to her and strode to her side. He dropped into a quick, playful bow. “The Lord of Mooraven said that if the princess asked where he was going, I was to reply that he was going off ta scout out the palace.”
“Doubtful,” Lucius muttered. “He would ‘ave just sent his crows. He’s up ta mischief, I tell ye.”
Aldrus turned to him, his hands clasped behind his back. “The Lord of Mooraven said that if you asked, I was to inform you that he was up ta no good.”
Lucius nodded and harrumphed. “I knew it.”
“No need ta look so pleased with yerself,” Gabriel muttered. “The boy is predictable.”
“He had better not go after me weapons again,” Alban growled through clenched teeth.
Aldrus laughed and slapped his brother on the back. “Ye’d better hope not. Ye still have to find the other weapons he hid.”
Alban grew doleful as he turned his gaze to the window. “Me favorite sword is still out there somewhere. I swear if it gets even a speck of rust on it I’ll feed his insides to Garmrs.”
“You could try!” Fergus cried, laughing loudly.
Kenrick grinned and turned to Lucius. “Could I have his bed when Cedric is done with him?”
Aldrus shoved Kenrick. “Nah, me brother, me bed.”
Lucius cleared his throat loudly. “Lads, enough of the bickering.”
“I think ye would have better luck tellin’ a Garmr not to howl,” Gabriel muttered.
Lucius scowled at him. “Anyway, a storm’s a brewin’. We’d better head back ta the cottage to wait it out.”
Elisabeth glanced around her. The cottage, little as it was, would certainly be much warmer than this derelict castle. At least it had all of its walls.
“Come along, princess,” Fergus said, smiling gently in her directions.
Elisabeth turned her gaze back to the dwarfs as they tromped single file out the door. She stepped after them. Once she stepped outside, she waited in the doorway a minute as they moved several steps ahead.
None of them glanced back at her, they were too busy arguing.
Elisabeth turned and glanced to her left, the direction Cedric had gone. She waited the length of three breaths and when still the dwarfs hadn’t noticed that she wasn't following them, she hiked her torn skirts and plunged deeper into the forest.
This was a section of the forest she had never been before. She didn’t know if it was possible, but it was darker here than the section of forest she had just left.
She glanced over her shoulder at a flapping sound. A large bat-like creature was swooping down from the sky toward her. It was too large to actually be a bat, with glaring red eyes and fangs. She let out a little shriek and ducked her head. Her foot hit a root and she fell to her knees. Her hand burned with a sudden pain.
She held it up to investigate. She must have landed on a sharp stick because her palm was bleeding.
Above her the bat creature shrieked.
“I’d be careful of those if I were you. They like to drink blood so it might be wise not to bleed in front of them.”
Elisabeth inhaled sharply and looked up. Cedric stood, leaning against a tree
He stepped forward, waving his hand toward the bat. “Shoo, shoo. Go find your meal elsewhere.”
The bat shrieked again, but flew off. Clearly it knew better than to cross the dark prince. It was far more smart that Elisabeth.
She pushed herself to her feet just as Cedric drew to a halt right next to her.
He lifted her hand and inspected her bloody palm. He shook his head and make a clucking sound with his tongue. “And this is why you can’t come with us. You can’t even survive a stroll through the woods without bloodshed.” He sighed and pulled a torn piece of cloth out of his front pocket and wrapped it around her hand. Before he could tie the bandage, Elisabeth yanked her hand out of his.
“I can take care of myself just fine.”
Cedric backed up, holding up his hands. “Well, you might have fooled me.”
He settled back, leaning back against a skeleton tree as he watched her sloppily try to tie her bandage with one hand. “Is there a reason you were trying to follow me?”
Elisabeth glanced up at him, but then turned her gaze to the rest of the woods. “You said we were going to scout. But that’s obviously not true since the palace is in the opposite direction as you were heading. I knew you were lying and I wanted to know what you were actually up to.”
Cedric held up a finger. “Actually, I told the dwarfs to tell you that I said I was going to go scout. I didn’t actually say that I was going to scout. I actually have no intention of doing anything against your stepmother today.”
Elisabeth clenched her teeth as she regarded him. This was the second day he had decided to do nothing. “Do you even plan on attacking Ismena any time soon?”
“Not at the present moment, no.”
“And what are you waiting for?” she spat. “My people are suffering, Cedric! We don’t have time to wait.”
Cedric rolled his eyes heavenward. “As you have stated before. Numerous times. And as I have stated each time you stated that, I do not care.”
“You agreed to help me defeat my stepmother.”
“As a matter of fact, I did. I kindly thank you for reminding me of that for the hundredth time. I don’t know what I would do without you reminding me about everything that is going on.”
“You have no intention of fulfilling our agreement,” she snarled.
“I have every intention of helping you defeat your stepmother. Just not at the present moment. I don’t care for the weather. It is not good weather for storming a castle.”
“You are a liar! A double crossing liar!” Her voice echoed in the still forest. “I should never have made the deal with you.”
“Do you really wish to speak to me about double crossing, princess?” Cedric demanded, his eyes flashing. “When you’re secretly planning to kill me?”
Elisabeth’s breath faltered and she glanced down. How in Illesya could he know?
“You’re an open book, Liz. I knew that you planned to betray me the second you took my hand.”
“If you knew I planned to kill you then why did you continue to work with me?”
“Because I knew the likes of you could never kill the likes of me. Even if your conscience wasn’t as soft as it was.” Cedric laughed. “Though to make certain I did stage that little accident while we were sparring. For a killer, you are not overly ruthless. You should probably work on that before you next decide to kill someone.”
Elisabeth blew out a breath and turned away. “So then what do you say we do now?”
Cedric released a breath. “The fact that you wish to kill me doesn’t change anything. I still need your help. I’m still stranded. Besides, like I said, I know you’re not going to do it.” Cedric leaned closer, close enough that he lifted a strand of her black hair from her shoulders. “Though if you do go through with it, I will be the first person to congratulate you on your newfound strength and ruthlessness, even as I bleed out before your eyes.”
Elisabeth stepped back, yanking her hair from his hold.
Cedric was in the same situation as she was. He couldn’t kill her, because he needed her. But nothing was going to stop him the second she freed him. It would be a race to see who would be the first to betray the other. A race that Elisabeth had absolutely no intention in participating in.
Because Cedric was right. She would hesitate, and that hesitation would cost her her own life. That would be a price she may be willing to make simply to claim the moral high ground over the likes of him, but not when the lives and happiness of her people rested on her. She turned and began picking her way back through the forest.
“And where are you going? Has no one taught you how rude it is to just go wandering off in the m
iddle of a conversation? Because you are notorious at it.”
“I’m leaving!” Elisabeth called back. “Don’t try to follow me.”
“The forest is an awful dangerous place. Perhaps a bit too dangerous for a helpless maiden such as yourself.”
Elisabeth glanced at him over her shoulder. “I’m not helpless. And I consider the forest less dangerous than you.”
Cedric placed his hand over his heart. “You flatter me too much.”
Elisabeth gritted her teeth and turned back around. She began walking again.
“Try not to get yourself killed off, will you?” Cedric called after her. “Because it would certainly make it an icestorm of a lot harder for you to return me Mooraven if you are dead.”
Elisabeth ignored him and hiked her dress, hurrying faster. She glanced over her shoulder once to make certain that he was out of view before she broke into a full-out run. In the distance she heard a howl, but she’d sooner take her chances with a Garmr than return to the dark prince’s side.
A raven cawed and swooped in front of her, forcing her to draw to a halt lest she run into the bird.
“Shoo!” Elisabeth cried, glancing over her shoulder. Where his minions were, the dark prince couldn’t be too far behind. She’d known that it was too much to hope that he would just let her go.
She moved to take a step further, but the crow fluttered frantically, blocking her path. She heard the howl again. It was drawing closer. She needed to get out of there.
Elisabeth looked around for an escape. Her eyes landed on an outcropping of rocks that led into a dark pit. It would help her get away from the crow and hopefully without them constantly observing her every movement, she could get away from the dark prince.
Elisabeth turned and darted toward them. The crow cawed loudly behind her, but she ignored it, plunging forward. She ducked into the cave, keeping her head down to keep from banging it against any low hanging rocks.
There was a loud flapping behind her. She looked behind her to see the crow flapping there. It cawed once, before turning and flying off.
Elisabeth breathed a sigh of relief, turning, only to have her face meet a sort of sticky string. Elisabeth struggled to move, but it appeared that the rest of her body had become entangled in the string. She couldn’t move anything. She was trapped.
She heard a scuttle from farther in the cave. Her heart began pounding loudly against her rib cage.
She must have wandered into a Giant Spider’s nest. And the spider was coming. She pulled against the web, yanking back with all her might but she was stuck fast.
The scuttling sound grew louder.
“A cave? Really? That was your best option?”
Elisabeth tried to look behind her, but her head was stuck looking forward. “Cedric?”
She heard someone walking toward her casually, even as the dark form loomed closer. “I mean, everyone knows that a perfectly good cave such as this will naturally already be inhabited. And in a place like this, of course the creature inhabiting it will be a nasty one.”
“Cedric!” she cried as the spider loomed closer. She wasn’t exactly sure why she thought he would help, considering she had been trying to break their deal and leave. He was probably only here to gloat. But he was the only person there who could help her, and she was not about ready to blindly accept her fate. Even if it would be her fate.
Cedric sighed as he stepped into her view. He sidestepped where the web hung from the ceiling of the cave to the rocks beneath her feet. He knelt and pulled something from under a rock. Elisabeth squinted as she caught sight of the gleam of the faint light filtering into the cave reflect off of a metal surface. He was holding a sword.
He held up the sword. “Let’s make quick work of this before behemoth makes her way past the darkness I wrapped around her. Garmrs are easy to fool, but spiders- particularly cave spiders- can actually cope remarkably well in the darkness.”
As he spoke he drew the sword back before swinging it toward her. Elisabeth flinched, closing her eyes, waiting for the blow, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see Cedric hacking at the web holding her in place.
He clucked his tongue. “Come now, you are skittish.”
“I was about to be eaten by a Giant Spider,” Elisabeth retorted stepping back as she was freed. She struggled to pull the pieces of web off of her and out of her mouth.
Cedric shook his head. “Nonsense. I doubt that our friend would have eaten you. She probably would have found you too sour. Now I on the other hand would make a tasty morsel, so why don’t we leave before she decides to eat me.”
Cedric turned and strolled out of the cave. As he walked, he turned tossing his sword from hand to hand. He pointed it at Elisabeth and she stumbled to a stop to avoid running herself through on it. She stepped out of his reach, narrowing her eyes.
Cedric chuckled as he turned back around and strolled out of the cave. “Really, Lizzie, you ought to start trusting me. Us working together isn’t going to work if we don’t trust each other.”
Elisabeth followed him out of the cave, glaring at his back. “Then tell me why I should trust you.”
“Besides the fact that I just saved your life?” he asked, sounding amused.
“What does it matter if you save my life now only to kill me later? The only reason you saved me was because you still needed me alive.”
Cedric turned, holding up his finger. “Ignoring the fact that that accusation is true… why do you always have to paint me as such a rascal? Why couldn’t I have simply saved you because I wished to? Which believe me, I wouldn’t have saved you that wasn’t the case, whether I needed you alive or not. You’ll find that I rarely ever do anything that I don’t already want to do.”
Elisabeth crossed her arms tightly. “Fine then, prove to me why I should trust you. Tell me the true reason we aren’t striking against Ismena today?”
Cedric blew out a frustrated breath. “I already told you, I didn’t find the weather to my liking.”
Elisabeth stepped back. “Then I suppose we should just go our separate ways.”
“I am telling the truth. Very well then, if I really must elaborate, that cloud bank, that surely you could not have failed to notice for it is currently bearing down on us, is not natural. Something is coming. I'm not quite sure what. But I would bet my crown on it having something to do with your wicked stepmother who can control the winter elements. She has something planned. And quite frankly, I would prefer not to attack your stepmother till I knew what we are up against.”
“That’s it?” Elisabeth scoffed. “That’s the reason we aren’t striking now? Because the great Prince of Mooraven is afraid?”
Cedric pulled back his head, narrowing his blue eyes. “You mistake fear for caution, love.”
“I mistake nothing.”
A crow cawed loudly overhead. Cedric glanced up. “Insulting my ego will not convince me to prematurely risk my life any more than your failed charming attempts did.”
Elisabeth crossed her arms. “Oh, go talk to your crows, you coward.”
“I already did. They're the ones who first warned me of the coming storm.”
“Stupid birds.”
“You are offending everyone today.” Cedric held out his arm and the crow landed on it. He listened to it caw loudly before nodding. The bird flew off. Cedric turned to the coming storm with a dark expression.
“What did it say?”
“Why should you care? You just claimed it had no intelligence.”
Elisabeth arched her brow. “I'm not about to apologize to a bird.”
“I never asked you to. But you should know that you hurt his feelings greatly. He was quite an admirer of yours. It seems that you can charm animals, as well.”
Elisabeth felt an unprecedented pang of guilt. “Fine, I apologize. I did not mean what I said. I am sure that your birds are very smart; it is only their master that lacks intelligence.”
Cedric nodded once, satisfied. “No
w that is better. Never attack anyone simply out of anger, whether they have a part in the argument or not. I do not like collateral damage.”
“Well? What did he say?”
“He said that he could not fly close enough to the storm to see what was coming.” Cedric turned back to the horizon. “But I do not like how close it is getting. We’d better get back to the cottage. I would hate to have to take shelter with our hungry friend the spider, and I would hate even more to be killed by whatever machinations your stepmother has come up with for us.”
He grabbed her arm and pulled her along beside him. “The cottage is this way. Perhaps if we walk fast enough and you don’t lollygag or decide to make any more friends, we might be able to make it to the cottage before the storm does.”
Elisabeth struggled to keep up with his fast pace, but she didn’t fight him. Already she was half frozen and she didn’t like the idea of freezing to death. She would know that fate was laughing at her if the princess of snow were to have her downfall be due to snow.
Besides, she ought to trust Cedric. He had saved her from the spider. Of course, he had everything to gain from such a noble deed, but still she did owe him her life.
As they walked, the wind howled, whipping her hair around her, it made speaking impossible which she was fine with. The less she had to hear from the trickster prince, the more she could actually pretend that she enjoyed his company. Finally they made it to the cottage. By then she was practically blinded by large, fat snowflakes.
Cedric shoved the door open and they fell into the building. Elisabeth blinked, shivering as she glanced over her shoulder at the storm raging behind her.
Lucius and Fergus rushed forward. “There ye are!” Fergus cried.
“We’d feared we’d never see you again,” Aldrus said, stepping toward her.
“Where’d ye go?” Lucius demanded.
“Och, look at that, the lass is half frozen,” Fergus hurried to a bed and pulled a red and black blanket off of it which he flung over her shoulders.
Elisabeth clutched the blanket with her trembling fingers and gave Fergus an appreciative smile.
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