3. Kit Searching for a Brother
Kit: Searching for a Brother
Kit completed another circuit of the camp, looking for a break in the tall, wooden barrier separating it from the wilderness of Sherwood Forest. As far as he could see, there wasn’t one.
Part of him was proud that his little brother had implemented the lessons about creating proper defenses that their father had given them.
But a larger, more irritated part of him was angry that there were no weaknesses he could take advantage of.
How was he supposed to learn more about the dratted sorceress if he couldn’t get close?
As the last rays of sunshine disappeared behind the trees, Kit resisted a sigh of frustration and gave up on trying to get into the camp that night.
The night watch would arrive for their shifts any moment now, and he couldn’t risk them seeing him and scaring the sorceress away.
No, it was safer to return to the castle and regroup.
Perhaps with a good night’s sleep, he could think of a way to break through the camp’s defenses without alerting the sorceress that he was onto her.
Still, he bore a heavy heart as he turned away from the camp. He’d waited for months trying to find her. He hadn’t known her name—they’d never exchanged pleasantries. And he certainly didn’t know where she was from. His mind wandered back to the day he’d met her.
It was just after sunrise when Kit left Taracocoa, the capital city of Coleur.
His meeting with Queen Snow White had gone surprisingly well.
The queen hadn’t made a fuss about him breaking their engagement.
She’d barely said a word, just smiled thinly at him and told him to do what he thought he had to do.
The only thing she requested was that he wait until he returned home to make the announcement.
She worried he would face trouble if he tried to make his way through Coleur after such a fraught revelation.
Something about the reaction had bothered him.
Queen Snow White had been the one who’d been pushing for their union, though she was older than him by about twenty years.
It had taken them nearly two years to hammer out the details, and another year before they’d agreed on the wording of the proclamation.
But it had taken only five minutes for him to break the agreement, and less than an hour to agree on how he’d announce it.
He thought he’d even seen the queen hide a smile as he left the throne room when he’d said goodbye early that morning.
Why was she so happy to see him depart when the whole thing had been her idea in the first place?
Kit had been so wrapped up in his pondering that he almost missed the young woman standing in the middle of the road until he was nearly right on top of her. Startled, he tugged sharply on the reins, pulling his horse up short. “Careful there, miss. I almost ran you down.”
The young woman lifted her chin to him, a misty veil over her sharp green eyes. “You’re the one who should be careful, your highness,” she murmured, her voice soft and vacant.
Kit frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
“You shouldn’t have broken your engagement, your highness. You—” Suddenly, the young woman doubled over, hunching over on herself as if in pain.
“Miss? Miss, are you alright?” Kit asked, quickly dismounting from his steed. He raced to the woman’s side, but she didn’t seem to register his action.
“No. No, Mother. I won’t—I can’t…” The words came out jumbled and slurred. He frowned and looked around, trying to figure out who she was talking to, but no one appeared.
Hesitantly, Kit put his hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “Miss?” he called again.
At his touch, the young woman looked up at him, and he took a startled step back. The veil that been over her eyes was gone. She looked up at him with clear, bright eyes, the terror in them clear as day. “You must get out of here. Now. You’re in danger, your highness.”
“What are you talking about?” Kit demanded. “Why am I in danger?”
A shudder wracked the young woman’s body. “She’s coming. I can’t…I won’t be able to stop her a second time.”
“Who’s coming?” Kit asked. “Miss, what’s wrong?—”
“I can’t stop her from coming…but I can protect you,” the woman murmured before reaching out to clutch his hand.
Her eyes rolled up into her skull as she began chanting.
As the words left her lips, searing pain brought Kit to his knees.
He screamed, his words unintelligible, but the woman didn’t let go.
In fact, she tightened her grip on him as the words flowed faster and louder.
As her words wrapped around him, the physical change occurred.
Scales sprouted where his skin had been.
Two horns appeared and elongated on either side of his head.
His face changed and lengthened, fangs replacing teeth.
His form grew larger and bulkier, and he felt a tail sprout from his hindquarters.
Then, suddenly, a shockwave ripped the woman’s hand away from his and threw him backwards.
As his head spun and shadows danced at the edges of his vision, he squinted, trying to get one last look at the young woman, to memorize her face.
Before the darkness took him, he saw her slump against a tree, her head lolling to one side.
The sight made something in his chest clench just as he lost consciousness.
When he came to, the sun was high in the sky, but he was alone.
He peered around, trying to catch sight of the woman who had made him into this…
beast, but he saw no one. Kit swallowed hard as he got to his feet, a shudder wracking his body.
He had to get out of there…if anyone saw him as he was now, they’d hunt him down and kill him.
But, more than that, he had to find the young woman who had done this to him.
If he ever wanted to be human again, he had to find her. He was certain of it.
Kit’s mind returned to the present just as he arrived back at the abandoned castle near the road where he’d met the sorceress.
He’d found it the same day Nelle had transformed him, the edifice hidden cleverly behind a thick hedge of thorns that blended in with the foliage.
It had been well-maintained and furnished, so he expected its owner to return sooner rather than later…
but that hadn’t happened. No one had returned.
Some sort of spell kept the castle in good shape, even preparing regular, if somewhat bland, meals.
But Kit had seen no one or anything inside.
Sometimes he thought he heard a voice, but when he investigated, there was no one there.
It was beginning to irk him, if he was honest with himself.
In fact, he was so used to isolation that the voices emerging from another part of the forest startled him. He cocked his head, listening, until he determined the voices were coming from the other side of the hedge on the western side of the estate.
“And you’re sure about this?” Kit recognized the deep, growling voice as that of Little John.
Instinctively, Kit stepped back, forgetting the hedge would separate him from the speaker.
If there was one person, other than Robin and the sorceress, who might recognize him, it would be Little John.
People underestimated his intelligence because of his tall, brawny stature, but the man had grown up navigating the Hopkan court, and had even spent some time in the courts of Fey, which earned him both cunning and wisdom.
For a moment, the prince’s heart ached. How many hours had he, Robin, and John explored the forests bordering Hopka, Coleur, and Moyar? Three little boys looking for adventure, forming bonds of friendship that nothing could ever break. Well, they had their adventure now, but at what cost?
“Positive.” The second voice was not one that Kit recognized. It was pompous and arrogant, which somehow didn’t fit with the idea of two men meeting in the forest. “I heard the report from the Hopkan soldiers myself.”
Little John muttered a curse. “First Christopher, then Robert. And Soldier warned me that two other children from royal families have disappeared. And now, Soldier’s gone, too.”
A chill ran down Kit’s spine. Robin had disappeared? Little John’s words confirmed what he’d overheard in the forest a few days before. He felt sick to his stomach.
The second man scoffed. “Who cares about a bunch of missing royals? It’s not like they’ve ever lifted a finger to help us.”
An inhuman growl rumbled through the forest. “Be careful of how you speak, Scarlett. The others may not know your true identity, but I visited the courts of Coleur once. I recognized you from the first day you entered the camp.”
Scarlett, whoever he was, forced a laugh. “What does that have to do with anything?—”
“You’re not a stupid man, so don’t pretend to be one,” Little John snarled.
“Our fearless leader and I recognized you immediately. You know better than I do that missing royals bring problems for the whole camp. And Robin’s been gone for weeks.
That’s too many disappearences for my liking.
” Scarlett fell silent. Kit smiled at Little John’s prevarication as the man continued, “If Robin’s missing, then that means trouble.
And not just a lack of leadership. The royals will be tense, and they may start asking questions we don’t need if we’re going to keep our camp safe. ”
“Who cares about the questions? No one is going to find us. And we don’t need a mysterious figurehead who can’t give the Company his full attention,” Scarlet said. “We’ve been getting by just fine on our own.”
Little John laughed mirthlessly. “If you truly think that, then you’re a bigger fool than I gave you credit for.
Without Robin, the Company will fall to pieces in a matter of weeks.
You go missing for weeks at a time, so I assume you’ve missed the reports that food is growing scarcer, but we have more and more refugees coming to our borders.
They’re fleeing to us, because the Snow Queen’s sheriff is getting more violent as the taxes go higher.
Robin’s schemes brought us the coin we needed to go into Hopka or Moyar to buy food and clothing for the little ones.
But he’s carefully thought through the schemes and made sure we could do them without bringing unnecessary danger into the camp. Without him?—”
“We’ll learn to manage,” Scarlett said. “After all, we’ve done so until now. We can send the children into town to steal what we need. They’re young and fast—they won’t get caught. And our hunters can go after King Edmund’s royal stags. He’s got thousands of them roaming the forest.”
Kit’s stomach rolled. Hunting his father’s royal stags was a death wish.
There were very few things King Edmund would dole out harsh punishments for, but hunting the stags…
he would execute anyone he caught. And sending the children out into the cities was equally risky.
Kit tried to imagine the little girl he’d met tonight trying to pick pockets or steal bread.
The Hopkan guards would catch her in an instant.
Little John didn’t dignify the man’s statement with a response. “We should get back to camp. Soon it’ll be too dark to see without the help of a torch.”
Scarlet sighed. “If we must. But truly, we must acquire some Fey wine, or I will go mad.”
Little John was silent for a moment, then said, “If that’s how you feel, then perhaps you should return to the Coleuran courts. We have too many problems to worry about getting you the vintage of wine you want.”
“No, no.” Scarlet’s tone had turned anxious. “It’s not important. Forget I said anything.”
Kit listened as the two men tramped away before following them, his plans for a night’s rest forgotten. He needed to make a plan to find Robin before everything his little brother had worked for had disappeared like smoke. It was the least he could do for him.