They walked in comfortable silence as Sir Lancelot and his apprentice went to join their King in his chambers. Galahad found this a bit unusual, the King having his Knights pick him up in his bedroom, but he didn't dare say anything to his mentor. He wasn't in any position to question the antics of his new ruler… especially one as loved as King Sonic was.
Both hedgehogs turned down another corridor and Galahad immediately recognized which door led to King Sonic's room. Halfway down the hall, two guards stood outside a large, extravagant doorway. Sir Lancelot nodded to the two guards and, after nodding back, they left. The ebony knight gave his apprentice a small glance before knocking three times on the door.
Movement was immediately heard inside once Sir Lancelot finished and a large crash happened moments later. Both hedgehogs outside the door flicked their ears to the sudden noise and Galahad was about to rush inside to make sure King Sonic was alright until he saw his mentor shake his head.
They both waited patiently until the cursing inside subsided and the door in front of them to swing open. King Sonic gave both his knights a large smile and stepped aside to allow them in.
Galahad stepped inside and he felt his jaw drop from the amazing wonderland he had just entered. King Sonic's chamber was more like a small house than anything. Steps led up to the expensive looking dining room as you entered and, above the crystal table and chairs, was an equally beautiful chandelier that reflected light off the large window behind it. Galahad noticed a latch on the window and a large white terrace outside it.
To the right, Galahad could see a pool sized bathtub and dozens of expensive soaps, shampoos and bathing salts. It looked hardly used and Galahad couldn't see why such an amazing bathroom was used so little… Maybe the King was almost always clean and didn't see a reason to use it? That was the only explanation he could think of. To the left, was probably King Sonic's sleeping quarters, but the doorway to the room was shut tight.
"Are you almost done studying my room, young Galahad?" King Sonic's voice drifted into the ivory hedgehog's ear.
Galahad jumped back in fright and right into his mentor. Sir Lancelot easily caught him in his arms and held him in place so he wouldn't fall down. "I swear, Sonic," the ebony knight sighed once Galahad had regained his balance. "You'll be the death of this one before he even gets onto the battle field."
King Sonic laughed and flung his red rope onto one of the dining room chairs. He placed his crown on the glass table and turned back towards his two knights with a large, bright smile on his face. "Let's get going you two! The full moon won't stay up all night, you know."
Sir Lancelot shook his head at the antics of his ruler and threw him a faded, grey robe. "Don't forget to put that on. We don't want people to recognize you while we're on your walk."
The cobalt king rolled his emerald eyes and draped the grey robe over his body. "You're way too careful, Lancelot. You need to let go sometimes and have fun."
It was Sir Lancelot's turn to roll his eyes. "My carefulness is the only reason you're still alive, Sonic. Or should I remind of what happened at The Tavern?"
King Sonic's face turned bright red at the mention of 'The Tavern' and Galahad had to stop himself from asking what it meant. It wasn't his place to question something like this to his new ruler… no matter how childish he seemed now. However, there was one thing he could ask about. He turned to his ebony mentor, "Why aren't you addressing King Sonic by his full title?"
The three of them went into an awkward silence so thick that you could cut it with a butter knife. From behind him, King Sonic let out a small, fake, cough and wrapped his arm around Galahads' shoulders. "Because Lancelot and I aren't just the King and his Knight; we're friends! Just like I want us to be, young Galahad, if you will allow it!"
Galahad turned his head slightly to look the cobalt hedgehog in the face. "Do all the other Knights address you like that too?"
King Sonic bit his lip and his eyes flickered to everything in the room, but the ivory hedgehog he had wrapped around the shoulders. "Well… no, but…" His emerald eyes caught on his ebony knight and he sighed in relief when Sir Lancelot stepped forward to take over.
Sir Lancelot unlatched his apprentice from his cobalt King and looked him straight in the eye. "We don't have time for these trivial matters. The moon will set in a couple of hours and I don't want us to get trapped outside the castle without any moonlight to guide us."
King Sonic nodded his head in agreement… but Galahad couldn't help but feel that the two other hedgehogs were trying to hide something from him. By the time he got out of his thoughts, King Sonic and Sir Lancelot were already making their way out of the room. Galahad hurried to catch up and came up from behind them.
His new King turned his head and gave him a large smile before turning back and starting up a conversation with his mentor. Galahad let his mind wander as they made their way down and out of the castle. The white moonlight reflected off of his ivory pelt and Galahad could feel eyes on him. He turned to find King Sonic looking at him with wondering eyes. "Yes?" He asked when King Sonic continued to look him over.
The cobalt hedgehog was startled by his voice and gave him a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. I've never seen an albino before and I couldn't help but notice how nicely the moon reflects off of it."
Galahad's face turned tomato red from the compliment and, while he was distracted, his concentration on where he was going was lost and… he tripped on an unseen rock. Galahad hit the ground face first and his blush got even redder when King Sonic gave a bark of laughter and when Sir Lancelot let out a small groan at his clumsiness.
Galahad pushed himself up from the ground and tried to regain, if any, pride from his ungraceful fall. He brushed off the dirt from his body and straightened his back. "What a-are you guys waiting for? W-we don't have a-all night," Galahad said, still red in the face and marched past the other two older hedgehogs.
He heard King Sonic give off one last chuckle before following after him. "Don't worry, Galahad; we all are clumsy once and a while," he put his arms around the ivory hedgehog and gave him a small smile. "Unless you're someone like Lancelot, who acts like he always has a stick up his-"
The same ebony knight King Sonic was talking about sped up and elbowed the cobalt hedgehog in the stomach before he could finish his sentence. "Not in front of children, Sonic," Sir Lancelot coolly commented and watched as his King fell to the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.
Galahad puffed out his cheeks and his face reddened again, "I'm not a child!" He protested and crossed his arms across his chest. He glared at his mentor; completely ignoring the moans of pain coming from King Sonic on the ground.
Sir Lancelot raised an eye ridge underneath his helmet. "I'll believe that when you stop tripping over your own feet." He then glanced down at King Sonic; who was still acting like he was dying from the simple attack from his knight. "Get up, Sonic. I didn't elbow you that hard; only enough to cause minor bruising in your abdomen."
"And you didn't think that would hurt?!" Sonic growled and picked himself up from the ground and glared daggers at his senor knight.
"Of course I knew it would hurt; that was the whole point of doing it to stop your previous sentence," Sir Lancelot said and gave a small, knowing smirk.
Sonic's daggers turned into swords and he walked past Sir Lancelot to the still pouting and blushing Galahad. "Come on, Galahad. You've proven to be a lot more fun than this stick butt over here," King Sonic said; indicating the still smirking hedgehog behind them.
"At least I don't have Gynophobia," Sir Lancelot mocked and walked past the two younger hedgehogs. He gave King Sonic a knowing look and entered the Shrouded Forest.
Galahad felt the cobalt hedgehog around his shoulders tense and gave him a confused look. "King Sonic… is it true? Are you afraid of woman?"
Instead of answering him, the cobalt hedgehog let go of him and dashed after Sir Lancelot. "You promised you would never tell, Lancelot!" King Sonic's shrill voice cut through the quiet night air, scaring a flock of ravens into flight over the forest.
"Wait up!" The second shrill voice of Galahad sounded throughout the almost silent night, not wanting to be left behind in the new, dark forest a mile from the castle. Galahad jogged down the beaten path, looking left and right for any signs of the older hedgehogs.
Minutes later, Galahad realized that he had lost his dark colored mentor and robed King in the darkening forest since the moonlight was having a hard time penetrating the thick branches of the forest. Old branches creaked, small foresters ran through the dead leaves on the ground and the sounds of ravens returning to their branches filled the air around him.
Galahad swallowed a lump in his throat and forced himself to place one foot in front of the other. His eyes darted to any and every noise he heard and his breathing got heavy. It was true that Galahad had camped out many times, but he went to great lengths to find old barns or nice open field to sleep in; never once daring to step foot inside forests at night.
It wasn't that he was afraid of forests, but what happened in them at night. He had heard many stories of robbers, runaway prisoners and cut throats combing the forests at night looking for victims… victims like him. Looking for people stupid enough to enter the forest at night… alone… and lost…
Surely King Sonic and Sir Lancelot would notice his absence, right? They wouldn't just leave him out here all alone to fend for himself in unknown territory… Right? Only the still silence greeted him and Galahad felt a shiver go up his spine. Where did all the noise go? The branches? The foresters? The ravens?
Something gleamed at his belt and Galahad glanced down. His sword! How could he have forgotten Espee? He wasn't defenseless! He could protect himself! Galahad grasped the hilt of his sword and stood in amazement when it started to glow a soft blue coloring. What was going on? This surely wasn't normal.
"Hmmm, that's quite unusual," a deep voice breathed into his ear.
Galahad tensed and his, rather girlish, scream sounded in the air. He unconsciously pulled his sword out of its sheath and swung it with all his might towards the deep voice… Only to find it, moments later, clang against something solid and very pointy.
"Nice reaction," his mentor commented; his own sword, Arondight, blocking Galahad's attack. "But that won't help you if you allow your opponent the opportunity to sneak up behind you and stab you in the back." Sir Lancelot pushed Galahad's sword away from him and placed Arondight back into its sheath.
The ivory apprentice's face turned tomato red and he, too, put his sword away. "So that was a test? To see how I would do from a sneak attack in the forest? Alone?"
Sir Lancelot examined his apprentice over; his eyes carefully picking up the small signs of embarrassment, relief and anger coming off of Galahad. "No, I was merely looking for you since Sonic left you behind at the forest's edge and this is how things ended up," he coolly replied and held out his hand. "Come on, Sonic is waiting for us."
Galahad awkwardly shuffled his feet and took Sir Lancelot's offered hand. As they made their way through a maze of paths, at least for Galahad anyway, the two of them lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.
Soon, Galahad couldn't handle the silence any longer and whispered out the only thing he could think of at the moment. "Is King Sonic really afraid of woman?"
Galahad sensed his mentor turn his head to look at him and heard the ebony knight give a small, deep chuckle. "Remember when I mentioned The Tavern before?" Galahad gave a nod and glanced over at Sir Lancelot. "On one of our walks, King Sonic decided that he wanted to drink some ale and dance at the local tavern. When we got there almost all the single ladies there recognized him and…" Sir Lancelot stiffed a laugh, "He was mauled by fangirls trying to go out with him. It was a highly amusing thing to watch, to say the least."
"Hey!" King Sonic jumped out of the side bushes and stood his ground in front of both knights. "You promised never to mention that again, Sir Lancelot!"
The ebony knight rolled his eyes underneath his helmet, "I thought you wanted Galahad to be your 'friend'. Shouldn't he have the right to know about what happened at The Tavern and your abnormal fear of woman?" Sir Lancelot smirked, "After all, the three of us are going to be spending a lot of time together from now on since you insisted I be your personal knight and Galahad is my apprentice."
King Sonic pouted and crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm still your King, Sir Lancelot," he said in one last attempt to win the battle between him and his knight.
Sir Lancelot sighed and rubbed his temples in frustration. "Fine, whatever you say King Sonic. What can I do for you, your Majesty?" The ebony knight answered; putting extra emphasis on the words 'King' and 'your Majesty'.
King Sonic visibly flinched at Sir Lancelots' words and Galahad immediately felt awkward at being the third wheel between the two older hedgehogs' argument. He loosened his grip on his mentor's hand and tried to pull away, only to have Sir Lancelot tighten his hand into a death grip.
Galahad gave Sir Lancelot a pleading look to let go of him, but his mentor refused to look at him. "I know what this is really about, King Sonic," Sir Lancelot coolly said. "You're angry that I rejected you and that I managed to elude your attempt of getting me alone in the woods by bring Galahad with us." He narrowed his eyes, "Then, when you noticed Galahad, you got a new idea. You decided to use him as a pawn to make me jealous by wrapping your arms around him at every chance you got."
"I don't understand why you won't just give me a chance!" King Sonic exploded.
"Because a King and his knight would never work! Especially when they're both male!" The ebony knight exploded right back. Galahad looked at his mentor in surprise; he never expected someone as cool and collected as Sir Lancelot to explode like that.
King Sonic got right into the ebony knight's face. "We could make it work! Just give it a chance!" He begged; all former anger gone and replaced by pleading.
Sir Lancelot growled; "And what about my father? You don't understand how he would use this relationship to his advantage. How he would twist it around and take over your kingdom by using me. Why would you risk your people to the black-hearted evil that Black Doom can and will do?"
The cobalt King looked down, "I don't care."
Sir Lancelot's ruby eyes widened, "You don't care?" All the former volume had disappeared from his voice; making the almost tense, but calm new voice sound ten times scarier than yelling ever could.
"Yes."
The ebony knights' eyes narrowed, "I never once thought you were an idiot, Sonic. But now I know that I was terribly wrong." Without another word, Sir Lancelot ripped his hand out of Galahad's and headed back towards the castle.
King Sonic watched Sir Lancelot leave and, once he had disappeared from sight, turned to Galahad. "Looks like it's just you and me, Galahad. Mind accompanying me for the rest of my walk?"
Galahad was beyond stunned at his new King and took a small step backwards. "How could you use me like that? I thought we were friends," he whispered and took another step back.
The cloaked hedgehog tensed and looked his younger knight in the eye. "Of course we're friends, Galahad!"
The ivory hedgehog rapidly shook his head back and forth. "I can't believe you would use me like that!" And then, he too, took off to the castle; hoping he would catch up to his mentor.
Meanwhile, King Sonic stayed in the same spot he was in; watching his other knight leave him and never once remembering a time where he felt so alone.
Who saw that coming? Huh? Huh? I gave you guys a lot of foreshadowing clues!
Shadow: You just like creating unnecessary drama.
Unnecessary? No, if you don't have drama, romance, adventure and a little bit of humor, you don't get anywhere with readers.
Silver: Don't provoke her, Shadow. She is the author and could make us join the circus and turn into monkeys next chapter.
Shadow: She wouldn't dare. *Growls*
Oh~ I would dare, Shadow~ It's so much fun making you guys do stupid things~ X3
Silver: Oh, god! Please save me guys! The author as gone crazy!
READ AND REVIEW PLEASE while I play with my hedgies~ *Evil laugh*