Chapter Eleven: Control

Sunrise, 2nd July

Kate woke me up as the sun rose and the Kings' guards did the same for each other. We clambered down the three, gathered our belongings, and prepared to head back to the city. Oddly, all of the monsters from the night had completely disappeared; none were hiding in shadows and even those that could survive the sunlight were nowhere to be found. We weren't sure why this had happened, but we weren't about to complain.

Not exactly knowing where we were going, I opted to follow the King's men when they set off rather than leading the way. It only dawned on me that we weren't heading the way we had come a couple of minutes later. I moved over to the King and questioned, "Wasn't Sarthe back that way?" Indicating in a vague direction opposite to the way we were travelling. I had no idea if I was pointing in the correct direction, but I felt like it added to my point.

"We are not going back immediately," Harold replied. "I would like you to demonstrate your sword fighting abilities today."

"I thought that the plan was for you to get back as soon as possible," I said, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference but definitely hoping that the monarch would change his mind at the thought of the imminent responsibilities back home.

"We are here and we are safe," he declared forcefully. "We should train while we can. If you are to use that weapon I would like to know that you can actually wield it."

We reached the clearing that we had been in the previous day and I reluctantly got into position. The sun was shining through the trees and there was a light breeze that went some way to make the heat more agreeable.

As the King was conferring with his guards to decide who I would be training against, I tried to prepare the stance that Kate had taught me. I held my sword in my right hand and pushed it in front of me as I stood with my legs apart and facing diagonally. I felt confident I'd gotten everything right until I saw Kate frantically waving her left hand at me and putting it behind her back, signalling to me that I should do the same.

I heard some mutterings of the guards saying that none of them wanted to be struck by the Sword of Light, which I thought was fair enough. The King agreed and was about to take one of their swords to give it to me for training purposes.

"Harold!" A deep, masculine but noticeably upper-class voice shouted angrily through the trees. No one could tell which direction it came from. We panicked and looked around the treeline but saw nothing at all. "I see you have finally decided to face me like the man that you never were." We heard footsteps as clouds enveloped the sky and blocked out any sunshine. Looking in the footsteps' direction revealed a familiar looking man. His dark but greying hair ran down to the shoulders of his sun-bleached purple overcoat. The once-white tunic of the middle-aged man looked ragged and filthy. He wielded a large circular shield on one arm and held the handle of a sheathed simple iron sword with the other hand. The engravings on the perfect silvery metal of the shield matched those on my sword and its central boss gently glowed a light blue. I recognised him as the man from my previous vision. Everyone with a sword drew them as Kate and David walked slowly over to me. "This forest is my realm. You know that."

"Edward," the King sternly said as he stepped forward with his sword drawn. "We're not causing you any trouble. Just let us leave."

"On the contrary, dear father," he confidently replied.

I turned to Kate and whispered, "Father?"

"What the fuck?" She whispered back.

"You have indeed caused me a lot of trouble," Edward continued loudly. "You have caused this. All of this." His tone raised as the blue glow on his shield became slightly brighter. We started to hear many more footsteps but couldn't see the sources. "You treated me like I was nothing to you. Like I was the scum of the kingdom."

"I apologise for however I may have mistreated you," Harold replied diplomatically before being quickly cut off.

"You apologise?" Edward scoffed. "You and your people shunned me and treated me terribly simply because you couldn't keep your codpiece on. I was laughed at, called names, and even beaten by your 'subjects'!" His voice started to raise in pitch and volume as his rage built. "I don't care about not being the heir, let Mary have that job, I just wanted to live my life peacefully! I can not believe how callously you would treat one of your own blood! Especially when I am entirely your fault! Does Mary even know that I exist?" The King shook his head, shame taking over. "No, of course she doesn't! How dare you hide your mistakes from your own family?!" As he rounded off his sentence, fifteen to twenty skeletons and zombies appeared in the treeline around us but stopped, holding off on their attack in an unnerving show of restraint. The guards formed a circle to face all of the monsters. I suddenly recognised this area. This was the area that I had seen in the vision the sword had given me when I first picked it up.

"Oh shit," I muttered as my realisation of the future hit me.

Edward looked over to me and deathly stared for a moment. "Ah. It's you," he began confusingly. "I know all about you. I don't suppose he has told you about me though, has he?" I shuffled nervously and shook my head. "No. Of course he hasn't. Why don't I inform you? I'm the bastard son of your 'wonderful' king. I'm the one he has sent you after." He dropped his tone and smiled. "I'm the reason that you are here at all."

"You what?" I said in disbelief, anger building inside me.

"Without my intervention, you might still have been happily living your life away from here." He paused for a moment, presumably for effect. I tightened my grip on my sword as I felt Kate hand me the pouch of diamonds from behind me that she'd apparently swiped earlier. I tried to stealthily untie the drawstring with my other hand and hold them at the ready. He didn't seem to notice because he was absorbed in his own monologue. "You were meant to die, but I will offer you a way out. There's no point in fighting me. You can't win. And, if you continue, I will be forced to finally kill you and destroy the city of Sarthe in its entirety." He turned his attention back to Harold. "For now, however, you'll do."

"You're the reason I'm on this shithole of an island?" I questioned furiously. He idly turned back to me before I shouted, "You motherfucker!" as loud as I could, glanced at the diamonds in my hand, and concentrated as hard as I could on firing a bolt of lightning at him. The electricity quickly flowed from the pommel, accompanied by the distant thunderclap, and down to the tip of the sword. The sword shook in place and I screamed as loud as possible as the lightning shot out towards the surprised Edward. Instinctively, he raised his shield which blocked the attack, causing the lightning to bounce off and strike a zombie in the treeline. The bolt jumped across five of the monsters nearby, instantly electrocuting and turning them into a black ash that was blown away by the light breeze. My blue vision faded as Edward lowered his shield and jumped back while drawing his own aging sword.

I felt myself lose my balance and energy before I saw the lack of any effect on my target. I mustered my reserves of energy, shoved the diamond pouch into my pocket, and charged forward in anger with my sword raised. A couple of arrows flew by me as the monsters started to attack and everybody began to defend themselves. I got within a few feet of Edward before he raised his shield again. Its blue centre glowed even brighter and flashed, blinding and deafening me completely for a few seconds. I stopped completely and tried to regain my vision.

When I did, there was no one around me. I was by myself in the forest's clearing. The cloudy sky had been replaced by brilliant sunshine overhead and the forest was completely still. I frantically looked around but there was no evidence of any life whatsoever. That was until a figure stepped out from behind one of the larger trees.

I stared at her in disbelief. It was Lucy. She was as beautiful as ever and the sunlight fell on her perfectly. Her long blonde hair somehow blowing gracefully in a breeze that didn't exist and her face and body as perfect as they ever were. Her white shirt and fitted blue jeans were in pristine condition, completely unaffected by the island's horrors. I didn't understand how she was there, let alone how she remained so perfect when I looked like shit. I didn't care though; I sheathed my sword and sprinted up to her, my eyes tearing up as I went. "Lucy!" I shouted as I kissed her and gave her the biggest hug I'd ever given. "What are you doing here?"

She held me tight and spoke softly. "Mark! I've missed you so much. I'm so happy you're still alive."

"I can't believe you're here. I was sure I'd never see you again." Joyful tears started to run down both of our faces as we remained in each other's embrace. "I love you so much. I'm never going to let you go again."

"I love you too. Please don't go through with what the King wants. I can't lose you."

"I won't, I promise. I'll put my weapons down and we can live together. We don't need anyone else."

"Just do what Edward wants. He knows what's going on."

I pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes. "Why don't we just fuck the lot of them and run off by ourselves?"

"No." She took a stern tone with me. "I need you to follow him."

I stuttered. She was confusing me. "What? Why?"

She seemed to become angry. "Do you trust me, Mark?"

"Of course I do, but-"

"Then do as I say and submit to me." Her voice deepened as Edward's voice seemed to come through slightly. I pulled away from the hug and looked intently at her. She glared at me in anger and awaited a response.

"I don't understand. What's happening, Lucy?"

"I don't have time for this!" She shouted with her mixed voice.

My vision was suddenly covered in another bright flash. As my sight returned to me, I saw the King collapse next to me holding his eye with the shaft of an arrow making its way through his fingers. The scene was exactly as I had seen previously. David was cowering behind Kate as her and the King's guards were fighting off monsters. Edward charged up to me at full speed with his sword and shield raised. My sword was somehow back in its sheathe. I reached for it but, before I had a chance to react, he pulled his shield back and swung it forward, immediately colliding with my face and knocking me unconscious and I was sent straight to the ground.

. . .

I opened my eyes to see a shallow-arched wooden ceiling a few feet above me. The uncomfortable bed dug into my back but I didn't feel like I had the energy to move a muscle. My head throbbed with pain as someone attempted to gently wash my bruised and bloody face with a wet piece of cloth. I muttered Lucy's name repeatedly, hoping that she was nearby and I could get her attention, as I slowly came to my senses.

"Thank Christ you're awake," Kate said as she pulled the cloth back.

"Where's Lucy?" I asked weakly as I turned to look at her. Sitting in a chair next to the bed I was on, she had a makeshift bandage around her arm and looked incredibly tired. David was stood next to her with a black eye and a cut lip but no major damage.

"Lucy?" David replied to confirm that he had indeed heard the correct name. "Back in England, I imagine."

"She was here. I saw her."

"I think you're imagining things, Mark."

"She was in the forest!" I yelled as I tried to sit up. Kate put her arms out to stop me just as I discovered an agonising pain coming from my stomach. I stopped in place and endured the pain for a few seconds before looking down. My torn and bloodied shirt had been discarded on the floor to reveal a bloodstained cloth around the entirety of my stomach.

"Lie back down, Mark," she said. "You really took a beating back there, you need some rest."

I obliged but continued my angry statements. "I need to find Lucy. She's in serious danger."

"What are you talking about?" David asked. "How is she here? What danger?"

"Edward had done something to her. I don't know."

"It was probably some trick by him. She can't be here," Kate said.

"I touched her. I spoke to her. She was there. I know it."

Kate and David shared a look of worry before turning back to me. "You clearly need to rest some more," Kate began. "We'll leave you in peace for now but we'll be back later."

I grabbed Kate's arm as she began to walk away. "Please keep an eye out for her. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her." She solemnly nodded before they both left the bleak room.

I didn't understand why they were being so difficult. I began to resent them for it. How did they not see her? Why didn't they believe me? I wanted to get up and search for her, but I was stopped by my excruciating wounds every time I tried to move at all. I dwelled on these thoughts for a while before I realised that I had absolutely no idea where I was.

The small room was relatively featureless. The white-stone walls contained a couple of large vertical wood beams that made up the frame of the building. The wooden floor wasn't particularly clean and the roof clearly had a leak as there was a damp patch in the far corner. A small lantern sat on a bedside table dimly lit the room and the chair that Kate had been sitting on looked to have been pulled from one of the corners where another chair and a small table lay. I tried to recognise it as an area of the castle, but I came up completely blank and couldn't work out where I was at all.

Tired of being confused, I simply lay back in my bed. I found that my sheathed sword was still attached to me, the others being understandably scared to touch it. Sick of the thing, I took it off and chucked it across the room, letting it clatter noisily to the ground, before closing my eyes and trying to recount the morning's events. The diamonds were still sitting uncomfortably in my back pocket, but I didn't have the energy to take them out.

I woke up and saw Lucy staring down at me with a look of serious concern. When she saw that I was awake, she leant down and gave me an impassioned kiss.

"You're back," I said with a smile as she pulled away.

"Don't believe them," she replied. "Don't believe anything they say. They want you to fail."

"Who? Kate and David?" She nodded quickly. I trusted her, but needed help understanding what they would have against me. "But they're my friends. Why would either of them do that?"

"They're jealous of you, Mark. Only I understand what you're going through." We heard heavy footsteps rushing towards the door to our room. "Oh no," she said as she took a step back. "They found me!"

"What do you mean? I don't understand!" I shouted at her as I tried and failed to sit up.

"Please don't forget me!" With that, Kate shoulder-barged her way through the door, quickly followed by David, both with swords at the ready.

"There she is!" David shouted as he pointed at Lucy. Kate gave a determined nod and charged at her. I tried to shout at them to stop but they completely ignored me and I couldn't muster the strength to get up. Kate pushed her left forearm into Lucy's neck and shoved her against the wall behind. Without a moment's hesitation, she plunged her sword into Lucy's stomach. Lucy made little noise, simply pained whimpers, as the sword penetrated deeper into her body, blood slowly absorbing into her clothes. Kate stared straight into her eyes as the life drained from her body. When the sword reached the stone wall behind, Kate pulled it out, sheathed it, and walked off without saying a word. David quickly followed after glancing briefly at me with a flicker of regret. Lucy slid down the wall, leaving a crimson smear as she went. She started to shiver as a small amount of blood trickled out of her mouth and her consciousness slowly left her.

My eyes opened suddenly as I found myself sweating profusely in the bed. Kate and David were standing over me once more. "What did you do?! Get the fuck away from me!" I instantly shouted and meekly flailed my arms in fear.

"What did we do?" David asked.

"You murdered Lucy!"

"What? No we didn't!"

"Yes you did! She's right there…" I trailed off as I looked over to where Lucy's dying body was, but it and the bloodstain had disappeared. "What have you done with her?!"

The pair exchanged a confused look before Kate spoke. "Mark, you were just having a dream. I think you were muttering something about her."

Maybe she managed to escape. She still had a chance. "Just fuck off!" I continued regardless. "I know what you're up to. Don't touch her!"

David stepped past Kate and sat on the chair next to the bed, I recoiled slightly but didn't have anywhere to go. Calmly, he said, "Mate, I've known you for fourteen years and Lucy's great. What would I have against you two?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Just don't come near me! Especially you!" I pointed at Kate and stared her down.

"What did I do?" She asked defensively.

"You fucking know what you did," I snarled.

She turned to David. "It seems like he's got a problem with me. I'm not helping matters by being here, can you handle this?"

"I can bloody-well try," he responded uneasily.

She made motions towards the door before turning back and saying, "Mark, I've not done anything to harm you, nor do I intend to. You're my only friend right now, please don't start believing that I would ever intentionally hurt you." I ignored her as she dejectedly walked out of the room and gently closed the door.

"What's going on, mate?" David asked nicely as soon as the door closed. "Why do you think we want to find and harm Lucy?"

"I saw Kate do it. You were there. How do you not remember?" I pleaded.

"I don't remember it because it never happened. You were dreaming, Mark. That Edward guy really shat you up."

"It can't have been a dream. It was real when she kissed me. I can still see her face as Kate stabbed her."

He sighed deeply. "Does fourteen years of constant friendship mean nothing to you? Do you not trust me when I say that it never happened?"

I thought about his point for a moment. I had known him for a long time, that did mean something to me. On balance I definitely could have once called him loyal. But, if he was so loyal, why would he lie about Lucy not being there? "I can't trust you," I finally decided. "Not when you refuse to accept that she was with us in the forest."

"How would she even get here?" He stuttered briefly as he struggled to come up with his next sentence. "What kind of crazy coincidence would that be?"

"I don't know. I never said that I had all of the fucking answers, ok?" I replied, raising my voice. "I know what I saw and what I saw was Lucy. If you can't accept that then you might as well piss off."

"Fine!" He shouted as he quickly stood up, knocking the wooden chair over as he did so. "I'll leave you to your fantasy world where girlfriends appear out of the fucking ether!" He turned around, kicked the chair slightly further away, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door as he left.

I sat by myself in that room for some time. I felt completely alone in the world. My so-called friends had betrayed me and Lucy, the only person that I trusted, was gone.

Days passed. Kate and David tried to talk me out of my anger a few times but I gave no indication of belief in them. I was haunted by the dying face of Lucy in my memories and I couldn't find a way past it, I was sure that I had little left to live for.

A younger woman brought me food in the mornings and evenings, she didn't say much but seemed nice; though she was still untrustworthy from her association with David and Kate. She must have been slightly scared of me because she always averted her gaze as she walked in with the trays of simple meals. I didn't want to eat the meals in case they'd done something to them, but I didn't have much of a choice in my state.

On the fifth morning, Kate entered my room. As usual, I simply said, "Get out," as soon as I recognised that it was her, but she pushed through and sat next to me.

"I've been trying to think of ways to make you believe us. It's been difficult, but I think I've got it."

"You can try your fucking best, murderer."

She ignored my comment and reached into one of her pockets. After a small amount of rummaging, she pulled out a small rectangular piece of paper. It was severely crumpled, visibly water stained, sun bleached, and slightly torn in some places, but it clearly held a special meaning for Kate. She stared down at it for a few seconds before slowly turning it around. It was a fading picture that depicted her a few years younger and a similarly aged man. Few details could be made out but they had their arms around each other and had big smiles across their faces. Words struggled to exit her mouth, but eventually she managed to say, "This is my husband. Stuart."

I could see she was having a hard time, but I didn't care much. "Ok. So?" I responded.

"I lost him when I was shipwrecked on this island. Our small boat was completely destroyed in the storm but only I ended up here." She looked me deeply in the eyes as her own started to redden. "He died right in front of me. I watched him get impaled by pieces of the crumpling boat, I watched him die as the storm wrenched him away from me." A single tear ran down her cheek.

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked, refusing to see her in any kind of human light.

"I know what it's like to see your other half die. It's horrible. I barely made it through my time on this island because I was an absolute wreck. I loved him so much and I couldn't bear to face the truth that he was gone forever. I could never do that to someone else, even if I had reason to. I wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy. And if I did see Lucy, I would stop at nothing to reunite you with her. It may be too late for me, but I would love to see you as happy as I imagine you would be if you actually saw her again."

It was like she'd flicked a switch inside of me. What she said made perfect sense, she'd never shown any ill feelings towards me nor the idea of Lucy, it didn't make sense for her to suddenly be against us. I remembered the odd circumstances that surrounded my first sighting of Lucy; the absolute chaos of the beginning of the fight, then only me and her in a perfectly still forest that felt entirely different yet exactly the same as the one we were fighting in. I suddenly couldn't work out why I'd been so stupid as to believe that Lucy was on the island and that Kate and David wanted to harm her in any way.

Kate averted her gaze from me and stared at her picture again as I was lost in my thoughts. "I'm such a twat," I said after a minute of silence. She looked up at me in confusion. "I'm so sorry," I continued, "I don't know what came over me, how could I believe that she was actually here?"

"Thank fucking Christ," she replied with relief as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You're back! It's not your fault, that arsehole did something to you. Using your loved ones against you? That's absolutely disgusting and evil of him." She stood up, put her picture away, and leant over to give me a big hug, accidentally briefly putting her hand on my stomach wound as she did. I winced but said nothing as she tightly squeezed me before pulling back slightly and looking into my eyes. "I was so scared that you were going to be like that forever."

"I don't understand. What even happened to me? I could have sworn Lucy was there."

She sat back down on her chair next to the bed and entered into her side of the story.

As soon as my lightning failed to effect Edward, the monsters began to attack. The guards formed a circle around the King and defended him with their lives. The weaponless David stayed behind Kate as she readied herself for a fight. She shouted at me to hold back as I charged forward but I didn't notice, my anger clearly getting the better of me. As everyone but David fought off the various attacking monsters, Kate saw the effects that the shield had on me from the outside. I sprinted for Edward but stopped and sheathed my sword as he raised his shield when I was a few feet away from him. Kate tried to make it over to me, but the onslaught of attackers was too much for her and she couldn't manage it. David's wounds were caused by her frantically turning to face attackers and his face getting in the way of her elbow.

All she could do was catch glimpses of my blank faced expression as I sheathed my sword and stood in the middle of the chaos, simply staring at Edward. He looked relaxed as he stared down the struggling King with a menacing smile. One of the guards took an expertly placed arrow in the neck and died almost instantly, making the remaining two fight even harder as they'd clearly just lost a dear friend.

Edward kept glancing over to me and seemed to get more frustrated with every glance, up until he shouted, "I don't have time for this!" and started to move towards me. I shook out of my trance and blearily looked at the chaos in the same instant that an arrow flew past Kate and struck the King in the eye. He collapsed as I noticed Edward charging towards me. Another arrow struck Kate in her arm, fortunately most of the impact being stopped by her leather, as a zombie approached her. She cut it down while Edward bashed me with the shield and another zombie took down a second guard and gruesomely robbed him of his life.

Edward shouted, "Stop!" just as a skeleton lined up an almost unavoidable shot on Kate. She and the single remaining guard stopped in place and nervously held their weapons ready as David slowly stood up behind Kate. "I am happy to let you go. I have no quarrel with you three, whoever you are." He stared down at my unconscious body. "I did warn him." He aimed his sword at my stomach and prepared to push it in.

"Don't you fucking touch him," Kate threatened.

He looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry. Did you want to die as well?" Still looking at Kate, he slowly plunged the sword into my stomach.

"Oh god. Mark!" David said in terror.

I remained unmoving as Edward removed the sword and wiped the blood off on my shirt. "Don't. Move," he ordered as he strolled over the King, pushing the shaking guard out of the way as he did. He started to almost growl and seethe as he stared at the King's body. He knelt down, yanked the arrow out of the King's eye and stood back up as he discarded it. "This is for everything," he said as he brought his foot above the face of the corpse. With enough force to break the King's nose, he stomped down, creating a disgusting cracking sound as the cartilage was forced into his skull. Again and again, he stamped down on his face and began to shout louder with every attack. Blood erupted and covered his boot and the grass around it as the relentless assault continued.

All Kate and David could do was watch in horror as the King's face became more and more unrecognisable and blood started to seep out of my fresh wound. After just under a minute of this, he finally stopped and regained his composure. He stared at the three left standing and said, "You may live. But know this. If you cross me again, all of the people's lives on this island are forfeit." He waited for a moment. "Understand?" All three quickly and frantically nodded in unison. "Good." He spat on the King's lifeless body before saying, "I hope I never have to see you three again."

"I honestly have no idea how you're still alive," Kate said, wrapping up her story.

Pondering this myself for a moment, I eventually just said. "It's probably something to do with the diamonds. It's always something to do with the diamonds." She lightly grinned at me as memories of the event started to flood back to me. "So, the King. He's dead?"

She slowly nodded. "He didn't make it. Only us three and one of the guards got out alive."

"Shit. This is so fucked." Mulling over the news of the King's death for a moment, I continued my questioning. "Edward doesn't know that I'm alive, then? And he's not going to attack us for any reason as long as he believes that?"

Kate nodded. "I don't know about you, but I'm more than willing to leave him be."

"Couldn't agree with you more." I indicated to the sword that I'd discarded onto the room's floor to confirm my sentiment. "We should just work on finding a way off this shithole. Seems like that guy has had it hard enough as it is without us trying to ruin his life further." She agreed and we sat in silence for a moment as I thought about the sight of the chaos in the forest. "Kate, do you reckon you could be a sounding board for something that could be a bit of a crazy ramble?" She raised an eyebrow but nodded at me. "I didn't immediately realise it, but I'd seen that forest clearing before. I saw it when I first touched the sword, it was exactly as it happened. The King with an arrow in his eye and Edward being there as well as David and the shit-tonne of monsters."

"Why didn't you bring it up earlier?"

"I've had so many visions and dreams that haven't come true. I just didn't believe it to be honest."

"Maybe we should start listening to them. What were the others?"

"The first one was in that lava and flesh-covered landscape with…" I paused as I had a realisation. "With Edward's shield! I can only assume that it was the 'Nether' that Harold was on about. The second one was of this city being destroyed. There was a dead guy on the floor. I guess it could have been Edward but I'm really not sure."

"He said that he wouldn't bother attacking if we did nothing."

I thought about Kate's story for a moment to think about our next movements. "Maybe, if we do nothing, things will change and it won't come true. I really don't want to face him again."

"Yeah. Let's just work on fucking off out of here."

"Agreed." I suddenly realised that I had no idea where 'here' was in the short term. "Where exactly are we?" I asked as I scanned the dull surroundings once more.

"We couldn't go far once we got inside the city, so we managed to wrangle a room in that inn on the riverside. 'The Glistering Melon' or something stupid like that."

"How are you paying for it?"

"Oh, we're not. The woman on the bar let us in for free at first because you were so fucked up and then we sent for the soon-to-be Queen who is putting you up for now."

"Remind me to thank her. Is she not Queen already?"

"Her coronation's in a couple of days I think. She's requested your presence, but we can still pretend that you're batshit crazy if you'd rather not." She smirked. "Y'know, put your pants on your head and stick a couple of pencils up your nose."

I felt my stomach wound to check how painful it still was. When mildly touching it with one light finger sent a surge of pain through my body, I looked at Kate and said, "That would be good."

"It's probably for the best." She thought for a moment before saying "Tell you what, though; the way they treat me around the castle has really improved now that they have a female monarch."

"They're that fickle up there?"

"It's not perfect; I almost decked someone that dismissively called me 'love' the other day, but it's better."

Over the next half hour, Kate caught me up on the situation in court. There was an air of tension throughout the King's trusted men. It was clear to Kate that this would be a time of severe unrest but at least the people in power seemed to recognise that they needed to deal with the immediate threat first.

We chatted for a short while longer about this before she said, "I'll fetch David. I know he's been pretty down about this all." She stood up and began to leave the room.

Before she could leave, I called out to her and said, "Thank you so much, Kate. I'm sorry you had to do what you did for me."

She smiled and said, "It's ok. It was actually good to get it all out," before she left the room.

After a few minutes, the door inched open and David tentatively poked his head through it. He still looked tired, clearly having not gotten much sleep over the past few days. He looked nervous as well, unsure about whether I was still angry or not. "You're fine, David," I said to reassure him. "I'm good now."

"Jesus, man." David said with a large exhale while confidently swinging the door open. "What the fuck happened to you?" He rushed over and sat by me on the chair next to the bed.

"I don't bloody know. Some magical bollocks. I'm so sorry for everything, I hope you know I didn't mean any of it."

"Don't worry about it. I might have flown off the handle slightly, but I know it wasn't you." He drifted into thought for a moment before looking back at me. "A few days ago, I was starving in a tree and blissfully ignorant to all of this. In less than a week, I've seen a sword shoot lightning, a King get shot by a reanimated skeleton, and a shield that turned my friend into an absolute spack. What on Earth have you gotten yourself into?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you, but I'm washing my hands of it. Fuck the diamonds, fuck the sword, and fuck Sarthe. If this 'Edward' guy wants me out of the picture, I'm fucking out."

"What made you want to help out anyway?"

"The King promised to help us find a way off the island. Doubt that's happening now though."

David nodded thoughtfully as he considered the situation further. "Maybe the new Queen will do something?"

"I can't imagine she's best pleased about her father dying in our company."

"I'm sure that you of all people can sweet talk her." Kate's voice coming from the doorway surprised us as she strolled in. David looked at her inquisitively before she explained. "The princess has a bit of a thing for Mark."

"Oh really?" David turned back to me and grinned. "Get in there, mate."

"Thanks, Kate," I said sarcastically. "She's exaggerating."

"Like Hell I am," she immediately replied, seemingly anticipating my response. "She's all over you and takes every chance she can to be around you. Since you've been in this inn, she's been constantly asking after you and wondering how you're doing."

"It's probably because she expects me to 'save the world' or whatever."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"Guys, wait." David held up his hands for attention as he interrupted us. "I have a very important question to ask." He leant in and looked deep into my eyes with a look of complete seriousness. Kate inched closer and we both listened intently. "Is she fit?"

Kate and I both laughed out loud as David politely chuckled along but still expected an answer. I regained my composure and said, "I guess so. I haven't thought about it."

"Bollocks you haven't," he quickly replied before turning to Kate. "Is she?"

"Oh yeah," she flatly stated before turning back to me. "Speaking of Mary, we should probably let her know that you're fine. She'll want to know, I'm sure."

"I thought that we were sticking with the 'batshit crazy' excuse to get me out of the coronation?"

"I thought about that, but I feel like growing a new hole in your stomach is reason enough."

I was eventually left to recover by myself. Mary was informed of my well-being but didn't visit, apparently being busy with a combination funeral and coronation as well as all of the responsibilities that came with inheriting a kingdom. Despite my wounds healing abnormally fast, as usual, I was still unable to attend the coronation a couple of days later, but I had it on good authority from Kate and David that it was one of the weirdest things they'd ever seen in their lives simply because it was exactly how they imagined a medieval coronation. The attendees, various nobles and wealthy citizens from the area, seemed outwardly happy at the occasion but it was clear to David and Kate that there was a thinly veiled resentment among them towards Mary.

It didn't take long for the city to return to normal; the bunting in the streets was quickly taken down and most people basically forgot that anything had happened. The average person's life hadn't changed much anyway; the biggest difference was reluctantly saying 'God save the Queen' rather than enthusiastically chanting 'God save the King'.