Aurora POV
"Father!" Charming screamed, storming through the dense woodland. Jocelyn arched both eyebrows and crossed his arms. "Do you really think the old bastard is going to admit to attempted murder?" he snapped. Charming glowered at him, the irritation he felt in regard to the dethroned king vibrantly obvious. "That is my father you speak of, VERMIN"
"And your FATHER has tormented me for eight years!" came Jocelyn's ringing reply, "I've every right to insult the weasel-hearted monster!"
I was worried that the both of them would hurt each other soon, so I quickly tried to change the tone of such conversation. "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?" I asked politely. Jocelyn cocked both ears and arched an eyebrow. "If you're fond of rain, I suppose, milady." He turned his face to the sky, dimly visible through the treetops. Lady Sky had aged suddenly and wore hair of a sullen gray, swirls of light storm cloud lacing white through her trembling mane.
"We know you rats would be fond of it," Charming sneered.
"But murderers even more so," Jocelyn snapped in return, ears rigid. Charming was still skeptical about his claim that Dashing had tried to murder him, and it was clearly infuriating him. I wished that Charming would just believe the story, but I suppose I would not believe my father to be a murderer.
And mayhap Jocelyn should have shown more sympathy in his accusation, instead of coldly naming 'the royal no-wit' and muttering rude words in Hyrene. It did make him seem rather biased, but honesty is highly esteemed by his people…and it was not possible that he could hate Dashing more than someone who stabbed him…
Jocelyn cocked his ears again. "Rat nest nearby," he commented absently.
"Rat nest?" I asked in surprise.
Jocelyn shrugged diffidently, but when he saw it was me, his face softened "Contrary to popular belief, rats nest underground, sort of like rabbits," he offered.
I smiled encouragingly. His eyebrows and his eyes weren't colliding like two carts in a road anymore. "Really?"
"Yes. They only scavenge alone. It's common sense, really. They are harder to catch that way."
I was about to reply when someone yelled.
"Who's that?" Rapunzel barked, snapping me out of our conversation. She gestured to the pretty young girl entering the clearing. The girl's impish features were crowned with warm brown curls, and a bright scarlet cape hung cheerfully about her petite shoulders. She was lovely, though I am no man and therefore no judge of such things. But she had such an odd look about her; I could not place a name to it. A string was out of place with this living crimson tapestry, and I had yet to touch upon it.
"Scarlet!" Mary and Bo squealed, and they rushed forward to embrace their friend. Jocelyn stuck his tongue out far as it would go as this new visitor, but grinned sarcastically when she turned to him. She looked him up and down derisively, a superior disdain washing over her face. "Charmed, I'm sure, Vermin," she sneered. He muttered a few inappropriate curses in Hyrene, but was soon distracted as another guest entered the clearing.
A wolf. Standing on his hind legs. Rapunzel snorted. "Look, Tarrant, it's your twin brother," she muttered, looking the creature up and down. I scowled reproachfully at her, horrified that my friend would be so rude. But, as usual, Rapunzel was oblivious to good manners.
Scarlet, clearly as oblivious, broke free of the shepherdesses and scowled at her. "He is most certainly more interesting than your commonplace knight." My mouth dropped open in shock at the uncouth edge of this girl's tongue. How dare she! But she grinned adoringly up at the wolf, heedless of her horrible manners. "He is such a marvelous sort of stranger…."
Jocelyn cocked an eyebrow and an ear. "You can't be serious."
Scarlet glowered at him. "Shut your biscuit-hole, rat boy. What do you know of love?"
"Enough to see that it's a single-species operation."
Scarlet snarled at him, clinging to the wolf's chest hair. "You love me, don't you?" she asked sweetly, turning her glowing ruby lips toward the creature. He grinned ferociously, glittering rows of dagger-sharp teeth meeting one another. "You are positively delicious, dear Scarlet. A scrumptious morsel to be consumed slowly and deliberately."
Jocelyn's mouth hung slack, slumping forward and downward in unison with his shoulders. "Is the irony of that speech really just soaring over your head?" he asked, dumbfounded at what he interpreted as stupidity. I had to admit, the girl was rather foolish to consort so closely with a beast, but mayhap his intentions were honest.
Charming forced Jocelyn behind his own arm, frowning. I winced as the dethroned Hyrene king fell backwards, but he was unharmed. "Your social life is not of consequence, Miss. We are actually on the search for my father, King Dashing."
Jocelyn snorted, twitching an ear and looking up from the ground. "About as tall as princeling here, twice the girth, thrice the stupidity," he snapped, "Looks quite a bit like your wolf over there, but hairier."
I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to restrain his insults. His head snapped around, jaw clamping together as if he were considering biting me. I eased backwards slowly. Jocelyn was not in the BEST of his moods tonight.
"Shut it, Joc," Piper barked, "We have to find Dashing."
"Well then!" the Hyrene ruler cried, flinging his arms into the air and standing, "Let's just call the Devil and ask him if he's seen his TWIN around lately!"
"I told you to keep quiet, pig-boy!" Charming yelled, glaring poisoned daggers at his opponent.
At this point, Jocelyn began a passionate cursing rampage in the quick-tongued language of his fathers, gesturing rapidly with his hands at trees, rocks, the sky, the grass, a bird, a bush--- I only understood about half of it, and the half I did understand was a long list of ancient hexes and insults directed at Charming and his father.
Piper muttered something in Hyrene and he whirled around, snapping out the thousands of quick clipped syllables that made up his language. She babbled just as ferociously in return, with the same rolling, darting, meandering, frantic gestures he employed. What an odd tongue it was, that Hyrene.
Finally he was quiet, panting with fury and exertion. "Baldechrict," was the final protest he offered, fists clenched tightly to lock around his rage and keep it away from Charming.
"Rats have no manners," Scarlet sniffed, flipping a perfect curl away from her dimpled face, "And I don't help people without manners." She turned her nose upward, hefting her chin in the process, and gave a tremendous snort of her nostrils.
"Well, that cold's going to cause your lover over there some indigestion!" Jocelyn snapped, a mocking smirk spread across his face. Scarlet started towards him, face flushed with a concoction of embarrassment and indignation, but Piper stepped in her path. "Up yours, stranger girl. Where's Dashing?"
"Why should I tell you? You hardly have manners either! What kind of lady dresses as a man?"
Jocelyn grabbed a rock and flung it at her head, but Piper blasted a discordant high note and the missile exploded midair. We all gasped in communal awe at the shards of stone, which had frozen in their flight towards us. I looked questioningly at Tarrant, and he smiled encouragingly, so I stretched a finger forward to pluck one of the motionless pieces. It was bitterly cold, floating in lifeless ice among our breath, and even a touch of the fingertip sent harsh chills through my bones.
In the silence provided by Piper's magic, Vermin's ears cocked. "Dashing," he whispered, "He's the in the forest, within a half mile, I would guess."
"Where is he, Scarlet?" Piper asked again, calm and collected. "It would do you well to tell me, unless you like your wolf well-roasted."
Scarlet scowled furiously at both the musician and the smirking swineherd beside her.
"He's hiding out in the Sugar-Drape Motel, you fools." She crossed her arms and blew at another stray curl. "I know, because it's right next to my grandmother's place."
A/N: Thanks again for reading! I have the best reviewers on and everybody knows it! - And what really makes my day is when the same reviewers keep coming back. You guys are really the best!