Chapter 4: When Oranges Start Flying

It had been four days of walking for Isabel and Derek. Before leaving the village, he had bought her a pair of brown pants, a white shirt and shoes that were much better for walking. Derek had traded the royal coins for a good sword to accompany his armor.

Derek felt more like himself with the royal armor on, like the old ways were coming back.

The past four days had been the best of Derek's life. With everything Isabel said he fell more in love with her. He listened as he talked about her family…at least what she remembered. She went on and on about how she never wanted to be queen, but she felt her brother pressuring her to marry Spencer, Duke of Sacramento.

There had been laughs and tears, both of which Derek had been there for.

Isabel could not have been happier walking with Derek. The way he had dropped everything to join her on her quest to find her brother really moved her. She found Derek very attractive and couldn't help herself from falling for him.

But her head kept reminding her that she was royalty and he was not. It wasn't right for them to be together. It would never work. The last thing Isabel wanted was to get her hopes up, just to be disappointed. And the fact that she had been married before might be a little bit of a deterrent.

It was somewhere just past noon on the fourth day when Isabel saw the hideout. They had reached their destination.

Isabel saw three people: two boys and one girl. Upon seeing Derek and herself, one of the boys drew his sword.

"Who are you?" Isabel knew that voice too well. She almost started crying just hearing his voice.

"Lawrence? Is that you?" Isabel yelled back. Derek stood beside her, sword drawn as well.

The next few seconds were crucial. They would determine how relations would start in between the five people. Isabel wanted nothing more than to start off on the right foot with her brother and his two friends.

"Finn?" Isabel tried the only thing she could think of: jogging his memory. She slowly started walking toward her brother as she continued. "Do you remember me? I'm…I'm…"

Lawrence lowered his sword and gawked at her. "Willa."

Isabel smiled, letting a tear fall down her cheek. She ran up to her brother and gave him a hug.

"I'm so glad you're alive! I thought you were dead!" She whispered in his ear. Lawrence released her and held her at arm's length, looking her over.

"Where have you…but I thought…and you were…and…how did you find me?"

"Whoa! Slow down there Lawrence! Let's sit down and talk."

"Okay." He smiled and hugged her again. "I'm so glad to see you again, sis."

Isabel heard Derek cough. She let go of Lawrence and walked over to Derek.

"Finn," Isabel said with a smile. Using her brother's childhood nickname brought back warm memories of days long gone. "This is Derek Philby. He was a soldier in the royal army, and he's here to help us."

"Behind me are Dillard Cole and Amanda Lovett." Finn stepped forward and extended his hand to Derek, who promptly shook it. "What's he here to help us with?"

"Restoring you back to the throne, King Lawrence," Derek said in reply, bowing slightly. "You're the rightful king."

"King Lawrence?" Amanda asked. She was ignored.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dillard walked up and joined the group-refusing to be ignored. "My man Finn here is a king?" Isabel nodded. "That's awesome!" Dillard held his hand up for a high-five, which Finn did not return.

"Who said I wanted to be king?" Finn asked Isabel.

"It's your duty, Finn. You were born to be king."

"But what if I don't want to be king?" He crossed his arms. "I'm much better at being a nobody."

"Where's the Lawrence I knew back at the castle? Where is the Lawrence that claimed he was going to be the best king the kingdom had ever seen? Where's the Lawrence that had more courage than anyone I know? Where's the Lawrence that stands up for the weak, even if it requires him to lose something? The Lawrence that I'm related to wouldn't let a scumbag like Maleficent come in, kill his family, and ruin the kingdom! You've got to fight to save all that's good in this kingdom! Her reign of terror needs to end!"

All four stared at Isabel as she tried to catch her breath. She saw her brother's eyes studying her like a hawk studies its prey from above. She gave him a sad look, urging him to comply with her plan.

He saw straight through her, as if she was a piece of glass.

He spoke quietly, but firmly. Isabel only remembered him speaking that way when he was furious. "Did she hurt you in any way, Willa?"

Isabel took a few deep breaths before answering in a quiet whisper. Lying wouldn't help her now. "Yes."

"That's it! That's the last straw! I'm going to chop her head off!" Finn walked back to the hideout and started gathering his things. "I'll charge right up to her and chop her stupid head off." Except he didn't say stupid.

"Finn! Calm down!" Isabel yelled after him. "Now's not the time to get irrational! We've got to get reinforcements! And we need a plan—" Derek placed a hand on her arm to stop her, seeing that Finn was too far away.

Amanda walked over to Finn, placed a hand on his arm and whispered something in his ear. Isabel could only assume it was something to calm him down. After some words were exchanged between the two, Amanda dragged Finn back to the group. His eyes were still aflame with fury.

"Let's not get irrational about this, King Lawrence." Derek said. "We'll need to come up with a plan. But we can't do this without allies."

Finn took a few deep breaths, staring at the ground, like he did when he was deep in thought.

"Who do you have in mind, soldier?"

"I say we need to try other monarchies. Word has it they are all on the brink of war with Maleficent."

"Okay." Finn took the time to look at each person in the eyes. "We leave in the morning." Finn turned and went back to the makeshift shelter that he called the hideout without another word. The other four were unsure of what to do. None but Isabel had seen him this angry before.

"Can I sit here?" Isabel asked Finn. It was in the middle of the night but when Isabel saw her brother sitting by the fire, she decided to talk to him.

"Sure, Willa." He scooted over to give her have enough room to sit on the log. The use of her childhood nickname made her smile. She remembered making her brother swear never to tell anyone about it, only allowing the nickname when they were alone.

"So this is the infamous hideout you raved about back in the day?"

Finn let out a small laugh, stabbing the grass with a stick to avoid her eyes. "How do you remember that?"

"Honestly? I didn't. The night before I got out, I had a dream about the day you told me about it." She grabbed a nearby stick and pushed rocks around with it. "Talk about coincidence."

"How did you even find this place?"

"You told me exactly how to get here."

"Oh, right. I forgot." He paused. "What happened to you during the raid? I guess you were in Sacramento at the time—"

"I wish I could remember." She sighed deeply. "I just woke up inside a cell that was in our palace. I was told my Maleficent herself that you and everyone in the family was dead."

Isabel felt a cold breeze just thinking about her. "It was like that for four years. Until a few nights ago when a young woman let me out and told me to come find you."

"Did you know who the woman was?"

"No. She wouldn't tell me her name."

"Willa…I'm so sorry that all this happened to you. It's all my fault."

"How is all of this your fault? For some reason she thought I would be useful to her, otherwise I'd be dead."

"I thought you already were," her brother mumbled.

"I know…I know…"

"What happened? Your husband came in saying that you died…and that he couldn't find your body…and…"

Isabel looked down on the ground. "It's a long story."

There was a full minute of silence.

"So Spencer is—"

"Dead." Finn and Isabel sat in silence, letting reality set in. They really were alone this time.

"So you're going by Finn now?"

He nodded. "Seemed appropriate."

She smiled. "I like it. Your childhood nickname."

Another minute of silence, this time the siblings were reflecting on good times long gone.

Finn turned to her "How did you meet a royal soldier?"

"Ran into him at a nearby village."

"How do I know we can trust him?"

"He's a royal soldier, Finn." She rolled her eyes. "Trust me, we can trust him."

Finn studied her face, and then nodded. "Alright."

"What about Amanda and Dillard? How do you know them?"

"Dillard was the one who would get me free food when I would go into the village. Amanda, well…I kind of saved her from being burned at the stake."

She turned on him in a flash. "And what would compel you to do something so stupid! Maleficent already has it out for you. By doing something like that, you've probably exposed yourself!" She smacked him.

"I couldn't just let her die, Isabel. I…I know her from somewhere."

Isabel stared at Finn with her mouth wide open.

Finn shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"Oh my gosh, you like her!"

Finn looked down at the ground, blushing. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Oh Finn. Have you made a move yet?" She winked at him.

"I tried, she said the moment had to be right."

His sister laughed so hard she had trouble staying on the log.

"What's so funny Willa? Me being rejected is funny to you?"

"Yes, yes it is!" She said in between laughs. "I guess it never occurred to me that you'd actually start liking girls."

"Whoa there, I've liked girls before. I'm twenty-eight, sis."

"Really now?" She looked at him skeptically. "Name one."

"Remember that time we went into the nearby village with Wanda and you dared me to get a kiss from the pretty girl who worked at the tavern when Wanda wasn't looking?"

Isabel burst out into laughter. Tears were welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill. "Yes! And when you leaned in for a kiss, she slapped you across the face!"

"Yeah…I couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she was for the rest of the month."

"Wow, that's pathetic, Finn." And being the mature twenty-eight-year-old rightful king he was, Finn pushed his twenty-five-year-old sister so hard she fell off the log and both laughed.

"You need to do it, Finn." Isabel said after composing herself.

"Do what?"

"Take the throne back from Maleficent."

"I don't know Willa. I'm not cut out for being king."

Isabel turned to face Finn, placed her hand under his chin and turned his face toward hers.

"That's the exact reason I know you're going to be a great king."

Isabel stood up. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep. I hear we've got some traveling to do."

"Night sis. I'm glad to have you back in my life. It got kind of lonely out here."

"Well lucky you, you're stuck with me from here on out." She smiled at her brother and best friend. "Night Finn."

"So let me get this straight…" Dillard asked his friend Finn. He was currently walking in between Finn and Isabel. Amanda and Derek had decided to take the lead. The sun was still low now, not even past noon. They had woken early and decided to start their journey.

They were currently headed to the coastal port, hoping to catch a boat ride to one of the island kingdoms. Supposedly the island kingdoms were about to wage war with Maleficent and the Kingdom of California.

That isn't what Dillard cared about though. "You two knew each other back before you-know-who took over?"

"She's my sister, Dill." Finn said with a slight hint of annoyance. For the past few hours, Dillard had been asking him every question imaginable about being the future king. Never mind the difficult and hard path to regain his throne. Dillard was worried about logistics and the backstory he had never heard.

Dillard turned to Isabel. "And your father married you off to the Duke of Sacramento? I heard he's a jerk!"

"Was." She said gently. If she was getting annoyed with Dillard's questions, it wasn't showing.

"So wouldn't you be queen if they thought Finn was dead?"

"I guess technically I was queen while he was dead…but…"

"We all thought she was dead," Finn finished.

"What?" Dillard turned to Isabel. "Is that true?"

"Obviously royal news doesn't reach as far as we thought," Finn muttered under his breath.

Isabel nodded, ignoring her brother's rude comment. "Yes, Dillard."

"What happened?" Dillard asked her, his eyes wide with anticipation.

Isabel didn't want to talk about it. The whole time she was married to Spencer was something she didn't want to talk about. It was a low point in her life.

Instead, she looked ahead and called out to the two leading the way. "Hey Derek? How much longer until we can rest a little bit?"

"I guess now's a good time." Derek replied. He found a small area in the woods where all five could sit down. Dillard pulled out a few oranges and started peeling his.

"So how much longer until we get to the port?" Finn asked the soldier.

"If we kept walking at the same pace…tomorrow afternoon."

"That's good, right?" Dillard asked with a mouth full of orange slice.

"Yes, Dillard. It's good. The faster we get help, the faster Finn gets to take back his throne." Amanda was directly looking at Finn, not breaking her stare for a second. Finn was glad he was sitting, because he felt his knees going weak. The stare was intense. There was a hidden meaning behind her statement, he just needed to figure out what.

"I wouldn't necessarily call it my throne."

"Finn! Shut it!" Isabel scolded him. "We're not having this 'I'm not good enough to be king' crap anymore! You're going to do a great job and we'll be here to support you the entire time! Now deal with it!" Isabel picked up an orange and threw it at him, bouncing off his left shoulder and flying off into the woods.

"Who knew oranges could fly?" Dillard muttered to himself. Derek and Amanda overheard him and laughed quietly.

"Ouch sis!" Finn pretended to be hurt and pointed to in the direction of the orange. "Look what you did!" Finn stood up, but Isabel cut him off.

"Don't you dare go after that orange!"

"Why not?"

"Because then you're going to throw it at me! No way am I giving you that chance." Isabel stood up and headed off into the direction of the orange, Finn rolling his eyes as she walked past him.

"Stupid orange, where did you roll off too?" Isabel saw it had flown off in this direction, but couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

Isabel stopped in her tracks at the sound of a stick breaking.

She looked down beneath her own foot and saw that it wasn't her, which could only mean someone else was out there.

She took a few steps toward the group when she heard footsteps coming up behind her. She turned around at the last second and everything went black.

"Where's Isabel? She left like five minutes ago. Surely the orange didn't go that far." Finn was now worried. The last thing he wanted was to lose his sister again.

"I'll go out there and find her." Derek got up, grabbed his sword and trudged off in the same direction Isabel had gone in not only five minutes earlier.

It only took two minutes before Derek had found her.

"GUYS!" Finn heard Derek scream. All three ran off toward his scream.

The sight absolutely horrified Finn.

Isabel was lying on the ground, clearly unconscious. She had a long gash that stretched almost all the way across her forehead. There were a few scratches on her arms and legs, but all of them had those from the thorns they had passed by earlier. The way she was lying could not have been comfortable. It looked as if she had been thrown down with a lot of force.

Derek was leaning over her, checking to make sure she was still breathing. Amanda knelt down on the other side of Isabel, and placed her hand on her forehead, examining the gash.

"What happened?" Dillard asked nonchalantly, again with a mouth full.

"It looks like somebody attacked her out here in the woods." Derek glanced up at Finn. They both knew it was time to keep moving, which would be very difficult with an unconscious girl.

Amanda ripped off a piece of her sleeve, wet it with water from Isabel's canteen and placed it over the gash to clean the wound. Dillard was helping Amanda, so Finn pulled Derek aside so that they could talk in hushed tones.

"Okay soldier. What do we do? We need to move on! Somebody's found us."

"We can't continue on, Isabel's unconscious!"

"I know it's not the best idea, but we've got to keep moving! Somebody will have to carry her!"

"Carrying her would slow us down significantly, making it easier for whoever did this" Derek pointed to Isabel "to get all of us!"

"Great! Just great!" Finn let his hands fly up in frustration. "So what do we do?"

"We'll have to stay the night probably. Somebody will have to stay up at all times and keep watch. It's our best line of defense against whomever is out there."

"Then we leave in the morning, whether she wakes up or not?"

"I think she'll wake up before then, but yes that's the plan."

Finn took first watch. Derek had surprised him. He was currently leaning up against the tree with Isabel's head in his lap.

As if doing that would somehow help her wake up faster, Finn thought to himself. Seeing this made Finn brought out overprotecting-big-brother feelings for Isabel. He didn't want her to get hurt, especially not by any guy he knew personally. Oh great, now I'm going to have to talk to him about her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finn saw Amanda sit up. She searched their mini campsite, but when her eyes found him, she smiled and came over to join him.

"How's first watch going?" Her voice was so sweet and caring, he almost made him forget the secret meaning statement she made earlier.

"Pretty boring if you ask me. Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope." Amanda stared off into the distance—which consisted of trees, trees, and more trees. "So you're the future king, huh? That's…cool." For some reason, Finn didn't think Amanda was all that impressed with his true identity. He was secretly hoping it would help him get that kiss he wanted so badly.

"I guess so. Can I be honest with you for a second?" Amanda nodded. "It's not that I don't want revenge on Maleficent, because I do, but I really just don't want to be king."

"Why don't you want to be king?"

"I'm not the kind of person the people will want. They wanted people like my father or my grandfather: brave, courageous, trustworthy, and…loyal."

"And why don't you think you have those things?"

"I don't know…I'm just not my father or grandfather, I guess."

"You're wrong." Amanda looked him directly in the eyes and Finn's heart skipped a beat. She reached over and grabbed his hands in both of hers. "You were courageous and brave when you saved me. You're most certainly trustworthy, and the fact that you're going back to regain your family's throne makes you pretty loyal."

"You think so?"

She gave both of his hands a little squeeze of reassurance. "I think you'll be all those things when oranges start flying." She winked at him, insuring her statement was just a joke and not meant to be taken too seriously.

Finn smiled at her and leaned in a little—maybe this moment was the right one. Amanda placed a finger to his lips.

"Not yet." She gave him a brief smile. "Now let Derek keep watch and get some rest."

Normally, Finn didn't let people boss him around like that, but Amanda was different. Everything about her was different—but in a good way. He felt that connection between the two of them grow stronger and stronger with each passing moment. There was still something deep down that was tugging at his heart. He knew her from somewhere. But where? Should he ask her?

He shook his head as he walked over to Derek to get wake him up.

Derek sat there with Isabel's head in his lap, stroking her hair mindlessly. He had been doing this since they found her and he would keep doing it until she woke up. Amanda had cleaned off the gash fairly well and she had tore off the edge of her dress to wrap around her head for the night.

He had to admit it, the past few days had been great, but seeing Isabel unconscious stirred up feelings he didn't know he had. When he had found her, he had wanted to find who did this to her and hurt them—bad.

"Derek?" Her weak voice croaked out. He looked down to see Isabel opening her eyes.

Derek brushed his hand across her forehead, moving a stray hair away from her eyes, careful to avoid the gash. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone dropped a house on me." She gave him a weak smile.

"That bad, huh?"

She nodded. "How long was I out?"

"Just a couple of hours. I was really worried about you."

"Head wounds," she shifted to a sitting position, "always look worse than they really are."

He raised an eyebrow at her, more curious than ever. "And how would you know that? Does this happen to you a lot?"

For a second, she froze, almost as if caught in the act of something. But then that second was over and she changed to attack mode. "Are you underestimating my intelligence Derek? Because I am a very smart young lady."

"No, no, no! I mean, you're very smart. Why would I ever call you stupid? Because you're not. Stupid, that is." Derek stopped himself, realizing how much of a fool he had become.

Isabel let out a small laugh, looking away from him, but she could not hide the blushing. Her reaction was rather cute, if Derek was being honest with himself.

"Did you find the person that did this to me?" Isabel used her free hand to point to the gash on her forehead.

Derek shook his head. At the mention of her attacker, Derek felt his anger rising slightly. Maybe it was that sense of protection he had felt almost a week ago when he had first met her. If only he had been faster. Maybe if he had gone with her…

"Don't you do that to yourself," Isabel whispered. The tone of voice had turned more to a stern, mother-like voice, as if she was warning him not to think the way that he was. "I know that look, Derek." She placed her hand in his his and gave it a light squeeze. "What happened is in the past. There's nothing you can do to change that."

He stared down at her soft hands in his rough ones. Years of fighting in the army versus years of living in a royal palace shown in their hands now. He rubbed his thumb over her fingers, feeling the smooth against the rough.

He glanced back up at her and gave her a weak smile. "You should get some more rest."

She shook her head. "Not tired," she mumbled through a yawn.

"Sure you're not, love." He smirked.

She glared at him, seeing right through the sarcasm. She yawned again and her face scrunched up in frustration. "Fine," she mumbled.

He changed the bandage off of her forehead, since Amanda made a few extra ones in case they would be needed during the night. Once he had done that, he saw that she was asleep again. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He couldn't help but smile.

Focus, Derek. You've got to watch out for everybody else too. He positioned her so that he could stand up and not wake her up in the process. He then stood up and walked over to another part of the camp and put Isabel to his back, to block the temptation of looking at her during the rest of his watch.

From behind one of the pillars in the throne room, Jezebel saw it all.

The messenger knocked on the door rapidly before bursting through the giant doors. He led the soldier into the main throne room, where Maleficent was sitting on the throne. Her black dress flowed out to the floor. Her green skin glowing awkwardly in the light of the flames in the room. She created an eerie atmosphere that was unlike any other.

The room was freezing cold, numbing to those who were not used to it. At her right was a man, whom the messenger recognized as General Jafar—the leader of the army. On her left, was Lady Grimhilde, who was the ruler of one of the larger villages about a day's trip away.

Both were just as intimidating as Maleficent herself, but neither were as powerful. Both were competing for Maleficent's attention, but the messenger immediately received it.

"Your majesty, this soldier claims to have important news that only you can hear." The messenger said while bowing.

"Bring him here then leave my presence."

The messenger did as he was told, and the soldier walked toward the throne.

"Your majesty, I have news that one of my soldiers found the Princess Isabel. One can only assume that the prince is not far away."

"And what did the soldier do upon finding her?" Maleficent tapped her fingers on the arm of the throne.

"She was wounded, your majesty, but she is not dead."

"Good. She can still be of use to us. Do you know where they were headed?"

"The soldier believes they are headed to the coastal port."

"Send out a team to intercept them. Make sure they do not leave get onto a boat."

Upon hearing this, the soldier nodded, bowed and left the room.

It would be hours before Maleficent and her colleagues would leave the throne room, but that didn't matter. Jezebel was here to observe. To take in every bit of information possible to deliver to the cause in the middle of the night. As long as Maleficent didn't call for her, she was perfectly fine where she was.

By the time Maleficent retired to her room for the night, Jezebel's head was swimming with all the information she had learned. More to share. More to add to their knowledge base. More to help plan the coup d'etat.

More time. That's what Jezebel needed.

Something she might never get.

It's been a while and I'm sorry. It happens! Please review and let me know what you think! Chapter 5 should be coming up soon! Keep being awesome and have a wonderful day!