Arthur woke, again, to darkness. Unlike before, it was actually pitch black now. He felt cloth over his eyes and when he shifted a bit, he also felt ropes binding him.
He had no chance of putting up a fight, if he felt even the slightest inclination to.
His arms were tied to his sides, and his legs bound together at the calfs and thighs. Arthur would have chuckled at the soldiers paranoia if the situation had not been so dire. He had no idea what was going to happen to him at this point, and the fact that he had been ripped out of the netherworld without having been let go bothered him immensely.
For now, he just have to figure out what was happening.
He was on the ground, judging by the dirt and plant matter digging into his side. A fire crackled just a couple meters in front of him. They had built a camp. It didn't seem as if anyone were up and about, they must have been asleep.
Wait a tick.
This was his chance! Arthur twisted and flexed his wrists, looking for a weak spot he could exploit. They remained taut and steadfast.
That was okay, he'd deal with them later. His main priority now was getting rid of that damned blindfold.
He pressed his face against the ground and tried to scrape it off. It shifted a bit higher up his face. He was encouraged by this, and more enthusiastic when he continued. The noise made by his shifting and scraping caught the attention of Matthew, who had been previously shining lord Aleric's armour by the fire.
He sat there watching Arthur squirm for a while, before finally stepping in when the blindfold came dangerously close to coming off.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, he set down the armour and padded lightly around the fire over to Arthur's side. His hands shook slightly when he reached out to tap Arthur's shoulder. It was irrational, but after what had happened to the Knight, Matthew was hesitant to deal with his charge. Even if he was effectively powerless without his sight, as Aleric had claimed.
"Um, excuse me, uh, could you please stop that?", he asked gently.
Arthur froze. He was the epitome of "If I don't move, they can't see me", and as usual, it didn't work.
Matthew frowned and pulled his hand back, unsure of what to do. A couple of seconds passed with neither person doing anything but waiting and sizing the other up.
Arthur could tell by the voice, it was a young man. Probably even younger than him. It baffled him that he would get stuck with someone who sounded so meek. The last thing he remembered was fighting for his freedom, and though he lost, he at least put up a good fight. Arthur was a bit miffed that he didn't even get one of the big beefy soldiers as guard. The boy was obviously scared of him, as per the stutter. Did that mean Arthur wouldn't have to worry as much? Oh bloody hell, who was he kidding? Of course he should be worried! He's just been kidnapped!Off to 'Who knows where', dealing with 'who knows what'.
The farthest Arthur had ever been from home was the village, and he never stayed there long. The Fae had warned him of the dangers associated with man, and he'd made sure to heed their words. Whether they would still be around to advise him now was a serious concern to Arthur, and one he'd have to wait and find out. This was the most alone Arthur had been since his period of savagery.
Unbeknownst to Arthur, he had begun trembling. His fears and worries coursing through his mind and drawing away his attention. Matthew, on the other hand, did notice and seemingly at once, all his reservations about approaching arthur were flushed out with pity. Throughout this entire journey, matthew had never stopped to think about how this would all look to arthur. The man must have been terrified! To keep himself from drowning in guilt Matthew chose to look over Arthur's small but sturdy form. From the sandy, unkempt hair, trying and failing to hide his comically huge eyebrows, to his terribly worn shoes.
The man didn't exactly look like he was starving, but he could definitely use some extra weight. His baggy clothes certainly didn't help make him look bigger. Instead they made him look wore a patterned vest over a dress shirt and had on a pair of khaki old man's trousers. Matthew could tell automatically that Arthur would absolutely hate the diamond king, Francis. It'd be the same the other way around too.
Too bad they might not ever get to meet. There was no guarantee that Arthur was the queen of spades, even if it was very likely. They would have checked for the mark of spades, had the soldiers not been given explicit orders not to. The thing that threw Matthew off, was Arthur's fiery and, kind of, dominating personality. That was very uncharacteristic of the Omega who was to serve as Spades Queen.
As of yet, what category Arthur fell into was a complete mystery. He'd even been mistaken for a Beta by Aleric, when they first arrived at the cottage. Whatever the case was, they were just to bring Arthur Kirkland to the castle. The rest was up to Yao.
"What the bloody hell are you waiting for?!"
Matthew jolted at the sudden exclamation, a blush rushing to his cheeks when he realized he'd been sitting there for a while.
"Oh! uh, I'm sorry. I just need to fix your blindfold". Matthew stood up and walked around so he was behind Arthur. Just in case the blindfold came off, he didn't want to be in the line of fire.
Arthur stiffened. Sure, he'd guessed that was what the boy came to do, but that didn't mean he particularly liked it. In fact, he wasn't going to let that happen. The second he felt Matthew lightly touch the cloth, he started flailing around like a fish out of water. Not one of his proudest moments, but one he was sure he wouldn't regret.
A surprised yell almost escaped Matthew before he had the good sense to squash it. He looked on in shock at Arthur's writhing body. It was almost as if he were in pain. Matthew tried to grab Arthur's shoulders and hold him down but to no avail. It was vaguely reminiscent of trying to hold onto a raging mustang. An experience Matthew was painfully familiar with. After a few more fruitless attempts to bring Arthur under control, he'd had enough and decided it would just be easier to jump on him.
So he did.
Arthur could feel the air rush out of him when the full weight of the squire fell squarely on his chest. It made struggling a hell of a lot harder and almost impossible to continue for long. Matthew grinned triumphantly when Arthur came to the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the effort anymore.
"I get*huff* that you're unhappy*huff* with the situation,*huff*but you'd be better off calm and controlled with me, than hung upside-down by your ankles from a tree with pretty much everyone else. Now will you stop being so difficult?"
Arthur resented it, but ever so slightly, he nodded.
"Thank you" said Matthew gratefully. He slowly reached forward and lifted Arthur's head gently, then reached around and redid his blindfold.
"There. I'm done."
Arthur made sure to put on his nicest smile before responding in kind.
"Why, thank you. Now if you wouldn't mind getting the bloody fuck off me!"
Matthew blushed and quickly got off of the angry blonde. He'd barely noticed that he'd been straddling the other. He could only imagine what would have happened had Lord Aleric -or anyone else for that matter- come across him in that compromising position. His already angry blush turned furious.
Now was probably a good time to change the subject.
"S-so uh, how old are you?", asked Matthew.
Arthur was caught off guard by the random question, but even so he answered, "16, and you?"
"Same. When's your birthday?
Arthur's brow furrowed.
"Birthday?"
This piqued Matthews curiosity. Did Arthur not know of birthdays? How strange.
"You know, the day of the year you were born on. Like an anniversary."
"How fascinating. I guess I do not know my birthday"
Matthew frowned. "Well then how do you know how old you are?"
All the colour left Matthew's face upon Arthur's answer.
"The Fae told me"
"I see no reason for that to have been necessary.", growled Maribell. She hovered in the same spot she'd been when Arthur left their realm.
A high-pitched voice giggled. It came from nowhere, and everywhere at once.
"Hehe, then your eyes must finally be failing you~ Teehee!"
Already annoyed, Maribell was getting dangerously angry. Her pupils enlarged in her already very large eyes, till they were as black as onyx. Her nails elongated into points, but they didn't stop growing. They also went the other way, up over her hands and arms, as did the nails on her feet. her teeth grew and ended in points. Each one as sharp as a razor.
The entity responsible for Arthur's expulsion giggled. To it, nothing was more amusing than ruffling the Fae's feathers. Especially if they weren't quite orderly to begin with.
"There's no need to look like that dear~ Twas not as if you were about to divulge anything... restricted now, were you?~ hehe"
Maribell knew she was in a tight spot even with her righteous anger. One thing struck fear into her, though. The entity spoke as if it knew. It couldn't be possible, could it?
"What do you mean "restricted"? I don't ever recall you being privy to anything kept quiet by our great and benevolent lord"
The voice giggled again. Maribell had spent thousands of years surrounded by laughter and giggles, but there was something about this laugh that just disturbed her.
"Oh mari~ If you've not been told then who am I to spoil the surprise?~ I suggest you take my lead when it comes to these sorts of matters. Lest you should incur the wrath of various creatures, when it slips~ Teehee!"
That was a threat if Mari had ever heard one. All that was needed was for the wrong word to be uttered to the right person, and she'd have to face the Fae king. A dark, powerful being, and a famously vengeful one at that. Maribell would have to tread lightly herein.
The voice came back with a wistful sigh.
"It's always lovely to keep wonderful ideas, such as mine, in mind", It giggled "It reduces the casualties~Hee~ I'm afraid I must be going now. I would love to stay and continue this lovely chat with an old friend, but I heard something interesting is to happen in jack's grove~ Goodbye!~"
The presence was gone, and suddenly the atmosphere in the wood seemed to change. It became lighter, as if an enormous weight had been lifted.
Maribell let out a frustrated yell. Causing a powerful wind to rush through the trees, and a unicorn, that had grazed nearby, to take off into the forest.
She was both terrified and furious. Before, she had been running purely on faerie dust, but with the cause of her terror finally gone she had to remind herself to breathe.
This wasn't good. Of all the creatures who could have stumbled upon her trying to help Arthur, it had to be that one.
It would probably be keeping a close eye on her now, waiting for something interesting to happen. It wanted nothing but trouble. Unlike the fae who only wanted to pull harmless pranks and have a good laugh, it was a terrible being that took joy in the worst of misfortune. There was no stopping it either, for even counting all of Mari's mighty power, she was still nothing compared to that thing.
Maribell heaved a great sigh. Well, she figured, there was really nothing she could do about it. She might as well just wait and see. Meanwhile, Arthur was being carried away to the castle, and whatever fate lay in store for him there.
This situation was definitely not good.
It was as Mari was about to head back home to the babbling brook when a realization hit her with the full force of a wendigo. Arthur had no idea that consorting with faeries was treason in Spades Kingdom.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. It really boosted my confidence in this story, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun writing more for this story. Special thanks to SakuraMoriChan, who gave advice for the grammar. I went back and tried to fix the mistakes, though I'm not sure if I got all of them^^".
I hope this chapter turns out well. At this point, I've proof-read it way too much for it to be of much use anymore. I'm currently looking for a beta, if someone wants to help.
Since I'll be continuing the story, I've thought it over and have come to the conclusion that "Un-titled" is a really bad title. If anybody has any suggestions for a title, I'd be glad to consider them.
Thank you all, for reading this chapter. Reviews are appreciated, and whoever can find the hidden pun in this chapter gets a virtual hug!