A thousand thoughts ran through Maribell's head. Some quiet and some with all the bang of thunder. Most centering around Arthur. If he died, all would be for naught and the Fae king would not be pleased in the least. She'd be lucky if all he did was destroy her. More likely than not she'd be exiled to the clover realm. where the most fearsome magickal beings lie, and the darkest of all kings reign.

"Oh, dear" she sighed.

She was doomed, and she could blame no-one but herself. If it wasn't for her distrust of the spades jack, Wang Yao, her judgement might not have been clouded to the point of starting this whole mess to begin with. Arthur would still have gone to the castle, but at least they could have prepared. The mark might've never been discovered anyway. Mari felt absolutely daft for her massively excessive overreaction. Her actions have brought nothing but regret. She never should have destroyed the summons letter. She never should have gotten involved. She should have told Arthur sooner.

The silence fell heavily on Arthur. He waited a few seconds for it to pass, or for whatever disturbed Matthew to make itself known, but nothing happened. In the end, he decided to speak, in a voice that seemed too loud for the moment.

"So uh,-"

"Matthew", he supplied vacantly.

"Matthew! Yes... is everything alright?"

Matthew felt like he was on a cloud, drifting away. He had no idea what to think. On the one hand, this man was a confessed criminal, but on the other, he probably didn't even know he was breaking the law. Should he be pitied or reviled? It got to be too much and Matthew just shook the thoughts out of his head. He would discuss this with lord Aleric later. Right now, he would treat Arthur no differently than he had before, if only with slightly more reserve.

"Every thing is fine. There's no cause for concern"

Arthur released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. It seemed his apprehension was for nothing. He relaxed, ever so slightly.

"Wonderful"

There was an awkward silence between them. Arthur had no idea what to say; he suspected it was the same for Matthew. Soon, a silent acceptance from both parties that the conversation was over, passed between them.

Arthur lay there, mulling over the implications of his capture, and Matthew sat and watched him. It all made sense now. No-one in any of the four kingdoms knew magick. To have the gift was virtually unheard of, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who even believed in it. Matthew remembered the grumbling of the soldiers when they'd finally set up camp. Some believed that something unnatural had taken place, but still most others thought that some sort of mechanical trickery had to have taken place somehow. It wasn't until much later when the moon had risen directly overhead, and Arthur's breathing had even out hours before, that Matthew allowed his eyes to flutter closed and he drifted off.

Arthur grimaced at the sight of the horse. He had traveled on her back for the past few days, yet they still held nothing more than a mutual dislike for the other. It was perhaps earned on Arthur's part. Upon first riding her, he had dismissed her trot in favor of the more graceful gait, in his opinion, of one of his beloved unicorns. Though, luckily, no-one except Matthew seemed to hear his comment, the horse definitely did. Arthur was convinced she was making the ride so much more difficult than it had to be because of it. It was for this reason, Arthur was grateful the journey was ending soon: Possibly even that day. He'd heard Lord Aleric inform Matthew of it while he was untying in legs.

It took quite a fight, but the knight had allowed Matthew to unbind Arthur's legs if, and only if, he was to ride of the back of his horse. Arthur understood why, as soon as he was hoisted up on top of the beast. A fall at any speed would probably result in a serious injury for him, and pretty much, defeat the purpose of trying to escape on the first place. It'd been a while since he was last on a unicorn, and had forgotten just how high up equestria was.

Matthew, meanwhile, was quite amused with the situation. Arthur had obviously ridden before, and yet he still seemed as uncomfortable as it was to be. Every now and then he would look up from his spot leading the horse and sneak a peek at the kid. It was funny, Matthew thought, Arthur finally looked his age. Not as an old man, nor a helpless child. It would be crazy to suspect that he would commit a treasonous crime. All those whom Matthew had seen executed had, at least, looked the part. They were Scraggly, Filthy,most of them uttering unintelligible nonsense. It was just so strange. He'd meant to ask the knight about it, but so far, he hadn't gotten the chance.

The group continued marching for several hours. They had started out in the early morning and now, the sun had long since set. It had been an exhausting journey, and the men were eager for it to be over. Especially so, for the knight, who wanted this job done, so he could return to his village and hopefully leave behind the horrible nightmares that had plagued him since meeting that wretched boy and his accursed fire.

All of their hopes came to fruition with the yell of a young soldier who, in his haste, accidentally broke rank.

"Look! The castle lights! I see them!", he screamed.

"Soldier! Back in your place!", roared lord aleric.

It wasn't until the soldier fell back in place, with the look of a kicked puppy, that the knight felt any excitement himself. He too, could see the lights. They couldn't be more than an hour and a half away! Matthew was overjoyed. He couldn't wait to see his brother, Alfred, and more importantly, his best-friend, Gilbert. He had so much to tell him!

The only one, less than impressed with the news was Arthur. A ball of dread grew uncomfortably large in the pit of his stomach. His time of reckoning had come, and he had no choice but to face it head-on. If he could have escaped he would've but, and as much as he hated to admit it, the soldiers were right. He couldn't use his magick without his eyes. It only added to the humiliation that he was only finding out about this now. Anyway, he never broke any kind of law, and he honestly knew nothing about a summons of any sort. Surely, that was not enough to arrest him on. Even the, "resisting arrest" charge, could be seen as self-defence. There was just no reason for going through all the trouble of retrieving him like that. Arthur huffed in frustration. He was just abducted and was being brought to the castle, now was this a cause for fear, or curiosity? He'd soon find out.

King George sat impatiently at his throne. He'd been there for way too how long, listening to commoner after commoner regale their horrid lives to him in the hopes that he'd fix it. The current one apparently had seven children and three wives, who would all starve because of a failed harvest, unless of course, his majesty stepped in. He waved him off without a second thought. All he wanted was for his duties to be over and done with as soon as possible.

Really, he shouldn't even be doing this. If all had gone as planned, it would be his son, Alfred, dealing with all these sob stories. As always though, fate just would not give him a break, and made the new queen the hardest fucking person in the kingdom to find. Now they were down to their last candidate: A recluse, by the name of Arthur Kirkland. He was the only person to not honor his summons, and Yao had made it abundantly clear that it was almost definitely him. Even with, as the kings sources informed him, the boy's frankly nebulous blood caste. How Yao knew, the king would never know.

Oh well, he wouldn't dwell on such things any longer. It's never a smart thing for a man his age to take such uncertainties to heart. They had a way of weakening you from the inside out.

Yao would figure it out. He always did.

The giant door to the throne room opened just as waving another weeping man out. In, with a long confident stride, came Alfred, dressed sharply in a suit and tie. He would have changed into some normal clothes before coming, but his meeting was only down the hall, and the long trip to his quarters and back just didn't seem worth it.

"'Sup dad!", he greeted with his perfect smile.

"Hello, Alfred.", George replied, "All is well I presume?"

Alfred's grin grew."Totally! I just struck a new trade deal with the king of diamonds and he won't notice he got screwed until it's too late!"

That brought some amusement to the old king. He loved seeing his son excited to do his job. Also, he couldn't stand Francis at all, so his misfortune usually tended to be good news to him.

"That's wonderful, son! Have you heard on the progress of the Kirkland boy?", he asked.

Alfred was nearly humming with excitement now. He couldn't wait to see his new queen, and then, he would be king too.

"Yea! Aleric sent me an eagle! They're on their way back right now."

Alfred paused for a second.

"He also said to be wary, and that Kirkland is a wielder of magick. That can't be true, though. Right?"

Thanks for reading thus far. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The wonderful Beta who looked over this, is the awesome SakuraMoriChan *Round of applause*. Thank you, and I hope we'll be working together for a good while... Or at least until I finish the story.

If you hadn't noticed, my only source of nourishment is reviews, so please don't let me starve!