Mari: YAY! Another chapter!
Aria: Woot! *dances around to inaudible music* Anyway, thanks for reading this far! If you've been with us from the start, we hope you're still enjoying it.
Mari: If you're just joining us, WELCOME ABOARD! Loved the reviews we got for the last chapter and the love of Karkat.
Aria: Are you glad he finally came out of the woodwork and deigned to make an appearance? We finally have all our main characters now!
Mari: Which means the real fun can now begin!
Aria: Yep! So get ready for treachery, fluff, and FEELS like you wouldn't believe. :P
Mari: (We hope. We try, at any rate.) So now….
Mari + Aria: Enjoy the chapter!
Be the princess on the pilfered horse
You have been riding for a while now. And you come to realize that you have no idea where you are going. You reign in Gamzee, who has slowed to a frustratingly languid canter, and walk him over to the edge of the path to wait for Dave and Karkat to catch up to you. When they finally draw even with you, Karkat slides off his horse and stalks irately over to you. You open your mouth to ask Dave a question, but Karkat cuts you off.
"Hey. Dipshit. Get off my horse."
You stare down at him a moment and grin wickedly. "And if I say no?" you query.
You see Karkat's hands ball into fists at his side and he scowls, eyebrows drawing together and eyes glinting. He's practically fuming at this point, and you think it's hilarious. "I'll f*cking yank you off him myself, you shitmunching asslamp!" he shouts, absolutely furious.
You giggle and regard him from your vantage point on Gamzee, who is tall, as horses go. "Hate to break it to you shorty, but I don't think you could reach me, even if you tried." You stick your tongue out at him.
He flushes a deep shade of crimson and shoves a lock of his mussed hair out of his eyes so he can glower at you unobstructed. "I AM NOT SHORT," he bellows, and proceeds to march over to Gamzee's flank, grab your leg, and yank.
You hadn't been holding onto the reigns, and his pull catches you by surprise, so you lose your balance, and you give a startled yelp as you begin to slide off of Gamzee. You squeeze your eyes shut and round your shoulders as you brace yourself for impact with the ground, but you land in a pair of arms instead with a muffled "oof!" You look up in surprise to see Dave glaring at Karkat over your head as he sets you back on your feet.
"Hey, asshole. What the hell do you think you're doing to the princess?" he wonder vaguely how Dave managed to get off his horse and over to the ground beside Gamzee in time to catch you, but dismiss it as just another mystery that you will worry about later. Right now, you are more concerned with the hilarious expression that has made itself apparent on Karkat's face. He looks as if he just swallowed something rather unpleasant and sour and is fighting the urge to gag, before his mouth drops open to gape at you. His eyes widen considerably, his red eyes big as saucers, and he pales visibly, something you didn't think was even possible on his already ashy skin.
You snort and prop an elbow on his shoulder. "What's the matter Karkitty? Cat got your tongue?" you tease.
You can see him struggling for words, but he finally manages to spit out, "What did you just call her?"
"Uh, the princess, duh," Dave's voice comes from behind you, carefully monotone. "Her royal highness, Princess Jade Harley Egbert."
Karkat is silent for a long moment, then he slowly steps backwards and braces his hand against a tree by the end of the path, slowly lowering himself until he is sitting on the ground, the fingers of one hand pressed to his forehead and a look of pure disbelief plastered across his face. He's muttering to himself and you can only catch bits and pieces of what he's saying. "I cannot believe…. princess…. f*cked up…. called her a f*cking doucheprick!"
"And a dipshit. And a shitmunching asslamp," you add helpfully. "So?" He looks up at you, his expression warring between despair, fury, and agitation.
"But…. But you're the fucking princess!"
"And?" you shrug nonchalantly. "Come on ya big baby, get up, we're wasting daylight. We've got a moron of a brother to find." You offer him a hand, grinning at him as he takes it distrustfully and you pull him easily to his feet. He's only an inch or so taller than you so he doesn't weigh much. He brushes himself off, trying to regain a shred of his dignity.
"Don't think this means I've forgiven you for stealing my horse." He stalks over to Gamzee and gives him a worried once over.
You laugh, "of course not."
Seemingly satisfied with his horse's wellbeing, he lifts one foot into its stirrup, and swings himself up on Gamzee's back. After he is situated, he turns to you. "Now. Princess-"
"Jade" you interrupt him.
"Jade," he corrects himself. "I have regained custody of my horse, and now I must take my leave. I have duties to fulfill back at home, and I am most certainly not properly supplied for whatever trip you and Crimson over here are off on. The only one of us here with any ability to protect themselves here is the knight, and I certainly wouldn't want to put anyone in danger because of my inability to wield a weapon, or by being deadweight. Plus, you all need all of your supplies and having an extra body to feed won't do any of us any good. So I think I will just be taking my leave now."
He turns Gamzee and begins to walk him back the way you came. You quickly swing yourself into the saddle of the other horse and block his path. "Awww, Karkat, no," you pout. "Come with us! We were just starting to have fun…. Besides, you wouldn't leave me alone with the gloomy mute over there, would you?" you stage whisper conspiratorially, jabbing your thumb over your shoulder at Dave, who does indeed look vaguely upset and worried, though he's doing his best to hide it. "He's too worried about John to be any fun, let alone talk to me," you add. "Come on, it won't take that long. It'll be fun!" You look at him pleadingly.
Karkat scowls, but sighs resignedly. "Fine, f*ckface, but you better compensate my pay for the time I'm taking to do this," he grumbles. "What are we even doing anyway?"
He realizes belatedly the insult he's addressed you with, but you laugh it off, earning a small smile from him. "Well, we're going to find my brother, since he flew off from the coronation." Worry clouds your features. "We need to bring him home."
Karkat nods slowly, before his eyes widened. "Wait…. Your brother?" You nod. "That makes him the….."
"That's right. He's the king, his majesty, King John Sassacre Egbert. Can we go now?" Dave interrupts.
"Oh hell no. I've heard plenty of this guy! I am not going out of my way to save some snooty, snobby king who threw a temper tantrum and ran off." Karkat states. You gasp slightly and see Dave's eyes widen a bit.
"You did not just-" Dave says, clenching his fists starting to walk over to the smaller male before you put your arm out.
"He's not snooty or snobby, Karkat." You say firmly. "And besides. He is your king. And he is in need of help. And he did not throw a temper tantrum. I pushed him too hard. I made him mad. He ran off to keep from hurting anyone, including himself." You say, looking down slightly. "He was just trying to keep me safe, and I called him selfish." You sniff a little and bite back the tears that threaten to fall. "Well, anyway" you say with false cheer, your voice catching just slightly. You see Karkat frown a little, as if he realizes something is off, and you hurry to add, "Dave's right. We should get going. We've dallied here long enough!" You turn your horse around and follow the path that you had been following, noticing Dave and Cal trot next to you and Karkat slowly following.
After a few hours of riding, you notice the wind picking up. "We must be getting closer!"
"What makes you say that?" Karkat asks.
"John revealed he had powers to control wind. If my reasoning is correct, his emotions can change even the weather." You explain.
"With the weather being this crazy, we must be close to the source." Dave adds. Karkat sends Dave a glare but nods slowly.
"Alright. But we need to be careful." You and Dave look at Karkat curiously. "This area is habited by all kinds of wildlife."
"Oh, really? Like deer and bunnies and squirrels? Ah, I hope we see some!" you exclaim.
Karkat smacks his face into his palm and growls "No, shithead, not as in fluffy bunnies and cute squirrels. As in wild f*cking animals. Bears. Wolves. Panthers."
"Oh," you utter abashedly, "I didn't know, sorry." You grin sheepishly and Dave is about to say something else when all three of you are silenced by a long haunting note. "What was that?" you ask curiously.
"That," Karkat replies grimly, "was a wolf's howl."
"It's getting dark, and we need to find somewhere to sleep," Dave remarks from beside you, his face as grim as Karkat's. "We'll have to take shifts for keeping watch. But right now, we just need to get out of here. We're almost to the foothills of the mountains, so we should be able to find a cave or somewhere to set up camp."
"Right. Let's go then," you say, kicking your horse back into a trot. From behind you, you hear Karkat shouting at Gamzee to move.
"Come on, you lazy, good for nothing asshole!" Gamzee however, continues to stare vacantly and refuses to move. "This f*cking horse. I swear to god, half the time he doesn't know his own head from his ass." You giggle quietly under your breath. That's the horse he was so worried about you trying to "steal"?
"Come on Karkat," you call over your shoulder teasingly, "or I'll leave you behind with the wolves." He opens his mouth to respond before he suddenly disappears from atop his horse. You turn to look down and a wolf has Karkat pinned to the ground. "Holy crap I wasn't being serious!" You try to make your horse turn to help him, but end up being thrown back off your own horse.
"Your highness!" Dave yells, but Cal steps backwards, a few wolves snapping at his legs. "Shit!"
You and Dave both hear a loud whinnying from Gamzee as he rears up and lashes his front hooves at the wolf atop of Karkat. The wolf goes flying, allowing Karkat a chance to breathe before Gamzee turns around and does the same with all the wolves around. You stare in awe at the horse, moments ago just staring off into space, now muscular and powerful, a strange fire in his eyes. Karkat scrambles to his feet and quickly grabs the reigns to Gamzee's bridle.
"Shoosh it's okay… It's okay, Gamzee." Karkat whispers with a surprising amount of gentleness. Gamzee tugs at the reigns, trying to get away. Karkat just pulls him back and strokes his muzzle. "Gamzee. Shoosh. It's okay. I'm okay. They're gone." Karkat says, smiling gently at his horse. You can't help but watch with wide eyes. Who knew this cursing man could turn into such a gentle person in a matter of seconds. As Karkat looks into Gamzee's eyes, still petting his muzzle, the horse visually calms down. "Good boy."
"Dude. You're bleeding." Dave says, looking at Karkat's shoulder. Karkat looks down and also sees the bite wound in his shoulder.
"Nothing a few bandages won't take care of."Karkat says, looking at you. "Come on. Your horse ran off, your highness. Gamzee's calm now. Let's find shelter."