Alfred jolted as he felt a tug on the back of his slowly crusting shirt.
"Time to go."
He turns to be face to face with Gilbert and next to him, is his brother he's not seen in two years, looking both worried and determined.
"Wha-" He starts to ask, but doesn't finish his thought as Arthur raises his head, and, upon seeing Gil, growls and makes to snap at him.
"Arthur don't!" Al cries in a garbled rush as he leans on the wolf to stop him.
'But!'
"We don't have time for this, calm your pet and hurry up!" Gil snaps in that commanding way of his as he tugs Alfred's arm to follow.
"What the hell Gil? Wha-" He demands before Matthew cuts him off.
"We'll explain later, but right now, we really have to go. Now."
Gilbert, Alfred's not so sure about anymore, but he knows he can trust his twin no matter what, so he nods and hurries after them, Arthur hot on his heels, not wanting to let Al out of his sight around the other two.
It's only as they start running through the castle that Al realises the Blizzard is still going, having somehow blanked it out when focusing on Arthur.
Led by Gilbert's magic, they weave their way out of the castle and down to the lower town, straight for the South Gate, all while hidden by the blizzard. And the whole time, the ground is covered in ice. Arthur had not just froze over the courtyard, but the whole Capital.
The sheer idea of being able to do something of that magnitude is mind boggling to Al, and it's obvious that both Mattie and Gil are unnerved by it too, as they glance from the ice to Arthur and Al every so often.
Once they're a good distance away from the Capital in the outer woods of the south, they stop.
"Man, I wish we could get out of this blizzard soon." Gil grumbles as he starts to dig between the roots of a seemingly random tree, while Mattie gathers a pair of horses from a magically concealed stable.
"Gil's right. Mind stopping this blizzard Artie? It's hella cold." Al asks, shivering.
Both Mattie and Gil turn to stare as Arthur nods and howls, effortlessly ending the storm.
'Better?' Arthur asks, sounding tired.
"Much, thanks."
"So it's true then, you can talk to them." Gil whispers in something that's a mix of fear and awe.
"Wait," Al turns to stare at the pair, "How do you know that?"
"We'll explain everything later, but right now we need to make it to the meeting point before the army finds us." Matt repeats, helping Gil pull sacks of hidden supplies out from under the tree roots.
Alfred frowns at the pair, wanting to just demand to be told right now what's going on, but he holds his tongue, choosing to trust the two closest people in his life, even if they are acting pretty shady right now.
Supplies now seemingly all retrieved, the pair mount up and Mattie offers his hand to his brother.
"You can ride with me."
Alfred looks to Arthur, but without the saddle and with is arm busted up, he knows it'd be pretty hard to ride by himself, so he decides to take his brother up on the offer and climbs on.
As soon as he's on, they're off, and Arthur has to go at a light run to keep up with the horses as they race away through the woods.
Two hours of hard riding later, and they make it out of the woods to the grassy plains where a group of half a dozen people lie waiting on the ground.
At their rapid approach, one of them stands and waves enthusiastically at them with an axe coated in blood.
It's only as they get closer that they realise that the other five aren't napping, but are dead.
They pull to a hard stop and Gil raises an eyebrow at the bodies.
"Toni, what's with the dead guys?"
The brown haired man smiles cheerily.
"It's good cover, don't you think? If anyone unwanted came snooping, they wouldn't expect to get attacked by the dead."
"You really have a weird way of doing things." Gil shrugs at the odd explanation.
"Eh, it works. Now, are you ready to go? Mistress is waiting to meet all of you." He leans to the side to look past Matt to Alfred, "Especially you."
Before Al can ask, Gil gives a thumbs up.
"Do your thing."
Not a moment after the last syllable is out of Gilbert's mouth, the man known as Toni waves a hand and they're all suddenly surrounded by a ring of bright red flames. Al flinches automatically at them, but is surprised when they don't burn. The flames spread out from the man, climbing over all of their bodies, even the horses as they are surrounded, and from behind them, Al watches in wonder as the world melts like wax, shifting away and changing, before reforming as some place else and the flames vanish.
"We're here!"
Alfred blinks, looking around as he feels like he's melting. They're no longer outside the nicely warm Capital, but in the sweltering heat of the desert!
"Welcome to my home, the Southern Kingdom of Daská!"
Thankfully, the man had warped them to just outside a city, and after being lead over a tall sand dune, they were mercifully guided into a large stone building, they were allowed to bathe and change into clothes more suited for the burning heat of outside. Thankfully, inside is much more bearable, though still terribly hot. But the cool water of the bathhouse did wonders in cooling them down, especially Arthur.
The poor snow wolf was not built for this heat and near collapsed as soon as they arrived. It was a group effort to help him to the baths and pull him in. While Arthur lay dazedly in the water with Gil and Mattie, Alfred was quickly treated by a Healer for his shoulder, setting it back in place before he too climbed into the large communal bath.
Gilbert and Matthew had gotten out a while ago, but Al isn't ready to leave yet, not until he's sure Arthur is okay.
He's never had an actual bath before, but was too lethargic to put up any sort of protest against going in, And is now lying with his head on the steps, nose and eyes just above water level, soaking it all in.
"Ya good now?" Al asks, floating behind him on the other side of the bath, still worried about the other.
'Mmmhmm...' Is the lazily slurred hum of contentment he receives in response.
"Good." Al smiles as he remains behind the wolf.
Part of him is still modestly embarrassed about Arthur seeing him naked, but, after last time, he doesn't think there's much reason to be.
And he just shared a bath with Gil and Mattie, which was weird. They must have thought so too, since they got out so quick, or maybe they were just trying to avoid Al asking questions again.
'Mmh...Aaalll...' Arthur continues to slur dazedly.
"Yeah?"
'Come heeerreee...'
Alfred weighs up his embarrassment against his concern first —finding it's not much of a contest— and swims over.
"Yeah?" He asks as he reaches the others side.
Arthur, much to Al's amusement, flopped onto his side to bring his leg up and pull Al closer, accidentally pushing the young knight under the water, before he popped back up to be held by the wolf against his chest.
Al couldn't help but smile at this much more docile side of the wolf, his fur floating and swaying with the water tickling Al as he's held.
He watches the wolf give him a lazy half smile.
'Pack.'
Al blinks.
That one word, said with such endearment, he gets the feeling he's just reached a new level of acceptance with Arthur. That Arthur now, for whatever reason, feels he can trust Al completely.
Something warm spreads inside his chest at that, and he beams back.
"Pack." He agrees, hugging the wolf back.
And as he holds the wolf, he realises he can feel the bond between them has suddenly grown stronger.
Eventually, once Arthur stopped slurring as any signs of heatstroke disappear, and Alfred, becoming pruny from being in the water so long, decided it was time to get some answers. He smiled in amusement as he watched the wolf climb out, shaking himself dry and sending water everywhere in the process, while Alfred dried off with one of the waiting towels.
Once dry, he turned his attention to the clothes left for him, given his old ones were in no fit state to be walking about in and probably have to be tossed out. The sand coloured tunic that leaves his arms bare is a loose fit, with only a thin strip of leather to act as a belt to keep it in place, and pair of open sandals is certainly a new look for the young knight, but not unwelcome. He's silently glad he didn't have his armour on when they arrived, or he might just have been cooked alive inside it.
When they stepped outside the baths, Gilbert was waiting for them and lead the pair from the bathhouse back out to cross to another building that appeared to be a dining hall. Even though they were outside for less than two minutes, the desert is so hot that Arthur, who had been dripping water and leaving puddles in his wake on the way out, was completely dry by the time they made it into the next building.
Inside, Mattie was sitting, patiently waiting for them at one of the low tables, a platter of food before him. Scattered about the hall a few other people can be seen eating and chatting.
"You'll want to sit for this." His brother tells him as soon as he walks in.
Ready to finally know what's going on, Al sits on one of the low cushions across from his twin, a very fluffy Arthur lying down behind him, and waits.
Gilbert joins Matthews side and the pair nod to each other before Gil looks at Alfred and begins.
"Okay, here's the thing kid." He takes a deep breath, preparing to reveal the truth, "We're going to kill King Momarîs."
...
"What?" He chokes on his own breath at hearing those words, coming out of Gilbert's mouth of all people.
"We're going to kill the King of Talmeré." Matthew states with such seriousness that it scares Al.
"W-why?"
"Because," Gilbert growls, red eyes flashing, "he's responsible for everything."
Al watches feeling very confused, and a little afraid at all this talk of killing the king as Mattie places a comforting hand on Gil's shoulder.
"Al, the King is a tyrant. He doesn't care about the people, he only cares about gaining more power for himself."
"No, that's wrong." He shakes his head, trying to defend the man he swore loyalty to, "He's a good man. He's always been kind."
"He only acts that way." Gilbert spits.
"He's a good King. He does care about the people, just look at all the Hero stories of the King's Knights. They've saved countless people, towns, villages! He made them to protect and serve the people!"
"All lies."
"No!"
"It's true Al. Every hero story you ever read about them growing up, they're all made up, they're not real. They never happened."
"What?" He stares at his brother.
"The Tale of Marceà, Eric's Vow, The People of White Law, all of them, they're made up. Not a single word of them is true."
He stares, mouth opening and closing uselessly at his brother. With Gilbert, he can never really tell if he's yanking his chain, but Mattie, he's always been able to tell.
His brother is dead serious about this.
"Think about it Al, in the two years you were in exile, did you once see another knight? A kingdom patrol? A single guard? In all that time, did you ever even hear of them coming near the tiny town and villages out there?"
...
No... He didn't see anyone. No guards or patrols or knights. It was just him and the towns people.
Just him...
"I was there..." He tries to argue weakly, but he already knows it's pointless.
"Not by your choice, and if things had happened differently, you never would have."
...his brother is right...
"All those stories, of knights being just out of sight, always with in reach when needed, are all fabricated by the Kings order."
"...why..."
"To keep the people believing that it's true. That the King does care, that they really are protected." Gil grumbles, "But they're not. A monster could attack and wipe out a whole town today, and by tomorrow the King would have the story of how the knights fought bravely to save the people, but it would all be a lie."
"That's what he is Al, he's a power hungry King of lies."
"...but...why..."
"Because he's evil."
"The knights he surrounds himself with are either of wealthy backgrounds or very powerful."
He shakes his head, not wanting to believe any of this.
"Then why? Why do you serve him?" He asks, turning to Gilbert.
"I don't. I work in the shadows to bring him down, while acting as his trusted council and commander."
"But we can't bring him down alone. Dad planned to but-"
"Wait, dad?!" Al asks, cutting his brother off.
"Yes, Dad was a part of all this too. He was among the first."
"The first of what?"
"Take a look around you kid." Gilbert grins at him for the first time as he waves his hands out to their surroundings, "Welcome to the rebellion."
Authors notes: Welcome to Exposition Central, please keep your hands and feet inside the cart at all times and hang onto the guard rail, this ride is going to get bumpy.
But yup, the main plot is revealed, they're going to kill the King, oh boy!
R & R people.
Until next time, stay awesome!