Chasing The Cure

Chapter 24: Kind Hearts

The air was tense, or at least that was how Archie felt.

The four men had been on the road for over a day, and if it weren't for Archie and Sir Arlo's efforts, there would not be any conversation at all. By the second night, Archie was beginning to grow extremely uneasy. He knew Sir Christian had a right to be pissed, and he knew that due to Kenric's status, he had to maintain a tough exterior.

However, now that they were already on the journey, nobody was benefiting from acting fussy. They might as well suck it up and move on.

They stopped for the night, and instead of letting Archie do the work of setting camp for the night, all four of them divided the duties. Sir Arlo was a little confused as to why they had to help in these petty tasks if there was a servant with them on their first night when Kenric established the ground rules that everyone had to contribute, but he did not object in front of the prince.

"Sir Christian, would you help me collect firewood?" Archie asked. It seemed like the knight was about to deny it, but Archie passed him a pointed look. Sir Christian sighed as he nodded, grabbing his sword just in case.

Archie glanced at Kenric, who was already staring right at him with his lips pressed in a thin line. He raised a questioning brow, which Archie responded to with a quick shake of his head before following behind the blond. Hopefully, Kenric would get the message to leave both of them alone.

The two remained quiet for a while as they picked dry wood. Archie knew that had this been any other journey, Sir Christian would be joking around and telling ghost stories around the campfire. He had never seen the knight be so serious for so long, and he had about enough of it.

"I understand that you are angry," Archie began. "I understand why as well—"

"No, you do not," Sir Christian cut him off, almost rudely. "Do not say that you understand when you know absolutely nothing about where we are heading and what the consequences of this quest are going to be. You know nothing and you understand nothing."

"Then tell me about it!" Archie exclaimed.

"Why? So that you can go share with the prince what I thought I told my friend in confidence?" The knight snapped, making Archie look at the ground in guilt. He exhaled deeply, before meeting the blond's eyes again.

"I apologize for that," Archie spoke gently. "I really do. I know you must not believe me, I would not believe myself either but please trust me when I say that I had to do it. There are things...things I cannot share with you. But they are of grave importance and this was the only way. I never would have betrayed you if I had another option."

"What is so important that you and the prince are keeping it this well-guarded?" Sir Christian asked.

"You have your secrets and we have ours," Archie retorted. "I did not ask you how you know of this witch. How you know things that...things that most people do not. I hope we can have mutual understanding and respect that all of us have our burdens that we would rather keep to ourselves."

"The mutual respect went for a toss the moment I was—"

"Kenric should not have done that. I know that he is the prince and I...I respect his title, but I also believe that he should have asked you and not ordered you. That he should have considered your consent," Archie interrupted. "And that is another thing that I am sorry for."

"You do not...you do not need to apologize," the knight muttered. "It is my duty, after all. Even if I am not happy about it under this particular circumstance, this is what I signed up for."

"Still. That does not mean your feelings or opinion do not matter," Archie said. "I may not know or understand a lot of things but what I do know is that if you are risking your life for something, you should at least get a say in it."