Ever After (The Prince and the Pretender)

Two Georgettes

Chapter 10: Two Georgettes

Forbidden Forest

Georgette, woke by the decelerating sound of horse hooves and pried her eyes open into Cart's angelic sleeping face. She smiled at how he looked so vulnerable even in his size. She tried to sit up but Cart's limbs were on her like a strangled vine.

She grunted as she shook him awake. "Good heavens Carter, wake up!" She shook him harder and he finally opened his eyes.

"Will you please not call me by that name?" He said as he rubbed his eyes and continued talking about waking his dead grandfather from the grave.

Georgette stood up, ready to face a new day as she swung the tent open into naught but woods and scrap coal from the bonfire. Her eyes widen in shock. No tents, no horses, no black bandits. Not even their horse. "No." She spoke in despair.

"What is it?" Cart asked as he unwrapped himself from the thin blanket and joined Georgette. "What are you loo" He stopped what he was about to say as he looked at the clearing. The answer to what Georgette was looking at. Naught but the unfamiliar woods and none of the black bandits who promised them a way back home.

"Oh no, not the horse, father would kill me." He said, clutching his brown hair into a disheveled mess.

"If he'll ever see you again that is." Georgette spoke absentmindedly as she stepped out of the small tent and stepped on a piece of parchment held under a stone. She picked it up, ignoring Cart's litany of his dying faith in humanity and how dark the black bandit's souls were.

Good Morning, lovely couple. We are very sorry of the inconvenience brought about by our fleeting family. Here is a shorter path to the White Light Coven. A few hours of walk towards North East you will find a cherry blossom forest, be careful with Parrot. Cross the bridge, then you will find the ruins of Seraphim. After you pass by the old kingdom, continue walking North East and you will find the cold springs which means you're already in the Whimpering Woods. Their Camp is in the outskirts of Gilead, it would be easier to find it if you ask random people. It would be approximately eight days of walking on foot. Oh and we took your sturdy horse as well. Hope you find a ride.

Good Luck,

Granny Black

"At least they left us a note." Georgette said as she turned to Cart who's disembodying the tent.

"And our belongings." He said as he handed her the water container and the earwax.

Cart and Georgette had done a great job at their make shift backpack using the tent's curtain and pillow cases. Cart made spears from the bamboo sticks that once held the tent as Georgette folded the remains of the tent so they could have something to sleep on when the night came.

With the water and the earwax wrapped safely behind Georgette's back pack and the fingernail clippings tucked safe between her breasts once again, she started to feel what the horse felt when it carried both of them and all their belongings. She watched Cart with his backpack filled with the sack of artichokes, folded tent, unleavened bread and their clothes. He's probably tired but he's never complained. He never complained even if he was just dragged into this in the first place. What would I do without him? I would probably be murdered by that troll and left to die in the woods alone. Georgette thought as they noticed an abundance of pink petals covering the forest ground.

"I don't see any parrots." Cart spoke as his eyes trailed on the high rising cherry blossom trees, covering the sky with sturdy branches and delicate pink flowers. He looked back at his makeshift compass; a small wooden bowl filled with water and a stick from broom, floating and guiding them towards their destination.