Okay so I'm going on break for like 10 days or something from tomorrow so I'm giving you more chapters today and maybe tomorrow. After that, I'll be back to my usual two chapters a day. I hope you enjoy reading and remember to vote and comment. <3
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The scent of nature was ever-present. The sun radiated brightly in the sky. There were few people to be spotted in a kilometer's radius. The area was almost silent, except for the soft rustling of leaves as tiny critters moving past and the sharp sound of Danielle's whiny voice.
"Are we there yet?" Danielle asked for the hundredth time since the four of them, including Larry, embarked on their hike.
"Nowhere close!" Harry yelled back from at least five metres ahead.
"Where are we even going?" Louis whined. "We've been walking for hours."
"Louis, it's been thirty minutes." Harry informed. Harry stopped to wait for the princess who was already dead-tired.
"Hurry up, slow pokes!" Harry teased both Louis and Danielle who fell behind him and Larry.
"It's not fair. You have longer legs." Louis defended himself.
"Look at Larry, she's faster than both of you and she has the shortest legs out of all of us." Harry taunted. "Come on, it's not that bad."
"Oh, I'm dying." Danielle exaggerated. "Why would you want to do this for your birthday?"
"I haven't been up here in so long. The last time I did this was when I was five. I miss it." Harry said. "My dad took me up here when we were in Vaelle visiting my aunt."
"Don't you mean dads?" Louis corrected. Danielle looked surprised but did not question it.
"No, Zayn slept the whole day away while I was out having fun with Liam." Harry said.
Danielle piped up, "Oh, I wish you had stayed with Zayn. Maybe then, we wouldn't have had to climb up this stupid hill."
Harry muttered under his breath impatiently. He walked over and picked the princess off the ground.
"Hey, put me down!" Danielle yelled.
"Do you want to walk up the whole way?" Harry asked.
"Actually, I'm very happy being carried. Move along." Danielle rambled.
"Louis, pick up the pace. Larry, you're good. Keep moving." Harry instructed, shouting over his shoulder. Harry moved further up the dirt path. Louis stared at him and Danielle, frowning.
Larry nudged Louis at his ankles and said, "That could have been you."
"I'm too weak to pick her up." Louis said.
"That's not what I meant and you know that." Larry stated.
"I just thought it was too absurd to possibly be what you meant." Louis sassed and walked off, up the dirt path. Larry trotted along behind.
"We're here!" Harry announced, setting the princess down on her feet.
"Oh, this is beautiful!" Danielle cried. She shouted for Louis to hurry up as he was still metres away.
"Wow, look at those!" Danielle exclaimed, pointing at a few goats balancing on the steep jagged slopes of another cliff. The goats moved across the rock wall.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Louis asked when he finally arrived.
"Climbing this tree." Harry answered, lifting himself up onto a low branch. "There's a better view up there. Do you want to come?"
"I've had enough physical activity for today." Danielle said.
"I carried you most of the way here." Harry reminded.
"I'll go." Louis walked towards the tree. "Is it hard? I've never climbed a tree before."
"Ha! I climbed trees before I even knew my multiplications." Harry taunted. "Grab that branch and pull yourself up. Put your foot on that little one." Louis followed Harry's instructions. Louis found that climbing a tree was not as hard as climbing down the sides of the castle walls. Louis and Harry sat on a thick branch, about two to three metres off the ground.
Larry had found her way up too. She settled down in Harry's lap. Harry brushed Larry's fur with his fingers gently. A cheeky grin tugged at her lips. Louis cocked his eyebrow. Larry began to chant, "Louis and Harry, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Louis rolled his eyes.
"Are you enjoying your birthday so far?" Louis asked Harry.
"I'd rather be back home with my dads, to be honest. This is my first birthday without them," Harry stated. "I mean, after I was adopted." Louis nodded to show he was listening. Harry added, "But I'm glad you decided to come out with me."
"You could've at least told me we'd be climbing a mountain. I was not prepared for that." Louis said.
"If I had told you, you wouldn't have wanted to come." Harry knew that for a fact.
"I'll confess that I wished I hadn't." Louis responded, chuckling.
"Fine, next year, we'll do something less taxing."
"Like what?"
"Like cutting taxes." Harry joked. "Get it? Because it's less taxing as in less physically demanding but it's also less taxing as in lowered taxes."
"You're such a dork." Louis teased.
"Louis, I think there is something watching us." Danielle said. Her voice was shaky. Danielle peered in between the thick tree trunks. She decided to scale the tree to the rest of them.
"What is it?" Louis began to descend to help her up.
"A big animal. I don't know what it is." Danielle said. She grabbed Louis' hand and he pulled her onto a higher branch. Louis jumped off the branch he was on and landed on the ground with a thud.
"Louis, come back." Harry instructed. "I'll go."
"Take care of the princess. I'll be fine." Louis assured, pulling his sword out of its scabbard.
"Be careful." Harry warned.
"If I can handle you, I can handle this." Louis proudly said.
The animal confronted Louis. It was a black bear. It growled angrily. The bear fixed its gaze on the prince.
Harry watched from high up in the trees. His heart raced as he considered abandoning the princess in the tree and taking Louis' place.
There was a moment where Louis seemed to be having second thoughts. He moved stiffly like a poorly built puppet.
Harry maneuvered himself onto a lower branch.
Louis glanced up into the canopy of rustling leaves at Harry. He held his hand out, signalling at Harry to stop moving.
The ursine animal kept it stare directed at Louis.
After a few moments of staring, the bear just left.
Louis glanced up at the three of them in the tree. Harry helped the princess down. Larry got down on her own.
"Can we go back to the castle?" Danielle pleaded. "I don't want to stay out here any longer. It's uncomfortable and dangerous. Heck! I'd rather be stuck in a corset half my size than out here any longer than I have to be."
Louis nodded. Harry picked the princess up as he did before and hiked down the mountain with Louis and Larry by his side.
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What did you do for your last birthday and what do you want to do for your next?
Would you rather go tree-climbing with Louis or have Harry carry you up a mountain?
YOU ARE READING
Or Forever Hold Your Peace - l.s.
Fanfiction[Sequel to Don't Stay Up All Night] Just as Prince Louis thought he had gotten rid of Harry, he runs into the boy again while he is in Vaelle, a neighbouring kingdom, to marry their princess.
