Unwanted task

Arthur was seconds away from throwing himself on the floor and banging his fist like a small child who didn’t get their way. “I have to what?” It’s only when his brother Shushed him did he notice that his voice became like a banshee screeching from hell, well, maybe even louder. 

He noticed the servants moving away, their eyes scanning him in fear. Arthur thanked the goddess there was no courtier or noble here right now. If there were, the gossip would be endless. With the servants he could control the gossip, being part of the gossipers himself. But the servants’ fearful gazes and twittering among themselves had him realize that he had turned from a calm, collected, and elegant prince to a rambling lunatic. Taking deep breaths he turned to look at his eldest brother.

Cadioc de Mab was scanning him. He felt himself physically flinch at his brother’s gaze, but tried to hold on to a semblance of a respectable prince. His brother continued to give him that stare. The ‘I know what you’re thinking stare’. Memories of that stare being given to him by servants, his mother, and even his brothers had him stop dead in his tracks.

The stare would only be given to him whenever he did a bad deed, he’d end up crying, going to said person who gave him that stare and begging for forgiveness. He felt his breathing fasten, his fist clenched, he cast his eyes away from his brother. Anything to avoid that stare.

He could still feel Cadioc look at him, but the aura of that stare went away. He didn’t have the courage to look up though . If he could avoid that stare, he would. 

“Arthur, give me one reason why you shouldn’t follow one hunter.” his brother asks. His voice is kind, but there’s clear exasperation in it. The exasperation in his voice gives Arthur enough courage to look his brother in the eye.  

Scoffing at this, his eyes ablaze, he lifts his chin, the pride of a prince clear in his eyes. “For one thing they’re criminals, why should one have the undivided attention of a prince?” Arthur’s brow twists downward his mouth in a sneer of disgust, hatred for their kind evident in his face. “They’re no better than animals. 

“I agree but you still have to do it.”

“Little boy, would you like to play with me?”

He feels his insides twist, he wants to vomit as a shiver runs through him. A man’s face dances across his mind. The same man that haunts him whenever someone so much as mentions the word hunter.

He had just escaped his tutors, excited, he was looking through the bushes and saw no signs of them. He gave himself a huge pat in the back and sighed in relief.

He scanned his surroundings, none of it was familiar. It takes him ten seconds to realize this was not the faerie realm. He blinks several times, then looks at a tree. The trunk is not brown, it’s a rich white color, but the plant doesn’t look artificial either... It takes him ten seconds to realize something. He's at the border between the faerie realm and the mortal realm. 

It takes him ten seconds to realize he’s lost. He blinks twice. It takes him another ten seconds to realize that's a bad thing. It takes a minute for the panic to set in, ten minutes later he’s a hyperventilating, crying mess. “Lady mother!” he cries out, hoping that someone hears him. 

“Little boy, are you lost?” he turns his head, at his left is a mortal smiling at him. The mortal is absolutely beautiful, with soft and angelic features. His blue eyes are filled with concern. Arthur relaxes. He can trust this man, can’t he? 

Faerie children were never taught to fear mortals, maybe their elders should have warned them against a certain type of mortal… Hunters. 

Arthur hugs himself, holding back tears. He can usually force the images away, but the thought of having to monitor even one hunter… It just brings the memories back full force. 

“Aren’t you hungry you little freak?! It’s time to eat!”  He struggled against the iron chains as it burned his skin, they would leave permanent marks, but he didn’t care. The soggy piece of meat, or whatever it was, cramming down his throat was choking him. It felt like drowning, and there was no magic to save him. He coughed, trying to refuse it. But the man kept on forcing the food down his mouth. Again he struggled, but the chains held him down. He felt like a knife was tearing his skin off little by little, but he didn’t care, he just wanted the man to stop. 

The man was still as beautiful as ever. His features were still angelic. But his face had grown cruel. He was sneering at him. He hated this man, hated him with a passion. 

The hatred must have shown in his eyes, for the next thing he knew, there was a stinging pain in his cheek. 

“What are you looking at you little freak?”

He just wanted to die now. 

“Arthur” His brother took his hand, giving it a squeeze.”The youngest prince’s green eyes met his brother’s concerned ones. Arthur gave a weak smile. 

How long was it? A month?  A year? He didn’t know. He kept asking one question, when would he die? “Arthur?!” He heard a voice. It was Cadioc’s.  For the first time in what felt like a long time, the little elf felt a warm feeling hit him where everything felt like darkness. He would later learn that feeling was hope. He’d have that feeling again some time, but not for a while.

This was one of the rare nights his captor didn’t chain him. Instead, he was wearing a collar. Banging the iron cells not caring if it hurt, shouting at the top of his little lungs “I’m here! I’m here!” Over and Over until his brother found him. 

Caged little him, looked at his eldest brother, expecting kind eyes, felt instant fear. For one look at Arthur and Cadioc froze. His stare was cold, not looking at Arthur, but at someone else. And that someone had a stare that one would reserve for enemies. 

“Who did this?” His brother’s voice was hard, making Arthur Shiver.

“What do you think you’re doing you little brat?” At that moment his torturer came. His breath smelled strongly of alcohol and his eyes had a slight haze but Arthur knew better than to try to escape.

Shaking in fear, tears erupting in his eyes, he looked at Cadioc. He realized one thing, he had brought another faerie for this man to torment. If there was ever a moment to hate himself, it was now.  The man looks his brother up and down, for a moment, just a brief moment, he could have sworn he saw hesitance in his eyes. An older Arthur knew it was fear, that it was easy for his tormentor to bully little kids, but grown men? They were another thing entirely...

The man compares the two elves, and Arthur can see the cogwheels of his brain turning. They look too similar. Suddenly the hunter is big and tall, Smirking.

“You think you can hurt me?” He laughs. “If you hurt me,  you hurt the brat.” The man’s voice slurs, Arthur can see the disgust in Cadioc’s face.

“Really?” Cadioc says, “How much gold will you be asking?”

“Gold? Why would I want gold when the little elf gives me enough money with just one show.”

Arthur never saw so much rage in his brother’s face before. In one moment the eldest prince had gathered his bow and arrows pointing them towards the hunter.

“How dare you!”

The man chuckled. “I wouldn’t do that.” The Hunter pulled a small, rectangular object with a round, crimson center from his back pocket, with a smug smile he pressed the red center. 

In an instant, Arthur felt a burning sensation from his neck, then it moved up and down his body. Shaking, his blood was pumping and pumping and pumping towards his heart. He felt his heart stop. Then start again. Something wet came from his mouth, was it drool? He didn’t know. 

There was a thwack sound and the next thing he knew the feeling stopped. He saw the man was dead. The grass was no longer green but a sort of red color, it was the hunter’s blood. 

Arthur sighed,  willing the memory away. He was an adult elf now, not a little kid. But he wasn’t going to give a hunter his undying attention, it’s not like he couldn’t think of several excuses why.

“Don’t even think of running from your duties Arthur.” As if reading his thoughts, which he possibly did, his father entered the room. The servants bow in reverence, some looking at the King in awe. Arthur feels a sense of dread. His father walks gracefully, his very presence one with the earth. Anyone near can feel the power radiating from the king. The land’s chosen. The servants leave, all except the king’s chosen servants, the ones with grim faces. Silent, still and only for him.

Arthur looks at his father, it takes a few minutes to not feel unnerved. The king looks to be the same age as his youngest son, the silver hair and eyes the only giveaway he’s lived several lifetimes. It’s a monstrosity that Arthur knows he’ll be one day. Both princes bow and the king acknowledges it. 

Arthur looks away slightly, not wanting to disappoint his father. The actual reason why he doesn’t want to do the task is clear to everyone. 

The King of Tir Na Nog’s face softens slightly. It’s a face he only reserves for loved ones, to everyone else he’s a stoic leader. There seems to be little warmth in that face, but to Arthur, it’s all the love in the world.

“Arthur I know this is hard for you but you have to do it.” To an outsider, his father’s voice is cold and emotionless, but to the princes, they detect the love in it.  The pride in the king’s eyes when he looks at his sons.

So that’s why Arthur can’t pout or behave like he wishes to. The way his father looks at him, the pride clear in his eyes, and the ‘I know you can do it look’  he gives him, removes every reason from the tip of his tongue. Giving a fake smile, he bows before his father.

The king smiles. “This is tradition, every male in our line has done it. I’m proud of you.”

Arthur smiles, on the inside he’s screaming, mentally seeing iron bars and chains. The scars on his wrist seem to be burning. He wants to peel his skin off. But he smiles.

When his father leaves, Arthur’s smile is still plastered in his face. The eldest prince looks at him for a moment, reaches out, and gives his shoulder a squeeze. Arthur sees sympathy in Cadioc’s gaze.

“It could be worse, it could be like the old days where you had to monitor a hunter for the rest of their life.”

Arthur knew he wouldn’t be able to survive that.

It was an exhausting day, a part of him wanted to scream and ask his family if following this hunter wasn’t tradition but a punishment for something he did. He had walked and walked, listening to mortals twitter pointless little bits about how his disguise, “Kay Crete” wasn’t cute enough for the hockey team. Really,  mortals were such shallow creatures. The need for popularity wasn’t that different from the court. 

But still, he tended not to talk to the nobles more than he had to, and he was forced to talk to the frivolous humans. It was pointless and he hated every moment of it. 

The kids who weren’t popular were more interesting than the superficial, popular crowd. But unfortunately, he was now paired with the shallow ones, because he made the stupid hockey team. A splash of water took him from his thoughts. ‘Please don’t be part of the swim team, please don’t be part of the swim team.’ he practically begged on the inside. He had heard from gossips members of the swim team were the shallowest people in the school, if the hunter was part of the swim team he’d be forced to spend time with them. 

At the pool stood a young woman. He instantly knew it was the huntress he was to watch. A growl escaped his lips. Finally the bitch was here. And looks like she had no sense of shame considering she was wearing some sort of white lingerie. 

Clenching his fist he shook his head. Seeing her left a bad taste in his mouth. The woman had black hair and blue eyes, just like the hunter from years ago, but she was of a more slender frame than the monster who haunted him, her skin was also paler, it almost looked like a coral reef.  

He must have been staring too long because the woman tensed. He could see her get ready for a fight, her features tightening before she forced herself to relax, trying to calm herself. She looked at him.

When their eyes met his heart went thump. Thump.Unable to look away from her their gazes connected.

They stayed like that for a while. And he knew he couldn’t be here.

“Watch where you’re going psycho!” a male voice told him. But he didn’t care. It was an effort to run at a human pace when all he wanted to do was use his faerie speed and go back to Tir Na Nog. But he couldn't. He'd disappoint his father. “Don’t run down the halls! I said don’t run down the halls.” He heard an older female voice say, probably what they call a teacher. But he just had to get away from that girl. He just had to be alone. Finally, there was nowhere else to run, just a door that said janitor’s office. No one was looking at him. So he went in. The room was tiny, filled with mops and brooms, but he just needed time alone. 

‘Damn it” Slamming his fist to the cold hard wall he let out a curse. He hated the way the girl made him feel the moment he laid eyes on her. It was like they had an unbreakable bond, that she could be trusted with his heart.

He breathed hard, remembering the hunter who had captured him. All hunters couldn’t be trusted. But he knew in his heart what had happened. He’d fallen in love with that huntress at first sight. 

A laugh escaped him. “You did this to me little huntress, and you’ll pay for that.” He swore he’d stop feeling this way, he didn’t know the girl after all. He was sure this silly little love at first sight was nothing more than infatuation and all he had to do was find her flaws and this wench would mean nothing to him or he’d learn to hate her. He preferred hating her.

There was one sure way to learn to hate her though; get her to show the worst part of herself. The best way was to be her enemy. He smiled if he had to monitor a hunter, why not make it fun? He’d make her life a living hell while he was here.