The Hawthorn Forest
The knock on his door came at 6:50 and Martin left with Rosie to go down to the great hall. They didn’t talk too much on the way down, but Rosie did notice him eyeing the stained-glass windows. Martin knew their meanings, the stained glass windows were devoted to a member of royalty that lived in the castle. He knew the people depicted in the windows were important, but he had only met a few of them. His father’s portrait was one of his favorites. It depicted him on the throne, with a crown upon his head. The scepter in his right hand was depicted in all of the stained glass windows. It was made of jade with an eye carved onto the end of it. Sasha and Tim’s portraits would be added soon, as Elias had requested a stained-glass glazier come to the palace to design and make their windows. Martin’s would be done later in the year, as it would be a whole event, as with the other rulers’ windows. Elias wanted all 3 of them to have a portrait, instead of just Martin. It was always the ruler who had their portrait added when they began their reign. Elias wanted all 3 of his children to be remembered, and so he made arrangements for windows that were slightly smaller than the others to be Tim and Sasha’s.
They continued down the halls until they arrived at the doors to the great hall. Normally, Martin ate his meals in the library with the previous royal archivist, but he couldn’t now because she wasn’t supposed to be there. Apparently someone from the Great Palace had tracked the empress down and found her here and she was brought back to the palace. Martin hadn’t known that she was the empress, but he had been friends with her nonetheless. The doors opened and Martin saw almost everyone was there. His father was sitting in his place at the head of the table with Sasha to his right, but the seat next to Sasha’s was empty. Tim hadn’t arrived yet. Martin went to sit down in his seat, which was the one to the left of his father’s. Rosie bowed and left.
“Martin. Have you met the new archivist yet?” Sasha asked.
His sister was the pinnacle of beauty. She had emerald green eyes that matched her green blazer. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail with a green scrunchie and she wore 2 small jade green earrings.
(Author’s note. Think Heather Duke type ish, that’s what I invision when I hear Sasha)
“Yes, I have. I brought my books down to the library because Rosie came by asking for them. He’s quite nice.” Martin said. The door opened again and Tim entered and sat down next to Sasha. Elias waved his hand and the few maids that were in the room scurried off, presumably to get their food. They talked for a few minutes and then the maids came back. Martin noticed one of them kept on looking at him. He wasn’t sure why, but she kept on looking at him. Maybe she just thought he was cute. She wasn’t his type at all though, it would never work anyways. They ate their food and talked some more and when they had finished, they all went in different directions. Rosie wasn’t there so Martin decided he would take a walk. He would’ve walked through Sasha’s garden, but he didn’t want to risk stepping on anything or accidentally bumping on something and messing stuff up. He went back up to his room and shut the door behind him. He went over to his closet and dug a rope out. He tied it on a metal hook that was above his window and he climbed down it. He was now outside the palace and free to take a walk in the forest that he knew so well. The hawthorn trees that surrounded the lake and headwaters that lead to the ocean was something he had run through his entire life. He had never been in it past dusk though, so he was going into it in the dark for the first time.
Martin followed the path he knew so well down to the lake. He picked up a flat stone and skipped it on the water. It rebounded a total of 7 times before it sank. Martin went to pick up another when he heard a splash. He looked up to see the ripples not far from where the stone sank. He looked down to see one of the stones at his feet was wet and realized that it was the stone he had just thrown. He picked it up and put it in his pocket and turned away from the lake. He didn’t want to figure out what threw the stone back at him and he stopped a few feet from the shore, where the sand and pebbles turned to grass. Something flew past his ear, and his hand shot up to his right cheek. It was bleeding. Whatever that was, it had cut him. The buzzing of wings could be heard. Mosquitos lived near water and they came out at around this time. He ran up the slight hill, but not before realizing that he didn’t know where he was. The forest looked wrong. The layout of the trees wasn’t what it had been before. He turned around, but saw that it was also blocked. He turned to his left and ran. He pushed through the brush until something caught his leg and sent him falling to the floor. The vines on the ground wrapped around his leg. Martin fought to free himself, but the vines twisted upwards. The vines had reached his knee when the buzzing returned. The vines retreated and Martin took his chance. He stood up and ran back over towards the right. There was an opening and Martin ran through. The winding path of the ravine next to the lake was closer than he had originally thought and he almost fell down into it. Vines shot up and grabbed his hands, causing him to collapse backwards on the sand. More vines emerged from the forest and dragged him back towards it. Martin struggled at their grasp but was unable to fight it off. The vines wrapped around his arms and another larger vine wrapped around his torso. The vines ended up taking him to a tree and leaving him stuck there. The vines around his hands were tightening quickly. One wrapped around his face, obscuring his mouth.
And then they all went limp.
The vines fell and so did Martin. He stuck his hands out to catch himself, but something else did first. It took him a moment to realize that someone had caught him and now he was on the back of a horse. He didn’t see anyone though. He had felt an arm grab him, but there was no one on the horse. Martin leaned on the horse, letting his body weight fall, but still holding loosely onto it. The horse ran through the forest and eventually broke through the trees. Martin could see the horse a bit more clearly now and noticed the halter it wore. It had the royal crest on it. The crest was an owl with the words “Vigilo-Opperior-Audio” above it. It was one of the horses from the palace. He was unsure why it had come to rescue him though. The horse continued on the stony path up to the palace, and as they got a little closer, Martin could begin to make out what the horse looked like from the lights from the torches on the stone walls that surrounded the palace. It was a larger, cream colored horse with many little white stipples along it, and a flowing white mane. He knew this one. It was Basira’s Clydesdale, Sage. Sage was a dappled palomino, and a big sweetheart. When Basira chose Sage from all of the horses that were specifically bred for the royal guard, she let him help take care of the mare because she knew that he liked horses growing up. He and his siblings had all learned how to ride horses. He and Tim both were taught to ride a horse with a western saddle and how to bareback ride. Sasha had learned both how to ride bareback and with a western saddle, but Mother had insisted that she learn side saddle too, as that was ‘the only proper way for a lady to ride’ as Mother had put it. Sasha laughed at that, and Mother scolded her harshly that day. Sasha never really liked Martin’s mother, that much was clear. But she was willing to try and get along with her for Martin’s sake. After Mother passed, Sasha mainly rode with a western saddle and very rarely rode sidesaddle. These were fond little memories that Martin loved. Sage had almost brought him back to the entrance, and as they got closer, panicked shouts could be heard.
“There he is!”
“We’ve found him, tell the King!”
“The Crown Prince is back!”
“Tell Basira that he’s arrived!”
Sage came to a stop outside the gates, which opened quickly. Multiple maids rushed out towards him, followed by Sasha. Many guards accompanied them. One took Sage’s reins after Martin was removed from her back and led her back into the stables. When Martin put weight on his right leg, he collapsed. Sasha caught him and put his arm around her shoulder. Rosie had arrived at this point and rushed over to help, supporting Martin from the other side. They got Martin inside and went to Elias’ study. Elias was inside and when they opened the door, he rushed over to them.
“What happened?” He asked worriedly as a maid brought a chair for Martin to sit in.
“I don’t know. Basira’s horse brought him back. He fell the moment he got off so we brought him up here to you.” Sasha said.
“Rosie, go get the physician. Run there, quickly.” Elias said. Rosie nodded and hurried out of the room. Elias kneeled to face his youngest son. Martin was still in shock from everything that happened.
“He’s bleeding.” Elias noted.
“I think he was in the forest.” Sasha. Elias sighed.
“There’s a reason you don’t go into the forest at night, Martin. It’s dangerous.” Elias said. It was meant to be scolding. Elias had meant it to be a warning, a way of telling his son that what he did was wrong and not something he should do again, but Elias’ tone said otherwise. It was filled with worry. Elias was scolding Martin, yes, but he was also worried about him. Rosie had returned with the royal physician, but also with a few other people, presumably who questioned why she was running and tagged along. Tim rushed over to his brother’s side.
“What the hell was that!? He growled. Sasha grabbed his left arm and Basira, who had also arrived with Tim and Rosie, came over and grabbed his right arm. Together, they moved him back from Martin. Tim didn’t fight it too much, but he still looked like he was going to bitch slap Martin for causing so much chaos that Basira didn’t let go of him.
“Basira.” Tim warned.
“You need to calm down first. I’m doing this to keep Martin safe from you going and doing something you’ll regret.” Basira said.>/p>
“She’s just doing her job, Tim.” Sasha sighed.
She let go of Tim’s arm, while Basira placed her hand on his shoulder. Tim stayed against the wall. The other person who was with Rosie was Jon. Elias waved him over and they spoke in hushed tones that Martin couldn’t hear. Sasha had knelt down to Martin and wiped the few tears from his eyes. He hadn’t noticed that he had started to cry. The royal physician looked him over and declared he had a few injuries, but they would pass. He had strained his leg and broke a bone in his left arm. Martin didn’t write with his left hand, but it would be a pain to try and navigate life with it for a few months. He had a few cuts and bruises that the physician patched up before Basira and Sasha helped Martin follow the physician out so they could get his arm into a sling. When Martin returned to his room, he noticed that the rope had been cut, as there was a small bit of it still tied to the metal chain and the window was closed. Someone must have come up to his room looking for him and noticed that he was gone and sounded the alarm. It was weird that his father wasn’t there though, looking for him. Maybe they had only just recently found the window and they hadn’t had time to warn him. Martin went to sleep that night, wondering why he went outside to take a walk in the forest. He hated going outside at night. There was something wrong here…