“I don’t know but we’d better be stealthy unless we want to find out what that thing does to uninvited guests in its home.”

  “I’ll agree to that.” Loxo nodded as he slowly pushed himself up. “Come. Let’s head in that direction.” He said pointing in the direction he thought might be west.

  “Is that the right way out?” asked Loxo

  “Who knows? This place all looks the same to me but if that monster is heading that way,” he pointed behind them. “Then we’re heading this way. Take the weapons, I’ll get the boy. Keep quiet.” Atticus took Morell upon his back and the three continued as quietly as they could through the fog.

  Far away, the third portal burst into being from the nothingness, flinging Prince Damron and Hoxley into a dense forest at dawn from a height of ten feet. Prince Damron emerged first. He gauged his descent and by keeping his feet and knees together, landed without breaking a leg or ankle. It was a steep slope and he tucked and rolled through the underbrush, thistles pricking at his skin like thousands of needles until finally sliding to a stop. Hoxley however was spat out sideways and barely managed to keep from being impaled by her own spear as she came slamming down on her side. He same thistles and brambles were there to dig into the skin of her legs, back, thighs, and rear torso.

  “Help!” she cried out as she impacted and rolled end over end. Her spear went flying out of her hands after she bounced off of a sizeable rock, but the worst part came at the end of the tumble. She was almost to the bottom of the decline when she slammed headfirst into a tree that didn’t seem to be in a hurry to move out of her way. Prince Damron witnessed it all and came rushing to her aid. By the time he snatched up her weapon and ran to her side, she lay unmoving with her neck at a painful angle.

  “Hoxley?” he asked. “Hoxley, can you hear me?” she said nothing and the previously gathered wound on her forehead was already open and trickling slick crimson down her face. “Hoxley, wake up!” he shook her. “Hoxley please wake up!” She said nothing but when he put his ear to her body, he could still hear breathing in her lungs. She was still alive! The air around them was far too quiet. He looked up the hill in time to see the circular portal dwindle in size before it closed and vanished in a puff of smoke. “Ignatius?!” he yelled out hoping for a response. There came none. “Siouxsie?! Atticus? Loxo? Morell?....Robert?”

  Panicked by the silence, Prince Damron Pulled Hoxley’s upper torso onto his lap and used a bit of water and the corner of his shirt to wash the blood away. It smeared at first but after a few dabs he cleaned most of it off. His head swiveled this way and that but there were no signs of anyone he found familiar. He called out again, but nothing returned but the sound of birds in the trees. To his relief, there were no soldiers either. Everything seemed so strange. They were no longer in the ruins but a wooded valley between two hills. “Where are we?” He asked aloud. “Where are the others?” For the longest time Prince Damron sat with his back against a tree holding the faun in his arms and listening to her shallow breathing. Nothing made sense and they were both very alone in the wild. “Please wake up, Hoxley.” He pleaded in whispers while dabbing a little water into a piece of clean cloth and wetting her lips. His hands stroked her head of white woolen hair and found the consistency to be much like that of his own. Prince Damron had never met a faun before, let alone touched one. Besides the hair, a pair of sizeable, curled horns jutted from the top of her head. To run his fingertips along the stone rigid appendages was something almost magical on its own.

  He cradled her horned head and massaged her large pale skinned ears trying to make her comfortable as best he could. Contrary to any logic he might have known, the day’s light was fading in the distance when it had been rising less than an hour before. It made no sense for the dawn to change its mind and give back the night. The darkness seeped in around them. Lost, confused, scared, unable to leave his companion, the young prince knew no better than to wrap their blankets around them and keep a sword close at hand should unfriendly creatures of the night come calling. He tried to stay up all night, but for the toil he’d endured, his eyelids betrayed him all too quickly.

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  The night was chilly and halfway through it Hoxley began to stir and awakened the prince with some pitiful groaning.

  “OooOOoohhhHhhh. My head.” She said to herself, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings.

  “Don’t try to move.” said the prince. “You’ve fallen and hit your head.”

  “Prince Damron?” she asked. “Is that you?”

  “It is. We’re in the wild again.”

  “Where in the wild?” she asked.

  “I was waiting for you to wake in hopes that you might be able to tell me where we are.”

  “Where are the others?” she asked.

  “They didn’t come through the magic circle with us. It’s just you and I.” Troubled by his answer, she slowly pushed herself up and out of his lap. “There’s no one? Is there any sign of your uncle’s men?”

  “No, no sign of them either, fortunately.” Hoxley shifted slowly and tried to stand, but halfway up her wobbly knees betrayed her and almost dumped her to the ground before the prince jumped up to steady her.

  “Whew, thank you, your highness. I’m still a bit light-headed. Where’s my spear?”

  “It’s right here.” He said reaching around the tree and handing it to her. Hoxley quickly grabbed it with both hands to stabilize herself. “Do you have any idea where we might be?” he asked. Hoxley looked up at the stars but without knowing where she was before it was still quite disorienting.

  “Nothing yet.” She said before pulling out the witchle she kept. Toot toot, TWEET TWEET, toot toot, Tweet tweet!

  “Was that for Siouxsie and Robert?” he asked.

  “You’re learning quickly. If we’re lucky they’ll have heard that and come to join us.”

  “And if we’re unlucky?”

  “Then we carry on alone without them.” A little time passed, and no witches appeared. As dawn approached, Hoxley’s head stopped throbbing enough that she felt like travelling. “Come along,” she said. “Let’s walk a bit. We’ll look for a familiar trail or perhaps a river that can tell us where we are. If I could catch a glimpse of Faustacon Mountain I’m positive I could put us on the right path. No, the landscape makes me think we’re far further east than we were.” The prince folded the blankets and took up his shield.

  “I have a troubled thought.” He said as they walked side by side. “All this fighting.”

  “Go on, speak your mind.” She said.

  “All this time we’ve been killing and wounding my father’s men.”

  “As you are next in line to the throne, some might say they’re your men.”

  “And that bothers me so.” Prince Damron hung his head. “Our survival and that of the others like the witches is important but I can’t help but feel for the lives we’re affecting as we defend our own. Those men are sons, brothers, fathers, husbands… As much as I know its right to do so it pains me to cross swords with them.”

  “That’s a very mature consideration,” She nodded “You’re growing and seeing beyond your own needs to the needs and lives of others.”

  “I can’t help what I feel. This whole misadventure of bloodshed and catastrophe wears me down. Outside of my own wants and needs I see an entire land being ripped apart by the selfish desires of a few. It’s not right. It’s not fair. I have to change this somehow. I want people to live in peace without worrying that others will trample them while chasing goals that benefit only them.” For a moment he looked up to see the faun with the strangest smile on her face. “What are you smiling about?” he asked.

  “Just you.” She grinned. “You’re becoming a very different person from the boy I encountered on a stone bridge not too long ago.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “Very much so. Your desire to see others served before yourself? That’s a very kingly point of view, your highness. That’s the kind of view that rules great kingdoms.”

  “I’ve tried to be more like you.” He admitted.

  “That’s very gracious of you to say so. But I’ve only been trying to keep our little party safe and together.” She waved an arm to show that no one else was with them. “And as you can see, I’m doing a very poor job of it.”

  “But you never give up.” He said

  “What other choice is there?” she asked. “Lose all hope and lay down waiting to die? I think not. We must go forward, we must keep trying in hopes that we can find ways and opportunities to make things right. We must because… we must. It is the right thing to do and there can be no greater aim for faunkind or witchkind or mankind.”

  “Those are kingly words.” Said Prince Damron. “Perhaps you should run my kingdom.”

  “To be truthful, I know nothing of stately matters.” She said “I know nothing of the lives of nobles or their agendas.”

  “Hearing you talk might make others think otherwise.”

  “I only speak from the heart of what I know. If you listen more than you speak, you learn more. Horns to hooves that’s the truth. And it doesn’t hurt to have ears as big as mine.” She laughed as she held one of her large ears to dangle from thumb and finger before letting it droop again.