Tuttle

I was violently shaken awake from the chair I had dozed off in by Hetty. With a start I jumped from my chair, momentarily having forgotten where I was. I quickly remembered that I had fallen asleep there waiting for Vandel to return.

"Gods Hetty couldn't you have gone about waking me in perhaps a slightly more civil manner-"

"Master Vandel's back," Hetty stated quickly.

"Was he out on a midnight flight like we thought?"

Hetty shook her head, she looked slightly panicked. "I don't know much of what happened. All I know is that the knight escaped with princess Annette and that master Vandel came back to the castle exhausted and worst of all..." Hetty had a clear grimace on her face, "he's pissed."

My eyes widened. "Oh no...then that means..."

"Yep."

"Vandel's in one of his moods?" Hetty gave me a stiff nod. "Shit, shit, shit, are all valuable artifacts and magical items locked away?"

"We're trying our best. The castle is going into code red." Code red meant one simple thing in the demon palace, one of Vandel's tantrums was about to occur.

I tore through the palace hall trying to find him. Everywhere I looked I could see demon servants running about with armfuls of the castle's valuables trying to get them to safety before Vandel arrived. By the ashen look on their faces at the sound of yelling down the hallway they only had a few seconds left.

"KIDNAPED!!! I WAS JUST KIDNAPED BY MY OWN FUCKING PRISONERS IN MY OWN FUCKING CASTLE!!!!" Hetty and I exchanged a panicked glance. He was on the war path and every servant knew it, the only thing we could do was wait for this to blow over. We caught sight of him at the end of the hallway now. He looked terrible, his face was deathly pale and his dark hair was a mess. Someone must have brought him a robe once he arrived. It was one of his favorites, made of a silky blue and silver fabric with little embroidered ravens curling up the garment. However, at this moment his favorite robe was clearly not the most important thing on his mind. "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE HEAD OF THIS SHIT HOLE'S SECURITY BECAUSE I WANT HIS HEAD ON A PLATTER!" He grabbed a servant by the collar of their shirt. "ON A PLATTER YOU HEAR ME!" He released the servant from his iron grip so quickly that the small demon stumbled back a few feet. Vandel's gaze latched onto a large china vase one of the servants didn't have time to get to safety. He grabbed it, hurling it across the room where it slammed into a wall immediately shattering into a hundred little shards. "DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS FOR ME TO PRETEND TO BE CALM AND SUAVE FOR HOURS AROUND THAT FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT KNIGHT? UUUUUUGH AND NOW I'M GOING TO HAVE TO TELL MOTHER WHAT HAPPENED! FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!" He tore his long black nails down a tapestry ripping it to shreds. "AND....WORST....OF ALL," he shrieked kicking over a decorative suit of armor which clattered to the floor with a metallic crash. "I LOST MY FAVORITE OUTFIT IN THE WOODS!" He continued to storm down the halls, wreaking havoc on almost any inanimate object that came into his line of vision. Hetty and I followed nervously behind him. Finally he made it to his room and almost immediately collapsed over dramatically onto his bed. Hetty and I waited in a tension filled silence and as time passed he didn't move. More servants popped their heads into the bedroom. Finally Vandel let out a loud snore and a silent cheer passed through the servants. He had fallen asleep, it was over! Everyone hugged each other and exchanged handshakes and pats on the back for a job well done. We had made it through another one of Vandel's massive tantrums. 

Percival

What in the Gods names had I just done? I stood a short distance away from Erica and Thomas who watched me through narrow eyes. I sunk to my knees in the middle of of woods, my hands tearing through my hair as I tried to keep myself from having a complete breakdown.

"Try to stay calm Percival," Thomas peeped up from behind me.

"How the fuck can I?" I snapped at them. "I just...holy fuck...I just abandoned my best friend and princess Annette all because I was afraid."

Erica stepped forward, though she seemed hesitant to do so. "There was nothing more you could have done..."

"What the fuck are you talking about," I hissed. "How can you say those words when you know they mean nothing? We could have stayed! We could have refused to abandon Ridley and fought beside him."

"P-Prince Vandel would have killed us," Thomas stammered.

"So? Why does it matter? We're knights! We should have fought beside our comrade even in the face of death. We should have been prepared to give our lives to save the princess and instead we ran at the first opportunity." I glared at them. "Face it, we're cowards, all three of us. You can hate Ridley all you want for rising up the ranks before you but I can assure you of this, Ridley would never have abandoned us, any of us." Erica and Thomas's gazes fell to the ground and a silence fell between our pathetic cowering trio. The night air was still, the chirp of the crickets and the gentle brush of the wind the only audible things about us. I wanted to get lost in the night, I wanted it to swallow me whole and make me disappear. Then suddenly the silence was shattered by a voice.

"Hello...is anyone there?" I jumped to my feet. Erica and Thomas exchanged a wide eyed glance. My hand moved to my hilt in case this was a trap before I called out into the night,

"Princess Annette?"

"Yes! Sir Percival is that you!??" And then out of the darkness, like the dream that she was, stepped Annette. When I saw her my jaw practically hit the ground. I don't think I had ever been more relieved in my life. I cautiously moved towards her, I had to still be careful. Many horrible things haunted these woods at night, goblins, spirits, even a few shape shifters. Who knew if this was her or if this was some terrifyingly accurate aberration. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it's me. The real question is are you really the princess?"

She crossed her arms, furrowing her cute little brow. "Of course I am."

"What did I get you for your birthday last year?"

"A silver locket with a picture of your face inside which I immediately removed."

Now I finally allowed the wave of relief to sweep over me. I bowed my head as did Erica and Thomas.

"Princess, what miracle has returned you to us?"

"Ridley and I escaped."

My eyes widened. "Ridley's alive?"

Annette nodded frantically. "Yes! And we kidnapped Vandel as well." I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Erica and Thomas were both watching from behind me, still eyes wide. I glanced around in the darkness now.

"Where are they?"

Annette's shoulders immediately sagged. "We got separated. This mysterious fog appeared and Ridley and I must have walked in different directions. I've been wandering around for hours. I had no idea where where I even was, it was pure luck I found you."

"We should get you back to the palace where it's safe," I stated. I offered her my arm but she wouldn't take it. Instead she shook her head, stepping back a few paces.

"I can't do that. I won't return until we locate Ridley and Vandel."

"But princess," Erica exclaimed now, "the woods are dangerous. They could be anywhere!" 

Annette glared at her. "It doesn't matter. Ridley didn't abandon me and I refuse to abandon him-" 

That's when we heard a voice from the opposite direction Annette had come from.

"I CAN NOT BELIEVE I FED YOU BREAD YOU ASSWIPE!"

"Oh my Gods," Erica gasped, all our expressions held a certain look of disbelief. There was no way we could be blessed with this much luck but...that had to be the voice of Ridley. I had never heard him actually yell before but I was sure that the voice could belong to no other. Without missing a beat I took off, tearing through the woods towards the voice with Annette at my side.

"RIDLEY?" I cried as loudly as I could. "RIDLEY ARE YOU THERE?" We emerged into a little clearing and low and behold...standing there next to a pile of what appeared to be extremely stylish clothes was Ridley. I felt like I was about to cry I was so relieved, I didn't even care if he was angry at me for leaving him. 

When Ridley turned and saw me his eyes opened wide. "Percival?"

"Ridley!"

"Percival!"

"RIDLEY!!!!" I ran to him, pulling him into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry," I choked. "Holy shit...I'm so sorry for leaving you back there. I was just...I was frightened and stupid and I'm just so...so...sorry..."

I felt a gentle pat on my back.

"Don't worry about it, I understand. You're fresh out of training, of course you would panic when threatened by the prince of all evil and darkness." Yeah, I thought to myself, but you're fresh out of training too and you weren't. When Ridley and I finally parted he turned to Annette, bowing.

"I'm sorry princess," he said softly. "We ran into a Bone Monster and Vandel managed to escape."

"It's fine. I'm just glad we both made it out of the castle alive...wait...did you say a Bone Monster?"

We were both staring at him in shock.

"You fought off a Bone Monster attack and lived?"

He nodded slowly.  "Yeah, Vandel helped."

"You got the demon prince Vandel to help you?"

Ridley let out a low nervous laugh scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's a long story. I'll tell you all about it on the way back." He glanced to the clothes. "Oh...and I just have to do one thing." He picked up the pile of clothes and stuffed them into his bag. "I'm taking these in case he tries to come back for them, maybe I'll burn them when I get home just out of spite." He smiled thinly at that. I was happy he was back, I really was. But despite that I still felt a slight prick of jealousy. Ridley didn't seem to be able to ever do a single thing wrong.

It appeared that he had even caught the attention of the demon prince of darkness himself.