Build A Forever After

The Discovery of Marmalade

Corinthia woke up to sunspots dancing in front of her eyes. She tried to sit up straight but a sharp pain shot up her spine and into her head.

"Ughhh" She groaned.

"Good morning" the princess looked down on her, "I sure hope your feeling better because I am paying you to find him"

"Find who?" Corinthia stumbled through the question, actually confused.

"My prince" Dahlia glowered at her.

"Right" Corinthia slowly started remembering the quest, the witch, and the prince. "Help me up, will you?"

Corinthia slowly extended her arm forward before it dropped back down. The princess took both of her hands and pulled her up.

"So where are we going?"

"Mikey said just to go up the mountains and we'll find her tower built into the peak of the mountain with the blue snow."

"Mikey?" Cory raised an eyebrow. 

Dahlia rolled her eyes, "I'm practically married".

"What happened to him anyways?"

"He said he had a lot of fun carrying you around, but that he had a job to do."

"Figures" Corinthia was holding her balance a lot better and so she let go of Dahlia, who had been supporting her and looked into the horizon. The fields stretched towards a dark swamp at the foot of the mountain range Dahlia had pointed out, but try as she might she could not find the mountain with a blue peak.

"Can you pass me my bag?" Corinthia asked the princess.

Dahlia muttered something about never having to wait on any one in her palace and handed her the bag regardless. Cory sheathed her sword to her right leg and pulled out a walking stick, her body still wasn't working right.

"Let's try to make it to the mountain range and out of the swamp by nightfall."

Dahlia nodded and the girls headed towards the dark swamp.

By nightfall the girls were still far from the swamp and Dahlia had been complaining for the past hour that she was hungry, so Corinthia decided to set up camp for the night. She pulled out what was left of the supplies she had bought in Brigsley, a couple loves of stale bread, 2 strips of bison and two jars of berries in syrup as well as a jar of beans and two canteens of water that she had been regularly refilling. She usually would've thought twice about lighting a camp fire in the middle of field where it would've been easy to spot a flame from a mile away, but the journey had been remarkably desolate, there hadn't been a soul in sight since they'd left the tavern, and her battered brain hadn't completely recovered from the thrashing it had received at Salsipuedes. She started boiling the water and mixed in the beans and pulled out the thick blankets that she lay on the floor in front of the fire.

Dahlia took a two slices of bread and reached for the berries.

"Hey, that stuff's limited and extremely expensive" Corinthia complained, but surrendered the sweet fruit after looking at the princesses dejected face. She spread a spoonful of berries onto the bread and took a bite.

"I've never seen anyone do that before" Cory pointed to the bread and fruit combination. 

"How do you eat it then?"

"With a spoon."

"Sometimes in the morning my brothers would take me riding, and so there wouldn't be much time for a big breakfast so we would just eat bread and butter. Then, one day father discovered a sweet fruit paste that came from overseas and that became my go to morning snack."

Corinthia knew of the princes of Allendale and so she remained quiet as Dahlia went on about life in the palace. Cory found it quite exciting to hear about the adventures the princes had on hunting trips and about all the weird things women were made to do in a palace.

"What's the cage called again?"

"A corset."

"And what's the point?"

"To give women a desirable hourglass shape" Dahlia replied with an eye roll.

"Who would want to look like that?"

"I don't know" sighed Dahlia, "but apparently men like it and you can't get married without one."

"Does your prince like you when you wear it?"

"I've only met him twice. But I don't think he cares either way, its something that I like about him."

"Only twice?" Cory tried to hide the astonishment in her voice. Girls where she came often married to the highest bidder, or their husband was decided by their family, but she had never expected that the most powerful woman in the land wouldn't be able to make that vital choice, who to spend the rest of your life with.

"I'm lucky. My mother didn't meet my father until the day of their wedding."

"I guess money can't buy everything." Cory whispered from under her breath as she stood up to stir and check on the beans.

She looked up at the horizon to appreciate the stars, which she didn't do as often as she would've liked. She slept indoors and often came back to the dorms too tired to register the beauty of the night sky, when she caught sight of a bulk of figures moving in the dark and one solitary lantern. 

"Turn off the fire!"  she whispered harshly to Dahlia.

The princess had learned to quickly through water into the flames and pat it down with a blanket.

"What's going on?" She whispered as she tried to stuff everything back into the bags, fumbling because she was not accustomed to the dark.

"Someone's here."

Corinthia finished tying up her pack and re-assuredly patted her sword to and silently prayed to herself that she wouldn't have to use it.

"We have to run to the swamp." She told the princess, "We'll be too easy to find in the fields. This grass does nothing for cover."

They watched as the figures came closer and attempted to slide through the grass as quickly and as silently as their feet could manage. Suddenly the flame that had been guiding their followers went out and Corinthia felt the princess tense up beside her.

"Their light went out, what does that mean?"

"It means that they've spotted us and have split up in order to find us"

"What do we do?"

"There's no time for the swamp, we won't make it. We have to hide now!"

Cory looked out at the swamp one more time. If only they could make it, but it was still at least a mile away and their was no way they could make it without alerting the squadron watching them of their location. Corinthia grabbed a hold of the princess's hand and pulled the hood over Dahlia's head and the girls crouched into the grass and glided through the grass while the band around them closed in.