The Metaphorical Key Book II- Forge the Path

Chapter XIII

Aiden woke up early the next morning, just as the sun was peeking over the hills and painting them a warm brown. The weather was cool, but also nice. It was the kind of weather that ushered in warm sweaters and cups of hot chocolate, but it wasn't an uncomfortable sort of cold - not the one that gripped one's lungs and froze their fingers.

The relatively nice weather was a welcome change, and the small band of three thought that it reflected their change in mood. The past week (two? It made Aiden's stomach sink, the fact that he wasn't sure) had been terrible, frigid cold in mood. It was changing now - slowly, gradually, but that was how change tended to come.

He swung his small portion of the blanket off his shoulder and rolled over, standing up and stretching out his legs, arms, back, neck. Will and Pollux still snored softly on the ground, and so Alone reached down and yanked the blanket off them. Pollux squealed like a dying pig and leapt to his feet, throwing up a fighting stance before realizing that it was just Aiden.

He grumbled.
"You scared me."

Aiden shrugged, smirking mischievously.
"Yeah, but we've gotta get going."

Pollux nodded, pursing his lips, before turning around to face Will's sleeping form.

"Huh. He's still asleep."
"Not much blanket to yank off, I suppose. Not enough shift to wake somebody up."

Pollux nodded and stooped down, gently shaking Will.
"Hey. Wake up. We should get going."

The other teen sat up, blinking groggily.
"Hmm? What?"

His hair was smashed to the side, his eyelids still half closed. The jacket hung off one shoulder, and the shirt collar was yanked to the left - in fact, almost everything about him looked as though it'd been awkwardly smudged to the left.

Clearly, he was not a morning person.

They gave him a few minutes to finish waking up, only continuing when his eyes stayed open and he stopped swaying on his feet.

"Alright."
Aiden clapped his hands together once, shifting his weight from foot to foot - restless. His pulse raced, and his mind jumped from thought to thought, plan to plan.

"Pollux? Have you got a plan of some kind? You lived in Chodel for most of your childhood, right? Do you know anything about the government?"
He remembered the puzzle back when they'd first come to Chodel - the false king. Pollux had been able to figure it out.

He hoped he'd know as much about the current, real king.

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on their side that day. (For once)

"Well," Pollux started, pushing at the bridge of his nose as though he were wearing invisible glasses. "The king's a good guy, I'd say. And I don't mean that he's on our side - err, I mean, he is, but I mean he's kind, y'know? He lets his citizens speak with him unless he has a reason not to, which doesn't happen often."
"We're not citizens though."

Pollux grinned.
"Legally, Dulcie and I never actually moved away. We just vanished. We're still citizens, I think."
"Clever."

Will's eyes gleamed with admiration and Pollux averted his gaze, coughing awkwardly before straightening himself (in more ways than one, Aiden thought.)

"Well, let's go."

The walk to the castle took a remarkably short time - frankly, Aiden half expected to have to climb up every hill off in the distance, row across the river of Who-Cares, hike through the forest of What's-It and still have a journey ahead of him.

But no. Instead they walked for fifteen minutes, along a fairly straight path, and arrived at their destination - or at least, at its fence. Boring, but less tedious and bombastic.

Two people - one man and one woman - stood at the door to the castle - which was significantly more impressive than the path that'd lead to it.

Significantly.

Eight tall, square towers rose into the sky, easily twice the height of the second tallest building in the area. Sandstone walls stretched between each of those towers, and between them as well, creating a design reminisque of a flower. Chodel was well known for having buildings that were more art pieces than residences, and the castle was no exception. Windows were scattered along the walls, and the asymmetrical way in which they were placed reminded Aiden of children spilling marbles onto the floor.

The fence the ragtag group of three stood at was tall, towering over them high enough that scaling it would be risky even for the nimblest of people, and the tall spikes at the very top certainly didn't do wonders for one's survival chances if they decided to climb it.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the castle, however, was the smattering of different periods evident in its architecture. The castle was ancient, and parts of it had been torn down and replaced over the years. Glancing from tower to tower, wall to wall, was much like staring into the past. The king - and those before him, as well, were all determined to keep the castle as modern as possible, and it certainly showed.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!"

Pollux's shouting and waving brought Aiden out of his musings about the prettiness of the castle, and he was suddenly snapped back to the present - the present of secret prisons and criminal records.

The two guards exchanged a glance before approaching the fence.
"What do you lot want?"

Aiden didn't spend too much time looking at their faces - the woman was tall and broad shouldered, but her intimidating stature didn't match the sweetness of her eyes or the distinct scent of honey and cinnamon that surrounded her. The man was short, thin, and had a washed-out look about him, like somebody who'd spent the last three or so days running on coffee and anger.

Pollux cleared his throat, seemingly having lost his voice, as he often did in social situations (especially when he had to ask for something - he'd frozen up at the kitchens, once, when asking for a packet of ketchup.)

Will jumped in, sending Pollux a sympathetic glance and smile.
"We'd like to speak to the king!"

The man narrowed his eyes.
"Names?"

Will gestured around at the group.
"To my left is Aiden... help me out here."
"Parrish."
"Aiden Parrish! I'm William Treloar, and to my right is my good friend Pollux-"
"Percell."

The woman shrugged.
"I think I recognise one of those names - Percell."
"Yeah, same. Aren't those the kids who went missing?"
"Are you... one of 'em?"

Pollux shook his head and rooted around in his bag.
"Nope! I'm a cousin of there's - father's brother's son."

He pulled out an citizen card - by Aiden's rudimentary understanding, Chodelians carried them around to prove they were citizens, as Chodel didn't have a Records office - and flashed it in front of the guards.
"See?"

Aiden craned his neck around to see the card - it was a picture of a smiling, younger Pollux - ten or so, he figured.

The woman nodded cheerfully.
"Alright! The king just got out of a meeting - he's a very busy man, as you can imagine, but I'm sure he'll make time for you!"

The fence opened, and they walked through, letting out a collective exhale once they went through.

Will laughed, shaking his head.
"I cannot believe we just did that."

They opened the castle door, and prepared to tell the king the worst news of his life.

At the end of the hallway, a man stood. Judging by the door still swinging shut behind him, he'd only just entered the room.

Aiden had seen photos of the man before, but seeing him in person was a whole other thing entirely. Before the war, Chodel had been a small town, and every ruler it'd ever had was barely a blip on peoples' radar. (Except for Pollux. Pollux's eyes lit up whenever he was given the opportunity to ramble about Chodelian government.) Midway through the war, though, the previous king died and his son, King Galen, took over.

King Galen brought Chodel out of obscurity and made it into the last safe place on earth. Here, for the first time in weeks, Aiden could breathe.

"King Galen?" Pollux's voice was warbling, rising and falling an octave every syllable.

"Yes?"

The king was tall and well built, with straight, platinum hair that touched his shoulders. His eyes were cornflower blue and soft. He appeared to be somewhere in his mid-thirties, and despite his clothing screaming  'I'm richer than you,' Aiden felt like he was at the same level - maybe it was the fact that the man hunched down every so slightly so that he wasn't looking down at the group, but he had a comforting aura.

"We - we have some - some bad news, your majesty. There's - there's a - Will, can you..."

"There's a Catago prison in Chodel," Will said bluntly.

"We thought you might want to know."

King Galen's eyes darkened - but it wasn't for the reasons Aiden expected.
"I knew."

The doors swung open once more at the clap of King Galen's hands, and a solid dozen guards stepped into the room.

All of them were armed to the teeth.

Are you fucking kidding me?  

Ahhhh sorry for the f-bomb there at the end! I'm trying to keep the swearing to a minimum, but I thought it'd be an appropriate thing to think in this situation.

Hopefully the subtle little hints (well, less hints, more 'this doesn't make any sense - Oh!') were enough! Everything will be explained next chapter.

There's a reason I took this off cs, aha. I'll probably find anywhere I linked my wattpad profile and get rid of that, too. Don't want to get in trouble for linking content with even small amounts of harsh language.