บท 34: Could have been her

Skye as they walked down the steps carried both bags while guiding a cautious looking Anberine who was almost left staring at him until she remembered she was going downstairs.

Curiosity grew as he had them avoiding a few places once they turned a few corners.

Satisfied that they were safe the prince led them out of the boundaries of the castle that took them to a grassy field near a lake that shone in the distance.

"Ever been to Misty Lake?" Skye asked startling Anberine enough to make her stumble, seeing this Skye caught her before relaxing his grip on her once she regained her footing.

"That's one of the sacred lakes!" Anberine cried out in alarm.

"It's never been seen thanks to the enchanted forest protecting it from danger" Anberine said before pausing realising that she was talking too much and looked down with a bashful look, seeing this Skye smiled.

"Only to those who wish it no harm can see it. They say royalty can enter it's sacred maze like forest" Skye added as they resumed walking.

"But isn't King Arthur's sword Excalibur resting there? Shouldn't we leave that alone? And wouldn't that take days to get there? We'll be in trouble if we're caught" Anberine stuttered but kept following the prince towards the forest that was being separated by hills.

Spying a town nearby Anberine felt her nerves grow knowing her aunt was living inside the area in secret.

Why her aunt wanted them to have unknown backgrounds still worried her to this day, was it because of her parents? If so what had they done to provoke such hate to be directed at them?

"It's not like we'll see it anyways, Nimue will not show up until it's time to present the sword so for now it'll be sleeping in the lake. Who knows if we're lucky we might catch a glimpse of it" Skye commented seeing the town nearby.

"We should stock up on food before heading there"

"But I don't have any money on me and I'm sure-" Anberine went silent as he showed her a modest-sized brown bag which made rattling noises in front of her thanks to his shaking.

"I came prepared" he grinned in a boyish manner that had her frowning at how prepared he was.

"Gee" she looked away weakly before walking beside him without saying anything else.

"Don't be like that" Skye said as he held her hand.

"I want to give you time to rest and going to the sacred lake will be a place enjoy our weekend" he added as they entered the busy place.

"Our weekend?" Anberine almost stared at him oddly before frowning as a thought came to her.

"But you'll stick out like a sore thumb and we're wearing our school uniforms" Anberine hissed, looking at her he smirked before snapping his fingers which changed his uniform into normal a brownish white shirt, black trousers and brown boots.

"You were saying?" he said before gesturing to her white dress that went up to her ankles and brown shoes, seeing this she frowned at him.

"Cute..." Anberine muttered darkly as she looked away weakly but followed him regardless knowing that they were safe... for now.

Satisfied that she was relenting somewhat the prince quickly located a basket and some foods they could eat on the way to the lake, but made sure not to overpack in order to help them get there quickly.

As they approached one of the vendors Skye began to order what they needed from the man while Anberine observed the area.

Her eyes softened in sadness at how some people were resting against the walls of homes wearing nothing but rags.

Her eyes also caught a small girl missing their right lower arm leaving her stunned at how such a child could be in this situation.

Surely the child's parents should be looking after the little one so why was she reduced to this?

As Anberine mused about the misfortune of the child she turned to look at Skye and pulled his sleeve slightly catching his attention.

"What's wrong?" Skye asked as she lifted her hand up.

"Can I borrow a silver please?" Anberine asked with a slight pursing of her lips, curious Skye handed her a single piece of silver and watched as Anberine rushed towards a child.

Startled he watches Anberine as she knelt down and handed the piece of silver to the child who looked up at her with teary eyes.

Seeing this Anberine smiled softly and brushed the tears from the child's eyes before whispering some comforting words that left the child startled.

Nodding sharply the child smiled before running as fast as she could go.

Seeing the child limping as she ran left Anberine's smile becoming brittle as lash marks could faintly be seen on the child's legs.

"That was nice of you" Skye commented as Anberine got up and frowned from his words.

'So naïve' she thought before explaining why she gave the money.

"The mayor here beats children and forces the parents to pay extortionate taxes, some parents are forced to sell their children or suffer a penalty for not being able to pay" Anberine explained startling Skye, his jaw locked tightly at how this was happening.

'Why isn't my father stopping things like this from happening? Surely Camelot is suppose to be peaceful, so why? Why is this happening?' Skye pondered feeling disturbed about the condition of the village.

Anberine looked she saw his frown deepen showing how much turmoil was on his face.

Slowly she placed her hand on his startling the prince out of his musing.

"We should get going" Anberine said softly as she guided him to another part of the village, this in turn sadly showed Skye how badly the conditions in the village were.

Seeing people either begging or pleading for help or at worse left to die on the floors of the village while no one paid them no heed.

Some homes despite being damaged showed holes that could signal that they would not be safe when the cold settled in.

It would be a miracle if the inhabitants survived to see the next day.

Some homes on the other hand had been reduced to either ashes or a pile of rubble, as a result for not being able to pay for their taxes or from committing crimes.

This left those who needed a home to be forced to live on the streets.

With each step Skye felt bile enter his throat leaving him feeling sick and uncomfortable even as they left the village in order to head towards the lake.

Seeing him remain quiet Anberine felt her eyes soften in sympathy at how clueless he was about how the conditions were in various parts of Camelot.

Despite the happy go lucky news of some nobles or rich folks they overshadowed the tales that came from the ones suffering in silence.

"It's strange that we always hear good things about the village and never the bad things, it's almost as if people have something to hide. No one is able to voice out how the rich get richer while the poor are left suffer like animals, some are even killed or worse sold to brothels because they can't pay their debts" Anberine said softly.

She felt his grip on her hand tighten but kept quiet as she had no idea of what he was thinking.

If she did then it would be a real surprise.

'That could have been where you would have ended up...' Skye mused bitterly before looking back at the village.

He didn't truly know much about Anberine, but it didn't stop him now from wanting to learn now.

Knowing that in a way she was truly lucky to have ended up in the academy made him swallow what felt like acid as memories of how cruel he had been towards her.

As they resumed their journey towards the forest containing one of the sacred lakes, Skye remained silent while Anberine quietly took in the sights in order to memorize it in her mind.

Despite wanting to somewhat enjoy the outing she pushed away the unease given company she was with. She observed the plains feeling more at ease.