I love plot developments like this. They get me so fired up.
The burning fire in my heart renders me oblivious to the meaningful glances the three elderly gentlemen are giving me.
Beneath a cloudless blue sky, the expedition force rides horseback along a wide road in silence.
Victor suddenly turns to me. “Hey, brat, you’d better learn a lot on this expedition.”
“Like what, Your Highness?”
“You tell me.”
I imagine slapping him upside the head. That’s rich, coming from a guy who didn’t even tell me what this expedition is for. The only thing he told us was that it’s dangerous.
Can this mission get any vaguer?
“His Highness really has taken a liking to you, Bitsy,” Captain Marius says, observing the exchange.
“Oh, no, he didn’t want to have anything to do with me at first.”
“Well, that’s because you—” Captain Marius cuts himself off.
“Because I what? If you have something to say, say it.”
You gotta finish your thought, man! Otherwise that’s just bad form!
“I mean, wouldn’t most people hate the idea of looking after some Divergent kid of unclear origin?”
“Good thing I got his approval, then.”
“You’re a riot,” Victor butts in.
We ride for a while before entering the dimly lit forest. Unlike the trees surrounding my hut, their branches are weak and flimsy. Their long leaves are particularly striking.
This forest wins the creepiness category, hands down.
“Aren’t you scared?” Victor asks me, smirking mischievously.
“Not at all. I’m used to this.”
He whips back around in an unamused huff.
Hey, I’ve been running through the dark, creepy forest at night to Roana Village since childhood. You think some dark, scraggly trees are gonna shake me?
Upon closer glance, I notice dead frogs are scattered around the trees’ roots, sharp-eyed snakes hang on the branches, and insects crawl along the ground.
All right, if I were a proper little lady, I’d probably freak out.
“I wonder what’s up ahead,” Ceres mutters. Something about his tone seems unsettled. Is this forest rarely traversed?
“Is it dangerous here?” I ask.
“Well, yeah, trespassing through Mortwood is forbidden.”
“…Wartwood? Does this place give you warts?!”
“Why so shocked? It means Forest of Certain Death. Is this the first time you’ve heard the name?” Ceres eyes me with suspicion.
Oh! Mortwood!
“Well, your death isn’t literally certain here,” Lieutenant Neal butts in.
“Yes, that’s just superstition,” Ceres agrees.
“It would be more apt to say none have come back to tell the tale.”
“So we might go missing, sir?” Ceres asks.
“That’s a possibility, yes.”
“None have survived…?”
“Well, they have, but not one of them has spoken about Mortwood since.”
……It’s no use. Ceres and Lieutenant Neal are acting so grim, and here I am trying not to lose it over a tree giving me warts.
“Do you think we won’t make it out of this forest, either, sir?” Ceres jokes nervously.
“What, getting cold feet?”
“No, sir. I find it hard to believe His Highness put us on a mission we have no chance of succeeding in… Of course, I think everything will be okay.”
“Well, of course it will. His Highness is very smart.” Lieutenant Neal casts a reverent gaze at Victor.
Huh. So Lieutenant Neal is on Team Victor. He’s a little rough around the edges, but Victor is popular and a go-getter. I hate to admit it, but he certainly has the makings of a great prince.
He has to be gifted; otherwise, nobody would follow him. Black-and-white worlds like this are rather nice. I do admire an ambitious man who builds a kingdom with his own two hands, rather than relying on his pedigree.
I’m about to ask the lieutenant a question, but Captain Marius’s stout voice booms through the air. “We’re almost at our destination.”
“Whoa.” Jurd is surprised.
My eyes widen as well. Before us is a very large lake of murky gray water and dubious depths.
……I’ve never seen a lake so filthy. It’s like a mud bath. And it reeks like nothing I’ve ever smelled.
“Not even in the nicest terms can it be called pretty,” I mutter.
“Well, yeah, this entire lake is poisoned,” Victor replies, jumping off his horse and approaching the thick, bubbling lake.
“What is it poisoned with?”
“Wanna drink it?”
“Hell no.”
I can keep my manners with the captain and lieutenant, but for some reason, I’m always rude to the prince.
“The poison affects people differently. Some people die; some become violently ill; others suffer only mild stomach pains and headaches. Some get itchy all over; others spiral into mental instability.”
This poison affects people differently? What an overpowered diva. Well, this is a fantasy setting. Anything’s possible.
“Okay, so this lake is dangerous… What are we doing here?” I cut to the chase, realizing the conversation isn’t going to be too pleasant.
“This lake is why the forest is called Mortwood.”
Everyone’s gaze hardens under the weight of the prince’s words.
“So…are we going to clean the lake?” Ceres asks.
I can’t help but snicker at Ceres’s joke. Cleaning this lake would be next to impossible. I already knew this when I joined up, but Victor’s soldiers aren’t exactly the brightest bunch.
Cleaning this lake would be as miraculous a feat as resurrection.
“No, we’re going to look for the source under this lake.”
No way… If this were a clear blue sea, I’d love to dive into it, but I’d sooner die than swim in this muddy bog.
I’d probably die anyway if I went in there.
“The lake’s source—what is that, exactly?” Jurd asks Victor, his eyes brimming with curiosity.
“I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know it exists. The lake waters are dirty, but finding its source is indeed possible.”
Meaning somebody once went into this lake… A superhuman.
“Why do you want to find the source of the lake, Your Highness?” I manage to speak politely.
Victor grins like a little boy and says, “It’s my requirement to become king.”
With that, he strips off his jacket and rolls up his sleeves. He looks like he might spring into the lake any minute.
……That reminds me, Victor is the secondborn prince. That long-haired one is the firstborn.
Victor seems to be more of a go-getter than his brother. Though I haven’t been at that palace for very long, I have never once seen Victor’s elder brother.
“You’re going in, too, kid.”
“What? Oh, hell no!”
Has the prince not considered the possibility that he might die? If the entire lake is poisoned, simply touching it is like a death sentence…
“Huh?” Victor shoots me a curious look.
“Do you have a death wish, Your Highness? You’ll die before you have a chance to be king. That’s poison, remember?”
“Chickening out, brat?” There’s a hint of amusement in Victor’s voice.
“Hard to believe you’re the same guy who fought a lion,” cuts in Captain Marius from the side.
The probability of death between fighting a lion and taking a dip in poisoned lake water is grossly different, good sirs.
“Don’t worry. If you don’t drink the water, you won’t die,” Victor assures me.
……Has he no fear?
“This is an order. Go in the lake,” Victor commands sternly, not even giving me a chance to argue.
Guess I don’t have a choice. Time to face the music, Alicia.
“Understood, Your Highness. If I die, I’ll curse you to death.”
How dare he speak like that to a prince! is clearly conveyed in my comrades’ shocked expressions.
Meanwhile, Victor laughs lightly and says, “Don’t worry. Even if I die, I’m sure you’ll survive.”
I can practically hear him saying, I believe in you, so have faith and get in that lake. I can see it in his eyes, too.
Deeming it dangerous for just two people to go in, Captain Marius and Jurd start to get ready to jump in the lake, too. The others remain on standby.
……Well, if you’re gonna invest that much in me, I guess I can’t let you down. Fine. I’ll be the first to jump into this rotten old lake.
I take a sharp breath and stand at the edge of the lake.
“Don’t worry. The poison can’t come in through your eyes—oh, but it can enter through your nose.”
When I hear Victor’s calm voice behind me, I whirl around and say, “Thank you for the detailed advice. Is it safe to assume many people have gone in this lake before?”
“Yeah. I had to test what would happen before I jumped in. Soldiers are expendable.”
Hearing him say it so brazenly and without hesitation renders me speechless.
Victor is more coldhearted than I took him for. Then again, a prince is best with that level of ruthlessness.
And then there’s me, getting caught up in that prince’s poisoned-lake-drowning scheme… But I’m going to go down in history as a baddie. So I’m gonna jump in that lake in the spirit of stealing the crown from him.
I take a deep breath, close my mouth, pinch my nose shut, and jump into the murky lake.