Will of a Prince

Squabee continued eating their food lightly while everyone stared at her dubiously. None of them ever expected a dangerous cultist to look so innocent before. She seemed extremely comfortable with them as well, even thought they had just met moments prior. Maria studied her carefully, still trying to determine if she was a threat or not. After she was done, Squabee laid back in the grass and started snoring loudly.

"What the-"

"Did she just fall asleep?!"

Jacob walked over and shook her awake, but she refused to wake up. He looked over at Lidia and Slimo for support.

"What do we do? She may be our only chance at finding our friends!"

Lidia towered over the blonde girl with a menacing presence. She stomped her foot hard in front of where she was laying down, causing the ground the crack under her. The girl jumped awake screaming.

"Don’t hurt me!"

She looked at everyone confused.

"Oh. It’s you guys again."

"What do you mean again? We just met you!"

"Can I go to sleep now? That food made me so sleepy."

She stretched and let out a wide yawn.

"Not until you answer more of our questions. Then you can sleep as much as you want."

"Really?! That sounds awesome! What would you guys like to know?"

"First of all, where the hell did you come from? Why were you in this forest and why do you have the clothes of those crazy cultists?"

Squabee scratched her chin while looking off into the distance.

"Well, it all started in my small little village town further east of here! I was taking care of the younger kids having a great time. That’s when my mom came to me with awful news! She told me that my sister cheated on her husband and they were getting a divorce! Immediately, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She was like, the greatest sister ever. I didn’t know she was capable of something like that! So, I went over to my brother-in-law’s house to get the real details. When I opened the door, I nearly passed out! He was with another woman I’ve never seen before!"

Jacob interrupted her long story before she could continue.

"Wait, what does this have to do with the cult? Can you just skip to that part?"

Maria and Lidia covered Jacob’s mouth.

"Shut up and let her finish! The story was just getting good!"

Jacob looked at them both in disbelief.

’What?! Aren’t we supposed to be interrogating her?!’

"Anyway, it turns out that he was cheating on her too, like the whole time!"

Maria and Lidia gasped and ran closer to her.

"No way!"

"I can’t believe what I’m hearing!"

"It gets even crazier! So, there was this other guy named Charles who totally barged in on everyone after I caught them. Well, it turns out Charles is the husband of that woman my brother-in-law was cheating with! It was like totally a cheating bonanza!"

"This is crazy! Do things like this really happen in this world?!"

"I wish I could say they didn’t! I was just as shocked!"

Slimo eventually slowly walked over.

"This is really great everyone, but I think we should get to the part where the cult is involved."

Lidia punched Slimo in the jaw, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious.

"Let the girl talk! You boys stay out of it!"

Jacob looked at all the girls in fear as Maria still held her hand over his mouth so he couldn’t retort. He looked over at Doc, his eyes pleading for help. Doc met his gaze, raised his hands and slowly back up. He mouthed quiet words to Jacob.

"Sorry."

’Damn you, Doc!’

"Anyway, it turns out Charles was like a part of this group of bad people. He kept claiming how his wife was going to be a sacrifice of the end times or something like that. The village thought he had officially turned crazy! However, I was a bit curious what he was talking about, so I followed him home one day. When I peeped through his window, I saw him huddled in a large group of robed people with these skull masks!"

"Is that why you joined them? You saw the group and wanted to get information."

Squabee scratched the back of her head embarrassingly.

"Well, I just thought Charles was like kind of cute. And since he was fresh on the market, I just wanted to take my shot, you know?"

Doc finally seemed to have heard enough and chimed in.

"Wait a minute. You’re telling us that you infiltrated a dangerous cult that talk about the end of the world because you thought one of the cultists was cute?"

"Yes? Why else would I join?"

Lidia and Maria looked at each other with wide eyes.

"That’s so..."

"Romantic!"

The girls screamed and jumped up and down excitedly. They ran over to her and stared into her pink eyes.

"So, what happened? Did you get him?"

"Please, tell us!"

"Actually, that’s why I’m out here. He was sent out on some sort of scouting mission to look for somebody. They told me to stay back and watch over some prisoners, but I just couldn’t help myself!"

"You all have prisoners?"

"Yeah. I have no idea why a cult would need prisoners when they could just try and convert them to become followers like normal people. Maybe they were just being stubborn."

Lidia got closer to her.

"Can you please tell us how to get to your headquarters? Maybe give us a general direction? I believe we may know who those prisoners are."

"Sure! You guys are fun and have a great cook! I’ll just take you all there myself!"

"Really?!"

"Yah! Honestly, I’ve been looking for Charles for days now and I’m ready to give up. Maybe it’s not meant to be."

Doc stepped in between them.

"Wait a moment. How do we know we can trust you?"

Squabee thought to herself for a moment, took off a bracelet around her wrist, and handed it over to Doc.

"This is something like a key and compass that will lead you to our camp. Since I was in charge of guarding the prisoners, it should also have the power to break the enchanted lock on the cages."

Doc stared at the bracelet with wide eyes.

"Thank you. Would you like some more meat? It’s almost gone and I would rather we don’t let it all go to waste."

Squabee’s mouth started drooling slightly at the thought.

"If you’re offering, yes please!"

Lidia held out her hand towards Sqaubee.

"Welcome to the group, Squabee!"

Jacob moved Maria’s hand away from his mouth so he could retort.

"She’s not a part of the group! We don’t know anything about her! She’s a cultist!"

Maria smacked Jacob over the head, knocking him unconscious like Slimo.

"Don’t listen to him. Boys are nothing but trouble, am I right?"

Squabee smiled brightly and shook Lidia’s hand.

"Absolutely!"