Arthur Kesington wrinkled his nose as the smell of unwashed peasants wafted towards him. He wasn’t used to spending time around the common people. But today he and his mother had to blend in with the expectant crowd. Not that they were doing a very good job of it, Arthur knew. 119Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx89vpavrlz
First off, Mrs. Kesington refused to be seen without a fox fur coat and her diamond ring. When Arthur politely suggested she leave the expensive accessories behind, she said in a scandalized tone, “Leave them behind! I am quite disinclined to sink so low as that!”. Secondly, Penrith was an old village; many of the inhabitants had been there for generations and were bound to notice a wealthy mother and son waltzing in without so much as a hello. Most likely the men were all craning their scrawny necks for a look at the diamond clad woman. Arthur looked at the ground and swept his wavy brown hair over his eyes.
Mrs. Kesington grabbed his arm, pinching his skin with her sharp nails. “Arthur! Pay attention! Lord Bincast-”
“It’s Lord Bancroft,” Arthur corrected dully, knowing full well she wouldn’t remember.
“Don’t interrupt, it's not polite. Lord Bincast and some- some other man are here.”
Arthur lifted his head to find a pudgy, middle-aged man with small round spectacles nervously scanning the villagers while he stood upon the platform. Next to him was a strong man in black clothes and a sword sheathed to his belt, looking very much like he needed a good night's sleep.
The plump man cleared his throat loudly over the din. A wave of silence flowed over the people, and Lord Bancroft began to speak. “Would the following people please come to the stage? First, we have…” He paused as the black- clad man passed him a piece of parchment. “Amera Whitlock.”
The crowd gave a collective gasp as a young girl approached the two men, her face pale but not at all nervous.
“Thank you. Next is Edith Gable.”
A long pause followed. The silence was broken by a rustling of leaves by the bakery and a voice yelling, “She’s running away!”
The black- clad man sighed and sprinted off the stage towards the bakery. In seconds, he came back with a squirming blonde girl who must have been Edith. Arthur looked closer at her. Then he realized- it was the girl his mother had yelled at that morning after he tried to warn her.
Lord Bancroft looked even more nervous than before. When he spoke again, his first word came out as a squeak. “Please- ahem. Please, uh, do not try to escape or- or aid these traitors in escaping. Fetchers are trained vigorously for any type, uh, any type of situation. The last person is Arthur Kesington. Good day to you all.”
“What? But I- but they- Mother?” Arthur stammered. He turned to his mother for answers, but only found empty space.
Arthur didn’t quite remember how he got next to Lord Bancroft and the others, but suddenly he was looking at a couple hundred very surprised and displeased people and a knight had a firm grip on his wrist. It wasn’t until the strong man and two knights had led Arthur and the girls out of the marketplace, down a dirt road, and toward two heavily fortified carriages that he snapped out of his daze.
“What am I doing here? What did I do wrong?” He exclaimed. When nobody answered, he halted, forcing the knight holding his arm to stumble. “I said, what am I doing here?”
“Shut up, boy.” The knight said gruffly.
“No, no, he deserves a good answer,” said the Fetcher good naturedly, “You’re here because King Dario told me to Fetch you. A little odd he didn’t tell me why, but he trusted me to get the job done. Name’s Pete Buffkaw, by the way. I’m the kings personal Fetcher.” He puffed out his chest a little as he said it, proud of the clearly new position.
“You’re a- a Fetcher?” Arthur gulped. “I’m being Fetched?”
“Who did you think I was, a wizard?”
“I don’t- why- I didn’t do anything!”
“You did according to the King.”
When they stopped, Arthur noticed two guards standing by the four strong horses that pulled the weighty metal carriage he was closest too. At a single nod from Pete, the guards began a complicated process to unlock the door. It swung open after a full minute of unlocking, revealing nothing but two wood benches attached to the walls.
“In you go! Make yourselves comfortable, we’ve a long journey ahead of us.” Pete said brightly as he hopped in the seat next to the driver.
The Penrith knights pushed the three children onto the seats a bit harsher, Arthur thought, than if Pete were there. Arthur sat as far away as possible from the girls. “I don’t-.” He began, but stopped when the dark-haired girl pulled out a dagger and pointed it at his throat.
“Look, I promise I didn’t do anything against the kingdom. I’m not a criminal, and I don’t know if you are, but I can use this knife if it comes to it. Don’t try anything.”
“Whoa there. I’m not guilty. You’re the one threatening me with a dagger,” Arthur said with his hands in front of him. He glanced over at the other girl. “and I’m not the beggar who ran.”
“I ran because I was afraid. Not ‘cause I did something. And my name is Edith, and I don’t beg.” She crossed her arms and scooted farther away from both of them.
“Well if we’re all innocent, we should try and escape. My name is Amera in case it took you ten minutes to forget my name too.” Amera said with a sideways look at Arthur.
“Whatever. Trying to escape this moving prison is pointless. These doors are solid metal with three different types of locks on the outside, and even if we managed to open it, we have no clue where we are. We’d just get thrown back in.” He retorted.
“Isn’t there supposed to be a trial? We could- what’s it called? Plead our case. We could tell them we didn’t do anything.”
“They don’t hold trials for the Fetched,” He snapped at the same time Edith said, “They won’t believe us.”
Arthur ignored Edith’s comment and continued. “The kingdom only sends out Fetchers if they have every piece of evidence the criminal broke the law. Numerous Fetched are criminals who escaped normal prison and committed worse crimes afterwards. We’re going straight to the dungeons.”
Amera narrowed her eyes, suspicion lacing her voice. “How do you know so much about the laws, anyway? Even rich folks don’t learn about politics and such until they’re seventeen. How do I know you haven’t gotten in trouble with the kingdom before, Kesington?”
Arthur stood up angrily, his pale face turning pink with anger. “You have no right to keep accusing me like this! Just because you heard my father got Fetched gives you no reason to accuse me too! My father was innocent, and so am I!”
Amera was speechless, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Edith glanced back and forth between them, unsure what to do.
“I- I’m sorry. I had no idea about your- your dad. I’m sorry.” Amera said, staring down at her feet. “Honest, I didn’t know.”
“Oh.” Arthur said. His cheeks blushed again, this time from embarrassment. He sat down. “Okay.”
The group sat in silence for several hours as the carriage bumped along the forest paths. At least, Arthur felt like it had been several hours. It was hard to tell how much time had passed when he didn’t have his pocket watch. Arthur had left it behind when he went to the village square out of fear that some dirty pickpocket would snatch it. Now he regretted not taking it. It was fairly valuable and maybe he could have traded it to one of the guards for a blind eye to an escape. Doubtful, but Arthur still wished he had brought it.
Arthur was fiddling with the silver watch chain still attached to his blue vest when the carriage came to a screeching halt, throwing the three kids against the wall.
“Sorry about that! Just got to pick up another passenger. Shouldn’t take long, the Tenby knights already got him in a cell.” The cheery, muffled voice of Pete Buffkaw exclaimed from outside. All three of the kids relaxed a bit that they hadn't arrived at the palace dungeons yet, but Arthur tensed up again just as quickly. Tenby was a town notorious for housing ever type of criminal from petty thieves to cold-hearted murderers. He desperately hoped whoever Pete was taking would go in the other carriage.
Just ten minutes later Arthur heard the locks unclicking on the metal door. He darted his eyes over to Amera, hoping she wouldn’t try to escape. Her legs were positioned toward the sounds, and her hand hung just so above her boot where her dagger was kept. But when the door opened wide, fresh air flooding the carriage, even she saw it was hopeless. Four guards, six knights, and Pete surrounded the opening, most of them with swords or a bow. In the middle of the imposing semicircle stood a scrawny boy who looked Arthurs age. His flaming red hair stuck up in odd places, and his face was so dirty the only feature that stuck out was his eyes, which glittered bright green. Just like my eyes, Arthur thought, and a second later he realized, just like Amera and Edith, too.
“Hallo,” the boy said, “I’m Will."
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