In Which Ken Has Little Say in Anything
I think he’s coming to,” Loki said, as Alex slowly stirred, groaned. None of them had gotten out of the swamps unscathed; though the marsh remained frozen, everyone but Ken was caked from head to toe in drying mud. They’d started another small campfire upon reaching the end of the marsh, thanks to Loki’s resourcefulness, but the flames were negligible despite a brief lull from the snow. Ken, Loki, and Nya had been lucky enough to avoid falling through the ice, but the others hadn’t, and Ken was worried.
West was still gone. Once they’d ascertained the surviving toads had fled the fires, he’d promptly dove into the cold icy waters to begin the search. If anyone could find them, Ken knew, it would be West.
He just fervently hoped the boy wouldn’t pull up corpses.
Alex had nearly met that fate when the ice beneath him had given way, and quick reflexes on Ken’s part were all that had saved the prince from plunging in. He’d been submerged for only a few seconds, but Alex had already been blue from the cold, barely breathing as they fished him out. Loki dumped every spare article of dry clothing they had on him, while Nya stripped him of his wet ones and briskly monitored his vitals. “He’ll be okay,” she reported. “He’s regaining warmth, and he’s no longer trembling as much.” She turned to stare at Ken; despite their situation, her mouth quirked up. “I didn’t know he could do that.”
Ken could only glare back. It wasn’t like he had a choice.
“What happened?” Alex mumbled, forcing himself up to a sitting position.
“You nearly went swimming, Your Majesty. Given the freezing temperatures, I wouldn’t have advised it.” Nya placed a bowl of something hot and steaming under his nose. “There’s a heat potion in this tea. You’ll feel better once you’ve drunk it.”
“My firebird is gone,” Alex said, taking a small sip. Nearly drowning didn’t seem to faze him at all, and Ken wondered just how much compartmentalization went on inside the prince’s head. “It’s somewhere up north.”
“You can sense it?” Loki asked.
“I’ve always been able to sense it. Where are the others?”
“Tala, Zoe, and Cole are missing. West set out to look for them.”
Alex frowned, his eyes falling shut. “I wouldn’t worry about Tala. She’s all right. Where’s Ken?”
Loki winced. “About that…”
At the edge of the swamp grounds, something broke through the ice’s surface. Alex started, and Ken could have sworn that the staff strapped to Loki’s back moved on its own, until they laid a reassuring hand on it.
There was a loud splash. A toad half Loki’s size hopped onto the embankment, accompanied by several smaller, noisier frogs. The air flickered and West sat crouched, shivering.
“I never knew Roughskins could change into toads too,” Nya said, wide-eyed.
“I asked,” West said, gesturing at the toads still hopping around. “They said the bigger ones aren’t coming back up any time soon. A human attacked their king with a black weapon, and he and the girl escaped. That was a terrible swim. It’s like flailing through a sea of mud.”
“It technically is,” Loki reminded him. “Did you find them?”
“No. The swamps are interconnected by underground tunnels large enough for even those toads to pass through. Zoe and Nottingham must have resurfaced at another part of the marsh. Tala too. I swam around but couldn’t see them.”
Loki frowned. “We could spend several lifetimes exploring these swamps and never find them.”
“I’m optimistic that they’re fine,” Nya said. “Grammy was explicit about all of us reaching Maidenkeep, and she’s never been wrong that I know of.”
She said you were going to marry a corpse, Rapunzel, was what Ken wanted to say, and cursed the lost opportunity when the words only came out a strangled sound.
Loki scratched at the side of their face. “I think Zoe and Nottingham can handle themselves. It’s Tala I’m worried about.”
“Like I said,” Alex insisted, “she’ll be fine. My firebird’s with her.”
“I believe him.” Nya held up a strange orange feather. It was glowing. “Found this lying nearby while the prince was out and you were seeing to the fire. Same kind of feathers as the little firebird’s. I’m assuming this is some signal to follow?”
West wriggled into his shirt. “They must be out of the swamp! That’s great!”
“I’d like some clothes myself,” Alex said, wincing. “We know we’re going the right way if we see more of those feathers. Carlisle and Nottingham will just have to figure that out themselves too.”
“Are you mad at Zoe because she’s dating your ex?” Nya asked, and Ken groaned softly.
Alex glared at her. “None of your business.”
“I am pretty sure you made it everyone’s business when you and Tala started getting into each other’s faces back there.”
“He wasn’t an ex.” Ken had eaten lemons that tasted sweeter than the vinegar in Alex’s voice. “To be an ex, you have to acknowledge being together, first.” He shrugged on a new shirt and stood. “We’re wasting time. We need to get to Maidenkeep now. I want to catch up to the others if they’re ahead.”
The girl nodded. “Get everyone back to looking decent, first.” She fished out a tin drinking cup and another bottle strangely marked Clean, from her bag. She used the latter to scoop up marsh water, then carefully added a few drops from the bottle to it. “Bend down,” she ordered Loki, and then she poured the contents of the cup over them. The mud and dirt caking the ranger’s clothes began slithering off, dropping to the ground around them in large globs.
I’ll never need to do laundry again with that, Ken croaked in jest without thinking, then groaned again.
“That’s impressive,” Loki said, examining their pants. “Pharma companies would pay top dollar for that recipe.”
“They’ll get it over me and Grammy’s dead bodies. One of these days I’m gonna tell you all about the time some bottling company tried to sue Ikpe and Avalon for the right to take our clean water patents, and Grammy made it that every time a representative came over, she got to curse them with boils. They couldn’t prove that either. I don’t know how to throw balls of fire or summon lightning from the sky like you guys, but I can do this, at least. You telling me they’ve gotten worse over a decade?”
“It’s a crime in Arizona to use magic or potions unless you’ve acquired the proper licenses,” Alex said stiffly. “Or unless you’re the king of the Royal States or a member of his council, which is a rather low bar to set… Where is Inoue, anyway?”
“Well,” Loki said, suddenly apprehensive. “You swallowed a lot of water when the frogs attacked, and Ken said he, uh, he knew CPR…”
“I was going to do that myself,” Nya said fervently, “but he was closer, and he beat me to it. No offense, Your Highness…but I’m glad he did.”
Alex stared down with horror at Ken, who looked up at him and croaked accusingly.
If this is gonna be some rotten permanent situation on my end, he ribbited angrily, no longer caring that they couldn’t understand him at all, then once Avalon’s back to its former glory and all that rot, it’s gonna be my turn to sue, the bloody hell I am.