Four knights burst through the brush, shining metal figures out of place in a sea of green.
That they trampled noisily over the brush gave them away as foreigners to this land. They had not learned to move through the forest like one of its creatures. That and the fact they wore armor meant they came from the kingdom. But that didn’t make any sense. The remaining population of the kingdom was supposed to be ancient. These were strapping warriors who had traversed the Evergrowth this far out, they did not seem elderly. Cedar and Fern peeked through tiny holes in the blanket and held their breath as the armored figures slowed below them.

“Hear anything?” One of them grunted,

“No. It’s gone quiet.”
The one who answered wore a black leathery cloak with strange rods running through it. His helmet was unlike any Cedar could remember from his early years watching the palace knights. The face plate of it was designed with the image of a monstrous visage with wrinkled skin, an upturned nose, and needle fangs. Attached to the sides were large ornamental ears of the same leathery material as the cloak. Then the ears began to twitch and turn, as if they weren’t ornamental at all, but attached to the head inside. 

The others of his party felt silent and Cedar got the sense that he and his brother shouldn’t be making any noise either. He gave Fern’s arm a firm squeeze and hoped that conveyed the message. The big-eared knight turned his ears in all directions, scanning the surrounding area intently. At one point his gaze moved up to the canopy, where it settled on the boy’s hiding place. Cedar reached for his knife. 

Then the knight’s eyes and ears moved on to other trees.

“Nothing. They’ve either left the area or they’re good at hiding.”

“Have to be pretty quick to escape that fast.”
Another knight stepped into view, this one no less strange than the first. He also wore armor, though not of metal. His torso was covered in a scaley green-black material, with thick ridged scutes running in two neat rows down his back. Upon closer examination, with the way this thick scaley surface wrinkled and moved, it was perhaps not armor at all, but hide. Indeed, it seemed to grow over the man’s neck and onto his uncovered face, mixing with the apparently human flesh there.

“So maybe they’re hiding, whoever they are. We should comb the area.” The big-eared knight said back.

“How do you know it’s a who? It was probably just an animal.”
The third knight spoke with the voice of a woman and was smaller than the others. She might even have been shorter than Fern, though it was hard to tell from a bird’s-eye view. She wore leather armor and wrapped cloth over her face. She might have been human, but something seemed off about her the in the same way as the others. Something about her hunched posture, her small dark eyes, the bulge of her nose under the cloth that seems to protrude just a bit too far. Cedar’s curiosity urged for a closer look but he knew moving so much as a pinky would be too risky.

“I swear I heard a voice.” Said the big-eared one.

“There are many voices in the Evergrowth and most of them aren’t human.” Said the hunched woman.

“We can’t waste time chasing every rustle in the bushes you hear.” Said the scaled one.

Then a final voice spoke with authority over the others, “Our informant said they saw a young human in this area. We will search.” 

This one stood taller than the others and strode forward with confidence. Her armor was the most recognizable to Cedar, a classic set like that of his father’s generals, but instead of the usual grey the metal was colored shining gold and deep black. She was not without her inhuman features, however. Her large stature alone, while not impossible, was well above average for a human. She did not wear a helmet, and around her neck grew a thick mane of dark fur. Strangest of all, she had a tail. A thick segmented tail ending in a large keratinous ball covered in wicked spikes, like the head of a morning star. In addition to such a menacing bodily weapon, she carried a forged weapon as well. They all did. Hers was a massive glaive, its blade as long as Cedar's entire arm. The big-earred one carried a bow on his back. The scaled one had a strange toothy sword and the smallest of them had several knives on her person that Cedar could see, potentially many more that were concealed. Everything about their appearance was utterly foreign to everything Cedar knew of the kingdom. Admittedly, he’d only been there for a short time and had been confined mostly to the palace during it, but surely he would have heard stories about monster knights like these.

“I remind you that our informant hails from Gol, and this area happens to be right on the edge of their territory.” The hunched one said.

“What are you getting at?” Said the golden-armored one.

“I’m saying I don’t trust those vermin one bit. What if this is a trap?”

“What reason would they have to trap us? The kingdom no longer threatens anything in this damned forest.” Said the big-eared.

“But we are strong. Maybe we are seen as a threat?” Said the scaled.

“We should be! If it a trap, then we will teach those vermin a righteous lesson!” Said the golden-armored.

“We could easily defeat any one of those overgrown insects, even a dozen of them. But I’ll remind you that this is their territory. They could send an army.” Said the hunched.

“You’re as cowardly as ever, shrew.” Said the scaled one.

“I’m not cowardly, I’m careful. At least one of us has to be.”

“Eulia, we cannot let this opportunity slip through our fingers!” Said the golden-armored one. Cedar by now had picked her out as the leader of the bunch, though it was evident she did not command total authority.

“An opportunity based on the word of some gold-hungry crawler? How many other opportunities have we chased to dead ends, Eve? How long have we been hacking trails all over the Evergrowth, with nothing to show for it? It’s a waste of time is what it is!”

The scaled one and the big-earred one shared a quiet glance as the tension between the ones named Eulia and Eve heightened.

“Do you have a better way of finding the princes then?” Eve shouted.

Fern silently mouthed ‘the princes?’ to his brother. His face, dappled with spots of light penetrating the shadow of their cover blanket, was pallid and his breaths were shallow. Fern did not remember his short time in the palace, he was only a baby then. But he had been told enough to know that he and his brothers were the hunted princes that the knights spoke of. Even Cedar, who had been only five years old when Rowan whisked them all away into the forest, remembered the kingdom. He remembered the sharpened steel, the desperate soldiers, the violence of his father. He remembered the reality of it all. Fern only knew their cloistered home in the Evergrowth. Aster’s stories about the kingdom were only cautionary tales to him. He was clearly frightened by the sudden intrusion of a past he did not truly know into his quiet woodland life. Cedar slowly drew his dagger from its sheath. He was not so stupid that he thought he could fight four knights of the kingdom and win, but if it came to blows, he hoped he could give the youngest time to escape.   

Fortunately for them, the knights’ attention was now firmly on their own internal conflict. Eulia countered Eve calmly, “I would suggest that perhaps our arms are better put in service of other goals.”

Eve glared but she did not speak. None of them spoke for a moment, all too stunned by Eulia’s proposition.

“I know you aren’t suggesting we abandon our mission.” Eve said. Her words came with a growl, a real growl, like that of a lion. Her tail flicked back and forth, slicing weeds in the grass behind her.  

“Do we even know they are alive out here?” Eulia said.

“They have to be.”

“Why? How can you be so sure?”

“Because it is our destiny to find them! It is our duty to restore humanity!”

“You and your destiny.” Eulia rolled her eyes.

“The destiny of all of us! This is why we were born, Eulia! Our fathers mission, passed on to us.”

“Our fathers are dead, Eve. The rest of the kingdom will be in a few decades.”

“All the more reason we must reclaim the princes!”

“Or maybe, instead of wasting our time hunting for princes that could be half a continent away or dead, we help protect and feed what’s left of our father’s kingdom. You've seen the state of it. Able bodies are a precious resource there. We could help.”

“And just wait for humanity to pass away? You’re suggesting we should just give up?!”

“I’m suggesting we get practical!” Eulia now joined her leader in shouting. Her voice was quieter and hoarse, but no less strong-willed.

“I won’t hear it!” Eve’s other hand gripped her glaive.

“Alright enough!” Said the big-eared one, “Getting into a brawl won’t help anything. We’ve been in this damn jungle for days now. We’re all hungry and tired, maybe its time to return to the kingdom.”

“So you side with her?” Eve accused, pointing her glaive at him.

“No! I’m not siding with anyone. A few days to rest and restock our rations might help clear our heads.”

“I wouldn’t mind an actual meal.” Said the scaled one.

Another growl rattled out of Eve’s throat. She may have been leader, but she knew when she was outvoted.

“Fine.” She said, “We will return to base, for now. But I can’t have you all going soft on me. The fate of humanity rests on us.”

“I know that,” said the big-eared one, “we all know that. We can return with supplies and check every tree hole in the area, after.”

“Any complaints with that, Eulia?” Eve asked.

Eulia crossed her arms, “Fine. You know I'd like to find them as much as you do. I just think its time we get realistic.”

Eve opened her mouth to speak, but the scaled one intervened, “You two can finish this when we get back, with full stomachs and over a couple pints of mead, eh?”

Eve and Eulia both nodded without taking their eyes off each other. Though Eulia stood only hip-level with her leader, she stood unflinching. Then, without another word, Eve tramped off back through the brush. The others followed after, quickly disappearing into the shadows of the forest.

Cedar watched them go without blinking. They were an enigma. Covered in human armor, armed with human weapons, yet not human. If their strange incongruent bodies were not proof of that, their youth was. Vigilance had been a part of daily life for the three youngest princes since the moment they set foot outside the kingdom’s border. Gol, the other creatures of the Evergrowth, even the Goddess herself loomed over the fragile life they had built in the wilderness. Of course, the kingdom had always been the most direct threat. Rowan had warned they would be pursued ferociously by the kingdom’s forces, and it was Rowan who had dispatched the first waves of knights sent after them. He had protected them for a time, but as they became better at hiding and as less knights came searching and as the kingdom fell further into ruin, his protection became less crucial. By the time Rowan left, Cedar believed that the kingdom had stopped chasing them. He didn’t say it out loud, but in the back of his mind he believed that the kingdom was gone, and they were safe from its clutches. But now he knew it was not gone, some remnants apparently remained, and he and his brothers were not safe.

Neither he nor Fern moved for a long time after the clanking of armor had faded out of earshot. Then finally, Fern spoke.

“Who were they?”

“I don’t know.” Cedar said.

“They’re going to come back.”

“I know.”

“We have to tell Aster.”

“I know.”

Neither of them wanted to remove their cover just yet. Fern clung to his brother’s arm. He was shaking.

“I’m scared.” He said.

Cedar tried to think of what a hero would say. “Me too,” was all he could manage. But he held Fern’s hand tight as they ran all the way home.

The knights were on their way home as well when they were interrupted by a glint that caught Eve’s eye. The four of them stood around an arrow lodged in the earth. Eve pinched the freshly flung dirt around where the arrow had struck. Nearby, the scaled one found a patch of trampled creeper. Trampled by something about the size of a human, from the looks of it.

“I knew I heard a voice.” Said the big-eared one.

“Still think we’re chasing a dead end?” Eve said.

“I’ll admit, this is substantial.” Said Eulia.

“We search every patch of grass, every tree, every hole in the ground in the area.” Eve said. She stood tall, proud, reinvigorated by this new lead. “Keep your eyes and ears alert. They can’t have gone far.”

“I was looking forward to the mead, but I guess this is promising.” The scaled one said.

“There will be plenty of mead,” Eve said, “and a feast too. When we finally bring the lost princes home.”