Patton had to admit, travelling with the Kings' permission was rather fun. He had found out several things like you can skip queues, get discounts off your meals and always take priority. Logan said that they didn't need to do it much but Patton knew his husband was enjoying this deep down.

They'd met loads of people and had stopped off at Maria's' village to see her new husband, who hadn't been a nice man but it was an experience. They'd used hired thestrals from that village to fly to the next village and Heather had to get them to stop because the flying was confusing her as she tried to lock on to her friends.

It had been a slow-moving trip after that, but no one was giving up yet.

.:*:.

Joan lifted the tree branch in the orchard, letting Patton and Logan pass before they did. They had been travelling for a few days, and Heather was getting antsier the closer they got. She said she could feel the other Heathers now, but it was getting harder to pinpoint an exact location.

The three humans and one imp walked across a field before Joan grabbed their friends and pulled them down with Heather diving down after them.

"Joan, what-" Patton began but Joan shushed him, glaring over the bushes they had ducked behind.

Men in grey armour were walking across the field, all holding long sacks that wriggled often. They were pointing and possibly talking to each other.

Logan breathed in sharply. "They have children with them. Let's go."

"Mister Logan, no! They kill you! They managed to kidnap a human, a thestral and three imps all at once! You won't be much of a problem to them." Heather protested, flying over to him in concern.

Logan shook his head. "I can't let them take children, Heather. They may have Fletcher and Amai!"

Patton grabbed his forearm, forcing him down. "Logan, Fletcher and Amai have been gone for weeks! There's no way any of those sacks are our children. Besides, if we follow them, they can lead us to the portal. Right, Joan?"

"Yeah, Lo, Pat's' right. We need to follow them, Heather can't lock onto the Heathers because we're too close - these guys will be able to find the portal though." Joan said, watching as the men walked away.

Logan scowled. "Fine." He snapped quietly.

One sack began crying, and the rest began to scream too. Cries of help broke Patton's' heart and he raised a hand to his mouth to stop the squeak of sympathy.

"Help! Please! I wanna go home!" Screamed the first sack, lashing out with fear.

"Shush!" Snapped the man carrying him. "You'll go home soon, heretic."

"I wanna go home now! Mama, Mama!" Cried a toddler's' voice from the smallest sack. "I want Mama!"

The one holding the crying toddler stopped and stuck his hand down the sack then pulled it out fearfully. "It bit me!"

"Oh, quiet! Look, here comes the King's' representative." Ordered the one at the front of the pack.

Joan moved carefully around to a new bush to get the knights' view, their friends following them.  A man in a shiny, black, leather jacket that cropped at his waist was sauntering towards the group of grey armoured men. He held in his hand a long cup with a brown liquid in. This man wore sunglasses that blocked his eyes.

He nodded sharply at the men who straightened up like this man were a strict teacher who commanded impeccability. "Hey there, boys. You have the infants?"

"Yes, sir." The men chorused.

"No... Matured?" Asked the new one, cocking his hip as he sucked on the straw of the brown liquid.

The men shook their heads and the children started screaming again, kicking out and crying.

The newcomer sighed and pressed a finger to his ear. "This is Remy, I need Emile to meet the expedition party now." There was a moment of silence then the man snapped. "Yes, that Emile! What other 'Emile' would I mean- No, I didn't know we had a bloody janitor named Emile, I want the Emile who's my secretary! Holy coffee, just sound out Emile Picanci!"

"I recognise him..." Heather whispered in Patton's' ear. "He's called Remy and he's important, I think... He often came into the room me and the Heathers were kept in. He was the one who released me."

Joan had heard this and leaned in to ask, "Do you know who Emile is?"

Heather shook her head then paused. "No, wait, I think so. Remy often ordered for an Emile to meet with him and once I think I heard him - I didn't see many people while locked up in that cage."

"Guys, look!" Hissed Logan, trying to point while remaining hidden, "It's the portal! There's someone coming."

The portal was suddenly in view, having gone unnoticed with the conversation happening between the men and the screaming of the children. A silhouette had appeared in the centre of the portal and approached them all with a hurried pace.

A small man arrived in a pale brown sweater that was worn over a white shirt and a pastel blue necktie. "Honestly, Remy, what do you need?"

"Babe, the children are crying. Can you stop them?" Remy complained, ignoring a sharp glare from the smaller man.

"Oh, Remy, shut up, I can hear that," Emile said haughtily, walking up to the men and snapping his fingers. Every man laid down their sack in a small pile of crying children and Emile approached the first one.

Joan nudged Heathers' back with their finger. "Heather, are those two dating?"

Heather shrugged. "Dunno. He calls a lot of people 'babe'."

"It's alright, kiddos..." Emile was saying to the sacks, opening them wide with a soft smile.

Patton gasped sharply at his favourite nickname being used and a soldier looked at the bushes in confusion. Logan gently raised a finger to his lips and Patton mouthed 'sorry'. The group waited in heavy fear until the saw the guard turn around again.

Emile had managed to calm all the children, and they were staring up at him with fearful hope. "Would you like to get in pairs for me?" Emile smiled at them and the children did so instantly. "Good, thank you so much!" Purred Emile. He seemed like a big, fluffy kitten and it was no surprise that the children were flocking to him. "Now, follow me, kiddos! It'll be fun!"

The children followed after Emile as he led them to the portal with Remy trailing behind them, sipping his coffee. The soldiers stayed put.

"I don't trust those two." Sneered one of the men, spitting on the ground.

"None of us do, Kai. They're far too close to King Thomas." Another said, folding his arms.

One from the back piped up. "And Remy is such a heretic! He doesn't refer to our King with any respect; he abuses his position just to get another man to play with and then he's run off on another expedition and the poor boy never hears from 'im again."

"That Emile better watch out with that one." Nodded the one called Kai. "Men, Ryan and I have been talking about those two."

"And?" Said one of the men, leaning on his hip as he cocked out a leg. "What have you and Ryan thought of now, Kai? Are they heretics or something?"

A laugh ran across the men but Kai snapped his fingers. "Shut up, Jasper - you're only joking because you know it's true only you're too scared to say it!"

The mirth stopped quickly and the silence was awkward. Joan forced themself to breath silently despite their anticipation of whatever was happening.

"Ryan?" Jasper said, turning to one of the smallest. "You agree with Kai?"

"So do many others. Those two need to be stopped and King Thomas won't listen to reason - we have to put them down, one way or another." The small man, Ryan, answered, folding his arms.

"They're heretics, men! They spend all their time with the matured one, skip out of meetings and Remy never respects our King!" Kai spat on the ground again, stomping his foot. "We need to sort them out!"

The tallest man shook his head, gaining the others attention. "Kai, if this mutiny fails, every conspirator will be killed - that means us."

"Emile is too soft - he would give us a second chance and then we'll have a second shot to get it right." Kai countered. "Men, this needs to be done! I already have other soldiers in this plot - we can make this work, I swear."

The unconvinced men looked at each other but Jasper nodded slowly as they all turned back to Kai and Ryan. "We're with you, Kai. We'll join the mutiny - just, promise it won't go wrong?"

"It won't go wrong, I swear. We'll make this work. Now inside, men, and not a word of this to anyone." Kai commanded, and the men picked up the sacks and walked to the portal.

Patton breathed out loudly the moment they were out of earshot and Heather squeaked.

Logan sat up, he and Joan facing each other at the same time. "Do we stop them?" Asked the knight.

"I don't know," Logan replied. "The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend."

"What do you think they meant by matured?" Asked Patton but his question went ignored.

"We need to help them!" Fretted Heather, flittering around nervously. "We can't just let them get attacked! They might know about Virgil!"

Logan breathed out in a sigh before scanning the field. The portal was still there and everyone had left. "Let's do this."