Chapter 57 - Hope (part Two)

Spending time with her grandchild had been fun but the guilt of ruining the lives of the people she cared about was still haunting her. She had to figure out a way to bring things back to the way they were. They might not have been perfect or the way she wanted it to be but it was better than how things turned out.

The only good thing about her new reality was the fact that Olivia was no longer a part of their family. Her grandson was lucky enough to have such a caring woman raise him.

The queen's mother walked down the corridors of the palace. Her movements were quiet as she didn't want to be heard by anyone. She snuck into the king's palace to see Francis. They evaded the dragons patrolling the palace and managed to make it down to the dungeon and pushed the door open.

Walking inside the room she made sure that her son was not in the room before locking the door behind her. She moved to Francis's side as she didn't have much time. Her heart trembled to see the condition that her dearest Francis was in.

She removed the blanket from Francis's body and hugged his frozen body. The ice was not cold and she felt as though if she hugged him long enough then Francis will be okay. The ice around his body will melt and he will return to her.

She kept hugging his body with tears flowing from her eyes. Before she realized it the sculpture started moving. She looked up and let Francis go in the hope that he had woken up. Francis's body floated to the air and kept rising higher.

The queen's mother looked around afraid that Francis might float away and that is when she saw him. Baby Ander was floating in the air with his little finger pointed at Francis and his eyes were completely black like the night. She froze and watched Ander and Francis both disappearing.

The alarm in the room went off and alerted Alexander that something was wrong with Francis. He left the meeting in a hurry and rushed to the dungeon. Mordecai and the others ran after he scared that something might have done wrong for Alexander to dash out of the room in such a hurry.

Alexander rushed into the dungeon and had his eyes on Francis's bed. His heart stopped beating when he found that the bed was empty. He froze at the spot, he couldn't move and his mind had gone blank so he couldn't think.

"What happened here?" Mordecai asked seeing his mother next to Francis's empty bed. He walked to his mother's side in worry. His heart was tightening with fear of what his brother will do to his mother, he had no idea where Francis was but his mother being in that room was reason enough for Alexander to kill her.

"Where is Francis," Sofia questioned. Her mention of Francis's name brought Alexander back to his senses.

He looked around the room but couldn't catch sight of Francis. He picked the protective blanket from the ground and held it tightly in his hands.

"What happened here, mother?" Mordecai inquired from his mother keeping her away from Alexander.

"I don't know. I just came here to see him and then Ander appeared into the room and took Francis away," she said in tears.

Her words caused everyone in the room to go into shock. Sofia's heart picked up and started beating very fast in her chest. She couldn't believe what she heard.

"But that is not possible. Andre could never have come here and taken Francis. Alexander had put measures in place that Ander can't feel Francis's presence or find him," she said to defend Ander. She couldn't afford to lose her son.

"Yes, as long as Francis was covered with the protective blanket. Baby Ander can never find him," Malia added.

Alexander listened to them speak his anger burning up. He turned around and pushed Mordecai out of the way.

"But Francis wasn't covered in the protective blanket was he?" he asked his mother.

"I had no idea that the blank...," she started to say but Alexander stopped him by freezing her.

"I will deal with you later first I have to find my beloved," he stated and threw everyone out of the room. "One day, I give everyone freedom for just one day and the first thing you do is this. Once I find Francis things go back the way they were and you better pray that he is not harmed because if that thing hurts Francis I will make the lives of everyone miserable," Alexander threatened Mordecai, Malia, and Sofia.

"Ander is not responsible for what happened. Please don't hurt him," Sofia pleaded to him.

Alexander ignored her and gathered his army of dragons. He gave each order to fly around Arimelari and find Francis and the prince. And if he is not found by sunset then they should expand the search past Arimelari.

The dragons took the orders and each flew to the skies and started looking around. The subjects of Arimelari felt immense fear watching the dragons floating above them. One dragon was enough to send terror and fear into their hearts but today more and more dragons were in the sky.

They knew that something was wrong. They feared that the king had decided to burn them all to the ground for complaining against him.

Alexander raced in the sky. His eyes watching everything on the ground not to miss anything. His dragon mark with Francis was broken so he couldn't find him so easily. In the past, he could use this but he feared hurting him if he dared activate the mark.

His heartfelt restless with each passing second. He was frightened that the longer it takes for him to find his beloved the more tine Ander has in his hands to hurt him.

*****

"What are you going to do, Mordecai? Alexander seems furious, it will be a miracle if he doesn't burn the whole kingdom in anger like he tried to do a year ago," Malia said stressed about the situation they were in.

Things were starting to look up after a long time and that queen mother had to go and ruin and shatter their hope.

"I am only worried about Ander. The King won't care about him, he will just punish him not caring that he is a child. It wasn't even I'm his fault," Sofia cried.

"True but why did your mother go there anyway. We explained to her that Alexander had strictly warned people against going there but she just doesn't listen. She has only been back for a few days and already she is creating so many problems for us," Malia complained.

"Let's just pray that Alexander finds Francis unharmed. That way all our lives will be spared," Mordecai said not knowing what else to say. He too was worried, he was worried about what was in store for his mother. He knew that she should never have gone there but he understood that she was just worried about Francis and everything else that has happened since she went missing.

He was also worried about where his mother had disappeared for an entire year and how come she just returned unaware of the changes in Arimelari.

*****

Alexander saw an explosion in the distance next to the volcanic mountain at the edge of Arimelari. He rushed to the scene and saw a fight. The triplets against Ander and from the way things were going. It looked like they were barely holding on against Ander.

He looked around and spotted Francis's body floating right above the fire. The lava was hot and he was dangling right above it. He smirked and landed on the ground. 'How stupid, he should have known that normal fire can't melt the ice,' he thought taking his human form.

"Nayla," he called out joining them. "What..."

"Get Francis," she screamed firing a spell at Ander which the baby easily avoided.

"Don't worry the fire can't melt the Ice. He is safe," he said. Nayla dodged the rock that Ander had thrown at her and she landed on the ground next to Alexander.

"That would have been the case. Had it not been for the fact that it isn't a normal fire. The lava is burning with black moon dragon flame. That flame can burn through anything, it is the most powerful flame in the world," she explained and ran back to help Miyale to fight Ander. Zorra was busy holding Francis's body with her telekinetic powers to prevent him from falling into the lava.

Ander was keeping all of them at their feet. He was attacking all three of them with powerful spells making it hard for them to rescue Francis.

Alexander transformed as fast as he could into his dragon form and flew to the volcano. He dove down to go and save Francis, he had almost reached him to grab him when a portal opened that sucked him and spit him at the witches.

Alexander fell on top of the witches and Ander turned towards Zorra. He hit her with a death spell and sent her flying away from the volcano.. Without Zorra to hold him, Francis fell into the lava.