Chapter 13 - Where Is She?!

In the early morning back at the palace in Dunhurst, a servant had left his room to go start his shift for the day but stopped when he heard a knocking sound. Shaking his head, he continued walking, but the closer he made it towards the stairs, the louder the noise became. The palace was centuries-old, but he had never heard of ghosts haunting it before, but anything was possible, especially with the sound coming from the broom closet!

Terror started to creep in; his body began to tremble as he slowly walked towards the closet; the closer he got, the more he began to hear a man yelling. The servant wiped his now clammy hands on his trousers before reaching out to open the door, but on trying to pull it open, he found that it was locked. Looking around for the key, he finally found it situated on the floor. How odd. What was the key doing on the floor? Picking it up shakily, he started to put the key in the lock; after the third attempt of missing the hole, it finally went in, making the yelling immediately die down. On opening the door, his heart stopped, and he jumped in horror at the sight of a man bursting through the door's entrance. After the man exited, he spun back around and grabbed the servant by his shoulders,

"What is the time!?" The man barked, the servant noticed how his eyes were squinting at the lightened corridor.

"T-the time is, it is nearly 8 in the morn-" Before the terrified servant could finish, the man ran up the stairs and out of the servant's quarters.

Sir Hugh took two steps at a time up the stairs; his head felt like there was a hammer banging from the inside of his skull. Evanna knocked him out cold; he did not even know she knew how to do that. That girl had a wild streak in her, and Hugh knew it was not from the King. He had been friends with the King since he was a young prince; they grew up together, and he watched his rebellious side before they started going to battle together. There was no comparison; Evanna must have taken after her mother; if not, then it was the freedom of not being a legitimate heir.

Evanna had been in trouble so often he had lost count; he sometimes felt more like a babysitter as she grew up. Despite that, he cared about her and her well-being. If he had not caught her sneaking across the hall and into the servant's quarters, he would hate to think how much longer the palace would go unaware of her disappearance.

He was furious with himself for being locked in the closet; the longer she was away, the harder it would be to catch her. This was not one of her childish attempts at freedom. She was gone. With that thought passing through his mind, worry started to etch onto his features.

He ran to the great hall, opening the door to find it empty, his brows furrowed, then he remembered the King was always scheduled to see his subjects at 9. He was most likely having breakfast with his family at this time. Turning around, Hugh ran to the opposite side of the palace, darting in and out of servants and guards as he went. Swinging open the dining-room door, he had to stop himself from falling forwards. The room was quiet with the sounds of metal clinking against china as the royal family ate their breakfast and drank their tea.

"Hugh, what.." The King started, confused; he quietened when he saw the man red in the face and puffing for breath. His wife, Queen Eleanor, sat at the opposite end of the table to the King. She brought her head around the chair and glared at the intruder.

Hugh bowed quickly before speaking up. "I am sorry for the intrusion, your majesties. Princess Evanna is not in the palace." The King stared at Hugh for a long moment before calmly replying,

"Has she gone out without escorts?"

"I am sorry, your highness, please forgive me. The princess left before sun up."

A pin drop could be heard from the silent and tense atmosphere now in the room. The servants seemed to cower, the family held their heads down, not meeting the King's eyes, and Hugh watched as his anger erupted from the surface of his eyes and shouted,

"WHAT!?".

King Osian's voice resonated through the room and into the hall outside. He stood up from his seat and marched towards Hugh. Without another word said, the queen, Isabel, and the children stood up and left through a door to the left side of the room.

"Why are you telling me this now!? Were you bribed? I thought your loyalty was to me, your King. SPEAK" His temper and voice started rising again.

Hugh stopped himself from gulping and said, "I followed her to the servant's quarters, and she attacked me. Knocked me out, I woke up in a locked closet. I came straight to you when I got out. My loyalty is always with you, my King" He lowered his head again as beads of sweat formed on his forehead; he felt as though he failed the King and the princess.

King Osian started to walk towards the double doors to alert the guards, but before he could, Sir Hugh spoke up from behind him, pausing his step.

"Sire, the princess. She had swords with her, and on a quick assessment, I noticed she was wearing a small green gem necklace, like the one-"

"Like the one Loraven wears." He finished, he burst through the doors with Sir Hugh behind him, he shouted "Alert the guards, they will search all the villages in the kingdom, every forest, tree, bush, NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED!" the King did not stop walking from the dining room and made his way to Loraven's quarters. Servants and nobles stepped out of the way, bowing, their eyes kept down; they could see the swirling storm around him that was his mood, his presence instilling fear. He did not need to look back to know that Sir Hugh already left with his orders.

Rounding the corner in Loraven's quarters, he barged into her room; the maid who was making the bed bowed and left quickly. Osian walked further in to see Loraven sitting in the living room; a book lay down in her lap as she stared in front of her. His temper abruptly left when he saw the sorrow written on her face, the bags under her eyes showing she did not sleep well.

This, with her pale, unhealthily skinny body, made her look terrible. This was the first time he considered her not looking absolutely stunning. If this was the first time someone would meet Lady Loraven, they would know immediately that she was once a beautiful woman; her eyes were still warm like honey surrounded by thick black eyelashes.

"You knew she was leaving?" Osian fought hard to keep his voice calm as he looked at the woman in front of him.

"I only found out yesterday," Loraven croaked; she looked away from his hard stare. His brows pulled together as he couldn't help but notice how poorly she was, how could his daughter put her through such stress. Why would she leave?

"Where is she!?" He snapped; his patience was thinning, he was starting to understand that this was not a childish attempt to view the village or forest nearby. His daughter had left in the dark, like a thief in the night. This was planned. She had a good head start to get away from the palace, from the guards.

"I do not know, your majesty." Loraven's eyes filled up with tears; she placed her hand on her mouth, trying to hold back the sobs that erupted from her being. The King sat down next to her, pulling her gently to him and holding her close as she sobbed into his chest.

Loraven ensured that Evanna had everything she could have needed to help keep her safe. She knew Ger was with her, even though she did not know the plan; she just knew he was with her. She tried telling herself that she would be fine, Evanna was safe, she had protection, even the necklace given to her daughter would inform her if she were in any pain.

But like all mothers, they worried and fretted over their young. It was not a simple matter of her daughter 'leaving the nest' like it were her wedding day. No, her daughter had left on a dangerous quest. She knew for sure that she would be going to Direwood Forest and into the Flori's domain.

The King rubbed his hand up and down her back in a gentle, soothing motion. After a while, her sobs started to subside. He knew Loraven was lying, she would have told him immediately about Evanna's plan to leave, and she had enough time to inform him before today. But he could not cause any more stress for her; he hoped that she would soon open up to him, and if not, then he wished his men would find their daughter before her life would be in danger.

An urgent knock interrupted the pair from their embrace; Loraven started wiping her eyes as Maggie, Evanna's maid, skirted into the room. She held a sealed envelope in her hand; her eyes were red and puffy as though she had been crying. The maid quickly bowed and brought the envelope forwards.

"This was found in Evanna's room. It is addressed to you, your majesty."

****

Maggie began her day like any other; Evanna informed her the night before that she did not feel well, so she was going to wait until 9ish to check on her. However, as she walked down the kitchen corridor, she noticed guards running to and from. The walls of the palace were filled with tension and panic. She frowned. Were they under attack? Suddenly, she found herself facing Sir Hugh, she curtsied and was about to continue walking, but he did not move out the way. Lifting her head up to look at the man, she saw stress and tension behind his stern eyes. He started to scowl at her.

"Did you have any idea of what Princess Evanna was up to?" He asked her; Maggie shook her head, confusion filling her features. He narrowed his eyes but seemed to visibly relax after searching her face for any tell-tale signs of lying.

"Sir, what is going on?"

"Evanna is missing."

The colour drained from her face, and her eyesight started to go dark. If it were not for Hugh, who grabbed her and held her upright, she knew she would have fainted onto the floor. Her response confirmed his certainty that she knew nothing of the princess's plans.

"Someone kidnapped her?" She asked after taking some deep breaths. Sir Hugh let go of the maid once he was certain she would not fall faint again.

"No, she left in the early hours of the morning. Search parties have been sent out across the kingdom."

Maggie thought her heart was going to burst, she knew how much her mother's illness was weighing down on the young girl, but she never thought she would leave? It was not in the princess's nature to run away, or was she searching for something that could possibly help her? She wracked her brain, thinking of anything that would help identify Evanna's plan but came up with naught.

"Thank you for letting me know, Sir Hugh. If I find anything that will be useful, I will bring it forward immediately" She curtsied before making her way to Evanna's chambers; it wasn't until she opened the door that the situation hit her.

The room was empty. Maggie walked over to the wardrobe and found the swords missing along with her breeches and shirt. Her flowery scent was all that was left of her presence in the room. She turned back around to face the usually messy bed was made and what lay on top was an envelope. She sat down on the side of the bed with tears falling from her eyes; worry formed in her chest as she reached out and grabbed the envelope that was addressed to the King.