I was sitting crossed-legged on the ground and dragging the stick along the dirt in boredom. “Any luck?” I wondered out loud without even looking at them.
“Umm…” I heard Ren tailing off that I had to look up to see him glancing at Ace hesitantly.
“Can useless people shut up? I can’t concentrate enough to find them.” Ace snapped at us before going back to placing his hands on a tree to concentrate.
I let out a tired sighed as I continued to doodle on the ground. We were finally back on the surface, but we could not go home yet because our horses are missing.
Well, not really missing. More like...okay fine! They’re missing! And Ace is trying to locate them.
I turned my attention to Viex, who was busy sniffing around and exploring our surroundings. Custard was following closely behind him and would sniff whatever Viex was sniffing. “Don’t wander off too far.” I told them.
‘We won’t!’ Custard answered me as he kept following Viex like a puppy.
“Found them.” Ace finally says.
“Really? How far are they?” Nate asked as he got on to his feet.
“One of them strayed away but is closer to us than the rest. Pretty obvious which one it is. In fact, she’s here already.” Ace crossed his arms over his chest as he said it.
I stopped doodling on the ground to look up at him. “She?”
Viex and Custard both let out a terrified yelp as they scampered away when they heard loud and crazy gallops on the ground. Cloud let out a neigh as she emerged from the forest and started acting like a crazy stallion. Her head whipped around until her eyes fell on mine.
Ohh f*ucking hell no.
I screamed as I half crawled, half ran away as Cloud started chasing me. The loose saddle on her back began swinging back and forth from her movement.
Nate moved between Cloud and I. He gave her a stern look and grabbed her reigns. “Easy. I know you must have missed her but you are going to hurt her in the process.” Cloud calmed down a bit, but her foot was still stomping on the ground and letting out a desperate whine. “Hey.” He chastised her while gently stroking her mane. “I won’t let you get anywhere near her until you have calmed down. Should I hire a tutor for you again?”
The sound that Cloud made was like a gasp as her eyes went wide at Nate’s words. Immediately, she stopped struggling and sat on the ground.
“Good girl.” Nate praised her before looking back at me. “Alright, princess. She’s calm now.”
I looked at Nate doubtfully before walking towards Cloud. “Hey, Cloud. Long time no see?” I smiled at her and started to brush her mane. As soon as I did, she pushed me to the ground and started nibbling on my face.
“Hey. HEY! Nate, you said that she’s calm!” I yelled as I tried to cover my face with my hands as Cloud continued to smother me. “Lies. LIES!” I accused him.
“Rose, trust me. This hurts me more than it hurts you. She was such a well-behaved white stallion before.” Nate sniffed.
It wasn’t long until the rest of the horses came and we finally started to fix and rearrange their saddle and reigns.
“Nathaniel. I have to go now. I’ll have to go back to Gija and retrieve the weapon for Rose.” Terrence says. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Father, wait.” Nate handed him Ryde’s reigns. “You can take him to make your journey faster.”
“Cool. Nate can ride with Cloud and I.” I immediately said while pushing Cloud’s face away from me. I was now covered in drool and I have yet to whip my face clean! “Please. I badly need help and she only listens to you.”
Nate snorted at my current predicament while Terrence laughed. “Thanks, son.” Terrence placed one hand on Nate’s shoulder before hopping on to Ryde. “I’ll see you all in Thalia.”
“Good luck, sir.” Ren waved him goodbye while Ace gave him a brief nod. After that, Terrence finally went off in the direction of Gija.
I all but started spitting on the ground in disgust because of Cloud’s saliva when Nate finally pulled her away from me. Custard and Viex ran towards me. I whipped the remainder of the drool from my face before I picked them both up.
“Maybe Rose can ride with me and Garius.” Ren offered and I was about to take him on the offer when Cloud suddenly whined.
I flinched. “Sorry, Ren. I think Cloud wants me to stay with her.” I gave him an apologetic look. Ren simply smiled as he understood my situation.
“No worries. Just tell me when the vampire tries to do something perverted.”
“Hey!” Nate protested as he helped me up the saddle. The look on Nate’s face was ridiculous because although he was glaring at Ren, Custard was on top of his head while wagging his tail. The look seemed more harmless than dangerous.
“Will do.” I replied to Ren with a chuckle. I gripped the leather bag in front of me securely while Viex positioned himself on top of Cloud’s head. Nate hoped on to Cloud afterward and took the reigns that I offered him.
“Let’s go.” Ace ordered while taking the lead as usual. “We have to move quickly.” Ace’s gaze fell on to me before it darted to the Leather bag in my arms. “We don’t know how safe we are out here in the open while that thing is with us.” He says. And with that, we started to run at full speed back to Thalia.
*******[KINGDOM OF TEREAU]*******
Prince Kellar, the youngest son of the Tereau Kingdom, roamed around the castle dungeon. He has heard some strange rumors circling around the castle. It was about a young girl that his father has taken captive of. A girl from another realm.
A lot of blood sacrifices were made just to keep the portal open. Although his father and brothers didn’t seem to mind, he was bothered by all the bloodshed just to acquire one single child.
Now that his father has her, Prince Kellar was afraid of what might have happened to her.
He let out a grunt as he pushed the secret passage to the dungeon open. The stone wall skidded on the ground and he was hoping that no one was close enough that they could hear it.
He peaked at first to see his surroundings. Once he was sure that it was clear did he decided to enter. As usual, the guards were being lazy to guard this decaying place. But he did not mind. In fact, he finds it advantageous at the moment.
He turned back and slightly closed the stone door behind him and kicked some of the bones to hide the gaps. When he was satisfied, he began to quietly check each cell and tilted his head when he heard a slight whimper.
The rest of the cells were empty because his father never likes keeping useless things. He would rather murder them instead. That was why he immediately knew where she was.
Kellar followed the sound until he reached a smaller cell just at the end of the dark hallway. He was baffled at what he saw. Not only was it dark in this part of the cell, but it wasn’t cleaned as well. Multiple bones and blood covered the walls and floor that the fire could illuminate.
There wasn’t even a guard to keep watch on her in case she needed something.
“W-who’s there?” He heard the girl ask.
“Shh. Please be quiet. They might hear you.” He whispered. He grabbed a nearby torch as he went closer to the child just so he could see her properly.
Once the light of the fire touched the young girl’s form, he gasped. She was shivering on the stone-cold floor and only wearing a nightgown with her. She was small and thin.
Kellar felt pity and without even thinking, he unclasped his cape and offered it to her. “Use it to keep yourself warm. But when you hear someone coming, you must hide it.”
His intentions were good, but the young girl simply looked at the cape before looking back up at him. It was clear that she was debating whether or not to trust him. He could not blame her though. She has every right to. And it was the smartest thing to do when you are in an unfamiliar realm.
“I simply want to help.” He went closer to the steel bars and kneeled just so he could look at her in the eyes. The young girl was still shivering, but she crawled closer and closer to the cage and grabbed the cape that the young prince handed to her. She was still shivering as she wrapped it over her small body.
Kellar inched the torch closer to her to provide some temporary warmth.
“Where am I?” She asked while whipping tears from her eyes.
“I do not know what to say, because I doubt that it would make any sense to you.”
“Why am I here?”
“My fa -” Prince Kellar paused. He did not think that it would be a good idea to introduce himself as the sone of the king that had her captured. “The Rogue king had you captured for some reason.”
“Am I bad?”
“...No.”
“Do they plan to kill me?”
“I don’t know.”
The young girl let out a shivering sigh before looking at him. “Who are you?”
“I-...Who I am is not important.” Kellar avoided her gaze.
“It’s just a name.” She mumbled and buried her head in her knees.
Guilt washed over Kellar as he saw her small form curled up into a ball. Although he did not know what exactly that his father wants to do to this young girl, he decided that he wasn’t just going to sit by and watch her get killed.
“How old are you?” He decided to change the topic.
The girl tilted her head to the side so that one of her eyes fixed on him. “10.”
He grinned. “I guess I am older by two years.”
“I did not ask.” She grumbled and went back to bury her head in her knees.
Kellar did not know how to react. He never talks to any other child of his age. Was this a normal thing? “Sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood.” Kellar started to stand. He wasn’t angry at her. He just thought that it would be a good idea to leave her alone for now.
“Wait.” Kellar paused when they look small looked up at her fearfully. “I’m sorry. I’m just... scared and frustrated. They keep telling me about this girl, a girl that they say that I am related to.”
“A girl? What girl?”
“I…” The girl trailed off as her eyes wandered elsewhere as she tried to remember. “A girl whose name resembles a flower? Rose. Yeah. I think that was her name.”
Kellar paused. His eyes widened in horror as he stared down at the young girl in front of him. Rose. That was the name of the royal Tamer princess that his father is obsessing over these past few days.
It couldn’t be...right? His father would not be that heartless as to use this child to-
Kellar shook his head so he could address the young girl properly. “My name is...Leo.” He lied. “Can you tell me your name?”
The girl looked up at him. Her icy eyes glinting under the flickering flame of his torch. Her White-blonde hair slightly covered her lips as she spoke. “Stella. My name is Stella Antoinette Stan.”