Mark of the Princess (11 page)

“Father!” Evyette ran to her adoptive father and put her arms around him. “Father, there was nothing we could do. It was an ambush and she was taken.” She stopped, noticing that the king was looking at the armor and weapons they gathered.

“We are going to find her, Father.” She put her head down.

“Absolutely not. I will let you do that.” He spoke decisively, his voice
cracking slightly with fear and concern.

“Papa, you know I cannot wait here for news about her. You stay here with mother and keep her calm. We will go ahead. Surely this is the work of Maligo and he will of course be expecting you and your army. But there is no way he will be expecting us.” She looked at her father for a long moment, awaiting his approval.

“Your points are valid, but I am not inclined to risk losing another daughter.” King Cavalon said, looking solemnly at his daughter.

“Sire,” Kaleb interrupted, “Tristan and I will be going in search of Alannah. Should you allow Evyette to join us, we can keep you abreast of our journey and results as we are well acquainted with the communication spells used with mirrors. We will find and rescue your daughter, sire.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” He said with a slight smile, resting his hand lightly on Kaleb’s shoulder reassuringly. Before walking over to Evyette. “Evyette, I need you here. Among your mother and I, among the guards.”

“Papa, I will have two guards of my own,” her arms raised in the direction of Tristan and Kaleb. “I love you Papa,” she walked closer to her father, looking deep into his already tired eyes. “I
need
your blessing. I cannot wait here and do nothing.” Her voice had filled with determination and resolve.

“It is with a heavy heart that I allow this Evyette.” closing his eyes momentarily, then watching her smile at him as she walked to her horse, mounted and waited for him to come closer.

She reached out and touched her father’s face as he approached her, his beard, soft against her hand. “I will be careful father.”

He took her hand in his, as she gave him a reassuring squeeze. King Cavalon turned his gaze to Tristan, and before the King could utter a word Tristan began,

“Your majesty, on my word, I will allow no harm to come to your daughter.”

Evyette turned her face to Tristan in astonishment, but he did not take his eyes off of her father. If he was intimidated, he showed no signs. His chin was lifted and his shoulders squared he faced the king with fortitude.

King Cavalon glanced at his daughter quickly then returned his gaze to Tristan. “I will hold you to that Tristan of Talom.” With that, the King took a few steps back and nodded his approval for their departure.

* * *

Eagerly trying to get off the horse even before it stopped, Evyette began to slide off and even lost her footing while dismounting. Tristan held out his hand and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. She stood quickly and ran to the mouth of the cave.

“Tritious…” she called into the cave.
She paused for a moment, listening to her echoing voice.

“Evyette!” He responded almost immediately. “Thank the God that you are alive!”

Evyette ran and hugged him before he even got out of the cave. Deep humming sounds resounded from his throat . Kaleb and Tristan stood back and watched him smile.

“No Evyette. I do not know exactly where they went, but I know that they traveled south. Toward the mountains. You must be careful though, there are many obstacles in the way.”

“We will have to double back through Meira.” Tristan said turning his horse in the direction from which they came. The journey seemed to take longer as anticipation and determination set in. Soon, the night began to fall and the darkness edged over them slowly.

“We should rest.” Kaleb said as he began looking around for shelter, and then heading to a large tree with branches low and full enough to serve as a roof. Evyette and Tristan followed Kaleb over , dismounted and began preparing the area for sleep and to make a fire.

The trio settled in reluctantly, knowing though that if they did not rest today, they would be useless tomorrow.

The King and Queen of Talom arrived at Meira surrounded by their guards, all of which were on the highest alert. Trained in hand to hand combat, spell and incantation combat, and stealth, there were guards around them that were not even seen.

“Welcome Alcander.” King Cavalon’s voice was strong, but being a father as well, King Alcander sensed the anger, hurt and frustration in Cavalon’s voice.

“Cavalon, I am here as your friend, whatever you need from me, I will gladly give. My son has already left to try and find her and I have no doubt that he will.” Alcander said, patting Cavalon on the shoulder.

“Alcander, I have much faith in your son and I trust that he is on the right path. However I can’t help but think that this is not a kidnap for ransom and I have sent out spies to find out more.” Cavalon said looking seriously at the other King.

King Alcander raised an eyebrow in question.

“Alcander, as I was about to mobilize my army to charge to the possible location where we think she may have been taken to, I began to wonder.” Cavalon raised his hand to his face grabbing his chestnut beard, smoothing it down. “If he wanted to kill her then he could have very well done so in place of taking her. I would venture to say that if he wants something from me. Or from Alannah although I cannot imagine what he could want from my daughter. No. Maligo is planning something. I fear that sending in my armies will endanger my daughter.”

“I fear you may be right my friend.”

Listening somewhat vaguely to what their husbands were talking about, the Queens sat on some nearby chairs, silent tears were rolling down Nalani’s face. She felt the fear and frustration her daughter was experiencing.

“Nalani, let me make you some tea. Perhaps if you can become more calm Alannah will feel that as well.” Etana said kindly putting her arm around Nalani.

“Thank you Etana, I would appreciate that greatly.” Nalani said softly, wiping her face.

Etana helped Nalani up from the seat and they began to walk toward the kitchen, years of not seeing each other mattered not at this time.

Suddenly, the front doors of the palace burst open and a tall, heavily armed guard came rushing through, stopping only long enough to bow at the two Kings.

“What have you found, Silas?” King Cavalon turned with hope in his heart.

“I am sorry sir. We searched every inch of the cave and the waterfall and there was no indication that anyone has been there for days.” Silas answered nervously, clearly not wanting to have been the one to deliver that news.

“Well, we know he can’t be in any nearby forest because of the banishment spells.” Cavalon said thoughtfully, running a hand over his beard.

“Exactly.” Chimed in Alcander. “ So he has to be in the mountains or valleys.”

“Right , but if he is there that tells us that he has a much bigger plan than what we have imagined thus far.” Cavalon turned quickly and began to walk. “Follow me.” He said to his guards and Alcander.

They followed him to a library where the walls were lined with books, maps and scrolls. Large cushioned chairs and two oak tables adorned with jewels and carvings decorated the room. In the center was a large table obviously used for meeting or planning.

The king eagerly walked over to the wall on the north end and began to pull out maps and read their locations and run his fingers along the edges of other maps until he found the one he was searching for. He pulled it completely off the shelf and walked over to the nearby oak table to lay it out. He unraveled the ribbon holding it closed and the map unrolled. The others walked over to the table awaiting to hear what Cavalon had to say.

“Gentlemen, we are here.” Cavalon pointed to an area on the map pictured with trees and creeks and to it’s side a waterfall. “Alcander, your forest is here.” He pointed to the forested area on the other side of a waterfall.

“Our banishment spells should reach to here.” The King pointed to the outer regions on the map.

“The other forests are too far for Saros to fly to while carrying Alannah. So the only place to go…”

“Is here.” Chimed in Alcander, picking up on Cavalon’s train of thought.
“Exactly.” Cavalon jumped in. “But why? If he simply wanted to get a ransom he could have done so from the waterfall. Why would he go across the clearing all the way to the mountains or the ravines? Where ever he is.” Cavalon finished, pushing himself away from the table. “He is planning something.” King Cavalon said, pacing the room as he spoke.

He stopped and looked intently at Alcander. “ It is time to alert the other Kingdoms.”

Alcander nodded in agreement.

The five kingdoms had not been alerted to a possible battle since the defeat of the Mallafays. As it stood, there were five kingdoms of Faeries within the surrounding forests. What unified those faeries within each kingdom were usually their powers. There were the faeries with many different powers all under the same area. That was where the forest of Meira was found. There were several small villages surrounding that were part of the kingdom as well. To the East lied the Kingdom of Talom ; faeries whose powers were more concentrated or related to the elements. Many dragons lived among those faeries as they had the same elemental abilities. To the southeast there was the Kingdom of Spiritus. They were known as the spirit faeries. The spirit faeries were an unusual race. They could take the form of spirits as easily as most other faeries could use magic. It was a level of concentration and magic that no other faerie was able to accomplish. As a matter of fact when a faerie was found born with this ability, they were sent to live with the Spirit faeries so that they could perfect their abilities. In the Kingdom of Anrad which was to the west of them lay the Warrior Faeries. Most faeries were calm by nature, but because there were dangers in the world, these faeries dedicated themselves to the art of battle. They wore body suites made of enchanted thread woven with fae metals. They all carried swords and mastered spells of combat. To the southwest was found the Kingdom of Magi known as the Magician Faeries. So named for the magic that they have developed, that is not shared with any other faerie or creature. As other faeries in Meira they may posses the ability to freeze, or use terrakinesis, or teleportation, but they have one ability over all. They possess the talent to conjure new potions and spells that afford them the ability to enter others’ minds. At times manipulate their thoughts or distract them.

King Cavalon nodded his head in agreement a very serious look on his handsome face. “Yes, it’s time we alert them to this threat.”

~
Chapter
12~

He opened his eyes slowly and began to look around at the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings. Tristan looked up for the moon but found dawn’s breaking light in the early morning sky. He turned to check on his friends, Kaleb was off sitting on a rock keeping watch, but the patch where Evyette had been sleeping was empty.

Tristan jumped from his spot and began scanning the area. He saw no trace of her and so began to search for Evyette. He entered a clearing to find Evyette sitting by a pond’s edge.

His footsteps were silent. By the time he was close enough for her to hear he was only a few feet away. Evyette stood to face him. Her tearstained face and eyes of sadness looked into his soul, he hurt for her. He walked over and grabbed her in an embrace, she tried to hold back the tears but could not. Evyette cried a bit more on his shoulder and pulled back to look at him face to face. Tristan wiped her tears and cradled her cheek in his hand.

“We will find her. We will find her and she will be just fine.” He glanced at her lips and thought for a moment of kissing her but pushed the thought aside.

Kaleb, who had already packed their things and readied the horses appeared at the entrance to the clearing. “We need to go. We have to take advantage of the daylight as long as we have it on our side.”

The morning was long, filled with divided paths and eyes watching them from several forest creatures. Curious to the strangers, but never coming out to greet.