“You said the King was here?”
Zarak questioned in a low voice as he stared at Famzal.
“Yes, Lord Zarak. I saw him there.”
Famzal spoke as he pointed in a certain direction.
“I tried following him, but he seemed to have noticed me and disappeared.”
“He… disappeared?”
“Yes, I have never seen something like this before, I even tried to follow the trails, but all the trails disappeared, almost as if all of this was an illusion.
The King’s stealth is remarkably strong.”
Famzal answered.
Zarak frowned. Something about this didn’t feel right. Still, he decided not to jump to conclusions.
The King couldn’t come here out in the open, so it would make sense that he would keep his presence, maybe a new artifact or something. Or maybe the King himself had learned a new skill, it was definitely a possibility since Zarak, of all people, knew how strong the King was.
“Gather the men. Search the area,”
He ordered. He also told his men to wear a certain wristband on their arm that had a sigil of a Dragon coiling around a Moon.
A Sigil that belonged to no particular Family and only something the King and his closest subordinates knew about.
Zarak was hoping that the King would see this Sigil and come out on his own, then he could meet him and understand why he was here.
His men quickly spread out, looking through the trees, behind rocks, and even checking underground caves. Zarak himself scanned the surroundings carefully, but even after thirty minutes, they didn’t see anything.
Let alone the King, they didn’t find any traces of anyone other than them being here at all. There were no footprints, disturbed grass, nothing.
Something was wrong.
No matter how high the King’s stealth was, this shouldn’t be… so eerily silent.
His men had been searching for 30 minutes and had pretty much scanned the entire region, some of them even had to fight a Magic Beast, a movement of this level couldn’t possibly go unnoticed, the King should have seen them and come out by now.
Zarak’s frown deepened.
He gathered his men again and glanced at Famzal,
“Are you sure you saw him?”
“I swear on the Kingdom.”
Famzal nodded with a solemn look on his face and Zarak didn’t doubt him. Every single one of them was an orphan raised by the King’s forces, they were absolutely loyal to the King and the Kingdom and never once had their loyalty been compromised, these were the people who would willingly jump to their deaths if the King asked them to.
This was also the reason the King left them here to protect his daughter. The King cherished his daughter more than anything in this world, they were the only ones he could trust her safety to.
Yes, the Princess’s living conditions weren’t the best, but the King had no other choice, the Princess was an exceptional Mage, one slight mistake on their part and she would turn the entire situation around and escape, something that the King could not allow because if she escapes, the King will be forced to execute her.
Anyways, the fact was, Famzal wouldn’t lie, this was also the reason Zarak came here without wasting any time.
Famzal, who could tell how bad this all looked, started explaining himself again,
“I saw the King here, after he came out of his carriage, he stored the Carriage in his Sanctuary and disappeared into the woods right there. I am sure of i—”
However, before Famzal could complete his words,
“Did you say Carriage?”
Zarak narrowed his eyes.
“Y-Yes?”
Famzal tilted his head in confusion, and Zarak’s expression changed.
Carriage…
The King would never come here on a Carriage, it would attract too much attention.
“What did the carriage look like? Was there any Sigil on it?”
“Yes? It looked like the King’s carriage and had the Royal Sigi—”
Before Famzal even completed his sentence, he froze. Even he understood how absurd what he said sounded. The King was trying to attract as little attention, why would he ever come here on his personal carriage with the Dragonborn Symbol on it?
It made no sense but…
“I swear on my life this is true! I am not lying!”
Famzal raised his voice, sounding a little desperate.
“Calm down, Famzal.”
Zarak spoke, trying to calm him.
“Lord Zarak, I am not lying!”
“I know.”
Zarak nodded, the rest trusted Famzal as well.
“Tell me exactly what you saw. Where did the beasts pulling the carriage go? What was the King wearing? How are you so sure it was the Kin—”
Zarak asked a bunch of questions, trying to get to the bottom of this, but then,
Bzzzz
His Sigil Scroll trembled, he took it out and the moment he read the message, his eyes widened in horror.
{The Princess has escaped.}
“We need to return.”
Zarak ordered.
“But the Kin—”
Another subordinate tried to question but,
“There is no King! It was a distraction! They were after the Princess!”
Zarak shouted as he grabbed Famzal, jumped on top of his Flying Beast and flew away. He had a lot of questions in his head, did Famzal betray them? Did he actually see the King? Was the King actually here?
Right now, however, nothing was important, they needed to find the Princess. Zarak’s subordinates followed. Other spies wanted to follow as well but,
“Stay in your positions, if the Princess escapes, we will need you to capture her!”
Zarak shouted his instructions, stopping them.
Of course, this entire interaction was seen and heard by about a hundred little creatures who none of the spies were able to see at night, the Ants reported everything to the Hive Mind-link and on the other side, far away from here,
‘Father, Zarak is coming back.’
Imperia reported.
“Alright, the Eight Stage Warrior will be here in 10 minutes, we need to leave.”
Kael spoke as he glanced at Lavinia, who was staring at the chaos in front of her with a horrified look on her face.
“How are you doing… whatever it is that you are doing…?”