60 Attack of the Bumblebee

The kids were in the middle of their games when several men arrived and quickly captured one of the boys of their group, casting a silence spell on him before throwing him into a big bag. They were already running away before the other children really realized what was going on.

First as Myra had always told her, Rae formed an invisible skintight barrier around her, not just protecting herself, but also alarming Myra at the same time.

As those strange people just took away one of her new friends, Rae did not just want to leave. She had seen her mother take responsibility for her people more than once and same as her mother, she also couldn't just watch as some of her playmates were captured right next to her.

The little princess quickly started flying after the kidnappers, fast like a … drunk bumblebee. No matter if her flying was not exactly a straight line, she still caught up to the kidnappers easily who were just running on their feet.

"Let him go!" she shouted after the group and those people seemed really surprised by the strange kid who was now back on the ground running after them with her little legs.

"The little brat is really fast. How did she catch up to us so quickly?"

"I don't know, but if we don't get rid of her, she will just alarm their parents and guards to our location. Just get rid of her."

Rae didn't know any real offensive spells yet. She never got that far, but she did know how to use a burst of magic to propel herself forward with extreme speed.

With her shield still at full power she charged at the kidnappers and bounced against them one after the other. By the time she knocked the last of them far away, likely breaking several of their bones at the same time, she also fell to the ground next to the boy who slowly crawled out of the bag.

Rae was really dizzy and when her mother arrived just a moment later and she quickly held on to her. Her shield protected her from impacts as well as anything that could hurt her, but it did not protect her against her own bad flying skills that were far worse than any ride on a phantom cat could ever be.

"Silly girl, you should have just called and waited for me." Myra admonished her a little bit before giving her a kiss on her forehead. "You did well though. That's how proper royalty should behave."

Still dizzy, but also proud that her mother praised her, Rae just stayed where she was, hugging her mother.

The boy was still crying, even though with the silence spell no one could hear him and after an awkward moment, Myra patted his head a little bit.

When the parents and guards of the other kids finally became away that someone kidnapped the boy, there was quite the uproar.

Myra was quickly surrounded by guards and the parents of the boy were shouting angrily.

"Stop where you are, what are your intentions?" One of the guards shouted at Myra. As they did not even see how Myra arrived it was hard for them to judge if she was part of the kidnappers.

It did not help that Myra was used to wearing black and dark red colors, making her appear even more mystical and ominous.

"My daughter just saved your little boy. As for everything else, I guess it is time for dinner, so I will return to the inn and let you figure it out by yourself. The culprits are still around here."

Myra picked up Rae and started to leave, not really bothering about the drawn weapons of the guards surrounding her.

"Stop, you will not leave until the Baron no longer has any questions for you!"

"Seriously?" Myra got annoyed. Why did she always end up in such sorry situations? "I don't mind if your Baron wants to join us for dinner, but I won't delay my daughter's meal just because of his curiosity."

The guard was rather perplexed. 'Did she just .. invite the Baron to dinner? She seems to be quite bold.'

"Who are you? Don't be disrespectful to the Baron. If he has questions for you, you should wait obediently. If it is as you said and you were not involved in the kidnapping of his son, I'm sure there will be a reward for you."

"Not interested, thanks." Myra just took to the sky right in front of them, flying back to the inn.

"A skylord! She's a skylord!" the faces of the guards paled. If the lady in front of them really wanted to escape or even harm them, they would have stood no chance.

They still had no idea who the lady was, but a skylord was obviously of a far higher standing than a simple Baron, no matter what Kingdom they were coming from.

Rhodia only had two skylords after all and that woman was definitely not one of the two.

Even the Baron had a pale face now. "Captain, please deliver my thanks to the Lady and tell her that I will join her shortly once I have calmed down my son and made sure he is alright. If she really wanted to harm me or my son, there would have been no chance I could have avoided this calamity. It must be as she said and her daughter helped my son escape."

The guardsman just nodded and quickly left to deliver the message.

--

Myra, Aaron and Rae enjoyed the good dinner, as did the group of Celestial Archers who were still close by. The dining room of the inn had a strange energetic aura permeating the whole residence.

If a mage or magic knight was upset and released their aura in an attempt to suppress or scare someone, the atmosphere would quickly turn suffocating.

If there were simply a lot of powerful mages or magic knights in the area though, the ambient magical energy would rise drastically and instead of a suffocating pressure, it would be rather refreshing.

"I only want to sell some items and always end up in the silliest situations." Myra complained, but did not stop stuffing her face with food. "Food is good though." She mumbled in between bites.

"I want to learn to zap people too!" Rae declared but Myra quickly shook her head. "Not until you are older. The zapping magic is dangerous, not just for others but also for yourself. I can teach you a sleep spell though if you like."

"It makes people fall asleep?" – "Yes darling and really fast too, it's very effective without harming anyone."

"Mhm. I wanna learn it." Rae quickly said.

One of the Celestial Archers who was guarding the area approached them shortly after. "Your Highness, there is a Baron who wants to talk to you."

"Sure, let him in. I told him he can share dinner with us after all."

The Baron was middle aged, with a scruffy brown beard and a smiling face. He was a little bit overweight, but not to the point where one would call him fat.

"Baron, I see you found your way here." Myra welcomed him with a few words, and pointed to one of the free seats around the table.

She did not stand up or bow to him, neither did Aaron and Rae just curiously watched the strange man who had come to join their dinner.

The Baron did not seem to take offense though. "Lady I have to thank you for saving my son. I am sorry for my cautious guards, but they were just worried about making sure no further harm will come to him."

"It's fine, it's understandable that they would react a little bit drastic in such a situation." Aaron replied, not at all worried about the whole situation. He might have reacted differently if Rae were kidnapped, but he did not worry about some boy his daughter had just met once.

"May I ask what brings you here?" the Baron continued to ask, but received no reply right away.

"We are only planning to sell something at the auction and then look for some treasures." Myra answered him after a while.

They continued to eat for a while in silence, before Commander Thur came over to their table.

"My Queen, there are no further threats. We have made sure the groups helpers on the other side of the lake did not get away either. Should we interrogate them?"

Myra rolled her eyes as she had no chance to prevent the Baron from finding out her rank, but she couldn't really blame the commander for using her title either.

"Just hand them over to the Baron's men. I'm sure they would be more interested in those kidnappers intentions than we are."

"As you wish your highness." The commander returned to the door of the inn before starting his flying gear and fulfilling Myra's wishes.

All the people inside the inn, except for Myra's own troops of course, had no way to differentiate between a flying gear that was totally unknown in most places and a real skylord and when they could see first the commander and then shortly after a whole group of Celestial Archers flying away in front of the door, they were all just astonished.

'She's not just a Queen, but also a queen who has an escort made up of at least ten skylords, not to mention that she herself also has to be a skylord.'

'It must definitely be some of the great empires to be able to send such a force. not to mention that they all seem so young!'

No one dared to ask a lot of questions. If Myra had wanted to share her true identity, she would already have announced it.

"Your highness, if it would please you, I can arrange for you to meet with some of the managers of the auction hall that you are planning to attend. It might save you some time waiting for an appointment if they are not there when you arrive."

"Sure, that would be nice Baron …" Myra looked at him. She just noticed that she was not the only one here who did not properly introduce herself.

"Miles your Highness, Baron Miles of Clearwater Lake." he quickly introduced himself once she became curious.

"Baron Miles, I would appreciate it, if you could just keep calling me Myra for now. I don't really want all the commotion that follows me otherwise."

The baron nodded and quickly stood up to help with the offer he just told her about.

"I will take my leave then and arrange a meeting, but if you need anything feel free to contact any of my guards. My mansion is not very far from here."

"Thank you!" Myra happily returned to their room with Aaron and Rae to get some sleep.

"Well, at least we don't have to deal with this kind of trouble of disrespectful people at the auction hall."

"Just don't destroy the hall while we are there." Aaron commented.

"I would never …" when Aaron looked at her with raised eyebrows she smiled.

"I will do my best to leave it standing."

With the relaxing scenery outside the window, the comfy bed and the nice weather, it did not take long for them to fall asleep.