Another Attack

Behind the Palace of Wyverndale, a large area was covered by a forest. Initially, the forest was not a dense one. It was a man-made one and thus, it was exempt of dangerous predators. The only animals found in that forest were the harmless ones that were brought in like spotted deer, four horned antelopes, wild rabbits, pheasants, and peacocks.

The forest was used as a hunting ground by the King and his armies. The forest also served as a survival training field for new recruits. However, overtime, the forest started to embrace its natural power and started to become dense. And with that other animals started to migrate to the forest, some of which were predators.

There was another specialty of that forest. Underneath the forest, there was a natural cave that spanned around half a kilometer in area. And King Dragomir had utilized that cave to build prison cells, which he referred to as the dungeon.

The dungeon had a capacity to imprison around five hundred people. As it was underground, the place was mostly dark. The only light source inside the prison came from the wooden torches that the guards carried around with them, when they came for their occasional checks.

And in two of the adjacent cells in the dungeon, Hawisa and Osanna were imprisoned. They were lying down on the cold floor. Both of them had swollen face due to excessive crying and some beatings from the guards. They had no idea how long it had been since they were inside the cell.

They were praying for the Princess to be found. The King had threatened them that they would be beheaded if she was not found by the nightfall. And they did not want to die.

"Hawisa, who do you think kidnapped the Princess?" Osanna asked to her friend in a feeble voice.

Hawisa had no energy left in her body to even turn around and face Osanna through the prison bar that was in between them. She whispered in a frail voice, "This is the Palace, Osanna. And you never know a friend from foe. Someone who was threatened by her existence must have kidnapped her. But I don't know who."

"I hope they find her. I don't want to die so soon." A muffled sobbing was heard from Osanna's cell.

Both of them had a chill shiver run down their spine when they heard howls of the wolves. Wolves only howled during the night, staring at the moon. Hawisa and Osanna were reminded that it was already nightfall and they got goose bumps all over their body.

Hawisa gulped with fear and whispered, "I think it is already late for us to wish for our lives. It seems like we don't have a choice other than dying."

Of course, the Princess had already returned back to the Palace by this time. But no one had informed them that she was found. Everyone was busy celebrating the return of the Princess that they completely forgot about these two poor souls.

King Dragomir wanted to spend some more time with his daughter who he thought he had lost. But the Princess was continuously yawning and was drowsy. So he tucked her in her thin and soft blanket, closed the doors to her room, and then headed towards his own chamber.

King Dragomir stopped in front of the Sergeant who was standing guard at the entrance of Adeline's quarter and ordered, "I do not want any living soul to enter the Princess's quarter. Keep a sharp eye on the Princess."

The Sergeant straightened his back and said, "Yes Your Majesty. I will protect the Princess with my life."

The King had increased the number of guards around the Princess's quarter to prevent something similar from happening again.

However, Lillian had some other plans. Queen Lillian didn't want to wait any longer to get rid of the thorn in her son's path to the throne. She was tapping her fingernails on her chair's arm rest and making a plan to take out the Princess once and for all.

"If I kill the Princess tonight, then I can direct the investigation away from me. I will make them believe that the Princess was already poisoned when she was brought back to the Palace." Then all of a sudden Lillian broke into evil laughter, satisfied with her own plan.

"After I kill her with my dark magic, I'll make sure to leave traces of poison in her mouth." She clasped her hands together in excitement and sneered, "It's a perfect plan."

It was around midnight and everyone in the Palace was asleep by now, except the guards and Queen Lillian. The Queen put an invisibility spell on herself and then strolled towards Adeline's quarter. With footsteps as light as that of a cat, she quietly snuck past all the guards who were guarding the little Princess's quarter.

The guards were all on high alert. They did not want to get any punishment from the King, if something was to happen to the Princess. However, the increase in number of guards was useless in front of Queen Lillian's invisibility spell. No one noticed that an evil soul was already lurking inside the Princess's room.

The Queen stood elegantly and proudly beside Adeline's bed. She was dressed for the occasion that she had carefully planned for. Her gown was ombre dark green in color. The gown's collar was adorned with the pheasant feathers that were similar in colors as that of the gown. She had decorated her face with black eye and lip colors. She looked pure evil but no one could see her right now.

After watching the innocent Princess for some time, Lillian had a malicious sneer dancing on her lips. She could feel her victory very close to her. She leaned in closer to Adeline and whispered, "Goodbye little Princess."

Then at a lightning speed Lillian waved her hand around. The dark gust of smoke swirled above the two of them. Then she slammed her hand on Adeline's chest, or let's say she tried to do so.

As she tried to hit her hand on Adeline's chest, some kind of power repelled her hand so hard that the Queen flew a few feet away and crash landed on the floor. And a loud scream slipped out of her mouth.

Lillian was furious for not being able to kill the Princess. She gritted through her teeth and snarled, "Who dared to clash with my power? Show yourself before I burn down this room." She could not even comprehend that such great power was coming from Adeline's own body.

The guards who were standing outside heard the loud cry coming out of the Princess's room. They quickly ran toward Adeline's room to check on her. But they could not see anyone else other than the Princess, who was sleeping very soundly on her own bed.

Seeing all the guards coming in the room, Lillian quickly got up and fled out of the room. She did not want anyone to stumble upon her and find her out.

She could not take any chances of being caught and presented to the King. Even though she could easily overpower the guards and take them all out, that would still reveal her; and her position as a Queen might be in danger. After all, she had to be in power if she wanted her son to be a King someday.