1: The Crown Prince is Gone!

"The Crown Prince has been kidnapped!"

Eren Yinmar shot up from her chair as the messenger ran into the dining hall. Sitting at the head of the table, Anwen Yinmar, the Queen of Baicia, stood up.

"What do you mean?" She demanded, "What happened to Miciah?"

The messenger stopped for a moment, catching his breath and putting his hands on his knees, before continuing again. He spoke so quickly that he almost tripped over his own words. "The carriage meant to carry him here got attacked early on. The driver barely managed to get away, and she thought that the Prince was in the carriage, but when she pulled back the curtains, he was gone. Not a trace of him!"

"What were they attacked by?" Eren said. Eren was the second child of the Yinmar family, and the general of the Royal Army.

"They were..." The messenger seemed to hesitate, "This is only what the driver said, but..."

"Spit it out!"

"They were attacked by corpses."

There was a wave of silence over the hall. Attacked by corpses? There was only one person that could have done that.

Eren looked up at her mother. If Icarus Kaelen had truly kidnapped Miciah, then there was only so much that they could do.

Anwen set her jaw, and then spoke to the messenger: "Where is the carriage?"

"I don't know," the messenger said.

"Let's wait for it outside," Anwen decided.

The carriage was waiting for them at the front of the palace. As soon as the carriage had entered the kingdom, the driver had called for a messenger to get to the palace before he did. But as it happened, the horses were so scared and so ready to get back to the stable, that they got to the palace not long after the messenger.

As the Queen walked down the pathways, flanked by Eren, everyone hurried to get out of the way.

They stopped when they got to the carriage.

It was clear that it had been attacked. The carriage, made from the strongest wood, was cracked along the side. The exquisite curtains were ripped, and threads hung down onto the road. Blood droplets painted the wheels, leaving a trail behind them. The carriage door was hanging on its hinges, unable to close properly. But the worst part was the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh that pierced the air.

Anwen stepped forward, forgetting to take off her gloves as she opened the carriage door completely.

The inside of the carriage seemed untouched, other than the damage from the outside. The cushions were in place, and there wasn't a scratch on the seats under them. The Queen stepped into the carriage, and then came out a few moments later, holding something.

A smoothed, round red carnelian.

"So it is him," Eren said, taking the stone from Anwen's hand. The stone was familiar to all of them - even if they hadn't seen it in person like Eren had, they knew the stories. Stories of massacres, of entire families and towns, without even a body to show for it.

Sometimes, there wouldn't even be blood left over. The only evidence would be a red carnelian, tucked away in the corner of a house.

Eren had seen one of those massacres in person.

She remembered standing there, Icarus's Ability forcing her to the ground. She could still recall the terrible feeling of not being able to move any of her limbs, unable to speak and barely able to blink, as she helplessly watched her entire squad die. Their bones had torn themselves out one by one, tearing through flesh and pulling muscle with them. Every last drop of blood was drained out of them, their brown skin becoming almost grey.

Then she watched after, as her dead soldier's bones forced themselves back into their bodies, and then stood up. She had watched as they burned down an entire village.

And she remembered Icarus Kaelen, the person who had caused it, standing tall with a smile on his face as if he were watching children play.

He turned to her. She remembered the fear as she saw him; his clothes, his skin, his long hair, all pristine white. Long hair that had never been cut. In Baicia, all of the citizen's were shades of brown. Icarus's white skin, meanwhile, making him look more dead than the corpses he loved to create.

There had been something off about his smile, now that she was looking at it from the front. It was just slightly too wide, and it didn't reach his eyes. He had said nothing to her, and only tucked that red carnelian into her palm. He must have smoothed it down himself, into a perfectly round shape. Or maybe he had just gotten one of his corpses to do it.

After that, he turned and disappeared, and the village of corpses had followed him. It wasn't until he was long gone that she was able to move her limbs again. That was the first and only time Eren had cut her hair, a symbol that a warrior had lost a battle.

Staring at the red carnelian she had just taken from her mother, she realized that she would be adding a second stone to her collection.

"Your... your Majesty," came a hesitant voice.

Eren was pulled back to life. The driver had been standing to the side, cowering. She was clearly waiting for punishment.

Anwen smiled, and placed a hand on her shaved head. The only people without shaved heads in the palace were the soldiers, which included the Queen. In the hot desert, long hair was a hindrance, and was considered a burden that only those who had willingly taken a life had to bear. "It's not your fault. There was nothing you could have done - it's lucky enough that you got out alive. Now, tell us everything that you saw."

Realizing she wasn't going to be punished, relief washed through her face and she bowed deeply, "Thank you, your Majesty."

The driver straightened. She was quite pretty and quite young, a few years younger than Eren. She wondered how she had gotten the job. Miciah chose his attendants himself, though, so she didn't doubt that he had made the correct decision. The fact that the driver was standing here proved that.

"This happened early in the trip. I regret that I couldn't send a messenger earlier, but I didn't encounter anyone else before I got to the city gate. We were in the forest in front of Carewin, just slightly outside of their border."

"And this is where you were attacked?" Eren said. The driver looked at her and nodded. The Carewin Woods. The woods were a long way from Baicia. Miciah had been there for a diplomatic meeting. Although he was the Crown Prince, if he didn't prove himself fit to lead the nation, Eren would take over his position. The two had never fought over this, though. Eren was satisfied with her position as General.

"It's good that you didn't send out a messenger before that. They couldn't have gone much faster than you through the desert, and it would have only caused the word to leak out fast."

Eren realized that her tone had been too hard, and she hoped that the driver knew that she was reassuring her. The driver continued the story:

"At first, I didn't know what was happening. Something slammed into the side of the carriage, and the horses started the run. I couldn't stop them, and I could hear that the Crown Prince had drawn his sword, so I thought he was still in the carriage. I don't know when he had disappeared, or even how many creatures he had been fighting. All I know is, once I left the forest, the attacks had stopped and the Crown Prince was gone."

The creatures must have been corpses. By the sound of her story, she hadn't run into Icarus himself.

"What is your name?" Eren asked.

"Ilo Porphine, General," The driver said with a bow.

"Ilo," she said, "Go inside, and wait for me in the dining hall."

"Yes, General."

Ilo hurried inside.

Eren stood next to her mother as she watched Ilo go, "What do you think we should do? We don't even know where Miciah is."

"We'll have to find him," Anwen said, "That driver doesn't realize, but besides you, she's probably the only one who has survived an attack by Icarus Kaelen."

"Do you think she has an Ability?" Eren asked. An Ability. A rare phenomenon that happened occasionally, where a human being could do something that no others could. Both Icarus Kaelen and Miciah had one.

Eren didn't have an Ability, and didn't know why she had survived Icarus's attacks. She suspected that it was purely because he had wanted her to survive.

Abilities weren't necessarily powerful. Eren had come across merchants whose Abilities were simply repelling scorpions. Although the Ability was simple, it meant that customers could safely eat their food and sit in their stalls without having to worry.

"Maybe. Or maybe she was just lucky," Anwen said, "Anyway, she will most definitely be useful later. When you try to find Miciah, take her with you."

Eren said nothing. If she was going to find Icarus, she would rather take nobody with her. But even she couldn't refute the Queen's orders.

Anwen turned back to the messenger.

"Thank you for your service. Don't tell this to anyone - if you do, not only will the kingdom be in upheaval, but your own life will be in danger."

The messenger couldn't tell if this was a threat or a warning, but decided to heed it anyway. He bowed, "I'm just doing my job."

Anwen called for the stable keepers, and had them take care of the carriage and the horses.

"Don't try to fix the carriage - it's bad luck to keep it around. It's still good wood - strip it down and sell it. If there's any pieces too small to be bought, keep it for yourself. Clean the wheels and store them to be reused."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Anwen turned back to Eren. Against her dark skin, her green eyes shone even brighter.

"Although this is an urgent thing, it must not be rushed. In three days, set out. Don't leave before that."

Eren's head turned to look at her, surprised,

"Three days? That's too long! By then, he'll- "

"Think, daughter," Anwen said sharply, "If Icarus wants Miciah dead, then he is already gone. Even if the driver has an Ability, can it be more powerful than Icarus's? He left her alive on purpose, so someone could come back and be a witness. That means that Miciah is probably still alive, but we don't know how long he will be alive for."

Eren didn't say anything for a moment,

"You're right. It's better to prepare than to go in hastily."

The Queen nodded, "Good. We will do what we can. And as for Miciah - all we can do is hope that he stays alive until we get there."

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Ilo Porphine waited in the dining hall like she was told, but didn't dare to sit down. She was so sure that she was going to be punished, and hadn't fully processed that she wasn't.

Or maybe she was. Although the Queen hadn't punished her, she hadn't given orders not to punish her either. Who knew if Eren Yinmar would consider her responsible for her brother's kidnapping, and take her anger out on her?

Ilo heard the clicking of boots, and looked up.

Eren Yinmar walked into the dining hall. Ilo's breath caught, just as it did when she had first seen the General.

Her hair was done in Bantu knots on top of her head, to keep her long hair out of her face. She had strong features and piercing eyes, and she carried herself in such a way that everyone in the room couldn't help but look at her.

She was wearing loose pants and a loose shirt tucked into it, the same brown color as the sand outside. Although she wasn't wearing full armor, she had gold vambraces on her arms, decorated with the same intricate patterns as her leather boots, tipped with steel that had been dyed gold. Long, gold earrings hung from her earlobes, and colored studs decorated the rest of her ears.

The studs were all the awards she had gotten in the Army. Although she was the Queen's daughter, she had still started as a normal footsoldier, and had to work her way up to the title of General.

From a distance, Ilo had always admired Eren Yinmar. Now that she was seeing her up close, in person Ilo was getting nervous.

"Sit down," Eren sat down, and gestured to a seat across from her. Ilo sat, and wondered what Eren wanted her for.

"In three days," Eren said, "You and I are going to set out to the Carewin Woods."

"You and I?" Ilo blinked, "I'm coming with you?"

"Yes."

"Me? Why? I'm only a driver."

"Because you survived," Eren said. Her eyes drilled holes into Ilo, "Icarus Kaelen never leaves survivors. Never. I've watched the top soldiers in the Army, the best I've ever seen, killed by him. However, you, who's only a driver, survived."

Ilo shook her head. "There must be a misunderstanding. I didn't do anything to survive. I only ran."

She looked down, "Like a coward. I ran."

"Look up at me," Eren ordered. Ilo did.

"What you feel right now is survivor's guilt," she said. "You feel like it should have been you. You feel like you should have done something. But the truth is, there was nothing to be done. You did what you had to do to get out alive, and that's not a bad thing. You didn't abandon anyone. Saving your own life doesn't make you a coward. Okay?"

Ilo knew that Eren was only trying to make her feel better, but she nodded anyway.

"Go home," Eren said, standing up, "Meet me here tomorrow at six in the morning. Do not be late."

Ilo scrambled up, "Yes, General."

She started to bow, but Eren caught her shoulder with a hand, stopping her.

"Do not bow to me," Eren said, her voice low and soft. "I am not the Queen, or the Crown Prince. I am a General. Get that?"

Ilo lifted her eyes to look straight into Eren's.

"Yes."

"Good," Eren released her grip and turned around. Ilo didn't know whether she should leave or not, but seeing that Eren wasn't looking back at her, she started to walk away.

"One more thing!"

Just before Ilo stepped out of the doorway, she paused and turned around. Eren spun back to her. There was a fire in her eyes, an almost desperate look that made Ilo widen her own eyes.

"Whatever happens, stay alive," she said,

"Even if it means running away. Even if other people call you a coward for it, don't die. And never, ever apologize for it. Do you understand?"

Ilo stared at her.

Her words echoed in Ilo's head: "I've watched the top soldiers in the Army, the best I've ever seen, killed by him."

With a start, Ilo understood the gravity of those words. She understood that besides her, there was one other person in the world who had survived Icarus Kaelen's attacks.

"I understand."