Chapter 14
A green glassy layer covered the Green Lake. When any of the Greens passed via or through it, the water turned colorless. It became as clear as crystals and only granted access to the royals of Green kingdom and to rest only if a member of the Green royal family was with them.
She reached where the lake was and bent over it to take a sip of its water. Each second she spent by the lake brought deeper nightfall closer. It was a long journey even on horseback. She was exhausted and fear started creeping in.
Having taken the water, Shinja stood up to go on with her journey. Facing backwards, something she had never seen before was standing in front of her. Too tall for her to see it's... no, their faces. The creatures before her were not one but three, first it had been one but then they seemed to multiply into three tall forms. When they spoke it was their voices that gave away the fact that they were women. They were clothed in long white cloaks. Shinja was dazed by their magnificence.
"Dear Shinja, we are so grateful to see you once again. We already know the reason as to why you are here and where you are going. We very well know about the banquet in the kingdom.
We have been with you since you began this journey. You are overwhelmed and sad child. Please accept the prince and get married to him. The kingdom will be in danger if you don't." They all spoke at once in an echoing voice then disappeared.
Shinja had been so afraid when they began speaking she looked at the ground in fear. She closed her eyes and started crying. Thinking that they were still around. She had not seen when and how they varnished.
"I don't know what to do, I am very confused. Please help me. I think I li-- lo-- I just don't know. I feel like I need to first let him learn a simple lesson before we take any other step. Is that too much to ask?"
She was scared out of her wits, when she looked up, the women were nowhere to be seen not even at the other end of the lake. She was all alone except for her horse that was taking water from the Green Lake. She did not know where they had come from, however, she had felt she knew them.
Her suspicions were true, those women were her late grand grandmothers. Terese had been among them but she had not allowed Shinja to recognize her. They feared that if they introduced themselves to her as family, she would not grow into fearlessness yet they needed that from her at a time like the one she was about to face.
She offloaded her stuff from the horse's back for the both of them to take a breather. She tried to dismiss her encounter with the three ghostly women. While she took off her satchel off Flower-bender's back she did not notice her charm book fall out.
She urged Flower-bender to take some more water from the Green Lake. Having stretched, fed a little, she mounted the horse and went on riding. They still had a long way to go.
Early the next morning, the Green kingdom and its guests could not believe that news that was circulating around the palace--the youngest princess, Shinja had gone missing. The maids and maidens, merchants, witches, mothers and fathers, everybody in the Green kingdom was searching all over, in the forests, parks, cottages, flower gardens and even the stables. All that was in vain, Shinja was still nowhere near the Green kingdom.
Dusk was fast approaching and still no one in the entire Green kingdom had the answer Pink-White needed. He took out his frustration on everybody including his four remaining daughters. How had they missed her? She was their sister for Christ's sake! How had she gone missing with their rooms being so close to each other they would have heard something, any clue to begin with. He blamed everyone, but passing blame was getting him nowhere. He wanted his daughter found and he wanted her to be found NOW.
The gong was sounded for the second time but it was to call for only people that were in the palace. Others from outside the palace were dismissed and asked to search the neighboring villages and townships for the princess.
Silver was first to arrive before all the other people in the palace. The king was astonished, his reaction quickly hidden by the frustration and anger he felt at missing his daughter.
"People and visitors of Green kingdom, I greet you all. I want the chief commander, Bolton to step forward now." Pink-White commanded unsmiling. Bolton stepped forward as desired by the king who began giving instructions on how the army was to split itself in order to conduct a search for the princess.
It was divided into five fifths, one fifth had to remain and protect the kingdom because history had taught them that their enemies had a tendency of taking advantage of a crisis to cease their kingdom. The second fifth had to go and search all around the neighboring towns, in the forests, and also protect the people in all the towns.
The three fifths that remianed were to use the road that went through a cave under the castle in the Green kingdom. It was the first time the king had mentioned this road. He saw the risk in this but desperate times called for desperate measures, his daughter missing could not mount to any war. He would risk everything even the secret passageways for his daughter. He was going to lead these three fifths. The two of them were to use the main road and the last one would navigate the main magical forests in order to reach Shinja's grandmother place. Yes, he knew about his mother's Secret Garden, his desperation had led him to searching all places even the least expected were not to be left out.