Chapter 21: Suspension

Hours later, the party was cut short under the disappearance of Princes Liam and Jonathan and Lady Isla. No one could find them anywhere. When all the guests had vacated the castle with hopes the King would find his children, Henry gathered his men in the passages of the castle. He was furious.

"Who couldn't wait until tonight to take the elven Lady? I told you, you would be given her by the end of the night. What part of that escaped your short-sighted memory?!" King Henry demanded, slamming his hands on the center table which echoed within the entirety of the castle walls.

Everyone shook their heads, not pleased with the way he spoke to them.

One Scath stepped up, "And how do we know, you're not behind her early disappearance? You keep pushing us for more time. We are not your pets. We have our own goals. Not one of us laid a hand on her. We simply want the girl, and we took your word when you promised her to us. We've followed through, it's high time you do." The Scath revealed himself as Isla's Uncle Everett

Henry rolled his eyes, and let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. But someone has to know something. I never touched her. What would she, Prince Liam, and my son have to do with one another? And where's Phoeb? I haven't seen him since this morning."

Then a tainted Guard came in with Phoeb's dead corpse in his hands. Henry couldn't believe his eyes. Phoeb was dead. In a second, his shock became rage. "Who Did This?!"

The Guard shook his head. "I don't know. He was found outside the castle walls, shot with an arrow."

Henry clenched his fists, "This was planned. Schemed. This wasn't some random attack. The other kingdoms wouldn't. They would be starting a possible war that Petra's army would demolish. It had to be someone here. Someone was aware of our plans. Has anything suspicious occurred, regarding anyone?" He speculated in question.

No one knew.

"Well, this plan didn't orchestrate itself! Someone in this castle planned this, and I intend to discover the source." Henry furiously declared. "Whoever the culprit is, will be charged with high treason the second he's found."

The tainted guard nodded and set the bird's lifeless body over the center table. Henry grumbled at the dead bird. "Until the culprit is found, we must proceed as planned. It's time we pay Ewan and Zara a visit." He adjusted his crown confidently.

In no time, he rallied the tasked forces for a march on Silvestria to Tempest Turris.

Brooklynn caught wind of it and told Leo before he and Carlos left to speak with Lieutenant Eden and General Emil.

Unfortunately, when King Henry left, he informed his people that he was going on a trip to find the missing people, but when he didn't return soon, the subjects of Petra grew impatient and worried they'd lost their king. Their hopes dwindled, so Brooklynn spoke with the High Cleric Ophelia and they began planning ways to occupy and keep the spirits of Petra uplifted. They created excuses, and fake letters from the King to make it look like there was still hope.

They hated to lie to the kingdom, but until they heard anything from anyone on the other side of the country, they had no other choice, but to deceive the civilians to ensure they wouldn't get out of control. They contacted the other four human kingdoms Hortus, Coryza, Demergo, and Sahra to inform them of slight details of the go-ons.

This way they had allies in this. Every other kingdom, but Sahra had needed no concern for their own survival in their own territories. Every kingdom but Petra and Sahra were Scath free. But Sahra carried small traces of people with the Scathian infection from erin and finlay who had done their best not to spread their sickness.

Knowing that Everett was the one who spread the infection, through his journey to Petra, they knew it started with Silvestria and spread into Petra and only slightly through Sahra. It hadn't the chance to grow into the other kingdoms. So they were safe, and aware of the need to be careful and mindful of newcomers in the kingdoms. But no one knew how long that would last.

Things weren't going well, but at least, they were getting somewhere.