Chapter sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Abigail stood outside on the porch staring at the star in the sky. She loved the cold breezes blowing gently and the total quietness she felt.

The party had stopped an hour ago and Amanda had said she would sleep with Daisy in her room and Hazel had told Chen she was going to spend the night here in Daisy's house. Chen had left the house earlier saying he needed time alone. So he went out for an evening stroll.

Hazel came outside dragging her feet noisily. Disturbing Abigail's peace. Abigail decided to ignore her but Hazel would not let her be.

“I need you to leave Chen alone,” she announced.

“Why?” Abigail asked.

“Because I need him. He is mine. And ever since he met you, he had been in danger,” Hazel said.

“You want him, right? Why don’t you tell him that you like him instead of waylaying me? He should be the one making the decision instead of coming towards me and accusing me,” Abigail said.

“That is because he will not make the decision. And that did not change the fact that he has been in danger ever since he meant you. Leave him and I will protect him,” Hazel responded.

“And you want to protect him, right? Do you think you can protect him? I know you are from a rich family and that is the main reason you learned how to fight but you can not protect him. You are of no match for the people who want to kill him. You can not win a fight against them. The only way you can protect him is to ask him if he knows nothing about those men and the best way to protect yourself is to stay away from him,” Abigail said entering the house. Not wanting to continue the conversation. She left Hazel dumbfounded outside.

She waited for another an hour for Chen to return but he did not return.

******

The next day Abigail traveled. Chen was a bit lonely. He spends most of his day coming to and fro from Abigail's house and Daisy's place. Spending little time with Mandy. And Hazel always perambulates from her place to Daisy's place.

But everything got worse a week after ha Mandy was at the orphanage house and the owner did not allow her to go to Daisy's place. Daisy had been transferred to the hospital and Chen spent his time alone. His dreams had been reduced. Luckily for him, Hazel came to rescue him from boredom.

“How about we go on vacation,” Hazel asked Chen.

“To where?” he asked.

“To Macbeth,” Hazel responded enthusiastically.

“Macbeth,” he said again. “ Never heard of a country like that. Sounds like the name of the person from Shakespeare's book,” Chen replied with a smile. The country name sounded familiar to him but he could not pinpoint where he had heard of a country like that.

“Stop being so fictional. Macbeth is a country located far from here. It left an ancient town that still use kings and queens. Not everyone can access this country. It is only limited to certain people and it is accessed through an invitation. Not everyone knows the country and the country is known for its mystical being,” Hazel explained.

“Mystical being,” Chen repeated and continued,” Magic is been used in the country?” Chen asked.

“Not sure. Why don’t we go and you see it yourself? Seeing is believing,” Hazel replied.

“Ok but how can we go there? You said we can only access the country through an invitation,” Chen said.

“I was invited. So we can go together. I have been there once and it is such a nice place,” Hazel said.

Chen only nodded.

The next day, he and Hazel set out for their journey.

******

The journey seems to take an eternity. It took them hours to get to the place. A cab was flagged and they arrived at the palace at noon.

The exterior architecture of the palace had a lovely Victorian mannerism. Made of red bricks and beige stone, the building was three stories high and large, and its upstairs balconies were decorated with fancy, pierced wood valances painted white, and these were repeated around the edge of the front portico. The rooms inside were bright and cheerful and simply furnished.

As they stroll off, the other end of the foyer is the gallery. Hazel has insisted that Chen should see the frame of the former kings. Hazel had explained that the gallery is hung with portraits of the Macbeth king's ancestors.

The gallery was much longer than Chen had envisioned, with a high ceiling and a huge window at one end. The polished wood floor was bare, the walls were painted blue, and a dark oak refectory table stood in the middle. A Chinese porcelain horse, quite large in size, had been placed on the table, and this appeared to be yet another priceless antique to Chen.

Chen hurried down the length of the gallery, barely glancing at the portraits of the other kings, mainly interested in finding a particular ancestor named King Chaesin, who was the last king who died before the reign of the present king.

He gazed at it for the longest time, marveling at the vividness of the painting and exceptional brushwork.

Hazel pulled him out of the gallery.

The server served them with two glass cups of Pouilly Fuisse. They strolled around as they sipped the drink down their throat.

Finally, they came to a halt. They are in the second building. The breeze was blowing and it was cool. Hazel inhaled the cold breezes.

“It is good here, isn’t it? I told you this place is good for tourists. Don’t know why they did not open it to tourists. They could have made a lot of money from that,” Hazel said but got no reply.

She turned around when she got no reply from Chen. When she turned around Chen was nowhere to be found. She looked for him everywhere and called his name.

Chen is missing.

She ran through the balcony, to the garden, to the gallery but Chen was nowhere to be found. She started asking everyone if they help her to see Chen but it was a negative response she received.

She asked the guards, everyone she saw. Luckily, she ran into Xavier.

She had known Xavier since she had followed her father to Macbeth. Xavier had confessed to his love for her but because of her short stay, she did not accept. Even though, she knew he still loved her.

Xavier is a prince. Princess Liya and Riya's eldest brother and the youngest prince in Macbeth.

“Hazel,” He said in surprise.

“Xavier,” Hazel said looking up while catching her breath.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Am here on vacation but my friend went missing. Please help me,” she begged.

Xavier took her hand and led her out of the palace to the balcony, out of the balcony to the garden, and down to the forest until they got to a spring.