Chapter 295

Vorbuk took the document back with him as he returned to the palace. After sitting down at his desk in the king's study he stared at the words on that piece of paper.

"Ashley." Vorbuk called out the name of the one mortal who always responded back.

Tap! Tap!

A loud tapping sound could be heard from the window not far from where he sat. It was not even the strangest thing Vorbuk could think to experience. Standing up he walked over to the window and opened it. Stepping aside from the open window afterwards.

Thud!

The vampire, Ashley, quickly hopped inside on cue. Vorbuk was growing use to how unusual he was. It felt like he was coming to expect it from Ashley.

"Master~" Ashley smiled brightly at the sight of Vorbuk. It seemed to Vorbuk that the vampire was delighted to be summoned by his master. It made Vorbuk feel strangely uncomfortable at times how loyal he vampire was to him. It felt as if he easily forgot at times how to live for himself.

Vorbuk chose to ignore the vampire's excited gleam in those eyes and spoke about what he called him over, "Have you found anything further on what happened to the princess's palace?"

"Hmm..." Ashley thought about it for a moment carefully before answering, "Grand Duke Heket has left Theapan and returned to Drethia not long ago. There is no guarantee what he was staying behind in Theapan to do. Master, you should be cautious when dealing with him."

"We must be overlooking something about him. Keep a careful surveillance on him for now." Vorbuk did not trust Grand Duke Heket.

Ashley silently agreed and added, "Master, there is one more thing I found."

"What?" Vorbuk asked.

"There has been someone lurking around the palace lately. It seems to be someone of the dragon race." Ashley mentioned.

Has she been hiding outside the palace this whole time? Vorbuk had a guess at who it was.

Not long ago he remembered the message he received from the god. The Axania queen was alive and possibly lurking around outside his palace. He did not know what she was doing by silently lurking around him without coming forward.

What does she want?

"Master," Ashley decided to ask, "Are you not worried about sending Bredret to attack Brolan with Daryl?

Vorbuk thought about it for a moment. Yes he was worried about how Bredret could go overboard while fighting. That dragon was a loose cannon. When his temper lost control it would be easy for him to cause a disaster for anyone and anything in his path. It was easy to understand why others would feel worried when they knew how Bredret acted, but....

"I am not worried," Vorbuk answered, "because he is with Daryl."

"Because of Daryl?" Ashley was confused by that statement.

Vorbuk muttered under his breath to himself, "That man can keep him under control."

Knock! Knock!

There was a knock at the door to the room. Vorbuk thought for a brief moment that he had seen the vampire's expression darken out of the corner of his eye. However he had a polite smile on his face as Vorbuk glanced over at him.

Was I mistaken? Vorbuk thought.

Ashley walked over to the door and opened it to allow them inside. It turned out to be Prince Leo outside the door. When Ashley made eye contact with Prince Leo he sighed.

Prince Leo forced a polite smile on his face as he said, "I was looking for Vorbuk."

"You found him." Ashley stated while looking away from Prince Leo with lack of interest.

Prince Leo did his best to ignore the vampire's antagonizing attitude with a throbbing headache as he walked into the room right passed the vampire, stopping in front of Vorbuk, "I heard you had a visit from Seon. Was there any news from Brolan?"

"Daryl and Bredret should be there by now." Vorbuk responded without hesitation.

"We should be heading out for Drethia soon..." Prince Leo thought out loud as he knew the wolf intended for them to head for Drethia Kingdom while Daryl took care of Brolan. They would not expect the king of Theapan to sneak into their kingdom while their own was currently fighting a war. Vorbuk was intending to leave Prince Chase in charge while they were away.

Vorbuk could tell that there was a lot weighing on the prince and spoke up, "If you are worried-"

"I'm fine," Prince Leo cut him off from asking by inserting his own question, "Who is going with us?"

It was obvious that the prince did not want to seem weak in front of him so Vorbuk pushed forward by answering him, "The two of us will be accompanied by Ashley and Sebastian on the trip. Seon and Damien have put everything together for us with a pirate. We should be able to get into Drethia Kingdom with the pirate as a guide along the way."

Prince Leo twitched when he heard Sebastian's name, "Why are you bringing him along?"

"Who?" Vorbuk asked dumbfounded by the way the prince reacted to his words.

"You know exactly who I mean." Prince Leo stated, "Why are you bringing Sebastian?"

"We need the help and Sebastian can give us that. I also have to make sure Princess Isis is safe. For that to be ensured I have to leave someone behind that can handle the job. Aoki will stay behind with her and Chase to keep an eye on their safety." Vorbuk explained as best as possible to the prince.

Prince Leo sighed as he understood the beast's way of thinking. He could not understand what had came over him during the conversation. Things felt strange since the beast was trying to put more distance between them. It was impossible for the prince to not understand. Yet it still made him feel frustrated beyond his own understanding. It felt a bit like he was being slowly abandoned.

"Do you think Chase can handle things while we are away? He has not even been out of the dungeon for a year." Prince Leo was honestly worried. It was not certain that Prince Chase could handle taking care of things while they were gone. Though he would not have to do things alone.

Vorbuk was not worried since there were others that could help guide Prince Chase until he returned from Drethia, "He will have Princess Isis and the others to help him. That child learns quicker then most."

"When do we leave?" Prince Leo asked without further delay.

Vorbuk smiled as he responded, "Soon enough... I have to take care of a few things first."

Looking outside the window he gazed into the direction of the palace walls. He wanted to first take care of something before leaving the palace.

The queen dragon, Sylica, of Axania was wandering not far from the palace. She was hiding in human form while spying on the palace. Her kingdom had been wiped from the continent because of the god Chynir. It was not known to him where she was nor what she wanted from him.

It was not something that Vorbuk would have a difficult time with. If he really put the effort into finding the dragon it would only take a matter of time. He was certain that he could find her using his wolf senses to track her. Vorbuk wanted to talk with her before he left the kingdom for Drethia.