THE PALACE BULLET

Guadeloupe heard a knock on the door and immediately she told a man she was with to hide. She adjusted her gown and cleared her throat as she went to the door to get it. She opened the door and saw Princess Annabelle standing right outside.

"Good day, my name is Maria I'm your long-lost..." Annabelle said but was cut short as Guadeloupe slammed the door right in her face.

"Who was that my love...my wife?" The man asked petrified.

"No darling, it was a girl...a silly one at that, shall we continue?" Guadeloupe asked as she pulled the man closer and kissed him. He caressed her heavenly. He pushed her to the bed and they continued vigorously until the man's wife busted in.

"John!" She called out. She went up to the bed and dragged him away after hitting him on the head several times with her shoe.

"You should be ashamed....slut!" The man's wife cussed with disgust afterwards she spat on the floors of Guadeloupe's cruck house. Annabelle just stood there watching the scenes. Guadeloupe noticed Annabelle again and questioned her being there. Annabelle explained to her that she was her long-lost cousin but Guadeloupe wasn't buying it. Then Annabelle brought out the map that Isabel had given her.

"This is Isabel's handwriting, she gave this to me so I could find my way here"

Guadeloupe carried the parchment to examine it and she saw that it was indeed her sister's handwriting.

"Why didn't she just offer you a job at the castle, why send you here?" Guadeloupe asked

"There weren't any vacancies"

"As there aren't any here so.....adios prima (goodbye cousin)" Guadeloupe concluded as she pushed Annabelle away from her home.

"Wait please, I hear that a storm is coming.....I don't have anywhere else to go" Annabelle begged

"I am not some guardian angel lady"

"I'll do anything, get firewoods, go to the markets, let me be your maid please" Annabelle suggested. Guadeloupe gave it a hard thought and then she concluded.

"Come in" Guadeloupe ordered as Annabelle beamed with joy.

***********************

The King and Queen of Nottingham Castle were distressed as it has been over ten days and they haven't found their daughter.

"We could she have gone?" The queen said in paranoia as the maid applied her make-up whilst her husband is being bathed by the Chamberlain.

"Why would she choose to run away from such obligation!" The King asked in annoyance.

"Maybe we were too hard on her, don't you think my lord?"

"This marriage was an act of service, it was a do or die situation"

"My lord?! That word die....what if my darling princess is dead?" The queen suggested fearing the worst

"Our daughter is a survivor...wherever she is I'm sure she is safe" the king assured.

"But now that the king of Hover castle is dead who is going to take over?" The queen asked, and then a messenger walks in with a letter of notice.

"Your majesty, tis for the royal family from Hover Castle" the messenger said addressing the king and queen

"Read" the queen ordered. The messenger cleared his throat and began.

"Dear King Phillips and Queen Amaya, I cordially invite you to my abrupt though paramount coronation as king of Hover castle which would take place on the Ides of August. Following the sad events which entailed the passing of his majesty King Micheal and his last and only living relative; the Duke of Miliem Henry, I hereby deem it necessary that the kingdom be taken over by the one who has always been with the late royal family. God save the queen, signed Constable Tobias"

"The coronation is tomorrow my Lord...who knew, of course the Constable could take over the duties of the kingdom if the king was not available for a period of time but now that the king's dead....he wants to make himself the new king. Former Constable now king, what an interesting headline don't you think my Lord?" The queen asked.

"Very much, but we have to gain the favour of the Constable"

"Gain? We already have his favour, why else would he give us this invitation letter?"

"Our kingdom is in jeopardy as we speak, that marriage our daughter abandoned was the solution we needed. The Constable might not want to marry our daughter so we need some kind of persuasion"

"What do you mean by persuasion?" The queen asked confused. She looked at the king trying to find the answer from his expressions. Her brain clicked and she got want he was trying to say.

"You want me to sleep with Tobias?!" The queen barked astonished.

*********************

The Marshal; Everest, went to one of the knights and asked him to pinpoint the exact location where they had found the king's carriage in the map he brought out and he did as so.

"Why do you need the location sir" The knight asked a bit tensed.

"Thesis" Everest replied as he tagged along with the map in his hands. He went to the castle stable and took his trusted horse then embarked on his journey. The journey was quite long but he got there right on time before the storm started. He examined the area and thought to himself that if a landslide had occurred, the cliff would not be standing strong as it was right then. He knew something was off in the story the knights told. As he examined the area, his spectacles fell off. It got to the end of the cliff when he quickly picked it up. On picking it up, he saw pieces of the royal carriage down the cliff. He hurriedly got down the cliff using a rope he connected to his horse.

When he reached the ground, he was amazed at what he saw. He thought to himself; could it be that the king was ambushed? He searched for their bodies but couldn't find them. That was when he noticed a bullet lying on the floor. He picked it up and examined it and came to a conclusion that it was fired from a palace gun. No peasant could afford to have this as it would have been too expensive to acquire. So it left him with two options. He debunked the other and believed that the first could be the answer to all his questions. On this note, he got back up the cliff, onto his horse and off to the castle he left.

On the way to the castle, the storm caught up with him but he made it to the castle unscathed. He banged on the castle's gates, it took some moments before the guards answered him. When the gates were opened, he dashed onto the Constable's office panting he said;

"The King was ambushed and I know who did it!"