章 2: Chapter 2 - The search for Sabina
Harold stood outside a small cabin in the middle of the night, waiting for his wife who should have arrived at the cabin earlier.
"What is taking her so long?", he asked himself as he glanced at the boat tickets in his hand.
In two hours, the boat to Garolla - a neighboring Kingdom, would depart and his wife, Sabina, who should have arrived at the cabin was not yet there.
His mind started to wander as he thought of what could have happened to his wife.
Just then, a little girl tapped his hand to get his attention.
He slowly shifted his gaze downward to look at the little girl. When his eyes met with hers, he forced a smile on his face. The little girl was his daughter with Sabina.
"Father, why isn't mother here yet?", the little girl asked.
"You told me mother would come to us today. Where is she?"
"Your mother would be here soon. Just wait a little more.", Harold replied his daughter with a convincing smile forming on his face.
"Now go back inside and wait for her to come."
"No, I want to wait out here with you, Father?", the little girl protested.
"It's cold out here. You don't want to catch a cold before your mother arrives, do you?", Harold tried to reason with his daughter.
"Okay. I would wait inside.", she finally said as she turned back and entered the cabin.
Seconds quickly turned into minutes and as time passed, Harold's worry for Sabina's safety continued to grow. He finally concluded that he was going to go in search for Sabina.
He entered the cabin to inform his daughter that he would be leaving to look for her mother. When he entered, his gaze was immediately fixed on his little girl who sat on the table and hugged her knees with a sad look on her face.
He continued watching as she slowly tilted her head to rest them on her knees. She was just four years old but she knew what was going on and was scared that her mother might be in danger.
A sigh escaped Harold's lips as he slowly walked toward her. Directly in front of her, he reached out his hand and gently stroked her hair.
"I will be back, Kayla.", he whispered.
He shifted his gaze to Louise, their maid servant, who was standing next to Kayla.
"Stay here with Kayla while I go look for my wife."
Louise simply answered him with a bow. Harold smiled and turned around to leave.
Kayla quickly jumped off the table and grabbed her father by his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.
"I want to go with you, Father. Let's find mother together.", Kayla begged.
Harold removed her tiny hands from his wrist and made his way down to her, kneeling in front of her.
"It is dangerous out there in the forest, Kayla. And you're still very little.", he explained.
Harold watched as Kayla's eyes started to well up with tears.
"I would be back before you even notice that I'm gone. I will be back with your mother and when we get back, we would live happily together like we did before the King took her away.", he assured her.
His words seemed to calm Kayla down as she wiped the tears in her eyes and smiled.
"I will wait for you."
Harold nodded his head and pulled Kayla into a hug before getting up to leave.
Kayla watched her father leave and when he was out of sight, she muttered; "Father and mother will be back soon."
*****
Back at the palace, the King paced back and forth as he nervously waited for news about Sabina. In his heart, he hoped the guards would fail at killing Sabina. He did not really want Sabina dead because he still loved her.
"I should not have ordered them to kill her. I should have ordered them to bring her back to the palace instead.", the King kept thinking to himself.
The King was still lost in thoughts when his eunuch went rushing into his quarters.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Captain Gao is back with news!", his eunuch announced.
"Where is he?", the King asked almost immediately.
"In the throne room, Your Majesty."
Without hesitation, the King hurriedly made his way to the throne room.
"What happened?", the King asked immediately his gaze fell on Captain Gao in the throne room.
Captain Gao dropped down on one knee to pay his respect to the king and declared, "Your Majesty, your loyal servant Gao has obeyed the royal order and killed the traitor, Royal Concubine Sabina."
The King felt a tinge of sadness and regret when he heard Gao's words. The only woman he had ever loved was now dead, on his orders. He inhaled deeply before asking Captain Gao for her body.
"We...we...didn't bring her body, Your Majesty."
"Why didn't you bring me her body?", the angry King growled.
She fell-
Before Captain Gao could finish his sentence, the King cut in "Bring me her body!"
"If you do not bring her body to me, I will have your head!", he yelled while glaring angrily at Gao.
"We will bring her body to you, Your Majesty.", Gao and the other guards chorused before they hurried out of the throne room.
*****
Harold continued to wander through the forest as he searched for signs of Sabina while calling out her name.
Suddenly, his eyes caught a stray arrow on one of the trees. Then it dawned on him that something bad could have happened to Sabina.
"Sabina!", he cried.
"Please be safe, please be safe."
He scanned through the forest and noticed other arrows. He started trotting in the direction of the arrows until he got to the edge of a hill.
He noticed something on the ground and when he bent up to pick it, it was a shoe - Sabina's shoe.
"Could she have tumbled down this hill?", he thought to himself.
Without hesitating for a second, he rolled down the hill which earned him a sprain on his ankle when he got down.
Captain Gao and his entourage entered the forest to begin their search for Sabina. Captain Gao warned, "We must find her body no matter what. If we fail to bring her body to the King, he will have our heads."
The other guards agreed. "She fell down that hill. Let's start our search from there.", one guard suggested.
Down the hill, Harold was struggling to get on his feet because of his sprained ankle when he saw traces of blood on the floor.
He followed the blood trail which stopped him right in front of Sabina's body. Harold was struck with terror and tear filled his eyes when he saw Sabina lying unconscious on the floor with an arrow stuck in her chest.
He slowly touched her cheek which was already cold. Harold's heart started to pound fast as he wondered if Sabina was really dead.
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