章 7: The enriched forest
Another morning came and just like the others, she stayed inside. This day, in particular, she decided to change it up. Margaret opened her door and walked out of it in her silky blue shiny dress, floating behind her. She was walking in the long dense corridor leading to the main gate, ready for some fresh air. Margaret took a turn and walked to the stables where Lili was comfortably resting, she then opened the gate by herself and entered. Seeing how peaceful her horse was, she smiled. She went forward and calmly caressed the horse's back, waking her up. Lili recognized her owner and got closer to her.
"Let's go for a ride, shall we?" Margaret said to her, still caressing her back. Lili slightly neighed, like she understood the demand. Margaret widely opened his gate and directed him outside. Rose suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of the princess, she seemed worried and lost. She got closer to Margaret and proceeded to take Lili's lead rope out of her hand. Rose caressed the horse to calm her down.
"Princess, where are you going?" Rose kept herself in check even though she knew the princess would likely go for a ride on Lili's back.
"I'm going for a ride, will that be a problem?"
"I'm not sure it's alright for you to go outside by yourself, princess."
"Yes, it is. The king is fine with me leaving the castle, don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Did he permit you? Well then, please be careful, princess." Margaret smiled and took back the lead rope to pull Lili out of her comfort zone, she seemed to love her new place. It was a little tough to get her out. The princess got on the horse's back with the help of Rose. They then began to move outside the stables to the main gate. Not that much to her surprise, there were guards packed in front. Even though she expected that she couldn't help but feel worried.
"Princess!" The main guard noticed her.
"I'm going for a stroll, I'll be back soon." She immediately went to the point. The fewer words said, the better.
"Is the king aware, princess?"
"Of course." Of course, King Francis didn't know about her departure. She thought the only way was for her to lie if she wanted to leave. The guards didn't question her and opened up the main gate for them to leave. Lili was probably happy to move around again after a while.
There they were, in the woods. A few moments passed and Margaret came to realize her error. It was stupid of her to go out alone, she, with no doubt, knew nothing about Greyland and its environment. It had only been a few minutes that she'd been outside, but something felt wrong. The princess couldn't just go back now, it would seem like she was what they call 'a scaredy-cat', which according to her, wasn't true.
Time has been passing and all she's been doing is roaming around with Lili, much deeper inside the woods, to the point where the castle is no longer visible. Lili spotted something further ahead of them and brought her there.
It was an unknown place, a magical, small, dense area covered by trees. The trees were weirdly shaped with flashy green leaves, and the evergreens were crooked, almost as if they could move. There was a shiny light coming out further, it was mesmerizing. As they moved closer, Margaret saw a gleaming blue pond in the middle, and water falling from the trees to fill up the pond.
The princess got off the horse and left her behind. Her first thought was to walk closer to the pond. There were lighted lamps surrounding it, everything was spooky but intriguing to her. She went to it, kneeled with her right knee to the ground, and stretched her right arm forward to touch one of the lamps. She felt some sort of energy flowing through her, it was insane. She came to herself and turned towards the blue pond to put her hands inside.
"What a magical place." She whispered to herself.
※
Back at the palace, the king was looking for the princess. He called one of the guards to look for her, the guard left the king's room to her door and knocked.
"Who is it?" Rose was inside the princess' room, folding her washed belongings on the bed. She was cleaning the place, and putting everything in order.
"Princess Margaret, his Majesty, the king is waiting for you in his study." He heard a lady's voice and immediately assumed it was the princess.
Rose opened the door. "The princess isn't here at the moment, she will be back soon. Can you please tell the king to be patient? I'll tell the princess to meet him as soon as she arrives." The guard was indeed shocked by who the lady was.
"The king won't wait for the princess, Miss. She must come with me immediately." He insisted.
"Fine, then I'll tell His Majesty myself." She said as she closed the door behind her. "Let's go." She led the way, and the guard followed. Rose opened the door and walked in without a knock, the stress was out of hand. King Francis looked up and stopped writing. The guard waited outside, he didn't want anything to do with this. "Yes?" He allowed her in.
"Your Majesty, sorry to bother but I'm here to tell you that the princess is out at the moment and so she can't meet with you. But when she comes back, I'll surely let her know you've been looking for her." She was terrified.
"Where is she?" He was calm about it.
"I don't know, Your Majesty. She said she was going outside for some air and left with the horse."
"Alone?" He was now starting to worry about the situation.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I wanted to go with her, but she said that she was fine going alone and that you permitted her to."
"I did what? How long has she been out?" He didn't want to assume anything yet.
"A few hours." Saying it out loud made her realize how long hours were.
"Hours?" His tone rose. Rose kneeled and put her hands together to beg.
"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty, I didn't think it through, I'm so sorry." Francis was shocked by her action.
"What are you doing? Get up." Rose got up from the floor and bashfully stood with both her hands in front of her.
"If she isn't back in an hour, come inform me." He didn't want to think too much of it, and also, he wanted to calm Rose down.
"Yes, Your Majesty." She bowed to him and left. She took a few steps away from the door, stopped for a second, and heavily exhaled.
"Why isn't she back? Perhaps, something happened?" She spoke to herself, holding her waist.
※
Prince Louis met up with an unknown man behind the castle. He wanted to know more about the bandits who attacked him on his way back home, so he hired someone to do some research.
"So?" Louis whispered to the man, trying to be discreet.
"Your Highness,- the bandits who attacked you were no normal bandits. I went back to where they attacked you and found no deceased." The man informed him.
"The others probably took the bodies with them, to leave no trace." It was a tactic practiced by most of the warriors, no man was left behind.
"Exactly, but one thing they left behind was a sword." He lifted the prince's hope.
"One of their swords?" That was good news, a sword from another party showed which one it belonged to.
"Yes, and it gets more fascinating." The man was excited.
"The sword had a mark on it, some sort of symbol, a unique symbol. A square in a triangle." Louis rubbed his chin, knowing who it belonged to. "Wait that's -" Louis loudly said, but then quieted himself down.
"Yes, your highness. That's none other than -"
※
Still, in the forest, Margaret was enjoying its magnificent view. She didn't want to leave it behind, it was peaceful and calming. She even lost track of time. Lili was next to the princess, drinking the pond's water. She neighed at her in happiness. It'd been a few hours now since the meeting between Rose and the King, things became serious at the palace.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty!" Rose shouted as she ran to his study. She opened the door, without knocking again, and rushed inside.
"Your Majesty, the princess is still not back." She was panicking. Shocked by the news, King Francis got up from his chair and ran out.
"Guards!" He yelled as he got out. Every guard gathered around and listened to what he had to say.
"Princess Margaret went outside a few hours ago and hasn't come back, I need you all to find her immediately. Now!" The weapons of the guards stamped to the ground.
"Yes!" They separated and went to search for the princess, the king looked distressed and worried about the situation. He gave in and went to the stables, to fetch his horse. As he got on it, the queen dowager entered as well.
"Where are you going?" She called out to her son.
"Going to go look for Princess Margaret." Because he was, he didn't bother looking at his mother. "Why? Where is she?" He finally turned his attention toward her.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to find out." He angrily kicked the horse, alerting him. The horse started fast, throwing splashes of sand as he moved on. The queen dowager stood there and looked at him, riding away.
"What a nuance, this little princess." She said as she got out of the stables.
※
Margaret was still in a trance, sitting on the grass, and staring at the trees surrounding her. She felt complete, she was free. The princess laid down on the grass, looking up at a sky filled with bright stars and a large moon. It was her perfect night. As she was about to close her eyes, she heard a soothing voice.
"Here you are - Margaret." She got up so fast and looked behind her. After what or rather who she saw, her calm heart started racing. She wasn't sure if it was because of the beautiful night sky or just her sincere heart playing tricks on her. But one thing she certainly knew about, was that it was the beginning of something she most feared.
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