Undying Flames

Chapter 12: Bruises

"More disappearances..." Crow sighed. His Bird Master office was probably as empty as he felt. The oldest birds we had under the castle's care were still there. "The bird abductions have slowed down, but... I dunno..."

Jack nodded, helping us clean out vacant cages, "Morale is low too in the training corps. Young women and boys are vanishing."

"But strategically," I pointed out. "I think the culprit is spacing things out deliberately. Whether it's for a specific reason, or they're just being cautious."

"But why though?!" Crow threw up his arms. "It's hard enough to have messages sent these days to begin with! It's even harder when I'm low on birds."

"I just don't see any connection between young girls and birds though," Jack frowned.

I did. My blood went cold. Was Goodwin...experimenting? I hadn't seen Lise in days either. What did this all mean? Was she okay?

"But thank you for helping me out today, guys," Crow offered up a small smile. "I appreciate it."

Jack shrugged, buffing out a particularly nasty stain in one cage. "It was my day off."

"Beats entertaining my dad at lunch," I said.

"Seriously? Scrubbing bird poop and owl pellets out of cages is preferable to a conversation?" Crow raised an eyebrow.

"When my father is concerned, yes."

"And I thought my family had issues," Jack blurted, chuckling a little.

Crow elbowed him. "Shh!" He turned to me. "I still appreciate it. Not many princes would want to stoop to a servant's level."

"There's no shame in doing work worth doing, and in this case, needs doing," I smiled back at him. My mom had drilled that lesson into my head since I was little. She was right. Sure, she and dad were the king and queen, but they needed everyone to keep the castle and the kingdom running.

"I'll remember that next time I have to clean the barracks myself," Jack teased.

"Haha, coincidentally, I will be very busy any time you need help with that."

"Aw man!"

I was grateful Lise had introduced me to them. They were hard workers with good senses of humor. Integrity. Traits that were hard to come by in plenty of royal families, my own included.

"Have you guys heard from Lise lately? It's been a few days and I'm worried."

Crow shook his head, pushing his red locks out of his face. "No, but I can try to get her a message, if you like?"

"Maybe..."

"Me either," Jack frowned. "Do you think she's disappeared again?"

"I hope not," I bit my lip. "If she doesn't show up to the library tonight, let's send her a message."

"You got it," Crow saluted me with a rare grin.

The rest of the day passed monumentally slow. My leg kept bouncing under the dinner table, silently willing my dad to talk about his gardener's paperwork faster. I'd remembered to change into clean clothes before dinner, at least. Show up to dinner smelling like the aviary and dad would have my head for years. It was kinda funny though. I never thought I'd be this anxious to get into a library.

Lise was already studying by the lantern light when I finally walked in. I hadn't seen her in nearly a week.

"Hey, good to see you!"