Moonstruck

| Chapter XI |

Trigger warning for Death, Graphic descriptions of Death and soft gore

"PRINCESS SAM HAS GONE MISSING."

The Knight's panicked voice shredded throughout the entire room, goosebumps decorating everyone's skin.

"...What?" King Kairi asked, parting from her wife, who is now just as shaken as her. The Knight pants as he takes a hurried knee, bowing his head as sweat dripped from his forehead. "I-i was going to switch shifts with Erica, but I found her dead in front of the library, and Princess Sam nowhere to be seen.. I even looked in her room and she wasn't-"

"Lock every door, window, and hatchet in the castle immediately. No one leaves and no one enters without seeing me," The Queen demands. "Bring every single head knight alive in here and put Taylanie and Tanna in the safe room." She ordered sharply, crossing her arms. The knight bows quickly. "Yes ma'am-" and scurried out the room.

Kairi looks at Makai,  "..Is Prince Josh in the castle right now?" Makai looks down in thought. "I'm not sure..Knights Ashburn and Envy, go see if Jester Jade is alright." She rose her arm in the general direction of the door, but before Envy got the chance to answer, she noticed that her arm was shaking. Ash quickly nudged her arm, tilting his head toward the door. "Let's go. no time to lose." Envy nods, and they both run out.

The King turns to her wife. "It had to be Prince Josh or one of the Knights that came here." The Queen shook her head in response. "It wasn't one of their Knights, they all stayed outside the castle. I made sure of it."

"So then it's the Prince," Kairi mumbled, looking down and biting her index knuckle. Makai pursed her lips, gripping her sides. "Must be..." She sighs. "God, I really hope our jester is okay." She fretted. Kairi scuffs, "And our daughter?" The shorter woman rolls her eyes. "Obviously I'm worried about her too. I'm worried about her, the jester, our kingdom..." She sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Damn it, We should've planned further." She cursed.

Kairi held her cheek, rubbing a thumb against her cheekbone. "There's nothing we could've done to predict this." She parts from her spouse, walking to one of the large windows behind the two thrones. "Instead of wallowing, we should devise a plan to get Samantha ba-"

Knight Ash and Envy burst through the door. "Jester Jade is gone, and Princess Tanna has been brought to the dungeon." at that mention, Makai fumed. "wHAT??" and Knight Ash flinches, gulping. "One of the head knights said that since she's the Princess of Vianna, she might've taken part in the kidnapping" The Queen punches her nose, annoyed. "She's just a child, get her o-" Kairi, quick to interrupt, began. "They,, they have a point." Kairi agreed, and the Knights relaxed. "However, you all shouldn't have contained her without my discretion. Please remove her from the dungeon and transfer her into a locked and guarded room." She orders calmly. They both nod and leave the room and Kairi continues, even when her wife is now shaking a lot more noticeably, but not enough to cause concern. "Okay, here's the plan."

Envy, running down the hall alongside Ash, could barely contain her thoughts. This is only her second day here- and they're already in the midst of what seems like a war. Ash, noticing how anxious she's being, hits her in the back of the head lightly. "Shut up. In these types of situations, we need to stay calm." He advised, approaching the staircase to the dungeon. Envy gets a chill, but looks at Ash again. "But..your shaking also..." She points out as they descend the stairs. Ash scowls, turning away from his apprentice. "Stop looking at me and pay attention." He scolds, keying open the gate to the dungeon.

The dungeon pierces Envy's skin with its cold climate as soon as she walks in. As she steps down the stairs, her hand graze's the black brick, feeling the bits of moss that have somehow made their way through the cracks. When Ash finally opens the door to the Inner Cells, Envy child's back the urge to regurgitate whatever she might've had in her stomach. The odor the room was emitting was completely disgusting, Envy could only guess that the smell was coming from the rotting corpse in the first Cell. She couldn't bring herself to look, but from the corner of her eye, she could see the rotting skin falling from its flimsy limbs. The next cell wasn't much better, as the person was still alive but had a metal mask on its face, with a hole for the tongue. The hole had sharp spikes just barely piercing the skin. If the subject were to make any attempt to speak, their tongue would be sliced to pieces in no time short. their limbs were held by metal shackles, and their clothes were matted and torn. Not baring to see anymore, Envy just kept her eyes to the ground, arriving at Princess Tanna's Cell.