Princess of Victory - Guardians of Forewood [1]

Chapter 28: The Past Caught Up

Day 26of the Fourth Month, Year 1016 – after midnight

Crimson Corps' Base, Nave Province

DEV frowned when he heard noises from the direction of the dungeon entrance. The Princess had commanded him to help reorganizing the Crimson Corps' soldiers so they would be battle-ready by the time they arrived in Dustor. It took him a few hours, so he had no idea what had been happening.

He pulled one of the soldiers who came from the dungeon. "What is it?"

"The captive is gone!" The soldier exclaimed with a frown.

General Harvey walked towards him with a strange expression. "Major. This is not good."

"I agree," Dev nodded in agreement. "The prisoner is gone."

"What?" Harvey widened his eyes. "How come? We posted many sentries!"

"They are all dead," said the soldier whom Dev had pulled before. "We are currently searching the base as per regulation, General, sir."

"Okay," Harvey said, with a calm that was expected from an elite leader like him. "This is not good. The Princess disappeared as well."

Dev widened his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Harvey moved a bit, uncomfortable. "I thought she would be with you. Last time a soldier saw her entered her room and never came out."

That wasn't good. Did the prisoner kidnap her? "Any guards around her room died?"

Harvey shook his head. "Just unconscious."

Dev put down his hanging heart a little bit. There was only one explanation. The Princess... ran away again. He gritted his teeth. He had just thought that she was responsible, but no, she was being reckless again. "She probably left on her own," Dev said with a frown. "What happened before? With the prisoner?"

Harvey's face turned in sudden realization. "Ah. The prisoner said that Lieutenant Nile and some other Sergeant was taken away..."

Dev closed his eyes. Of course. Knowing her temperament, when she found out her closest people were taken by the enemy, she would go to them. "To where? Did the prisoner say?"

"Sinjar Town." Harvey looked at him. "Do you need backup, Major?"

"Give me one or two of your elite soldiers, General, sir," he replied. "You should continue the plan to the south. The war cannot wait. I'll make a distraction so the troops can pass easily."

"Of course. We'll go through another entrance." Harvey nodded and turned to walk away.

Dev clenched his fists. What was Victoria thinking? She probably wasn't thinking. But he still needed to continue his plan on drawing the enemy away.

Fire would do the trick. It was cruel, but they needed to hurry—both Victoria and the situation down south. Again, how did the Princess sneak out without drawing the attention of the soldiers?

The elite soldiers who were sent to help him was called Rowan and Julie. Both of them were young, seemingly new recruits, but they answered to him readily after accepting command from General Harvey. They were indeed elite. Even his own soldiers, at first, were reluctant to take orders from him.

"We will set fire on a few spots," he said, pointing on the map given to him. He had been studying it these past hours, to reorganize the marching route for the Crimson Corps. The information from the scouts came in handily as they could pinpoint the enemy camp with certainty—elite soldiers' pride and surety that he believed in. The Princess wouldn't get out a useless trump card. "Do you understand?"