Mortimer, Mortimer (On Hold)

Chapter Three

That wretched sound had awoken me. The sound of a blackbird calling. I held my hands over my ears and moaned, waiting for the nightmare to leave. I heard it again, this time it being muffled, as though it were coming from the outside world and not my head. I looked up, the window open, and a blackbird with a shimmery breast was perching there to my surprise. I scrambled out of the bed and threw Warric's cloak from the floor and around my shoulders. I ran to the window, attempting to grab the bird. I shooed it inside the palace, realizing it had a crippled foot and a broken wing. Something about the bird just made me know it was a Warlock in disguise. I began to chase it through the castle, screaming at it. Too slow to run and to quick for me to catch, we floundered down the stairwell and into the main area of the castle where several of the Royal Staff stared at me.

"Get that blasted bird!" I yelled. "Get it!" I ran after it, clothed in nothing but my skimpy nightdress and Warric's cloak, to the outside. I chased the bird through the garden and into courtyard, where several of the guards were running with me to catch the bird. It limped and flopped quickly to the gates where the two officer guards await to greet any visitors or carriages stood.

"Oi! Grab that bird! Don't let it go!" I yelled at the two officer guards. They grabbed up the bird who had gotten its foot caught on the threshold of the main gate. I ran as fast as I could to the guard, grabbed the scrawny crow from his arms and tackled the bird to the ground. I smacked it on the wing that appeared broken. "I know it's you, Erwin! Show thyself or I'll wring thy neck!" I yelled, crouched over a bird, now placing my hands on its feathery neck. It squawked. "I'll give you until the count of three." I said, tightening my grip. "One, Two-" just as I was beginning to feel like an idiot for threatening an animal, the bird grew large and began to transform. It's black feathers changed into pale rubbery skin, appearing more and more human with every second.

"Got you!" I yelled in anger. The Warlock's face became clear, only to my dismay, the man the bird had transformed into was not Stilskin. "Oh?" I asked. I began to apologize as The scrawny little teenage boy I was sitting on top of went into a hacking fit, given I just started to choke the poor lad, then I came to the realization that he was spying on the Royals, despite who he was. "Who are you?" I yelled, placing my hands back on the boy's throat.

The boy coughed.
"Please," he said in a weak voice, "Your Highness, lemme go," he hacked on.

"Guards!" I yelled. "Take him to the dungeon. I'll question him in a moment."

...

"Olathe, What are you talking about?" Warric said as we fumbled down the stairs. "Did you, or did you not find Stilskin?"  I stopped him and turned in his direction, mid-step, facing him on the crowded stairwell.

"No, but I found a Warlock, I think, a sorcerer maybe, that has his same abilities." I said. "Maybe he'll lead us there."

"Where?" Warric asked, as I tugged him down the staircase.

"Fallore."

We made it to the bottom and ran into the room we had prepared for Erwin if we could summon him. Adelaide, The Sorceress, Two Guards, and our advisor, Julius were all standing there with the gangly little teenage boy chained to the wall. Hey s broken limbs were dangling limply.

"Lemme go! Lemm-" he hushed when he saw us, bowing his head a little.
"Your highnesses, I am truly sorry, I have urgent information-"

"Silence." Warric said firmly, hushing the boy. Queen Olathe Mortimer is going to ask you a few questions, and you are going to answer her. Do you understand me?" He barked. The boy nodded. "Good." He said. "Olathe."