The Warrior Princess

Two

This is veronica's painting...

Chapter 2:

Callisto froze. She did not know what was happening. 'Gone?' She whispered. She sat on the bed and looked at the painting flabbergasted. She couldn't believe her own eyes. 'Callisto what are yo-,' the king began but stopped. He saw the painting in his daughter's hands. The painting of his dead wife.

Calli looked at the king with doubt. 'Is this true,' she calmly asked. The king looked at her with pain and regret in his eyes. 'Yes, my dear. Your mother is dead,' He replied with a shaky voice. This is the first time she heard her father's voice shake. 'Then why did you tell me that she left,' she asked with a small voice.

'She was taken by the assassins. We searched for her for years, but we never found her body,' he said with a heavy heart. Callisto was shocked. A bunch of people snatched the queen away and everybody searched? 'I have to go find her,' she whispered. The king panicked. 'Callisto, no. Your mother is dead and you have to accept it,' He said firmly.

'Accept it?' She screamed. 'She is my mother, your wife and a queen to this kingdom. How can you just accept that she is gone?' The king sighed. 'The group of assassins that took your mother are dead. Each and every one of them. But we never found your mother,' the king said with sadness in his eyes. 'I am going to find her, alive or dead,' Callisto declared.

'No,' the king screamed. 'I already lost your mother, I am not losing you too,' He said. Callisto's eyes started watering. Her head was spinning with the new found information. Her mother did not abandon her. She was taken away. Callisto quietly sobbed. The king heard her and made her sit on the bed. He gave her some water and tried soothing her.

'Go to your room and rest for a while Callisto. We will talk about this later,' the king suggested. Callisto just nodded. She slowly made her way to her chambers. She changed into her night gown and slept on her bed even though it wasn't night fall.

Somebody slowly moved her curtain and whispered her name. She did not reply. Elias opened the curtain further and walked inside. He saw Callisto laying on the bed with a lifeless expression. He looked at her with a sympathetic expression. 'You knew about mother?!,' she asked. He slowly nodded. Callisto hit him in the shoulder. 'You knew about her?' she screamed at him. He just nodded.

'I and father were worried about your reaction. So we never told you. I am sorry,' Elias said sadly. Callisto glared at him. 'When?' She questioned him. 'When, what?' Elias asked.' When did you know that mother was taken away?' She asked in a whisper. 'It was six years ago, when I was 14. I found out when Father and Eleanor were talking about it'.

Eleanor was Callisto's caretaker. After her mother disappeared, Eleanor took care of her as a mother. When Calli turned 18 she became a maid in the kitchen. But Calli never forgot her. 'Callisto, I have searched for our mother for 4 years. There was no trace of her. I think it is best to leave this matter,' Elias explained.

'I never said I want to go looking for her,' Callisto said while sniffling. 'It would have been nice to know that our mother did not abandon us.' Elias nodded and said,' I thought the same until I found out about her. I understand that you should know the truth but I and father were afraid that you would go hunting for her.' Callisto just nodded with a sad look in her eyes.

The brother and sister recalled their memories with their mother. They talked about her for a very long time. It was the perfect way to mourn her mysterious death. Elias noticed that Callisto's eyes started to droop. He kissed her on her forehead and left her chambers. Callisto seemed as if she was in a peaceful slumber.

Meanwhile the king had talked to Thales and his father Arthur. Thales and his family was dedicated to become slaves to the kingdom. 'I will make sure to keep an eye on the princess, my king, 'Arthur had assured him. But the king was paranoid. He had a feeling that something was wrong. Even Elias assured him that Callisto would not run off to find her mother.

The king sat on his bed trying to calm himself. But his conscience was eating him away. So he made his way to his daughter's chambers. He saw her sleeping peacefully. He sighed with relief and went back to his chambers. He fell asleep with the image of his sleeping daughter thinking that she would stay asleep until dawn. But that was not the case.

A few hours after her father visited her, Callisto was wide awake and pacing in her chambers. She lit a dim candle and was looking for information about the assassins. She had collected some information from the one she took on while she was saving the villagers. She was about to give this information to her father but she found her mother's painting.

According to her information, she has three places she could search for the assassins. But she knew she had to be discreet and gather more information if possible. She couldn't tell anybody about her little secret, not even Thales. She opened her mother's chest and looked at her things. She felt sad but she promised to herself that she wouldn't cry.

She went through all of her stuff. Her mother had lovely dresses and necklaces. While she was going through all of the stuff, she found a box with intricate designs on it. She had seen the box before but never bothered to open it. Now she felt bad that she ignored it. She slowly opened the box and found a chain similar to hers.

A blue crystal chain but it had faint black streaks in it. She wondered what it meant. Her mother had given her the blue chain on her 3rd birthday. She loved the chain and has worn it ever since. But she never noticed her mother having a similar chain. Her brain was filled with thoughts, questions and possibilities. It was giving her a headache.

She decided to rest for the night and wake up refreshed and ready for the day. After all, she has to pretend that she doesn't want to rescue her mother and hunt down all the assassins for taking her mother away from her.

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Here is next part. Hope you enjoy this.  Please don't be shy to comment on the story ....

-J