The Prince of Thius

Chapter 4

Thus the next few weeks went. They ran every morning, different courses, and longer distances but run they did. Lavender, as uninterested as she still looked, was a slave driver. She pushed them hard. Their classes got increasingly harder and Alexander struggled to keep up with lessons but he did better than most, achieving some of the highest marks. Afternoon training polished them off every day. Haman boasted himself as the best swordsman in their year. His attitude soon clashed with Alexander on more than one occasion earning them both punishments. If they didn't know better they would have sworn that Haman and Tahlia were born from the same devil seed. Tahlia seemed a whole lot smarter though. She stood on the line between nice and downright mean in most people's eyes. A talent that she had perfected.

Selena had all but forgotten about the prince in her care. Things were escalating fast and soon she would have to send out troops to assist the king. She often hated doing so knowing that many of them would meet their deaths.

"Selena we have a problem," Christophe said gruffly as he strode into her office swiftly. She looked at him and motioned for him to continue. "Doran has gone missing."

"What do you mean missing?" she asked slowly.

"He disappeared."

"Was he sent out on and errand and can be presumed dead? Is that what you meant?"

"No ma'am. I mean he is gone, no explanation," Christophe answered. Selena's eyebrows knitted together as she frowned. She had had Legionnaires captured, gone missing in a mission and been killed but no Legionnaire had ever just disappeared into thin air. Their recruitment process was in place to ensure a low percentage of possible desertion. Even with desertion there was always a clue.

"Definitely a major problem," Selena said and Christophe nodded in agreement. Where had the man gone?

Alexander had finally fallen asleep on his bed when he felt himself being shaken. He was tired and cranky.

"Alexander, come on you got to wake up," Kaleb yelled frantically. Alexander rose scowling, his eyes still halfway closed.

"What's going on," he groggily asked. He could barely keep his temper in check.

"Attack!" Alexander's eyes widened right away and he jumped up. He dressed and both he and Kaleb opened their room door just to come face to face with chaos. Recruits from different years ran through the halls, practically running over one another.

"Kaleb, Kaleb!" Alexander heard Katherine scream. They looked around to her but to no avail until she attacked Kaleb with a hug from behind. Landon was with her as well.

"Anyone knows what's going on," Landon asked as the joined the other recruits moving down the hall at a frantic pace.

"Not at all, I just heard the news from Elena who was waking us all up. Recruits are to report to the stables and get their mounts," Katherine replied.

"How would anyone even find this place, wasn't it supposed to be like hidden or something? We don't even know where in the hell we are," Alexander said, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Nobody answered him but they were all thinking the same thing. Someone had leaked their whereabouts to an enemy. They pushed through the halls until they were outside. The four of them froze in fear, fire was everywhere, and they could see carnage all around them.

"What are you people just standing there for?" shouted Lavender when she spotted them. "Get to the stables!" This was the most energetic they had ever seen the woman.

Snapping out of their frozen state they ran to the stables as fast as possible. Landon, Kaleb and Katherine all mounted their horses but Alexander's was nowhere to be found. He searched frantically for the stallion.