The Princess of Blue Star Castle

Chapter 3

The tracker led the knights to the river, pointing in the general area of where he smelled the smoke coming from. The others could now smell the smoke but they still doubted it was a campfire made by the princess. Six corpses of the balakar were visible, one was a little 'riper' than the others. The stench was less than that for all six to have died at the same time. Clearly it wasn't the princess's doing, she couldn't possibly kill all of those creatures. It was possible someone else had weakened them prior to her finishing them off.

"It's not possible," Leynard finally said, "she couldn't have crossed the river. The princess knows not to cross to the side of the balakars."

"True, but the nearest village out of the forest is on the other side of the river. She may have made it there," said the tracker.

"I doubt it. Not if we've searched high and low already. And there's still a chance the campfire was hers. Just to be safe though, we'll cross the river to search. Just pray we don't meet with any more of the balakars. I shudder to think of what those creatures can do to us... and her."

The soldiers crossed the river. The dead balakars each had cuts that were scarred, signs that they were a few days old, and, fresh blood flowed out of their bodies from newer wounds. Each deadly blow was in the mid-section or chest of the creatures and other wounds were on their lower arms and some on their legs. Observing the creatures suggested a small, or shorter, person killed them. The bigger surprise was the stab wound that one of the balakar suffered in the throat. But it was clear this was a shorter version of the creatures, an adolescent of sorts perhaps? Leynard doubted that the princess could have done any of this, yet it was clear that it could only have been her. The tracker also found foot prints. Both human bare feet and prints about the same size with boot marks.

"Not to be the bearer of bad news captain, but I think that these are the princess' prints," the tracker said, still studying what was left behind.

"Why would she take her boots off? That doesn't make any sense," replied Leynard.

"She could have cooled her feet off after fighting these creatures. Judging by the cuts and stab wounds, she being around five feet tall and the balakar who range from six to seven full grown, I'd say she handled herself well," observed the tracker.

"I should have known that's why she wanted to learn how to use a sword. She told me she wanted to know how to defend herself should the need arise. And she did, from the looks of things. But she had help. Whoever dealt the older wounds clearly was a skilled swordsman. Also the balakar with a riper stench has a trail behind it that leads further into the forest."

"Yes, some of our men have followed those marks and should be back any second," remarked the tracker before his captain could reprimand him for not noticing something so obvious.

The timing couldn't be better, ten of the thirty returned from following the drag mark. The first who approached the captain was the youngest who was striving to be the best amongst them. "Captain, there's remains of a small campsite a little ways into the forest. It appears the princess was with someone else, two sets of hoof prints along with larger feet of a person were found along with hers."

"Good work Tylore. They can't have gotten far from us. We'll break for lunch here, but we continue once we're well fed and full. No later than that, so rest up and eat now if you want to avoid the punishment of disobeying direct orders," Leynard said, reminding his men of consequences.

The soldiers went to work on their quick meals. Although Captain Leynard had said they wouldn't eat until they found her, he also knew that moving on without any nourishment would only slow them down. Leynard hoped it was one of the villagers from the other side of the forest who had helped her. The tales of bandits who did unspeakable things to young women who ventured too far from their homes was gnawing at him. He desired very much to get her back safe and sound. The captain sat and ate the bread and dried meat he had packed for a meal, still thinking and hoping they would find the princess soon and bring her back safely to the castle.