The Princess of Blue Star Castle

Chapter 6

Rick arrived at the prison in the village at the edge of the forest within a few hours. The early hours of midnight were dark, but there were some lights still lit, enough to see where he needed to go. Slippery Tom was key to the plan Eric had to keep the princess safe from the knights of her own kingdom. Slippery Tom was the right man to go to for information, spreading gossip or rumors, whatever it is he'll do it for the right price. He can talk his way out of any situation and slip out too, hence the name. If anyone can help with a dilemma it's him. He can do it, so long as no one else spoke to the contrary. His current imprisonment came about because of someone speaking out and proving what he had done before he had the chance to talk and slip out of his situation. He now will have a golden opportunity to escape with the help from the royal guard of Blue Star Castle.

"Psst! Tom! Slippery Tom!" Rick whispered from a hiding place.

"What? Who's there?" Tom whispered back from his window.

Rick crept closer to the window of the prison cell. "It's me, Rick."

"Rick! You old scoundrel you. What brings you here? A visit to an old friend?" Tom said, eager for some good news.

"I bring a message from Eric. He wants you to lead away the knights who will be coming this way in search of Princess Ivy," Rick replied.

"The Princess Ivy of Blue Star Castle?! I'm intrigued. Go on," Tom said excitedly.

"They'll be on their way here, quite possibly to ask if she has passed by, you need to tell them that she has and is gone on to the next city. That's all there is, and we'll pay you with the Princess' sapphire hair clip when you get back. And of course for this plan to work-"

"They won't get this information without getting me released first," Tom said, understanding the plan. "Let's just hope they are reasonable. Otherwise I'll be here for the full sentence."

Rick grasped his friend's arm in the fashion of shaking hands then left swiftly back to the City of Thieves. Tom sat back with a smile. A perfect way to get out of his prison, to lead the knights of Blue Star Castle on a wild goose hunt. Let's just hope this plan works or I'm going to be in deep trouble. If they ask that I join in the search then the plan will fail for not only me but for the others too, Tom thought. It would be dawn hours yet, and Tom needed to work on his story telling skills to lead the knights away. Usually he had kept up a good sleeping schedule, but tonight he would have to work on convincing trained knights that he saw a person who fits the princess' description leaving for the next city over.

Dawn was nearing the horizon. Leynard had been up for over a half hour getting ready to head out to the village. Again, speculation of said village of it being an actual city is yet to be determined. Currently no kingdom has claimed it as their own and therefore couldn't be called a city until then. Although it should rightly be called a town, but several arguments were made to define the difference between a town and village. Apparently since there was no wall and hardly any cobble roads it couldn't be a town or city. Mulling over these pointless thoughts as he prepared his own breakfast, Tylore and the tracker, Jones, woke up. "Wake the others," Leynard ordered as they stood to stretch. They did as commanded, though the others were sore from sleeping on the ground in their tents they knew what would happen should they disobey a direct order from their captain.

The small army gathered their things and prepared their own meals. The morning sun was now brightening the darkened forest, giving it a beauty that none of them had ever noticed before. The watchman had been asleep, but claimed for certain that it couldn't have been more than an hour and informed that nothing had happened in the meantime. Had anything gone awry he would have known, claiming himself to be a light sleeper and claiming that nothing would ever get past him while he was on watch. Aside from his obvious lie, Leynard let it slide this time.