The Princess of Blue Star Castle

Chapter 8

"What do you mean she never came this way?!" Bellowed Captain Leynard. They had just reached the neighboring kingdom, Fylorg, The High Order of the Fylorg Knights' general was speaking with him and had informed him the truth.

"Like I said, we never saw her. She never made contact if she has been here, or even is here. You know how large our kingdom is captain, it's nearly the same size as your own. We share the bordering Village of Antharan, still we can't decide who should have it, or to give to our other friend the-"

"Yes I know!" Leynard said annoyed. "I didn't come all this way for idle speaking, I came to find the princess! If she has come this way, who would know?"

"I am usually the first to know, if not the second in command, my captain. I have men all over keeping an eye for our enemy spies. I do know of course that our feud ended hundreds of years ago, but you never know when one of your allies is going to turn around and bite you again. That is how I came to know of your arrival," said the general.

Leynard sighed and shook his head. He should have known it was a false statement given to them by a petty criminal who said whatever he wished to be freed. Though the man had said the next city due north, the only "city" was the entire Fylorg Kingdom. They had been there all day in the surrounding cities, all three cities that were closest to Antharan. The General was a good man, known for always telling the truth to his allies. Though they had traveled to the center most city, the General would have known if the princess had come at all to any of the other cities. Leynard thanked the General for his time and turned to leave.

"Before you go, captain," the general said, causing Leynard to turn, "we haven't heard from any of you in the Blue Star Kingdom for over five months. Mind telling me why that is?"

"The king... unfortunately, has sided with the Morges. Personally the balakar would have been a better ally than the Morges, but you know how stupid my king could be."

"The Morges?" the general asked, starting to get red. "He sided with the ENEMY!?" At that point, the General's eyes were nearly popping out of his head, several neck veins were visible, and his face was entirely red. Leynard was certain the man would catch fire at any second.

"Like I said," Leynard continued, "the balakar would have been the better choice. He really isn't himself."

"You got that right!" the General said, now standing to get some water from the barrel next to him. The color was slowly returning, but his face was still red it looked like he had been out in the western deserts for a month without protection from the sun. After swallowing the water he continued, "I should really like to have an ale right now, but I swore off the stuff. I realized how bad it was for my health. At this age, anything, even a breeze, could kill me. So... the Morges," The General continued, sitting down again.

"Once more, not the best decision he's made. Never has made a good one since his wife Aveline died," Leynard replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find our Princess. She has the star and if we don't have it back by next month, the Morges will kill us all."

"You'll not have to worry about that," the General said, looking at Leynard with a little less red in his face, "we have a month, like you explained earlier before that ceremony. I was going to ask about what kind of ceremony but now it's all clear. So there is still time. But this is between you and me. No need to get your king involved. My king on the other hand, he will not stand idly by to watch an ally get destroyed because of a foolish choice."

"I knew that you'd say that. That's another reason I'm here, I would have come later if not for the circumstances."

"See you in a month friend."