New Vellarton #1- Cross the Kingdom

Prologue: 4 Years Earlier

 Ten children had been reported missing in the past month. No one knew what happened to them, or if the cases were somehow connected. All anyone seemed to agree on was the hard fact that there were ten missing children. Which meant that there were also ten families hoping that the king would take action, and find a way to bring them some closure.

 Unfortunately, many of King Matthew's closest advisors had told him that it probably wasn't worth spending too much time worrying about. There's more pressing issues at hand, they said. But were there really? Ten wasn't a really big number, they told him. They weren't necessarily wrong- ten missing kids wouldn't even put a dent in Totlova's population. Maybe his advisors were right, but Matthew didn't want to jump to that conclusion just yet.

 There had only been ten reported disappearances. Who knew how many had gone unreported? Hundreds? Maybe even thousands? He certainly hoped not, yet the possibility still lingered at the back of his mind. In a kingdom as large as Toltova, it was certainly possible.

 King Matthew looked down at the General's report that lay on the polished wooden table in front of him. Ten children. One month. According to the report, there seemed to be no apparent pattern to where the disappearances were happening. The most recent one had happened in Coral Bay, one of the southernmost cities of Toltova. The girl was fourteen- only a year older than Matthew's own son- and she went out to play with a friend but she never returned.

 Matthew's heart ached for the family. He could only imagine what they were going through. They said that losing a child was the worst thing a parent could experience. He was lucky to have a team of dedicated guards that kept his own son from getting into too much trouble, but of course not every family had that luxury. And in Coral Bay crime was always particularly rampant thanks to the pirates, who were most likely the cause of this girl's disappearance.

 Yet, the remaining nine disappearances happened in areas that spanned all across the country. Maybe pirates were the cause of this girl's disappearance, but they rarely ventured inland. He could pin this one on the pirates, but that still left nine unsolved cases. Nine families grieving for their missing kids, whose ages ranged from nine to seventeen. At least there was a pattern there. Matthew had no idea what it meant, but at least it was something.

 Matthew looked up at the General, who sat opposite of him. "This is all... rather troubling, to say the least."

 "I know it may look worrisome, Your Majesty," the General replied, "But we don't know much at the moment. We don't even know if the disappearances are linked to each other yet."

 "Then don't you think we should be looking into that?" The King pressed, leaning back into his chair.

 The General broke eye contact with the King, which told Matthew quite enough. A lot of his men tried to please him by just telling him what they thought he wanted to hear. Most times, it was harmless enough but Matthew wished they would just be honest with him. It was good to hear both sides of an argument because it helped him to know where everyone was coming from. He couldn't find a compromise if he only ever heard one end of the argument.

 "You're allowed to say no," Matthew reassured.

 "It's not that I disagree, Your Majesty," The General said, "But you should probably know, there's been rumours..."

 "Rumours that you didn't include in your report?" Matthew asked, tapping the papers that lay in front of him.

 "Well," The General pointed out, "They are just rumours. There's little credibility to them, if any."

 The General realized his error when he noticed the King's icy glare from across the table, and quickly added, "Next time I'll make sure to include that sort of thing. Very sorry, your Majesty."

 "Apology accepted," Matthew said flippantly. The General had piqued his interest at the mention of the rumours. Matthew was far more interested in that then an apology from the General that was likely insincere. He leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "So these rumours," King Matthew said, "Tell me about them."

 "Rumour goes that it's the Patrol that's behind these disappearances," The General explained.

 "Oh?" Matthew murmured, furrowing his brow. It may have just been a rumour, but if there was even a little bit of truth to it, he would need to get a handle on the issue before it spiralled out of control. Despite the fact that the Patrol had been abolished decades ago, people with powers still faced a lot of harassment and resentment from those who didn't. Everyone knew that this was just residue from the Patrol's fearsome reign, but no one ever said it.

 People wanted to believe that the Patrol wasn't an issue any longer, that there was peace in the kingdom and that there was no longer a divide in the population. Maybe things were better now than they were a few decades ago, but there was still a lot of room for improvement when it came to how people with powers were living. Matthew had tried to make it a priority to improve things for them, but there was only so much he could do. He could implement as many laws as he wanted, but there would always be people who would break them. It wasn't like he could just outright ban what people thought of other people. If only it were that simple.

 If there was even the smallest fraction of truth to this rumour then perhaps he could do something about it. It would be better to act on it now then to wait until the Patrol was rising to power once again.

 "I want you to look into this," Matthew said.

 "Yes, Your Majesty," The General said, but Matthew picked up on the slight edge of uncertainty that was in the General's voice.

 "You do understand how serious this could be if it turns out to be true," Matthew said.

 "But if it's not true then it's just a waste of resources," The General protested, "You really want me to send out our troops to look into some silly rumour?"

 Matthew let out an impatient huff. The General may have been in charge of the military, but at the end of the day he was still serving the King, whether he liked it or not. Matthew did try his best to be fair with all of the men and women that worked under him, but he drew the line at this kind of blatant disrespect. He couldn't afford to have people pushing him around and trying to pressure him into making a decision.

 "Do you know what will happen if I don't at least try to do anything about this?" Matthew asked, trying to hide his frustration. "People will come to me asking me why I'm allowing this to happen. Right now, we have ten missing kids and if you think I have any intentions of allowing that number to grow you are sorely mistaken, and have greatly underestimated me. These children are the future of this kingdom, and I will not stand by and just watch them go missing. What happens when it's our children who are going missing? You have children, don't you?"

 Matthew already knew that the General had two kids, a daughter and a son, who were twelve and nine respectively.

 "My children don't have powers though," The General said quickly, "The Patrol wouldn't come for them."

Matthew raised his eyebrows. "Ah, so now we know it's the Patrol?" He steepled his fingers, resting his wrists lightly on the edge of the table.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," The General said.

 Matthew shook his head. Like it would make a difference. Back in their prime, the Patrol would execute people who were only suspected to have powers, killing them off in brutal fashions often right in public before sprawling crowds. It didn't matter whether the General's children had powers or not. If the Patrol thought they did, they were as good as dead.

 "I want you to look into it," Matthew ordered, "Round up some of your best men, send them out, and do not question me further. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," The General said.

"Good," Matthew said firmly, "Go then. You're dismissed."

 The General stood up from his seat, bowing before he headed for the door, leaving Matthew alone. The King looked down at the report, still resting on the table in front of him. Ten missing kids. Matthew rubbed at his temples, silently hoping that the Patrol wasn't behind it. He wasn't going to be the one to let the entire kingdom fall to pieces again.