Broken Royals

Chapter Three: And So It Begins

The next morning, Erin rose bright and early like she normally does for her regular morning workouts, however, this time without her much loved sword. Once she had finished, a sudden idea came to mind. Back at the castle there weren't many tv's, but here, there was one, glaring at Erin right in the face. She fumbled pillows and other items on the couch trying to find the remote, eventually she managed to press the big red button with the power icon which was painted white.

"Gooood morning! Today is Sunday the 3rd of May, all is well in the kingdom of Elming, don't you agree Sandra?" The News Presenter spoke.

"Yes Andrew, yes it is. Although, it might be happy-go-lucky here, things aren't going so well in the motherland." The female responded, "Ethar's royals have had no communication with the rest of the country for over two years now. I mean, it's awfully long for our head royals to be out of service,"

"Riiight, but then it begs the question, what happened to the country's most powerful royals? All that and more, stay tuned" The male presenter announced.

Erin sunk deep into the couch, the real gravity and importance of the situation was now setting in. She tried to shake it off, pulling herself off the couch and into the kitchen. As she opened the fridge, faint footsteps could be heard from the other side of the wall. Instinctively, she reached for the place on her hip, the same place where her trusty sword would be. But alas it wasn't there. The footsteps got louder which could only mean one thing, whatever it was, was getting closer. The tension in the air was high and the footsteps filled the room until a familiar face popped around the corner.

"Uhm, good morning to you too Erin," The Advisor awkwardly greeted, the princess was standing in the ox guard position, aggressively holding an empty bottle of juice as a sword.

"You scared me," Erin pouted, she continued to put the empty juice box on the counter. However, the sound of the TV caught the attention of The Advisor.

"Yeah Sandra, as far as we know the only royal that has been in the limelight is Her Royal Highness, Princess Erin. Why don't we get one of our lucky audience members to give us their opinion. Audience member?" The News Presenter filled the silence in the room.

The TV cut to a woman walking up onto the news stage as images of Erin and her family were displayed in the background. The woman took her seat and began to give her argument,

"I don't mean to be a downer, but way back when Her Royal Highness, Princess Erin's parents got married, the amount of controversies over Queen Beatrice and how she seduced our Head King or how the King made the bloodline impure, I mean, I wouldn't put it past senior Ethar Royals to possibly deal with them-"

The Advisor had reached for the remote and shut off the TV. Their eyes slowly drifted back to Erin, her eyes told the true realisation she had, revealing how her deep heart sank in her chest. The Advisor had to think quickly otherwise they would get nowhere.

"Erin sweetie, do you mind going to get the mail, after that...we need to start formulating a plan, remember?" Their voice echoed within the empty space.

"Oh, right! Sure," Erin chirped up, as if a switch had been flipped and whatever emotion she was feeling before magically disappeared. She quickly left the house and when she returned she had already started to shuffle through the various mail and magazines.

"Not for me, a flyer for Bee, Bee-uhs, Bea's space themed jump and bounce and finally..." Erin sorted, dropping things on the table when she finished reading them out. "Huh?" she continued.

"What is it?" The Advisor asked as they took a sip of black coffee.

"It's hard to make out, there's like two different addresses on her- oh maybe it was re-mailed to here but..." Erin began as she opened the envelope, "What the- this letter is from Aiden?"

"HEH? Let me see that." The Advisor shot up from their seat in shock before moving to peer over Erin's shoulder.

"Something... mmmm.... 'Capturing one of them'? Aiden's been kidnapped!" Erin read out in horror.

"So, he wasn't just an idiot and got himself lost, he got himself kidnapped." The Advisor joked, Erin gave no response and continued to read.

"Saw the palace... Elming.. signed, Edward." Erin finished, placing down the letter in absolute shock.

"How is it from Aiden? It's clearly signed as Ed- oh...that's one of his middle names isn't it.." The Advisor realised, Erin just stared blankly back at the letter. "So what does this mean?" They continued,

Erin didn't respond, the more she looked at the actual message the more confused she became. Why would Aiden send a message two years late? "Hang on, maybe. That's it!" Erin suddenly exclaimed.

"What's it?" The Advisor pondered, their expression growing more confused as time went on,

"Well, the kidnappers would probably monitor what he would be doing. Maybe they finally gave him something to write with. Erin answered her own question, that of which she never mentioned.

"Well, we should find out exactly where this came from, I'll start on a letter to the Formal Advisor. Give him an update." The Advisor mentioned, pulling out pieces of paper and a pen.

~~~

"OKAY, I THINK I KNOW WHERE IT'S COME FROM AND WHAT TO DO!" Erin called out, as The Advisor moved to hover over Erin and her notes about the letter.

"Well, after some back checking, The letter comes from around the bakery area in the most famous market in Elming. There's small amounts of flour scattered over the paper. However, these kidnappers aren't good at their job, the logo of the bakery is on the back of the envelope. Dan & Mike's Bakery." Erin stated proudly after she racked her brain to trace her brother..

"I wonder if they're feeding him. But they would've had to, the human body can't live two years without food." Erin noted to herself.

"Prince Aiden has the power of Creation right?" The Advisor questioned,

"Correct" Erin responded, not even looking up from her notepad.

"Well, you can destroy and kill things, what's to say he did keep himself alive even if on the verge of death?" The Advisor added. If their theory was true it would be a terrifying fact, if it wasn't there is always the fact that Aiden might not have survived and this letter was of courtesy since his death. Either way, both outcomes were scary to Erin.

"Well, anyway, I say we get a S.W.A.T team to find him. But not without warning though, I'll write to the Elming courts to try and attempt to organise it." Erin informed The Advisor.

For the rest of the day she and her advisor would continue to build up on the plan. However, after The Advisors' theory about Aiden possibly living on the verge of death. Erin had been radio silent even as she wrote her own letter to the formal advisor back home. Eventually Erin's gaze drifted towards the digital clock mounted on the wall, the time read '11:27am'.