Jesika still couldn't believe this was happening as she waited for the last of the council-members to join her in the Main Hall of the castle. Her and Sir Reven had agreed that a meeting was highly needed, to discuss what to do about the escape of their most dangerous prisoner.
The last two members came in, Aquila and Darryn, and Jesika straightened in her chair as they found their spots.
"Thank you, council-members, for coming to this highly urgent meeting. And when I say highly urgent, I do mean very urgent. There has been a great breach in our security and safety. I will allow Sir Reven to tell you the specifics." She paused, turning to Sir Reven. "Sir Reven, if you will."
He nodded. "Of course, Your Majesty," he turned his attention to the rest of the council. "Yesterday morning, Queen Jesika Binet and I were heading to the deepest part of the prison to visit Audric of Grumor in his cell. Upon arriving there, we were deeply shocked to find that there was no sign of Audric in his cell, only a bloody message on the wall stating ominously 'Long Live The Queen." Sir Reven paused a moment, allowing the council-members to react to his words.
They all did so, with concerned mumbles and widened eyes. Darryn and Aquila's gazes shot straight towards Jesika. After a moment, Sir Reven cleared his throat in order to regain their attention.
"His prison cell door was closed, but unlocked. Leading us to believe someone somehow snuck in and got hold of the key, helping Audric escape. How anyone managed to do this unnoticed is beyond us. Nevertheless, that is the question we must answer later. The priority right now is finding Audric himself and returning him to his cell immediately. The question of how to do that is what the topic of this meeting is about."
"We are open to any questions or better yet, suggestions," Jesika added.
"Have you interrogated the prison guards?" Lady Bella asked.
Sir Reven nodded. "There was intense interrogation of the prison guards last night. We will continue to interrogate some of our knights in case any of them noticed anything or know anything. So far though, there has been no such luck."
"And you're sure the message on the wall was the only clue he left us?" Sir Derrick asked.
Jesika nodded. "There was a thorough search through the cell, but that was the only sign of clues to his whereabouts."
"What about the townspeople? Is it possible they might have noticed something suspicious?" Lady Karen said.
Darryn shook his head. "How would we even begin to interrogate so many people? Especially on the very unlikely chance that any of them know anything of value?" he argued.
"We can ask questions all we want, but we haven't gotten ONE good suggestion of what to do," Sir Reven said. He paused, turning to Jesika. "Your Majesty, what is your thoughts on the matter? You are queen, after all. What is it you would have us do? Whatever it is, I am sure I can speak for all of the council when I say we are ready to give aid in any way possible."
Jesika swallowed. She wasn't ready to be asked that question. She had really hoped she would hear more suggestions before being asked. She only had one idea and she didn't like it. Not one bit.
Sighing, she spoke:
"The way I see it, our only choice is for a few of us to go directly to Grumor to investigate. Where else would he go after successfully escaping, other than Grumor?"
Lady Bella frowned. "Into hiding somewhere perhaps?" she said.
Jesika shrugged. "Perhaps. But one of the places he would hide is Grumor. Other than that, we couldn't even begin to search for his hideaways. It wasn't until a few months ago we even knew he was connected to Grumor. At the least, if we investigate around Grumor, we might learn of some of those possible hiding spots."
