The Legend Of The Five Queens : Arabella's tale

Chapter 16

The moonlight shines upon the world as Arabella and her men arrive at the border of King Alucards' kingdom. The kingdom is not as glamorous as King Dracons' was but it is almost as impressive. Alucard has guards stationed at the towers watching over the kingdom. His guards seem to have a more advanced artillery unit. King Alucard is trying to keep up with the race for the advancement of technology to win the war. The rumor is that his people are building a secret weapon deep within the kingdom.
If Arabella's dad is here, he is probably trying to get his hands on this new weapon as it would greatly benefit his kingdom. Arabella hopes to herself that he is here. She does not want to have to continue traveling from kingdom to kingdom looking for him.
Severus sighs at the sight of the castle and guards.
"So, are we going to try to sneak in like before? Or are we doing something different?" Severus asks as he analyzes the castle grounds. Arabella stays silent for a moment as she ponders about her decision.
   "I say we go in like last time. I'm not worried about King Alucard finding us. I will talk to him as I did the last King. Let's just hope that this conversation goes better," she tells him. Arabella looks back at the two other knights. They nod and ride off to find a hiding spot. Severus sighs quietly to himself and cracks a semi-smile.
"Okay, let us do this and hope for the best," Severus puts on a thin brown robe and throws on his hood. The two of them head towards the castle.
   The castle grounds are not as populated as they thought they would be. Most of the residents stand in groups around large buckets of fire. A breeze of wind flows through the chair bringing a chill to those who were not standing close to the flames. Arabella keeps an eye on the castle guards as they walk around with their swords at the ready.
Arabella's confidence slowly drops as they see no signs of her father. He may be inside of the castle, assuming he is here.
They walk around the kingdom inspecting every face that they see.
"Now that I think about it if my father is here he would be surrounded by those who are of royal blood. All of these people appear to be that of common folk," Arabella whispers to Severus. As they carefully sneak between the groups of people without drawing attention to themselves.
"Maybe, if we eavesdrop we may have a chance to figure out where he is," Arabella tries to listen to specific conversations for more information.
   "Can you believe that Gabriella has been in love with a blacksmith this whole time? I would have never seen that coming,"  One of the civilians says to another. Another group of people laughs amongst each other.
   "Talon managed to find a treasure of that ship that tried to pass through the Death Sea a few months ago. Now we have so much money that I do not think we will ever have to worry about anything ever again! It is truly wonderful!" A blond woman with thick curly hair and an obnoxiously big dress. All of the other conversations seem to be about people's personal life, nothing very interesting.
"Did anyone hear about that king that was here all those years ago? I wonder whatever happened to him, he was rather handsome if I do say so myself," This comment catches Arabella's attention. Her eyes widen as her heartbeat increases dramatically.
"She has to be talking about him! Finally, someone who may know what happened to my father," Arabella thinks to herself and she rushes over to the lady. She quickly makes her way over to the lady.
"You know about what happened to King Destwan? Where has he been?" She frantically asks the lady. The lady laughs at her questions.
"Oh, King Destwan was here about 6 years ago. The rumors claim that he was here to ally. Some believe that he may still be here as a common man possibly even a poor man," the woman explains as she takes a sip from her goblet.
Arabella's eyes remain wide open as she steps back from the lady. The world around her becomes nothing but random muffled noises as time appears to slow down. Her heart stops as she processes the information that she just hears. Her father a common man? That would explain why no one knows where he is. He is simply hiding in plain sight. But why? What did he do that makes him feel the need to go into hiding?
"Arabella, what is wrong?" Severus asks as he grabs her shoulders. Arabella's mind stays in a haze of thoughts as her head spins. Her mind goes back to reality as Severus gives her a hard shake. Her eyes slowly meet Severus's eyes before she whispers, "He's here possibly living like a common man or even a poor man," Severus's expression quickly changes to confusion.
"But, I do not understand, why would he do such a thing? This does not make any sense," He looks around them inspecting the people around them.
"I do not know why he would do such a thing but now I am more eager to find him," she backs away from Severus and starts walking away from him. Her legs frantically carry her through the groups of people.
"Arabella slow down please, we do not know why your father possibly demoted himself from King," Severus shouts as he pulls Arabella's arm back. She quickly turns around and pulls her arm from him.
"Severus, I am not afraid of what he has become. After all of these years, all I want to do is just find him. I do not care if he is a poor man living on the street or even a slave at this point. Now keep your voice down before people become suspicious of us," Arabella tries to keep her voice low even as the anger within her begins to build. She takes a long deep breath and continues to look at every single face she can see. Severus looks around them as he tries to identify King Destwan's face.
"I do not even know what he looks like nowadays. It is possible that he could have completely changed his appearance," Severus mutters as he looks around.
Arabella notices a man standing at a table appearing to be buying a loaf of bread across from where she is standing. She takes note of his thick strangely black beard and his frizzy long hair. The man seems so familiar yet she can't figure out who he is. That is until the two of them make eye contact. At that moment it had become very clear who the man was. After this long journey, she had finally found him-her father.
The world around her goes quiet as all of her focus goes onto her father. She can faintly hear Severus calling her name. Her father quickly throws down the loaf of bread and starts running away from Arabella. She quickly bolts towards her father to try to catch up with him. This takes Severus off guard. He begins to follow her as well.
"Stay back Severus! I must do this alone!" Arabella shouts behind her. Severus does as told and sighs loudly to himself. King Destwan pushes past several groups of people even moving tables out of his way. Arabella quickly jumps off the debris in her way and gets through the confused crowd of people. She manages to chase him to an empty barn at the edge of the castle grounds.
If she can trap him here then she can finally get her answers. She struggles to keep her anxiety under control as she comes closer to him. It is time to confront him and get the answers that she seeks.