The Frog Collector

Chapter Two Part 2/2

Without delay, he went to the king's chambers, ordered the guards at the door to go elsewhere. When he was alone, he knocked on the door of the room.

"It is I, Your Majesty", he said.

"You may come in", said the king.

Michael entered. The king saw that he was tense and worried and asked him:

"What happened?"

Michael didn't seem to know how to start talking, but finally he said:

"Your Majesty... the princess... found out".

The king was amazed.

"How?", he asked.

"She has just arrived saying that she has entered the forbidden forest and..."

"The forest? Weren't you watching them? How could you let this happen?", said the king raising his voice.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty. I accept the punishment! I Thought I'd leave you two alone on this important day. But James didn't show up and the princess went in there to look for him".

"Without warning?", asked the king with more amazement.

"Yes... When I saw that the princess was taking a long time I went after her and I could see her by the lake alone. So I ran to the palace and then she told me what happened".

"Has she talked to Mirian? Where is she?", asked the king in a rage.

"I don't know... She is resting now, she said she will talk to you tomorrow. I'm sure she'll tell you everything", said Michael, not wanting to tell you everything he heard.

The king sat down in an armchair and said nothing for a long time. Then he realized that Michael was still waiting.

"That's fine. You can go. Send messengers to the neighboring kingdom. We need to know what happened to James. Tell his parents if they don't know and start looking for him".

"What about my punishment?", asked Michael gloomily.

"I'll think about it later", said the king and remained focused.

Michael left the room. 

End of chapter two. Twelve to go.