❝The Good Leader❞

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Drew's Point

I sat at my desk going over some paperwork when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in" I said

"I'm sorry to disturb you" a servant said as he opened the door.

"What is it?" I asked making sure he could tell by my tone that I wasn't happy to be interrupted

"It's prince Nico" the servant said

I set the papers down and looked up at him now interested

"What about him?" I asked

"His horse came back riderless" The servant said.

"Did you inform the guards?" I asked

"No, I wanted to tell-" He started to say before I cut him off.

"What do I have you here for if you can't even do your job!?" I yelled at him and flinched

"There is one other thing" He said sounding a little scared to say what he was about to.

"What?" I asked snapping at him

"We found a crest from the country across the sea on his horse" He said and I picked upa book and threw it at him but he closed the door before it hit him.

"You sound mad" Luke said as he came in a back door.

"Seems like the boy has been kidnapped  by our enemy" I said

"That's awful" Luke said before we both smiled

"This makes our plan so much easier" I said

"Indeed, shall I send out a search party to keep up appearances?" Luke asked

"No, I want to go myself. And I want you there to help track him down" I said

"I see, this way people believe you truly love him" Luke said

"Yes, I do hope that we find him dead that way we don't have to do it ourselves to start the war" I said.

After gathering a few extra men we headed out to find my "beloved"

Luke was able to follow tracks all the way to the middle of the forest before he stopped and got off his horse

"It looks like he was taken off his horse and carried to the water, meaning the kidnappers probably took him on a ship. Looks like there were three of them" Luke said after looking around for a few minutes

"Go get our fastest ship ready to sail!" I ordered to one of the men

"Yes your highness" He said before riding off.

After getting the ship and getting it ready we headed off.

According to Luke we were about an hour behind the kidnappeder or kidnappers.

"If it is indeed our enemy who kidnapped the prince then they probably went to the Cliffs of Insanity" Luke said

"How far away are the cliffs?" I asked

"About a day" Luke said

"A day?! But he could be dead by then, isn't there anyway we can get there faster?" I asked in fake concern.

"I'm afraid not" Luke said

I waited impatiently all day pacing and unable to sleep once night came I just continued pacing in my room.

I wanted a war but I began to think, if my enemy was acting first without me knowing then how could I be sure I was safe? How could I know that they weren't going to send someone to kill me while I slept?

As the sun began to rise I heard someone shout

"Land ahead!" One of my men said and I walked out onto the deck and saw the cliffs

"Looks like there's more people then we thought" Luke said as he pointed out the two boats docked on the shoreline.

"How ever many there are we must try our best to bring the prince home safely" I said.

We docked next to the other ships and Luke put on a pair of shoes he had stolen from his father. He then grabbed a rope latter and flew up to the top of the cliffs and lowered the latter down for the rest of us.

"Everyone will stay on the ship until I make it up" I said to my men and they all nodded. Sometimes wearing a dress wasn't the best thing.

As I climbed up and reached the top Luke helped me over the edge.

"Find any clues?" I asked

"See those scuff marks?" Luke asked as he pointed at several points on the ground

"Yes, I see them" I said

"Judging by the look of them there was a duel here with two master swordsmen" Luke said

"Do you know how it ended?" I asked

"The one who lost seems to have run off alone, but it looks like the winner followed that set of footprints headed towards enemy lines" Luke said as my men started to come up.

"What do you want us to do? Would you like both swordsmen tracked?" Luke asked

"No, we must focus on finding the prince. We don't know when or if these people will plan to kill him" I said before turning to my men

"Be ready for anything, we must get the prince back at all costs" I said

"And remember, this could be a trap so be careful" Luke said

We followed the foot steps until Luke raised a hand to signal us to stop and got down to inspect footprints on the ground.

"The winner seemed to be following two people and I had guessed it was the kidnapper and the prince but look here" Luke said pointing at some of the footprints

"What is it?" I asked

"If you look closely you can see that there are suddenly three footprints one of which dosen't match the swordsmen or the kidnapper meaning there was most likely two kidnappers and one was carrying the prince" Luke said

"Was?" I asked

"Yes, there are slight scuffs here that tell me someone was standing while sifting there feet. I'm guessing one of them stopped to talk to the winner before they went back the way they had come and the winner followed the one with the prince" Luke said.

"So he was at least alive?" I asked with fake concern

"Yes, it seems like the other person couldn't carry him so they just walked" Luke said

"We need to hurry then" I said.

We continue on until we saw a man laying by a boulder

"Is he dead?" I asked as Luke walked up to him.

"Yes" Luke said before he looked around.

After a moment he picked up a small vial And smelled it.

"What is it?" I asked

"I smell nothing and the goblets show no signs of something being add which mean this has to be Iocane" Luke said

"Poison" I said

"Yes" Luke replied

"They better be ready to face the dire consequences if the prince dies" I said

"It seems like this was the original kidnapper and that the swordsmen took the prince and headed that way" Luke said pointing in the direction.

As we continue forward we got to a point were I saw the prince and some unknown person.

"There" I said pointing them out and as I did they disappeared down a hill.

"They must have seen us, they most likely went into the fire swamp." Luke said

"Then we will circle around and cut them off on the otherside" I said

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