Place the Blame

Part 4

    The ride to Blacksmith James's was short and sweet. When we arrived, only the blacksmith's apprentice was there, and he was leaving. He invited us in, along with the guards, and told us that Blacksmith James would be back in a few minutes. It only took him a few minutes for him to pack up, and leave. When he was gone we all split up to look for the sword and battle plans. The guards didn't quite know why they were looking for a sword, but they followed Princess Sofia's orders without much question.

    "While we are here, do you think that we can find the battle plans?" Sofia asked.

    "I don't know princess, at the moment, I think that we should just focus on all evidence we can find."

    Sofia looked at me, then shrugged. "Good idea."

    We split apart then and started looking. We had been searching for what seemed like hours (only a few minutes) when a guard, the one who had helped me off of my horse, bumped into a cart and knocked the contents to the floor. He yelped. Everyone turned to look at him.

    "What are you so scared of?" A tall and burly man said, smirking.

    "Na-na-nothing," the soldier replied. I looked over to Sofia, but her attention wasn't on the guards brawl. It was on the floor where she was crawling around trying to find something.

    "What are you doing princess?" I hissed. "The guards should not see you like this!"

    "That is why the guards are brawling, I told them to. Now everyone's attention will be on the brawl while I find this stupid hidden room." Sofia scurried around for a few more seconds before flipping up a mat to find a trap door. Sofia squeaked in excitement.

    She turned back to the guards, and barked one order. "Guards, go down into the room below, and find the sword."

    Everyone looked around in confusion.

    "Sorry your majesty, but we don't see a trap door."

    Sofia gave them a glare. "Right there!" she barked pointing towards the door. The guards looked at each other, shrugged, then filed three of their own down into the darkness.

    Everyone waited in suspense. I turned away. This was too much. I started walking towards a window. I was halfway there when I kicked an object. I looked down to find a trash can, and in the spilling contents a few pieces of royal parchment. I quickly picked them up.

    "Sofia! Look at this!"

    Sofia came running over with a look of panic in her eyes.

    "What is it?" I showed her the pieces of parchment. Her eyes went wide. "The stolen battle plans! Now we know it was Blacksmith James who did it! I frowned, then put one hand further into the basket. I was rewarded with a section of royal parchment that was written on. There were several orders the King had written but not actually given, but that was not it, a corner of the parchment was torn off.

    "Sofia!" I squeaked.

    Sofia actually laughed. "We found the other half of the parchment!"

    Sofia then turned back to the rest of the room. The guards were just emerging from the cellar. They all looked groggy, and confused. The last guard exited the cellar. We all held our breath as the guard unwrapped the object.

    Everyone gasped as they saw the sword. Then all eyes turned to Sofia and I. I shrunk behind Sofia, and Sofia stood up strong and tall.

    "Thanks to you, we now know who stole Father's sword and battle plans. You now have permission to arrest Blacksmith James for treason and theft!"

    All the guards hardened at these words. They turned toward the door, then back to their leader. The guards chattered for a bit, then split up. Two guards positioned themselves by the doors. Another one at each of the windows, and finally three guards surrounded Sofia and I. The mat was put back over the trap door, and everyone settled down to wait.

    It only took a few more minutes before Blacksmith James came strolling in whistling the tone of some unknown song.

    The blacksmith entered the room he had a huge smile on his face, and he was holding a few pieces of royal parchment. As soon as he looked up, he stopped whistling his joyful tone, and his face went pale.

    Sofia didn't waste time.

    "Blacksmith James, you are under arrest for theft of the king's sword, theft of the kingdom's battle plans, and treason against the mighty kingdom of England!" Sofia ended with a little huff.

    The blacksmith stood there for a moment in the doorway before the man turned tail and ran. The two guards by the door took of after them. All the other guards filed out of the room, and ran after the criminal.

    "What should we do Princess?" I asked.

    "Follow them!" Sofia shouted back as she sprinted out the door.

    I had exited the room, and blinked back the blinding sun. My eyes cleared, and I saw the last guard trample around the corner after the crook.

    Sofia hopped onto the waiting, and snorting, steed. She kicked into the sides of her horse and galloped off. I looked at my horse then scrambled on top of the whinnying horse and galloped after Sofia.

    By the time that I had caught up to Sofia there was nothing left to do but ride up to Sofia and stand slightly behind her. The guards had forced Blacksmith James to his knees.

    "Take him to the King," Sofia said with disgust in her voice.

    Blacksmith James snarled.

    "France will win this war you know! The King doesn't have his sword, and now he doesn't have his battle plans. I stole that sword, and accidentally took his old battle plans the first time, but now he doesn't have his present battle plans!" Blacksmith James screamed. The blacksmith then looked down at his hands that had the royal parchment and ripped them up. "I was loyal to England, until I found out that the King killed my father... My loving father..." Blacksmith James broke down into tears. We waited a minute for him to compose himself. "I hope France wins this bloody war. They deserve to!" Sofia then motioned to one of the guards and the snarling man was soon gaged.

    "Blacksmith James. I am truly sorry that your father died due to the King, but that is not an excuse for treason," Sofia sighed. "Take him away." The blacksmith cursed and shouted at Sofia and I, and she seemed sad, but we paid him no attention.

    "That was one way to find a criminal," I said, half to myself, then turned to Princess Sofia and whispered. "Princess, let's get back before your father finds out that we did this." Sofia nodded to the remaining guards, who gathered around her. She commanded them to keep silent about her capturing the blacksmith and told them they could take all the credit for it, then we trotted off in the direction of the castle.

Chapter Question: Was this expected? Tell me in the comments. I thought it was expected, but the assignment we did could only have five parts, so we couldn't add really any complications...

Vote and Comment! Thanks for reading!