Her own way

Chapter 20

While Prince Joshua was waiting for Kate to wake from her deep slumber, King Thomas of Eardheorte sat in his study. His face was marred by a frown as he stared at the maps on the desk in front of him. Samuel and Jackson sat in the chairs in front of his desk, both looked weary from their travels.

"Tell me again where you lost the trail." Thomas commanded them, he was deeply troubled over the disappearance of the girl who quite probably is his niece. It had been a long and tiring mission for Samuel and Jackson, the trail they had been following into Rynemona turned cold after about two weeks. They had been able to trace the girl, to a town near the borders of the castle but from there it was impossible to tell. They had tried to ask around the area if anyone had seen her at all but at the mention of a lone female had the townsfolk keeping their mouths closed tighter than the locks on the castle vault. There had been few people around, market day had been and gone and the next wasn't for another few days at least so they could not be sure what happened next. Several people reacted rather suspiciously to the questions Jackson asked, shuffling their feet and refusing to make eye contact. Two men in particular stood out, one because of the guilty look in his eyes and the other due to a smirk that crossed his face when asked if there might have been somewhere she might have tried to stay.

Asking these people just seemed like a waste of time to Sam, there was so many other places to go searching and they still had to meet up with the rest of their men before deciding what to do. In the end the decision was taken out of their hands and they returned to Eardheorte with the knowledge that Kate was somewhere in Rynemona. It was not the most comforting thought but so much time had passed that it was getting more and more difficult to look for her.

King Thomas sighed as he slouched in his chair. There was a feeling of despair surrounding this whole situation but he did not want to give up hope yet. He needed to keep the possibility that this girl was indeed his niece in his mind in order to continue the hunt. Thoughts kept swirling in his head as he listened to Sam and Jackson recount their tale for the umpteenth time, ideas of what to do coming forward only to be discounted instantly. After the two men finished speaking, they sat back in their chairs to wait for Thomas to speak.

"I'm going to write to Raphael. It probably will do no good for us or the girl but if he has her, as I suspect he does, then we watch and wait for him to make a mistake." Thomas shook his head, already fearing the recklessness of this idea. "Eardheorte cannot afford a war right now, you cannot disagree with me on this Sam, you have not been here while the current recruits have been training. This is my fault for using so many of our skilled soldiers in the search for my niece. What we can do is return to Rynemona and prepare to mount a rescue once we know the situation."

"Am I right in thinking that you want us to go back to the citadel of Rynemona immediately?" Sam questioned, tiredness colouring his voice. Thomas looked at him and gave a small smile.

"Not for a few days my friend. As much as I want to jump into this right away we need to plan this properly, gather the right men and you two," Thomas pointed at both Sam and Jackson "need to rest up and gather yourselves for the next part in this journey. Spend time with your families. You deserve it."

The three men stood and shook hands, before going their separate ways. Jackson and Sam left the office in favour of their own beds for a nice relaxing sleep while Thomas stayed where he was and began looking at the maps once more. He was feeling pretty certain that it was Katrina and she was now trapped in a place he could not easily reach. From the few memories he had of her before she had been lost to his family, she was so much like her mother - impulsive and brave, never completely aware of the danger she could be getting into. A memory from long ago sprung to his mind. His sister, Princess Sarah had been young, about eleven summer's old and they were playing hide and seek around their parents castle. She had thought it was clever to climb up a tree, one place he would never have thought to look for her after she had gotten stuck collecting apples several years before. Needless to say she got stuck and had to call for help, Luckily Thomas had not been too far away looking for her and was able to get her down with little trouble. Sarah had always been determined, especially when it came to things she knew she shouldn't be doing but it never stopped her. Once her feet were firmly on the ground, Thomas told her off for climbing so high when she knew she wouldn't be able to get down and for making her fear of heights worse. Sarah still wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him mumbling 'thank you' causing Thomas to halt mid rant and just hold her tight before repeating the oath he made to her many times over the years: "I'll always be there for you Sarah, no matter what happens"

That promise was one he stuck to constantly over the years and Sarah needed him now more than ever. She was beginning to lose hope of ever finding her daughter, but Thomas would endure. Finding Katrina would fill the emptiness in her heart and bring life back to the kingdom and most of all, it would bring his family back together.

Standing, Thomas made his way out of his office to go looking for his sister. It was time he told her what had been going on over the last few months.

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A/n: This is a bit of a filler chapter, It had to happen at some point!  Bringing back King Thomas, Sam and Jackson... if you were wondering where they had gone in all the time that had passed well here you are.

Please comment etc, I like hearing from people... Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and have a good New Year :-)