The Messenger...

The messenger rode the horse faster as he drew closer to the castle. The fear of delivery the message late gripped him.

As he rode closer, the gates opened and four guards stopped him.

“Who are you?” One of them asked, rudely.

“I have message for your king. Inform him that Emperor Aldrich sent me” the messenger answered.

From the looks on their faces, he could tell that the name of the Emperor scared him. Quickly, they made a way for him.

The messenger came down from the horse and the stable man held the rope of the horse.

He walked in to the castle with another guard, who led the way.

The king was comfortably sitting on his throne when the messenger entered the room.

“Antonio?” The king stood up immediately. His eyes darted towards the woman who was sitting beside her. She looked at him. “What brought you to the Siage?”

“Greetings your highness” He bowed deeply. “ The Emperor sent you a message”

The king took a deep breath and looked at the scroll Antonio was holding. What was the Emperor requesting again? He took lands, slaves , gold’s , silver and diamonds living the kingdom with nothing.

“Read it out” The king commanded. He knew that the message was a request for something of valve but what was it this time?

Antonio opened the scroll and started reading the content of the letter. He was half way when the king stumbled and fell down. His wife who was panicking at the beginning, shouted.

Antonio closed the scroll and called the guards in to the room. Together with the queen , the king was taken to his Chambers. There , a medicine man came to treat him.

“What is wrong with my husband?” The queen asked with tears rolling down cheeks. If anything happens to her husband then the kingdom would lose everything to the emperor and his cruel son.

“He had a heart failure” The physician answered, pouring the Herb’s water in to the jar, he was holding.

“What?” A voice asked from door A woman in her early twenties walked in to the room. She had a crown in her hand.

“Annabelle…” The queen called her first daughter. She broke in to tears when she came closer.

“Mother stopped crying please” princess Annabelle hugged her mother tightly. She came as soon as she heard the news. In order to stop the news from getting to her sisters, She told the guards to seal their lips or face death.

“Where are your sisters?” The queen asked, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She didn’t want her daughters to know what has befallen the kingdom.

“I took them to the garden. They don’t have an idea of what is going on, mother.”

The queen was impressed that Annabelle could handle such a situation wisely. “Thank you, my daughter” she kissed her forehead.

When the physician was done treating the king , he stood up and said “ The king will recover by tomorrow, my queen.”

The queen and her daughter clapped their hands together as they prayed to God. The news of him recovery again lighten their mood.

“But , there still chances for this to happen again.  Please don’t allow such news around him again.”

“What news mother?” Princess Annabelle wondered. Her father was a strong warrior. For a message to affect him this was then the content was dangerous.

**

In the garden.

“Rania” she heard little Arya called. She was trying to catch up with her but Princess Rania did not stop. The race had a finish line and they must reach there. Someone must will.

Isabel , Rania's immediate elder sister was the games’ referee and judge “Come on, Arya. You can do it.”

Princess Rania looked back with a smile. Arya was behind her. She has grown with in this short time.

“Stop it Rania” Arya screamed as she dropped to the floor. Her elder sister was too good at everything. When it came to dancing, painting, riding, drumming and singing. She was just too much.

Princess Rania went to help Arya, who was annoyed “Forgive me, my sweet sister, this is a game.”

She helped her to stand on  her feet again “everywhere is quiet, where is Annabelle?”

Isabel turned around and noticed that their elder sister was missing. But how come? When did she leave??

“Let’s go back to the castle. Something must have happened” She told them.

They all went back to the castle. On their way to the king’s room, they met a man. A strange man. Princess Rania recognized him immediately. He was the man that worked for the Emperor’s first son, prince Alaric. But what was he doing here?

“Greetings” She said, as the man tried to hide his face. “The messenger from the capital right?”

Antonio knew that there was no way he could hide away from princess Rania. He removed the hood off his head and bowed “Princess of Beauty, I am honored to meet you , again.”

She smiled and asked “where is prince Alaric? Didn’t he come?”

Last year , during her seventeenth birthday. The king invited the Emperor’s sons but only prince Alaric attended the party. The second son turned down their offer. It’s was humiliating and annoying. But the presence of Alaric made the party lively.

He danced with her all night. To make things interesting, they even kissed that night. The young prince promised to come back and asked for her hand in marriage. Seeing his messenger here, solved one of the misery , she was going through…