Chapter 15

Crimson blew a huge sigh of relief. The timer for synchronization had not changed. There were still a few minutes until it finished, might as well use that time for some more training.

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The castle hallways were laid out in a confusing pattern in an effort to prevent any intruders from finding locations or people of tactical importance. All the hallways were enchanted with the spell [Lost Forest].

[Lost Forest] added to the defenses to make it even more confusing to any invaders. It reproduced the effect of getting lost in a forest. It is a simple, but effective defense that makes it difficult for an assassin to reach their target. This defense isn’t the only one the castle had, but it was the hardest to deal with; and it had been breached.

Princess Rhinese stalked the halls. To all those looking at her she might seem like calm grace, and elegance personified; underneath she was seething with rage. Someone had dared to break into her room and Zaike’s room. The intruder had literally torn apart their rooms and had stolen some of their important items.

For Zaike this meant losing items of emotional value. For Princess Rhinese, it meant losing important documents regarding the kingdom. This dealt a huge blow to Princess Rhinese’s pride and Zaike’s emotional state; the kid was only 8 after all.

The crime had happened the previous night and she and Zaike had been forced to sleep in guest bedrooms while their’s were investigated. It had not been a pleasant night for Princess Rhinese; she spent most of it pacing the room and grinding her teeth out of anger. What made her even more angry was the fact that she could hear Zaike crying from the room next door.

She walked into HER room and took another look at the scene. Unlike most royal suites Princess Rhinese’s room had only three connected rooms: the sitting room, the bedroom, and the bathing room. It was usually a quiet and neat place with a few bookshelves at the edge of the room and a large desk. Today it wasn’t quiet and nothing was neat. The book shelves were turned over and there were books with pages ripped out. The intruder had even dumped some foul smelling substance all over the room.

There were a few investigators inspecting the room, looking for any trace of who could have committed this heinous crime.

“What have you found?”

“Not much, Your Highness. The intruder didn’t leave so much as a single hair to track them, and they spread incense in the air to prevent any of our Beast-Kin soldiers from tracking them by their scent. The fact that they were able to find your rooms to begin with indicates that this was an inside job.”

“I had assumed it was an inside job. Hearing you confirm my suspicions does not please me…what have they taken?”

“Mostly state documents of what seems to be a…sensitive nature. The journal you mentioned to us last night is also gone. Aside from those two things nothing else is missing. Or, if anything else is, we haven’t been able to account for it.”

“…Find out as much as you can inspector. Keep me informed.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Princess Rhinese stalked off furious to check on Zaike again. If she ever got her hands on whoever broke into her room they would wish that they were never born, and if they read her journal she would…she would…it wouldn’t be pretty.