Prince Christopher had been in a bad temper since dawn. His guards were horribly slow this morning so he didn’t get on the road until it was nearly eleven. He was then delayed further by some dolt peasant herding his cows across the road. The guards at the gate of Telisha seemed to be stupid and hadn’t a clue what they were doing. They sent a man to talk to the Lord before they would even let the Prince into Telisha and then when he finally got into Lord Falon’s castle, he was told that he couldn’t see the woman he was supposed to be marrying. Her servants swore she was so sick that it would be dangerous to move her and that it was extremely contagious, but something in their appearance convinced him that it was a lie. How could they think of him as stupid; it was obvious that there was something else going on.

            He dismissed the peasants with a sneer and decided that a walk would be good for his temper, after all the servants may actually be telling the truth and he was just too upset to really notice. While on his walk through the gardens of the Telishan lord, he came across a group of servants deep in their gossip. His own name drifted across to him on a breeze and so he turned onto a path that would bring him closer. As he got closer their whispers turned to talk. “Oh I’m afraid she’s gone,” said an older servant with graying hairs.

            “Yea I always knew she was a silly girl. Here she is, given a throne on a silver platter (much like the one I carry in with her breakfast) and what does she do?” this servant was a tall brunette that sounded indignant. “She goes running off because she wanted someone better.”

            “They said she took something valuable with her too. I wonder what it was,” said a somewhat ditsy sounding blonde.

            “Well I think she’s wonderful and whatever she did, for whatever reason, I’m sure it’s justifiable and I don’t think any of you should be standing around here judging her,” the girl who said this sounded sincere which worried Christopher because he didn’t want to believe what he heard and he couldn’t listen anymore because this girls words caused the group to disperse mumbling things like “we didn’t mean no harm by it,” and such.

            So that’s what they’re keeping from me thought the prince I must find out more and maybe I’ll get something for finding her just in case other… um… thing’s fail. I’ll have to talk with my advisor and get a search party going. Christopher hurried back to the castle and found his advisor in a breakfast nook. “Kildorn, I need a message sent back to the palace quickly and I need you to take care of a few other things too.” The prince continued to tell his advisor all that he had heard and sent him off to take care of his business.

The rest of the day Christopher was impatient on top of being angry. Finally, at about dinner time, he sent all Lord Falon’s servants scurrying off followed by angry words. Where was this Lord Falon guy any way? And why haven’t I thought to look for him before? The prince thought to himself. So he set off through the many halls to find the Lord of the castle. While walking around, he ran into a servant who was so embarrassed to run into the prince that he bowed too deeply and almost fell over.

Christopher ignored the servant’s feeble apologies and demanded in an almost unkind voice, “Where may I find the lord of this castle? And hurry up with the directions.”

“W-well he’s in his room your Highness; might I show you where it is?” Christopher followed the guard up a flight of stairs, down a hall, and to a door on the left hand side at the end of the hall. Muffled angry voices came through the door and when the servant put his head through the door, he was welcomed by a gruff voice yelling, “What now you confounded fool?”

“S-s-sorry sir but there is some one here to see you.” The servant, seeing the disapproving look on the man’s face, added, “It’s the prince.”

“Well send him in. I had better tell him what’s going on.” At that moment, the door opened wide and Christopher found himself in a large chamber with a large four poster bed in a corner and a large rectangular table in the center. One man was seated at the table and the other was standing near it with a furious look on his face that even intimidated the prince.  The prince concluded that the man standing near the table must be Lord Falon and assumed that the other must be his closest advisor. “Don’t just stand gawking boy, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. It could be a long night.”

The prince sat away from the other man and settled in to hear all that the Lord Falon had to say about his daughter’s willful behavior. He didn’t really hear most of what was said because his thoughts were on his own plans of finding her. She was important to him and must be found if he was to marry her.