The Royal Wolf and Hades' Daughter

Chapter 4 - Missing Persons

Miranda did not go home the night after she took off to the woods. It was not a surprise because she seemed furious at her family. At first, her mother was joking around nervously, making jabs at her daughter's bad temper.

“Miranda is taking this hide and seek game way too seriously,” Countess Maria said, her face flushed. Though it was cool, she fanned herself rapidly.

“Mother, you know full well that she is not playing hide and seek. She was mad at us for planning to send her away,” Emma said, her arms crossed. Though she would appear concerned for her sister, she was more annoyed that the night had been ruined.

“Oh, so you are telling me she ran away?” the countess asked, her face caught between annoyance and fear.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for her now, my darling?” asked Count Philip. Even though the rumors claimed he was not Miranda’s father, he was the girl’s closest ally in the family. He was by the window, checking on whether the child was on her way home.

When darkness fell, Countess Maria was in a panic. The count had sought the help of his servants to search the perimeter. Their castle was too close to the forest. Miranda and Emma had spent so many hours playing there that they never thought anything of it. Mogochislenia was in a time of peace.

“Lord Forsworth, I am afraid that there have been more wolves in the area for the past few weeks,” David said. He was a servant in his fifties, only slightly older than the count.

“What are you trying to tell me, David? And why have I not been informed about this?”

“I tried. But Lady Forsworth said it was okay. That the children could still play in the woods. I doubt she was listening to me.”

The count clenched his jaw, knowing the truth in what his manservant was telling him. His wife had a tendency not to listen. She chose to hear what she wanted to hear. He was away on a trip and had just returned. The issue of wolves was new to him.

“I don’t hear any wolves, David.”

“You would not hear them from your chambers. However, many of your guards had heard of them at night. They sounded very close to the gates.”

“Where do you think they came from? Wolves usually live deeper into the forests.”

“I don’t know. Something is attracting them to the peripheries of the kingdoms. Queenspell and Shadowcreek have reported the same.”

“And these are wolves? Real animals? Not the freaks from Nowhere?”

Shapeshifters had been relegated to living in a bit of settlement in the forests of Mogochislenia that they called Nowhere.

“I – I am not sure,” stuttered David as he looked toward the dark horizon. The trees seemed thicker, clumped against each other. They swayed against the breeze, looking like one dark but enormous figure. Why did it look so much more menacing that night, the very night Miranda had turned up missing?

“I need to find my daughter, David,” the count said, his voice trembling.

“We will get some people to search, sir,” the manservant replied.

It was then that a wolf howled. Other wolves responded with their blood-curdling wails. Some of the sounds were not quite that of wolves, though. Some were shrill. Some were growls. It was not a pack of wolves they were listening to but a band of various wild animals.

“These are shifters, Lord Forsworth,” concluded a frightened young servant.

Despite their fears, the troop of guards and other servants went on a search for Miranda. They shouted their name, all the while prepared for any animal attack.

The first hour was quiet, uneventful. The count himself joined the search, unable to keep still in the castle. His body was protected by chainmail, and two of his best guards flanked him. They followed a path – the same route that the girls used to take when playing – when things seemed to be a lot safer. Both sides were filled with cedar trees.

The moon’s glow was extra bright that night that the count could not help but look up. It was not quite full, but it seemed to be larger, more ominous. Phillip told himself that he was interpreting the situation based on his missing daughter.

Then, suddenly, they heard a growl at the back of the procession. A wolf jumped from the trees and went straight for the neck of one of the guards. He screamed in agony. The men had started to scramble, going in different directions because of panic. Phillip’s best guards held him tight and started running.

“No! We have to find Miranda!”

“Lord Forsworth. You saw and heard that, didn’t you? Do you think Lady Miranda would have survived the forests with those creatures running rampant?” panted one of the guards as they continued to run.

Sobbing in frustration and despair, Count Phillip had no choice but to continue running for his life. The howling continued. He could swear he could still hear the screams of pain coming from one of his guards.

Most of the men made it back. Nevertheless, it seemed that one of the servants had also been taken by a wolf. There was more than one attacker. It could have been a pack, or something worse – a band of varying shifters. They were not dealing with a lunacy of werewolves but a legion of demons.

Once home, it was evident in how they all looked what happened. Two men were presumed dead, and Miranda had not been found. For the first time, Countess Maria realized the gravity of the situation. She sat down, laughed a little as if she thought someone was giving her a bad joke. Then, she covered her mouth with a palm and started sobbing quietly. Soon, she was in hysterics.

Count Phillip was in no mood to coddle her.

“But isn’t that what you want, Maria? To lose her? You were so ready to give her up. We can afford to keep both children if we want to. We don’t have to give them away to other kingdoms, as wives or servants.”

For a few weeks, the earldom grieved. However, it soon bounced back to how it was before. Count Phillip was again busy with financial and political affairs. He had made sure the castle walls were safe, checking for any possible holes that could lead inside. There were wolves, after all, possibly even shifters, seemingly drawing closer to his domain.

The hate against shifters had been revived. People from Dubich had felt safe, even welcoming people from Nowhere into their villages. However, when Miranda disappeared, they were shooed away like animals.

In thirteen years, another royal disappearance would rock Mogochislenia. It was the day Carolina had not returned to Queenspell. Everyone said she ran off with a lover, but they still saw Xavier hanging around. He was arrested and questioned, but he swore that he did not have anything to do with whatever it was. He promised that he would find Carolina, no matter what it took him.

Samuel remembered the coven of witches that he found his sister consorting with. Did they take her? He had to find the answers. It should not be the lamia's son that had to do it. He could well be full of lies.

When Carolina disappeared, even Queenspell fell under the grip of shifter hate. Queen Soraya had to convene with her witches to talk about the recent tragedy.

“My daughter is missing, and I could not feel her,” she said, her voice grave but under control.

“She has either gone beyond this realm or is dead,” Farah said, just as solemnly. The queen could trust her to tell things as they were. The spirit witch was not someone who would lie to make things better.

“Carolina had been trying to make me teach her spells,” Martha offered, her hands clasped together as if in prayer. However, she was not calm at all. Her hands were clammy, and her breathing was ragged.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty, but I could not see Carolina, either,” Diana said, her head bowed. Her back was moving as she sobbed quietly. Her husband Marco squeezed her shoulder to comfort her.

“My agony is great, but I know I needed to meet with you and talk about what course of action to take,” Soraya said, her voice still even, though her lips trembled. King Adrian sat on the throne next to hers, his eyes looking at a spot far away from them all. It seemed that he had created a dam around himself at that moment.

Luella and Samuel were also in the audience. Luella was crying softly and was looking very dangerously red. It seemed that her father’s eyes were focused on her all along, controlling her fire with his cooling. Samuel was pacing up and down.

“Because of Carolina’s disappearance, our people had started hating on shapeshifters more,” Olga said.

“The vanishing of Carolina did not start this. People began mistrusting shifters thirteen years ago. They had never been friendly with them, but the disappearance of a count’s ten-year-old daughter and the attack on two of his men had solidified the people’s belief that shifters are evil,” Farah said, glancing at Samuel, whose eyes were flashing with rage.

“I will find her,” growled Samuel.

His family and the witches saw that his teeth had elongated. It was not a full moon.

“I do not want to lose another child, Samuel,” his mother warned. “There is a lot of hate for shifters. Go to the dungeons during full moons.”

“No! I will find her. I will hunt the witches that had taken her.”

“The witches?” asked Diana.

“I have seen her meeting witches one night. I should have told you, but I was also out that night.”

Samuel could swear that his fiery sister Luella blanched as he said that. After all, she had also been sneaking out at night.

“So, I guess we need to check the witches of the forest first. Then, we interrogate the shifters,” Farah declared.

Queen Soraya nodded in agreement.

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