ROYAL BLOOD

MORGANITE'S STORY

Morganite replied, "The King had not told the Queen that he had banished me. The Queen thought that I had run away. I did not tell them that I was banished because I was disappointed with myself for not being able to take a stand against the King. So, I stayed hidden. Then one day, I saw the King entering the woods with his men. I thought that he found out about me staying in the forest so, I stayed hidden inside a cave. Hours passed and I thought that the King had returned so, I came out of the cave and looked around me. Suddenly, I saw smoke coming out from somewhere. I ran towards that direction and saw the King and his men burning their houses." He paused got teary-eyed. Morganite looked at the skulls and continued with a somber tone, "I looked down and his men were doing the thing. They had already finished with the Queen and Adelaide. I looked down at their heads and blood gushing out of their throats. Tears rolled down my eyes. I wanted to stop and scream at the King but the thought of the princes held me back. Knowing about what the King did to the Queen, I couldn't risk my life. I needed to protect the princes. The King and his men finished the deeds and they went back. I ran towards their body and roared. I cried my heart out but I knew that the King would send someone to burn their bodies so, I cast a charm and changed the land. As I had guessed, a few of the King's men returned to burn their bodies but went away in shock as they saw a completely different land."

"Why did you try to preserve the remains?" Lore asked him.

Morganite replied, "It was obvious that the King would not tell the princes the truth about how their mother died so, I kept the remains hoping to tell the princes what their father did but unfortunately, I never got a chance."

"Why?"

"I don't know. First, Prince Jadeite was kidnapped then I started searching for him and I never got a chance to meet Prince Jacinth."

"How come you're still alive?"

"Onreahus are immortal."

Rufus reached the forest and he looked everywhere and he cried, "Morganite!" he couldn't see anyone and he frantically searched here and there.

Gary had no idea where Grivald was. He feared that Grivald might have been caught once again. He stood up from his study and walked along the dark corridor. He climbed the stairs and opened the trap door. He was headed straight towards Rufus's house.

--

"Why are you showing us this?" Grivald asked Morganite.

"Because, I felt a strong connection with the both of you," Morganite replied.

Lore noticed a ring in one of the skeleton's finger. He bent down and looked at it closely, it was just a simple round gold band. It had a handwritten engraving that Lore couldn't make out well. He removed the ring to inspect the writings. As soon as, he touched the ring a wave of unclear images hit his head. The images were negative and all he remembered was seeing Violane give him a similar ring and when Violane introduced him to Morganite. He snapped back into reality and threw the ring on the ground.

"Lore? Are you alright?" Grivald asked him.

"Touch that ring." Lore replied pointing at the ring he had just thrown.

"Why?" Grivald asked.

"Just do it." Lore cried.

Grivald picked it up and looked at Lore, "What now?" he asked.

"Don't you feel anything?"

"Nothing. What am I supposed to feel?"

Morganite asked Lore, "What did you feel?"

"I just- I just saw some images. They weren’t clear but I saw the queen gave me a ring and I saw you." Lore replied trying to recall more of it.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just thinking it in my head."

Morganite took the ring from Grivald's hand and told them, "This is the Queen's ring."

Lore gulped and said, "Maybe that's why I saw those images. The ring must be enchanted."

--

Leo, Jackson, and Wisteria followed Rufus because they had nothing to do by staying put. Whether it was Rufus or Lore, they had to run and drag behind.

Gary rarely came out of his hiding so, whenever people saw him, they would just stand and stare. It was the same this time, too. As Gary walked towards Rufus's house, men and women stopped what they were doing only to look at Gary and whisper amongst themselves.

"What are you looking at? Do your work." Gary cried at the people.

Some of them continued their work whereas, some of them continued staring at Gary. Gary walked up to Ryan's door and knocked. His wife opened the door and was surprised to see Gary.

"Ryan?" he asked.

The lady simply nodded and looked back. Ryan got up from his work and stood at the door. Once he saw Gary, he asked his wife to go inside.

"Why are you here?" Ryan asked.

"Have you seen Grivald?"

"No, what's the matter?"

"He disappeared. He's nowhere to be seen. I fear that Lore must've taken him."

"What are you talking about? He must've wandered off in the woods."

"No, Ryan. He was caught once and he luckily escaped."

"Bullshit. I'll take you to Rufus's house."

Ryan led the way and they reached Rufus's house. He asked Gary to stay somewhere hidden and Ryan peeped through the window.

"There is no one inside," Ryan told Gary.

Gary pushed the door and it wasn't locked. He looked at Ryan and smiled.

"Morganite!" Rufus shouted. Lore and Grivald turned behind towards the direction of the voice. Morganite turned back and took a step forward.

"Rufus." He whispered. And ran into the woods.

Rufus was running and looking here and there. He cried, "Morganite! It's me! Show yourself, please!"

Morganite roared and Rufus felt delighted. He kept running forward and finally saw him. Morganite looked at Rufus and stopped. Rufus was breathing heavily and was standing right in front of him.

Rufus smiled and hugged Morganite.

"I missed you, buddy," Rufus said while hugging Morganite tightly.

They broke apart and Morganite smiled, "I missed you too."

"Where are they?" Rufus asked him; his expression turning grim.

"In the spot," Morganite replied.

Lore looked down at the ring which Morganite had dropped down before running away. He had second thoughts before picking it up. He wasn't sure if whatever he had seen earlier was just a hallucination or something the queen wanted to show him. He kneeled and picked up the ring again. Nothing happened this time which made Lore astonished.

"What do you think the ring is?" Grivald asked Lore.

Lore looked at him and looked back at the ring. He replied, "I think this ring has a spell in it."

"I think that this ring is related to us," Grivald said and knelt on his one knee beside lore.

"What makes you think so?" Lore asked.