Once Upon The Life of The Wise King

The Witch

ONCE UPON THE LIFE OF THE WISE KING

Volume 1

The Birth of The Wise King

Chapter 11 - The Witch

General Calver and his men were already on-site where the crime and the Prince's disappearance happened. It seemed they were a step behind as they found no trace of the people who did it. Upon further investigation, General Calver concluded that the enemies must have used majika to erase their trace. They also counted the number of corpses and learned they are missing one head. The fact that there was a helmet without its owner was suspicious. They did not rule out the possibility of a traitor within their ranks, which made the general worry. He looked at his people one by one, matching their faces with his memories. He also took a look at his fallen comrades. They were the batch that just graduated from the military academy more than a year ago. He knew all of their faces, backgrounds, and personalities, which was why it was difficult for him to believe that one of them was a traitor.

"Men!" General Calver called their attention. "Continue searching. Do not let any area be unsearched! You hear me?"

"Yes, General Calver!"

Turning to the closest man, the General said, "Watch after them. I need to go back to the palace to check something."

"I understand, General Calver. Leave it to me."

"Great." With that said, General Calver pulled his gray stallion. He rode on his horse and went back to the palace.

General Calver rode fast. It took him less than ten minutes before he arrived at the palace. He got off his horse, asked a nearby palace servant to feed the horse, and made his way to his study.

Who could be? General Calver asked himself. He pulled some books off the shelves, placed them on his table, and opened them one by one. The books contained the list of guards and soldiers registered in the palace. He patiently skimmed through each page until he came across the last book, where he found an unfamiliar name.

"This..." General Calver whispered. "The King needs to be informed." He immediately went out to speak with the King, who he found waiting in the throne room for any news.

"Your Majesty," the General saluted.

Leaning on his seat, the King said, "Do you have news?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Speak."

"We've already searched the forest, but we found no trace of the enemy. However, our people are still looking. We also found that we are missing one soldier, which, upon checking, could be a traitor."

"There is a traitor!?"

"I'm not saying there is, Your Majesty, but it is possible. I just checked the record books and found that there is one unfamiliar name. If you can allow it, I want to gather all palace guards and soldiers to check, Your Majesty. If this name did not appear, then the likelihood of this person being a traitor is possible."

"Very well, do it."

"There is one more thing, Your Majesty."

"What is it?"

"There is a chance that someone in the higher-ups could also be a traitor. Because only authorized personnel can register a palace guard or soldier, we must conduct investigations in secret to avoid alerting them."

King Wenhart hummed. "I understand. Let us do as you suggested."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." General Calver bowed.

While the palace was still conducting search and investigation, Prince Colin was still locked up. He was provided some food which he did not eat, afraid that it contained some poison. Between eating and starving, he would choose the latter and die of starvation.

Prince Colin adjusted his posture on the bed. He leaned his back against the wall, shivering at the dampness and cold he felt and stared on his bound wrists and ankles. "Will they ever find me after they've realized I've gone missing?" He sighed.

Suddenly, the doorknob turned, emitting a clicking noise as it unlocked from the outside. With a creak, the door opened, and the petite woman stepped inside.

"You..." Prince Colin trailed off. "What do you want?"

The woman did not speak, but she quietly closed the door. She slowly walked into the room and towards the Prince. She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, cut open her index finger, and wrote on the paper with blood. Once done, she showed it to the Prince.

'I will help you escape, but you must promise me something.'

"What is it?"

The woman wrote again. 'Don't tell anyone about me.'

"Okay. I can do that."

The woman pulled a thing from her pocket again and gave it to Prince Colin. It turned out it was a tiny black stone.

"What's this?"

"A piece of black firestone."

When the Prince suddenly heard a voice in his head, coupled with the words that said he was holding black firestone, he exclaimed and dropped the stone.

"Hushed!" The woman covered his mouth. "Don't yell, or they will notice I disappeared. Why are you scared of this stone?" she asked as she retracted her hand.

"I just learned that that stone burned someone."

"You won't get burned because you have the blood of Luciel running in your veins, and you have majika in your body. Now take it and give it to your mother."

"Why?"

"Tell your mother that a black cat gave it to you. It is a charm that will protect the future, so she must always wear it on her."

"You seem trustworthy...By the way, what is your name?"

"I do not have a name. But, they all call me a witch."

"Witch. Alright. Thanks for helping." Prince Colin smiled.

"I haven't helped you escape yet."

The Prince shrugged his shoulder, picked up the stone, and said, "Thanks for your intention then."

"Whatever." The witch rolled her eyes. "I need to get those cuffs off of you first. Give me your hands."

Prince Colin followed her command. The witch touched the cuffs, then light emitted from her palms. Gradually, the metal melted, but despite it melting, the Prince did not feel the heat. What he felt was warm. After the cuffs came off, the witch also did the same to the cuffs on his legs. When all cuffs melted, the witch and the Prince started their escape.