A loud explosion echoed through the castle, it rang through out every corridor. King Roland and Queen Miranda looked up, then at each other and quickly ran to the only place the sound could have come from: Cedric's lair. Baileywick had also started running towards Cedric's, bumping into the king and queen on his way.
"Your majesties! What happened?!" The Steward had quickly asked while running.
"We don't know! Was it Cedric's?" Roland had asked. Now joined by more worried castle workers.
"I saw the explosion blow out the window in Cedric's my king!" One of the females that work in the garden had yelled. Panic had gotten deeper in Roland's face. He made his legs move even faster. Miranda gasped, causing her to fall behind slightly. She also willed her legs to move faster.
'I hope Cedric's ok... Oh please let Cedric be ok! Sofia will be heartbroken if anything happened to him! Oh for her sake let him be ok!" The queen thought over and over in her mind. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
Finally, after what seemed like far too ling, they reached the staircase leading to Cedric's tower. Everyone stopped at once. There was smoke coming from the stairs. Not just regular smoke, but a greenish kind of smoke. Roland looked back for his queen who just running up.
"Are you going to go up there?! What's taking so long?!" She almost yelled at Roland, who just stared at her.
"Miranda... We don't know what happened... there could be something that can really hurt us up there..." Roland tried to explain to his worried wife.
"Really hurt us?! Cedric could already be hurt and dying! And you're worried about getting hurt?! If there's a chance to save him, I'm going to take it!" She was now frantic, "I'll go up myself!" She started towards the stairs and was grabbed by Roland.
"I will not allow my wife to put herself in danger!" He told her forcefully. She stared directly into his eyes in yanked her arm out of his.
"There is a person up there, and it's not just any person, but a person who means the world to my daughter! Don't you DARE tell me I can not go!" Before he could respond, she was gone, disappearing into the smoke.
Not even a minute went by before they heard a blood curdling, ear piercing scream from the queen. Without a second thought Roland ran up the stairs, followed by Baileywick, then the staff. The scene they saw before them at the top of the stairs was truly eerie. The door was blown off the hinges and shattered against the opposite wall. The workshop was a mess, every glass beaker and test tube was broken on the ground. All his books, full of spells and incantations, were burnt to a crisp on the floor. The shelves themselves were splintered and charred. Wormwoods perch was bent in an unrecognizable shape, the bird nowhere to be seen. Then they saw her.
Miranda was on her knees (getting her dress so dirty that it ma not ever become clean again, but she didn't care), kneeling by a lifeless figure. Tears rolled down her face as she checked for a pulse. The man's eyes were closed. He looked... Clean... Like the explosion didn't hit him, but they know it did. He looked peaceful almost as I he was merely taking a nap. The queen looked up with sad eyes and shook her head gently. He was gone. By now the green smoke had disappeared into the sky, and aside from the wreckage left in its wake, you would've never known that there was anything wrong. Which is probably why Sofia came bounding happily up the stairs like normal.
"Mr. Ceedric! Mr. Ceedric! I got... My... Sorcer...y... test... " The young girls smile faded from her face when she saw everyone at Cedric's lair... With no door and his room a mess. 'What has happened?!' She thought, tears welling up in her eyes.
'Is school out already?!' Rolland thought to himself. He motioned to Baileywick to get Sofia out of her... Fast.
Baileywick quickly turned around upon hearing the young girl and tried to distract her from seeing something so horrid by asking her about her paper in her hand. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, then back at the room. She saw her mom kneeling down by a figure, crying, and her father looking sad and forlorn.
'NO!' Was her only thought before she ran into the room, or at least as far as she could before she was stopped by a maid. Her tears fell freely when she noticed that the person had a purple coat, and a yellow bow tie. Cedric! She looked at her mom who only shook her head, as if saying 'H-he's gone'. Sofia gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. She took a step back, then another, looking at everyone, who seemed to be staring at her. She wanted them to stop! She turned on her heel and ran to her room, sobbing the whole way. Behind her the paper she was holding fluttered lightly to the floor. It read "Sorcery Test for Princess Sofia of Enchancia: Well done! Perfect marks in all areas!"