CHAPTER 4
Derek was starting to feel like himself again and after eating and taking a bath he really felt great and he was happy that Stiles was back as well. While he was waiting for Stiles to return he put on his robe and starting going through some papers on his desk and soon he realized that Stiles should have been back.
He started to worry and wondered if Stiles up and left again but this time he wasn't going to sit around and not do something about it so for the first time in weeks he stepped outside of his chambers. The guards outside the door were both surprised but it was evident by the smiles on their faces they were happy to see the King looking like himself again.
"Did either of you see my servant Stiles?"
"Yes Sire we saw him leave with a basket of your clothes, we assume he was heading down to the laundry."
"Ok thank you" Derek said and started heading that way himself.
"Sire is everything alright?"
"I don't know he should have been back by now."
"We can go look for him for you."
"No I think it's about time I leave my chamber and walk around a bit" Derek said smiling and continued on his way.
"Your Majesty" one of the women in the laundry said and everybody stopped what they were doing and bowed.
"Have any of you seen my servant Stiles today? He brought a basket of my clothes down earlier and recently came with more clothes to be cleaned."
"Sorry Your Majesty but we haven't seen Stiles at all today."
"So you have none of my things?"
"No Sire we do but these were dropped off this morning by Sir Scott" said one of the men who had a basket full of clean and folded clothes.
"Sir Scott brought these this morning?"
"Yes Sire."
"Ok thank you" Derek said taking the basket of clean clothes.
"I need you to go find Sir Scott and bring him here" Derek said to one of the guards when he returned to his chambers. After getting dressed and putting his own clothes away, which he actually enjoyed doing; there was a knock at his door. "Enter" said Derek and Sir Scott came in.
"You wanted to see me Your Majesty?"
"Yes I understand that you took a basket of my clothes down to the laundry this morning, do you mind telling me how that came about?"
"Yes Sire I did, I ran into Stiles this morning and told him that I was happy he came back. I offered to take the clothes down to the laundry so he could go to the kitchen and get your breakfast Sire."
"What do you mean you were happy that he came back, did you know he was going to return?"
Scott finally looked up at Derek, hesitant to answer at first. "Well Sire I was the one that actually went out looking for him and I found him and asked him to return so when I saw him this morning I told him I was happy that he was back."
"You went looking for him but why?"
"Well meaning no disrespect Sire but we were concerned about you and it was my hope that his return would be of some benefit to you" Scott explained and then tensed up expecting Derek to scream at him. For a very brief second Derek's blood pressure went up but he realized quickly that they were only looking out for his well being and he was touched.
"Well thank you Scott as you can see I am doing better and I am grateful that you found him and convinced him to return and I am also grateful that you did see him because I thought I was going crazy."
"What do you mean?"
"He took the rest of my clothes and my sheets down to the laundry while I got cleaned up and after some time passed and he wasn't back I thought he might have left again so I went to find him. The people in the laundry said they never saw him at all so I was beginning to wonder if it was an illusion."
"Wait they never saw him, did they have the second basket of clothes?"
"No they didn't which also has me worried. You don't think something happened do you Scott? Do you think he might have left again?"
"I don't think so unless something happened between the two of you."
"No nothing that I could think of, I mean I asked him why he left in the first place and he kept saying it was for personal reasons and it appeared it wasn't easy for him to tell me but said he would tell me later."
For a minute they both just looked at each other and then at the same time they left the chamber, both setting out to search for Stiles, "Stiles is missing, gather the other guards and search the castle" Derek said to the guards outside his door and they took off running without question while Derek and Scott tried to retrace Stiles journey to the laundry.
About halfway on their way to the laundry Derek suddenly stopped and smelled the air, "what is it?" Scott asked.
"I came this way earlier looking for Stiles and I didn't notice the scent I smell now" Derek said and he started walking down a side hall that lead to the damaged part of the castle, it was the section that was severely damaged during the attack that killed the King's parents. They turned down another hall and they both stopped dead, lying on the floor just a few feet away was the basket Stiles was carrying. They both ran towards it and Scott was now able to pick up on the scent that Derek was following and it was evident that Stiles had been kidnapped.
