Crossing Paths

"Is there something troubling you, Prince James?" Sir Maxwell questioned as he rode alongside the teen on the road as the other knights trailed behind them. "This morning before you left the castle you were excited to do what Chivalry Hall assigned to you. Is it because this is your first time travelling for more than a day without family?"

"No," The blonde shook his head. "I just wish Uncle Bartleby was here. I'm so use to him being my trainer that I didn't think he would miss out on my very first quest."

"I'm sure he had a very good reason he couldn't be here with you." The man said as he placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "Perhaps, he will make it up to you."

James nodded as a smile returned to his face. Deciding to steer away from the topic of his uncle the knight-in-training turned to the current problem at hand. "So are we looking for an escape prisoner, a wild animal or battling a giant?"

"Well, I don't think the school would want you to face anything just yet," The man chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. "This is will just be testing your tracking skills. Learning how to do this will help you find what and who you are looking for."

"You many not know this but my sisters and I have have faced four magical kids, saved Aunt Tilly's wedding by getting a octopus monster back to the ocean, and helped to free Sofia from her amulet," James said with a smirk on his face as he counted them off on his fingers. " Isn't that enough to show I can be a good knight?"

The knights in the back laughed after they heard the boy's remarks of his adventures which made James turn around and give the men a miffed look. "Forgive us my prince but I'm afraid we have not witnesses any of this. It is required that every boy has to go through training requirements after they completed squire training. And that includes royalty like yourself."

Giving a sigh, the blonde faced forward again as he went back to holding his reins. "I thought you would say that."

"Trust us, James. Once you have gone through training like we have I'm sure you will be glad you done it." said one knight. "We know Sir Finnegan would be proud."

Before the knight in training could think on his men's words James heard a crunching sound. Looking up ahead he saw a familiar carriage headed their way. "Halt." The prince ordered Maxwell and others behind him.

"What is it, sire? One asked as he pulled his reins to stop his steed in his tracks. "We really must continue on."

"This carriage has wings so it should be flying instead of on the ground. They may need help. " James said as he dismounted Echoe and began walking towards carriage.

"I admire that the prince wants to help others but I hope this situation doesn't go into-"

"Enough." Maxwell interrupted. "If James wants to help whoever is in there we should let him and as always we WILL follow his orders." This lead the others to mumble in agreement as they all watched the boy help a woman out.

Once the male teen had helped out the person inside he was surprised to find that it had been Vivian. The last he time he saw her was when they had graduated from Royal Prep but surely since she and Sofia were friends they had kept in touch with each other through letters. What was she doing here?

"I-It's good to see you again, James." Vivian spoke finally breaking the silence that was between them.

"Yeah, you two. So what is your coach doing on the ground. I mean your coach looked familiar and I know you had flying coaches but-"

"One of the wings on it broke so I decided to just ride normally till my chauffer got it home to be repaired." The shy princess said as she pulled a lever to show her friend the broken wing span than. " I was actually on my way to Enchancia to give you guys tickets to see if you wanted to come see me and Clio perform. I-If you wanted to that is..."

"Brilliant! I'm sure Sofia and Amber would love to see you guys too. I'll be sure to tell them."

Putting her hand in one of pockets of her dress she pulled out the tickets. "Here, these should give you guys really good seats. Clio has already gotten a ticket for Hildegard."

"We will try to be there for you guys." James said as she handed them over to the boy.

"T-thanks, that really means a lot." The dark-haired girl murmured with a smile. "I guess since I got those delivered I probably should be on my way. I need to get to the theater so I can meet up with Clio and the other performers."

As the princess turned around to leave she was surprised to hear what he said next. "Wait, do you want to sit down and join me for lunch?"

"What?"

"Yeah, we have been on the road for quite a while now and probably need to water the horses. I just figured you have been riding a long time too and was wondering if you would like to stay. You know. Catch up."

Hearing this suggestion made the girl blush. Did this mean this was a date or was this just friends being together and catching up? Vivian wasn't sure which to call it. "I-I would lo- like to. She stammered.

"Great." James said as he linked his arm to hers then called out to his men to unload the food and water they packed. "We'll sit in the shade since it's getting pretty hot. I'll go get us a blanket to sit on."

Once the group had heard the prince give his orders to unload lunch the men began to whisper to each other. "I had a feeling this would happen," One knight said with a smirk. "Who wants to bet that James will be courting this Princesses Vivian pretty soon?"

The other knights groaned at that mention. "I think we already have enough bets going on right now. Our first is whether Prince Desmond will marry Amber and become our next king. I feel that already is set in stone." said one.

"Don't forget about about the other bet about Princess Sofia marrying the royal sorcerer. I've been keeping my eyes on those two for a while." Another said with a grin.

"Will you men just unpack already," Maxwell said as he rolled his eyes. "I would like to eat before the prince finishes and you know how quick that boy stuffs his face."

That evening as as the sun was at it's setting point Maxwell and other knights were going to suggest that they stop to set up camp until Echoe stopped in his tracks. "Guys, I think I found something." James said to the others as he dismounted the horse to pick up a purple piece of cloth.

"What did you find?" One asked as everyone dismounted their horses as well to gather behind the boy.

Turning over the piece of cloth James frowned he saw a a black horse head shaped on it. "It can't be. Could he be on the run or could he be looking for revenge?" Getting up, the blonde turned around to show the men his find. "I think our former egoistic knight is nearby."

"Declan!" One muttered under his breath. "But what would he be doing all the way out here?"

"I must apologize to you, Prince James. This was not what you were suppose to find given what Bartleby told me." Maxwell said as he walked up to the prince to look at the cloth himself. "This must be from his tunic."

"So what should we do now?" Another knight questioned. "Do we call this whole assignment off or do we go search for Declan?"

"First, are there any kingdoms nearby? asked James.

"MezBez is closest." answered Sir Maxwell.

"Then we must go there to at least check on Desmond and maybe Amber as well if she is still there." James said as remounted his horse. "And if we find Declan there we must get him I'm afraid. Given as many villains Enchancia has had in the past it's no doubt he will want revenge as well."

Once the group of knights had remounted their horses they rode toward the kingdom of MezBez.

"I cleaned all the ceilings Baileywick and it only took a few minutes." Calista said with a grin after she had sheathed her wand back in it's original place. "When Uncle Ceddy sees this I think he'll be impressed. It takes a lot of magic and stamina to clean all the ceilings in this building."

"Thank-you, Calista." The steward chuckled as he took out his pocket watch to look at the time. "Ah, I see it is time to start getting dinner ready. When you see your uncle tell him Queen Miranda insisted you two join them for dinner."

"Really? The girl asked in astonishment. "Great, I'll go wait for them out front." Calista said as she ran off to wait for him.

"Watch through one of the windows! I'm sure Cedric would be upset if he saw you outside when it's dark!" The steward called out as he watched her go. Once the little sorceress was out of sight the man chuckled again. "It's hard to believe the children in this castle are nearly grown." He muttered to himself as a smile appeared on it's face again.

"Indeed Mr. Baileywick but pretty soon we'll see the next generation of royals running around here once again." Violet said as she placed hand on his shoulder. "Chef Andre says the food is ready to be served."

"Very good, have servants start setting the table while I inform King Roland and Queen Miranda."

"Yes, ."

"I hope he gets back soon." Calista panted each word as she continued to to run. "He has been gone all day!"

By the time the red clad girl stopped her running to catch her breath she felt something was wrong. Was it those danger senses her uncle had warned him about? If so who was in danger? Was it Cedric, Angel or someone else?

Closing her eyes she focused on her magic. Asking it to show who needed her. Pretty soon visions of twin's faces appeared to her.

"Amber and James. They need my help." Calista said after she opened her eyes. "But to get to them I'll need to try that teleportation spell. I've only practiced it only a handful of times and messed up but I got try to to save them."

Looking around Calista saw Suzette blinking at her in slight confusion. "Miss, could you tell Baileywick that Amber and and I might not make it to dinner. Something has come up."

"Of course, Miss Calista." said the woman.

"Thank-you." The girl said as she waved goodbye teleporting herself to her destination much the woman's confusion of the situation.

"Magical people are strangest. Better go inform Mr. Baileywick of this emergency."

"Desmond! Amber!" James called as he jumped off Echoe's back to race up to his sister and hugged her in relief. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, James but how did you know I was in danger?" The princess asked as they watched Declan magically send few swords towards the fair-haired prince making the teen duck behind his shield.

"I found a piece of of tunic nearby and instantly recognized the design. What is with Declan? It's like he's coated in dark magic."

"That's because he is." Calista told them as she walked up to them. "Has he-"

"No." James and and Amber said unison.

"Declan never touched and has never been near magic. Either something happened to him or he came across a dark magic cult." James added. "When did he get here, Amber?

"Thirty minutes ago. Desmond was leading to my coach bur then he somehow showed up uninvited." Amber sarcastically joked then turned to Calista who seemed to be trying figure out the situation.

Someone or something is controlling him," Calista informed the twins. "If I can combine magic with yours and Desmond's armor, James I think we driveout or at least weaken the magic."

"Do what you need to Calista." Amber told the girl.

"Whatever we do we better do it now!" Desmond called after the dark magic had pushed him down.

After handing a protection charm to Amber, Calista pulled out her wand to fuse her magic with Desmond's and James's swords. As the boys ran to give the raging knight a double attack they found that it had did some damage. The darkness surrounding his body began to grow weak.

Before they trio could acknowledge this though a blast was sent in the three different directions the teens stood. Quickly drawing up their shields and magic to be prepared for the blast that came their way.

"You pathetic little brats won't defeat me. I shall take Amber as my wife and none of you will stop me!" The possessed knight shouted.

"It seems our three person attack didn't work." James mumbled in defeat.

" I agree three people may not be enough even if we do outnumber him..." Calista said as she began to think of another way to get rid of the magic.

"Then perhaps you need more help." Turning to the voice they saw that the Maxwell and the other knights had caught up. "It's good that you three have good teamwork going here but maybe you kids could use a bout more help."

Running towards the red-head teen all of the knights attacked with with magical infused swords thanks to the red clad girl. Once the attack was given everyone started to see the dark magic go away. The red glowing eyes had disappearing as well.

With the knight free of possion he fell to the ground out cold. "We'll take him now, Prince Desmond." Sir Maxwell said as two other knights picked him up.

"I want to thank you all. If you hadn't shown up, MezBez would probably be in danger." Desmond said after bowing to James and his group knights. Turnig to Calista he shook her hand. "It was nice working with you, Calista. I hope we get to team up again."

"Oh, there is no doubt that we will If you marry Amber that is." The girl finished her statement with a smirk making both Desmond and and Amber blush at that thought.

"Calista!"

"I'm just joking with you, Amber. Let's go home." Calista said as she held out her hand for her to take. "Since your coach was destroyed we'll teleport home." Raising her wand Calista casted her spell making both girls disappear.

"I guess you'll have to tell Chivalry Hall I failed my assignment." James muttered in disappointment.

"I wouldn't say that Prince James" Sir Maxwell answered. " We still got a few days to finish it. And considering what happened today I'm putting in a good word for you. You lead your knights well and did great with teamwork. Show more of that on this trip and I'm sure you'll get a good grade."

This made the teen smile. "Thanks Maxwell."

"Now, let's go set up camp for night."

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this story. I do apologize that I don't write the best battle scenes. I guess it's a good the next few will just be fun stories. Please review!