Chapter 4: Runaway Princess

Poor Princess Lapis was lying awake in the bed later that night. Everything from today was still buzzing in her mind like a swarm of angry bees.

Her anger towards her mother was strong, but her desire to see the outside world was even stronger.

With the moon as her only light source, she wrote a letter to her mother that said:

Dear Mother,

I'm sorry, but I can't go through with this arranged marriage. I don't want to live the rest of my life being more fortified than I already am. There's so much outside this palace that I'm missing. And if I wait any longer, I may never see it. I'm running away, but it won't be forever. Hopefully, my absence will give you time to think about how much better our lives could've been if our relationship was different. I don't know when I'll come back, but it won't be for too long.

Sincerely,

Lapis Lazuli

After placing the rolled up scroll on her pillow, the young princess prayed; "Honorable gods, please guide me safely on this journey."

Afterwards, Lapis used the rope ladder that Jamie and Steven used to sneak out of her bedroom. Then, she snuck through a secret path that led from the royal garden into the village. She snuck through as quietly as she could so as not to awaken any villagers and draw attention to herself.

Lapis followed the dirt road that led out of town and into the unknown. Just then, she heard the bushes rustling from behind her and got scared. The princess's escape attempt couldn't have failed that quickly, right?

"Who's there?" she said defensively. "Show yourselves!"

That was when Lapis saw her two friends' heads pop up and the emerged from their hiding place.

"Oh, it's just you." the princess gave a sigh ofrelief. "I thought one of the guards had caught me sneaking out my window."

"You snuck out of the palace?" Jamie questioned, to which his friend nodded.

"Why would you do that?" Steven asked.

"Because I'm running away." Lapis answered.

"WHAT!?" both boys nearly screamed. The princess quickly hushed them.

"Lapis, I don't think that's the best way to get out of an arranged marriage." Steven tried to reason.

"I just want to savor the first and last chance of freedom I may ever get." his friend said. "No matter how much limited time I have, I'm going to do this."

"Lapis, wait." Jamie stopped her. "We're coming with you."

"That's sweet of you guys, but I shouldn't have to drag you into this." Lapis advised against it. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

"But, we're your friends; Lapis." Steven insisted. "We want to be by your side."

"Alright, let's go." the princess proclaimed. "But first, we're going to need some horses."

"Say no more." Jamie said confidently. "I know where we can find some."

After stopping by a nearby stable, the trio each had a horse and rode off for whatever adventure would lie ahead of them.

Back at the Kaiyo palace, there was an unsettling disturbance in the air.

"Lapis is gone!" one of the royal guards alerted the sleeping empress.

"What?" Blue Diamond abruptly shot up from her bed. "Oh no."

She quickly raced to her daughter's room and saw that the princess was indeed gone. The only clue was the scroll on the neatly made bed. The empress was shocked when she read it.

"LAPIS!" she cried out the window.

"Oh, that girl is going to get herself killed." a pink handmaiden said.

"What is your wish, Your Highness?" a royal guard asked.

"Gather every guard we have in our battalion." the empress ordered sternly. "Instruct them to search all of Japan if necessary. I do not want them to stop until they find my daughter and bring her back home."

"Consider it done, Your Excellency." the guard nodded.

"And another thing, send a messenger to Prince Dolomite." Blue Diamond continued. "Inform him that my daughter is missing. Tell him that if he has seen Lapis or knows of her whereabouts, to let know you immediately."

"But of course, Your Majesty." the pink handmaiden agreed.

Meanwhile, the trio of runaways were trotting down the unknown with absolutely no destination whatsoever. They had gotten pretty far, but it had several hours and the children were starting to get tired.

"Lapis, can we stop and rest now?" Steven asked in an exhausted tone. "We've been traveling for a long time."

"I guess we could take a little break." Lapis nodded as she dismounted from her horse.

Her two friends followed suit, but then the princess noticed something in the distance and said; "Wait, what is that?"

She dashed ahead to get a closer look and saw that the thing was a tall pagoda.

"What's a pagoda doing in the middle of the forest?" Lapis thought.

"Lapis!" Jamie called as he and Steven came running up from behind. "You gotta warn us when you're going to dash off like that."

"Are you guys seeing this?" the princess showed her discovery with the boys.

"Wow, you think I would've noticed that." Jamie said with awe.

"I wonder if anybody lives there." Steven added.

Little did the trio know, several silhouettes of people were spying on them from up in the treetops. And then, the treetop spies and stealthily snatched Steven and Jamie up. The princess of course didn't notice until she heard her friends scream, but they were gone when she turned around.

"Jamie? Steven?" Lapis was alarmed by the boys' sudden disappearance. "Where did you go?"

Suddenly, there a high-pitched hissing sound and a pink gas was sprayed in the princess's face. A gas that made Lapis feel very sleepy.

Once she nodded off, her body almost hit the ground; but a pair of strong arms caught her. The princess's sleeping body was carried bridal style as she rested against somebody's warm bosoms. Lapis smiled contentedly in her sleep from the warmth that surrounded her as she was carried to the pagoda. She had no idea what she was in for.