Chapter 4: The Hunt Begins
Back at the Queen's palace, things were not going well for the security detail. The disappearance and probable escape of Lena and Mike was quite a bungle indeed.
"You FOOLS!" Yelled the Queen, throwing pottery at the two men. "How could you let them escape?! Where were you, swigging ale in the larder?!" Hedge, the shorter of the two, piped up.
"Well, yer majesty, they were a pair o' wily vixens, tricking us into getting near the doors, and then knocked us out and stole our keys." The Queen was livid, literally speechless with rage. These two morons, Hedge the Dwarf and his crony, Cutthroat the Troll, had most likely been off getting a Fairy High from some Dwarf Moss while the two most important prisoners in the castle had escaped. Trying to keep her temper in check, the Queen, taking deep breaths, ordered
"Alright, you two nitwits, I won't turn you into a pair of toads if you go out and retrieve the prisoners. If you return to me without them in tow, then you will spend the remnants of your lives dangling above a pit of ravening wolverines." Frightened, the two nodded vigorously.
"Well? What are you waiting for? GO!" She yelled, as the two unlucky guards scrambled out of her chamber. She kneaded her forehead, thinking of how much rode on the return of the prisoners. The Ice Queen from the 8th Kingdom was threatening to invade the 4th, and she couldn't be stalled forever. However, with the prisoners back in her grasp… The Queen gave a rare smile, savoring the thought of the power she would wield over all the 10 Kingdoms!
Down in the stables, Hedge and Cutthroat were ready to be off. Mounting a black horse, Cutthroat snorted at Hedge's puny attempts to mount the beast.
"Ha, you'll never get up on this thing, ye midget! You're too short!" Hedge, having a notoriously short fuse, took a swipe at Cutthroat's leg, missing by a good deal.
"Shut yer yap, trollface, or I'll cut it off for ye. Just get me up on this bloomin' beast!" Rolling his eyes, Cutthroat grabbed the dwarf's hand and pulled him up.
"Now stay on, I'm not stopping ter pick yer up if yer falls off." Giving the horse a good kick, the two stooges set off after Mike and Lena, unknowing of how long there journey would be, or that it would take them throughout all of the 9 Kingdoms.