Chapter IV – The Knight and the Wizard
Taichi, the Prince of File, sat in his throne room, frowning. He rested his head on one hand, while his other hand constantly rapped on the arm of the throne. He was impatient, and everyone knew it.
Of course, the people he was waiting for weren't late. They still had five minutes to come, yet Taichi was more worried than anything. He looked up as the doors opened revealing the two that he was waiting for.
They were both around his sister's age. One was a brown, spiky haired boy with deep brown eyes that matched the color of his hair. The eyes were wearing a concerned, yet determined look, the later being seen in them all the time. His silver armor depicted him as a knight, which contrasted to the loose robes worn on the other boy. This one had dark gray hair and eyes and he had a kind look on his pale face. He smiled slightly, which contrasted to the worried frown on the brown haired boys face, however, he too wore a furrowed brow between his eyes. They both bowed to the Prince, clutching their weapons. The brown hair's was a long sword, while the other carried a staff three quarters his height.
"Knight Daisuke, Wizard Ken, thank you for giving me audience this early," Taichi said, waving his hand to set them at ease.
"It's our pleasure for you to call us for audience," the gray haired wizard said politely, standing straight.
"Is something wrong, Your Highness?" the brown haired knight was concerned.
"Yes…" the Prince stalled. "Your Majesty, the Princess, has gone missing this morning."
"What!?" the brown haired boy shouted, taking a step forward. "Was she kidnapped?!"
"Daisuke, calm down," the wizard named Ken said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder to calm him down. Daisuke frowned, but moved back.
"I apologize, Your Highness," Daisuke said, looking down at his feet.
"No need, Daisuke. I know how you feel about my sister, and that's why I decided," Taichi said, running a hand over his face, to wipe off the sweat that was forming on his face out of worry. "You and the Wizard Ken will go on a quest, to find my sister."
Daisuke's face lit up automatically. Ken, however, frowned slightly and said, "Does anyone know where she went? We can't possible go on nothing."
Taichi looked at Ken and nodded, "A guard last night said that he heard something coming out of the moat, however when he looked, there was nothing there. He disregarded it until he heard something running around behind one of the buildings outside of the castle's gates."
"So, she was kidnapped!" Daisuke said, excitedly. He was worried, but wanted to do anything that the Prince asked of him, especially when it came to Hikari.
"I never said that Daisuke…" Taichi said. "I think she may have run away. That's why I wanted Ken here." He stood up and left the royal throne. "Follow me," he said, walking past the younger boys.
They followed him down the hall and through grand doors. There were four doors that stood inside the hall past the larger doors. Taichi stopped in front of the one on the left.
"These are my sister's quarters," Taichi said, opening the door. A white room adorned with everything that a Princess needed was seen on the inside. Ken knew immediately why he was there.
"I feel it," Ken breathed, walking inside.
"Feel what?" Daisuke said a little clueless, still marveling on the fact that he was standing inside the Princess Hikari's room.
"Magic, of course!" Ken waved his arms around the room.
"Do you know what magic it is?" Taichi said, fearing that the answer might be what he thought it would be.
"An invisibility spell. An amateur one, but a good one, none the less," Ken frowned a bit at the Prince, who sighed.
"I knew it… it's because of me that she left," Taichi sighed as he walked towards the window. "Does the spell follow outside?"
Ken moved his arm towards the window and nodded. Taichi walked out the room while the younger boys followed. Ken nearly had to drag his friend out of the room, who was still drooling over the Princess' room. He shook his head and pushed Daisuke after the Prince. They went outside and stopped at the Princess' window. Ken nodded and started walking towards the bush that was directly outside of the window. The Prince and Daisuke followed and they all stopped at the bush. Taichi frowned as he bent down and poked at the bush. A piece fell out and led to the outside.
"How in the world…? Hikari…." Taichi said, disappointed. Ken went through, followed by the two.
"The magic continues outside the moat, and I can assume that it leads to outside of File," he said, standing up and wiping the grass off of his robes.
"How long will the magic linger?" Taichi asked, looking towards the gates of his kingdom.
"Not long," Ken frowned. "Probably until the end of the day."
"Then what are we waiting for!" Daisuke finally chimed. "The Princess needs our help, and we should get going right away!"
"For once, Daisuke, I agree with you," Taichi said. He motioned for a guard outside of the moat.
"Yes, Your Highness?" the guard said, stopping in front of Taichi with a bow.
"Go inside and get some rations and traveling materials for these two, right away," Taichi pointed at Daisuke and Ken.
"Right away, Your Highness!" the guard started off towards the castle.
"Now," Taichi turned towards the two, "I want you to follow the lingering magic trail for as far as you can, you understand me?" The two nodded. "Good; and I want you two to get Hikari back as fast as you can!"
The guard came back with the supplies, and Taichi handed them to the two boys. They bowed and headed towards to kingdom gates. Taichi ran his hand through his hair, while the other rested on his hip. He frowned again. He did like Daisuke and all, but would he really be the one to fulfill this quest?