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Author's Note: Thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy.

A Race Or Capture

Juneston stood eating the last of his lunch and looking around at the trees that were on either side of his group. He was still quite upset that he let Sydney escape. Well that his men let her escape. Had she been in his tent she would have still been with them. He would find her and all those that were with her would die. No one else would stand between him and the throne.

"No signs my lord."

Juneston nodded to yet another soldier of his who had come back with dissatisfying news. He had sent out eight riders to check the area around their camp to see if they could find Sydney and her group, so far six had returned with no good news. Once the last two returned with yet more disappointing news they would then move forward.

He couldn't believe this was happening, he had worked so hard to get his plan in place and then that horrible brat Elizabeth had to ruin it. He would make sure that when the time came for it he would end her very slowly. There were many different options to go with and he just wasn't sure which one would be the best.

"My lord, I have no signs of them."

Nodding he signaled the man away. If it wasn't for the fact that he needed all of his men right now he surely would have taken his frustration off on him. Although there was still one more coming, so maybe he would just let himself take it out on him. It wasn't like the Princesses were experts in anything; he just didn't understand how they were able to stay away from any detection.

As he glanced up in the direction that the last soldier should come in he saw the soldier riding fast. He turned his full attention on him. When he pulled his horse to a stop in front of Juneston the lord shook his head at the soldier, "I assume you have nothing either."

He began to turn from the soldier when he heard the soldier mutter, "No my lord. I have something."

His full attention was back on the soldier, "What? What do you have?"

"I found what I am sure of is a campsite."
"How sure?"

"Very much, I looked a bit around and I found a trail which I'm sure is theirs."

"It could be anyone. Why are you so sure?"

"It is headed south and we've not run into anyone else out here."

Juneston nodded, that did make sense. They had not seen anyone at all so odds of now someone coming were highly unlikely, especially considering it would have had to been quickly.

If it was indeed them, which he was thinking it was, that meant that they were one step closer to her. However if they were indeed heading south, which apparently they were, that would mean they could be headed back to the Kingdom. If they made it back then they could easily speak to their Father. No, he had to make it back first to throw off any suspicion. He would still keep an eye out for Sydney, but he was going to focus on getting back to the castle. If he got to the castle first he could easily keep an eye out for them before they approached, he then would be able to work on getting rid of those she was with. If he was able to do that then things might be able to go his way.

Sky kept shifting his eyes among the trees. They were taking a short break to give the horses some rest. He knew that there was still a chance that Juneston was going to catch up to them. He just was going to do everything in his power to make sure the Princesses got back to their castle.

Looking over at the group he saw that the horses were ready to go again, the rest would just have to handle the pace in which they were trying to go at. The good thing was that they all realized how bad the situation was that they were currently in so they were not complaining or asking for more stops than necessary.

Especially Syd.

Z had been right. He would have assumed that it wasn't true, not with the way Syd would act a lot of the times, but it wasn't the case. It was nice that she kept going without complaint. In fact she seemed quite grateful. And even though he know saw how she was it still hadn't changed his mind about not wanting to marry her. He just couldn't see the idea of her and wife together in his mind.

Bridge was a good guy. He was a little odd, but somehow it worked with him. He was very willing to help in any way he could and he was a quick learner. Although he and Syd had feelings for each other they kept it inside which was a good thing because it allowed them to focus on the important things.

Z.

He trusted her. He respected her. He even enjoyed being in her company and speaking with her; he wasn't quite sure where that left him at the moment. He liked hearing her side and realized that she did have a good point quite a few times. She just wasn't always right like she thought. Though she seemed to be much better about things now then before.

He looked behind them and was a little relieved that he couldn't see anyone following them. The only thing was someone could still be following them and him glancing back would not stop him. He needed to get the Princesses back before Juneston did. It would be helpful to know where they were at. Sky wasn't sure if Juneston and his men were nearby or if they were in a completely different location.

When he focused back on the road ahead of them he realized that Z was looking back at him. He gave her a questioning look to which she just shrugged and turned back. Then he saw Syd's head turn towards him and when she saw him looking at her she smiled at him. He nodded at the blonde girl who then whispered something in Z's ear. He couldn't see her reaction so he wasn't sure what that was all about. Shaking his head he moved his horse a little faster then causing the other horses to move a bit faster.

As soon as the horses began moving faster Z turned back to him, "Have you spotted someone?"

"No, but we can never be too careful, especially now."

Z nodded, "Right. Perhaps we should pick up the pace a bit more than, just for a little bit."

Sky thought about that for a minute, he didn't want to overwork the horses. However she did have a good point and perhaps going faster than what he had moved it up to would make sense, as long as it was for a little while. He nodded, "That's a good idea. We'll move faster for just a bit."

Bridge nodded, "Sounds good to me." And then they took off galloping.

General Ott finished marking off yet another area of the map. How was he going report to the King that his daughters still were missing? He knew that it was a hard thing, he couldn't even imagine his own little daughter not being there. He needed to get Sydney and Elizabeth back to the castle. It just would have been a whole lot easier to have searched for them if he had any idea as to what had happened.

He wasn't sure if the girls had completely left on their own or if something else was going on. If they had left on their own, the question was why. Knowing why would help him make a better guess as to where to look. They were looking for a needle in a haystack.

And then there was Juneston.

He hadn't been able to find Juneston for quite sometime. If he didn't show up soon he wasn't sure what that meant. Nothing good. Not like he trusted Juneston and his men. There was something that just was wrong with him. He had never trusted him and he didn't know why the King still wanted to keep him around. Luckily he never had to interact with that man much but something about this whole thing with the Princesses and Juneston just did not sit well with him.

He didn't want to just go and assume that he had kidnapped them, but…

That was another thing he couldn't find Juneston. It wasn't like Ott had done a massive search for him or anything like that, but he hadn't seen him in a while and that bothered him. If Juneston was out of sight what was he up to? He could be plotting against the King…or perhaps he had kidnapped the Princesses. Whatever reason Ott would find out after finding the Princesses of course.

He looked at the next section on the map. Looking up at the sun he figured they had enough time to finish that section before heading back to the castle.

Sighing he signaled his men to come in. "We're going to search this next section before we call it a night. I want you men to go over in the eastern section, you go to the west…the north…and you search the way you did last time."

He had the men head off in the different directions so they could cover more ground. The last group would go in pairs and do checks throughout the section. It worked in the past, in other searches and wars, so Ott liked to continue using it.

He could only hope that in using this it would be fruitful in finding the missing Princesses.

Z glanced around, "This…looks familiar."

"Are we lost?" Syd asked holding onto her sister a little tighter.

"No. I don't think so."

"We're not lost." Sky said coming up besides Syd and Z's horse.

Bridge who was on the other side of Syd and Z looked around and then back at Sky, "You know where we are?" Sky looked at him and Bridge nodded. "That's good then. As long as one of us knows where we are, we all do…I mean not completely. I don't know where I am and neither does Syd or Pr—Z. But we know because we're with you. So since we know because of you it's like we know. Although I suppose that if we weren't with you we wouldn't know, so therefore we don't actually know—"

"Bridge, we get it." Syd smiled at the other man who grinned back at her.

"Right."

"We're close to your Kingdom. It's the woods just to the northeast of your land."

"So we're home free?"

"I wouldn't count on that just yet. We still need to get back to your Father before Juneston does."

"But we're close. We'll make it." Syd asked worry in her voice.

Before Sky could respond Z spoke, "Maybe, like Sky said, we'll close, but we still have a bit of a ways to go."

"Well then let's head off. Juneston might think of going there instead of searching for Syd." Bridge said.

Z looked back at Sky who frowned and then looked at her, "He has a good point."

The brunette nodded, "A very good point. I think we should hurry."

"Agreed. Let's go."

And with that they began riding again. Z was starting to get worried, they were close, but it just seemed like to much to be able to make it back without any other issues happening.

She could feel her sisters grip tighten around her waist and she knew that she was worried. Z wished she could comfort her right now, but stopping was not an option. Besides the faster they moved the better chance they had of getting back to their Father in one piece. Once they were safe then she could comfort her sister and let her know everything was alright.

And apologize.

If it hadn't been for Z they wouldn't have gotten lost in the first place. Now she wasn't sorry for leaving. She still did not want to marry Jack. She briefly wondered what he was doing at the moment before she returned her thoughts to the horse and following along the path.

It wasn't long before Z recognized some of the land marks that her and her sister had visited so often throughout the years. If she was recognizing some of them that surely meant that they were quite close to the castle.

Only a little bit further.

That was when an arrow whizzed right in front of her and struck into the tree. Juneston had caught up with them! She tried to move the horse faster when another arrow came from in front of them. She abruptly slowed her horse down and looked around wondering if they would stop.

Looking over she saw that both Bridge and Sky were stopped. They were a bit further off than she was, but they were looking around too. Sky was not happy.

"It's the Princesses!" One of the men from the woods called.

Z felt her sister lean closer to her, "I'm sorry Z."

Rustling was then heard and she knew that they were surrounded, "No I'm sorry Syd." And as more rustling was heard that signaled the men coming out of their hiding places Z wasn't sure how they were going to be able to get out of this one.