***Josefina***
Josie sits on her legs in front of her fireplace. She holds on to the red rosary her mother gave her. She'd been praying that Duncan and Red are okay. No one else knows how much Red wants to find her father, and being unsupervised with Duncan means trouble. Josie opens her eyes when a gust of warm air hit her face. Then, a poof of dust puts out her fire. Josie could feel in her heart that something was wrong, and the only way to find out what it was, is to investigate the creepy wind that blew through her fireplace.
The tunnels, she thought to herself. The last time something like this happen Red's father was in the tunnels. Josie gets up and pushes in the planned that opens the entrance to the tunnels. The torches are lit which meant someone trigged a trap. Josie makes her way down the hollowed out dirt corridor to see what happened. She didn't know why she was doing this, but something deep inside of her said to keep going. "Is anyone down here," she starts in a whisper. Then she realizes if it was a thief or robber caught in the trap she could merely leave them there and they will be powerless. "Hello is anyone in here?" she screams a little louder.
She hears what sounded like a nay. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" she yells coming around a curve. "Hello," she yells one more time hoping to get a response.
"Josie?" a voice yells back to her. It was hard to make out, but she knows for sure they said her name.
"Hello," Josie calls again going down a different corridor to see if it leads closer to the voice.
"Josie I'm here," she hears someone yells. Josie runs towards the voice and stops when she sees a horse. It wasn't just any horse, it was Anna. "Duncan," she yells going over to the hole and seeing Red. "Red reach for my hand," she yelled trying to reach out to her. Red is too far away for Josie to reach. "Red I have to get help can you hold on for a while?" Josie asks looking at Red. She looks terrified and Josie decides not to leave her. There had to be a way to disable the trap. "Red is there a way to close the pit?" she yells to her.
"I think there's a panel near you that will, but I can't remember which," she yells back.
Josie looks at the tiny space between the wall and the pit. Maybe there is just enough space for me to cross and guide Anna back.
Josie grabs onto a torch and starts to walk across. She finds her footing and feels comfortable reaching for the next torch when her foot slips. "AAAAHHH," she screams thinking the torch isn't strong enough to hold her, but the touch is the lever for closing the pit. The panel floor starts to quickly close and she swings to the side Red is trap on.
"Josie it's too slippery to climb," she cries trying to pull herself up before she's crushed.
"Just keep hold on Anna's reins," Josie says going to Anna. She helps Anna pull Red up, just in time. "What are you doing in here?" Josie says panting at a lost for breath.
"I need to find Duncan. Kane's trying to kill me, but he think's Duncan is me, and I really need to find him," Red says not making any sense.
"Red I don't understand," was all Josie could say. What Red was saying wasn't logical. It sounds like one of the fairytales she used to make up. "I thought Duncan was to take you to Gran's?"
"He was but the royal guard came looking for me, and Duncan became me, and they took him away," Red cries holding onto Josie. "I need to save him."
"Red, you need to explain what happened a little more, because I don't understand," Josie said helping Red to her feet.
"In the forest Duncan told me a secret about him and his real family. They were shifter things, and he could change into stuff like animals, and he changed into me when he saw the guards. He told me to meet him outside the village gates and that's when I saw them take him away. Then they sent poor Thunder out into the forest,"-
"Really, in that storm?" Josie asked. Out of everything Red had said that was the only thing Josie understands perfectly.
"What storm?"
"It's been snowing hard for a few hours now," Josie said as they approached the exit to her room. "Did Duncan tell you about Kane beating him all the time? It's unthinkable, the things Kane says to Duncan when no one is around," Josie says helping Red get Anna into her room.
"I saw him hit Duncan at the Grand Ball. How are we to get Anna to the stable? If we take her through the kitchen someone might see us," Red says as they push the panel back in place to seal the entrance to the tunnels and get the fireplace up.
"Leave her in here to warm up. I'll go see if there's anyone around, then I'll come back for you."
"No I won't allow it. Duncan already got hurt trying to help me, and I won't let that happen to you. We'll go together and leave Anna here." Red says going over to her friend.
"Fine," Josie says grabbing her night robe. "Put this on, its Jacqueline's night robe. It has a hood so no one should recognize you right away, if you keep your head down," Josie says helping Red put it on.
Once they open the door guards run pass including Josie's brother Josef. He stops immediately when he sees his sister. "Josefina y Jacqueline volver a la cama." He yells and the girls close the door.
"We have to find out where they're going and we have to get Anna out of here at the same time," Red says looking to Josie for the answer.
"I think following the guards is more important. I need to know where José is going," Josie says clearly worried about her brother.
"Certainly," Red says checking to see if the coast is clear. The last of the guards were just walking past. Red signals for Josie to come on, and they follow behind the guards without being detected. All the guards are going into the Grand Ballroom where Kane and Lotty are on the staircase looking out to the overcrowded room. "Silence!" the lieutenant that attacked Duncan yells causing the room to fall silent. "Your honorable Duke wishes to call you to arms against your king." Again the room is filled with whispers, "Silence," he calls once more. "King Erwin has done the unthinkable. He's taken our sweet Roselyn who you all my call Little Red. He brutally beat our noble Duncan, who only wanted to help his dear cousin. We all must stand up for the children of Kensington and fight for our future duchess," he says getting a cheer from mostly they whole crowd.
"May I speak," Kane says coming down a few steps to stand next to the lieutenant. The room went silent the second Kane reached his side. "Noble and gallant warriors of Kensington, I have fought beside most of you to defend our king, and I know how loyal you all are to the crown. If any of you don't feel comfortable fighting in this battle against him I shall understand. All I ask is for you to return to your homes now, without fare of being seen as cowardly, or traitorous. I will see you as the noble man you are. But if you do choose to stay, you will have more than my respected. You will have my vow that I will try to peacefully return your duchess to you. I vow that I will do whatever it takes to make my family whole once again. And you will not only be doing a service to me, but you will be giving a mother piece of mind" he says gesturing to Lotty who was crying, "and you will be protecting my amazing brother's only child. Roselyn is the only piece of my brother we have left and I will not let anyone destroy it!" he yells getting happy cheers from everyone in the crowd.
Josie slowly pulls Red back to her room. "How dear he use my father's name to start a war? Who does he think he is?" Red says in tears. "By the gods I shall make him suffer for all he's done. Mother probably thinks I'm died, and how could he know Duncan isn't me. He looked just like me," Red says pacing the floor. She looked over to Josie who was just sitting on the edge of her bed in shock. "Josie are you okay?"
"Prince, what if he's hurt, and my brother's going to fight against the king? How can this be Red? We have to tell everyone that you're okay, before someone gets hurt. They can march to the king's court by dawn," Josie says crying too.
"Okay, we must get a hold of ourselves. Tears can't help anyone," Red says wiping her eyes. "I'll go try to find Duncan, and talk to my mother once Kane leaves. I need you to take Anna out into the village to find Lucy. You need to bring her to the castle," Red says grabbing Josie's mask from the ball.
"But Red we can't let them get to the king's court and attack," Josie says not understanding Red's reasoning. "We need them to see you're okay, and for them to see that Kane is a liar."
"Josie Kane won't attack the King until he has at least three other courts that support him. If he's using my disappearance as a platform we have at least a week before any real fighting. I need to get to Prince and Lucy is going to help me do that. But I have to make sure Duncan is okay," Red says as she puts a blanket on Anna to keep her warm.
"I want to go with you and Lucy to help Prince," Josie says.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," She says hugging Josie. "We have to act fast. So try to be back before dawn, and we can use the tunnels to get to court."
"Okay, please be safe," Josie says going out thee room and heading towards the kitchen. Red want through the servant quarters to the staircase that lead to the master suits.