Ainako: Pls to not hope I can finish this. I think I can 75% of the times but many times it's hard to translate your grandeur ideas into written words. In English.
"Your Highness, my Prince?"
She tried for the third time to get him to notice her, standing by the door to the Prince's sleeping chamber. Beryl donned her best dress with plunging neckline and precious stones in her hair the moment she heard her Prince Endymion had returned. She wouldn't put the Prince as low as the other unruly men out there, but she knew he liked how she looked in dresses like these. She had caught him many times staring too long. Beryl would have carve other men's eyes out of their sockets for just doing that but Endymion was her only exception. For him, she would bare her own bones if he liked the view.
Breathing in deep to hide her fragile patience, she called again.
"Prince Endymion?"
Not a stir from his seating by the bed, with his eyes locked to the person lying on top. Beryl would have yanked the milksop out of there if she had her way. That bed was supposed to be shared with her and her alone with her Prince. How dare a pale donkey people like that girl crawl her way there! If Beryl knew beforehand who that girl was when the Prince and his retainers arrived days ago, she wouldn't have offered herself to help undressing and tend to her cuts and bruises. She wouldn't have to help cleaning the bedpan and put fresh coals to warm the covers. She wouldn't have bothered to feed the comatose girl and sang a prayer for her fast recovery. If Beryl knew this girl was the one who stole the heart of her would-be fiance, she would have smothered her with a pillow, make sure she choked on her gruel!
"My Lord!"
This time, he finally noticed and turned to her. He dared to raise one finger over his lips to silence her. The nerve! She didn't have the heart to play along with obedience when there's nothing for her in return. Without lowering her voice, she instead softened her words to a degree.
"General Kunzite requests for your appearance in the gathering room, my Lord."
She even gave him a little of her smile in the end. That, along with the emphasis of her bosom, should make him stir - should make anyone stir. But without even a gulp or a stutter, he waved her away. He waved her away! How dare he!
"Tell the General I will be there just a moment." And he's back staring at that half-dead hussy.
Beryl would have run up to that milksop and tore her hair off her scalp if not for the booming voice came behind her. Kunzite literally took no care to keep the noise his boots are making against the stone floor. He would have woken up the whole fort but yet that shameless whore still sleeps. She fought the rage down and bit her lips.
"And how many 'moments' do you need? An hour? A day? A week? I have given you TWO weeks, Endymion!"
"But she is still-"
"Why? You forgot how to remember your oath because this girl is still not waking up?"
"Those two matters does not relate to one another, Kunzite." Her Prince tried to argue while whispering, his face red for some reason. What a ridiculous sight to witness. He should be arguing about Beryl instead like she deserved to.
"You forgot you had your loyal men eager to ride when you call to claim the land because this girl is not waking up? Do you think none of these good men have a wife or child that they wished they could stay staring at their sleeping faces instead of throwing their bloody lives in the battlefield?" Kunzite let out a long sigh and dropped his voice. "I begin to regret the decision to dive into the raging river to save her. I really do, Endymion, if this is the type of distraction she gives you."
So he was the one to blame that lead this stupid girl here. Inside, Beryl boiled with seething anger. She needs to punish him one day for this. But Kunzite was not at all aware for her toxic glare. Knowing staying there any longer would made her turn into a madwoman, Beryl stomped away without any leave from the Prince. When she was well away from earshot, she quickened her pace. This facade has gone too long. If things were to happen, she needed to start them herself. Metallia would know how. Beryl would have cackled in glee. She quickly finds her horse and rode out of the fort. No one dared to stop her of course. She is Beryl, the future Queen to Prince Endymion. Queen Beryl will make that shameless hussy grovel at her feet for taking away her Prince.
"Please do not say that, Kunzite. I just..."
Again, the Princeling eyed the sleeping girl longingly. Kunzite understands, of course, the mad things love can do to a sensible man.
"But would you have it in your heart to let her be the reason holding you back?"
Endymion made a pained expression and closed his eyes. He knew his liege was not at all stupid. He would see sense, only if guided properly. Gods, they couldn't risk losing a leader now when they're right in the middle of the enemy's land. Soon or late, Dimande's army would catch up and level everything in one swoop. Lose Endymion now and hope will die. All will die. Kunzite restrained from gripping his fists too tight. They couldn't risk to falter now.
"I... I'm sorry. I will have someone else look after her for a while. Beryl..."
Kunzite noticed the red headed woman glaring at him and briskly left without a word. Beryl intimidates him sometimes. He would rather face ten men while unarmed than facing her alone.
"You should be reminded that Beryl is not your maid, my Lord. She is here for another reason."
She is here as your fiance, he wanted to add but he held his tongue. Their marriage would promise good prospect between their two houses. Endymion being the rightful heir to the throne and Beryl from a wealthy house that more or less funded the whole army.
"Oh... yes. I-I see."
"I will ask the maiden who took refuge in our camp the other day. My Lord, you will need to join me in the conference room. Michelle."
The said woman quietly stepped inside the room as soon as summoned. She looked like a well brought girl with a musical voice. Her wavy hair that touched to her shoulders reminded of him the color of seaweed. She bobbed to curtsy.
She was a mystery, this Michelle. They met her one rainy night, stranded by the upturned cart she said she was riding before her horse slipped out of her rein and ran away spooked by a landslide. Kunzite and the rest, as well as Endymion, never meant to bring her to camp. But somehow, she knew who Endymion was. Despite whatever nonsense with that hand mirror she always carried in her belt she claimed to have revealed to her, he refused to believe it has any form of magic. But somehow she knew who they all were before introducing themselves. Either abandoned the girl or take her along with the marching army, they chose the latter. Though Kunzite still fears she might be a spy from Prince Dimand, he couldn't leave a woman alone in the rain. She had remained in the camp as helpers to the small group of women - maids and cooks whom also whose husbands served as soldiers - but he had heard of her taking upon it herself as entertainers. She played the fiddle, or violin as she insisted, and cheered up the mood of the men. Thanks to her seemingly innocent disposition, Kunzite finds it hard not to lower his guard around her. Perhaps this is the perfect time to prove how far he can trusts her.
"Michelle, stay with the girl."
"Serena. Her name is Serena." Endymion corrected.
"Yes. Serena. Please stay with Serena and tend to her caretaking."
The woman smiled gently and curtsied as she see them go.
"I guess it's not my place to doubt you when you said there wouldn't be any tracks to suggest where Serena might have headed, Madam Trista."
Lita stood up from her kneeling after attempting to read the soggy earth of signs of recent passerby. She was gifted with a talent of tracking, yet she could not see any trace of a woman who just passed by a few days ago, or ever. There was nothing that walked on legs which she couldn't track, and there was never a forest she couldn't hear its whispers. But in here, nothing speaks to her. Regular forests would have the smell of the wind, animal excrement and fragrant barks of trees, but not here. The trees stood in eternal silence. Not a whisper of an animal within range and strangely not even a smell of the earth permeates the air. It was illogical to assume but does the trees is even alive here? But then, even dead trees would give off a smell of decay.
Trista, a quiet lone woman smiled and told them yet again to address her only with her name. Lita couldn't obliged. Trista is not just a woman to her eyes. Her name was mentioned in ancient texts as the sole guardian of the Chronos Woods. Most likely every guardian posted here all adopted the name Trista, but Lita at least don't dismissed that she might be the same Trista in the stories. There was an air of wisdom around the woman, like from someone who had lived a century or more, yet the youthful face made guessing her age even harder. To Lita, the dark skinned woman might have at most only ten years her senior.
Amy and Mina trod slowly, trailing behind with their hands on the rein of their horses. The beasts looked scared - terrified even - but they were bred to withstand the elements. A touch to the neck and a soft coo calmed them down. For now, at least. Amy had a crease of worry distorting her pretty face. She whispered her concern of when will they ever get out of this forest. The horses will soon reached their limit to stay calm. If they succumbed to panic, they might scampered off, and to lose their ride now would make things very complicated. Mina's white stallion she named Artemis trod steadily. The black mare they found just by the edge of the forest that somehow decided to follow them also managed to keep a steady pace. The mare had a rein in its teeth and dropped it on Lita's hand as soon as she got near - she thought the mare was injured - and it nudged to be reined. Certainly this was no wild mare. Someone must have owned her. Lita would have left the mare if they had not noticed the yellowish blonde marking on its forehead in a shape of a upright crescent moon. A complete identical to Artemis'. Mina doubted if the horses might share blood relation, but this is no coincidence. For the time being, they will take the mare along this perilous search.
"Trista, but how exactly large is this forest?" Ray voiced after spending the majority of the time in complete silence. The Princess' disappearance hits her harder than the three of them. "I think we may have been walking for more than a full day already. And it doesn't seem to be that large of a forest from the outskirt."
"True, it is not a very large forest, but it is a place of strong magic." Trista replied. Lita saw the woman gently rocked the sleeping child she was carrying on her breast. She claimed the child was not hers but was entrusted to care for her until she wakes up. Seeing very little she explained about her situation made all the other questions she might have silenced even before it reach her lips. Or maybe Trista might have done something to keep them from asking too much. She was said to be a witch, after all. "It's just that time flows differently here than the outside world. A few hours here would seem like weeks outside. A day would be like months - even years. If you got lost here, and somehow survived for a few weeks, a century might have come and gone."
"All the more reasons we need to find the Princess soon. It already had been a month..." Pain came back to Lita's chest. She held back the tears in a chokehold. Now is not the time. Now all they need was to find the Princess. The whole kingdom needs Princess Serenity. Lita needs Serena, the girl to whom she had vowed to protect so long her heart is still beating.
"That is why you must not walked off too far away from me right now. As long as I am with you, the flow of time would not be affecting you in person." Trista, one hand on the babe on her breast, and the other held a tall staff with glowing orb that served as their source of light in this dim forest.
Something in a stone throw away reflected the bronze glow of the orb, and Lita went ahead to collect it. There, in the ground was a dagger so intricately made out of ivory and silver. It doesn't look used. Holding it in her hand, the cold blade warmed up with her touch. As if Lita was touching the owner of this dagger. She had told the Princess that she would have to learn to protect herself if her guards failed to her aid. Lita had personally taught her to mentally prepared of a fight or flight situations. Serena was not a very athletic so Lita was lenient in training her how to run from assailants. Instead, she intended to train the Princess how to throw punches and kicks. Intended. Lita haven't actually made any progress in that. The dagger was a gift Lita gave to her on her 9th nameday. She had promised to teach her how to use it. She had promised.
Ray and Mina had their arms around her waist as she stood and immediately lost all her energy to stand up right. The sorrow came back to her like a hurricane, battering on her face without mercy. Tears burned her eyes, making the world blurry and dead. She could not stop them from flowing.
"I should have taught her how to fistfight. She is without any means of weapon..." Lita couldn't stop herself from repeating that over and over again. Every inch of her body ache to meet the Princess again. Serena had been the only reason for Lita's life. She lives off her smiles like a sprouting bud thrives from the sunlight. "I should have been there with her that night, Ray. I should have, right after you said there was something wrong, right after I agreed with you. I should have stayed in her room and give her her favorite candy I hid in her drawers. I would have... I should have known... Nothing like this would ever happened if I... Not this... Not all these..."
Three heads smothered her face, hands in each other, consoling one another. It's unfair, of course, trying to blame herself for everything. Amy sobbed while Mina wept. Ray's eyes were red and she was biting her lip. Even without words, Lita knew. This is not the time point fingers, no time to lose yourself with the guilt. What had happened, happened. We cry for the lost. We will protect who still lives.
"You will find her." Trista said after a while. Her face was like carved from a stone watching the women from a short distance. She breathed in deep and set her eyes to the babe on her breast.
"You need to find her", she paused and gently held the sleeping child's hand. "Or the White Moon Kingdom dies."