Morgan was pretty sure he was dreaming. It was just that he'd never had a dream so loud before. Why were they yelling? The sound seemed to be taking over his dream, pulling him up and out like being dragged out of mud. Morgan could feel sleep slipping away as he became more aware of his surroundings.

Very suddenly, he was pulled from his groggy state by someone grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him without mercy. His eyes snapped open and Morgan's vision was full of John Casey.

"What, huh, why you here?" Morgan mumbled. Between the dream and the rude awakening, he wasn't feeling all that coherent.

"Chuck and Sarah are missing," Casey told him.

That sobered Morgan up right away. Chuck, also known as Prince Charles, was his best friend. It wasn't exactly common for royalty to get chummy with the regular folk, but Chuck wasn't your usual type of royalty either. Morgan had met the prince when they were both six years old. His mother had forgotten him at the market again. Morgan could remember being so scared, alone in a crowd of strangers, but then Chuck had appeared. He and his mother had helped Morgan that day, and all the days that followed, Morgan had received regular invitations to the castle to visit with the prince. Over the years, he'd ended up spending time with the other kids who lived in the castle, as well as the princess, Ellie, though she'd never been his biggest fan. Morgan had come to live here only recently, when the prince had found him a job in the castle.

"What do you mean missing?" Morgan asked with urgency.

"I mean they can't be found," Casey snapped. "What do you think missing means? There was an attack last night. We were all locked in our rooms or didn't you notice?"

"I, um," Morgan replied awkwardly. He didn't want to admit that he hadn't noticed.

"That's what I thought," Casey grumbled. "By the time I broke out of my room, every guard who hadn't been locked up was dead and the prince and his bodyguard were nowhere to be found."

"Does that mean they escaped together?"

"That's the hope," Casey replied. "Now get up and get dressed. The king wants you in the counsel room, now."

"Aye, sir!"

Casey just growled before turning away and exiting the room. Since Morgan had met and fallen in love with Alex, he'd learned quite a bit about her father. Most importantly that he was not a man to be crossed, but he'd also realized there was quite a bit more to John Casey than meets the eye. Despite his cranky exterior, Casey actually cared quite a bit more than he let on, especially about his daughter. In his youth, Casey had worked along the border. It wasn't until he'd returned to join the castle guard that he'd learned he had a daughter. Even so, he'd become very protective of her right away.

Morgan got up and got dressed as fast as he could before heading upstairs to the king's counsel room. It wasn't a place he often went. Chuck had to attend meetings on a regular basis, but it was rare that Morgan was asked to join. The only other time he'd attended a royal meeting was when the queen had wanted to ask him very specific questions about Chuck. Morgan did his best not to break, but in the end he'd told them where Chuck had run off too. Of course, that had been back when they were ridiculous teenagers and Chuck had merely been sneaking out of the castle because his parents had told him not to. Morgan had no idea why he was being asked to join this time. Surely, they needed the military adviser more than him.

Even with no idea why he was here, Morgan sat down at the oval table towards the end, trying to appear inconspicuous. The king and queen sat in their usual seat on opposite ends of the oval table while all the generals, captains and high ranking soldiers were seated along the sides. Morgan felt very out of place sitting next to the queen, but he wanted to help find Chuck, even if he didn't feel like he was qualified for the job.

"We've done a full sweep of the castle and grounds," General Beckmen reported. "No signs of the prince, but we did find two bodies that weren't our guards. One had a knife between the eyes and the other a slashed throat. Both were near the north wall gate. At the moment, our best case scenario is that they escaped through the north gate and are on the run."

"And what's the worst case scenario?" Queen Mary asked.

"That they put up a fight but were captured," Beckman replied. "But I feel like this is less likely."

"How come?" King Stephen inquired.

"Because Sarah holds no value as a ransom," Captain Shaw explained. "If indeed the goal was to capture and ransom off the prince, then taking his guard with him wouldn't make sense."

"You assume too much," the king declared. "We don't know that ransom was their goal."

"What other goal could they have?" Shaw stated as if his question didn't need an answer.

"I talked to the kitchens," the queen continued. "And there are clothes, bags, and food missing. To me, this means they escaped together with provisions. My husband and I have decided to plan the rescue attempts accordingly." She then turned and looked right at Morgan, who gulped.

"Where would Chuck go?" she asked Morgan. He could tell she meant the question seriously and answered in kind.

Morgan knew where his best friend's mind was always at these days. He knew what motivated Chuck and he knew exactly what Chuck's reaction to this situation would be.

"If I know Chuck, which I do," Morgan replied. "Then I can say with certainty that Chuck will go wherever Sarah takes him."

"That hardly helps," Shaw scoffed. "She's his guard. Of course he'll follow her. We need to know where to start searching."

"No, you see it's not that he'll follow her," Morgan explained. "It's that, prince or not, he won't be calling the shots. We don't need to know where Chuck would go, we need to know where Sarah would go. So the question now is, who knows Sarah the best."

There was silence for a moment. Despite her being part of the military for years, Sarah had only been assigned to the regiment posted at the castle a matter of months ago. She had no family here. Morgan wasn't even sure if she'd made any friends yet.

"Casey has been training her," General Beckman said after a long pause. "He's spoken very highly of her."

"And we all know impressing the colonel is no simple task," Captain Shaw added.

"Assemble a team," the king ordered. "Your best guards plus the colonel and Morgan."

"Morgan isn't in the military or even part of the royal guard," Shaw argued.

"He is going and that's final," Stephen commanded. "Like Casey he is a resource for information on this mission. He knows Chuck better than anyone, and you will need him. Every bit of information is essential in such a time sensitive situation."

Captain Shaw bowed his head, but it was very clear to everyone he hated doing it.

"Make no mistake, this is a rescue mission, but if you can bring in or kill the people behind the attack on my family you have authorization to do so," Queen Mary commanded. "You are going to operate under the assumption that Sarah and Chuck are alive and together but on the run. We need to find them before the enemy does. Speed is of the essence. You will leave as soon as you are able."

Once again Shaw nodded, this time with less clear displeasure

"Dismissed," Mary said and at once everyone seated at the table stood and left the room.

Morgan tried to follow suit, but he was stopped by the queen's hand on his shoulder.

"Stay," she told him and Morgan sat, feeling very much like a misbehaving child as he did so.

Once the table was clear, the king ordered every attendant, servant and guard out of the room. Now alone with his best friend's two royal parents, Morgan was about ready to hide under the table. The last time he'd been this nervous was when he'd found out who Alex's father was.

Speaking of Alex, Morgan really didn't think she would be happy about this, but it wasn't like he could refuse to follow the king's orders because his girlfriend might not like it.

"I know you know why they are after Chuck," Stephen's kind voice cut into the silence.

"What, no, why would I know?" Morgan replied lamely.

"Because my foolish son tells you everything," the queen spoke in a sharper tone than her husband. "I know you are loyal to him. I also know someone who isn't, has found out. You are going on this mission because no one else, save for me and his father, knows why Chuck was targeted. You heard Shaw. They think this is a ransom situation, but we both know our kingdom isn't large enough for a ransom to be worth this sophisticated of an attack."

"We don't know that for sure," Morgan said, trying and failing not to sound fake.

"Oh yes we do, and we know you know, so don't even pretend," Mary snapped. Morgan was about to give another lame denial, when the queen's glare cut through to his core.

"Chuck told me years ago," Morgan admitted.

"This attack was too sophisticated to not have inside help," the queen continued. "We can't risk telling everyone in the rescue party, which means it's up to you to tell them only what they need to know, if they need to know it."

"Ummm, what does that mean exactly?"

"What my wife is trying to say is there may come a moment when knowing this isn't a random kidnapping will make the difference between saving and losing our son," the king said in a calmer voice than his wife. "And if that time comes, it is down to you to notice it."

"Oh," Morgan said in a small voice. "So no pressure then."

"I need to know one more thing," Mary began. "Will Chuck tell Sarah?"

"I'd say there is a very good chance Chuck has already told Sarah," Morgan answered. "Unless he's worried about what she'd think or something, then it might take him a while, but if they got into a situation that called for drastic action, then he'd probably tell her sooner you know, cause Chuck-"

"A simple yes would have sufficed," the queen sighed. "We will just have to hope Sarah can be trusted."

"Oh, I think she can," Morgan commented.

"And why is that?" the queen inquired.

"Because Chuck believes she can."

Mary let out a long sign before telling Morgan he could go. Without wasting a second, Morgan got up off his chair and left the room with haste. Though he valued the trust they had just shown him, the whole atmosphere in there right now was intimidating. Morgan wanted to be elsewhere.

Less than an hour later, Morgan was assembled outside the north gate with Shaw, Casey and a half a dozen other guards he couldn't quite remember the name of. He'd barely even gotten a moment to say goodbye to Alex before being whisked off to join the mission.

The king was anxious, and rightly so. Despite their best efforts for speed, the rescue party didn't leave the castle grounds until almost midday. Both Chuck and his pursuers had a huge head start.

"The king worries too much," Shaw was saying as they travelled. "All he has to do is pay the ransom once it arrives."

"What makes you so sure this is a ransom?" John Casey asked.

Morgan knew that Chuck had never told Casey his secret, but he also wouldn't be surprised if the colonel knew something else was going on here.

"What else could it possibly be?" Shaw laughed.

It was fairly well known that the captain of the royal guards thought the prince to be, well, a little ridiculous. Morgan did understand that as far as princes go, Chuck was a bit unorthodox, but then again so were the rest of his family. Princess Ellie ran a free hospital in the lower town, despite her parents repeatedly telling her it was too dangerous. The king was always trying to invent something and the queen was the scariest of the lot. When she wasn't putting on the social graces, Morgan was pretty sure she could kill a man with her pinky.

"Until we know more, we can't speculate," Casey told Shaw.

It was very clear that Shaw hated being told this. The royal guards reported directly to Shaw and Shaw reported only to the king and queen. As part of the military, Casey reported to General Beckman who reported to the royal couple. Casey had seen more action, but Shaw probably thought he was of higher rank due to his not reporting to a middleman, or in this case, middle woman.

Morgan knew they wouldn't actually come to blows, but that didn't mean both men weren't thinking about it.

In silence, the party walked across the open space just past the wall and into the forest. They were following the noses of the two hunting dogs on leash at the front of the group. They soon turned off the path and then, about an hour later, found themselves stopped in their tracks.

"Looks like they crossed this river," Shaw was saying.

"No really? I hadn't guessed," Casey replied sarcastically.

"We'll have to try and pick up the scent again on the other side."

Both men looked up and down to see if there was a place to cross.

"Is it really a river, though," Morgan piped in. "I mean aren't rivers deeper?"

Everyone ignored him. Morgan wasn't surprised. They'd been walking up and down what Morgan would generously call a creek for only a few minutes when they were spotted.

Morgan had to guess the other group had only just arrived the same as them since they were also looking for a way across the creek without getting their shoes wet. The difference was that these men were definitely not royal guards. Like everyone else there, Morgan had to assume they were the ones after Chuck. Shaw ordered the attack and everyone charged forward.

Except for Morgan, who moved a little bit to the right. He could hear the clashing of swords and the screams of pain as he took cover behind a rock.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream behind him and Morgan turned on the spot to see the bad guy who'd been about to split him in half skewered through the chest on Casey's broadsword.

"Idiot," Casey mumbled under his breath as he turned back towards the fight. "Stay behind me."

Morgan didn't need telling twice. He picked up the dead man's sword, and realized it was too heavy so he picked up the bad guy's dagger and followed the colonel.

Three of the castle guards were on the ground bleeding. Morgan counted only two of the attackers lying near them. The remaining men were grinning like they'd already won, while their leader in the back yelled at them to press their advantage.

With only three guards left, plus Shaw and Casey, the bad guys outnumbered them worse now than before. Still, Morgan knew Casey and Shaw were no ordinary men. They counted as at least two each, and in Casey's case maybe three.

Morgan tried to stay behind Casey as the fighting continued. Easier said than done. Hands moved blades through the air so fast, it was all Morgan could do to keep himself from being sliced in half.

Another of the royal guards fell to the ground with a sword through his chest, but at the same time Casey and Shaw each took out one of the enemy, and they were in no way slowing down.

Morgan could almost make out the man in the back or at least he could see a mop of messy brown hair and hear the man's sinister voice.

"Give up," the leader was saying. "You are outnumbered."

Casey and Shaw responded by each killing another one of the attackers at the same time. Without hesitation they turned to take on the next.

It didn't take long for the outnumbered status to shift. Morgan saw the leader better, as the men in front of him reduced. If only he could get closer, maybe he could catch a glimpse of the leader's face.

Leaving the safety of Casey's side, Morgan darted forward in a mad rush to identify their leader before he ran off. Morgan knew somehow that the man behind this whole thing wasn't about to turn himself in just to save his last few men. No, he was going to leave them to die and use the time to escape.

Sure enough, when Morgan found their leader he had his back turned.

"Found you!" Morgan said in triumph. Slowly the man spun round and Morgan realised instantly that he was a dead man.

The only upside to his blunder was that he was now staring right at the other man's face. Morgan didn't recognize him, but he worked to commit the face to memory all the same.

"Don't think this means you've won, boy," the man said in a deep angry voice before turning and running in the opposite direction.

"So not dead, then," Morgan said with a smile. "Awesome."

He turned to see that Casey and Shaw had won their battle. Apart from them, only one of the other guards was uninjured. A few more were still alive, but unable to walk.

"And we have a prisoner," Shaw said with pride.

"I killed all mine," Casey growled.

"You won't hear me complaining," Morgan sided with Casey who just growled again.

"Come on," Shaw commanded. "We have to get the wounded back to the castle. Help me with these branches. We need to make a stretcher."

"But what about finding Chuck?" Morgan asked.

"Most likely those were the guys after Chuck," Shaw reminded him. "We need to report to the king and we have a prisoner to interrogate."

Morgan didn't know what to say to that. It made sense and, at the same time, Morgan felt like going back meant never finding Chuck. He wasn't sure if this was the moment Chuck's parents had told him about, but either way he had to go with his gut.

"If we turn back now we'll never catch up," Morgan argued against leaving. "I thought this was a rescue mission? Not a capture and interrogate mission. We aren't done until we find Chuck."

"Those men, whoever they were, killed our dogs," Shaw reminded him. "So unless you have a way to track Chuck without a canine we are headed back."

"I'm staying," Morgan stated firmly. He wasn't exactly sure how to track Chuck but he knew he had to try.

"We are running out of daylight," Shaw reminded them. "We should report back and find out what this one knows. There is also the wounded to think about."

"Why don't we interrogate him here?" Casey suggested. "And then the moron and I will keep looking together, while you go back with the wounded."

"You really think this is wise, Colonel?" Shaw asked. Despite their not seeing eye to eye much of the time, the captain did at least respect the colonel.

"It does make sense, given the circumstances," Casey continued. "This is a rescue mission and so far we have rescued no one."

"Alright then," Shaw agreed. "Let's see what this guy knows, then split up."

The interrogation was short lived. Threatening him accomplished nothing. Beating him up didn't get any information out of him. Shaw even offered to pay him for the information, but the man remained silent. If Morgan hadn't known better, he'd have thought the guy was missing his tongue.

The one good thing that came from the interrogation was that Shaw no longer believed this was a ransom.

"If the goal here was money he'd have taken my bribe," Shaw explained. "A prisoner who won't talk is no use to us. We should prioritise getting our own wounded home safe before nightfall. Taking the prisoner as well, will just slow us down."

"Agreed," Casey replied and, before Morgan could so much as ask what they planned to do with the prisoner, he was executed.

"Good luck," Shaw told the colonel with a slight nod.

"You as well," Casey replied.

And with that the captain, his remaining guard and the wounded, one of which was on a stretcher, turned to make their way back to the castle.

Casey turned to Morgan. "You better have a plan, kid," Casey said. "Because I just stuck my neck out for you."

"Plan right, yes plan," Morgan mumbled. "Well first of all I think we should take off our shoes."

Casey growled and Morgan explained that it was to get over the creek without having to walk in wet shoes for the rest of the day.

Just thought I'd share my reasoning for why I set this story in the past but they all still talk like we do now. Basically, I wanted to remove modern technology from the setting. The plans for this story just would not work with modern communication tech. Staying in the woods is more interesting than going from hotel to hotel and I'd rather write a chase on foot or horseback than in a car. The only downside is that I have no knowledge of how to write English in an older style than the one I live in, so… this is set in the past but everyone talks like they are from modern times. To sum up, it's a fantasy set in an alternative reality version of history. Just roll with it. *laughing emoji here* Please don't expect historical accuracy.

Also what did you think of the second pov I added? My editor was alittle disapointed. He wanted to see what was going on with Sarah and Chuck. ^_^ All in good time.

Sneak Peek Chapter 4

Gently she woke Chuck who jumped up with a startled noise then shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Time to go?" he asked once he'd properly woken up. Sarah nodded her head.

They started moving again but this time Chuck didn't complain. Sarah suspected he was starting to get too tired to bother. What little of the sun she could see through the trees was low in the sky. They had been walking since before it had risen. Sarah couldn't blame him for being tired. She was tired too.

When Sarah stopped walking, Chuck didn't notice right away and walked right into her.

"We can camp here tonight Chuck," Sarah said and the prince exclaimed in relief then promptly collapsed on the ground.

"What I wouldn't give for a sleeping bag right now," Chuck whined.

"At least I made you wear layers," Sarah reminded him playfully.

"That you did," he agreed with a kind smile.

His smile faded and he sat up to look her in the eyes before speaking again.