" Your majesty, I regret to inform you that the Prince is not in the palace."
King Leo buried his head into his hands. He took a deep breath before straightening his back and held his head high. " Inform every guild and guardsmen across this land. Also inform the guilds we trust in other lands." He paused, his face turning thoughtful before speaking again. " There is no point wasting magical power on this search since we have no clue which way they went. Instead send investigators out to question everyone in the city. We need to narrow the search as much as possible or we will never find him."
The general nodded in understanding and left the room to carry out the king's orders. The king moved over to a nearby table, grabbed a bottle of wine, and started drinking from the bottle directly. It was going to be a long night and he had yet to tell his wife the news. He winced at that thought. With a deep sigh, he headed towards his bedroom with the wine still in hand.
When he entered the room, he saw that his other two sons were fast asleep on his bed with his wife. He contemplated how he was going to wake the dragon(1), also known as his wife, without waking the little ones snuggled against her. He moved over to the bed and sat on the edge. He then reached over to his wife's face and gently moved a strand of hair. Her face scrunched up in dissatisfaction before her eyes opened in a glare.
" Sorry my love," King Leo said softly.
Jessica blinked with a frown on her face. She looked at the two boys sleeping with her as the night's events started to play in her head. Her eyes widened, " Jacob?"
Leo hung his head, " He is not in the palace. I have people checking the city."
Jessica closed her eyes and nodded her head in understanding. The likelihood of finding her eldest was becoming less and less. She could not scry for him while maintaining the protection field. The only reason she had been able to sleep is because she poured enough magic into the spell to keep it up for eight hours. This left her magically, as well as physically tired. It would probably take a full day to regain her strength. If her son wasn't found by then, she would look in the library for a spell to locate him.
On the road
The group traveled in the dark for another half an hour. When they stopped, two of them walked ahead of the group. When they were about two wagons away, they faced each other with arms outstretched. Little flashes of lightning started forming in their hands, traveling down their arms, before arching towards the person opposite of them. The lightning touched at the top before splitting in two and forming an oval in the middle. The shimmering pool in the middle of the oval began to show a dark road near farmland. Those not casting the spell could barely see the heads of lettuce in neat rows.
Once the image completely solidified, the rest continued through it. Two people kept the horses calm while moving forward. Once everyone else went through, the gate closed as if it was never there.
" Do you think those two will be ok?"
" If they move away from there in opposite directions, they should be fine. Besides, would you rather be in their place?"
" No thank you."
" We camp here tonight. We will need supplies from this farming village in the morning. Besides, I can not go another step without sleep."
The others agreed and began pulling out sleeping bags. Hopefully it wouldn't rain tonight since they all choose to sleep under the stars. The wagon driver checked on Prince Jacob one last time before crawling in his own bag.