Bellowing horns in the distance announced the start of the hunt.
The little maid could barely hold her panic. With the way things were going, it was inevitable for them to discovered and ultimately punished for even stepping outside the confines of their quarters.
No one would believe the reason they were out in the first place; if anything, telling the truth would likely bring more disaster upon them.
The Imperial Forest was nowhere to be for either of them especially not during this hunt.
"My Lady, let me run and get one of the guards for help," she said shakily.
"No, don't!" insisted the other girl.
If the maid ran about, there were more chances of her getting injured by one of the hunters especially since the hunt had begun or being stalked by one of the wilder animals brought into the forest for the hunt.
"My Lady is already bleeding this much, what else can we do?"
The little girl helplessly kneeled again and tried putting more pressure on the injury. The young Lady closed her eyes, deeply inhaling and exhaling while rocking back and forth trying to distract herself from the pain while trying to think of a solution.
Blood was already seeping through the torn material from her maid's dress.
"Don't cry okay, we'll think of something," comforted the young Lady.
It was the first time seeing such a reaction from her usually sombre maid. She was always trying to make her laugh, but she had only succeeded in making her cry instead.
While the Lady was wiping the other girl's already muddied face, they suddenly heard dogs barking, realising that the sound was getting closer. There was no hiding their situation now.
"Whoa boys," said what sounded like a young boy.
The three wolf dogs were stubbornly barking at something up ahead. The two boys ran to catch up to the dogs and peered over to see the source of commotion.
At the bottom of the slope between the trees, a grimy young girl with a tear-stained face looked up at them.
"Young Master, it looks like there's two of them," said the boy's servant.
The girl they spotted first stood up. It wasn't until she fully turned towards them that they realised that she was stained in blood.
"I'll come down to you!" shouted the young Master in common Farsud[1].
He hurriedly handed his bow and quiver to the servant and asked him to secure the dogs back before sliding down the slope to meet the little girl.
There were two girls, both seemingly around the same age.
They were well dressed suggesting a noble origin, but both stained with mud and leaves as if they had rolled down the rough slope.
What would such young noble girl be doing outside without a chaperon or guard?
"Please help us, my Lady is badly injured," pleaded the maid.
The young Master couldn't even have been five years older than them, but he was fully kitted and equipped meaning that he had to be part of the hunting party despite the young age.
He was a likely a son of one of the guests, but it didn't matter who helped them anymore.
He rushed towards the injured girl who was propped up against a tree.
It was a wonder she hadn't passed out judging from the amount of blood on not only her but the maid as well.
The little Lady looked up at the boy who had just arrived, but she could barely see him through her hazy vision.
"My Lady, I'm going to wrap this again," he insisted as he took a few pieces of linen bandages from one of his pouches.
"I'm going to need you to be very brave, okay," he said, and she nodded.
The boy started wrapping the linen and tried to tighten it as much as he could to suppress the bleeding but not completely constrict her leg.
He glanced at her every so often, but she was still quiet. The only thing that betrayed she was in pain were the silent tears rolling down her face.
"Where do you two come from? We need to take her home immediately."
"W- we came from, from the palace," stuttered the maid.
The palace? The young master was surprised.
How could they manage to leave the confines of the palace without being discovered?
There was no time to question or scold them about anything.
They managed to get the little Lady on his back. He was not that much bigger, but he could cope with her as they slowly climbed the slope with the maid's support.
"Young Master, what happened?" the servant asked at seeing the young master's bloodied hands and clothes.
"That's not important, we need to get to the palace. Her injury is serious," he urgently insisted as he walked ahead. He knew the general way back to the palace.
This was the one place where his navigation skills could work in his favour.
They were closer to the palace when the maid started recognising the way. He could feel the girl's body starting to relax so he looked over his shoulder and shook her awake.
Due to the tears, the little Lady's vision was already somewhat blurry, but she fought to stay awake.
It didn't help that the boys back was so warm and comfortable, but it was the cool peppermint smell of his hair that was helping with keeping her conscious.
"Are there any nearby entrances?" he asked as they came to one of the impossible high back walls.
It would be silly going through the main gates since it would bring about all types of trouble. The little maid looked around and found what she was searching for.
They came to a relatively quiet tunnel that led to a garden.
Even within the garden, they meandered until coming to a smaller gate that seemed to lead to a courtyard. Compared to his own home, the palace was huge and the gardens beautiful, but this was no time to be admiring gardens or architecture.
"I'll go and get someone," she insisted, and he nodded. He understood that the girls would get into trouble, so they had to get help with as few people as possible knowing.
It seemed noble households were not very different whether it was a duke, king, or emperor.
Within a few minutes, he saw two women who seemed to be palace maids rushing towards them with the little girl close behind.
The young Lady was taken from him while a third woman walked toward them. Her air of authority made him guess that she was a steward.
"Young Master, please come this way," she insisted.
He looked at the young Lady one last time before being led through the garden.
She was already near unconscious, but help was close and hopefully she would fully recover. It was unfortunate but very unlikely that she would be able to get away without a scar.
It was considered quite a shame for a noble lady to have imperfections besides birth marks but who would consider their life more precious than a scar?
After all the chaos, he was brought to a room where he sat alone for a while.
Thinking things through, maybe it hadn't been such a great idea coming into the palace.
His father and their party were guests but what if he never had the chance to see them again? For his age, he understood noble and royal politics a little too well.
The room was grand as would be expected in the palace.
There were two large, gilded frame paintings of landscapes and multiple wall-scrolls with beautiful but complicated calligraphy.
The room was large enough to have a four-post bed with magnificent drapery all around but also a seating area with sofas and another seating area with a round table and two chairs.
He stopped pacing and sat on one of the chairs at the table.
It wasn't long before two maids came in, one carrying a basin and other carrying a stack of clothes.
"Young Master, if you don't mind. We have some clean garments for you."
It turned out that the basin contained water for him to wash his hands.
He took off his bloodied clothing and they helped him with the clean set quite like his previous outfit, making sure to wipe down his hunting belts and pouches before strapping them back on him.
After this process they curtseyed and left. The steward from before came into the room with a tray of food.
"My Lady hopes the young master didn't strain himself too much because of her daughter."
"Will she be fine?"
"Not to worry, the young lady will be the most qualified physicians. Please take your time with these refreshments. Once the young master is done, there'll be someone to show him the way to where he wants to go."
The young Lord bowed slightly, and the steward curtseyed. She stopped as she was about to leave.
"My Lady would appreciate if this was just between us," said the steward.
He nodded again, and the woman smiled before she left.
The way she had said it was not really threatening, more like an aunt asking to keep a secret. It was not as if he was about to tell anyone. Besides, who would have believed the story?
The girl was obviously the daughter of one of the members of the imperial family.
He would be questioned about all sorts of things if he said anything, and people would most likely try to cause some type of trouble. That was the last thing he needed. He had enough trouble with his own family.
He wrapped a few of the treats in another handkerchief he had received with the clothes and then walked out the double doors to find a palace maid waiting for him.
"Could you take to me to the guests of the hunting event?"
The maid curtseyed to him before walking ahead.
The young Master only had a chance to see just a small portion of the grand palace as they did not walk through the halls that everyone else was using.
As he had guessed, they were trying to keep the situation as quiet as possible. He knew that palace politics would be complicated but not to this extent.
After walking through tunnels and pathways in different courtyards and gardens, they finally came to a familiar gate leading out to the forest-like rear of the palace.
There were guards on either side, so they stopped at a distance to keep from being seen together. The maid then curtseyed again and left since he could now see the way.
"Young Master!" exclaimed the servant as soon as the young lord passed through the gates that the guards closed behind him. If he hadn't come back, the servant boy wasn't too sure what he would have done or how he would have explained himself.
The little Master was always so stubborn, it left very little choice for other people.
"I thought the Master would have me flogged to death."
"I think you're exaggerating," said the young Master as he confidently walked ahead.
The servant had to jog a few steps to catch up.
"What happened? Did young Master find out who the girl was?"
"They wouldn't have told me that and I didn't ask," he said while putting his hand out.
The boy next to him handed him the quiver which he strapped on while walking.
"They merely gave me a change of clothes and some treats."
"Treats?" asked the servant while eyeing him.
The young Master smiled and pulled out the wrapped treats from one of the pouches. The boy handed him his bow before taking the little package. It took way too little to make him happy.
They walked towards an entertainment area where groups of people were gathered.
For those not joining in the hunt, they could socialise in the different pavilions while waiting for the others to come back. It was a typical royal affair as all the high position imperials were invited.
The most important guests however, the two kings, military leaders and their advisors were in a closed assembly with the emperor. The guests comprised of imperial officials and representatives of the two kingdoms who were either royal officials, high ranking military or high-ranking nobles.
Some of them slightly bowed their heads at the boy as he walked past. He headed toward a table with another young noble, very similar to himself. The older boy's servant nudged him, and he looked up from his book.
"What happened to you? Why are you here and not out there?" he asked, somewhat surprised.
"I got stuck in a deep muddy pit, it was so bad I couldn't continue so I had to change my clothing first," answered the young Master in his usual straightforward manner.
The teenager warmly smiled and put his book aside and then patted his brother on the head.
"They'll get ahead of the young Master if he stays here."
While he wasn't interested much in the hunt, he had come along for the sake of being the eldest amongst his siblings. There would be time for the more scholarly activities as well though, the imperial capital could never be short of interesting scholars.
After his statement, the younger boy sitting opposite him just scoffed.
"The wild animals out there are just going to take him for a snack anyway," he casually commented while taking a sip of the cider.
The servant behind him tried to hold back a smirk. This entire event was not interesting to the young noble at all, what was interesting however was some of the young ladies in the next pavilion.
He wondered when they'd be doing official introductions, if not any time soon, then he'd just send his servant over with a message.
Both the youngest Master and his servant made a look. He thought it better not to comment on his brother's snide little statement.
"Anyway, I'm going back out."
"Good luck, represent us well." said the eldest with a big reassuring smile.
"I'll be sure to," commented the youngest as he turned and ran out towards the hunting grounds trying to start the process over again.
Hopefully this time they wouldn't be coming across any more serious distractions. He had to prove himself. Young or not, he was still a son of this family, and this might make his father finally have something to say about the achievement.
[1] Farsud – The common language used in the empire originating from the imperial province.