Eldrid Castle
Celebrations for Prince Tristan's birthday, and the official crowning of him to become Crown Prince was ongoing in the Castle grounds. The celebration had began since noon till evening, and it was now time for Nimueh to do the ritual performance.
Nimueh, and her assistants, all dressed in red, danced about, as the drummers beat their drums, while the King, Queen, Queen Dowager and the birthday celebrant, who were seated on majestic seats that had been prepared for them at the very top of the stairs, watched the entertaining ritual.
But among them, Queen Namarie was the only one who seemed to not be able to focus on the ritual. A worried look could be seen on her face as she glanced at her son, every once in a while as if making sure that he wouldn't just fall down dead at any moment.
Alexander and Griswold who had once again sneaked into the servants quarters, dressed in female clothes, and each carry a box, passed by. They had come to sell medicine, and just like the previous time, they had successfully sold it all.
They were being escorted out by the same servant from the other day, and when they passed by, they paused to watch the weird ritual dance performance.
After watching the ritual for a few seconds, Alexander just shook his head, and nudged Griswold. "Let's get moving, before we get caught." He said, and Griswold who found the weird dance to be entertaining, pouted and hesitantly left.
As they continued on their way, Alexander suddenly paused and began to search the clothe he was wearing, looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" Griswold asked.
"That special purple gemstone that I found the other day." Alexander answered, sighing when he couldn't find it in the dress pocket. "I'm very sure I brought it along."
"Purple gemstone? What purple gemstone?" Griswold looked at him in confusion.
"Just go ahead, alright? I'll follow after you once I find it." Alexander said, and went back to find the gemstone.
"Hey, where are you going? Hey!" Griswold called out, and was about to follow him, but the servant stopped him.
"We must go!" She urged him, and he slowly nodded, before following after her as she led the way.
Alexander went back to the front of the servants' quarters and began to search around for the gemstone. It was dark, so his vision was limited, but he still continued to search.
Meanwhile, just outside of the servants' quarters, a lifeless looking Alethea was passing by. Her eyes were back to their original color, but there was no spark in her eyes. Also, the way she was walking was very liking to that of a zombie.
But then she stopped, and it seemed like life had suddenly returned to her body. In confusion, she looked around the strange looking place. "Where… am I? How did I get here?" She muttered to herself.
Then fear and panic slowly gripped her, as she remembered that she was with William and the other people just a while ago. "William." She said, but there was no one in sight, and then she began to yell at the top of her voice, calling out for her brother, "William! William!"
….
Back at the the house Alethea had been hidden, for so many years, the quartz stones that surrounded the house glowed once again, and some of them began to break, while some of them just sustained a few cracks on them. Then all of a sudden, they all turned black, and were no longer glowing.
Immediately this happened, Nimueh, who was still busy with the rituals at the castle, suddenly fell to the ground, groaning in pain as she spat out blood, ruining the celebratory mood. There was also a sudden thunderstorm, as the sky raged.
"Chief shamaness!" Her assistants exclaimed, immediately stopping their dancing as they rushed to her.
When they helped her to get on her feet, Nimueh then looked up at the sky in confusion, before she then focused her gaze on Prince Tristan.
She then hurried up the stairs, approaching him, but one of the maidservants immediately blocked her way. "How dare you.." She said, while trying to stop her, as it was a rule that no one was allowed to move close to, or invade the space of the royal family without permission.
Nimueh effortlessly pushed the maidservant aside, and ran to Prince Tristan, who was appalled by what was going on. He was about to say something, but before he could open his mouth, Nimueh forcefully held his head and turned his head to the side.
Nimueh's eyes then widened in surprise when she saw something behind the Prince's left ear—something which was meant to have been long gone and forgotten. The curse mark which had been removed from the Prince was suddenly back after so many years.
Queen Namarie stood up, filled with worry, as she looked at Nimueh, but Nimueh didn't bother to explain anything to the baffled royal family before she ran out.
A very heavy rain had now began to fall, and Nimueh went under the rain, walking about the Castle as if looking for something,… or someone.
She could sense a very powerful presence, and she could feel that owner of that presence was somewhere in the castle.
While Nimueh was busy searching, an oblivious Alethea was also walking the around in the Castle, trying to find her way out of there, and to her big brother, but she was yet to see a single soul.
Alexander too was still busy looking for his precious gemstone under the rain, and he finally caught sight of something glowing on the wet grounds of the castle. On going close to it, it turned out to be what he had been looking for.
He smiled in victory as he quickly picked it up, and put it into his pants pocket, before he then turned to leave.
Just as he was about to leave, he spotted a familiar figure which was approaching where he was, but he couldn't quite see the person's face in the dark, and the rain wasn't even helping matters.
Apart from the familiar figure that was approaching where he was, he could also hear the sound of footsteps coming from a corridor which he was standing in front of. He saw the person's face, and immediately recognized the person to be the woman that was leading the ritual earlier.
The familiar figure that was approaching him was also now close, and he could also see the person's face. He was first of all in shock, and even thought he might have been imagining things, but before he could even think things through, his body had already moved on it's own accord, and he had pulled the person along with him, as he hid at a corner with the person, covering the smaller person with his large build, at the same time, shielding the person from the rain.
Nimueh finally came out of the corridor, and paused as she looked around, but when she didn't see anyone, she continued with her search.
When Alexander had made sure that she was totally gone, he then loosened his grip on the person he was shielding, and he could now see the person's face more clearly.
He had not been imagining things, and the familiar figure was indeed Alethea. How is she here? Alexander wondered, "Hey, apple girl. What are you doing here?" He asked her, but Alethea was looking dazedly at him, almost like she couldn't recognize him, and then she weakly muttered the name, "William." Before she then closed her eyes, passing out as her head rested on his shoulder.
Alexander was about to panic, but he then saw that a shadow belonging to a person standing in front of them was casted over him and Alethea, causing him to freeze in shock, thinking that Nimueh had somehow found them, but as he slowly looked up, it turned out to be a young man instead.
….
The Sacred fire circle had returned from their journey, and had all gone to the house, intending to take Alethea along with them to the Oakwood temple.
As they got close to the house, Ronan paused in his tracks when he saw the state in which the quartz stones were in, and when he recovered from the shock, he then swiftly ran into the house, calling out Alethea's name in worry, but he got no response. He and the initiates even checked the backyard, but there was no sign of life in the house.
"Sir, she isn't here."
Ronan massaged his temples in frustration. "We have no time to waste. The quartz stones have been damaged, so Alethea's curse would activate very soon. We must find her as soon as possible."
"You" he said, as he pointed to the second in command. "Go to the castle immediately. The Crown Prince is there, and so is Nimueh. Check if nothing out of the ordinary has happened."
"And the rest of you. Search the heart of the kingdom where the festival is taking place. I'll go and look for William to see if he's also missing." With that said, they all then went their separate ways.