They traveled on the road for days, and soon, even the snacks they had bought for the journey were finished. They made a few stops at the towns they met on their way to eat and buy new snacks. They refused the coachman's many requests to spend any night at the many motels they passed by because they feared the Faceless Men would catch up to them while they slept. By simply adding more coins to what they already gave the man, they had him always keep driving and only pause by day to sleep for an hour or less in the coach by an open street, before continuing again.
They were traveling one of those evenings when it suddenly began to rain heavily. The coachman proposed for them to wait out the rain in a motel, but like always, they refused and told him to keep driving even when the rain was more serious and heavy. They had not gone too far when the carriage got stuck in the mud and they could not move anywhere. The coachman had to step down and go check what the problem was, and after trying his best for long minutes, he still couldn't get the carriage out of there. Even the children stepped out of the carriage and tried to help out, but it wasn't working.
" I saw a motel some distance back. If we take a little walk, perhaps we can get ourselves rooms before it gets filled up." The coachman advised.
Seeing no other way than getting soaked in the rain and probably getting sick too, Ralph accepted. Following the coachman's lead, they begin to walk back to where he had seen the motel, and after a few distance of walking and getting drenched in the rain, they finally arrived at the Motel gate and knocked. After some minutes, the gate was opened and they all walked in.
"One room for all of us," Sam says to the person at the reception. The coachman had returned to where the carriage was with some men to help him pull the carriage out of the mud and drive back to the motel to wait out the rain before the horses died from cold.
"Are you all alone? Where are your parents?" Asked the woman at the counter.
"They must have been delayed at the previous town because of the rain." Ralph lied coming forward. "A room for us will do while we wait out the rain. Thank you." He said placing five coins on the table for the woman just like the motel signpost had said a room cost.
They were heading to their given room when they walked past a table where some traders sat eating and drinking, and their conversation caused Ralph and Kidaya to pause in their steps.
"The Duke of Houston?" Asked one of the men.
Nodding. "Yes. House Ishaya is no more in Vianto." Says another taking a gulp of wine.
"Why?" Another asked.
"Some say it must be a curse, while others say that he and his entire household must have run away. But the mystery is what would make the most wealthy man after the king in the Vianto Empire, to run away with his entire household without picking any of his treasures. The castle lays deserted, no one dares enter it for fear of the unknown."
"And the King? What is he doing about it?"
"He is trying his best to find them. You know they are best of friends, I heard he has even contacted the HighCastle."
"He has?" Many at the table question the speaker.
Nodding, he takes another gulp. "He has also promised a hundred bags of gold to anyone who brings him any news of the Ishaya's."
"But could it be true? Could it really have been a curse that was cast upon them? I mean, hearing not even a soul is seen inside, not even their livestock or any living thing. There's no way he would have run with all his livestock together. Something seems strange."
"Not as strange as a village in Minecraft where all the children mysteriously disappeared in one night. The village lacks young ones as we speak as if a plague had visited and wiped all the children away at night. Not even the parents know what happened, yet the place stinks of death."
"Strange things are happening -"
Deciding that he had heard enough, Ralph pulled Kidaya along as he walked away. Sam and Miya followed.
That night, Kidaya had a nightmare. A nightmare where the Faceless Men had caught them and tried to kill her but Ralph stepped in and took the sword for her, dying in her place. Kidaya woke up screaming.
"I am here," Ralph says pulling her into himself and engulfing her. "I am right here with you," Ralph says. It was words his mother used to say to him whenever he woke up scared.
"Ralph..."
"Try not to say anything. I will be here with you throughout the night. Just think of it as if we are back home, when everything was fine."
With those words, came tears to her eyes and she begins to cry because she knew everything would never be alright again. She could never have her home and family back the way it used to be and she could never hear her mother sing for her again every night. Everything will never be alright, she thought even as she drifted to sleep again in his arms.
**
After a few more days of traveling after the rain, they had finally arrived at Mulrine City Market. Taking another carriage some distance away, they headed for Count Tegha's house. It was nightfall when they finally arrived at the mansion. Ralph offered the man his coin payment after they all stepped down. As they begin to head towards the gate, Ralph wonders what he would tell the first person who opens the door after he knocks. He had lost the badge Commander Ben had given him to show Count Tegha and now, he had nothing else to use in explaining.
Pushing the low gate slowly aside, Ralph lets the girls pass first before he and Sam walk in, closing the gate behind him. Heaving, Ralph raised his hand and knocked on the door, his heart beating faster. No one responded or came to answer the door. He was about to knock again when the door opened.
"Am sorry Sir I-" Ralph freezed when he saw - "Commander Ben !" He exclaims looking up at the man in front of him. Beside him stood another.
A smile seized his lips. "Ralph !" He said excitedly. "Thank the gods old and new, you made it." He said excitedly hugging the boy to himself. After some pleasantries have been exchanged between the children and the adults, Commander Ben suddenly begins to look around. "Where is she?" He asks Ralph.
Confused. "Who?" Ralph asked.
"The Heir. Where is Lady Kidaya?" Commander Ben asks.
Ralph grabs Kidaya who was standing beside him and nudges her forward. Smiling. "Here she is."
Commander Ben and the one beside him searched the three kids beside Ralph but didn't find the girl. "You lost her?" Commander Ben questioned his brows furrowing.
Smiling, he raises up Kidaya's hand. "This is Kidaya." Ralph told them.
Commander Ben narrowed his eyes on the child in front of him before the child slowly raised her head and emerald green eyes pierce at him. "Milady!" Commander Ben calls slowly before suddenly bowing his head.
The one who had been standing beside Commander Ben steps forward and engulfs the girl in a deep hug. "Welcome home, Princess." Hands tightening around her.
"You shaved her hair?" Commander Ben questions. "I said dye it, not shave off her entire hair." The Commander queried.
"I shaved it myself," Kidaya told Commander Ben. "The Faceless Men were near and there was no time so I -"
"You have your mother's eyes." The one next to the Commander says to Kidaya. "She wasn't bragging after all when she wrote me all those letters talking about how you had her eyes."
Finally turning to look at the person beside Commander Ben who had hugged her. "You knew my mother?" Kidaya asks.
Sniffing. "She was someone who could not be hidden. Especially not when we came from the same womb."
Kidaya couldn't really understand.
Seeing the girl's confusion. "Milady, meet Count Tegha, Count of Mulrine city. Your aunt." Commander Ben introduced.
Count Tegha offered a bow.
Offering one back like her mother always taught her. "But you are a Lady, shouldn't you be addressed as Countess?" Kidaya asked curious.
Smiling, she bends and looks at Kidaya. "And you are just as smart as her. Come Milady, you and your friends must be tired. We will have a lot of time to talk later."