25 Lost in the portal

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry my lady. I have failed you" sir Leone started as he went down on his knees while Ingrid continued "we, we can't find them anywhere in the kingdom". On hearing this, my heart shattered. I became tired and defeated from within.

"What do you mean by you can't find them? , where have you been, why did you leave them alone" sir Magnus asked impatiently.

"I was always with Louisa. I only stepped out for a few minutes and when I returned, I couldn't find them. I looked for them right away but they left no trace, I'm deeply sorry my lady" Ingrid went down on her knees and there was a drop of tear rolling down her cheek. "I promise we'll find them my lady" sir Magnus promised and turned to his men, "Leone, take your men and spread out through the east, Owen, the north, sir Marco will take the west, sir Percival will take the south. My lady, I'll gather some man and search beyond Darca, the isles and temples beyond Darca. We will find them" Sir Magnus said.

"Where's Karl?" Sir Leone asked. "We lost him" sir Owen replied and walked away. Soon the knights spread out in search of them through all the kingdom.

"What do you think happened?, could it be Qarinah?, are they being held hostage or are they dead?, kahlan what is happening?". I paced around restlessly. Kahlan tried to get me to relax but I couldn't. A lot of negative thoughts clouded my mind. If Freya could betray me, is it possible that Louisa was also sent by her mother?, but she possibly can't betray me. Did she runaway with my husband, has she handed him over to Qarinah. Will all this be over now?. I was really restless.

"Do you think Loiusa has handed Torren over to her mother?" I asked Kahlan in all eagerness. "No. She'd never do that Okay" she replied with confidence. "I trusted Freya but she betrayed me. Louisa is Qarinah's blood. She could have been in cohort with her you know" I still worried. "Yes she is Queen Qarinah's blood but she has no darkness in her" Kahlan responded. There was hope from her words. "You think?". "I know".

Much later, the search party started to return one party at a time but none of them returned with any good news.

"We searched the entire villages my lady, homes and bushes but we couldn't find them. We asked around also but no one seemed to have seen them, but we found this" sir Owen reported and handed over a golden hair pin to me. Louisa's hair pin.

"Where did you get it?" I asked. "Near a bush, down the village".

"Where's sir Magnus" I asked. "He is still out of Darca. Maybe he'll return with some news or perhaps with them". Just that moment, sir Magnus rode in with his party still without them.

"We couldn't find any trace of them my lady. We searched our neighboring villages. They didn't leave even a trail behind. I'm sorry my lady. But my search party are still spread all over the kingdom. We'll find them soon enough". Sir Magnus reported.

"So you're saying, none of you could find him. None of you could find Louisa, and you're knights?" I was getting angry.

"I'm sorry my lady" sir Magnus apologized.

"Great. I'll find them myself tomorrow then" I walked out angrily as Kahlan followed me. "My lady you need to relax. I'm sure they will find them. Give Owen, I mean sir Owen a chance, I'm sure he's a worthy knight"

"Owen?, what is going on between you two hah?, you know what, I don't care. All I care about right now is lord Torren".

The next day, i got ready to go find them myself. "Prepare my horse, I'll leave right now" I ordered Ingrid who bowed and left. "I'm coming with you my lady" Kahlan said. We were still talking when a magical portal slowly appeared on the wall in my room, it appeared in a blue smoke. It slowly expanded right before Louisa popped out of it. Kahlan and I jerked.

"Louisa, my god. What happened to you, where's Torren" I hugged her. "Lord Torren?" She looked around. "Oh no, I must have forgotten him. Hold on" she went back into the portal and then came out a few minutes later before Torren appeared on the ground right in front of the smoke which gradually vanished. I rushed to Torren. He was still unconscious but still breathing fine.

"What was that?" I asked. "Oh, it's a portal. We've been in there the whole time" Louisa responded.

"A portal, why did you make a portal. Was Queen Qarinah here?" Kahlan asked. "Not her. It was Freya. She had some sort of strange powerful magic. She could have easily taken us away. She appeared right in my room. I had no other choice but to use a portal, I'm sorry for getting you worried," she apologized.

"It's fine, but then, Freya must have left a long time ago because Ingrid never saw her. What were you still doing in the portal?" I asked curiously. Louisa was a little shy to respond to that but she did anyway. "You see, that portal thing was a spell I read in a book. I never practiced it. That day was my first time and I didn't know how to return. So we were kind of lost".

"You were lost in a portal?, a portal you made?" I asked in surprise. Loiusa nodded "that's quite embarrassing I know". I laughed. "So how did you return?".

"A lady showed me how. She opened up the portal. That's how" she replied. "A lady? Who is she?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe some sort of guide. I've never seen her before". "What did she look like?" Kahlan asked. Louisa thought for a moment before replying "I don't remember. But she gave me this" Louisa raised an amulet. "She can't save lord Torren but this could help if we put it around his neck". The amulet was blue in color and glittered in white pixie dust.

Louisa put it around Torren's neck. "When did you return Diana, how was your journey?". I smiled and explained everything to her. She didn't seem to have an opinion at that moment. I called Ingrid and told her to inform the knights and guards that their lord had returned. Soon Ingrid came back.

"Lady Diana. You have a visitor. Aurora from Draven".

Aurora? She shouldn't be here alone. What could she possibly want?. Kahlan and I looked at each other. "I'll see her".