Searching For Princess Leslie Part 1

*Bang!*

"An oversight!? An oversight!? You say it is an oversight!? My daughter may have been kidnapped, and you want to say it is an oversight!?" The king, my uncle, stood up and pointed his finger at the man who was supposed to be in charge of the guards that protected his castle with a shaky finger. I guess he never thought that this captain of his would be so negligent about his job that he would not even keep his own men in line.

"Uncle," I called out to get his attention. "Now is not the time to deal with incompetent people. We need to find my cousin and your daughter first."

"Ahem…" My uncle adjusted his kingly robes and glared at the captain of the guards. He then clapped his hands, causing two men to appear out of nowhere. "Take him into custody to be questioned."

"Yes, Your Majesty." I watched as the captain of the guards lowered his head and allowed the men to take him away without struggle. I highly doubt he had anything to do with what happened to Princess Leslie. I think it was more of him not doing his job properly. I mean, I understand trusting your men, but you should at least keep tabs on them to make sure they are staying in line.

Once things settled down once more, my uncle turned to me and asked: "Can you search the city from the air?"

"Yes, I planned on doing that. I just wanted to give you my findings. Now that I know my portal magic works well, as soon as I find Princess Leslie, I will bring her right here. I will heal her if she has any injuries, but I suggest getting a doctor here to take a look at her once she returns." Although I had a spell called lesser healing, I still worried it might not be enough. So it was always better to be safe than sorry.

"I will have someone come now to be on standby. Bella, thank you." My uncle bowed his head to me, causing me to shake mine. "We are family, are we not? It is at times like this that we should try our best to help one another. So no need to thank me. Especially since I have not done anything yet worthy of thanks, I will be off."

Before anyone else could say anything to me, I had already left the throne room through a portal. I arrived at the spot I had found the carriage tracks and flew into the air. I did not have much to go on at this time, so I could only do what I knew best. And that was to find the shadiest people possible and shake them down until they talked.

Thirty minutes later, in a back alley, I cracked my knuckles and my neck as I looked at the pitiful man on the ground. "So, have you heard anyone kidnapping a kid by the castle? Answer yes, no, or maybe. Anything else will result in me beating you up more."

"You're a monster! Ahhh!" The man yelled out after I punched him once more. I already told him to answer with the three choices I gave him. "So, did you?"

"No!" The man was in tears as blood dripped from his nose and lips. His eyes were almost swollen shut.

"Oh? Then do you know someone who might know? Any gangs around here that might be doing trafficking?" I asked as I raised my little fist once more.

"Wait! Don't hit me anymore. I do know of one group that has been quite active as of late. The West Side Brothers. They are a group of young men in their twenties who formed a gang. They seemed to be into snatching kids off the streets and selling them off." The man cried out. He was covering his head, trying to protect it, and I had yet to hit him again.

"Where do they bring these kids they kidnap?" If they were really snatching kids up, I was sure that they were doing it with more than just street rats. And it could have just been Princess Leslie's bad luck that she had run into them. But I would not know for sure until I checked it out myself. However, I do wonder if they know about someone looking for them now that I have beaten up around fifteen people just to get this information.

"They normally hang out in an abandoned warehouse in the west side slums near the gate. That is all I know, I swear!" The man answered. His voice was trembling. But I was nice. I gave him an angelic smile before knocking him out.

I flew towards the gate, staying high into the air, and looked around for any place that fit the description from the information the man gave me. It was only when I was almost to the wall that I saw a run down two story building that was tucked away in a run down area hidden by a few big trees. But one thing I noticed as I hovered over the building was the carriage at the side.

I flew down and landed on top of the building and snuck my way over to the edge of the building to look down at the carriage. I could hear people inside the building talking, but it was too muffled to make out. I nimbly and quietly floated down to the top of the carriage and used my dagger to cut a hole in the roof to look inside. "Hmm… bars lining the inside and a pile of ropes."

There was no seating of any kind. It was lined with wood on the bottom and bars on the walls. It was more of a cage than an actual carriage. Feeling that I was on the right track, I decided to sneak into the warehouse itself. Luckily this place had many holes in the building itself, so it was not hard to enter. But I had to go in, in my human form, in order to not draw attention.