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Neither I nor Allesio had an idea where we were headed but followed him, he stopped several times and touched the ground so he could tell which way they went.

"Any luck sir?" Allesio asked him.

"Yes," he retorted.

"Although it seems they were hundreds of them on this trail, just look at the ground,"

I wasn't sure what he saw that made him to conclude that there were hundreds of them, or that they had passed that way, but I noticed that the little gasses under our feet had already been crushed which I believed meant that people had passed there but I wasn't so convinced because I felt that it may not have been those who captured the princess.

We had walked for over an hour past the green stream, my feet were tired, and I was thirsty but Adriel made no room for relaxation, he yelled at me constantly to increase my pace without realizing that I was not a knight like he was.

I begged him several times so that I could take water before he agreed and stopped by a stream where I drank water, and sat down for a little bit. As I sat, I noticed something shiny by my left near the water. I couldn't resist the urge to know what it was, so I stood up to check it out.

"Are you ready to go now?" Adriel asked me when he noticed that I stood up.

"No, I want to check something," I replied and I was close to the figure that caught my attention. I bent over and picked it up.

"This is the Princess's bracelet," I exclaimed and Adriel dashed towards me like the wind.

" Are you sure?" He asked me and I nodded my head in certainty.

Allesio drew near as well, examined the bracelet, and confirmed that it belonged to the princess of Aeradon, the Aeradonian symbol was engraved on it and I had worn it on the princess so I was very sure it belonged to her.

"I think it fell off her hand," I said and Adriel chuckled.

" The bracelet couldn't have just fallen off her hands, from what I see here, it was removed and thrown to the ground," He said and I knew that he made a good point because the bracelet held the Princess's hand tightly so it wasn't easy to fall off just like that.

"But this is away from the trail the rest of them took, from what I am seeing," Adriel placed his hands again on the ground and exclaimed,

"They took the Princess this way! How and why?" 

I was scared by how he spoke, his face looked worried and I wondered if something dangerous was associated with it.

"So what does this mean?" Allesio asked him.

"Let me think, the Tersians are smart, they may guess that someone would come looking for the princess, first, they took lots of the villagers captive which was why I said that hundreds of people passed that trail, next they separated the princess from the rest of the people because they knew she would be the priority of anyone who began a search.

But, they got here and scattered themselves across in different directions to probably confuse whoever was searching, but one thing I am sure of is that the Tersians are likely to meet at the same spot, so I say we follow the trail of the captives."

He explained this to us and I didn't understand it much. I believed that Allesio did because he nodded at every word Adriel said.

"Alright Sage, I think you have rested enough let's go."

We didn't walk for so long before we heard voices far ahead, all were heard was,

"Wake up, we don't have a day,"

"We shouldn't have let you sleep for so long,"

Adriel increased his pace and so did the rest of us. We didn't go straight toward the direction of the voice but hid behind trees and bushes until we saw where the voices came from.

Villagers were tied up with strong ropes and forced to wake up, they all looked pale, tired, and hungry and tears gathered up at the corner of my eyes while I watched them being pushed and yelled at by the Tersian knights. 

"So what do we do sir?" Allesio asked him but he didn't respond, instead, he turned to me and said,

"Sage, this is where you are needed, wear this," he gave me a bracelet that had an inner compartment filled with chalk.

Every time I moved my hand, the chalk poured out a little but I still didn't understand its purpose. 

"Listen, don't panic, I'll make sure nothing is done to you," he said to me but I already panicked, my heart raced because I knew from the start that I was going to do something dangerous.

"I need you to go down there, and allow yourself to be captured, and while doing so, make sure you tell them that you are the Princess's handmaid. Is that clear?" Adriel spoke to me and didn't say a word.

I imagined the outcome of what he asked me to do and all I saw was death flashing past my eyes.

"Are you okay Sage?" Allesio asked me and I shook my head from side to side and indicated that I was not okay with it.

"Can I do this instead of her sir?" Allesio spoke to Adriel and I was shocked, I thought that both of them had the same plan but because Allesio saw the fear written all over me, he asked to take my place.

"And why would you do that? Do you know what I plan to do?" Adriel raised his voice but not to the point where the Tersians would have heard him.

"I'm sorry sir, I saw that she was scared and I was afraid that she was going to mess up your plan," Allesio replied.

"Are you that scared, Sage?" Adriel asked me and I nodded my head.

"Well then get over it!" He yelled and I was dumbfounded because I never expected him to speak in that manner.

"Look at me Sage," Allesio said and grabbed my hand, he turned me around and raised my chin. Our eyes Interlocked and I felt the same grip I felt in the forest when he had asked me to walk towards the stream and deep my foot into the water.