25

My breath became heavier when he drew near, and I wonder how he knew that I was 

there, I also wondered what he meant by the words "I sense her presence" 

"Allesio can you see me? " I asked him but he didn't hear a word I said, it was as if he followed my scent or something because he headed straight for me.

"Do something Sage, wriggled yourself around, use your leg to create an image on the ground, hoping he would notice," the Princess advised me and I went ahead and tried.

I wriggled but that was of no use, so I tried to draw an image on the floor with my leg but he didn't notice it. The way he stared into my eyes was uncomfortable but they made me feel relaxed and less afraid.

He slowly stretched out his hand and was about to touch my arm even though he didn't know it was my hand. Adriel's hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him away from me. 

I was sad, if he had placed his hand on me, I knew there was no way he wouldn't know that we were in the room, except that the old lady's powder made us spirits that couldn't be touched which I strongly doubted.

Before he left with Adriel, he looked in my direction again and whispered " Where are you, my love?" 

I was shocked, even the Princess looked at me in surprise while I gave off a careless attitude because I felt a little bit embarrassed, it was the first time he ever called me that, at least it was the first time I heard him say it because other maids had told me that he always told them that I was his love.

"He likes you?" The Princess asked me and I nodded my head embarrassed.

"You two are a perfect match anyways, so I don't see why not," my expression changed when the Princess said those words.

"What?" She asked,

"You don't like him?" 

"As a friend, yes but as a spouse, I don't think so, my princess," I replied.

" I see, I already lost the person who loved me, I just hope he is safe," she said and I asked her,

" The prince? What do you mean my princess, was he killed? " 

She sighed and responded,

" I don't know, Sage, maybe or maybe not, the last time you and I saw him was at my birthday," tears trickled down her cheek as she spoke, I honestly felt sorry for her.

" I am sorry my princess, I never expected that it was going to turn out like this, no one saw it coming, not even the prince I suppose," I tried to comfort her.

" It's not your fault Sage, all this is not going to save from the hand of the Tersians, all they want is half of the kingdom which according to my father was promised to them by my grandfather, but I don't understand why my grandfather would make such a promise without telling his son."

" Yes my princess, that is very strange, somehow I believe it's not true, the Tersians may have lied about it just to take half of the kingdoms-

"There was evidence Sage, they sent a letter to my father and told him that I was captured with by a potion they called "The Elixir of Slumber" 

"What is that? I heard it before from an old man who directed us to where you were," I asked her.

" Oh, you came along with Adriel and Allesio?" 

"Yes, my princess but that is a long story, so what does the potion do? " I inquired.

" According to them, if the elixir of slumber was blown into the air, I would cause everyone who inhaled it to fall into a deep sleep, actually they said it temporarily kills a person, so even if you were thrown over a cliff, you wouldn't feel a thing, neither would you wake up, that was why I said, it was beyond yours or Allesio's power to have controlled, even I didn't know when I was taken away," the princess explained to me and my mouth could not close shut because I was in awe. 

"And even the sorceress didn't do anything about it?" I exclaimed because I felt there was no way for a sorceress who was said to be as powerful as she was, to not have noticed that her cottage was filled with a potion that she knew about.

"The truth is," the Princess uttered,

"We made ourselves too comfortable because we thought that we were safe in the hand of a powerful sorceress, that was a lie that we told ourselves," 

I was confused by what she said, 

" Do you mean that the sorceress knew about the potion, or was she powerless against it? " I questioned her and she replied immediately.

" She was affected by it yes, but I feel I wouldn't affect her as much as it did to us, from what I heard them say, the elixir of slumber isn't like any other sleeping potion, it was created by a Tersian warlock, and it's ingredients remain a mystery,"  she tried to explain to me but I still didn't get it, all I understood from the things she says was that the sorceress was affected but not to that extent.

And to me, I thought it was a mere assumption but it wasn't entirely false. 

"So like I was saying, there was evidence, inside the letter that was sent to my father, a scroll was sent along with it, inside that scroll was an agreement sealed with an Aeradonian symbol and I believe that it was my grandfather's agreement with the Tersians."

" Now it makes sense!" I exclaimed,

" But it still doesn't explain why they took us unaware,"

" The king, my father knew about it, they had sent a lot of letters but he replied to none of them, he refused to divide the kingdom so I believe the Tersians took matters into their own hands."

Before the Princess finished her explanation, the old lady who had made us invisible, came into the tent alongside two other knights and I wondered what they came to do again.