CHAPTER 281: TERRIBLE LUCK

Caius heard it first—the sound of hooves approaching them as they rode down the grassy path. It was past noon, and they had turned up empty again. They had made even worse progress than the day before, and something else that bothered him was that there were almost no more bandit attacks. Not a single one since he arrived.

He slowed his horse, and Prince Rylen stared at him oddly. He also slowed down so he wouldn’t pass the crown prince.

"Your Grace," Prince Rylen called.

Caius turned his gaze to his back, and sure enough, a horse was approaching them at high speed. Rylen followed Caius’s gaze, and the men with him stopped.

They were about five in number, while the rest of the men had been divided into two groups and sent to other sides of the town. However, the fact that he hadn’t heard anything meant they had also been fruitless.

Caius didn’t recognize the guard approaching him. Neither did he like the feeling in his stomach. There was no reason to be bothered—and if it was a message about another bandit attack, even better. They would be able to follow their trail and apprehend them.

The horse stopped abruptly in front of them, with Caius behind and his men up in front.

"What do you have?" Thomas asked.

"Your Highness," the messenger called. He sounded winded. "Lady Deana sent me to inform you that R..." The messenger paused, gasping for air.

"What?" Caius asked impatiently.

"Rose is missing?" He tried again after getting enough air. "She was supposed to go to the market to pick up the silk clothes Lady Deana had ordered the day before. However, Lady Deana didn’t want to send her off alone, but Rose had insisted. She sent a servant after her not long after, and when the servant got to the market, there was no sign of Rose. The trader said no one has come by. Lady Deana sent servants to try and find her as best as they could, to no avail. She thinks Rose might have left on her own. I was asked to find you, Your Highness, to tell—"

"How long ago was this?" Caius asked. He was surprisingly calm.

"Not long," the messenger said.

Caius turned to Prince Rylen. "Carry on here. I shall return as soon as I can."

"Does Your Grace intend to go alone? Wouldn’t it be better if we all searched for her?"

"No!" Caius said coldly. "We have bigger problems, and if we are correct, this is the only section where we haven’t done a full search. We cannot afford to stop now."

Caius felt a lot of things, but right now, he knew it was not the time to dwell on them. He needed to find Rose. He was worried, angry—but first, he had to get to her.

"Yes, Your Grace," Rylen said and turned his horse toward the original path.

Caius turned to the messenger. "Where was she last seen?" he asked.

Rose sat on a small rock as she spread the map on her lap. She traced her finger over it—she couldn’t read a thing. All she had was from memory, and unfortunately, the only things she hadn’t forgotten were Futherfield, Stonegate, Edenville, and Stonegate Pass.

It was cold—colder than she had expected. The gloves didn’t do much, and it seemed to be even colder in the trees. They at least protected her from most of the snow, but that wasn’t the problem here.

Rose feared she was lost. Well, not exactly lost, as she was sure she was looking at the rocky path. Every corner had stones sticking out of the ground, surrounded by trees. The rocks were of different shapes and sizes. A horse could go through the path, but it would be suicidal to run.

The problem wasn’t that it was impassable—rather, Rose was unsure whether to head to her left or towards her right, as she had come upon the rocky path from the side. She had also tried to look up and down, and neither seemed to lead anywhere. But that wasn’t the only problem. There was a path through the woods on the map, but Rose wasn’t sure this was the one.

Rose froze as she heard voices. She had been so engrossed with figuring out the map that she didn’t realize anyone was approaching. She had also assumed she would be alone.

"We should have left before the crown prince arrived. The letter indicated that we do so," a voice said. It was a little shaky.

"Oh, relax," another voice said. It was this voice that made Rose snap her head up. "We’re done now, aren’t we? The others should be at the end of the path. As soon as we rendezvous, we’ll be out of here. No need to get your nutsack in a twist. Besides, you didn’t seem to have any problems with the raids."

"I apologize, Ryder," the shaky voice said. "I was just worried."

"Stupid! Don’t worry when we’re already leav— A horse," the voice said with a snicker. "A pretty one at that."

"What horse are yo—?"

"Shush!" Ryder yelled out. "It couldn’t have wandered here. Check for the rider. Now!"

Rose palmed her mouth with her hand as she hid behind a rock. As soon as she heard the voices, she moved to the nearest rock that offered a better hiding spot. But her horse was too far away—she had let it wander to eat grass—and it was also too huge to hide.

Rose’s stomach knotted. Something told her she might have found the bandits the crown prince had been looking for. What were they doing here? She had been told this path was safe. Perhaps she shouldn’t have relied on the words of an old, shifty man.

However, they had said something about leaving, so he wasn’t completely wrong—and this was the right path out of Futherfield. She just seemed to have terrible luck to have chosen the exact time they would be taking this path.