Hidden Past, Secret Future

Chapter 1: The Storm

23 May 1969

Hindaravag Bandit hideout

Dawn

The thunder roiled across the sky as lightning seared the heavens brightly with light and power. But it did not bother Taryl, the Bandit Chief, known as the Bandit King; Taryl cared less for the rain and honestly cared very little for snow and ice. Which happened at times quite frequently recently in previous six or so years. No it did not vex him th slightest. What did was the two people before him. So easily had they walked into his campment. His kingdom. Not many did just that so freely.

"You two lovebirds lost ?" The Bandit King asked in a no nonsense tone.

"As a matter of fact; no, we're not lost. We found who we sought. Haven't we ?" Kethend then said, turning her silver eyes to the 'man' next to her.

The 'man' blinked, his eyes flashing red for a second. "Yes...we've found him." He said softly, his voice deep, threatening, and echoed by a million screams. "Bandit King Taryl, we require your assistance." he said.

Of course, none but Kethend knew that this 'man' was the legendary Draco, King of the Shadows, but all would soon learn to fear his name again...soon.

"That we do" Kethend said, removing from her shoulder a silver sack.

Taryl looked somewhat alarmed, but it passed as quickly as it came. "You seek help from the Bandit King ? I have a price you know"

"And we have the means of what are to do within this sack." Kethend removed two bottles, no larger than a common baby feeding bottle. "Selective memory potions. Brewed with the intent of forgetting everything but name, but for this one, Everything but name, and her magic, will be forgotten"

Taryl looked between them, a red bottle and a silver bottle he had been shown and told what to do with. "You want me to go after a magical creature ? Are you crazy ?"

"No, We want you to help us teach the Queen of Arendelle, Idun, a lesson she will never forget. Your payment, should the job be completed and the children delivered to their destination; is your wieght twice, in gems of your choice." That got his attention. "Are we agreed ?"

"You want to kidnap the Crown Princess, and her sister, What's in it for me ?"

"Arendelle Castle; and everything inside, if the job is done right, Idun and her husband will have been gone searching for their children, by that time, the castle will be empty of guardsmen." Kethend said. she had thought it all out carefully, planned it even, insofar as creating the potions. The intent to erase the girls memories, leaving only their names and that they were sisters. And that one of them had ice magic.

Taryl liked that idea. "Very well, agreed. When do we begin this... venture ?" He asked.

"Immediately." Draco answered his question; his tone serious, and dark, as usual. "Pack up and leave immediately; time is of the utmost importance." he spoke, blinking slowly, his dark glowing red eyes making some lesser bandits begin to tremble.

"If you fail, there will be nothing for you in life; only in death." He spoke without regard for their lives. "If you fail, or hesitate in the slightest, I will personally see an end to everything." He spoke with an air of authority that overwhelmed the Bandit King, and most likely angered him.

"My Queen..." he said dismissively, abruptly turning and beginning to walk, his black overcoat flaring out as he turned in the wind, revealing nothing but a black mass underneath it taking the shape of legs.

Taryl smiled, though the mans words did sting his pride he smiled, the sooner the better ey ? Perfect! From what he understood, the King and Queen of Arednelle were planning to go, with their girls, to Carona to see family. And a storm was brewing on the sea during their return! Which made things easier, all he had to do was have his men stationed aboard their ship; as part of the crew on the return trip. It was perfect! But at the words of 'my queen' he looked closed at the silver dressed bright haired woman in his audience as the rain began to fall lightly. This woman was a queen ? He thought carefully, this would work nicely.

With the king and queen of Arendelle so focused on finding their missing children, the castles stores ripe for the taking. He stood from his throne and began giving orders to his men. His ship was to be readied for sailing. and soon, soon he'd have what he wanted. He'd be a true Bandit King!

Kethend smiled, her silver eyes never blinking as she turned in time with Draco, her King, and matched step with him as they left the bandit King and his troupe. "If they do not fill the bill, or are waylaid upon the task before them, you have my glad permission to eliminate this campment but we must wait until word of the children being removed from their parents reaches us to move further." She said in Draconian to her beloved friend. "I do not want Idun to be aware of our actions until it is too late. Has Podisiano been informed ? You know how that water drake loves making storms, this troupe, as sorry as it is, will need the proper cover to remain unseen in the stormy darkness upon the sea" By that point they had reached their carraige and made to depart

Draco looked at Kethend, an arrogant smirk on his face. "Permission or not, I was going to destroy this encampment anyway." he replied simply. "But, having permission makes it all the more enjoyable, I suppose." he shrugged softly as he continued to walk. As they walked, trees died, and turned black with Shadow, but only the oldest and strongest trees; Draco wanted to weaken the land before he decided to destroy.

Draco seemed to hiss lightly at the mention of the Water Drake. "Indeed he has, though the idiot may over do it, I fear. He seemed much to energetic when I spoke with him about this plan of yours." he sighed, yawning as he entered the carriage with a glance to the Driver.

As soon as the carriage was moving, Draco leaned back in his seat. "I do enjoy these human forms, Kethend. They are very conveinient." he spoke softly now; perhaps he was relaxed? It wouldnt' be the first time Kethend had seen him relaxed, and certainly it wouldn't be the last. It's just that he usually didn't relax until he was fast asleep, where his body could rest instead of moving around and plotting various "kill everything and laugh" schemes.

Kethend smiled and formed a steeple wit her fingers as the shadowy driver got the carriage into motion soundlessly, "Good, I do hope the impression that nothing was to be destroyed be it ships or lives was properly applied, I'd hate to see this plan fall apart because of his eagerness" She had been planning on usurping Idun, and her husband Adairon, for nearly nine years, plotting carefully every single step. And now, was the perfect time to strike, before they could name their Crown Princess, their eldest daughter, Elsa, as the heir later that year. But sadly things were moved up a notch as Idun bucked tradition and announced instead on the Crown Princess' birthday, the Winter Solstice, that she was the Heir to the kingdom. Which then accelerated the Silver Dragons plans greatly.

The plan called for the girls to be disposed of, or taken captive, their memories lost completely thanks to the selective memory potions she had created. Both girls would forget their parents, their background, their royal linage; and remember only their names, and the fact that the elder of the two, Elsa, had ice magic. the plan also called for the annual trip to Carona to the southeast across the sea. Hence why Podisiano had been... conscripted... oh it was such a mean word, asked, Podisiano was asked, Kethend figured, it sounded so much better. the Water Drake was asked, to create a storm; a storm that would provide cover for the Bandit King, Taryl, and his men to transfer the two girls to their ship from their parents own ship. hopefully that sleeping potion could be applied a the same time of the memory potions.

Finally after long moments Kethend snickered "The Bandit King... what a perfect foil! He wont get his prize, have one of the shadows under us to act as part of his own crew, I've got to improvise the plan a bit, Idun is more resourceful thanks to her dratted Court Wizards, those healers wont stop. I want the Bandit King waylaid, away from Arendelle, and away from Carona." She produced a map and lit with a shard of silver glass, the inside of the carraige as it rained outside "Let me see here... ah yes... Warforge... or Radiant Garden... where to waylay him with the least of troubles arising..."

Draco merely laughed darkly as he stretched out his arms and sat up straight, his eyes flashing red a few times as he sent out a few shadows to act as part of the crew of the Bandit King.

"Warforge would be ideal." Draco spoke up calmly. "They're neutral, and have a zero tolerance policy for bandits of any kind. As soon as the poor bastard makes port, he'll be beaten to a pulp." Draco laughed again, his fist into his open palm to emphasize his point.

"Of course...that may pose a problem later; the children being in Warforge. They are highly skilled there." Draco mused to himself carefully.

"But with their memory loss, and no word to Warforge given of the childrens disappearance..." Kethend laughed darkly, a soft hissing laugh; "Yes, Warforge has no toloernce for bandits of any kind, even those that seek to buy weapons from them. hence why they become bandits. Yes, Warforge, it is perfect! The children will only know their names; and that the elder of the two has powerful ice magic; anyone that adopts them will have them as their kids, cut off from the royal tree so to speak"

She made the map disappear from the carraige in a spark of light "Idun wont know what hit her family! By the end of next week, she will be broken hearted and searching! And the Bandit King..." She snickered darkly again i"Will be to blame, he will fall at Warforge, his ship dismantled, and if the children are rescued there; the ship will be scattered at sea. Destroyed in the storm"/i It was clear that Kethend had thought this through so carefully, so expertly. every single moment had been carefully planned and replanned, and then planned third and fourth time before being entirely replanned anew. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl would have been.

Three Weeks Later

13 June 1969

Aveon Sea

Midday

The day was a mostly cliuidy one, and mist was beginning to thicken on the sea. It was a good week back to Carona, and a two week journey left to get to Arendelle. Belyrr checked her watch and looked to the sky. Any moment and the rain was to start falling, timing then was of the essence. "You have it ?" This had to be done to the detail. they were given the potions to use on the royals, chosen by the royals themselves, the two 'ladies' were stationed on the ship to care for the princesses. Which played dirctly into the plans of the plan maker and their Master "We cannot screw this up!" Thy might be the highest ranking shadows o their lord, but even then failor meant instant dissolution. And Belyrr wanted promotion, which normally meant freedom and more fun jobs like this.

They were given the potions, three of them one of them a dull grey color; the sleeping potion, the other two, one red, one silver, were for the girls themselves. the sleeping potion was to be given to the family at the right time to 'help them sleep at night during rough waters' At the same time the girls were to be given the memory potions.

Nymeth nodded, smiling. "Of course, Belyrr." she spoke calmly, and without worry. "Our Lord didn't entrust us with this mission if he didn't believe we could do it." she smiled softly. At Belyrr's urgency, she held up a hand to try and put her at ease. "Now, now, relax. We didn't get our rank by screwing up, now did we?" She raised her eyebrows with the question.

She sighed softly as she glanced at the potions. "Now then...it's almost time to put this plan into action...shall we?" She asked, a devillish smirk on her face.

"You have a point Nymeth, you have a point" Belyrr said in reply, an equally devilish smile on her slender face; as Nymeth spoke of the timing, rain began to make its arrival known as droplets of water slapped the top deck they stood upon, in some cases going through them directly. but not touching the two at all. "The rain has started, the seas are not yet rough, come, let us begin!" She lead the way to the main deck one level down. They had been thruogh the Silversparrow carefully, every single shadow they had scouted on the vessel, they knew it by heart.

Belyrr stopped rather suddenly as she spotted the King of Arendelle, Adairon, speaking with the ships captain. Ok, this might not work as intended just yet. The seas had to be rough in order to give the sleeping drought as required, too soon and the plan was blown, too late and the plan was stalled out; the fog helped, somewhat. "Can you send the signal to Masor and Taston ? Or should we wait a bit more for rougher seas ?" Already the ship was starting to rock as they hit rougher waters, but not as rough as they were after.

They needed storm tossed seas, enough to destroy a ship, but the Silversparrow was the greatest ship of the Arendelle navy. 90 meters from pro to stern in length, and 20 meters port to starboard in width; the ship wouldn't go down without a fight. And even then it was heavily armored and even more armed. The rougher the seas the better. Belyrr kept her icy deep red eyes on the King and the captain of the ship as she spoke to her cohort

Nymeth held her hands behind her back to make it look like she was working and not slacking off to the King and Captain. "We need rougher seas. The Plan calls for the... other ship... to be heavily damaged so they have to dock as soon as they can." she said calmly, smiling. She then sighed, leaning forward, putting her hands on the rail of the ship.

"Honestly, I do hope we do well...I would love to enjoy scenery like this more often; if only our Master didn't want to destroy it all..." She sighed. Nymeth was a bit of a strange creature; she served a destruction obsessed Master, but she loved only natural beauty; though, she tolerated the destruction of civilization. She viewed it as Nature taking herself back from the grip of the greedy humans.

"Yes...more waiting..." she finished softly.

Belyrr raised a 'delicate' eyebrow to her kindred, "If the Master heard you say that..." She murmured sofly, reaching out to steady herself as the ship dipped into a swell and up another wave. Yes, rougher seas they needed. Just rough enough in fact. Kethend had instructed them carefully to set off some explosions in the Silversparrow, to make it look like the Bandit King had tried to attack before fleeing. when in truth he had the girls in his brig; otherwise in the care of Tazton and Masor.

Belyrr smiled then, thinking of exactly how the plan was going to play out, the entire transfer was going to go spotless. The crew would be working too hard to keepo the ship from going under, and the royal family, dead to the world through it all. both girls transfered and the two of them ,their guardians, 'asleep' in their bunks through it as well. when in truth, they had moved them to the other vessel.

The rain started to fall harder, causing Adairon to raise a hand to cover his eyes as he was all but shouting to be heard over the rainfall. It was not yet a maeltrom, but this would do. Belyrr lead the way down below, the captains quarters were off the rear of the main deck, behind the helm directly; the royals cabin was directly under it. Belyrr inspected the cannons on the side of the ship where their comrades were to pull along side. Three of the ninety cannons were loaded, as planned. She instructed lesser shadows to keep watch for her signal.

She then went to the door that lead to the royals cabin. The Queen was inside, trying to comfort a rather seasick blonde girl who had already thrown up twice, and both times missed the bucket completely. Belyrr had to fight within herself of using her shadows to clean the floor of the technicolor yawn and its reeking scent, and instead called over one of the servants with some washing cloths and a mop to clean the floor instead. Casting a glance to Nymeth, Anna was somewhere in the room, maybe already asleep; she barely gave off a nod, it was time to mix the drinks, but not yet time to serve them, not until Adairon came into the royals quarters were they to serve the drinks as required.

Nymeth waved dismissively. "Well, he didn't." she said softer than Belyrr. As the rain began to fall harder, she smiled, and went below deck with her fellow Shadow. As they weaved through the corridors of the ship, she took notice of everything immediately after Belyrr did; double checking always helped, and it was why the pair of them were always so successful and high ranked.

She caught her partner's nod and smiled, nodding back, and slipping out of view to start mixing the drinks, which would take a good minute or two to do effectively, and then with a time-frame of about ten minutes before they start to lose effectiveness, they had to be ingested fast after being made. The potions meant for the girls did not require all that much mixing, and would be effective immediately after mixture. Which is why Nymeth focused on the sleeping potions for now. She recalled Kethend's words:

"'Silver for the elder of the two; Red for the younger; fail and you will be stripped of your ranks and privileges.'"

Nymeth swallowed as she started to mix it all carefully, not wanting to make a mistake at all.

Three minutes later and Adairon arrived, almost drenched he went to the wardrobe room and changed, stopping briefly to see Nymth mixing the sleeping droughts for them as required. Belyrr found Anna a minute later, half awake, and kind of ill against the beamwork of the ships portside hull. After helping the girl to her mother, and the floor being cleaned up from yet a third technicolor yawn from Elsa, the ship gave a sudden lurch to the right. Which made a weird sound to Beylrrs ears.

The tearing of fabric, She heard a voice cry out as well, that of the elder child, the Crown Princess, crying out for her mother as cloth tore. Beylrr saw in the suddenly dimm light that Elsa had torn the queen dress, and clutched the part she had torn off in a whitenknuckle grip. Belyrr figured to pay it no heed as the cloth in the girls hand seemed to calm her a bit as Adairon came from the wardrobe room area and called them to bed, and also called for the sleeping droughts.

Belyrr smiled in the shadowy light, Now was the time for the sleeping droughts to be given, and with them the memory potions; the timing was now critical. Moving to the portside where one of the cannons were loaded for the firing of the powdershell within, She spotted not far off their target; It was almost time, the Bandit King was almost there. Timing was now critical indeed.

Without a second thought Belyrr reached down and Elsa took hold of her hand, guiding the girl to her mother, Belyrr smiled inwardly. This family, so happy, about to be destroyed, everything was according to plan! Idun took Elsa to bed, the sleeping droughts were effective almost instantly, knocking out the target perfectly, and long enough to not be a hassle. Heck, once the Royals woke, the Bandit King would be long gone. A good day away in fact.

Knocking twice on the frame of the kitchen door, Belyrr went to where a cannon was located. After making sure the cannon was loosed from its anchors she smiled. This was going to be perfect!

As the plan began, Nymeth suddenly came from the shadows, slipping the sleeping potion into the tea of both the Queen and King just before they both sipped; a toast to try and get through the storm. After they took a drink, they slumped down onto the table they sat at, and once the girls were asleep. Nymeth looked to Belyrr. "Time to move them, now!" she hissed, the shadows in the room quivering slightly.

Nymeth picked up Anna as she slept and walked through the shadow, appearing in the brig of the Bandit King's ship just as he was pulling aside the Silver Sparrow. Masor was standing at the door of the cell, and smirked.

"About time, ladies. I was beginning to worry." He said.

"Silence, Masor." Nymeth hissed as she set Anna down on a bed in the cell they were going to be held in. She turned to Belyrr as she entered with Elsa. "It's time." She said, nodding.

Belyrr had instructed the shadows to move the Royals to their bed, and as she picked up Elsa, who never let go of the cloth she had torn, Belyrr kicked at the now loosed cannon, it went rolling into the shadows on the starboard side of the vessel, its speed multiplied by the shadows, throwing it hard into the hull, smashing through it, and destroying Elsas bed in the proccess. Making it seem as if both girls were lost overboard come morning. She then ducked into the shadows as Nymeth did seconds before.

She smiled. And without so much as a nod, cannonfire rang out. Three touts of fire exploded from the portside of the Silversparrow, only one cannon ball however was fired. landing well out of range of the Bandit Kings vessel. Turning to Masor and Taztan "The girls are under your care. They've been given the memory potions, they know only their names and that the blonde one has ice magic. Be careful, I tried to take the cloth from the blonde one, but her grip on it, even in sleep, is stronger than our shadowmagic. Treat them well; we'll see you at our Masters Halls to give the report all at once. Good luck."

With that she turned to Nymeth, it was time to go back to the Silversparrow and act as if they were asleep during the storm and brief firefight. Taztan and Masor could take care of the rest of the Bandit Kings vessel as needed. "Shall we take our leave now ?"

Nymeth saw the Arrogance on Masor's face, and frowned. "Do try to remember our Queen's words, Masor, or do you want to be working in the pits again?" she smirked, knowing that she'd trumped him; one of the most arrogant of the Shadow Lord's underlings. She turned to Belyrr, smiling softly. "Yes, we shall. You first this time." She winked. Truely Nymeth didn't fit in among the darker Shadow beings; she loved nature's beauty, was playful, and even went as far as flirting with the shadow King himself; only to be hounded by the Shadow Queen herself.

Strange indeed, but that wasn't what was important now. What was important, however, was the mission. And with her mind focused on the objective, she followed Belyrr through the shadow again.

Belyrr smirked, motioning at the celldoor which became murky with shadows thick as blood she stepped through it after giving Masor a death glare, screw up the plan and they'd all get sent to the pit. Someplace that Belyrr hated with a passion. Doing all she could to get out of it in the first place to get out and do missions for their Master.

Upon returning to Silversparrow, Belyrr took careful note of where everything was, perfect, the hole in the starboard side had smashed apart the Crown Princesses bed, the cannon and most of the bed with it, had been lost to the sea. Perfect! With a happy clam of her shadowy hands, she was close to doing a happy dance but kept herself from doing so, motioning quickly she went to her place of 'resting' and curled up to 'attempt to sleep' like a human. they had to act as if they heard nothing whatsoever.

Nymeth, without a word, went to her bunk, and laid down as well, turning to face the wall and closing one eye so that she looked completely asleep, and unaware of anything going on.

On the Houdini

Vessel of the Bandit King Taryl

As soon as the two were gone, Taztan turned to Masor, a confused look on his otherwise thin gaunt face, "the hells was that about with Nymeth ?" He apparently had no idea of how the two rarely got along. which might explain why he was posted with him on that good for nothing soon to be a shipwreck. He hated the thought of the Pit, he'd just gotten out of it himself not two or three missions before! "Why'd she mention the Pit ? Is there something going on I don't know about ?" Taztan might have been a Lesser Shadowling, but even then, able to go out on missions like this made him a big shot among the other Shadows

Masor scoffed at Nymeth's words, and as Taztan stared asking questions, he sighed. "We've hated each other for a long time. And she's high enough up to send my ass to the pits whenever she wants." He explained, shaking his head softly. "I don't know what's up with that woman. I tried being friendly... enough... with her when we first met, but she just never has liked me, and soon I grew to hate her, too." he explained.

He froze as Anna stirred in her sleep, rolling into a cuddle with Elsa. He smirked. "Dunno why the Master wants these two alive. Wouldn't it make more of an impact to kill them?" He asked, hands in his pockets as he stared at the two cildren, a murderous intent in his eyes.

"You might be right, but you heard what Nymeth said, any of us screw up this job and its the pits for all of us!" Kethend had been extremely clear with their orders, the Master merely smiled broadly at the silver dragons threats to the foursome when they were given the mission in the first place. "Do you seriously want..." He too froze up when Anna rolled over, the two girls sleeping soundly. His eyes carefully studied the cloth in the blond ones hand "...If the master and his Queen want these two alive; who are we to question it ? Come on, I owe you a meal dont I ?" There was a bet among the crew on what their mission on this ship was, and Taztan had lost

He turned from the brig cell door; "Relax, those two aren't going anywhere, besides, when they do wake up, what are they going to say ? 'Hi my name is... whateverhernameis and this is my sister, who are you where are we ?' They're harmless, besides, that sleeping potion should keep them asleep for hours! By time these two wake up, we'll be at Warforge and off the ship to speak to the Master, you can ask him why they're wanted alive and not slain then, alright ?" Taztan was happy he didn't have to work by the clock like Belyrr and Nymeth had to do. They just had to ensure the brig was liviable, which meant actual padded beds anchored to the wall with blankets, and actual food and water, not useless swill the rest of the crew got. He knew however though that Masor would never just up and outright ask why not kill the two kids when they had the chance.

Only thing Taztan could not figure out however was if it was out of fear, or respect to their Master that Masor wouldn't ask such a question

Masor bit his lip till he tasted blood, and then growled. "It better be one hell of a meal you owe me, Taztan." he hissed. He then sighed. "I ain't scared of the girls; our shadows can overpower anyone on this boat if need be, including them. It's the Master I'm scared of, and of Nymeth, to be honest. You do NOT want to see her when her temper flares.

"I had the unpleasant experience of setting off her temper, and good god was I in a lot of pain, add that to the fact that I was in the pits for at least a month, and I could hardly move for two months." he explained carefully. "Hell, practically the whole Legion is scared of Nymeth and Belyrr when they work together; because they do so so well." He growled, shaking his head again.

"No wonder you deflated like a lifeboat captains ego when Nymeth mentioned the Pits" Taztan said, he'd had a fun time on that mission for sure. He nodded "Whole lot better then what they're getting for breakfast when they get up! Believe you me, I make a good cook if I do say so myself!" He'd done some fishing, both literally and figurtively, Masor loved a certain kind of fish, and well, Taztan went fishing for it off the stern most of the trip. He was thankful that he did not have to worry of working with either of the Ladies on this mission. Being stuck with Masor was his personal preferance. For two reasons

One, Masor was less prone to breaking him apart when he had a temper

And two; even when Masor had a temper, it was actually not that bad, unless you were near a body of water or high up in the air, then it was problematic; but otherwise it was not that bad

The next morning

14 June 1969

Aveon Sea

Dawn

Aboard the Silversparrow

Dawn broke with a cry, a frantic cry of "Man overboard!" One of the servants sounded the alarm when they spotted the busted up bed and destroyed cannonade along with the huge gaping hole in the wall where the bed once stood where Elsa, the Crown Princess of Arendelle once sleep. Of course that frantic cry had the lookouts frantically searching the sea around them. the storm had long since passed. It was also the cry that woke up the two 'sisters' that were to take care of the princesses. What in the world was going on ?

"Hey! Crewman, will you pipe it down, I'm trying to sleep here! Last night was rough!" Belyrr said in a agitiated tone, clearly unhappy of being woken up from her charade of faking sleep. Of course it was all to plan. Taryl was long gone with his 'stolen cargo' But what shocked Belyrr stone still was the sudden piercing screech from the queen upon seeing the smashed bed that once had Elsa asleep upon it. Trading looks with Nymeth and rolling her eyes, iHere we go, time to act/i Belyrr opened the door and stood in the doorframe. "Your highness, wha... Oh my..." Belyrr stared at the gaping hole in the hull of the Silersparrow where Elsas bed once was.

Nymeth acted tired very well for a being who only needed to sleep once a week, and when she saw the hole in the hull, her eyes widened, and she took a step or two back. "O-oh my god!" She sputtered; her acting spot on. "How...what?" She seemed genuinely confused at the moment. She took a few steps forward to look through the hole, and saw some scratch marks on the ground. "What could these be from?" She asked, looking to another crewman, who had come to see what had happened.

"You! Figure it out!" she squaked at the crewman, who promply scampered off, following the tracks and clearing his throat when he found the empty spot where the canon was. "A cannon loose? Well, who's the idiot who did that?" She screamed incredulously, winking at Belyrr.

Catching the wink Belyrr went to the crewman and checked carefully as she dropped to one knee, spotting severed rope greatly frayed at the end; "Not loosed, snapped, I thought I felt something in the ship move, but a cannon ? those things are anchored! but something snapped the rope" She said, she herself had done just that, but she acted so well it seemed that the rope had snapped during the storm, she stood and followed the trackmarks to the hole in the hull with her eyes. "The cannon broke loose during the storm... It slid across the deck... and..." She stopped speaking seeing the queen bury her face in the kings chest, weeping. Belyrr had to fight internally to keep from giving away the golden goose by smiling. This was just too good.

The King gave his wife a hug before going to the servant, "Have the lookouts seach around the ship carefully, for anything, or anyone. You, search carefully its possible Elsa is somewhere on this ship, look below, there, a hole under the wall wound" He said first to a servant and then to Nymeth and Belyrr, the man nodded and scampered from the room as Belyrr went to the queen, acting as a concerned servantgirl of course, none suspected them, which worked perfectly in their favor. Withdrawing a cloth she handed it to the queen to dry her eyes as Adairon got dressed He was right, when the cannon hit the hull and smashed through it, it produced a gaping hole in the hull side, as well as the decking itself down to the hold.

"W-wait...where's Anna? Could she be with Elsa?" Nymeth asked, looking around. "I mean...they do often share a bed... Oh no..." inwardly was laughing as hard as she could as more tears came to the eyes of the Queen, but externally, she looked genuinely worried. "Double the search!" She called out to the servant before he left the room fully.

She turned to her sister and sniffled, winking again softly. iNo pits for us, I think!/i she thought with joy. iPromotions, too, probably!/i

Easily catching the wink, though Idun never noticed it. Belyrr herself tried hard as she possibly could not to laugh or even smile at the misery they had created. It was all part of Kethends plan. Have everyone frantic and distrought to the point of stopping the ship to search carefully, searching both the ship and the sea around it for a day or two before continuing home.

Adairon didn't hear as Belyrr stood and scampered to where Anna normally slept, the bed was empty, unslept in as it was still made, "Empty, unslept in, she must have slept with Elsa because of the rough waters last night" which meant only one thing whe nshe shook her head to her sister. Anna was never in that bed since two nights before when the porter had set the bed up for last night, but Anna had slept with Elsa again, wanting to be with her sister because of the rough waters

Well that just made things worse for the Queen seeing Belyrr shake her head, Annas bed, unslept in; causing her to cry all the more. Her children, missing at sea. For long moments she sat stone still, tears streaming from her face. inally ,though quietly she started speaking, "Stop the ship." Belyrr caught the words and looked at her as if asking 'what ?' Idun started screaming it as she shot to her feet and darted for the door, "Stop the ship! Stop the ship and search!" Against her better judgement, Idun went to the hole in the hull and looked out. seeing broken pieces of her daughters bed dangling from the hole. tears streaming down her face.

This can't be happening