BLAZE

SEARCH ENDED

In the glory of the dusk, the search team left the palace and looked for the ‘soon to be king’ on orders of the duke of the southern island. The foggy night became an obstacle and the chills they got in the cold made their job difficult.

The duke arrived with a team of warriors when no information was received so far. He was terrified with the thoughts the queen is going through, and being a perfect husband, he has to bring his brother in law, for the sake of the kingdom.

Upon arrival, the teams rejoined at one destined place and they stood attentively after gazing the duke exited the vehicle.

The chief of the search team forwarded the designation and approached the duke with confidence, “my lord! Pardon me but why did you come here by yourself. I will take care of any issue…” he was confident in his abilities.

“Luke! I know what you are capable of but this time, I had to come for some personal reason. I do have a lot of responsibilities but an order is an order and I can't deny my queen, none of us actually..” Zohar smiled bitterly and gestured to the teams to take their places.

“Luke, I would like to have a discussion.. It’s important..” Zohar ordered his chief commander and he followed Zohar to his vehicle.

Both of them went inside the car and stayed silent for a long time.

Zohar broke the silence after a long pause, “so, have you checked all the boundaries and territories?” though he was sure but he inquired in case.

“Yes, my lord.. My team is trained well and they haven’t overlooked a place before. And now I came along with them, I personally went to the borders to meet the chief of border securities.” Luke informed the duke.

“What did he say?” Zohar asked him further.

“He denied that Lord Elijah left the territory from any exits.. He had gone to human territories to double check in case they might have missed him noticing while leaving, but they hadn't.” Luke added further in his description.

Zohar sighed and nodded his head.

“This is strange.. Where did he go if he never left the borders?” he thought.

“Divide your team for one more operation and you will come along with me to the border security office.. I need to check all the details by myself. I don’t want to leave any clue behind. One mistake will put us in danger… things can be ruined… all it takes is a mistake..” Zohar looked determined and they both agreed on the duke’s decision.

The chief divided his teams in several groups and sent them in different directions to inspect the whole island in a short time. While he went with the duke in his car, to the border security office.

Zohar was silent all the way, he hasn’t recovered from the recent accident but still, he was trying to be better.

Somewhere in his heart, he knew that the queen was right, but he didn't want to believe it. He wants to prove the queen wrong. And why not? The queen is depressed with the current circumstances yet she was giving her best to cope up.

It didn't take them long enough to reach the borders from the boat they hired. They went vigilant in case there was something suspicious going around. Fortunately, they found nothing.

The security present on the border noticed an unfamiliar boat reaching, they got alert and ready with their weapons. As soon as they noticed that the duke had arrived, they lowered their weapon and bowed down to him.

Zohar nodded lightly and went to see the chief. The chief Aiden was surprised to see the duke, unexpectedly here.

“Your highness, you would have called me instead.. “ he was about to finish the statement when Zohar raised his hand to silence him.

“We don’t have enough time, my comrade is missing.” Zohar said.

“We know, my lord. We are trying to locate him as well, but we haven’t found any clue about him.” the chief Aiden replied.

Zohar looked confused and thoughtful, so he decided to investigate the case.

“Show me the records.. I need to know..” he asked them.

Chief Aiden appears surprised, “your highness, don’t you trust us?” he enquired.

“Do as I say…” Zohar fumed and glaring at Aiden.

He knows there is no room for clarifications and arguments, so the ebay is to let the duke do his work. Aiden brought all the records he had till now and showed it to the duke of the southern island. Zohar didn’t waste another second and surveyed the files carefully.

He found nothing in those files, and everything looked genuine too. He got confused and thought where he got wrong? And how did this happen? Suddenly, his eyes went to a section in a file, which is left blank on purpose. He checked it and inquired about the blank column from Aiden.

“Why is this space blank?” 

“Your highness, it is a record of a great storm which appeared in the ocean. We left it blank because we were not able to record the data of that time…” he clarified.

Zohar scrunched his brows and double checked the details. The date was of the day when Elijah left the palace in search of his daughter.

He c****d his eyebrows at Aiden and Aiden looked pale.

“What is this? What does this signify?” he asked seriously.

“My team was on patrol but due to the storm, they went to a safe house till the storm disappeared, that time, we were not able to record any data..” he informed them.

“And you didn’t think about telling it to us. Right? Why?`` Zohar demanded an answer from him.

Aiden was silent, but he replied, “we don’t usually record data during storms.”

Zohar slammed his palm on the table and threw the files in the corner.. He was frustrated and grabbed Aiden from his collar.

“You thought we are easy to fool? I knew we were leaving something important but I didn't know that you would deceive us.. Why didn’t you tell us about the storm?” Zohar yelled and took out his sword.

“My lord!! Please, be calm…” Luke said.

Aiden turned paler and the pupil in his eyes was constructed in fear.

“Forgive me, your highness. But I wondered who would think of crossing the ocean in a storm. I didn’t mind sharing the information because we had nothing to share…” he said.

“You!!!” Zohar wanted to stab him but he let go of him.

“Take me to the place where the storm hit that day…” he growled in anger.

Aiden nodded and made arrangements to reach a small island where the storm hit.

“This place is neither belong to us, nor to humans and storms usually hit such places..” Luke informed Zohar.

“There is a possibility that Elijah might end up here..” he said.

The team begins searching for clues but finds nothing..

“This is so strange.. I don’t understand  where he is going?” Luke was confused as hell.

“Maybe, lord Elijah left from this place?” Aiden suggested to them.

“If he had left from this island too, then your team might have seen him leaving, right?” Zohar questioned Aiden’s mind.

“No! We didn’t see him leaving…” Aiden replied in a low voice.

Suddenly, a warrior approached them.

“Your highness..” he was panting and gasping for air.

“Is everything okay?” Luke inquired.

“We found something, beneath the ice…” the warrior informed them and everyone went to the place.

“What is that?” Aiden asked.

“A body!” the warrior replied.

“A body?” Zohar was thoughtful and began dusting the sheet of ice from the surface.

Slowly slowly, the body was taken out form the ocean and dragged to the ground. When Zohar approached, he gasped loudly.

“She is a girl.. How did she come here? Who is she?” The murmurs started within the team.

Zohar was taken aback but he approached the body and lifted it, checked the pulse and sighed.

“She is alive!!” he commented.

“Who is she?” Luke asked..

Zohar looked at the face of the girl and whispered, “Abria!!!”