monsters

Mishka ran through the woods in a panic, oblivious to the twigs and branches and thorns that stood in his way, tripping and stinging and cutting him as he ran. Several scenes replayed themselves in his mind over and over and he found himself hoping that this was all a bad dream that he would soon wake from.

He had been restless and unable to fall asleep. Mishi often had trouble sleeping at night so the family doctor had recommended chamomile tea before bed as a sleep aid. Usually that did the trick but tonight one of the new servants had made his tea and he only took a tiny sip before spitting it back out. It tasted funny, like medicine. He quietly poured the drink into the flower vase while the servant was distracted with gathering his bed clothes.

As he lay silently in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think how many monsters were hiding under his bed, just waiting for him to move so they could locate and grab him, he heard a yelp and a lot of rustling noises coming from his nanny's room that was across the hall. He started to turn his head toward the door and then quickly froze. Were the monsters attacking her? His heart started racing as panic set in. He squeezed his eyes shut and balled his hands into fists at his side.

He suddenly snapped his eyes wide open. His magic rock! He had told his parent's friend Cire about his sleeping troubles last year around Christmas. The next time Cire visited, his bodyguard had given Mishi a magic rock that made him invisible to monsters. Mishi had always kept it in his pocket since then, or under his pillow at night when he slept. He slowly inched his hand up towards his pillow, stopping and listening for sounds that the monsters may have spotted him. As he finally he grasped it in his hand, a huge feeling of relief washed over him. Now the monsters couldn't see him.

Feeling brave now that he had his magic rock in hand, he threw his bed covers off and scuttled across his bedroom chamber towards his bedroom door. He hoped that his nanny was alright and awake to tell him stories or to otherwise rock him to sleep. He tried to turn the handle but, oddly, he found his bedroom door had been locked from the outside. He stepped back and bit his thumb, thinking if he should just stay in his room or rattle the door and raise a fuss. He peeked out through the keyhole just as a dark shape passed by. The monsters were out in the hall!

Mishi squeezed the magic rock tighter in his fist. Shaking, He told himself to be brave and that he wasn't scared, as frightened as he was. There was a side door for things like this. The castle was ancient and all of the Royal chambers were outfitted by no less than 2 secret passage doors for situations where one needed to escape undetected. In Mishi's case, one passage led down into the kitchen and the other led along the wall at the end of the hall and into his nanny's room. He opened the door of the passage that led to his nanny's room and ran as fast as he could through it, throwing himself through the door at the other end of the corridor and into her room.

Nothing in his short life had prepared him for the scene that had awaited him: the body of his nanny swaying in the arms of the man who had just slit her throat. And blood. So much blood. He remembered screaming and catching the man's attention and startling him so much that he dropped the woman before he cursed and lunged after him. He remembered running toward the hall where his elder brothers and parents slept and seeing their bedroom doors open and seeing more blood and more strange men in the hall.

He somehow made it to an outside door without being caught and then he ran and ran, heading deep into the forest. Eventually he tripped and fell hard, knocking the air out of his lungs. He fell to the ground, loosing his grip on his magic rock and it went flying out of his hand. As he lay sprawled out on the forest floor gasping for air, he realized how quiet it was, save for the sound of some small night animals scuttling around. Whoever had been chasing him hadn't followed him into the forest or if they did, he he had lost them.

Frightened and shivering from the chilly night air, he curled up into himself and began sobbing. His family was probably dead, he was cold and scared and now he could start to feel the sting of the various scrapes and cuts and bruises across his body. Plus his magic rock was lost. Hearing a twig snap and a larger animal scuttling down a tree, he forced himself to sit up, remembering that there had been more sightings of wolves in these woods and that they had attacked and killed a farm girl not too much younger than him in the past month.

He wondered if there were still people in the house. He didn't want to go back there after what he saw but where else could he go? Then he remembered the hedge labyrinth. Cire had taught him a trick to remembering the correct sequence of left and right turns in order to make it to the stone cathedral in the middle. And Cire had often reminded him that if anything bad ever happened, he should run into the labyrinth and hide in the cathedral and he would rescue him there. He slowly made his way back towards the house, moving from tree to tree to make sure he wasn't seen by scary men or monsters or wolves. When he made it to the tree line he took some time to make sure the coast was clear. The labyrinth was close and he was pretty sure he could make it to the entrance without anyone seeing him. Finally he worked up enough courage and took off in a sprint, running faster than he had ever run in his life.

As he came to the clearing in the middle, he saw Cire sitting on a stone bench outside the cathedral with his bodyguard standing close to his side, the two of them talking quietly in a language Mishi didn't understand. He let out cry and threw himself into Cire's arms, sobbing uncontrolably and shaking from both the crying and the cold.

"Shhh. Don't worry, my little Prince. I'm here to protect you." Cire murmured, as he stroked the boy's hair before taking off his suit jacket and wrapping it around his little body. "Everything will be alright now. Soren?" Cire looked up to his bodyguard and motioned towards the boy.

Soren bent down and gently scooped the boy up into his arms and gently rocked rocked him as he held him close. Mishi was exhausted and as he snuggled tightly against Soren, feeling warm and safe and protected, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. Soren looked to Cire for instruction as to what to do next. Cire motioned towards the house with his head and the two set off through the labyrinth, Cire easily navigating the way out.

As Cire walked from room to room of the palace, Soren trailed behind him with the sleeping child in his arms. Cire silently surveyed the damage. As he looked at the child sleeping in Soren's arms, he crossed his arms and frowned. He had ordered his agent to give the child a sedative with his evening tea, then he was to be locked in his room as a precaution so that he would not witness any of the evenings events. A slight smile escaped his lips. The kid had a lot more spirit and drive in him than he had given him credit for.

As they drove away, Cire sighed a content sigh. The executions had been completed precisely as he had ordered and he had the sole heir to the throne in his possession. Not a bad night's work.