Issue #6-Chapter 8: Trickery

The woman and the black hooded man searched everywhere for the secret door, hoping to find the missing princess, yet they failed to find it. Not even feeling the walls and the ceiling-in both the hall and the room-or the floors had led them to that door.

Knowing that she was going to die, the woman looked down at the map and shivered. She frowned at it while the black hooded man looked at her straight in the eye.

"I-I-I don't understand," she cried, "The secret door is in here! In this building!"

The black hooded man growled at the woman and walked his way towards her. "Give me that map!" Hearing the woman shriek, he snatched the map and examined it. He tore the map into pieces and chuckled a bit after realizing the princess' trick. "The princess placed the fake map on her desk just to trick you, woman! I guess she's not so dumb after all."

The handmaiden gave him her confused look. "Tricked?"

"Yes, 'tricked.'" The black hooded man smiled while he walked towards her with his blade out. The handmaiden took a couple steps back, shivering with fear from her twitchy eyes.

She put her hand out. "Please, sir! Please! I didn't know it was a fake map. I thought it was real, honest!"

Despite the handmaiden's pleas, the black hooded man struck his blade against her stomach and heard her scream in agony, collapsing on the floor with blood coming out of her wound. He turned back to the hall and exited the room.

"My, that princess was such a clever, clever girl. A clever, clever girl indeed," the black hooded man said to himself during his walk out of the building.

Once the black hooded man exited the building, he studied his environment for any guards around. He saw none but the empty, sleeping alleyways lighting under the moonlight.

"Now if I could go search for the princess, where could she be?" He whispered to himself while looking.

Then he saw something that intrigued him, something that made him smile. There he saw a person in a brown cloak walking towards another alleyway to his right, spotting someone's long, brown hair.

"Looks like I might have found the princess," the black hooded man whispered to himself and hid himself in the shadows while she scanned her surroundings.

Seeing her leave to her destination, the black hooded man followed her through and through-both quickly, yet cautiously so as to not get caught. Everything went well so far, so good.

Once he arrived at her destination, she studied her surroundings one more time, seeing nobody around as the black hooded man stood in the shadows. She chanted her magic spell and her magic spell created a black hole on the wall.

Entering it, the black hole shut itself just in time before the black hooded man had a chance to enter it himself. He dashed towards the wall and banged his fist on it.

"No, no, no, no, no!" He roared with his head down against the wall, shaking it sideways. He then looked up at the wall. "Now how am I supposed to get in?"

Hearing the magic spell, he immediately turned left. "Huh?"

There he saw Gideon and I exit the hole on the wall and the hole disappeared behind us. Hiding in the shadows, the black hooded man smiled when he watched us pant and looked at the ground and the wall back and forth.

"Looks like I found my answer," the black hooded man whispered to himself.

"Phew! That was close!" I said, "If it wasn't for your spell, Gideon, we both would've been dead."

"Right?" Gideon agreed.

"Now all I need to do is to disguise myself as a commoner and"-the black hooded man turned to the wall, then back at us-"I'll be able to get these fools to help me find a princess."

When the black hooded man hid himself behind a wall, Gideon and I stood up straight and looked each other in the eye. "Listen, why, don't we go back home and get some rest. We'll search for the princess tomorrow."

What? This shit again?!

I sighed and turned to Gideon with my annoyed face. "Are you serious right now?!"

"But listen-" Gideon's voice was no longer pleasant as he was getting ready to fight me.

Oh, my God!!!

"Excuse me, you two," someone's voice echoed behind us.

"Huh?" Gideon and I turned to that voice.

There it was a brown haired man in a plain Blanc shirt, a brown belt and brown pants that were torn up and holey. He was also barefooted, but his feet appeared to be clean, just like mine were a couple days ago.

"I don't mean to interrupt you two, did I?" The stranger asked.

"Oh, no, not at all, sir!" I answered, scratching the back of my head with my eyes closed. "We're sorry we woke you up."

"Why, yes, yes. We are." Gideon did the same.

"Oh, no, not at all. In fact, I wasn't even asleep," the stranger said.

"Oh?" Gideon asked when we opened our eyes.

"You see, I'm looking for a princess as well, and if you agree to help me find the princess and split the price with me, I'll tell you where she went," the stranger said.

With visions of the shadowy monster appearing in my mind, I wondered why it appeared all the sudden. Was this man the one from my dreams? There was no way in hell that was him. No way.

I gave him my suspicious look on my face, assuming he was probably after Melonia. "Receiving help from a local adventurer? No thanks."

"Please, sir. I-"

"No, thanks. C'mon, Gideon. Let's go keep searchin'." I began to walk away from him.

"Okay," Gideon agreed and followed my lead.

The stranger put his hand out forward. "Wait, please. I saw her enter through that wall over there"-the stranger pointed at the wall-"the one in a cloak."

"The one in the cloak, huh? I dunno." Cucking my eyebrow at him, I crossed my arms and placed my hand on my chin. I was skeptical at first, turning to Gideon. "What do you think, Gideon? Should we trust this local adventurer?"

Gideon turned to me and turned to the stranger and I back and forth. "Well, if he says he saw her, I think we should allow him to lead us to her."

I sighed and looked him in the eye.

Uh-huh, and if this guy lies to me, I'll definitely will do anythin' I can to avoid him like a plague.

"Alright, then. Let's go find her. If she truly was in there, like you said you saw, we'll definitely split the price by three. But if she's not there or you try to rip us off, you're out of the deal, got it?" I said.

"Understood. Thirty-four gold coins for me, and you two get thirty-three gold coins each," the stranger stated with a nod.

"Fantastic. So tell us where do we find the princess?" I asked.

The stranger turned to and pointed at a specific area of the wall. "I saw her use some magic to enter into the hall there."

"Aaaahhh, now I know what you're talking about," Gideon said as he walked towards the wall where the stranger pointed it at. "I think I know a spell, sir."

"Excellent," the stranger said while he and I turned to Gideon and Gideon chanted a spell on the wall.

The stranger viciously grinned at Gideon without us noticing. Then the black hole appeared in an oval and Gideon turned to the stranger and I, waving his hand backwards. "Let's go."

"Alright!" I exclaimed in a lower voice while the stranger stood silent. Watching Gideon enter the hole, the stranger and I headed for the hole.

Once the stranger and I entered the hole and the hole disappeared behind us, we took a look around and saw an ugly woman with long, brown hair sitting at a desk, shivering, staring at us. Her fearful eyes were widened and twitchy.

I widened my eyes when I saw her face. That was definitely not Melonia. It was a completely different woman. I was definitely getting the hell out of here.

There was also a man sitting near the woman and his eyes were also as struck with fear as she was. They both gazed at us out of curiosity and shock.

With a candle light lighting the room, there were stacks of books and papers watching us from the table. Only silence vibrated the room and the cold air hit us, smelling fresh air in the room. The candle light barely lit the room as shadows surrounded the desk area.

The man stood up from his chair and walked towards us. "Who are you?"

"We're here for the princess, so hand her over, pal," the stranger demanded.

"Princess?" The man asked in a confused tone. "There's no princess here."

"Let's get out of here," I said, getting ready to turn around. "She's not the one."

"Are you sure?" Gideon asked, cucking his eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, I'm positive," I said.

The stranger turned to me and grabbed onto my arm, whispering, "Wait, where are you going?"

I glared at him and whispered back, "She's not the one. You are out of the deal."

"What do you mean she's not the one?" He turned to the woman and me back and forth. "Of course she is. I literally saw her enter through here."

I swiped my arm away from his hand. "The women from royalty aren't even this ugly. Now beat it."

"Wait, wait, wait. This girl may look ugly, but she's just using her ugly appearance to blend in to the crowd and not get caught by the guards. She could have the crystal necklace."

Sighing, I turned to the woman and gazed at her for a little while. So she has a crystal necklace, huh? Maybe I'll check for the necklace to see if she's truly the one. I turned back to the stranger. "You know the spell that could transform her back to her original form?"

"I'm positive," the stranger said.

"Alright, let's go get the princess, so leave it to me to check for her necklace."

"But I'm too short to combat the man."

I examined him and totally agreed with him one hundred percent. "Alright, fine. Gideon and I would fight the man, while you get the princess."

"Of course, whatever you say, sir."

I turned back to the man and demanded, "Hand over the princess."

"I said, 'I don't have the princess here,'" the man said, standing up from his desk.

"Yeah, right, liar. She's coming with us whether you like it or not," I glared at the man while I walked towards him.

The man glared back at me, walking towards me. "I really don't have a princess here." He grabbed onto my shirt and got into my face. "But if you still don't believe me and you're going to get her, you're going to have to get through me."

Gritting my teeth, I showed him no fear and smirked at him, while Gideon walked towards me and assisted me. The woman stood up from the chair and searched for a way out of here.

The stranger grinned at the man with my voice saying, "Bring it on, pal."

While Gideon and I fought with the man, the stranger dashed after the woman. The woman tried to run past him, and he managed to grab onto the woman's arms.

She screamed, "Help!" while the stranger pushed her towards the stony wall. Alerted, the man turned to the stranger and tried to assist her, yet I grabbed onto him and punched him down, pinning him to the ground.

The stranger and the woman looked at one another straight in the eyes. Trying to break free from the stranger, the woman failed to even resist him due to his stronger magical grip on her.

"The necklace," the stranger said.

"Huh?" The woman asked in confusion.

"Don't play dumb with me, girl. Let me see the necklace," the stranger demanded when he began to feel her neck. "I know you're the missing princess."

"I don't know what necklace you're talking about but I don't have it, and I'm not the missing princess!" The woman shouted.

"Huh?" The stranger asked when he felt nothing on her neck. "It can't be!" He bent down and examined her neck and found no necklace.

The man and I stopped fighting one another and turned to the stranger, and Gideon stopped assisting me as he also turned to the stranger. We watched as we were all confused.

No way, don't tell me-!

"Dammit!" The stranger threw her down on the floor and turned to us. "She's not the princess as I thought she was."

"It is as I said"-the man stood up from the floor and lifted me up from it-"There is no princess in here!"

"Yea, we know that! You don't need to tell us thata second time!" I roared. "And we're sorry there was a huge misunderstanding. My buddies and I will be heading our way out of here."

The man shook his head. "Very well then, we forgive you."

Gideon and I waved at the man and woman while the stranger just ignored them and left the room with us as soon as Gideon chanted the same spell as before. The man and woman waved at us while we left.

The stranger frowned at us. "You guys, I-"

I angrily turned to the stranger. "You are out of the deal! Don't even bother helpin' us find the princess! That was a total waste of our time, gettin' beaten up over nothin'!" I turned to Gideon. "Let's go home, Gideon, and rest up. We'll definitely look for the missing princess tomorrow. I'm tired as hell."

So apparently he's not the one from my dreams. He's clearly too incompetent to be a videogame type of boss.

Gideon smiled at me at long last. "Right back at you, Mike!"

Panicky, the stranger blocked our movement and pleaded, "Wait, wait, wait! Please help me find her. I know I mistook her as the missing princess, but please let me help you find her! I'll do anything if you please let me help you find her!"

"No way, broh! Step aside and let us go!" I said in my annoyed tone as I shoved him aside and began to walk home with Gideon.

Yet the stranger grabbed my sleeve and tried to pull me up. I stopped moving and glared at the stranger with my gritted teeth, getting ready to fight him.

"Let go of me you, little bitch!" I roared, trying to move his hand away from my sleeve. He managed to grab my other sleeve.

"Please! Please help me find her! Please!" The stranger pleaded with me some more, shaking me a bit. While I argued with the man, Gideon sighed and frowned for a while until he gasped and pointed his finger at something that interested him.

"Look!" Gideon said.

"Huh?!" The stranger and I questioned Gideon and turned to the direction that his finger pointed at. We gasped out of excitement when we saw another brunette wearing a white cloak, lifting her crystal in her hand, flashing a white light around her as she touched the stony wall. She looked to be around my age.

The moment we gazed at her, the stranger and I noticed her crystal attached to her neck. She reminded me of the girl from earlier, wondering if it was her. He grinned viciously and smirked as he believed he finally found the missing princess.