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this is all unedited, any spelling or grammar corrections are appreciated! thank you to every one who read the first chapter if i get 30 reads this time i'll update :P as always criticism is welcome

Midnight xxx

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~Chapter 2~

The closer I got to the foot of the tree the worse things appeared, the table split clean in two had been tossed outside and pieces of woven branches were also shredded along the ground, which I suspected were once the door. Approaching the shelter slowly from behind a near by hedge was my safest bet and when I was certain the shelter was absolutely silent I creped out of the hedge to see what I had feared staring at me from the outer shelter wall, a note pinned to the weaving by a feathered arrow, my hart sunk I knew this feather, or more knew what it meant, Hunter.

‘Dear friends of the royal family we have found and captured a maid of the royal family and a child of several summers whom we believe is the youngest royal heir, should you know the whereabouts of the two elder siblings of royal decent, instruct then to bring the Doran to the nearest hunting cabin, if they ever wish to see their little one and maid again. We will wait for them for one moon from today

-H.’

My breath caught in my lungs and my stomach did somersaults, Amandine…Chantalina… No a silent voice inside me screamed over and over as a thousand emotions buzzed in my head. I felt a though my hart had been torn and broken and only the fact that Dominique was-hopefully- still in the forest somewhere was the only reason I was still standing. Fear for her safety overtaking me I turned away from the notice and forced my jelly-legs towards the edge of the forest in a frantic muddle of emotions, had they found her in the forest and taken her as well? Would I find her somewhere handing from a string of chains already beyond my help?

I wanted to scream for her till the treetops rang, but a cautionary voice in my head warned me against my will, what if the solders were close enough to hear me? I would be no use to anyone of I were kidnapped too. Taking the berry basket with me and covering my tracks as Amandine had taught me to I set off into the forest to find Dominique, or at least what was left of her, had worse come to worse. Forcing the disturbing images of blood and gore out of my mind I pushed silently through the forest ‘Dominique’ I whispered urgently ‘Dominique where are you?’

Just as the sun was lowering on the horizon and I was beginning to give up hope I herd it, our emergency whistle, we hadn’t used it since we had first came to the forest but the second I heard it I knew exactly what it was. She was alive! She had made it! But how had she known to whistle? Again the call came and I whistled back, full of new hope I headed off towards the noise. When I found her she was couched behind a bush, I tapped her on the shoulder and she gave a small jump but when she turned to see me her face lit up.

‘Your all right’ she whispered with relief ‘yeah but they took Amandine and Chantalina’ I whispered back, my voice thick with emotion. ‘I know I herd them, they passed close by, three or four of them on horse back by the sounds of it, it was a wile ago though, it was still light….’ She glanced around her at the darkened forest, dead trees and imagined silhouettes of dark men on horseback. ‘I’ve been hiding here ever since, just incase…’

She trailed of then voiced the question we had both been thinking ‘where do you think the soldiers took them?’ I shook my head at her ‘I have no idea, I’m guessing the same place mother is but we don't know where that is either…’ I let the sentence trail off and we sat there in painful silence. Then a determined look came over her face ‘Well I’m going to find them’ ’Dominique not yet…we need a plan first…’ ’You can’t stop me!’ she cut me off mid sentence and stood to stomp towards the shelter as i pursued her, I had to keep her safe, she was not leaving my sight.

Through the mess of what was left inside Dominique had found a pack and had sat it on her bed and gone off to gather what she could. Sitting down on the bed I peered inside the small pack, from the looks of it she was only taking essentials, sturdy clothes, rope and a sheet which I guess would be used to make a shelter and two water carriers which amandine and I had taken from the abandoned palace last winter.