"What do you mean I can't come with you?" Dream was not happy about this news. Dream, Bad, and Sapnap were all watching well the Prince and the King equipped their horses for a journey.
"I'm taking George for a private ride. So all of you have to stay behind. But don't worry I have my sword with me so if anything happens I will protect him." Karl said with a proud smile, He quickly mounted his horse.
George looked over at Dream with pleading eyes. He didn't feel safe being alone with the King. "Well... I guess I'm off." George was praying that Dream would come up with some kind of excuse as to why he had to go with them, or even better, a reason why George couldn't go at all.
But Dream remained silent.
Bad helped George onto his black stallion and wished him good luck on his date.
Soon George and Karl were heading toward the dark forest. The forest was very green with the occasional red mushroom tree. But something about the forest seemed ominous. George could have sworn he heard faint screams coming from someplace in the forest. But Karl wasn't saying anything so maybe it was just his imagination, George felt a shiver go down his spine. He couldn't take the silents anymore, "Um, So Karl, where are we going?"
"It's a surprise, Georgie! Just trust me, you'll going to love it. It's a place I use to go to all the time when I was a child."
"Ok." The silents of the forest returned. George must be losing his mind, No one was screaming, it probably was just the wind or some kind of weird bird. He really wished the Dream was here. Dream always knew how to calm him down. "Hey, Karl, do you hear that?"
Karl looked over at George, "Hear what?"
"That noise, it kind of sounds like screams..."
"Georgie, you have such an active imagination." Karl giggled, "The only thing I hear is the horses and forest creatures."
George let out a little sigh, "Right, it's all in my head." He said trying to convince himself.
They soon came to a clearing where there was a large river. Karl tied up both their horses onto an old fence pole and helped George off his horse.
"When I was younger I would come here to cool off and just forget that I was going to be a king. Whenever I'm here I was simply a kid. Here I'm not King Karl, I'm just Karl. and I guess I wanted to show you this place so if you ever feel stressed or like the pressures of life are too heavy, you can come here and let it all out. here you can be yourself." Karl took George's hand into his own and led them over to a little dock.
Karl started taking off his clothes.
"What are you doing?" George quickly looked away.
"Let's jump into the river and go for a swim! Trust me it will be fun!" Karl grabbed George's chin and made him look at him. "And no need to be embarrassed, soon we'll see everything of each other." George blushed and decided to focus on something else. He studied the river and frowned, it was going rather fast. Is this safe?
Karl stripped down to his underwear and jumped in. "Hurry up George! The water's great! It's not cold at all!"
George was very hesitant, He had never swum before because he was always locked up inside the castle. But surely it couldn't be that hard right?
George gradually took off his clothes, he was a little embarrassed about his body.
"Come on, George, jump in!" Karl yelled at him with a playful smile on his face.
"OK, I'm coming, I'm coming!" George walked up to the end of the dock and peered down to see Karl swimming around waiting for him. "Um- Just so you know, I've never really sw-" Before George could finish his sentence, Karl jumped out of the water and grabbed George's ankle, dragged him into the fast-moving river.
George could have sworn his life flashed before his eyes, one moment he's on the dock the next he's fully submerged in the water. He was freaking out! The river was caring his small body far away from where he and Karl were mere seconds ago. And his head kept going in and out of the water. He could barely breathe, let alone shout for help.
Karl didn't seem to sense George's panic and thought he was just letting the river take him for a second and then he would swim back. But George never came back. Karl swam around looking for him for about twenty minutes before he started panicking. What was he supposed to do? It would get dark soon. So he decided that his best option was to go back to the temple and recruit the knights and hold a search party.
Karl mounted his horse and booked it!
-------------------------------
Dream was bored and worried, not a good combo. He was currently playing chess with Sapnap in the stables well Bad took a nap in the haybales. He had won the last five games and was kind of running on autopilot. George had been gone with the King for about an hour and as the seconds passed the more worried Deam was getting.
"Dream, can you stop shaking your leg! It's distracting!" Sapnap complained.
"Sorry, I'm just worried about the prince."
"Don't worry. He's with Karl, I'm sure he's fine." Sapnap moving his knight to f3.
Dream sighed, "I guess, a king has to be pretty good at combat, right?" Dream moved his knight to c6.
"I'd assume he's had some training, yeah." Sapnap moved bishop to b5.
"No way he's better than me though." Dream smirked and moved his other knight to f6.
"True." Before Sapnap could make his next move Karl boost into the stables. His face was all red and he looked trouble.
"Help! help! Guys, I need your help!"
Dream quickly stood up, "What happened? Where's the Prince?!"
"H-he, want missing."
"What do you mean missing?!" Dream was growing angry.
"We were swimming in the river and the next second he's nowhere to be found." Karl tried to explain.
"So he drowned?" Sapnap asked sounding incredibly concerned.
"You let him DROWN!!!???" Dream was going to rip Karl's head off.
"Maybe? Not on purpose though! But there's a good chance he's still alive and the river just took him somewhere."
Dream mounted a horse and motioned for Sapnap to do the same. "Take us to the river. And make it quick." Dream's voice sounded like venom. "And goddammit, WAKE UP BAD, WE HAVE TO GO!" Dream yelled making Bad jolt out of the hay and look around confused.
"We'll explain on the way, get on a horse, we need to go, now," Sapnap explained calmly.
Dream had never felt so mad, angry, scared, and powerless in all his life.
Please, Prince... Please, be okay.