Chapter 136 Looking For Tania

Jude was trying to figure out who could have told the king about Tauriel and Tuchel he had made sure no one had seen them yesterday and he was sure no one had seen them, he already had a theory about who could have possibly told the king but to confirm that he would have to get to the castle first.

Tuchel was constantly making eye contact with Tauriel but didn't say anything because they were walking beside the knight and guards who were riding their horses slowly so that they could keep up.

"You should have let me take my horse, that would have saved us a lot of time," Jude said, looking up to the knight.

"I'm just following orders." The knight said without looking down at him.

The distance between the Blackstone's home and the king's castle wasn't much so walking there wasn't much of a big deal and getting there wasn't going to take them long.

The knight alighted from his horse which had stopped in front of the castle and began to walk inside.

"Follow me." He said with a gesture.

Now that they were inside with the knight walking up ahead Tuchel could finally tell Tauriel what he wanted to tell her.

"If we are to answer any questions or anything just let me do it and follow my lead," Tuchel whispered to her

"What if I'm asked specifically?" Tauriel asked with a whisper.

"Just don't say anything, I know what to do."

They had finally arrived at the door leading into the king's throne room and looking ahead Jude could see someone standing in front of the king, he just needed to get closer to confirm his theory and when he got closer he could see that his theory was absolutely correct.

"Your majesty," Jude said as he did a slight bow on one knee, Tauriel did exactly as he did but Tuchel didn't budge.

"Jude, welcome back from your missing journey." The king said and then slowly turned his gaze back to Carl who it was on before the trio entered.

"What did you say happened to my soldiers again?"

"They were killed by goblins, your majesty," Carl said with his head down.

"And how did you return alive?" The king asked.

"I've told you, if it weren't for Jude and his friends there, I would be dead by now."

"That's funny." The king let out a little chuckle. "I thought he was missing and now he comes back and saves you."

"But he was missing your majesty," Carl said.

"Let him speak for himself." The king said slowly, turning his gaze to Jude. "Now tell me, Jude, what really happened?"

Jude assumed that Carl may have told the king about the elves chasing him during the time he saved and he may have also told him about the following fight between Ashburn and Saganus.

For the listed reasons he had decided to say things as they are, he had altered it a little bit to save the elves with him by saying they were already in the cell when he was thrown in.

"You escaped from the elf prison." King Roy was very surprised and his expression and voice showed that.

"I couldn't have done it without the two here," Jude said pointing at the twins.

Mentioning the twins had drawn Roy's attention to them as he turned his gaze towards them.

"How did you get captured by elves?" He asked, staring directly at Tauriel who didn't know what to say.

"Forgive my sister your majesty, my sister has a little speaking disorder, let me answer your questions." Tuchel stepped in at the right time to save his sister, which was also saving himself.

The king was silent as he kept his gaze on the male elf's face before making his conclusion.

"Fine, carry on then."

Tuchel started his made-up story in which he and his sister had gone out to hunt and in the process had gotten captured.

"You may have trespassed into their territory." The king said.

"I think that was the case," Tuchel said, he thought it was all over until the last question came.

"What is the name of your kingdom?" The king asked.

Tuchel was frozen as this was the toughest question of his life, back at the elf empire he never really paid attention to the names of the four human kinetics kingdoms, all he knew was their different locations using the map.

"Unelo." Tauriel was the one who had stepped up this time to save her brother.

"I thought she had a speaking disorder," Roy said.

"Yeah, but she can say some words," Tuchel said with a breath of relief.

Roy shook his head as he turned his gaze back to Carl.

"I think it's time for this meeting to end." He said. "Carl, you will pay part of the compensation to the family of all the deceased soldiers."

Carl wanted to protest as he raised his head but he knew it was no use and shut his mouth.

"But your majesty he's not the one that killed them," Jude said, trying to defend his friend.

"And you." The king pointed at him ignoring his words. "You will pay a fine for allowing strangers into my kingdom without my consent, however, the strangers are allowed to stay as long as they want because their king is a good friend of mine."

'This king is a good example of what elves think humans are like.' Tuchel thought.

"I will send someone to bring you the details of all the payments to be made." The king said.

After that, they were all allowed to leave and both Tauriel and Tuchel heaved a sigh of relief as nothing was said about elves. Before leaving Jude had a message for the king.

"I believe Carl might have already told you about a fight between an elf and a goblin, those two are very good examples of overpowered species when it comes to fighting humans and my advice is to be prepared for anything."

King Roy didn't say anything as Jude said all that and walked away along with the others. Nothing was said between them until they got outside the gates of the castle.

"How are you doing?" Jude asked after they had walked a little distance away from the castle.

"I'm okay thanks to you," Carl said. "I could tell you were feeling tensed in there, did you think I would be stupid enough to give them away?" He added pointing at the elf twins.

"You're the best buddy," Jude said with a smile as he placed his hands on his shoulder.

Jude smiled back at him before saying. "They have to be careful because once they are exposed they are doomed. I have to return to the healing center, they weren't even done with me when that knight came and forced me to follow him."

"Ok, see you later then," Jude said.

He stood in the same spot for a while as he watched Carl go through a mix of limps and trying to walk normally.

"I think you've forgotten what we had planned this morning," Tauriel said.

"No, I haven't, let's go," Jude said as he turned and began to walk to the market as the elves followed behind him.

They had all stopped in front of a tent belonging to an old woman and when she came out of her tent she was a little startled to see three people standing there. Normally customers would call her if she was inside and looking at these people she knew they weren't there to buy something.

"Good day ma'am, sorry to disturb you. I am…."

"I know who you are, Jude Blackstone." The woman said. "I don't need you to start telling me you're from a wealthy family."

"I wasn't going to tell you that," Jude said, taken aback by the woman's response.

"Are you here to buy something then?" The woman said, raising one of her leather bags.

"No," Jude said, shaking his head. "Since you know who I am you must know my sister Tania Blackstone."

"Yes," The woman said. "Little miss thief lover." She muttered.

"What?" Jude asked.

"Nothing, if you're here to ask me if I know where she is the answer is no." The woman said. "You may not know this but a thief went missing after running into that forest." She said pointing at the forest behind them.

"How is that related to my sister?" Jude asked.

"A few weeks later the tentmaker he used to help in this market also went missing and that was also the same time your sister went missing."

"I still don't see the connection," Jude said.

"Well here's the connection, listen and you will hear rumors."

"Rumours about what?" Jude asked.

"About your sister having an affair with the thief that went missing and that she had followed him into the forest and now they are together."

Jude was silent as he turned to face the large forest close to the market, he had finally gotten the connection he was looking for but it wasn't quite a nice connection to hear.

"That's the forest right?" He asked.

"Yes." The woman said.

"I just hope this is all a rumor as you said." He said as he began to walk towards the forest as the elves followed behind him.

"Hey wait, aren't you going to buy a bag after all the info?" The woman called to them but none of them even turned back to her.

The words Jude had heard now had just spoiled his mood and he just hoped it wasn't true and was something else.

*****

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