The news of the possible snake invasion caught Roland off guard. When had such a thing happened and why had he not received and warning about it.
"Rudbeck." he bellowed, calling out the knight that was relaxing on duty, playing cards with three others right outside the open door of Roland’s office.
Rudbeck tipped the chair backwards and peeked into the office. "You called, your highness."
Roland rifled through the documents he had received that morning, meant for review. "Where the bloody hell are my advisors? And my secretary. Why has no one told me about a snake invasion? I am receiving messages from the royal communications office demanding to know what my official response is on the matter."
"You sent them away because you needed room to breathe." Rudbeck reminded him.
Roland grunted in response. "Then you tell me what is going on with the snakes. Have you seen any in the castle?" He held out his palm before Rudbeck could answer.
Picking up his phone, he called his wife. He needed to warn her about the snake troubles, real or false. No matter how many times he called, Sigrid did not answer the phone.
Pacing so hard as if he was on a mission to wear out the carpet in his office, he prepared himself to make the fifth call.
"I have great news." Sir Samuel dashed into the office, interrupting Roland. "The crown princess is moving back. Her maids have returned, Christie too, she is supervising the unloading of the luggage right now."
Roland rushed out of the office, running to his wife’s chambers like his life depended on it. He nearly stepped on Sunny that was happily jumping on the stairs of the second floor.
When the dog noticed its master and his men running, it grew excited and joined them. This prompted all of Roland’s other dogs on the second and third floor to join in the great race, barking with excitement.
Like a hurricane, Roland stumbled in to chambers, knocking over Alistair and a suitcase went flying upwards. Christie saved it with magic, suspending it in the air. However, the locks came lose and the clothes poured out of the case.
One dress fell on Sunny. covering his eyes. The dog panicked, barking crazily it run into Lama. Another suitcase went flying and it was accompanied by shrieks. The dogs responded enthusiastically to the screams, taking it a game and Sigrid’s chamber were turned into a dog heaven of chaos.
"Down, down..."
Rudbeck and other knights commanded them. Nevertheless, as tried to remedy the situation, they found themselves on the receiving end of stink eyes from the poor frustrated maids whose job it was to clean up the mess.
"Where is my wife?" Roland found Lanai in the bedroom meanwhile and he asked her the question enthusiastically as he searched through the room. "Is she in the bathroom?"
For every question that he asked, he opened a door before getting a response. His wife was not in the closet, the bathroom, private cabinet or antechamber.
"Is she in the room of the gentlemen or room of the guards?" he asked.
Once again, before Lanai could respond, Roland was already on the move. Eventually, he returned to bedroom and looked at the maids.
"Well...." he voiced, in a questioning voice.
Christie answered, "Your highness, the crown princess is at the mage estate. Her schedule is quite full today and she will only be back at night. She asked me to remind you to keep Sunny off her bed." She pointed to the dog that was already relaxing on the bed.
He was whining, thumping his tail very excitedly. It was as if he could also tell that his mistress was returning home.
Roland gave Sunny a thumbs up and said. "Good job."
He had missed his wife’s mildly irritated look as she tried to chase the chubby dog out of her bedroom. Now that she had returned, it was time to move his property back in as well. It would be their bedroom once again, not just her bedroom.
"Have my things moved back." He ordered his valet.
The valet made a call to Jesting. Jesting told him that it was already being done. As soon as the servants learned that the crown princess was moving back into the castle, he ordered them to begin.
Roland’s parade suddenly received a bucket sized dumping of rain when Christie spoke up, giving advice that was unexpressed.
"Crown prince, with all due respect I believe that your decision might be the wrong one. If you want to move into the chambers of the crown princess, shouldn’t you wait and ask her for her thoughts? She has not yet told if you have succeeded in earning her forgiveness.
You don’t know why she has moved back in. I understand your eagerness but I think you should err on the side of caution. Maybe you should do something to celebrate her return and show her how happy you are to have her back."
Roland took a step back and he snapped back to reality. Excitement could not be allowed to cloud his reasoning. Christie was right. He looked at his valet and took back his orders. Then he left the bedroom, pondering on what to do to celebrate the return of his wife.
"Your highness, you have to attend the funeral of Sir Daniel Leslie." His valet reminded him.
He returned to his chambers quickly, changed into his one of his official outfits, a black one which he donned on funerals normally. He left the royal castle with a convoy of cars.
Joining the hundred or so guests on the burial grounds of the fallen knights, he sat in a chair and watched the proceedings as one of the oldest red knights that had served his grandfather was laid to rest at the age of ninety one.
He was uncomfortable. Roland hated funerals.
He always had.
Everyone was gloomy, the air was undecided, it was either too hot or too cold. As a crown prince, whenever he attended one, people were always looking at him. The biggest reason why he hate funerals was because Galen had made an awful joke when they were young.
Something about the dead reaching out from beyond the earth to drag the living down with them. Even now, Roland remembered that memory and he removed his cloak. It was too hot.
Soon after removing the cloak, he felt the shivers. It was too cold.
"I’m so sorry for your loss." Someone said to him.
It was not the first ’I’m so sorry or we are so sorry’ he was hearing. He wondered why these words of consolation were being said to him and not the family of the deceased.
Despite this, he accepted the condolences unable to tell them that he barely knew a thing about the dead knight and he felt no loss at the man’s death.
"We all die, even the greatest of men." The priest said, and he looked Roland’s way. "Death does not end the story of man. Sir Daniel Leslie did great things, he will be missed and his stories will never be forgotten."
Roland looked away from the priest. Truly, he knew no story about the dead knight. The priest went on to talk about the meaning of life.
Someone suddenly screamed the words snake and Roland’s knights surrounded him, weapons drawn. And suddenly, he knew what to say to the reporters that wanted his official comments on the snake invasion.
The serpents had no respect, not even for the dead.