Banished Prince Charming

"Artemis, I am feeling cold and I cannot feel my arms and my legs. Where are we? Are we still in Hellsgate or did we end up being transported to another place?"

"Do you think anyone had received our distress signal that we had sent earlier to the listeners?"

"Bbrr... this place seems so cold and so desolate. It is like as if we had entered another dimension and then right now, we seemed to be stuck in another dimension and cut off from the rest of the people...!"

Aerin was getting agitated and somehow she had been pestering Artemis who was sitting on the ground and was confused once they had entered the zone of the invisible barrier.

Right now, after they had sent the distress signal out, they were hoping that someone would hear them and rescue them somehow.

They had walked aimlessly without any specific directions since they had accidentally entered the zone of the invisible barrier when they were swinging from the vines above ground.

They realised it too late when the vines somehow stopped functioning and then were rudely dropped to the ground from a height.

From there, they were unable to find their way out, as they also failed to conjure up the vines from the trees above.

Right now, some of their senses were blocked and they were unable to orientate themselves even though they walked in a straight line. To those two wood elves, getting stuck in that kind of situation was a harrowing experience.

=*=

"His Majesty...! Are you up ahead? It is me, Amadeus and I am right behind you...!"

A rather familiar voice boomed within the enchanted underground tunnel and we paused a little while, waiting for Amadeus, the wood elves adventurer to catch up with us.

A short while later, Amadeus came along with 3 of his adventurers that had proven to be good trackers.

"Thanks for coming, Amadeus. You have your kin along with you for this rescue mission?" I inquired as I looked at them since it had been some time since we had met other wood elves, adventurers.

Right now, what we can do is to rally up whatever resources we could find to look for the stranded wood elves.

The 3 wood elves trackers were nodding their heads at me as I nodded at them in return. I guess it was just a formality to get to know one another in this way.

Besides, we are not here to chit chat and we have an important task to retrieve the missing wood elves right now.

"Yes, His Majesty. These 3 are my best trackers that would be able to render their assistance and expertise to us whenever they were summoned.

Right now, even though we do not have any elfstone to look for those missing guys, our trackers would be able their natural innate skills to find them.

I have seen this barrier near Daggertooth, a place where there are a hill and a flat piece of land on top. I am sure that we would be meeting other monstrosities there since they had the ability to conjure up this kind of shit."

"Daggertooth? This place does seem to have quite a lot of fanciful names and I am sure that I would be able to hear more of such names the longer we stayed here.

Furthermore, 50-60 miles away from our town is not too healthy since any kind of mythical being could surround our town to their advantage using this barrier thingy and we would be stuck within for God knows how long."

I thought inwardly as I began to think of all kinds of possibilities for the person who had made this invisible barrier.

There would be more than a mystery behind all this as we ventured deeper into the tunnel which had no effect against the perimeter wall of the invisible barrier.

I do not know who is the one that called this barrier as an invisible barrier but one thing I know is that the three-headed hellhounds were able to hide behind the perimeter and strike at the unsuspecting men in the earlier stages.

But the matter had been solved and right now what we need is for Doc and Perky to pinpoint the two missing wood elves and once they had located their approximate location, an exit tunnel would be made and then it would be used to pull the two wood elves into the underground passage and on the way to safety.

However, before we leave, we would like to make sure that we would be causing some devastation over there and then we would take our leave.

"Come get some...!" That was what they used to say when they wished to whack those weirdos up.

After some time, Doc and Perky waited up in front as they seemed to have located the last known location of the two wood elves.

They placed a finger at their lips to hushed the whole group up and by then we were able to notice that Doc and Perky were trying to tear apart the invisible barrier or the void in front of them.

"Hang on awhile here. This is the last known location that both the wood elves had travelled past."

"They may be here or not be here at all and we would be able to see if they had stopped for a while to rest. His Majesty, could you test your transmitting sigil and see if it is able to work or not?"

I made a sound in my throat and nodded at their direction as I adjusted the listening sigil on my ear and the transmitting sigil around my next as I tapped on it lightly.

I could hear the tappings that I had made and I do hope that I would be able to contact them somehow.

"Hey, Aerin...Did you hear anything just now? I heard like there was some rasping and tapping sounds somewhere. It is soft but very distinctive. What do you think it is?"

Just as Aerin was asking Artemis about the weird sounds that she had heard earlier, the rasping and tapping sounds came again.

Artemis heard the sound distinctively too and looked around and felt that the sounds came from the listening sigil that he had hung around the neck.

"Let me try if this thing is able to work or not since we are directly inside the invisible barrier that had been set up by those idiots."

I hooked up the listening sigil near my ear and the transmitting sigil around my neck as I rapped a bit on the transmitting sigil when I heard some voices coming through the listening sigil.

I held up my hands to signal to the others that I heard something when a smile cracked over my face as I recognised the voices as belonging to both Aerin and Artemis.

"Guys, I think both the missing persons are just nearby us and I could hear them chatting over the listening sigil."

"I am sure they did not realise that the communication sigil is still in working order when they are close to one another right now."

Aragorn had a look of delight when he learned about the news and decided to listen to his own listening sigil.

A few moments later, he remarked to me that it was indeed Aerin and Artemis talking to one another as they had heard some tapping and rasping sounds that were made by my transmitting sigil when it rubbed against the fabric of my tunic.

"Tell my children to stay where they are, His Majesty. We are sure nearby to them already." Aragorn seemed to plea with me and I transmitted the message over.

A short while later, two excited voices sounded over the listening sigil as they responded. Indeed, the exit of the enchanted tunnel is just nearby and we could extricate them out from where they are right now.

"I would be coming up near the exit here, Doc. Could you tracker guys tie the piece of hemp rope around my waist before I exit the tunnel? At least someone would not lose me and I would also not lose my way as well."

Amadeus was the one who took the hemp rope from one of the trackers and deftly tied the ends around my waist and then to the other end of the hemp rope around Doc as well.

Since Doc would not be leaving the enchanted tunnel, it would be best to let him be the anchor to pull me in once we had retrieved the two missing elves.

Since we have 2 more hemp ropes, it was also tied to 2 archers who would be accompanying me once we had exited outside the enchanted tunnel.

We would not be able to move too far away from the exit of the enchanted tunnel since the hemp rope was only 20-30 feet long.

Once we stepped out from the enchanted tunnel, we discovered that we had our senses becoming disorientated and if not for the hemp rope that acts as our lifeline, I think we would all be lost inside the void and be fodder for the three-headed hellhounds.

"Aerin...! Artemis...! Can you guys hear me? If you can hear me, come forth or give us some signal." I called out to them at the same time I spoke into the transmitting sigil as I knew that in this void, the communication sigil would have very limited capabilities.

Even though it had limited capabilities, I could hear some chatter from the two missing wood elves from the listening sigil.

"His Majesty...! We are alright but we do not know where we are right now and I could hear you but cannot see you at all right now,"

Artemis responded to my queries and I advised them to stay where they are. I informed them that I would be using the reed whistle that had been made by the patrolmen ever since they had started to patrol around the town.

"Guys, get ready for any insurgencies once I start to blow on this reed whistle. This would definitely attract the three-headed hellhounds and also to direct the missing wood elves to our position."

I advised to the archers who were accompanying me and fortunately, they brought their concussive explosive arrows with them that would be able to finish off a single three-headed hellhound with a single arrow.

"Affirmative, Your Majesty. We are nocked and ready...!" one of the archers responded with enthusiasm as I took out the reed whistle and transmitted to Artemis to follow the sounds of the whistle and head here as soon as they could.

"Yes, His Majesty. We are now ready to pinpoint your general position but I think we had seen some hellhounds lurking around.

We only carry the armour-piercing arrows and I don't think it would be able to do much damage to them. Blow it away, Your Majesty...!"

Artemis transmitted his message over and then I blew on the reed whistle. It sounded loud and clear and I whistled a few burst from my position to let Artemis detect our location.

Once Artemis heard the whistling when he removed the listening sigil, he was excited and at the same time, he heard the growls of the three-headed hellhounds close by.

"His Majesty...! SAVE US...!!!" Aerin screamed aloud when she too heard the deep growls of the three-headed hellhounds nearby and grabbed Artemis hand and quickly ran towards the general direction of the whistling sounds. "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT...!!!"

The moment I heard Aerin screaming out loud, I knew that those three-headed hellhounds were placed there as a trap.

And a trap that had been cleverly devised to bring me out in the open is definitely not a layman person and it would be someone who had some experience in strategic planning after all.

Those 2 wood elves were being set there as pawns and now instead of the Great Elven King, it is the territorial king that would appear before them.

But hey...! This chappie would not be here empty-handed and definitely would be blasting the hell out of those hounds.

"Nock and Ready!"

"ARCHING SHOT"

"GO FOR THEIR EYES"

"STACK"

The moment the commands was issued to the archers who were following me, 2 concussive explosive arrows were being unleashed into the air.

Even it was considered as a blind shot, the three-headed hellhounds were close by to the wood elves and only they would be the eyes for us right now.

Artemis heard the commands of the bow attacks and the only effective way for the arrows to find their target would be them to stay still and wait for the devastating effects of the arrows that would seal the fates of those three-headed hellhounds very soon.

*SWOOSH*

*SWOOSH*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

The two concussive explosive arrows that had been unleashed by the two archers arched high into the air.

Even though it was unleashed in a condition where most magical skills were disabled, the bow attack skills did not exist in this era and the world perhaps, and it automatically overrides the current situation. Thus this turned the table around towards our favour...!

When Artemis and Aerin heard the two booms that exploded about 10 feet away from them, they quickly ran forward and shouted, "Two tangoes down, His Majesty...!"

"A few more detected behind our heels...!" I received their command and signalled to the archers to unleash another 2 more arrows in their general direction.

A short while later, another 2 more earth-shattering explosions were heard from a distance and I knew that the arrows had found its target.

Sounds of hurried footsteps could be heard nearby and I blew a few short burst from the reed whistle.

God knows how delighted both Aerin and Artemis when they saw us waiting outside the void that had been torn open by Doc and had hemp ropes tied around our waists.

=*=

Dear friends, if you spot any errors, please leave your comments in the paragraphs or the chapter section. Thank you for the POWERSTONES and God Bless.